Chapter 309: The Threat

The surprise visit by the space knights called the Omega Empire ended with thousands of casualties to the Arcadian Empire, and not only that, it has also wrought massive destruction within the capital city. Bits of debris still rained down the place, and black smoke still permeated the skies of Arcadia. Lives were lost both from the attacks and the falling buildings.

Thanks to what happened today, Tristan had decided to summon all the Arcadian elites to gather within the secondary hall. The place was located along the western wing of the palace, and it was wide enough to house all of them while still letting them hear Tristan clearly.

In total, the bombardments to the city and the attack killed 529 regular citizens of Arcadia, 42 town guards, 12 Kingsblade fighters, and 1,839 Arcadian knights, which was the most among the casualties. The space knight attacks took the lives of almost all of the blue division of the knights, with most of the remaining ones gravely injured.

These were the numbers presented to Tristan by one of the Arcadian ministers a day after the incidents.

To be frank, hearing the number, Tristan wasn't sure whether it was considered a lot or not considering the enemy lost one entire large space cruiser and hundreds of men equipped with advanced weapons and suits.

Aside from those, the most devastating casualty to him was the rank 5 wizard Laurel, one of the senior mages of the Arcadian Mage squad.

As for Arcadian knight commander Sterling and Kingsblade third commander Vain, one was found in the space cruiser's brig while the other was dying while being treated in the medical bay. His whole body was full with bullet holes before Tristan was able to treat him.

At the moment, both commanders were able to attend the meeting mostly because of their new ruler and king.

Commander Vain, the Night Owl, was currently kneeling gratefully, his head would probably touch the floor if there was no one else present. This was because when Tristan found him, he was basically only an inch from death. It was thanks to Tristan's [Blood Synthesis] coupled with Cecilia's healing magic that the man was able to be saved. His burns and wounds was so severe, not even Tristan's [Blood Synthesis] was able to fully heal him.

In all honesty, Tristan was initially reluctant to save the man. If it were not because of Cecilia next to him, he most likely would have let the man die then take his essence. However, seeing his attitude today, he was very satisfied. True loyalty was a rare thing in a massive kingdom like this, and Tristan needed all the help he could get.

As for Sterling, the old commander of the blue division… he was lucky that Tristan was not the one who found him first, for he wouldn't be so kind.

"My king! Thank you for saving us all! I am immensely grateful that your strength has saved us! As for the knights of my division… their losses are all my responsibility. I am willing to take any punishment."

As they looked back, everyone in the room still could not understand why the space cruiser went so far as to chase the knights of the blue division to eliminate them, leading to the space knights' defeat. However, none of the people who knew about it could care less to explain it to the old comrade. 

After all, how he just ran away from the battle could not simply be forgotten. Him, a commander of the esteemed Arcadian Knights, giving in to cowardice and running away in the face of the enemies while those under him sacrificed their lives for Arcadia. It was a truly unforgivable sin.

It appeared that as a good ruler, Tristan would need to give the old general the appropriate punishment.

"Please, my king, I am willing to accept death to rid me of this shame." He said, while bowing as far as he could.

In response to his willingness, Tristan smiled and announced,

"No! For your punishment, you shall be demoted from your current rank. From now on, you are to follow me as my personal bodyguard."

Nobody in the room expected such an answer. They thought that to punish the old commander, Tristan would either execute him or Sterling as well. But he accept the punishment willingly and nodded without any sign of defiance.

For Tristan, he thought such an old experienced fighter would be such a waste to be killed. His outspoken personality could be beneficial for him later on to rein in his more impulsive decisions. Besides, Tristan believes the old man would not last three months being his bodyguard and eventually his blood essence will be his. It was a beneficial arrangement all around.

As of now Tristan was quite content with the blood essence he received after spending the whole day yesterday extracting from both enemies corpses and his allies.

[Blood essence : 97.278]

He managed to extract more than 60.000 blood essence overall. It was such a productive day. 

Now that the report was done, Tristan decided to proceed straight to the main topic.

Tristan stood from his seat, his height making him look all the more imposing, before he spoke his intention while staring down to all of them. From his gaze, his seriousness was clear, and the room felt like it went several degrees colder.

"Callan has gone missing, and Tobias has gone chasing after one of the enemy who escaped. Either way you all are stuck with me and I expect you to have known about the threat that will come! I expect all of your cooperation toward the safety of Arcadia under my command!"

He pause for a second, looked around to see the reactions from those gathered, and narrowed his eyes.

"Anyone who disagreed, can go fuck away from my kingdom!" He declared.

Now that some time has passed since his announcement as a king, everyone has witnessed how different Tristan is compared to Callan. Previously, almost none of those gathered in the room intended to fully listen to him, and those who did merely did so out of respect to Tobias and their previous king, Callan.

But after the battle it appears they really have no choice except to accept the new Arcadian ruler. This elf might have a questionable attitude and moral compass but his strength was undeniable.

The fact that at a turbulent time like this, where a crisis of war spanning multiple worlds would threaten the people of Arcadia, they needed a king that is powerful, a ruler that would lead them to victory.

Tristan himself can feel their attitude toward him has change. A hint of smile secretly flashed on his face. 

Unfortunately now is not the time to shout victory. There was still casualties to deal with, and the main threat has not been vanquished yet.

"Alright! Now listen! Our main threat will be the upcoming space knights that will undoubtedly come sooner or later. I am sure none of you all have any objection with this"

Tristan called out the blood sealed space knight Siegfried to the front, introduce who Siegfried is and then ask

"Tell me Siegfried, tell the other hear that with such condition, is this true that the enemy would came in such a bigger force or it was only a bluff?"

The space knight Siegfried was a high ranking space knight after all hence he could predict from his previous experience. When a small team like him goes missing, the empire might not find it as something to be concerned about, but for a entire cruiser it would definitely raise a red flag

The space knight gave a little thought and said.

"Yes when a cruiser goes missing they will come with at least half a dozen cruisers or even more. A threat that could neutralize a cruiser is a high priority threat."

The words actually made all the people in the room look at each other, and a tense atmosphere descended among them. Half a dozen of such things could easily destroy all Arcadian towns within days.

Tristan asked him again

"Now Siegfried, tell us How much time do we have until they come?"

"To get accurate data for that question, we need to study the current armada deployment but if you have to give a prediction without that information. It will be a month or two at the longest."

Once again, the elites of Arcadia kingdom stared at each other in shock. The blood sealed space knight has basically just told them that the greatest battle in the history of the kingdom's existence will come to them in one month.

"You have heard the man, and now I am willing to listen to your suggestions, what can we do to stop these new threats of ours, any idea?"

----------------------------------

Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,