Chapter 1076: The War Forge Assembly (2)
"Is that so?" Giving himself time to process Julian's words, Byron eventually regained his smile as he looked back at the two, his gaze briefly on Valyr before returning to his friend.
"Mind if I take a peek at those items in advance, then?"
At those words, Valyr looked at Julian, who stared at Byron for a bit before eventually shaking his head. "Normally, I don't mind if you take a look at it. However, I would have to decline that request this time around."
Noticing the man's raised eyebrow, he quickly clarified itself. "Don't get me wrong. It's not that I'm not confident in what we'll be showing later on."
"But... don't you think it'll be more exciting if all that expectation comes rushing at once?"
As he took note of his friend's slightly teasing smile, Byron could not help but slightly frown at his answer.
Though, after closing his eyes for a bit, that frown gradually disappeared, returning his expression to more or less what it was before.
Pushing his senses to the limit to see if there was any falsehood in their words, the man was about to say something to Julian, only to be interrupted as a couple of other directors made their way to greet him.
Seeing that, Byron inwardly let out a low sigh as he decided to part ways from the two for the meantime.
But not before leaving a statement for the two of them.
"I may not know exactly what items you plan on showing, but consider me invested," said the man to the two, his gaze eventually landing on Julian. "I hope it doesn't disappoint my expectations."
"I assure you. It won't." With those parting words, Julian and Valyr soon made their way to one of the more vacant areas of the assembly hall, occupying a pair of seats that were only a few rows away from the stage.
Noticing that there was still some time before the meeting officially began, Valyr looked around their surroundings for a bit before asking Julian a question. "Was there really a need to do all that?"
"Oh, definitely." Julian nodded as he softly chuckled. "It goes without saying that garnering more support from my fellow directors beforehand would increase the chances of our proposal getting accepted."
"If that's the case, then why not garner more support from the other directors before the meeting starts?" asked the young man after a bit of thought.
"Because there's no need to," replied Julian with a confident smile, only to then point at the suit of armor he was currently wearing.
Noticing that some of the directors began to frown at the secretary's words, Valyr looked at Julian and asked what was going on, only for the latter to explain to him that there was a certain pattern to the meeting.
"You could say the meeting is split into two parts," Julian told Valyr in a whisper, making sure not to disturb the meeting. "The first part is somewhat static, considering that it's just the military keeping us up to date on the frontlines, as well as informing us of the changes they plan on implementing."
"On the other hand, the second part is where we shine." he continued. "This part is where us directors throw out ideas and proposals that might possibly help out in the war efforts."
"That's also the part where we come in."
Satisfied with the explanation he'd gotten, Valyr soon returned his attention to the secretary talking up front, only for what Julian termed as the first part of the meeting to be finished around ten minutes later.
By the time the secretary stepped down, Elder Alvin went up stage once more, informing the directors that it was now time for them to share their ideas and proposals with the other
directors.
"If you have any proposals or ideas that might help in the frontlines, feel free to step up," said the elder, which immediately prompted a couple of directors to be the first in what Valyr eventually thought was the longest part of the War Forge Assembly.
Glancing at Julian in the midst of others' proposals to see if they'd pitch their ideas soon, Valyr was quickly met with a shake of the man's head, telling him that it'd be better for them
to bide their time.
And thus, the two listened and took note of the proposals the other directors gave, with most of them unsurprisingly being rejected by the other directors due to the outlandish ideas they
brought up.
As for the proposals that were accepted, Valyr noticed that the secretary took down notes while talking with the general from time to time, causing a bit of the nervousness he thought
had disappeared to come to surface.
Eventually, after watching the other directors propose their ideas to the assembly for over a
couple hours now, Julian stood up all of a sudden before making his way to the stage, forcing Valyr to let out a soft sigh as he followed behind the man soon after.
After all, this meant that it was now their turn.