NOVEL NEXT Chapter 81: Outdated
"The King and the Queen have been replaced. It seems that your information is outdated, your highness.."
"What?" Gilbert Gottfried looked at General Ivan, stunned by his words. "What nonsense are you spouting? Are you trying to trick me, General?"
"There's no trickery here, your highness!" General Ivan spoke calmly and continued, "Everything that I've told you is the truth. The King has been overthrown by his own blood; his son, Blake Bancroft. And he has been the King for the past few weeks. The people are content under his rule now, your highness! It seems that you should be worrying about your informant's ability first, your highness!"
BAM!
As soon as the General finished his words, Gilbert Gottfried slammed his fist on the table once again, gritting his teeth as he yelled out, "Are you mocking the skills of my men, General? Are you trying to imply that my men are incompetent? Is that what you're trying to do?"
"Of course not, your majesty. I would never do that," General Ivan shook his head and continued. "I'm merely suggesting that you look into your informants as the information they seem to have collected are all pretty old and inaccurate as of now. Frankly, I'm baffled as to how this can happen."
"You have a way with words don't you, General..." Gilbert Gottfried clicked his tongue as he spoke in a sarcastic manner. General Ivan smiled in response, which only made Gottfried even more frustrated.
"Well, regardless of what you think about my words, you have to agree that your intelligence team is, for a lack of a better word, 'lacking'!" General Ivan looked at Gilbert Gottfried and spoke softly, and Gottfried tightly clenched his fists, but didn't say anything.
After a few seconds, Gottfried leaned back in his chair and folded his arms, closing his eyes and thinking to himself, and silence reigned in the room once again.
General Ivan didn't wish to interrupt him as it would only bring about the emperor's wrath upon him. The only reason General Ivan provoked Gilbert Gottfried was to force him to come to terms with the outdated intelligence report instead of outright denying it. It wouldn't do any good if he provoked him while he was thinking to himself, and it would only ruin everything he did right now.
"Hmmmm..." After a brief period of silence, Gilbert Gottfried cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak. "I understand, it seems I have to have a talk with my intelligence team before declaring war on Argria. Forgive me for getting angry at you. It seems that the stress has got to my head."
"No, no., no… It's all right your highness. It was an honest mistake on your part and it isn't a big problem. Let's forget about that," Although General Ivan spoke with a smile on his face, he was cursing out inside his mind.
'The hell it's alright! I'm pretty sure you would've tried to kill me with that kind of aura. As if I'm okay with that!'
If his face wasn't visible to Gottfried right now, then General Ivan would've rolled his eyes at his comment.
"But this doesn't mean that we're done here General..." Gilbert Gottfried said as he pointed hos finger at the General and continued. "Although it was a mistake on my intelligence team's side, the fact is that I'll only trust my own men fully and not you, General."
"Oh, of course your majesty!" General Ivan straightened himself up as he replied and said, "I know that blindly trusting your would-be enemy is simply foolish. But I assure you that I'm telling the truth."
"Hmmm.... alright," Gilbert Gottfried nodded his head, seemingly satisfied with his answer. He then stared at the General and said, "But even if my intelligence report confirms this, how can I be sure that this isn't some scheme put forward by those old foggies in the Royal Council? For all I know, the King that you keep mentioned could simply be a puppet of the Council. I'll need answers, General."
"Oh, of course! I completely understand your reasoning, which is why the King wanted to invite you to the Royal Palace to meet with him," General Ivan shifted his body a bit forward, and said. Gottfried furrowed his eyebrows. "Sounds like you were expecting me to say that, General. It's only making me more suspicious, to be completely honest."
"Well, the king had already invited your highness, and I simply thought that was the best opportunity to mention that!" General Ivan still had his innocent smile on his face as he spoke.
".... Fine, I'll discuss the issue with my intelligence team first, and then I'll decide whether or not I'll accept your King's invitation!" Gilbert Gottfried stood up from his chair and looked down at General Ivan, who was still sitting down. "If you are in fact following the Divine Commandents without any problems, then we won't have any problems and we can let bygones be bygones..."
He then walked towards General Ivan, placed his hand on his shoulder, and said. "But if I find that you lied to me or tried to mess with me, then I'll make sure that you and everyone you love are erased from this world! I hope you'll understand…. General!"
"... I understand, your highness," General Ivan had no smile on his face as he responded to the Emperor's words.
"Good, then I guess this is the end of our conversation for now," Emperor Gilbert Gottfried nodded his head and loosened his grip on General Ivan's shoulder and walked towards the door.
"Oh, and one more thing!" Gottfried stopped right before he exited the room, turned around and shifted his gaze towards the General. "I'll take your messenger, the one who brought your message to my campsite, with me…"
"You want William?" General Ivan looked at the emperor with a confused expression and he replied, "I'm going to have to inform you of the date as to when we can have a meeting, and I can only do that after my discussion with my intelligence team."
"And?"
"And I'm not sending one of my own men to inform you of the news," Gottfried said with a sinister smile as he turned around and exited the room, waving his arm as he walked out of the building. "Send him as soon as you can!"
Gilbert Gottfried left without even waiting to hear General Ivan's answer. He wasn't going to take no for an answer, and Ivan knew that.
"Sir, is everything alright?" One of his subordinates entered the room as soon as the emperor and his men left the place, and asked. General Ivan shook his head, let out a heavy sigh and said, "Just bring me Messenger William. Tell him he's got another mission..."
***********
Back in the Royal Palace.
After meeting with the new King of Argria and receiving his blessings, both Claude and Senior Wilfred Beldon walked out of the giant hall that they were in right now.
Claude quickly began walking towards the exit, eager to return to his training, and Senior Beldon followed him close behind.
"Hey, Claude!" Senior Beldon called out to the fast paced Claude in front of him. "Wait for me, junior!"
Claude stopped in his tracks and turned around, and Senior Beldon caught up to him.
"You said you wanted a position in the Royal Army," Senior Beldon looked at Claude and asked. "Why?"
"What do you mean, why?" Claude raised his eyebrows, confused at his Senior's question. "I just told his majesty the reason."
"I did hear all that. But from what I do know about you, I really don't think you told him the actual reasoning behind your decision," Senior Beldon stared at Claude and replied. "'Royal army is the best place to grow your cultivation skills?' Sure, there might be some truth to that, but I don't think that's all there is to it."
"Why do you want to know so badly?" Claude asked.
"I don't know. I just do," Senior Beldon shrugged his shoulders and replied.
Claude stayed silent for a few seconds, before opening his mouth. "I want to be at the top!"
Senior Beldon looked at Claude and he continued, "No matter what I do, I'll most likely end up working under someone else. And everytime I look back, I can't help but feel as if there's a knife right behind me, ready to pierce my back at any time. And I hate that."
Claude shifted his gaze towards Senior Beldon. "In a world where strength dictates one's social status, the only way to get rid of that feeling is to become the strongest. And I can only do that if I push myself to my utmost limits in every aspect of my life. The Royal Army can provide the setting as well as the resources required for all that."
"... I see." Senior Beldon nodded his head and Claude asked, "Is that good enough of an answer?"
"It's pretty good, yeah.." Senior Beldon said with a smile. "So what do you plan on doing now?"
Claude looked at Senior Beldon and said bluntly, "What else? Train."