System's POV-Chapter 900: I Need All The Help I Can Get
"Who’s the moron who chose to attack that place without doing proper research and scouting?!" Douglas angrily pounded his table. "Are you trying to make us all lose face?!"
"The Commander for the recent mission is one of the Elders of your Griffin Clan," the Patriarch of the Lotte Family, Owaine Lotte, replied calmly. "Why did you send an incompetent Elder to the battlefield?"
Douglas almost choked on his saliva after hearing that the incompetent commander whom he wished to slap to death actually belonged to his family.
"The aftermath of this battle has hurt our reputation," the Patriarch of the Gates Family, Liam Gates, commented. "Unless our next battle results in a decisive win, this stain will be hard to clean."
"I think this is a blessing in disguise," Dave, who ruled the Bishop Family, stated. "This first battle exposed a weakness in the Slayer Legion. But that’s a good thing—it means we can fix it and make sure it doesn’t happen again."
"First, we need a capable commander to lead our forces. Renz Elrod is right there at Main Headquarters—why hasn’t anyone thought of asking him to be the Slayer Legion’s strategist?"
The three leaders looked at Douglas, who was still simmering with anger.
Owaine had previously suggested bringing Renz in to oversee the operation, but Douglas dismissed the idea, believing it was overkill to send the Dvalinn Federation’s top strategist against low-ranked monsters.
Now that he had indirectly realized that the failure of the first raid of the Slayer Legion might entirely be his fault for the second time, Douglas gritted his teeth and asked about the number of casualties they suffered in this battle.
"We have lost a hundred people during the strategic retreat," Liam reported. "Ten Grandmasters, 28 Masters, and the rest are either Apostles or Initiates. The only silver lining is that none of the Seeds had been killed in battle."
The term "Seeds" was used for the promising members of the young generation who belonged to each of their families.
"Everyone has retreated safely to Sylvaris City," Dave stated. "I propose that the Slayer Legion hold off on mobilizing until Renz Elrod arrives. Also, we need to make it clear to the Elders and our scions that they are to follow his orders without question."
"I don’t want another failure caused by fools who refuse to obey the order of someone outside their faction."
Douglas, Liam, and Owaine all nodded in agreement.
Although their first campaign ended in failure, they didn’t lose too many men in battle.
At most, those who had died were merely their servants, whose only purpose was to protect the members of their families.
"Did the Central Government make any comments about our recent failure?" Douglas inquired.
He was currently inside a secret underground base of the Griffin Clan, so he was not aware of what was happening in the outside world.
However, the Slayer Legion’s loss was so important that the Elders of his family personally contacted him to make sure he knew about the situation.
Enraged about this failure, Douglas immediately called a conference with his allies to ask them what had happened in the expedition.
"The Central Government said it’s normal for things like this to happen on the battlefield," Liam replied. ’They even praised the leader of the Slayer Legion for giving the order to retreat, minimizing their casualties. They sure helped us a lot in that interview. As expected of Tristan and Lawrence."
The Patriarchs nodded in agreement.
The Central Government was the army of the world, so they would not let chaos and panic grip the hearts of the people.
Even if they had grievances and conflicts with the Monarch Clans and the Prestigious Families, when it came to fighting against the Jinns, they were always there to keep everyone safe.
"By the way, is there any news about Zion?" Douglas asked.
He was more concerned about the news of the teenage boy than the Slayer Legion.
"Our spies said he left Casimir City with only less than six hundred people in his entourage," Dave replied.
"Where are they heading?" Douglas inquired.
"Suncrest Valley," Liam, who wanted everyone to know that his spy was also very active in the 69th Battalion, answered.
"Suncrest Valley…" Douglas frowned. "What can be found in Suncrest Valley?"
The three Patriarchs glanced in Owaine’s direction because the valley was part of the territory he ruled years before the Jinn Invasion became a threat and before all the residents were evacuated.
"There’s nothing special about it aside from the lake at its center," Owaine commented.
"What monsters can be found in that valley?" Liam inquired.
"I have no idea," Owaine replied. "We evacuated before monsters started appearing en masse.
"I wonder why that kid is so confident in raiding monster nests with so few people on his side." Dave shook his head helplessly. "If only my grandson is half as competent as that young man, then I have no trouble naming him my future heir."
"You have a granddaughter, right?" Liam smirked. "I think her name is Natalie. She’s the same age as Zion, and they traveled together during her First Wandering. If you make him your son-in-law, wouldn’t that secure your future?"
The conference room fell silent as the four Patriarchs exchanged looks, each lost in thought. Their projections displayed their pondering faces, their minds turning as they considered which of their granddaughters might catch Zion’s interest.
All of them recognized the young man’s intelligence and competence. If they indeed managed to bring him to their fold, only great things await them.
"Right, any news about what Aaron Ashford is scheming behind our backs?" Douglas inquired. "My spy inside the Ashford Clan told me that he hadn’t seen Aaron in the past two years."
"I have no news on my side either," Dave replied.
Owaine shook his head. "None on my side as well."
"He is also not active in Solterra," Liam stated. "Knowing Aaron, he might be doing some kind of big project that he doesn’t want others to find out about. If our spies cannot find his whereabouts, this means that he has taken extra measures to prevent others from sniffing his plans."
The Monarchs might seem like a Monolith to the outside world, but truth be told, they were not really a tight-knit group.
Back then, they followed Aaron not out of loyalty, but because he was their "leader" and possessed an ability that could potentially put their lives at risk.
Thankfully, that power had no effect on Lawrence, stopping the Monarch Clans from completely taking control of the world.
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Even so, Douglas and the other Monarchs avoided making an enemy of Aaron unless absolutely necessary. They knew all too well how dangerous his abilities were.
’I just hope that he will help during the invasion,’ Douglas thought. ’I need all the help that I can get.’
Douglas was the ruler of the Cygni Continent, so if it fell, he would have no choice but to go to the Sirius Continent and find a place to rebuild his home.
Unfortunately, the only lands that could be taken were in the North of the Continent, surrounded by mountain ranges.
It would need a lot of manpower and resources to make those places habitable for his people.
Suddenly, the image of Zion Leventis appeared inside Douglas’ head.
Truth be told, he held this teenage boy in high regard and believed that he would be the key to winning the upcoming war.
But for some reason, he could feel that Zion subtly hated him.
Douglas was very sensitive to human emotions, so despite the fact that Zion was always smiling when the two of them chatted, his instincts were telling him that the boy wished nothing more than to stab a knife in his throat.
’What did I do to offend him?’ Douglas thought. ’Did my family make things difficult for him in Solterra? Did his family get attacked by my people?’
Douglas frowned before asking their meeting to end. He planned to do a little investigation to find out the real cause of the teenage boy’s hostility, which might cause him to purposely sabotage the war efforts and make the Cygni Continent fall into the hands of the Jinns.
Of course, Douglas didn’t know that the downfall of the Cygni Continent was the last thing that Thirteen wanted to happen.
Thirteen had put a lot of time, effort, and resources into creating many trump cards to ensure that they would win this war.
Unfortunately, it was also true that he hated Douglas. After all, he was part of the group that backstabbed his Host, who genuinely fought for the sake of humanity.
