Chapter 162: War-Conference ; Alliance

"So, Osmond," I say, "Do you have anything else that you'd like to discuss with me?"

"No, that would be it."

"Is that so," I mutter while getting up from the sofa, "Then, I'll be leaving. Have a good day."

"You too," his voice reaches me from behind as I walk out of the room.

Now then, what should I do?

Just now, we spoke of the matter regarding the Grimoire of Loss, but I'm no hurry to retrieve it.

I suppose heading back to the castle is the best choice at the moment.

Having made up my mind, I make use of Norse Magic to form a gateway directly connected to my room and walk through it.

As soon as I step through to the other side, I find Irene sitting on the bed with a somewhat bored look on her face.

"Irene," I call out, attracting her attention, "Why are you here?"

As a response to my inquiry, Irene lets out a small sigh before saying exasperatingly,

"I am here to spend time with Father, but Father is mostly busy."

Hearing this, a smile forms on my lips as I slowly approach her and take a seat beside her.

Then, I place my hand on her head and begin rubbing it as I say,

"Tell me, Irene, do you have anything you want me to do for you?"

"Hug me," she directly responds.

Gladly. I'm surprised that's enough to satisfy her.

So, I lift Irene's small body and place her on my lap as I continue patting her head.

I then lower my head and kiss her cheek before whispering,

"Thank you for everything you've done for me so far, Irene."

"Anything for Father," she mutters.

---

"Your Highness!" a bulky man salutes before opening one of the two doors for me to pass through.

The moment I step inside the room, everyone present looks over at me with intrigue.

Heeding them no attention, I simply walk over to the table everyone is seated on and take a seat.

Then, I say,

"We're all aware of how the bad situation is, so we must get this settled with quickly."

"Excuse me, Your Highness, but I believe that you're being disrespectful to the-"

Before the guy can finish what he has to say, Henrietta raises her arm and says forcefully,

"Silence!"

The guy grunts before sitting back and glaring at me.

"As Prince Wales said, we're currently in a dire state. A moment wasted here is a given opportunity for our enemy to strike."

Nodding my head, I applaud Henrietta for handling herself so well despite being so young. Truly, a remarkable girl.

"As you're all aware, we're currently facing an all-out attack from the south at two locations."

"First, there is the south-east, where Gallia's land troops are entering Tristain from. They've set up a fort over there, so we're unable to form a blockade until we either take over the fort or raze it to the ground.

"Nevertheless, that's not even the main issue. The second location where Gallia's men come from is from the south-west is where the real trouble is at. Unlike the south-east, they're using flying ships to fly over the land and causing various issues for us."

"Your Grace," one of the men calls out to Henrietta, "Won't they run out of those ships if we continuously destroy them?"

"That's correct," Henrietta responds, "However, we've yet to take one of them down."

"What?!" the man exclaims, bewildered, "But I've heard that at least a dozen of them have been destroyed!"

"That's correct," Henrietta says as a smile appears on her lips, "Fourteen of these ships have been destroyed. However, it wasn't our men that did it, but Prince Wales and his subjects."

The moment her voice fades off, everyone present begins whispering among themselves while sending glances my way.

Heck, some of them are beginning to glare at me for some reason.

Anyway, these guys are sure dumb if they actually believed they stood a chance against Gallia's flying ships with the weaponry they own.

Simply put, whatever they own won't even be effective against the flying ships, or at least, that's what the researchers in Albion informed me.

After having studied the ships for two days, the researchers brought me a good deal of information regarding how the ships fly and their durability.

As expected, it's related to the wind-stones that are keeping Albion in the sky, making me curious about how they got their hands on such an amount to power all these ships.

Perhaps, they've found a mine rich in these gems and stones?

If so, then I should perhaps give Gallia a visit.

"I don't believe it!" a loud voice forces me to shift my attention back to reality.

Looking over at the source of the voice, I find a guy that has stood up from his heat with his hands on the table while arrogance practically spills out of him.

"A short while ago, Albion had been on the verge of destruction, but now you're telling me that they possess enough power to take down these flying ships while we can't?!"

Before anyone else can say anything, I utilize Eyes of Judgment and glare at the men.

This results in him to begin suffocating as an expression of fear begins to appear on his face.

"Look," I say in a calm tone, "You better shut up, lest you want me to show you what Albion is capable of."

Having gotten my message across, I stop using Eyes of Judgment before turning my head to face Henrietta and saying,

"You said that the flying ships are causing various issues. What do you mean by that?"

The reason I'm asking this is that I wasn't the one who destroyed the ships, but Saturnus and Yuno instead.

For some reason, the two of them were rather excited to do the job, so I just let them do whatever they wanted.

"They've been using some kind of means to maim our communications with other kingdoms."

A little puzzled, I ask,

"Is communicating with the other kingdoms really that important? I doubt that they would be willing to help you out with the way things are right now anyway."

"I'm well aware that they won't be offering us any help if we don't offer something in return," Henrietta responds, "But, it's still necessary to be in contact to trade resources with what's required for this war."

"I see," I simply say as I begin thinking of what she just said.

With the kingdoms not able to contact each other, Henrietta won't be able to receive much news regarding what's going on outside of Tristain.

This is a huge problem in and of itself, as one moment Henrietta could be on the verge of victory before the next moment she gets brought down by another kingdom who "suddenly" decided to join the war.

Naturally, I will make sure that Tristain doesn't fall, as it is going to be extremely useful for me in the future. However, I'm not sure about how I should do that.

Currently, the shiniest thought within my head for achieving this would be to completely wipe out the opposing kingdoms.

This might give me a reputation as an unfeeling tyrant, but I can't think of an alternative that is just as efficient.

"Now that the situation has become the way it is now," Henrietta begins, interrupting my thoughts, "We must resort to increasing our power and stabilizing the kingdom."

Then, Henrietta suddenly glances at me for a split-second before looking over at everyone present and saying in a loud voice,

"In order to achieve that, I'm willing to form a permanent alliance with Albion."

Huh? Why do I have a strange feeling about the way she put it?

"As such, I would like to offer my hand in marriage to Prince Wales and unify the two kingdoms!"

…

…

What?!