Moon City, Nightingale Kingdom.
Inside a spacious hall within the Royal Palace, the atmosphere was tense as the representatives of the four major races had gathered, having just received the terrible news.
Not just them, even the other Rank 3 Magi such as Professor Godfrey and Berger were also in attendance.
At the head of the long table, the King of the Nightingale Kingdom, Arnold Nightingale, sat with a grim expression. He glanced at all the Rank 3 Magi present and solemnly stated, "As you all know, the orcs have declared war upon us once again."
The representative of the dwarves, a stout middle-aged man with a thick, braided beard slammed the table in a fit of anger. "Those damn pig bastards! Don't they ever learn their lesson?"
"Calm down, Thurmir," the elf representative, a man with blond hair and topaz eyes spoke to him. "Even if they do learn from their mistakes from their past failures, it's not like they would ever stop trying. You should know just how relentless they can be."
"Celador…" Thurmir growled at the elf. "Are you okay with the number of deaths this war will bring upon our lands?"
Celador shrugged, speaking with an indifferent tone, "What else can we do? Do you perhaps intend to negotiate with the orcs peacefully?"
"You!" Thurmir was livid. He absolutely hated this condescending elf.
"Shut your mouths, you two. Or do you want a beating?" Suddenly, a cold voice descended upon the two, causing them to quit their squabble instantly.
The pair glanced at the person who had just spoken. Instead of retorting back, they simply lowered their heads and obediently nodded. "Yes, Lord Berger."
Although the gnome was also a Rank 3 Magus similar to Celador and Thurmir, the fact that they were so respectful toward him could mean only one thing.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})That Berger was stronger than them.
When the representative of the gnomes, a middle-aged man named Sholkand, witnessed this scene, he couldn't help but feel immense pride in his heart.
He secretly glanced at Berger and thought to himself, Ah, Lord Berger… marvelous, simply marvelous! You truly are my role model!
Berger simply harrumphed at them and resumed smoking from his pipe. He glanced at Arnold and gestured for him to continue.
Arnold nodded at the old gnome with a faint smile. He then gazed at everyone present and continued, "My spies tell me that the orcs have gotten their hands on a special artifact that has allowed them to manipulate a vast number of magical beasts."
Shokland's eyes narrowed and he ventured a guess, "Could it be that they acquired this artifact from the secret plane?"
Professor Godfrey, who had been silent all this while, nodded. "It is very likely. Or else they would have used it the last time they invaded our lands."
"Has it been a hundred years already?" Celarod sighed.
"Yes." Professor Godfrey nodded. "A hundred and seventeen to be precise."
The room turned silent, everyone thinking deeply about the implications of this new information. If the orcs had found a way to control magical beasts, then their army had already grown several times.
This war would be certainly different from any of the last ones.
"What is the scope of the artifact? How many beasts have the orcs in their control?" Celarod asked.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"Tens of thousands of Rank 1 beasts. I'm not sure of the exact number," Arnold replied grimly, "and that's not all. The orcs have even allied with the trolls and ogres."
"Those hideous creatures!" Thurmir spoke while gritting his teeth. "Looks like the scale of this war this time would be significant. How many of our people would have to die? Damn it, only if we could participate in this war, everything would be over in an instant!"
Celarod scoffed, "You sure can dream, little man."
"Grrr!" Thurmir glared at the blond elf. "Watch your words, you effeminate elf."
"Or what?" Celarod taunted the dwarf with a smirk. "Have you forgotten about the covenant between us and the orcs?"
Thurmir clenched his fists in fury, his face turning red.
Seeing this, Celarod continued with a mocking grin, "Or do you think that your race has another Rank 3 Magus that can lead your people should you die in battle? Hah? Which one is it?"
"You ponty-eared bastard, you wanna go at it?" Thurmir got to his feet and rolled his sleeves, ready to pounce at the elf any moment.
Celarod too took a step forward and coldly muttered, "Oh? Do you think I'm scared of you?"
POW! POW!
"Ughhh!!" The elf and the dwarf simultaneously groaned and sat back down in their seats. Their foreheads were swollen like a potato. They didn't even have to look to see who had just hit them.
They simply lowered their heads once again and meekly apologized, "I'm sorry, Lord Berger, it won't happen again."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})"It better not," Berger replied with an annoyed voice. "Or I'm going to make you wish you were dead."
Celarod and Thurmir nodded their heads like chickens pecking at rice grains. Meanwhile, Sholkand, who had a stoic expression on his face, was going crazy inside his head, Kyaa! Lord Berger, so cool!
The war between the four major races and the orcs had been going on for generations. Within the limited lands of the Southern Federation, resources were scarce, to say the least. That is why there would always be people fighting over them.
Conflict was inevitable.
In the past when war was waged between the two sides, Rank 3 Magi would also participate. However, the sheer destruction left behind in their wake was simply too much to recover from.
Rank 3 Magi were the leaders of their respective races in the Southern Federation and wielded enormous power. If they were to die, then their species would be reduced to nothing without their support.
That is why, hundreds of years ago, the Rank 3 Magi from both sides had come to an agreement - no Rank 3 Magi were to participate in this war over resources henceforth!
If anyone were to renege on this agreement, then all the Rank 3 Magi would band together and annihilate that person.
Arnold spoke with a heavy tone, "It has already been a day since the orcs started thier assault. Many of the towns and cities bordering the Murky Mountains have already fallen."
He got up to his feet and looked every Rank 3 Magi in the eye. "My fellow Magi, time is of the essence. We must conscript all able-bodied Magi to fight this war and protect our homeland."
The Magi glanced at each other and nodded.
Arnold continued, "Let us show those damn monsters the reason why our four races have stood strong for all these years. As long as we're united, there's nothing stopping us.
"Let us prepare for war!"
