"82 Apprentices, 137 Adepts, 12 True Mages, around 200 warriors of varying strengths, and over 800 normal people."
A black-haired woman stood in a cave-like room with several other people. All of them wore ostentatious robes filled to the brim with Magic Circles.
Right now, she was looking at a blonde man who looked to be on the younger side. The blonde man kept his arms behind him to seem dignified, but his fists were clenched in rage and frustration.
"How do you explain these heavy losses, Duke Mithril?" the Head of the Council asked as she looked at him.
Duke Mithril, the blonde man, seemed cold on the outside, but a deep hatred and rage were rampaging inside of him.
He had just lost his home, a huge part of his wealth, and a large portion of his forces.
And now, after all of this, he still had to justify everything in front of the Council.
"I believe this has been a strike aimed specifically at me," Duke Mithril said coldly.
"By whom?" one of the Council asked.
Duke Mithril looked to his left.
A green-haired, charismatic man stood a couple of meters to the left of Duke Mithril.
"It's Duke Whirlwind," he said.
"What is your response to these accusations, Duke Whirlwind?" the Head of the Council asked.
Duke Whirlwind only smiled charismatically. "They are only an attempt to shift blame onto me," Duke Whirlwind said as if it weren't a big deal. "I called him over to trade. We had a trade. He left. The timing was just very unfortunate."
Duke Mithril wanted to snort, but he kept himself in check. "Yes, very unfortunate," he repeated. "I rarely leave my castle, and the one time I do, and the one time it is you who calls me, a never-before-seen attack of the Abominations appears in my territory."
"Duke Mithril, please don't make such claims without the relevant information," Duke Whirlwind said. "The only witness to these events is a merchant that was on his way to the Storm Eagle Zone from the Volcano Wyrm Zone. He saw an army of Abominations, but his estimates range from 100 to 1000, which is not very reliable."
"We all know that most Abomination invasions consist of 100 to 400 Abominations, which is well within his estimated range. The chances are overwhelmingly in favor of this just being a regular Abomination invasion," Duke Whirlwind explained.
This time, Duke Mithril couldn't stop himself from snorting. "If this were a normal-sized invasion, my defenses would have been able to take care of them."
The Council remained silent as they watched the two Dukes bicker with each other.
"Would they?" Duke Whirlwind asked.
"Yes, they would have," Duke Mithril confirmed.
"Duke Mithril, you seem to forget that we are neighbors, and it is common for neighbors to look at their neighbors' houses," Duke Whirlwind said with a raised eyebrow.
"Are you accusing me of something?" Duke Mithril asked with a dark tone.
"I am," Duke Whirlwind said.
The atmosphere shifted a bit after Duke Whirlwind said that.
"While it is true that, with you present, your castle exceeded the updated defense mandates, this is not the case if you are absent."
"Just based on the report of losses, we can easily deduce how many people have defended your castle."
"Twelve True Mages died, but a town with over 1,000 people living in it must be defended by a collective force of 30 True Mages," Duke Whirlwind said.
"I know that," Duke Mithril answered, "which is why there also were hundreds of warriors stationed near my castle with the necessary fortifications."
"Necessary fortifications," Duke Whirlwind repeated with a snort.
"That's a lie."
The Council furrowed their brows at Duke Whirlwind.
He better have proof to make such a claim!
"Council, if I could direct your attention to this Light Vision Array for a moment," Duke Whirlwind said as he took out a plate filled with Magic Circles.
"You made pictures of my home?!" Duke Mithril shouted in outrage. "This is a breach of privacy! This is proof that you were planning on disturbing the peace of the Kingdom by attacking me!"
Duke Whirlwind only smirked. "I was concerned for your people, Duke Mithril," he said. "I've noticed that there is a distinct lack of heavy ballistae on the walls, and I feared that there would be troubles. I wanted to bring this to the Council's attention earlier, but I've been held up in the Storm Eagle Zone. The Zone has become a bit more difficult to manage in the last couple of years."
"Show us the pictures," the Council demanded.
Duke Whirlwind nodded and activated the Light Vision Array.
A second later, the images that Shang had taken were there for all to see.
There were only five heavy ballistae on the walls.
"One heavy ballista armed by a Commander Stage warrior counts as one True Mage in terms of defensive power," the Head of the Council said. "With the twelve True Mages we've lost, this would come to 17 True Mages in terms of defensive force. If we were generous, we could give you another three for the presence of all the Adepts and warriors, but that would be the upper limit."
"Duke Mithril, could you explain these pictures to us?" she asked.
"They are correct," Duke Mithril said. "As you all know, I haven't left my castle in several weeks, and I found the constant presence of over 30 True Mages, while I was there, to be a waste of resources."
The Council nodded, and the Head of the Council looked at Duke Whirlwind.
Right now, Duke Whirlwind could see a cold, complex, and threatening glare in the Head's eyes.
She was obviously threatening him covertly.
"Duke Whirlwind," she said with a cold voice. "Do you have anything to say against that?"
Duke Whirlwind only looked at the Head.
"That would be enough to defend a town."
"However, he wasn't there."
Duke Mithril gritted his teeth and glared at Duke Whirlwind while the eyes of the Council narrowed coldly.
"Because you lured me away! This was all your plan!" Duke Mithril shouted while pointing at Duke Whirlwind.
"I did invite you, yes," Duke Whirlwind answered. "However, defending your towns is your duty."
"Why didn't you just order three Circles back to the town for a day while you left? That couldn't have taken very long. You have a territory and force equivalent to two Dukes. Are you telling us that you can't spare three Circles for half a day?" Duke Whirlwind asked.
This was an unassailable argument.
Duke Mithril quickly tried to find a counterargument.
What about Duke Whirlwind's biggest city, Warrior's Paradise?
As soon as Duke Mithril thought of that, he immediately threw that argument to the side.
Warrior's Paradise was about as fortified as it got. It was probably the most fortified location in the entire Kingdom, except for the Skythunder Zone. 2,000 Abominations could appear there, and they wouldn't even reach it before they all died.
"I've heard enough."
Everyone immediately stopped everything that they were doing and looked at the throne.
"Duke Whirlwind," King Skythunder said as he cleaned his nails with a long piece of metal. "Did you summon the Abominations?"
"No, my King," Duke Whirlwind answered.
King Skythunder nodded without looking at him. He was too preoccupied with cleaning the dirt out from beneath his nails.
"Duke Mithril," King Skythunder continued. "At the time of the assault, your castle did not fulfill the defense mandate. Is that true?"
Duke Mithril's mind tried to come up with a way to rationalize that it actually was fortified…
But the more he hesitated under King Skythunder's attention, the more scared he became.
"Yes, my King," he said with a defeated voice.
King Skythunder nodded. "There. Everything's resolved," he said. "Council, you can decide the punishment."
The Council looked at each other as they talked with their Spirit Senses.
A couple of seconds later, they came to a consensus.
The Head of the Council stepped forward and looked at Duke Mithril.
She also threw a cold glance at Duke Whirlwind, but he didn't react.
"Duke Mithril has not fulfilled his duties to the Council's expectations," she proclaimed. "Therefore, the Adamantite Behemoth Zone will be handled by someone else of the Archduke's choosing."
Duke Mithril gritted his teeth.
He had just lost his most important Zone.
"Additionally," the Head of the Council continued. "Since the Empress Cobra Zone is now in an isolated position, the control over this Zone will also transfer to another Duke, which will be left for the Archduke to decide."
When Duke Mithril heard that, his face turned white.
He had just lost two Zones!
Even more, the reasoning of the Council for taking away the Empress Cobra Zone as well was shoddy, which could only mean one thing.
Duke Mithril was thrown out of the secret alliance to deal with Duke Whirlwind.
Duke Mithril had screwed up, and King Skythunder had taken note of everything.
Even though the Council was united, King Skythunder was unassailable.
If King Skythunder didn't like someone, the Council couldn't possibly act favorably toward them.
King Skythunder didn't make much of his own opinion known in this session, but the Council knew him for decades, and they could tell what he thought of someone.
And they saw that King Skythunder didn't like Duke Mithril.
Because of that, they threw Duke Mithril to the side. He would still get to keep his other territories, but he would only do the basics of what a Duke was supposed to do.
Duke Whirlwind didn't say anything as he watched everything unfold.
This seemed like a win, but it only replaced one enemy with a different one.
He knew that he wouldn't get these territories.
The Archduke was his enemy, just like the Council.
