Alex looked coldly at a group of nobles gathered around the place.
Solanar stepped forward, started giving the greeting speech and then took out a decree.
"Heed my command, from now on the private army arranged by nobles will be drafted into the Central Army. Until the war, all the soldiers would be united and undergo special training."
"What?"
"Why did it come to this?"
The noble screamed in disbelief.
'Wasn't this meeting called to discuss the taxes so how it came to private militarization? Is he striking us by taking down our strength?'
The nobles started to protest as in no way, they could let this happen. Giving up on the private army is akin to giving up their trump cards.
If everything went under Emperor's control then wouldn't there be no way to stop the Emperor if he walked the path of tyranny?
"Stop!"
Alex raised his hand to shut them down.
Pausing for two seconds, he spoke sharply.
"I think you all know about the war that is coming."
"What the hell does war have to do with this? There have been wars before but no Emperor has resorted to this?"
A noble shouted.
The surrounding temperature fell as everyone stared at Alex's blank expression. The soldiers who were guarding around froze thinking that this guy may die for interrupting.
"As an Emperor, don't you think I deserve some respect so how can you interrupt me in the middle."
"Your Highness!"
"Just sit down, I will hear your objection later."
The nobles gave Alex a weird gaze wondering when this guy became so gentle.
"As I was saying, we aren't fighting a war against an Empire,nor a species or continent. We aren't even fighting against another world."
Alex paused and glanced around with a stern look.
"We are fighting against many worlds at the time. An army that might be ten times the population of this whole world. We are fighting against the God Of Darkness itself."
Everyone started to whisper.
At that time, someone raised his hand politely.
'Thank God, at least three are some civilised men here.'Alex muttered inwardly while nodding his head.
"Your Highness, shouldn't the Goddess be the one who takes care of this? How can we mortally intervene."
"Good question," Alex spoke. Even he wanted to ask those mighty ladies who just laze around every day without doing anything. But his mother is exceptional. She works hard for the world.
"That's because they are too weak to take care of them. So they begged me for help."Alex spoke with a smile.
The expression of nobles cracked upon hearing this.
"Your Highness, you are crossing the limit."
"How can you say that to the Almighty Goddess you created us."
"This blasphemy."
"Shut up!"Alex shouted.
"You can go and ask them. I was surprised by the fact. Those Goddess cried pathetically as if without me they are nothing. My heart was wrenched seeing their sad faces. My soft heart was unable to handle their crying face so I agreed to help. You can go ask the Church about this. If you don't believe me I can swear in the name Of Goddess Rebecca about this."
Alex laughed inwardly wondering what the Goddesses would be doing right now.
'You have already got back at me so it's now time to pay back.'Alex smiled crookedly.
Alex then asked them to sit down and proceeded to inform them about the recent affairs.
"For this war, we need warriors above Mythic rank while other rank warriors will act as support. You all aren't even in the Mythic realm and most of you are all old and run out of potential so we can't rely on you. Remember one thing, you can only enjoy it if the world remains alive otherwise everything is useless. And I will take men below 30. You can keep the men above that age."
The nobles after crumbling for a bit finally agreed that there is no other way for them. Naturally, an Emperor wouldn't deceive about the end of the world just for his one benefit.
Solanar finally sighed in relief.
"We will form 5 legions of an army. Each consisted of 50000 soldiers. Within two months, they will roam around the whole Empire and clear the filth. All the secret societies and underground black forces would be disrupted. Bandits and raiders' camps would be destroyed. Thieves and criminals are going to be arrested. After catching them, a judging panel would oversee the case. If they had committed an unforgivable crime they would be executed and if their offences are pardoned they would be drafted into the army."
Tarkel and Hiez's expressions became pale upon hearing this.
Undergoing forces, bandits and illegal things. Which nobles don't have any relationship with them? If they are crippled before, this is directly cutting off their leg.
They cannot even refute this or speak anything against this.
Alex smirked seeing their uneasy expression.
"Third thing. All the mercenary corps would be taken over by the military. Legions of the mercenary unit would be formed according to the number of we hold. Military recruitment would begin once again."Solanar spoke about the plans drafted by Alex and Catherine to deal with the situation.
Alex interrupted him and said," From now on The Kinley Emperor will be in a state of high alert."
"As per the taxes, we will talk about this after the war. Raising taxes at such a crucial period may break the backbone of the commoners and mass uprisings may take place. Moreover due to the curfew where can the poor earn so let's delay it a bit."Alex proposed.
The nobles were tongue-tied and could sigh.
'Just wait now. It will be a good show to see how you protect your tails later."
"Since everything is finished, let's adjourn."
"Your Highness, there is another thing," Solanar spoke.
"Huh! What is it?"
"We have just got the letter. The Demon Empress wanted to have a conversation about you."
As soon as Alex heard this, his heart chilled for some reason.
