"And that is what has happened over the past day," Celestina concluded what was essentially a briefing on the explosion incident in the Great Western Forest.
Throughout the meeting, Lucas had spoken up to add a few details here and there on several occasions, a fact which completely dumbfounded Vanessa Clark.
At first, this Commander from the Golden Wings Legion had thought that the young boy was just here to run errands, or was being looked after by her former instructor for some unspoken reason; never had it occurred to her that Lucas would actually be an active participant in their discussion.
Despite having a mountain of questions, the stern look she was getting from General Balfour forced Vanessa to keep these inquires to herself while the briefing was taking place.
Now that all the relevant information about the local situation had been disclosed, though, and the summary of events was in her hands, Vanessa simply couldn't contain her curiosity and asked, "General, if I may… This little brother is…"
"My Disciple," was Celestina's succinct answer.
There were no elaborations or further explanations given, because there really was no need to do so. The moment Vanessa Clark heard that Lucas was the famous Balfour Marquess' Disciple, she no longer questioned why he was present or why he was so well informed and spoken about the current crisis.
Scanning the young boy before her more carefully, Vanessa began to notice there was indeed something special about him. Coupled with the intelligence and maturity he had displayed previously, the Golden Wings Legion Commander was convinced, Sure enough, anyone who can become Teacher's formal Disciple cannot be ordinary.
Thinking so, Vanessa smiled brightly and spoke up, "I apologize for my behaviour earlier, Little Brother Lucas."
Waving his hands frantically, Lucas hurriedly said, "There's no need for Lady Clark to apologize. It's only normal to think a boy my age didn't belong here."
Her smile turning a little warmer, Vanessa was tempted to reach out and pat the young boy's head and praise him, it was only the fact that he was sitting beside her old instructor that stopped this impulse of hers from running wild.
"Ahem, now that you understand, I want an update on the situation in the Capital," Celestina decided she had indulged her former student enough for now and brought the discussion back to the situation at hand.
Straightening her posture and expression, Vanessa assumed an air of professionalism quite far removed from her previous carefree attitude and began reporting, "His Majesty called an emergency meeting of the Royal Council immediately after General Balfour sent word to the capital of the incident. At the same time, His Majesty ordered General Gunthar to prepare the entire Golden Wings Legion for a rapid mobilization."
Hearing this, Celestina nodded, "It seems Nathanial was able to properly grasp just how serious the situation is and responded appropriately."
Completely brushing off her former instructor speaking of the king in such a casual manner, Vanessa continued, "Upon receiving the command, General Gunthar ordered me to organize a pair of Squads from the Golden Wing's First Regiment as a rapid response unit. Our mission was to head to the source of the disaster and investigate, then circle-back and coordinate with local forces before returning to the capital to report."
"En, seems Gunthar had the same thought as I did," Celestina commented before inquiring, "Why are you here, then?"
"That's more of a coincidence than anything else," Vanessa reported, "As First Regiment Commander. We were originally headed towards Herald City, which was the nearest city to the explosion, but on our approach to the city, we made a sweep of the local area and spotted what appeared to be a Skyship departing from this town. Knowing that General Balfour had deployed before us, I made the decision to head here first."
"Good," Celestina nodded.
"When can we expect substantial reinforcements to arrive?" Allina spoke up for the first time in the meeting.
Knitting her brow slightly, Vanessa made some quick calculations before answering, "The Royal Court likely won't be able to make a quick decision about a full mobilization of the Army. As for aid and relief for the South-West Province, that will certainly take even longer to organize."
"I'd estimate the soonest the Army can set out will be 10 days from now. Considering the distance, though, even our fastest ground units would take another half-a-month to arrive here. Likely longer given the need for logistics to keep up."
While this answer came as a disappointment to Celestina Balfour, she wasn't surprised by it.
In fact, in her opinion, reinforcements arriving just one month from now was still a fairly optimistic timeline.
"Even if the King can't directly order a complete deployment of the Army, is it also not possible to at least send some kind of smaller detached force?" Lucas couldn't help asking, unable to conceal both his worry and anxiety for his home.
Turning to the young boy, Vanessa contemplated how to respond to his question, wondering if she should offer a comforting half-truth or the cold reality. But upon seeing the solemn expression on Lucas' face, one which was hard to imagine appearing on a child, she decided to treat him with equal seriousness and said, "The Royal Court is made up a number of influential Ministers and higher nobles who are responsible for much of the kingdom's day-to-day operations. It's never easy for them to reach a decision on significant matters such as military deployments, and their influence is large enough that His Majesty cannot simply overrule them."
Frowning deeply, Lucas mulled over this answer for a time before asking, "Is there some kind of issue with the kingdom's security or financial situation?"
"No," Allina answered, "The kingdom hasn't experienced a major war in over 100 years, and there have been no extreme natural disasters in the past few years. In fact, trade with our neighbours has been flourishing as of late, adding much to our coffers. There are some issues with smuggling related to that increased trade, but the situation is mostly stable."
Hearing this, Lucas' frown deepened further as he clenched his fists and muttered under his breath, "So it's just political squabbling or some petty power struggle that's delaying the deployment."
Vanessa again marveled at what she was hearing, wondering just how a boy from a remote countryside town who had barely begun cultivating was so well versed in the intricacies of how nobles and nations worked.
Feeling a pat on his head, Lucas looked up to see his Master smiling down at him.
Seeing this, he let out a sigh before nodding in acceptance. This was basically the scenario which they had anticipated from the very beginning, so there was no reason for him to get upset over it again.
While it annoyed Lucas to no end that while so many people were suffering and dying, the far-off nobles were bickering over benefits instead of helping, that was just how the strong and powerful behaved, not caring about others as long as they maintained their own interests.
Thinking of this point, Lucas was suddenly reminded of a recent incident and couldn't help turning to Vanessa, "Has the Roth Family shown any unusual movements?"
"The Roths?" Vanessa tilted her head in confusion. The Roth Family, as the second most powerful noble house in the Rockwell Kingdom, was naturally extensively involved in political and military affairs.
Several important positions in the Royal Court and the kingdom's administration were occupied by members of the Roth Family, including the very powerful Minister of Finance position.
Even in the Golden Wings Legion, the Second Regiment's Commander was a direct member of the Roth Family; however, as far as Vanessa knew, the Roths had not taken any specific stand on this issue one way or the other.
"We suspect that one of the Roth Family's Elders died in this incident, along with the youngest son of the current Duke and 100 or so low-level guards who were escorting him," Celestina muttered in a cold tone, clearly annoyed by this fact.
"Wha…" Vanessa was dumbstruck by this new information and quickly turned her eyes back to the report which had been handed to her earlier.
"I intentionally left out the possible involvement of the Roth Family from the summary," Lucas explained, "I thought it would only complicate matters, and there is also no definitive proof they are really dead or responsible for this incident. There likely never will be, either, so bringing it up seemed like it would just create more problems."
"You were the one who wrote up this report?" Vanessa was again gobsmacked, but after a moment, she strangely found herself able to accept this. Lucas had already displayed incredible intelligence and grasp of complex concepts, so being able to write up a summary of the events of the past day didn't seem like too much of a stretch.
Shaking her head, Vanessa returned to the topic, "I departed the capital less than half-an-hour after receiving the order from General Gunthar, so there might not have been enough time for the Roths to learn of this incident and respond."
Pursing her lips, Celestina pondered briefly before her gaze became sharp, "Commander Clark, how long would it take you to make a round trip to the capital?"
Frowning, Vanessa hesitated to answer immediately.
Although Celestina was her former instructor and the woman she admired more than any other, she still technically belonged to a different Army and couldn't take arbitrary actions in defiance of her orders.
Right now, Vanessa's mission was to gather as much intelligence as possible before sending it back to the capital.
Putting in bluntly, she was here to act as a scout for the Golden Wings Legion's. Making a trip back to the capital now, without even trying to head towards the source of the disaster to investigate, was at best a very loose interpretation of her orders, and at worst a direct violation of them.
Even so, it was difficult for Vanessa to outright refuse her respected mentor.
Sensing her former student's distress, Celestina softened her expression slightly before saying, "Just tell Old Gunthar I ordered you to return to make your report in person. If he still makes a fuss, tell him I'm calling in the favour he owes me."
Raising her brow, Vanessa was quite curious what kind of favour the one-eyed, grizzled old man could owe her former instructor, but she wisely kept her questions to herself and instead declared, "In that case, if I travel on my own and push Starlight to his limit, I can be back within a day."
Vanessa's Golden Hawk, Starlight, was a Peak Fourth Order Wild Beast, among the very best in the entire Golden Wings Legion, so he naturally possessed extraordinary strength and stamina. However, even for such a strong beast, traveling back and forth between Redwood Town and Rockwell City in less than a day would surely be quite taxing.
Celestina naturally knew this, but the involvement of the Roths in this matter, and what stance they were going to take, was too important for her to know in order to properly plan for the future that she had no choice but to make this unreasonable request.
Coming to this conclusion, Celestina could only nod slightly and mutter, "Please do."
With these words said, Vanessa stood up and gave a formal salute, "Understood, General Balfour. I shall leave my subordinates under your command in my absence."
Giving a slight nod to her friend and her new little brother, Vanessa turned on her heels and strode out of the room, heading back to where her loyal mount was waiting for her, intending to set off immediately.
As soon as Vanessa had left, Celestina turned her gaze towards Allina and ordered, "Requisition one of the Tartans on my authority and return to Misty City."
Like Vanessa, Allina stood up and saluted, "Yes, General."
Pausing for a moment to think, Allina asked, "Will 2 Regiments be sufficient?"
Furrowing her brow, Celestina held an internal debate before declaring, "Make it 6. You also have my permission to reinforce Misty City's garrison from the reserves in Martin if necessary, but I want the very best sent here as quickly as possible, understood?"
Allina was taken aback when she heard this number, wondering just why her commanding officer suddenly wanted to mobilize almost half of the Raging Riving Legion.
Understanding her subordinate's confusion, Celestina's only response was, "I have a bad feeling about this whole situation. It's like things are on the verge of spiraling out of control, so I want to be ready for any possibility."
Allina nodded solemnly at these ominous words before setting off to carry out her orders.