The next day, the news that the king had called for a meeting where all the top officials of the kingdom would attend startled the sovereigns, who had all been expecting one where they would meet and discuss about what he had found out in the library that he had worked so hard to enter.
They had read his message, and all of them had been pretty disturbed for quite a long time. The same ramifications that had gone through his mind had also occurred to all of them, and they had even come together to discuss between themselves, as they had found that the king was absent.
He hadn't responded to their communication, and they had just thought that he must be on some sudden errand. Initially, when they had gotten the news that he was going to meet the Overseer, they had panicked a bit, but after a little bit of time, the king had sent another message that the meeting had gone normally, and that he wasn't in any trouble.
That was why they assumed that he must have gotten busy with something, and that was also why it was so surprising to receive this news out of the blue.
The king still refrained from answering the questions they put forth, and he only gave terse replies when they tried to contact him through the oathlink.
It was only on the next day, when everyone had gathered, that they finally saw him again.
After a long time, many of the individuals who had been recruited by the king and who had been working diligently all this while had gathered in one place.
There was the trader who had become quite instrumental in carrying out Eloise's orders, and there was even the spymaster who had decided to come along and who was currently hiding his identity by acting like a servant who was stationed in the room.
The rulers of the other three forces in the Alliance had also arrived, along with their topmost ministers. Elanev's father was included in the latter group.
Many of the eyes of these individuals were riveted on the stunning elves who were also present. When they saw the two of them hold hands and act like a couple, though, astonishment could be seen in many, and in some, there was even disappointment.
This was the weirdness of human nature: even though they knew that they would never be able to get into a relationship with these two individuals who had both power and authority, they still felt sad when they saw that they were 'taken'.
Of course, Luther was there to represent the Hidden Kill Sect, and from the Black Raven Kingdom, a few old people had arrived, who were apparently members of the Chief Council who took care of the kingdom in Faxul's absence.
Faxul was sitting with them while catching up on the matters of his kingdom.
A few invisible people were also present. One of these was the former Grand Court Mage of Lanthanor, who had been steadily working to redeem his image. He had already been given quite a few responsibilities such as looking for talent in the vast population of the Alliance, and Kellor was satisfied with everything that he was doing.
Finally, the Champion of Balance had also taken a break from his 'loving' instruction of the Domination Corps to preside over this meeting.
As always, Daneel suddenly appeared in front of the throne and directly sat down.
He dispensed with the formalities, and immediately launched into the reason behind him calling for the meeting in the first place.
"The purpose of this meeting is to assess the present state of the Alliance, and also to discuss what is needed to transform us into a superpower that can possibly make an impact in the war against the Church. All of you have already received information regarding the power level of the force that we might have to face. It might seem like an impossible task at the moment, but I want you all to keep an open mind and just tell me what is required. You might be surprised to find that many things can be solved. But to find effective solutions, we need to have a perfect estimate of what we want to achieve, and the route we will use to get there. Let us begin."
These words first made a hush fall over the entire area, as the King's proclamation could not be any loftier.
Transform into a superpower that could contend against the Church, whose squadrons were supposed to contain those at least at the level of Champions?
Such words could easily be spoken, but making them come true… Was a different matter altogether.
Only the sovereigns were not surprised as they heard this, as they had long known that this was the ultimate objective of the King.
However, seeing the way that he brought it up so urgently, they could feel that something was wrong.
Half of them were convinced that they should ask right away, but Robert and Luther spoke to dissuade them of this notion.
"Let the meeting and. We can talk to him after that," they said together, and the rest of the sovereigns agreed.
The discussion began with the present state of the Alliance, and through it all, the King of Lanthanor just sat on his throne with a stoic expression on his face.
For half the time, it almost looked like his mind was on something else, but he would always find the perfect thing to ask or say no matter in which direction the discussion went.
For example, there was a proposal that the fundamental instruction mechanism in the School City should be changed, but the king had directly dismissed that suggestion as it would not have any impact in the short term. The war was imminent in barely a few years, and they had to plan with that in mind.
The elves, together, gave a lot of inputs, such as regarding the state of their recovering army and all of the trinkets that they had on hold which could be retrofitted using higher-tier resources.
As for the state of the army of Lanthanor, it wasn't very good, mainly because of the elite mages who were still, to the public, out of commission.
Sadly, it was not possible to change that at the moment, so the end result of the discussion was that a lot needed to be done if they even wanted to go back to the power level that they had been at before.
The crux of it all… was potential.
Any way one looked at it, the biggest drawback of the armies of the Central Continent was that the general potential of both the Mages and Fighters was terribly low.
If this could somehow be changed, then the vision of the king to transform the Central Continent into a superpower might not seem so far-fetched, after all.
Even when talking about those who were already in the Army and who had acceptable potential, the fact was that they trained too slowly, and in a couple of years, they would at most improve by a small realm, if nothing changed.
However, as soon as this was stated, the king gave a strange reply.
"Leave that alone. Assume that the general potential and the general power level of all those who are in the armies will go up by the measure of a major realm before the war commences. In that case, what can we do to make them even more effective?"
These words caused an even longer pause to appear in the room, and it was only when the king clapped his hands to bring everyone back to their senses that they finally blinked and began to think about the requirement that had been put forth.
However, it took some time, because many still couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that tens of thousands of individuals could somehow cross a major realm in the matter of a few years.
After they finally did so, though, the discussion centered around the legendary battalion formations of Lanthanor.
Of course, these were the tanks and other innovative forms that soldiers could take during battle in order to increase their efficiency and power output to a completely different level.
This was where the eyes of the king began to shine, and they could perceive his excitement. He began to talk about how the need was to change the formations that were already at hand to work with much more powerful individuals, and it was surprising to find out that this could be done quite easily.
The reason behind this was that these formations were derived from ancient ones, which had been utilized at the time when the general Energy level of the continent was different. Hence, all that needed to be done was to go back to those original ones and make any small changes that might be necessary.
Thus, the first resolution of the congregation was made: existing battalion formations and new ones would be researched and deployed keeping in mind the combined army of all the forces of the Alliance.
This meant that a lot of research had to be done into how the unique Black Raven Corps of the Black Raven Kingdom could be used, and how the assassins of the Hidden Kill Sect could be combined with the present forces to make them even stronger.
After this, the topic of discussion was regarding the general populace, and what changes needed to be made in that aspect.
With this, the second resolution came to be: plans would be set up using which large numbers of people could combine their strength to launch at least one attack in case the worst came to be.
These would only need to be used if all of the countermeasures placed were destroyed, and if the Church marched on the innocent folk whom they were coming to slaughter.
The idea was that at such a time, these people should at least have the means to defend themselves, or hold out in case help was near.
Slowly, the tone of the entire conversation, itself, seemed to change to one that would usually be seen in situation rooms during wartime.
This started to worry the sovereigns, who had been of the impression that they still had a lot of time. Having that view suddenly changed, erratic thoughts began to appear in their minds.
Still, they weren't sovereigns for nothing. The managed to take back control and begin thinking so that they could contribute to the discussion, which was still going on in full swing.
By this time, the meeting had gone on for the better part of a day, and the time came to end it with one final resolution.
This one was regarding the infrastructure of the Alliance, and it was decided that a report would be created regarding the exact amounts of resources that were present with them which could be used to begin preparing both defensive and offensive items that would be used during the war.
The meeting was adjourned at that point, with the king declaring that they would meet again when everything that they had decided here was fulfilled.
Yet… Just before everyone left, he stood up and gave an ominous statement that shocked most of those who had gathered.
"In case you haven't noticed, let me make it clear you. None of these plans explicitly require my involvement. The idea behind this is that even if anything happens to me, they can continue, which means that we will be prepared for the War. I'm not saying this to incite panic, but I just wish to state a possibility which we cannot ignore as the very fate of the continent is at stake. May the Heavens help us in all of our pursuits."
The king teleported away after saying this, and instantly, the sovereigns all disappeared and reappeared in his quarters, where they found him looking out of a window with a brooding expression on his face.
None of them were able to control themselves anymore. It was Eloise who asked the question that was in all of their minds, and she didn't mince her words.
"What's wrong, Daneel? Why the hell are you acting in this way?"
His answer… Made them all stare him while looking as if they had been struck by a hundred thousand lightning bolts.
"My dear sovereigns… It is all because I sense something which I cannot place my finger on. Although my instinct is only being triggered by the slightest bit, I cannot afford to ignore it. It tells me… That something may befall me soon, and before that happens, I intend to put everything in place so that the world can go on in the correct path even if I am absent. Yes, you heard me right. Even if the King of Lanthanor is no more…Angaria needs to win, and survive. And it is all of you who must ensure that. I need you all to swear, right here and right now, that you will not risk your lives to avenge, or look for me, in case it is not death that comes in my way. Our homeland needs you more. Heed the words of your King, and swear it."