Volume 3, Chapter 36 – The Real Attitude

“Not sending reinforcements to the Northern Fortress? What kind of joke is that!”

“The Northern Fortress’s importance to our Kingdom doesn’t even need me to say it. Handing over the Northern Fortress just like that? Then why don’t you just give the entire Kingdom to the beastmen?”

The group of generals and commanders completely erupted.

“This matter is clearly just an excuse for the beastmen to seize the Northern Fortress, and you hopeless rulers actually believe what the beastmen say!?”

That last sentence indeed carried a sense of overstepping.

However, to the generals whose heads were clouded with anger, the Northern Fortress had always been an inseparable part of the Kingdom’s territory ever since ancient times. Even though it had fallen into the hands of the Graveyard, they would still take it back.

But…

They had not reclaimed it yet, and now the beastmen were being allowed to occupy the Northern Fortress as their own… how could such a thing possibly be tolerated.

“What? Didn’t I already say it? The beastmen are only borrowing the Northern Fortress temporarily. They will return it to us when the time comes.”

The King of the Storm Kingdom looked down at the generals with a cold, indifferent expression.

“And didn’t I already say that Paladin Fisiel will lead her army to station at the Northern Fortress to monitor the beastmen?”

“Then what about reinforcements? If you want Fisiel to monitor them, what about the reinforcements for supply support?”

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“Do you even need to ask that?”

The King of the Storm Kingdom shook his head and no longer paid attention to the angry expressions on the military commanders’ faces.

“I have already told you this much only because I felt it necessary to explain. If I thought it unnecessary, I would not give you any chance to question me at all.”

“Enough. The matter regarding the Northern Fortress ends here. The Northern Fortress does not require reinforcements. Fisiel will remain there to monitor the beastmen’s every move. As for supply provisions… the beastmen at the Stronghold will take care of it properly.”

After leaving behind those words, the King of the Storm Kingdom turned and left the conference hall without looking back.

“Hmph, so what if you command tens of millions of soldiers in the Kingdom’s armies? The ones with real decision-making power are not you reckless brutes, but us nobles who inherit our positions generation after generation.”

Looking at the generals whose expressions were all quite unpleasant, the nobles on the other side spoke with disdainful tones and mocking expressions.

Indeed.

The ones who determined the Kingdom’s direction were not them, but the rulers of the empires and kingdoms within the ruling factions…

No matter how logically they argued, in the eyes of the rulers, only profit could move them.

“But why do this? I remember the order to send Fisiel was proposed by you in the first place. Why are you now planning to abandon her?”

Some generals had already faintly realized something and their expressions changed drastically. But there were still some who, unwilling to accept it, continued demanding an answer.

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After all, the decision to send the young Paladin Fisiel to the Northern Fortress had been something unanimously agreed upon by the higher-ups.

Yet now, it seemed they were going to abandon Fisiel entirely at the Northern Fortress?

“Legendary-tier Paladin Fisiel, the sole heir of a Paladin family of single lineage, raised from childhood under Paladin education, is indeed an extremely outstanding paladin.”

“But don’t forget. Fisiel’s family produced a paladin who betrayed the Paladin creed more than a hundred thousand years ago.”

“Absurd! You’re using something from hundreds of thousands of years ago as justification? Do you have no other explanation?”

“Hmph, this has grounds. We investigated that Legendary Paladin’s family history. Although Fisiel is a woman, her accomplishments as a Paladin far surpass her father’s and even dozens of generations before him.”

“But the problem lies precisely in the fact that Fisiel is female.”

The noble speaking let out a cold laugh.

Behind him, all the nobles carried the same cold, mocking gaze.

“Has a female paladin ever hindered you?”

An elderly paladin, face full of fury, eyes wide open, was clearly enraged.

“No no, female paladins do not hinder us. The ones to blame are you paladins who went around proclaiming she would become the next King of Knights…”

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“The King of Knights, according to the Kingdom’s laws, cannot interfere with the internal affairs of each country and empire. But… we absolutely will not allow the day to come when she sits above us. You understand this, don’t you?”

Sometimes the truth was just that cruel.

Behind a seemingly ruthless, cold decision, the reason for doing so was in fact something that sounded utterly ridiculous.

And the reason this noble dared to voice this here was because he felt completely secure in doing so.

After all, Fisiel being abandoned by the Kingdom was already a foregone conclusion.

And the generals and paladins present were all older individuals, so they knew well what should and should not be spoken of outside.

“Also, based on our investigation, Fisiel’s family has produced only two female paladins.”

“And one of them… was the one you paladins have always called the Shame of the Paladins, the Legendary Paladin, Fischerna.”

“This Fisiel… is the descendant of that individual. And coincidentally, both became Legendary at extremely young ages…”

If the earlier reasons could be considered excuses, then the reasons presented now left everyone present unable to find any ground to refute.

“So… so that’s why?”

The elderly paladin let out a helpless sigh.

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“Since you all think this way, then I have no choice but to seek an audience with the King of Knights.”

The King of Knights.

As the Kingdom’s sole Throne-class, while unable to directly intervene in the internal affairs of the Kingdom’s many nations, in dire situations the King of Knights still held the authority to interfere.

After all, the King of Knights, as a Throne-class, was a supreme existence within the Kingdom.

And interestingly, every one thousand years the Kingdom’s paladins would select a new King of Knights from among the Legendary paladins, and the newly selected King of Knights would inherit the Throne power of the former King of Knights, becoming the new King of Knights.

The reason for this system was to preserve the purity of the King of Knights. For power could influence the mind, and a paladin who held supreme Throne power for too long might inevitably lose themselves within such overwhelming strength.

Thus the paladins created such a system to maintain the purity of the King of Knights.

And because of this, in the eyes of all paladins, the King of Knights was always a perfectly virtuous paladin of impeccable character.

“You intend to seek the King of Knights?”

Yet, in response to the elderly paladin’s words that were almost a threat, the nobles present all simultaneously burst into laughter.