Firstborn: Return of the heir

Almost there, come on! Just a little bit more!

Saulus’ expression didn’t betray his thoughts at all. With the waves of excitement washing through his soul like a tsunami, his eyes were glued to the events happening just outside the window.

Up and down, side to side. Dive all the way to the ground only to level off, right above the surface and then climb back up to the skies. The dance of the gryphons that the patriarch bought from some faraway land was a sight to behold.

Especially when compared to what was happening in the room Saulus was currently sitting in.

“Kill them all.”

Throwing a cup full of fine wine at the strategic maquette, the patriarch of the Retesia house destroyed this magnificent piece of art without even batting an eye. With the drops of expensive liquor splashing right on the uniforms and faces of the heads of the subsidiary houses, one could only think that this man was really keen on instigating a revolt against himself!

“My lord, we still have yet to stabilize our eastern lands! Most of our soldiers are there. If we pull them away for another war…” One of the lords of a vassal household attempted to protest, to bring a voice of reason to the council. A deadly stare from the patriarch was enough to shut him down.

“Saulus. Is this doable?” Suddenly calming down, the highest lord in the room ignored the mayhem that he himself had created upon the once beautiful maquette. Instead, he turned his head to the young man sitting in the corner of the room.

Lazily raising his eyes, Saulus couldn’t care less about the precise details of the war plan. Being the author of the entire strategy and deployment idea, he knew the ins and outs of the proposition better than anyone else in the room.

“I can do it.” As soon as those words left the mouth of the young general, he returned to his earlier activity of observing the playful moves of the gryphons outside. No matter how many times I see them… they are still not dragons, he thought.

The household that he was working for, as the head general, had never had the protections of the dragons. While there was no doubt that the patriarch had a tiny bit of firstborns’ blood flowing through his veins, it was only enough to reinforce his claims to the position he held. Numerous challenges of the neighboring lords and patriarchs that the Retesian Lord denied only served to prove that Saulus’ superior was aware of his own pitiful talent.

Sadly, it was an undeniable fact that this spoiled and despicable man could use the magic, albeit weakly, anyway!

“Good. You will take your legion to the south. How quickly can you rally them up?”

Breaking Saulus’s immersion in the beautiful dance of the gryphons once again, the patriarch clearly didn’t care about being intrusive like that. After all, it would be strange if the head of the house were to accept how laidback the chief of his military was acting. And it was during a war council at that!

So it officially begins. Great! Using all his willpower to stop a happy grin from appearing on his face, Saulus turned his head to the side in order to cast a glance at the patriarch.

“With a bit of luck, they should be able to depart today. But I need to emphasize one thing; There is no way for my legion to conquer the southern road alone.”

No matter how potentially embarrassing that statement was for someone who was fully responsible for raising and training said legion, Saulus still said it. He never really cared about such things as saving face. As long as his aim was achieved, no kind of humiliation or sacrifice would be too great!

“Huh? Even the legendary strategist himself cannot guarantee the victory on his own?”

Putting a sympathetic smile on his face, the patriarch commented with an honest dose of ridicule. But in spite of the huge difference between their positions, Saulus actually stood up from his chair only to look at the patriarch with a strangely dangerous glint in his eye.

“Dear lord, no matter how well-trained and disciplined my legionaries are, I’m not going to put them through a meat grinder. You want me to make them fight against the lords of the south without any support from our own magic users? Not a chance.”

Outstretching his right hand towards the group of high nobles in the opposite corner of the room, Saulus slammed his other hand against the base of the devastated maquette. Even though he took nearly a week to produce it for the sake of the ongoing council alone, after the patriarch’s rash fit, it didn’t matter if Saulus were to damage it further. At this point, it was no better than a clumped piece of firewood.

“We are soldiers, not suicidal maniacs. Don’t expect us to do a suicide mission against magic users without the protection of the lords from our side.”

The relationship between the patriarch and Saulus was truly peculiar. This rash, middle-aged man that ruled those lands was the direct superior and employer of the young general. Yet, it was clear to everyone in the room that for some reason, the patriarch didn’t dare to flaunt his authority against this particular retainer of his household.

“Okay. Move the legion to the border. We will start the invasion only once my fellow lords…”

Taking a quick peek to the side, the patriarch of the Retesia household expressed how dissatisfied he was with his subordinate lords with a murderous look.

“… once my fellow lords get their shit together and fulfill their duty properly. Anything else?”

Saulus let out a huge sigh. No matter who one would ask from the people gathered in the room, everyone would uniformly call it a breath of relief. Given how the patriarch just spared Saulus from losing his trusted soldiers in a pointless struggle against the magic of the enemy lords, it wasn’t that hard to connect those two points together.

He fell for it! Internally screaming with joy while keeping his usual cold and composed demeanor, Saulus nodded his head. Instead of sitting down, the young man adjusted his uniform before facing the patriarch once again.

“If we want to have a shot at emerging victorious in the coming war, we need to act fast. As such, if you still want me to rally the legion today, my lord, I will have to excuse myself right away.”

Unable to be bothered to wait for the reaction of his superior, Saulus grabbed the cup of wine from the small stool beside his chair and after emptying it all out at once – a crime against the superior quality of the liquor – he approached the doors to the room.

“It will take me up to three, maybe four days to gather the lords and their armies. If you are not as big of a coward as you appeared to be today, try to push for the road to cut the enemies out from the supply lines. It should take them a while to organize any proper defense if you act fast enough.”

Nodding his head in response to the patriarch’s passing advice, Saulus didn’t bother with the clearly dissatisfied faces of the other influential figures that took part in the war council. Whether they liked the idea of going to war or not, they had no choice but to listen to the patriarch’s words.

I wonder how long it will take them to defect once things really start to get moving. Thinking to himself as the doors shut behind him, Saulus quickly moved through the long corridors of the palace. Here and there, beautiful sculptures decorated the building. Between them, an art of far lower quality was present, showcasing how disappointing the descendants of the ancient artists had turned out.

“Sir?”

As soon as Saulus reached the main hall of the palace, a man somewhere in his mid-twenties moved away from the wall he used to rest his back against. Bringing his fist to his forehead, he instantly reported to his superior. Not even batting an eye at the dutiful reaction of his loyal subordinate, Saulus continued to walk towards the main entrance of the palace.

“Stand down, Rylas. We don’t have the time for courtesy.”

With no other choice, Rylas could only follow in his superior’s steps.

“General? How was the council?”

Given how he had to wait for several hours in the main hall of the building, the soldier was clearly curious about the results of the important meeting. Surprisingly, the usually calm face of his general had failed to appear as composed as it normally would, giving off the vibes of silent fury.

“Sound the bell. The bastard lied to us. We have to depart today.”

Not bothering to lower his voice as he used the slur to refer to the patriarch himself, Saulus could see how his subordinate’s face twisted in an expression of anger mixed with anxiety.

Striving to somehow change the mind of his superior, Rylas’s face turned desperate.

“But general! Most of our people are out in the town! How am I supposed to rally them if the patriarch himself gave them two-days leave? I don’t want to be the harbinger of bad news, but if not for your patronage, the legion would have rebelled a long time ago!”

“You know that I can’t do anything about the direct order of the patriarch. Rally the men, and on your way to the camp, send the word to mobilize the second legion. If that idiot will continue with this warmongering passion of his, only my private troops might be able to secure the camp. I don’t even want to imagine what would happen if our soldiers were to learn that their families, friends and homes were burned down in an uprising!”

Quickly calming his face down, Saulus once again assumed the expression of a cold and collected general, while his thoughts went in the exact opposite direction to what his words just implied: All I need to do once the legion is away is to place a torch on the powderkeg that this city… No, that this entire household is. All we need right now to get rid of this idiot is just a single spark!