The King and Roa (5): The Council Dances (1)

The alliance with the Empire I'd proposed.

To decide on it, we decided to convene a meeting of the ministers, including all the Knight Order commanders.

There was one concern about gathering everyone: Bordras-sama of the Fourth Knight Order. Quite simply, he was the only one stationed so far away.

Zackhart-sama, commander of the Third Knight Order, was already in the royal capital. Bexstadt-sama of the Fifth Knight Order and Thor-sama of the Seventh had both received the urgent messages Nelfia arranged and were leading their forces toward the capital, so we knew they'd arrive before long.

As for Foggard-san, commander of the Sixth Knight Order, Captain Viola was scheduled to arrive at Hockeharn Fort and take command in his place. He would come here to relieve her as soon as she arrived, so that wouldn't take long either.

Only Bordras-sama was far away.

With Lucifal occupying northeastern Rudek, it would be preferable if Bordras-sama stayed where he was to defend Kitzal Fort, but leaving him out of the meeting might sow resentment.

We'd sent a messenger to ask him to entrust command to Granz-sama and come here, but either way, it would take time.

For now, I wanted to avoid any unnecessary delay. The longer this dragged on, the more people would begin to question whether Rays-sama was safe.

Officially, Rays-sama was recuperating at his manor, and the king had actually gone to visit him, so that should keep suspicion at bay for a while. But if he never appeared at all, how would spies from other countries interpret that...