The Mechanical Era

It was a calm, but yet hot day in the city of Nexert. The knights out on the fields were training for the upcoming battles that would come ahead, along with some peasants who, contrary to belief, actually had practice with weapons, as they were allowed to have one at home.

Whether it be a bow or spear, all of them will be important to defeat Rose Valline, the most powerful queen on the continent, that had turned bad. At this rate, the war would start at the beginning of the next month, when summer comes around.

Danial, wearing a suit of armor and sweating a waterfall, was comfortably sitting on his chair, thinking about nothing at all. Corel and Salvatore were out training in the fields, along with Malinda and their wives. While Danial had also trained, his mana reserves had run out much earlier than before, and needed to take a rest. He needs to practice using his magic much less intensely than before.

Just then, there was a knock on the door, knocking him back into reality. With a bit of strength, he gets up and walks over to the door, and opens it. From behind, he found Corel's assistant minister behind the door. He hands over an envelope and informs the king it was from Arjun, and an urgent message.

The minister then scoots off, leaving Danial alone once again. He goes back inside his room and sits in his armchair. After taking off his gauntlets, he starts reading the letter that was sent to him. As he read it further, he sat straighter, looked at the letter closer, and his laid-back look turned into a serious glance, but by the end, a smile, but then a look of horror.

He gets up again, walks up to the front door, and finds a maid. He instructs her to bring Corel, Salvatore, Malinda, and their wives, to the room they discuss the plan, which Corel and Salvatore should know.

With the messenger maid dispatched, he walked over to his room, took off his suit of armor, and changed into formal attire before walking over to the secret room. He arrived at the library, which was like a giant maze of bookshelves anyone can get lost in. Danial ventured into the maze, took one left turn, two right turns, and then straight ahead.

He came up to a wall. There, he picked out a red book and pulled it from the top. Just then, the sound of two locks moving was heard, and he was able to enter the dark hallway. As he went, he lit up the lanterns on the walls, allowing anyone else entering to see the way.

He approached the door, entered the room, sat down on the chair, and waited for the other to come over. Soon, Corel, and Salvatore arrive, along with Malinda, Fiona, and Samantha. Like Danial, they took the time to change out of their suits of armor, to a more formal dress code.

Fiona, the wife of Corel, was a woman the same age as Malinda. She had short dark-gold brown hair that reached to her shoulders. Her eyes on her puffy round face were brown as chocolate, gaining a little charm that nobody else had.

Samantha, meanwhile, was a rather tall woman compared to Malinda and Fiona, being 3 inches taller. Though she had black hair, she had exotic bottle-green eyes on her triangle shaped-face. She was the wife of Salvatore Dellone.

"What is it, Danial?" Salvatore asked. Danial had put on a serious face.

"Grab a chair and sit down. It might take some time to explain."

He simply took out the letter, and read it out loud for everyone to hear. They all have a similar reaction to it at the beginning, however, in the end, they diverged a little.

"Rose Valline? Working with them?" Corel asked.

"Apparently so. That is what the spy said."

"That would mean that... oh god..." he said as a sudden realization hits his head. Salvatore's head turns to face the table, instead of anyone's face.

"Imagine how many of those god-damn spies we had overlooked. Those stories, those stupid stories. Who knows how much information got leaked?" Fiona remarked.

"Friet not, everyone. It is better that we learned of this now, rather than later. Imagine what would occur IF we went into the war without knowing."

"Yes. You are right Danial."

"Besides, this presents us with a unique opportunity. We can use this new information to accuse Rose Valline of collaborating with the enemy, prove it, and have the rest of the continent go down on her."

"Absolutely... But what should we do about these new spies?"

"I have a plan. First, we get our most trusted knights and advisors in on the information. The people that benefit from obeying rather than betraying. Anyone got anyone?"

"The ministers and knight commanders. It is unlikely that they would have anything to benefit by betraying us," Malinda brought up. The men nodded at her.

"Alright, good suggestion. Like... someone in a low position. That is good. What else?"

"I have one! What about knights and maids that genuinely come from a knight or magical family? It is also unlikely for them to support a commoner movement." Samantha suggested.

"Another good one from the ladies! Well done. Yes, we should probably look at those 'new magic' folks. They might have the most commoner influences. What else?"

"How about a staff member with obligations to family or require money? I mean, the spy earlier was caught with lots of stolen gold coins, right?" Corel said while nodding.

"So.. anyone with financial troubles. What next?"

"I would like to suggest that we write down our suspicions. There is a good chance we might forget, right?" Fiona said.

"Right..." Danial turned to Corel, the one who technically owned the place. However, before he could ask, Corel got up, went over to a bookshelf, ripped a piece of paper off, and grabbed a bottle of ink and quill.

"Here, this should do," Corel said before sitting down.

"Thank you, Corel." Daniel writes down any traits that would likely influence one's decision to work with Salvator Humat, the terrorist group.

"Anything else I think I should write down?" There was a moment of silence between the monarchs as they struggled to come up with anything else. With that, Danial ended his list.

"With that, we should form a team of spies of our own in the palace, and get them to investigate these people in hand, quickly capture them, get them to squeal, and clear out the castle. Got it?" Everyone nodded at him in agreement.