The Guardians, Part 2
The atmosphere in the room became noticeably tenser.
"Dragons?! And it's right at the mine? Is that why the Empire tried to take over? Do they know something we don't?!" another of the generals, Ewan Holt, leaned forward aggressively.
Crag shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know, but the remains are too old to be of any use, they crumbled apart when we tried to move them. We did find a few spies sneaking around though…"
After he was finished with his report, the next one came Ulrich Aust, the general of the north.
"I'm sure you have all heard of the Goblin horde that swept through… Unfortunately, even till now, we didn't find any substantial clues… We focused our efforts to stabilize the region during the last week and have recruited more soldiers to do so."
"I see… Still, no leads, huh?" The King nodded slowly and then turned to the last man. "Ewart, what about you? Anything unusual in the east?"
Ewart Hold took a sip of his wine and then placed the cup down. "I'm afraid there isn't much to say," he sighed and squeezed his fist hatefully. "Those filthy beasts ruined many of our coastal towns and our fishermen were slaughtered! If we can't rebuild quickly, many people will starve in a few months!"
"It's not that we lack the manpower, but the people are scared for the safety of their families… It is difficult to convince them to leave and go back to work."
After giving a short explanation and letting their grievances be heard, the generals quieted down and respectfully waited for the King to speak. Placing his elbows on the table, the King crossed his fingers in contemplation.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before eventually speaking, "This Kingdom knows you as my generals, but you carry a much heavier weight…"
"Guardian of the North, Ulrich Aust!" He pointed at the guy. "Your lands were overrun by monsters and your people, slaughtered!"
"Guardian of the West, Crag Carre!" He pointed at another, "You discovered the wild beasts threatening your lands, and enemy spies sneaking around uninvited!"
"Guardian of the South, Razor Northendark!" He turned to look at the man, "The attempt at your daughter's life could be considered to be extremely well-timed by the enemy! Should it succeed, you would be mentally impacted and we could possibly lose a strong Guardian…"
"And lastly, Guardian of the East, Ewart Holt! The place that feeds a third of our Kingdom is under your protection…"
The king stood up and slammed his palms on the table, "I will not lie, gentlemen… These are some weird times we are in, and we might even need to release the secrets to the wider world to strengthen our people!"
"Your Majesty!" Ewart gasped. "There is a reason we have guarded these secrets for so long! We cannot let it be known or Myrtana will be devoured from within!"
The King already expected this reaction, but he said nothing. He simply sat down and looked at the rest, waiting for their opinion.
"I agree with Ewart," said Ulrich. "We can't afford to get even 10% of our people to cultivate. The resources we consume are at least three times higher than average people and we are already on the brink of famine. If we do not stabilize the situation soon, I'm afraid the Empire won't even have to attack us before we crumble on our own."
While those two disagreed with the King, Razor Northendark shook his head, "I think we should release it, but not now. If it becomes known at this time, people are bound to panic."
Crag nodded and added, "We already noticed the increase in violent beast activity and the Empire seems to be restless as well! If people find out what monsters live on this continent just out of their sight…"
The King took a deep breath and closed his eyes, leaning back in his seat. "I understand your concerns, but it is not what you think… I have achieved the Nascent Soul this winter…"
"Oh! Congratulations, Your Majesty!" general Crag immediately said.
"Thank you, but that's not the point. A few months ago I have felt a great disturbance in the east. It was a sunny morning when my entire body shuddered all of a sudden. I have felt this dreadful ancient presence and my Soul was almost crushed under its pressure when I tried to probe it."
The Guardians opened their eyes wide, almost incapable of comprehending that someone could make the King feel dread. He was the strongest person in the Kingdom after all!
"It only lasted a few seconds, and I even doubted it was real. Nobody except me felt it, and it didn't repeat since. However, from then on I started having nightmares occasionally in which the Souls of our people were devoured by a horrifying monster!"
The King stood up and pointed at the map on the table, "I first felt this weird presence over here, at the edges of Myrtana… At that time it was quite weak, I didn't pay much attention to it. But then it started to slowly move west, around here, where it slowly started growing stronger!" He pointed at another place on the map.
"But it has been a while now that I already started detecting it in the capital, although intermittently. At times it simply disappears and a few hours later I detect it on the complete opposite side of the Kingdom!"
The King exhaled deeply and sat back down, "What I'm trying to say is that this thing, whatever it is, is growing stronger, or recovering, fast! And even when I feel its presence in the capital, I can't pinpoint it because it seems to be also able to interfere with my Spirit Sense."
"That's why I want to release the knowledge of cultivation to the people. I'm not afraid of the Empire and we can deal with the famine should it come to this… But this thing, we don't even know what it is, and it is getting stronger, we can't stay passive in face of an unknown enemy!"
The room turned silent after the king finished his speech. The Guardians were slowly trying to process what they just heard.
"Your Majesty, if I may…" Ewart Holt spoke after some time.
"Speak!" the King answered.
"Yes," the man nodded. "It's like this… I have also detected something a few months ago. It was quite close to my residence, so I felt a powerful disturbance that lasted a few short seconds. I sent my people to investigate, but they weren't able to find anything so I left the matter at that."
"Could it have something to do with the Goblin horde we experienced lately? They seem to be able to disappear into thin air!" Razor Northendark wondered out loud.
Sighing loudly, the King said, "It matters not. Until we get more information we can only try to keep the situation under control. Instead of speculating about monsters, we should instead prepare for a possible invasion from the Empire…"
***
It was time! His weapons were finally ready and Gerald went to the blacksmith to collect them. Both his sword and spear were much thicker than normal and appeared brutal, more like meat cleavers, than elegant blades.
"I like it! Good job!" he praised the blacksmith.
"An imposing weapon like this should have a suitable name!" He held the metal handle of the spear in his hand as he was thinking of a good name.
"I need something cool, something imposing like… Hmm, like... like Toothpick! Yes, yes… It's a good name! Just imagine losing your life to a Toothpick, ahaha!"
Laughing at his own jokes, Gerald borrowed a chisel and put the name on the handle. Satisfied he then stored the Toothpick into his Space Pouch and went home.
And as to why he didn't name his sword, he decided to name this dangerous-looking one-edged blade after the first thing he killed with it. It seemed only natural to do so.