102 (IN) Chapter 24 - Duke's Wild Suggestion

As the Army got to their designated resting spot. While resting for a bit Alexei decided to would be good for Duke to learn more about common knowledge regarding Aura. And so the old man decided it would be nice to teach Duke some of the stuff he knew.

His first short lecture was about Duke's initial question about Aura Condensed body parts.

Alexei explained how sometimes a person is born with enhanced abilities on a specific body part due to their innate aura, which all living beings have at birth, gathering in that specific body part.

Although this may seem like a good thing, with their enhanced abilities and all, it was actually considered a disease by most warriors due to the fact that it inhibited them from Aura training.

Normal people had Aura that spread throughout their whole bodies, not just one body part, so people with condensed Aura couldn't train like other warriors do as most Aura manuals and techniques were centered around the whole body, not just one body part.

Alexei: "It's a terrible condition that can happen during early stages of Aura training... Some say it's random, some say it's caused by trauma or some other crap... But in truth, no one really knows"

"I was just lucky that my Aura condensed in both my eyes... Though I can't see in the dark, I could at least be of some use as a spyglass, hahaha... A Hussar that can't use Aura, it's quite the embarrassment to admit" The Knight sitting next to Alexei stated, explaining to Duke how he could see the far cliff they were now resting under.

"Does that mean no body part's safe from getting condensed?" Duke asked.

"Yeah sure, anything! From your toes to your hair, your bones, your stomach, and even to yer' damned balls!" Alexei explained as he pointed out every body part he mentioned.

"Heck, I wouldn't be too surprised if yer belly's condensed GAHAHA!" Alexei joked as he clapped Duke's wide belly.

"Gahaha, the way Lord Duke digests his food, I wouldn't be too surprised either!" Byran chimed in on the fun.

"Yeah yeah, again with your fat jokes, real funny..." Duke rolled his eyes as he replied.

"Hmmm, the stomach and its digestive capabilities huh, it might actually make sense! Through a scientific view point that is..." Galleo mumbled.

"What?! Not you too Galleo, come on mannn" Duke cried out in injustice.

"No no, I'm quiet serious! I mean think about it! Back in Maine you exercise from morning till night, your diet consists of mostly raw fibrous vegetables, and you even do energy intensive training like Aura! How could you not loose a lot of pounds after all that?! No, more importantly, where do you get all that energy?! Vegetables simply cannot sustain you like bread can, you know. If a normal person did what you did, they'd die of severe malnutrition!... Unless, unless of course your body can digest vegetables fiber as efficiently as it would with meat and carbohydrate rich sources like bread, like a COW! Are you a COW?! Or maybe your gastric juices are just more acidic? But wouldn't that damage your intestinal tract leading to... bla bla bla" Galleo began his science-rich explanation.

Most of the Knights and even Alexei were lost by Galleo's second mention of fiber, only Duke listened to the hushed mumbling of Galleo continuously.

"But if that's the case, why can I train Aura?" Duke asked in the middle of Galleo's self mumbling.

"W-Well... that's what I don't really know... maybe it was just nonsense after all?" After a bit of rationalizing Galleo admitted to his lack of knowledge. Galleo was after all a scholar and magic user. As a physically intensive form of activity, Aura was a little foreign from Galleo's field of expertise.

"Hmmm? Not necessarily... there were some cases where I've heard people with condensed body parts becoming great Aura masters, sadly most are just folktales and legends... The knowledge on the matter is quite bare bones... Aura is something you feel after all, not something you can simply categorize and study like magic" Alexei stated.

"Maybe its due to your special constitution? Pendragons are said to hail from Dragons... But wait, weren't Dragons supposed to be carnivores? But there was never a trustworthy source regarding their dietary plan... Maybe they're closer to cows?... bla bla bla" Galleo suggested as he once again immediately started to trail off into a tangent.

"Well, Gwaine always did mourn the fact that Wael (Duke's father) was so thin and sickly as a child, maybe being fat as a Pendragon is something good, eh?" Byran joked as he patted Duke's shoulders who was busy thinking, with Galleo still mumbling to himself in the background.

[Though that boy did look quite healthy to me, heck I was even thinner than Wael when I was a kid, and people already called ME well rounded. Maybe in the Pendragon bloodline being fat equals talent? I mean Wael wasn't obese as a child, and look what he did to the Pendragon family! And the Duchy...] Byran remembered his early 20s, staring at the boy who would soon be called as the waste and shame of the Pendragon Duchy, eventually causing it's eventual downfall.

"Y-Yeah, I did see the family album, and a lot of them were indeed suspiciously fat, some overtly obese even, like grandfather... But that was when they were children! I'm already 18 and I'm still fat! This and that are obviously different... They all turned beautiful at puberty!" A deflated Duke cried, wondering if he would ever magically loose weight like his ancestors seemed to do every time they reached puberty, or if he was even actually a Pendragon.

"Hahaha, it's all right milord, women like a little meat on their men, ya know!" Byran tried to comfort the discouraged Duke as he continuously patted him on the shoulder.

Seeing Duke's deflated posture, Galleo also tried to cheer him up:

"Yeah, I'm sure you're exercising isn't all for naught! Although you don't quite seem to loose fat, you'll at least still be gaining muscle! And haven't you been gaining a lot of muscle lately? First time we met, you were soft as butter milk! But now you're more like good cheese! And none of that soft Maine Ricotta butter, a sorry excuse for cheese that is, no no, you're like real hard authentic Ilican Bitto! Fermented and made straight from the hands of real Casprician cheese makers!" Galleo encouraged, filled with pride and maybe a little bias towards the products of his home region, though it only made Duke more anxious...

[C-Cheese?... Was that supposed to make me feel better? Though the cheese Galleo likes IS pretty hard, yeah... Eastern cheese is hella hard, yeah?! Yeah! I am HARD ILICAN CHEESE!] Duke tried to cheer himself up through questionable optimism.

Duke: [I am CHEESE! That's right, who's the cheese? I AM!]

And so, with those simple words Duke vowed to train his muscles harder and stronger than ever before!

But of course there was also another thing that stuck on to his train of thoughts.

[Aura is something you feel huh... And can't be studied nor categorized like magic...] Duke thought to himself as he remembered Alexei's words.

[But is that really true? I mean, has anyone ever tried to?] Duke thought to himself as he pondered silently while the old men beside him continued to bicker about whose cheese was better...

In the end, it was Alexei who won this critically important discourse. With his impeccably chosen hard Northern Mammoth Cheese... Which he claimed was so hard, it could even be used as a weapon when frozen! Ahh yes Mammoth Cheese, truly the king of all hard cheeses.

Northern Mammoth Cheese: So hard you can't eat it!

An hour or so passed, and with everyone getting a little shut eye, the Noble leaders of each Knight's Order were now ready to discuss there next move.

The leaders gathered in a medium sized tent that was hastily put up.

The Nobles formed a ring as they faced into the center of the tent. Some of them were injured, and a majority of them were still dirty from the blood and grime of battle.

Still everyone that formed a ring were silent until Alexei opened his mouth:

"So, what do any of you suggest we do?" Alexei spoke in a grave and somewhat angry voice.

Alexei knew that for the barbarians to attack them at the very point they were vulnerable, there had to be a spy included in the families of the people currently present.

Though it was a stupid mistake on the upper management to choose such a fast yet reckless and vulnerable way to get reinforcements to Konigsberg, the plan was still somewhat feasible if the enemy never detected them, and the enemy shouldn't have, considering their far positions and lack of barbarian Scouts found by their own Brunic Scouts.

There was only one realistic explanation:

[[[The enemy knew we were there]]] Most of the veterans in the room with half a brain already surmised as such.

And so, a middle aged veteran commander came up and suggested:

"Let's not dally around any longer. We obviously have a spy in our midst... I suggest we retreat back to the Central region and regain some of our forces before we head back. If we're fast enough, even though Konigsberg is lost, I believe we can still at least save the southernmost part of the North!" Servian Rochard, a middle aged veteran suggested.

"Bah! But we can't just ignore the Emperor's decree like this! If we truly do have a spy, then the enemy would already be blocking our path of retreat! We're already trapped... I suggest we fortify our location and create a temporary fort! We'll send some messengers back to the Capital and wait here for reinforcements!" Titus Broderick, another veteran with a full beard counter argued.

The two veterans' suggestions were logical and made sense, leaving the Nobles in the meeting split between whose suggestion to follow.

If they followed Servian's suggestion, they would loose honor and be called as cowards and failures when they returned home, but at least they would be safe, and the loss of life minimized.

But if they followed Titus' suggestion, they could possibly finish their mission, but they would still be labelled as incompetent! That and the fact that sitting in the middle of contested enemy territory would leave them vulnerable. Their chances of survival would be dim. What use is honor if you were dead after all...

As the crowd discussed and argued on the two given suggestions, Alexei was about to give out his own crazy proposal.

But before old Alexei could speak out, Duke, who was quiet the whole time, deep in contemplation, suddenly came out and gave his own wild suggestion:

"I... Have a suggestion!" Duke spoke loudly as he walked in the center.

"Why don't we head further north?... Straight into enemy territory..."