Chapter 14: Member of the Imperial Council.

Chapter 14 - Member of the Imperial Council.As turns out, it wasn't easy to make a celebration with the emperor present, even in the wild. He wasn't content with few roasted deer and ordered the townsfolk to cook several more dishes.

Obviously it was not to feed the whole cavalry regiment, but the officers were all invited and in the late afternoon Lee counted close to seventy people gathered on the top of the mountain.

The emperor clearly chose the spot to make his own appearance seem effective and theatrical, but his taste was good and it did look impressive when he held the speech at the edge of the cliff with the rest of the world at his feet.

"You might not know it yet, but under Strongheart's command your regiment has achieved the largest victory in years!" The Emperor began. Probably to look more relatable he was in his regular training outfit – linen shirt and trousers, and in order to be seen by everyone, he jumped on one of the food tables.

"The empire is proud of you!" He continued, "With minimal losses you managed to purge a hornets nest! Killing twelve elemental warriors in one expedition is a great feat! Of course, with seven of them I had to deal myself, but nevertheless!"

The crowd heartily chuckled at his joke that wasn't really a joke. It was unlikely there was another man in this world who could repeat what the emperor did few days ago.

"Let's put the jokes aside for a moment!" The Emperor interrupted laughs and comments, "We did a considerable blow to the rebel forces and are only a step away from eradicating them once and for all! Therefore, I want to invite you, my fellow warriors, to this modest lunch. Enjoy!"

'Just like any other ruler.' Lee thought to himself, 'He rewards the ones risking their lives with peanuts. Amazing how every world works the same way.'

Clearly these soldiers considered it a great honor to feast together with the emperor and the actual reward would be the stories they could tell their grandchildren, that is – if they lived long enough. Of course, after the former King Sunwell formally conquered the world and became the emperor, there were almost no wars and the casualties in the army, and particularly in the cavalry, were rather rare.



Still, the world was vast and sooner or later soldiers will have to lay down their lives against some form of enemy – be it uprising, mutiny or a fight against a religious group, like in this case – the Hand of God.

When the feast finally began and the higher-ups filled their bowls, the regular officers were also allowed to eat to their fullest. The choice wasn't that big – there were only three types of stews and a bunch of roasts, but everyone was happy.

Probably half of the town was employed to carve the amount of wooden bowls and spoons the imperial party needed, but it was surely worth it. The regular meals for soldiers, even for the elites in the cavalry, were rather poor and the humongous stew pots in their eyes contained delectable delicacies.

Lee with his advanced taste buds was also pleasantly surprised. At home it took him over a year to teach Tess how to properly cook, but the result spoke for itself – there was no meal Alan ever skipped. Cooks of Elsdon grasped the basic idea on their own though, but Lee guessed it was only because they had salt mines somewhere in the vicinity.

Unfortunately he couldn't freely enjoy the meal like the rest. He had to do his best to mingle with the younger generation in order to find a way to poison one of them, but it was rather hard to get away from the caring stepmother. To get her off his back the best solution he found was to finish his own bowl quickly, let her wipe his mouth and several times patiently answer her question whether he was still hungry. Afterwards he finally could stroll around, looking for an opportunity.

First he went over to Hannah and Dale, who sat at a side, but they seemed to have some kind of lover's quarrel. Apparently Dale had received a snack of some sorts in a form of spicy fried potatoes from a local maiden and dared to actually enjoy them in front of Hannah. No reasoning of it being just a food was enough and the poor guy was running out of ideas how to appease the angry madam.

The three sons of generals were much safer to approach, but they stood at the side, each having a large piece of roast in hand and discussed warfare tactics. If not for the clean armor and elegant sword sheaths at their sides, their tall, well built bodies and the manner they ate more resembled wild barbarians and not nobles from the capital.

There was a table nearby with three bowls of stew, clearly belonging to them, but even though Lee could technically get to it unnoticed, there was no telling if they actually would eat something from it. The stew was probably already cold and the guys were engrossed in the discussion.

He wasn't sure about the dosage either – from what he remembered, Alan seemed to feed horses several times each, but on the other hand, horses were much bigger than humans, right? No matter what, Lee knew he had only one chance at this murder attempt and was reluctant to waste it. He had twelve targets after all.

He stood there right behind the trio deep in thought, not noticing how the emperor and General Strongheart, an elderly man, probably in his seventies, approached the group.

"What are you talking about?" The Emperor asked, "Are you teaching the next generation the basics of attack or defense?"

Only now the sons of generals noticed the kid next to them, but were not sure how to respond. Lee also was taken aback. It was as if the emperor had two personalities – the easygoing one, when dressed in a simple shirt and wearing a playful smile on his face, and the scary one, when covered in blood from head to toe. But since this time it was the nice emperor present, Lee quickly decided to take the advantage of the situation.

"Your Majesty, may I ask a question?" He asked, making his expression as serious as he could muster.

"Sure! What's on your mind?" The Emperor said. He was clearly in a good mood and Lee guessed he could've as well asked for a piece of land, or maybe a pile of gold. Of course, he had something more important in mind.

"I'm my father's son. Can I join the council as his heir?" Lee asked, "The guys told me that heirs are allowed there."

"What? What would you do there?" All five men were taken aback, but Strongheart was the one who blurted out what they all though.

"The Emperor saved my family." Lee said with a shrug, "I have to repay him."

"You?" Ian Foxson snorted, "How can you repay the strongest person in the world? You're just a child!"

"I'll grow up. And become the imperial healer, like my father." Lee calmly said.

"Do you even know what the healer does?" Ian was almost annoyed, but Lee couldn't care less. He noticed emperor's subtle reaction and guessed he had to press on.

He said, "Of course. Takes care of The Emperor!"

The answer invoked a loud burst of laughter and Tess pulled Alan over to see if her little boy wasn't bullied. But Lee stood there with his head high, not worried about the ridicule.

He saw the glint of mischief in emperor's eyes and knew he was about to prank his old friend. And if this prank allowed Lee to get one step closer to the rest of his targets, he didn't mind setting stepfather up for a tease.



"Alan!" The Emperor said with a grin, "Your son has made a request to officially become your heir and have a seat at the Imperial Council. And I've decided to grant him his wish."

"No!" Tess was first to react, "You ...!"

"Teresa!" Alan clearly knew she was about to spout a juicy profanity directly in the emperor's face, and the only way to stop was to call her by her full name. Just to be sure she wouldn't do anything stupid, he even took a half step forward and positioned himself between her and the emperor.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" He said, "May we think about it?"

"What's there to think?" The Emperor said, "Just take the boy to the next council – it'll be fun!"

Lee knew he had pressed the right button. He had been in Sunwell for over four years and knew that, while Alan was the emperor's friend, he was regarded even more highly as his personal healer. Lee had no clear understanding what exactly did it mean, but he guessed it was like a doctor and a trusty advisor at hand's length at all times.

It was obvious that the majesty would want his daughter to also have one and there was no better way to get a reliable servant other than to groom them an early age.

While grownups were busy with the heated discussion, some puzzled, some angry and most amused, Lee used the opportunity to quickly slip away. There was another heated discussion nearby and a moment ago he noticed a bowl of stew that was basically screaming for him to rush over.

His heart pounding heavily, Lee forced himself to nonchalantly walk to the nearby table where the three sons of generals had left their bowls. He grabbed one, and while slowly walking toward Dale and Hannah, ate at least half of the contents, even though he was already full.

After inwardly praising the cook one more time, he unloaded the contents of the small leather bundle into the bowl and mixed the powder in.