"Daddy, it"s time to get up"
Caesar heard a sweet voice in his ear and a small hand push his back, he opened up his sleepy eyes and got up slowly.
"Good morning princess," Caesar said still half asleep.
"Good morning!" Elizabeth replied energetically
Caesar pushed the covers off his body and got out of bed, he yawned loudly and headed for the bathroom. He splashed some water on his face an quickly groomed himself.
After he was done he walked back into the room and was greeted by Elizabeth"s mocking smile.
"You clean yourself just as much as mommy does hehe" Elizabeth giggled cutely
"Hmph, a man should always look presentable" Caesar snorted as he straightened out his shirt.
*knock*
*knock*
"Your Highness, the king is awaiting you in the throne room" Sebastian"s voice echoed out from behind the door.
Elizabeth looked at Caesar with confusion "how did he know you were in here?"
Caesar smiled wryly and patted Elizabeth on the head "I will see you again at lunch" Caesar said as he kissed her forehead and walked towards the door.
"You better keep your promise!" Elizabeth yelled out from behind him.
*creak*
Caesar opened the door and was greeted by Sebastian"s bowing figure "please come to follow me this way" he said respectively and lead Caesar towards the throne room.
After about 8 minutes of walking, they finally reached the large doors in front of the throne room, the guards bowed respectively and opened the doors.
"Crown prince Mephesto Pheles as arrived" a minister called out from the side.
Sebastian stayed behind the door and Caesar walked forward, a luxurious blood red carpet was laid down through the middle of the throne room. Beautiful white pillars held up the ceiling and decorated the room. In front of the throne were two stone dragons, the one on the right held a fierce expression while the other looked graceful.
Caesar walked until he was about 10 feet away from his father, he kneeled down and cuffed his hands "I greet the king" he said respectively
Crowley on top of the throne waved his hand "you may rise"
Caesar naturally stood up after hearing his fathers words and looked around. Many different officials were standing on the right and left sides of the throne room, the right side represented the military branch while the left represented the financial.
Caesar had asked Sebastian to arrange a meeting for him and his father, naturally, a meeting with the king doesn"t happen with just two.
"What is the purpose for this meeting?" Crowley asked from his throne
"Ahem, I would like to discuss a major weakness our kingdom currently has" Caesar cleared his throat and replied calmly while looking at his father with a smile.
Crowley nodded his head signaling Caesar to continue.
"Ever since my late grandfather had died there have been no n.o.bles qualified enough to become leaders in the military, I believe the rule that requires you be n.o.bility to lead the soldiers of our kingdom should be discarded."
"PREPOSTEROUS, how could we let mere commoners lead our soldiers" a few officials from the right side roared out in anger.
Crowley waved his hand to silence those on the right, he looked back down at Caesar and urged him to continue.
"Because of this silly rule, when our trade routes were blocked the kingdom relied on me, a man with no prior experience or any type of training to lead the soldiers on an expedition… Correct me if I"m wrong but that sounds incredibly idiotic" Caesar said with sarcasm.
The officials on the right gnashed their teeth in anger while Caesar continued.
"I suggest we create a school to train those we deem worthy in the art of war and strategy. We will award the knights that have superior intellect with higher ranks in the military as well as create a system where a chain of command is followed with the king on top"
"Where will the n.o.bility stand on the chain of command you suggest?" Crowley asked curiously
"I believe that the n.o.bility and military faction should be kept separate, the n.o.bility can run things inside of the kingdom while the military lead things outside of the kingdom. We have many well-trained knights, however, we have no generals to utilize their potential"
The officials on the right furrowed their brows and Crowley nodded in comprehension…
Caesar suddenly started speaking in a louder voice "We defeated the enemy once, however, once news of our cloudsteel reaches the ears of bigger kingdoms… Do you think we can defend against it as we are now?"
"We need to create a better system to follow" Caesar suddenly glanced at the left side of the palace room.
"We need to give those with higher ranks or those who gain merits in battle rewards, many of the knights training under me can"t even feed their families with their wage. Some of them don"t even own buckets in their homes"
Suddenly Caesar roared louder than before "is this how we treat those that defended our kingdom, our lives?"
The officials on both sides started talking amongst themselves, finally, after a few minutes of discussion one of the officials on the right side asked: "how do you suppose we do what you suggest?"
"I believe we should make an insurance that the families of any fallen soldier will be taken care of, as for the money per ranking… I think all of you can figure that out yourselves" Caesar replied after thinking for a moment.
This time an official on the left spoke up "if we comply with what you are suggesting, we will need to spend an extraordinary amount of funds not only on the knights but also on the schooling"
"With the huge amount of population increase from the elves, I believe we need to expand… we need to be willing to spend more funds on our military if we want to be able to hold more land"
Caesar paused for a second and continued…
"We can sell some of the cloudsteel to merchant"s and increase the tax-pay for those that want insurance"
Crowley looked at Caesar confused and asked: "what do you mean by insurance"?
"For those that die by unnatural causes, the government will give their families a decent sum of money so that they can live comfortably even without their mother or father"
The ministers on the left held a thoughtful expression and one of them roared out in excitement "if the people pay more tax because of this so-called insurance but only a select few actually die to unnatural causes the amount of money we will profit from will be huge"
Crowley looked at Caesar with a bewildered look "is this really my son? I feel as though I don"t know anything about him anymore…" he thought to himself.
Suddenly an official on the right side roared out "have you already planned the ranks you want to implement?"
Caesar"s lips curled "I believe organization is of most importance, for every five soldiers there should be a squad commander… for every 5 squad commanders, there should be a captain, for every five captains there should be a sergeant… for every five sergeants, there should be a vice general… etc… etc…
"Of course there will be a supreme commander that leads everyone, but with more competent leaders, you can guarantee better efficiency. A single leader, after all, can not see the entire battlefield"
Silence enveloped the entire throne room, Crowley suddenly looked at his son and smiled "we will need to discuss this in further details, thank you for your suggestion my son"
Caesar smiled gently and bowed deeply "thank you all for listening to my suggestion, I will take my leave now," Caesar said respectively and started walking out.
As he was walking away he could hear the voices of many of the n.o.bles present
"it"s a great idea, however, will the n.o.bles authority fall?"
"What if we put our sons in that war school, wouldn"t we be able to put our foot in the military?"
"I"m more interested in the insurance idea that boy came up with, how should we implement it?"
"Settle down, we need to discuss the gains and losses of such things first…" Crowley roared out calming down the rest of the n.o.bles present.
*creak*
The guards opened the doors for Caesar and bowed deeply, Sebastian was already waiting for him with a smile.
"How did it go your highness?" Sebastian asked curiously while emphasizing the word "highness"
"Sigh, don"t call me that when we are alone Sebastian… I consider you my friend" Caesar blew out a long breath and straighten his shirt out.
"Haha, I was just teasing young master" Sebastian smiled and replied.
Caesar started walking towards the dining room while talking to Sebastian "the meeting went well, whether or not the n.o.bles take my advice or not is up to debate, however."
"I see, are you planning on leaving soon?" Sebastian asked curiously
Caesar looked at Sebastian with an impressed look "yes, how did you know?"
"Haha, just intuition" Sebastian replied back with a slight chuckle
"Hmm, have you heard back from that Olivia woman yet?" Caesar hummed and changed the subject"
"Not yet, I believe she used a magic recorder to deliver a message to the regional manager… It should be some time before we receive word from her"
Caesar nodded his head and continued walking.
As they got closer a delicious scent soon invaded their noses, Caesar smiled as he started to walk quickly towards the dining room.
*creak*
Caesar walked through the doors and a long table filled with food entered into his eyes… Elizabeth, Ahri, Joe and three other familiar faces entered into his vision as well.
"Come to sit with me!" Elizabeth roared out and patted a chair next to her
Caesar walked to the chair slowly and sat down, he looked at everyone"s happy smile as they ate and looked up at the ceiling.
"Is this the calm before the storm?" He whispered under his breath.