The Lost Samurai

Chapter 24- War council

That night they had a good moment together, with Kai and Kenshin talking a bit about what they had been doing and Kyoko and Mai spoiling the former emperor, while at the same time Mai spoiled Kyoko and tried unsuccessfully to be spoiled by her two older brothers, they just gave her a bit of attention but nothing too big, those things made her desire to be a child again and be pampered by her brothers.

The old man's complexion even improved a bit with daughter and granddaughter showering him with love and with the happy atmosphere in the room, family love and true happiness had helped him fight his disease even if just for a bit of time.

After a good family reunion during the morning the three siblings woke up early, it was time to get serious, to protect everything they had they needed to fight this war with the dragons. Even if war wasn't the best solution, sometimes it was needed. When the enemy broke their peace agreement and started sending raids to test their strength, nothing else could solve the problem.

They stepped in the council room at the same time, a large room full of maps and with a projection of the stars in the ceiling, the room had nine chairs around a round table, four in each side and one taller chair made of gold and amethyst with handles sculpted in the form of two phoenixes in the middle of the two chair groups.

Two chairs were already occupied when the trio arrived and the four remaining chair occupants entered the room only a few minutes later, now everything was set for the war council.

"Ahem, ladies and gentlemen, now that everyone is here we can start the war council. Of course every person here today knows the reason for this meeting, the dragons broke our agreement and attacked us, and according to our war surveillance they're coming to attack three more cities." After talking about the cities Emperor Kai pulled one map from the wall and spread it on the table. The map had five nations and showed three red dots moving towards three different cities.

The map perfectly represented the four big powers, in the center the kingdom everyone in the room was trying to protect, The Blue Phoenix Kingdom, on the right side their current enemy, The Dragon Empire. In the left part a vast forest could be seen, this was a kingdom of amazing hunters which mostly remained neutral throughout the ages, The Elven Forest. North of Blue Phoenix Kingdom there was a pitch black area, and it was represented this way cause sky and earth themselves were this color there, The Dark Mages Guild controlled this area, they were almost a cult with the guild leader as a weird kind of demonic pope. Finally the territory to the south was a land of big persons, almost the size of dragons, the giants, this nation was called The Giants Den.

The three red dots were a result of surveillance arrays in several cities sending data, they were too expensive to maintain for a long time so they only were brought up during war periods, so after the attack to Red Sand city they quickly started making them to ensure the safety of everyone, several were still being installed so the localization wasn't perfect, but at least it was close to perfection and could give them a good reading.

"Those three groups could easily destroy the cities and kill thousands so we will be also sending missions to destroy them today, according to the patterns the dragons are still preparing themselves, The Dragon Empire sent 4 small groups counting with the last one so they probably are trying to estimate our power, seeing if a war will be good for them. Based on this we still have some time, we need to take care of the attacking groups while preparing all the defenses and our big offensive." Not only Kai but every single person in this room was relieved with their enemies adopting this strategy.

Secius II wasn't dumb after all, going into a full blown war in the first moment would be a disaster for Blue Phoenix Kingdom of course, without a proper defense strategy half their kingdom would be ravaged by war instantly and millions would die, no one wanted that, but for the dragons it could be exactly as disastrous, attacking blind without knowing anything about their foes could easily cost them the victory, taking so many civilians from the other side but losing the war in the process, Secius wouldn't do that, it would be a short term victory for a long term loss.

"Emperor, how will we react to those three initial attacks? You said we would be already acting today so could you please tell us how?" The person asking those questions was the matriarch of one of the two big families of Blue Phoenix Kingdom, Lady Ina Hori.

"Of course I will explain it in detail, three persons here will be dealing with that and I bet you already guessed who they are. This one going to Unicorn city is the biggest, it has 20-25 dragons. Something like that, our guardian Kenshin will deal with this one, you told me the curse is weakened and also you can freely use your Blue Phoenix now, right?" The emperor pointed his finger to Kenshin sitting in the chair to the left of his throne.

"Yes, at least for a year it's ok to fight without any constraints, you can count on me to destroy this group." Even with the super hard internal fight Kenshin was happy for that last curse attack now, only after a fight like this he could gain time to use all his power, and power was what he needed the most right now.

Everyone in the room sighed in relief after Kenshin's words, his condition was a really important matter right now, without him it was almost impossible to win this war, but with an overbearing general this war was possible.

"About the second and third ones, they are groups with probably almost the same strength of the one that just attacked Red Sand city, so we can say one battalion of ten dragons each. The second dot is moving towards Great Sea City, the most suitable one for the job of destroying it is Master Nico, he is certainly strong enough to deal with them." Now the emperor pointed at a young man with green hair, furrowed eyebrows and a face full of battle scars sitting in the chair directly opposed to him.

"I will show those bastards that we aren't that easy to take down, they can't mess with us and go unpunished, you rely on me your majesty." Nico accepted the task without thinking twice, innocent people needed to be protected and dragons needed to be slain, he trained all his life for this kind of purpose.

"Are you sure you can take this on alone Nico? The family can provide you with backup, it's a dangerous fight." An old man with a big beard and battle scars similar to Nico's offered help, he was the leader of Olivier family, the second member of the two big families, he was Ciel Olivier.

"I'm sure Dad, no need to worry, even if those dragons are strong at my current level I can beat them without taking risks, I'm cautious you know." Nico Olivier, the second strongest person in Blue Phoenix Kingdom, he was Kenshin's childhood friend and also adopted son of Ciel.

"Ok, if he's sure I trust his judgement, Nico was never reckless and he knows his own strength better than anyone, so let's talk about the third group, the one heading towards Wind Valley city. For this mission we will need Master Kioru's collaboration, can you go there with your two disciples?" Everyone looked at Master Kioru now, Kioru Raphael was an old specialist of the kingdom, he was a known master since the last war with the dragons, almost 80 years old with no hair and some white beard, this seemingly harmless man was the third strongest person in this room.

"Ok, I will get my two boys and we will defend the city, no dragon will survive our blades." This old master was strong, so strong that even Secius II, the dragon’s emperor wouldn’t dare take him lightly, but even if he was strong it was still a bit risky for him to fight a dragon battalion alone, he was still a bit lacking compared to Master Nico, but with his two disciples added to the equation this battle was definitely a win.