The World Is Mine For The Taking

"Right now, the first thing we need to do is prepare ourselves properly," I said. "Even though I honestly believe I could head over there myself and wipe them out, I don’t want to take that risk if there’s even the slightest chance they’ve prepared some kind of failsafe that activates the moment they’re killed and ends up launching a nuclear strike against this kingdom."

Even though I had already prepared a place where everyone could potentially take shelter if a disaster on that scale ever happened, there was always the possibility that some unknown variable could throw everything off. Plans were great until reality decided to be annoying, and unfortunately, reality had a habit of doing exactly that. Because of that, I absolutely couldn’t afford to gamble with something this dangerous.

"Zoey and Chloe are already researching the bombs those bombers dropped, and they’re trying to learn as much as they can about how they work," I continued. "If we’re lucky, they might be able to estimate the destructive power of what that man called a country-ending nuclear weapon. Once we have a better understanding of its capabilities, we’ll have a much clearer picture of what we’re actually up against. So for now, I think our best course of action is to start preparing against something like that before it ever becomes a reality. We should be looking into every possible countermeasure we can think of, whether that’s through magic, defensive structures, protective barriers, or anything else that might give us a chance of stopping it."

"So that’s why you asked all of us to come here, huh?" Artemis said as she slowly nodded, the reason for this meeting finally becoming clear to her.

Judging by the look on her face, she understood exactly why I had gathered everyone together.

Even though she had been incredibly busy lately, she still made time to come because I was the one who had asked for this meeting. Honestly, I appreciated that more than I probably showed.

A warm smile spread across her face before she spoke again.

"Well, you are the savior of the entire Elven Kingdom," she said. "Naturally, we’ll help you with this project. Besides, we’ll benefit from it just as much as everyone else. The United Republic of Viritoginy exists because of you, after all, and whether it’s official or not, you’re still our leader in everything that truly matters. Since you’re asking us to do this for the sake of protecting our country, then following your plans is the most natural thing we could do. We’re your people, and we’ll gladly support you however we can."

Well, I supposed she wasn’t exactly wrong about any of that.

Even though I wasn’t officially the President of either the United Republic of Viritoginy, everyone still treated me as the person standing at the center of everything. More than anything else, I honestly doubted the country would have ever come into existence if I hadn’t been involved from the very beginning. Looking back on everything that had happened, it was honestly kind of surreal seeing how far we’d come.

Now that it had finally been established, though, it was proving just how worthwhile all of that effort had really been.

"Well, it sounds like he’s planning to use us however he wants, though," Agneis said while looking at me with a cheeky grin that immediately made me suspicious.

Did my expression really give me away that easily?

She let out a quiet laugh after noticing my reaction before continuing.

"Still, I think this is a pretty good idea. We’ve already been having quite a bit of trouble figuring out how to deal with all of this in the first place. Those bombs caused a lot of damage across parts of the United Republic, and we’d be fools if we let something like that happen again."

"We’re fortunate that the Elven barriers managed to stop those bombs before they reached the ground," Artemis added. "The Giants also played a huge part in destroying those flying machines before they could cause even more damage than they already did."

Her expression softened a little after saying that.

"Still, the King of the Giants ended up suffering serious injuries after putting his body under so much strain trying to catch almost all of those bombs by himself. He pushed himself far beyond what anyone reasonably should have."

I had already heard about that incident.

Thankfully, because he was a Giant, the explosions weren’t enough to kill him outright. Anyone else probably wouldn’t have survived even a fraction of what he endured.

Even so, there was never any chance he was going to walk away from something like that without paying a heavy price.

"I was actually planning to go visit him myself, but..." I said quietly before trailing off.

"You don’t have to worry about that," Agneis replied before I could finish what I was going to say. "As I’ve already told you, he isn’t in any immediate danger. He specifically asked me to tell you that you should stay here instead. If another large-scale attack happens while you’re away, this kingdom would be left without its greatest line of defense. He believes that if this place comes under attack while you’re gone, nobody here would be capable of stopping it before things got out of control."

Well, hearing something like that made it pretty obvious just how much faith he and Agneis herself had placed in me, and honestly, that was a lot of pressure to carry around.

I wouldn’t go as far as saying I was the only person capable of protecting everyone here, because that simply wouldn’t be true. Plenty of strong people were standing in this country, and they had more than proven themselves already.

Even so, there was no denying that any disaster would be much easier to handle if I stayed here instead of running around somewhere else. Because of that, my biggest priority right now was remaining in the kingdom for as long as I possibly could.

"Besides," Agneis continued with a gentle smile that carried a surprising amount of reassurance, "he also asked me to remind you not to spend your time worrying about him. He wants you to focus on the things that truly need your attention right now, because that’s where you’re needed the most."

A small smile naturally formed across my face after hearing those words from her.

"I will," I replied.