71: THE FIVE GENERALS

THE FIVE GENERALS

INSIDE the huge conference room, the quarterly meeting of the Imperial Army was being held. The five generals of the Empire were sitting on a round table, behind each of them stood their adjutants. Well, except for the most eye-catching one. The only pair in the room wearing a white military uniform instead of black.2

They were none other than Wulfric de Lunaris – the only prince of the Empire and the leader of Fenris Squad. Standing behind him was the lieutenant of the squad, Leland Brewer. 

This white uniform showed how they differ from the armies led by the other generals. 

The other four generals were in charged of the four galaxies under the Empire's rule. The army under Wulfric was the only one to not have any 'territory' to protect. Their numbers were also much smaller compared to the others. But among the five armies, no one would doubt the strength of the white wolves.

Each soldier of the Fenris Army – most commonly known as the Fenris Squad – was said to have strength equivalent to 20 soldiers. Each and everyone of them was powerful all on their own. The three captains and the lieutenant much more so. There was no need to mention the general. Everyone knew he's the most powerful man in the Empire right now in terms of physical and mental strengths.

Fenris Squad was a cesspool of soldiers with weird personalities, anger issues, and incredible thirst for battle. They were the only army which didn't care about one's background as long as they're strong. They could serve without worrying that their merits would be stolen from them by someone with a better background than them. It's a place where only strength mattered.

Their motto – 'Strength is Freedom'.

And Fenris Squad truly embodied that. Which made a lot of other imperial soldiers dislike them. In the soldiers' eyes, this 'strength' was just their arrogance and this 'freedom' was just them being unruly. 

Other soldiers thought that because the Fenris Squad's leader was the prince, it made them fearless. Doing whatever they wanted, disrespecting others with better background than them, and killing without even batting an eye. So, for those nobles in the army, the soldiers of the Fenris Squad were simply an uncouth and uncivilized group of people.

In layman's term, they were simply the black sheep of the Imperial Army. 

But really, that was just the other soldiers sour-graping. Because they couldn't do anything to them, they could only run off their mouths. 

"I didn't expect Your Highness to be present in the meeting," a stocky middle-aged looking man said. "And here I thought Your Highness would once again be MIA. Oh, I forgot, you did go MIA before this, right? How many times would that be now this year? Your Lieutenant must be exhausted, doing Your Highness' job."

This man with a sarcastic tone was General Milton Radcliffe. His army – the Mithril Army – was the one in charged of Darinian Galaxy, the former territory of the Human Alliance. 

He held quite a bit of a grudge against Wulfric because of the other's blatant refusal of his daughter. His daughter still had a psychological shadow because of the humiliation she suffered from the prince. If Wulfric didn't have the identity he had now, Milton would have already had him killed for hurting his daughter like that.

That's why every time they met, he would take a jibe at him whenever he could.

Wulfric turned his golden gaze at the stocky general. "Radcliffe, if you have time worrying about the things I do, then why don't you just use that to exercise? I could see your pot belly here, you know?"

Milton's face turned the color of a pig's liver. He resisted the urge to touch his stomach just to check if he really had a pot belly.

Leland cleared his throat to prevent himself from laughing. He lowered his head and whispered to Wulfric. "Your Highness, please behave."

"What? He started it," Wulfric childishly said. 

He didn't even bother to lower his voice. Which didn't really matter since the others in the room had high enough physique level to hear what they were talking about even if they whispered to each other. 

Leland shook his head. His Highness probably didn't even know why General Radcliffe was always annoying him. He probably had already forgotten about the daughter of the general.

As expected, General Radcliffe's expression became even uglier. If he could, he truly wanted to slap the hell out of this arrogant prince.

A woman with long sea-green hair braided behind her back sighed. Her big dark blue eyes were almost dripping with gentleness. She was beautiful and had the kind of face that said 'I'm kind, trust me'. But anyone who had dealt with her would know that she was the complete opposite. 

"Milton, you really should stop picking a fight with His Highness. You should know by now that you can never win against him," she said, looking at General Radcliffe as if the other was a poor soul tortured by a beast. "His Highness has always been a child who would retaliate at the slightest bit of taunt. Antagonizing him could only lead to disaster."

This woman was the only female general in the room. Her name was Nerissa Thorn – the head of the Sif Army that was in charge of Palioxis Galaxy. What she said just now criticized General Radcliffe for being stupid and also the prince for being childish. But she said it in a way in a tactful manner that others could not find fault in it. As evidence of General Radcliffe completely being speechless. 

Wulfric glanced at the female general. "Oh General, do you think that little squabble just now was me 'retaliating'? Trust me, it's not. Maybe if I wanted to retaliate against someone, I would show it first-hand to the General."

Instead of being fazed, General Thorn laughed. "Then I'm looking forward to it."

"Enough with the unnecessary talk and let's just get on with today's agenda," said a man with platinum blond hair and green eyes – typical features of someone who belonged to the Lancaster family.

He was Simon Lancaster. Ever since that incident involving his younger brother 20 years ago, his Rozen Army had been thrown to Tertius Galaxy – the poorest galaxy out of the four galaxies under the rule of the Empire. 

His former position as the one in charged of the safety of Artemian Galaxy where most of the power of the Empire was located then fell to another. It was the man who hadn't said anything since earlier. 

The man opened his eyes, they had been closed up until now. They were red tinged with orange, almost making them look like small orbs of blazing fire. It was a far cry from the dull brown color of his hair.

His name was Blake Schwartz. His Aegis Army held most of the military power in the Empire right now. 

"Let's begin," General Schwartz simply said.

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