Chapter 2029: A Platoon of Mages

"The Kingdom Affairs and Labour Ministry would like to have some input if possible." The Lackey asked and Jin nodded his head, practically overriding the ministers that were on the table at the rate they were going. He could see that the ministers were furious but they were controlling themselves because they feared Jin killing them in an instant.

"Is Your Majesty looking to expand into the Northern Lands?"

"Once preparations are complete and the kingdom is self sufficient, yes."

"Can I humbly ask what is the estimated timeline of the invasion based on what you have seen for the past few days?" The lackey asked and Jin shot back the question at him.

"I apologise but I cannot estimate without fully understanding the developments you can bring. However, if you insist on a timeline, I say about one year."

"What's your explanation for this?" The Interim War Minister asked if the invasion of the northern lands would be his problem. And even though he had the power to immobilise the troops as and when, with the new King, it might not be possible at all. Still, there were distinctions made between readying the army for war and already sortied the army to move.

"Firstly, we do not have the manpower trained to fight against demons, and we need to get the fortifications in the northern region for a fierce defensive fight before we can push through. I am not sure how strong or potent is your Majesty's shield barrier but if a demon lord were to go through, we would have problems defending if there are no fortifications to buffer.

"Has Ress defeated a Demon Lord before?" Jin asked as per his curiosity and all of them had mixed responses. But what he was more interested in was the Interim War Minister's response since he shook his head instead of nodding.

"My King, when the Northern Demon outbreak came, Ress had dispatched their finest into the northern region to assist with the fight, the neighbouring kingdoms did the same as well. Scout who retreated first had reported stating there was a Demon Lord within the ranks but none returned. The only good thing was that there was no appearance of the Demon Lord ever since."

"Then I assumed those who nodded their heads were talking about past glories?" Jin asked and those ministers kept their mouths shut. tight.

"If that is the case, a full invasion should be off the table." Topharm was the first to speak to break the silence. "Unless your Majesty has some other plans in mind?"

"Yes, I do. But whether they work or not depends on not how strong the demons are, and rather how fast we can rebuild our army." Jin said and it made the ministers as well as the lackeys curious to the point that they anticipate the words coming out from the King's mouth.

"What if I say that I can make a company of strong mages equipped with some cheaper advanced weaponry that is capable of eliminating things better than an elite group that you train for months or maybe years? And all I need are men and women who have magic capabilities and 2 erm....weeks? That's all." Jin said and the rest were dumbfounded.

"You mean, you can train up a group of mages capable of doing destructive magic with the help of some fancy weapons in two weeks? And they are stronger than elite soldiers who spent their lives dedicated to offensive magecraft?" That is preposterous! That is like asking a chicken to kill a lion!" Find more chapters on m_v l|e-NovelFire.net

"Then let's make it a bet, shall we? If I win, I reshuffle the entire minister cabinet and appoint new ones if necessary. If I lose, you guys continue to hold your power. Also, we are not going to do stupid things like fighting against one another. We will hold a dungeon run competition. Two portals have the same enemies side by side with the entire city.

Heck, I make it even easier for you, choose the monster that your elite mages would wish to fight and even the difficulty rank." Jin proposed and the ministers were already talking to themselves, thinking that this might be the one and only chance they could get their powers back even though some caution that this was a trap made by Jin.

"Alright, let's sweeten the deal even further. You guys choose ten people. As long as they have magical powers, I am fine with it. But what I do need is 2 weeks. As for the rest of the factors, you guys choose." Jin said as he stood up and he started pointing at people.

"Do you want me to get the lowest Rank F magic users as your 'specimens'?" Questo asked, stating that he even had the crystal ball of truth that printed their adventurer tag to show the stats and Jin laughed.

"That is for the ministers to decide," Jin replied and Topharm was the first to say that he was fine with anything and thus abstained from it. The rest of the ministers also stated that they were fine with the Adventurer Guildmaster handling the candidates.

"They gave their answers." Jin yawned as he looked at the time.

"Looks like we went overboard with the discussions a little. We only left with an hour. And since I am still in power, Hocoin. Can you do what was proposed by me and this finance lackey, erm what's his name again? En Moy?"

"Yes, your Majesty! Name's En Moy." He once again bowed to respect a person who knew about finance more than the finance minister himself.

"I name you the Special Envoy of the Finance Ministry. For now, your authority is the same as the Finance Minister and he does not have the ability to command you. Till the challenge, you have two weeks to work with Hocoin and ensure that the foundation of the new currency proposal is solid enough to be used. Every single day we do not solve this, it is one more slow economy day for us."

"Yes, your Majesty!"

"Oh and the Interim War Minister? I did not catch your name but I do not want to as well." Jin spoke. "Get me access to a remote camp where I can train these ten men and women in peace and no distractions, is that doable?"

"Yes, your Majesty!" While the Interim War Minister was a little disappointed that En Moy got to have his name learned by the King and not him, he was already very satisfied with the outcome of this tavern meeting.

"Right, the rest of you can piss off. I want to have a talk with Hocoin and Questo. Also, Gara if you are out there with Mage Guild!" Jin shouted for his last sentence and the guards opened the door to see Gara escorting an old man riding an owlbear into the tavern.

"It's the Grand Sage!" The lackeys who saw immediately bowed as if giving the same respect they had for the King to the sage too. But more importantly, the ministers were also bowing with that much respect to the Grand Sage than he did to the King. Jin noticed it and understood the possible power dynamics in this kingdom.

But for once, instead of respecting the flow of things, Jin decided to gamble his position and continued to sit down, waiting for the Grand Sage to sit too. And to his surprise, the Grand Sage did not move his eyes away from Jin the moment he entered the Tavern. No aversion to other things and kept his focus on Jin and only Jin.

Still, Jin did not feel too bothered by it. Perhaps, he got too much training from Kraft that he probably got used to it, or maybe he got ignorant after receiving too much nonsense from customers that ignoring death stares was part of his repertoire as a businessman.

"Glad you can make it," Jin said as he placed his hand outwards and invited him to sit right beside him. As for the rest, they humbly made their departure as the Owlbear strolled into the Tavern Halls and pushed the chairs as gently as an owlbear could do before lying there like a long bench for the Giant Sage to be at the same eye level as Jin...

(Actually, it was indeed at a higher eye level than Jin.)

Jin did not care if the Grand Sage was playing these petty games of respect but as long as he was able to take care of the agenda for the night, Jin was willing to play any game.

Questo and Hocoin eventually sat on the opposite side while Gara stood beside the Grand Sage instead of Jin and once more another power play that the King noticed. "The honour is mine." The Grand Sage said. "I do hope that you do know my name though."

"Not really. It did not come across to me that you are important of any sort. I probably have more than enough magic ability to rival you or might have already surpassed you."

"Youth." The Grand Sage smirked. "Everyone thinks too highly of themselves."

"I don't think so. I believe I am merely stating the facts. Besides, I already did you a favour by not letting you wait more than five minutes out in the open. I actually still had a lot of issues to discuss with my previous group" Jin said and continued to maintain his ignorant facade as a sign of retaliation. In fact, he was merely playing with his utensils.

As for the Questo and Hocoin, they felt that this could be a long meeting once more.

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