Luca and Arcturus grunted from the sudden pressure clash from the pair of great figures. The pressure was heavy enough to cause slight difficulty in breathing for the pair, who resisted it as best as they could with their meagre abilities.
Crescius's eyes narrowed slightly, "You even invited the Guildmaster of the Thieves Guild? You must have lost your mind. Despite the fact that we ignore them unless it becomes serious, there's never been a reason to contact them so directly. Who knocked your block off, Art?"
Arthur crossed his arms with a fierce expression, "I just got back from an emergency meeting with the other sovereigns and the Dreamwalker. Do you think I'm joking, Crescius?"
Due to his status as the Royal Court Mage, Crescius was informed on the existence of the Pseudo-Sages and their critical importance. If the Dreamwalker was involved and this summons was indeed extremely critical, then Crescius would be in deep trouble attempting to ignore such a major development. After a moment of glaring, the greying mage grumbled and went to one side of the room, picking up a platinum staff once he did. Without a second further, he strode right past the king and his two young guests silently as he made his way downstairs. Arthur just rolled his eyes and turned to follow, the two young boys in tow.
The elevator ride to the ground floor was awkwardly silent, with the irritable mage standing with his eyes closed, the king calmly standing in place, and Luca and Arcturus uncomfortably sandwiched between the two. Despite the fact that his eyes were closed, Luca knew that Crescius was inspecting him and Arcturus using the non-elemental Lv. 0 spell [Inspect], or more than likely the highly advanced version, the Lv. 5 [Analysis]. He did not resist, nor did Arcturus after sensing his partner's thoughts. A few times throughout the process, the feeling of being watched would suddenly stop before starting over, indicating the older mage's surprise.
Back on ground level soon after, the king took the lead, the grumbling mage a half-step behind, with two boys doing their best to keep up. Arthur called for a guard to tell the people he'd summoned to convene in the war room. As they ran off, Crescius spoke after quite a long period of silence, giving the king a critical eye, "The war room, Arthur? That room hasn't been used for anything in decades. I don't even think your father had a reason to use it, nor your grandfather. Last I remember, it was used by your great-great-grandfather to quell the rise of massive bandit clans about 200 years ago."
The king just gave him a calm yet severe look, "This matter is undoubtedly the most critical event that has ever occurred for the kingdom. Nay, it is far worse than that. Thankfully, the map has been updated occasionally in the war room, or it would be useless to us. Rather than a simple meeting, this matter is of international severity."
Throughout their entire lives together, Crescius had never seen Arthur look so serious. He normally had at least a small sense of humour regardless of how stressed he was. Even when his father passed and he ascended the throne, he kept a smile throughout the onrush of exhausting work he now had to endure. This time, there was not a hint of humour in the king's speech or actions. Just this alone was enough to alarm the court mage, who muttered in response, "You said international severity... exactly how serious is it?"
With a sigh, the king answered, "It'll be easier to explain to everyone at once."
___
Not twenty minutes later, in an old room with a grand table with a holographic three-dimensional map of the continent, formed from an array made by a Grandmaster, placed in the centre of it, seven people and one dragon whelp had gathered. At the head of the table stood King Arthur, a look of grave severity on his face. To his right, Crescius stood leaning on his staff while Luca and Arcturus stood beside the mage, doing their best not to fidget in the stifling atmosphere. Beside them at the other end of the table was Elizabeth Tudor and her familiar, both of whom, like the others in the room, could sense the severity of the matter at hand without having heard anything so far.
On the king's left stood a man of similar age to both Arthur and Crescius, though he looked far gruffer by comparison. Despite wearing a military uniform, the man's burly arms were bare, revealing numerous scars of various size and severity. From just below his left cheekbone, a scar ran up to his left ear, which had a large chunk of it missing from the same attack. Even the king's gaze did nothing to faze him after numerous years of battle. This man was Nathaniel Rosenborne, the Military Commander that oversaw all of the militaries of the kingdom, and another of Arthur's fellow childhood friends. Nathaniel had chosen to walk to the military path, while Crescius had chosen the path of magic. Arthur decided to chase after the path of the swordsman, aiming to claim the title of Sword Saint which hadn't been bestowed in centuries. While Nathaniel couldn't match the king blow-for-blow, his mind for military strategy outshone his combat capabilities.
Dressed in very casual clothes beside the Military Commander was another strong man, though he certainly did not have the size or power of the Military Commander. Instead, this man was a user of a style of self-created bojutsu techniques, some of which mimicked those of other weapons. Despite having retired from his status as an S-ranked adventurer, Styarne the Punisher kept his position as the Head Guildmaster of the Adventurers Guild, using his extensive experience to guide hopeful adventurers. The most memorable feature of this man was his mismatched eyes, with one being a normal blue and the other a green cats-eye, which he had inherited from one of his ancestors.
The last of the eight people present was a lady in a tight dark leather bodysuit, leather gloves and boots, and a black cowl that had been removed for the meeting. A halfling of Wood Elf and Lynx Tribe parentage, Chakri Blinx held the position as the leader of the Thieves Guild, attributed to her long-running fame of being the fastest and stealthiest person in the Light Faction. As a master scout and spy, Chakri was especially famous for her numerous escapades into Dark Faction territory, ranging from gathering intelligence to swiping important items or documents. Numerous Dark Faction spies were uprooted by her work, and even some conspirators had been busted by her. As such, despite her status as a thief, she was highly respected.