King Arnold POV: Bang! The front doors to the throne room slammed open after the brothers Aaron and Arik each gave a forceful shove. Multiple heads turned in their direction while up above King Arnold Thoss Varthias sat on a tall throne looked down with a frown. "I hope you have a good reason to be barging in like this my son's." Said Arnold with a disapproving look due to the loud entrance of his unruly children. "Father, Arik has Valuable information from our border where he was stationed. I believe it's imperative that you hear what he has to say." Said Aaron before their father got angry at them for barging in. "Well? Let's hear it then what is it that you've discovered?" Asked King Arnold. As Arik began to explain what he heard his father face gradually began to darken. "THOSE FOOLS! If they think the Ferrous Empire won't kill them all and conquer them too then they'll the death of us all." Raged King Arnold. What surprised the brothers was their father didn't seem alarmed about the uptick in skirmishes and the news of the Ferrous Empire gathering soldiers. What truly made him upset was to find out one of the city states was openly trading with the Ferrous Empire and had more then likely formed a secret alliance. Urbs Alba was a rich and powerful city state where almost 35% of the weapons and armors of the regnum Urbia city's states bought they're weapons from. It produced more weapons and armor then any other two city states combined this was mainly due to their close position to the Ferrous Mountains which were extremely rich in Iron. Not to mention the gold and copper commonly found in the same deposits. Needless to say they were the most industrialized city state of Regnum Urbia mass producing weapons and armors. If they had truly made a alliance with the Ferrous Empire then The Regnum Urbia Coalition would fall. Maybe not immediately but within another 10 years atleast. King Arnold was outraged but knew there was nothing he could do except warn the others. So he did, dismissing his sons who ran off like giddy school girls giggling and laughing King Arnold shook his head and called for Magister Davion to draft up messages for the other 5 family heads that co ruled the coalition with him. Shaking his head he asked. "What are we going to do Davion? If Urbs Alba has truly abandoned the coalition then war will break out soon. I fear for my families safety and the safety of my people. We can't hold the Ferrous Empire alone. But our allies will most Likely only send a paltry force to appease us if we're attacked first. Not to mention possible attacks from our north from Urbs Alba. We need to start preparing for war and so do our allies...
Aaron's POV: "Hyaa, hyaa, faster Ferdinand he's beating us!" Yelled Aaron with a smile on his face as he was chasing after Arik on his Monokerōs. Both brothers were racing through Mucro City to the gates. The loser would buy the other a drink from the Barrymoore Tavern a mile outside of town close to the royal hunting grounds. Although Aaron was a skilled in Horsemanship his brother was on another level it seemed. He was slightly shorter and a small bit skinnier then him giving him a slight weight advantage over his elder brother. Not just that but his horsemanship is on another level entirely. He would swear that he could feel what the horses and even the royal families prideful Monokerōs wanted like a weird innate connection. Just crazy talk if you asked Aaron but he couldn't deny his brother had a way with them. Aaron could see Arik rounding a corner a little over 40 foot ahead then he lost sight of him. "Damnit Ferdinand we can't lose to him again, last time he nearly drained my entire monthly allowance. Hyaa hyaa!" Alas there was no chance Aaron would beat his brother to the city gates today, and he would undoubtedly go through a pretty amount of coin before the day was over...
THIS IS PREPOSTEROUS!!! If Urbs Alba is truly trading with the Ferrous Empire then they've had to of struck a alliance of some kind!" "AYE! Else the Ferrous Empire wouldn't trade with them in the first place!" Yelled furious elders and council members of The Mucro high council."Calm down, yes it's infuriating our allies not to mention them being one of our closest neighbors seems to have betrayed us but we must discuss how we are to prepare and mitigate the damage. An attack from either the Empire or Urbs Alba or possibly both is immenate. We must bolster our defenses and the surrounding villages and strongholds. As well as call all the royal shepherds to move within 25 miles of Mucro City so incase of invasion they will be nearby and won't have to herd they're animals for weeks to safety." Stated King Arnold interrupting the others. "A wise decision My lord. May I also advise perhaps sending a few small scouting parties to urbs Alba to hopefully infiltrate the city and give us more accurate information on the current happenings of the city?" Stated the head councilor of information. I second that, I think it would be wise to verify this information not that I doubt your majesty's children to make such a foolish mistake without double checking but it's always good to be sure. Stated a Elder of the council. "I agree I'll send a couple small parties of men to enter the city as Merchants or shepherds trying to sell some stock and hopefully they can give us solid proof of the misdeeds of the Geneviev Family. If so then not only will the other Families be willing to help us but they will be much more pressured to prepare better for war with the empire this time." Said King Arnold. "Amir, how many troops does the royal family have ready to fight in a full scale defensive war right now?" Asked King Arnold. "As of right now in Mucro city and the surrounding 25 miles we have 5,000 men all of whom are a part of the Royal Varthias Army, well trained, armed, and armored. There's another estimated 25,000 men between the ages of 16 and 40 in the surrounding 25 miles. All throughout Varthias controlled lands not including Mucro City and the surrounding 25 miles we have another approximately 9,000 troops I'm not sure of the the exact population because we don't take a consensus outside of Mucro City, the surrounding 25 miles, and the Dorbis Township on the border of the Empire and the surrounding 10 miles of it." Replied Amir. "What kind of foolishness is this? Not taking a consensus of all the people in your lands? So you don't even have a general number of the population of your lands?!" Stated a Elder quite upset at this act of foolishness. "If I remember correctly Dorris one of the reasons for that is due to your and other elders like you who was to lazy to take a consensus through your lands under Our great Varthias name." Replied Amir shutting the elder Dorris up who was in part responsible for that mess in the first place. "Brother, I believe we could raise atleast 30,000 serfs throughout Varthias lands without disrupting the trade, commerce, farming, fishing, and herding too much." Stated Amir. "Hmm, and how long do you think it would take to properly train them Amir?" Pondered King Arnold. "A few months at most Brother. Though they won't be elites or at the same level as our normal soldiers they will be able to hold a formation and won't flee as soon as things start looking bad." Replied Amir thoughtfully stroking his goatee. "And Dorris you being the head of the Royal armory should know how long would it take the royal blacksmiths to forge enough weapons and armor?" Asked King Arnold to Dorris. "My lord to forge that much armor with the few blacksmiths we have would take atleast a year if not more why not buy some instead to supplement what we can't make? Seeing that were in short supply and some armor is better then none it might also be cheaper and quicker to use leather armor for the serf army and hold the better equipment back for the better soldiers only equipping the officers in the serf army with iron armor." Replied Dorris. "Perhaps we will do that then." Mused King Arnold. "Magister Davion do you think we will have enough grain and money to supply this amount of troops and if so for how long?" Asked King Arnold.
"My lord the Royal treasury holds 18,234 Gold Drachma, 57,567 silver Drachma, 137 kilos of various different precious gems. Over 10,000 kilos of Iron ingots, over 150,000 kilos of various wheat and grains,the royal Shepards last count of livestock was 833 oxen, 1,785 cows, 538 bulls, 867 calfs, 1,123 swine, 2,389 sheep, 1,178 horses, and the 7 beautiful Monokeros that were gifted to the royal family 8 generations ago." Continued Magister Davion. "With this we should be able to feed the army for several months if we completely stopped producing everything and used just our reserves. We should be able to produce after taking into account the slightly lower amount of production after fielding so many soldiers from the farmlands and other important areas. We should be able to produce atleast upto 60% of what our army would need and be able to supplement the rest with our reserves and any supplies we might capture from the enemy. Doing this I believe we should be able to feed and cloth, armor, and arm our army for a few years if necessary. Completed Magister Davion. "Good, well then I suppose I should close this meeting on a good note atleast." Said King Arnold. "Go to your residences take a break and relax. We're not going to be under attack in the next few days this war probably won't even actually happen for another few years it's just good to be prepared. We have a celebration ahead of us so be happy, and enjoy the festivities. I hope we won't have to see all of us come together again until my speech in three days at the end of the great treaty celebrations." Finished King Arnold with a tone of finality.