Age of Heroes (Age of Heroes Chronicles)

It is Giovanni. Santiago smiles at seeing his friend

Giovanni is a tall man. He is six feet five in height. Not many people are as tall as him even among the twelve general.

Such a towering figure is truly intimidating. On his left side of his hip, is the sheathe of his saber. Giovanni is different from the other nobles

Most nobles use swords but he uses saber. When he kills people it was like he is a butcher. His hair is bright brown and his face is fair and flawless.

A handsome young man with an imposing figure. 

He is one year older than Santiago and it is because of this Santiago treated him like his older brother. 

His body is tough and since he had not fight for a long time, he had some fat on his muscle. 

But it is clear that Giovanni is now training back his body. The trace of the muscles that he once had is now slowly showing itself again.

If Alberth is feminine looking, then Giovanni is a manly man, like a beast in the wild. 

Santiago did not mince word. Before Giovanni could even take a seat, he asked

'So, what do you think?'

Giovanni did not answer immediately as he took one of the chalice on the table and pour himself water.

Then he drinks it and then said

'Tell the Emperor first.'

Santiago frowned. Clearly, this is not the answer he expected. Giovanni smirks looking at Santiago face.

He could understand Santiago anxiousness. But he believes that informing the Emperor of this is the best course of action.

Santiago then hesitantly said. 

'This is a chance for merit'

Giovanni snorted and simply said

'There is a lot of chance of gaining merit' Santiago frowns become deeper and then he said to Giovanni.

'Are you saying that you wanted to risk the life of the Emperor? If this was in Eden, the spit of those civil officials would drown you. Challenging someone to a duel? What year is this?'

Giovanni only smiles. 

Santiago then said

'We could send our army and ambush this person. Even though from the words of the local people, this person is known to possess some kind of godly strength, I refuse to believe that this man could defeat tens of thousands of soldiers'

'And it is not like we are some weak man. I myself could take on a few hundred people by myself. And with you, my friend, I believe both of us are enough. Maybe this person strength is over exaggerated. Even some people said we could kill thousands of people alone when the truth was it only looks like we were fighting thousands of people when we merely killed only a few hundred people. In wars and in battle, it is easy for something like that to be exaggerated.'

Giovanni sighed and shakes his head. Then he said

'I need to remind you of something, Santiago. This is not the Human Continent'

He let that sink for a few second before continuing saying. 

'If we did what you planned to do, the result would be that the reputation of this army, the reputation of the Emperor would then be destroyed. Don't tell me you don't know. The people of this land pays great attention to personal honor. If we did such a cowardly thing, no warrior on this land would want to join us. When in Eden, do as the Edenian do. And now, we are at the New World. We should follow their custom if we want to win popular support. If you did what you did, I believe the Emperor would not be pleased'

'And you are mistaken about something. This decision is not ours to make. Do not forget what Lord Silas warned those people back then' 

Santiago stopped the words he was about to say. He still remembers that day. It was a few days before the Emperor took over their military power.

To others, it was a normal day. 

Only he and the other great generals knew that a few days before the ceremony of relinquishing the military power, there was almost a great rebellion that nearly broke out. That day was the longest day in the Empire.

It is very important not to hide things from the Emperor and it is very important to remember that some decision are not theirs to make.

'Still, this is a risky bet. If the Imperial Highness loses, then what should we do? The death of the Emperor on a foreign land is bad enough. If it's known to the officials in Eden that we allowed the Emperor to engage in such a dangerous battle, regardless whether we said it is the Emperor Will, they would find a way to blame it on us. 

Sighing he said

'Our reputation is already bad. They might even frame us as traitor of the Empire. I would not put it past those craven in the Court. It is fine if the Emperor won. But if he loses…. what then?'

Giovanni laughed and said

Then fuck honor. We'll send every soldiers we have to protect the Emperor if it seems like the Emperor is about to lose. And if the Emperor dies, then we would bury that person and his entire tribe with the Emperor'

Santiago only shake his heads.

'Then why agree to this manner of deciding things like we are back in the eras of those great heroes?'

'Benefits.  I believe I am not the only one that could see the benefit of this duel. It is because of that it is better for you to tell this to the Emperor instead of doing thing that would make the Emperor angry'

Giovanni sighed as he sits down on the chair.

'Do not worry about sending people to the Emperor. I already send a messenger to inform the Emperor. I believe the Emperor would accept the duel. Our liege is stubborn that way'

Santiago look at Giovanni and he could only sigh with surrender. It seems that Giovanni had already make a move for him

It is useless crying over spilt milk so instead of thinking his old plan he decided to accept it 

What should we do? Santiago said as he also sat down on one of the chair. 

Since everything had move from his plan, that is the only thing he could ask right now

What should he do now? if the Emperor choose to fight in a duel, it is very important the Emperor is not injured by that person or even worse died under that person weapon.

If that happens, they could practically forget about returning home in glory. 

The Empire would blame them. 

It would not matter what the facts would be. 

What would matter then is that the Emperor had died, and there two great generals with him and he still died. 

The officials of the court would surely blame it on them and a civil war probably would happen to determine who would be the heir to the Dragon Throne. 

Even now, when the Emperor is still alive, those two heirs of the Emperor had almost seemed like they would fight in a war.

Giovanni did not think that far. But Santiago did. It is because of this, he had such plan to exclude the Emperor and hide the news from the outer city and deal with it himself.

He would have collected some merit and protected the Emperor. 

That was his plan.