Tarsuria, Year of Severus, 15, I.R., the 85th day of Fall, Arenfall

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"This is unacceptable!" Senator Lucresia spat as he saw Prince Veritus lying on the bed full of bandages. "Fellow senators! Look at how irresponsible this man is!" He pointed his finger on Lord Prestonheim.

The other senators stared at Lord Prestonheim, their eyes piercing like daggers, judging him for his so-called incompetence. They whispered like flies inside the cramped tent of the injured prince, not thinking of Prince Veritus condition and well-being.

Lord Prestonheim glanced at his brother and saw the silent and calm demeanor of the otherwise hot-headed senator. His brother simply nodded to him discreetly and remained silent the whole time. The old commander knew that his brother was a little annoyed about the current situation he was in. Especially, when the royal bloodline was involved. He could feel the cold calculating eyes of his brother judging him. But what can he do? He got too preoccupied with things, he slipped up.

"Senators, this is not a good place for us to gossip over this." The young Commander Crovar commented as he sweated from the humidness of the tent.

"Yes," Lord Prestonheim seconded. "If you would like to discuss this matter about my incompetence, let's take it outside, and not here. We are overcrowding the prince.

The Old Commander gestured them outside and offered his tent to house the angry Senator Lucresia and the rest of the Senate. Senator Lucresia glared at him. It was obvious how his last statement struck a nerve, the senator glared at him as his nose flared before storming out of the prince's tent.

Lord Prestonheim followed them outside as the blazing afternoon sun tortured them with its sweltering heat. He told one of the knights to bring them those big ice chunks that Servus 305-M made while researching on aetherium. He thought of giving the old hot-headed senator some refreshments to cool his head, or better yet pour some cold water over his balding head to cool him down—of course he wouldn't do the latter.

He guided the Senators over to his camp, a comparably longer walking distance from where they were.  The Senators grumbled under the sweltering heat while some of them casually threw an insult or two at him. Lord Prestonheim just ignored this and went on his way. Behind him was the young commander speaking to the irate old senator.

He heard the balding old man throwing curses at him. Still, he preferred not to entertain the senator's babbles. He took a glance at both men and was surprised to see how his other godson, Commander Maceus Crovar winked at him.

He was unsure what it meant. Up until this point, the young commander has been elusive to him. Maceus and him hadn't had a serious conversation about what happened to his uncle. The young commander was always seen along with some of the knights in the campfire exchanging stories and mostly obscene ones at that. Every time he asked to speak with him, the young commander would make alibi just to get out of a conversation.

Lord Prestonheim's tent peeked among the other tents. The metallic flagpole glared over the roof of his tent. He glanced behind him once again and saw the irritated and tired faces of the Senators. He walked briskly into his tent, urging the rest to do the same; with the heat tormenting them, he knew the senators wouldn't mind if he picked up his pace a bit.

He immediately entered the tent where he readied a bunch of seats for the Senators. The old, balding, Senator Lucresia entered his tent while fanning his hand over his face. Maceus Crovar stayed on the tent's opening and gestured the other senators to come in with a smile on his face.  After they seated, Senator Lucresia stood up and began his litany.

"Dear Senators! I would like to say this again. This Lord has been negligent in his duty!" Senator Lucresia pointed his finger once again at him. "He had let our prince in danger! He almost killed the—"

"If I would be real with you, Senator Lucresia," Senator Dotlan interrupted. "Oh! Sorry for the interruption! It's just…I can't seem to help but notice there were two princes who got involved in this incident." The flamboyant dressing senator commented.

"And your point?" Senator Lucresia raised his eyebrows.

"Well, since you've been accusing the distinguish Lord Commander over here…you might as well blame him for both and not just the OTHER one." He smiled.

Senator's Dotlan's statement caused a stir within the other circle. His words weren't much of a help to this situation, instead, it caused more chaos. But on the other hand, the senator's statement did made sense. And if Lord Prestonheim was correct, he felt that the well-dressed Senator was calling out the balding old one.

The members of the senate were waiting for Senator Lucresia for his response. But the younger senator's statement caught the sly, old man off-guard.

"Hmm… I don't want to play an evil advocate here. But I think you just bypassed the legitimate heir to the throne and only tried to care for the younger one, is it not? Has his birthright already been rejected by our great Imperatur? Are we overturning the rules now? So far, I recall that we were here to make a verdict on his campaign. Or maybe…I was just… I don't know…going senile and forgotten or misheard about that part." The senator scratched his head.

Lord Prestonheim tried his best to contain his laughter as the younger senator floored the wise old Lucresia, mouth ajar.  For a moment, he thought that Senator Lucresia was no longer able to rebut at the young senator's argument. But the sly snake slithered his way out of that sticky accusation.

"Well, you are not wrong. I am sorry, but from the way you talked, I sense you are accusing me of overriding the law, am I correct?"

"Not really, good Senator."

"I think that you just did." Senator Lucresia clicked his tongue. "But going back to the…judging thing…I think we can all agree how useless this campaign has been! It's almost two months since this shenanigan started and we are yet to see results! Oh, correction good results!" He said smugly, while glaring at Lord Prestonheim.

"Do you have any results?" Senator Lucresia reached out his hand to him and mocked him to give him the data.

"With all due respect Senator," Lord Prestonheim sighed. "I do not have any written results to give you. But someone can."

Senator Lucresia raised his eyebrow. "You're going to put your trust on that crazy redhead?!"

He wanted to react on the last comment. Senator Lucresia was blatantly in cohorts with 305-M. Lord Prestonheim knew of that very well; he beat that truth out of the mad redhead.

"I am pretty sure you're confident about this especially because he's reporting directly to you!" The silver-haired commander rebutted.

"Are you accusing me of—"

"Senators! Gentlemen!" Commander Crovar diverted their attention. "Your arguments felt hotter than the sun outside. How about if we talk with cooler heads?"

"You stay out of this, boy commander! We are not like those ladies that you can sweet talk!" Senator Lucresia spat.

"Oh, come on, godfather!" He smiled at Senator Lucresia. "I wasn't exaggerating when I said that!" He opened the flap wide revealing some knights carrying cups for their refreshments.

The knights immediately distributed ice-cold drink to the Senators.

"Ice cold?! Such a terrible waste of Ice magic!" Senator Ordaenous commented while sipping a cup filled with the cold soured wine.

"Ice magic? Not quite!" Lord Prestonheim said.

"Yes. Yes." Senator Lucresia groaned. "I already know about this! This was made using those stones, right? Such a marvelous achievement! What are we going to do with our enemies using this new discovery? Make them refreshments?"

The other senators laughed at Senator Lucresia's jab on the matter. Lord Prestonheim wanted to say something about the jest, but he was too ill-informed about the recent discovery. He wasn't sure how to explain those technicalities to the Senators in a way that their brains wouldn't bleed.

The laughing continued and more mockery was yelled at the new discovery.

"No, we freeze them to death!"

The laughing stopped.

The Senators looked around and saw the injured Prince Arterius limping his way into the front table.

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