“Uncle!!!!!” A girl with long blonde hair and emerald green eyes wearing an extravagant gown appeared and tossed herself into Henry’s arms

“Ah my little niece, how I’ve missed you” Henry patted the little girls hair 

“Welcome back uncle, how was your trip?”  A boy with identical blonde hair and emerald green eyes appeared behind the girl

“You’re as stiff as ever, just like your father used to be, haven’t you missed your uncle?” Henry bear hugged the boy, embarrassed the boy looked away but did not resist his uncle’s hug

“Alright since both of you are already here, I’d like you to meet someone, this is Kallistos, and from today onward he will join us in your training as your fellow apprentice” the two children looked at each other and followed their uncle’s gaze. At the back of their uncle a boy stood, timidly glancing back at them

“Hi, I’m Ophelia, you can call me Lia for short, I hope we get along as fellow apprentices of my uncle and become friends” Ophelia outstretched her hand and greeted Kallistos enthusiastically. Kallistos took her hand and shook it. On the other hand the boy was weary of Kallistos and didn’t utter a single word

“Come on William, don’t be like that introduce yourself” Henry insisted

Albeit hesitant William introduced himself “hi, I’m William” Ophelia glanced at William and nudged him trying to tell him to be a little nicer 

“But Lia-“ William tried to speak but Ophelia cuts him off

“Come on Will be nicer” Ophelia looked at William expectantly and William sighed

“Hi, I’m William, I hope we get along as well” William forced a smile and outstretched his hand to Kallistos, Kallistos took his hand and shook it with a smile 

“Don’t worry about my brother he’s wary and cold to everyone he meets but once he warms up to you he’ll be as nice and soft like a little bunny” Ophelia reassures Kallistos and teases William

“Lia!” William shouted embarrassingly

Kallistos laughed and greeted the two back “Nice to meet you both, I also hope we become friends”

Out of nowhere a knight of the house was running towards Henry in a hurry “Welcome back, Lord Henry, the Marquis has seen you arrive and has called you to his study” the knight told henry as he is bowing to Henry

“Ease up a little, and tell the Marquis that I shall see him shortly” 

“I shall convey your words to the marquis” the knight left to convey the message and Henry sighed a sigh of exhaustion

“I guess this meeting will be cut short, Let’s go Kallistos” 

“See you later Kallistos!” Ophelia waved as Kallistos and Henry left. Ophelia looked at his brother who had had an unbothered look on his face all this time and then she took his hand to also wave goodbye.

***

At the entrance of the Marquis’ study stood two armored knights. The knights bowed to Henry and opened the door. Henry and Kallistos entered the room.

“Brother, why have you called me?” Henry asked his brother who was facing the window behind his desk, holding an imperial letter.

“Henry, start preparing for war” The Marquis stated bluntly. Henry cleared his throat to get the marquis’ attention.

As soon as the Marquis saw the child he also cleared his throat and asked Henry “Who is this child, Henry?”

“He is Kallistos, a child that I have brought in to become my apprentice” 

“Your apprentice?!?!” The Marquis was shocked since Henry never took in an apprentice willingly. It took a lot of convincing before he agreed to teach Ophelia and William.

“Yes, my lord, if you permit me I will register him in our list of knights in training right away as one of my apprentices” Henry informed the marquis 

“Do as you like” the Marquis waved it off and permitted Henry since he had trust in his brother’s judgement

“Kallistos was it? Would you be so good as to step out of the room and wait outside for me and my brother to have important things to discuss” The duke told Kallistos. Kallistos bowed to the duke and left the Marquis’ study.

“Back on the topic at hand, prepare for war Henry” The marquis stated with seriousness and urgency.

“Might I ask why brother? the Ambrose kingdom has already submitted a formal apology and compensation for the disaster that the ambush of Count Peregrine had inflicted” Henry asked the Marquis

“Although the reports stated that Count Peregrine acted alone in the ambush, the informants we have in Ambrose says otherwise” The Marquis explained while picking up a a stack of paper

“These are the records they gathered of the King providing support throughout the past months for the preparation of this ambush” The Marquis added

“They handled it so stealthily, that it can be passed off as the King helping his cousin out through the drought crisis that the county was experiencing” Henry stated looking at the records, he was amazed on how elaborate the plan was

"But why did they ambush the rural village on the outskirts of the Empire so early despite the risk that we would catch on?" Henry asked the Marquis as he pondered.

"We have yet to find out the reason behind the ambush although we speculate from investigating the ambushed area is that they were trying to find something, what that something is is still unknown." The Marquis answered

“How is it that the once peaceful kingdom of Ambrose had suddenly declared war?” Henry sighs befuddled by the actions of the Kingdom

“As our informants were investigating the kingdom, they have found that the sickly King has died several months ago along with the Queen and the Crown prince” the Marquis answered

“It was said that only a selected number of nobles had known about the King’s death” The Marquis added

“Then who is ruling the Kingdom now?”

“The King’s illegitimate son, Prince Theron"

“The king’s illegitimate son? But last I saw of him was last year and he was frail and weak with little to no affinity for mana and aura. How could he have had overthrown the crown prince of Ambrose who was a 6- circled mage”

“The answer is still unknown, but the Emperor and I speculate that someone is backing up the current King”

“Although the answer is unclear, we must prepare for war this very instant as commanded by the Emperor” The marquis stated as he laid the imperial order on his table.

“The informants had told us that in 3 months time the Ambrose Kingdom will have finished the preperations for war, so prepare for war discretely, we cannot let the enemy know that we have found out their plans” The marquis added

“As you wish, my lord, I shall prepare the knights and the supplies for war” 

“And just as I thought we had come to a peaceful era, the peace has abruptly come to an end once more” Henry sighs and bowed to the Marquis and was about to leave the Marquis’ study but before he could leave the Marquis halted him

“Henry, hold on before you go, there is something I would like to discuss with you about your new apprentice”

To be continued…