Summoning Our Country - NHS Kai

Chapter 28: Banners of Blue and White

Discord: https://discord.gg/wEp44XuaT3

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Cent. Calendar 17/12/1639, Royal Castle, Le Brias, Altaras, 4:50

Cluck cluck cluck!

The soft sounds of chickens going about their early morning routine could be faintly heard over the sound of the breeze whistling as it blew past the tiny metal slit separating the open window pane from its hinges. The inside of the castle had heat insulation in mind when it was constructed, and it did its job well, but the occupants of this one certain room found the insulated warmth suffocating, so they had opened the windows to their room some hours ago. Inside the brightly lit room was a long, elliptical table around which were seated several dozen men of considerable administrative standing as determined by their chafing, aristocratic wear, and medal-adorned chests. Littered all across the table were all sorts of quills both worn and hardly used, with ink splattered where there were papers. The men, whose half-asleep eyes and mouths that were partially agape, were scrambling to finish a set of papers so important their chances of being able to experience the rest of the day were more or less determined by whether or not they were able to finish it.

The men, however, were not fretting over a case of mental block or some irregularity with the implementation of the contents that will be inked on this set of papers. Sleepy as they are, they were mulling amongst themselves–and for hours at that–about the wishes of their dear monarch, Taara XIV, on what they should put. They've already clamored over every legal framework, international and domestic, and every possible hole that they might be able to slither into, but what their king demanded of them was borderline madness. The group of men, appointed administrators of the kingdom of Altaras, already have an idea of what the set of papers would contain, but the primary problem hounding them at this point in time was whether they should be writing them down.

"I don't know... For the love of all things logical, I can't be arsed into writing this down!"

One administrator grumbled as he crushed the quill with his enclosed fist–the 8th one he had gone through the last several hours. The others looked down on their completed papers, contemplating not only the life that they would lose by refusing to submit it but also the life that they would lose by submitting it.

"What His Majesty wants... it's just impossible! This will never work!"

Another one groaned out loud, much to the panicking clamor of his companions.

"Shh!!! They might hear you!!!"

As they admonished him, their eyes turned to the door. For one second, their hearts skipped a beat, bracing for the moment that it would burst open to reveal a royal guardsman coming to take them away for "re-education." Fortunately for them, the moment never came, and they sighed away in exasperation. Regardless, the huge elephant in the room remained.

"I never thought that I'd be writing such horrendous terms down–if you could even call them as such!"

"Indeed... This is not the work of any sane man..."

At this point, everyone was more or less convinced that there was no way out; convincing the king to change his wishes on the matter is suicide and so too would be coming up with terms that he would find unsatisfactory.

The men looked at the clock hanging from the wall. It was already almost five in the morning–their dreaded deadline. Knowing that the consequences of what they will do are too much to swallow, the men relented.

"Damn it all!"

As if signing their death certificate, the men took to the papers and wrote down their "dreaded" terms.