Undead Beast Master: Living Solely for My Desires-Chapter 267: Draconian Empire Council

"With this, let the meeting begin," Elysia said loudly and clearly, ensuring that everyone in the room could hear her.

She now sat in a chair at a large circular table.

Of course, she wasn't alone—she was joined by the heads of the major families. Today, they had gathered to discuss how the empire would move forward.

Of the ten chairs around the table, three remained empty.

The first, the largest, belonged to the emperor. Elysia had already explained what had happened—that most of the destruction in the capital had been caused by him.

Though the story seemed unbelievable, those present had no choice but to accept Elysia's words.

The second empty seat belonged to the White Fang clan. Alexander had been its head, but during the attack on the castle, he and his entire family had tragically perished—leaving Zack as the sole heir. But he was still too young and inexperienced, so Elysia had taken command of the army under the clan's name. Zack trusted her judgment.

The third seat had been vacant for a long time. It had once belonged to the head of Clan Morvain. But he and his family had died years ago, and with no leader to guide it, the clan eventually dissolved—its people scattering to join other factions.

However, during the castle's attack, a forgotten truth surfaced: the head of Clan Morvain had a child, Lily. While it had been known that he had an heir, for reasons unknown, everyone seemed to have forgotten she even existed.

Regardless, it was too late now. The clan was gone, and Lily, like Zack, was too inexperienced. Reviving her clan was impossible—at least for the time being.

That left only seven people at the table.

Elysia, the chairwoman of the empire's most prestigious academy and, most likely, the strongest individual in the room.

Then next to her was Serenya, the head of Ironflame. She was a powerful woman that had a large amount of forces under her command. One could say that the forces under her command were the strongest—if one didn't count the ones under the royal family.

Clan Dreadhorn was led by Varik, a tall man and the broadest among them. His family had strong ties to beasts and was largely responsible for the creation of the illegal beast-fighting arenas. The fact that they refused to pay taxes to the emperor—forcing him to hide those arenas—made it clear that Varik held little respect for the royal family.

Across from him sat Delira, the smallest among them, barely a meter and a half tall. Despite her cute appearance, her temper was anything but.

The oldest one among them was no doubt Ezzan. He was the head of Clan Thornmane. He was the one that was the most loyal to the royal family, even if he didn't bother to show himself in public.

He was the kind of man that held a grudge for a long time and was never willing to see the other side.

On the other hand, Bragan was the youngest one of them here. He was the head of Clan Tyronex. Due to his relatively young age, he was easy to agitate.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.

Lastly, there was Tyran, head of the Silkenfang. His army ranked just below Serenya's in strength. In his mid-sixties, he was also Althea's father—the man who had effectively sold her to the emperor.

It was safe to say that Elysia hated his guts, but she couldn't do anything about him—at least not at the moment, considering the dire state the empire was in.

"Our first priority is clear," Ezzan spoke, gazing at the people present. Moving the cane that he usually used to walk with, he pointed towards the empty seat of the emperor.

"We must find an heir to take the role. In dire settings like this, we need a leader that can make decisions without wasting time."

"This is where the problem comes in." Serenya gazed at the old man. "The emperor is dead, along with all of the queens and their children. The only one that is known alive is Sofia, but she has just recently finished attending academy. She's nowhere near ready to lead the empire."

"What does age have to do with anything?!" Bragan snapped. "If someone is right for the job, then they should be chosen—regardless of other factors!"

"And this could only be said by a person that lacks experience as well!" Delira roared, meeting his gaze. "Just because you got lucky and inherited the position at an early age does not mean that you have enough experience to get the job done! Putting Sofia in charge at the moment is the same as dragging the empire to the ground."

Bragan was about to retort, but Varik stopped him. "I do not believe this is our priority at the moment," he spoke as his voice carried around the room.

"Choosing an heir for the throne is a long and tedious task, and we don't have the time for it. I believe that we must focus our attention on the invasion that is currently taking place."

"I agree," Tyran nodded. "And with the death toll caused by the former emperor, I doubt the people are in any mood to accept a new leader—at least, not right now."

"This is where you are wrong!" Ezzan fired back. "At times like this, the people need a leader to lead them! To show them that there is hope!"

Bragan nodded at the old man's words.

Before the room could descend into chaos, Elysia silenced them. "Three hundred thousand dead. That is how many people have been killed by the emperor's actions. As more missing people are declared dead, the number continues to rise. And that doesn't include those lost to the war."

Elysia looked each of them in the eyes. "I don't care if you hate each other. I don't care if you believe in different things. What I won't allow is for any of you to sit here and argue like children while millions of lives are being destroyed."

At her words, heavy silence befell the room.

"She is right," Varik agreed. "Our first priority now is to stop our casualties as much as possible. As such, I have a suggestion."

Everyone turned their attention to him, waiting in silence. "First, all academies will cut the upper years. The highest year will now be third-year students. We'll intensify their training in war and tactics while instilling propaganda that fuels their desire to protect their home—their empire—even if it costs them their lives."

He quickly added, "Of course, we are not just going to send people that have just graduated to war with no promise of rewards. Everyone would be rewarded handsomely."

"I disagree," Tyran began. "I am not against making the students soldiers and all, but from where are we going to get the resources to reward them? It's not like we are currently doing great economically."

Ezzan's face lit up with realization. "I see!" he said with a grin. "We don't need to worry about rewarding them right away. We're at war. The rewards can come after. And by then, most who fought will be dead—so there won't be many left to reward!"

Elysia clearly didn't like where this conversation was headed—but she didn't have much room to argue.

Before anyone could respond, a soldier burst into the room.

"The Graveborn Empire has joined the war on the side of the Crimson Sun Empire! We're being attacked by both of them—simultaneously!"

At the words, everyone in the room grimaced. The one thing that they didn't want to happen had happened—their other neighboring empire had decided to attack them as well.