As evening cast her dusky gown, and the air became fresh and restful, the time for the press conference had arrived and so was the crowd of reporters, syndicate official, and a selected few slowly gathered inside the estate.
The conference was set to start within the hour. There Nathan would disclose the syndicate's idea of retaking the swamps within the next month. For obvious reasons, he wasn't going into the depth and was supposed to only state the purpose of the sudden attack, not the reasons behind it. Nor was he going to disclose their plans on how they were planning on confronting lethal monsters at the disadvantageous swampy grounds. It was all to be treated as top secret as Devon might be listening intently to the broadcast and they can not let him be aware that the plan to retake swamp was only to either take him in custody or kill him then and there.
Once Nathan was done, it would be Arnold's turn to address the nation about the recent affairs regarding Tiamut and maybe his abnormal strength. Talos was helping his master prepare a 'speech' while Alice had taken it upon herself to make Arnold look his best. He never intended to use his summons for this purpose but now he was glad he had people to help him out unconditionally. Especially after what happened in the afternoon.
He wasn't proud of himself for what he did. But he knew it was necessary. He can't just let everyone walk over him as they pleased. He wasn't always going to be a 'nice guy', and if they can't accept him the way he was then he wasn't even sure why the heck do they ever bother talking to him. All he could do at this point was to try to be civil and cordial with Nicole. It was either that or he'd have to cut her from his life entirely. Which he knew wasn't possible.
"You know, you can always talk to us if something's bothering you." Alice smiled as she helped him wear his tuxedo, "After all, we're a team and if you're not at your 100% neither would we."
"It's... Nothing much. Just some family drama." Arnold mumbled as Talos walked him through his speech for the third time.
"Nicole?" Alice asked.
Arnold silently nodded while looking over the speech Talos had prepared for him. He had asked both Talos and Alice to accompany him to the conference as his companions. Thus he had got them a couple of outfits to choose from.
Talos decided to wear a tuxedo, identical to the one Arnold was wearing. At first, he was hesitant. His reasoning was simple, "I don't have any genitalia why should I on covering my metal body?"
Arnold had a hard time explaining it to him. But at last, Talos relented and agreed to follow the etiquettes of the occasion.
Alice, however, wasn't any trouble at all and decided to go for an elegant black off-shoulder dress. Arnold wasn't afraid of admitting it that she looked alluring. Now he knew why the guys at Flying Swords were always ogling at her. She was stunning, even though when her beauty had scaled down a bit due to being converted into his summon, still she looked prettier than ever before. Yet at that moment he couldn't help but feel sad for her too. After all, for all intent and purposes, she was dead.
'I need to focus on the task at hand...' Arnold shook his head and went back to reading the speech.
Soon one of the butlers came to fetch him. Apparently, the function had been preponed and was starting immediately. Arnold politely told him he would be there shortly and the butler left.
He took a moment for himself. He was ready for both calm and chaos. But he knew the moment he stepped on the stage the reporters would go haywire, especially after the announcement he was going to make afterwards.
After that, the trio left the room and headed towards the Hall which had been converted to accommodate the guests for the occasion. The moment Nathan walked onto the stage, everyone hastily took their respective seats and waited for him to start the proceedings.
"First of all, I'd like to welcome you all to my family's humble abode and thank you for taking time off your busy schedules to join us tonight." Nathan spoke through the podium, "Now with the pleasantries aside, let's dive headfirst into what you all are here for. As you all know on this day, four years ago, we lost a battle against humanity's worst enemies. We know them by various names, monsters, beasts, demons and whatnot. But their goals are one and the same: humanity's extinction."
"Four years ago, we lost some of our finest warriors against the unforeseen enemies and poor leadership. But they weren't the only ones to die either. We lost millions of soul that fateful day and we still do. We have been getting comfortable in our lives forgetting that the danger is still lingering around. The incident a few days ago was the biggest example of it." Nathan continued as everyone sat there in utter silence, "Honestly, I feel all of us are nothing but a pathetic excuse for human beings... I'm sure those who lost their lives trying to save us all are laughing at us. They didn't deserve to die. They deserve to be here with us and raise a toast with us, instead, here we are mourning for their deaths but still refusing to do the right thing. For the last 4 years."
"We couldn't even avenge them. We let our enemies conquer our lands and do as they pleased with us and all we did was to step back and keep doing so until most of our land was overrun with monsters. The same monsters who killed our friends and family, the same monsters who defiled our lands, the same monsters who we looked down upon. But not anymore. Tonight, I pledge to avenge the fallen soul till I have drop blood coursing through my veins. Tonight, I pledge to reclaim what was lost. Tonight, I declare war against the swamps!"
Cheers rose into the air as the greatest of celebratory firework explosions. Everyone was cheering at the top of their lungs. So much so, that the reporters couldn't even get a word in. The swamps had always been an eyesore for everyone. Reminding them of their failure, even among the privileged crowd. But now that the syndicate had announced about the reclamation of the forgotten lands, everyone was emotional and relieved at the same time. It took quite a while for the crowd of warriors to calm down before the reporters could ask questions.
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