𝓡𝓸𝔂𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓢𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓭 (𝓡𝓸𝔂𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓢𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓼 𝓑𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓞𝓷𝓮)

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓕𝓲𝓯𝓽𝔂-𝓢𝓲𝔁

The worst idea I ever had was probably opening up that textbook, and telling all of them about this. These group meetings have proved to be mostly a disaster thanks to Walter and Sophie.

Everyone is in their usual spots, cross-legged and covered in black. Sophie and Walter have been going back and forth explaining that our government needs to appear powerful, and a whole bunch of nonsense that doesn't make sense.

They had me squeezing Arty's hand twice to go catch a breather for a few minutes. Which is probably why my hand is still in his.

"I'm telling you," Walter says, "Just because there hasn't been conflict in years, doesn't mean that there won't eventually be conflict. And I don't know about any of you, but I don't wanna fight in no war. We need to have the army to do that."

"I agree," Sophie interjects with a low-pitched voice causing her to clear her throat, "This country needs someone to protect it, and the monarchy would need protection from any threats."

Fanny rolls her eyes and blows causing a strand of her curly brown hair to blow upwards, "Come on now, do you really think we need over thousands of soldiers for one war? Be real, half of those soldiers would just be there for props."

Walter nods and crosses his arms, "That's the entire point," he raises his voice, "We need to appear stronger to them so they don't dare to mess with us."

This entire conversation is just pure nonsense.

Arty takes a deep breath, "I do not know where your brain is, but it is clearly not in your body."

Just being addressed by Arty makes Walter flinch a little, "What? Let me guess, you're gonna come out with a huge fact that no one else knows except you, which is very weird by the way, and prove me wrong?"

I don't get how it's weird, he knows a little more than we do. There's always someone who knows more than you.

Arty lets out a dark laugh and turns to Ninny, "I have to compliment you here, at least you are not this brain dead."

Ninny smiles and turns to Walter, "I'm sure Stabby has information about those army grounds, but you and I should also know that a lot of the soldiers on those grounds never get used. My dad never got used at all, and he didn't really get paid well either."

I turn to Arty, "What are the salaries like on those grounds?"

He tilts his head back and forth before grumbling, "From what I am aware of, they get paid just as much as a commoner would. Even if they serve the palace."

They get paid as commoners to do a huge job for the country. That doesn't make any sense.

"Wait a second," Jessie perks up, "Do they even do anything for work, or do they just sit in those grounds?"

That's a very good question.

Arty turns to the group and sighs, "Most of them just sit in the grounds. The monarchy only really uses not even a quarter of them a year. They are simply there as props, and even though some people here think that is a good thing, it is really not," he pauses and straightens his posture, "You see, the King sets a budget for the salary for the entire army at the beginning of each year. He divides that number into roughly how many soldiers he has in there. This leaves them with barely even a few dollars each month after taxes and amenities are taken out."

My jaw drops and Fanny is the one to speak first, "This is why we need to get rid of those grounds."

At least she, Jessie, Arty and Ninny have a brain and aren't just here to play games.

I nod at her, "I agree with you," I pause and put my left hand in my lap, "If they're underpaid and not being used, what really are they here for?"

Walter shakes his head, "I already told you, what don't you understand?"

Arty shoots him a glare and tightens his grip on my hand, "First of all, you do not address her with that tone. Second, why would you have thousands of unemployed and unhealthy soldiers when you could have a few hundred well put together ones? Numbers do not matter in a conflict, you can have a thousand weak soldiers, and it would only take a hundred healthy soldiers to demolish you."

Sophie turns to him, "And again, you know all of this how?"

He takes a deep breath and turns to her, "I am not going to be entertaining any foolish questions, and neither is she."

Ninny laughs and holds out his arms, "Well to be fair man, it's not a stupid question. For all we know you can be a traitor."

A traitor? He doesn't even talk to anyone here! That doesn't make any sense.

I turn to them and raise my eyebrow, "H-He doesn't even talk to anyone here! How would he be a traitor when he's not spreading any information?"

"You're right," Sophie starts, "Only you."

"I wonder why," Arty grumbles, "At least she has a brilliant mind."

"Anyway," Fanny interjects, "Let's move onto a different issue. How much power do you think the monarchy should really have?"

I've thought this over a few times. I really don't think the monarchy should have much power. Yeah, they should do government work, but the power should really be turned to the people.

Jessie smiles and looks at Fanny, "Well, I think that they shouldn't really have much power."

"I don't know," Alice interjects. When we all look at her, her cheeks turn red, "Wouldn't there be too many issues law wise?"

Walter stares at her and smiles, "That's what I'm thinking, too many people would be breaking laws. The jail would be overcrowded."

"T-That's actually a good point," I start and sigh, "But people should also have a lot of power in their own country. I view the monarchy as a backdrop to only deal with the more serious issues. We need lower level officials to help ensure more things get done."

There's no way that one person can run an entire country alone by themselves. They need people to help them that aren't the Gentry who are just out for themselves. 

Also, the more people who are officials, the less other officials can overstep and infringe on the rights of others.

Sophie and Walter's eyes widen at the same time, but Sophie is the one to speak, "Are you kidding me? You want more people to be labeled as law officials here? Do you know how much that would cost us?"

"Can't cost more than the money they're already wasting on thousands of soldiers," Ninny interjects with a shrug.

Sophie glares at him and rolls her eyes, "Look at you finally saying something smart."

Ninny rolls his eyes and turns to Walter, "And what is your argument against this?"

Walter just scoffs, "Why would you want to weaken the power of our government? That would make us look weak, and frankly besides all of the weird laws and crime, the monarchy isn't doing that bad. So why weaken them?"

He says that like the other issues are nothing. He says that while advocating that soldiers stay in a location where they're being underpaid and are unhealthy.

The irony of that.

I take a deep breath, "Y-You might be weakening them, but you're making Alumbridge stronger. You're giving more power to those who've been weak. You're showing other countries that you actually care about your citizens, and that you would go to the ends of the world to protest and make sure they're safe. No one in their right mind would mess with a country where they would kill for their citizens, not just for power."

The corner of Arty's lips raise and Ninny smiles, "Damn, you're telling me this quiet girl has been hiding that brain?"

My cheeks heat up and Walter scoffs again, "I don't care about any of that fluff."

Fluff. 

How is a country caring about their citizens fluff?

Before I can even argue, Ninny calls for the meeting to end just so no one can end up nearly getting stabbed again.