Chapter 102: ¹⁰²: Old fox

Kael’s POV:

The whole hall fell silent as those words left my lips. I didn’t stop though. I moved my gaze across everyone in the hall, I needed to make sure everyone of them was listening before I spoke again.

"Today, I have two reasons to call this meeting. First - to make sure the people who think they are hidden from my sight know that they won’t remain hidden for long. I know exactly what you want from me," My voice dropped , becoming more colder "and I, Alpha Kael Dreven, will not let you succeed in your plan. I am not afraid of your cheap tricks."

I paused, taking a deep breath to steady my anger before continuing, my voice less intense this time. "Second, you all don’t have to worry about the warriors who were injured. They are all fine and recovering well."

I stopped, knowing I had addressed both the topics that had been the main concern for everyone over the past few days.

I knew that just by clarifying these things I could not stop the wave of rediculous questioning but still, now, whatever anyone wanted to ask could be asked with the knowledge that the aftermath of the explosion had already been taken care of. At least when it came to the injured warriors, there was no reason for the council to remain worried.

"If any of you have questions, you can ask. We still have time for this meeting," I said, giving them permission to start the questioning session.

Almost instantly, Mr. Lauren, the previous Information Chief of our empire, stood up.

"Alpha," He said, bowing respectfully, before he continued. "What about the loss of information from the base? We have lost an entire branch of the Information Bureau. How do you plan to recover the damage?"

As expected, Mr Lauren was one who always stuck with what his position requires him to worry about, never going overboard with the rules or some superficial ego problems.

I nodded, knowing that this had been the very first problem I had addressed with Ryan the previous day.

"Elder Lauren, eighty-seven percent of the information had been digitally backed up and will be recovered within a matter of a few days."

I paused for a few seconds after that, glancing at Ryan before moving my gaze back to Elder Lauren. I knew that the remaining thirteen percent was also a serious matter, especially considering that it belonged to a branch of the main Information Bureau of our empire.

"The remaining thirteen percent had not been digitally backed up, so we will have to wait until the injured officers from that branch are ready to work again. They will then work on recovering that part of the information."

I then pointed toward Ryan. "I will have Beta Ryan deliver the details to you tonight itself. You can also speak with the current Information Chief if you need any further assistance."

Mr. Lauren nodded, seemingly satisfied with my answer. "That clears my worries, Alpha. We will look forward to the day the people behind this are punished."

I nodded at him as he took his seat again.

Following him, Mr. Vale stood up. He used to be my father’s Beta. Even though he had always been a rule-abiding member of the council, he was still a tough nut to deal with.

He was simply too rigid. Maybe that had worked well with my father, but I found his rigid adherence to every rule irritating. Still, I had to show him a certain amount of respect because of the position he had once held as the former Beta of our empire.

"Alpha, my question is..." Mr. Vale began, keeping his voice as cold as always. "If this matter was as simple as you have presented it today, then why has there been an information blockade these past few days?"

He glanced at Ryan before looking back at me. "I have been a Beta myself, and I know a decision this important is taken only when there is a disaster big enough to cause chaos in the empire, or when something happens that directly concerns the Alpha himself."

I clenched my hands. What I had expected had finally begun.

The moment I stepped into this hall, I had known there would be questions about the rules and regulations I was supposed to follow. Mr. Vale, however, had never been one to let an opportunity pass when he could use those rules to make things difficult.

A half-hearted smile appeared on Mr. Vale’s face as he looked back at Ryan.

"If this situation was as you described earlier, then that did not give Beta Ryan any right to impose an information blockade for this long. In fact, Beta Ryan doesn’t have the right to impose a blockade for even a second."

Mr. Vale paused before turning his attention back to me. "Unless it was the Alpha who ordered it. May we, as council members, know what happened that was so drastic that you decided such a thing was necessary?"

A familiar irritation surged through me as I listened to him. He had always been like this.

Ever since the moment I became Alpha and chose Ryan as my Beta instead of Mr. Vale’s son, he had found one reason after another to challenge our decisions.

Ironically, according to the very rules he preached about so often, his own son should have been the obvious choice for the position.

Yet I had chosen Ryan.

And Mr. Vale had never truly accepted that. I knew I couldn’t stop him from attacking Ryan while hiding behind the excuse of simply asking genuine questions. So, I let him continue.

And continue he did, exactly as he always did, with those irritatingly calculated questions.

"It can’t be the first one, then. Did something happen to you instead, and we are not being informed about it?" he asked. He had guessed the exact thing that had happened.

That old fox!