Liam continued : "It is Evy who is in the council because she manages the distribution network from the capital to the border, Tony supports her as best as he can by sending supplies and providing hideouts away from the capital.
Then there is Dilan, Alan's father, who manages the fighters on the border, he is also worthy of your trust, their family has always been on the frontline during conflicts and they have never complained about it.
It is thanks to him that the border still holds, he is a brilliant man who almost always makes the right decisions."
Kevin raised an eyebrow and asked him : "By the almost right decisions, do you mean his decision to banish Alan from their family, because if so, I think he made the right decision."
Liam looked at him shocked and asked him : "What do you mean, he made the right decision ?"
Kevin smirked again and said : "It's easy to guess from what Alan told me about his family and what you just said.
Their family has always fought alongside the bearer of the Pentagram Mark and I could see right away that their family values were transmitted to Alan with passion, because he did not hesitate for a moment to tell me that he would follow me no matter if I decided to become king or not, the only thing he wanted was to be able to stay by my side to protect me.
So I think when Alan's father found out he was a mage, he just wanted at least one of his sons to have a normal life and not be sent to the frontline.
That's what I would have done in his place, I would have used the fact that my son is a mage and not a fighter to free him from this commitment their family seems to have with the organization.
I don't know why he went so far as to banish him, but the fact that Alan ended up in the Sect Sun under your protection is probably not a coincidence, is it ?"
Alan looked at Liam who was speechless and he asked him, almost crushing Erik's hand because of the emotion that he was feeling right now : "Is that true ? Is that really why my father banished me ? It wasn't because he thought I wasn't worthy of being part of our family … He did it to protect me ?"
Liam finally nodded and said to Alan : "Your father had no choice and he had to banish you, the council members refused to release you from your obligations, to them the fact that you were a mage raised in a family of fighters was bound to make you someone exceptionally powerful.
But your father didn't give up and he argued fervently that your family had to only provide fighters.
In order for your father to leave them alone and agree to send you to the frontline, they gave him the choice, they all knew how much your father loved you and your brothers and how proud he was of you all so they proposed your banishment because they were sure your father would never agree to that."
Erik then chuckled to lighten everyone's mood and he said to Alan as he stroked the palm of his hand with his thumb : "Now at least I know where your super protective and very stubborn side comes from."
Alan smiled weakly at Erik before turning his attention back to Liam and asking him with a frown : "Tell me that you at least supported my father and were against my banishment."
Liam just nodded and said : "Of course I was against your banishment, and so were Caleb and Evy, but we weren't enough because obviously your father's vote didn't count this time."
Liam looked back to Kevin and told him : "So now let me tell you about the people I would like to ban from this council, the ones I think have become greedy and take their position for granted."
Liam quickly told them about the representatives of the other two largest sects, saying that these two were only interested in the money and only participated in discussions when it was in their interest.
He then talked about Raven who was representing the Shapeshifters community, and Axel exclaimed : "Wait a minute, you're talking about Raven, the one who is nicknamed the Dragon King ... Is he part of the organization ?"
Kevin looked at him and asked him curious : "Why, do you know him ?"
Axel shrugged and said : "Not really, but every year he comes to the Selections and then to the annual's Capital Tournament.
He trains Shapeshifters, always fighters, and he uses the tournaments to measure their strength, at least that's what he told me, he already tried to recruit me a couple of times before but I always refused."
Liam exclaimed : "That son of a bitch."
He then said to Axel, promising himself to have a conversation with Raven to tell him to leave Axel alone : "And you did well, Raven is powerful, he is probably more powerful than me but he finds that this war between humans and demons do not concern him and he wants to leave the council of the organization.
If he is still there it's only because there are still dragons who remember that without our alliance when the black flames will ravage the world, if they are not placed under our protection, they will all be eliminated.
But Raven, who has never fought on the border and has never known war, believes that if he creates his own army, nothing will happen to them."
Kevin chuckled and said : "So naive ! Anyway, who else do we have to worry about ... You still haven't mentioned Ashton's family, why ?"
Liam said : "Because his parents have become too full of themselves, they are the only ones who have all the ingredients to craft certain potions, including the Regeneration potion high grade, and we need this potion for the fighters who are fighting on the border.
We still manage to get some but what they ask for in exchange is more and more extravagant.
Their family is supposed to provide remedies and potions for the organization, and in exchange we are supposed to pay only for the ingredients.
But since they have a monopoly on certain products they started demanding to be paid for the potions they provided, and they also demanded a place on the council which their family never had before because they never actively participated in the battlefield and they know nothing about military tactics."
Kevin was stunned and said to Liam : "But Ashton is nothing like that though."
Liam laughed and said : "I don't know how Ashton got to be who he is with parents like that, but you're right, I wouldn't mind him replacing his parents on the council, he would probably be more useful than them, he is a smart kid and benevolent one."