The nobles present forgot their panic from moments ago when faced with this sudden news.
Shock and confusion filled everyone's minds.
'Huh?'
'What happened?'
The First Prince's eyes widened at those words.
In his panic, he threw aside the golden cane in his hand and grabbed the officer by the collar of his armor.
He took a deep breath. His eyes trembled, his face full of disbelief.
"What did you say?!"
"Tell me right now! Immediately!"
"What exactly are you talking about?!"
The officer leaned back slightly. His eyes were hollow with despair, as though his soul was being swallowed by a bottomless darkness.
He was so anxious he was nearly in tears. The corners of his mouth drooped as his whole body trembled weakly.
"Your Highness..."
"The southern front line... has been breached by the monsters."
"The front line has fallen. Communications are cut off. The news couldn't be sent out by any means."
The First Prince felt his hands go weak and slowly released the officer's collar.
The officer collapsed heavily onto the floor.
His whole body felt powerless. His legs were so weak that he staggered backward several steps, nearly falling over.
At that moment, Albany's gaze landed on the entrance of the banquet hall.
There lay a horse, trembling and foaming at the mouth.
The horse had completely exhausted itself. It lay collapsed on the ground, twitching against the silk floor.
It gasped for air desperately, looking as though it could die at any moment.
Many elves nearby looked at the dying horse with concern.
They stepped forward with pity and gently stroked its glossy fur.
Streams of green light emerged from their palms and flowed through the horse's veins toward its heart.
Yet even the elves' natural energy was useless.
The horse showed no signs of recovery and remained on the verge of death.
Gwen walked over and reached toward the horse's neck.
Feeling the weak and irregular pulse, she closed her eyes and shook her head.
Straightening up, she bowed to the First Prince and reported, "Your Highness, it can no longer be saved."
This was one of the Empire's finest horses.
It could travel a thousand miles in a day and normally wouldn't have any problem running for an entire day.
Its muscles were strong, showing no signs of malnutrition.
Yet even so, under such urgent circumstances, it had worked itself to death.
Just how critical was the situation at the southern front?
The monsters' influence had disabled the communication crystals, and even the stationed mages had no time to repair them.
They could only rely on traditional messengers to deliver information.
The First Prince's face was filled with despair.
His expression became vacant, and the light left his eyes.
He leaned weakly against the wall like a puppet that had lost its strings.
Suddenly, he seemed to remember something important and widened his eyes.
"What about Father?! Does Father know about this?!"
He shouted hysterically at the officer before him, his eyes bloodshot and completely lacking his usual elegance and composure.
If Aubrey learned that the Empire's south had fallen...
For him, the prince responsible for guarding the south, it would be a disaster like the sky collapsing.
Why?
He had already realized that disaster might strike and had returned to the capital to seek help.
Why wouldn't the south give him a little more time?
As he thought about it, the First Prince suddenly turned around.
No.
Why was he asking that?
Was this really what he should be worrying about now?
Since an officer had managed to rush back to the capital and dared to burst into the banquet hall to report it, this matter was clearly impossible to hide anymore.
Before long, the entire city would know.
More frightening still, this officer had ridden back on a horse until it died.
Information had a time limit.
The officer had literally run a horse to death getting here.
Even at minimum, that journey would have taken a full day and night.
Which meant the southern front line had already been lost for an entire day.
If the monsters had already broken through the front...
The First Prince didn't dare continue thinking about it.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and forced himself to calm down.
What should he do now? Should he go find his uncle?
Right, his uncle.
Maybe he still had a solution.
Maybe he could solve this problem.
Just as the First Prince was trying to compose himself, Leopold walked down from the second floor in a perfectly tailored formal suit.
He wore a smile and looked ahead.
But when he saw the nobles gathered along both sides of the banquet hall, their faces filled with shock, fear, confusion, and panic, his eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"What exactly happened here?"
Leopold's voice echoed through the banquet hall.
Yet the nobles had no answer.
The atmosphere grew even heavier.
After something like this, the banquet clearly could not continue.
When the First Prince saw Leopold coming downstairs, he hurriedly called out, "Uncle...!"
The First Prince rushed forward.
Sweat covered his forehead, and his brows were tightly furrowed as he looked anxiously at Leopold.
Leopold stopped on the stairs.
Golden eyes, mysterious and noble, shimmered like rippling golden sand.
"Child, calm yourself."
"Tell me. What exactly happened?"
The First Prince took a deep breath and tried to suppress his anxiety before speaking in a low voice.
"The south... may be lost."
The moment those words were spoken, the surrounding nobles seemed to wake from a dream.
They could hardly believe it.
Before, it had only been a report from an officer, something so unbelievable that they struggled to accept it.
But now even the First Prince had personally confirmed it.
It was like a sharp needle piercing their hearts.
How could this be?
The south had been defended for so many years and had always remained stable.
Yet now they were suddenly being told...
The south was about to fall?
Many nobles simply could not accept it.
Their eyes filled with despair as they collapsed weakly beside the thick tree trunks.
"No, how can this be?"
"My family's businesses are in the south, and you're telling me it's fallen?!"
"My son... my son is still in the army..."
Countless nobles curled up in the corners of the banquet hall, clutching their heads.
Grief and panic mixed on their faces.
The unbearable shock filled their hearts.
The First Prince stood there listening to their hysterical cries.
It felt as though steel needles were being driven into his spine.
He didn't dare turn around.
He didn't dare face their suffering.
At that moment, Leopold stepped beside him and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.
A hazy light flickered within those mysterious golden eyes.
Looking into them, the First Prince gradually calmed down.
It was as though a divine light had swept across a hundred-zhang tidal wave, instantly quieting the raging sea.
"Child, I am a merchant."
"Do you remember the terms we discussed?"
Light flowed down Leopold's arm.
Golden radiance extended from his fingertips and brushed across the First Prince's shoulder.
A golden, phantom-like bird seemed to emerge from the light and settle upon Leopold's shoulder.
"Any request requires an appropriate trade."
Looking at the golden light appearing around Leopold, the First Prince's eyes showed complicated emotions.
"I... I understand..."
"But..."
At that moment, a woman's voice interrupted the heavy atmosphere.
"Mm, mm, okay. Got it."
Liya casually walked through the golden banquet hall.
She held a transparent crystal against her ear.
Talking as she walked, she arrived beside Viktor.
Ignoring all the nobles present, she directly said to him, "The news from the south has arrived. The bad news is that two battle lines have fallen."
"But there's good news too. The city was saved."
Hearing Liya's voice, the First Prince suddenly snapped back to his senses.
He stared at her in shock and asked, "Y-You... where did you hear that?"
Even Leopold raised an eyebrow and turned toward Liya.
But Liya simply placed a hand on Viktor's shoulder.
A hint of amusement appeared in her smile.
"My mage master took your request pretty seriously. He sent people to the south several days ago."
"Of course."
She lifted her other hand and casually brushed back her hair.
Her gaze swept over Viktor as she said calmly, "This is a paid service."
———
[The Empire's South]
Dark clouds covered the sky.
Blood-red storm clouds completely blocked out the sunlight.
War fires burned across the land.
The sounds of soldiers fighting and monsters roaring mixed together and spread across this blood-soaked battlefield.
The bodies of adventurers lay scattered everywhere.
Flesh and intestines stretched across the ground before finally being buried in the soil.
The bones of soldiers protruded from broken armor, while their skulls were nowhere to be found.
The corpses of monsters had piled into small hills.
Strange-colored blood flowed from them, gathering into muddy rivers.
Amid a circle of magical beasts, a cluster of grim bone spikes erupted outward from the center.
Like a giant blooming snow lotus, they pierced countless charging monsters.
Blood from countless wounds stained Hera's clothes red.
One eye was injured and bleeding.
One hand clutched her wounded arm.
Behind her, endless bone spikes extended outward, piercing monsters charging from every direction.
Yet even against such a fierce Hera, the beasts continued rushing at her like a tide, completely fearless of death.
The pattern within one of her eyes spun repeatedly, unfolding countless intricate markings.
She raised her head.
Her gaze was empty, and despair had sunk deep into her bones.
The threat of death spread through her heart, filling Hera with fear unlike anything she had ever felt before.
Perhaps this time, even she would remain in this wilderness forever.
Yet in her heart, one final wish lingered.
'Lord Viktor, it's a pity that I still haven't been able to give you children.'
Suddenly, a tiny black object flew in from the distance and pierced the heads of dozens of monsters charging toward her.
Their bodies swayed before collapsing to the ground.
Blood burst out and soaked the earth.
At that instant, everything around her became quiet.
Hera froze slightly and looked down.
The next moment, her eyes widened.
Because the thing that had pierced all those monsters... was only a small pebble.
Hera stood there stunned, staring at the blood-stained stone.
'A pebble had killed so many monsters?'
'How is that possible?!'
Suddenly, the wind began to howl around her.
Hearing it, Hera quickly turned her head.
Countless demi-humans wearing cloaks and animal masks were leaping overhead.
Like hunters from the forest, they swiftly pounced upon the surviving monsters and hunted them as prey.
'Is this... reinforcements?'
Amid the monsters' screams, Hera's ears twitched slightly.
Her keen hearing quickly picked up approaching footsteps.
'No...'
Perhaps it would be more accurate to say... the other party had no intention of hiding them.
Heavy footsteps echoed one after another.
Like an earthquake, they sent waves of sound across the battlefield.
Hera could only struggle to look up.
It was a massive figure, as huge as a small mountain.
A bear-man.
The giant bear-man walked to her side as though he hadn't even noticed her presence.
He simply bent down casually and used a hand larger than the nearby monsters' heads to carefully pick up the small pebble from the ground.
Then he straightened up and lightly played with the pebble between his fingers.
His other hand rested beside his ear as he touched the communication crystal there and replied, "Understood, Miss Liya."
The bear-man lowered his hand and looked up again.
Before him stretched the endless beast tide.
The battlefield spread across the horizon like the end of the world.
Then, carrying an invincible presence, his voice rang out calmly across heaven and earth like a great bell.
"The plan has changed."
"Push this front line back."