Rest reported the information he had extracted from the boy to Bareia Catreia, the officer in charge of the fortress's defense.
The information Rest had gathered was far beyond anything Bareia and his subordinates had anticipated. The men gathered in the conference room fell into a heavy silence, their expressions grim.
"Hmm... So, in other words, this attack isn't even something the Foreign Tribes themselves wanted?"
"A 'Sorcerer' pulling the strings from the shadows... Just what could their objective be?"
Bareia and Karyus both frowned in unison.
The Foreign Tribes had remained quiet for a long time. Now, it seemed there was a Mastermind behind this sudden aggression.
While the true identity of the one called the "Sorcerer" remained a mystery, Bareia spat out his thoughts with a scowl.
"The Sorcerer’s ultimate goal is surely our kingdom. If that’s the case... the list of suspects narrows itself down."
"......!"
At Bareia's words, the faces of Rest, Karyus, and everyone else in the room turned rigid.
The Aiwood Kingdom had once been plagued by internal troubles and external threats alike. However, the Third Prince, Rodel Aiwood, had been defeated, and the subversive elements known as the Queen Dowager’s faction had been purged.
Now that the "Internal Troubles" had vanished, only the "External Threats" remained.
The Aiwood Kingdom faced two primary hostile forces from the outside. The first was the Northern Foreign Tribes. The other was...
"The Geisel Empire...!" someone whispered heavily.
The Geisel Empire—the kingdom’s neighbor to the east.
While they were currently bound by a Non-aggression Pact, the Empire was a hypothetical enemy state with which the kingdom had clashed countless times in the past.
On the surface, they maintained trade and appeared to have a friendly rapport, but many within the kingdom still harbored deep suspicions toward them.
"The Geisel Empire sent a 'Sorcerer'—a mage, essentially—to kidnap members of the tribes. By taking Hostages, they coerced them into attacking our borders... The logic holds up."
"Perhaps they intend to divert our attention to the north so they can strike from the east while our guard is down," Karyus added, building upon Bareia’s deduction.
They had no hard evidence. It could have been nothing more than a misplaced delusion.
However, if this prediction was on the mark, it meant that the fires of war were about to be ignited with the Geisel Empire once more.
(Right about now, the Royal Capital should be preparing Reinforcements to send north. If they’re attacked while the central forces are spread thin, then maybe...!)
Rest swallowed hard.
The words "National Ruin" flashed across his mind.
It was no exaggeration; a war on a scale incomparable to the civil war sparked by Rodel and Marquis Eiger was likely on the horizon.
"It seems we cannot afford to fixate solely on the Foreign Tribes. I will dispatch a messenger to the Royal Capital immediately. They must be told not to send Reinforcements north, and to turn their full attention toward guarding the east."
"Hah..."
A heavy sigh leaked from someone in the room.
That order meant they would have to fend off the waves of Foreign Tribes surging from the north using only their current war potential.
They could no longer count on Reinforcements from the Royal Capital. A sense of despair began to permeate the air.
(It would be a huge help if the Foreign Tribes just withdrew early... I really don't like the idea of this battle dragging on...)
Rest’s expression also grew somber.
Thinking "I don't like this" felt like a selfish, childish complaint, but he truly was troubled.
Rest already had the massive task of developing his own territory to worry about.
His fiancés were surely waiting for him back at the mansion, and he had no desire to linger in a fortress with such subpar living conditions.
(It all depends on how much value those Hostages have to the tribes. That will determine if the fighting persists. If they attack us with everything they have, I wonder how long this fortress will actually last...?)
The fortress had already sustained significant damage during the previous assault.
There had been casualties among the soldiers, and morale was already waning.
If they learned that no Reinforcements were coming, their spirits would only sink further.
"Could it be... that we're actually in serious trouble?"
The murmur, spoken too softly for others to hear, perfectly captured the unspoken dread shared by everyone in the room.