On the evening of 12 May, the Duke of Chester was assassinated while attending a banquet at the Prime Minister's residence, and died an hour later in the Church of Holy Light.

The news was soon conveyed to the other dukes through Earl Ron, and the meeting, which had been planned at the Prime Minister's residence, was redirected to Lionburg.

Three hours later, almost all the nobles of the upper echelons of the empire knew about it.

By the morning of the next day, the news spread uncontrollably throughout the imperial capital, and for a while, the entire imperial capital, from the princes and nobles and cabinet ministers, down to the farmers and tenants, were discussing the matter.

What followed, of course, were various versions of the rumors.

Some say that one of the Duke of Chester's political enemies hired a member of the 'Brotherhood' to assassinate him, while others say that one of the six dukes was dissatisfied with the Duke of Chester's remarks at the meeting of the six dukes and sent him killed.

Of course, more nobles were suspicious of His Majesty the Emperor's intention to convene the Duke's Council this time, and many people secretly wondered whether this was simply a conspiracy of Emperor Laubert.

The Prime Minister, Duke Nick, immediately summoned the Chief of Guard, Sir Gus Air, to hold him accountable, but Sir Gus El explained that it was information spread by the attackers and that there was no control over it.

Duke Nick also knew that he had no choice but to accept this fact, but ordered the guard to solve the case within three days.

Sir Gus El, who received both the Cabinet and the Lion Castle, dispatched two hundred elite guards, and the head of the Special Cases Investigation Team, Malek, personally led the team to supervise the entire case.

On the afternoon of May 13, all afternoons after another, the officers of the security department were arresting people.

Early the next morning, on the morning of 14 May, Sir Gus El announced that the killer was a small group of paladins, but the name and details of the organization were refused to be disclosed by the Guards.

In the afternoon, when the entire empire was discussing the Duke of Chester's case, Emperor Laubert personally drove to Victory Square in the outer city of the imperial capital and declared that the entire empire had entered a state of all-out war, and the object of war was naturally the orc tribe.

In the evening, when the Emperor returned to the Lion Castle, the first thing he did was to sign the appointing instrument appointing the Minister of War.

The appointment came as a surprise to all.

Duke Eric of Felder took this position personally, which made many nobles vying for this position unwilling, but they did not dare to say a word more.

Duke Eric's first act after assuming the post of Minister of War was to order the formation of a combined army, followed by the Imperial Treasury, and the Minister of Finance, Earl Stu, personally interviewed the top of several major chambers of commerce in the empire to raise funds for the war.

While everything was going according to plan, the battle report of the Hoko Islands was delivered to the hands of Emperor Laubert of Lionburgh through the magic teleportation array.

Looking at the battle report in his hand, Emperor Laborot had completely believed the results of Duke Nick's analysis, and he looked at the military map in his room, and a thick layer of goosebumps involuntarily broke out all over his body.

Deep down he was terrified!

Because, a huge encirclement has encircled his entire empire in it.

The new Minister of War, Duke Eric, who was busy forming the Combined Legion and recruiting new soldiers, was summoned to Lion Castle by the Emperor, and the first thing the Emperor said when he saw him was: "My brother, the army led by Felder is not in a hurry to move to the town of Kwyn." ”

"Are you worried about the elves?" Duke Eric pointed to the point, "we should trust Duke Nick, he will solve the elves' problems, besides, from what I know about the Elven High Council, they will not join this war." ”

"There can be no luck in this kind of thing, the goddess will not give us a second chance!" the emperor did not dare to joke about this question.

"Your Majesty!" Duke Eric looked at the emperor and said, "The leadership of the Elven Supreme Council is a group of the oldest elves, they advocate natural peace, you have turned over the history of the entire continent, is there a country about a war initiated by the elves?"

"But we have to guard against the fact that the current empire cannot withstand any turmoil. The Emperor insisted on his opinion, "Felder Lord's army is half left, and at the same time, I have authorized Felder Leader to form another legion." ”

Duke Eric was stunned when he heard this, and after thinking for a few seconds, he looked at the emperor's undoubted expression and said: "Yes, but we can't stimulate the elves too much, the garrison of the fortress of Bandara remains unchanged, and the newly formed legions are assembled in the eastern plain of Fort Tillman." ”

"Good!" said Emperor Laubert, then "then, let us now talk about the Hoko Islands." ”

"Your Majesty, on this issue, the Duke of Enxi has received news and sent a letter, in which he says that the Hoko Islands can solve the problem of the territory on their own. Duke Eric said as he took out a letter and handed it to the Emperor.

It is a handwritten letter from Duke Enxi.

And Emperor Laubert is not concerned about the Hoko Islands at all, he is worried that the elite navy of the Hoko Islands will be pinned!

Because, according to intelligence, the goblins did ally with the orcs and secretly assembled their naval fleet, and now, without the powerful naval containment of the Hoko Islands, the goblin fleet is likely to break through the blockade of the southwestern seas of the mainland and approach the Yekjar military port.

When the emperor expressed his worries, Duke Eric shook his head and said: "Your Majesty, you are too worried, although the navy stationed in the Yekjar military port is discouraged due to corruption, the entire force is still there, we only need to appoint a capable commander, and replenish the equipment and materials of the fleet, and the imperial fleet will gallop on the sea again." ”

Thus, at the suggestion of Duke Eric, Rear Admiral Jarvis, the commander of the Imperial Navy, became the first general to be summoned after Emperor Laubert declared the Empire to enter a full-scale war.

...

At two o'clock in the afternoon of May 15, Pedi and his cousin and his retinue arrived in the dense forest south of Fort Tulbuk, accompanied by two squadrons of cavalry.

These cavalrymen were the escort troops urgently dispatched by Earl Yarbovan, that is, Andy's own brother, after learning that Pedi and others had been assassinated in Sharptown.

At this moment, their team was replenishing in a village.

Pedi took advantage of this time to find his staff officer Hades, looked at the vast hills and dense forests, and asked, "Tell me, how long will it take us to reach the Fortress of Coron." ”

"It's going to take at least another day. "Hades stepped on a muddy road due to the melting snow.

Pedi furrowed his eyebrows, "So, we're late?"

"Nobody cares, sir. Hades said.

The magician next to him, Collier, tightened his cotton clothes, "I've heard about the cold weather and bad road conditions in the southern region of Twak Territory before, but now I've finally seen it." ”

"In the fortress of Coron, the snow is almost perennial. Hades added.

"I hate the weather!" Collier let out a long breath of white mist.

"Hey, Pedy. Andy suddenly walked over with his entourage, "The scout has brought back news, and I think we should leave right away." ”

"What's the news?" asked Pedi.

"Sir, the troops of the Koren Fortress with reinforcements from Twak are gathered by the river less than twenty miles ahead. One of the scouts who followed Andy quickly replied.