“Honestly, how could you be so careless? Did you really fall while practicing swords?”
Sephine applied medicine from the first aid kit to the swollen part of Karin’s face.
It looked like a bad fall.
Seilin asked Aglis, and Aglis also said it was from a fall.
Getting hurt in fights was normal, and Seilin understood that, but seeing her daughter in such a pitiful state made her heart ache.
Fala put her hands behind her back, afraid Sephine would see them.
“Be more careful next time, got it?”
“Mmm… ouch!”
Aglis leaned close to Fala’s ear and whispered, “Do you think Karin will tattle?”
“She wouldn’t think of it.”
“I see.”
That made sense.
Karin indeed didn’t seem to have any intention of tattling to Sephine.
She just kept staring at Fala, as if contemplating when she could return the hits.
“All done.”
Sephine put the medicine away.
Compared to Fala, Karin was too mischievous, always getting herself hurt one way or another.
She wondered whose personality that was inherited from.
“What do you want for dinner?”
“I’ll eat anything Mom makes!”
“I want a sandwich!”
Karin was as stubborn as ever.
“Aglis, what about you?”
Aglis didn’t respond.
She stared seriously at her communicator, then after a moment said, “Sorry, I might have to leave.”
“Is something wrong?”
“Nothing too big, but I need to handle it personally.”
Aglis grabbed her coat and left in a hurry.
Sephine stared blankly for a moment, then went to the kitchen to cook dinner.
These matters were not for her to worry about.
“Fala, you wait!”
“Neener neener, you can’t beat me.”
In the afternoon, Karin had been proudly showing off how she snuck up on Fala, but the next second, Fala caught her.
She tried to fly into the sky to escape, but before she got very high, Fala pulled her down.
Even Aglis was amazed at how strong Fala was.
Karin had it rough, personally experiencing Fala’s super strength.
When their mother came back, they didn’t dare keep messing around.
It would be bad if they made her cry.
Their mother seemed like the type to cry easily—even a small bump could bring tears to her eyes.
The two of them obediently waited in the living room for Seilin to finish dinner.
The Aglis who had just left hurriedly rushed to the Imperial Palace.
That communicator really was useful.
Although the usage cost was a bit high, the messages transmitted very quickly—much faster than carrier pigeons.
“You’re here?”
Entering the Cabinet Meeting Hall, it was rare to see all the Cabinet members present.
Excluding those who had already left, there were now eight Cabinet ministers.
“The Monster Nation has declared war on us.”
The Demon King spoke.
“So it wasn’t at war before?”
Aglis was puzzled.
She had been fighting them for so long that she always thought the Monster Nation and they had already been at war.
“A full-scale war is different from border skirmishes.”
“Them? They’ll stop once they run out of Goblins.”
The speaker was Puerlisi, the Southern Knight Order Captain of the Kingdom of Magic, who had just returned from the south.
He had cleaned up the battlefield mess and spent a great effort to get back to the Royal Capital.
He didn’t expect that upon his return, war was declared.
Should have just stayed away.
“They don’t lose people; we lose real knights and soldiers.”
The Demon King said.
Those brainless low-level monsters were born only to bite and tear.
“I think there’s still room for negotiation. Why not agree to their previous terms?”
Someone said, but before the speaker could be identified, the situation spiraled out of control.
“Pfft, they made such shameless demands, they won’t stop there. Once they get a taste of profit, they’ll come for more! I say we just wipe them out!”
Puerlisi was naturally hot-tempered.
The Southern Knight Order had already lost many people to the Monster Nation, and he had no outlet for his anger.
If not for the Grand Chancellor telling him not to act unless absolutely necessary, he would have annihilated those monsters long ago.
But the Demon King went ahead and acted without a word, and when he came back, Seth had been removed.
What a mess.
“Do you think our Kingdom of Magic has the energy to drag this out? Lord Demon King is right. They lose weapons and Demon Kings. We lose living, breathing people with families.”
“We can’t act on impulse.”
Flander had become one of the most senior members of the Cabinet.
He spoke much more steadily than before and considered more aspects.
“The Monster Nation can’t be defeated by force. No matter what, they’ll keep harassing us again and again. Many kingdoms choose to compromise and not bother with this mad dog.”
Catherine said.
Disgusting.
She had the broadest knowledge and the most experience.
At tea parties, many witches complained about monster carcasses being everywhere—it was quite disgusting.
“Why did they suddenly target us? It only started recently. Why didn’t they come when Lord Demon King ascended the throne? Wasn’t that our most vulnerable time?”
The speaker was Yase, the Northern Knight Order Captain.
“You mean someone incited that king?”
The Demon King said.
Even the Royal Capital wasn’t peaceful lately, let alone other parts of the kingdom.
“That’s right. I found some strange things in the north.”
Yase laid many photos on the table.
They were color photos taken with a photocopier.
The backgrounds varied, but they all consistently had a structure resembling an altar in the center.
“This is…”
“Found on the northern border. Sometimes there were decaying corpses nearby, with hands piously clasped. But it seems their faith was false.”
“The Cult of Mercy again? The north is quite close to the Church Kingdom.”
“That’s right. The corpses were wearing the attire of Church Kingdom believers.”
Yase had organized all these matters.
He originally planned to submit them later when he had more clues, but they came in handy today.
“In recent years, the believers of the Church Kingdom have become less devout. When their caravan passed by last time, I overheard people discussing the Pope and their Divine Lord.”
“I didn’t expect the Great Witch to have such leisure time to eavesdrop.”
“Witches have rest time too, you know. I was just buying some snacks and trinkets and happened to overhear.”
Catherine felt the Demon King was becoming more petty.
“So, should I redeploy the soldiers who just came back?”
Puerlisi was a bit uncertain.
Such a move would definitely affect morale.
“No, forget the Monster Nation for now.”
“Catherine, open the Teleportation Circle immediately after the meeting. We’ll go to the southern border to set up a barrier. Being able to hold off those enemies for half a month should be enough.”
“So, you’re going to…”
“During the Festival of Light, I will pray to the Gods to eliminate our enemies.”