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61 Signs of Instability (6)

The nobles, who gossiped and made their speculations, especially the ones that expected Iron to make a move in politics became even more anxious after seeing Iron leave the capital directly after his meeting with the Crown Prince. This was especially the case after they learnt that Iron only met with the ‘Crown Prince’ alone.

Once the Southeast was stable, it would become one of the strongest candidates for the Empire’s safe zones together with the Central Command. And after seeing Iron’s moves, the Southeast region was likely safer than the Central Command. After all, despite everyone’s assumption, the Mobile Field Army was the only army in the Empire that could soar higher in the future.

And with Iron, the commander of such an army, meeting with the Crown Prince alone, the Crown Prince’s once stinky reputation was bound to soar to the skies. They knew this to be a fact after gossiping and hearing the accounts of the maids and servants in the palace.

“Commander Carter has always been together with the Crown Prince during his stay in the Imperial Palace.”

“The two of them often discuss in private.”

“During these conversations, the smile never left Commander Iron Carter’s lips.”

The rumors eventually spread beyond the gates of the Imperial Palace and ended up being widespread in the capital. In the end, it became an established fact that Iron backed the Crown Prince.

The nobles that grabbed the line of the other princes wept in despair and the same was true for the other nobles. While most of the nobles sighed and lamented their fate, those that remained with the Crown Prince from beginning until the end remained silent. However, there were still quite a few nobles that smiled at this.

The moment these nobles learnt that Iron met with the Crown Prince, they all clamored to file a petition to proceed with the coronation that they had been delaying for a long time.

The noble council and the nobles that placed this agenda officially for their audience with the prince had their ears all perked up. They all have the same thoughts running in their heads.

‘Once the Southeast gets stable, the next one will definitely be the Center!’

‘With the Central Army and the Mobile Field Army fighting together to protect the Center, the Center would become the safest place!’

‘The time for the Center to return to its past glory has come!’

‘Let’s go!’

The people in the Center that were suddenly presented with a sudden burst of luck cheered loudly as they ridiculed the once that fled from the Center. They called them foolish and moronic nobles and people that abandoned the capital.

Despite not knowing what was coming for them, the people of the Center rejoiced for the past glory that they would be able to reclaim. In the center of this storm was none other than the Crown Prince and Iron, who was supporting him from behind.

While the Central Region was cheering loudly, the rest of the Empire was wrought in despair. After all, strange occurrences kept on appearing all over the place. Fortunately, there were still good nes.

“The expansion stopped?” The Eastern Commander frowned as he probed the naval officer reporting the situation to him.

“Yes, sir.”

The vortex that devoured the wreckage of the ruins of Atlantis had stopped expanding at the same time the report of the God’s Orb being repaired to some extent had been received by their communication’s officer.

“Ho…” The Eastern Commander sighed ruefully, both disappointed and frustrated after hearing the report. It seemed like the things that they had done were of no use. The chaos that they were trying to contain calmed down the moment the God’s Orb was restored.

The Eastern Commander continued to read the report as he recalled the things that they had experienced and done so far.

This phenomenon did not only happen in the East. Plenty of mysterious beings suddenly jumped up from the crevices that resulted from a large earthquake that shook the world. There were also mountain giants that sprang from the collapsed rocks and giants that awakened from under the depths of the overflowing lava, with the exception of only a few, began to go back to their slumber once again. As these phenomena began to dwindle down one by one, the people turned their focus on God’s Orb.

[Save the God’s Orb!]

This line had been spread all over the continent which made the people aware how important the God’s Orb was. However, there were also plenty of people that expressed that managing the God’s Orb was the responsibility of the Empire and that it had nothing to do with them. But after realizing that they couldn’t overcome the crisis presented in front of them, they realized how wrong that kind of judgment was.

Everyone had already prepared to find ways to survive by themselves the moment the God’s Orb crumbled and the signs of destruction appeared in the entire Continent. However, in this time of crisis, the disaster that they would face was ‘suspended’ as some parts of the orb had been restored.

Just like that, the scholars all over the continent began to flock to the Empire’s capital in hopes of maintaining the God’s Orb to buy a little more time for them before the coming destruction.

However, not everyone in the continent agreed to this idea.

“It’s better for us to put our trust in the Ancient Gods during these trying times.”

“I’m too busy trying to complete the Ancient God’s quest.”

“Even if they do their best and successfully postpone the destruction, it wouldn’t change anything.”

These were what the people of the continent’s Southern region believed. So, they focused on completing the Ancient Gods’ quests. This was also true for the other-worlders. The words that came out of their mouths were far worse since they knew that this world was not theirs.

Even the Divine Nation Alliance in the West was also in the same situation.

“Have faith in the Sun God. He will protect us.”

“No! Have faith in the God of Liberty!”

“Have faith in all of our Gods. They are the only way for us to survive in the end of times!”

“Do not waver in your beliefs!”

The priests of the Divine Nation did everything in their power to unite the people in the West. They urged them to have more faith in their gods.

Of course, there were also those that did not go to these extremes. The neutrals opted to make their way to the Empire and give their support. They procured materials that could help restore the God’s Orb or find the priests to send to the capital. Everyone, from the archeologists, to the ancient historians, to the wizards of the tower, to the old priest and to those that wished to help with the restoration of the God’s Orb, headed straight to the capital. Their origin became irrelevant in the face of their task. The Empire also willingly and unconditionally opened their doors for the people that came to help with the restoration of the God’s Orb.

Meanwhile, the Empire also began to prepare to welcome their new Emperor. Under the eyes of everyone watching the restoration of the God’s Orb, whether the nobles liked it or not, they had to unanimously agree to send the Crown Prince to fill the vacant throne and make him the new Emperor.

However, since they were in a difficult time, the coronation was held simply and did not ask for the presence of the major military forces of each region as well as their commanders. Although the Crown Prince’s decision to hold a simple ceremony was unprecedented, none of them could find any good reason to dispute it.

With the signs of destruction subsiding in the meantime, some nobles decided to reveal their presence to their commanders. However, not long after, a huge war broke out in the Southeast. News about two Master-class monsters attacking the Mobile Field Army quickly spread across the empire.

[Breaking News! The Mobile Field Army is at War!]

The attention of the people of the Empire all turned to the Southeast with the release of articles with these headlines. After all, the war in the Southeast would determine if they could stabilize their region and if the Center could return to its past glory.

Amidst the nervous tension of the people waiting for their victory, the situation in the Southeast took a strange turn. Instead of the expected massive one-shot kill all battles or numerous battles erupting everywhere, the Mobile Field Army were engaging in simple battles by chasing monsters. They did not even engage in proper battle.

“Ha… How dare these..!” Iron roared in anger as he rode on Two Moons’ back. He couldn’t put into words the curses that he wanted to say but anyone that could see him would understand his anger.

Since returning to the Southeast, Iron has never slept properly after moving around everyday. In fact, if the people could vote and nominate who was the busiest person in the Mobile Field Army, everyone would, without a doubt, choose Iron.

His situation became like this thanks to the two factions’ commanders. As the Mobile Field Army grew stronger, the two monster forces formed an alliance to stop the humans that were growing increasingly powerful. The problem was not the sizes of their forces. In the first place, the manticore was already a clever bastard but recently, even the imoogi started to use its brain which effectively made Iron’s life difficult.

“Cowardly bastards!” Iron grumbled as he watched the imoogi retreating away.

Instead of confronting Iron directly, the monsters moved around and tried to attack the Mobile Field Army. This was the reason why Iron had no choice but to go around and move from one place to another. The moment Iron moved to where the Mobile Field Army was being attacked, another force would appear on the opposite side to take advantage of his absence. Just like that, Iron was left with no choice but to move around every single day while riding on top of his divine beasts.

The monsters were aware that a one-to-one fight against Iron was disadvantageous. They did not have any guarantee of reigning victorious once they decided to fight one-to-one. Then, if that was the case, why not do a double diversion!

Iron’s anger rushed to the top of his head as he continued to watch the sly bastards slipping away and avoiding him. His head was now only filled with thoughts of making sure that his plan was carried out properly.

The truth was he only needed to call in all of his troops back to Command to end this kind of arduous life. However, that would only happen if they were on the defensive. The Mobile Field Army was at a time where they could still move to annihilate these monsters.

But the field remained a place that was filled with disadvantages for humans. The bigger problem was that the monsters willingly sent out baits at the expense of their own colleagues.

One time, several monsters appeared near the Mobile Field Army. Of course, the moment the battle commenced, the army was victorious. But once they moved to kill the fleeing monsters, the manticore or the imoogi would appear without fail.

Of course, humans were intelligent beings. An incident in which they suffered once would never happen again. However, this only meant that these monsters would throw the line somewhere else.

“Sly bastards…” Iron said as he gritted his teeth while watching the imoogi running away.

It was true that most of the tactical victories were ont he Mobile Field Army’s side. Even if the Mobile Field Army bit on the bait and a battle broke out, they did not have any casualties while the enemy suffered a lot of damage. Including the monsters that they set up as bait, the casualties on the monsters’ side were far greater than theirs. And if one accounted for all of the casualties from the repeated battles, one could see that the monsters suffered more casualties.

The problem was the number of forces that they recruited. Iron did not know where they came from but their numbers were enough to maintain their original numbers. Even if the Mobile Field Army’s casualties were few and far in between, the size of their army was still gradually decreasing. This was an indication that the battle was not going well for them. In the end, even if the monsters suffered from enormous damage, they would still win and gain a strategic victory.

“Hoo… So this is how it turned out?” Iron mumbled to himself, lost in thought as he rode on top of Two Moons.

He watched the imoogi crawl back inside the ground. He knew that the war could not be dragged around like this forever. Since the monsters were willing to take on risks for a strategic victory, then they should also be willing to take risks. Iron stared at the sky in thought before finally making a decision.

‘One must be prepared to take risks to win.’

Iron gritted his teeth as he conveyed his thoughts to his army. Then, the once scattered Mobile Field Army began to gather in one place. The change in the battle tactic reflected Iron’s willingness to take on a different path.

Meanwhile, there were beings that watched the war in the Southeast take a different turn. These beings were wearing black robes that only showed a peek of their slanted eyes akin to those of a lizard’s eyes.

“We should avoid direct combat with them,” One of the robed beings said as he swung his arm. Although they were at a distance from them, they could still feel an ominous energy that was enough to make their skin tremble.

“…Yes, I agree. Those humans, especially their Commander, are very dangerous. I’d rather we go to the east.”

“There’s nothing up north so it’s better if we go there.”

The robed beings stated their own opinions as they began to disappear one after the other. Only one being was left staring blankly at the sky.

“Everything will be done in accordance to your will. This is for the Lord’s perfect resurrection…” The man murmured as he looked up again to watch where the gigantic divine beast disappeared from his sight, just like everybody else.

***