TFR 407

A Sacred...(?) Battle [Part 1]

"Well, well. Look who we have here. If it isn't His Majesty the King? What a coincidence to meet you in a place like this!"

The Chief Delegate's pretentious voice echoed throughout the campsite.

"?"

"!?"

"!!"

A voice came from the forest roamed by monsters, where they shouldn't have met other humans—no, let alone that, humans shouldn't have come there in the first place. The King and everyone at the campsite turned their heads toward the sound in alert.

There stood a heavy man, armed to the teeth.

"gasp! You are...... the Empire's Chief Delegate?"

Prince Edward gasped upon realizing the man's identity and glared at that recognizable plump body.

'Isn't he the Empire's Chief Delegate who actually had the audacity to ask us to hand over Emma, the rumored Holy Maiden at the time, at a banquet during the social season?'

"Oho? Your Highness the Second Prince is also here, I see? I must say, it is our good fortune to have you here. Lady Luck is smiling upon us indeed!"

The Chief Delegate bowed his head ostentatiously with a revolting grin.

"Although... it pains me to suggest that Your Highness may perceive this as an unfortunate occurrence..."

The Chief Delegate raised his head slowly in a respectful manner, yet no trace of respect toward the prince could be seen on his face.

"How come... you're here?"

This year's social season was over.

Guests from various countries who visited the Kingdom had long returned to their respective countries.

The man standing there was someone who should not, no, could not be in the Kingdom.

And such an individual appeared from the forest that was considered to be a monster appearance area of a borderland territory.

It was impossible to not be vigilant.

"Why do you think I'm here?"

The Chief Delegate's eyes glinted as if to say, "I'm glad you asked."

"Kekeke..."

The Chief Delegate raised his right hand all of a sudden with a smirk on his face, indicating that his evil plan had succeeded and he couldn't help but chuckle.

With that as a signal,

rustling marching ...soldiers appeared one after another from the forest depths.

"!"

"What's the meaning of this!?"

They numbered about a thousand people.

The soldiers were all wearing armor and carrying weapons.

To think positively, maybe they came here for a fun company trip... but the atmosphere around them sure didn't feel that way.

The number of people was already of a size that could be called an army.

"Hoh-hoh... Keh-heh-heh. Kekeke, Your Majesty, I regret to inform you... that the Empire has decided to invade the Kingdom."

The Chief Delegate couldn't hold back his laugh before he uttered the words that were completely unthinkable for humans of this world.

"In...vade?"

This world had never had a war between nations in its history.

In this world, what the countries fought against was monsters, not people.

The King, Prince, and knights couldn't immediately understand what the word "invade" meant.

"In...vade?"

To hunters, invasion was a word used in matters concerning monsters.

However, what was before them was not monsters, but humans.

'Do they mean they, humans, want to invade other humans' habitat by doing this?

Humans want to do this... to other humans...? Impossible.'

Even the hunters, who knew what 'invade' meant, failed to comprehend the Chief Delegate's words.

"Invade... That means... huh? HUHHHH?! By invasion... Doesn't it mean... war?"

William's voice echoed throughout the campsite, which had turned dead silent because of the Chief Delegate's declaration that went beyond their scope of understanding.

"We mustn't go to war! Absolutely not!" 

Emma also raised her voice following William.

"HuHhh?! Why would they do such a thing!"

George shouted out as well.

"How foolish!"

Melsa, too.

"Don't mess around! You can't just start a war so lightheartedly!"

Even the ever-calm Leonard was furious.

The Empire launched an attack on the Kingdom.

Even though the family had never experienced war, as people who knew the horrors of it, they couldn't overlook such a situation.