Dawn City First Hospital.
Duke Galava lay in his hospital bed, staring blankly at the first ray of morning light crossing the windowsill. His pallid face looked as though he had only just recovered from a serious illness.
For days now, he had suffered from sleepless nights. Whenever he closed his eyes for even a short while, nightmares would jolt him awake, leaving his entire body drenched in cold sweat.
He could not understand it.
Why had the trump card the Velanders had forged for them lost?
What he understood even less was how they had lost to a mere five hundred men.
"...Technology?"
A faint pain throbbed in his heart. His lips trembled as they moved, and a trace of realization seemed to appear in his clouded eyes.
Illnesses the royal physicians could not cure could be cured here. He vaguely recalled hearing someone say it was because of something called science and technology.
What shocked him most was that aid here was not limited to princes and nobles like himself. Their medical resources were so abundant that they could even fit those destitute wretches with mechanical prosthetics.
Niyang had even told him that they had established something called the Home of Refugees. Survivors who had lost limbs could receive an interest-free loan for basic mechanical prosthetics, as long as they were willing to learn life skills and accept job assignments.
Once he had calmed down, Duke Galava felt cold sweat soak his back again.
Only then did he gradually realize what kind of opponent they had provoked.
Still...
This failed probe was not entirely a bad thing.
At the very least, he had found the prescription that could make the Empire stronger.
Relaxing his shoulders and neck, Duke Galava sank the back of his head into the pillow.