Canglan City, Emerald Palace.
The grand victory banquet was held once again, but the guests' attention was nowhere near the feast. Every one of them looked preoccupied.
The noblewomen and young ladies who were usually so lively tactfully moved aside as well, leaving the space open.
The tide of reform was rising again, and that was no secret to the great nobles.
At a moment like this, inviting everyone here in the name of a victory banquet was obviously just a pretext.
The expedition that had helped an ally defeat invaders carried major significance in international politics, but within the Alpha Kingdom, it did not amount to much.
A victory banquet was appropriate, but it should not have been held on such a lavish scale.
Before this, the victory banquet for the Kingdom Army's defeat of the Underworld Races had been far less extravagant.
To the groups with vested interests, reform was practically the same as cutting flesh from their own bodies.
The Kingdom's previous reforms had already touched everyone's interests.
It was only because necessity had forced their hand, and they could not allow the great ship of the Kingdom to sink, that everyone had made concessions.
Things were different now. Although the Kingdom government was desperately poor, the military's combat strength was steadily increasing.
The question of survival had been resolved, and the threat from foreign enemies had been greatly reduced.
For the surrounding foreign races, they were already thanking the heavens as long as the Alpha Kingdom did not go looking for trouble with them.
Invading the Alpha Kingdom was a terrifying notion that no sane person would entertain.
Against this backdrop, the Kingdom's noble faction had split directly into two camps.
The emerging nobles led by Hudson, along with some nobles dependent on foreign trade, chose