The Calm Before the Storm

Ishgar, the Dragon Clan Secret Realm Montes Sakureta

Under the command of their commander, the giant dragons formed a special formation, while more dragons flew in from all directions and joined the formation, causing the formation to expand continuously.

"Everyone hurry up! Lord Acnologia is waiting for us in the Kingdom of Donagunov!"

Upon hearing the commander's shout, the dragons that had not yet entered the formation quickened their pace, while the dragons already in the ranks asked the commander their questions.

"Chief, what has happened? Why does Lord Acnologia want us to go to the Kingdom of Donagunov?"

"Yes, leader! What exactly happened?"

"Chief, please tell us!"

Looking at his noisy subordinates, the dragon commanding the ranks clicked its tongue and began to scold them.

"Tsk tsk! You bunch of fat otaku, all you do is eat, drink, and have fun all day long, you don't care about anything important! Now, who in the entire Ishgar race doesn't know that those bastards from the Western Continent are about to invade our Ishgar? Lord Acnologia sent us to the Kingdom of Donagunov, naturally to beat up those brats from the Western Continent!"

One stone stirs up a thousand waves; a few words lead to countless discussions. As soon as the officer finished speaking, the dragons lined up in formation instantly erupted into chaos.

"What? Those bastards from the Western Continent actually set their sights on Ishgar?"

"Holy crap! This is outrageous! No questions asked, let's beat him up!"

"That's right! How dare they cause trouble in Ishgar! They've gone too far!"

"That's right, we need to teach them a lesson! Otherwise, these guys will start shitting on our necks!"

The officer waved for silence, then spoke, "Therefore, the Kingdom of Donagunov has spearheaded a large alliance to discuss how to deal with those bastards from the Western Continent. Lord Acnologia has joined the alliance on behalf of Montes Sakureta. According to reliable sources, those scoundrels from the Western Continent have already invaded Ishgar once, but were repelled by the Fire Dragon King Igneel and his forces. So, Lord Acnologia has summoned us to the Kingdom of Donagunov this time, most likely to secure a leading position and show everyone the strength of Montes Sakureta."

Upon hearing the officer's words, the dragons opposite them all roared excitedly.

"Oh! Ishgar mighty!"

"Long live Ishgar!"

"Victory belongs to us!"

"Besides winning, the main offensive mission is also ours!"

Someone shouted this, and soon everyone joined in. Looking at his highly motivated subordinates, the officer felt a surge of pride, and at the same time, he was internally echoing the same sentiment. In fact, similar scenes were unfolding not only in Montes Sakureta, but throughout all the Dragon Clan Secret Realm on Ishgar.

Philiers, at the entrance to the King's bedroom

"Get out of my way! I have important matters to report to His Majesty the King!"

"Prime Minister, as you know, His Majesty the King needs to rest and recuperate for the next two months and cannot be disturbed in any way!"

"Of course I know about this, but my matter can't wait two months!"

After speaking, the Prime Minister disregarded the soldiers' attempts to stop him and forced his way into the palace. The guards, who had been instructed by the Queen beforehand, no longer cared about the Prime Minister's status. Two of them rushed forward, tackled him to the ground, and dragged him out of the palace. Watching the palace gate recede further and further away, the Prime Minister flailed his arms outwards, screaming loudly.

"Your Majesty, I have something important to report!"

"Release me! I want to see His Majesty!"

"What you are doing is endangering the kingdom, and His Majesty will not let you off the hook once he wakes up!"

Just then, the palace gate slowly opened, and a slender figure emerged from the slightly ajar door. The three people who were engaged in their rubbing activities all stopped, staring intently at the figure. Once the palace gate closed and the light returned to normal, the three finally recognized the person who had appeared.

The two guards immediately knelt on one knee, saying in trepidation, "Your Queen, we have done our best to stop the Prime Minister, but he still insisted on forcing his way into the palace. We had no choice but to..."

"This isn't your fault, go back to your posts!"

"Yes!"

After dismissing the two guards, the Queen slowly approached the Prime Minister. Upon seeing the Queen, the Prime Minister immediately bowed in greeting.

"Your Majesty, I pay my Queen!"

Looking at the Prime Minister bowing respectfully, the Queen said calmly, "So the Prime Minister does know that I am the Queen!"

"Your Queen, what are you saying? Even if I forget who I am, I would never dare to forget Your Queen and His Majesty!"

"You don't need to use His Majesty to pressure me! I will not allow anyone to disturb His Majesty's recuperation until he is fully recovered, not even you, Prime Minister!"

"Your Majesty understands!"

"Understood? Understood, then get out of here! And again, no matter what happens in the future, don't come here to make a scene again!"

Looking at the furious Queen, the prime minister said weakly, "Yes, Your Majesty, I shall take my leave!"

Western Continent, Dragon Clan Secret Realm: Artek Carl

"Goodpes, is your subordinate really seriously injured and unconscious, or is it an act?"

"There's absolutely no mistake about that!"

"It seems those guys in Ishgar aren't as bad as we thought!"

"That's natural!"

"By the way, who do you plan to send as the vanguard in the attack on Ishgar?"

"I..."

Goodpes was about to answer his old friend's question, but when he heard footsteps outside the cave, he swallowed his words. A moment later, a pale-faced Glaide was helped to the cave entrance by Hit.

"Your subordinate, Glaide / Hit, greets Lord Goodpes!"

"Yes, get up!"

After exchanging greetings, Glaide said to Hit, "Hit, I have something important to report to Lord Goodpes. Please excuse me for a moment!"

"Yes!"

After Hit had gone far away, Glaide took out two stone tablets with special patterns from his pocket and handed them to Goodpes.

"Lord Goodpes, this is a topographical map of the Eastern Continent that I obtained from Chief Selisliu. It shows the terrain of Ishgar and the distribution of humans and dragons."

Goodpes took the stone slab and examined it carefully for a while before asking, "Since this topographical map was drawn by Selisliu, where are the Selisliu people? And where did his squad go? Why did only a few of you return?"

Hearing the series of questions raised by Goodpes, Glaide's face grew even paler. After a few minutes of silence, Glaide said in a somber tone, "Reporting to Lord Goodpes, Chief Selisliu... he..."

"What's wrong with him? Tell me!"

"Chief Selisliu... he... he's dead! And his warriors have been captured by Ishgar's dragons!"

After Glaide said that, Goodpes swayed, then roared furiously, "What on earth happened? How could Selisliu be dead? And how could all his men have been captured?"

Faced with the enraged Goodpes, Glaide trembled with fear. After a long pause, he finally stammered, "Lord Goodpes, this is what happened..."

Next, Glaide recounted his entire journey to Ishgar, including encountering corpses and traveling alone to Ishgar to rescue Selisliu. Of course, in his account, Selisliu was ambushed and killed by Sordil and his companion, the two stone tablets were given to him by Selisliu before his death, and his own wounds were the work of Sordil and his companion. Thus, Sordil, the scapegoat, perfectly took the blame without any prior knowledge.