A Few Matters Before Parting

After Sordil finished speaking, two distinct factions emerged in the hall. The leaders' faction scrambled to be in the front-line troops, while the king's faction eagerly sought to be in the reserves. Of course, there are always exceptions to every rule. Just now, while the king's faction was vying for the reserves, King of Babaronza had joined the fray, vying for a spot in the front-line troops.

"Prince Sordil, since the battlefield has been chosen in our Principality of Babaronza, we have no reason to stay in the rear and accept the protection of others!"

Seeing King of Babaronza for battle, the members of the leader's faction had a much better impression of him. Even Masergrera, who had just clashed with him, found him much more agreeable. However, Sordil, who had taken command from the crowd, was not about to waste the power of the Principality of Babaronza.

"King of Babaronza, this battle is not for your Principality of Babaronza alone, but for the entire Ishgar. I already felt guilty enough about choosing the Principality of Babaronza as the battlefield, and if the power of the Principality of Babaronza is wasted on inappropriate places, my heart will be even more uneasy!"

"Prince Sordil, that may be true, but..."

Sordil interrupted King of Babaronza, gently patting him on the shoulder, and said, "King of Babaronza, although our roles are different, we are doing the same thing: protecting Ishgar. So you shouldn't be fixated on where you've used your power, but rather focus on whether you've accomplished your mission."

Upon hearing Sordil's words, King of Babaronza's eyes instantly reddened, his body trembled uncontrollably, and he couldn't utter a complete sentence. Only after a long pause did he nod forcefully, indicating that he knew what to do.

"King of Babaronza, rest assured, I will ensure that the power of your Principality of Babaronza is used in the most appropriate way, and that you contribute your strength to the defense of Ishgar!"

King of Babaronza didn't say much. He simply gave Sordil a solemn military salute and then silently returned to his position.

Not long after King of Babaronza left, Irene quietly approached Sordil and said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Sordil, you must never leave my sight again, or it will be treated as an affair!"

"Gulp!"

Sordil swallowed hard, then asked Mind Talk, "My dear wife, aren't you going a bit too far?"

"Too much? I don't think this is enough! If I could, I wouldn't even want to bring you out."

"My dear wife, why is that?"

"Why? Just look behind you and in front of you, and you'll know!"

Hearing a shout exceeding two hundred decibels resounding in his mind, Sordil looked around in bewilderment, glancing behind him and in front of him. He saw two pairs of clear, bright eyes staring intently at his back, while a pair of grateful, red-rimmed eyes stared back at him in front of him. In that instant, Sordil's nerves snapped!

"Your Her Majesty the Queen, what happened to Sister Yelibell and the others?"

"What's wrong? Humph! You've already stolen her heart, and you dare ask me what's wrong?"

"No... Your Her Majesty the Queen, I'm innocent!"

"Injustice? What injustice could there be?"

"Your Her Majesty the Queen, I can understand if you say I stole Sister Yelibell's heart, but King of Babaronza is a man!"

"If you can steal a man's heart, stealing a woman's heart will be even easier. So I've decided that you don't need to go out anymore!"

Faced with his queen and wife's forceful decision, Sordil could only silently cry out, "Oh my god!" before obediently carrying out this plan that showed absolutely no human rights. (Although their conversation seemed long, it actually took very little time, only about a minute or two, because it took place internally.)

After overcoming his painful experience, Sordil channeled his grief into motivation and threw himself into discussions about personnel allocation.

After an hour of heated debate, the personnel arrangements for the various duchies and principalities were finally settled. Ultimately, the five members of the Fire Dragon King Igneel secured the combat mission along the northwest coast, while Acnologia and Belserion obtained the authority to engage the enemy on the main battlefield. Fostadu and the other duchies were tasked with securing the southwest front. The reserve forces were assigned to the armies of the various principalities and some other dragons, while the popular Sordil squad naturally transformed into an assault team, moving between the various fronts.

"Now that everyone's tasks have been assigned, please proceed according to the pre-arranged plan!"

"Prince Sordil, rest assured, we will go back and make the arrangements immediately!"

"Yes, yes, yes! Brother Sordil, don't worry, we brothers will definitely not delay anything!"

A moment later, only Sordil and Irene remained in the hall; everyone else had gone back to prepare. Once she was sure no one else was there, Irene stepped forward and closed the hall doors, then hung herself on Sordil, who had transformed into Oddek.

"You rascal, you'd better be careful on your way to the battlefield!"

"Irene, don't worry, the one who can hurt me hasn't been born yet!"

"Pah! Who's worried you'll get hurt? You're just being vain! What I mean is, you're not allowed to flirt with other men outside, and you definitely can't let someone steal you away!"

Sordil stared at Irene, whose face was slightly flushed, his expression darkening. For a moment, he didn't know how to answer. Prince Sordil, who hadn't replied to Her Majesty the Queen, suddenly felt a strange pain in his lower back. He glanced down at his waist and saw a small, pink hand making circular motions!

"General, have you remembered my orders?"

Poor General Oddek had no choice but to submit to the tyrannical queen's power. Seeing General Oddek nodding incessantly like a chicken pecking at rice, Queen Irene decided to let him go.

"Alright, my lord, you should go and prepare for the expedition!"

Having received the Queen's pardon, Sordil obediently nodded, then walked out of the palace with tears streaming down his face.

Ishgar's western coastline

Seeing Hit rushing into the camp, Glaide immediately went to greet him and asked eagerly, "Hit, how is it? Did you find water and food?"

"Chief, I've led my men to search this area thoroughly, but we haven't found a single bird, let alone food or water!"

"What? That shouldn't be the case! According to the information provided by Selisliu, there should be a human village nearby, as well as a river where the water can be drunk, right?"

"Chief, we did find a human village not far away, but there are only some abandoned houses and no one lives there. As for rivers or anything like that, we didn't find a trace of them! Chief, do you think Selisliu made a mistake when he was surveying the situation?"

After pondering for a while, Glaide shook his head and said, "Judging from the surrounding terrain, there are no problems with the intelligence on Selisliu."

"Chief, if Selisliu's intelligence is correct, then how do you explain the abandoned village and the vanished river?"

"This... if I'm not mistaken, the people in the village and that river must have been moved away."

"Moved... moved away? Chief, people can be moved, but how can the river be moved?"

"You'll have to ask those guys over there!"

Hit nodded knowingly, but then, as if suddenly remembering something, he said, "But Chief, wouldn't Lord Goodpes pin this blame on you?"

Just as Hit finished speaking and before Glaide could open his mouth, an uncontrollable roar came from above.

"Glaide, is this the accurate intelligence you provided?"