Does the Butterfly Effect Really Exist? (3)

After an hour-long reprimand of Sage Dragon and the others for their wrongdoings, Sordil's voice was hoarse. At that moment, the considerate Her Majesty the Queen a cup of fragrant black tea.

"Sordil, you've been criticizing them for so long, I think they've realized their mistakes and definitely won't repeat them in the future, so let's just let this matter go?"

Upon hearing Her Majesty the Queen's words, Sage Dragon and the others nodded in agreement, indicating that they would do as Her Majesty the Queen instructed. Then, they put on pitiful expressions and looked innocently at Sordil.

With his wife speaking up, Old Suo naturally dared not refuse. In addition, Sage Dragon and the others showed a good attitude in admitting their mistakes. Most importantly, there were still a few urgent matters to be dealt with. So the young master could only nod and express his forgiveness for these naughty fellows.

"Since Irene has pleaded for you, let's leave it at that, but I don't want this to happen again!"

"Thank you for your magnanimity, brother. You didn't hold it against us. I will definitely control myself in the future and won't make the same mistake again!"

After Diphiya made her statement, the others hurriedly followed suit. However, the sincerity of their statements was uncertain, since everyone used the same template, making it impossible to determine whether they were genuinely repentant or simply copying. Regardless, the eavesdropping incident was finally resolved satisfactorily. Next, it was time to continue the emergency meeting that had just begun.

After finishing his cup of black tea, Sordil cleared his throat and said, "Next, I have a few things to discuss with everyone, and I hope you will all speak up."

Once seated, everyone nodded, indicating they understood. Then, all eyes turned to Sordil, signaling that he could begin. Just then, Irene, standing to the side, suddenly spoke up, "Huh? Where's Sister Yelibell? Has anyone seen her?"

After Irene reminded them, everyone realized that Yelibell had left the venue at some point.

"What the hell! So we accomplices are here getting criticized, while the ringleaders are still at large! (Diphiya)"

"Holy crap! It turns out the most cunning one among us is actually the seemingly gentle one! (Mevajena)"

"I was careless! I didn't even realize I'd been sold out!" (Kaldiz)

Just as everyone was internally condemning, complaining about, and lamenting the cunning Yelibell, the hall door creaked open, and a giant, purplish-red dragon walked in.

"Excuse me, I just had an upset stomach and went out to take care of it. I hope I didn't miss anything important?"

Hearing Yelibell's innocent answer, Diphiya and the other eavesdropping accomplices thought to themselves, "You just missed the classic scenes of us being arrested, criticized, and collectively admitting our mistakes. That's all!"

"Sister Yelibell, are you alright?" (Sordil)

"I'm fine, much better now. Brother Sordil, I haven't held you back, have I?"

"No! We just... never mind, let's not talk about it, otherwise I'm afraid I'll get a stroke from anger."

Seeing that the topic was about to circle back to the same old thing, Her Majesty the Queen quickly spoke up, bringing everyone's attention back to the main theme of the meeting.

"Alright, now that Yelibell is alright, let's get on with the meeting!"

"Okay! Actually, I came back this time to discuss two things with everyone. The first is the real reason for Kiginst' defeat, and the second is to discuss our next course of action."

The Sage Dragon and the Sacred Dragon, who had been sitting properly in their seats, blushed deeply when they heard Sordil bring up the Battle of Kiginst, and inwardly complained about Sordil. The perceptive Irene immediately noticed their unusual behavior, so Her Majesty the Queen gently nudged Sordil with her elbow.

After exchanging glances, Sordil instantly understood. To avoid an awkward situation for everyone, Old Suo quickly skipped the foreplay and got straight to the point.

"While the defeat at the Battle of Kiginst was certainly related to the two uncles, Sir and Saint, it was not the root cause of the incident. After extensive investigation and evidence gathering, I have now determined that the reason for this defeat was that an insider codenamed ' Old Friend' was providing intelligence to the enemy. The reason why the Seventh Squadron rebelled was also because it was guided by this Old Friend."

"What's even more terrifying is that this Old Friend knows everything about all of us, including the defenses of each of our camps, while we don't even know who he is or where he is!"

Sordil's words were like a boulder crashing into the hearts of everyone, stirring up a thousand waves of emotions. In an instant, a sense of dread and suspicion spread throughout the hearts of the people and their surroundings.

"Brother, is this Old Friend a dragon, or...?"

After Diphiya finished speaking, everyone turned their attention to Sordil, hoping he could come up with a useful clue. Unfortunately, Old Suo just shook his head helplessly and said nothing.

"In other words, this Old Friend is very likely to be... (Mevajena)."

Mevajena didn't finish her sentence, but everyone understood what she meant.

"It's too early to say, so I've decided to conduct a thorough search throughout the entire army to see if our Old Friend are still around." (Sordil)

"Since this Old Friend knows everything about us, and we are completely unaware of him, it means he must have a way to evade the Poison Dragon's psychological probing. Finding him won't be easy." (Sage Dragon)

"If we conduct a direct reconnaissance, he will naturally be on guard. But if we have a major military operation soon, he probably won't have the energy to be on guard!" (Sordil)

"You mean... lure them out?" (Irene)

"That's right! We lure them out, and then..."

At this point, Old Suo raised his right hand, forming Hand Knife, and then chopped down forcefully.

"That's a good idea, but with our current strength, we simply don't have the capability to organize a large-scale military operation. (Sacred Dragon)"

"Aku, we're not really going to take action, so just think of something!" (Sage Dragon)

"No! This operation must be real; otherwise, there's no way we can lure our Old Friend out." (Sordil)

"But with our strength, we simply can't launch an attack on the enemy on the other side, can we?" (Irene)

"The enemy on the other side is obviously not an option. Not to mention whether we have the strength to attack them, even if we take action, our Old Friend will not have the opportunity to send out intelligence, so we will not be able to find him. Therefore, this time our target should not be Ishgar, but here."

Following the direction Sordil pointed, everyone discovered that it was the sea area between the eastern and Western Continent.

After carefully comparing the markings on the map, Acnologia suddenly realized, and then he said softly, "You little rascal, you mean to ambush the enemy here?"

"That's right!"

"But... Brother, the enemy is currently concentrated in Ishgar, and we've destroyed all their supplies and equipment. They have no reason to be here now, so what's the point of us setting up an ambush here?" (Diphiya)

"Ishgar's enemies will naturally not appear here, but those guys left behind in the Western Continent will probably appear here soon."

Although Sordil did not explicitly state how he knew these things, no one suspected him, because they had recently seen him off and knew something about his itinerary.

"Since I need to stay here to find Old Friend, this assassination operation can only be carried out by one of you. What do you all think...?"

No sooner had Sordil finished speaking than the Sacred Dragon stood up abruptly and shouted, "In that case, let me go!"