The five parties arrived at Count Elias City at almost the exact same time.
But that was fine. Count Elias's steward coordinated the schedule and received these envoys together.
"Lord Count has fallen ill."
The steward helplessly greeted the envoys. The person in charge was a viscount under Count Elias, which was acceptable enough according to protocol. "What kind of joke is this? We've never heard any news of the Count being ill."
"We come on behalf of Monarch City. We must see Count Elias!"
The envoys' attitude was firm. Among them, the Court Knights had spilled much blood not long ago, and now their faces carried a murderous air that left the people here extremely tense. "But Lord Count truly is ill."
"Count Elias has already instructed us to prepare information on all the great nobles of the twenty count cities beneath the Barbary Lion banner before your arrival."
The steward had the servants bring it up. There were nineteen sets, each containing noble information from a count city in the south, covering a span of fifty years. Through these histories, the envoys could tailor their approach precisely, learning everything those great nobles cared about and what they despised—for example, which noble house they had conflicts with, who had once gone to war with whom, and during the war between the Empire and the Kingdom, which family had helped the Kingdom too much and could be used as leverage.
In short, Elias's understanding of this land absolutely surpassed that of Monarch City far to the north.
For a time, the envoys' attitudes were not so irritable. They could see Count Elias's sincerity.
"It seems Count Elias truly does wish to pledge loyalty to the monarch."
"Once His Highness Graham is crowned monarch and holds the Golden Scepter, he will