A Minor Incident in White Earth City

A quiet yet dispirited atmosphere hung over White Earth City and its surroundings, as though time itself had frozen.

After a full month of harrowing, life-and-death fighting, both the Northern Alliance Army and the Duchy Army had suffered devastating losses, leaving both sides severely weakened.

In an unspoken agreement, both sides had been forced to pull back and lick their wounds. Sykes County was enjoying a rare moment of peace since the Civil War began.

Apart from the troops still maintaining combat readiness, the rest of the Northern Alliance Army had begun taking leave in rotation under orders from headquarters. Count Colt had reached this decision after consulting several generals and other great nobles.

The auxiliary soldiers drawn from the serfs had few complaints or demands. For people who had long lived in hardship at the bottom of society, simply having enough to eat was already a blessing. If they could occasionally have some meat or a little alcohol, that was a luxury they could scarcely dream of!

Meeting such simple, practical needs was enough to keep them content and willing to carry on with their duties.

For the combat troops, however, the situation was entirely different.

As the main force fighting the duchy, these troops had endured days of grueling combat and were utterly exhausted, both physically and mentally.

Many soldiers were on the verge of a mental breakdown, like strings stretched so tight that the slightest disturbance could snap them.

Unless something was done promptly to ease their frayed nerves, a terrifying outbreak of mass panic and violence could erupt in camp some night!

The combat troops were therefore allowed into White Earth City to unwind.

Yet no one had expected these soldiers to become like horses freed from their reins once they entered the city.

They immediately