Old Matters Brought Up Again

He was silent for a long while, as if weighing the importance of every word. In the end, he spoke in a low, oppressive voice, directly identifying the heart of the issue:

"Svein, Corps Commander Ulf." His voice echoed through the great hall with unquestionable authority. "This Karl von Schmidt has now blunted the edge of my Sauron soldiers for the fourth time!"

"First, he ambushed my Sword Corps at Icewater Creek, then defeated my Sparrow Corps outside the city. Now, at Tyrol, he has slain my Regiment Commander Bragi, wiping out thousands of elite troops from my Horse Corps and Bear Corps! Such a disastrous defeat, with a commander of regiment rank killed—since the rise of our Sauron Tribe Alliance in the Northern Territory, nothing like this has ever happened!"

His voice suddenly rose, carrying a bone-chilling murderous intent. "If this hatred is not avenged and this humiliation not washed away, what face will our Sauron Tribe have to rule the tribes of Vilaya? What authority will we have to intimidate vassals like Skarn? How will the wolves of the Northern Territory view us—their alpha wolf?"

Upon hearing this, Ulf let out a cold snort of laughter. His narrow eyes narrowed, and his tone carried its usual sharpness and the mockery of hindsight.

"Now you realize he's a threat to our very heart? When our hundred-thousand-strong army surrounded that tiny city of Carnford, I said it then: we should have crushed it in one go, regardless of the cost, even while enduring harassment from Friedrich and Fran City's reinforcements!"

"If you had listened to me then, how could today's disaster have happened? And now look at us—we've raised a tiger that threatens us! That boy now commands several thousand elite soldiers and has obtained those bizarre rapid-fire cannons and