The Holy War's Temporal Node I

The scenery of Anzeruta in late autumn was beautiful. Once the forests scattered between the mountains were tinged with mottled rusty red, they resembled flowing, variegated colors on an oil painting, depicting Anzeruta's long, misty valleys and the basin plains scattered among its mountains and hills. Yet in deep winter, the scenery transformed completely. The forests shed their leafy adornments, and the bare woodlands revealed the rugged cliffs and precipices beneath. Blanketed in snow, rugged and majestic, they seemed like giants guarding the valleys and basins. Autumn's delicacy and warmth were instantly replaced by winter's sternness and grandeur.

The changing seasons were precisely what made the natural scenery here so fascinating. In times far from war, adventurers from all over the world came here every year to explore. But at this moment, the lionman army was drawing ever closer, while Saint Osore's Wind Spirits were locked in fierce battle with the Imperial army in the Wilds of the Four Borders to the north. This enchanting mountainous wilderness had fallen unusually quiet.

Wrapped in a thick fur coat, Brando stamped his feet in the snow beneath a pine tree. He gazed toward the strip of plains stretching westward below the mountain—though they should perhaps be called a basin—scattered among rolling hills. Farther west, the hills grew lower and flatter until they gradually became an endless plain. Beyond that, mountains rose again, forming distant silhouettes on the horizon. That was the Broken Sword Mountains.

"Let them stay locked in their castles and reflect on their actions," Brando replied as he looked down at the valley. He was answering Miss Oni's earlier question about how to deal with the Cruzian nobles he had captured. The Duke's daughter stood in the woods at a certain distance from him, as though she feared that moving