Sea Affairs

The Kingdom of Angland's fleet sailed away from Cologne under the complicated gaze of the onlookers, all eyes fixed on its next major destination—Weissenburg City.

Many believed that Grand Duke Wessen would surely reclaim his honor on his own turf.

For a time, train tickets to Weissenburg City were impossible to come by. No one wanted to miss the spectacle of him turning the tables.

But everyone was disappointed.

Apart from having Eugene, commander of the 3rd Division, receive the visitors from afar as his plenipotentiary—Eugene had commanded the destruction of a Kingdom of Angland transport fleet the previous year—Grand Duke Wessen made no other move at all.

For a time, everyone was filled with disappointment and frustration.

Just then, the sharp-eyed noticed that Grand Duke Wessen had disappeared. He was nowhere to be seen in the news, and no one could find him in Weissenburg City either.

Rumors circulated that the Forest Sea region's accession to the Duchy of Weissen had been making waves since last year. Although negotiations had suffered a setback after the Battle of Red Waterwheel Village, efforts this year had brought the parties to a broad consensus: the 16,000-square-kilometer Forest Sea region would join the Duchy of Weissen as three states—El State, Sur State, and Gra State.

When that happened, the Duchy of Weissen would cover 50,000 square kilometers and have a population of more than two million.

The rumor suggested that Grand Duke Wessen's current focus had little to do with the visiting fleet.

But that did nothing to ease the public's anxiety.

"When are you planning to set off the Powder Keg?"

Beside a small river in the Forest Sea, Psyche watched Frederick pull up an empty hook and curiously asked a question only the two of them would understand.

Frederick baited the