Something was strange.
That was Lan Qingyou's first impression.
She couldn't say what was strange, but she had the feeling that the whole thing was somehow... peculiar.
The Old Emperor had given several reasons.
But Lan Qingyou still sensed something was wrong.
Surely there was no need to summon so many people just to form a team like this?
It wasn't as if he were an emperor constrained at every turn by some council of elders.
And yet that was exactly what he had done.
He had made a huge show of it, too.
The Knights Order leaders had come. The nobles had come. The civil officials had come. The Title Holders had been ordered to attend.
Even the scholars, who had no business being here, had shown up.
What exactly was the Old Emperor planning?
Lan Qingyou frowned.
As far as she was concerned, there was far more to this than the Old Emperor had let on.
"So, it's best to send people with sufficient Magic Power and strength to investigate and find out what's really going on."
While Lan Qingyou was thinking it over,
the "outside world" had already erupted into arguments over this latest deployment.
The court of the Sima Empire had originally been divided between the Duke Faction and the Minister Faction.
But since this mission would involve combat, the Knights Order leaders, who normally stayed out of political affairs, had joined the argument as well.
Both the Duke Faction and the Minister Faction wanted to take charge.
But how could the Knights Order possibly let them have that?
What a joke!
Letting a bunch of people who only knew how to fight over power command the army and direct the battle—
wouldn't that be tantamount to sending everyone to their deaths?
The Knights Order had