In the main tent at the center of the Beastmen camp west of Iowa, Toroniz strode out, leaving only Xivier White Wolf and Olmert Chixi behind.
Olmert stood beside Xivier's long chair and said worriedly, "Elder, there was no need for you to indulge the local Human Race like this. That Rosef is clearly working against the Royal Court, and now this Toroniz has even spun some nonsense about a passage. The Iowa Mountains stretch more than ten kilometers from east to west—how could there possibly be such a long tunnel?"
"Oh?"
The White Wolf sighed and asked with disappointment, "Olmert, tell me this: why do the kinfolk of Hindukush now react to the Royal Court's army as though they have seen bandits? They hate us even more than when they hear the name of that Elf bandit leader, Vianis."
At the mention of it, Olmert's anger flared. "It is all Rosef's doing! They colluded with the Human Race on the Gallop Plains, slandering the Royal Court's battle plan as one that sends local Beastmen to their deaths. It has made our relationship with the Scorch Wolf and Forest Cat families tense..."
"Really? Rosef has been stirring things up behind the scenes?" Xivier sneered. "In the single month since you arrived, Rosef has successfully delivered at least six Retainers. Two of those were children of elders in the Royal Court.
"If he were truly disloyal to the Royal Court and the Beastmen, all he would need to do was tamper with those deliveries and cause the Royal Court's Retainers to die young. Why would he instead devote himself wholeheartedly to every Retainer?"
"This..."
The expression on the Chixi Retainer's face froze at once. He was a general who gave his all, yet he could not view the situation from the