Salante City
A cloud suddenly covered the sun, and the brilliant sunlight dimmed at once.
Inside Haboba's residence, a servant suddenly hurried in from outside.
He quickly arrived outside the study where Lord Haboba was and, after knocking lightly several times without receiving an answer, called out loudly from beyond the door, "My lord!"
"Oh? What is it?" The door suddenly opened, and Haboba appeared in the doorway.
"How is the situation? Is there any news from the front now?" After letting the man into the study, Haboba immediately asked.
Just moments ago, Haboba had been unable to sit still in the lord's study. He had paced back and forth through the room without pause.
He had taken part in commanding the first half of the war. Later, after capturing ten thousand prisoners, he had returned to arrange them. Yet after he came back, all news had suddenly been cut off.
This gave him an ominous feeling.
Seeing someone come to report at this time, he assumed it was news from the front, and his anxiety grew ever more urgent.
The servant who had entered saw Haboba's face change color and realized that the question he had asked was entirely unrelated to what he had come to report. His heart skipped a beat, and he was badly startled. Knowing that his actions had caused the lord to misunderstand, he hurriedly lowered his head and answered respectfully, "My lord, I have come on behalf of Lady Xihali. She requests an audience with you..."
Lady Xihali was a friend of Haboba's. She had once been a noblewoman, and her relationship with Haboba was somewhat ambiguous. She had often come here in the past.
Under normal circumstances, Haboba would naturally have been delighted to hear that she wished to see him. But now,