Preparations for War, a Grand Banquet Begins

When Yasol arrived on Blackpine's outskirts with the Tear Knight Expeditionary Army, the first thing he saw was a defense line that was still functioning.

The front was already battered. The caltrops were broken, the fire trenches had collapsed, and the outer wall had been breached. Some regenerating monsters were still attacking along the perimeter.

Yet the defense line held firm. Trenches and firing lines kept the grayblood monsters outside, while the Purification Battalion sorted and hauled away contaminated limbs for mass incineration. Strips of sacred ash lined both sides of the passages.

Yasol had seen far too many fiefs on his journey, but almost all of them had collapsed. Blackpine's perimeter was battered, yet it had not spiraled out of control.

Before coming to Blackpine, Yasol had already read several secret letters from Castian.

The letters had mentioned Shien and some of his astonishing actions.

Castian rarely praised anyone highly in military reports, so Yasol had already come with considerable expectations.

Yet when he actually entered Blackpine's perimeter, he was still taken aback.

Holding three fiefs against a grayblood vein bed this long, with only a recently rebuilt Main Fortress in a border region like the Graymist Defense Zone, was already no small feat.

More remarkable still, everything before him proved that they had survived entirely through the young lord's own ability to manage things.

Perhaps this boy was even more valuable than Castian's letters had suggested.

Castian and Shien were already waiting in front of the Blackpine Main Fortress.

This was Yasol's second time meeting Shien.

The last time, the boy had been no more than a young lord newly thrust onto the front lines of the Graymist Defense Zone.

Now, he was still young. His long, silver-white hair was slightly tousled by the wind, his face pale,