[Dear Mr. Francois,
I received your letter. Our correspondence these past few days has made me long to see you, Free City, City Lord Annan, and the future you described.
If I were a few years younger, I would surely visit Free City and witness a miracle rising before my own eyes.
But such was war. It turned brothers against each other, tore mothers from their sons, and consumed everything we cherished in flames. Perhaps it was foolish, even blind loyalty, but loyalty was a knight's creed. So let us settle our fate on the battlefield.
I regret that we never had the chance to speak face-to-face.
Jones, Commander of the Green Rose Knights' Order.]
Francois read the letter once more, his heart heavy, before putting it away and stepping outside.
Thick gunsmoke blotted out the last light of dusk.
Outside Starer City, the air reeked of gunpowder and scorched earth. In the distance, the battlefield looked like a vision of the end of the world.
The prince's personal guard and the Green Rose Knights' Order had stopped beyond the Magic Cannons' range. They had already clashed several times. Thanks to their cavalry's mobility and the Mage Corps' protection, they had learned the cannons' power at the cost of only a few bodies.
Mounted on a Dragonblood White Horse, the prince rode forward and shouted, "Get out of the Rikaner Kingdom! For the sake of that boy who was once King of the North, I'll spare you."
His words echoed across the battlefield, but Starer City answered with silence.
"So you've made your choice..." The prince's face twisted as he drew his Longsword. "Then die!"
Boom, boom, boom, boom—
The ceremonial guard beat the war drums. The cloaks of the armored Green Rose Knights' Order snapped in the bitter