After the two Archmages retreated in defeat from Mero City, the situation there took a strange turn.
For a full half month afterward, the Candel Empire took no action whatsoever.
No army came to attack Mero City and try to retake it, nor did the Candel Empire send any more reinforcements. Even the elite Mage Corps previously dispatched by the Candel Empire's Military Department withdrew without a sound one morning.
Only the fifty thousand reinforcements sent by the Southwestern Province Governor's Office remained, diligently holding their camp five kilometers outside Mero City, yet they showed no intention of attacking the city either.
If those fifty thousand soldiers were ignored, Mero City now seemed almost forgotten by the Candel Empire, unusually peaceful and tranquil.
Outside Mero City, however, the situation across the continent was anything but peaceful. In fact, it was growing increasingly intense.
On October 13, just as the first chilly wind heralding winter blew down from the north, the Malo Empire and the Frank Kingdom's army, which had fled into exile within the empire, formed a joint force and attacked the former Falk Kingdom territory now occupied by the Drake Duchy.
Before this battle, three Archmages from the Malo Empire openly announced that they would join the fighting.
The three Archmages justified their participation by declaring that the Drake Duchy was the aggressor. They were merely helping the Falk Kingdom reclaim its territory and rebuild its country, making this a "just war."
With three Archmages directly involved, even the Candel Empire's forces, equipped with large quantities of military magic machinery, could not withstand their extraordinarily powerful attacks. They began losing ground as soon as the fighting started.
Meanwhile, another Malo Empire army attacked from the east, striking territory that had formerly belonged to the Frank Kingdom and was now