Borogor, chief of the Candel Empire Military Department's General Staff Headquarters, slowly lowered his binoculars, a trace of puzzlement crossing his face.
"Strange. The Xinfei Merchant Guild clearly has so many Mana Airships. They should have discovered in advance
that we had massed an army here to wait for them. Why
would they still walk straight in, even letting us surround them completely?"
General Soros, one of the Candel Empire Military Department's senior generals, snorted beside him.
"What's so
strange about that? I bet these fellows won so many battles in a row that they decided we were pushovers and underestimated us. Besides, this was our strategy all along. It's hardly surprising that they fell for it."
"Of course, there's another explanation. They knew perfectly well
that this was a trap, knew perfectly well
that we had massed an army here, but still thought they could defeat us easily, so they deliberately walked into our encirclement," General Talenmir, another senior general of the Candel Empire Military Department, said gravely beside them.
"Bah! With the Malo Empire's reinforcements, we now have a full army of four hundred and fifty thousand! The Xinfei Merchant Guild's people and the Rulson Kingdom's troops only add up to a little over fifty thousand. What makes them
think they can win? Look, we've surrounded them completely now. I don't believe they can fly away into the sky!" General Soros snorted in disdain.
"Hey, they do have plenty of Mana Airships. Give them enough
time, and they really might fly away into the sky." Another general beside them made a small joke, apparently hoping to ease the tension between the two generals.
Yet the moment he said it, everyone present turned pale.
Although the general had spoken casually, what he said was an undeniable fact.
Indeed, the