Duke Masalan had acted forcefully before Fivenn, even arrogantly, but he was only a frontline commander, after all. Naturally, he could not fully represent the Malo Empire's position.
Compared with Duke Masalan, the Malo Empire's official stance was much more diplomatic.
Yet however diplomatically it was expressed, the Malo Empire's position was clear: it absolutely refused the ceasefire and peace talks proposed by the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
More specifically, it would never accept the conditions in the ceasefire agreement the Xinfei Merchant Guild had presented.
From the Malo Empire's perspective, it already held an overwhelming advantage. If it kept this up, it would sooner or later defeat the Lampari Kingdom completely, perhaps even destroy it outright, becoming the sole superpower on the Sains Continent and ruling the entire continent.
Under these circumstances, asking it to agree so readily to a ceasefire was nothing short of a joke.
And events did indeed develop in the direction the Malo Empire wanted.
While wrangling with the Xinfei Merchant Guild over peace talks, the Malo Empire did not pause its operations at all, continuing to intensify its attacks on the Lampari Kingdom.
Meanwhile, extremely serious unrest broke out within the Lampari Kingdom.
In the former territory of the Angelia Kingdom, a force calling itself the Angelia Restoration Army suddenly emerged and attacked the Lampari troops stationed there.
The attack came without warning, and with few regular Lampari troops stationed in the Angelia Kingdom, they were nearly wiped out by the Angelia Restoration Army.
At the same time, a force claiming to serve under the king of the Sark Kingdom emerged in its former territory, launching attacks throughout the region.
On top of that, a guerrilla force within the Frank Kingdom that had long received covert aid from the Malo Empire suddenly stepped up its