Under the cover of night, Tavitsky, an ancient city with frail defenses, seemed especially somber beneath the shadow of war.
Most of its residents had already fled their hometown, so when Major General Marlow looked back from the city wall, all he saw was a stretch of lifeless darkness.
Here and there, faint lights flickered in the wind-the makeshift fires the players who remained had lit in the streets.
The entire city resembled a hollowed-out shell, with only the smoke of war drifting through its streets.
Major General Marlow stared at the scene, lost in thought. His hand unconsciously tightened around the letter he held, his knuckles whitening with the strain. Several officers stood behind him, their expressions grim as iron.
At noon that day, Major General Marlow had nearly ordered the entire army to march.
The Minisian refugees who had fled from the east, their clothes ragged and their eyes filled with terror, had brought news that seared his reason like a red-hot branding iron.
A bloody civil war had erupted in Minisia's royal capital! The First Prince's and Second Princess's armies were slaughtering one another in the streets and alleys, while the nobles' private troops fought independently. The heart of the entire kingdom was tearing itself apart!
Then there were the hurried merchants with shifty eyes, who spoke in lowered voices of the chaos they had witnessed.
The capital's gates were sealed, the fires of war burned everywhere, and the roads to the border were clogged with fleeing nobles' carriages and routed soldiers.
Every fragment of intelligence pointed to one blood-stirring conclusion... the Minicia Kingdom had fallen into unprecedented weakness and chaos. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
"Opportunities in war vanish in an instant!"
The thought echoed wildly through his mind like a demon's whisper. He could almost