"Lord Berion, I never expected you’d come visit me so late at night!"
Hand of the King Berion looked completely stunned, hardly believing what he saw in His Majesty before him. Looking at those eagle-sharp eyes that hadn’t appeared in over a decade, his mind felt like a tangled mess.
For a moment, he even thought His Majesty must have been affected by the curse and reached the violent stage.
But seeing the clarity and wisdom in those eyes, he pushed that thought away.
Especially that gentle smile—he hadn’t seen it in years. How could this possibly be what someone looked like after being corrupted by a curse?!
Could it be that His Majesty had successfully resisted the curse?
The King of Dawn didn’t seem to notice Berion’s shock. He walked over to sit at a nearby table with a smile, gesturing for Berion to sit down: "You came at this hour—you have something important to tell me, right?"
"Yes, yes, Your Majesty." Berion took a deep breath: "Not long ago, I received border intelligence..."
Berion quickly explained all the western territory intelligence he’d gotten and what adventurers had discovered outside the capital.
As he spoke, he carefully watched His Majesty’s reactions.
The King of Dawn never seemed to notice Berion’s gaze, just listened to his report with a calm expression, then nodded slightly: "So it’s basically confirmed that those beastmen will attack us..."
Before he’d finished speaking, the ring on Berion’s finger started glowing.
"Your Majesty, seems like important news is coming in. Should I..."
"This is what you just mentioned—that God of Technology’s creation?" The King of Dawn looked at his ring with interest: "Check the message first."
Hearing this, Berion didn’t waste words and activated the Magic Net directly. His expression immediately changed dramatically.
"The Teylir Emirates sent us a very unfriendly diplomatic document." The King of Dawn took a deep breath: "I gave the western border garrison general permission to open documents directly and send us messages through the Magic Net."
As he spoke, he showed His Majesty the information transmitted via Magic Net.
It read—
Your Esteemed Majesty Heimdall Ashford:
We, the Council of Thirteen Great Chieftains of the Teylir Emirates, on behalf of all Teylir peoples, extend our most sincere greetings to you and the Kingdom of Dawn. Along with our greetings, we must express our deep concern and solemn protest regarding a series of recent events.
Serious protest regarding recent food supply interruptions... Serious protest regarding recent iron ore supply interruptions... Serious protest regarding recent salt supply interruptions... Serious protest regarding Kingdom of Dawn merchants capturing slaves in the Teylir Emirates...
Dozens of serious protests directly defined the Kingdom of Dawn as an evil nation that was heretical, interrupting normal trade, harboring cultists, and allowing slave trading. At the end, they stated that if significant concessions weren’t made, they would be forced to use military action first to maintain their current stable environment.
"Those trades were clearly interrupted by them, and the Teylir Emirates is the world’s biggest slave exporter..."
"Lord Berion, no need to explain to me." The King of Dawn shook his head slightly: "They’re just looking for an excuse to start a war. Since that’s the case, let’s go to war! Normally, griffon messengers take 3 days to get from the western border back to the capital—round trip would be 6 days, plus a day for replies, so they won’t make any big moves for at least 7 days."
"You mean we should transport large quantities of weapons to the border now and quickly organize more troops to assemble?!" Berion could obviously think of all this, but in front of His Majesty, he had to be a step slower.
"Exactly. I’m leaving this to you. I imagine the God of Technology hasn’t just launched Magic Net rings but has already introduced other new magic items, right? If there are any suitable for war, send them all to the border."
His Majesty suddenly becoming clear-headed, plus those wisely normal words, got Berion completely excited.
He didn’t notice anything strange about it at all.
Watching Berion disappear from the bedroom, the King of Dawn’s expression instantly became twisted. If anyone looked at the mirror not far from him right now, they’d definitely notice he and his reflection looked completely different.
"God of Technology... in this age, someone still dreams of becoming a god. Do you think our god would allow a new Goddess of Magic to appear? God of Technology, hah! Before long, everything about you will become part of the war!"
After who knows how long, the King of Dawn muttered to the mirror again, but no one could hear him anymore.
An army was assembling in the west.
Outside the western border of the Kingdom of Dawn, seventy to eighty thousand enemy troops had already gathered. Endless rows of tents and banners spread across the plains—it was incredibly lively.
When daytime came, it was like a marketplace.
Here were gathered armies from over a hundred tribes of the Teylir Emirates—from small tribes of dozens to large tribes of tens of thousands. Every tribe that got orders from the Council had sent soldiers.
As few as seven or eight people, as many as over ten thousand—they set up camp according to their own size, making the gathering place jagged and incredibly chaotic.
Over a hundred different banners flew in the sky. The camps were like a maze, with messengers in different armor, using different weapons, speaking with various accents, running around this maze-like camp area. You could even occasionally hear various beast roars.
Chaos caused by wrong orders was totally common in this camp!
Chieftain Raging Horn of the Minotaur tribe rode his beloved red giant bull, standing at the highest point of the camp, overlooking the entire area with a pleased smile: "The soldiers are gathering quickly! Before long, we’ll have a hundred thousand troops assembled!"
Around him were seven or eight beastmen of different races, also looking quite happy: "Really don’t know what the Kingdom of Dawn could possibly use to resist such an amazing force!"
"Honestly, I’m having second thoughts now. I even think we don’t need to call up this many people—every banner here is going to take a share of our spoils!"
"The god’s will cannot be questioned." A small, hunched beastman directly interrupted their conversation: "The God of War commanded us to launch a great war against the Kingdom of Dawn. We must give the god our best response!"
As soon as he said this, everyone around him agreed.