By the second day, Malin had copied the war report from their reconnaissance and attack the day before into three copies: one to the National Church for them to distribute to various other churches, one to the Royal Court for them to distribute to the military and the major Nobles, and a third copy he instructed a messenger to deliver to Nova so that she could find someone to distribute it to the southern countries, allowing those in the South to have at least some understanding of the situation in the North.
Frankly, this invasion had far exceeded Malin’s estimation. Before, Malin had thought it was merely an independent operation by some war band, but after the battle last night, he felt that the entire situation had become very dangerous—this was definitely a premeditated invasion.
So, early in the morning, Malin had also visited His Majesty Manheim, who was acting oddly. Despite being in good health, he had been pretending to be sick for the past few days, and Malin didn’t feel it was his place to ask why—after all, they weren’t close.
However, when it came to dealing with Chaos, His Majesty had reportedly still attended meetings despite his illness, which led Malin to realize for the first time that someone could be sick yet appear as lively as a dragon. Although still feeling it was strange, Malin nonetheless had an exchange with him.
"You’re saying that we can now confirm the appearance of at least three war bands, right?" His Majesty Manheim was aware of the current situation, but the military had only confirmed the presence of a large number of war bands, with no specific number—essentially they were blind despite having eyes.
After all, only Chaotic Believers had been seen at the front so far, and it wouldn’t surprise anyone if some bizarre species emerged among these cannon fodder.
But it’s likely they hadn’t encountered any Rotting Knights.
Malin recounted the Nagoth warriors he had identified from the start, to the Chaotic Believers in the previous camps and villages, and then to those Rotting Knights: "We can confirm that this is a large-scale invasion with a clear intent, with at least five or even more war bands participating. I have only identified three of them thus far, but Your Majesty, you can imagine just how vast the wilderness of Copenhagen is, how many Chaotic forces would be needed to fill such a large area. You must have seen the Mage reports from the past two days—they can confirm that every abandoned village and town has traces of Chaotic activity. Perhaps a Great Demon or Chosen Champion is commanding these Chaotic forces, and maybe even more Chaotic war bands will join them. We must prepare early."
His Majesty expressed his agreement. He glanced at the representatives of the military, who after discussing, collectively nodded with solemn expressions.
"We have taken note of Sir Malin’s warning. Over the next few days, we will conduct fire-power reconnaissance in areas where we make contact with Chaos to confirm the composition of their war bands and at the same time, endeavor to capture prisoners," a representative said.
"Don’t capture any prisoners; those are Nagoth’s followers. The soldiers lack adequate knowledge of epidemic prevention. Don’t let them get too close to the enemy. You can relay the matter of capturing prisoners to the Church. I will also keep an eye on things for you," Malin said, gaining the approval of the Church’s representatives. The Bishop from the Benevolent Church thought Malin’s words were very appropriate, and he stood up to reiterate the precautions that Malin had not mentioned: "If possible, after the battle, our Church will send specialists to collect the bodies of the Chaotic for the Holy Fire Purification Ceremony, and our own soldiers will be treated the same. This is to prevent the spread of disease. Please inform the soldiers; I believe they will understand."
"I believe they will understand, Your Excellency the Bishop. We have battled Chaos before," the military representative said, which reassured Malin as well.
Thinking of this, Malin attended the entire meeting as an observer and politely declined the olive branch offered by His Majesty Manheim.
Of course, the reason Malin gave as to why he did not oblige His Majesty invigorated him: "You’re saying you want to create a mechanism that can attack a cauldron in the air?"
In the previous meeting, all representatives from the military and the Church had expressed their helplessness towards the plague cauldrons, because if Chaos placed their cauldrons behind their lines of defense, then humanity would have no choice but to break through their lines and then destroy the cauldron.
The price for all this would be the deaths and injuries of numerous battle groups. In such fights, not only would the injured not receive timely care, but the medics responsible for caring for them would face all manner of Chaos killing methods.
If Malin could indeed get the scientific academy in the South to produce such devices, the Northern Kingdom would definitely buy and use them against the Chaotic— even His Majesty Manheim, who didn’t understand much about machinery, could appreciate the difference in importance between a ton of explosives and an entire battle group of soldiers.
In other words, why pay more for what could be resolved with a thousand Mowish Paper Money?
Key representatives from the military and the Church also stayed behind. After listening to Malin’s explanation, they all agreed that if such a device could be put into production, it would definitely be the best weapon against the plague cauldrons.
Thus, Malin left the Royal Palace with the blessings and sighs of everyone present.
Watching Malin leave, His Majesty Manheim’s previously furrowed brows relaxed: "I thought he would mention Antoine, the Great Craftsman, who has recently become very close to Sir Malin. He has too many craftsmen at his disposal, and it seems they all listen to him."