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OPI Chapter 231: A Glimpse of War to Come
🕑 Added 2024-09-06 04:50:38 +0000 UTC"Lord, please explain the situation to everyone."
In the inner hall of the Palace, the Emperor sat on his golden throne and his voice echoed as he addressed a man with silver hair that reached his waist.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The Lord bowed respectfully in response, and after standing up, his eyes swept over the six important high-ranking officials of the empire around him.
Although there are still a few people who have not arrived.
But the Lord feels that it is enough to deal with the sudden threat from the north.
"I believe you all know that for some special reason, I have the special ability to predict the future through dreams. Two nights ago, I dreamed of a chilling picture."
He first spent ten minutes narrating his dream.
Then he took out several drawings that he had specially drawn in the past two days for the six people to see.
General Budo and the others looked at each other in disbelief. Although it looked like something out of a fairy tale, they couldn't help but examine the images skeptically. After looking at the drawings, the atmosphere in the room became oppressive.
At this time, the emperor on the stage spoke again: "My dear ministers, tell me what you think."
"Your Majesty, I think the most urgent thing is to send the secret service spies to the north to investigate. At the same time, Prince Numa Seika of the Northern Autonomous Territory should be ready to mobilize his troops." Shaur proposed without hesitation.
Najenda and Gozuki exchanged glances. Najenda stepped forward and added: "Your Majesty, as soon as I return, I will send a spy team. Since we might face an armed conflict, I suggest that the 'Oarburghs' also send agents."
“I suspect that these forces that suddenly appeared in the north are likely to come from the Alchemy Kingdom in the west, because only their alchemy can possibly develop a light gate with the ability to teleport.” Gozuki commented.
“Indeed.” The emperor nodded in agreement.
"If it is really them, they should be preparing to break into our hinterland from the north, or directly occupy the northern snowy land, and encircle the empire with their own troops in the west." Budo said with a serious face.
"Najenda, Gozuki, there is no time to waste. Set out immediately. Eliminate the intruders before war breaks out, and if possible, capture some prisoners." The Emperor ordered.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Najenda and Gozuki responded in unison, quickly leaving the room.
The emperor turned his attention to Budo. "Does the general have any countermeasures?"
"Your Majesty, Prince Numa Seika is stronger than the mid-ranking generals. Furthermore, the Northern Autonomous Territory has an army of three hundred thousand troops. In theory, they should be able to handle any skirmish, but…" The general said, hesitating.
"Go on." The emperor encouraged.
"But I still have doubts about the loyalty of Prince Numa Seika and the northern peoples to the Empire." Budo confessed.
Hearing this, the expressions of everyone in the room became more serious, except for Dr. Stylish, who seemed more interested in the illustrations on the light gate than politics.
Budo ignored them and continued to express his thoughts.
"Over the years, in order to deal with the wars in the west and the east, the empire has recruited soldiers from the northern autonomous region far more often than other regions. This is because the snowy region is bitterly cold and the quality of the soldiers is extremely high, and it is also to suppress their population and power."
"This also makes ethnic minorities in the northern autonomous region dissatisfied, and their dissatisfaction is becoming more and more obvious, which is likely to be used by invaders from the west."
"So what do you suggest?" The emperor asked.
"I propose not to rely entirely on the northern forces. We should move an army from the western front and establish a second line of defense around Mount Fam in the north."
Budo said firmly: "In this way, with the cooperation of my air force, we can hold on until other troops arrive no matter what happens!"
"Okay, let's do it."
The Emperor nodded. However, before he could finish speaking, Dr. Stylish interrupted, intrigued.
"How strange."
"Doctor, do you have any findings?"
Without looking up, Dr. Stylish explained: "Everyone seems to believe that the door of light is the work of the Alchemy Kingdom, but in these images, several of the individuals have black hair and dark eyes, and their clothing is oriental in style. Also, the weapons they carry are not common; I have never seen these black knives before."
"And in this other image, the soldiers are riding creatures that look more like technological artifacts than alchemical ones. Also, they are carrying longswords, not rifles."
Budo moved closer to take a closer look. "That means they prefer to use swords because they trust their skill with them more than firearms."
"From this point of view, it may not be the Alchemy Kingdom, but the god and island country in the east. If this is true, it means that they have been unable to hold on under the attack of General Esdeath, so they want to cause trouble in the north to contain us."
As soon as she left the main gate of the palace, Najenda separated from Gozuki and, after receiving the weapons given to her by the guard, mounted her horse.
Not long after.
It wasn't long before she stopped in front of the intelligence department headquarters.
"Welcome back, Minister." Said a young man with black hair, wearing square glasses, as he approached smiling to take the reins of the horse.
Najenda looked at him with an expression somewhere between amused and sarcastic as she dismounted. "I think I was away for less than two hours?"
"For us, we can't live without you for a moment!"
The black-haired young man pushed his glasses on the bridge of his nose and smiled back.
"That means they still lack a lot of independence, Green." Najenda laughed and then, in a more serious tone, added: "Go and tell Chelsea and Sabatini. We have a big job to do."
"Understood. By the way, Minister, Lubbock has returned from his mission. Would you like me to summon him as well?"
"Oh?"
"He came back from the south so soon. It seems that his mission this time was very successful. Well, where is he now?" Najenda raised her eyebrows.
"Well, Lubbock saw that you were not there, so he said he wanted to go out for a walk."
Hearing Green's words, Najenda sneered. "To see pretty girls on the street? Or to spy on some female bathroom? That pervert! Tell him to come back immediately."
With that, she turned around and quickly headed to the intelligence department headquarters.
"Okay."
Green sighed as he led the horse to the stables, thinking to himself: 'Lubbock... You couldn't fall in love with anyone else, could you? You had to notice the minister, though of course, she is really beautiful.'
Thirty minutes later.
In the meeting room, Najenda sat at the head of the table. To her left was Green, while to her right, Lubbock sat with a nonchalant air. Next to them were Chelsea and Sabatini.
The four of them were the four captains of the Imperial Secret Service.
"The situation is as follows. Our mission is to find the location of the mysterious portal of light and, if possible, identify some of the members of the other party. Ideally, we would capture some of them alive so that the Oarburghs can interrogate them." Najenda explained as she looked at the others.
"It sounds like a search job. As usual, I'll take it." Sabatini replied without thinking much.
"Then I'll leave it to you. The northern border is vast and sparsely populated, so it's best to bring more people with you."
"I plan to take all the team members to the capital."
Najenda remembered that Sabatini could probably carry almost 200 people and thought that number should be enough.
According to the information from the leader of Path of Peace, the first group that came out of the light gate was not very numerous. They were probably intelligence personnel, while the main force were those black-clothed soldiers driving strange vehicles.
"Okay, let's not waste any more time. Leave immediately." Najenda ordered. "But you must pay attention. No one knows whether the light gate has appeared or not, so if you don't find anything when you get there, don't worry and find a way to find the location in this image."
Sabatini nodded and, without saying anything else, stood up, nodded to Najenda and left the room.
A second later, Lubbock turned to Najenda.
"Minister, now that we have finished discussing the serious matters, let's go have a meal together. A new barbecue restaurant has recently opened in the Fuente district, and it has a good reputation!"
"You better go invite those girls you're always hanging out with." Najenda replied, giving him a quick glance before standing up to announce the end of the meeting. She still had a lot of work to do next.
Sabatini, for his part, quickly gathered three of his captains together. After a brief meeting, he distributed the tasks.
Although the north did not have as many cities as the south, there were at least seven or eight large cities, all quite far apart and located in an extremely hostile environment.
"I'll go to the town of White Horse. You can send information to the headquarters there." Sabatini said before leaving.
Shortly afterwards, several knights mounted on swift horses began to leave the capital in small groups heading north.
Sabatini took six armed men and boarded a small boat drawn by four large species of dangerous birds and flew rapidly to White Horse Mountain.
At the same time, the Oarburghs sent out six beautiful girls in groups of two, travelling in similar ships.
Three days later, Sabatini and his team arrived at the town of Caballo Blanco.
Six days later, about two hundred members of the spy unit arrived in the northern border towns.
Some of them stayed in the cities to keep watch, while others disguised themselves as civilians and ventured into the northern tundra to find the location of the light gate in the image.
On the seventh day, the spies who remained in the cities detected the presence of some suspicious people.
It was then that in the town of Partas, one of the targets of the drawing was located.
Although he was wearing a thick winter coat, his snow-white hair, pink eyes, and handsome face made him stand out.
Moreover, he was out on the street, arm wrestling with a robust Partas woman, surrounded by a lively crowd. The atmosphere was so boisterous that it was impossible for the secret agents not to notice.
