Chapter 972 The Cause of the Fall (5)

Chapter 972 The Cause of the Fall (5)

It was another hectic morning inside the Ylfaen Royal Family Palace in Meliora.

Because of the increased number of skirmishes happening in the western and southern borders of the empire, Empress Iulia, the Head Mage Aiden, the members of the Royal Court, and the representatives of the Alliance, which consisted of the four major factions in the empire: Aureole, Regis Clan, The Conclave, and the Templar Code, had almost never left the palace's conference room to discuss their next moves.

These skirmishes might be minor, but the Ylfaen Empire's casualties were increasing at a frighteningly steady pace because of their frequency. If these skirmishes were only focused on one border, the empire might have been able to concentrate its main forces there, but the problem was that two borders were being subjected to it.

There were a total of six nations beyond the western border of the Ylfaen Empire. With Tritus at the helm, he led the joint forces of the Royal Army and the Templar Code to defend the borders.

With Tritus's mage level, one would think that the skirmishes on the western border were manageable compared to the south. However, that was not the case. This was because no matter how strong Tritus was, he was only one man. Against the partnership of the Maguses and even Archmaguses of the opposing six nations, he could only barely protect the borders.

Max, Reuben, and the other Elites of the Templar Code were there to assist Tritus, but they were still outnumbered by the opposing side, especially with their mage levels.

This fact caused a massive headache to all leaders of the empire, especially Empress Iulia. They never expected the other nations to hide the progress of their mages. Initially, they were convinced the empire remained the undisputed forerunner regarding the number of powerful mages and a military force. However, the recent skirmishes confirmed that they were already lagging in overall mage level.

Apart from that, it was confirmed that the Ylfaen Empire's western border forces were outnumbered for two reasons: first because they had to split their main forces, with the other half going to the southern borders, and second, because the opposing side consisted of powerful mages and combat mages from the six nations. But even if the empire's main force focused on guarding the western borders only, they would still have difficulty, and it was mainly due to most of their mages and combat mages only being at Adept mage level and below.

Although recently, there was a surge of mages and combat mages breaking through to Grand Master level within the Royal Army, because their breakthroughs were forced, the consolidation of their newly found strength was far lower than if one broke through with their efforts.

The Royal Army initially thought the sudden surge of Grand Masters among their ranks was a boon. But after realizing how weak their Grand Masters were compared to the opposition's Grand Masters, they now considered it the Royal Army's bane.

While the skirmishes at the western border were due to the united front of the nations from the west to expand their territory, the ones at the southern border were more personal.

It should be noted that the only nation in the south was the Archadia, and they had been very hostile toward the Ylfaen Empire for so many years. Nevertheless, The Archadia had never attempted a confrontation before. Only after the internal conflict in the empire did they start to be more aggressive in confronting the empire's army at the southern borders.

"I'll let you judge whether what I have is good or bad."

Iulia's expression turned solemn as she looked at Nolan. She knew the latter could not say or do something that could affect the internal affairs of the Human plane because of his unique position as the Human plane's Sovereign; thus, whatever he came here to tell her definitely had something to do with Cade and the other selected mages and combat mages who were outside the Human plane to look for Euan.

Since Nolan would only be relaying information he received from Cade, technically, he was not interfering with the internal affairs of the Human plane. Besides, he would not say the information aloud but only give Iulia the item he received from Cade.

While Nolan could have just sent the item without appearing in person, there was another reason he had to come down. But that had to wait until Iulia read the information in the magic item Cade asked him to deliver.

Iulia received a small, thin, rectangular silver plate from Nolan similar to an ancient slip and immediately used her magic sense to scan its contents. Her eyes widened after a few seconds as she looked at Nolan with unbelieving eyes.

"Is this true?"

Nolan shrugged and said, "Don't ask me. You know I can't answer. Anyway, I want you to gather everyone because visitors are coming in the next hour."

"We have only started a three-hour break. I can have everyone return at once."

"There's no need for you to do that yourself," Nolan suddenly said after belatedly noticing Iulia's condition. "Have one of your ministers gather the others and make the necessary preparations. Tell them to direct their complaints at me if they have any objections."

Iulia could not help but give a dry laugh at Nolan's words.

Most of the leaders in the empire were aware of Nolan's existence and his position in the Human plane. The only reason they would direct any complaints at him would be if they had a death wish.

"That's all I came to say," Nolan continued as black particles started to gather around him. "You go rest. I have another place I need to go to."

Iulia did not need Nolan to say where he would go after because she already knew where: The Regis Estate.