Monroe was silenced, but some who supported negotiations with the Demon Clan seemed somewhat dissatisfied. Although Monroe did show some disrespect towards Her Majesty the Queen and the common people, they believed that the current situation indeed required preparation for negotiations with the Demon Clan. If they didn’t act now to balance the situation, when would they?
Just at that moment, a messenger hurriedly burst into the meeting. Before Claire, who was in charge of the palace guards, could scold him, the messenger smoothly knelt beside Lilith and said, “Your Majesty, the latest battle report has arrived.”
After the guards checked it, Lilith took the battle report and asked, “Is it reliable?”
“Definitely reliable!” The messenger replied, “This contains not only the latest battle report we collected from the Northern Border but also reports collected from An Zhu’s side that can corroborate each other.”
Upon hearing that the information came from An Zhu, the nobles present at the meeting nodded. Although it seemed somewhat incompetent that they had to rely on neighboring An Zhu to verify their own Northern Border intelligence, An Zhu’s reports were indeed more credible.
Lilith did not look at the so-called latest battle report collected from the royal capital but turned directly to the Northern Border report sent from An Zhu, as she knew the information in the royal capital could only be described as a pile of nonsense.
After quickly scanning through the report, Lilith’s expression grew increasingly grim. Finally, she handed the battle report to Nora and said, “Read it out loud.”
Nora felt a bit nervous; she wondered what was written in the battle report that made Her Majesty’s face look so terrible.
Nora then began reading the details of the battle report collected from An Zhu aloud at the round table.
It had to be said that the intelligence collected by An Zhu was on an entirely different level compared to what the royal capital had gathered, being much more detailed than all the information compiled by the nobles from the royal capital combined. The more detailed the report became, the more sweat the nobles broke out in.
Lilith sighed repeatedly as she listened. What are energy guns and magic cannons? Is this still a dating simulation game?
When they heard that the Demon Clan had suffered defeat, with almost all monsters annihilated and Graythorn Territory having cleaned up the remaining monsters, Monroe shouted, “No, this is impossible! The intelligence I received wasn’t like this!”
Meanwhile, Josephine, who had temporarily relieved her duties, couldn’t help but clap and cheer. As she looked excitedly at her colleagues from the Church, she noticed that they didn’t seem very happy, as if the battle report confirmed something unpleasant for them, with a worried expression on their faces.
Claire wasn’t very surprised, knowing that Monroe’s information was far too false. The Demon Clan hadn’t failed to provide Claire with intelligence, but Claire didn’t believe all the Demon Clan’s information unconditionally like Monroe did. The purpose of the Demon Clan’s intelligence was too clear; they wanted Lilith to engage in negotiations for territory division, just like they did when invading the Sur德 Region.
However, unlike back then, this time the Demon Clan lost on the battlefield, which is why they focused all their energy on such small maneuvers.
What worried Claire even more were those powerful weapons from Graythorn Territory. They were already leading an era. If the Demon Clan hadn’t suddenly unleashed a bunch of monsters and fought a desperate battle with Graythorn Territory, the latter would have unified the Northern Border without losses, and after developing for a few more years, they could probably sweep the entire continent.
In a fleeting moment, Claire even had a thought of joining them if she couldn’t beat them.
But soon, Claire abandoned that absurd idea. It was clear from the last meeting that Lind didn’t like her much, and he didn’t seem to be the type to be fooled easily. Claire wasn’t incompetent, and she quickly realized the foolishness of that plan.
In the end, Claire decided to stick to her original plan because, based on the battle report, Graythorn Territory’s weapons were indeed leading an era. The weapons from the royal capital and An Zhu looked like child’s play in comparison, but the war that Graythorn Territory just had with the Demon Clan had also severely weakened them, and they would have difficulty making bold moves in the short term.
As Lilith re-read the information Nora emphasized, she also noticed a blind spot in the battle report. What exactly was that so-called ancestral potion? Why did it have remarkable effects on the monsters of the Demon Clan?
As soon as Lilith raised this question, the representatives from the Church immediately stepped forward to respond, “Regarding this potion, we in the Church have already made some progress. We ask Your Majesty to wait until the meeting ends to discuss it in detail with His Holiness.”
Some nobles were quite dissatisfied, as this was equivalent to directly bypassing them and speaking with Her Majesty. Is that potion perhaps Holy Water? Why is your Church being so cautious?
But dissatisfaction aside, the nobles also found it unwise to say anything. After all, Her Majesty was also the Saintess, and they had found a reason to speak to Her Majesty directly, which was already considered restraint.
However, Lilith noticed something off on the faces of the Church representatives. This so-called ancestral potion was probably no simple matter. Yet, Lilith suppressed her curiosity and prepared to discuss it in detail after the meeting.
Due to Graythorn Territory’s victory, the voices in the royal capital meeting finally unified. The remaining task was how to negotiate with Graythorn Territory, or more accurately, the Northern Border.
Although An Zhu’s battle report didn’t mention what happened to Doug after Lind’s victory, these nobles could guess that Doug’s fate was probably not very beautiful.
In the Northern Border, there likely was only one governor left.
The good news was that this governor was not a member of the Lars family.
The bad news was that this governor was not only the son-in-law of Lars but also the head of the Lars Family, meaning he was no different from Lars himself.
“Now that the internal strife in the Northern Border has just ended, is this the most opportune time to seize it all at once?” A noble raised his hand to ask.
Nora looked at the noble with a dumbfounded expression but still explained patiently, “That’s a good thought, but our current situation is also not optimistic, and it is not suitable to fight on two fronts.”
Seizing the Northern Border all at once? The King of An Zhu would probably die of joy upon hearing this news. If they could strike both at the Central Region and the royal capital while An Zhu took the Southwest Borders, wouldn’t that be splendid?
From another perspective, if it could really make the King of An Zhu die of happiness, that noble would indeed achieve a significant feat.
Nora turned and said, “Your Majesty, the priority should be to make an immediate statement. We not only need to congratulate this governor but also elevate his title and treatment to what he deserves.”
Lind’s title had always been baron, and his nominal territory was just the small piece of Graythorn Territory. Although it sounded magical for a baron to suddenly become a duke, it was not unheard of in history. However, Lind’s situation was more special; his actual territory and power already made him a legitimate duke, rendering the royal capital’s granting of titles insignificant.
Nevertheless, this matter still needed to be addressed, not because they expected Lind would abide by the rules of the royal capital, like Reina’s grandfather who obediently came to the royal capital to hold office, but because it was necessary to send a signal to the outside world that the King’s authority still existed, and the Northern Border had not become independent.
Even if it had practically become independent, it couldn’t appear so in name; at least the master of the Northern Border would still accept the King’s noblesse.
There were plenty of ambitious figures waiting for the kingdom to collapse; the bad omen of independence in the Northern Border absolutely couldn’t be allowed.
Nora also suggested inviting this new master of the Northern Border to the royal capital to accept the nobility ceremony, but Lilith shook her head. There was no way someone who had crossed over would come to such an obvious trap.
Regardless, Lilith still decided to first stabilize this individual who had crossed over. Given the battle report, it seemed that the Northern Border was also severely weakened, so there were plenty of things to discuss with this individual that had crossed over. Even those cross-era weapons were not out of the question. The royal capital still had some resources to negotiate with them.
“Help me draft a letter to this new master of the Northern Border,” Lilith said to Nora. “The nobility ceremony is naturally required. If this governor refuses, no need to force it, but I must speak to him face-to-face. It can’t just be done in the previous written format; I want to communicate in person. He probably won’t come to the royal capital, but as long as I can talk, I don’t mind going to the Northern Border myself.”
Lilith had to meet this old acquaintance.
