This was a sensitive time for Debei.
The sudden appearance of the Demon, combined with the struggle for the dukedom, had crippled the Southern Territory's military. Post-war calculations estimated at least sixty to seventy thousand casualties, with economic losses that were nearly impossible to count.
To make matters worse, the death of Talisi's next Pope in Gonda cast a pall over Debei, making the relationship between the two nations—already tense from frequent border conflicts—even more rigid.
Thus, it was hardly surprising when news broke that a Slave Master noble from the Persian Gulf Empire had invaded the northern territory belonging to the Duke of High Cliff Castle.
Court officials were only concerned with one urgent question: had that butcher of High Cliff Castle slaughtered the Persian Gulf Empire's noble like a dog?
When they learned the noble had merely been imprisoned, they all breathed a collective sigh of relief.
