"Anytime?" The guard was taken aback. "What if it's right now..."

"Of course."

This was not a response befitting noble etiquette. According to the rules, he should have first invited the guest to rest for a day or two, and then held a lavish banquet. If he wasn't so particular, he should at least have set a time, like the evening – after all, the other party represented the King of Graycastle, and taking it seriously was not an overstatement.

But Baron Lete didn't want to wait a moment longer. If it weren't too unseemly, and it was still raining outside, he would even want to go to the dock to take a look himself. Without a doubt, a fleet of such a large scale would inevitably attract the attention of the "Fang" and "Redstone Gate" envoys. If they were to contact the other party first, things would become complicated.

"Right," thinking of this, Lete quickly added to the guard, "Mention the matter of the other two families to the Graycastle people again, saying that the only one who can make decisions in Shallow Puddle Bay is me."

"Yes, sir."

After the guard left, the baron suddenly felt a little regretful.

Perhaps he shouldn't have said anytime. What if the other party followed etiquette and only came to visit in a day or two?

In the end, it was his own inner pride at play. He should have been more straightforward.

This rain couldn't have come sooner or later, but it had to come at this time. It was as if it was deliberately trying to antagonize him!

The baron looked at the heavy rain outside the window, caught in a dilemma.

However, the guard returned faster than he had imagined, taking less than half an hour, and bringing him news that made him overjoyed.

"Sir, they've arrived."

Lete leapt to his feet from his seat. "Quickly, take them to my reception hall."

...

The baron soon met the Graycastle visitors in the governor's mansion hall.

There weren't many people in the group, only ten in total. About half of them were probably guards, who stood directly outside the door. The remaining few were dressed more formally, probably assistants of some kind, and the one sitting in the middle was likely the King of Graycastle's representative. He noticed a detail: the coat that the person had taken off and hung on the wall seemed to be waterproof. Even though it was raining so heavily outside, there were no wet marks on the person's body, and the coat's color was bright, neither leather nor felt. It was clearly a good item.

It seemed that the rumors that Graycastle had produced many new items in recent years were not false.

However, when he carefully sized up the person in charge, he frowned secretly – it was clearly a Mojin sand person. Such barbarians usually appeared in the slave market. How had one become a high-ranking noble in Graycastle?

However, long-cultivated manners prevented the baron from showing his surprise on his face. He put on a warm smile, opened his arms, and said, "I am Lete, Baron of Shallow Puddle Bay. As you can see, this city is prosperous and beautiful, very suitable as a resting place after a long voyage. I wonder, what brings you here from so far away?"

This posture was already low enough. Even if the other party was a duke, they should accept it with a smile.

But the Mojin person's face was expressionless. "I am Iron Axe, commander of His Majesty's First Army, and the person in charge of this expedition. Spare me the formalities. Let's get straight to the point. Eternal Winter and the Wolfheart Kingdom are likely to become battlefields filled with blood and death. I have been ordered by Roland Wimbledon, King of Graycastle, Grand Chieftain of the Mojin, and Ruler of the Fertile Plains, to save the people here."

What… was going on?

Lete was momentarily doubtful of his ears. Grand… Chieftain? What kind of title was that? And where was the Fertile Plains? Putting aside these trivial matters, did turning Eternal Winter and Wolfheart into battlefields mean a military threat? The problem was, who started off by saying that? Shouldn't that usually be said after he refused? But he hadn't even asked him if he agreed yet.

"Uh..."

The clerk spoke up instead. "Excuse me… is the First Army the army that defeated the church?"

"That's right." The Mojin person nodded.

"Lord Iron Axe, we naturally don't want the flames of war to spread to this land, but this is not something Shallow Puddle Bay alone can decide. There are always those who hope to gain more. If you can convince them, Wolfheart won't become a battlefield."

Well done! the baron thought to himself. In this way, he could naturally drag the other two families into the water. He nodded, feigning regret, and looked at Iron Axe, but unexpectedly caught a hint of sarcasm on the other's face.

"Whether or not it becomes a battlefield does not depend on you. When the enemy comes, all of humanity will fight for it. In fact, the war has already begun – in places you don't know." Iron Axe said indifferently, "I think you should have heard some rumors, about the church, about divine will, and about the news of the alien race attacking."

Lete was stunned. As the lord of a seaport, he had indeed heard similar things. Sea merchants went to many places and always saw strange things, but these were just dinner table conversation. It was very inappropriate to bring it up in formal diplomatic occasions. But there was no hint of jest in the other's tone. Could it be...

"That's right, all of these are true." Iron Axe said, word by word.

A rumble of thunder sounded outside the window.

...

"Wow, are these guys made of iron?" Nimble Ghost lay on the stable fence, shouting as he looked in the direction of the docks.

"Even iron will rust. I don't think they're human at all." White finished wiping the rain off the horse's back before taking the time to tidy his own wet clothes. "What normal person would deliberately stand in the rain? Only fools and madmen do that."

In just over half an hour, hundreds of people had come down from the ships and quickly taken control of the entire port. Merchants had evacuated before the wind and rain grew stronger, but they were doing the opposite, putting up one tent after another in the middle of the open space. In the blink of an eye, these dark green tents covered most of the dock.

In addition, the Graycastle people had also piled up obstacles at intersections and higher places. Some thick metal pipes were set up. They didn't look like weapons, otherwise they wouldn't have left them exposed to the rain, but looking at the cold, black reflection, White always had a feeling of unease.

There were people stationed in front of each of these "checkpoints". Although they were wearing rain capes that covered their entire bodies, it was impossible to block out the rain in this kind of weather. The sea breeze that occasionally swept through the port would blow the heavy rain in all directions, making it easy to pour into the gaps in their collars and sleeves. White could already imagine what it would be like for their clothes to be soaked.

That feeling must be very uncomfortable.

Shallow Puddle Bay was naturally humid and rainy, and the local lord had also set up many temporary shelters in the dock area, but these people didn't seem to care at all. Not to mention going to take shelter from the rain, they didn't even give it a second glance. Adding in the pitch-black cloaks, they looked like blocks of stone standing in the rain.

The Graycastle people were all crazy... White muttered to himself.

"Hey, that's weird," Nimble Ghost suddenly exclaimed.

"What is it this time?" White said impatiently.

"Look at this ship they're unloading cargo from, and then look at those outside the port—" he pointed, "They're clearly all three-masted sailboats, but the drafts are too different."

"Draft? What does that mean?"

"Just think of it as a standard for measuring how much cargo is loaded," the little ghost waved his hand. "Even though they've already unloaded so much cargo, its draft is still much deeper than those outside. It's hard to understand... Why are the Graycastle people doing this? Are they just trying to deliberately create momentum?"

"What are you even talking about?" White said impatiently.

"What I'm saying is—those ships might all be empty!" Nimble Ghost lowered his voice.

...

When Iron Axe stopped speaking, Lete had finally come back to his senses from his incredulous emotions.

He had heard a long history of endless battles between humans and devils. Every four hundred years, they would make a comeback, and this time, the devils might even launch an attack from the edge of the Endless Mountains!

"Are... you sure?" If he remembered correctly, to the north of the Eternal Winter Kingdom were towering mountains that blotted out the sky, like a cliff rising from the ground. Launching an attack from there? What a joke!

"Not sure, so we sent out a reconnaissance team to be absolutely sure." Iron Axe shrugged. "But no matter which direction the devils invade human territory from, there is no essential difference – without gathering all our strength, this small edge of the continent will be plunged into a sea of fire. Humanity will cease to exist."

The baron had a strange, ethereal feeling, as if he was sitting in the reception hall, but it was like a dream. He wasn't the only one; the clerk and the guard seemed to be feeling the same way.

"Ahem, okay, I'll assume that everything you've said is true," Lete cleared his throat after a long while. "Then why did the King of Graycastle send you to Wolfheart? If you want to fight the devils, shouldn't you go to Eternal Winter?"

"Eternal Winter is certainly also in the plan; you don't have to worry about that. Our purpose here is very simple: to take away as many people as possible who may be affected by the war – free people, slaves, refugees, vagrants, all are on the list." Iron Axe paused. "The only exception is nobles. Whether you leave or not depends on your willingness. If you fully cooperate with the First Army's actions, when we withdraw, your property, territory, and title... everything here will be returned to you intact. If you obstruct..."

The baron swallowed.

"You will be an enemy of the First Army." The other party said slowly.