Chapter 977 — Detonation Point
Blade of Dawn · Page 4 of 5
"Chief Administrator Hetty..." The young clerk blinked, finally coming to her senses. "The Longwind defense line has been attacked! The Typhonians have gone to war!!"
Hetty's eyes flew wide. "What did you say?!"
The next second, her face turned stern and she rapped out her orders. "Summon Typhon's resident ambassador at once—and prepare Meeting Room One!"
The administrative apparatus of Xuanyao City was like a magic-powered engine suddenly thrown into overload, roaring to life in an instant.
In the shortest possible time an emergency meeting was convened. Half of the participants were not physically present, but the magic net let every attendee sit face to face as though in one room.
Hetty swiftly laid out the situation, and the explosive news made even the icy Duchess Victoria show a look of astonishment.
"Is our line to Typhon still open?" Duke Boyu, connected through the magic net, was the first to speak, his tone urgent. "What does their ambassador say?"
"The Typhonians haven't cut the line. I've already sent an emergency communication to Aldernan—but due to relay and manual transcription delays, we haven't yet received a reply," Hetty said just as rapidly. "As for the ambassador they posted to the imperial capital—I summoned him on an emergency basis just now, but he seems to know nothing about this. When he heard the news, he looked more surprised than I was."
"The ambassador doesn't even know his own country has declared war?" A government official's eyes went wide, his expression caught between laughter and fury. "Is this Typhon's idea of humor?"
Hetty turned to a holographic image at the round table. "General Philip, brief us on the situation at the border."
Philip nodded. "We've lost a border defense point near the Paramere Highlands. Only a tenth of the garrison withdrew in good order; the rest have died heroically. Fortunately, General Maqi has already wiped out the enemies who breached the defense line. The Iron Throne—the World Serpent—and three columns of light armored trains are patrolling the railway network, temporarily plugging the gap in the line while searching for any remaining invaders. Preliminarily, we've confirmed that the intruders into imperial territory were Typhon's Iron River Knights, but for some reason this elite Typhon army advanced without infantry or battle-mage support, charging straight in—which is the main reason they were destroyed so quickly."
"Have the Typhonians made any other moves?"
"No clearly defined military action detected so far—but the First Legion is always prepared for war."
Prepared for war.
The words Philip spoke seemed to carry some invisible force, casting a solemn hush over the meeting room.
Hetty lifted her head and looked around the room.
The attendees—or their holographic projections—ringed the round table, every gaze fixed on her.
But she could see it plainly: behind each of those eyes lurked a measure of unease—
The one person who mattered most of all was, of all times, absent.
Even Hetty found her emotions hard to master; her heart had been beating faster than usual ever since the news came in. At this moment she wished more than anything that her mountain-like ancestor would appear at once and, with thunderous means, swiftly suppress and dissolve this staggering crisis—or lay out a flawless response. But she knew that imagination would not solve the problem.
The Ancestor had not returned, but he would return soon, and until then she must do her duty.
"Summoning the ambassador, contacting their capital, sending a state inquiry—international rules require this; it is the rule our Emperor and the Typhon Emperor established together, and Cecil has now fulfilled its responsibility in this regard—" Hetty said in a low, steady voice. "Whether the Typhonians honor the rules they themselves promised is their affair. What we must do now is our own."