System vs Rebirth

Chapter 1465: A Warning

"Hmm..." Dylan narrowed his eyes the moment he received the letter from the Ardagan family. This time, the one sending the letter was Noel himself, so he had to treat it carefully.

In addition, the content of the letter made him blink multiple times to confirm its certainty.

"This..."

"Is there something wrong, dear?" His wife, who was also his assistant, noticed his change of expression while sorting out some documents.

"It’s a very big problem." Dylan waved his hand, asking his wife to come and read it as well.

Once she took a peek at the content, she couldn’t help but gasp. "This is... Is this true?"

"I know, right? I can’t believe it either. There will be an attack from the demon king soon. The number is unknown, but he’s assuming there will be at least two or three ancient demons along with the demons under them. All of us have to be careful."

"An ancient demon..." She crossed her arms. "It’s a demon that hasn’t appeared in the last one hundred years. To think that there will be not one but several ancient demons coming toward us? Who would believe such a thing?"

"However, we don’t have any choice but to believe it. You should know that the Ardagan family has been predicting one attack after another. They might have gotten some information that we don’t and conclude this attack," explained Dylan.

"That’s true." She nodded. "You have been telling me to dig up some history, right?"

"Yes, did you find anything?"

"I’m not entirely sure whether this is connected or not. But it’s a common history that our kingdom has shrunk drastically from when it was first founded."

"That’s true. If I’m not mistaken, we’re just reclaiming our former territory."

"Yes." She raised one finger. "In the past, the Ardagan family was the strongest family in the world. Their ancestors defeated the demon king and repelled the demons from this kingdom. However, the battle was hard-fought.

"The demon launched a frontal assault, bringing millions of demons. As a result, the kingdom was overwhelmed. Even after the Ardagan family repelled the demons, the kingdom’s size shrank drastically.

"They left behind their former territory and solidified in the south. For that reason, the south has been changed to the central area. It was emergency territory in the past.

"For the past one thousand years, we gradually reclaimed the territory that was once ours. However, we still had a lot to do to regain our former territory.

"However, there was one thing clear. The number of demons shouldn’t be related only to the demon kings. To bring in that amount, you also needed multiple commander-like demons, in this case, the ancient demons.

"In other words, there’s a high chance that the ancient demons were common in the past. But because of the fight back then, the ancient demons were nowhere to be seen, simply because this was still our former territory.

"If we look at the demon territory, the one outside our former territory, there’s a high chance we will find an ancient demon there.

"Do you remember there was once a report that the Demon Banner Army got an influx of ancient demon material? Although the news was hidden from them, you got the information from your father, which turned out to be a hidden ancient demon that had been slumbering for the past one thousand years.

"In other words, there might be ancient demons. Most ancient demons within our former territory had been defeated. But if the enemy chose to bring in ancient demons from outside..."

Dylan couldn’t help but tense up. That would be the worst-case scenario. He couldn’t imagine what it would mean to fight an ancient demon, let alone multiple.

Would all those demons come for the Ardagan family? Would they actually come for them?

"It looks like a huge war is inevitable. There’s no way the demon king only appears with just that number. This might be his way of not creating great unrest within his allies..."

"Or..." Dylan paused for a few seconds. "... this might be a prelude to the big war. If that’s the case, we have to prepare."

"Still, won’t this cause a complaint from our soldiers? And it doesn’t look like this letter is just for us. I’m sure he sent such a letter to the allies in the north as well."

"Whether they are going to believe him or not, it doesn’t change the fact that we have to believe him. If they don’t believe it, we have to save them when it comes to that point.

"This might be an opportunity to increase the awareness within the northern lords. You should be aware that the northern lords might be his allies, but they don’t really believe a big war with the demons is coming, like what my brother-in-law has been telling us.

"If we save them, they have no choice but to believe it’s true. Then, once the big one really comes, we will have the unity to go against the demons."

Dylan knew what it meant to be Noel’s strongest ally. As an in-law of the Ardagan family, they had an obligation to do whatever possible to maintain that strong relationship. Even his father had told him that Noel Ardagan far surpassed his father in insight.

Hence, the Stargaze family had to be the ones protecting their backs.

Dylan contemplated. "For now, we will have a simple drill for the soldiers. Some suspicion is expected, so deal with it somehow. It’s fine if they’re unsatisfied. That feeling will change if the demons truly come."

"What if they don’t come?"

"Brother-in-law must have prepared something. Or Father will probably return here to handle it. I’m able to return to this household because of my brother-in-law. This is the least I can do for him."

"Understood. In that case, I will be telling the soldiers within our territory."

"How many soldiers do we have?"

"If we combine all cities within the territories, there are about 40,000 soldiers. Thanks to your father, there are 7 spirit grandmasters here."

Dylan raised two fingers. "In that case, I will send a letter to my father. Meanwhile, you are going to compile the information you have found in history, along with the hypothesis. We will try to spread awareness among the other lords. It’s up to them whether they believe it or not.

"I don’t think we have a lot of time, so do it as fast as possible."