Hurry, Hurry, Hurry!

"What did you say? Unable to connect?"

I turned back to look at the mage.

This type of mage was usually hired independently and hadn't joined the Mage Association.

In truth, not all mages liked the Mage Association, just like the man before me.

"Yes, Your Highness. It has been disconnected for three days. Based on my experience, it should be caused by elemental chaos."

"Please, rise, Mr. Mage."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

The mage stood up. Looking at his face... hmm... he was handsome. Very handsome indeed.

His entire being exuded a very harmonious aura.

It was a feeling I was encountering for the first time.

His high bridge of the nose gave his face a three-dimensional look, yet the features weren't overly sharp, leaning more toward a Chinese aesthetic.

He had a pair of flag-shaped eyebrows, wide at the front and tapering at the back with a smooth curve.

His mouth held no expression, but combined with his almond eyes, he gave off a sense of smiling without actually smiling.

As a first impression...

Two words: very handsome.

Three words: really, really handsome.

Four words: Are you kidding me!

"May I ask how long you've noticed this situation?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, I check the communication room as part of my daily routine. I discovered this three days ago, but... elemental fluctuations occur occasionally and aren't usually a big deal. However, for it to last three days is quite abnormal."

The mage lowered his gaze in contemplation for a moment. I had to admit, those flag-shaped eyebrows were indeed quite beautiful, adding at least three points to his overall looks!

"Mhm, I understand."

I nodded and didn't ask anything else. There was no use discussing the deeper implications with an ordinary mage.

However, his handsome face and that gentle, approachable aura left an immediate impression on me.

"May I ask your name?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, I am Grannia."

I furrowed my brows.

"You are not a noble?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, I am not."

Grannia's response was very simple, and his voice sounded quite soft.

"Mhm... I'll remember you."

Grannia seemed slightly surprised, a hint of confusion appearing in his brown eyes.

I wasn't in the mood to explain it to him because right now... my mind was filled with massive question marks.

All those question marks converged into a single sentence: How could this happen?

I began walking back, asking Lola a question at the same time.

"Lola, what do you think this news represents?"

Lola pondered for a moment before shaking her head.

"Your Highness, isn't this... a normal occurrence? As far as I know, similar situations happen in many places."

"Oh? Tell me in detail. When do such situations usually occur?"

I didn't turn back, just followed up with the question.

After all, I didn't have much contact with these common-sense matters.

Hearing this, Lola explained.

"Elemental magic is a type of element that exists widely in the atmosphere; it is the fundamental element that constitutes the world."

Sure enough, an otherworldly world is an otherworldly world; even the basic theories are different from Earth's.

"The elements in the air are very abundant, so the air itself can be used as a conductor for magic elements, allowing for long-distance communication. It just requires a large number of magic stones. The farther the distance, the greater the demand."

In other words, the communication magic of this world actually treats the air as a conductor, and then the two communication rooms are adjusted to the same elemental vibration frequency to resonate.

And the farther the distance, the greater the power required for resonance, so more magic stones are consumed.

"The working principle of the communication room is to synchronize your voice and image to the other party while simultaneously synchronizing their voice and image to you."

It used wave vibrations to recreate a scene, which was different from the optical refraction of a mirage I had imagined.

This synchronization was similar to sound synchronization, just with images included.

"In communication equipment, there is a very important core. Up until now, only the Kingdom of Signo among the Southern Kingdoms has the ability to manufacture this core."

A core... it could be understood as a resonance core. To coordinate the resonance of both parties, the same specification of resonance core was required.

In other words, if there was even a one-ten-thousandth difference between the cores of the two parties, it would be difficult to produce resonance.

And this core... presumably, it could be adjusted to various frequencies to create resonance.

This technology was indeed unheard of.

Being another world, it was indeed much more developed than Earth in certain aspects.

Mainly, the tools available were much more convenient than those on Earth.

According to the situation on Earth, communicating between the day side and the night side required several satellites to constantly transfer signals to reach the destination.

Here, however, it was done through magic towers, something similar to signal towers.

They connected the vibration waves of both parties together.

And the core was the device that simulated these vibration waves.

I more or less understood.

"Then what about the elemental fluctuations?"

I continued to ask, and Lola continued her explanation.

"Your Highness also knows that there are no physical links between the magic towers. Therefore, air is needed as a conductor to transmit magic signals. However, the elements in the air are easily disturbed by weather changes, especially lightning, which has a significant impact on the signal. It's not a problem for short distances, but for long distances..."

"Magic signals... Lola, can't we use a wire to connect two magic towers to avoid losses along the way?"

This was the telephone line—the otherworldly version.

I just wasn't sure how feasible it was.

"Your Highness, that... might not be easy. I'm not entirely sure of the specifics. My apologies, I don't have much stored knowledge in this area."

Seeing Lola's apologetic look, I smiled.

"There's no need to apologize. This wasn't something you needed to pay attention to anyway. We'll discuss it later after Camilla and the others finish their meeting."

I steered the conversation back.

"None of that is particularly urgent. The problem is the current situation. The Kingdom of the Sun hasn't been in contact for three days... Lola, how long has it been since the last contact with the Sun Kingdom's hundred-thousand-man navy? How long has it been since we've heard from them?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, it has been five days since they left Tide City after docking for supplies."

"Five days..."

A bad premonition suddenly surfaced in my heart.

"Lola, how many days ago did the demons attack the Great Wall and quickly retreat?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, based on the date, it was seven days ago."

Seven days ago, the demons attacked the Great Wall, showed their faces, and then suddenly vanished.

Five days ago, the hundred-thousand-man navy of the Kingdom of the Sun departed from Tide City, and there has been no news since.

Three days ago, communication with the Kingdom of the Sun was suddenly cut off and remains unresponsive.

Was there a faint connection between these events??

"Lola... let me ask you a question."

"Please speak, Your Highness."

Lola seemed to sense that something was wrong with me. She pushed up her gold-rimmed glasses and looked at me calmly.

"Starting from the coastline of the first Great Wall, is it possible to bypass our country's coastline and reach the main island of the Kingdom of the Sun within seven days without being detected?"

Lola lowered her head in deep thought, seemingly recalling information in her mind. After a moment, she looked up and spoke concisely.

"It is possible."

"Why? The Sun Kingdom's navy took nearly half a month just to reach Tide City from their departure, which isn't even half the distance from the main island to the Great Wall. Why would it be so fast the other way around?"

Looking into Lola's eyes, I wanted an answer.

"It is because of the ocean currents and monsoons."

Ocean currents... and monsoons?

"Your Highness, the currents along our country's coastline flow from north to south during the summer, and the monsoons do the same. If there is an experienced captain, it would take less than a week to reach the main island of the Kingdom of the Sun from the Great Wall in summer... especially this month."

In other words, the current Sun Kingdom navy was traveling against the currents and monsoons. No wonder they were so slow, having covered less than half the distance in half a month.

Conversely, following the currents and monsoons from the Great Wall to the Sun Kingdom's main island would take less than a week!?

Something was wrong!

Something had happened!

I turned to look at Lola.

"Immediately! Right now! Order Moonrise City to send out every ship capable of going to sea! Follow the current down and search for the Sun Kingdom's navy! If they reach Tide City and still haven't found them, notify me immediately."

"Yes, Your Highness."

I turned and walked toward the Temple while giving further instructions.

"Nara, go find Ligeia immediately and ask how the training of the True Dragon Knight Corps is going."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Lola and Nara glanced at each other. Both understood from the previous exchange that their Highness had sensed something ominous.

In fact, halfway through the conversation, both of them had already realized something was off.

However... the demons had never engaged in cross-sea operations before. Usually, every war with the demons was a simple contest of military strength centered around the Great Wall.

Consequently, for the past thousand years, almost no demon had been able to cross the Four-Ring Mountains.

Those demons were like a herd of stubborn bulls that couldn't turn their heads, insisting on fighting to the death at the Great Wall.

More importantly, in all these years... the demons had almost never developed any technology.

Therefore, going to sea was even more unrealistic.

It wasn't just the two of them; everyone likely felt that this time the demons would be just like before, biting onto the Great Wall and never letting go.

But with her Highness's words, a terrible possibility occurred to both of them.

If!

Once the demons gained the ability to cross the sea, they could completely shift their target away from the Kingdom of the Moon to attack weaker nations.

And the ocean currents at this time were flowing perfectly in their favor, making travel many times faster than moving by land.

Connecting this to the demon spies previously found in the Kingdom of the Moon, it was likely that the demon spies hadn't been completely wiped out even now.

The news of the Sun Kingdom's reinforcements was already common knowledge.

With a total of one hundred thousand naval troops, one hundred thousand land troops, and thirty thousand knights sent out, the Sun Kingdom's defensive capabilities had plummeted. This had practically hollowed out half of the Sun Kingdom's military strength.

The Kingdom of the Sun bordered the Kingdom of the Moon. Although it only occupied a corner of the continent, its main island was very close to the mainland, and its land and population were enormous.

If the demons had the ability to seize this opportunity to conquer the Kingdom of the Sun and use its four islands as a springboard and base of operations to attack the mainland... then the entire world would truly be in chaos!

Lola's brow was furrowed tight.

As far as she knew, the Kingdom of the Sun was currently in a state of turmoil.

One-third of the Sun Kingdom's army was in the hands of a Shogun.

Their King controlled another third of the troops, and the remaining third was held by the Saintess of the Sun.

If one considered the worst-case scenario...

If Hiroyuki Amazawa had allied with or even defected to the demons, then the Saintess of the Sun and the King of the Sun, who now had less than thirty percent of their original military power left, would be completely unable to resist!

From the current situation, the King of the Sun had sent out almost all of his military force, while the Saintess should still retain a portion of her armaments.

But Hiroyuki Amazawa...

The more she thought about it, the more terrifying it became.

Lola reacted quickly and hurried to the communication room to connect to the Stuart family's signal.

When a middle-aged man appeared before her, Lola's expression was calm.

"Delivering a Divine Oracle from the Saintess. Lord Stuart, receive the Divine Oracle."

Lord Stuart didn't react at first, but when he saw Lola dressed in her cardinal-red robes, he instantly understood she was a figure at the cardinal level.

In the current Kingdom of the Moon, the only one with the status of a cardinal was Lola.

Lola's name had already spread among the nobles long ago, especially when the Saintess used the Sun Kingdom's knight order to blatantly blackmail and retaliate against the Garnet family.

It could be said that Lola's name was known to everyone.

Every noble now knew one thing.

The Saintess of the Moon was extremely protective of her own!

Even after more than ten years, she had still sought revenge for her subordinate.

Therefore, when the Lord of the Stuart family saw Lola, a hint of a smile appeared on his face.

Upon hearing the words "Divine Oracle," his expression quickly turned solemn, and he bowed his head to receive it.

Lola repeated what Luo Li had just said.

After finishing, she looked up with a slightly grave expression.

"Lord Stuart, this is a very important matter. If this task is not handled well, the Saintess will surely unleash her thunderous wrath."

Lord Stuart was slightly stunned, not quite reacting.

Lola pushed up her gold-rimmed glasses and said indifferently.

"I am saying this for your own good. If you and your family do not wish to suffer her Highness's thunderous wrath, you must handle this matter with all your heart. Otherwise, even I will not be able to hold her Highness back."

Lord Stuart nodded repeatedly.

"Thank you for the warning, Bishop Lola. I will send people immediately... Someone, come quick! Immediately deploy every ship capable of going to sea! Follow the current straight to Tide City and find the Sun Kingdom's navy!"

"My Lord, why the sudden urgency?"

"Stop asking why! Just go when I tell you to!! Don't leave a single ship behind! Depart immediately! Move, move, move!!"