Chapter 1382: Chapter 35: The Critical Call (Part 4)
"Look, look, they’re coming!"
"It’s the joint army of the Dragon Court and Nali. That distinctive horn blast... that’s Barbatos! General Barbatos is marching out!"
"Fantastic! Two and a half years, a full two and a half years! The invincible General Barbatos is finally heading south again! Quick, let’s get out of the city and watch!"
"Wooo! Wooo!"
The surrounding streets suddenly grew restless. Quite a few demi-human and Human gentlemen rushed down, wildly excited as they poured toward the city gates.
Fisher’s brow furrowed deeper and deeper. In the distant Sky, the originally clear azure was gradually overlaid by an abnormal wash of red, like storm clouds creeping slowly southward.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The war drums began to thunder, and Fisher’s breathing unconsciously quickened a little, as if he could feel, from afar, magma-like Fire Pillars erupting from the earth...
No, not just one.
There were two powerful Mythical Species in that direction.
Barbatos and Agares had both come, both marching for the southern front!
"Fisher, over there..."
Emhardt’s mouth hung open, his mind disturbed by the drums and horns, as though even he were being affected by the power of those Demon Gods.
"I know..."
Fisher nodded, his expression grave. He hadn’t expected that, right by his ear, a mature, unexpected female voice would suddenly sound,
"You know? Sir, what did you say? What is it that you know?"
"..."
Fisher started slightly, snapping out of the daze brought on by that oncoming tide of troops. He had almost forgotten he hadn’t hung up the phone to the Golden Palace yet.
But this voice...
It wasn’t Elizabeth.
This woman’s voice sounded steadier than Elizabeth’s, older as well, like a calm, quiet Ocean.
"...And you are?"
"Ah, allow me to introduce myself. I’m the Chief of the Inner Court in charge of all general affairs of the Inner Court at the Golden Palace. You may call me Dianne."
"Dianne?"
"Yes... Sir, just now the operator at the Outer Court reported that a gentleman by the name of ’Fisher Benavides’ called. The Empress is currently directing the war on the South Continent in real time and is not in the Golden Palace, so I was specially entrusted with fully following up and verifying this matter... Sir, may I ask, are you Fisher Benavides?"
Fisher narrowed his eyes, his expression turning stern.
The woman’s steady voice cut off everything he’d been about to say, because of the information that had slipped out unintentionally in her words...
Commanding?
Elizabeth was in command of the war?
Then she would surely know how the Demons fought...
"...No, I dialed the wrong number. My apologies."
He slammed the receiver back into its cradle, then, wrapped in a cloak that hid his figure completely, turned and left.
The entire city had rushed out beyond the walls in a frenzy to watch General Barbatos personally lead his host, advancing in three columns toward the Southern Branch Mountain Range roughly a hundred kilometers to the south, so no one noticed that, at this very moment and place, there was someone who had just made two phone calls here...
Meanwhile, at the same time, far, far away across continents and the Ocean, in Saint Nali.
Within the walls of the Golden Palace, responsible for Outer Court affairs and gleaming with Gold, the room originally used for switchboard operations seemed unusually quiet at this moment.
All the operators sat silently and cautiously, watching as a neatly dressed middle‑aged woman slowly put down the receiver in her hand.
The woman called "Dianne" squinted in a smile at the operator standing respectfully behind her, then rose and said,
"Well done."
"I wouldn’t dare..."
The operator immediately lowered her head, as though unable to bear such praise.
But Dianne paid her reaction no mind. She only walked very gracefully to the doorway of the Outer Court affairs office. Without turning back, her voice drifted out slowly,
"Keep your eyes on this place at all times. Be careful when you eat; don’t cause us any trouble."
All the operators bowed their heads and answered with utmost deference,
"I wouldn’t dare..."
"Lord Paimon."
