After sending Rosmontis back to her ward, Popukar's eyelids started to droop on the way back. Seeing her about to collapse, Kanna offered to carry Popukar on her back to her dormitory.
Leaning on Kanna's back, Popukar sniffed the sweet milky scent on Kanna. Her sleeping lips curled slightly, looking very content.
Upon reaching the door, they found Azusa and Airburst of A6 Group chatting outside.
Seeing Kanna return with Popukar on her back, both of them breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh, I was wondering why Popukar hadn't returned so late. I almost went looking for her," Airburst said as she took Popukar.
"Sorry, Airburst didn't mean it that way. Her tone was just a bit inappropriate," Azusa explained, worried that Kanna might misunderstand Airburst's words.
"It's fine. I can feel that Sister Airburst also cares about Popukar. We just played a bit late today, ehehe," Kanna said, a little embarrassed about the situation.
After Kanna said goodbye, Airburst curiously poked her head out from inside the room.
"I say, Captain, Popukar is a member of our A6 Group. Is it really okay for her to play with Kanna every day?" As an airborne Sniper Operator, Airburst didn't know much about Kanna, apart from casual conversations with a few team members and that one encounter on the deck.
"Don't underestimate Kanna. Even though she's young, she's not only powerful but also quite intelligent. Many people are just deceived by her appearance. Besides, she and Popukar are similar in age. We can't expect Popukar to play with us every day, that's not good for her growth. Although Kanna might seem a bit unreliable at times, she's very sensible in how she handles things. I'm actually very relieved when she's with Kanna," Azusa said, looking in the direction Kanna had left.
Airburst nodded, looking thoughtfully in the direction Kanna had left.
Meanwhile, as Rhodes Island advanced towards the border between Ursus and Yan, in Kevindale, Victoria...
At this moment, Duke Fox was sitting in his seat in silence, his enormous belly pressed tightly against the table in front of him. A servant carefully delivered one steak after another to him.
The unit he had dispatched hadn't sent back any news for several days. He had felt something was wrong then. After all, according to his calculations, they should have engaged with Rhodes Island's security personnel. His plan was for his subordinates to suppress the small team outside, then besiege and eliminate all of Rhodes Island's reinforcements.
By now, it should have been over, but no news had come back.
He received the news on the fourth day after the battle, and it was only because the pervasive smell of blood along the way attracted many wild beasts. Scavengers, noticing the anomaly, reported it to the nearest town after seeing the dead bodies scattered across the ground, and that's how the incident came to light.
After receiving the news, he sat in his seat, eating steak after steak.
As he ate, he threw his dinner knife onto the table and pointed at the steak in front of him, saying, "Chop the person who made this steak into meat paste and feed it to the cows as fodder."
After the servant left, he angrily overturned the entire table.
Originally, a third of the intelligence agency were his subordinates. This time, to give Rhodes Island a "profound" lesson, he had sent out nearly half of his people, along with his Shadow Guard.
He hadn't expected all of them to be lost outside. He didn't even need to think; he knew how the hyenas in Parliament, smelling blood, were now disparaging him.
Moreover, because too many of his trusted intelligence agents had died, it was foreseeable that his share in the intelligence agency would be divided among others.
This was intolerable for a duke who had always been very proud.
Although the cause lay with Rhodes Island, far away on the other end, domestic pressure prevented him from considering them for now. He had to find a way to secure his position and share in Parliament as much as possible.
At this moment, a mysterious figure also arrived in Kevindale.
After staying in Kevindale for a few days, that person went to the surrounding areas, to Rhodes Island's safe house, and contacted the dispatched Operators stationed nearby who had been in hiding due to the previous situation.
Then, they obtained a batch of Duke Fox's incriminating information from them and left the safe house overnight with the information.
Two days later, this incriminating information about Duke Fox appeared in the Parliament hall. Although it contained some minor offenses such as oppressing the Infected and imposing extra taxes, it also had two pieces of evidence showing Duke Fox secretly colluding with Laterano, betraying national interests and information.
Looking at these materials, which were like ironclad evidence, even the already corrupt parliament members were in an uproar.
After all, while everyone was corrupt, at most they only oppressed the people of their territories and found various ways to generate revenue. Even if it was excessive, it was still Victoria's internal affair.
But in this document, Duke Fox openly sent national secrets, including but not limited to troop locations, rotation times, operational plans, and other crucial intelligence, to Laterano.
Thinking about the annual setbacks in military actions against Laterano over the past few years, coupled with Duke Fox himself holding a third of the intelligence department, it sent shivers down the spines of many nobles, especially those near Laterano.
Under the protest of several nobles, the Upper House uncharacteristically issued an order for Duke Fox to go to Londinium to attend the next Parliament session to defend and state his case.
When this news reached Kevindale, many servants died in Duke Fox's castle.
Although he wasn't keen on going to Londinium, after all, if he dared to go, would Londinium dare to let him in?
But the matter had become so widespread, and many nobles were instinctively starting to distance themselves from him. This infuriated him. Whether it was to put pressure on the higher-ups, to let them know that this Grand Duke of theirs, who was out in the provinces, was not to be trifled with—that even if there was only some trumped-up evidence, even if he had truly done it, the higher-ups couldn't do anything to him—
Or to restore his reputation among the nobility.
He had to go to the vicinity of Londinium.
And Parliament obviously understood this, so they specially arranged for a team of minor nobles to arrive in Kevindale in advance as reception officials.
"My Lord! Those reception officials have been standing at the door for two hours already," the steward at his side said to Duke Fox, who was leisurely listening to a tune.
"Hmm, you go arrange them. Don't make it too good, just make sure they don't die," Duke Fox waved his hand, saying dismissively.
"Wait! They're still outside, right!" Duke Fox suddenly opened his eyes, looking at the bright, somewhat dazzling sunlight outside the window.
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