"As long as Tyler launches the attack and crushes the greenskins in the wilderness, the gateway to Magritta will open and reinforcements can pour in continuously before we strike!"
"So what exactly is he waiting for?! Magritta is already on the brink! That is the capital of the kingdom!"
Under the gaze of the giant statue of Myrmidia, inside the Northern Grand Council, representatives from the Church, nobility, merchants, army, and every other faction had gathered. The decisions they made here would affect the fate of the kingdom in this first war on Estalian soil since the Great War.
"We must race against time. At this critical moment of danger, we have to attack while Magritta is tying down the bulk of the greenskin main force, wipe out those roaming invaders, and relieve the pressure on Magritta."
"Tyler commands the entire Northern Fire yet stands still in Villingen. Both the Goddess and the people of Estalia will despise such cowardly behavior!"
The old man delivered his passionate speech, arms waving up and down. His white robe trimmed with gold spun and fluttered with every movement.
This simple style of clothing originated from the Citizen Grand Council of Lothern. It came from the constitutional reforms pushed by the first elected Phoenix King, the "Carefree King," chosen after Malekith ascended as the true Phoenix King.
In the Grand Council everyone except the Phoenix King, the Everqueen, and the priesthood had to wear white robes with gold trim bearing only the symbol of their patron deity and nothing else, showing that their actions were free of personal desire and impartial to any faction.
The style later spread to the Old World and was first copied by the Estalians.
After all, they had built their civilization on the ruins of elven colonies and felt a natural closeness to Asur aesthetics.
"Tyler understands how to fight better than you do, Austin!"
A councilor from Bilbali itself stood up and countered, "What we need now is time, but not the time to attack. The enemy is coming in full force while our armies and mercenaries are still gathering. Rash action could very easily result in heavy losses."
"And right now we cannot afford any legion-scale defeat! We must wait. We must endure!"
He shouted to the councilors, "Wait until our legions have finished assembling! Wait until our supplies are sufficient! Every extra day gives us one more share of strength. Every extra day of preparation gives us one more share of hope for victory!"
Some of those present whispered among themselves, feeling the words made sense, but others could no longer sit still. They stood up one after another and accused him:
"Magritta is on the brink of destruction. Are we supposed to sit and watch the capital fall?"
"Coward! Kahn, you are a coward!"
"The Goddess's temples, the Eagle's Nest, the Quiet Harbor… by the Goddess, I cannot believe you actually plan to let all of these be trampled by the greenskins!"
Curses and shouts filled the hall. Naturally the supporters could not leave their councilor to stand alone, so they joined the fray. The war leader and high priest had to strike his warhammer against the bronze pillar to suppress the meaningless quarrel.
Scenes like this had happened many times. For several days straight it had been the same.
The northerners did not want to act rashly and challenge the greenskin horde before they had assembled a sufficiently massive legion.
The southerners refused to sit and watch the capital — the economic, political, and cultural center — fall. History had shown that every city occupied by greenskins eventually became a ruin filled with their dung and the ugly totems of Gork and Mork.
The entire south would suffer unimaginable damage! Most of their family wealth and property would vanish along with the fall of the great city!
And perhaps from then on the kingdom's core would shift to the northern city of Bilbali…
One side wanted to delay the march while the other wanted to move as quickly as possible. Add in the shadow of the recent civil war and the result was a huge rift that could not be bridged.
In the northern council the southerners and war leaders called for an immediate march south to rescue Magritta, but they met cold treatment and resistance from the northern faction.
The anxious southerners angrily pointed out that some opponents were deliberately stalling precisely so they could watch Magritta turn into ruins.
The implied accusation that the Bilbali faction had long schemed to seize the premier city enraged many northerners. Both sides jumped in and tore at each other for hundreds of rounds. Duels outside the chamber erupted more than a dozen times in a single day, leaving the Goddess's Church — responsible for mediating secular conflicts — utterly exhausted.
Afterward a proposal thrown out by a northern populist group deepened the north-south rift once again.
After the northern army rescued Magritta, considering that the Invincible Fleet had been destroyed in the south and the kingdom's naval power no longer existed — especially after being caught completely off guard by this cross-sea assault, with the central government cut off so that the south had no unified command and wasted vast amounts of strength — perhaps after the war the Eagle's Nest of the War Goddess Church and part of the central institutions should be moved to northern Bilbali. After all, the neighboring Bretonnian Round Table had always maintained fairly good relations with Estalia, and the High Elves of Athel Loren across the sea had little competition with Estalia and could be called upon for aid.
Such a situation of sudden encirclement and isolation of the capital would never happen again.
Although the rational minds among the northern faction did not support raising such a proposal that would greatly damage north-south mutual trust right now, the mere appearance of this voice still caused further deepening of suspicion between north and south.
The northerners wanted to regain control of both divine and royal authority!
After a short but — relative to the war situation — endlessly long quarrel, the split finally erupted.
A small group of radical young nobles, desperate to rescue and reclaim their homeland territories, left with their own retinues and the armies that hoped to protect their homes. The next day even more people followed.
After failing to persuade them, the war leader and high priest helplessly announced that the Goddess's Knight Order would be sent with the army. At the same time he demanded that Bilbali immediately request reinforcements from the Bretonnian Round Table and forced (threatening with hammer and "I don't care about this anymore") the southerners to send representatives together with the Bilbali faction to the Round Table to apologize for the previous conflicts.
Under the high priest's strong hand the northerners reluctantly began to mobilize their legions. They still planned to avoid a decisive battle but would first establish forward bases, monitor the greenskins' movements, and control their direction.
A somewhat loose but still massive legion — the most powerful force Estalia had fielded since the start of this great Waaaaagh — began marching south.
Their objective was to reach Galaz City beside the Gedaaz River, which divided central and western Estalia. It was also the main garrison of the southern army during the earlier north-south standoff.
Then they would push into the central wilderness. Because the loss of naval supremacy after the Invincible Fleet's destruction meant the coastal Eberan Road and its three cities (from west to east: Pamorz Harbor → Ufrik → Tolosa → Magritta) were all under threat from pirate and greenskin fleets that could land and cut off the rear at any time, the main line of advance had to cross the river and enter the central wilderness straight toward Magritta.
Vast numbers of refugees and exiles from the south, filled with anger and the hope of reclaiming their homeland, joined this great army marching south. Shalulu's group had already reached Bilbali.
After the huntress Fiona explained her purpose to the beastmen, she left. She knew the boy in the forest could monitor her through some means.
She was going to complete the task Al had given her:
In this largest northern city, without exposing herself, find a group of mysterious mages.
At this moment on the central wilderness the Estalian vanguard had already clashed with greenskin skirmishers.