The spring thunder rolled. The many events of this spring were like lightning strikes, falling one after another, startling the birds and beasts of the forest and leaving the people of the Ferolun Continent in a state of panic.
Rorschach received a dizzying stream of news:
The Empire admitted to a military defeat for the first time, triggering a massive shock in the domestic market. Empire Marshal Count Srefen stepped down, and his student, Helmut—a friend of the Crown Prince—took over as Marshal and Chief of the General Staff. Valois sacrificed a once-noble head to become a Republic. Otto paid a secret visit to the Bayern Kingdom.
This Otto was not the Prince, but the reigning Prime Minister of the Empire. The Prime Minister's itinerary had not been publicly reported.
At the airship landing site in Munich, the Eldest Prince stood beside his father, the King. The Bayern First Legion and Second Legion, which he nominally commanded, had already returned to the Kingdom.
