As the early morning sun rose, Commander Vanessa Clark caught sight of the Royal Capital on the far horizon.
Having ridden through the night all the way to the south-western border of the kingdom the day before, then returning back the way she came with no more than an hour of rest, Vanessa and her Golden Hawk, Starlight, were both feeling quite exhausted despite their high strength.
Even so, with an important mission having been entrusted to her, the Peak-Rank Spirit Initiate shook off her weariness and urged her mount forward.
About an hour later, the familiar sights of Rockwell City were now fully laid out before the Golden Wings First Regiment Commander.
Staring down at the rolling hills out from which the mighty Belton River, named after the founding King, Fredrick Belton Rockwell, flowed through the vast plains, Vanessa couldn't help feeling like she had returned home.
With its massive population of over 300,000 residents, as well as tens of thousands more visitors, Rockwell City was the true beating heart of the kingdom through which almost all people and commerce flowed.
Even from several hundred metres up, with the rushing wind blowing past her ears, Vanessa could still hear the early morning hustle and bustle of the markets and shops down below.
At the centre of the city stood the majestic Royal Palace, an expansive complex of towering white buildings, perfectly manicured gardens, and wide-open fields.
Vanessa's destination was a massive hall on the eastern side of the Royal Palace, the Ministry of War.
Given the current situation, Vanessa was almost certain that she would find General Gunthar, her commanding officer, stuck in meetings inside the most austere of all the government buildings in the palace. As such, she had Starlight gradually descend towards a field nearby where flying beasts could safely land.
During her descent, however, Vanessa noticed that in the north of the palace complex, rather than 3 Skyships being docked, there were actually 4.
Scanning the dark blue Skyship with fancy white trim, she immediately identified it as one of the Roth Family's private vessels, causing her to knit her brow.
It seems Teacher was right, the Roth Family really is involved in this mess somehow, Vanessa thought to herself before she began scanning the rest of the palace for other anomalies.
When Vanessa swept her eyes over the stables where flying mounts were housed, though, a certain beast caught her attention.
At first, she didn't pay this beast much mind as it was not unusual for the Royal Palace to host flying mounts from other parts of the kingdom, but when the beast itself turned its head up towards her and let out a sharp cry, she felt her heart leap into her throat.
A Silver Moon Eagle!?
Just now, the piercing cry which was directed at her was not just a loud warning, it also carried a pointed message which resonated inside her Soul Sea, "What are you staring at, little girl?"
A High Seventh Order Spirit Beast!
Not only was this Silver Moon Eagle's strength phenomenal, at least on par with a High-Rank Spirit Elite, it was also fully sentient and sapient, capable of fluent communication with its Soul Sense!
Quickly recovering from her initial shock, Vanessa hurriedly lowered her head and issued an apology, "Forgive my disrespect, honourable Senior. I was simply taken aback by your august presence."
Even though Vanessa was generally a carefree soul, she hadn't achieved her current strength and status without learning how to think on her feet. She had also learned early on who she could, and couldn't afford to offend.
This powerful Spirit Beast, who certainly had an even more powerful master, undoubtedly belonged to the latter category, so Vanessa didn't hesitate to admit fault here and seek forgiveness.
"Hmph, spare me your flattery, human. Just don't let me catch you staring again," the Silver Moon Eagle snorted before turning its attention away, no longer paying Vanessa any mind.
Breathing a sigh of relief, it took a while for Vanessa to then sooth Starlight, which was understandable given he was just a Peak Fourth Order Wild Beast.
Facing the glare of a Seventh Order apex predator, it would be stranger for the Golden Hawk to have remained perfectly calm.
Silver Moon Eagles were only raised in one place on the Blue Sky Continent, the grand mountains of the Rising Sun Empire. The presence of such a Spirit Beast here could only mean that an Imperial Envoy had arrived.
Clearly, the situation had become far more complicated than Vanessa's former instructor had imagined.
Not daring to waste anymore time, Vanessa guided her mount down to the grounds next to the Ministry of War before leaping off and striding towards the grand hall.
Along the way, the guards, who were naturally familiar with her, saluted.
Vanessa would normally have returned the gesture with her usual cheerfully smile; but today, she was in a rush, so she only gave a perfunctory nod before quickly moving on.
None of the guards found this to be unusual given the tension which had settled over the palace since yesterday morning.
Arriving at the office of her superior, Vanessa straightened her back and knocked on the door.
"Enter," an aged voice called out from inside a moment later.
Pushing open the heavy doors, Vanessa stepped into the sparsely decorated office which was filled with books, papers, and maps, to find a grizzled old man with a patch over his left eye standing at the large window staring out at the vast palace grounds.
Saluting once more, Vanessa quickly spoke, "Vanessa Clark, reporting."
"Did General Balfour ask you to return early?" Kyle Gunthar asked bluntly, completely skipping over any kind of greeting or formalities, perfectly reflecting his no-nonsense personality.
Knowing that speaking anything other than the bare truth would be a waste of time, Vanessa succinctly replied, "Yes, Sir. General Balfour requested I return to the Capital to deliver my report in person."
"Is that all she requested?" General Gunthar finally turned around and stared hard at his second-in-command, the young woman he was mentoring to one day take over his position.
"No," Vanessa admitted, "General Balfour requested that I inquire about the situation in the capital, specifically regarding the Roth Family, before returning to the front."
Narrowing his one remaining eye, Kyle Gunthar stared down his subordinate in silence for a few breaths before muttering with the sigh, "Haa… I'm not sure if that little girl's instincts are really that sharp, or if she is just blessed by the Heavens with good luck."
In the Rockwell Kingdom, the number of people who would dare to refer to Marquess Celestina Balfour as 'little girl' could be counted on two hands.
A few of them were simply her seniors from previous generations, while the remaining ones were stronger than her. Kyle Gunthar, the General of the Golden Wings Legion, just happened to hold both these qualifications, so it was not unusual to hear him referring to the famed Shield of the East in such a manner.
Setting aside these trivialities of decorum, Vanessa couldn't help raising a brow and asking, "Sir?"
"I assume Celestina also told you I could write off the favour I owe her in exchange for bending the rules in this situation, yes?" The old General questioned.
Vanessa simply nodded in response.
"Hmph," Kyle Gunthar snorted in annoyance, but quickly resumed his usual indifferent expression and declared, "You can tell her that won't be necessary. Even if she hadn't sent you back, I would have sent someone to give her a warning."
Hearing this, Vanessa became even more concerned about just what was going on in the palace.
Unable to contain her curiosity, Vanessa asked the most important question she had on her mind, "General, why is someone from the Empire here?"
Knitting his already wrinkled brow, Kyle Gunthar said bluntly, "Bad luck."
Knowing her superior's tendencies, Vanessa waited patiently for the old man without urging him.
After taking a moment to seemingly stew in his thoughts, General Gunthar continued, "Shortly after that little girl's original message, the Council received two more Wind Messages. One from the Drax Family, the other from the Roth Family."
"The Drax Family was basically reporting the same thing as Celestina, a massive World Qi shockwave originating somewhere to the south-west of the kingdom. No one in the capital was able to sense this disturbance directly, but that's not too surprising since we are further away from the source."
Although the Drax Family's seat of power was close to the Royal Province, it was still in the South-West Province, several days journey by carriage from the capital at least. As an Earl-rank family, the Draxs naturally had a few old masters with high Soul cultivation, allowing them to pick up traces of the explosion.
"With emergency contacts being made by both Celestina and the Drax Family, those stubborn fools on the Council naturally couldn't just brush the matter off as the imagination of one or the other; however, before that boy king could corral them into mobilizing the Army, a Wind Message arrived from the Roths saying they were en-route with Lord Jeremiah," Kyle Gunther said flatly, though there was a clear tinge of solemnity at the end of his words.
Learning that it was Lord Jeremiah himself who had come, Vanessa couldn't help gasping in shock, a deep frown soon covering her face.