Chapter 1748: Commotion In a large tent, filled with all sorts of necessities and unnecessities, sat a strongly built man with his legs perched on top of his other thigh. Various people stood guard around him, spears at the ready. One could tell he was quite an important figure. The man leaned his elbow on the wooden desk before him, softly tugging on his short beard while looking at a large picture of a map that lay before him. There were many small objects on the map, meant to represent the many different armies and legions that were fighting for and against them. The end of the war was but a single battle away and he could see it. The next attack was going to take the enemy by surprise. There was no doubt about it. The flaps of the tent opened, letting in cold air and a smell of fresh mud along with it. A man entered the tent and made his way to the desk. The many men who stood around the tent immediately saluted as the new man entered. The strong man looked up, confused. "Haven’t you gone to bed yet, Parlo?" he asked. "I was there, my lord," the man who entered answered. "But I thought of something crucial that I believe you need to see." He brought out a small scroll from within his clothes and gave it to the man. The man, still sitting on his desk, took the scroll and opened it. "What is this rubbish?" he asked. "I can’t read anything. Did you have a stroke while you wrote it, Parlo?" The handwriting on the paper was truly terrible. The man couldn’t even tell if it was in their language or not. "That’s the trick, my lord," the man Parlo said. "Just in case we have spies in the room, I made sure to hide the true information within either side of the scroll. If you place it against the light, you will see the true words I wish to speak, but cannot say out loud." "Spies?" the lord asked, scoffing at the thought of it. "Why would there be spies among us? Every single person here is thoroughly vetted before they join. If you can’t even trust them, then you can trust nobody." "I understand, my lord. But it is necessary for the message I wish to deliver. It is pertinent that I hide this message for our victory tomorrow." The man’s eyebrows raised. "Alright, I hope it is worth all this hassle for you." The man unfurled the scroll fully and put it up against the lantern that hung from the ceiling. He looked at the text that formed from the two sides of the scroll mixing together. It still seemed rubbish all the way through. "What am i—" The man had only begun to speak when he heard shuffling all around him. And before he could figure out what was going on, the scroll he looked at was pierced through with a sword, the blade coming directly at his face. The lord could only watch in horror as the sword went through his face, dying just as quickly. * * * * * * Several such instances arose around the camps of the allied kingdoms and Empire. Screams filled the night as lords and ladies of all houses began dying in a series of attacks, infiltrated by ones that no one learned about. Not all attacks were successful. At least 1 in 4 failed to kill the target. As for the ones that attacked, they were either killed by the soldiers who guarded their lords and ladies or captured. The commotion woke every single person who was sleeping and they began hunting for other spies and the likes that may still be in the army camp. All 3 large army camps were similarly affected by the incident. Soon, they began getting casualty reports. The ones that had died had been some high-ranking officials or leaders of armies. But there were a few deaths that shocked them all and one of them was perhaps the most shocking of all. The Emperor of the Golhlog Empire had his throat slit while he was sleeping in his sleeping chamber. That single piece of news was enough to rile up every single person. Many people of the Golhlog empire and the Lenes Kingdom pointed fingers at the people of Marsh and Olvia. While the people of Marsh and Olvia began pointing fingers back at them. Many understood that the likelihood of the people in the Republic doing this was high, but they still couldn’t help but blame each other. After all, of the people that had died, many of them were the ones eligible to become the true emperor of the Onyx empire. A small meeting between the high-ranking officials who were still alive was quickly set up so they could talk about what had happened earlier. It was set at the meeting point of the 3 camps and soon people began arriving. They began settling into the place, men and women, all wary of each other after such a terrible night. As they gathered around, they looked at seats that were missing. There should have been nearly twice as many people in that room, but they were dead. A man with long brown hair walked into the room and settled on one of the seats where the people of Marsh Kingdom were gathered. Another woman came, with black hair tied in a bun. She made a show of the red marks on her neck as though she had just been choked, as well as stains of blood on her clothes that she hadn’t had the time to clear. She looked tired enough that she might just not have had the time to deal with herself. She sat in the seat where the people of the Olvia kingdom sat. Then a group of people entered, led at their helm by a man with a cut underneath his left eye, and his left hand tightly bandaged in a sling. His arrival caused a stir among the group as everyone stood up to greet him. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎 He was a man in his late 30s, tall with a good build, short brown hair, and handsome —if not for the wound below his eye. "Your Highness, you were attacked as well?" the woman with the marks on her neck spoke up first. This was the Crown Prince of the Golhlog empire, Trenaut Ron Golhlog. The son of the now-late Emperor. "Let us not waste time with niceties, Jema," the man said. "Was it you? Was it you who killed my father?" The woman’s eyes widened, half in shock, half in anger. "How dare you accuse me of such a heinous act! Especially after we just came to an alliance." The prince didn’t believe her, but he turned to the other man instead. "Then you, Oleander?" he asked. "It was not me," the man said with a serious look. "All of our camps were attacked. Is it not obvious that it was the enemies who did this?" The prince said nothing for a while before grunting out a single sentence. "Those bastards! Do they think this will slow us down? No. They have just doomed themselves." The prince then addressed the entire room. "Sunrise, we attack. I will end this war. Then I will look for justice."