After holding a simple funeral for Carvella...

Ardarian returned to his room, dipped a quill and moistened his tongue.

Then he began to write a letter.

"Honorable King."

"Agatha invaded and caused a lot of damage to Longsong Alley..."

"Among our losses include 1,200 warhorses and 621 soldiers."

"Oh, of course. I don't mean to complain to you, but I'm merely reporting our situation here."

"I apologize for not protecting Longsong Alley well."

"Although we've suffered a great loss, we did not gain nothing from this ordeal."

"Through Agatha's words, I've learned that someone else has killed the three heroes."

"As for who the murderer is, that remains to be seen."

"But I suspect that it might be another Red Dragon, or perhaps a Blue Dragon."

"Today, my subordinates located the corpse of the hero, Carvella, in the desert."

"If you were at the scene, I believe that you will share my sorrow."

"As for the process of the autopsy, let's just say that it was gruesome."

"In short, Carvella died from the high temperature."

"She was probably killed by thunder or fire magic."

"The only one capable of defeating the three heroes in the northern region should be a dragon."

"Therefore, I speculate that there might be another dangerous dragon living in the northern territory who is not Agatha."

"Its threat is no less than that of Agatha's."

"I hope that the kingdom will provide us support to eliminate the threat as soon as possible."

"PS: Carvella has been buried under the ridge to the south of Longsong Alley."

"Stand at the northern gate of the kingdom's capital and look towards the direction of Mount Komilung. That is the direction of Carvella's final resting place."

"If I am lucky enough to find the remains of the other two heroes, I will bury them together. I hope that your Highness can pass on this news so that the future generations can remember them."

"Yours truly, the loyal but incompetent, Ardarian."

...

By the time he finished writing the letter, it was already late at night.

Ardarian ordered his men to bring three horses and deliver the letter to the capital overnight.

As a lord, he was well-versed in writing.

However, the scenes from earlier that day was still vivid in his mind. His hand, which was holding the pen, was constantly trembling as he wrote the letter.

He looked out of the window at the night sky that was as dark as the abyss.

Ardarian dared not even imagine what that unknown dragon looked like.

Logically speaking, his Longsong Alley was not a wealthy city. It could at most satisfy the appetite of a single dragon when it came to treasures.

If there two of them, Longsong Alley would not be able to afford such a huge expenditure.

There was also another problem. Dragons were not a united race. As a result of the other dragon's existence, Both dragons would most likely extort him for treasures at an even greater pace.

The two dragons would not co-exist in peace.

Unfortunately, to Ardarian's knowledge, all signs indicated that there was another dangerous dragon living in the desert. Perhaps, it was even stronger than Agatha.

If such a dangerous dragon was not eradicated as soon as possible, it would pose a huge danger for the Pande kingdom in the future.

Back when the humans were still divided and the continent was split into five countries, each nation had suffered great losses to the dragons. However, now that they had united under a single flag...

They could gather the strength of the entire country and sweep the north together.

It was also a great opportunity to get rid of the mystery dragon and Agatha.

Moreover, the matter was also getting more and more urgent. All three heroes had already perished, and it was enough to show the urgency of the situation.

Ardarian clenched his fists.

If it was just Agatha alone, Longsong Alley would have been able to hold on for a while, but now there were two dragons, and one of them had killed all three heroes that the kingdom was proud of.

They needed to get rid of the mystery dragon as soon as possible!

...

"Daddy, daddy!"

"Hahaha."

"Daddy, you're running too slow. You won't be able to catch me like this."

The little princess, Tess was not even ten years old.

Her body was very thin, but she ran like a deer.

"Slow down... Slow down..."

The old king had already retired from the battlefield for many years, and he was no longer as brave as he was in the past.

Moreover, some of the internal injuries he had suffered on the battlefield had all come knocking at his door at his old age.

Once he started running, he felt as if his knees and lumbar joints were on fire.

He could not catch Little Tess at all, and thus, he needed to think of a way to end the game of cat and mouse as soon as possible.

"Hey..."

The old king squatted on the ground and panted. "Little Tess, let's... Let's play another game."

However, Little Tess pouted and replied with a grimace, "No! You always brag to me that you can carry a lance to and fro on the battlefield, but now you can't even catch up to a little girl!"

"That was when I was still young..."

While the old king was defending himself, he saw a guard rushing over.

...

Little Tess did not know what had happened, but usually, a scene such as this had signified the end of her playtime.

Thus, Little Tess rushed up and pushed the guard away.

'This b*stard is always disturbing my playtime with daddy.'

However, while she was trying to push him away, Little Tess caught some of the guard's words. 

Words like "letter" and "northern dragon".

Then, she noticed her father's gloomy expression.

"Little Tess, go and practice your lute. We can play another day."

Following this, her father got up and left.

Although Little Tess was angry, based on her experience, it was useless to act cute at this time.

Therefore, she could only vent her anger on the guard.

She threw a fist at the guard.

The guard was already prepared. He saw Little Tess's fist coming at him.

He skillfully opened the chain mail on his upper body.

This was so that Little Tess' fist would not land on the hard steel.

...

"The situation is very serious."

After reading the letter, the old king let out a long sigh.

The letter was sent by the northern Lord, Ardarian. The contents of the letter mainly said that there were two dragons of at least Ancient-level in the north.

One Ancient Dragon was already a difficult enough threat, but now...

There were two of them.

If they were to ignore them, Longsong Alley would undoubtedly become a lost cause.

Longsong Alley was one of the most important copper mining cities in the kingdom. If it was destroyed, it would have a huge impact on the kingdom's finances.

The production of weapons would decrease, and the distribution of copper coins would also be restricted.

Moreover, it would have a great impact on the morale of the army.

After all, the continent had just been unified not long ago. What he needed to do now was to stabilize the situation.

The old king put down the letter and said slowly.

"With my authority as King,"

"I hereby order all the lords of my kingdom."

"Gather your troops. We are going to war."