‘Avoid combat as much as possible, and prioritize maintaining our position.’

The ban on combat engagements decreed by the royal family was virtually meaningless. Even before this most recent command, the Noctein forces had already lost their fighting spirit, and there was a lull in the fighting on the front lines.

The Noctein troops showed no inclination to leave their makeshift garrison at the newly established border between what was previously the eastern and central Noctein territories. They had no desire to reclaim their territory before the onset of negotiations.

It was not unusual.

Their physical strength was sapped by the lack of supplies, and their will was shattered by repeated defeats and retreats. The Noctein soldiers’ morale had fallen to its lowest possible point, and they were truly and unequivocally defeated.

This defeatist attitude pervaded throughout the front lines, and the commanders had no means of energizing their subordinates. The lack of fighting spirit was evident even in their superior officers.

This had all started with a single foreigner from Adenburg.

When the Knights of the Blue Wolves and a mage unit had arrived as reinforcements, the Noctein soldiers on the front lines believed they would reclaim all of...