“Duke Sebastian, an Imperial edict to return has been issued from the capital.”

“In a situation like this?”

“It said to withdraw the troops as quickly as possible, sir.”

“Ugh…”

Duke Sebastian tightly closed his eyes before spitting on the ground.

‘How could this happen…’

It wasn’t that he didn’t understand. When he had heard about the rebellion in the Empire, his heart had also sunk. But even so, that didn’t mean they could withdraw from the frontlines right now.

The Republican Army led by Siegfried was persistently clinging onto the Imperial Army and the Lester Kingdom was also placing troops on the border and openly looking for opportunities. Did the Emperor think that the enemies would let them go just because they were withdrawing the troops?

During a war, the greatest damage occurs during a retreat. The situation on the frontline was so bad that Duke Sebastian had to worry about something like that. That was why Duke Sebastian had hoped that the Empire would solve the problems within the country on their own, but in the end, the Emperor was ordering him to return.

Unfortunately, although the Emperor had tried to deal with the problem internally, the situation had only become worse. The only thing he could put his faith in now was the expeditionary army that Duke Sebastian...