By the time Erwin rode his horse back to the city the following day, the sky had only just begun to brighten. He knew that the king was going to emerge from the royal palace soon to prepare the troops for march. At that time, the entirety of Phoenix Street would undoubtedly be packed with common folk bidding farewell to the king, so it would take far longer to travel through the city.

It was only 6:30 AM as he arrived at Count Friar's Manor, and the servants in the manor were very surprised to see him as they very rarely saw him return to the manor at such an early hour. Erwin was in quite a good mood. For him, there was a sense of novelty from returning to the manor in the early morning, and the thought of being able to enjoy the manor's breakfast one last time before setting off was also quite a joyful one for him as well. Prior to having breakfast, he went to take a look in his father's bedroom, and sure enough, just as the butler had said, Count Friar was living in the barracks outside the city.

Before the clock in the manor had even struck 8 AM, Erwin was already waiting outside. He looked at the horse-drawn carriages and people traveling along the streets, and he couldn't help but notice that there were far fewer carriages and passersby than normal. A short while later, a rather "interesting" horse-drawn carriage slowly drew to a halt outside the entrance of Count Friar's manor. The carriage looked as if it could fall apart at any moment,...