All transfer gates in the empire were being closed.
The armies of the vassal states of the imperial family were also seen heading towards the empire by land and sea.
Clearly the Empire was preparing for war beyond any doubt. A War with Hairan.
Booong-!
A white dimensional portal was formed in the front yard of Tikan, and Mort, the snow toad, appeared.
As soon as Talaris realized that the atmosphere was unusual, she visited the Sword emperor castle. Mort looked quite tired because he had moved too many dimensions in a short period of time.
"Madame Talaris!"
As Jin and his comrades approached, Talaris shook her head in bewilderment.
"The emperor has gone mad. It's really an atmosphere to do a purge."
"Have you met Sir Ron?"
"They said he wasn't there. I haven't heard any other details. But the sword emperor castle was also completely poisoned...… War is inevitable. All the knights who follow Ron are also gathering at the sword emperor castle."
War between Hairan and the entire Empire.
Originally, Talaris thought that as long as Ron was there, the outcome of the war would surely be the Hairan's victory.
However, now that she had been to the sword emperor castle herself, she wasn't sure either. It wasn't because she hadn't met Ron in person.
"There are strangely few clans who have decided to help Hairan. I don't know what trick the imperial family played, or if Ron lost his reputation without my knowledge."
Jin knew why.
"Madame Talaris."
"What?"
"Madame Talaris told me to let you know if something bad was going to happen. Could you please tell me what could be the reason?"
Hidden Palace has always been neutral, but it should now be called Jin's ally.
But its relationship with Hairan was unclear.
In fact, the hidden palace did not have to step forward even if Hairan was destroyed. It shouldn't step forward exactly. Hidden palace would turn the empire into an enemy for no reason.
So Jin would tell Talaris about Ron's poor health only after she had made her point of helping the sword emperor castle.
Talaris shrugged her shoulders and looked at Jin's allies.
"Everyone go out for a while, I need to talk to my son-in-law."
Jin's companions moved outside.
"Son-in-law."
"Yes."
"You remember what I told you about the duties of a hidden palace last time, right?"
-Hidden palace has kept its neutrality for most of the years, but it hasn't always been that way. We also made an oath when the 1st master of the hidden palace was chosen by myriad ice and Mort for the first time.
-The same goes for the power of the myriad ice that our Endorma clans got. In exchange for gaining too much power for a human to have, we were commissioned to help solve the world's anomalies.
Jin nodded his head as he recalled the story.
"Previous masters left a record saying that Hairan had one thing that could be a threat to the world."
White stone.
It was about that.
It is the secret of Hairan that passed down only to the patriarch, but the hidden palace has already known the existence of the stone for a long time.
"Our Hidden Palace presumes that the item Hairan has is that of the witch Helluram. And as I said before, preventing the disaster that Helluram brings is one of the representative duties of the Hidden Palace."
"Then, Madame Talaris's main purpose in this war is to prevent the danger the Hairan is harboring as the master of hidden palace."
"Yes."
Talaris answered calmly.
Talaris's words to keep her duty as a hidden palace's master could be interpreted in many ways.
'It is perfectly reasonable to say that for Madame Talaris handling the white stones takes priority over Hairan, but if you think about it differently... It means that as soon as white stone reveals its danger, Madame Talaris could rather attack Hairan.'
Jin has no idea what's the condition of white stone at this time.
Also, when the situation reached an extreme, he wasn't sure what choice Hairan would make.
His friend Dante believes, but the patriarch of Hairan is Ron, not Dante.
If Hairan is at its worst in this war.
Ron is a person who could use the power of the white stone if he could to protect his beloved grandson.
-I don't think there's any reason for the imperial family to covet something that's all there is to it.
- That's right.
- I get it roughly. The stone must be dangerous enough to be unknown to anyone in the world. So, the patriarch of Hairan who acquired the item for the first time tried to cut it down and failed. After that, he has only left an order to destroy the item without informing them about it's identity so that future patriarchs do not become greedy.
-You mean you inferred everything from just my brief explanation? That's shocking.
-It's even more shocking that not even all the patriarchs of Hairan's history were unable to cut the stone, even Sir Ron. Where did the stone come out?
A conversation with Dante about the White Stone.
In that conversation, the danger of the white stone was already revealed.
The same was true about the emperor's actions to obtain the stone, even giving up Hairan.
'If, by any chance, the stone threatens the world, and Madame Talaris stands on the side of stopping the Hairan.'
There is no way to stop it.
That's why Jin was hesitant to give Talaris information about Ron.
After Jin was silent for a while, Talaris smiled mischievously as if she knew everything.
"Son-in-law."
"Yes."
"I think I know what you are worried about. I mean, it's easy to read your thoughts."
"Yes, I am concerned. I will help Dante as a friend no matter what."
"Even if there's a conflict with me during that process?"
"Yes."
A heavy silence fell between the two.
"... Ron, that idiot could use Helluram's stuff to save his grandson. Because nothing is more important to him than his grandson. But, Jin. Just as Dante Hairan is your friend, so Ron Hairan is my friend."
Chiron and Ron, and Talaris.
For those three, the closest friends or companions were each other.
That's the life of the absolutes. The higher you stand, the stronger you gain, and the deeper you enter the realm.
And people become lonely. They gained absolute power at the cost of falling into the deepest solitude.
Only those who entered the land could understand each other.
However, just as stars collide and disappear when they come too close, their relationship is no different.
If one of the three could embrace all of them, they would have become more affectionate friends than anyone else.
However, Chiron, who was able to take on the role, ascended to a higher and lonely realm and lost his emotions as a human being, and from then on, the three couldn't get closer.
There is still a feeling of friendship.
So Talaris had hoped that she would never have to do her duty, and was willing to make things work out that way if possible.
"So be a little more honest with me, tell me everything you know. We're talking about the worst situation right now, but isn't that just an assumption? We have the power. The power to rule out the worst."
Jin felt the sincerity.
Also realistically, Talaris' abilities were needed to help Hairan as quickly as possible.
The fact that all transfer gates are closed means that land and sea routes are also blocked.
Jin was prepared to approach the sword emperor castle via land and sea while fighting the Imperial Army, and was confident that he would break through without difficulty.
But it's too late to go that way.
If Hairan can't hold out until then, he'll do nothing but antagonize the Empire, let alone help his friends.
Going quickly and fighting together was also a thing to lose with the empire, but if he led the war to victory, then it could have enough meaning.
Jin is the flagbearer of Runcandel.
As a flagbearer, Jin intended to support Hairan without the permission of Rosa, acting patriarch.
If so, it must have been successful.
"And maybe, you and I are overcomplicating things. Although there are fewer knights clan with Hairan than I thought, if it is Ron...…"
"Sir Ron... has not yet recovered from the internal injuries sustained during the terrorist attack in the Sword Emperor castle."
Talaris' eyes widened.
"... What?"
"Sir Ron's condition has not improved at all after fighting the Leader of Kinzelo and sustaining internal injuries. I don't know the details of the situation, but maybe it's worse than then. And the only ones who know this are me, Madame Talaris, and five close aides of Sir Ron."
"Ha, I was aware that Ron had almost no external activities after the Sword Emperor Castle attack...… Could it be that it was for that reason?"
"The reason why the emperor is carrying out the purge and that there are few knights with Hairan is also the same. Perhaps those within the Empire know that Sir Ron is not in normal condition."
"... Contrary to what Ron looks like, he's good at tricks, so maybe he's doing it on purpose. He pretends to be sick, and at this point, he intends to root out the enemies of Hairan, and maybe even deal with the emperor...… Damn, things aren't too good to think so. Ron is not the kind who covets power even by forcing a fight."
Whoa, Talaris sighed.
Hearing about Ron's condition made her even more concerned. Even assuming he was in good health, it was only natural that she was worried about the danger of the white stone.
"I can understand why Ron never met me. Even though I'm a friend, I'm fundamentally an outsider in Hairan, so he couldn't have told me about the situation."
Worse than that, it could be so bad that he can't even move.
"Madame Talaris."
"Speak."
"Please help me and my comrades to get to the Sword emperor castle with the help of Mort."
"Okay. But right now it's impossible. Mort is tired from having just traveled so far. He needs time to recover."
Jin nodded.
"Anyway, I need a little time. I must muster all my comrades and men, and I must also create means to protect the Tikan while the power is gone."
Jin planned to devote all his strength to Hairan.