The precipice of war had a scent and taste to it. Whenever war was coming the air had a sticky feeling to it as if a foreshadowing of the scent of blood and death. This scent reeked in the Scarlet mansion but something was different about this scent. It was thicker, suffocating and drowning an indication that the war to be fought would not be an easy one. Tensed muscles and clenched fingers, loud heartbeats and a multitude of thought, shiny armour and worried faces.
This was the atmosphere of the Scarlet mansion and like an epidemic it slowly spread into the capital of the dutchy, the whole dutchy and the kingdom as a whole. A looming sudden war was upon them and it's aura alone threatened to strangle those of weak hearts and minds. Two days had passed since the confirmation of the news they hoped to be a bad joke happened. The residents in the outskirts of the Mirkwood forest were slowly relocated and those towns slowly turned to defence lines by the soldiers of the dutchy, the Infernal army.
The royal battalion were among the first reinforcements to arrive due to the teleportation formation linking the capital to the dutchy used in case of scenarios such as these. The formation was not something the kingdom could possess but was a product of the empire to ensure it's reach stretched across it's whole territory but truth be told they just did it to ensure their tributes were paid on time. An added benefit was two sub formations to be connected to a location of choice to show the kindness of the empire though the cost of running them would be shouldered internally. The cost of running the formation was too large that it was only used in cases of emergency and one was linked from the capital to the Infernal dutchy for obvious reasons.
The Morrison estate as was everyone in the dutchy too were worried about the implications of the war though they were quite far from the battlefield but its residents had relatives that were scattered across the dutchy. Also war was never predictable and accidents could happen at any time but their worries seemed not to taint the youngest master of the estate. He was either in the study reading or in the garden looking at the flowers with a peaceful air around him as if he was not worried about the war or he was not afraid of death.
The actual truth was he was worried but due to the mask no one could see it and he did this to give them some peace of mind. He had done all he could for the kingdom and he hoped they would be able to survive and win against the upcoming beast tide but he had already resolved to ran away in the event of failure. This would put him at a disadvantage and expose some of his secrets to his family who he would have to take with him but that was still better that than death. This was his way of returning the favour to Gray's family for their love and affection even though he felt estranged by those emotions as he thought he did not deserve but he fet that that saving them would be his way of thanking the previous owner of this body.
He had already made dozens of escape routes taking into consideration many scenario that would likely happen but most of them always included putting his family in the pocket dimension and teleportation out of the kingdom in the event of it's destruction. His sister studying in the capital would be his pitstop as he escaped and maybe Ruberno's direct descendants too but that would need further deliberation. He was studying possible areas he could start over in, when worst came to worst.
He had sent shadow to monitor the battlefield and give him news when it started which according to scouts would probably begin in a week or so.He would stay and give any further updates of it's development.
Assassination of the evolving beast lord was not possible for the kingdom as it was on high alert due to Ruberno's sneaking in. He could send shadow to do it as that would be easy but that would be shining a light on himself which he didn't want to do. He did not have real power and having a space mage would have him sniffed out by those empirial dogs and he'd rather run than let them catch his involvement.
Perhaps he was being irrational but this matter was not as simple as it seemed on the surface. Three empirical powers were involved: the Sun empire, the framed empire and the instigator of all this but he did not mention this to the duke as sometimes ignorance is truly bliss. Though war had it's disadvantages it did not mean there were no advantage to this whole scenario.
Surbodinates. He could easily get potential followers in the battlefield. The upcoming battle would involve rank tens and high rank beast and people would be the determining factor of it so the battlefield would be a congregation of high rank combat power.
All he needed to do was save those almost perishing and injured soldiers in the battlefield and heal them. For this he would be willing to use most of the remaining drops but it would need to be used on top tier combat power.This made him look like a heartless person but survival was cruel and whether his escape, refusal to help in such a situation or profiting from the war where people lost lives it was all the cruelty of survival.
Any kindness would be cruelty to himself and that would be foolish of him and such foolishness would lead to his demise one day. He didn't believe he was a protagonist of this world and even if he was testing fate to prove it was dumb no matter how you looked at it. True protagonists survive and that was his first priority.