Don't Mess with That Dragon-Chapter 688 - 076: Situation

The wheels rumbled,

and the low-profile black carriage emerged from the Royal Palace, rolling over the desolate streets, flanked by knights whose eyes scanned the surroundings like hawks.

The once bustling streets of the Royal City were now littered with trash, and the few pedestrians hurried along, quickly making way and bowing as the carriage procession passed by.

Even without insignia or family crest, a convoy emerging from the Upper East District certainly belonged to someone of noble status.

The people living in the Royal Capital had long developed a discerning eye; otherwise, a single misstep could plunge their lives into hell.

The carriage silently passed through the sparse gazes of the onlookers,

without the slightest pause, slowly disappearing at the street's end.

With the great war imminent, an endless army lined the outskirts of the city,

though the forces had yet to launch an attack,

the oppression lingered over the hearts of everyone within the Royal City.

The market was stagnant, a scene of utter desolation.

It was hard to imagine that the economic center of the entire Frandi Duchy would encounter such bleak circumstances.

With the war on the verge of breaking out, aside from purchasing food, few people had the mindset to buy anything else.

"The morale of the people, indeed, is still lacking..."

Inside the black carriage,

as he looked at the rushing pedestrians and the withering streets outside, King Rufus furrowed his brow even deeper.

The effect of his previous appearance in the square to boost morale seemed rather negligible.

After all, the inhabitants of the Royal City lived comfortably, never having faced the threat of war. Even nearby bandits had dwindled significantly under King Rufus's governance over the years.

Perhaps in the shadows of the Royal Capital, in those unseen slums, evils of various kinds perpetually persisted.

But those supposed street overlords and gang leaders were nothing more than ostriches trembling in the corners, burying their heads in the ground before the Blue Dragon army that had swept through most of the Frandi Duchy.

The Draconic Nest army, which had been crushing enemy forces for half a month, exuded a murderous aura soaring to the sky.

Such a military formation's formidable presence was beyond compare to those who bullied the weak.

The residents of the Royal Capital, existing in the political power center for centuries, had never experienced the threat of war, fostering a self-assumed superiority,

to the point where even a likely impoverished shoeshine boy in the slums would disdainfully call outsiders "smelly countryside folk."

Never having undergone the baptism of warfare, as the war approached and the enemy loomed at the gates, these noble inhabitants possessed only panic and fear, as if they'd lost their backbone.

Even the king's presence for encouragement barely kept morale from collapsing.

In this regard,

the border cities, constantly under the threat of war and frequently besieged, fared much better than the citizens within the Royal Capital.

Having been tempered by war, the border residents were accustomed to the arrival of large forces and typically would not crumble, barring utter desperation.

"Is there still hope for Frandy's future?"

Watching such a scene, Rufus inside the carriage could not help but feel a moment of wavering.

But soon, he cast aside that doubt.

No matter the crisis, no matter what his subjects thought.

He was, after all, the king of Frandy, bearing the responsibility for all the country's affairs!

The wheels groaned, rolling and disappearing at the end of the street,

and the pensive king failed to notice that as the carriage departed the Imperial Palace, several covert spies had already relayed the movement.

Layer upon layer of transmission,

ultimately reaching various noble forces within the Royal City.

"His Majesty has left the royal palace, keeping a very low profile."

"Not sure where he's going, perhaps to find a way to counter those armies outside. May the Sovereign bless us, let's hope we can withstand the savage Beastmen army's assault."

In secret,

some noble families with friendly relations were covertly networking and gathering.

It was not a routine banquet but a discussion for the future.

Usually elegant and gentlemanly, the noble lords now wore faces full of worry.

"Damn Beastmen, damn Blue Dragon! If those rumors are true, and even the southern defense line under Duke Nonica Bro's command suffered a crushing defeat in such a short time, we will truly be able to withstand their siege?"

"His Majesty is trying hard, but I doubt those 'lordly soldiers' in the Royal Capital, who've never experienced war, can hold off the army outside, based on the rumors,"

Every state's capital naturally had forces for protection, known as the Imperial Guard.

However, the Frandi Duchy's Royal City had not seen war in centuries, though on paper, the tens of thousands of guards protecting it were portrayed as the duchy's most elite troops.

But the noble lords present were well aware of the actual situation.

The Kingdom's Imperial Guard, due to their role in ensuring the Royal City's safety, living at the heart of Frandy's power center, had a natural advantage over other places in garnering upper-level promotions and accolades.

Thus, many noble families worked to place their offspring into the Imperial Guard.

The Imperial Guard, stationed in the Royal City for over a hundred years, without experiencing war, had become almost a club for the noble class, corrupted by its influence. Any random soldier might be the offspring of some noble family.

Incontestably, there exist outstanding descendants among the nobility, but those exceptional ones have already taken central political routes, unlikely to endure the hardships and onerous qualifications of the Imperial Guard, which were thus filled mostly with subpar individuals with bleak futures.

These individuals, indulging in laziness, used their status as Imperial Guard soldiers to bully and harass within the Royal City, but their actual abilities were feebly inadequate, vulnerable to a good beating from Adventurers who couldn't stand their tyranny.

Only when bullying civilians could they maintain any semblance of authority.

Consequently, the citizens of the Royal City referred to the Imperial Guard soldiers as "lordly soldiers."

Perhaps at the founding of the Frandi Duchy, the Royal City's Imperial Guard was the most elite force of the state,

but after centuries of evolution and inheritance, the Imperial Guard was severely entangled in power and interests, teeming with intricate problems beyond resolution.