MTLNOVEL Chapter 526: Bringing the War Minister Himself (Bonus)
After some thought, Nathan chose to abandon the nest subjugation mission. He asked Sera to help Alavenya and Selena to complete their respective missions before regrouping with them.
Meanwhile, Flora, Noelle, and Nathan headed back to the marquis.
Since Flora had to take care of the royal palace, she had to meet the marquis first to use the teleportation directly to the capital city.
"Marquis Reyzar. We have an emergency situation going on. The nest is not a nest but a tunnel directly bypassing the frontline. Although I want to tell you everything personally, I have to go back to inform the royal palace personally.
"In my stead, Noelle Flamante, the granddaughter of the former Marshall, Sword Saint Sullivan, as well as Nathan, the disciple of Vivian Lorelei, will be the ones telling you everything.
"Nathan has been helping the royal family find out all this situation, including the ash cloud. Hence, I hope you take his opinion seriously. Also, allow me to use the teleportation circle."
"Y-Yes." Marquis Reyzar was stunned. "I should guide you to the teleportation circle…"
"No. I will go there myself."
"In that case, my butler will guide you. He will arrange the teleportation portal for you."
"Sounds good."
As soon as Flora left, Marquis Reyzar looked at Nathan. He was so focused on the front line that he never paid much attention to the political situation.
While he had never seen Nathan's portrait, he had heard Nathan's name since the magic weapon was so famous.
He asked, "Mr. Nathan. May I know the situation?"
Nathan was quite surprised that Marquis Reyzar treated him like an equal. He thought he would be more stubborn and care a lot about ranks.
As if noticing his surprised gaze, Marquis Reyzar simply stated, "Mr. Nathan. Please focus. Do you know why I've been stationed near the front line? That's because I'm a coward.
"A lot of people often said they never saw someone as cowardly as me. I often lose sleep if I face trouble.
"I request more people whenever we want to complete anything. And that's why the royal family asks me to personally supervise the frontline.
"If it's something serious, I would definitely hear it even if it comes from a beggar, let alone you. Not only did her highness hold you in high regard, but I also have heard of your name. So, please…"
Nathan nodded with a serious expression. "I'm sorry. Anyway, I will begin."
Nathan began his explanation regarding the tunnel.
There were a total of 13 tunnels from what they investigated. They didn't have a lot of time, so the number could be more.
And he was in utter shock about the possibility of a tunnel.
"This…" He gasped before rummaging through his shelves, searching for the map of his region.
As soon as he found it, he laid it down on the table while pointing at the space. "There is no hill…"
"…" Nathan's expression turned grim. He had shown a different map before, one without much detail, since they only needed the direction.
However, this map was much more detailed. He could see mountains or even villages scattered on the territory.
And in the nest, there was no record about the hills.
Nathan pinched the bridge of his nose. "This is not good. We have to dispatch more people to this place. However, I'm still debating whether we should clear the tunnels or not. So, that might need to wait until the decision from the central government is made.
"I believe we should create a small camp not far from this place responsible for their supervision. Or maybe clear out a single tunnel and catch the aliens red-handed so that we confirm they're still digging the tunnel.
"Still, the most important thing is to know the place where the tunnel is going. After all, we might end up entering a nest… That's the only place where a lot of aliens gather."
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"Right!" Reyzar nodded. "We should also add a defensive line around this area to prevent any aliens nearby from reinforcing this section. We don't want to have the aliens attack us from behind when we're exploring the tunnel."
"True. We can't avoid the possibility this is a trap as well."
"Yes. They might want to bury us, but the tunnel itself is not that deep. If we place a strong enough summoner, they should be able to dig up if the tunnel has a sign of collapsing. Protecting everyone is not that hard."
Nathan and Reyzar continued their discussion like equals. For some reason, Nathan was impressed by Reyzar. He was indeed a coward because he kept mentioning possibilities that had less than 1% of happening.
However, Nathan just threw one bullshit but reasonable plan after another to ease his worries. For the first time in his life, Marquis Reyzar found someone who understood his worries and helped him through it.
Noelle was just sitting on the side, observing them. Unfortunately, she wasn't at that level yet, considering she was supposed to start from a normal soldier in the army after her graduation.
Still, she understood bit by bit after listening to their discussion.
Meanwhile, Sera did her job perfectly. With her help, Alavenya should be able to finish her mission before lunch. On the other hand, Selena didn't waste any time and cleaned up the area, completing the mission before Sera even came.
But the one who did the most splendid job was actually Flora. It might be due to the condition in the royal palace having become a bit calmer that that person was able to leave the royal palace.
Nevertheless, it didn't change the fact that a person of that status shouldn't be able to leave the royal palace easily, considering anything could happen at any moment and his authority was directly below the king in that situation.
Even then, in just a few hours, Flora returned. This time, she didn't only bring 10,000 soldiers from the royal army with her but also the war minister himself.