Emerging from the western gate of Finklan, Erwin's procession of carriages didn't get to travel very far before they were stopped in their tracks.

He got out of his carriage to find that they had been stopped by Duke Tuhar and his personal guard with the nickname of "Wolf".

"What's going on, Duke Tuhar? Why are you waiting for me at such a romantic location?" Erwin asked with a joking smile as he approached Tuhar.

"Romantic my arse! I don't have time for things like romance," Duke Tuhar chuckled in response.

"I didn't see you at the finals of the tournament, so I thought you'd already gone back to the Fantiwenross Dukedom," Erwin said.

"I just didn't want to see you flirt with your lovers," Tuhar scoffed with a smile. "I originally planned to go back early, but I decided to meet up with you instead."

"What for? Is it because of that old slut from the Delair Dukedom?" Erwin asked as he raised an eyebrow.

Tuhar immediately burst into laughter upon hearing Erwin's new title for Sanfesa. "I knew there was a reason I took a liking to you."

After his laughter subsided, a serious look appeared on Tuhar's face as he said, "Make sure you don't take her lightly. She has a lot of tricks up her sleeve, and I heard that Prince Xar may have sent her a few helpers as well. Be careful."

"I'll just have to wait and see what happens," Erwin said with a smile. "If Prince Xar wants to get involved in this, then all I can do is think of countermeasures against him."

"I'll be applying pressure to the Delair Dukedom from the north. With me attacking from the north and you attacking from the south, even if that old slut is receiving help from Prince Xar, she won't be able to get the better of us," Tuhar said.

A faint smile appeared on Erwin's face upon hearing this. This was exactly what he had been waiting to hear.

"I'm sure that old slut will thoroughly enjoy getting it from both ends from you and me," Erwin said with a sly grin.

"In her dreams!" Tuhar chortled with glee. "I know that you're a very capable magician, but you still need to be careful. Even the best of us can lose our lives in just a split-second of complacency."

Erwin nodded in response with a serious expression.

Tuhar cast his gaze toward the mountains in the distance as he thought of his younger brother, who had lost his life on the battlefield. If his brother were still alive, he would've been around the same age as Erwin, and perhaps he would've been just as popular with women. With that in mind, Tuhar heaved a forlorn internal sigh, then bade farewell to Erwin.

...

On the way back to Newfando, Erwin sat in a constant silence in his carriage. He was still thinking about the sigh that had come out of the space-time rift, wondering exactly where it had come from.

The women in the carriage could see that he was thinking about something, so they didn't disturb him.

Onean and Lana were naturally very hostile toward one another, and just their mere presence seemed to be causing the temperature in the carriage to plummet drastically.

Theresa could sense the tense atmosphere in the carriage, and as a result, she didn't dare to get intimate with Erwin for fear of having both of the women turn on her.

Turan was driving the carriage, while on the roof of the carriage sat Aglea, the most powerful swordsman of this current generation, with the exception of Sword God Buu.

Laying in the carriage behind this one was Yuho, who was bedridden once again, and just like last time, it was left to Faya to look after him. Yuho was looking at the copy of "Divine Dawn Finger" in his hand with a troubled expression. He was very thankful that Erwin had given him this book to study, but at the same time, he was also feeling a great deal of pressure, worried that he would let Erwin down if he couldn't master the contents of the book. At the same time, he was feeling very guilty that Faya was having to look after him again. There was also a sense of affection that he had developed for Faya over the course of all of the time that they had spent together.

Faya was aware of his feelings, but in contrast with Erwin, every other man was simply completely unappealing to her, and she was unable to develop any romantic interest in anyone else.

As the group emerged from the ruler's territory, Erwin received a letter from Chinba, informing him that an army of roughly 70,000 troops was already mobilizing toward the south of the Delair Dukedom.

"That's a rather interesting envelope. Who sent this letter to you?" Lana asked with an intrigued expression as she inspected the azure envelope in Erwin's hand.

The color of the envelope was very suitable for love letters, so Lana couldn't help but suspect that this was a love letter that had been sent to Erwin by some young noblewoman. However, judging from the attire of the messenger, it was clear that he wasn't someone who would be tasked with delivering a love letter.

Erwin looked up to find Lana scrutinizing the messenger through the window of the carriage, and he explained, "This is a letter from the Shadowfeather Division I set up not long ago."

"Shadowfeather Division?"

"It's an intelligence division I established in the Delair Dukedom," Erwin replied.

"Oh, that's quite impressive. It sounds like you have a whole system up and running," Lana jibed.

"What does the letter say?" Onean asked as she turned to Erwin.

"Sanfesa has mobilized an army of around 70,000 troops, and they're going to attack once winter passes and the ice thaws," Erwin said with tightly furrowed brows.

Lana stood up before placing her hands on either side of Erwin's face. "To think that my man is the ruler of the dukedom now. Don't look so glum and concerned. With so many people fighting for you, no old hag is a match for you."

A certain "old hag" sitting on the roof of the carriage was not very happy to hear this, and she slapped the roof with her palm in protest.

Erwin's concerned expression immediately gave way to amusement as he chuckled, "The old hags are the most troublesome ones to deal with."

...

Meanwhile, Duba Xar, Sim, Sword God Buu, and their group were also on their way to the Delair Dukedom.

Duba could see that Sim had become rather weary from traveling on horseback, so he suggested, "Senior Sim, you've been toiling away your entire life already, why don't you go and sit in the carriage? That would be much easier on your body."

"I'm going to keep riding while I still have the energy to do so," Sim replied with a shake of his head. "Given my current age, I can probably count the number of times I'll be able to ride on horseback in the rest of my life on one hand, so don't mind me, I'm just trying to cling onto what little of my youth still remains."

"I understand that, but do we really have to be in such a hurry?" Duba asked with a puzzled expression.

"Your Excellency, you can't just expect an army to follow your orders as soon as you take control over it. You have to examine the situation in all of the army's divisions, get a good grasp on the capabilities and areas of expertise of all of the commanders, as well as the relationships between all of them. You have to know these things like the back of your hand," Sim explained. "If you want to be able to use a tool to its fullest extent, you have to know every little detail about it first. This army is like a sword in your hand. If you don't even know how to wield the sword, how will you be able to use it to the best effect?"

"Thank you for the lesson, Senior Sim," Duba said with an earnest nod. "I may be referred to as the general of this army, but when it comes to issuing instructions on the battlefield, that duty will still have to fall upon your shoulders."

"Do you think Prince Xar instructed you to come out here just so you can do nothing and return to Finklan none the wiser?" Sim asked. "Do you not understand what Prince Xar expects of you?"

"I know that Father wants me to gather some experience when it comes to leading troops in battle, but I'm a completely blank slate, so I'll have to start from square one," Duba sighed, "Your Excellency, at some point, even the greatest generals in history were in your current position," Sim encouraged. "It's better to start now than to resign yourself to being a blank slate forever. I'm sure Prince Xar only decided to send you to the front lines as Erwin is an extremely troublesome adversary to deal with. That young man can be very dangerous if allowed to grow unchecked."

Thinking back to the game of battle chess that he had played against Erwin in the Pinnacle Casino and how Erwin had set such a vicious trap for him, even in a position that was objectively completely lost, Sim could tell that Erwin was going to be an extremely troublesome opponent on the battlefield as well.

"Not only is he an extremely rare time and space magician, he also has many powerful allies by his side. He's definitely not going to be an easy opponent to overcome," Duba said, but despite his grim expression, he wasn't actually overly concerned about the upcoming battle.

"Those women around him are indeed all very powerful, but with Buu accompanying us, I'm not that worried about them," Sim said. "What I'm most wary of is Erwin himself. He was able to roughly guess the story between Canbad the Great and Emperor Kenny IIX just by examining the available historical records. Even if he didn't possess time and space magic, a man with a brain like his is an extremely dangerous opponent. Having said that, it's been many years since I've encountered an opponent like him, so I'm very much looking forward to our battle."

"I'm very relieved to hear that, Senior Sim," Duba said with a smile.

Meanwhile, Sword God Buu had remained silent this entire time, seemingly completely disinterested in their conversation. He was constantly thinking of the attacks unleashed by the swordswoman who had faced Erwin in battle. He couldn't shake the feeling that her sword intent and her techniques were very reminiscent of a certain woman from 20 years ago, and to make things even stranger, her figure, stature, and the way that she moved reminded him greatly of his own deceased disciple.

This was extremely perplexing to him, and he hadn't mentioned this to anyone, including Prince Xar.

...

Prime Minister Henry's manor.

At this moment, Prime Minister Henry was in his own study, reading a book on the occult. The book described how people entered the underworld after their death. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have ever read such a far-fetched and bizarre book. The underworld that was described in the book was even more ridiculous than the one described by the missionaries of the Holy World Church to try and frighten people into joining their religion.

Perhaps the book's contents were too ridiculous, or he had something else on his mind. In any case, he stood up and made his way over to the window for some fresh air.

He cast his gaze toward the west in silence.

He had already been notified by informants that Duba Xar had already set off toward the west with Sim and Sword God Buu in accompaniment.

However, Prime Minister Xar didn't seem to have paid the news much heed.

Theoretically speaking, it should've been quite concerning for him to hear that a martial artist as formidable as Sword God Buu was going to get involved in the battle in the northwest, but instead, he was very calm and collected.

So where exactly was this calmness stemming from? Was it his confidence in Erwin?

That naturally wasn't the case. Prime Minister Henry had a very lofty opinion of Erwin, but he still didn't think that the current Erwin had the ability to contend with Sword God Buu.

As it turned out, Prime Minister Henry had already managed to identify Aglea. After all, she was his daughter, and even though Prime Minister Henry couldn't be sure at first, he quickly came to the realization of who she was.

However, he had concealed his reaction very well, so Prince Xar didn't notice anything amiss.

He was very proud after witnessing her battle against Erwin as his daughter already had the power to oppose Sword God Buu.

Prime Minister Henry had always adopted a very hands-off approach in the nurturing of his children, interfering with their lives as little as possible.

Even when Aglea dropped a bombshell by declaring that she was defecting from the family 20 years ago, he had never blamed her or resented her.

He knew Aglea's personality better than anyone else. He knew that Aglea had only cut ties with the Henry Family in such a brutal manner as she didn't want the family to have to suffer for her crimes.