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The sound of the doors slamming open was most likely heard by everyone within the palace. Prying his tired eyes open, Saulus forced himself to look towards the entrance of his chamber.

Firstborns gracious, spare me…Standing right in the entrance, Venna simply stared daggers at her childhood friend. Her once beautiful hunting outfit was now all in wrinkles, indicating how long it had been since she last wore it. Judging from how late Saulus was, she most likely hadn’t taken it off since she put it on two days ago!

“Hello…?”

Trying his chances at casually greeting his queen, Saulus could only watch as a long wrinkle appeared right on top of Venna’s forehead.

“Do you even realize how late you are?”

That was the number of words that Venna was willing to spare for her friend at fault. Still casting bolts of lightning from her eyes towards the poor general, she clearly didn’t care what the reason was for the delay.

“Yeah. Important stuff came up when I was inspecting the frontline. Apparently, I made a mistake by selecting an… unsuitable person to oversee the entire area. If not for my intervention back there, the war would already be lost.”

Saulus intentionally overestimated the potential drawbacks of letting that incompetent fool keep his post as the commander. Even though the fortification he ordered him to set failed to achieve any of their targets, the problem of pushing a huge amount of troops through the empty plains between the camps remained. This meant, no greater invasion could follow through the side of the front unless the southern loyalists were willing to make great sacrifices.

But the war wasn’t about great deeds committed by the heroes and lords striving to reach the level of glory necessary to be accepted into the true houses of firstborns. It was about one’s ability to station his troops in a desirable place. It was about the ability to properly feed them. In the end, rather than making it impossible for the enemy to overwhelm a given unit, all that a sensible general had to do was make it too costly for the enemy to attack!

And that was the reason behind the current stalemate at the front. The harvest season had yet to begin, making it a tough task to provide huge armies with the necessary amount of provisions. For now, the war was all about checking the position of the enemies with a limited number of soldiers while preparing everything for the true invasion.

The great hunt that was supposed to start two days ago was also one of the means to obtain more food. And given how barren the lands of the southern loyalists were, obtaining the required amount of meat could be the difference between winning and losing!

“I see…”

The wrinkle had yet to disappear from Venna’s face. Thankfully, the fury cleared out from her eyes, replaced with just a slight annoyance.

“Either way, get the hell out of the bed. I know you are tired after the long journey, but we can’t hold the hunt any longer. Even Bloy has started to act weird due to the delays.”

Shaking her head as she finally revealed the reason for her foul mood, Venna didn’t even bother to look away when Saulus stood up from the bed. With nothing but his underwear covering his most important parts, he took the peeping queen as punishment for all the delays that caused their supporters to get a little restless.

Trying to ignore the prying eyes of his childhood friend and currently his queen, Saulus quickly grabbed his clothes to dress. Even though he arrived at the palace in the dead of the night, some servants proved to be more than capable of perfecting their job, preparing the hunting outfit in Saulus’ wardrobe in advance.

“Tell me, are they restless because of the delay, or because of how we are slightly too close to the start of the harvest season for comfort?”

Just like in ages prior, this was the main limitation behind conducting warfare. But right now, it was also the one thing that decided the deadline after which the silly play at the frontline would turn into a proper meat grinder. And given how even slight changes of weather or even just luck alone could push the date for weeks, there really was no time to spare.

“Both, or so I think.”

Finally bored with staring at Saulus’ scarred muscles or maybe just sated with what she saw already, Venna turned to the side before resting her back against the frame of the door. Dropping her head low, she brought her right thumb to her mouth before starting to bite at her fingernail.

That’s a new thing…Taking note of this unusual behavior of Venna, Saulus finished his preparation. Quickly reaching the side of his queen, he bowed curtly before offering her his arm.

“My queen, I might not be the best or even the most handsome choice, but I’m worried you have no better choice in terms of who could accompany you to the hunt.”

Lowering his head in a slight bow, Saulus had to hide the same lips that were uttering those words in worry that he wouldn’t be able to stop a slight smirk from appearing on his face.

“You… YOU!”

Instantly flaring up just like Saulus hoped she would, Venna lashed at him without even a shred of hesitation. With her fist playfully hitting his side, Saulus noted with surprise that her attacks… actually hurt. Obviously, not like a sword cutting one’s skin open or a spear penetrating deeply into his innards, but they could still be felt.

Yet another thing that changed about Venna during Saulus’ absence.

I wonder if she is going to change so much I won’t even be able to recognize her…Taking a sad guess about the future, Saulus shook his head to throw those thoughts away. There was absolutely no point in thinking about it. Rather than wasting his time on useless thoughts, Saulus placed his hands on Venna’s shoulders, enduring her constant yet still playful beating until the girl finally managed to calm herself down.

“Okay, now that you understand I was just playing with you, let’s stop wasting time. Let’s go!”

Locking Venna’s arm under his, Saulus wrapped her hand around his arm as he led her through the corridors of the palace. From the vivid commotion coming from the windows of the building, it was clear that the news of his arrival already spread through the entire city, prompting everyone interested to start preparing for the hunt.

Most of them considered the great hunt to be an enormous opportunity to mingle with others, make new contacts or just spend their time on leisure. But that didn’t matter. Because under the surface of noble games of tag in the forest, every single hunter that Saulus’ men managed to find in the last two weeks would tirelessly work to bring as much meat to the legionaries mouth as they would be humanly capable of!