Chapter 95: Conflict!
War.
A simple word, yet one that carried enough weight to crush entire nations beneath its meaning. It was never just about armies clashing on battlefields, steel against steel, blood staining the earth. War meant upheaval. Displacement. Cities reduced to smoldering ruins, families shattered, lives forever altered. It was a storm that did not discriminate, sweeping away both the mighty and the meek in its relentless path.
For Velren, the notion of war had always been a distant one. Something that existed in history books, whispered rumors, or the tales of old soldiers who had seen too much. Yet here he was, sitting across from Mikhail, listening to implications that could turn those distant echoes into reality.
He should’ve just stayed in the forest. But then again, that was no solution either. Part of Sylmare Forest bordered Elyndra. If war truly did break out, would that mean he would be caught in the crossfire eventually? No matter how much he had distanced himself from the affairs of kingdoms and nobility, war did not care for personal boundaries.
Velren raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms as he leaned back slightly.
"That’s a lot of ’ifs’ back there," he remarked with a skeptical tone, but not dismissive.
"You don’t even know for sure if House Rhaegis deliberately did it or not. For all we know, that alloy could’ve been stolen, smuggled out, or hell, even sold off by some rogue element in their ranks."
His fingers tapped idly against the table as he continued.
"You’re jumping straight to conspiracy and war, but at the end of the day, all you really have is a missing chunk of metal and a whole lot of assumptions. You might be right. But you might also be seeing ghosts where there aren’t any."