"His Majesty has not been seen for three days in a row!"
Cumberland stood in front of Huggins, his eyes wide, and roared at him.
The latter looked out the window with a troubled expression, pretending not to have heard.
Cumberland glanced around at the trembling guards and said fiercely, "You all know where His Majesty is, but you just won't listen, right?!"
No one answered him.
Seeing the situation becoming increasingly deadlocked, Huggins had no choice but to say to Cumberland, "His Majesty is working on a very important project, and he has repeatedly emphasized that we should not disturb him unless absolutely necessary."
The old knight grew angrier the more he heard this. He was about to raise his leg and kick Huggins's buttocks, but when he saw the cane the other man was using, he restrained himself and lowered his leg.
Just as the group of people were staring at each other in an awkward standoff, Todd, humming a tune, walked easily and cheerfully into the audience hall from the underground laboratory.
Looking at the people in the hall, Todd asked curiously, "What are you all doing gathered here?"
Huggins desperately tried to signal to the King with his eyes, but the King didn't notice.
Cumberland strode up to Todd and said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, the kingdom's officials are searching everywhere for you! Everyone is going crazy!"
Todd looked surprised: "Looking for me? What happened?!"
"Anyway, don't ask so many questions, just come with me!"
Before he could even take off his lab coat, Todd, led by Cumberland, left the palace in a carriage and headed towards the Knights' headquarters.
Before the carriage even reached its destination, Todd was already surrounded by a cacophony of voices and the piercing roars of animals.
When he stepped out of the car, the sight of a sea of people in front of him startled him.
Who are these people?
Cumberland had no intention of answering him; he simply ordered his soldiers to part the crowd of onlookers and make way for the king.
When Todd entered the stables behind the Knights' headquarters, he finally understood why the kingdom's officials were in such a hurry.
Fourteen adult griffins, along with seven other griffins, ran merrily through the stable.
A row of cooks hired from the city were huddled in steel cages, desperately grilling pork chops.
Several griffins were waiting beside the iron cage, their eyes fixed on the roasted meat in the chef's hands. They looked exactly like uncles and aunties attending a buffet.
Cumberland said to Todd, "Just last night, a flock of griffins circled over Twilight City. Because you had previously ordered that these war beasts not be attacked, the kingdom's army could only watch helplessly as they landed at the stables."
“Because of this, I came to the palace last night with many officials, hoping you would step in to resolve this matter. But that bastard Harkins wouldn’t tell me where you were!” Cumberland clenched his fist indignantly. “And then the stable master came to report that those hungry griffins had started hunting the horses! As a last resort, as you can see now, we distracted the griffins with iron cages and roasted meat, and took the opportunity to move all the horses.”
Todd listened to Cumberland's complaints while nodding repeatedly.
He had always thought that it would take Henry the Griffin at least a month to return, but he was back in less than ten days. Not only did he bring back his spouse Sonia and their children, but he also brought back a whole bunch of his cronies.
Todd went into the stable and found Henry resting on the haystack in the innermost room.
Beside him, an exhausted Sonia was eating roasted meat to replenish her energy, and when she saw Todd appear, she merely nodded slightly.
Beneath Henry's wings lay three griffin eggs of different colors, lying quietly on the haystack.
Without waking Henry, Todd left the stables and called Huggins over, saying, "Find a quiet spot in the north of the city, near the military camp, to house these griffins."
Watching a fully grown griffin easily devour a large piece of roasted meat, Huggins' eye twitched: "As you command."
Cumberland walked up to Todd and said to him, “Your Majesty, it has been three days since the last meeting, and we know nothing about the state of the Kingdom’s delegation.”
Reminded by the old knight, Todd also remembered that Dion and the delegation led by Mary had not been in contact for a long time.
After entering the Soul Space, Todd summoned all the kingdom's high-ranking officials, and then found Lyon and Mary to inquire about the mission's progress.
Clearly sleep-deprived, Dion, sporting dark circles under his eyes, said to everyone, "Saint Guard City has delivered the weapons, armor, and decommissioned warhorses they promised to us to Watchtower."
Dion transferred his memories to the screen and pointed to the mountain of weapons and armor on the screen, saying, "I have inspected these equipment. They are well-maintained and in good condition. In ordinary countries, they would not be an exaggeration to say that they are the standard equipment of a regular army."
Todd looked at the weapons and armor in the image and nodded in satisfaction: "Very good. And what about those discarded warhorses?"
Dion's expression turned somewhat strange, and he said to Todd in a low voice, "I don't think we should call these things warhorses."
In the memory, Dion lifted the oilcloth, and what was revealed underneath caused everyone to scream in surprise.
These "decommissioned warhorses" cannot even be considered horses; they are not even corpses.
A pile of horses that died in battle, their skins stripped off, their meat removed, and even their internal organs dug out, leaving only a pile of broken flesh and bones.
Cumberland frowned and said to Dion, "These are the horses that Holy Guard City promised to sell us? This is a complete pile of garbage!"
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