"What's going on?" Neonsis demanded, his voice sharp with confusion.
Before anyone could answer, the door burst open with a resounding bang. A guard stormed in, his face alight with excitement. "Report, generals! The scouts have returned! They say… they say… the mercenaries have won! The Lucanian coalition has been defeated!!"
"Is this true?!" The generals exclaimed in unison, their disbelief mirrored in their wide eyes.
"Yes!" the guard affirmed, his voice trembling with exhilaration. "The scouts went to the battlefield—the Great Riverbank—where the mercenaries fought the Lucanians. They said the entire area is littered with the corpses of Lucanians!"
"Incredible… Absolutely incredible…" Neonsis murmured, as if speaking in a dream.
