Chapter 197
Some time later.
Finally, after quelling the unrest within the organization and leveraging the power of the Blue Mage Tower to establish a foothold across the empire, the Grave Walkers and their subordinate factions had secured their positions.
The Shadow Lord remained secluded within the Saxon Viscountship beyond the Demon Realm, a symbol of the Saxon Duke’s house and the exploits of the ‘Black Prince,’ rarely showing himself to the outside world.
Initially, he refused visitors for days and nights on end, secluding himself alone in a single room on the top floor. That room was even an ‘operations meeting room’ where not even a bed had been prepared.
For days on end, the attendants worried about Dale, who never emerged from that very place, and tried to speak to him, but no reply was heard.
It wasn’t as if there were no one who could persuade Dale—a few were said to be capable, such as the Black Count, Sepia, or the Sword of Death.
Yet they too simply maintained silence, stating only that they would ‘respect Dale’s wishes’.
Thus, receiving only the bare minimum of food, Dale persisted in his self-imposed prisoner’s existence within the silence that stretched on for weeks.
Days spent confined to a single room like a prisoner, consuming minimal food, managing menstruation, and living entirely within that space.
Within that, there was only one thing Dale was doing.
It was a war game.
On a ridiculously spacious table, hundreds of chess pieces, too numerous to count, were lined up.
