Socially anxious people transmigrate to another world; living in seclusion is too difficult.

The Qinggui Festival quickly came to an end, and people from all over the world gradually returned to their busy lives. The royal city of Paisen also returned to its former hustle and bustle, and the streets became noisy again.

That day, Su Yang and Lin Anlan arrived at the city gate of the royal city, intending to enter the city to buy some spring clothes. Su Yang's spring clothes were already tattered, and Lin Anlan took advantage of the Qinggui Festival to use all of his tattered clothes as bedding in the Icewing Dog's den. Therefore, today Lin Anlan dragged him out to the city to buy new clothes.

"I think my old clothes are still okay. I can mend them and wear them for a while longer," Su Yang muttered.

"They're all so tattered, why are you still wearing them? When I was an adventurer, my clothes weren't as worn out as yours. No way! I have to buy some today." Lin Anlan couldn't help but complain after hearing this.

"Alright, alright, I'll buy it then." Su Yang could only reluctantly agree.

As they approached the city gate, they saw a long queue outside, with a large number of soldiers maintaining order. Su Yang and his companion joined the queue at the end of the line, but the crowd showed no signs of moving forward.

Seeing this, Lin Anlan patted the person in front of her on the shoulder and asked, "Excuse me, why is there a queue to enter the city today? And we haven't moved forward at all after all this time. Is something wrong?"

The man turned around and said, "Sigh, who knows? It's like this every year at this time. The other city gates are fine, but this one is different. I guess it will be open again once the carriages have passed."

Su Yang assumed it was some nobleman or king traveling by carriage, hence the crowd control. After patiently waiting, he finally heard the sound of horses' hooves approaching. Su Yang was immediately overjoyed; after waiting so long, the so-called carriage was finally arriving. However, the somewhat chaotic sound of the hooves gave Su Yang a bad feeling.

The first carriage sped past, followed by the second, the third... and so on, until twenty carriages had passed without any sign of stopping. Su Yang couldn't help but exclaim, "These aren't just carriages, they're practically an entire caravan!"

One carriage after another passed by Su Yang, who counted them one by one. Finally, when the last carriage passed, there were a total of fifty-eight carriages. Moreover, the carriages were all wrapped tightly in black cloth, and it was unknown what was inside. Then, the queue of people began to move slowly forward, and the two of them were finally able to enter the city.

After entering the city, the crowd outside the city gates dispersed, and the streets immediately became noisy, with various vendors shouting their wares. However, in contrast to the hustle and bustle of the city, a secret meeting room in the royal palace was unusually quiet.

"You mean to say that after spending months, you only found the whereabouts of one elemental stone, and such important information has been discovered by other countries?" After a moment of silence, Pact said with a gloomy face. His anger was palpable, and even a fool could sense his suppressed rage.

Chief Officer Austin calmly replied, "Yes, Your Majesty. Ever since the first squad sent back news from the Spiritfall Forest that the Healing Stone was in the Elven tribe, the other nations have been closely monitoring our troops. Moreover, the troops from the Spiritfall Forest did not return as scheduled; instead, they all disappeared. Therefore, we suspect that the other nations must already know this news."

"Why? Why is the confidentiality of the information so poor?" Pact continued to press.

“Your Majesty, I think it’s because the kingdom has been in a state of neutrality for a long time without any war, and the soldiers have been neglecting their training. The elite soldiers temporarily selected for this operation are also difficult to match in terms of quality with the mission,” another official, Andrei, stood up and replied, pointing the finger directly at the military.

Colin immediately felt uneasy upon hearing this. He had a premonition that Pact was about to question him, but before he could even sort out his thoughts, Pact's sharp questions immediately reached his ears.

"Duke Colin, is the military being neglected? Are the soldiers incapable of fighting? Such important intelligence has been leaked, how do you plan to salvage it?" A series of questions came at him, each one more difficult to answer than the last. After standing up and thinking for a moment, Colin immediately came up with an answer.

"Your Majesty," Colin said, "I have indeed failed in my duty. I suggest an immediate and thorough investigation of all departments and officers at all levels within the military. Several exemplary individuals should be identified and brought before a military court to be sentenced to death for delaying crucial military matters, as a warning to others and a deterrent to all officers in the military." After saying this, Colin paused briefly, quickly observing Pact's reaction. Seeing no change in Pact's expression, he continued:

"At the same time, we will increase the frequency of military exercises, clear out bandits in various parts of the country, improve the combat experience of the troops, and also improve the stability of various cities in the country. In addition, I believe that this intelligence leak must be due to foreign spies spying on us. I request Your Majesty to order a secret search for foreign spies in the city."

After speaking, Colin remained standing, awaiting Pact's instructions. Pact pondered for a moment, then turned to Chief Justice Austin and asked, "What does Chief Justice Austin think?"

Austin bowed and replied, “Your Majesty, I thought that domestic affairs were entirely up to Your Majesty’s decision. Now, the more important thing is how to deal with the envoys from various countries who are about to arrive.”

“Yes, Your Excellency is right. Now that the Qinggui Festival has ended, envoys from various countries will soon be coming to the palace to meet us. But should this matter be handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or should we continue to keep it a secret?” Because the military’s affairs concerning the Elemental Stones had been kept highly confidential, even though the news had been leaked, a lot of secrecy work had been done. Pact was therefore unsure whether to reveal this information to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“We think it’s alright to inform the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of some details. Even if we don’t say anything, other countries will leak the information. There’s no way we can keep it a secret now.” Austin didn’t care. What was the point of trying to hide it now that things had come to this?

“Alright, Colin, your request is granted. Now you can make the arrangements. Call Sigrid over. You two have always had a good relationship, so I won’t send anyone else to inform her,” Pact said.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

After leaving the meeting room, Colin felt a pang of unease, not just because of the leak of important intelligence, but more importantly because of what Pact had said: what did he mean by having a good relationship with Sigrid? This was clearly a blatant threat. Did the King really know what he was doing in secret? Was he trying to give him a warning?

As Colin walked out of the palace, he analyzed in his mind, "Even if things are exposed, His Majesty probably won't touch me for a while. But if things continue to go wrong in the missions related to the Elemental Stones, the situation might be different. During this period, I should focus on the military and reorganize military affairs."

As he was thinking, he got into the carriage and glanced out the window. Suddenly, he saw someone getting off a carriage across the way. Upon closer inspection, he recognized him as the Minister of the Interior, Little Laus. Laus was walking briskly toward the palace, carrying several documents in his hand.

"What is he doing here? His Majesty shouldn't have time to see him right now." With this question in mind, Colin's carriage slowly set off towards the Sigrid mansion.