Chapter 80: Breaching the Frontier

　　The Kosom sector was the vital artery leading to Scrolo. In the era of Willem, travelers and goods from Scrolo, Pandir, and the southern territories converged here before flowing to the rest of the world. By the reign of Reberdin, it remained a land of plenty, yet it now bore the heavy mantle of a frontier province. Its border defenses had been forged and tempered by a brilliant member of the royal house, whose leadership had once rendered the enemy incapable of advancing a single step.　　After that royal commander’s untimely death, the army fell back to the frontier. Even as Voxmire sank into a quagmire of decadence and corruption, these legions maintained their martial spirit and iron discipline, standing watch with unwavering vigilance. In contrast, the local civilians and officials clung to the hollow security of the peace treaty, drowning themselves in a life of luxury and vice. They failed to realize that true safety is born only of clarity and constant watchfulness.　　While the rot and incompetence of Kosom’s officials offered the Nord army a golden opportunity, the commander of the border legions remained a seasoned veteran of a hundred battles. Having earned the respect of Coletier during his service in the western marches, he followed his royal patron to the milder east, where his dying master eventually entrusted him with the supreme command of the forces.　　According to the commander’s dispatches, interrogations of suspicious detainees revealed a chilling truth: the officials of the Kosom sector had long been in secret contact with the Nord army. They were not only feeding intelligence to the enemy but were also begging for their own lives and illicit fortunes to be spared when the city inevitably fell.　　An incensed Duke dispatched the upright Samideli and a royal judge to the capital of Kosom. Under the watchfu