After they finished changing, everyone returned to the border patrol office, leaving the remaining teams behind to clean up and monitor the route. They needed to discuss the incident as part of the official investigation. Each person had to file a report detailing how many rogues appeared, how the attack started, the pattern of the assault, and other key observations.
It was only then that Addison learned the number of rogue attacks on the Royal Capital had significantly increased over the past few weeks. She also found out why Lance always looked so sleepy—it was because he had been taking night shifts, standing guard when most enemies were likely to sneak in under the cover of darkness.
"The rogue attacks are getting more frequent lately. Do you think it’s because the Alpha King’s birthday celebration is coming up and they want to stir up trouble?" Anna asked with a huff, dropping heavily into a seat.
"I don’t think that’s the reason," replied Alvin, the sa man who had teased Addison earlier. "Even before the Alpha King’s birthday was announced, the rogues were already acting suspicious. My cousin told this isn’t an isolated case. Apparently, the Midnight River Pack has also been under frequent attack."
"They’ve already requested help from the Royal Court, but since the Royal Capital’s manpower has been stretched thin due to the natural disasters in other regions, the Palace hasn’t been able to send anyone to investigate yet."
"Do you think the two incidents are connected?" Anna asked.
At her words, Addison felt her stomach lurch. She was an insider, after all, and she knew exactly what they were talking about. It was true that rogue attacks in the Midnight River Pack had beco increasingly frequent. Whether it was a coincidence or part of sothing bigger, she still wasn’t sure.
"Since when did the rogue attacks start becoming frequent here?" Addison asked, her tone calm but curious.
Only then did Alvin realize they were casually discussing sensitive matters in front of the Alpha King’s new personal assistant—soone who might know more than she let on. Worse, they were technically gossiping during working hours. Caught off guard, Alvin quickly cleared his throat and straightened up, suddenly more cautious with his words.
Alvin glanced at Anna, silently asking for backup, but she avoided his gaze and simply shrugged, signaling that he was on his own. At that mont, Lance returned to his seat, leaned back, and was fast asleep again the mont his back touched the chair—clearly not planning to contribute. Left with no choice, Alvin let out a sigh and decided to explain, knowing that anything he said might be linked to the Midnight River Pack’s situation.
"Well... as far as I can rember, the borders of the Royal Capital have always dealt with frequent attacks," Alvin began. "But until recently, they were mostly from monsters—nothing our squads couldn’t handle. Those attacks rarely posed any real threat to the Capital itself, especially with the wall surrounding it and the patrols constantly watching the periter outside and on the wall."
He paused before continuing, his tone growing more serious. "But things started to shift a few weeks ago—maybe a week and a half. The rogue activity spiked. They’ve been attacking from multiple sides of the border, almost as if they’re looking for a specific entry point. Sure, that kind of probing isn’t unusual—most enemies do that—but the rogues lately... they’re a lot more persistent than what we’re used to."
Alvin plopped down onto his chair in front of his desk and gestured for Addison to co over. "See this?" he said, waving a hand over the ssy stack of paperwork.
When Addison approached, he continued, "Thanks to those damn rogues, we’ve been swamped. Almost all of these reports are rogue-related. I’d say maybe only five percent are about other monsters or races. The rest? Pure rogue trouble."
He then tilted his head toward Lance, who was still slouched in his chair. "And see him? He’s been pulling night duty because most of the rogues try to sneak in after dark. It’s been a real pain in the ass. No wonder he’s been so moody and temperantal lately—he barely gets any sleep."
"If he’s already handling night duty, then why is he still here during the day?" Addison asked as she picked up a few files from Alvin’s desk and started flipping through them.
’His handwriting is awful,’ she thought, squinting at the ssy scrawl. ’Like a chicken scratching at the ground.’
As she read through the report, Addison realized it was Alvin’s personal account of what he had witnessed during a rogue attack. If she wasn’t mistaken, these reports would also be sent to the Domain Managent Departnt to cross-reference with others. They looked for patterns or similarities in rogue behavior, and if the threat level was deed high enough, the report could be forwarded to the Alpha King.
In that case, the Royal Knights—a specialized unit under the Royal Guards tasked with defending the capital and acting as the Alpha King’s personal army—would be deployed. They were only sent out during ergencies that threatened the Capital’s safety. And if the frequency of these rogue attacks was indeed reaching that threshold, it might soon be ti to relieve the Border Patrol Team of this matter and bring in the Royal Knights to take over the case.
"Well, as you probably know, Lance is the Vice Captain of the Border Patrol Team—and the second strongest among us," Alvin began, pulling a sheet of paper from the stack on his desk. "He personally assigned himself to handle night patrols to make sure no rogues or suspicious individuals sneak into the Royal Capital under the cover of darkness."
He scribbled sothing quickly on the paper, then slid it discreetly across the desk toward Addison so he wouldn’t have to say it out loud.
"He seems to have been traumatized by the Princess’s abduction six years ago. Ever since, he’s been a bit paranoid, making sure no unknown entity slips through during the night."
Once Addison had read the ssage, Alvin crumpled the note and tossed it into the trash. Then, as if nothing had happened, he continued speaking so she’d be on the sa page as the rest of them.
"As for why he’s still around during the day and even patrols the border occasionally—well..." Alvin trailed off, glancing over his shoulder at Lance, who was fast asleep in his chair like a guard dog.
"He’s a lone wolf, y’know. No life outside work, so he basically lives for border duty," Alvin joked.
He didn’t even get to finish the sentence before a mug ca flying across the room and hit him square on the head, shattering on impact. Blood trickled down Alvin’s temple.
Lance, eyes barely open, glared at him with a silent warning. Then, as if nothing had happened, he closed his eyes again, clearly telling Alvin to cut the gossip.
"Serves you right!" Anna rolled her eyes and scoffed as she stood up to get so water, only to realize the mug Lance had thrown at Alvin was hers. Her eyes widened. "Wait a second... that was my mug, wasn’t it?!"
She nearly shrieked, catching herself just in ti, not wanting to accidentally wake Lance up.
"This is your fault, you stupid mutt!" she hissed, storming over and smacking Alvin on the back of the head.
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