Several decades ago, Shahalian had once considered the possibility of the Empire and the beastman coalition engaging in all-out war. The pro-war faction was nothing but a tool to maintain power, but there was no harm in preparing for the worst. By Shahalian’s calculations, the beastman coalition did have a chance of victory.
Of course, that chance hinged on blurring the line between the laborer beastmen and the warrior beastmen, and waging an unrestricted guerrilla war. If the conflict dragged on for years, the mage class would grow weary, and the war would simply fizzle out.
When this report first emerged, the owl beastman chief, famed for his wisdom, was said to have lamented. But Shahalian was satisfied with that conclusion. After all, it proved that even a Great Mage was not invincible.
Yet after Isaac Upperhills appeared, everything changed. Not a mere lone powerful mage, but a mage who reshaped the Empire itself. The idea that rather than the individual adapting to society, society would adapt to a single individual—this was a mode of survival Shahalian had never even imagined.