My planet is infested with Goblins

Chapter 67: No Cause for Panic

Lord Governor Marcellan Rusk turned the sealed letter over once in his hands before placing it flat against the command table. Around him, General Cedric Halvern, several provincial nobles, senior officers, and administrators waited in silence.

Only moments earlier, the same room had been filled with arguments over lost roads, abandoned villages, and the increasing number of Viridian columns moving toward Eastwatch.

Now every eye rested on the royal seal pressed into the dark red wax.

They had waited weeks for this response, long enough for the crisis described in their original letters to become almost unrecognizable. Marcellan finally broke the seal, unfolded the heavy paper, and began reading.

The opening was exactly what he expected from the royal court: formal greetings, acknowledgment of his authority as governor, and confirmation that his previous dispatches regarding disturbances in the eastern province had reached the capital.

The king’s letter referenced attacks on patrols, the loss of several settlements, reports of unusual hostile forces, and Marcellan’s request for additional royal troops.

For the first few lines, Marcellan felt a small measure of relief. At least the crown had received the warnings. At least the royal government knew something was happening in the east.

That relief disappeared as he continued.

The letter stated that reports similar to Marcellan’s had arrived from several other regions of the kingdom.

Northern governors described unknown armed forces appearing near remote settlements and frontier roads. Southern provinces had reported attacks on patrols and fortified positions.

In the west, several villages had been abandoned after sudden incursions by unfamiliar enemies. Other governors had sent increasingly urgent requests for reinforcements, each claiming that their own province faced a threat requiring immediate royal attention.

Marcellan stopped reading and looked across the table.

Lord Harren Mavek was the first to speak. "Other provinces are being attacked as well?"

"That is what it says."

Halvern leaned closer. "Continue."

Marcellan returned to the letter. The king explained that because similar reports were arriving from multiple directions, the royal government did not believe any single provincial disturbance should yet be treated as uniquely catastrophic.

The wording was careful and measured. Governors were advised to maintain calm, preserve public order, and avoid allowing incomplete reports or frightened refugees to create unnecessary panic.

The crown believed that the kingdom was experiencing a period of widespread frontier instability, but the true scale and origin of the disturbances remained uncertain.

Marcellan’s expression hardened.

He read the next portion more slowly.

"The crown acknowledges the concerns expressed by the eastern provincial administration. Similar alarm has, however, been raised by governors in the north, south, and west.

His Majesty therefore advises all provincial authorities to exercise restraint in their assessments until more complete information can be assembled.

Existing garrisons and provincial forces should remain sufficient to contain local disturbances while the royal government evaluates reports from across the kingdom."

Nobody spoke for several seconds.

Harren eventually stared at the map covering most of the table. Viridian markers filled the countryside around Eastwatch and surrounded several major fortified cities.

"Local disturbances?"

Marcellan lowered the letter slightly. "Apparently."

Another noble leaned forward. "Does His Majesty know multiple soldiers are gone?"

Halvern answered before Marcellan could. "Look at the date."

Marcellan turned the paper toward him. Halvern read the date near the top and immediately understood the problem.

"This was written before the latest reports could have reached the capital."

"How far before?" Harren asked.

"Long before."

Halvern pointed toward the eastern portion of the map.

"The court is answering the letters we sent when Brackenford had fallen and Alaric was still preparing his counteroffensive. Their understanding of this war is weeks behind ours."

Marcellan resumed reading, although his patience was disappearing with every paragraph. The king instructed him to maintain the defenses of important settlements, ensure that local militia remained organized, suppress exaggerated rumors, and coordinate with neighboring authorities where practical.

Provincial troops were not to abandon territory unnecessarily or conduct reckless operations based on uncertain estimates of enemy numbers. The letter specifically warned that defeated patrols and frightened civilians often exaggerated the size of hostile forces.

Marcellan stopped again.

This time nobody needed to ask why.

His eyes moved toward the markers representing the countryside Viridian had occupied over the previous month.

"Exaggerated enemy numbers," he repeated.

Harren gave a bitter laugh. "Perhaps the goblins occupying my estates are exaggerated as well."

Halvern did not smile. "The king is not insulting us intentionally. He is responding to information that was already obsolete when this letter left the capital."

"That makes it extremely comforting," Harren sarcastically replied.

Marcellan continued before another argument could begin. The section concerning royal reinforcements was farther down.

Every person around the table became noticeably more attentive when he reached it.

The crown would not immediately dispatch a major royal army toward Eastwatch. Because several governors had requested emergency military assistance at roughly the same time, the king could not safely strip the central reserves or weaken one region to reinforce another before determining which fronts posed the greatest danger.

Royal forces would remain positioned around strategic areas while the crown gathered reports.

Additional troops might later be distributed to threatened provinces once the situation became clearer.

Until then, provincial governments were expected to rely primarily on their existing garrisons, noble levies, militia, and regional reserves.

Marcellan lowered the letter.

"That is the answer."

The silence in the chamber became heavier.

One provincial officer looked genuinely confused. "No troops at all?"

"Nothing promised immediately."

"Did they at least order neighboring governors to send assistance?"

Marcellan looked farther down the letter and shook his head. "They are facing their own reported attacks."

Lord Harren pushed himself away from the table. "So every governor writes that enemies are appearing in his territory, and the royal court concludes that nobody needs help because everyone needs help?"

Halvern looked toward him. "That is not quite what the letter says."

"It is precisely what the letter means."

Marcellan returned to the final paragraphs. The king again emphasized public order. Provincial leaders were urged not to encourage panic by describing the situation in apocalyptic terms before the crown had verified the reports.

Rumors concerning vast enemy armies were to be treated cautiously. Governors should continue reporting developments while avoiding unnecessary abandonment of settlements or large-scale population movements that might destabilize unaffected regions.

Marcellan reached one particular sentence and stopped.

Halvern noticed. "What?"

Marcellan read it aloud. "His Majesty is confident that established provincial authorities, acting with prudence and composure, possess sufficient means to contain these disturbances until a clearer understanding of the kingdom-wide situation can be obtained. There is presently no cause for general panic."

Harren stared at him.

Another noble slowly turned toward the map.

Marcellan read the sentence a second time, quieter than before. "No cause for general panic."

His hand tightened around the paper.

Outside the walls, thousands of goblins were beginning to concentrate toward Eastwatch.

Most of the countryside no longer answered provincial orders. Grain shipments had collapsed. Several fortified cities were surrounded. The eight-hundred-man counteroffensive had vanished.

Refugees crowded Eastwatch’s districts while food prices climbed and local officials struggled to house families who had lost everything.

The royal capital was telling them not to panic.

Marcellan abruptly placed the letter on the table rather than risk tearing it.

"How many days ago was this written?"

Halvern calculated quickly. "Given the normal travel time, several weeks. It could have left the capital shortly after they received our earliest complete warning."

"Meaning they did not know about Alaric."

"No."

"They did not know about the situation on the countryside."

"No."

"They did not know that the fortified cities were surrounded."

"No."

Marcellan looked toward Eastwatch on the map. "And they certainly did not know thousands of goblins were beginning to move toward us."

Halvern shook his head.

A civil administrator near the end of the table spoke cautiously. "Then perhaps the crown will respond differently once our later dispatches arrive."

Marcellan turned toward him. "Our later dispatches are still traveling west. When they arrive, the court will read them, discuss them, decide what to do, and send another answer back across the kingdom. How long do you think that takes?"

Nobody answered.

Halvern did instead. "Much longer than the goblins need to march from the countryside to our walls."

Harren folded his arms. "Then we have been abandoned."

"No," Halvern said. "More like we have been overrun."

Harren frowned.

"The kingdom’s communication speed has al2ays been the same. The enemy is just changing the situation faster than those communications can relay. The king is not refusing to respond to the problems we have today. He does not know that problems exists yet."

One of the nobles who had remained quiet through most of the discussion finally spoke. "What if the other governors are not exaggerating either?"

The room turned toward him.

He continued. "We keep talking as though the capital is distracted by lesser problems. What if it is not? What if the northern governor really does have an army in his province? What if the south is facing something comparable to what we face? What if the west is losing villages for the same reason we lost ours?"

Harren’s anger faltered.

Halvern looked down at the royal letter.

That possibility had been sitting inside the king’s explanation from the beginning, but frustration had obscured it.

Marcellan understood the implication next. "Then Caldris is not facing one invasion."

"Possibly not," Halvern said.

"Several armies appearing from different directions at nearly the same time."

"That is what the reports suggest."

Nobody in the command hall knew about planetary lords, divine missions, or the larger contest surrounding Caldris. To them, the possibility was simply incomprehensible.

Kingdoms could prepare for raids, rebellions, border wars, or even a neighboring monarch’s invasion. Simultaneous attacks by unknown forces appearing across several widely separated provinces belonged to no familiar pattern.

Marcellan looked again at the king’s letter. The calm language suddenly seemed less foolish and more dangerous.

The royal court was attempting to determine which crisis deserved priority when several might eventually prove catastrophic.

"What do we send back?" he asked.

Halvern answered immediately. "Every information we have collected so far."

Marcellan nodded and began dictating. The new dispatch would state plainly that Colonel Alaric Veyne’s eight-hundred-man counteroffensive had been destroyed as an organized force.

The eastern countryside had fallen under Viridian occupation within roughly one month.

Major fortified cities were surrounded. Provincial roads, bridges, agricultural districts, and military posts were under enemy control. Eastwatch itself was increasingly isolated, and large goblin formations were now converging toward the provincial capital.

"No cautious language," Marcellan said. "No ’possible incursion.’ No ’suspected hostile presence.’ Write exactly what has happened."

The clerk began recording every word.

"Request immediate troops?"

"Yes."

Halvern interrupted. "Request troops, engineers, weapons, grain, medical supplies, and authority for emergency mobilization if they cannot send an army quickly."

Marcellan nodded. "Add it."

He ordered multiple copies prepared. They would leave by different routes with separate riders. If one road was blocked, another messenger might still reach the royal capital.

When the orders were complete, Marcellan looked around the room. "Until the next response arrives, we assume nobody is coming."

Several nobles reacted immediately, but he raised a hand.

"I do not mean the king has abandoned us. I mean we cannot build a defense around help that may arrive after the defense is already over."

Halvern nodded. "That is the only useful assumption."

The general pulled the provincial map toward himself and pointed at Eastwatch. Rationing would proceed. Militia assignments would be finalized.

Ammunition and stones would be moved to the walls. Engineers would prepare secondary barricades behind the gates.

Water supplies would be guarded. Every able-bodied unit available to the city would receive a defensive position before the Viridian concentration was complete.

The royal letter changed none of those necessities.

As the council began breaking into smaller groups to carry out the orders, Marcellan remained beside the table. He looked at the king’s letter lying beside the map.

One document calmly assured him that several governors faced similar disturbances and that there was no need for general panic. The other showed most of his province covered by Viridian markers.

Halvern stopped beside him.

Marcellan tapped the royal letter with one finger. "By the time they understand what happened here, there may not be an eastern province left for them to reinforce."

Halvern looked toward the walls beyond the chamber.

"Then we make sure Eastwatch is still here when they finally understood everything."

Marcellan said nothing more. The king’s reassurance remained open on the table while, beyond the city, the goblin legions continued gathering on roads that had belonged to Caldris only a month earlier.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!