More than a month later, September 1st.
The beginning of autumn, the first day of Cool Moon, and also the third day since Richard had followed the army's Command Room in relocating to Gray Stone City.
Over the past three days, Richard had already set up his temporary research room in his new residence and resumed his research.
Morning.
Gray Stone City, once a city of the Sika Kingdom, lay sprawled across the land like a wounded, conquered beast.
Every section of Gray Stone City's walls bore damage to varying degrees. The eastern wall had suffered the worst, blasted open with a hole several meters across. Cracks covered dozens of meters of the surrounding wall, stretching all the way to the city gate. The gate on that side had vanished altogether, while the ground was scorched black over a wide area. During the battle to take the city, a powerful Wizard had used a high-circle Fire Spell to vaporize it.
Quite a few people were gathered around the gate and the damaged wall, pointing and discussing. They were laborers preparing to repair the walls.
Naturally, none of this had anything to do with Richard. He was currently inside a massive manor at the center of the city.
It was said that the manor's former owner had been a member of the Sika Kingdom's royal family, which explained its extravagantly luxurious furnishings. When the city fell, that royal family member had lacked the resolve to die for the kingdom. Protected by several powerful subordinates, he had fled without taking anything, leaving the manor untouched for Richard to inherit.
Richard was not particularly pleased by this. He was not short on money, and he disliked the excessively lavish, gaudy furnishings within the manor. The only thing that pleased him was its