A few minutes later, Tales led Marius and a large group of people (along with a big black horse that had missed its mealtime and was therefore grumbling incessantly) noisily and swaggeringly across the carpets of Revival Palace.
Wyatt tried repeatedly to tell D.D. that "I should be responsible for the Prince's personal affairs," but Doyle brushed him off every time with jokes like, "Oh, come on, brothers who've faced life and death together don't need to distinguish between you and me." Kohn was desperate to find Gollor and ask him about the situation, but the latter kept moving through the formation, making sure he and Kohn were always on opposite sides of Rolf, while for the Alert Officer to reach him, he would have to pass the Rolf the Wind Ghost, whose eyes turned murderous whenever he saw Kohn approaching.
After enduring a shared ordeal, the two groups who had never interacted before and had only joined forces temporarily—the former Dragoncloud City troops and the Star Lake Guard—were no longer so clearly divided. The gloomy Revival Palace forced them to cluster around the Prince together, dispelling their tension and fear as they searched for safety and belonging.
"Thank you, Tomond."
Tales suddenly spoke, ignoring Wyatt behind him, who was struggling to catch up with the Prince but was being dragged back by D.D.'s excessive enthusiasm.
Marius, walking closest to the boy, frowned.
"For what?"
"Thanks to you making thorough preparations beforehand, you left me with enough manpower." Tales spoke blandly.
Marius shook his head.
"That was only an emergency precaution."
"I didn't expect you not only to use it..."
As the best-dressed, healthiest, and most presentable person among them, Marius looked at the unfamiliar faces in the group and frowned.
"But to recruit quite a few more people as