The halfling city had suffered a terrible night.
First, the attack by Dagon's fishmen had destroyed the harbor district. Then Old Bach's release of Prototype No. 11 had nearly massacred the entire city. After that came the machine uprising and the gnoll siege. Any one of those events would have been enough to give the halflings a serious scare, yet almost all the disasters had erupted on the same night.
The fact that they had held out this long was truly a blessing earned by the halflings' centuries of keeping the peace and accumulating good karma.
But no matter how long the night lasted, dawn would always come. After that astonishingly powerful solar bombardment, the immediate threats facing the halfling city had finally vanished for good.
As soon as the Steam Lords confirmed the situation at the front, they issued the "Proclamation to Chardo Port," announcing the victory to the long-frightened public and reassuring them. And once the halflings realized they had survived the chaos of war, their outpouring of enthusiasm and joy at having lived through the disaster turned the damaged city beneath the sunlight into a sea of celebration.
Cheers rang out throughout the shelters.
Even beneath several buildings that had burned in the raging fires, crowds had gathered to celebrate. Some officials had taken it upon themselves to bring gifts to the front and support the troops, while halflings eager to return to their homes had already begun clearing and repairing various parts of the city.
Halflings were naturally a highly social and orderly race. Their ability to quickly recover after a disaster and follow orders left Murphy, the governor, feeling ashamed. Compared with these little folk, who had already begun taking on assignments to rebuild the city, the Transians under his command had no virtues to