While the students and Sister Pomegranate and her little boss accepted Meow Brother's invitation to meet up in person, something important was also happening in Transia.
But it wasn't happening near Cadman City, where order had already been established at remarkable speed. It was in a place with close ties to Murphy.
Morland Village.
At the Witch Hunters' temporary camp, the dozen or so Witch Hunters who had survived the battle against Salokdar had finished all their preparations for the journey. Tomorrow night, they would meet up with Major Fraser, then escort him out of Transia and back to the frontier fortress in East Prussia.
This journey meant the Witch Hunters' "ill-fated connection" with Transia would finally come to an end, at least for the time being.
But the mood in the camp was far from cheerful. It was even a little somber.
Over the past ten years, the Witch Hunters had endured too much hardship and witnessed too many deaths and partings. But this time was different.
They had lost their Lord of the White Oak. The last leader they had after the Old Church fell had left them, too.
For the White Oak Warband, already shrouded in gloom, it felt as if the sky itself had collapsed. Worst of all, the successor Knight Fennock had chosen in his final moments was now caught in a severe bout of "mental turmoil."
Most tragic of all, Captain Natalie didn't have a magical uncle to help her untangle her feelings.
Scout Amber approached with a dinner tray, but outside the tightly shut door, she found Norman and Porter, two old soldiers standing guard with worried expressions.
Amber glanced over and saw that the food delivered that morning still sat untouched by the door.
She sighed beneath her eyepatch and asked softly: