By the end of last year, the Wood Elf mages led by John, including Locke, who was now a Royal Mage, had already withdrawn from the front lines.
Their identities, after all, were still members of Zhou Xu's personal guard corps. Once the war had completely ended, there was no reason for them to remain stationed at the front lines for long periods.
John and the others had gone straight back to the palace in Black Moon City instead of returning to the New South District...
After a night's rest, Locke took the initiative to seek out Zhou Xu.
"Your subordinate Locke pays his respects to His Majesty."
Some time had passed since he formally joined Great Zhou, and Locke had undoubtedly grown familiar with this set of formalities.
After briefly completing the salute, Locke immediately explained the reason for his visit.
"Your Majesty, I've been away for quite some time now. I have no idea how things are going in the village, so I hope Your Majesty will approve my returning there for a visit."
Unlike John and the others, Locke had another identity: he was the patriarch of the Wood Elves.
With that in mind, Locke naturally couldn't abandon his village and remain at the palace indefinitely.
He had been worrying about it constantly throughout the journey back. Right now, he wished he could simply sprout wings and fly back.
"Of course. There's no problem."
Seeing that Locke was desperate to return, Zhou Xu agreed without a second thought.
"As for the personal guard corps, you only need to remain on the rolls. You can stay in the village whenever you want. Once the waterways are open, you'll basically be able to take a boat from Black Moon City's harbor straight to your village. Transportation will be very