Princess Tami stood on the terrace of the mobile fortress.
Her calm gaze swept over the crowd in the Outer City District below, boiling like water in a pot.
At the same time, she felt the uneven jolts beneath her feet as the tracks crushed gravel.
"Look at this spectacle."
"After all these years away, the Desolate North is still so... overflowing with enthusiasm."
Her fingers unconsciously twirled a hairpin at the end of her braid.
It was said that the bitter nan flowers planted throughout Scholar City could refresh the mind and sharpen one's thoughts.
Yet they were nowhere near as potent as the air of the Outer City District.
Her gaze roamed about, searching for more lively eyes.
They could give her new hope, proving that Wild North Great City still had a chance at redemption.
Her eyes fell once more upon the slaves restrained behind chains by the soldiers, still standing on tiptoe with their necks stretched out and their unkempt faces raised.
The expressions in their eyes—a mixture of numbness, exhaustion, and frenzy—made Tami's delicate brows furrow almost imperceptibly.
After all these years... the houses in the Outer City District seemed even more crowded.
And the streets had even more of a smell to them...
She sighed silently in her heart.
"For the Desolate North!"
"For Princess Tami!"
A half-grown child sat on his father's shoulders, excitedly waving his little fist as he shouted the slogan at the top of his lungs.
Tami heard him.
In those eyes that had spent years poring over ancient texts in Scholar City, accustomed to analysis and contemplation, a trace of bitter amusement flashed by before giving way to deeper helplessness.
"This child is exactly the age when he should be in school."
"But instead..."
At that thought, another sigh