A Difficult Situation

Lord Blake of Snow Bear Territory is now having difficulty breathing.

Every time he woke up in bed, he was grateful that he had lived another day, because it was truly an incredible privilege.

Three days after Fran quietly left to kill the undead monster in the mine, Blake felt as if Fran had been gone for three years.

After Fran left, the situation in the city deteriorated further, and now it was a time when he, as the lord, could hardly make any decisions.

Firstly, the number of Mercenary was increasing daily. He didn't know why so many Mercenary were flocking to his Snow Bear City. What were these Mercenary up to?

There are also followers of the Church of the Goddess of Ocean Currents, whose numbers are growing and who have great conflicts with the Mercenary. Fights between the two sides can be heard almost every day.

And he heard from the guard he sent out to complete the task assigned by Fran to catch a lot of small animals.

"To the east and south of Snow Bear Territory, you can see several people heading towards Snow Bear Territory almost every hour on the roads."

The problems these people have brought to Snow Bear Territory are extremely disastrous. Blake no longer cares about reports of villages being destroyed by Mercenary or followers of the Goddess of Ocean Currents.

Because he simply couldn't manage them; he only had a few First Order Profession under his command, not even as many as his Mercenary.

If he were only facing a small Mercenary squad of a dozen or so, he could definitely handle the situation with the cover provided by his men and the strength boosted by his territory. However, the problem is that there are more than just a dozen Mercenary squads here...

Moreover, now he faces not only these people, but also the orcs eyeing him from the north.

He looked out through the castle window, where a few humanoid creatures with hair around their heads stood—orcs, representing their tribe.

The orcs arrived yesterday evening. He had already heard the warnings from the Church of the Goddess of Ocean Currents and the Mercenary, so he closed the city gates almost immediately upon their arrival.

When he looked down at the nearly one thousand orcs below, his heart skipped a beat, and he almost couldn't catch his breath.

At this moment, he kept cursing the territories adjacent to his, wondering why all these orcs had come here without anyone warning him.

These orcs would often travel south to plunder resources from the lords' territories.

Whenever there are signs of these orcs moving south, people spontaneously form an alliance to have the lords of several surrounding territories work together to repel them.

Generally speaking, his territory is far from where the orcs live. Usually, the orcs are driven away by the allied forces before they even reach his territory.

But now he really didn't know what was going on. Did these orcs just want to come to his territory, without attacking any of the lords' fortified castles along the way?

No matter what he thought, the situation was such that he had lost control of the situation.

These orcs wanted to negotiate, so he could only let a group of people in. But these orcs weren't there to negotiate with him; they were there to negotiate with the Mercenary and the people of the Church of the Goddess of Ocean Currents.

This made him frown, but there was nothing he could do. After all, he was the weakest among the forces present, and it was reasonable for them not to include him...

But it would have been better if these people had just negotiated a little on his territory, instead of so many forces gathering in his Snow Bear City.

He has now abandoned all illusions and decided to prepare for the worst.

He has already dispatched soldiers to the Northern Lands Society to request the Alliance's assistance.

Now, what he most wants is for Fran to come back as soon as possible, to serve as a bridge between him and the Alliance.

"Didn't you say you'd be back in two days? Where are you now?" Blake covered his face with his hands. He was extremely anxious, but he also knew that there was no use in being so anxious.

The current situation is completely beyond his ability to resolve on his own or with the forces within his territory; the only hope now is the help of the Alliance.

Now, the way those Mercenary and Gillian, Church of the Goddess of Ocean Currents, were looking at him was no longer the same.

He was convinced that these people were probably plotting to kill him, their lord, but they hadn't yet taken action because the demands of all parties hadn't been met.

Just then, a familiar voice made him freeze in his seat.

"Hey! Blake, did you do what I told you to do?"

That was Fran's voice; in this situation, hearing Fran's voice was like hearing heavenly music.

Blake jumped up from his chair, staring wide-eyed at Fran. He rubbed his eyes, but Fran hadn't disappeared from his sight. He breathed a sigh of relief; it wasn't a hallucination after all.

"My lord mage, I've finally been waiting for you to return..." Blake was almost incoherent, showing his excitement.

Fran raised an eyebrow and asked with some curiosity:

What's wrong with you?

Blake composed himself and then noticed a face he had never seen before standing next to Fran.

Just by looking at them, you can tell they're not from the Northlands, but from some other region.

However, Blake only hesitated for a moment. It wasn't unusual for a mage like Fran to hire a foreign Mercenary. What if Fran knew this mage?

Blake then said:

"Your Excellency Mage, you may not know this when you returned via that secret passage..." Blake explained in detail to Fran the recent events, including the influx of orcs and large numbers of people into the city.

Fran did so without anyone noticing, of course, by taking the secret passage through the Snow Bear Territory and leaving through it.

As a secret passage, it was naturally meant to be used at crucial moments. Blake had thought this through very clearly. The most crucial moment for him was when he could use Fran's identity to intimidate her.

Under these circumstances, he naturally couldn't let Fran walk through the city gate and let the Mercenary and the people of the Church of the Goddess of Ocean Currents see Fran walk out of the city gate.

Fran returned to Snow Bear City via a secret passage, so she naturally didn't see the orcs outside the city, nor the ever-increasing number of Mercenary and followers of the Goddess of Ocean Currents inside.

After listening to Blake's story, Fran scratched her head. This was a problem that she couldn't solve on her own. She had returned here solely to collect the payment she had made to Blake for what she had promised him.

But she's not entirely without a solution to this problem; the question is, why should she help Blake? What significant benefit would it bring?

Fran thought for a moment, then slowly said:

"Okay, Blake, you have to promise me something later. I haven't thought about it yet, but I'll come find you then."

"If you agree, I'll help you solve these problems."

Blake paused for a moment, then shook his head rapidly, as if afraid Fran would change her mind.