The First War Zone Meeting

In the lord's hall of Grasshawk Fief.

Ryan sat at his desk. The War Zone Summons had just been delivered, and before he had even finished reading it, he spoke. "Ready the carriage. We leave today."

Two hours later, a carriage bearing no Lineage crest rolled out of Grasshawk Fief.

Its spacious cabin, however, was crammed with three large chests of rough parchment ledgers, engineering plans, and population registers.

Wrapped in a thick fur coat, Ryan swayed with every jolt of the carriage. By the flickering light of a lantern, he studied the sheaf of papers in his hands.

They were the "Grasshawk Fief–Blackpine Fief Post Road Expansion Progress Report" and the "New Horse-Change Station Fodder Reserve Calculation."

Their formats followed exactly the templates Shien had left in Grasshawk Fief last time.

He knew bringing troops to the Defense Zone meeting to make a show of strength would be asking for death. Hauling in chests of ledgers and progress reports was what mattered.

Ryan set down the ledger and glanced through the window at the ruined buildings that occasionally flashed past on the wasteland.

Grasshawk Fief had survived only because it happened to lie beside Blackpine Fief.

During the latter half of Blood Moon Season, Blackpine Fief had fought like a meat grinder, forcibly drawing in the Demonic Beast tides that would otherwise have scattered across the surrounding lands.

So he had obediently followed Shien's instructions. Over the past month, he had poured nearly every available worker and ration in his fief into roadwork and stable expansion.

The old road to Blackpine had been flattened and widened enough for two heavy supply wagons to travel abreast, and three horse-change stations had been built along the way.

Every skilled craftsman in the fief had been entered into a separate register, ready