Shien and Lorenhill's meeting

"The Third Outer Warehouse and the riverside nodes have passed their first round of inspections, and the surrounding defense zones have begun submitting applications to connect—"

Yasol sat at the head of the table, the Mask of Mercy covering his eyes turned toward the recorder as he listened to the report from the Water Spirit Defense Zone. It detailed how Shien had transformed the zone step by step and what results he had achieved.

With this report, Shien had once again given Yasol a pleasant surprise.

Yasol had already acknowledged Shien's abilities in warfare, technology, and territorial administration. This report supplied another, more important piece.

Shien could quickly identify an entire defense zone's problems from a broad perspective, then turn his judgments into a set of rules that others could implement over the long term, just as he had in the Graymist Defense Zone.

He had revitalized a defense zone in just four months and intended to use it as the core for expansion across the entire defense line. Even Yasol, with his many years as governor of the defense line, could not have accomplished that.

Castian was right about him. So was I.

Yasol tapped his fingers lightly against the armrest, satisfaction showing on his face. "Make several copies of the report and send them to the Legion Commander, the district-supervising bishops, and the principal officials of the Governor's Mansion. Tell them as well that, so long as Shien's requests during the coming reforms meet the defense line's needs, all departments should do their utmost to accommodate them."

The recorder bowed his head in acknowledgment.

As General Affairs Inspector, Lorenhill naturally received a copy of the report that afternoon.

Seated in his temporary study, he read it from the first page to the last, then turned back to the