Betura York did not like it here.
After Annan personally showed him around Free City, he decided it was a breeding ground for chaos, a claw of the Abyss, a feast for the Disorderly, a sinful place that deserved to be purified by Highest Heaven!
There was no order here at all... Just look: ordinary people were allowed to join the army, Succubi could run businesses, Goblins were granted Citizenship, and commoners were allowed to attend school. It was madness!
There was even a Ratfolk statue in the Cemetery. What blasphemy was this!?
His good manners kept Betura York from showing it, but as a Succu—Sorcerer, Annan keenly sensed that the Executor sent by the Third Prince did not seem to like the place.
That was fine. What mattered was that the gifts had arrived.
After the Elven Royal Court went back on its word, and with Wilhelm so far away, Annan gradually realized he did not need connections there all that much. The Third Prince still had the Second Prince, the First Prince, the House of Representatives, and the King above him. Even if the Executor objected, was the Paem Kingdom going to send troops to Middle Earth to attack him?
Running this corner of Middle Earth well was enough. As for the outside world... even a Legendary Mage needed days and nights to fly there. Free City's influence would struggle to reach that far. At most, Annan could open a Commercial Street there and maintain trade relations.
Of the two gifts the Third Prince had sent, one was in his own name and the other in the Kingdom's.
Annan followed Betura York to see the former first. The Third Prince's gift held a dazzling assortment: more seeds, crates of Mountain Range Potions, and mountains of Precious Metals and