"Anyway... you know the situation."
Catching the scent of sulfur on Claire, Annan said, "We can't do this without you. The people of the Duchy need you."
"I know."
Whether her promotion had changed her personality or she simply found her clansman that pathetic, Claire's expression was cold.
"When you get back, you can give Girardi a good beating. Don't hold back on my account." If not for his reputation, Annan would have done it himself. As things stood, he could only leave it to Claire.
"I will."
When Claire left, she took along several officials his eldest sister had assigned.
In peacetime, Free City could stay out of the Duchy's internal affairs for the sake of appearances. But with a powerful enemy at their doorstep, an incompetent ally could be more dangerous than the enemy itself.
That night, Grand Duke Girardi's cries as he was whipped in the Castle could be heard all the way in Free City.
On the fifth day of the Empire's defense of Old Val Town, the Reconnaissance Airship it had dispatched reached the vicinity of the battlefield.
The Reconnaissance Airship did not dare get too close. It stayed over the Graypeak Mountains and observed from a distance.
Old Val Town's City Wall grew taller by the day. Amid the Rat Tide, it stood like a reef in the surf, seemingly on the verge of being overwhelmed. But the Ratfolk had no chance of breaking through it.
The Magic Film it recorded was sent back to Free City. Old Val Town had become the front line and stopped the Rat Tide, but ever more rats were slipping around its flanks, slowly enveloping it like a Slime swallowing its food.
If this continued, the growing Rat Tide would likely spill into the surrounding lands, including the