"My little Annan, why must you go to the Royal Capital?" Aunt Susan said, reluctant to let him leave.
"There'll be plenty of trouble and danger there, and plenty of people waiting to see you make a fool of yourself," Ingrid said.
"The nobles are all hostile to outsiders. I expect many of them will come looking for trouble and try to provoke you," Olmedo warned.
"But it's good to see the world. It's the heart of the Kingdom, and if you have wealth and status, you can enjoy anything you want... Oh, you have both," Faster said.
"You have to come back alive..." Leila said worriedly. She hadn't gone fishing.
"Take me with you!" Martin declared.
"Give me a few more Gold Narls. Just a few... My Magic Energy research is nearly done..."
"Don't worry. If two Legendary figures can't protect me, I'd be no safer in Star-Moon Bay than in the Royal Capital," Annan told them. "I won't go looking for trouble. If they strike my left cheek, I'll offer them my right." Then he told Martin, "No," and Michael, "Get lost."
The Eighth Holy Grail Knight liked Star-Moon Bay.
As a Holy Grail Knight who had lived through centuries of conflict and war, he thought Annan's territory surpassed many City-States. There were no idle thugs on its streets and no homeless poor in its alleys or gutters. When he learned that Annan provided residents with free housing and made sure everyone had work, he praised Annan as an excellent Lord.
What Mel liked most was not the Seaport, the industrial district, or fishing, but the school.
The Holy Grail Knight, who was probably close to a thousand years old, marveled that in all his travels through the nations, he had never seen a City-State or a territory