At the makeshift Harbor, Annan saw civilians huddled against the sea breeze.
Most were men, with a few women among them, though the women were well protected. They looked much like the Refugees the Mad Dog Duke had driven south from the North a few days earlier, except they appeared to have suffered less.
At the sight of Annan, they crowded around him excitedly, a familiar light in their eyes. They were all residents of Breeze City.
"Luoxi, go get Olmedo."
The absence of anyone from Star-Moon Bay was Annan's second disappointment.
"I found these people on the Pry Peninsula. They weren't doing too well, so I brought them along."
The Pry Peninsula lay east of the Tartun Empire. They had fled a long way...
Olmedo arrived soon after. The residents stared for a moment before recognizing the girl with brilliant golden hair and wise blue eyes as their City Lord.
"There's one more thing I think you should know..." Shepard deliberately lowered his voice. "I hear the sea merchants of Pearl Harbor on the Pry Peninsula have their eyes on you..."
Sea merchants usually had two faces. Before the powerful, they put on a respectable front and did business; before the weak, they dropped the Disguise and became pirates.
Annan wanted to say he wasn't afraid of pirates. How much stronger could they be than the Mad Dog Duke? But Olmedo said the strength of a Territory and the strength of a sea merchant were two different things. Even the Tartun Empire couldn't stop pirates from plundering its merchant ships.
Without the Elemental Legion, Free City's merchant ships had only Magic Muskets and Magic Cannons, hardly enough to deter them.
It was like a Golden Dragon turning into a frail young girl to lure prey in the slums.
In