"The Expeditionary Army is too small. We still need to keep the demons and Ratfolk in the Northern Frontier contained..."
"Leave it to the lords of the Northern Frontier..."
"Huff, huff..."
Annan tried to recall the debate at the Holy Temple Council.
Was the Betrayer still on the Holy Council? Annan hadn't noticed. Next time he went to the Holy Hall, he would try to find him.
The proposal had come from... the Black Iron King. The Skeleton King had remained silent, the Golden King had opposed it, and the other kings had seemed indifferent. Whatever the case, it had passed because more had supported it than opposed it.
Most of the Thirteen High Kings knew nothing about it. Even if they did, as long as the Rikaner Kingdom repelled the Demon Tide and Rat Tide, they could forgive the Kingdom's earlier atrocities.
After all, the dead couldn't speak.
I should have opposed it... Annan thought. But then he remembered that he had only been a "spectator" sitting at the back of the Holy Hall. There had been nothing he could do.
There was no reason to linger in the Old King Royal Capital. Annan had the Expeditionary Army help Evelyn capture more footage, then opened a Teleportation portal and had Dean Breichim send the Falcon to Deepwinter Territory.
The Old King Royal Capital was some distance from Deepwinter Territory. About three hours later, Annan opened a Teleportation portal back to the border of the Dimon Kingdom.
The Expeditionary Army withdrew in groups. Only Princess Sails remained, gazing at the ruined Old King Royal Capital.
"I grew up here. Then I left for twenty years, only to return on the eve of its destruction..."
This place was not Princess Sails's entire life, but it held her childhood and the shadow