"I am Joan Eccelsara Maria Behdad Clermont Montreal, princess of the Golden Families!" Joan cried, deliberately putting on a Northland accent.
With her neat, shoulder-length hair, masculine formalwear, and delicate features, Joan was back to her old tricks... She had only restrained herself a little around Annan.
Lewenttu was the largest City-State in the northern Dimon Kingdom.
With permission from the City Lord's Mansion, Joan set up a tent in the Garden Square and told the Oldfolk who had received her flyers about the plan to bring them home.
A dense crowd stood in the cold wind, watching the figure who seemed to be someone important.
"I know her! She's a friend of Lord Annan!"
One of their own, hidden in the crowd, shouted it.
That seemed to jog the memories of people who had spent a whole year in Lewenttu. Yes, someone like her had once stood beside the King of the North.
Joan described Free City, its scenery even lovelier than Star-Moon Bay's, its benefits even better, its free housing and available work. She told them that the City Lord of Breeze City and Annan's sister served as Deputy City Lords... But she avoided dwelling on the crisis in the North, as the City Lord's Mansion had demanded.
They were willing to extend some goodwill to the Champion Sorcerer, whose fame was soaring, but they could not allow his people to cause a panic.
Some locals scoffed. "If it's really so wonderful, why come all this way to recruit Oldfolk?"
"Because it's so wonderful, they came for the Oldfolk. Lord Annan and Lord Olmedo have never forgotten your support. Why else would they have given you money when you parted? They wanted you to survive so you could reunite one day."
Joan had once driven a carriage alone