In the end, Evelyn kept that political joke to herself. Who knew when it might come in handy?
Besides making trips to the Mushroom House, Annan had found time to look around Free City over the past few days. He saw many unfamiliar officials hurrying about, humble and courteous as they put the Free City Code into practice.
Standing on the terrace of the City Lord's Mansion, Annan watched the bustling streets and realized that Free City no longer looked like the make-believe town it had once been. It was becoming a real city.
But they were still short-handed... Free City was less than two years old, after all.
"I'm thinking of strengthening our ties with Montreal Mountain. Any thoughts?" The idea had come to Annan after seeing Blackwatch's strength and learning of the Empire's determination to defend Middle Earth.
A solid, dependable ally mattered more than many other things.
Free City currently had only two allies: the Montablinlock Duchy and the Stuart Family.
Unfortunately, both had suffered losses and were in no position to help Free City.
The Skeleton King counted as half an ally, though he was more Annan's friend than anything else. As for their age difference... could it possibly be greater than the one between Annan and the Elf Mentor?
"A marriage alliance."
"...Anything else?"
"Strengthen your ties."
"Thank you, Ingrid..."
“Thank you, Ingrid...” Annan suspected Olmedo must have said something bad about him to Ingrid. How else had an assistant who had never cared about anything but work started taking shots at him?
"Then we do what we've done elsewhere: buy up the land around the Moonlight Opera House and turn it into a commercial street?"
Annan hadn't done so before because land on Montreal Mountain was too expensive. The cost of building one commercial