After the celebration ended, Limgrave returned to its usual peaceful bustle.
Along the field ridges, farmers bent over to plant the new season's seedlings, humming tunes they had heard at the Radahn Festival. In the smithies, hammers rang from morning to night as tools took shape in the craftsmen's hands-though a few swords and sabers occasionally joined them. Everyone knew that good times needed strong hands to defend them.
The children's "work" was the most sacred of all: watching the grain laid out to dry and keeping sparrows from stealing it. Whether they used the opportunity to gather and play in the mud or raid birds' nests was another matter entirely.
Meanwhile, in Stormveil Castle's War Room, representatives of the Five-Party Alliance sat around an enormous sand table.
The table mapped out all of Caelid-the Scarlet Swamp, the Church of Rot, Aeonia Swamp, and the Wailing Dunes, each painstakingly recreated. More importantly, tiny red flags marking concentrations of mutated creatures and Kindred of Rot covered it so densely that the sight made their scalps prickle.
But today, those little red flags had a special meaning-
Exercise targets.
"I propose a joint military exercise in Caelid," Tarnished said, getting straight to the point. "For three reasons. First, Caelid is vast and sparsely populated, so we won't feel bad if we wreck it. Second, the exercise will help everyone understand one another better, allowing our soldiers to coordinate more smoothly in actual combat and reduce casualties. Third, there are plenty of mutated creatures and Kindred of Rot. They make excellent 'sparring partners.'"
Tanith furrowed her brows. "Are you sure those disgusting things will participate?"
Tarnished grinned. "They haven't objected, so that counts as agreement."
Everyone paused, then laughed.
"Good!" Jerren slapped his thigh. "We'll settle old scores and new ones together! On