Two weeks had passed since the naval battle at Guard Territory.
From being thwarted at every turn when the naval battle began to gaining the advantage across the entire front, from the waters off Guard Territory to the Old Drust coast, Lord Ashvane deserved much of the credit.
Kainings finally no longer had to argue with that coward Halliwell. Fighting alongside Lord Ashvane, he was in his element. Without even discussing specific tactics or the movements of smaller fleet detachments, the two could coordinate flawlessly.
The three Iron Tide Fleets had launched three fierce assaults, all of which the First Fleet and Third Fleet had stopped offshore.
At the beginning of the war, the Iron Tide Pirates had used their bizarre abilities to inflict far greater losses than they suffered.
But before the third assault ended, the two sides' losses had evened out, with the Third Fleet even holding a slight edge.
Now, the senior commanders of the three major fleets had returned to port overnight to discuss seeking a decisive head-on engagement and ending the fourth campaign to annihilate the Freehold pirates ahead of schedule.
Ellen had delivered the meeting invitation to Rowan yesterday. Rowan had been surprised when he received it.
A military conference? What did they want me there for?
With that question in mind, Rowan arrived at Proudmoore Keep on time.
As luck would have it, Rowan and Byron ran into Lashius.
Lashius wore a purple military uniform. Clearly, the fellow had been promoted again.
"If I remember correctly, this is a military conference. What are unrelated bystanders doing here?" With more than a dozen Bodyguards behind him, Lashius spoke particularly loudly.
The humiliating scene of Rowan's Bodyguards beating him up at Hook Point remained vivid in his memory. Because of that, Lashius brought a squad