Relief and Worries

Rynra

"Apologies Dame Rynra, but I can't do it. I have to follow the orders," said the bloody man in front of me.

His tone was respectful, but I could see the hidden contempt in his eyes.

This bastard should have been there; he wouldn't have survived. They had killed Yegson; he had the same strength as him.

At least Yegson had guts.

This little bustard didn't even have that. He is a complete coward.

Still, I didn't show that on my face and kept my expression and voice calm.

"Once a horde from Norke merges with us. We will have enough numbers and experts to launch a powerful attack against the enemies,"

"They are tired and lost a lot of their numbers. They won't be able to fight us; it will be an easy victory," I said and contempt in his eyes deepened.

My hands moved toward my sword, but stopped halfway. Fear appeared in his eyes and even staff lit up.

A moment later, embarrassment appeared on his face, and he cut off the spell, he was casting.

A smile appeared on my face seeing.

I have recovered quite a bit of mana, which would be enough to kill this bastard if I wanted to.

"Dame Rynra, I am just following the orders. If you want me to lead my horde to Panar, then I will need an order from Ashton Harbor," he said, voice more polite than before.

It also slammed all the doors. At least temporarily.

It's not like, I didn't try to contact the higher-ups. I did, many times, but they didn't respond after the first call.

Their intention is obvious. They don't want to attack Panar. At least not now, before the battle at Port Midlet ends.

Still, I tried with this man, if he was willing to bend the rules, but he didn't have that much of a spine.

Instead, he contacted the enemy and tried to be a hero by getting the prisoners and traitors, but failed spectacularly, when the enemy asked him to come to fight.

Which instead of making him angry, had made the coward more cautious.

"I will be in my carriage," I said and walked away.

The horde had turned. It is returning to Almin instead of attacking Panar.

I wish they listen to me. I am confident of the victory if we attack them with the force we have, but unfortunately, they are not willing to listen to me.

Though it's not over yet.

…

Owlspring

"Didn't, I tell you, he will conquer, Panar," said the Lord of Owlspring to the old man in front of him.

"Yes, he did, but I am concerned about the other thing," said the old man.

"Aura, you mean?" asked the Lord of Owlspring, and the man's expression turned serious.

"What do our sources say? Is it true, my lord?" asked the old man.

"Everyone inside had sensed it, including our person hiding in the city," replied the lord of Owlspring, confirming the intelligence he had received.

"Awakening an aura for twenty years. He would be trouble for us if the empire was able to get itself out of this trouble," said the old man.

Lord of Olwrping smiled.

"I think the opposite because the empire is gone. It will never be what it was," said the lord of Owlspring and smiled.

A smile is full of secrets.

…

Ronda

"So, he won," I said as the Laris informed us of the news.

"It will increase the morale of their forces in Greltheaven," said Lord Darius, with a big frown on his face.

It clearly worried him, but not me.

"It's nothing to be worried about, my lord. We have twice the number of men as the enemy with numerous powerhouses,"

"I promise you; we will have Greltheaven, that is before the first light of tomorrow," I said.

I am confident about the victory. All the men I had brought were trained and experienced. There are also numerous powerhouses, all of them are veterans of many battles.

We will not lose. We will win and not just the Greltheaven.

The Panar will also be ours. Once I captured the Greltheaven; I will move to Panar.

Just thinking about it made my beat in joy.

I hope this last hour passes quickly and I attack the Greltheaven. It would be easy, seeing it is a cripple that is leading it.

There are notable powerhouses that we will need to deal with, but I am not worried about them.

I have brought enough powerhouses, and they are just as good as them and, if not better, and most importantly, they are greater in numbers.

…

"Both of the hordes have turned," informed Shaun, and the relief flooded in my heart.

It had been worrying me a lot. If they had attacked, the battle would have been bloody. Even if we had gained the victory. It wouldn't have been without a substantial cost.

Still, it is not over.

There is a still battle at Port Midlet; a lot of things will depend on it.

Even then, we will not be safe, but I already knew about these things. I knew Panar would be a constant danger from the undead.

Despite that, I came here, but it's important for Greltheaven.

"You should rest. We need you to be ready, the moment, they decide to attack again," I said without privacy skills. So, everyone could hear it.

"Yes, I do rest," he said and walked down from the wall.

People know Stone had a serious injury and needed rest. Enemies know that well too; we might as well them, that he is resting.

Let them think about whether it is a trap or a truth.

I may be smiling, but I am worried about Stone. He had told me the nature of tiredness and how hard it is becoming for him to hold it back.

He didn't know when he would wake up once he slept or what state, he would be in when he would wake up.

"You are in charge, till General Stone returned Maj. General Azalea," I said to the woman.

"I will not disappoint you, my lord," she accepted with a bow. I smiled and turned to the soldiers in front of me, working on mine and doing a few things.

Undead might not be coming now, but they are coming, and we need to be prepared for them.

I turned toward Greltheaven.

I am not as worried as I should be about it. I didn't come without preparations.

The enemies are going to get a pleasant surprise when they reach the city.

I would never leave my city unprotected.

I stayed on the wall for half an hour more before climbing down. Once down, I mounted on the horse and went toward the city hall.

Thud!

A few minutes later, I dismounted in front of the city hall and walked toward it.

This city hall is big, bigger than the one in Greltheaven, and also old. Over a thousand years old; it survived, the empire's attack and countless undead scourges of Navr.

It is the only city hall. In all the cities of the region that had survived for more than a thousand years, where many city halls have been destroyed and rebuilt.

The former governor may have spent little on anything, but he spent good money on the city hall. Not only did he repair the damages, but also renovated it.

So, when I walked inside. I saw it as a completely different thing than the rest of the city.

It is clean, without a speck of dust, and walls laden with art pieces on beautifully painted walls

This man had good taste, unlike Count Darrow. The bastard was only attracted to ostentatious things.

Soon, I reached the office of governor, which will act as my office, before I appoint the governor.

Then this office will be theirs.

The guards bowed and opened the door for me.

"Master Silver," she greeted and bowed. I nodded and sat down.

"How bad are things?" I asked directly. There is no need to sugarcoat this question.

"Very," she replied simply.

"Water, sanitation, health, food, waste management, and everything is down. The people here are not even living, they are barely surviving," she spat.

There is great anger in her eyes. Even I am angry at seeing the state of the city and its people.

"Any money?" I asked. "Surprisingly, yes. It is a share of Yegson and what he looted from people, before turning them into the undead," she replied, holding the anger in her eyes.

"How much?" I asked, and she opened the file in front of me and pointed at the number written in big bold letters.

I have to say, it's not a small number at all.

It is far from enough to deal with the city's problems, but it is big enough.

That we could start, with it.

A lot of it would be needed to do, and the first thing would be starting those services. It wouldn't be cheap, and I would need to bring a lot of people from the Greltheaven to aid with that.

Including the police, who will be responsible for the security.

I could send a few hundred of them here, without compromising the security of the Greltheaven.

The first batch of police is graduating in a week. They are the first that have been formally trained as police officers. Some talented ones had even got the classes.

"Grill everything from officials and ask our people to look at things with their own eyes. I need a detailed report of things by tomorrow," I ordered.

"It will be done, my lord," she replied.

I nodded and turned to the file. It is short, which isn't surprising, given she didn't have any time. She was able to gather this much in a such time is a testament to her abilities.

Still, my expressions couldn't help but turn bad as I read through it.

The little bit of joy, I had about the money had vanished immediately after reading the information in the file.

If I didn't retreat from the city, I would need to spend a lot of money on it. Seeing that, I almost started to wish, that the undead attack us with a big horde and make us retreat from the city.

A minute later, I closed the file and shut my eyes, thinking.

"Lord Silver, the enemies have reached the city," informed Shaun, making me open my eyes.

"Finally," I said, with a smile appearing on his face.