"Welcome to Pelangi Fortress. How were your travels?" Elizabeth said.
"Excellent, Your Highness. All two hundred warships are accounted for. Once we finalize our route and supplies, we can begin the first vanguard deployment to the Yunyun Stronghold," Admiral Aura explained. "
"It's an honor to finally meet you, Your Highness," Admiral Jacken extended a hand.
"Likewise."
"We can continue the debriefing and planning inside," Legion General Edward added. "Speaking of which, where are the Ten Dawns?" As the core strength of their military strategy, it was important to keep an eye on them.
"Of course," Admiral Aura smiled and gestured to four individuals behind her wearing identical uniforms.
Two of them were already familiar to Elizabeth. Ten Dawn Iris Cisvernia, the White Healer, and Ten Dawn Krogan Jermon were the ones who saved them during their escape from the Xingyuu Empire. Moreover, Ten Dawn Iris worked alongside the Hundred Lives Doctor to resuscitate Elizabeth when she fell to a coma because of the Lannisail explosion. Although their diagnosis was discouraging, eventually Elizabeth beat the impossible odds and awoke. Of course, this was due to the intervention of Rena, but Ten Dawn Iris was rendered speechless, seeing a perfectly healthy and cognizant Elizabeth. Ten Dawn Krogan had limited interactions with her, so he remained as stoic as always.
Elizabeth greeted them, but her attention was drawn to the two others: Ten Dawn Rosemary Arkfell and Ten Dawn Yvonne Malkhorn! Retaining the same usual seductive mannerisms, Ten Dawn Rosemary politely bowed. Matriarch of the Arkfell Engelsheft Family and Headmaster of the First Celestial Magic University, she once helped the Adnire siblings after their house was destroyed. And Ten Dawn Yvonne was a special person too, being one of the oldest and most powerful of the Ten Dawns. She possessed incredible Magic Potential and stood on the precipice of Medium Condensed Drop! If Nassandra was the strongest of the current generation, then Ten Dawn Yvonne was the strongest of the older generation.
The four paid their respects to Elizabeth, the admirals and generals. As the Ten Dawns, they knew how important and pivotal their participation would be. They were strategic weapons! As such, their movements and actions would be heavily monitored and limited. That was the fate of the powerful. Unless they were strong enough to triumph against law and order like Protector Avin, then they had to bow down!
"I hope Admiral Jacken has no issues with the Ten Dawns coming under my direct supervision?" General William added. As the Third-In-Command of the Quinvoren Army and general of the overall campaign, he wanted absolute control over important 'tools' like the Ten Dawns. There was no room for refusal!
"I have none," Admiral Jacken smiled wryly.
"Good. In that case, the Alzar Kingdom looks forward to working with you four. Don't let us down," General William said in a neutral tone.
"As you command," the four replied in unison.
"Let's head inside then," General Petra concluded.
Elizabeth continued overlooking the harbour with childish anticipation. If Benedict came, then what about Shirley or Freon? Perhaps they came too? However, as she saw the thousands of soldiers flowing in and out, loading supplies, coordinating with the local armies, and not a single sign of those two, she grew dispirited. That was normal though. How could the world be so convenient? She sighed. Perhaps it was a good thing that they did not come because being swept up in the ensuing chaos was a bad thing. On the side, Benedict said nothing, but he felt the same way. Their journey through the Xingyuu Empire was enough for them to be friends for life.
"Come on, there's nothing to see here… We should go," Benedict said.
"You're right."
Just as she was about to turn away though, a loud voice echoed across the harbour, drowning out all the noise, saying, "Elizabeth! Hey! It's me, Shirley!"
Elizabeth stumbled while Benedict's jaw dropped. And their reactions were not the only ones either. Since Shirley's voice was incredibly loud, everyone heard her! For a moment, everyone stopped in their tracks and stared at the culprit. In no time at all, people distanced themselves around Shirley and Freon, isolating the two from the crowds. Most of them were amused, hoping to see a good show. After all, calling out to the heir apparent in such a rude way, in front of everyone no less, was a tremendous insult to the crown. If they were lucky, they might get away with public lashes for a few days. If not, then their heads might roll! A small minority remembered Elizabeth's exploits in the Xingyuu Empire, and how it involved people named Benedict, Shirley, and Freon so they tactfully stayed silent.
"This…" Admiral Aura raised an eyebrow toward Legion General Edward.
In turn, the man became embarrassed that something like this happened under his watch. "Let me summon the guards to handle this troublemaker."
"Hold on," the silent General Dennis said. "Didn't she say her name was Shirley?"
"It could be her… How should we proceed?" General Petra asked.
"We shall wait for Her Highness's judgement," General William concluded.
In the harbour, a few squadrons of soldiers rushed up to arrest Shirley and Freon. As expected, Freon facepalmed and groaned. They arrived after a long journey from the Zino Kingdom, so he was hoping to take some time to relax and recuperate before doing anything else. At the earliest, the first deployment would take place in a few days, hence there was no rush. Yet, who would have thought Shirley would ruin his plans this way? Shirley spotted Elizabeth shortly after they disembarked. Although it was a large distance between them and Elizabeth, Shirley was now an accomplished Fundamental Realm Master! Using her improvised technique Mock Perception, she could temporarily gain the sensory power of a Perception Realm! Combining that and following where the admirals went, it was easy to discover Elizabeth and Benedict. Therefore, to her, the most logical decision was to call out…
Seeing the soldiers surround them, Freon cursed, "You idiot! Why did you do that? Did you forget that Elizabeth is the Alzar Kingdom's heir apparent now? How are we supposed to explain ourselves?"
"I… forgot," Shirley sheepishly replied.
Freon sighed. "What are we going to do here?"
The girl turned to the soldiers and smiled innocently, "Could you take us to see Elizabeth? We're her friends! You'll see that this was a big misunderstanding."
See your ass! the soldiers scolded inwardly. How could they let a random stranger meet the heir apparent? Assuming that they could do it in the first place, it would be stupid beyond belief!
"Surrender yourselves nicely," the captain said sternly. "Do that and this won't escalate any further."
"Let us explain…" Freon tried to say.
"I'm not interested. Arrest them!"
Upon his command, the soldiers advanced aggressively, and it was made worse by the fact that Shirley reflexively grabbed her halberd. Furthermore, her aura went under an intense transformation because of her training in the Mordrigan Peaks. It now brimmed with immense ferocity and killing intent, enough to startle anyone. Yuna once remarked that Shirley had completely transformed into someone else and even Freon was surprised at how oppressive her aura was! With a weapon in her hand and her tremendous aura, which she subconsciously released, the effects were obvious. The soldiers pulled out their own weapons and charged in!
Just as the two sides were about to clash, Freon acted. He was not too scared to face these soldiers, despite the difference in numbers. Both Shirley and he advanced by leaps and bounds thanks to their training. With Shirley's Mock Perception and his Thousand Core Resonance, it would be trivial to deal with them. It was mainly a problem of what to do afterwards. So, the most logical decision was to retreat. Casting the movement-type spell, Spring Step, Magic Energy swirled around his legs. Without wasting a beat, he grabbed Shirley, not-so-lightly, and jumped! With the spell, he effortlessly hopped out of the encirclement and headed in Elizabeth's direction. The speed at which he executed everything was the astounding part! Because of his advancement to High Gaseous Fog, his casting speed increased many times over, allowing him to outmaneuver the soldiers in time. If it were before, with his Low Gaseous Fog, it would have been impossible!
"Stop them!" the captain shouted in fright, alerting many more squadrons to his location.
Freon was overtaxed and exhausted. After a grueling trip here, his mind was slow to respond. Although his Spring Step spell allowed him to directly bypass any encirclements, it required a constant flow of Magic Energy and concentration. He had to multi-task and carefully plan out his route, while carrying Shirley. Everything turned into a mess too quickly and he was about to curse out a storm!