Poor Merlin. Didn't realize how I was hurting him all this time. He was concerned about me too, but since no one else knows about him, he was forced to be quiet and pretend he was just a bird. At least I wasn't abusing his abilities and he gave me space to compose myself and feel better about myself. We have finally started training my abilities again. I am posing some restraint since I don't have too much trust in myself not to go overboard due to emotions.
It also helps that I have a very nice distraction in form of the reports from the western expedition which are far more interesting than anyone had expected. Mainly the parts pertaining the leftovers of the ancient Tigran civilization around the archipelago. Since they weren't a part of the old empire, their culture evolved differently compared to the rest of the world. What is surprising is that, rather than evolving into a Tolkien fantasy one, it somehow evolved into ancient Egyptian one. Very interesting stuff.
Sadly I don't know too much about the history of ancient Egypt. I didn't focus on studying history so I forgot most of it. Not to mention that not all records survived the Exodus to our new home on Ortus. Apparently in the last days of the Commonwealth most of the government had abandoned their posts so it was hard to coordinate any efforts across the Earth. It is unknown just how much of the historical records was lost and we had no more access to Egypt to research the ruins.
But I am sure that, even with only a basic knowledge, most would associate the Tigran civilization with the Egyptian one. A desert civilization that had fascination with death, built pyramids and used chariots in combat. It's almost as if the ancient Egyptians were sent forward in time and ended up here while merging with tigers. I wouldn't say that this world is the actual afterlife since the civilization as we know it ended 2 000 years ago. While we don't know how long do Tigrans live, we are quite sure it should be around the same age as the Imperial races. I hope the further research of the Tigran ruins as well as the goblin attempts to discover the Tigran homeland can give us further insight into their past.
As for
Didn't expect one distraction to change everything. While I was writing this entry yesterday, Merlin had interrupted me telling there was something going on in the docks. Sadly I missed the most of it by the time I arrived there so I had to ask around what was going on. It turns out the Emerald embassy was being evacuated from Metzaca so the City Guard was making sure nothing happened. I ended up returning to the Guild since I knew I was going to get a better idea on what's going on there. Thankfully the archivist who was present to the events already submitted his report.
It turns out the ambassador had requested an emergency meeting of the Colonial Council. He had received a direct order from the leader of the Emerald Colonies to evacuate from Metzaca since she just declared war on us. Apparently there are some Frostling survivors who took refuge in the Emerald Colonies so they told the stories about the Ermendal massacre. Between this and the refusal to invoke embargo against the Crimson Company there was enough cause for the war declaration. The ambassador wanted to avoid the fighting by trying to convince the council to surrender. Unfortunately, this was never going to happen, considering we are a successor of the old kingdom. At least they were escorted out without any incident.
Truth be told, I am worried about our current defences. The garrisons in Laoc Fen, Dolsmere and Vlefolm are quite possibly understrength and our main army is out of position. The units under the Prince are too far west and the units under newly appointed General Vestrund were ordered to clear another island so they aren't at their original position in Laoc Fen. Right now it seems we will have to rush improving our southern defences. Cass might be too far from the frontlines right now, but she should take precautions too. I don't think Frostlings are glad that we have resettled their city. At least Ferlin is returning home so he will be away from the frontlines too. I wonder how this war will pan out.