Seemingly aged by ten years, Zellin Stolten's figure appeared especially faltering at this moment. The thorough defeat at the Plovdiv battle nearly eradicated Galle's potential for war, and the collapse of both the Golden Oak Legion and the Blue Dove Corps led to Hoffman's resignation and retreat, meaning Galle lost one of its few supports. Now, it seemed nothing could stop the power coming from the east.
Zellin knew it wasn't fair to blame Susanov; under these circumstances, the fact that Susanov had managed to bring back so much of the Galle Army was already quite remarkable. As the master, the Galle Army had suffered much less than the Golden Oak and Blue Dove corps, which were but guests. This was both ironic and somewhat comforting; after all, what remained were Galleian.
