Charles had a premonition of ill omen, and indeed, he soon heard his own name from the mouth of Earl Brittany.
"The new commander of the South Serif Region is you, Charles Mecklen!"
Charles couldn't help saying, "With so many from the Sacred Order, how could it possibly be my turn?"
Earl Brittany smiled slightly and said, "There will soon be no one from the Sacred Order here."
Charles was somewhat shocked, but he quickly understood. South Serif had been thoroughly devastated, and its people were nearly gone, although most had been relocated by him, not killed in the fires of war.
For the Empire, a region that needed constant transportation of supplies and could not sustain local resupply was not worth the continued investment of troops.
