“Now, let us discuss the important matter,” Frorryntiar said. She turned to Jeanny and Megan, “Leader Jeanny and leader Megan, I have received transmissions from the battlefield. The report of your guilds aiding our troops’ retreat shows that you are trustable allies. Appropriate war contribution points will be yours as compensation after the war ends. I invite you here to let you know that you have Hydrurond’s recognition.”

‘Why didn’t she just say bloody thank you?’ Jack said jokingly to Peniel. Peniel didn’t respond.

“As for King Storm Wind,” Frorryntiar turned back to Jack. “Arthur advised me that you have been leading him roaming around the battlefield killing enemy soldiers under the disguise of the enemy’s race. The two of you also helped halt the enemies who pursue our retreating troops. Although many of my officers are still not convinced, I am willing to believe that you are an ally instead of an enemy.”

‘Hey! My disguise is supposed to be a secret!’ Jack sent a message to Arthur.

‘Didn’t you want to gain the queen’s trust? This is the way,’ Arthur replied while giving Jack a shrug.𝐍𝞸𝓥𝓮𝑙𝚗𝑒xt.𝒞𝑂𝓶

Frorryntiar continued, “Now, considering that we are all allies. I will let you in on our plan.”

A mechanical device came out of the ceiling. It then projected a 3D map showing the map of Hydrurond.

One of the officers next to Frorryntiar came forward. The officer’s name was Grombi. He reported while pointing at the markers inside the projection, “Even though we have the valiant efforts from you all in helping our troops to retreat, we still lost many soldiers. Out of the second army that faced the Aurebor army, only 200,000 reported back to duty. Our second army suffered the greatest loss, it even cost us the life of one of our lord dominators.”

The other officers winced at the words. Even Jack saw Frorryntiar’s eyes slightly narrowed. There were only three lord dominators in the Hydrurond army. The loss of one was a great blow to their military.

“As for the first army who had lost earlier, they had 300,000 troops,” Grombi continued. “What remains of the two armies are now returning to the capital.”

“To the capital? So, who will defend the cities between the capital and the enemy armies?” Jack asked.

Grombi didn’t answer. He instead turned to Queen Frorryntiar, who answered, “No one. We will make our stand in the capital.”

Frorryntiar didn’t bother to give any explanation. Jack didn’t ask further. He didn’t think they would appreciate him objecting to their plan. He also didn’t have a plan to protect those cities, anyway. He didn’t think it was realistic to evacuate so many cities, he just hoped Liguritudum and Aurebor didn’t bother to harm the citizens.

“What about the third army that used to protect the border with Themisphere? I heard it has been recalled, hasn’t it?” Jeanny asked.

“The third army is on its way to the capital. They will arrive in around three days,” Grombi answered. “With the three armies assembled, the capital will have around 1,500,000 soldiers protecting it. On the enemy side, our intel told us the Liguritudum was down to 1,200,000 troops. Aurebor still had 1,500,000 troops. Their combined army was almost twice ours, but if we play defense in the capital, the odds are in our favor.”

Grombi zoomed the projection to Messephyria to have everyone get a better look at the capital.

“Our capital is too large to be an effective defensive fortress, there are too many points where the enemy could attack from. It will be difficult to prevent the enemies from scaling and entering the wall. We should be ready for heavy combat on the wall. As for the wall itself, I won’t worry too much. Our capital’s defensive wall has a top-tier rune diagram. It needs repair. But once it does, it will take a lot of siege weapons to take our capital’s wall down.”

“Do we have a report on how many siege weapons the enemy brings?” Megan asked.

“They brought some. The enemies haven’t used those siege weapons because the battles until now are all field battles. The weapons are still far back behind their front line.”

“Do we have an estimation of how long till the enemy arrives outside the capital?” Jeanny asked.

“Bringing the slow-moving siege weapons, we estimate they should take three weeks at least,” Grombi answered.

“Don’t forget that Liguritudum has a way to speed up their army’s marching speed,” Jack reminded. “They might arrive sooner than that.”

“We know,” Grombi said. “Taking that into account, it should still not be faster than two weeks.”

“This gives us some time to prepare our defense,” Frorryntiar said. He looked at Jeanny and Megan, “Will your guilds help us in this defense?”

“We will,” both Jeanny and Megan said.

“Good. Then I appoint you, Megan Blair, as the leader of the outworlders. Jeanny, you will be her second in command. We will announce this decision to all the outworlders. The outworlders who joined this war will coordinate with our army through you. I hope you can organize them so we can work together effectively.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty, for this honor. I will do my best to aid the defense,” Megan bowed.

Jeanny also expressed her gratitude and bowed. Although Everlasting Heavenly Legends was more instrumental during the retreat, she didn’t mind Megan being picked as the main leader. She was a draconian and from Hydrurond. It was more appropriate to choose her rather than an outsider from a different race.

Jack was glad of this. This showed that Hydrurond natives’ distrust of outworlders due to the serial killings had diminished.

“Queen Frorryntiar,” Jack called. “Now that you know that I am not an enemy, will you accept Themisphere’s aid?”

“My queen, it will be careless to accept…,” Guzrim said but he was again stopped by Frorryntiar.

Frorryntiar turned to Aldryth. She said, “What do you think?”

“My queen, I trust King Storm Wind is sincere in helping us,” Aldryth answered.

Frorryntiar turned back to Jack and said, “I didn’t believe so at first, but your action has continued to prove otherwise. Your aid in solving the serial killing case helped us bring stability back to our cities. Your aid in helping our soldiers retreat spared us the soldiers to help defend our capital. I will take the risk of believing in you. Do not betray my trust!”

“I won’t. Thank you for your trust, Queen Frorryntiar,” Jack said. “I will go back to Themisphere and mobilize my army. I also have something that increases my army’s speed. Hopefully, I can arrive here before the enemy did. Please hold out until then.”

“They won’t breach the capital,” Frorryntiar uttered. “When they come, I will show them why our country used to be the leader of the seven countries!”

Accompanying her words, a thundering roar was heard. Everyone turned to the glass wall. An enormous shadow was seen swimming inside the white clouds outside.

‘Is that…,’ Jack asked inside his mind.

‘Yes, that is Eoranth. Hydrurond’s country guardian,’ Peniel answered. ‘Otherwise known as the lord of dragons.’

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