"P-Please don't say such a thing, Matriarch! Your presence here is a great honour and blessing; we dare not ask anything more of you!" Sasha panicked upon seeing her grandmother lowering her head to her.
Whatever the circumstances, it was a fact that Celestina Balfour, a Marquess and General of the Rockwell Kingdom, had raced here from across the nation to provide aid. That alone was more than a mere granddaughter married to a low-ranking Baron could have possibly hoped for.
Charles nodded along vigorously, not even able to form words to express what he was feeling at the moment.
Seeing the looks on these two's faces and the way they were reacting, it was obvious to Celestina that her granddaughter and her husband didn't know the full story yet. If they did, they would certainly have shown at least a little regret as she truly had arrived just a moment late to save Eris.
Shaking her head, Celestina sighed and continued, "I will do what I can to help my little great granddaughter; but I will warn you now, her condition will not be easy to treat, even for me."
Upon hearing this offer being made without the slightest constraints or conditions, the two parents felt their eyes becoming moist again and promptly lowered their heads in thanks.
After taking a moment to collect themselves, Charles and Sasha straightened their backs as the former asked, "What can we do to help?"
Steeling her expression, Celestina replied, "For now, you can fill me in on a few details about the current situation. My new Disciple here has been quite informative about the general circumstances, but he hasn't been on the front lines, so he naturally cannot give a first-hand account of certain events."
While Charles was a bit surprised by the sudden talk of a 'Disciple', he didn't think much of it and simply nodded.
On the other hand, Sasha's head whipped around to stare at Lucas with incredulity.
Unlike her husband, Sasha was well aware of what becoming the Disciple of her grandmother meant. However, thinking about the young boy's situation, character, and potential, Sasha didn't find it too difficult to accept him becoming the First Disciple of the famous Celestina Balfour.
There was still a number of questions Sasha felt she would need to ask her future son-in-law about later, but for now, satisfying her curiosity wasn't a priority. She thus promptly set aside her doubts and continued, "What would you like to know, Matriarch?"
"Little Lucas has outlined the chain of events, as well as what kind of emergency measures were taken. What I need to know now is what the distribution and strength of the beasts coming out of the Great Western Forest has been like prior to my arrival," Celestina replied succinctly.
Briefly exchanging a glance, Sasha passed the responsibility of answering this question to Charles, who swiftly recounted, "Last night, the largest barricade, which we set up on the main western road, was attacked by around 1,000 Wild Beasts. About 8 in 10 were First Order, with most of the rest being Second Order."
"16 Third and 5 Fourth Order Wild Beasts appeared as well, but mostly within the last 4 hours."
Listening to this report, while also taking a glance at the rough map on the large table beside her, Celestina couldn't help thinking that the number of beasts was actually a bit lower than she had expected, especially among the lower Ranks.
When she inquired about this, it was Lucas who answered, "Yesterday, about 2 hours after the initial explosion, a Low Sixth Order Great Oriyan landed at the Town Lord's Manor. Through a serious of coincidences, we managed to keep that Spirit Beast in town for a few more hours, which resulted in most Wild Beasts detouring around Redwood Town until roughly midnight."
"Oh, you actually saw a Great Oriyan up close? That's quite the rare encounter," Celestina was mildly surprised, as even she had only seen Great Oriyans a couple of times throughout her life, and never from close range.
One had to know that a mature Great Oriyan had a top speed significantly higher than the Sunchaser's normal cruising velocity, so even if you spotted such a creature while onboard a Skyship, catching up to it was basically impossible.
"En. It was quite frightening at first, but the Great Oriyan was actually quite friendly when I spoke with him," Lucas elaborated.
"It seems seeing a Great Oriyan really is a good omen," Sasha couldn't help but add, shuddering as she thought about what might have happened if the Spirit Beast had not provided some deterrence to other beasts.
Even with the Great Oriyan serving as a shield for several hours last night, Redwood Town had barely managed to hold out until morning. If the defenders had been forced to endure just 1 additional hour of attacks, it wasn't certain their defences would have held.
Of course, the Great Oriyan's presence wasn't only a blessing; there were definitely downsides too. The most obvious of these was that the villages around Redwood Town had suffered heavier attacks from the beasts which circumvented the Sixth Order Spirit Beast.
Thinking of this last point, Sasha turned to Helen and asked, "Did we get a full count of the villagers?"
All eyes turned to Helen at this point, causing her to feel somewhat pressured because the news she had to deliver wasn't good. With no other choice, though, Helen gave a long sigh and replied, "We haven't gotten an exact count, but rough estimates put the number of refugees from the surrounding villages that made it to Redwood Town at… just under 3,000."
When Charles and Sasha heard this, they felt completely suffocated, like someone had just driven a blade through their chests.
As a Marquess, Celestina was also familiar with general population distributions among cities, towns, and villages. Given what she had seen from the air, she estimated that there were some 3,000 residents of Redwood Town.
Villages surrounding any small town would usually have about one and a half times as many inhabitants as the town itself, which would be 4,500 in this case.
Glancing at the map, Celestina basically confirmed her estimate when she saw there were 14 local villages. A normal village would have 200 to 300 people living in it; however, this meant that if less than 3,000 villagers made it to Redwood Town last night, at least 1,500 had perished, quite possibly more.
It was a devastating loss of life that one would rarely seen outside of wars, famines, and plagues, and this crisis had only just begun.
Although Lucas wasn't as well informed about these matters as the adults in the room, he wasn't an ignorant little boy, so he was able to make some educated guesses.
Additionally, the looks on everyone's faces were enough to tell him that this was not a good outcome.
Maintaining a stoic expression, Celestina brought the meeting back into focus, "We can mourn the dead later. For now, the living still need our attention."
With bitten lips and clenched fists, Charles and Sasha both nodded to signal they understood.
At that moment, Celestina suddenly turned to the door and called out, "Stop idling there and come in."
As the others turned as well, the saw a heavily bandaged woman, leaning on a kind of crutch, hobble into the study before lifting her right hand, placing it across her chest in a formal military salute, "General Balfour."
"At ease, Commander Wilder; or should I just call you Farah now?" Celestina asked with a slight edge to her voice.
Wincing under the accusatory glare, Farah Wilder lowered her head and said in a regretful tone, "Forgive me, Teacher, I should not have left without saying anything."
Celestina snorted lightly before waving her hand and declaring, "We can talk about it later. For now, give me a situation report."
Nodding, Farah promptly replied, "The 6 barricades have been fully secured. Commander Hughes is now leading a team to clean out any stray beast that managed to sneak into town."
Sensing the slight tension in the air, Charles hurriedly spoke up, "General Balfour, Senior Farah is the only reason the town didn't fall last night. Without her, the only thing left of Redwood Town by now would be ruins and corpses."
"Naturally, I understand that," Celestina acknowledged before her expression softened slightly and she walked over to the battered woman, rubbing the latter's head gently, "You've done well, Farah. Especially considering your condition."
Feeling this familiar touch, which she hadn't actually felt in over 60 years, Farah lowered her head and actually started sobbing. It was a bit odd seeing a woman who looked like she was in her early 30's comforting a middle-aged woman who appeared to be in her late 40's like a small child, but that was exactly what was happening.
Of course, Celestina was more than twice as old as Farah and it was only because of the great difference in their cultivations that the former looked younger, but it still made for an unusual visual.
The others in the room naturally pretended they couldn't see anything to protect Farah's dignity, and after a brief moment, the latter composed herself and dried her eyes, "Thank you, Teacher."
"Go get some rest now, you're barely even able to stand," Celestina nodded before ordering.
"I'd like nothing more than to comply, General, but I have something critical to report first," Farah straightened up and declared.
Raising her brow, Celestina simply gestured for her former student to continue.
With a solemn expression, Farah reported in a grave tone, "About half-a-month ago, Duke Roth's youngest son came to Redwood Town along with a group of roughly 100 escorts for his Sea Establishment Realm experience test. They entered the Great Western Forest a couple of days later and were almost certainly deep inside when the explosion occurred."
Celestina's expression instantly darkened when she heard this and she immediately asked, "Was that brat accompanied by an Elder?"
Farah nodded, "Sir Garret Hendrix was acting as Young Lord Roth's supervisor."
It took all of Celestina's willpower to stop herself from cursing out loud. If there was one person in the Rockwell Kingdom she absolutely couldn't stand dealing with, it was the current Duke Roth; but now, it seemed meeting with that cold stone-faced bastard was inevitable and unavoidable.