After choking down her rising frustration, Celestina asked pointedly, "Are you saying this whole debacle was caused by the Roths?"
Farah had her own history with the kingdom's only Duke family, but the bad-blood between the Balfours and Roths went well beyond just simple grudges.
Knowing this, Farah didn't immediately answer this loaded question. Instead, taking a moment to consider her words, she eventually shook her head, "I can't say for certain, but given the timing, it's highly likely they had something to do with it. At the very least, the expedition lead by Madison Roth must have gotten caught up in the crisis."
Knitting her brow, Celestina actually turned to the Lucas and asked, "What are the chances a Spirit Initiate could have survived that explosion?"
Lucas was caught a bit off-guard when the conversation sudden shifted to him, but he still quickly replied, "Everything inside the 15 km fireball radius was probably vaporized, while anyone inside the 30 km heavy blast radius almost certainly died. As for those outside that range… I'm not certain. I guess it would depend on how far away they were."
"Give me your best estimate," Celestina pressed the issue.
Pursing his lips, Lucas thought about it hard for a few seconds before saying hesitantly, "I'd say a Low-Rank Spirit Initiate would have a better than 50% chance of being alive as long as they were 40 km away from the epicentre of the explosion."
Glancing over at the metre long ruler and making some quick estimations in her head, Celestina frowned and muttered unhappily, "If that Roth brat left from here and traveled west at an average pace through the forest for 15 days… he and everyone in his group are probably dead."
Celestina wasn't upset because Madison Roth was dead, she didn't care one way or the other, what she was disgruntled about was that her last hope of avoiding having the Roth Family get involved in this mess had just been dashed.
Gregory Roth was a ruthless and cold-blooded man, but even he would thoroughly investigate an incident that killed his son and one of his family's Elders.
Frowning deeply, Celestina began contemplating the consequences of this unfortunate reality. In the end, however, she just shook her head and decided to take a wait-and-see approach. There was little more she could do at this point anyways.
Shifting her focus back to her former student, Celestina noticed that Farah really was on the verge of collapsing, so she turned to Helen and said, "Help her to the infirmary. She's too stubborn to know what's good for her, so make sure she rests."
"Yes!" Helen didn't dare to refuse, despite not technically being a maid or servant. In any case, she had fulfilled her role here already, and with Sasha and Charles having returned, there was no need for her to remain in this uncomfortable room with one of the most powerful nobles in the kingdom.
Helen swiftly moved to support Farah, who was too exhausted to offer any objections, and the pair promptly left the office.
As soon as the two women had left, Lucas, ever curious, couldn't help asking, "Master, what exactly is the feud between the Balfour and Roth Families?"
Although he had heard grumblings from his parents and his aunt and uncle before today, none of them had ever fully explained to Lucas why exactly the Balfours and the Roths seemed to have such bad blood between them.
Up until now, Lucas had been content to just let this issue be as it didn't seem relevant to his life, but from the way his Master was talking, that likely wouldn't be the case for much longer.
Glancing over at her new Disciple, Celestina debated whether to explain the situation to him or not, but after giving it some thought, she realized that as her Disciple, Lucas would eventually become embroiled in this mess, whether he wanted to or not.
Also, given the level of intelligence the boy had shown so far, trying to hide things now would be pointless, so the General nodded, "While it's not to the level of a blood-feud, the competition between my Balfour Family and the Roth Family has been going on since before the founding of the Rockwell Kingdom. Even I'm not certain if there was a specific trigger for this conflict, or if over time things simply escalated to the point where it's not a mistake to say we are constantly at odds."
Lucas' face scrunched up upon hearing this. It was a less than satisfactory answer to his question, and he imagined there was still more to it than he was being told, it also wasn't illogical or unreasonable.
A feud between the second and third most powerful noble families in the kingdom could have started over anything, even something very minor.
It was only natural that the Roths and Balfours competed with one another, and if that competition became heated and an outlet for the tension was never found, Lucas could easily imagine things spiraling to the point where the two sides hated each other.
Wrinkling his brow, Lucas followed up with another question, "Has the Royal Family not tried to mediate this matter at all?"
"Of course they have," Celestina said with a sigh, "Unfortunately, they also can't openly take sides, as doing so would destabilize the kingdom."
Pursing his lips, Lucas realized that this problem was far more nuanced and complex than he originally thought.
For the moment, however, it wasn't necessary to spend too much time thinking about this issue, so Lucas filed it away and returned to the matters at hand.
Noticing the shift in her Disciple's thoughts, Celestina nodded and brought the conversation back to the present, "The Roths are certainly an issue that needs to be addressed, but they're not our most pressing concern. Right now, we need a plan to handle the local situation and prevent any further loss of life or damage to the kingdom."
As one of the 10 Generals of the Rockwell Kingdom, as well as a Marquess, there was no reason for Celestina Balfour to even consult with a mere Baron about what kind of measures to take in a national level disaster, but out of consideration for her granddaughter, and given that locals always knew the local situation better than outsiders, she was still willing to get outside input and suggestions.
Everyone in the room nodded as they turned back to the large round table where a local map was laid out. The 3 adults and 1 child hovered over the map as they began discussing what their next moves would be.
While from an outsider's perspective, a 10-year-old boy participating in a strategic planning session would seem odd, the adults present found nothing wrong with it.
"Can we expect any further aid from the kingdom?" Charles asked, though there was a distinct pessimism laced into his voice.
Shaking her head, Celestina responded bluntly, "Not for a while. I sent a message to the capital before setting off, but even though that boy Nathanial has a better grasp of the Court than his father ever had, mobilizing troops and marching across the kingdom isn't something that can be organized overnight."
Lucas tilted his head slightly, wondering who 'Nathanial' was, until his Aunt Sasha leaned over and whispered, "The King."
Lucas nearly choked when he heard this, only now realizing just how absurdly high-up his new Master's status was, even able to casually call the King by his name and refer to him as 'boy'.
"What about local forces?" Celestina inquired, moving the conversation along without even batting an eye.
Shaking off his own surprise, Charles coughed lightly, "The South-West Province is governed by the Drax Family, but their home city is quite far north-east from here, bordering the Royal Province. Expecting help from them is likely pointless."
Knitting his brow, Charles continued, "As for nearby forces, there is really only Herald City which is a 3-day carriage ride from here. It's a relatively small place with a garrison of 1,000 soldiers, 500 or so members of the city watch, and perhaps another 300 private troops belonging to Count Baker's Family. There are maybe another 1,000 guards belonging to other nobles, powerful merchants, and other wealthy families in the city, as well as 1,000 or so adventurers with decent combat strength."
"I sent out our best rider with the best horses available immediately after the explosion yesterday. Riding through the night, he should reach Herald City sometime today," Sasha supplemented, before frowning slightly, "Whether or not he can secure help from the local nobles and officers is another question."
Lucas then added, "Mom… I mean, the Captain of the Town Guard is in Herald City right now, so she would surely try to rally some aid for the town. I don't know how many people she can convince to help, but knowing her, she can probably at least recruit those who have some kind of connection to Redwood Town."
"It seems we're on our own for at least the next few days, but that shouldn't be a problem. As long as no truly powerful beasts appear, defending this small town shouldn't be too difficult," Celestina stated.
Sweeping her gaze over the map, though, the General frowned as she continued, "The problem is that this isn't the only settlement that will be facing pressure from rampaging beasts, and we have no way of knowing just how long the turmoil in the Great Western Forest will continue."