Vanessa really couldn't understand what the political leaders were thinking as she had seen first-hand the kind of destruction which was being wrought in the South-West Province.
Whole towns and villages were overrun by hordes of Wild Beasts while vast swaths of farmland had been trampled flat and ruined.
Refugees were everywhere, flooding into the high-walled cities in search of safety, causing shortages of all kinds of critical supplies and disrupting public order.
At this rate, it wouldn't be long before those who had lost everything and become desperate began turning to banditry.
The Rockwell Kingdom was facing an enormous crisis, yet the highest decision-making body was unable, or simply unwilling to take action?
Even if one were to ignore all the moral aspects of this situation, anyone who made a purely logical assessment would understand that if nothing was done, the losses to the nation would be catastrophic.
"None of those cowards dare to offend the Imperial Overseer," General Gunthar stated bluntly, "It's already a miracle they aren't completely falling over each other to flatter Lord Jeremiah, though some of them are clearly trying to curry favour with him. Many of them have even called for their prettiest daughters and granddaughters to rush to the capital."
"What!?" Vanessa could hardly believe her ears when she heard this.
She knew that several of the Ministers and Nobles who sat on the Council were conniving and opportunistic, but to go as far as to try to sell their own family to the Imperial Overseer was a shocking level of debasement.
"Lord Jeremiah has always… 'appreciated' beautiful women, so their plans might not be completely futile," General Gunthar, who had lived almost four times as long as Vanessa and seen much worse over the course of his life didn't seem as disturbed by what the Council members were doing as she was.
Kyle Gunthar might not personally approve of such behaviour, but he had witnessed the depths to which some people would sink for even the slightest chance of power or benefits, so he wasn't surprised either.
If this had been an attempt to forge a kind of political marriage, it might have been acceptable in Vanessa's mind, but that wasn't the case at all.
The men and women on the Royal Council knew full well that there was no way Lord Jeremiah, a genuine Spirit Master and noble from the Rising Sun Empire, would ever have any interest in accepting a woman from a small family in a remote kingdom as an official wife or even as a concubine.
In other words, these opportunists were trying to sell their own descendants as maids, servants, or possibly just playthings to the lascivious Overseer, hoping he would bestow some pittance on them afterwards.
As she was mulling over this disgusting reality, Vanessa suddenly thought of a certain young girl who might be an exception. There was indeed one woman who had enough potential both in terms of looks and talent to really attract Lord Jeremiah's interest.
With a dark expression, Vanessa lowered her voice and asked, "What about His Majesty? Is he also planning to participate in this farce?"
Shaking his head, a rare look of approval appeared on Kyle Gunthar's aged face as he commented, "That boy king might not be the most experienced of rulers, but he's incredibly protective of his family and at least knows not to sacrifice long-term gains in exchange for short-term benefits."
Hearing this, Vanessa immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Cynthia Morgan, the Third Queen, was universally accepted as the most beautiful woman in the Rockwell Kingdom. She was also like a little sister to both Allina Crest and Vanessa Clark as the pair had been friends with Cynthia since they were young.
Despite being the mere second daughter of the Morgan Count Family and having modest Innate Talent by high-noble standards, Cynthia's extraordinary beauty had instantly captured the young Nathanial Rockwell's heart more than 50 years ago at a certain ball in the capital, and he had insisted on making her his third official wife after he became king.
When Nathanial Rockwell first married Cynthia, many thought she would simply be a decorative piece, but the Third Queen soon proved them wrong.
In her youth, Cynthia was even more outgoing and adventurous than Vanessa and had gotten into all kinds of mischief. This often caused a lot of trouble for her, her family, and her two best friends, but these adventures also allowed Cynthia to accumulate a huge variety of life experiences and to meet a wide plethora of people.
By the time she matured and became an adult, Cynthia had dabbled in almost every kind of profession imaginable and had mastered the art of conversation. Using these skills and her position as Third Queen, Cynthia became one of the most skilled negotiators and diplomats in the entire Rockwell Kingdom's history.
Over the years, Cynthia wracked-up numerous accomplishments in foreign relations and was now considered a highly valuable member of the Royal Family.
Still, with her weaker Innate Talent and weaker background compared to the First and Second Queens, no one expected Cynthia's children to become contenders for the throne.
That, however, changed drastically 15 years ago with the birth of Cynthia's first and only daughter.
Nathanial Rockwell had Low-Rank Spirit Grade Talent, which was good, but not anything shocking given he was from a Royal Line. Cynthia Morgan, on the other hand, only had High-Rank Mortal Grade Talent and had relied on a vast quantity of resources and many years of effort to reach her current cultivation.
Fortunately, while the Morgan Family wasn't very powerful, it was wealthy thanks to its mercantile nature, so Cynthia had never lacked for cultivation resources and at the age of 110 was now a Complete Mid-Rank Initiate.
Given Nathanial and Cynthia's fairly ordinary Innate Talents, it came as an absolute shock when Christina Rockwell broke the talent measuring tool used on her when she was born.
This meant that, at the very least, the Twelfth Princess and youngest daughter of the Rockwell Royal Family had Peak-Rank Spirit Grade Talent!
Such Innate Talent was a rarity even in the Rising Sun Empire itself, and all but guaranteed that so long as she had enough resources and opportunities, Christina would become a Spirit Master once day.
There was even hope the young girl could ascend to the legendary Spirit Grandmaster Realm in the future!
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that Christina was a 1 in 100 million genius, and she had fully proven herself worthy of this assessment by reaching the Core Formation Realm at the mere age of 12, and then the Sea Establishment Realm before she even turned 15.
In order to not alarm the surrounding kingdoms or alert the Empire, Nathanial Rockwell had intentionally announced that his youngest daughter had only broken through to the Core Formation Realm at the age of 14, even going so far as to throw a huge celebration for the 'momentous event'.
This was still a shocking rate of cultivation for a Mid-Sized Kingdom's princess, but it wasn't absolutely impossible.
What's more, despite not having fully matured yet, it was quite obvious that Christina had inherited her mother's transcendent beauty along with her father's heroic looks and would someday grow into a woman capable of having kings and emperors compete for her favour.
If the Imperial Overseer were to meet the Rockwell Royal Family's little genius princess, there was a good chance he would pressure the king into giving his daughter to him, a fate that Vanessa knew would ruin her little niece's life and break her little sister's heart.
Unfortunately, although Vanessa was worried, there wasn't much she could do about the situation. Right now, she had her own mission to complete, so bringing her focus back to the moment, she turned to her commanding officer and said, "I should return to the south-west immediately. Permission to be excused, sir?"
Taking a moment to think, General Kyle Gunthar shook his head, "You've been flying almost non-stop for the past 2 days, so both you and your mount must be exhausted. Take half-a-day to rest and recover before you set out."
"But General…" Vanessa tried to object, but was quickly cut off.
"My decision is final. If you or Starlight collapse, it will only delay matters further," General Gunthar declared before putting on what passed for a comforting grin for him and explained, "With Celestina taking charge, nothing will happen, and nothing is going to happen here until Lord Jeremiah decides to move, which won't be for at least half-a-month. Taking a half-day's rest won't matter."
Furrowing her brow, Vanessa eventually nodded, though she did so reluctantly.
As a Peak-Rank Spirit and High-Rank Martial and Soul Initiate, performing strenuous activity for 3 days in a row wasn't impossible, though she would be quite worn out afterwards. There was no way her commanding officer didn't know this, so his insistence was clearly just out of concern for her wellbeing.
Despite her reservations, Vanessa did her best to push down her worries and nodded, "Yes, Sir."
The first thing she needed to do was tend to her faithful mount, so Vanessa excused herself and left the Ministry of War's Grand Hall, quickly moving over to where she had left Starlight.
Walking up to the Golden Hawk and seeing him breathing heavily, Vanessa frowned and realized she had indeed been pushing him too hard. Patting him gently, she leapt up onto his back before softly calling out, "Just a bit longer, okay? We just need to reach the Legion's stables and then you can take a good rest."
With a few loud cries, Starlight seemed to have gotten the message and unfurled his wings, flapping them strongly and taking off.
Vanessa could have had her mount rest in the palace's stables, but with a Silver Moon Eagle present, she wasn't sure how 'restful' it would be there for her partner.
Besides, the Golden Wings Legion's headquarters wasn't far.