Anna and Drake were both taken aback when they heard Lucas had become the Disciple of one of the strongest Cultivators in the Rockwell Kingdom; but soon, only immense pride filled their hearts. This was Lucas' chance to rise up in the world, and with all his talents and knowledge, the two parents had no doubt their son would reach incredible heights one day.
Exchanging a glance, Anna and Drake insisted on lowering their heads at least, "Thank you for your kind words and deeds, Lady Balfour."
Nodding in acknowledgement, Celestina continued, "I can tell that the journey you took to return here was fraught with danger, and I would like nothing more than to let you rest and reunite with your friends and family; but our situation doesn't permit such indulgences. Every moment we delay, the risk increases."
Lifting their head, Anna and Drake both nodded, "We understand."
Despite trying to act strong, though, Anna visibly winced when she straightened her back, causing a worried look to fill Drake and Lucas' faces.
Celestina felt sorry for this young woman's condition, but as a battlefield veteran, she had long-ago learned to separate her personal feelings from her command decisions, so she simply said, "Anna, is it? Go to the infirmary and get patched up. There will be much to do soon, and you'll be of no use to us if you pass out from blood loss."
Turning to Lucas and Drake, Celestina continued, "As for you two, I'm putting you in charge of producing the new harnesses. Recruit whoever you need and requisition whatever resources are necessary, just get it done quickly."
"I'll need to install the new furnace into my smithy before we can get started," Drake spoke up, "I suppose it's fortunate we had it loaded into our wagon before all this insanity started and didn't just dump it along the way."
"Wait," Lucas cried out, "Did you and Mom come back here all on your own?!"
Horrified at the thought that his parents had acted rashly and tried to make it through the wilderness between Herald City and Redwood Town all by themselves, Lucas nearly had a panic attack.
Knocking her son's head gently, Anna chided, "Silly boy, of course not. Do you really think your parents would be that reckless?"
"Uh…" Lucas stuttered, averting his eyes slightly, an act that earned him a harder knock on his head from his mother.
"Does that mean you brought help with you?" Sasha caught onto what her best friend was implying and asked in a hopeful tone while ignoring Lucas' plight.
Right now, any assistance they could get was of great value, so if Anna and Drake had brought reinforcements with them, it would be much appreciated.
"We came together with a small group of others who have deep ties to Redwood Town," Drake explained as he transferred Anna's weight to Charles, who had come over to help.
"What do you mean you only came with a few others?" Celestina suddenly cut in, asking in a somewhat disbelieving tone.
A look of frustration appeared on Anna's face as she held her side and briefly explained, "As soon as we noticed the incident in the Great Western Forest, Drake and I went straight to the Herald City Garrison to request their aid, but they flatly refused, saying they had to secure the city first before thinking of anything else."
"Naturally, we tried to persuade them, but the officers there threw us out soon after," Drake added from the side, his voice also tinged with bitterness.
"The Garrison Commander refused to assist you?" Celestina pressed, her tone dropping slightly.
Shaking her head, Anna sighed, "We never even got to meet with the Garrison Commander."
Narrowing her eyes, Celestina urged the pair to continue.
Seeing this, Drake picked up the story, "After failing to secure help from the army, we started going around to our acquaintances to ask for their help, using all the contacts and favours we had built up over the years. Unfortunately, we still found very few willing to take the risk of venturing beyond the walls, and certainly not enough to make the trip back to Redwood Town safely."
"Given how poor our luck had been with the garrison and even our friends, we decided to not even bother with the nobles," Anna snorted, though she twitched afterwards from aggravating her wound.
"That's not surprising, but it's also not what I want to know," Celestina declared, "No offence, but given your status, it would be strange if the local garrison had moved to assist you. What I want to know, is why, after I sent one of my Commanders to Herald City, no reinforcements were organized and sent out?"
Seeing the dark, almost frigid look on the powerful Marquess' face, Drake gulped unconsciously and did his best to answer, "Bret, from the Town Guard, arrived early morning yesterday, but the Newton Family crest he brought with him didn't help matters much. Everyone was scrambling to get behind the city walls, seeking shelter, so things were quickly becoming chaotic and all the local forces had their hands full."
Nodding, Anna admitted reluctantly, "Maybe they could have sent out help at the beginning, but Wild Beasts began appearing soon after Bret arrived, and their numbers only increased as time went on. Once the Wild Beast attacks started becoming frequent, the garrison, city watch, and private guards of the various forces were all gathered under the City Lord's command and sent to protect the walls while blocking the entrances to the city."
"The City Lord ordered all forces to man the walls and then seal the gates? What about the people outside the gates? Were they just left to fend for themselves?" Veins were now beginning to appear on Celestina's forehead as she clenched her fists tight, "Who is that City Lord?"
"Richard Baker," Sasha answered, making no attempt to hide the contempt in her voice, "He's a cowardly man who only thinks about his own benefits and comfort. I'm not surprised he wouldn't even try to help the surrounding towns and villages and instead decided to cower behind his walls."
"Richard Baker… Baker… oh, the current Count Baker," it took Celestina a moment to go through her memories before finally recalling a certain whimsical young man she had met many years ago by that name.
Celestina didn't have much of an impression of Richard Baker, other than him being a man who seemed to indulge in pleasure and who had only managed to reach to the Low-Rank Spirit Initiate Realm by piling up resources into his cultivation.
With no drive to better himself, and no desires beyond drinking and sleeping around, Celestina had classified the young Count Baker as a waste not worth remembering or maintaining relations with.
The former Count Baker, Richard's father, was a decent enough man that Celestina had a fairly positive opinion of, but it seemed he had spoiled his son rotten, turning him into a wastrel.
If there was one thing about Richard Baker that Celestina did remember vividly, it was the man's excessive pride which made him look down on almost everyone.
It wasn't unusual for nobles to have some ingrained arrogance, but Richard Baker was a particularly egregious example of this, thinking that all commoners were beneath him and that only the highest-ranking nobles were due any real respect.
"It was a mistake to send Oliver," Celestina grumbled, quickly realizing what had happened.
Oliver Hughes, despite being a Mid-Rank Spirit Initiate and a Commander in the Raging River Legion, was from a commoner background.
Given Richard Baker's personality, it wouldn't be unusual for him to ignore a mere Army Commander, especially in his own home territory.
If Richard Baker decided to be stubborn, there was no way Oliver Hughes could overrule him, even if he was acting on Celestina's authority.
Now, most nobles would comply when they received a request made in the name of the Balfour Marquess, as refusing usually had terrible consequences, but there were always some who thought too highly of themselves and felt they could act with impunity as long as the Kingdom's Law was on their side.
In Celestina's mind, she could imagine Count Baker making some kind of flippant excuse to Oliver in order to justify not sending out any forces from Herald City to provide assistance to the surrounding populace before point him to the door.
Clearing his throat, Drake continued, "As General Balfour suspected, Commander Oliver arrived aboard your Skyship around mid-day yesterday, causing quite a stir in the city."
"When we noticed a Skyship flying over from the direction of Redwood Town, we forced our way through the crowds and managed to speak with Commander Hughes, hoping to seek his aid," Anna followed up, "Thankfully, upon learning who we were, the Commander agreed to assist us."
"Unfortunately," Drake's expression darkened, "It didn't take long to realize we weren't going to make any further progress with the local nobles, regardless who it was that was making the request."
From the faint tension in the air, everyone could tell that Celestina's anger was rising behind her calm façade, a feeling that was reinforced when she asked pointedly, "Did the local garrison also refuse to provide any aid after Oliver intervened?"
Pursing her lips, Anna replied, "I'm not sure what kind of arrangement Commander Hughes made with the Garrison Commander, but even after several hours of negotiations, we were only provided with the minimum amount of assistance from the army."
Celestina's brow twitched when she heard this, nearly losing control of her temper.
It was one thing for people to be uncooperative or to play politics in normal times; such behaviour also irritated the Balfour Marquess, but it would rarely upset her as that was simply how reality worked.
In times of crisis, however, where life-and-death were on the line, Celestina had zero tolerance for such bullshit, and she certainly wasn't planning on just letting this idiocy slide, especially from the regular military forces of the kingdom who technically had to follow her orders.
Still, there was nothing she could do about the situation right now, so Celestina forced down her anger and inquired, "So, thinking there was no more help to gain, you decided to head out on your own with whoever was willing?"
Drake nodded in response, before shaking his head, "Not quite. We did decide to head out at first light today, planning to rush all the way back to Redwood Town using the horses the garrison loaned us, but as we were getting ready to depart, we coincidentally ran into a team from the Rising Sun Merchant Guild."