Chapter 569: Unusual Friendship

It had been half-a-month since that eventful day in late June, the one where Christina fought masked assassins in the Darr Kingdom, Lucas traveled to Torren Ridge to overhaul the iron industry, and Eris had to deal with a large-scale terrorist attack in Misty City.

Needless to say, the fallout from those events had arrived swiftly, and with incredible force.

There was no time to just sit and recover; subsequent actions were needed and needed fast.

Less than half-a-day after Celestina returned to Misty City, dozens of Tartans took off from the Raging River Legion’s headquarters heading to most of the major cities across the Rockwell Kingdom.

These Tartans all carried messages to various high-ranking nobles and military leaders explaining briefly what had taken place and requesting that the timetable for the crackdown on enemy hideouts be moved up significantly.

Over the following few days, raids were conducted all across the nation, with the largest number being undertaken in the South West, South East, and Royal Provinces.

Soldiers and guards in every major city broke down doors and arrested suspected criminals and foreign agents.

Obviously, in such a wide-spread operation, there were injuries and deaths on both sides. Most of these casualties were among the various criminal elements being targeted by the Rockwell Kingdom, but the suffering wasn’t limited to the enemy forces.

Several months worth of investigations and planning had gone into this crackdown, which did help minimize collateral damage and mistakes, but the rushed implementation resulted in no small number of innocent bystanders getting caught up in the chaos.

Still, from the cold, logical perspective of the nation, this law-enforcement and counter-espionage action was a resounding success.

It would take some time to sort through all the fish who had been swept up in this net, and to figure out who was a ringleader, who was a mastermind, and who was just disposable muscle, but for the moment, it seemed the Rockwell Kingdom had come out on top.

At least, that was the case when it came to domestic matters.

While it was true that the raids had done serious damage to both regular underground elements in the kingdom and to the shadowy organization which seemed intent on sowing chaos and discontent among the populous, it was still unclear who the enemy really was or what they were trying to accomplish.

On top of that, Celestina’s little excursion into the Darr Kingdom’s territory had ruffled more than a few feathers with this hostile nation.

The fact that a Rockwell Kingdom Spirit Adept had led some 40 Spirit Initiates to conduct what was essentially a military operation in Sabre Point which resulted in the near destruction of Viscount-rank noble house and the deaths of hundreds of Darr Kingdom citizens was not being taken well.

To make matters worse, Prince Landon Darr, one of the most promising youths in the entire Darr Kingdom, was severely wounded in the battle while none of the enemy assassins had been successfully taken alive for interrogation.

The only somewhat bright spot in the whole debacle was that Commander Brock Anders had miraculously managed to survive despite having his Dantian destroyed and could testify to the events which had transpired.

The eye-witness account of an active-duty Spirit Initiate Commander from the Darr Kingdom military was a huge boon to the Rockwell Kingdom’s side. Together with Prince Landon’s testimony, and that of the few surviving members of Dunne Viscount household, Celestina was at least somewhat confident that they could avoid hostilities between the two kingdoms immediately breaking out.

Speaking of Prince Landon, he was still resting in the medical ward of the Balfour Family’s Misty City Manor.

Celestina had spared no expense in treating him, even bringing in a genuine Spirit Doctor from the Royal Province to properly repair his broken left arm, but Landon’s recovery wasn’t going to be quick.

Eris, Timothy, Danika, and many others had all been visiting the young prince quite frequently, their opinions of him having improved greatly after he had fought side-by-side with their friend, and Christina naturally came to see her fellow royal when she wasn’t busy focusing on her own recovery, but no one from the younger generation had spent more time with Landon than Lucas.

Not even Zara, who was also currently staying in Misty City to keep her ’little brother’ company, had been together with Landon as much as Lucas had these past few days.

As odd as it might sound, the two youths from opposing kingdoms somehow just seemed to mesh together.

There were plenty of youths around Lucas, both male and female, but while all of them respected him, most felt more like co-workers or even students to Lucas as opposed to friends.

Eris and Christina were exceptions, naturally, but it would have been stranger for them not to be.

Landon, on the other hand, seemed to fit the role of ’friend’ much better.

Perhaps it was because of the sumo-match they fought, or perhaps it was because they were both considered geniuses and that label had isolated them from their fellow peers, making them kindred spirits of sorts.

Whatever it was, Lucas and Landon had quickly bonded over the past half-month and grown remarkably close with one another.

If other youths from the Darr Kingdom were to see their normally stoic prince, laughing and smiling while cracking jokes with a young boy from the Rockwell Kingdom, they certainly wouldn’t believe their eyes, but that was undoubtedly the current reality.

It was actually today, during Lucas’ latest visit, where he and Landon were needling each other about the girls in their lives, that a runner came into the infirmary and whispered something in the Marquess’ young Disciple’s ear.

Immediately, Lucas’ expression turned serious as he nodded to the messenger and dismissed him.

"What is it?" Landon asked as he sat up with some difficulty.

"Your mom is here," Lucas replied, "Along with General Hach, General Tabor, and Minister Fasse."

Hearing the lineup that had arrived from his home kingdom, which included the Crown Princess, two army Generals, and their Minister of Law, Landon’s expression also turned solemn.

While it was difficult to call his mother and General Tabor ’moderates’, they were both at least willing to engage in diplomacy.

General Hach and Minister Fasse, on the other hand, were hardliners and traditionalists through-and-through, the kind of people who refused to even contemplate the idea of compromise, especially with the Rockwell Kingdom.

This was naturally not the first group of visitors Landon had gotten from his homeland over the past 15 days; it wasn’t even the first time Princess Talia had come to see him, but all those visits had been primarily to check up on him and his condition.

There might have been some preliminary fact-finding that went on as well, but no formal talks had been held thus far.

That was clearly going to change today.