The Council Hall of The Retreat

“So the plan is to hire the newcomers as the guards for the newly established bases on the other bridges?” Alara states the conclusion the most recent council meeting has arrived at. And nods of agreement immediately begin to spread around the hall.

Alara lets out a sigh at finally having gotten that problem dealt with.

I appreciate her sending us qualified soldiers to help, but did she have to send so many? At this rate the mercenaries in the cities are getting close to equaling nearly half of the regular civilians…

She glances over at the door as she notices the powerful source of power she sensed approaching the city getting close to the council hall building. And she’s not the only one who’s noticed it, considering the many gazes of the other council members looking towards the door as well.

Speaking of her…

“Moving onto the next topic, the-” the council member in charge of the commerce of the base, a former subordinate of Elizabeth before the Reset that had managed to find them after the Dimensional Council meeting, starts only to cut off when the door to the hall opens. Then he and everyone else turns to look at the door where they find The Reaper standing there next to her twin.

“Guess who’s back,” Alexia says with a proud smirk on her face, silencing the hall despite many of the people in it already having guessed at her arrival.

No one says anything for a few seconds before another group of people arrive in the plaza surrounding the hall. A group Alara immediately recognizes as the leaders of the mercenaries that had come to the Retreat upon The Reaper’s command. And all of them immediately begin kneeling as they declare, “We greet the Lady Reaper.”

Now Alexia looks awkward as she glances back at the mercenaries, making Alara smirk ever so slightly in amusement.

And apparently Alara isn’t the only one amused by the sight of it, considering the face The Reaper’s twin currently has.

Alara glances around at the other members of the council, finding several of them looking frightened at the sight of The Reaper. Most of them being the ones that arrived after Alexia had left the base. Which have been a lot ever since the Dimensional Council, where Alexia showed her public support for Alara and the Retreat.

Since then, the number of people moving to the Retreat have quintupled. And after the maps of the Dimensional Block were set up by the Varsac and Silvercrest Kingdoms, the flood of people only increased thanks to them knowing where the Retreat was.

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Some of the smaller groups that were under the threat of the Varsac Kingdom even decided to subserve themselves to the Retreat.

Both a lot of trouble and more assistance than we could’ve hoped for.

She turns her attention back to Alexia again as she nods her head at the mercenaries and says, “Good to see you made it here.”

Alara sighs before standing up from her seat and calling out to Alexia, “Welcome back, Lexi.”

Alexia turns back to her with a slight frown that has Alara stiffening up for a moment. Then the frown fades and she nods her head, saying, “I see the place has grown a bit since I left.”

A bit?

“Well, I just wanted to stop by and check on everything before leaving again,” she says while turning around and waving her hand to them, making Alara blink in surprise.

“You’re already leaving again?” Alara asks, a frown growing on her face.

If she’s almost never here, can she really be considered the protector of the Retreat?

Alara’s gaze turns towards the bat on Alexia’s shoulder.

At this rate Luna might become the protector of the Retreat.

Her thoughts come grinding to a halt when she hears the next words coming out of the Reaper’s mouth. And it’s not just her, but everyone in the council hall including the Reaper’s twin.

“Yeah, I’m heading out with the dragons to kill the Cataclysm Class monster,” she says before teleporting away without warning, leaving them all in silence.

Then chaos erupts as everyone begins talking about what she just said.

“The Reaper is going to challenge the Cataclysm Class monster?!” “Did she say dragons? Dragons, meaning more than one dragon?!” “Is she going to anger it?” “Will the Reaper be able to take on the Cataclysm Class?”

Alara stares out the door with a frown on her face as all of the councilmembers except herself, Aidan, and Elizabeth continue talking about what Alexia just said. Even Astrid simply stares off after her sister, clearly unaware of her twin’s plans.

She said dragons… who is the other dragon? Or did she misspeak? I’m not too sure about the idea of having more than one dragon nearby us.

Alara’s frown grows deeper.

Actually... I’m not too keen on even having a single dragon nearby, much less two. But we have no choice about that.

She continues staring out the door as she feels the practically radiant power that is radiating from Alexia quickly leave the city to arrive at her clearing. Then it stops moving there, making Alara wonder how she feels about the changes that’ve been made to it.

The leader of the city that is quickly developing into an entire nation in and of itself purses her lips at the scary thought that the woman won’t like the changes, but she quickly shakes her head.

She’ll most likely like them. And if she doesn’t, it’s more likely that she won’t care in the slightest.

Alara turns her attention back to Astrid right as the councilmembers slowly begin to calm down again, many of them deciding that there isn’t any reason to question it. After all, there’s not anything they can do about it even if they don’t like what the Reaper is doing.

They are relying on her power to exist after all. If they can’t trust in her power when she uses it, then what can they do?

“Alright, Councilmember Frost, you may proceed with the next matter of the meeting,” Alara says, deciding to bring the meeting back on topic. And as if on cue, Astrid nods her head at Alara and closes the door.

Back to the boring meeting.