While in the forest, Torel continued to follow and annoy young Alex, and the gnolls watched from the sidelines, merely following the orders of their young leader. In the five city-states, there was a backstage struggle that threatened to unleash an all-out war and break multiple cities into civil wars.

Each of the princesses in each city had received a message from the Empress. They were all required to present at least five suspicious individuals per day, and for every suspicious person not presented, they would be punished.

The Empress was under immense pressure because her empire, as well as many other kingdoms and empires on the "virtuous" side, were in a great coalition led by Sera, the embodiment of the world's desire. She had ordered that this individual be found as soon as possible. Although at first, the Empress thought this timeframe might refer to months or even years, she soon realized it meant they needed to find him yesterday.

Princess Ley, for her part, was relieved that her drake had recovered. However, she had little time before the Empress contacted her and, like her sisters, began urging her to use everything they had and exploit any situation to achieve their goal. After all, the opposing faction, the coalition of the "Demons," had learned of the search and was actively sabotaging it.

"I've called this meeting not only to reiterate how important and critical the search is, not only for me but also for the empire. We need to find this person, and when we do, they must be treated with respect and dignity. They cannot be harmed under any circumstances until 18 months after we're done with them. Furthermore, from this point forward, any privileges earned by merit or birthright are revoked. By special decree of the Empress, any resources you have or possess can be granted as a reward to others if you find or provide a lead to the individual," Princess Ley announced to a room filled with the empire's assets in this city.

Controversy over the decree quickly turned into widespread annoyance. However, for the princess, this was not a problem. The people the empire had assigned or allowed to be here were among the lowest talents of the empire. Although this decree would set a terrible precedent for the other nobles in the national land, they were truly in a desperate race to find this person, and they couldn't bring in more assets from the homeland without creating an even bigger problem there.

Unlike her sisters, Princess Ley had taken her mother's words to heart and, setting aside any notions of disgust or honor, had invited all kinds of characters and collaborators from the empire, from those who had come here to redeem their honor to those who had been exiled for whatever reason. All were promised generous rewards, including a royal pardon if they so desired.

This move soon bore fruit, as she received a notification from Marquis Rhenar requesting an audience.

The princess, intrigued by the sudden request, considered it for a few seconds. On the one hand, Rhenar was a bit of a dark horse. His abilities were outstanding, and they were even more so during his youth. His merits were exceptional, and that was without considering that most of them had not been celebrated because they related to very delicate matters of national security.

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On the other hand, he had been removed from high positions due to a series of events that, to this day, could only be considered unfortunate, as he had decided to retire from active service and leave the empire's intelligence unit. Shortly after his departure, it was revealed that one of his closest collaborators and friends had been working for the enemy. Although there was no evidence linking him, the fact that he hadn't caught the traitor for so long was incriminating. However, in a radical twist of the story, the Empress herself surprised the empire by announcing his pardon and sending him on a search outside the empire as a form of exile. Only the Empress and Rhenar knew what had really happened in that trial, and neither of them planned to talk about it with others.

"Let him in. I want to hear what he has to say," the princess finally said, coming out of her thoughts.

The marquis entered a council chamber where there were still several high-ranking empire officials in the city, as well as other officials who had come with the same princess from the mainland, all of whom cast hostile looks at the old marquis.

"Marquis Rhenar Tholens presents his greetings to the princess," he announced humbly.

"Let's get straight to the point, Rhenar, after all, I won't be princess for much longer if I don't get results in this," the princess replied.

"Wise attitude, princess. However, you can still put up a fight. There's no need to despair," Rhenar responded.

"Do you have something for me?" the princess asked, not getting her hopes up.

"Of course, princess, although I'd like to discuss compensation," Rhenar said, tossing a folder onto the table.

The princess gestured to a guard to bring her the file, and as she read it, she asked, "What makes you so sure, Marquis? You know that if we present this case and fail, we'll be punished, and I'll make you pay double for any harm to me." Suddenly, the princess stopped and furrowed her brow. "A human?"

"I'm fairly certain based on one piece of information, and that is I firmly believe that this is a newcomer," Rhenar replied.

"What do you mean? Although I don't have the exact numbers, I'm sure there was a massive integration about 50 or 70 years ago, during which several worlds with humans entered Glamoria," the princess replied, clearly disappointed by the flimsy lead.

"You are correct, my lady, but I wasn't referring to that precisely. I mean that this particular human has been in this world for just a few months," Rhenar said.

The princess couldn't help but look dumbfounded at this revelation. She began reviewing the folders of the previous cases and realized that all this time they had been working under the assumption that the person they were looking for must have entered around 30 to 70 years ago.

"So who is this human? Why don't I see his contact information here?" the princess asked.

However, the marquis merely glanced at the people around him, and the princess immediately understood the meaning.

"Everyone out," the princess said loudly, with an imposing tone.

"His name is Alex, and I believe we will have a lot of trouble contacting him because I learned this morning that he had a collision that nearly cost him his life at the gate as he was leaving, and the culprits of this accident were his guards," the marquis said pessimistically as he poured some liquor for both of them.