The investigation of the Dungeon tide turned out to be unnecessary. Well, kinda. The Noble Slimes sent to inspect couldn't find anything extraordinary or even sense the faintest traces of the Enemies' influence. The Dungeon that caused that outbreak wasn't even as belligerent as some I fought earlier. If it was considered malicious by the Metakans, their standards were much higher than what I was used to. I could safely say that The Crossroads Village Dungeon was quite similar to Talla or Ceallach. Unfortunately, the Metakans had lost a few too many adventurers’ parties within it and deemed it too dangerous for further exploration. The outcome of that decision was very easy to predict. The Dungeon, who was accustomed to the frequent delves, quickly realised they were over and it needed to take some drastic measures to survive. He attacked the military outpost, but in the process, a nearby village was overrun. Most of the captured people were taken to the Dungeon and kept in a safe zone. My Slimes negotiated the release of those people and offered help to mediate new rules for delving between the Dungeon and Metakans. As a gesture of goodwill, the Dungeon released all the women and children. I believe that once they reach Kornal, we will be able to form a healthy relationship between the Dungeon and Metakans.

There was also the evident case of Janet not reading the weapon manual. While she technically had not overstepped my orders, she grossly overdid it with the amount of missiles she fired. Twenty would have been plenty. Thirty would have already been overkill. Sixty-four cluster missiles were a maniacal attempt to achieve an explosion comparable to a nuclear explosion without a nuclear warhead. Frankly, I wasn't angry about that. I gave her a free hand, after all, and truth be told, I expected her to do something like that sooner than later. The only problem was that she used sixty-four out of her one hundred UCMS-1 missiles and sixty-four out of seventy runic cluster warheads. Her punishment would feel the most severe for a woman like her: there would be no special order to resupply Dauntless. She was going to wait for the new missiles for about sixty-four weeks because it took one week to put together a single UCMS-1. Funnily enough, that wasn't going to even slightly hamper Dauntless' effectiveness. I loved my dreadnought.

Aoi reported that she managed to obtain ten tonnes of iron ore, ten kilograms of pure gold, and a mithril sword from Metakans. That was another reason why I was happy. Just a few more mithril weapons and I will be able to buy a moderate mithril node. Iron was one of the resources we needed the most because various iron-based metals and alloys were used everywhere: from simple nails to the hulls for the ships of the Navy. Gold, also, wasn't exactly piling up in my warehouses or lying uselessly in my treasury. We used gold as a crafting material for the most powerful runes. It wasn't perfect because of its weight, but until we got mithril, we had to work with gold. Platinum would work as well but the technicalities between it and gold were so minor it wasn't worth the hassle.

Dauntless and the First Fleet returned exactly one week after the day Aoi embarked on her mission. The arrival of the fleet was a great festive day for memorialising her achievement. After all, she was the first Nilmerthis-born person in the recent history of Aderon who prevented a large-scale war and laid the foundations for a long-lasting peace. I made sure to hide any evidence of my involvement and diminished any rumors of how the real war-powers of Arcadia were a decisive factor. After months of uncertainty during the war, it was the first day of true peace. My capital city was decorated with flowers and flags, full of various street stalls, and echoed with music. However, I finally realised there was a huge downside to being the King, the Emperor, whatever.

"Are you sure that we need to show up publicly?" I asked with a defeated voice.

"Yes, we have to." Amber giggled and looked at her reflection in a grand mirror.

"If we really have to..." I sighed.

"Yes, we have to." added Irene as she fixed my mantle and I ultimately gave up. "The people need to see you. What's more, you need to increase your public activity."

"Why?!"

"Because the people expect that." Lavender patiently explained.

"Oh, I see." I retorted sarcastically. "I can tolerate showing up publicly during serious ceremonies and official festivals. However, I firmly refuse to show up just for the sake of people seeing me. I'm not some sort of exotic exhibition to look at. No, I won't entertain any unreasonable expectations and this is one of them. What's more, you are still thinking in terms of a monarch who has to compete with the nobles for the favour of the common folks because they are afraid of an uprising. First of all, we don't have common folks. We have citizens. Secondly, our nobles are fully aware of who I am. I'm not going to take kindly to such antics."

"Well..." Irene wanted to disagree but fell silent and thoughtfully put her hands together. "Hmmm..."

"Yes, 'Hmmm...' indeed. Entertaining expectations is the first step on the road towards granting power to random people just because other people expect it. That's not going to happen. I refuse to be bound by the stupid customs which are far worse than any law. Laws can be changed. Customs are incredibly difficult to root out." I pointed out using her hesitation to hammer in my arguments. "Besides, there is little to no benefit in showing up regularly and publicly. We are not some kind of exhibit to be looked at. I am going to review the various customs and you can trust me that I am going to discard anything even remotely stupid."

"Well, if you put it this way..." Amber and Irene looked at Luna who wagged her tails very happily.

"He is right so don't look at me like you expect me to help you," the Kitsune responded as she put on her long, white silk glove.

"I have no hard opinions about it." Hestia raised her hands in surrender. "I will often be seen publicly because that's part of being a Goddess but I won't be dragging you with me, Theon."

"Thank you." I smiled. It was a good start.

"There are some merits to showing yourself publicly but it has as many, if not more, downsides. So I would support Theon's decision." Freya smiled.

"See? Besides, do you really want to waste all that time instead of having some fun together? We could use some free time and go visit Ceallach in his phenomenal tropical jungle!" I looked at Amber, Irene, and Lavender who sighed and puffed their cheeks. I knew they wanted to go. "Next, we could go to Westwood, or see how Dwarves are doing in their new capital. But if you really want to stay and 'be seen' then-"

"OK! Fine! You win!"

•••

Far away from Avalon, the people had no reason to celebrate. The people of Iceleon were soon going to starve and the country was on the verge of collapse. Princess Theresa Iceleon was looking out the carriage window but premature darkness mixed with freezing-cold rain made seeing anything outside the window fairly difficult. As a result of those early unnatural happenstances, she could see her own reflection in the window. Since she was tired of traveling, her gaze focused on random things. But as the dark clouds covered the sky more tightly, she exchanged sad gazes with her own reflection more frequently. Theresa was a Human woman in her mid twenties. Quite tall and she found her size a little problematic as most of the nobles her age were, frustratingly, shorter. She fixed her rather unusually dark hair for a northerner. A very dark blonde or, as noted by some people and including herself, were more accurately described as very light brown locks that ended a tad behind her shoulders. Her grey eyes, usually sparkling with curiosity, were dimmed and dark and, if she didn’t sleep soon, might end up bloodshot.

She smiled slightly at such a ridiculous concern in the current circumstances and observed her full lips curl into a gentle arc in the reflection. The carriage swayed from the road and Theresa trembled slightly from the cold. A small secured brazier couldn’t come close to warming the inside of her carriage. Even under a few blankets, she was still feeling the freezing air. A proud princess of the kingdom was called by her father to travel to the capital from the district she ruled. A trip that should take her a day had stretched to almost three days because the ice-cold wind and freezing rain which almost made any travel impossible. The capital was bustling with life but the people were sad and looking around without any hope in their eyes. Theresa wrapped herself more tightly with a fur-lined cape as her carriage entered the castle. Stepping out, where it stopped in the spacious courtyard, she walked through the cold halls of the old castle; she couldn't stand that this familiar place was slowly falling into ruin. Once wealthy and prosperous, the kingdom of Iceleon was inevitably running out of the assets accumulated during the golden years before the rise of accursed Berna. She briefly stopped before the throne room gates and waited for a thickly covered guardian to open the doors.

"I came as you requested, Father," Theresa said softly as she walked in.

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"Thank you, my child..." He whispered, with tears almost in his eyes. However, he continued without further ado. "As you know, our kingdom is dying but all hope is not lost. The travelling merchants brought us some hard-to-believe news and I'm afraid we don't have much time to verify them all."

"What kind of news?" She asked as she took a seat near the hearth where a single branch was slowly burning, providing just enough heat for her to not shiver.

"Berna has fallen." The deep voice of her father was full of disbelief but also satisfaction. "The rumour is that before the Holy Kingdom was defeated, Cridia was destroyed. A new Empire was born within the lands of Aderon. It's called Arcadia."

"I... I heard about it, but I have not entertained such unbelievable rumours. I'm shocked you wasted your time on such obvious fairy tales."

"It's not a fairy tale, Theresa. Our spies in Metaka confirmed its existence. You will travel to the lands of Arcadia and reach its capital- Avalon. But don't worry... It is said that their Emperor is different from any other ruler of Aderon. You will plead for his help. " He smiled but there was little happiness behind his smile. "We are desperate, Theresa. Our best mages don't know why it's so cold when there is still so much time left before winter comes. This year's harvest will be the worst in the history of Iceleon if we manage to harvest anything at all."

"What do you expect me to do? How can I negotiate with the Emperor of such a huge country? What can I offer him?" She shook her head. "I will obey, father. But..."

"We have iron mines, Theresa." He remained her. "We may have lost the capability of mining in all but one of them, however, that's something no country would scoff at."

"If they see how weak we are, they will invade us..." She protested.

"That's why I'm sending you, my daughter." The King lowered his head.

"Oh..." She clenched her fists. "Of course... I will do everything in my power to save our people." She said with a bitter voice. It wasn't exactly as if she never expected something like that to happen but it was still disappointing. "Even if I have to give myself..."

"I'm so sorry..." Her father started sobbing. "I never wanted this. I wanted you to be happy."

"I know." She hugged him, feeling guilty for her bitterness. "I love you, dad."

"I love you so much, Theresa." He hugged her back. "You will take our last airship. Maybe it's a little bit beat up, but it's still a fine airship."

"That might help us." She faintly smiled. "I won't be going there empty-handed but what do we really need? Food? Wood? Or maybe help in finding out what is going on?"

"Yes. Without supplies, we won't survive, to be honest. Finding out how this happened and stopping it would be crucial. But, I don't believe they will help us with that."

"So you want me to go immediately?" She asked with a trembling voice and felt a large ball of anxiety forming in her stomach.

"I'm afraid, yes. Each day is worse than the previous one. Time is working against us..." He hugged her once more.

She left the throne room and walked slowly out of the castle. It should have been a sunny day but some twisted curse or something unexplained brought disaster upon Iceleon. Three weeks ago, it started to get colder than usual, but then true disaster struck five days ago. It was as if Winter came to Iceleon but no one could explain this phenomenon. The sky darkened with heavy, dark rain clouds and, overnight, the temperatures dropped so drastically that some people froze to death in their homes. Since then, it had only been getting worse. The people weren't ready for Winter. They hadn't prepared enough supplies. They were too busy with the seasonal work and anticipating the incoming harvests. Her eyes went wide as she noticed the first flakes of snow falling from the sky as she returned to the courtyard. The most presentable and best-equipped soldiers were already waiting for her. They tried to smile but it was apparent they were tired and cold.

"My name is Captain Natan Krone, my Lady." The tall Human bowed to her with respect. "I will be leading your knights during the mission that our king imposed on you."

"It sounds like you disagree with my father." Theresa tried to smile but realised how tired she was.

"I wouldn't dare, my Lady." He shook his head in denial but then he sighed. "However, I lack any hope regarding this mission. I pray for you to return safely."

"I am thankful for your worries, Captain..."

They reached the old harbour in silence and boarded the last airship of Iceleon. The frigate, Lion's Pride, was well-maintained and looked very polished despite its age. The old captain welcomed her onboard with a smile.

"Princess on board! Good afternoon, my Lady!" He yelled and the crew welcomed her with honest and eager smiles.

"Good evening, Commodore Kelvin." She smiled seeing his reliable smile. "I believe you know about our mission?"

"Aye..." He patted his grey beard. "Set sails, boys!"

The ship started slowly gaining speed which made Theresa chuckle nervously. "If I didn't know better, I would begin believing that you all are in a hurry to get rid of me."

"You jest, my Lady." Kelvin chuckled. "But... Well."

"You kinda are." She teased him with a smile.

"It's nothing like that..." He sighed and made an inviting gesture towards his cabin. "Captain Krone, please follow us."

"But my soldiers..."

"Quartermaster! Show our land-boys where they can settle for the cruise duration." Kelvin yelled again. "Now..."

They entered the captain's quarters and sat around a table. The quarters were simple, without any lavish decorations or impressive trophies. A large cabinet was full of scrolls and a huge map of Aderon was hanging on the wall. Only two big trunks near the bed were a small touch of a personal accent to this place.

"We will be travelling through the mountains." The Captain said with a heavy voice.

"Through the mountains?!" The Princess almost squeeked in terror. "Isn't that dangerous?"

"Yes and no..." The old Captain shrugged and automatically caught his cup that started sliding on the table as the airship began its ascent. "For various reasons, it's the safest route we can take. It's dangerous, yes, but it is the fastest and away from prying eyes."

"I know that we are in a hurry... But isn't it a bit too risky? Shouldn't we take a longer route or even try to negotiate with Metaka?" Captain Krone's voice was full of doubts.

"Metaka will have their own problems soon enough. Emperor Darius is very old and once he dies, the country will be torn by their customary civil war." Captain Kelvin shook his head and smiled softly at the much younger warrior. "King Lars was right to send us to Arcadia. As far as we can tell, their Emperor is young and the country is stable and incredibly prosperous."

"Young?" Theresa's voice expressed everything but trust.

"Look, Princess, I just replied to you what I was told!" Kelvin chuckled, amused. "Also, if I wanted to be as sarcastic as you, I would point out that you noticed the part about the Arcadian Emperor being young instead of having a stable and prosperous country."

"All right..." She yawned and looked around. "I'm sorry. It was a very long day. A whole week, to be honest..."

"There is no guest room, my Lady, so I will ask you to use this cabin. It's the best one, after all." Kelvin grabbed a stack of papers and a map as he stood up.

"I... Oh." She looked around in slight panic but he just laughed.

"We should have taken some of your ladies in waiting, my Lady... No one thought about it, so unfortunately, no one will be able to help you; I'm terribly sorry..." Kelvin shook his head but Krone smiled victoriously.

"I expected something like that. I'll be right back!" He stood up and left the cabin in a hurry. But just two minutes later, the doors opened. "Please, my Lady, meet Baroness Kana and Knight Melody. They are two of a very few women serving as Royal Guards."

"But they are warriors, not servants." Theresa raised her eyebrow.

"These are very uncommon circumstances, my Lady, so we will gladly assist you." Kana smiled at the Princess while Melody nodded with conviction.

"All right..." The Princess yawned once again. She had no power to argue about something like that.

As the men left the cabin, the three women exchanged a few words, after which the Princess decided they should stay with her. While Melody helped Theresa to change her outfit, Kana went for their travel sacks. The Princess fell asleep as soon as she put her head on the pillow. She woke up the next morning and noticed Kana was sleeping across the doors so if anyone wanted to enter, they would inevitably wake her up. Melody was sitting near the iron stove and was keeping the fire burning.

"Thank you both so much..." The Princess yawned when suddenly she felt warm. She jumped out of her bed and walked towards the window. "Oh, Gods..."

Lion's Pride had just left a large and dark cloud leaving Iceleon in the distance down below. The temperature started increasing very quickly and the Princess opened the window. In the meantime, Kana woke up and looked around in shock.

"What's happening with our country, my Lady?" Melody walked towards the Princess and looked outside the window at the heavy clouds below.

"I don't know..." Theresa shook her head and trembled fearfully as a cold wind reached her. "If I remember correctly, in four days we should reach Avalon. Let's pray we manage to negotiate any deal to save our people. I don't care if it is favourable for us anymore..."