3 days had passed since the meeting to discuss the South-West Province Revitalization Project and the subsequent banquet, and everything in Iron Rock had been surprisingly calm.

Perhaps it was the ever-growing number of human masters arriving from the other parts of the Rockwell Kingdom, or perhaps it was the new ’guests’ which had taken up residence outside the main western gates of the city, but whatever the reason was, it had allowed the citizens of Iron Rock a brief moment of calm after so many days of frantic activity.

The month had just changed, and with it, the time for Lucas, Eris, Sasha, and all the others from Redwood Town who were still in the Carlson County capital to depart.

Standing at the main river port, where a fleet of both military and civilian ships were docked, many goodbyes were being said, such as between Eris and her new friend Audrey.

Lucas was also giving some last-minute advice to his student, Kaden.

Then, of course, there were all the more formal farewells from the gathered nobles, merchants, blacksmiths, and various others who had worked together to make the recent evacuation a success.

Finally, after what seemed like several hours, the ships weighed anchor, pulled out of port, and headed up the Belton towards the direction of the Royal Province.

Leaning against the railings of the large river warship, Lucas couldn’t help recalling all the chaotic events he had experienced this past month-and-a-half.

It was precisely 43 days ago that the explosion in the Great Western Forest disrupted Lucas’ peaceful life, forcing him onto a much grander stage far sooner than he had anticipated.

Now, he wasn’t just the son of a small town’s best blacksmith, but also the First Disciple of Marquess Celestina Balfour and a close friend to the Rockwell Kingdom’s youngest princess.

Speaking of which, Lucas glanced over to his right and saw Christina, who was standing nearby, also seemingly taking in the slowly fading sight of Iron Rock.

The relationship between Lucas and Christina had gotten off to a rough start, but after working, training, studying, cultivating, adventuring, and even risking life-and-death together, the two of them had become quite close.

Sensing the lingering gaze on her, Christina also looked over and tilted her head, as if asking what Lucas was staring at.

Smiling wryly, the young boy just shook his head and turned back to stare out over the water.

This wasn’t the first time Christina had seen Lucas making such odd gestures, like he was lost in thought, so she just shrugged it off and also turned back.

It wasn’t until a few minutes later that Eris came over and called out, "You two! I’ve been looking everywhere for you! Come on, it’s time for lunch!"

"Yip yip!"

"See, Yuki’s also eager to eat!" Eris pouted.

Lucas and Christina shared a glance, then a laugh, before walking over to join their boisterous fellow Disciple.

If the ships sailed at maximum speed, day and night, it would take them roughly 15 days to reach their final destination; however, that wasn’t the plan for this trip.

Most of the people aboard this river convoy weren’t soldiers, but instead ordinary citizens. On top of that, many had never ridden on boats for extended periods of time before, so it was inevitable that their pace would be slowed somewhat.

20 days, that was the timeframe the convoy had set, with stops planned in several major ports along the way to allow the civilians onboard to get off, get some rest, and for adequate supplies to be taken aboard.

Now, despite the Sunchaser having taken too much damage to fly and being sent ahead along the waterways, there was still the option of using Tartans to quickly travel between Iron Rock and Misty City for Lucas and those closest to him, but the young boy had intentionally refused.

This was, perhaps, the first chance since the start of this incident where Lucas, Sasha, Eris, Christina, and all the other leaders among the refugees from Redwood Town could truly relax a bit.

Once they arrived in Misty City, there would certainly be a lot for them to do, so taking that into consideration, Lucas and his group had opted to take the more leisurely route up the Belton, through the Ariana Canal, then down the Lorren.

It wouldn’t exactly be a sight-seeing tour or some kind of vacation, but it was probably the best they were going to get for some time, so Lucas fully intended to take advantage of this down time to rest and reflect on all he had experienced.

Now, knowing Lucas, he would probably end up overthinking things and planning out a bunch of different scenarios for the future regardless of him ’being on vacation’, but a less demanding environment would hopefully decrease the urgency he felt, even if it was just a little.

.....

"Well, I guess we should get started as well," Celestina commented after seeing her Disciples off.

The original plan was for her to join the three of them on their trip to Misty City, but with the appearance of Frey and Bron, a new option had presented itself to the General, one she was planning to take advantage of.

33 days ago, the Saberclaw Raptor pack had broken through Herald City’s defences, slaughtered hundreds of people, injured thousands more, then disappeared into the forests to the east.

Ever since then, scouts and search parties had been sent out from cities and military outposts in the South-West, South, and South-East Provinces, all trying to find and track these dangerous Wild Beasts’ movements; but so far, none of these efforts had paid off.

Fortunately, there had been no reports of cities, towns, or even villages being attacks by the raptors, but it was still a lingering threat that Celestina and the other higher-ups had to constantly worry about.

Unfortunately, much of the southern part of the Rockwell Kingdom was dense, undeveloped forests and swamps, making it all but impossible to track a small pack of highly-mobile beasts that were intentionally trying to conceal themselves from the air.

There was just too much wooded thicket where the Saberclaw Raptors could lurk, hunt for food, and remain hidden.

Celestina had thought that the best they could do was continue sending out Tartan scouts while rallying multiple Spirit Adepts at Misty City and waiting for the enemy to come to them.

The Saberclaw Raptors seemed intent on heading further south-east, even going so far as to attack Herald City just to use its bridge to cross the Belton River.

If they continued on with that same mindset, eventually, they would need to cross a second major river, the Lorren.

In the south of the Rockwell Kingdom, there was only one place where crossing the Lorren could be done without the use of boats: Misty City, where the Misty Bridge was located.

This ’ambush’ plan was both reasonable and logical, but it was far too passive for Celestina’s liking. Who knew when the Saberclaw Raptors would become desperate, or simply hungry, and start raiding human settlements?

The damage this pack of beasts led by a Sixth Order Alpha could do to cities where there were no Spirit Adepts was immense, not to mention the smaller towns and villages of the kingdom.

Unfortunately, there was no way for the humans to effectively track these beasts; at least, there wasn’t a way, until now.

Leading a party of 25 Spirit Initiates, each of whom was in the Mid-Rank or above, and accompanied by 2 other Spirit Adepts who had arrived recently from Rockwell City at her request, Celestina boarded another Raging River Legion warship and set sail in the opposite direction her Disciples had gone, heading south, back towards the remains of Herald City.

As this ship passed beyond the southern walls of Iron Rock, Celestina fired a signal flare, and a moment later, a loud howl sounded from the nearby forest.

Receiving confirmation from their new allies, Celestina ordered the ship to continue forward.

Ideally, Frey, Bron, and the rest of the Snow Spirit Fox hunting pack would have boarded the ship and travelled together with the human strike force, but it seemed that these Spirit Beasts had a deep aversion to water and felt uncomfortable stepping onto even the biggest and most stable of vessels.

That, of course, made Celestina worry about how her First Disciple was going to get these foxes back to the Northern Continent; however, she didn’t dwell too much on the subject.

Lucas will figure something out.

Either that, or over the coming years, the foxes would get used to being aboard ships.

In any case, the plan was to head down the Belton separately, then rendezvous at the port in Herald City. From there, the foxes would, reluctantly, be shuttled across the river, and then the hunt would begin.

Humans were skillful, intelligent, and resourceful, but there were still many things that beasts were just better at, and tracking elusive prey through the wilderness was definitely one of them.

With any luck, Celestina and her group would meet up with Lucas and his group in Misty City around the same time they arrived via the river-route after eliminating this remnant threat to the kingdom.