Master Herlan, who was the Head of Defense of the entire Strength City, had seen the whole situation from an entirely different perspective.

"I... I don’t understand, Master Herlan."

"Don’t worry. You will soon. By the time you get to believe that those messengers from the Steel Empire deliberately planted those monsters in the caravan to attack the Mayor’s residence."

The guard’s eyes widened in shock, and it took quite a while before he could close his mouth again, and by that time he could no longer find a word to say.

"Shocking, right?" Master Herlan gave a slight, forced smile and then looked away.

******

Meanwhile in the large dining room, a feast was already underway. North Rockbridge, the young ruler of one of the most prosperous cities in the Reach, sat at the table with three figures sent on a mission by the Steel Emperor.

The table was filled with several dishes, and just a short glance at it would have made anyone salivate on the spot.

However, it was only the four of them enjoying the rich, delicious spread.

"Welcome, once again. It is my honour to have figures of such standing feasting with me at my table," North said as they settled into eating.

"The honour is ours as well. As the Mayor of this great city, we could not be more pleased to have been invited to such a prestigious feast. We will make sure to inform the Emperor of your kindness and hospitality," Crest said, smiling at North who gave a warm nod.

Of the three, only Sera was not wearing a comfortable or relaxed expression. It was not overly noticeable, but anyone paying attention could see that she was not in the same spirits as her colleagues.

After taking a bite of the meat in front of her, she could not hold back the question that had been sitting in her mind.

"So, Mayor. I still do not understand why you really asked us to have dinner with you. This is not something that is easily done without some rewarding intention behind it, and we both know we are not figures carrying the Emperor’s direct authority. We are messengers who get paid well for our work. Pardon me for saying so, but it would have been far more normal and unsuspicious to have simply let us pass."

North’s expression did not shift, and her face remained bright and friendly throughout. It was clear she had not taken offence at any of it, and if anything she looked genuinely interested in giving her answer.

"You are right," North began. "You said there might be rewarding intentions behind this. I will tell you honestly that you are correct."

"The reward I am looking forward to is your Emperor hearing of my kindness and hospitality toward his messengers. I think that can only strengthen the relationship between the Steel Empire and Strength City," she added.

Crest and Dax nodded in agreement, continuing their meal without pausing. It was nothing like the rationed food they had been managing throughout the mission, and it was even worse knowing they had been feeding two uncooperative prisoners on top of that. For Crest and Dax, this was already shaping up to be one of the better moments of the entire trip, and they were both ready to give a glowing account to the Emperor the moment they returned to the Heartlands.

Sera gave a single nod at the response and continued eating, the indifferent look still faintly present on her face.

The dinner continued pleasantly for a while, until a man suddenly stepped into the room with hurried footsteps and an unsettled look on his face.

North spotted him immediately and rose from her seat, her expression already shifting to curious before he had even opened his mouth.

"Your Honor, we have a problem," he said without hesitation.

North turned briefly to the messengers, who had been pulled away from their meal by the interruption as well.

The only reason things did not escalate immediately was because he had not yet stated what the problem was, and even though North had no idea yet, she would later be grateful for that small mercy.

"The General needs to see you right now," he added, and North nodded without delay at the mention of the General.

General Herlan Crowd had been the head of Strength City’s defense from the very beginning, one of the people who had been with her since the city was nothing more than a plan and a plot of land. He was one of the few people she trusted without reservation.

She followed the man out of the building quickly, walking toward the scene where the chaos had taken place.

North’s eyes widened the moment the view came into sight from a distance. The caravan was battered, and about five guards were sitting or standing nearby with visible injuries on their bodies. Not critical wounds, but the signs of what they had encountered were clearly written across each of them.

She did not need to be told what had happened before she reached Master Herlan.

"They escaped," she said, her voice dropping, her face darkening.

Master Herlan nodded immediately.

"The monsters... Yes, they did," he said.

"Monsters? What do you mean?" North looked up at him with genuine confusion, and it was clear that was the first thing to catch her off guard.

"They said there were captives in there, but North, guess what those captives turned out to be. One of the guards said it was a Dire Wolf, a giant Goblin, and a Blade Ant."

"How does a combination like that look normal to anyone. Your guests, I do not think they were trying to use our roads at all. I think they were trying to cause harm. Harm to you specifically. Now I am glad you had them inside. They might have been working out a way to get to you directly."

Master Herlan was making his point clearly, and within a short moment they saw the three messengers stepping out of the building.

They approached the caravan and took in the damage, and the first to move and check was Sera.

When she confirmed the caravan was empty, it did not take long before she completely lost her composure.

"For the love of... Crest! Damn it!"

She turned around and walked straight to North, stopping close enough that there was barely any distance between their faces.

"Do you want to tell me you had a hand in this?" Sera asked.

"I should be the one asking why you did not tell me that what you were holding in that caravan was not human," North replied without flinching.

"What?" Sera’s eyes sharpened and her face visibly reddened.

"My guards were attacked by the monsters you and your colleagues were keeping in there. A Dire Wolf, a Goblin, and a Blade Ant. Do you have anything to say to that?" North turned the question to Dax and Crest as well.

At that point, the confusion on all three of their faces was genuine, because they could swear on everything that they had seen nothing remotely like that during the entire journey back toward the Heartlands.

"That is not true. We had two male rookies who attacked us back in Citadel City while we were trying to carry out our mission. We brought them along to present to the Emperor as evidence that we had located the target. We never had any kind of monsters with us at any point," Dax said.

"Then how do my men have claw marks and wounds across their bodies? Do you think you can come into my city and fool us? I am sorry, messenger of the Steel Emperor, but you are a liar!" Master Herlan said.

"You would do well to watch your mouth," Crest stepped forward with an already hardening expression.

"Is that right? Do you think you can take me out? Do you think your Emperor is always going to ride in and save you? He will not be very pleased when he hears that you failed your mission and nearly got the Mayor of Strength City killed in the process."

After Herlan said that, the situation very nearly turned into a full confrontation, with Crest, Dax and Sera reaching for their weapons and Herlan’s men already shifting into position on their side.

North stepped in before it could get any further.

"Everyone needs to calm down. I mean that. There is clearly a misunderstanding somewhere and we are going to work through it together."

"There is nothing to work through. These people came here to cause chaos, their entire plan was to..."

"Not another word from you, Herlan," North said firmly.

Master Herlan went silent immediately.

She respected him deeply and gave him more flexibility than almost anyone else around her, but that did not mean their boundaries and positions ceased to exist. He knew that, and he stopped.

North turned back to the messengers.

"Whatever has happened here, I believe we can get to the bottom of it. If they were really in that caravan, then we will send men to search every corner of the city. They may have gotten out of the caravan, but they have not gotten out of my walls." She paused and looked at all three of them steadily.

"Further investigation will also be carried out regarding the monsters. For now, I am asking you to return to the dining room with me, finish the meal, and we will figure out how to handle this properly. Shall we?"

Crest, Dax and Sera exchanged glances, hesitated for a moment, and then one by one turned and headed back inside.

North gave a quiet order to Master Herlan and his men to deal with the mess in the courtyard, and then she turned back toward the building entrance.

Before she went in, she paused and looked at the empty, battered caravan one final time.

A small smile crossed her face.

"Good one, boy," she muttered quietly.

Then she walked inside.