The mood at the palace was grim as everyone filed into the meeting room. They had to discuss how best to handle this situation with Alistair. They only had Hazelle's body as a testimony of what Alistair was capable of, but Nathaniel had helpfully reminded everyone that since Alistair had fed on her, he could have gotten a lot stronger due to the additional blood.
"We should send the troops; we need to scour the kingdom until we find him," Daphne said. "The longer we waste time discussing like this, the more innocent people he will kill."
"That seems like a ridiculous waste of time and effort," Leonora snorted. "We can't possibly dispense the royal guard for something as trivial as this. If Alistair is as monstrous as you claim, the troops wouldn't be able to stop him― instead, he might drain them dry, leaving Reaweth undefended!"