C221: Retreat (Part 1)

Chapter 221: Retreat (Part 1)

Shera Rigen's perspective

(Real Rank: Crown Princess)

3:36 PM, December 14th, 1173

Veta - Warsaw Kingdom

After hearing the intel from Reimi's Advisor that she had been captured by the Attenta hostile, my husband was very mad to hear it. By that, he sent out a Spec Ops group to search for Reimi, deep in Tod forest, according to the dot the device left before she was shut down due to running out of battery. Till this time, we haven't successfully contacted Reimi's Advisor, the Spec Ops group hasn't returned too.

Now we're hoping Reimi returns to us soon, despite her return being hopeless, zero percent to happen that miracle thing. After Reimi's incident, we later received intel from the Beastmen Army that the Attenta warships were coming to White River. The battle must've been over by this time. I hope our side is the victorious side, because we lost yesterday's battle.

The 24th Tiger Regiment, under the command of Commander Tapa Fareza, managed to push back Attenta fighting regiment. On the other hand, Reimi's Regiment wasn't that successful, but it was even worse than I imagined, all got wiped out. Despite being victorious on the southeast side of Tod front, our ally is heavily wounded. While with the southwest side of Tod front, the enemy's marching from there to Veta.

Because of that reason, John sent two Regiments out to wipe them out. Now I hope we manage to push back the enemy, gloriously victory. Because this is just the very first phase of the war, but we're dying that quick while trying to stop 'em.

According to the power of the two combatants, our Warsaw has 650.000 troops and about 300.000 other troops from our allied Kingdoms. Meanwhile, the Attenta and its vassal states have a total of 3.000.000 troops, they outnumber us too much.

Luckily, Attenta Kingdom's allies, the southern Kingdoms don't care about this new war at all, we're lucky. Because if they join the alliance with Attenta and other of its states, we'll be doomed for sure.

The Elven Army from the Elven Kingdoms only accepts to help us in No Man Zone. While Jager Kingdom can only take care of its own. So they can only send a few of their troops, maybe 3.000, to fight. The rest of the Beastmen Army deployed troops to Warsaw are coming to Veta, quite late. They only have 50.000 to the largest, and now are moving in from No Man Zone, nearly here.

Till now, His Majesty hasn't done gathering the Capital troops yet. So it'll be very long for the Capital troops to head in to aid Veta region in this war, that's why I'm angry. Even when my brother hasn't done gathering the troops from the Capital city, he could've ordered troops from other regions to get here.

But no. Stansa region is now totally empty, Nalta is near us but they don't send their troops here to help us at all. Only Spera - under Shizuka Hatano's command is willing to aid us. Warsaw Kingdom has 10 regions, 3 of them belong to John and his subordinates, while the rest belongs to His Majesty. However, my brother only allows those local regions to send their troops as he finishes gathering the Capital Warsaw troops. That's what my husband and I hate from my brother - a useless King!

600.000 Warsaw troops are now being sealed, only 50.000 from Spera and Veta are unleashed to join the conflict. Only two Corps to join the war, we'll soon be outnumbered and overrun when it gets worse. But... I know complaining won't change anything, but I just want to complain... since I cannot have the army in my hands, but my husband does.

I'm wondering if our Warsaw can do something to have more troops to fight in this war or not. But seems like everything is pointless to us. Well, maybe I should join my husband after observing the wounded troops.

This time we're at the Veta region's border gate. When the enemy marches here, they'll attack the region before heading to the castle. The border gate is now closed as the castle, while the WCA soldiers can be seen standing outside from afar. They're digging the soil around the region, making things my husband says to be the "trenches" for burying the enemy when they're trapped in here if they dare to go in.

I slowly walk along the top of the border gate, surrounding me are the tall walls and WCA spearmen and Sharpshooter gunners. They're pointing their crossbows and muskets out of the walls to target things from afar, guarding. Looking at them for a while, I glance at the left-side stone watchtower - which my husband is in there. John's observing the far things by looking through his binoculars, he's now carrying weapons and fully armed.

"Do think about having a nap, John?".  "Come on, let's sleep a bit, put your head on my thighs... to have more comfortable", I wanted to greet my husband like that but I didn't say it. Slowly, I walk on the straight-line wooden staircase to reach the watchtower. Approaching my husband from behind, I intend to greet him by tapping his back so I keep going. I hold the wooden stair's arm while going on the staircase, later reach my husband so I intend to do it, but I see something.

That's Sarah when I turn my direction to look at her. She's now lying on the floor, while pointing out a sniper rifle named M21 to scout things outside of the border gate. Her position is a good place for her to spot the enemy without being spotted, I think. Being surrounded by the tall walls and the way she's lying will make no one notice her existence. There are big holes that have been punched out, purposing to put her rifle's barrel in there and let her look through the scope.

"Don't... disturb... him...".  "Shakes head! Shakes head!". - She kept whispering to me while shaking her head, even waving her hand, as if to tell me to step away from my husband or something

By the way, I ignored Sarah's suggestion. Shortly, I tap on my husband's back and then till he turns back to see me. Feeling my touch, John lowers his binoculars and turns around to see me. When my husband sees me, I smile at him to greet him, so happy.

"Hmmm... Shera".  "It's not... I mean this time is not alright". - John spoke to me while holding his binoculars, as if telling me to let him have more time before talking

"Why don't you rest a little bit, John?".  "Just a little bit, maybe 10 minutes... come on". - I cuddled his face while trying to put his binoculars away

"Shakes head...".  "Just give me more time".  "Squeezes!". - John refused but suddenly grabbed my hand, his force when he pulled it away was quite strong, it hurt me

"Ahh...".

"Hmmm...".  "I'm sorry, Shera". - Later he just turned around and kept observing things through the binoculars

"I do not mind it, John...".  "Ummm... what you were doing? Need my help?".  "I can do that instead, just sleep and I will...".

"Let me focus...". - His voice seemed to be a bit mad

"Ummmm... I understand".  "But John, please let me do your job instead".  "I'll do my best to help... John...?". - Despite being asked, my husband kept neglecting my question...

Maybe he doesn't believe me. Because I'm not from the military, I don't have any experience with this kind of job so my husband doesn't let me do this job. But he can teach me to do that part instead... no need to neglect me to be bewildered with it.

I know I cannot do anything right now, so I decided to watch John's actions. Observing him for a minute, I see him puts his binoculars down and then approach a wooden chair that he put there for him to sit on or something. However, John doesn't sit on that chair.

There are things like maps and blank paper, and with numbers written on them or something. Alongside those papers and maps are his flashlight, a green round object that looks like a compass... compass? It looks strange. That green round metal thing has a glass covering its surface. The setup beyond the glass looks like a compass, but it's more detailed, to me.

After jotting down something on the papers, my husband returns to look at things through his binoculars. If I look closely, I can see his ears are wearing white airpods, he seems to be contacting his Advisor through SC feature.

"Do you need some water, John...?".

He doesn't reply to me at all. Then I'll go to grab for my husband some water, I think.

When I was intending to head back to the staircase to move down, I stopped. Because Sarah's still here, alongside John and she seems to be doing the mission as same as he is doing. According to my analysis when I looked at her.

I slowly approach Sarah and then faces a line of cold wind that suddenly comes by. This time is the winter, but there's no snowfall or anything cold to be reported by us yet. But seems like it is about to get colder... I'll assume the next week will have the first snowfall. After that line of cold wind goes away, I approach Sarah as usual, later I crouch down.

"What are you doing?".

"Ahh... Princess...".  "Just uhhh... determining the range, and other... stuff". - Speaking to me for a while, Sarah concentrated on jotting down the numbers and words on the right side papers

Honestly, I don't understand what are the meanings of these words and numbers. But I think if I ask Sarah to teach me about this, I'll surely be able to help my husband someday. Crouching beside her, later I see Sarah aiming through the rifle's scope.

"Can you say to me in more detailed?".

"Well, I need to determine the range from this site to the outside zones".  "Also have to choose a good position to snipe... this position is good, to shoot".  "Well... now I'm testing the wind, Princess".

"Testing the wind?".

"Yes, Princess".  "Well... when we shoot from too far away, the wind may affect the bullet's route".  "I'm watching a flag we put away from here, 500 yards".

"Yard?".

"Ummm... it's about 460 meters if I convert it to your world's calculation system".

"But what's that use for?".

"John said to use this thing to... assassinate the enemy General".  "This site is the front of the border gate... so maybe... well, I think so".

"Can you teach me to determine the range or anything like it?".

"Giggles...".  " of course, nope". - She giggled as if she was very miserable

"What's wrong?".

"I'm not good at doing it at all, but John keeps asking me to do that so...".  "My sis can do it better, now I'm just doing what my SA guides me to do". - Sarah was done saying and then looked through the sniper rifle's scope to do her duty

While letting Sarah do her mission, I walk till I reach the limit of the wall before me. Later I look down, observing the WCA soldiers who are using shovels to dig the soil around the Veta border gate's entrance. The areas which have been done digging are now having metal pikes being put down, and then covered.

The areas that have finished digging trenches are now having men coming down to put the metal pikes. After putting down the pikes, they'll use big cloths which have the color as same as the soil, later cover those pike areas. My husband seems to want to bury all of the Attenta enemies without letting them have a route to escape from this border gate. Those traps look so scary, very deadly.

"Hey! Need some help over here, quick!". - When I was observing the trap setting progress, a yell sounded out

I look in the direction from the right side. Later I spot some WCA soldiers struggling to dig the soil of that site, they want to make a trench line but cannot. Because the soil of that site is too hard, cannot dig. The soldiers are gathering more men, they fill the water on the soil to make it get softer, as I see from the top of the wall.

I hope Reimi is still alright. Because everything seems to be not so bright this time...

"Princess... can I have with you a moment?". - Suddenly, Sarah asked me when I was observing the dig soldiers

"Yeah, sure". - I stepped away from the wall and returned, approaching Sarah

"What do you want to say about, Sarah?".

"Well... about your... uncle".

"Uhhh, huh".  "So what?". - This time our uncle hasn't contacted us, not even sending us a letter to say about his current situation

Despite being distant from my uncle, I still care for him since he's also one of my family members. Currently, my mother, my father have passed away... and my brother has turned into another person. Only my uncle is the last one who I consider to be a good family member. Despite having distance from him, I still care for my uncle.

Unless... that old man dares... to care too much about my family life. I don't know what kind of person my old uncle is, but if he doesn't favor my husband or has any hostile acts against my family life with John, I won't hesitate.

I mean... I'll cut off my blood and fleshes relationship with my uncle if he dares to against my family life. Although it's hard to happen, but I must make sure he won't try to do that. Because my late father used to be against me, not favor my husband... so I'm scared that my uncle will do the same thing as my father.

"Ummm... Princess...?". - Oh, I forgot that Sarah was here

"Ahh, sorry".  "Say it, Sarah".

"Your face and your eyes looked so... empty earlier...".

"Nothing nothing, don mind it, I'm alright".  "Tell me, Sarah".

"Okay...".  "Well, there's something I need to...". - All of sudden, Sarah looked around as if the thing she was about to talk is something important

"Ummm... is it alright if I say this... when John's with us?".

"Yeah, of course". - Looking at her eyes, I can see Sarah's nervousness... as if... she is about to say something bad

"Well... about your uncle...". - Hmmm... maybe I must prepare myself... did she mean that my uncle is facing something bad?

"Ummmm... he... he...". - Her face's tension could be seen rising higher, her mouth's hesitation kept showing every time she tried to talk

"Well... he's... ummmm...". - Yeah, I must've known it now, about my uncle... Sarah doesn't want to say out because it's too sad, right?

"Ummm... what if...".

"What if he returns here... and knows his daughter... is missing?". - Suddenly Sarah said the thing I didn't expect she would say out

"Ummm... it's hard to say, Sarah".  "Don't worry, we'll surely save her before my uncle gets here, alright?". - Even though, I'm still doubting Sarah a little bit, her face and her eyes are still a bit tense and worried

"Ummmm... are you sure?".

"Yeah, she'll surely be safe". - While talking to my husband's subordinate, I accidentally glanced at him and saw he was glancing at Sarah

"So that's all about?".

"What do you...".  "Yeah, Princess... yeah".  "I just... Reimi is still missing, and I don't want your uncle to know about it".  "If he... return here... I don't want him to see it... yeah".  "Sorry, I talked too much...". - I thought she would say my uncle was dead, but luckily that it wasn't happening to him

"Okay, you should get back to work, Sarah".  "We'll talk later, the Spec Ops team must be on their way to return".  "Reimi will surely be here in no time". - Done saying, I tapped on her shoulder and then walked away

"You need some water, John?". - I intended to grab my husband some food or drink, I asked him while walking slowly down the stairs

"No...".  "Shakes head". - He just simply shook his head and said no, sigh...

"I'll surely grab some for you".  "Giggles...". - Done saying, I walked down the stair while holding the stair's arm, just to be safe

Walking down from the watchtower, I head to the staircase on the right side to go down from the border gate's wall. While walking down the stairs, WCA soldiers who are guarding the staircase bow to me every time I walk past them. These soldiers are guarding the border gate of Veta, they seem to be very disciplined in their duty as I can see from them.

When I go down the staircase and touch the ground completely, I look at the gate to make sure it's still closed. Seeing it's still closed, I'm very relieved and later intend to head to the ration building to take some food. However, later I spot something suspicious, the hired adventurers who have the duty to guard the entrance have gone away.

Seeing it was odd, I tapped on a WCA woman soldier who was scouting around with her patrol squad.

"Your Highness?". - She stopped and greeted me, lowering her head while standing before me

"Why I don't see those adventurers anymore?".  "Where they have gone to?".

"Our General is too cautious about handing the gate for them".  "Now they have the new duty to guard this watchtower, Your Highness". - Done talking, she pointed her finger to something behind me

I turn around and look up, later seeing there's a watchtower behind me. On that stone watchtower, those adventurers can be seen walking around it to scout. Some of them are chatting with each other, some seem to be lazy to guard the tower. Alright... I understand it now.

"Then who will be added to guard the gate?". - My husband is a bit hallucinating about doubting those adventurers, somehow he's very cautious about the hired outsider mercenaries

"He's working on it, Your Highness".

"Alright, I understand...".  "Go, return to your group".

"Th-". - Before she could say goodbye, I went away, heading to the ration building

By the way, the refugees are being held up in Veta castle. The evacuation has been relaunched recently this morning. The refugees are being evacuated slowly from the castle to the Capital city.

While approaching the ration building, I glance to the right side to check on the white "hospital" building. That place is used to save the wounded soldiers, when our troops return here after battling, their wounded will be transferred to the hospital building.

After Veta civilians get evacuated from the region, their houses and left belongings become used for military purposes. Glancing at the hospital building for a while, I stop it and approach the ration building. I get close to the building's doors, the WCA Veta men soldiers open the doors for me to come in.

Well, I can see a bunch of soldiers either sitting or standing in this building while eating the meals. I shortly walk faster to get into the kitchen room, where I'll be able to grab the meals.

Now I'm walking along the hallway of the ration building, the kitchen room is on the right side and near the end of the hallway. I just concentrate on my path till I get there, later walk inside the kitchen room... it looks... a bit small.

The WCA women soldiers can be seen guarding from the outside to the inside of the kitchen room. They seemed to be lazy previously, but later returned to guard seriously as I walked in to grab the meals. I slowly approach the wooden stall ahead. Inside the stall has two women soldiers who seem to be the food holders.

"Your Highness". - One of the women soldiers greeted me as I approached them

"Ummm... I come here to take for my husband and Sarah, two light meals". - John had eaten this noon but I was worried that he wasn't eating enough to work

"Roger, Your Highness".  "Ummm... but we cannot supply you the good meals here, just our military food".

"That's alright, I can take it".

"Nod". - She nodded to me, later walked inside to grab out things to prepare for the meals that I ordered

Waiting for the meal to be prepared, I put my elbow on the stall, later turn around, looking at the scenery behind me to kill the time. As I can see from the WCA soldiers inside this kitchen room, their shields' insignias show them to be from Spera, not Veta. These soldiers are Hatano's military personnel, they have wild looking than my husband's soldiers. Especially these women soldiers, their faces and hairs look to be a bit crazy... and a bit clumsy.

All of sudden, when I was looking at the scenery of the kitchen room, there was a placing sound behind me.

"Oh! That's quick...?". - I turned around to look at the prepared meals

"Uhhh...". - I froze as I turned around and faced the food holder, she looked like Hatano

"What's the... matter...?". - Maybe I should calm down, this one's face is very fine, Hatano still has bruises that were caused by my husband

"Nothing...".  "This one, you're...Kane... aren't you?". - Well, this one must be Hatano's impostor, I couldn't believe it she was working here as a food holder when Hatano is jailed in the castle

"Nod...". - Her makeup makes her look like Hatano, like the same drop of water, even her eyes and her face look so emotionless

"Thanks for the meal, Kane".

I later grab a wooden meal plate that's put on the stall. Inside it has two bowls of cookies and two cups of water... the military food is quite simple. Grabbing the plates, I'm about to go but Kane shortly puts eating tools in my plate before I leave the place to return to John.

After getting out of the kitchen room, I rush to return to my husband and Sarah to go to give them the meals I took for them. Just shortly after getting out of the ration building, I head upstairs and reach the watchtower where John's standing.

"John, you've worked hard today, please have a break".  "Your meal is hot, eat a bit to have the energy".  "John...". - Actually, I hate my husband a bit when he neglects me to take care of the job, I understand, so I'll ask him to care about me by force

"Sorry, Shera...".  "I'll eat later, put it there". - John talked to me for a short time and then asked me to put his meal on the chair nearby him

"You want to eat too, Sarah?". - Asked my husband but wasn't too successful, I asked Sarah who was working nearby him

"I wish I could, Princess...".

Hearing her wish, I approach Sarah and put a bowl of cookies nearby her M21 sniper rifle. Later I return to my husband, sitting on the floor while holding the plate. Knowing John's still working, I glance at Sarah and see she's secretly eating some without letting me know. That's good.

"She's eating, Johnny...".

Hearing my report, John turns around and starts grumbling. He later approaches Sarah and taps her head, asking her to work two military jobs at the same time. After ordering Sarah, John returns and sits beside me, I'm so happy...

"Let's eat some, John...". - I put down the plate, grabbed a wooden fork, and grabbed a cookie for my husband

However, my husband doesn't look at me at all even though he has already put down his binoculars aside him. Seeing John not looking at me, I wonder why my husband does that without a reason. Later he looks outside of the wall, I'm also curious so I imitate him. As I see from outside, a very long line of people who seem to be soldiers can be seen moving toward the border gate from very far away.

"They've returned...".  "But not they, they're still out there...". - John whispered and made his disappointed face

"What do you mean, John?".

"The Regiments are returning to us... but not the Predators". - Oh... he meant our fighting regiments were returned after battling, while the Spec Ops group was still searching for Reimi's situation

"John, come here...".  "Don't worry, Reimi will be fine, she's still fine".  "They must've found her by now, and is on their way, will be here soon". - To comfort my husband, I hugged him and told him that Reimi was still very alright

"Thanks, Shera...".

"You must eat, John... to have more energy".  "Come on". - Later I used my bare hand to grab the cookies, intending to feed my husband

"But my work is st-".

"Eat a little bit, just a little bit...".  "Please... John...".

"Alright, if you say so...". - Hearing my suggestion, John slowly tried to make himself feel comfortable

A short time later, I put a cookie in my husband's mouth, later put more for him to let him have a good meal. While looking at the way John's eating, I also eat some cookies to try their taste. Saying honestly, their taste is quite boring, but at least fast-made and edible. However, my husband cannot eat this poorly, I don't want to see him eat these things, they don't have much nutrition at all.

"John, I don't think you should head to this place regularly, you know?".

"Why?".  "Chews... chews...".  "Swallows... swallows...".

"Ummm... let's stay in the castle, you don't need to eat poor like this".  "I'll prepare for you the best meals daily, as much as you want to eat, John...".

"That's soldiers' lives, they don't have time to eat rich like the nobles".  "I've already used to eating like this, thanks for your advice, my wife...".

"But...". - How can my husband work well if he's not well-fed? Especially when his bulk body needs to consume more food than anyone else

"How can you work well without eating well, John?".  "Your body needs to be well fed... these things cannot...".

"It'll adapt to it, Shera".  "My world is different than yours, this body's built differently in your world, but my world is not rare to find one".  "Going to this world, my body will adapt to it".  "This kind of muscular build is impossible to make in your world, Shera".  "I'm still very fine...".

"I know but...". - I hope these rations are safe to eat, because I believe that the food I make for my husband is the safest for him

"Do for me something, Shera".

"Ummm... yes?".

"When we return to our home, send your brother a letter quickly".  "He's too slow, we will be dead in less than a week if the enemy pushes more of their troops in here".

"Understood...".  "I'm sorry, John... my brother is too slow on gathering the troops".

"That's not your fault, my wife... that's not your fault...". - Speaking to me for a while, my husband patted my head gently

"I'm full by now".  "Thanks, Shera... I'll be back to work". - Shortly, he grabbed his binoculars and stood up, approaching the wall, intending to look beyond things

I don't urge my husband to eat because I don't want to annoy him. Knowing John doesn't want to eat anymore, I feel a bit sad. I later put the plate on Sarah's working position and then return to John to see if he needs anything else from me.

"Open the gate!!!!". - Suddenly when I was approaching my husband, there was a loud voice sounded from below

When I have time to realize, the border gate's entrance has been opened. I see John looking at the things below the wall so I also look down like him, later noticing that our troops are returning here. They've reached the border gate, and the entrance is now opened for all of them to go through. Observing the things below for a while, John leaves the watchtower, I follow him.

"Stay there, Sarah".

"Roger that, Commander". - Sarah is still staying in the watchtower, she'll work here till she has another order

Later John gets down of the watchtower alongside me. Both of us walk till we reach the staircase which leads to the ground. However, John doesn't make his step when he is at the top of the staircase which leads to the ground anymore, I feel it's strange.

Instead, he observes the scene of the troops returning by looking from the high ground, from this place. I also look down at the ground to see the returning soldiers like the way my husband is doing.

Later I realize that was a very bad idea for me to do, especially when I looked at them closely. The first scene I saw of the returning soldiers, was a bunch of dead bodies being carried on their backs, not a victorious sign. Not yet, the alive soldiers seemed to be very pale, some of them lost their limbs and could be seen being escorted to the hospital building.

That scene is too terrible, I look away and try to think about something more positive to happen. While looking away, I notice that my husband is patting my head, as if to comfort my feelings. Thanks to him, I manage to calm down quickly instead of being nervous. That's the time I notice that a WCA soldier is approaching my husband from below, he was moving here from the below staircase.

"John, look". - I pointed my finger at that moving soldier, and John glanced in that direction to see him

Coming up the staircase till that soldier reaches my husband, he nods before handing John a brown scroll of fur paper. John just takes the scroll and then reads it. Now I'm wondering what my husband is reading, because that scroll looks like an intel report or something. But at last, I keep silent to let him finish reading, and John did.

"Keep pushing them like that".  "We're doing good". - After reading the scroll, John handed it to the WCA man soldier, I didn't have a chance to read it

"What's it about, John?".

"On their way searching for the remains of the previous battle".  "Well... we're pushing back the enemies too, seems to be very positive". - So... the previous dead bodies were the remains of soldiers of yesterday's battle?

"Sir, the Beastmen Army informed us in the return".  "Their messenger is coming here, in no time".

"That's good".  "Now return to your place, soldier".

"But Sir, we need more troops sent to the current battlefield".

"...". - Suddenly, John thought a bit long while staring at that WCA soldier

"If we send more, we won't have more troops to send". - Actually, we only have 50.000 troops to be massive, but 6.000 have been sent out, we also lost the lives of 1.600

"Hmmm...".  "A night raid squad of Head Hunters, and a Regiment of 3.000".  "Will be sent this night, alright...?".

"Yes, Sir". - Hearing the NEWS, the soldier went away from us and walked downstairs, joining the troops below

All of sudden, when we turn our backs to head back to the watchtower, something went passed us from above and in a blink of an eye. That thing went away so fast that I couldn't see what it was, but my husband behaved very normally when that thing came.

"The intel is waiting for us".

"What do you mean, John?".

My husband doesn't say anything, but seems like he wants to return to the watchtower by now. Knowing his purpose, I hold John's hand and walk with him till we reach the watchtower. That time, Sarah can be seen doing a thing like reading a wooden thing in her hands.

The thing she's holding seems to be very odd. I mean... it's a kind of scroll, but made of wood, seems to be connected with many wooden sticks. Somehow that wooden scroll thing looks special.

"Anything new?". - John asked Sarah

"Seems like we've pushed 'em back from No Man Zone, Commander".  "But the elves tell us to prepare, those ships may come again...". 

Hearing we've won the battle of White River, my husband shows me a bit of his smug through his slight smile. But, John doesn't keep that facial long, but slowly returns to his serious face as always.

"Ummm... the Head Hunters team seems to have returned to the castle as well".

"Any news from Reimi, Sarah?". - I asked her

"Hmmm... not yet, Princess". - Answering my question, she later sat down to read instead of reading and walking around previously

"Hmmm... maybe that's all, Commander".

"Good...".  "We'll return to our Headquarters, follow me".

The two of us later follow John down the stairs, purposing to return to the castle - our home. After going down, we head to the parked carriage on the right side of a building, two WCA women soldiers are the car guards. Seeing our arrival, they open the carriage's doors before the order is given.

The two of us get on the carriage and take our seats. But John doesn't. My husband stands there, his head looking up as if he is staring at a watchtower or something. Later, John goes inside and takes a seat while the carriage's doors are closed.

"Move out". - As he finished his words, the carriage started rolling its wheels