Chapter 332: A Continent Tilting Toward Chaos
Once Kai was reunited with his allies and standing in Sandflower City, he felt much more truly relaxed. He didn't want to push and look suspicious, but as far as he could tell, Zae Zin Nim and Omilaena had been given an empowering bath with no strings attached. It was rare that anyone saw his potential compared to theirs... hopefully it wouldn't happen like that in the future.
It had been good to meet Ceryyn again, but she didn't seem to be interested in what they'd done on Deadwaste aside from the fact that they were stronger. Conditions in the Elven Wilds had clearly deteriorated, so he understood why she would want to talk about their current problems.
They'd been returned to their old rooms in the city and only had one day for recovery before Ceryyn met with them. Based on her expression, there was only time for business now.
"Oh, so much has happened that I hardly know where to begin." Ceryyn shifted uncomfortably in her seat before apparently deciding. "You remember the school we had established? It was rebuilt and got under way... things might have been so different if you had been here, but... well..."
"Pick one thing at a time," Zae Zin Nim said. "What happened?"
"In one sense it was extremely successful. We built up allies who destroyed enormous numbers of obelisks, so the Commonwealth doesn't have a strong defense. However... some groups also investigated the Flaeren Dominion to check on their developments. There was nothing malicious intended, I assure you! But... well..."
"Fuck." Omilaena rubbed her eyes. "I'm guessing that they got caught and the Dominion blamed you?"
"Unfortunately that's true." Ceryyn sighed heavily. "If everyone was united against the demons in the Commonwealth, we could have held things stable, but now the Dominion is convinced we're trying to take advantage of the chaos. As soon as we turned against one another, it gave the Commonwealth openings to be more aggressive.
"Our embassy in the Coiled Empire was attacked, most likely to prevent us from building relationships with them. I understand that the Empress finally took out the demon attackers... do you think there's any chance that she'd join us to fight Matiavel?"