The weeks following our return home had fallen into a rhythm that felt almost normal, despite the cosmic responsibilities weighing on my shoulders. While I focused on training and managing guild affairs, my fiancées had their own priorities to address.
Rachel had returned to the Northern Continent three days after our arrival, called back by urgent family business that couldn't be delayed. The Creighton family was in the process of absorbing the vast territories that had once been under Umbravale Covenant control, a massive undertaking that required careful political maneuvering and practical administration.
"The land redistribution alone will take months," she had explained during our last breakfast together before her departure. "But the real challenge is the miasma contamination. Centuries of cult activity have left the soil itself corrupted in ways that normal purification methods can't address."
