After a brief rest, Kanna Squad, holding their travel documents, left the bustling yet tense city and drove towards Wolumonde.
"I think these great nobles are wrong. My teacher taught that if a Calamity Messenger's warning is received, preparations should be made in advance. A Mobile City, when prepared, can almost avoid a large part of the Calamity's damage to the city."
Gloria looked at the road outside, with a pavilion every ten steps, and thought of what a local Operator had said during dinner about most of the military police being gathered for a wedding, leaving other cities unguarded. She found it difficult to understand.
After all, even she knew that in such a situation, the army should be divided and stationed in several cities to ensure that all cities could be safely evacuated if a Calamity occurred.
"Gloria, you're wrong. They, ah, have already made full preparations!" As the vehicle left the city, Kanna recalled the situation she had heard about after entering and the plot of Wolumonde she knew, and some conjectures formed in her mind.
The great nobles here may have only gathered the military police for the security of the high-level wedding before, so it is intriguing that they subsequently kept the military police from leaving, even using the excuse of needing manpower for visiting each other.
You could say these great nobles kept the military police in their cities for show, but Kanna had reason to suspect that they might have done so deliberately after receiving news from a Calamity Messenger.
Using mutual visits as an excuse to lift the Mobile City and transfer it to a relatively safe area less susceptible to Calamities, or an area from which it could quickly evacuate even if affected.
Then, with so many military police staying in the city, restraining each other, even if some people had grievances, they couldn't resist.
If there was no Calamity, then the military police would be their bodyguards during that time. If a Calamity did strike, with the military police at the forefront, the financial losses of these great nobles could be minimized.
As for Wolumonde, as a Mobile City with extremely developed commerce, it did not receive timely rescue when it encountered a Calamity. One must know that there were seven other cities surrounding Wolumonde. If Rhodes Island's people could reach Wolumonde a month after the Calamity, Kanna couldn't believe that other cities, so close by, couldn't even send a single reinforcement!
Then there was only one explanation: Wolumonde was the one that was abandoned, or rather, the one with the lowest priority for rescue after encountering a disaster.
Coupled with the fact that the highest leaders of a prosperous Mobile City were a military police captain and town representatives, and the military force was a group of militiamen, if these various absurdities are viewed in the larger context... the great nobles and high-ranking officials, after receiving news of a potential Calamity, believed Wolumonde was the most dangerous. They then took their military forces and high-ranking officials, under the guise of celebrating a noble marriage, and fled to safer towns, waiting until the Calamity completely ended before slowly returning. On the way, the large rift valley formed by the eastern Calamity blocked the road, forcing them to detour from the north, thus leaving Wolumonde in a predicament of no soldiers and no supplies after being hit by the Calamity.
Add to that the floating human hearts under the Calamity and the planned conflict between Infected and non-Infected.
If it weren't for that military police captain turning the tide, perhaps by the time those nobles belatedly returned to Wolumonde with their people, they would only find a Mobile City even more ruined than Chernobog.
Anto, who heard Kanna's words beside her, was first stunned, then revealed an understanding expression, followed by eyes filled with anger.
"That's an entire city! Are they really so cold-blooded?"
"There's an old saying in Yan, 'Each sweeps the snow from his own doorstep.' It's not strange to instinctively protect one's wealth when encountering danger. It's just, well, *heh*, truly nobles, no matter where they are, they're all the same!" Nian also understood the meaning in Kanna's words, turned to look at the increasingly distant Mobile Fortress, and showed a hint of mockery.
At this moment, two kinds of expressions emerged in the team. Those with enough experience to understand Kanna's words, or those who reacted after hearing others' words, all first became indignant, then slumped into helpless expressions.
"Actually, they were also gambling. Even without precautions, what if the Calamity didn't fall here? After all, the Calamity Messenger's report was 'suspected,' not a definite certainty. If everything was fine, then it could be treated as if nothing happened. So, in the end, it just depends on who has worse luck."
Kanna held the brief in her hand, looking thoughtfully at the signature "Calamity Messenger Biederman" on it.
Two days later, the convoy arrived at the gates of Wolumonde. As they entered, everyone looked around and indeed, as they knew, the military police in the city had been completely redeployed.
The soldiers responsible for guarding the entrance looked unprofessional at first glance. Their loose formation couldn't even compare to Rhodes Island's reserve team.
"It seems our luck is good. At least there's no news of a Calamity yet!"
As a commercial city, after entering, they found that the commercial atmosphere here was no worse than Lungmen in Yan.
And because Infected could freely move on the streets, Wolumonde seemed even livelier than Lungmen.
"This truly lives up to Wolumonde's reputation as Leithanien's eighth moon. It looks really lively." Everyone was very surprised after entering. Wolumonde was extremely bustling, completely lacking the sense of urgency that a Calamity might be approaching.
"There are no defensive measures at all. Don't the officials of Wolumonde worry about how severely this city will be hit once the Calamity arrives?!" Folinic looked at the bustling streets, and thinking of their hurried journey from Rhodes Island by car for over half a month, she was momentarily speechless.
"What if there are no officials?"
???
Hearing Kanna's words, everyone laughed. How could such a large city have no officials?
Kanna pointed to the City Hall, which was visible at a glance, but even though it was daytime, it remained closed.
"When we came in earlier, I heard people on the street saying that the grand noble getting married in the east was putting on a huge spectacle. Most of Wolumonde's officials have gone to celebrate with their relatives, so the City Hall has been completely closed recently."
Pointing to the noisy street outside, Kanna relayed the information she had overheard.
Folinic, somewhat disbelieving, stopped the car and walked to a shop to inquire about the situation.
A moment later, she returned with a dark expression.
"It's just as Kanna said. Because of the wedding, almost the entire upper echelon of Wolumonde has gone to celebrate, and all institutions have come to a standstill."
-------------------------------
I've already uploaded 70 chapters of this story on Patreon!
If you enjoy it, come check out the latest chapters in advance.
Here's the link:
[patreon.com/Greyhounds]
Thank you so much for your support!!
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"