Asda sent her forces after the lynxmice, screaming that it was them who were at fault. This basically meant they went around chasing lynxmice in all directions, often without any actual lynxmice running in front of them.

The lynxmice attacked the palace and chased the Crown Prince and the palace guard around in circles.

The confused forces supposedly on defense duty in the city received direct orders to attack Asda.

The police shut down the marketplace and imposed martial law.

Two generals defected on the spot and proclaimed their support of Asda and fought against the police for control of the marketplace.

Three generals opposed them and surrounded the marketplace, then attempted to seize control of the airport.

The crown prince fled to the airport and found it half-controlled by military forces. a.s.suming the worst, his palace guard immediately began to a.s.sault the airport and the loyalist forces there trying to seize control of it.

Asda's forces flat out ignored both the crown prince and the loyalists defending the airport and chased the lynxmice. The palace guards and the loyalists alike saw them chasing lynxmice and a.s.sumed they were on their side and left them well enough alone. Meanwhile, they fought each other.

It was all very confusing since those forces which were supposed to be on the same side ended up fighting each other and n.o.body really understood what the heck was going on any more. Sand people soldiers were fighting sand people soldiers on all sides, and who was on whose side was entirely uncertain. n.o.body, not the generals, not the crown prince or Asda, not the police, n.o.body really knew who they were fighting, or even whose side they were on.

Fal'Herim's military headquarters could have cleared up the whole mess… if they hadn't been the main target of Remian's strike. He personally supervised the lynxmice bursting out of the underground tunnels in their lightning raid and very quickly paralyzed the command center.

That headquarters was the first to fall. After that, it was all a matter of misinformation and increasing chaos among their ranks. The information came from headquarters, after all. As for who exactly was sitting in headquarters telling them where to go and who to fight, well… they were all a little busy to verify that at the moment.

***

"Mob of freed slaves coming up from all sides! Take the high ground! Get to the roof and barricade the stairs!" Remian advised Fal'Herim's elite troops from their command center.

Then, he sent a message to the heavy artillery positions, with the coordinates of that rooftop.

"Fire a concerted salvo on insurgent strong-point. Maximum firepower."

BOOM!

Actually, the artillery positions were doing a great deal of damage at Remian's behest. Those big guns alone accounted for over half of the Crown Prince's loyalist casualties.

In fact, it might not be too far fetched to claim that the artillery ended the war.

This was because about two hours into the fighting, the Crown Prince called the command center.

"I'm taking up a defensive position in the square just east of the airport. Send all available reinforcements to me! Have them wave a white flag as they approach so we know they're friendlies!" the Crown Prince ordered.

"Understood!" Remian replied.

Then, he sent a message to the artillery. "New target: square just east of the airport. Full volley. Fire when ready."

BOOM.

That was basically how the war ended.

***

With all the chaos going on, it was really not until sunrise that the fighting finally died down.

When the dust cleared, Asda was queen. She was still screeching away madly about lynxmice, but the only surviving forces in Fal'Herim were loyal to her.

As for Remian, his friends, and the freed slaves, well… they were long gone from the city by then. About half the freed slaves were on airs.h.i.+ps on the way to Itarim. The other half were boarding a Sky Fortress at the end of the unfinished road leading to the ruins of Fort Spoas from Fal'Herim.

The lynxmice? They escorted Remian and company to the pick-up point, then scurried away underground again. They had completely plundered Fal'Herim of all the cheese in the marketplace, all the food in the royal kitchens, and even emptied out the royal vaults with the help of underground carts.

Goodness, whatever had Tim been teaching these little furb.a.l.l.s…?

Whatever the case, Remian left them to it. Perhaps Tim had an important use for all that food and money. Remian himself didn't touch a single lir of it. That money was Tim's, and Remian felt he'd earned it. All Remian took from the plunder was some bread and cheese for breakfast.

"You sure you wanna leave Asda in charge?" Mindy asked Remian. "I mean… I think if we really wanted to, we could conquer Fal'Herim here and now."

"Coalition of Six, remember? They won't make a move against Asda, because she's one of their own, but if we tried to take the city, they'd definitely come down on us at once." Remian pointed out.

"Then why not just leave the Crown Prince in charge and bomb Asda instead?" Mindy queried.

"What's the point of freeing the slaves, then? At least we know Asda's policy is emanc.i.p.ation. Under the Crown Prince's rule, Fal'Herim would simply get more new slaves to replace those we save. No, leaving Asda in charge is the best outcome I could think of. Besides, George mentioned that her s.h.i.+pyards were building airs.h.i.+ps for us. Wouldn't want to mess that up."

"So, that's it? We leave with just the freed slaves?"

"Well, not exactly. The slaves are leaving. You can go with them. I still have business here." Remian shrugged. "Also, we seem to have picked up quite a few valuables along the way."

"Such as?"

"Such as a whole lot of magic books from the royal library." Remian mused. "Apparently Tim asked the lynxmice to grab as many as they could if they had the chance. We have three entire shelves."

"Is that your unfinished business here? You want to return them? You know there's no expiry date for that sort of borrowing, right?"

"No, no, I actually wanted to grab the rest of the books in there." Remian coughed twice, as if in embarra.s.sment. "But that's not my unfinished business. My business here is with the Burning Steel."

"Right, right… but are you sure they're still willing to do business with you?"

"What does willingness have to do with it?"

***

Andros was actually sitting in the airport waiting area with a suitcase full of money and a ticket to Germat when Remian quietly sat down right next to him.

"R-Remian?!" Andros gasped. "How did you… No, I mean… The Man fears nothing!"

How he found Andros was simple enough. He just asked the Lynxmice.

"Last I checked, I still own fifty percent of the Burning Steel Forge." Remian mentioned.

Andros started running. Just picked up his suitcase and ran.

"Light." Remian called, and a wall of coherent energy appeared right in front of Andros. He ran straight into it and consequently bounced right off.

"I… it wasn't my fault! They forced me to sell them the Forge!" Andros blurted.

"Is that what you're carrying? The proceeds of the sale?" Remian eyed the suitcase. "Who did you sell to? What are their intentions?"

"I… I don't know! They paid in cash, so…" Andros brightened. "I'll give you your half! That's fair, right? I just want out of here…"

"And how is it that you're now able to go around freely when you weren't able to before?" Remian asked.

"Germat made me an offer. I just need to get there and start work quickly."

"Germat, huh? They really do seem to be weighing in on industry these days." Remian considered for a moment, then nodded. "Fine. I'll take half, and you can be on your way."