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Thankfully, Hector was still wearing his armor, so no one would could see how dumbstruck and embarrassed he was all of a sudden.

It still left a gap in the conversation, though, as everyone seemed to be waiting for him to say something. When he didn't, Secretary Karr picked things back up herself.

"I assure you that your efforts here tonight shall be well-rewarded once we return to P.J.," she said.

At first, Hector wasn't sure what she was talking about and nearly asked who P.J. was. He caught himself, though, when he recalled his recent study of Lorentian geography.

The Imara Forest filled much of the country and encompassed several large cities, one of which was the capital: Riverton, P.J.

He remembered thinking what a strange name it was for a town, much less the capital of the nation. P.J. stood for Pori Johari, which was the town's original name before it became the capital and started attracting many politically important residents. Why "Riverton" had been added to the name, Hector hadn't been able to discern, but given what the Secretary just said, the locals were still referring to it as P.J. for short, anyway.

And apparently, that was where they were headed next.


Chapter Two Hundred Twenty-Nine: 'O, guardians from afar...'
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Raul Blackburn was looking through his binoculars again. That was pretty much all he'd been doing, lately. It was hard not to discouraged or distracted after hours of seeing literally no changes whatsoever, but he didn't intend slack off now. This mission had already gone wrong in too many different ways. He wasn't about to add to their problems due to his own inattention or laziness.

Their raid on the little town of Miro had turned into a veritable siege. Which was a particularly strange situation, considering there were only seven of them here, not including the reapers.