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The warden rattled off a few more apologies and then shuffled out of the room. Hopefully, he didn't intend to follow the Tiger and try to get his vice-warden back, otherwise Logden Prison would be needing two new leaders come the morrow.

With everyone but the Rainkid gone, it seemed the entertainment was over for now. Vanderberk exhaled a sigh and eyed the briefcase by his side. He did still have plenty of reports to go over, so he supposed he should take advantage of the down time while it lasted. He usually hated paperwork, but recently, the reports had gotten more interesting, thanks to the war. Being able to get updates on how things were progressing across the continent made all the reading a bit less dry.

Let's see here...

This first one was about Czacoa. Ah. Risto and Voss had broken through the enemy lines? Finally. Oh, but wait, they'd been pushed back. Shit. So much for that. Who pushed them back? Looked like a man named... Harva Zon.

Hmm. Someone else to keep an eye on, he supposed.

The next report was from Melmoore. He prepared himself for bad news. They seemed to be struggling the hardest over there, which perhaps wasn't so surprising since none of their most powerful warriors had been sent to either of those two fronts--the logic being that they were few in number and shouldn't even have been needed, besides. Between Corrico invading from the south and Ostra invading from the north, Melmoore should have been among the easier conquests, even if it was one of the three so-called "continental superpowers."

At the outbreak of the war, there had been no prominent Vanguardians stationed there, other than the Surgeon Saint, and he didn't become famous because of his fighting ability.

But apparently, much like here in Vantalay, there were local warriors making an impact over there. And the Surgeon was being no pushover, himself. By now, he'd already decimated two major offensives into the country with little more than a handful of troops at his disposal. Plus, there'd been rumors of ghosts roaming around, haunting encampments, slaughtering men while they slept, and otherwise sowing terror among the ranks.

And indeed, this new report was not a welcome one, either. An informant had learned of a secret meeting to take place in two days between influential political leaders from both Corrico and Melmoore.