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He didn’t know everything. He was still young and inexperienced. He had to keep that in mind, lest the world remind him of it forcefully. He’d been taught all about the hubris of servants, historically. About what a danger it was. He didn’t want to end up as yet another cautionary tale told to future generations of Rainlords.

By the time he made it back to the rally point, the sun was starting to set. Thankfully, Arumoro hadn’t sensed any other souls in need of assistance on the way back. They’d taken a circular path in order to cover new ground--or new water, as it were.

That boded well, at least. When they first started coming out here, they’d scarcely been able to go ten minutes without finding someone else in need of rescue or ferrying. Perhaps things might finally start to normalize again for these poor Vantalayans.

Though, what would that even look like? What did normal even mean for these people? They’d already been in a state of war. Would things just go back to that? It seemed unlikely, given the extent of the devastation around the country, but Raul didn’t want to take anything for granted here.

Perhaps the Vantalayan Armed Forces would see all this tragedy as an opportunity. By all accounts that Raul had heard, they had been losing the war, so maybe they would interpret this as a way to turn the tide back in their favor.

Certainly, the news out of Czacoa had not been good. Supposedly, the entire nation was underwater. Wiped off the map.

Yena Maria and Naos, too.

Those three small nations had all been at war with Vantalay along its eastern coast. If they were really all gone, then that only left Lyste to carry on the fight in the west.

It was hard to believe they were genuinely gone, though. Just like that? Millions of lives in a matter of days?

It couldn’t be true.

There’d been servants over there. Strong ones, too, apparently. Holding back entire armies virtually unaided, including Abolish agents. Surely, they would’ve been able to do something about the waves, no?

Raul recalled hearing about one Harva Zon over in Czacoa. Already being heralded as a national hero. The Blazing Shield, they were calling him.

A guy like that must’ve survived the storm.

But had he been able to save anyone? That was the real question.