The journey back was uneventful, which I didn’t mind one bit. It took a while, but that was okay.

A few times, San Hashar updated us about what was going on with the soldiers left behind and her reinforcements. I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard that Tenira and the others were being sent back with one of the airships for the evacuation. Although Lei insisted on staying to fight with their soldiers.

They’d implement at least part of my original plan as well as they could. Acting as a counterweight to the nomads’ fliers and outriders, they would try to discourage them from splitting off groups or, worse, scattering.

“Their movement has slowed down,” San Hashar reported eventually. “They’re diverting a bit, heading for towns. It looks like they’ll take a meandering path to the city, raiding as they go.”

Hopefully, our evacuations would help. But the nomads still did me a favor by changing their course like this. I tried not to think about the soldiers who might have died for it.

Some time during the journey, I started to feel the aftereffects of the excitement. I didn’t start shaking, but I did notice the adrenaline wearing off. It left me feeling a curious mix of drained and accomplished. Like I wanted to do a victory dance but only had the energy to take a nap. Sure, I may have made a few mistakes, but I survived. There’s something to be said for that. I didn’t do too badly in the fighting.

I frowned and shook my head at my thoughts. I didn’t know if I’d killed any of the raiders. I’d certainly injured some. But I’d do it again without hesitation. I didn’t really care. I didn’t feel like I had after San Hashar killed the disciples attacking me. In part because I’d been too busy to really notice the gore. And in part because this was war, and they’d been attacking us or civilians, so I didn’t think I had to feel guilty.

A shout from one of the elites roused me from my self-reflection. The city was in sight.

I stepped forward, grasping the rails, and looked out over the scenery. A broad valley that a river cut through, its color a deep blue. The city sat in the middle, where a smaller river joined it. As we came closer, I could make out more details. I’d been too preoccupied the last time, but now I took stock of what I saw.

Blue Valley City sprawled across a space almost as large as the capital. In contrast to it, I saw almost no skyscrapers, and few towers. Most buildings had two or three stories at most. They were built from a drab brown material, but the city sported colorful decorations, if not as many as the capital. Its streets were narrower in some parts, the grid pattern present but less consistent. You could be forgiven for forgetting that Blue Valley City was about a thousand years younger than the capital, instead of the reverse. Although it had plenty of modern aspects, like the many qi appliances people used. I saw shining signs in several languages, but mostly Common, and small airships above the city.

The wind carried the city’s noise to me. Many smells mixed together into a unique pattern accompanied it. But we flew high enough that I had to strain my senses if I wanted any details. Not that I needed to.

A few more riders on flying beasts joined us in the skies, taking positions to flank the airship alongside San Hashar’s people. They guided us toward the same fort we’d set off from, although we touched down at a different field this time. It was closer to the city gates, which would make things easier for the evacuees.

This time, no greeting party waited for us. When I stepped back onto solid ground, Aston flanked me, and the guards fanned out around us. San Hashar and a few of her officers followed us. Her aura felt coiled around herself more tightly than during the journey. I wanted to hurry to the command building, but forced myself to keep my pace measured, and my head high. A number of people buzzed around the vicinity of the field, most of them soldiers or cultivators in similar stages.

The inside of the building was just as busy. This time, I headed directly to the conference room where I sensed a gathering of qi signatures, most of them familiar. Despite the closed doors, raised voices rang out through the corridor.

Aston pushed open the door and stepped through ahead of me. When I followed him into the room, I paused to take in the situation.

It was a large conference room partitioned into several sections by tables with books, maps or devices strewn across them. In the center, several people surrounded a conference table. I could have made a cluster analysis about their positioning. One cluster contained several subgroups of officers with various distinctions in their uniforms. Another one contained groups of nobles, who kept more distance between themselves than the officers. A number of them I hadn’t seen before. More importantly, they were arguing loudly, although I couldn’t say what about. A few of them looked in the direction of the door we came through, their mouths snapping shut.

San Hashar, who’d come up beside me, stomped on the ground and produced a low rumble that echoed through the room. “The Luminous Princess has returned!” she bellowed.

That’s one way to get their attention, I guess.

Their argument apparently forgotten, everyone hurried to bow to me.

I strode through the room until I arrived at the central table, gesturing at them to rise.

“Your Highness,” Zun said, the old noble’s smile looking like it didn’t quite fit a face more accustomed to scowling. “Let this one be the first to welcome you back and express his profound relief that you have returned to us unscathed. After such a shocking incident, many of us were given to worry.”

“Thank you,” I replied, my tone curt. “Do you have anything else to say about this ‘shocking incident’?” I hoped he wasn’t making allusions to how I’d been defeated.

“No, Your Highness,” he replied, his smile shrinking a bit. “I’m sure our noble soldiers will work hard to ensure that such a thing never happens again.”

General Wei grunted. “As will our noble compatriots, I’m sure. At least, this endeavor did have some benefit.”

“We have gained intelligence, although meeting the nomads with our full force would be preferable,” I said. “I am going to rely on your experience, generals, as I could on the strength of our elite troops.”

That was the closest I could come to an apology. I met Wei’s eyes, and he gave me a small nod. I’d prefer to actually apologize and promise to consider his words more in the future, but that could be seen as showing weakness. We both knew that, and I was glad he understood.

I still didn’t trust him, or anyone here I didn’t know. My dream and the spirit’s warning made me wary. But I knew I couldn’t show everyone here distrust, or I wouldn’t be able to win this war.

“Do you think our current strategy is still viable?” I asked.

Most of the officers nodded. General Wei tilted his head a little. “Yes, Your Highness, within reason.”

“Then we will proceed as planned,” I said. “We’ll continue our efforts to box in the nomads. If we can curtail their spread, we may succeed in meeting them in pitched battle, where we can crush them with our numerical advantage and discipline. Although I’m open to reconsidering this approach if there’s new information.”

The officers and nobles exchanged looks. I could see that some didn’t like the way I proclaimed what we would do. But I’d taken charge deliberately, even knowing that I had less experience than some of them. I’d gladly scrap this plan if another one would do better.

I took a moment to press my finger against the device hanging from my neck, checking that it was still active. Its qi signature was small and overshadowed by my defensive measures, and hopefully anyone who did notice it wouldn’t be able to figure out what it did. Not that it mattered if they knew I was recording what we said here.

“That’s a solid foundation for our planning, Your Highness,” General Wei said. “For now, perhaps we should take stock of our forces? Especially our local support.”

Everyone’s attention turned to the group of well-dressed cultivators I hadn’t seen before. I knew they had to be nobles from the south, coming from this region or any other potentially threatened by raiders. Unlike the nobles I’d taken from the center of the continent, they would hopefully field the entirety of their warriors. Or at least a big part of it, since they’d want to secure their homes with the rest.

They introduced themselves, and I recalled the detailed map of the Empire to take stock of where they came from. As I’d assumed, they were scattered all over the south. Not every clan was here, though. Their introductions made way to talking about numbers and strengths and how best to use them.

From the discussion that followed, I learned that some clans, probably most, had stayed to secure their regions, manning local defenses along with Imperial soldiers. It probably made sense to split their efforts like that rather than take a few people from every clan. Trying to organize everyone would be enough of a nightmare already.

The distribution of military force here is a weird mix of a modern-ish military and feudal structures, I mused. I guess it makes sense given the makeup of the Empire, and that fighters should be high-stage people, but it’s a bit of a mess.

At some point, the door opened again, and Tenira slipped into the room, escorted by a few Imperial guard. Her hair was in a bit of disarray, which suited her, but otherwise she didn’t appear harmed at all. A knot around my heart loosened, one that I’d almost forgotten was there. It felt like I could breathe freely again after wearing a mask for hours. Just more intense. Wow, I really missed her.

I smiled at Tenira as she stopped next to me. I’d have given her a hug, but considering the circumstances, this had to do.

The rest of the people gathered noticed her arrival as well, and bowed politely. The discussion continued. Tenira offered occasional input, but stayed silent most of the time. Probably trying to learn as much as she could, like I was.

After we’d discussed the makeup of our forces, in enough detail that I struggled to pay attention towards the end, the discussion moved on to an actual game plan. Here, I mostly let Wei and the others talk. I’d said what I wanted, now they could make something workable out of it. And they did seem to be in agreement. They pointed out a few things I hadn’t considered, such as the terrain on the route they might take and which roads connected which towns. But I was feeling pretty good about the plan. Sure, we couldn’t predict if the raiders would continue on as they were, but taking our army into the field wasn’t a bad decision either way.

My satisfaction lasted until Zun spoke up again. “Your Highness, perhaps you should appoint a commander to take the army into the field while we direct it from this control point.”

I blinked. “I intend to lead them into the field myself. I thought that was obvious.”

Another noble, a woman from the south, spoke up. “Your Highness, you will be able to lead the campaign just as well from here. And going into war — into battle — yourself is a risk. No matter how good your guards are, there will always be chaos during battle, and the raiders may try to strike at you even from the shadows. Your life is too precious to risk like that, if you will forgive me for pointing this out.”

She sounded earnest, so I tried not to let it bother me. “I realize that, lady Kuni’ta. But I am willing to take this risk, the same as any of our soldiers or warriors.”

Zun shook his head. “But how would we ever be able to face our ancestors if something were to happen? Her Majesty, the Empress, would strike us down in righteous anger if we failed to protect you from injury.”

I snorted. I couldn’t help it. With a flick of my hand, I pulled a knife from my storage ring. Its hilt glittered under the light. I flicked back my sleeve as well. Before they could say anything, I’d pressed the knife to my forearm, parting the skin.

“There, I am injured,” I said. “None of you is responsible or will be punished, obviously.”

It wasn’t a deep wound, and I could already feel my body working to heal it. Then one of my guards stepped forward. Qi flowed from his hands and the cut sealed shut as if it had never existed. The gathered people looked at me with wide eyes, complete silence filling the room.

I disappeared the knife again. It had been over almost before I noticed the pain. I wouldn’t have considered something like this on Earth, but it was a different story if a cut would only hurt for minutes, if not seconds.

I held out my arm as a servant came with a wet towel to clean the blood off, not taking my eyes from the gathered cultivators. “Let’s move on, shall we? Your concern for my safety gladdens me, and you can be assured that I will take measures to ensure my protection.”

Wei raised an eyebrow. “An increase in guards, Your Highness? A few of our elites would be honored to take that duty.”

“I’ve decided that I will travel with a new central command section. A headquarters unit, if you will, that can also act as a strategic reserve.” I looked over to San Hashar. “General San has already proven more than competent for such a role, and I will happily commend myself to her care.”

I could see by the way she scrunched her eyes a bit that she wanted to smile or laugh. But San Hashar remained stoic. She genuflected and said in a somber voice, “This one thanks the Imperial Princess for her confidence, and will strive to prove worthy of the honor.”

Zun and the other nobles quickly expressed their approval. I saw General Wei give a small shrug to one of his colleagues, before he started to talk about our schedule.

With San Hashar close by, I felt less worried about hidden enemies or attacks from the shadows. Hopefully, it would discourage people from striking at her, as well.

Of course, I still didn’t know who my enemies were, or what they might be planning.