As Lucas and Eris were about to leave, a sudden thought occurred to the young boy and he couldn't help asking, "Aunt Sasha, is there any way we can contact my parents?"
Instead of responding directly, Sasha turned to Carl and asked, "Have Bret and Beth departed yet?"
The first thing Sasha did after learning the true extent of the coming crisis was order the best riders from the Town Guard to head out, one to Herald City, the closest place where they might be able to find help, and the other to circle the local villages to get them to evacuate towards Redwood Town.
Although there were no proper walls or soldiers in Redwood Town, it was still far safer here than in the small, outlying villages. As for whether the people in the villages could arrive in time to seek shelter, that would be up to the Heavens to decide.
Sasha had wanted to send multiple riders from the Town Guard, at least 1 for each village, but they were already so short-handed that she eventually had to make the cruel decision to only send one.
All of the local villages were located within 10 km of Redwood Town, which meant that at a steady trot, a rider could easily reach any one of them within half-an-hour. However, because of the way they were spread out, it would surely take all night at best for a lone horseman to reach them all.
This was in no way ideal, but it was the best Sasha could come up with on such short notice.
A trip to Hareld City, on the other hand, was a much different story.
Redwood Town was about 75 km away from Hareld City in terms of absolute distance, but the road between the two settlements was naturally much longer than that.
In order to avoid rough terrain, patches of forest, and the main Belton River, the road was actually quite winding and stretched close to 120 km in length.
Now, had this road been well paved and regularly maintained, a carriage with good horses might have been able to cross such a distance in less than a day, but on the south-western frontier of the Rockwell Kingdom, it was obvious that the local infrastructure was nowhere near that good.
In fact, calling the route from Redwood Town to Hareld City a 'road' was being extremely generous.
The reality was that the large number of people, horses, wagons, and carriages all traveling along the easiest route between the two settlements had eventually beaten a dirt path into the ground over the years.
It typically took 3 days for a wagon pulled by a First Order Horse to make a one-way trip along this path, and that was under the best of circumstances. If there was a heavy rainstorm, at least 4 days would be needed to cross the muddy terrain.
Now, using multiple good horses and riding without rest, a single individual could probably cover this distance in half a day. The rider and horses would likely collapse from exhaustion upon arriving at their destination, but right now, that was a minor concern.
Even so, it was unrealistic to expect any kind of immediate relief to arrive.
The only bright spot in all of this was that there was suddenly an abundance of excellent mounts in Redwood Town, courtesy of the Roth Family.
Ordinarily, Sasha wouldn't have dared to 'borrow' these horses, as the trouble that would bring once their owners returned would not be worth it, but under the current circumstances, she saw no need to care about such trivialities.
In reality, though, Sasha's hope was that Anna and Drake, who were both in Herald City right now, would notice this situation themselves and try to rally some support for Redwood Town on their own.
The issue was that while Anna was the Town Guard Captain, she wasn't a noble and would thus have a hard time getting the higher-ups in Herald City to offer any help.
Technically, it was the duty of both the nobles and the military to respond to crises in and around the kingdom in order to protect the peace and security of ordinary citizens, but in practice, local organizations and garrisons tended to look out for local interests first and foremost.
Although this practice was sometimes a result of malicious intentions, more often than not it was just a matter of human nature. People simply cared more about themselves and their immediate family than distant strangers.
It was precisely for this reason that Sasha had ordered a rider carrying the Newton Family crest to head to Herald City to formally request aid. This still might not be enough to move the higher-ups there, but it was the only option available to her.
This was the first time in a very long time that Sasha deeply regretted not having maintained any ties to her old family. If she had sent a rider bearing the Balfour Family crest, at the very least, the leaders of the Harold City Garrison would immediately have deployed some assistance to Redwood Town, lest they incur the wrath of Marquess Balfour and suddenly find their heads missing.
"Bret took the 3 best horses we could find and set out for Herald City right after you gave the order," Carl promptly replied, "As for Beth, she also took 3 horses, but said she was going to look for her cousins who are also good riders first. She figured that if they split up, they could cover all 14 of the villages in less than half the time it would take her to do so alone."
When Sasha heard this, her brow quickly scrunched as she asked, "Beth's cousins? If I recall correctly, they're 15 and 17 years old, barely more than stable-boys. Will they be able to convince the local villagers to evacuate towards Redwood Town?"
Carl had already thought of this, apparently, and flashed a wry grin, "Those two are indeed little more than boys, but they're quite stocky for their age, so I told Beth to strap some of the Guard's training armour and swords onto them. That should make them look more imposing, at least."
"Also," Carl continued, "There's no way the villagers didn't see and feel that explosion, so there's a good chance they've already begun evacuating towards the town."
After mulling things over for a moment, Sasha let out a sigh and nodded, "I suppose it's better than nothing. Hopefully the villagers will act reasonably."
Turning back to Lucas, Sasha finally answered, "As you just heard, Bret is on his way to Herald City, where his first order is to meet up with Anna and hand Charles' seal over so she can negotiate with the local nobles. If everything goes well, you'll see your parents in a few days."
Lucas scrunched his face slightly, knowing that Sasha was being extremely optimistic with her assumptions and estimations.
First off, things were not likely to go smoothly as the disaster in the Great Western Forest had certainly caused just as much chaos in Herald City as it had in Redwood Town.
Just getting a meeting with the military or the nobles would be difficult.
What's more, even if his mother could get a meeting with the City Lord or Garrison Commander immediately, convincing them to send aid would take time, regardless of how cooperative they were.
At best, Lucas felt that if help arrived in Redwood Town 5 days from now, it would be a miracle. 10 to 15 days was far more likely, while in the worst-case and frankly most likely scenario, no help would be sent at all.
In short, they were on their own and needed to find a way to overcome the approaching danger themselves.
Of course, Anna and Drake would make their way back to Redwood Town regardless of whether they could secure reinforcements or not; of that, Lucas had no doubts.
However, the young boy also felt conflicted about this. His mother was one thing, but his father's injury made it difficult for him to fight or even ride a horse. Traveling alone or in a small group in the middle of a possible beast tide was by no means safe.
Despite how mature he was for his age, Lucas found himself wanting to seek comfort in his parent's arms at this moment, but was also worried about them risking their lives to get back to Redwood Town.
Clenching his small fists, Lucas closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to clear away his pessimistic thoughts.
A moment later, he looked up and said, "Thank you, Aunt Sasha. Eris and I will get going now; there's lots to do, after all."
Sasha and Carl naturally didn't miss the worry in the young boy's tone, but there was nothing they could do to comfort him as they were no less anxious than he was.
The two adults were also quite aware that offering empty words of reassurance would only make things worse; so, for now, they just helplessly nodded and saw them off.
Once Eris and Lucas were out of earshot, Carl couldn't help muttering under his breath, "It's a terrible mess, isn't it?"
Sighing, Sasha nodded in agreement, "This is the fate of all the weak and powerless; it's a lesson everyone eventually learns in this unforgiving world, it's just unfortunate they have to learn it at such a young age."