I never imagined that my return to my hometown would turn out like this. The towns of my homeland are coming into view. In the end, we arrived in the Amuria Kingdom without joining the unit that had stayed behind as a decoy to help me escape. I’m worried about what happened to them, but due to communication issues, I was unable to reach them and do anything.

Despite the situation, I felt a surge of emotions returning to my hometown after a long time. As I prayed for everyone’s safety, the familiar town came into sight.

I was speechless—words failed me. What appeared before my eyes was not the familiar hometown I remembered, but a town devastated to the point of inducing fear. From the small castle on the hill, countless plumes of smoke rose, clearly indicating that things were far from normal.

My father’s face and everyone else’s faces surfaced in my mind, causing anxiety. There were no moving figures in the destroyed town, only scattered bodies lying here and there, tightening my chest with sorrow.

“Be on alert for any survivors. If there are any, rescue them immediately.”

The captain instructed his subordinates accordingly. I also looked around, searching for any living citizens. Unfortunately, I could only find people who were clearly dead, and I couldn’t find anyone who seemed to have hope.

“President Ranelle, what should we do? Should we head to the castle?”

The captain asked me with concern.

Honestly, I was afraid to go to the castle. The thought of possibly finding the gruesome remains of people I knew… was so overwhelming it made me dizzy. But I couldn’t avert my eyes from reality. I gathered my resolve and responded to the captain.

“Please head to the castle…”

It appeared that a major battle had taken place at the castle, with many dead bodies of soldiers from the Federation Army, different from the Amuria Kingdom’s forces. Many destroyed magical machines were left behind, indicating the intensity of the battle. The castle walls were heavily damaged. It seemed that enemy magical machines had even breached the interior, with signs of combat extending deep into the castle.

However, despite the horrific scenes I had witnessed, there was a sliver of hope. That was because I couldn’t find my father or Yukiha, and the royal ride carrier, Domna, which should have been in the castle’s storage, was missing, as well as Yukiha’s magical machine. If I thought about it carefully, considering the population, the number of corpses in the town and castle was overwhelmingly few. Perhaps my father and Yukiha decided to evacuate the citizens and leave the country.

However, if that were the case, it’s likely that the enemy forces attacking the Amuria Kingdom would be pursuing them. I thought about how I needed to hurry to rescue them, but then I became calm and found it somewhat absurd. Even if I wanted to rescue them, all I had were a few soldiers and the title of president. Even if I wanted to issue orders within the Federation, I had no means of communication and felt my own powerlessness.