Skymender rested for a few hours before he heard a knock on the door.
"Mister Sui Linglan. I have brought some breakfast for you." A voice sounded out beyond the door.
Skymender opened it and saw a servant. In her hand was a tray with a fairly luxurious amount of food on it. Skymender thanked the servant before asking her a question.
"What has been going on in the Kingdom recently?"
He spoke in a casual manner, making his question seem insignificant.
Despite that, the girl was clearly hesitant. "His majesty said not to talk to you about any information until he was certain you were clean."
Skymender let out an exaggerated sigh. "He sure is cautious, as expected of such a great King. However, is it really necessary? In here, I couldn't leave even if I wanted to. It truly is tragic that after watching all of my brothers die, I'm treated like a prisoner by those I fell back on."
The servant girl gave him a glance of sympathy before whispering. "Well I can't say much, but we've been preparing a retreat. If everything goes as planned, we should escape the conquest of the Faceless Empire."
Skymender was surprised, but feigned curiosity. "Where could you retreat that the Faceless Empire couldn't reach?"
The servant girl smiled before walking out the door. "Maybe I'll tell you tomorrow."
Throughout the day, Skymender received multiple meals from the servant girl, but despite asking for more information, she said to wait until tomorrow. The next day, when she handed him his breakfast, she whispered to him.
"We are going to retreat to an island, and before we go, we will completely destroy any information of its existence."
Once again, Skymender received an extremely important piece of information from the servant girl.
The next day, she told him more.
"That island is supposedly huge and can sustain our entire Kingdom. The only issue is the lack of boats, but they've been rapidly building some, and if we all cram on, then everyone in the Royal Capital should fit. Unfortunately, it seems that those who have yet to arrive at the Royal Capital will be left behind."
Later that day, Skymender was finally allowed out of his room. The King had cleared him.
He would surely not be able to leave the Royal Capital, but he had no need to do so.
As she gave him his final meal while in the room, the servant asked a question. "Is there something wrong with your eyes or your face, Mister Sui? You always have that cloth covering it."
Skymender shook his head. "It is just that my eyes were injured in the war."
She nodded suspiciously before leaving.
This was the first time Skymender had been asked such a question. Even when he had met the King, he had not dared ask Skymender, a supposed soldier who had nearly died for their Empire, to be searched.
Only this servant had even asked about it.
Skymender left the Royal Palace and moved around the Royal City.
He instantly saw that it was filled with movement, but with a lack of things. It was as if everyone had been packing up.
In the distance, he saw the vast ocean, with tens of giant ships and even more smaller ships lining the coast. Countless things were being inspected, and some were allowed onto the ships.
Some things were deemed useless and not allowed on, but anything pertaining to a need was allowed on. It seemed that just within days, they would depart from the Royal Capital.
There were also many guards running around. Besides simply keeping order, they made sure that no information of where they were going remained. All of it was burned. Once the libraries were emptied out, they were also burned to the ground. Anyone found hiding information were executed. Houses were charred and tall buildings were torn down. They were taking everything they could and leaving nothing in excess behind.
By the time they were gone, perhaps even the Royal Palace would be nothing but ash and debris.
A servant came up to Skymender and spoke. "The King has permitted you to retreat with us, if that is what you want."
Skymender looked around then nodded. "Yes, that would be preferable to dying at the hands of the Faceless Empire."
The servant nodded solemnly. "In that case, you can board now if you want."
Skymender shook his head. "I grew up in this city, and though it will soon be beyond repair, I would like to spend at least a few days in it."
The servant seemed to understand and left Skymender alone with some money for his troubles.
Skymender looked around, and thought of how he would lead the Faceless Empire towards the retreating island. Before that, however, he needed to know the actual location of the island. To do that, he headed towards the port. Nearby was a large tower which held all of the information on ocean exploration.
Although he was still on a watch, it was almost exclusively to prevent him from leaving the Royal Capital. Anything else would most likely be ignored. After all, they had other things to worry about.
Skymender was expecting some sort of guards to stop people from entering, but though there were indeed guards, they seemed to be ransacking the place. Skymender was able to enter freely. Fires were started outside, and all irrelevant information was burned. Important information was loaded onto the ships.
Skymender walked through the tower and was eventually stopped as he neared the top floor.
"What are you doing here?" A guard asked him.
Skymender sighed. "I had always wanted to work here, but now it seems it will soon be gone, just like the rest of the city."
The guard examined him and spoke. "So you are that soldier that retreated here from the war. Thank you for what you've done. You know what, come and take a look. There is still some information you can learn here."
Skymender thanked him and stepped onto the top floor.