Commander Leonard Manning was the highest-ranking military officer in Herald City.
He was a Complete Low-Rank Initiate with poor innate talent and a low chance of ever breaking through again; on top of that, he was the seventh son of a Viscount Family, so his prospects of inheriting that title were essentially non-existent.
Several decades ago, he had been sent from the capital to this outlying city in order to assume command of the local garrison.
Essentially, he had been kicked out to live his retirement in this remote backwater.
Upon first arriving in Herald City and seeing just how rural it was, Leonard's already low expectations cratered, leaving him feeling incredibly disappointed and aggrieved. He felt he had worked hard all his life to reach his current strength, but now he was being cast aside just because of his poor future prospects.
The entire experience left a profound bitterness in his heart.
However, not long after assuming his new post, the local nobles and wealthy citizens began approaching him with lavish gifts while offering invitations to extravagant parties to welcome him.
Leonard, never having received such generous treatment before, was greatly flattered and soon began revelling in all the attention.
Despite getting such favourable treatment, though, the bitterness in his heart only increased as he felt further slighted by his superiors back in the capital.
As for the wine, wealth, and women offered to him in exchange for some 'minor favours' from the locals, he simply saw them as just compensation for his suffering.
Four decades later, Commander Manning had completely adapted to a lavish lifestyle where he could indulge in any kind of debauchery he wanted to without consequence. Even his once fit figure had become pot-bellied as he had given up any kind of hard training or cultivation in favour of partying and feasting.
There was only one higher authority in the city than Leonard, Count Richard Baker, but the local Lord was Commander Mannings strongest backer, while Leonard's control of the city garrison was absolute as he was the only Spirit Initiate affiliated with the army present.
With Herald City being on the frontier, far from any enemy nation, little attention was paid to it by the capital, court, or army, so there was simply no one to reign Leonard in.
Everything had been perfect for the fat Commander, until 5 days ago when the explosion in the Great Western Forest occurred.
That evening, Leonard happened to be at a party being hosted by the Bakers.
There was no special occasion, just an ordinary feast held on a whim; still, it was well attended by nobles from around the county and many wealthy individuals. Halfway through the feast, however, everyone at or above the Sea Establishment Realm abruptly turned their heads westward.
All of them had felt an intense wave of World Qi wash over them at that moment, drawing their full and undivided attention.
Dashing outside the ornate dining hall, the various masters in attendance saw a glowing ball of flame and a billowing mushroom-shaped cloud rapidly rise above the western horizon.
For a time, everyone remained dumbstruck, including Commander Manning.
None of them could tell what was going on, so they didn't know how to respond. It was only after a long silence that Count Baker snapped out of his daze and began shouting orders.
True to his cowardly nature, Richard Baker's first order was to seal the city and deploy the garrison and city watch to secure the walls. The Count then declared he needed to meet with all his closest advisors to 'strategize' their next move before promptly making his way to the most secure location in his manor.
Seeing this, and watching how all the other gathered elites were running around in a panic, Leonard Manning couldn't help sneering.
The timidity on display was disdainful in his eyes, but he made no outward comments on it; in fact, he appreciated it. The way he saw it, the greedier and more cowardly these people were, the more benefits he could extract from them.
While also trying to come up with the best way to secure his interests, Leonard had made his way back to the city garrison's headquarters where he intended to promptly secure the city.
He may have been living an indulgent life for decades now, but years of military training still allowed him to see that chaos would soon descend upon them. Maintaining his own wealth and power was only possible as long as Herald City still functioned in a somewhat orderly manner, so he was willing to put in the bare minimum effort required to make that happen.
As for investigating the situation or assisting those beyond the walls, Commander Manning didn't even spare such ideas a single thought. His only responsibility was to secure Herald City, so that was what he would do.
If any problems arose from this decision in the future, he could simply dump the blame onto Count Baker with his favourite excuse, that he was 'just following orders'.
At first, the situation was easy to control.
Commander Manning simply deployed half the garrison to the city walls with orders to cooperate with the local guards to lock the gates. All this was done in accordance with the 'orders' he received from Count Baker, so no one objected to Leonard's arrangements.
The other half of his troops, Commander Manning kept in reserve, just in case something else went wrong.
There was some initial panic among the residents of Herald City when they saw the rising mushroom cloud in the distance, but most felt secure behind their solid stone walls, so they soon settled down.
When the shockwave from the explosion reached the city, however, shaking the ground and kicking up a huge cloud of dust, fear once again took hold.
As order in the city began to break down, Leonard Manning had to deploy the rest of his troops and coordinate with the City Watch belonging to the Lord's Manor to restore calm.
With less than 3,000 real soldiers and guards in total in Harold City, and half of them needed to secure the walls, it was impossible to calm all 30,000 citizens in short order through ordinary means. As such, after several hours of struggle, and with nighttime rapidly approaching, Commander Manning lost patience and ordered his soldiers to take drastic actions.
Soldiers and guards began viciously beating those who refused to comply with their commands, while some of the more unruly citizens were rounded up and publicly executed.
With such a bloody display being put on, the city quickly calmed down once more.
Just when Commander Manning thought he would be able to catch his breath, refugees from the nearby villages began showing up, bringing another headache for him to deal with.
Whether due to lack of training, or discipline, or simply being bribed, the city guards allowed a fair number of wealthy or influential refugees through the gates despite the order being to have them firmly locked down.
Upon hearing about this, Count Baker was enraged and swiftly ordered the city to assume a siege posture, refusing entry to anyone without express authorization from him or one of the other nobles.
Despite being a soldier, charged with the protection of the kingdom's citizens, Leonard had no objections to this order as he really didn't care about the lives of peasant rabble.
Choosing to ignore those who had already made it inside, as it was too much work trying to identify and then toss them out, Commander Manning ordered his subordinates to stop anyone else from entering, regardless of who they were.
He even issued orders to use lethal force to stop the refugees from entering the city if they refused to back down.
Amidst all this scrambling and panic, night fell, and Wild Beasts began appearing, further complicating matters.
Commander Manning had not had to work so hard in decades, so he was quite displeased and became increasingly irritable.
It wasn't long before Leonard began issuing even more unreasonable orders to his men, most of which were related to maintaining order through violent means.
Some soldiers quietly hesitated to carry out these orders, but most simply went along with them as they were used to obeying their superior and really didn't know what else to do.
The Garrison Commander also refused any requests for assistance from anyone other than the nobles and wealthy individuals who were personally close to him.
Unfortunately for Leonard, more refugees continued to appear, along with more beasts, causing the scenes outside the city to become increasingly chaotic, further adding to his work-load.
Frequent curses could be heard coming from the man's office in the garrison that night.
The following day went much the same. A few refugees were allowed into the city thanks to ties to noble families or wealthy merchants, but the overwhelming majority were kept out at spear-point.
Battles with Wild Beasts became increasingly common outside the walls, but Leonard was pleasantly surprised to discover that thanks to the throngs of refugees, he didn't have to deploy any of his own soldiers to fight.
It seemed everything was finally getting back on track, until an unexpected guest arrived.
When a man named Oliver Hughes appeared in the garrison and announced who he was and who he served, Leonard Manning panicked.
Marquess Celestina Balfour had come, and she had sent a Spirit Initiate who was both a Commander in the Raging River Legion and a member of the Balfour Family Guard to assume control of Herald City!