In the last hour before dawn, Porter and the last group of evacuees left the cannery.

He locked the gates from the outside as Charlie had instructed, leaving just Charlie and Merlin in the spaciousness within.

Seeing that the cannery had been basically restored to how it had been before, Merlin sighed as he said, "I have to say… The armed cavalry guards and the dead soldiers are supremely efficient. No one would have known that ten thousand people had passed through this place."

"To be fair, that's something that was tempered over centuries of enslavement," Charlie replied, nodding and breathing a long sigh of relief. "Oh, forget it—you should take a break too. I'll keep an eye out for the cannery owner."

After working hard for days and barely getting any rest, Merlin was finally feeling fatigued, though he was also hugely relieved now that everyone had been evacuated.

Nodding at Charlie, he said, "Alright, I'll go catch a few winks. I'll be counting on you."

"It's fine—just sle