《Isekai For My Ex》


 1 PROLOGUE

    "Should I just kill myself right now huh?" A young man asked, contemplating on how he had fucked up the semester, he looks around the McDonalds, and wonders if they''re hiring because he doesn''t think he''d get a better job with his grades.


    "1.20; 1.50; 5.00; 1.00; 1.25; ohhhhhhhh, all your grades are good except math. Does your professor hate you?" the woman in front of him asked. The woman had long black hair and a thin figure, and wore a pink cardigan with a skirt.


    "Well, kind-of. you see, in our computer science classes, I can always sleep when I want to, so having a Math class among all my programming classes, well¡­ you could predict what happened" The man gave a deep sigh and leaned on the table as he played with the fries in his hand.


    "The difference in professors is scary." He dipped a fry into the ketchup and ate it. "Dad''s gonna kill me, he''s gonna send me to the Military Academy for fucks sake"


    "Ahhh, the difference between professors, huh?" The woman held up a finger as if she was counting. "In your CS classes you mostly get your marks from laboratory subjects, and this is where you are good at, and where you are mostly active." Then she raised another hand. "However, at Math classes, even if you are good in algorithms, you are always sleeping." Then she put both of her hands on the man''s face. "In other words, everything is yooooooour fault, hmm! Hmm!" She happily hummed as she stretched his cheeks forming it into different and funny faces.


    "I got it! I got it! so stop playing with my face!" The man scowled as he slowly placed his hands on her gentle hands "Ahhh, this makes me calm, don''t remove it okay." Then he closed his eyes as if he was at peace. She just stared at the man in front of her, they have been going out for more than four years, and are as close as ever. They had started off as best friends and eventually became sweethearts. Reminiscing, she couldn''t help but smile, "Learn from the past, live in the present, plan for the future," she said, as she stroked his face with her delicate hands. "If you are depressed, you are living in the past, if you are anxious, you may be living in the future, so babe, live in the present, okay?" She smiled.


    He closed his eyes and listened to her words. He blushed and felt warmth within his heart, like he had hit the jackpot. He would turn against the world for her.


    "There you go again, with your words of wisdom. You sound like a grandma you know," he said as he removed the soft hands on his face. He didn''t let them go, and looked at her crystal-like eyes.


    "I can''t help it since I was raised by my grandma," the woman looked away and blushed as she said this.


    "But that''s why I love you. Thank you for being my strength, Ann," he smiled. She returned his smile, and they laughed together.


    Andrei roused himself from his memories of Ann. It was hard to believe she was gone, that there was nothing left of her in the world except the memories he held deep inside his heart. She had been his everything, and she always would be.

 2 ISEKAI

    Andrei lays on the grass, unconscious. He was wearing a camouflage jacket together with a white undershirt and ripped denim jeans, and was holding his cell phone tightly. The man slowly opened his eyes, revealing black-colored irises. His face was worn-out and he had dark bags under his eyes.


    As he opened his eyes he saw that the sun was shining directly at him. However, the breeze was cold, and the green pasture on which he lay on felt great. He thought at first that he was dreaming and that someone had opened the window curtains in his room.


    "Brix, close the curtains, asshole. Who do you think is paying the electric bills here," he said, sleepily, then closed his eyes again. "I have to merge the codes later, after-all." He felt suddenly irritated, as sunlight for programmers is the archenemy, especially in near-deadline situations. However, no one closed the curtains he was complaining about.


    "Wait, where the hell am I?" The dream felt so real, he could feel the scenery he was looking upon - the fresh breeze, the sunlight that is not so hot, and the grass he was touching.


    He pinched himself. "I have to wake-up, or my manager will kill me." He pinched himself again strongly, but it didn''t work, he was still within this strange dream.


    "I''ve been reading too many Isekai novels, and now I''m actually trapped in one of my dreams. How do I wake-up?" He pulled his phone from his pocket and looked at it. There was no signal or wifi. "I guess I''ll just enjoy the fresh scenery here, until someone wakes me up."


    Knowing that he had nowhere to go, he decided to laze around while looking at the scenery before him. From where he sat he could see forests, majestic looking waterfalls, rivers, and lakes. It was something he never got sick of, he just enjoyed the scene as he leaned back on a nearby tree until night time came.


    "Where the hell am I?" he asked as he looked at the sky, and saw two moons alongside each other, one larger than the other, and that the stars shone so brightly.


    Andrei was from a bustling city where too much light pollution dimmed the light of the stars, but here he could see millions of them populate the sky, forming such beautiful scenery.


    "There are two possibilities, first I may have been transferred to a parallel world, or second, this is a prank, using the latest 3D tech the developer community has," and he looked at his body, feeling it from all corners. "But this feels way too realistic." He touched the grass, smelled his hand; everything felt so real. While doing this, he could see lamp lights as he looked eastward, a few kilometers from where he was standing.


    "Let''s try talking to locals; an AI wouldn''t be able to talk like a real person. If I meet some of the people there, I might know what''s going on," he said. But within him, he hoped that he had been really transferred to another world, that there may be something for him here, unlike his mundane daily lifestyle.


    After a few hours of walking while appreciating the scenery around him, Andrei felt tired and thirsty. "Hah¡­.hah¡­.hah, I guess¡­ it''s.. Hard.. for a¡­ city person¡­ like me¡­ to¡­ walk¡­ 30 kilometers¡­ on this¡­ kind of¡­ terrain." He gasped for air and cursed as he walked on a road-like path where the grasses weren''t growing, following it to the town.


    "I participated in marathons when I was younger, but those marathons had water stops, ahhh I give up!" Without water he lost hope and sat on the ground panting.


    "There''s no water¡­" he looked down, tired, with sweat dripping from his hair, and body, then suddenly heard a sound like a faulty bike coming in his direction. He looked further down the road he was following and saw an old-fashioned carriage coming towards him.


    "Maybe I can ask for water!" He came back to life hoping that, finally, his thirst would be quenched.


    But as it came closer, he saw something strange. The carriages'' coachman was sleeping, and blood was spilling out of his gut as the horse ran at full speed.


    It wasn''t the first time for Andrei to have seen a dead or wounded person, so he immediately thought of a way to retrieve the man and seek help from the townspeople while giving first-aid, but, being a city boy, he didn''t know how to stop the horses.


    "Throw a stone? No, that would just make it run faster. What should I do?" He put his hand on his chin.


    Being a closet k-drama fan, he remembered a historical drama he''d watched, and how they''d stopped their horses. Without even verifying whether the method was correct, as it had only been shown on TV, he tried to imitate it, as soon as the carriage was near him.


    "Better to do something than nothing," he thought to himself.


    "Hoooaaah, hoaaah" he shouted. "Damn, this is embarrassing. Will this even work?" Contrary to what he expected, it did work, and the horses that ran at a high speed, gradually lowered their speed and started walking towards him.


    When the carriage was near him he quickly went up to the coachman and laid him on the ground. He then quickly checked the man''s vitals and found out that the man was dead already. Normal people would have been creeped out, but for Andrei, it was a normal occurrence. Back in the day when he was younger, he went with his father to hospitals, where his father would give awards to injured soldiers.


    "I was too late, huh," Andrei stared at the coachman. The coachman wore weird clothes that one could see in history books, a dark waistcoat, and breeches, the overall attire made him seem like a butler from the movies.


    He knocked on the carriage, but no one answered."I have to look inside the carriage, maybe there are still people I can save¡­ and maybe water." He quickly opened the door and was surprised by what he found, an unconscious woman of his age.


    He couldn''t clearly identify her features because of the darkness, but luckily this time there was no bleeding anywhere visible; still, he had to check her vital signs. "Okay, she has a pulse and she''s still breathing," he stroked the back of her head, and looked at his palms to see if there was blood or not. He made a sigh of relief when there wasn''t any. "Okay no head injuries either." While he was doing this, he heard crazy screams from the direction of where the carriage had come from.


    "Kill the witch! HAHAHAHA! Burn her at the stake," shouted crazed men who rode horses, wore bronze helmets and carried shields and torches. Andrei was startled, however, hearing their screams, he had a hunch of what was happening and was smart enough to cope up the situation.


    "Apparently, they are calling this girl a witch, and are coming here to kill her, and maybe... " He looked at the dead coachman, "Were they the ones who killed him? This dream is scary, the world is clearly not the one I am familiar with, where even farmers had guns, while these crazy men have those crude weapons." He was starting to panic, but as the moon shone on her beautiful face, he inhaled deeply and made his decision. "But first thing first... I have to get her out of here," he said to himself as he looked at the coachman lying dead on the ground while putting the girl in his arms.


    "I''m sorry, man, but yes, I''ll help you smuggle this woman to safety. If you died protecting her, I will make sure your sacrifice was not in vain. If not, then at least I''ll be doing this for my own conscience. Can''t have a beautiful lady being burned here."


    He took a look at his surroundings to find a hiding place for both of them, but the land was a plain. "Shit! What should I do?" the men were only a few yards from them, then just like lightning he remembered that he was wearing a camo-colored jacket, and found a way to take advantage of it.


    "Okay, let''s do this."


    He hurriedly put the coachman''s body inside the carriage and carried the girl in his arms. He had no time to look at her face again. He immediately searched even for a slight deformation on the ground.


    "There, found it." He threw a rock at the horses which startled them and made them run. The terrain was plain. Making use of deformations and the fact that the pursuers didn''t have flashlights, he ran towards his chosen deformation, took off his jacket and laid her flatly on the ground. He covered the upper half of her body with his jacket, but noticed that the girl had a white complexion and her legs might draw attention.


    "There''s no choice then," he placed his body on top of the girl so that his black-colored jeans would also cover her legs.


    "If she was awake she would really mistake me for the attacker or a pervert, and if she was literally a witch, I''m quite afraid that she would really kill me." Andrei couldn''t stop these thoughts from coming and sighed, as they were really in an awkward do-or-die situation in a very unfamiliar environment.


    The horsemen finally caught up to their position, but the carriage horses had already left at the last minute.


    "Yeah. Yeah, go away, just like that!" Andrei wished from his heart, but it didn''t go well as he expected. One of the horsemen stopped and searched the area near them.


    "The carriage stopped here. If they escaped at these parts, we will be able to find them," the man said in a mocking tone, as if he was thirsty for something.


    "Don''t sweat it, this place is plain. If they escaped we would have already seen them here, see?" Another soldier replied while riding his horse. He then lit extra torches and threw two torches randomly.


    "See? Nothing, We need to hurry up and catch-up to the carriage instead, you dumbass! If they escape, your head alone wouldn''t suffice for it!" The man who replied in a commanding tone was definitely their leader.


    "Eeeeeeeeeehhhhh!!! Yes, sir!" The underling, scared of his boss, rode his horse again and tried to catch up to his comrades that had ridden farther than him.


    "My Call of Duty knowledge worked, HAHA!" Andrei thought proudly. He removed himself from the girl and sat on the grass. He looked at the sky and realized that dawn had already and the lights on the nearby town had died already.


    He looked at the girl and saw that she was still sleeping. Now that he could finally see her clearly, he observed her carefully; she had blonde hair, and white complexion, she wore a white long sleeve accompanied by a golden breastplate, kneepads and a skirt. It looked like this girl was a warrior from a fantasy manga Andrei had read before. For him it was undeniable that she was truly beautiful.


    "Seriously, why do they want to kill an innocent-looking girl like her?" He looked closely at her sleeping face. She was still half-covered with his camo jacket and thought that she was cute.


    "But it wouldn''t be really cute if she really was a witch and ate me for breakfast, right?" he asked himself, but his vision started getting blurry, and he instinctively held his head and realized he was on full adrenaline and had forgotten to drink any fluids. Andrei felt dizzy and fainted with severe dehydration.

 3 STEALTH MODE WOMAN

    Andrei woke up with an unfamiliar ceiling above his head, but the color was the same as their project room, it was white and had brown accents which line up forming a good old and traditional design. However he wasn''t so fully awake to be aware of the differences.


    "That dream... Felt so real," he thought that everything was just a dream, then he suddenly remembered that he had to push the code that he was working on to the project repository. He felt chills, just thinking about what will the manager do to him if his team didn''t make it today.


    He instinctively woke up and sat on the bed,


    "Brix, Def, we need to push the files to the repo... si... "


    Having noticed that there was no one in the room, he looked around it and noticed the differences clearly. "Instead of a computer there was only a vase in the table, instead of a TV, there''s an old cabinet in front of me, and the bed..." he felt it with his hands, "I only have a futon right? The one that''s convertible. Since when did I have a bed? Ah, this is strange"


    "Okay I''m still dreaming", then he slapped his own face to fully awaken his brain cells.


    [Slap!] [Slap!]


    Two red marks on his cheeks appeared, "Now, everything should go back to normal," he said to himself as he slowly opened his eyes. But nothing happened, he can only cover his mouth in surprise,


    "Where the hell am I?" He touched his body all over to make sure it''s intact, he then discovered that he was still wearing the same camo jacket and navy jeans. Thinking that everything''s fine physically, while reminiscing on what happened last night, he lets out a sigh of submission, "I may have been really taken to a different world," he then tried to organize his thoughts for a moment.


    "That means from the plains, where I tried to save that girl, I was carried over to some unknown old-fashioned room," then he puts his hand on his forehead and hysterically laughed to calm himself, "HAHA, this is insane, isn''t this so mainstream? You''ve got to be kidding me!"


    "Ahh, I''m getting tired just by thinking about the whole thing." Slowly, he tried to close his eyes again to get some rest, but this time he heard a monotone voice speaking to him from his side. It sounded sweet and soft yet, it was devoid of emotion.


    "Ah, so you''re just gonna laze around all day not even giving a single worry about what happened to you huh? When just yesterday, you looked so dead and withered, I just don''t know, but don''t you have some sense of gratitude?"


    He was so sleepy that he answered the voice bluntly while his eyes are closed, while trying to imitate her tone.


    "Ah, my inner consciousness is talking to me in monotone, you see I don''t even know where the hell am I right now, what should I do from now on, and what really happened. Ahhhh my inner consciousness is really harsh. Goodnight my consciousness, eternally"


    He blurted out stuff, he wanted to let out, when suddenly a pair of footsteps quickly approached him and suddenly he felt an agonizing pain in his eyes. Two fingers poked his eyes, fingers that were thin and had long nails.


    "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh it hurts! It hurts!!!!" Andrei screamed in pain, apparently, somebody was really there with him, it wasn''t his consciousness nor his imagination.


    "Was there someone near me?" He held his eyes as tears were falling from it, "I didn''t really notice the door opening, perhaps are you a ghost?" while comprehending the situation, he tried to open his eyes, so first, he stopped his tears by burying his face on the pillow.


    Then the voice answered in its usual deadpan tone, "Ah sorry, I don''t know, but your comment aside saying I was monotone, plus copying my tone, was really offensive you know before I knew it my fingers came for your eyeballs, does it hurt?"


    "Of course it hurts! Otherwise, I wouldn''t be crying this hard- wait I''m not really crying but my eyes are really sensitive! Don''t just poke other people''s eyes because you are pissed you idiot!" Andrei''s vision started to get clearer after he buried his face on the cushion, and with the teary eyes, he slowly looked at the right side of the room where the voice is coming from.


    There sat a plain-looking girl, in silver-white slim armor exposing her well-proportioned body while reading a book, the armor did cover the whole body but it didn''t hide her curves, she looked beautiful even with her simple facial features, her eyes were gray and her hair was normal black, tied in a ponytail with a red ribbon. The windows were near her, and the sunlight lightened her face giving her a more breathtaking look.


    Andrei was mesmerized by the simple beauty of the girl. Seeing her sincere and cute face reading a book, with her hair that reached to her waist being swayed by the wind back and forth, he couldn''t explain but, it was a very heartwarming sight for him.


    "Are you okay?" The girl said in her monotone, but soft and sweet voice while still concentrating on her book. Andrei couldn''t help but just stare at the girl.


    With no answer, the girl closed her book and looked at him, still mesmerized, he didn''t have time to think of a reply, so he asked something that was on his mind. "I''m sure I looked around this room when I woke up, where did you come from? The windows?" he instinctively asked, because there was no other opening other than the door and the windows.


    Then the girl placed her book at the table at the side of the vase and looked at Andrei again, and with her deadpan tone she retorted. "I have been always here from the start you know? It''s rude to think of a sweet girl like me breaking into someone''s window especially of a plebeian and unidentified foreign man? I think you just didn''t notice my presence or existence. Ah, many people say that to me, so don''t worry"


    "This girl''s stealth mode is too high, even when she''s wearing that shiny plate of metal" Andrei thought as he was sure that he didn''t see anyone around in the room at that moment. "Is it magic? Well if this world is different from where I came from, magic will probably exist here or something," he pondered.


    "Why did you become so silent?" asked the girl, breaking Andrei''s train of thought. "No, just thinking about various things," he responded while searching for his phone from his pockets, but as he searched on the pockets of his jacket and his jeans, it wasn''t there anymore.


    "Don''t tell me, I lost it?" he muttered and went pale, thinking that he might have left it somewhere around the plains.


    "Perhaps are you searching for this?" The girl was sharp, she knew Andrei was searching for something, she showed Andrei his smartphone holding it with oddly with just her fingers. "Ahh thanky-" as Andrei was about to grab the phone, the girl quickly placed it in her pocket, Andrei couldn''t grab his phone and complete his thankyou.


    "Why won''t you give it to me?" He asked while looking at the pocket of the skirt on where she put it in.


    "Where did you come from and what''s your objective?" She asked in a serious tone. "wearing those weird clothes, having this weird item, what the hell are you?"


    She looked at him with curiosity, Andrei was confused about what to say, with everything going on he''s not even sure if he''s still sane, "I can''t just tell her that I came from another world right?" he sighed, thinking about something to say.


    "Still can''t think of anything?" She asked him.


    "What''s the deal with this girl? Is she an esper?" He didn''t notice but his face was already showing it all, all it took for the woman was to read his expressions while staring directly at him. He was still sitting on the bed, while she looked at him


    Knowing that it puts him on the bind, not knowing anything about where he was Andrei decided to play it safe.


    "Sorry, I can''t remember anything." He then used one of his powerful skills which was acting. "Now what do you say? Don''t I look like those MC''s in the movies that got into a car crash and forgot his memory?"


    "Trying to play it safe huh... " The woman placed her finger on her chin, giving him a clue that she knew he was lying.


    "I got it! I got it! I''m not trying to play it safe, but it''s really far away from here, and I don''t want to say it, so please let me off just this once!" he folded his hands asking for a favor.


    "Why are you asking me? I don''t decide your fate you know? I told you I was just curious", she answered.


    "Then what was with that look as if you''re going to kill me if I don''t confess"


    "Nah, it''s my normal face, really"


    "I see"


    "Yes"


    "Hmmm Hmmm" Andrei was relieved inside, the interrogation was postponed somehow.


    "Now get ready, you have to meet the queen, she''s very fond of you after saving her, so fond that she decided to make you her husband." The girl leaned in front of him and smiled.


    The words that came from her was supposed to be a heavy one for Andrei, but he wasn''t bothered by that at first, he was caught up thinking about the girl in front of him, he didn''t know whether to laugh or cringe with the emotionless words and tone that came out from her mouth, which was completely off from her smiling face.


    But that same smile soothed his weariness, with all the insane things that happened to him, "What the hell is wrong with this soft-spoken, sweet, and beautiful but overly ordinary looking girl?" He thought, but he let his poker face take over, thinking it was rude to tell it to her upfront.


    "But something is amiss, I think I heard the word husband?" he uttered the words while as he crossed his arms.


    "Yes you are, the soon-to-be husband," the girl clasped her hands at her back and turned away from him.


    "Who? Me?" Andrei pointed to himself, and the girl just nodded in response.


    "With who?"


    "The queen?"


    "Why the question mark?"


    "Who knows..."


    And it finally got to him, what the woman just told him.


    "Soon-to-be-husband? You got to be kidding me!"

 4 THE ESCAPE

    "??Hmmm hmm hmm ?? " a young beautiful girl in a white one-piece summer dress, with long and blond hair, blue eyes, and rosy white complexion was lying next to Andrei happily looking at him from his side as if she had bought a new toy. The man she was looking on happily was Andrei with his hands and feet are being tied on all four corners of the bed.


    "Wha-What the hell are you guys doing!!!!!" Andrei screamed from the bottom of his heart.


    ???? ???????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????? ????????????????????


    The girl in white silver armor - the stealth mode monotone girl was called by a maid and left the room. Not knowing what to do about the heavy proclamation, taking this chance, Andrei decided to escape,


    "Okay, just like that one anime I watched, I''m not gonna be bounded by royal kingdom ties! I''m gonna explore these continents and eat delicious food everywhere, hmmm, hmmm this is a man''s romance - journey!" he proudly said with his right hand on his chest thrilled for an adventure.


    Andrei growing up in a modern-era military family since childhood his mind has been hammered with basic knowledge in survival, emergency, and even combat skills, which would also include his escape skills.


    "Okay, here we go", he slowly stepped outside the door, and looked around, where he found a long hallway in red carpet, where doors can be seen at each interval, and the ceiling was high, clearly showing that the place was huge.


    "I didn''t imagine this, but it''s really in a castle", Andrei smiled bitterly thinking how big the place was and that the success of his escape would be greatly be affected by the structure of the place which he really didn''t know in the first place. He looked over the window to get a slight idea, but he could only see a cliff and a tall stonewall with medieval war tools mounted, but this sight gave him an idea that he was on a very high place.


    He walked through the hallway, hiding from pillar to pillar until he reached a door which was an entrance to a garden. It looked so magical that even in broad daylight, he could see purple-colored firefly-like lights, "Fireflies? In the middle of the day? and they''re purple!" He was thrilled but at the same time felt a bit scared not knowing what kind of world did he end up in.


    "It wouldn''t be surprising if I encounter fairies here, but it wouldn''t be funny if they had fangs and start attacking me"


    As he walked through the garden the lights surrounded him, there were all kinds of flowers in the garden, some of them he didn''t know, he went around sniffing them caressing their petals. He didn''t realize that he was already sightseeing, he then got tired and found a bench made of wood covered with vines of roses.


    "That would hurt if it had thorns", Andrei stepped closer to the bench and checked if it had thorns and found out that it didn''t, which made it perfect for him to sit on.


    "Escape is also good, but you need to enjoy the things you want to enjoy," he sat on the bench, spread out his arms wide and looked at the scenery before his eyes. While looking at the beautiful flowers and lights around him, he felt very happy, but at the same time emptiness filled his heart and as he sighed, he let out words of regret and sorrow.


    "She would totally love this if she was here"


    Whom he meant was the woman who brought colors to his dull-colored life, the one who left a deep hole within his heart when she passed away.

 5 BEFORE THE STORM

    "7:00 AM, FEB 28, 2017" it was the digits that reflected on Andrei''s digital alarm clock, and it set off an alarm.


    He slowly got off from his bed and saw that it was already filled with sunlight, he closed the windows and pushed the alarm clock button, took a bath, brushed his teeth and dressed up.


    Immediately, he drove his motorcycle and stopped by a nearby flower shop, and after buying a bouquet of roses he immediately sets off again, but this time the destination was the hospital.


    Today, his beloved Ann will be undergoing surgery, chances are high she will survive, but he couldn''t calm down hearing the percentage of failure. He walked to the hospital corridors and took an elevator to the sixth floor, he went through the hospital doors numbers until he found room 647,


    "Patient: Ann Jo Yoon"


    "Doctor:..."


    "This is the room," he said to himself, the paper wrapping of the roses made a crackling sound as he couldn''t help but clench his fists out of nervousness. When he looked at the roses, it was the kind that Ann loved so much, this was the same roses he gave her on their first anniversary.


    Andrei placed his hand on his heart and felt it hurt so much that he almost wanted to cry, but for Ann, he needed to be strong, just thinking about her in her current situation, he couldn''t help but feel that his heart was being crushed into pieces.


    "Ann is giving her all, I shouldn''t look like a mess like this," he thought as he fixed himself, and practice smiling. After a few minutes, he was ready to open the door, he knocked, classed the doorknob, and then finally opened the door.


    [Party Poppers Popping]


    To his surprise, he heard party poppers setting off and saw his beloved on the hospital bed while holding one party popper herself. Her hair was as black and silky as usual, as the sunset shone on the hospital windows, while the curtains flew back and forth, the light wrapped her in the beauty that Andrei couldn''t help but stare in awe.


    "Just as I thought, I really want to marry this person, if this person told me to fight the world for her, I think I would really have done it," Andrei thought to himself.


    But as he observed her beautiful features, Andrei noticed that her skin didn''t show the healthy color it had before and that her lips were a little paler than normal. Dating her for more than four years, he could easily figure out these small changes that were occurring.


    However, with a little courage, those pale lips moved and smiled, and he could hear his beloved say,


    "Happy Birthday babe, and Happy Anniversary!"


    Andrei was deeply touched, Ann never forgot to surprise him, who was always forgetful of special events like these when he gets busy or preoccupied. This time, he also forgot that it was his birthday, due to his stress and fears, tears started to well upon his eyes, it had a mixture of happiness and fear.


    The happiness of all the priceless things that this girl gave him, and fear the fear of losing her forever. But Andrei didn''t want to show this weakness, he wanted Ann to keep fighting, he wanted to give her courage. Andrei sat on eye-level to her and replied, "Happy Anniversary Babe! Thank you" he then hugged her tightly, and gave her a kiss on the forehead.


    When they separated, their foreheads met with each other, and they gently held each other''s faces, as they smiled while closing their eyes, as if their souls were totally comforted and fulfilled with the presence of each other.


    "I love you" they say the words that they wanted to say so much to each other.

 6 THE ESCAPE?

    Andrei opened his eyes, half-asleep he was confused at first, on where he was, but when he saw that there were purple-colored lights flying above his head, and the air felt so pleasant, he remembered that he was on the garden.


    He put his arm on his forehead and closed his eyes, "It''s been so long since I had that dream," and then, just like changing gears, he quickly stood up from where was sleeping. It was the wooden bench that he was sitting on earlier.


    "Crap, I fell asleep", he then looked over the place to find out if he was discovered or not,


    "Apparently, I''m still safe, I have to get out now" he looked at his wristwatch and found out that he slept only for thirty minutes. Feeling a gaze from his back he quickly turned around but no one was there.


    "Creepy... Must have been my imagination," he shook his head and continued walking, after a few minutes, he finally saw a pathway leading to a veranda and stairs beneath it.


    "Lucky! Exit point secured," he then slowly approached the stairs while being cautious and when he reached it, he immediately went down and was astonished by what he saw.


    From where he stood, he could see all the people were wearing medieval-styled clothing, they were all integrated to the city made of brick houses and rode carriages just like the one he saw at the plain lands in front of the village.


    He was also surprised to see cherry blossoms along the highway made of stones that stretch all the way to a gate guarded by knights, which was the entrance castle. Once again Andrei felt happy about being in a different world, for him it was like a dream come true, it was a feast for his eyes to see such a beautiful and lively medieval city.


    As he was enjoying the view, a breeze blew past him, this made him step back twice while covering half of his face with his arm.


    "Ah, unlike modern-day earth where pollution rides the winds, the air here is so fresh!" He said while spreading out his arms, he took a deep breath and shook his head, "this is no time to appreciate such things, ah what''s wrong with me! I easily got distracted, this time for sure I''ll proceed smoothly and get out of this castle and go into that town and see more of it!"


    He went down further the set of stairs that was more than a hundred and there were almost 16 sets of them, after a few minutes, he felt tremendously tired when he reached the ground floor, he instinctively hid behind a pillar while catching his breath.


    There he saw groups of knights who were procrastinating, some took off their armor, while some only took off their helmets, it was like they are in their free time. Andrei searched for the gate, and around the corner, he saw a black iron-barred gate that was open for human entry and there appeared another group of knights entering while chatting with each other.


    "That must be it, but.." he frowned when he saw two bulky knights guarding each side of the gate.


    "Ahhh I should have expected this, I have no choice but to wait for the right moment," he sighed in disappointment. And just after that, he encountered another bad luck.


    "Knights line-up! The Queen is here!"


    After the announcement, the knights who were relaxing that they had the best vacation ever, hurriedly tried to equip their armor and tools. Some had a hard time equipping their armor, they looked funny with their startled faces, it seemed like they were too scared to line-up unprepared when facing their Queen.


    "You over there!" a loud shout echoed through Andrei''s ear, he was startled and he didn''t know what to do, he didn''t look to where the voice was coming, but he only stood surprised while sweating.


    "Crap, they''ve found out, how do I get out of this situation", he then remembered several medieval movies he watched, there were lots of hanging and guillotine execution. The thought made him gulp, "For starters, I have to look natural," he thought, he slowly turned around and saw a knight around his age, he had chestnut-colored hair, was about the same height as him and has a clean-looking face that he almost looked like a woman, unlike most of the other knights, he wore full-body knight armor while holding his helmet.


    He reached for Andrei, which made Andrei panic when the hand was being stretched to him, however, the hand didn''t strangle nor did any harm to Andrei, the young knight simply patted his shoulder.


    "You should really wear your armor now otherwise you''ll be scolded" the knight said with a worried look, then he pointed at a nearby table, there laid a set of Armor, with a helmet, which Andrei didn''t notice before, it seemed like the owner had left it there.


    "Those are yours right? Hurry up and wear it, I''ll help you" the knight said as he got the spare armor from the table and gave it to Andrei.


    "Ahhh yes, thank you," Andrei replied instinctively, "Lucky!" he thought that he was too lucky to have that set of armor just right when he needed it if, "If it wasn''t for this I would have already been... " he gulped as he saw the bulging muscled of the Knights that guarded the gates.


    Andrei wore the armor, with the help of the young knight, but it wasn''t his size, the shoulder blades are off and the joints do not match where his are, the real owner was obviously taller than him.


    "Man, you should really customize your armor, is that from your brother or something? I have a blacksmith uncle, want me to introduce you to him?" the young knight offered, Andrei learned that this man was a good guy and felt comfortable with him as he replied. "No, I like it this way" while smiling.


    "If that''s how you want it then let it be, but you don''t want to wear that armor with you in a real battle. Let''s hurry up and line," the young knight walked away from Andrei while wearing his helmet.


    "Your name is?" Andrei asked in a distance, he was always very naive when it came to people helping him.


    "Gerald!" The young night replied enthusiastically with a glance and made a gesture saying to come and follow him.


    Andrei followed the knight and lined up next to him.


    "I''m glad they are not so organized, for now, I have to imitate them with everything I can, this is also an opportunity for me to get out of this place while wearing this armor" Andrei sighed, he touched his armor all over with his hand and felt it.


    "This armor, it''s so light, bullets can get through this without any problem," Andrei grew up in a family that had served the national military for decades, being the youngest of the three brothers, since he was a child he was already given adequate military knowledge and training by his parents, the family did everything they can for Andrei to become a top student at the Academy, or so they planned to, but all their plans went down the drain when Andrei fell in love with the smartest girl in high school.


    However, Andrei didn''t forget a single thing that they taught him, it was the last thing he could do to respect his parents, as such as why Andrei could discern that the armor wouldn''t stop a bullet fired by a gun.


    This training was also the key to how he was able to line up with everyone without standing out, though it made him very nervous. The Knights lined up in columns as they faced a leveled wooden platform, no one made a sound, they just stood there and waited for instructions, this increased his anxiousness, not knowing what to do next.


    While thinking different scenarios on his head on how to escape, he heard heavy footsteps going to the direction of the platform, when his eyes followed the direction he saw Knights in gold and shiny plating. They number up to 8 people, after marching in an orderly manner they formed an aisle as if making way for someone.


    The crowd was amazed at the aura that the golden-plated knights gave off, but not even one of them said a word. "Queen Michaela comes in," one of the Golden Knights announced, he didn''t wear a helmet like the others, he looked like an old man in his 70''s.


    Then a beautiful girl, in white complexion with blonde hair tied in twin tails, emerged from the isle, walking at the center of it, her eyes that were diamond blue, her expression and gave off a majestic aura as she passed by. She wore the same armor as the stealth-mode woman, however, it had gold accents on its edges and instead of full-body knight armor, she wore a knight-like skirt in plated metal and wore black knee socks.


    Andrei was reminded of the girl he hid from her pursuers, they looked alike, but the difference of height and aura was great, "Is she her sister?" Andrei thought to himself.


    Andrei was looking at the beauty when her eyes suddenly returned a stare, he couldn''t help but avert his the gaze and pretended that nothing happened, "I should be wearing armor, I should be fine, she''s definitely not looking at me" he convinced himself.


    "Wait, didn''t that deadpan woman told me about the queen wanting to marry me? Then that means... is she the one I rescued?" He looked again, and noticed that she was really the girl he saved. "I see, the boots are giving her that heigh, and the majestic appearance must be nautral to her, I saw her sleeping after all, how the hell would I know? I''m such an idiot"


    The procession came to an end and the girl together with her golden knight escorts was at the wooden stage. Andrei behaved himself in order to avoid standing out, hoping to get out of the castle gates without any problem, "and, marrying that girl? No, no, it''s impossible! Beautiful girls EQUALS high-maintenance, she''s too good for me, I don''t even know her," he thought as he stared at the platform.


    "Today we will be conducting another test for those who would want to join our ranks, those who want to take the test could stay and the others could leave or spectate" a bulky man in his sixties with white hair announced.


    "Lucky! now my escape would be complete" Andrei was filled with delight, he once again looked at the girl, she had a sincere expression, never losing the majestic aura around her.


    "If she was at my world she would really be popular," Andrei thought to himself, finally the announcement was finished, around more than half of the knights scattered and a handful remained.


    Andrei who was excited to leave also scattered together with the other knights, blending in with the crowd just as when he was near the gate a Andrei heard the old man''s voice again. He tried to ignore it but the announcement was something that made him stop.


    "Hey! That knight with the loose armor over there heading to the gate, come over here!" the old man pointed at the stopped Andrei.


    "Ahhh that might be just my imagination" he shook his head and continued to walk a few steps more.


    Then the young knight went over to him and stopped him, "hey brother, he''s point at you!" The knight said while patting his back, "Congratulations!" the knight happily smiled at him.


    "Congrats your ass, I didn''t need your help! I''m so near the gate right now!" Andrei thought, cursing the young knight within his heart. Then he turned around in a snappy military 180 turn and faced the announcement stage.


    He made a snappy salute and said, "I''m honored sir but I do not have the requirements that you are looking for, moreover I just wanted to stay the way I am now, therefore I won''t fight," after hearing this everyone stopped.


    "Whoooaahhh," everyone stopped in their tracks and looked at him.


    "What?" Andrei, not knowing what happened, he looked around and saw that they were staring at him with pity on their eyes. "What?" He shrugged, and they all facepalmed in response.


    It was Gerald who let him know what he did, "man why didn''t you bow to her majesty, the Queen of the kingdom before speaking? This is gonna get you sent to the gallows you know?" Said the young knight with a worried expression on his face.


    "Crap, I fucked up... " Andrei thought and felt a chill run into his spine. Then footsteps could be heard coming from the direction of the wooden platform.


    "Okay, time to go!" Andrei immediately tried to run, but not being used to the armor he was hearing, he pathetically fell down on his face.


    Before he knew it, Andrei was then surrounded by the golden knights, "ahh shit," one of them punched him in the stomach hurting him much, even though Andrei was drilled by his strict father, the beating this time was real, and it hurt more than he expected, seeing that he was already weakened and beat-up, they brought him in front of the girl who sat while crossing legs.


    "Queen what should we do with him?" The old knight said to the girl who was leniently sitting on a wooden chair that doesn''t match her golden attire.


    She slowly got up, "I don''t care, just forgive this man," Andrei''s face lightened up a little bit in his pained situation,


    "Saaaaaafee thankyou so much, ah she''s a kind girl after all," he thanked the girl within his mind, he was held by two knights from both sides with one hand, but to his surprise, the girl continued, "-just make him participate in the test, that will be his punishment," the girl responded with a few words while crossing her arms to her bosom, her eyes weren''t even looking at him, she just stared in what is in front of her, unwavering.


    "Sorry I take back all my gratitude, you''re not kind after all" Andrei took back his gratitude within his heart after hearing the news.

 7 HONOR OF THE PLUMP KNIGH

    "Ahhh¡­ I think I''m just gonna throw in the towel after three punches, or so" Andrei lamented while standing in front of his opponent for the test. His opponent was a plump and young knight with full of passion in his eyes, it is evident that he was really waiting for this day.


    "Are you underestimating me? What''s with that face?" The knight said, irritated at Andrei''s posture, the guy in front of him wearing lose armor is standing in an awkward position with eyes like dead-fish clearly not intending to fight.


    They were surrounded by normal soldiers and the Silver and the Golden Knights, they sat on an elevated wood platform making the place seem like a small wooden colosseum. Some were chatting and some fell asleep on the bleachers, as the referee slowly entered the ring, it was the old knight that has white hair.


    When he reached the center of the ring, he looked at the two fighters with each a shield and a wooden sword, his expression got complicated when he saw Andrei''s unmotivated face.


    "Ahem, Ahem, right now will be starting the preliminaries for roster 4, I assume that you both have chosen your weapons carefully from the selection of a pike, short sword and shield, halberd, and the great sword, both of you take your positions," as the old knight raised his hand to start the duel, he suddenly got interrupted.


    "Wait a moment, as a knight, I can''t take an opponent who''s not taking me seriously! If you just want to lose, get out of the ring immediately, right this instant! I don''t know about you, but I have trained hard for this day, I don''t want to win an easy victory against someone like you," protested the plump knight, this made Andrei give him the thumbs up.


    Andrei looked at the referee, but the old man shook his head. "I''m sorry but I can''t grant your request, by the direct orders of her majesty Michaela, this man is to fight in the competition"


    "But... " the plump knight wanted to push his point.


    "Yeah yeah... the plump knight is right!" Andrei lazily supported.


    "Who are you calling plump!"


    "I don''t want to hear more about your complaints!" The old knight got irritated and swung his right hand to the right, the two didn''t want to piss him anymore.


    "I have a request weirdo," the plump knight turned towards him.


    "What? Who are you calling weirdo?" This time it was Andrei''s turn to be dissed.


    "At least, try to fight me seriously, please!" The plump knight bowed to him.


    "Even if you are asking me that... "


    "Geh! If you do that this puts me in a bind you know." Andrei thought as he scratched the back of his head, seeing him bow so passionately, Andrei made a sigh of resignation.


    "Guess I have to fight him for real or it would be really disrespectful, I''m weak but I have my means, I hope he''d be satisfied," he decided.


    "Okay, I got it! I got it! So stop the bowing! Sorry for my attitude awhile ago, but yes, I''ll fight you seriously, but wait a moment" Andrei threw his shield.


    "What?! Why are you taking off your shield weren''t you supposed to fight me seriously?" The knight got flustered, he hadn''t seen any knight who fought with only a sword, if he had seen fighters as such, it would be just bandits or adventurers who couldn''t afford shields for protection. "Even as a silver knight, how come would such a knight of this country fight with that style?" he thought as he looked at Andrei who was exercising his wrists by rotating the wooden sword with each of his hand.


    "No, this is my way of taking you seriously, I don''t really have a need for a tool that I don''t know how to use, instead I have this" Andrei showed another wooden sword that he is holding. "Dual-wielding, I believe you''ve seen a fighting style like this?" Andrei asked.


    But the plump knight simply shook his head, Andrei looked at the referee for second opinion but he did the same, then he looked around the other knights, they also shook their head.


    "Haven''t heard of it"


    "Bandits maybe??"


    "Bandits, yeah, or pirates?"


    "Are you an idiot?"


    These comments became imaginary daggers that struck Andrei from everywhere, "Crap, I messed up, I thought the medieval had fighting styles like these, damn this is embarrassing"


    "Ha...hahaha...haha, I thought so" he looked at the referee trying to ask for help.


    "No one has used that style, at least in this country, I think you''re the first one, other ones would be idiots wanting to kill themselves with their own swords, or perhaps bandits who can''t afford shields," the old knight commented, once again another imaginary struck Andrei''s heart.


    "Anyway we will start the match" the old knight waved his hand down, "Start!"


    "No choice then" Andrei made his stance, with his left foot in front, his right foot at the back, the two wooden swords are also held in the following pattern, Andrei rotated them both to make sure his wrists would be comfortable with it as he slashes it in different angles.


    This is the stance of the Kali Eskrima martial-arts, in modern-earth it''s the traditional martial arts of the Philippines, that has its roots in their ancient ancestors. This martial art used the same flow, stances, and techniques but with the usage of different types of weapons, be it a pair of sword/sticks, a sword/stick and a dagger, a pair of daggers, or if the user has no other weapons to hold, he could fight using his bare hands, there are many ways to fight using the martial arts, some even pair a whip and a stick. However for Andrei a basic practitioner, he only knew the dagger and the sticks, Eskrima training is basic training for his cousin that was in the marines, when he came they would often spar with each other.


    The plump knight cautiously measured up Andrei while taking side steps, he used the popular warrior stance that he learned from the golden knights he looked up to, he held his shield upfront and his sword forward, not letting anyone get into his defenses. To Andrei it was threatening, stable and flawless, compared to his crude style.


    "I have a bad feeling about this, he seems like a bull ready to charge, is this 300 or something? He won''t just kick me and shout THIS IS SPARTA! Anyway that stance is bad against my style that relies on speed and agility, better start now or never," Andrei dashed at the knight, delivered fast but light blows mostly hit on his shield.


    In Eskrima one of the concepts was to conserve energy until the enemy has shown openings, as such as why Andrei made fast but light blows, to conserve it so he can deliver a deadly attack once he shows an opening.


    "Crap he''s fast, what''s with this style? It''s light but it''s taking a toll on me bit by bit, is this the pressure from being hit so fast without break? Dammit! I''m not going down over something like this!" The knight thought, he deflected a blow and opened his shield, and started his own offensive, he drove his shield with his sword forward to Andrei while delivering heavy slashes, but Andrei did his best to evade it, without a shield, his mobility was faster.


    "One hit from that would be serious" Andrei then changed the way he held his sticks, he reversed his hold on the other stick, and used it as a type of small shield, and made him very quick to avoid the blows.


    The match was taking a toll on Andrei''s stamina,


    "I didn''t exercise more than a 3KM run each week, naturally I''m more likely to run out of breath than this battle-hardened knight." Andrei lamented his lack of exercise when he was on his original world, then a sudden thought emerged on his head "-plump knight, that''s it! why is he fat? That''s because physically he also didn''t have enough exercise to have slim himself, unlike those knights! Those aren''t muscles, they''re fat! He''ll run out of breath soon!"


    Andrei only evaded his attacks, and countered them sometimes, out of his ten counters two light blows made it to the helmet and to the chest, but it didn''t do much damage, his first offensive made five out of ten, however it took stamina compared to the damage he did to the plump knight.


    After a while the plump knight was out of breath, the chance that Andrei was looking for, he dashed towards the knight and threw a blow and hit on the shield, the following blows landed on the parts where there''s hard armor.


    "His blows are light, my armor can take this, I''m almost out of breath, I have to end this soon or I''ll lose, I just have to knock him out, before he scores more hits," the knight became impatient, he thought Andrei was as exhausted as they both exchanged blows at the same time.


    This time he opened his shield, to charge again, however this time something was strange, Andrei didn''t move an inch nor did he changed his stance. The knight became more impatient he wanted to take advantage of the situation. "This is my win," he thought that with Andrei''s stance, and by how long the battle took, this charge could break his balance.


    The knight smiled, letting down his guard, and then started to change back to his shield, but something surprised him before he could change his posture, something had hit the hand carrying the shield and that made him drop it,


    Before he knew it, Andrei was delivering non-stop blows on him that all he could do was cover his face and head out of the pain and confusion, and they were not light anymore, it hit his armor and gradually became heavier and heavier each time.


    The two wooden short swords banged and echoed through his armor alternatively, on the head, knees, elbow and even his knees, with this the plump knight lost his balance, and his strength was gone, the hit on the elbow made him drop his sword, and then blow on the knees made him lose his balance and kneel while covering his face and head, the blows were too fast.


    When he was on his knees, the blows temporarily stopped, "This¡­ is my cha-chance" he thought, then he tried to reach his sword with the hand covering his head, but to his surprise, a very big blow hit his head.


    The brave young plum knight fell on his face.


    "Winner, Knight Elford!" the Golden knight announced. The crowd burst into cheers.


    Andrei sweated, and was out of breath, in his sparring with his cousin, all they would do was exchange blows and evade, but this time the enemy was like a tank, it took him everything he can to throw away his defenses while evading, he was also caught by several shield charges, he felt a bit of pain on his ribs but to him, it was better than the golden knight''s punch earlier.


    While thinking he was praised by the friends of the owner of the armor.


    "Way to go Elford!"


    "How did you become this fast? Is it because you lost weight?"


    "I''m rooting for you for the next round! Show us that awesome style again!"


    From these cheers, Andrei looked around and waved a bit, he couldn''t deny that he himself felt a sense of satisfaction, but he felt something was amiss.


    "Wait who is Elford?" Andrei thought, he then remembered that the armor he''s wearing was something he technically stole "I have to end this early and get out before the person who owns this shows up" he thought With this, he eyed the gate to see if someone was still guarding it and there two of the golden knights waved at him, Andrei waved back with a wry smile, "they don''t have any intentions of letting me go huh?"


    He then looked at the young plump knight who''s being treated from his wounds, although he lost he still smiled at him, which made Andrei wave at him with a smile. "In the battlefield of my world, this kind of guys would die first, their concept of honor is different from ours, maybe its the difference of history? For some reason I was glad I was able to fight him, in the end he was an honorable plump knight."


    Looking back at his fight. his plan was to conserve his energy and wait for the right time. When he discovered that the knight was about to switch to the charging position again, he then used all his remaining strength to get to his side and land a hard blow to his hand in order for him to drop the shield that caused him trouble. After that he rained down all the blows he conserved as hard as he could and when he finally showed his head he ruthlessly landed the last blow two-handedly to make sure that the opponent faint.


    The plump knight was carried away by the stretchers and Andrei went to rest while watching the other matches.


    "How should I get away from this situation?" Andrei sighed as he wiped his face with the towel given to him by Gerald. He saw his hands trembling, "I guess I can still fight two to three matches," he thought to himself as he saw the roster with unfamiliar letters.


    "Does this mean I have to imitate those scribbles later on?" He made a complicated face as a line was drawn to a name after he fought. "So that name must be Elford," then he noticed that Gerald gave him a towel without him asking for it.

 8 GERALD-INE?

    "Winner! Knight Elford!" The crowd burst into screams again praising the dual-wielding knight in front of them.


    Luckily, Andrei managed to defeat another opponent with a knockout, he got up to the bleachers to rest and watch another match again.


    Despite his desperate attempt to flee, he couldn''t ignore those who were giving their all to fight, he admired and respected those feelings, he couldn''t let himself trample upon the passion of those knights, even if it meant that at some point he might even get defeated, as someone who''s in the competition, even if forced, needs to face them and fight them with everything he has.


    "I really did not think that I could win against those who trained with all their life, is it the difference of techniques? Or analysis of the battle?" Andrei sighed and looked at the arena two fighters have already started fighting.


    "Ohhh so it''s Gerald''s turn huh, if he wins this we might even get to fight at the finals... not that I want to win though," he thought, but while watching, he was enraged by what he saw.


    His opponent was a grunt-like knight wielding a wooden greatsword with him, while Gerald, uses a halberd. Gerald was on the losing side, with the ruthless slashes of the greatsword, he could barely manage to evade, they both had speed, but the grunt has more strength for some reason.


    But it''s not what Andrei was enraged about,


    [Clang]


    [Clang]


    "What the hell is that sound?" The sound was different when the grunt''s greatsword hit Gerald''s wooden halberd, when he saw the wooden sword the knight was holding it resembled a wooden sword, but Andrei could quickly determine what is it.


    "What kind of material is that? It could be seen as light as a wooden sword, but if painted properly could really imitate a wooden sword?"


    Andrei gritted his teeth at how low the scum could get. He wasn''t able to hold it and screamed at the referee.


    "Stop the match! It''s not a fair match!"


    However, the old man was didn''t notice, "Tch, he must be too focused on the match," Andrei thought as he tries to find another way, the greatsword gave off a shine when it got hit by the light, there''s no way he couldn''t discern the difference.


    He saw Gerald barely holding his ground, the blows caused the wooden halberd to shake. "Damn! He''s using his build as a cover, to conceal the capability of the weapon, he could fake Gerald is in trouble because of his build, but in reality, it''s not the case!"


    "Just stay there and be a stepping stone for me to get into the Golden ranks you shitty little knight, I know you''ve been doing this test every year HAHAHA! You don''t even have a useful talent, your hard work is meaningless against me! Hahaha, you''re weak! You''re weak!" The grunt said almost throwing off his saliva everywhere while dealing blows to Gerald, who fended them off with the halberd skillfully despite its weight, however all he could do was just to defend.


    "It seems like he''s provoking him to attack" Andrei knew what the purpose of those words for, it was to force his opponent to make a mistake by giving in to their emotions, this angered him more, he couldn''t forgive those who prey on the weak, especially on the weak that works hard to get stronger.


    Gerald who received such insults about his hard work being outdone by the grunt made him bit his lip, he started to become filled with anger that he started attacking. However, this was the moment, grunt was waiting for, he lets out a smile and deflects the halberd thrust at him, with the sword''s durability, it was no problem for him.


    In a flash Gerald was at the ground, but this wasn''t the end, the grunt hit the collapsed Gerald until his helmet was taken off.


    When this happened strands of brown hair fell down to the ground, this time Andrei could see his face and hair completely and realized that, "Gerald''s a girl?!!" although he looked like a man inside his helmet because of her bangs and way of speaking, Gerald, rather Geraldine was a female.


    Andrei looked around, but no one was surprised, "Perhaps they already knew the about her true gender, and still didn''t help her?" Andrei knew how deeply the knights cared for their honour, however, this didn''t sit well with him, "if only she had been beaten up in an equal fight I wouldn''t be bothered this much."


    ???????????????????????? ???????????? ????????????????????


    "That wooden sword, it''s not normal, it''s many times heavier than what I expected, I''m sure I checked the details of all weapons available before going here, damn I can''t deflect it, my arms and sides are hurting just from receiving these blows" Geraldine scowled in pain, while skillfully deflecting the blows.


    She didn''t have any means to counter, "I might as well give up, but no¡­ I have to prove to father, that I have chosen the right path as a knight, I will rise in the ranks of the gold, no matter what it takes" She waited for a timing to counter while deflecting the blows with all her strength, however the grunt provoked her by saying the things she hated the most to hear, with this she lost her cool went into the offensive prematurely.


    "You moron, take that back!" she hurriedly opened up her defenses and switched into a thrusting stance, "Take this!" she thrust the halberd and it hit the grunts sword, but it was what she was waiting for, next she rotated the tip of the halberd hoping to unarm the grunt, however it seemed futile.


    "This is impossible, why couldn''t I¡­ it''s stuck? Why? Why the hell?" Before she could figure out what happened the large shield that the grunt was holding hit her so hard the she fell to the ground, she coughed blood out as it hit her stomach, she couldn''t get herself to stand.


    The grunt went over to the suffering knight and hit her with unending heavy blows.


    "Hahahaha, that''s it, that''s it! Surrender or I won''t stop you know? It''s the "rule" after all, hahahahahah!"


    The grunt keep on hitting the knight everywhere, until Gerald decided to end give up, "I give-" however she wasn''t able to complete her words, as another blow landed on her face just under her jaw when she tried to speak.


    "Huhhh?????? I can''t hear you??? What did you say??" Clearly the grunt didn''t have the intention of making her give-up, it gave him joy as he was hitting the knight on the ground.


    More and more blows hit her, but she gathered all her spirit to try and speak again, "I giv-" but another blow hit her head and made the helmet fly that made her hair scatter on the ground.


    "What is the referee doing? It hurts¡­ it hurts¡­ someone, please stop this, I can''t¡­ not anymore" she groaned in pain. On her past fights she flawlessly knocked her opponents out and allowed them to give up, however, she was treated the opposite.


    "Hahaha, you should quit being a knight and just serve me with your body woman, I might even consider making you my concubine," the grunt just mocked her and deal her as many blow as he could, enough to make her split blood again and again.


    The match couldn''t be stopped until the one has been knocked out or have surrendered, however, Gerald was still conscious, and she couldn''t surrender, and the blows wouldn''t let her pass out.


    "Someone, help me¡­ someone" she was losing consciousness when suddenly the blows stopped, she could see a blurry image of a man standing up in front of her.


    "Is it the referee? No, he''s wearing the same armor as mine," she crawled to the edge of the arena and medics put her in the stretcher. She looked at the side and her vision became clearer, she saw a knight with the same armor as her, wielding two wooden swords, standing in front of the grunt unfazed by the grunts body.

 9 PUNISHMENT TO THE OPPRESSOR

    Andrei stood in front of the female knight, she was beaten up so much that the place where he''s standing had some blood on it.


    "What do you think you''re doing?" Andrei starred daggers at the grunt in front of him.


    "Huh?? What? We are fighting, fighting for the rank? You¡­ who the hell do you think are you? Disturbing our fight and all? Sir referee, is this allowed?" the grunt looked at the referee.


    The referee simply went up on stage, "Hey you, you have disturbed the battle, I know how you feel but save it for later," the old knight tried to pat Andrei''s shoulder but Andrei rejected it by flicking it away which gave a slapping sound.


    This surprised the other golden knights and they started to approach Andrei but the old knight raised up his hand as if telling them that it''s not a problem, with this they immediately backed off. Andrei wasn''t able to notice this because of his anger.


    "Later? No¡­ I have to settle this here or I would go crazy thinking about how I should kill this bastard in front of me right now," Andrei''s eyes and tone became more and more hostile.


    "If you insist we will have to remove you from the ring forcefu-" however the old knight wasn''t able to continue as Andrei interrupted.


    "No, I will report you to the higher-ups, how could you allow that man to carry a blunt sword painted in wood color to fight here huh? This is negligence! I wouldn''t have bothered to come up here if he won fairly but look at what he''s holding. Look¡­" Andrei put his sword towards the sun, "Did it shine?" the old man shook his head.


    "Now tell that man to raise his sword upwards," he then looked at everyone who was watching the fight who were also dumbfounded about what happened, some of them even looked relieved looking at Andrei who was standing at the arena. "Ladies and gentleman, this musclehead over here, despite his big size have been carrying a lightweight type of metal painted in wood color, how tasteless would that be?"


    "N-N-N-No!!! I''m not!!" the grunt said angrily, looking at Andrei with bloodlust "You won''t get away with this you twerp," he thought, he gripped his sword so much that he wants to thrust it to the man who stood in his way, just one more battle he would have become a golden knight, the man in front of him ruined his plans. "I even bought an insurance, this is a very expensive lightweight metal sword painted carefully to look like wood, it was my investment to win the challenge, how dare he!"


    The referee knight was flustered he looked at the grunt and rage and felt rage, he was disgusted, "You! There was a complaint, do what he suggested, right now! This instant! If you didn''t really cheat!"


    "No, you should declare me as a winner right now sir" the grunt started to look cornered and sweaty, his eyes became like the eyes of someone who was going crazy.


    "Enough and do what he says!" the old knight retorted. He looked at Andrei and saw his smile under his helmet.


    "What?" Andrei asked provokingly, "Are you not gonna do it? You big-headed asshole? Do you think things will go in this world the way you want it to? No! Even if you go to different worlds it will remain the same, karma will befall shitty humans like you! You are humanity''s dirt that should be erased from this planet!"


    The grunt dropped his sword as he looked over everyone in the arena, the knights looked at him disgustingly, and some golden knights stood up as if they were preparing for his arrest.


    "No, this shouldn''t be happening, I invested so much with this, no¡­ yes it''s his fault, it''s that twerp''s fault, if he wasn''t here, I should be enjoying my victory right now. If only he didn''t exist" finally the grunt snapped and charged to Andrei who was speaking with the old knight telling him on how he found out about the cheating.


    "You will pay for this! I''ll smack you down to pieces!" he smiled when he reached for Andrei extending his hands to him, the referee didn''t have time to react. He took a knife from his oversized armor and thrust it to Andrei.


    *Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr* a crackling sound was heard. The knife didn''t reach Andrei.


    The crazed grunt was frozen, in his place and started shaking.


    "Oh, it''s the first time I used my stun phone case" Andrei thought.


    When Andrei came to the world, he was holding his phone that had a mini stun gun phone case accessory, it was a gift to him by Ann on their first anniversary, Andrei has always liked dangerous things, in turn, Andrei gave Ann a pepper spray, which she really didn''t use, at university, they have been dubbed as the weirdest but sweetest couple.


    "I''m glad that deadpan woman was kind enough to return my phone," he smiles as he saw the grunt twiching in pain lying on the ground, but he still gained the strength to speak "You... dirty... bastard! You used magic!"


    "Ohhh, I don''t know what you are talking about, weren''t you the one who used a prohibited weapon?" Andrei acts innocent and quickly throws his taser back to his pocket which was under his armor. *Whistles ????*


    "At least I used it to protect bleeee" he thought within his mind. But he maintained his justice face just in case.


    He then looked at the referee, and the referee nodded giving his approval to deal the blow.


    "Sleep time big-head! Have a taste of your own cheat," he picked up the alloy-like wooden-painted blunt sword. "May you have a nightmare for eternity" he dealt the finishing blow.


    ...


    After Andrei dealt the finishing blow on the grunt''s head, cheers broke out around them.


    "Way to go hero hyooo hyooo!"


    "I''m impressed Knight Elford, I''ll let you marry my daughter!"


    "No, he should marry mine"


    "I''ll buy you a beer!"


    "Thank you! Thank you!" Andrei waved back to the crowd in an awkward way, but he was too occupied that the next situation made him regret his decision not to escape as early as possible.


    "I''m Elford!" someone shouted from the crowd, he was wearing nothing but his underwear and a white shirt.


    "That''s an impostor who stole my armor! Give it back! Arrest him!" he pointed at Andrei.


    The arena immediately became silent, "Crap I''ve been found out" Andrei instinctively tried to run outside but his way was blocked by the golden knights.


    The referee even though surprised still stood and asked Andrei.


    "Who the hell are you? I''m sure you''re not a bad person," the Golden Knights who saw his bravery when he fought also nodded, "but why did you steal someone''s armor? Are you a thief perhaps? That explains your weird style.


    Show us your face immediately and don''t resist, at least you''ll lose a finger or two for stealing a silver knight''s armor!" he said with a serious face.


    The idea froze Andrei, he remembered a scene from an anime he watched where the protagonist''s hair became white after the torture by cutting off his fingers.


    "I''m sorry but¡­ I don''t want to lose any of my beloved fingers so¡­ bye!"


    Andrei ran around the knights and sprinted towards the entrance, he was getting used to the armor and thought that this time he could finally get out, but suddenly he crashed face-first into something out of thin air, which made him fall down on his behind.


    "What the hell, Ahhh! My nose!" he immediately took off his loose helmet, he looked behind his shoulders and saw that the old golden knight was extending his hand towards him, "what the hell is he doing," then he turned his head to where he crashed, there he saw a greenish floating barrier which he crashed into.


    "No way... is that his magic?" he stared at the barrier, "How am I gonna escape then!" he tried to move but his shoulders were already held down by two knights.


    "Ummm... brother, can we talk about this?" he made playful smile for them to let their guard down.


    "No" they spoke bluntly in chorus.


    He then looked at his fingers, "I''m sorry," but then, he remembered the plump knight being carried in a stretcher after he collapsed.


    "Okay! Last resort!" He closed his eyes and pretended to be unconscious.


    ...


    ???? ???????????????????? ????????????????????


    "??Hmmm hmm hmm ?? " a young beautiful girl in a white one-piece dress, with a long and blond hair, blue eyes, and rosy white complexion was lying next to Andrei happily looking at him from his side as if he was a pet.


    When he tried moving he realized that his hands and feet are being tied on all four corners of the bed with chains.


    The girl looked familiar, but unlike her lenient and majestic face, the face that was looking at him was so cute, "damn, what is with this cute creature? I''ll hug you if you get close," Andrei thought that he as in a dream, "ah, from medieval, now I''m dreaming about S&M, should I get used to this?" he sighed.


    "Ahh this is a bad dream, I should wake up" Andrei decided to close his eyes again. However he felt someone whispered so close to his ears that it felt ticklish.


    "No you don''t, I¡­ won''t... let... you... sleep... my... husband" the voice was sweet and mature and the breath felt warm and ticklish that Andrei tried to move away but he couldn''t because of the chains.


    "This isn''t a dream?" he looked at the girl, and the girl simply nodded, "Are my fingers complete?" the girl nodded again and said, "As long as you don''t try to escape again," and smiled.


    He let out a sigh, "Haaahhhh" then the girl hugged him from the side that made him retreat.


    "Heyyy!! Don''t" Andrei said to the girl while trying to free himself from the ropes and from the girl. She was cute for sure, but Andrei has his tight guard on.


    "Ahhh help me this is sexual harassment!" then he saw the stealth mode flat voiced girl in front of him, "Hey hey hey, stealth-flat-voiced- girl, remove her from me, her-her hands going to places" suddenly a hand moved through Andrei''s upper leg "¡­. Ahhhh stop it!" he tried his best to resist.


    Andrei was struggling as he was asking the girl standing while reading a book to help him.


    "Ahh I really don''t know, but calling me stealth-flat-voiced-girl is really rude you know?" she said flatly then looked at the blonde girl on top of Andrei.


    "And sister, please stop it, don''t defile yourself by touching that monkey" she said flatly, and then continued to read the book.


    "According to books, barbarians like them have diseases that make the child you make with them lose their body parts, I would really appreciate it if you don''t dirty our bloodline with that," she said as she flipped through the book.


    "Come on Claire, you''re no fun! He''s the one who saved me you know! And he even displayed that bravery at the arena, ahhhhh I can feel that I''m falling more and more in love with him!" the blonde girl buried herself on Andrei''s chest again.


    Andrei couldn''t help but get flustered of the sudden confession that made him blush, it''s been a long time since he has been told that. It made him calm down a bit, even though physically some of his body parts are panicking.


    "So, why is her majesty keeping me in this room, going as far as tying me up? " Andrei asked trying to negotiate, "Please untie me so I can speak properly with you, okay, I also have questions after all" his eyes sparkled with intelligence.


    The girl named Claire whom Andrei didn''t even notice that she was in the room came over to him, "Ohhh so Claire is your name, is it your skill or something? You know¡­ having no presence at all?"


    Suddenly, her clear eyes became dead-fish-like and talked flatly to Andrei, "I talked to you properly right? I didn''t harm you right? Then why didn''t you just stay put and waited for me? I even returned back your item!


    Isn''t that very disrespectful? Ahhh I feel offended. And after how much you made me PERSONALLY search the whole castle thinking that you might have been abducted or have assaulted one of the maids or something?


    You want us to let you go? Are you an idiot? Furthermore, sorry I don''t have much presence, I don''t have much existence, I don''t care at all, I would appreciate it if you would please ignore the fact that I have no presence at all¡­ well how can you ignore it if you don''t even notice it in the first place?"


    This time instead of armor, she was wearing a black dress that reached till the upper part of her knee, it was a simple but cute off-shoulder fluttery dress, it revealed her curves at just the right places especially her white shoulders. Her hair was tied in a ponytail and was holding a book.


    Andrei being scolded felt chills as he watched the girl''s long retort, but he also felt a sense of happiness, as he reminded her of Ann, who gets angry almost the same way, even though it was scary most of the time. Thinking of this it made him smile a little while looking at the dead-fish eyed girl, looking down on him.


    "Why are you smiling?" Claire, still in her dead-fish eyes asked.


    "Well, I don''t know either" he still smiled at Claire.


    "Ahh I really don''t know but I suddenly felt an urge to cut your fingers right now" Clair pulled out a knife from her dress and pointed it at his hand that was tied at the bed. "How many should I cut?"


    "Hey hey hey, stop joking, I''m not a lizard or a ghoul it won''t grow back if you cut it, believe me!" Andrei started to panic.


    "Ghoul?" She asked, but still her hands didn''t stop.


    The knife came closer and closer to the hand, that made Andrei close his eyes, "Nooooooooooooo dooooon''t!"


    Then he heard cutting noises.


    "Strange, I can''t feel the pain," he thought as he slowly opened his eyes, the rope on his feet and hands were the ones that were cut and not his precious fingers. he breathed in relief,


    "What do you take me - a delicate lady for? Of course, I''m joking" she said flatly then her eyes turned to normal shiny grey.


    "Ahhhh thanks," he said as he felt each of his wrists with his hands, then the blonde girl again caught his attention who was closing her eyes while lying on his chest, with his hands freed, he tried to remove her away from him, but his hand touched something unintentionally. "So soft, what is this?" he pressed again, then he felt a faint gust of air through his air, as he looked at his side where it came from, he forgot that Claire was there, her eyes turned to dead-fish again and was holding a new knife towards him at his face.


    "Ummm.. I would really appreciate it if you remove your hands off my sister" she said while still holding the one knife towards his face, and the other at his neck.


    "Hiiihhh???" Andrei got flustered and raised his two hands upward. "I''m sorry I just tried to remove her from me, you also want that too right? Look she fell asleep, I guess this would be the right time, right?" he explained.


    The girl''s eyes turned to normal and spoke in her usual flat tone, "Then I''ll do it, don''t ever move, or else" she traced her neck with the blunt side of the knife, "You''ll die"


    "I really don''t know if she''s joking or not, but I can''t read her expressions at all" Andrei thought still raising his hands while hopelessly faking a smile. "Go ahead, go ahead, don''t mind me ahaha!"


    "She felt tired and fell asleep" she stroked the face of the girl lying with her fingertips, "She didn''t know that you escaped moreover that you participated in the monthly matches," she said while laying the girl beside Andrei, which made Andrei able to sit down on the bed. "She really felt bad about making you fight, when she saw your face when your helmet was removed she wasn''t able to keep her majestic facade and immediately ordered her personal knights on impulse to retrieve you, which caused a commotion over the castle" this time her voice was flat but it felt like a normal conversation.


    "Ahhh so that''s what happened, I will have to thank her then," Andrei looked back to the girl lying beside him. She''s like a girl on the age of 18 or 19, with golden hair that reach to her waist, Andrei has seen her first time in the carriage, sleeping just as she looks right now, however he didn''t realize that it was her during the arena trouble.


    "I have a lot of questions to ask, can we talk on another place?" he looked at the girl that was supposed to be in front of him. However he didn''t find anyone, but then he heard someone opening a cabinet.


    "You were there huh?" Andrei couldn''t believe the effortless no-presence and low-key ability of the girl.


    "Miss Claire, was it?" Andrei tried to call over the girl who took a blanket from the cabinet and covered the sleeping girl with it.


    "Yes? What is it? Ahhh about the questions, yes just wait a minute" she carefully moved the girl who was sleeping peacefully in a comfortable position.


    "Okay, that should do it," she wiped her forehead, "Let''s go?... huh?" she looked at Andrei to only find him looking at the moon and stars from the window.

 10 QUESTIONS UNDER THE MOONLIGH

    The two walked through the garden, Andrei on his original attire, and the girl named Claire on her black dress outfit.


    "Aren''t you cold? Wearing a dress like that outdoors?" Andrei asked the girl who was walking beside him.


    She was only inches shorter than him, and her ponytail swayed from left to right, with both of her hands at her back as they walked. The moonlight shone towards them and to the flowers around them as they passed, but what was more enchanting was that the place was still filled with the small violet lights that Andrei saw when he tried to escape, "wow, it''s much more beautiful at night,"


    "No, I''m used to it, after all this is my favorite place, I come here often," she looked like she was skipping as she walked enjoying her surroundings.


    "Ohhh, okay," Andrei''s eyes wandered not on the surroundings this time, but on the girl next to him, as the moonlight struck her skin, showing her beautiful skin, from her nape to her shoulders.


    "So, who are you, where did you came from and what''s your real objective of saving my sister?"


    Andrei was startled in the queue of questions that was pushed to him suddenly, but in order to have information, he decided to give her information too.


    A fair business deal, however, he wasn''t sure if he wanted to reveal that he came from another world, or at least not yet, he''s afraid of the possibilities of them knowing that there was an alternate world and he came from it, they might think he''s going crazy, or something bad might happen to him and to them.


    "Not until I know more about this world and these people, I think I have to keep it as a secret," he thought.


    "First of all, I am Andrei Spia, I came from, ahhh hmm¡­ a far away country I guess? But trust me that I am not plotting anything, or have any bad intentions of saving your sister, it''s just happened that the carriage that she was on was approaching in my way and seeing the dead coachman, I knew I had to take a look inside and things just happened as you see"


    "So why were you approaching Kydus Empire?"


    "Ahhh I also don''t know, maybe I just didn''t know the way?"


    "Shady, if you didn''t know the way then where were you planning to go?"


    Andrei couldn''t help but get comfortable on the atmosphere between them, the questions coming from the girl beside him were indeed like a harsh inquisition, but her sweet and flat voice was just the same, that he couldn''t help but answer her truthfully whenever he can, and if he couldn''t answer it, he would just divert the topic.


    "Well, you could just imagine me as a traveler with nowhere to go, who just happened to save your sister, I''m not a hero, adventurer, or anyone impressive, I just had a little trick that saved us both"


    "Regarding that, the other golden knights order said you were impressive in the arena, that you finished off of the opponent with a one-hand surprise magic attack, and that you were wielding two swords instead of the standard? Is that true?"


    "It''s not that impressive really, the dual-wielding of swords were inspired by a martial art in my country and the one-hand thing was a tool that contains lightning, only myself can use it though"


    "Tool? That contains lightning? And you can set it off without chanting? Impressive, even my sister who has her own magic weapon would have to chant some lines making her knights cover for her before setting it off "


    "Her majesty is a wizard?" Andrei wanted to divert any more conversations about the stun gun.


    "Yes, a witch to be precise, she''s a woman after all, but¡­ no nevermind," she shook her head, with a pained expression on her face, this was the second unique emotion that she displayed to Andrei.


    "If you don''t want to talk more about it then, it''s fine"


    "Anyway, I''m surprised, that a coward like you tried to escape from the people who treated you so well. Ahhh really makes you think that it was a different person, you''ll fill me up about how you did it okay?"


    "If you''re surprised then please do something with your tone, or are you mocking me or something?" this time Andrei said it out loud that he covered his mouth immediately.


    The girl stopped, glanced sideways, and responded in the same way, "Ahhh yes but please don''t mind it, if you want this conversation to end in peace"


    "Eh? Is she pissed or something? hmm... basing from her tone, she might be?" Andrei tried to guess what she was thinking.


    After a few minutes of walking, they finally reached the veranda where Andrei tried to escape, Claire walked a few steps forward and Claire leaned to it, and looked at the scenery before her, due to its height she could see the stars and the moons as it shone on the mountains when she looked straight, and when she looked downwards, it was a city bustling with life, where there were lamp lights everywhere and where everyone seems to be having fun, there were some were drunk commoners playing music and there were dancing and partying nobles, Andrei also saw the same scene.


    "It''s lively isn''t it?" She spoke without looking at him.


    "Yes it is, is it always like this every night?" Andrei asked, and glanced slightly at her.


    "No, not every day, the people here, really respect and adores her highness, my sister, hearing the news that she safely came back from Kydus, it''s expected for them to feast like this"


    "So today''s a celebration huh?"


    "All thanks to you, but my sister could''ve got out of her own I think¡­ probably, but yes you did a great part so congrats," she made a small clap.


    "I know you''re congratulating me, but I wonder why it feels like you''re mocking me?"


    "But really, thank you" she showed a peaceful smile while looking at the city in front of her.


    Andrei stayed silent and just looked straight at the moon that illuminated the mountains, "Ahhh the moon looks the same wherever you are, but more stars could be seen without light pollution, this is really another world eh?" he smiled and then looked sideways at the girl with him.


    Her hair, getting carried by the breeze swayed back and forth, and her grey eyes glimmered and looked more peaceful and gentler while focusing on the scene before her, and her subtle smile.


    The moonlight shone on her white skin, she doesn''t seem like a girl who''s suited to wear a knight''s armor, moreover to fight as a knight.


    To him he seemed like a completely normal girl compared to the beautiful blonde and almost perfect girl. However, she has her own charm, which was mysterious yet made Andrei feel comfortable with her, for an unexplained reason.


    "Is it because she''s average that I feel comfortable?" then he realized something important.


    "Wait why am I the one who''s answering all the questions!" he pointed at the girl.


    "Mr. Andrei you''re noisy," she kept looking at the scenery.


    "Andrei is fine, now its my time to ask questions," Andrei puffed his chest.


    "Why are you acting so haughty? Anyway go on, I''ll answer as long as it isn''t confidential information," the girl turned around to face him.


    "First question, where am I?"


    "You''re on the Kingdom of Ethareri it''s no surprise that you don''t know the name, as you can see, this kingdom is smaller compared to others"


    "This¡­ is small?"


    "Of course"


    "Really?"


    "Wait, if you''re really someone from far-away I think you have read books and maps haven''t you? Suspicious... what the hell are you really?"


    "Ahem Ahem¡­ my turn to ask questions don''t butt in!" flashing a no-no sign with his fingers.


    "Tche¡­ okay"


    "Next, what happened to your sister¡­ no, her majesty and why did she suddenly make me her husband, is she alright in the head?" Andrei realizes that he made an insult and quickly covered his mouth and gave a peace sign.


    "What''s with that hand? Ahhh do you want me to take the fingers off?" then she took a knife under her leg, "Then I''ll gladly... "


    "No no no no, this is a V sign it means ''peace'' "


    "V? What is that?" the girl tilted her head and looked at Andrei''s eyes directly with curiosity as if earnestly waiting for an answer.


    "Ahhh haha, if I made that sign to you, it means that I don''t want to have a conflict with you or I want to have peace with you, perhaps?"


    "It would be disastrous if she says the ???????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????? ???????? ???????????????????????? line here though," he thought, but the girl tried imitating Andrei, and made a V sign and showed it to him.


    "How''s this?" she looked like an awkward robot, which made Andrei almost burst out a laugh, but she girl was still holding her knife so he faked a cough to stop his laughter.


    "Hmmm¡­ Good enough! Wait! Answer my questions!"


    "Well about my sister, to explain a bit, after our father... the King''s death from the war four years ago, a year later our mother followed by dying from a strange sickness, without a son as the heir, the ministers were forced to crown her Michaela Acirendra as the reigning queen. She was 17 and I was 16 then, fast forward three years to the future she became a full-blown queen"


    "Then why did she came from that settlement in that sorry state, moreover was chased by those knights? She''s a queen right?"


    "It seems you are ignorant of the politics in this world, even commoner would know why if I gave them these details"


    "It''s not that I don''t know but if I have to speculate then judging from what you said, the struggle for power is it?" Andrei made an assumption based on medieval movies he watched.


    "Bingo, but yeah, it''s not as simple as that" she raid her pointy finger to her side swaying it "no"


    "Why?"


    "Because the empire is involved, and one of the most troublesome one, with great military power"


    "If she came out from that empire, then-" Andrei was unable to complete his speculation.


    "Yes, the empire of Kydus, a power struggle or something, or perhaps it''s our country that they want to invade this time? I''m not sure, there''s a lot of irregularities, we will be discussing more about it from her highness herself.


    I also don''t know why she wanted you to be her husband, so you can ask her personally about that, just for your information I don''t approve of it yet"


    Silence filled the air, after the two exchanged information about each other.


    "The last question" Andrei broke the silence, the topic was hard for him to keep up, so he wanted to divert the conversation to a positive one.


    "What? You still have one? You''re getting bothersome"


    "Nope, I just want you to introduce properly yourself, so what''s your name?"


    "I think you know already"


    "But I only heard it from your sister, was it Eclaire? Kler? Clear?"


    "I would really appreciate it if you stopped making fun of my name you know, when you have already called me Ms. Claire earlier"


    "Ahaha sorry, I really don''t have high retention," this was true for Andrei in his college days he wouldn''t forget the lessons but he have always been bad at names, he would often mistake other professor names for another which made some of them mad at him.


    The girl then properly stood up from her leaning position, her skirt flew a few inches to the air as she turned around slightly to face Andrei, then in a princess-like gesture, she inched some each side of her skirt and made a slight bow.


    "I am Clair Acirendra, 2nd princess of the Ethareri kingdom, nice to meet you, Mr. Andrei Spia"


    Andrei was captivated of the scene, for him the way she turned was in slow motion, it was enough to make him speechless for a minute. The silver rays of the moonlight hit her slender figure, and the black dress she wore, making the gesture suddenly breathtaking. The purple lights that flew everywhere made it magical and the air that flew her hair back and forth made it so captivating. that he couldn''t react after seeing such a dazzling sight.


    "Andrei?" the girl asked she was intrigued as Andrei didn''t respond, with her hands clasped behind her back, she inched closer and looked at his eyes left and right, her face was so close that Andrei could slightly feel her cold breath.


    "Ahhh haha, nice to meet you too!" Andrei instinctively stepped back and smiled awkwardly, but he stepped into a vein which made him lose his balance.


    "Ahhh," as he fell down, his hands swayed to the front, and Claire''s delicate hands caught it.


    "Aren''t you too clumsy Mr. Andrei?" She spoke bluntly, but Andrei was heavier than she expected, "Ah," she made a quick girly shriek, and with a thud, Claire fell on top of Andrei.


    "Ouch, it hurts!" Andrei held the back of his head, but seeing the girl on top of him, he felt that it was time for his comeback, "Aren''t you too clumsy Ms. Claire?" The purple light went closer to them as if checking if they were okay.


    "Ohh, she''s surprisingly light," he thought, "I thought she was heavier though" he spoke his thoughts out loud, Claire who was looking at him in the eyes, blushed a little, but when she heard him she suddenly hid her expression and pinched Andrei''s sides without saying a word.


    "Ah it hurts! It hurts! Stop!"

 11 DANGEROUS SITUATION

    After Claire''s relentless pinches Andrei was finally let off and slept back at his room, the girl was also no longer there, and when he woke up he heard a girl''s voice.


    "Did you sleep well darling?"


    "Yeah, thanks, wait I am not your darling"


    "You are"


    "No, I''m not"


    "But I''ve decided already?"


    "I don''t think that will happen sorry"


    Suddenly, Michaela''s eyes started building up tears, which made Andrei stand-up on instinct to comfort the girl. Andrei''s weak to crying girls... and to the golden knights staring at him with daggers at the door side.


    "No, no no, I don''t think that it will happen¡­ NOW okay? Okay? If it''s okay with you I''d like to know more about you, it''s not that I don''t like you or anything, you saved me afterall...I mean from the arena and all, but what I mean is give me some time, I need to catch up on all the things happening here" he hopelessly tried to explain.


    The girl simple looked up to him with tears still in her eyes.


    "Promise?"


    "Yes, I think that you''re a great person already, but marrying immediately, I can''t keep up with such developments this time"


    For Andrei this isn''t just lip service to comfort the girl who started crying, he really owes her his life in this world. "It may be not so bad to marry such a cute girl like her in two or three years in the future" he thought.


    They looked at each other in the eyes, the girl was still wearing her white one-piece dress, with the same hairstyle. Andrei was captivated by the blue eyes which complemented her blonde hair well.


    "Then is it alright with you if we call ourselves engaged at the moment?" the girl asked with her red face staring directly and bravely at the man she fell in love with.


    "Yes, Yes if you''re okay with me" Andrei smiled and patted her head again. "Ahhh what the hell have I done, well let''s just go along the flow or she''ll cry," he thought to himself.


    "I really don''t know what will happen, but currently I''m in the protection of their country and territory.


    I don''t find her dislikable at all, and even if I set in an adventure, it would be more unrealistic as I only have a stun gun and a phone, I guess I should learn from them about this world, after all sooner or later she''ll find out that I''m really just a lazy and damned human without any real talents and break off the engagement with me soon, so it''s no problem to accept this engagement for now, hearing about her from Claire, and remembering the ''almost kidnapping'' scene, makes me want to help her a little.


    If currently making me engaged to her will ease her pain a bit then I''ll not hesitate.


    This isn''t a page from a manga and an episode from an anime, the things that I see here are really happening in reality, I need to adapt as I don''t have any clue on how to return.


    I may even live here if in the future I''ll feel like it, so I need to support the people who are helping me."


    "Still the way she cries when she doesn''t get what she wants, it really reminded me of Ann when I pulled off a prank that I bought her commemorative Japanese wooden chopsticks instead of the Korean chopsticks that I promised her for Christmas."


    "With two beauties here with me, I think I''ll just enjoy the days with them until I return, or perhaps not?


    We''ll see, if my adventure starts with them, then it''s much better than going off alone"


    Andrei remembered in his darkest days where he felt the comfort of his ex-girlfriend Ann, who never stopped in supporting him. Eventually, he became a caring person who wants to support others as how he was supported by his loved one.


    Andrei smiled and looked at the girl again and wiped her tears with his handkerchief which he took from his pocket, it was a white handkerchief with pretty colors.


    "It''s soft, can I have it" the girl held Andrei''s hands on her cheeks.


    "My hand?? No you can''t cut it!" He got up from the bed.


    "Idiot! Why would I do that! Who do you think I am? This cloth!" Andrei looked and saw that his hand was holding his handkerchief.


    "Ahhhh haha, alright alright," he folded his handkerchief and gave it to her and looked at each other, Andrei couldn''t help but look at the sapphire eyes that were focused at him, it was captivating. However the moment didn''t last as in Andrei''s peripheral vision he saw another girl sipping from her tea like nothing is happening. He forgot the girl was even there.


    "Hey Ms. Claire! Say something if you''re there!"


    "Ahh don''t mind me, just continue with your flirting," she gave him a V sign.


    "What flirting?! Just so you know that''s not how to use the peace sign you know!" Andrei stood up to argue, while the blonde girl was still curiously feeling up the unfamiliar cloth that was given to her with her hands.


    "Yeah, it''s flirting," she looked at her V sign and balled it into a fist.


    Michaela then interrupted, "Both of you, you seem to have gotten close haven''t you?" she suspiciously looked at the two. First, at Andrei, this gaze made him force a fake smile, the next she stared at her sister, however, Claire only calmly took a sip on her tea like it wasn''t her problem.


    "Ahhh it''s your imagination sister, why would I - a delicate and pure maiden, get close to such an obviously suspicious-coward person? Anyway, sister, now that he''s awake let''s talk about everything that had happened"


    "Yes, I would like to know too" Andrei added nervously and raised his hand.


    Michaela closed her eyes and joined Michaela on the mahogany table beside Andrei''s bed, "Okay, but this is confidential okay, Andrei"


    "This is my room right? You guys are royalty right? Why are you having an important conversation here!" he protested, as he still wasn''t dressed.


    "I guess you''re right, let''s have breakfast while we talk," Michaela stood up.


    ...


    The three arrived at a large dining area, they immediately sat comfortably while Andrei scanned the whole place.


    The three of them were in a long dining table, never in his wildest dreams Andrei thought that he would be dining in a table like it in his life, at the same time it weirded him out. He was sitting opposite Michaela who''s at the other end of the long table. And Claire, was sitting between them on the long side.


    "So, I think it''s time for you to tell me the whole story, sister?" Andrei then focused his attention on the two.


    "Being a queen, it''s natural for me to find a way to improve relations with other nations. That is in order to gain alliance and other benefits for a kingdom as small as ours


    This time a proposal came from the Kydus Empire, I went there to see what kind of person the prince was, but it was a disappointment, he was worse than trash than I thought he was, I don''t want to deal with such a person even if it''s for political reasons, so I ditched him"


    "But why did the carriage come out of the settlement like that?" Andrei asked curiously, he was the one who was there to witness such a scene, knowing about the girl''s battle prowess as Claire bragged, he wanted to know how the queen was defeated and ended up in an unconscious state being carried by a dead man.


    "I don''t know either, all I could remember was that, after leaving the capital city, we took the route back that passes through Mizar settlement.


    However, after eating dinner I remember sleeping too much to the point that when I woke up you were lying beside me and with the carriage and my servant gone and with the stains of blood on your hands"


    "Ahhh so that''s what happened huh, are you sure he didn''t do anything to you while he was asleep?" Claire looked at Andrei with dead-fish eyes.


    "No no I didn''t do anything than cover ourselves with my coat, but didn''t you notice any sensations?" Andrei asked.


    "Good I successfully brushed it off" he thought.


    "What sensations? If my sister fell in love with you because she didn''t have any choice because you already touched her, then¡­" Claire''s dead-fish stare was now accompanied by a dark aura oozing out from her.


    "Cut that out Claire, no, he didn''t touch me and that''s also not why I fell in love with him" she looked at Andrei and continued.


    "Going by my story, I''m sure you''ve figured out something right? It was also too odd for me, just as Andrei has said I should have noticed the commotion, the sensations, like the bumps from the carriage, the screams of the pursuers. However not even one of those woke me up"


    "Do you mean?" Andrei asked.


    And Claire immediately interrupted with her flat and sweet voice and her eyes returned to normal


    "A sleeping spell maybe? But if it''s you sister - a witch who can control fire, such a low-level spell¡­ I''m sure the enemy must have already been incinerated the moment they tried to chant."


    "That''s the problem, a low-level spell like that could be cast five meters near the target however there was no one within that range, and the inn where we were staying was guarded by my servants, maids, and butlers that had combat experience." Michaela''s mood became sullen thinking of what might have happened to those who were accompanying her.


    "Then they are all¡­" Andrei tried to assert what had happened "They are the ones who helped her escape, and since I haven''t seen anyone returning but her¡­ then they must be" Andrei thought, but he kept the words to himself, seeing her expression.


    Michaela tried to suppress her mood and tried to fake a smile, but her eyebrows still showed the remains of her frustration, "Anyway changing the topic, going by that flow, if you haven''t covered for me Andrei, then I would have been already on the enemy''s hands"


    Then she looked at Claire, "That''s why I chose him as my husband Claire"


    "But the people who were with you, the maids, butlers and even the coachman who tried his best at the end, they were really the ones who saved you"


    "That may be true, but it may be harsh to say this but regardless of the situation they would really have to save me as their duty, and yes they were my subjects, but losing them because of such a mistake frustrates me," Michaela banged the table with a teaspoon still on her hand, but she tried to change gears and continued, "You saved me not because of my standing and loyalty, in other words, you saved a complete stranger, these days it''s very rare for someone to do that in that situation," she showed somewhat a slight smile, being burned by worries while being thankful to her savior, but she knew that thanking him first would be much better, she decided to find the answer to her troubles when she was alone, the same way she did it since she was a queen, no one except for Claire was there for her, and she knew well the Claire had given her all the support she can ever receive, and that she also didn''t know the solution, it was all up to her.


    "Why?" Andrei asked in confusion, he observed that she forcefully tried to change her mood.


    "Well, if you would pick between risking your life and getting a reward, what would you choose?" She asked him as if one choice was obvious to be picked over the other.


    "Of course I would get a reward, that''s common sense right? Unless you''re an M," he answered her quickly without thinking.


    "M?" Michaela tilted her head in curiosity not understand the word, looking at him with her crystal-like eyes.


    "Ahhh you don''t need to learn that," while his hand was folded, he swung his hand, telling her not to think much about it.


    "Anyway, the bottom line is that you saved me despite those terms, you could have been rewarded if you handed me to those soldiers, but instead you risked your life to save a woman you don''t even know"


    Michaela stood up and sat beside him and closed in her face. "That is why I when I saw your face when you lied together with me and realized these things, I fell in love with you at first sight" She didn''t try to hide her beet-red face, and even closed in her face more.


    Andrei moved to another chair in the long table, he was almost beside Claire this time, "Umm I don''t think you should fall in love just because of that, and don''t people normally do that? I mean, save people if they''re in trouble," his tone was stern, he needed to uphold his morals, for him such a love was fuzzy and it goes against his thinking on love.


    "No they don''t, if they did then they would be someone who''s confident with their power to do so, however looking at you, you don''t look like a noble, you''re also not a knight, even if you could fight, there wasn''t any weapon on that situation right? Even if you did, as you said they were many" by the time she was saying these things she went closer to him,


    "Also I know what I want if I say I''m in love with you¡­ then I''m in love with you okay?" she closed in her face again until their nose touched.


    Andrei fell from his seat when he tried to switch to another chair as if the chair it moved on its own, besides it was Claire. "Ouch, why did you move the chair! I was going to switch to that!"


    "Who knows... " it was Claire''s usual deadpan response while slurping her tea unbothered.


    With him, on the floor Michaela tried to crawl onto him without warning.


    "Come Andrei..."


    "No!"


    "Yes!"


    Michaela was on full attack when Claire interrupted just at the right time when she was almost atop Andrei.


    "So sister, what do you think made you sleep?" Claire asked while asking a maid to pour tea for her.


    "What''s with your sister''s lack of presence Michaela, I almost forgot that she was there"


    "Well, I think that what makes her Claire, so ignore it"


    Andrei was surprised by Claire''s sudden interruption but at the same time he was relieved, as Michaela finally stopped her attacks.


    "I had a romantic experience in the other world, but I never encountered girls like her type, nice save Claire!" he gave a good job sign to Claire.


    Michaela stood up and sat on the chair again and Andrei fixed himself and also sat on a chair this time he was facing Claire.


    "That¡­ I don''t know"


    "Maybe it''s a sleeping ?????????????????" Andrei suggested.


    "Sleeping what?" Michaela and Claire asked in unison, Michaela having a surprised tone while Claire in her usual tone.


    "Geh¡­ what are these two a duet? It was like they had a blending. Ah they might not have the word here, let''s try a different term" Andrei thought, when he came into the world, he could immediately understand what they are saying, but he realized that when he switches to another language like English it would be understandable for some reason.


    "Ahhh ehh¡­ you don''t have sleeping pills here? I mean¡­ it''s a kind of medicine that when taken makes the person sleep for hours peacefully, it''s a medicine for people who can''t sleep during the night," he tried to describe by making actions with his hand to make it more realistic.


    "I never heard such a medicine, first and foremost if someone has a sickness we use healing magic, if its a curse we use holy magic from the clerks of the Holy Land of Adrar" Claire responded while wiping her lips."I''m also surprised that there are people who have such a condition, don''t they get tired and sleep after the day''s duties? Medicines are obsolete, magic is better"


    "So don''t have many advances on technology huh? They are upgrading their magic instead," Andrei muttered again to himself.


    "Me too, but if that exists in your country then it makes sense, without magic they would be able to make me sleep that long, maybe someone bought it from your country and put in my drink," Michaela said in surprise with her hand on her chin "Hey what''s the name of your country?" he looked at Andrei curiously.


    "Ummm¡­" being pressed by the question Andrei couldn''t help but regret his decision, Michaela was looking at him seriously waiting for an answer with her hands folded, even if Claire was glancing at him while sipping her tea. He was backed into the corner.


    "Crap I dug my own grave, maybe I should make a run for it?" Andrei instinctively looked at the door.


    Then he felt something behind his back.


    "No¡­ dear, you''re not running away" she felt a girl hugging him from behind while smiling happily, Andrei looked at the chair where Michaela was sitting before but she wasn''t there anymore.


    "When did she¡­" he felt chills behind his spine, and a soft sensation behind his back. He was reminded by Michaelas figure, who has the curves and bust that young men in his country would be crazy for, even for Andrei who has his guard on, these sensation definitely felt good to resist.


    "These sizes¡­ C?.. no D?", however, he came to his senses when on his peripheral vision he could see Claire making a V sign but this time she''s opening and closing the gaps as if they were scissors.


    "If you try to escape again you know what will happen," Claire said flatly looking directly at him with her dead-fish eyes.


    "Okay okay, I will not escape! But I want you to hear the story from the start so don''t go doubting me like that especially Claire you''re scary so stop that!" Andrei grasped some air and sighed.


    Claire''s dead-fish eyes turned to normal, "Ahhh I don''t know what you''re talking about, I was just reminding you about the consequences if ever you decide to run again"


    "Reminding my ass, you were threatening me earlier!"


    Andrei could only sigh in relief, "Okay listen to me both of you" Andrei then started talking about how he came from a faraway country and that when he woke up he ended up in the place, and all the things that happened until he saved Michaela in the carriage.


    He also added the reason why he tried to escape, however this only irritated Claire, which made Andrei stop halfway to apologize.


    "So that''s all" Andrei was exhausted, "Can I have some water?" but the request was ignored as both girls were in deep thought, he could only look at them with his dried-up face. "W-w-water please"


    "So you saved me because it was the natural thing to do in your country? Not because you thought I was so cute to be left behind?" Michaela asked Andrei still hugging him from behind.


    "That''s what she''s worried about?!" Andrei couldn''t believe what he heard, he calmed himself and thought of a reply.


    "Ummm yes, but yeah I have to be honest that being cute is part of it" Andrei said seriously while shrugging with sweat on his face and the girl on his back immediately turned red. Andrei has a romantic experience so he knew when to appreciate a person''s features, it wasn''t something to be shy saying about.


    The girl behind him who was always on her all-out offensive was taken aback of this compliment, she tried to hide her red face from the two by looking down.


    "But you at least know the name of your country right?" Claire asked as she was now pulling her beet red sister away from Andrei and put her back to her seat.


    "Ahhhhhhhhhhh I think I know¡­ but¡­ it doesn''t seem clear" Andrei pretended to not answer the question directly as he doesn''t want to dig his own grave again.


    "If you''ll feign ignorance then that''s it" Claire sighed in resignation, "We''ll let you off this time since you made a great effort of rescuing my sister"


    "You don''t find me suspicious anymore?"


    "Yeah", Claire is not on her seat while her sister Michaela is on her seat on cloud nine murmuring words they both can''t decipher.


    "Why?" Andrei asked.


    "It simply doesn''t suit you, and if someone really tried to kill my sister they wouldn''t bother to send a spy when at that commotion they could easily kill her. And I already have a clue on who''s behind this," Claire answered bluntly.


    "Ahhh ahh, let me guess," Andrei raised his hand, as if wanting to answer his teachers question.


    "Okay, go," noticing that her tea was already cold, she stood up and poured her own.


    "The prince that Michaela ditched?"


    "No, are you dumb?" Claire shook her head.


    The word "dumb" struck Andrei on his back, but he recollected his thoughts and tried to guess again.


    "Then, maybe some lower nobility who wants to marry off your sister to the prince so he could get a reward from that empire,"


    "Close, but no, ahhhh that confirms it you''re dumb" another imaginary arrow flew through Andrei.


    "What the hell! I give up, I give up! stop calling me dumb!"


    "Yes it''s some nobility but it''s not of lower rank, but its at least in the rank of a minister, but the goal wasn''t to get a reward, if there was an event that I was killed while I was on the empire, this kingdom would have taken its arms against the Empire, in other words, war, and this Kingdom will be certainly crushed," Michaela this time recovered to her usual self and gave the answer on her own without minding the two''s guessing game.


    "Why are you certain that the kingdom would be crushed? Is the war that one-sided? You have strong knights right? Like those golden plated ones?" Andrei recollected crashing at the barrier Erneis created.


    "No their military strength is nothing compared to ours, if it happens, we could only last for a month or two, their individual soldiers are about as strong as our golden order of knights, and their numbers are far greater, even if we do hire mercenaries, they would simply turn around against us because of the overwhelming difference in strength," Michaela shrugged as if such a situation was inevitable.


    "Then¡­ "


    "Yes, you did not only save the queen but the kingdom itself, that is why you are suited to be my dear h-h-husband" Once again Michaela became beet red.


    Suddenly a knock echoed through the dining room, it was hurried that they were all surprised and stopped the conversation.


    "Your highness, a letter was sent from Mizar settlement"


    "Get in" Michaela immediately responded. The door opened and the old knight with white hair came in, first he was surprised to see that the man that stole the armor sitting together with the two royalties.


    "Ohhhhh Sir Referee!" Andrei didn''t have any bad emotions towards him, "it was my fault in the first place for trying to run away." he muttered to himself.


    "Glad to see that you''re well and okay" the knight bowed.


    "So where''s the letter Erneis?" Michaela asked.


    The old knight took a parchment from his side pocket and gave it to Michaela.


    "Who brought the letter to you? Whose flags were they carrying?" asked Michaela as she was opening the letter with the kitchen knife.


    "They¡­ were carrying no flags, your highness, they were dressed in bronze plated armor, I suppose they were average soldiers from Kydus based on their appearance," the old man explains. By the sight of a knight bowing before Michaela, Andrei was reminded of her queenly appearance when she stood on the platform.


    "This girl¡­ really is a queen huh?" he thought while watching the exchange between the two while sitting at the table. But while observing them, Michaela''s expression suddenly darkened that the letter was crumpled.


    Blood gushed from the letter.


    "This is¡­ " Claire got up from her seat.


    "Yeah definitely" Michaela responded and took off the contents of the letter.


    Andrei nonchalantly gets a cupcake from the table and puts it in his mouth, seeing Michaela''s expression, he became curious and moved closer to Michaela to peek at the contents, however, his curiosity got the better of him, Andrei was grossed to the point that he choked on the cupcake that he was trying to eat.


    The content of the letter was a finger with a gold ring.


    "This [cough] is?" [cough][cough]" Andrei asked while holding his throat, Claire didn''t say a word and her expression was the same with Michaela.


    "This ring represents the family of the loyal maids and butlers who has served the family for generations, it is said in the letter that they are alive and are willing to let them go if I personally retrieve them," Michaela took off the ring and put it on the table there were still bloodstains with it, crumpled the finger together with the letter and asked the maid to throw it.


    "This is clearly a trap sister" Claire interrupted.


    "Yeah it''s clearly a trap, of course I won''t go" Michaela responded.


    "But, if we don''t retrieve them, they would be¡­" Claire looked down to hide her face.


    "Yes most likely, we can''t put a force and charge to the Mizar settlement either, it''s a miracle that they are still alive¡­ or they might not be alive at all and this is just a trap to lure me out since they failed to kill me," Michaela imagining the situation of her servants, gritted her teeth, clenched her fists so much that it started to bleed.


    Andrei was silent, he does not have enough combat experience, nor does he have any experience in the killing. In his country, kidnappings are mostly done by terrorists and rebels, he remembered how foreigners were beheaded on TV. "Kidnapping is the same eh? Whether what world you are" he thought, as he made a deep sigh.


    "Then I''ll go and see them sister" Claire stood up with the same expression, Andrei couldn''t see her eyes, but she was shaking enough to make Andrei surprised.


    "Wait, Claire, don''t be rash, I know well about your ability, but it''s good as useless against many enemies at once, if we go together..."Michaela tried to suggest.


    "We won''t go together! What do you think will happen if you go out there and have another accident again? Don''t you want to get married to that dumb-looking male right there?" She pointed at Andrei.


    Michaela couldn''t say a word and just looked at Andrei who was helpless being pointed out as dumb-looking, Claire stood up from the table and went to the door but the knight Erneis blocked her path.


    "You must not your highness, the moment they saved her highness Michaela from the evildoers they have already resolved to die in that place," the old man tried to convince her.


    "But¡­ they might be still alive," she tried to reason, but the old man didn''t move a single muscle.


    "You said yourself, your highness, this is clearly a trap," the old man put''s his hand on his chest and made a bow.


    "But what if they''re still alive? I might be the queen''s sister but I''m only the daughter of the King''s concubine. The queen''s and my will are of the same, however, she can''t go, it''s my duty to fulfill her desire to save her attendants if they were alive"


    Andrei couldn''t say a word, he could only see Michaela with a hopeless expression, torn between chosing her kingdom or the servants.


    "It''s okay Claire, let''s not save them, as Erneis have said, they already resolved themselves to die¡­ for¡­ me," Michaela wasn''t crying but her face had a clear expression of regret.


    "Are you sure about that? I hope you would keep your word, I know you sister, who knows you might go off without telling me?" Claire turned to face his sister, this time her voice wasn''t devoid of emotion, it was full of concern and anger.


    Michaela didn''t answer but simply nodded her head, seeing this Claire backed off and went back to the dining table silently.


    Andrei couldn''t help but empathize with the two, he knew the feeling of wanting to save someone whose death is inevitable.


    "Wanting to save someone whose unsavable huh? I was just like them back then, I guess with this worlds political structure, those who are above like them can''t act on the things that they really want to do because of their rank and the weight that they carry with it, they have these ranks to lead their people, and them dying would mean more chaos and more death for their people.


    Even if they did go, the possibility of it being a trap is 99.9%, it''s a cliche plot in movies, this is why the situation is easier to read for me, being from a world with a far more bloody history.


    Saving huh? If I was in their position I would have done the same, for the greater good, anyone can do the math,"


    Andrei reminisced on the day he wasn''t able to save his loved one.

 12 THE PRICE OF LOVE

    "Happy Anniversary Babe! Happy Birthday!" After they kissed, Ann hugged Andrei tightly while sitting on her hospital bed, there was a box beside her in a tray.


    "What is this? Can I open it?" he asked while trying to open it, the box''s color was pink and it was wrapped with the same color.


    "No! Let me open it! It''s my present for you after all" she cutely spanked Andrei''s hands away, then put her hands on the box and opened it.


    The box contained a birthday cake, with a candle number ''28'' which made Andrei twitch his eyebrows, "did she just messed up my age?" he thought as he looked at his mischievous girlfriend on the hospital bed smiling at him happily.


    "I''m not that old you know¡­ Ann, why 28?" Andrei asked as he gave a slight smile.


    Ann''s eyes turned dead-fish like, "Seriously you forgot?"


    "Ahhh hahaha no, no, it''s because our anniversary is on Feb. 28 right and also that it''s my birthday?" Andrei guessed, with this her eyes became clear again and smiled from the bottom of her heart.


    "Seriously, the way this girl does things is weird, well I have been used to that, and also that''s the reason why I loved her so much. But, still I can''t keep up with her craziness" Andrei thought to himself as he caressed her silky straight black hair.


    Andrei took the cake from the box and placed it carefully on the table, while doing this Ann reached for the lighter at the cabinet at the side of her hospital bed, and was able to get it, seeing her beloved preparing the cake she sat down carefully and tried to flick it on to test if it works, however, her hands wouldn''t move the way she wants it to.


    She tried again the second time, the third time, the fourth time, but her hands didn''t move as well as she thought it would, at the fifth time she flicked it, and it was able to make sparks, but she felt her hand numbing, she didn''t feel anything, the lighter was dropped to the floor as it made a clicking sound.


    "Ahhh huh? hahaha, I messed up, this is why I hate lighting candles with lighters," she tried to pick the lighter on the ground and tried to flick it again, however, the same thing happened and the lighter fell and bounced farther away from her.


    This time she didn''t say a word and just leaned to the ground to get the lighter, however, Andrei who couldn''t take watching her anymore, stopped her with a smile on his face.


    "I''ll get it for you," Andrei tried to kneel down and get the lighter but Ann pushed him to the side.


    "No!" her sound echoed throughout the room that was warmly lit by the sun trying to prise the last of its amber limbs over the rooftops. The sky that can be seen from her hospital room was dyed with shades of red and pink.


    "This is your birthday after all, I have¡­ I have to¡­ I have to be a good girlfr¡­ a good girlfriend to you," tears burst forth like water from a dam, spilling down from her face. He knew that her sickness makes her unable to do the things that she wanted to do. Ann being a strong woman, convinced her father to let her take the surgery, knowing that soon she will be bedridden and that someday she won''t be able to do the things that she wanted to do, such a thing for her, would be far worse than dying.


    However the success rate of the operation was not high, but she was ready to take the risk, without consulting Andrei.


    When Andrei knew about the situation from her father, Andrei''s world started to crumble, he was utterly depressed, they were in love for more than four years, they had many precious memories and plans for the future, where they would have children, live peacefully and grow old together.


    He couldn''t imagine losing her.


    He couldn''t imagine living without her anymore.


    He was in so much pain.


    But, he knew that he''s also Ann''s source of strength, thus he wanted to look tough in front of her. He visits her almost every day, and before going home he would go to the hospital chapel to pray for the successful operation.


    Andrei picked up the lighter and hugged Ann tightly, she sobbed into his chest unceasingly, her slender and pale hands clutching at his clothes. He held her in silence, as his tears that he wanted to hide started to flowing but he could only grit his teeth in order not to make a sound, he rocked her slowly as her tears soaked his chest, both of them was shaking, they knew they didn''t want to be separated from each other.


    "Then let''s light the candles together, it''s also our anniversary after all," Andrei''s heart was breaking, his heart sank so much that he could feel it getting numb. However he maintained a composed and peaceful smile in front of her.


    Since hearing the news he wasn''t able to smile honestly. He faked it, again and again, so much that sometimes he wanted to throw-up, deep within his heart, he is broken, he didn''t have any motivation all he though every day was his beloved.


    Every day he would ask himself, on why did she proceed with the operation without consulting him, why she, who was seriously striving for her dreams got the illness, why her who wanted to succeed in life in order to help her parents¡­ why her who always has time to go to church every week to pray... why her¡­ why her¡­ why her¡­ as time passed he began doubting the God he was clinging to.


    "Why¡­ her" he desperately questioned God in his mind as he saw her beautiful face.


    Andrei having the lighter lit all three candles.


    "Then¡­ make a wish for me Ann" Andrei suggested as he held the cake in front of her with the lit candles on top.


    "Ehhhh why??? I don''t want to though bleee" Ann made a slight smile as she refused strongly with her hand chopping Andrei''s head.


    "You''re really one stubborn woman aren''t you?" Andrei put the cake between them, "Okay how about this" Andrei increased the distance between the three candles from each other, so the candles would be near for their lips.


    "I will make the wish for the first one, and you''ll make your wish to that candle on your end, and for the center candle-"


    "We''ll make a wish together right?" Ann interrupted with her idea.


    "Yeah, so let''s start!" She joyfully raised her hand up in the air, just like a little kid.


    Andrei starred at the candle and made a desperate wish, "I wish for the operation to be successful, I can''t live without her, please, let it be successful, if you really exist, you should know how this girl supported me, took me out from the darkness and gave colors to my life, I can''t afford to lose her, I love her so much" and blew it.


    Next, Ann closed her eyes as she made her simple wish, "I wish for the operation to be successful, however, if I don''t make it, please let Andrei move on and find a girl worthy of his love, he might be faking it but I know¡­ I know his heart is breaking each time he sees me like this, however, I couldn''t help but cling to him, I''m human after all. I think there''s no girlfriend who doesn''t want to be spoiled by such a wonderful boyfriend? I wish his heart will stop being broken. I hope he heals, I love him so much" Ann''s eyes were filled with teardrops, and she blew the candle.


    They looked at her in the eyes, as they saw the reflection of each other as if pleading each other not to leave, not to disappear, and to keep loving for all eternity, but such a thing was getting blurred, by the present reality.


    For the last candle, they looked at each other and smiled at each other helplessly.


    "I wish for us to be together forever," in that instant the both of them blew the candle together.

 13 RESCUE MISSION AND RESOLVE

    While Andrei was busy reminiscing the past, Michaela was absorbed in thinking about what to do, and Claire still nonchalantly drinking her tea. But no matter how much she brainstormed it ended up in a dead-end, clouds began to darken and rain begins to fall so thickly, the three could hear it from inside, and they were all silent, as no one knew the answer.


    "She''s really at her own pace huh? Just recently he was gonna be like a superwoman who was going to save the world" Andrei thought while stealing glances at her.


    Then, he looked at Michaela who was still in doubt.


    From his memories, comparing the two enemies, the enemy that had taken away his beloved was an illness that couldn''t be treated in normal means, it wasn''t an enemy that he could fight, all he could do was pray, he was at the mercy of it.


    However the current enemy before them were thoughtless villains who wanted to take advantage of the situation and lead a nation into chaos for personal gains. He couldn''t stand the situation, he knew how it felt, being powerless to protect someone you love, but this time something was different, the enemy is not invincible, they are flesh and blood humans, "there must be a workaround to save the hostages while also ensuring the queen''s safety." He thought while looking at the two.


    "I can''t stand this" Andrei stood up the table, but a fork immediately came flying to him from Claire''s direction.


    "What??? You want to play hide and seek again? Can''t you read the situation dumbass?" Claire''s expression was serious, and her eyes were not dead, only her tone remained the same.


    "No! No! not that situation, but YOUR situation," Andrei jerked away for having a fork suddenly thrown to him, when he looked at his back it buried itself to the wooden cabinet. "Glad it didn''t hit me, that was scary, more like... this girl is scary," he thought to himself with his hands in the air, telling her not to throw another one again.


    Michaela who was worried came to her senses and shifted her attention to Andrei. The old knight is still on his position, waiting for the final decision.


    "This has nothing to do with you until you marry my sister, don''t get involved," Claire didn''t want Andrei to get involved further.


    Seeing her, Andrei was reminded of how he was when he heard the news about Ann when someone asked he''d be silent or walked out. He kept himself and Ann away from those who only wanted to know and to say something about their situation. He was doubtful of anyone who came asking him or tried to get involved, he didn''t care whether he would make enemies or not, one person was always on his mind, and that person was the only one that matters to him.


    Andrei took a deep breath, stood straight and faced Claire.


    "You know, I was in the same situation with you guys, I couldn''t do anything either," he spoke to her bluntly.


    "Really? Then you understand right? If they get killed, my sister would blame herself, even if I want to go, she wouldn''t allow me!"


    "I''m still not done Ms. Claire," Andrei told Claire seriously when she saw his expression, she realized that he was dead serious, she decided to shut up and tried to avert her gaze playing with the empty teapot.


    "My situation was that the enemy was invincible, and I had no means to fight it, all I could do was pray.


    But for you guys, the enemies are flesh and blood humans, the outcome can be possibly changed if we think more about it. There must be some workaround in order to achieve both, ensuring the queen''s safety and rescuing the attendants.


    If you feel not giving up, you shouldn''t give up, or else you will only have regrets in the end, like what I had before," Andrei told them bluntly, "not that I have already moved on from those regrets though," he thought to himself.


    "That is what I''m thinking about right now Andrei", Michaela was thinking with her hand on her chin.


    "Is that so? From what I am seeing you are thinking of a decision, not a plan right?" Andrei could guess what she was thinking, before coming up with a plan, she had to make a decision. But for Andrei its important to know first about the success rate of each plan, so the leader''s decision would make sense more.


    "What else should I think about? I may not look like it but I command troops to war, and I know a large scale of strategies, but no matter how much I rack my mind for an answer, it won''t come.


    A way not to risk me being in another accident, while also rescuing the hostages...


    First, if I myself and some knights were to step into that territory, it could be considered hostile and a declaration of war.


    Next, even if I sent spies who are used to walking around Kydus undetected, they aren''t armed well against those bronze plates they won''t stand a chance, they are also very valuable assets for us to gain information.


    Lastly, I can''t ask help from Kydus Empire, even we are allies, there''s an ongoing power struggle, we can''t risk getting sandwiched between them.


    So all I could do was to think of the right decision, to save or not, realistically the latter would be much better, as the queen, the pillar of the kingdom, but I have to admit, my heart can''t just settle down, it''s all... it''s all my fault." Tears gathered at Michaela''s eyes, the servants were not just ordinary servants for her, they were her closest aides since she was a child she was with them until she grew up, she had a fondness for them.


    The words echoed with Andrei''s heart, "This is my fault". Memories came flashing to his mind, it was the times where he felt powerless and depressed fighting for the things in his dark past, and when he was drowned in self-hate, these were the times when Ann would sit with him, console him and cry with him, he could remember her doing so much for him, so much that he couldn''t count anymore, "can I be like you Ann?" he muttered silently, he knew something large was at stake, and he would be hurting people on the process, but right now he knew what was needed to be done. Andrei definitely doesn''t want to become a hero, but he wanted to pass on the warmth that his ex-girlfriend gave him, the warmth of going far for someone, because they are important, because they are precious, because they are sad and in need of help, because they have also supported you in the past.


    "Then, I will rescue them for you, this is not your fault," he went closer to Michaela and patted her in her shoulder.


    "So now, it''s my turn huh¡­ Ann" he thought deeply as he saw Michaela''s crystal blue eyes looking up to him. "It was instinctive but I really don''t have a plan on how to deal with it. But, It''s true that I want to help them, I want to offer my strength, just like what Ann did for me, there must be something only I can do for these people."


    "What are you saying dumbass? Don''t think you''re special just because you saved my sister, even if it''s you we can''t send knights with you to enter another territory," Claire stopped sitting her tea and stared daggers at Andrei.


    "No I''m not talking about that-" before Andrei could say anything, he was again interrupted, but this time by Michaela.


    "No, I won''t allow that Andrei, you only got lucky that time, but a rescue like this is not that simple as you think it is," she turned away from him and crossed her arms.


    "Hey listen to me first both of you¡­" Andrei became tired listening to the two who kept interrupting his sentences. "I also know that this rescue mission is insane, but let me draft my plan first before you say anything okay? And Claire, I don''t need knights"


    "Three, you don''t need knights? Then are you planning to go alone?"


    "No, I said let me formulate a plan first, then you decide whether I go or not, okay?" He looked at Michaela who looked at him with worry. "Okay, if you''re this persistent"


    "What made you think¡­ no, why did you decide to volunteer Andrei? Too fishy" Claire asked in her sweet and flat tone.


    "Secret" Andrei put his index finger in the front of his mouth stylishly.


    "Ahhhhh is that so" Claire''s eyes turned to dead-fish, which made Andrei panic and tried to retract his words.


    "Okay okay I got it, I''ll tell you before or after we conduct the mission"


    "Ehhhh you''re confident that you''ll be returning safely?"


    "What''s wrong with that!"


    "No, but yeah, it really makes you wonder, why a wuss like you would suddenly want to conduct an insane rescue mission, and you said you don''t need knights. Are you crazy Andrei? Isn''t that too fishy? You''re not even a strong warrior. Sister maybe we should have the doctor take a look at him again?" Her deadpan expression made the insults more offensive for Andrei.


    "Thanks¡­ for pointing out the harsh reality Ms. Claire¡­ BUT I AM NOT CRAZY YOU KNOW! I DON''T NEED A DOCTOR!"


    "See he''s acting up again sister, it''s creepy" Claire seemed to ignore Andrei''s protest.


    "Stop it Claire hahaha" Michaela laughed slightly which made the two who was bantering to look at Michaela at the center.


    "Maybe your sister is the crazy one Michaela," Andrei said still looking at the laughing twin-tailed blonde in front of him. "I guess you really find the smallest things funny when you''re sad huh?" Andrei was reminded of a psychology trivia he has seen on the internet.


    "Forget formulating a plan, I will kill you right now," then a kitchen knife flew at the side of Andrei''s head from Claire''s direction.


    "Stop it! No to violence! Are you a ninja or something?! You''re even wasting utensils!" Andrei''s almost got a heart attack every time the utensils from Claire''s plate came flying at him.


    "Give me a map and a pen" Andrei stood up from his seat and extended his hand to Michaela, "I''ll come up with the best plan I can, it''s up to you if you want to use it or not"


    "What''s a pen?" Claire and Michaela asked in chorus.


    "Ahhh sorry, anyway just give me something to write," he said while opening his one hand towards Michaela.


    "If that''s what you need, you can have a quill and paper. It''s amazing, you can write Andrei?" Michaela''s eyes sparked with excitement.


    "You can write dumbass?" Claire didn''t want to let go of the conversation without dissing him for the last time.


    "You know Ms. Claire, aren''t you becoming more brutal to me?"


    "Then follow me, I''ll lead you to the planning chamber," Michaela offered, as she held his hand and lead him the way.

 14 CHAOS AT MIZAR SETTLEMEN

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    Michaela and her servants stayed at an inn for nobles, it had a grandiose appearance and was well lit and clean, there was a hall for dining aside from the rooms, where that allows nobles to socialize with each other.


    "Tsk¡­ That prince really infuriates me! Ahhhhh I shouldn''t have even bothered to show up. There''s no way I''m gonna deal with someone who treats women as playthings. Never!"


    Michaela was taking her bath in her room, the inn had facilities fitting for nobles who visit the capital, such as the dining hall and a large bath, but for her, she wanted to take hers in her own room. The whole Kydus empire was divided into three sections, with the capital nearest to the castle,


    Mizar settlement served as one of the routes for the second city before reaching the innermost capital.


    "Your highness, I''ll be leaving the towel just right here". A maid with braided hair spoke to the door of the bath where Michaela was relaxing her nerves.


    The maid wore glasses that gave her an intellectual look, she also wore the golden ring that represents her position as the head maid and as a member of the family that served the Acirendra royal family for generations.


    "Yes, thank you Clarissa" Michaela responded from inside, she got up and got changed after a while, she went to the dining hall where servants ordered various dishes for their masters. Her maids already prepared her dishes on the table. She passed by the other nobles along the way that took glances at her, some of them wanted to socialize but she only gave a majestic smile which made her hard to approach.


    Michaela was dressed in her white long sleeve accompanied by a golden breastplate, kneepads and a skirt, after walking for a while, she reached the stairs and walked down, to find her maids and butlers dressed in their formal attire, lined up opening a path to her table. The gaps of the tables were big, other nobles had their own servants serving their food for them, the reception hall was decorated by crystal-like chandeliers and a large number of candles on each table.


    "Your highness, dinner preparations have been made, there''s also no signs of poison and magic during the taste test." The one who greeted the queen was a maid named Celeste Challender, the maid in charge of food preparations for her, she has a violet hair that hung till her shoulders, and was shorter than other maids, she was assigned to the task due to her ability to detect magic power, so Michaela took her whenever she went on trips, if the meal has been enchanted by magic to cause harm to her master, she will immediately be able to detect it.


    "Good work, Clarissa, Celeste, the butlers will stay with me, for the other maids you can have your dinner on your quarters, switch with the butlers after you finish" commanded Michaela as she graciously took her seat.


    "Yes your highness, six maids disappeared from the hall in order to have their own dinner. The butlers stood meters behind Michaela as she ate, to guard her and serve her with anything she needed. There were two of them, a young butler named Olin and Alfred Dyer.


    Alfred is an old man that his white hair and beard showed his age, while his grandson Olin is a young man with average features, what made him stand out was his shaved hair, Olin was Alfred''s apprentice teaching him the ropes of being an impressive butler, they stood on each side at the back of their master while she ate, when suddenly, while their master began dining, she suddenly acted strangely.


    "...I''m sleepy," Michaela suddenly felt sleep, and leaned her head to the table, it made her drop her wine glass and it shattered into pieces, the other nobles noticed this and they whispered to each other.


    "Your highness?" Olin asked in a panic, as he saw his master asleep on the table, they went to tap her in the shoulder but there was no response from her, the next thing he did was to check her pulse by imbuing mana to his hand and have it detect any anomalous magic or poison in her blood, it was Alfred''s gift, and also the reason why he was chosen as a butler.


    "She hasn''t been poisoned, there''s no magic? but what''s happening? This isn''t normal!" Alfred was taken aback and looked at Olin in the eyes. "What are you doing? Call the maids and search the surroundings immediately! If its a sleeping spell the caster might still be around, kill him once you see him!"


    "Yes!" Olin disappeared from the hall after he gave a bow.


    Alfred looked around the hall to see the other nobles and their servants who shot at them with different expressions, some are whispering and murmuring to each other as they looked at the scene.


    "This is bad, I have to get her highness away from their sights as soon as possible, or else this would cause a huge scandal," Alfred bowed to the other nobles, "Pardon us, ladies and gentlemen, my master has been tired from a long journey it seems like she didn''t have enough sleep, we will take her to her quarters as soon as possible."


    Clarissa and Celeste arrived, and with a nod they took their master on their shoulders and brought her along the stairs going to the room.


    But before they could get to the room they heard loud voices of a man forcing his way to the inn.


    "We have come under the orders of the second prince! We have come to escort the queen of Ethareri back to the palace!" One of the men told the guards who were guarding the extravagant inn, he was wearing a bronze armor like the rest of his men.


    "But sir can you show us proof?" one of the guards of the inn asked while reaching out his hand towards the bronze-plated knight.


    "Here''s your proof!" In a flash the knight took out his sword, cut the arm given to him.


    "Ga-gaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh," the guard screamed in pain, he rolled in the floor while trying to contain the pain.


    "Search the inn! Kill anyone who gets in the way!" ordered the knight to his men.


    "Defend the place! These guys declared the royal name and failed to give evidence! They are the same as thieves or bandits!" Screamed one of the guards who dragged his comrade who''s screaming in pain by his collar rapidly.


    The guards were wearing thin but flexible steel armor, armed only with pikes there were ten of them guarding the entrance to the inn, the bronze-plated knights were only eight. However they were armed with shields and longswords, the standard issue of the Kydus empire.


    A fight broke out between the guards and knights, they exchanged blows, with the guards wielding their pikes skillfully, bu they easily dropped in numbers, as the knights before them are more skilled and equipped than they are.


    "Vice-captain! they''re going to break the line soon. Evacuate together with the customers!" the captain of guards commanded his vice-captain.


    "No captain! If I leave the formation, they are more likely to break through the line! That is suicidal even for you! The nobles haven''t completed yet their escape!" The vice-captain screamed back to his captain in a worried manner.


    "If you don''t go then we will all be killed! Look at those eyes! Those eyes are the eyes of murderers! If you go there might be a chance of survival, our deaths will not be in vain! So..." the captain gave his sword to his vice-captain, took his pike, and pushed him away from their line.


    "Go! You have come this far to become an outstanding fighter, you are young, your journey should not end here! Go and report to this to the Kydus knights guarding the second gate! Go!"


    "Yes sir! Please... be safe!" he responded and reluctantly and ran towards the inn. Inside nobles and their servants ran in all directions causing chaos and panic, as the exit was but a small ladder at the back.


    The maids tried to wake up their queen in the dinner hall, but no matter what they did she wouldn''t wake up. "This is bad Alfred, she''s not waking up" Clarissa spoke to Alfred.


    "Then we have no choice but to take her out of this place as soon as possible!" Celeste suggested,


    Olin came to the hall with his sweat dripping from his face, out of breath he went to Alfred.


    "Enemy knights have come for the queen!" The attendants opened their mouths in shock, "the guards... are stalling them... for now, but they are not gonna last longer than a few more minutes!"


    "Alfred... we must go right now!" Celeste interrupted.


    "Yeah that''s right, secure the carriage immediately," Alfred responded.


    The maids dressed in common folks'' clothing in order not to attract attention while escaping. Except for the head maids who had no time to change, carrying their master to where the carriage was parked.


    "Ms. Clarissa... " Olin looked around them noticing the presence of some men lurking behind the trees.


    "Yeah, I know" Clarissa looked at Olin who smiled lightly and nodded in response, they pushed their master into the carriage and Alfred sat on the horseman''s couch.


    "Alfried, go," Clarissa spoke sternly as she took out a dagger from her pocket.


    "Why Ms. Clarissa? Why are you not going inside the carriage? Also Olin why are you just standing there?" The old man looked at the two who were for some reason, was taking a battle stance.


    "Please go, take the queen away from this dangerous place," Olin responded while taking a knife from his chest pocket.


    "Just go!" Celeste screamed her heart out.


    Alfred looked at the area and noticed what they were wary of, men lurking behind trees were waiting for an ambush.


    "Three... no.. six?" Alfred thought as he scanned over the area, his old age have dulled his senses, however, the two maids and his apprentice noticed it and decided to stay in order to give time for them to escape, other servants who wore commoners clothes also for some reason, wasn''t able to leave the inn yet.


    His heart ached thinking of leaving the other servants who were still inside and the three young people taking out their weapons, to give time for them to escape.


    He closed his eyes in regret, "thank you, Clarissa, Celeste, and Olin, please escape as soon as the carriage disappears from their sights, hyah!" He whipped the horses reluctantly which then immediately ran to the highway.


    "Hyah! Hyah! Hyaaaah!" tears fell from Alfred''s eyes as he gritted his teeth, hitting the horses making them pull the carriage faster.


    "Faster... faster... faster, those young''uns, I can''t make their sacrifices be in vain!" After a few minutes of running the carriage, he was almost at the exit of the settlement. The wooden gate was lit by large torches giving off a hopeful scene for Alfred. However at the same time, several small torches were lit from behind him approaching at high speed.


    "This is bad, they''re catching up to us" Alfred reached something from his clothes and threw it in the ground. The things that he threw stuck into the ground, they were tiny metals in the shape of a star.


    As the tiny lights approached the ground where Alfred threw the stars, sounds of horses panicking can be heard, and some of the lights fell down and was extinguished. Alfred did it again and again however the lights were numerous, a single throw could extinguish two to three flames but the numbers approaching were more than ten.


    After a few minutes, Alfred reached for his pocket and noticed that he ran out of metal stars to throw, he could hear the screams of the pursuing men riding behind him.


    "Get the old man!"


    "Yes sir!"


    The horses were running at top speed, however, the horses that the men rode were faster, Alfred could now see the figures of the men approaching him. They wore bronze plated armor and had the eyes for murder, for knights they looked too dirty and unorderly.


    When he saw blood in some of their swords, he was aggravated thinking of the young ones who stayed to fight.


    "Youuuuu MURDERERS!!" he took a crossbow from a bag beside him, loaded it with three arrows and leaned to the side facing the men behind him to shoot, one arrow was able to take down one of the men leading the pursuit, but even with their comrade being shot down, still they continued.


    "Archers! Come here you incompetent fools! Shoot the horses down!" Another one took the lead, and shouted, three men equipped with bows riding their horses came at the front of the pursuers.


    Alfred heard the command and looked at the horses, "If they shoot these down, forget about escaping, the queen will definitely be killed. I have to take down those archers or divert their attention somehow," he looked at his crossbow and the five remaining arrows. He prayed deep inside his heart, "I can''t let their sacrifices go to waste, at least, may her highness be able to survive this farce."


    With determination and resolve, he tied the lower part of his body to the coach and readied his crossbow pulling its strings, loading it with three arrows. He leaned from to the side of the running carriage facing the pursuers behind him, revealing the upper half of his body. He aimed the crossbow at the archers.


    "Take this! You idiots! Whoever paid you to do these barbaric acts! I Alfred Dyer will deliver punishment to you!" He aimed and pulled the trigger thrice and among the three arrows he shot down two archers leaving one archer who was hit at his leg.


    "You fucking old man!" The last archer became angrier with the pain of his leg being hit. The old man''s upper body disappeared after shooting.


    "He''ll definitely aim for me, I am the only threat left to stop the horses after all," he nocked an arrow, pulled the string and aimed at the spot and waited until the old man''s upper body showed again and he released the string. The arrow flew towards the old man and was hit in his gut, however, the moment he was shot, he have already pulled the trigger and hit the archer in the head.


    "Haaa... haaa... haaa" Alfred dragged his upper body back to his seat and saw his gut bleeding, dyeing his clothes with red. "I''ve... done... everything... I could... your highness". He kept whipping and whipping and whipping the horses until he lost his strength, and when he saw the carriage pass by the torches at the gates, he murmured while blood came out from his mouth.


    "Long live the Kingdom of Ethareri... long live the royal family... long live the... queen"


    And at that moment, the loyal servant Alfred Dyer of Ethareri lost his life, however, the horses he kept on whipping miraculously continued its speed until it has reached the plains pulling the carriage where the queen of Ethareri slept, unaware of what is happening, with its pursuers still on their tracks.


    ...


    "Huh? My body feels heavy..." Michaela half-consciously felt that her body was being pressed by another person''s weight. Her vision is blurred but he could hear the voices that seems to be searching for them.


    "Kill the witch! HAHAHAHA! Burn her at the stake!"


    "Don''t sweat it, this place is plain. If they escaped we would have already seen them here, see?" Another soldier replied while riding his horse. He then lit extra torches and threw two torches randomly.


    "See? Nothing, We need to hurry up and catch-up to the carriage instead, you dumbass! If they escape, your head alone wouldn''t suffice for it!" The man who replied in a commanding tone was definitely their leader.


    "Eeeeeeeeeehhhhh!!! Yes, sir!" The underling, scared of his boss, rode his horse again and tried to catch up to his comrades that had ridden farther than him.


    Michaela''s battle senses kicked-in that made her completely wake-up however she refrained from moving, she could barely see the face of the person covering her entire body. As Michaela heard the conversation of the ones that searched for them, she became angered knowing what they have done, however, she felt that she didn''t have the strength to fight them, as if her mana was drained.


    Remembering how her servants offered their lives to protect her, she knew that her first priority was to survive, knowing that her current situation is saving her at the moment, she continued pretending to be unconscious.


    "This guy, why is he covering me? did he just save me?"


    While drowsed, she heard the raid happen, the screams of her servants, Alfred leaving Olin, Celeste, and Clarissa, and the last words of Alfred, "Alfred, Clarissa, Celeste, Olin, everyone, I''m sorry, I have let you die," she thought as a subtle pain emerged into her heart, imagining their faces smiling at her, and knowing that she has let them die, "I''m sorry, it''s my fault," then she took a peak at her savior that covered her.


    "He saved me, but I don''t know what his intentions are, for now, I''ll pretend to be unconscious, and when the pursuers are gone, I will kill him if he''s a threat"


    After a few hours, the dawn came with a musical silence, the soul hearing the melody that the ears could not. A new day had come, new possibilities, a fresh page yet to be written, the pursuers were gone, and the guy removed his body from hers and sat down beside her, Michaela peeked with one eye on what was the guy was going to do to her.


    The guy directed his gaze to her so she closed her eyes, only relying on her senses to find out what would happen next. To her surprise the guy did nothing but say weird things.


    "Seriously, why do they want to kill an innocent-looking girl like her, but it wouldn''t be really cute if she really was a witch and ate me right?"


    "Who''s going to eat you, idiot! Just what do you think of me?" she thought while still pretending to be unconscious.


    After a few minutes, she couldn''t sense or hear the guy anymore so she slowly opened her eyes.


    "Did he leave?" she then sat down to confirm where the guy has gone, but to her surprise she found the guy beside her sleeping.


    She looked at his face closely. "Oh, a young man, he''s about the same age as me" then she looked at his clothes, touched it, crumpled it and played with it.


    "These are strange clothes, is he a foreigner?"


    She finished the inspection and found the guy did not have any bladed weapons other than some weird items on his pocket, to Michaela, they weren''t sharp to kill anyone. She was rest assured and sat down properly to collect her thoughts.


    After recalling the turn of events she kept her tears within her heart, as the queen of the Kingdom. But she herself knew the truth, she loved the people around her, her servants and her people are of no exemption. In return they loved their queen and held her dear, her strength came from these people.


    "But I''ve let them die because of my miscalculation," she thought.


    She bit her lip and crumpled the grass beneath her hand, the grass she crumpled on her left froze, while on the grass on her right hand burned.


    Then she looked at the guy beside her, his hair was caught in the fire. "Oh, sorry sorry" she pressed her left hand on the part and then fire disappeared, then a deep sigh came from her. "Sorry, I almost burned you," suddenly the guy changed his position and put her arm around her.


    "This is what you are aiming for huh? You pervert!" She raised her right hand ready to burn the guys'' face however when she saw his sleeping face she extinguished the fire on her hand.


    "Ahhh he''s sleeping huh?" she tried to remove his hand from her chest however he only hugged her tighter.


    "If you''re pretending to be asleep I''ll kill you, you know?" Nerves started to pop on her head.


    "You really are an idiot aren''t you? Every time you sigh you lose happiness you know? So for now cry in my arms so that you could move on.


    It''s not anyone''s fault, good things and bad things together they happen in life, they are irreversible, but if you try your best tomorrow, you can do your best to change things to the outcome you want it to be, so... just... stay here... and cry for now¡­ until... tomorrow... comes." The guy was sleep-talking however his words made a very deep impact on her soul. She knew that the words weren''t necessarily for her, but for her those were the words she needed the most at the time.


    "Hahaha... hahaha" Michaela started to laugh.


    "What''s with this guy?" She said to herself.


    "Hahaha... hahaha...haha.. [sniff] [sniff]" Michaela didn''t notice that as she laughed, tears started to fall from her eyes, that in a few seconds she was crying her heart out.


    All her frustrations of not being able to save those whom she loved, the hate she pent-up on herself for being a failure of a queen, this time she let them all out.


    "What... what the hell is with this guy. " she thought deep within her heart.


    She decided to not move from her position until she was able to stop her tears. Help came later with Erneis leading twelve of the golden knights on horseback.


    "I''ve found the queen!" one of the knights shouted.


    "What? Where?"


    "Come over here sir!"


    Erneis went to the are and there he saw the young queen with puffy eyes in the arms of a strange young man in weird clothes. They were both lying in the grass of the plains and seemed to be asleep.


    Michaela noticed the presences around her, and woke-up immediately. "Crap I fell asleep" when she came to, the knights of her nation were surrounding her, "did they see me in that embarrassing position?" her face reddened having the thought.


    "Your highness, I''m glad that you are safe!" the knights around her placed their hand in their chest and bowed, "Yes, thank you, this is all because of the efforts of my attendants... however" she started to sulk again.


    Erneis was also able to get a grasp of the situation, these were the kind of things happens mostly to nobles of high birth, especially for her who was the queen of the country, but he also knew the fact that her queen loves her people so much that their deaths may have greatly affected her even if she didn''t show it.


    "For now... let''s get back to the kingdom your highness," the old man suggested with his hands still on his chest.


    "Indeed" Michaela got up and fixed herself.


    "Then what shall we do about this gentleman beside you your highness? And who is he?"


    Michaela thought of an answer, she was going to say what the guy has done for her and the turn of events. However she felt a warm feeling with her heart as she looked at the sleeping face of the guy beside her.


    "It''s been so long since I felt warm inside my heart like this," she sat down on the grass to stroke his hair with her slender fingers. She stood again and looked at Erneis who was still bowing, and with a warm smile she answered him.


    "Ahhhh he is... my soon-to-be husband," a breeze brushed past her hair, and when she looked up the sunrise came as if it had missed the sky and wanted nothing more than to warm up those blues to a radiant gold, and now that she was safe, it was time for her to come home and attend to her duties.

 15 OPERATION PREPARATION

    "Mizar settlement is on the east side of the Kydus Empire, for travelers going to and from our Kingdom Ethareri and Sagrait Federation, this place is the only entrance and exit.


    Kydus also had a west entrance and exit for the travelers going from and to the Holy Land of Adrar, a religious country headed by the pope."


    Erneis began discussing the locations of each country as Andrei requested, in order for him to properly come up with a plan, he needed to have information firsthand, but Andrei was astounded of the great difference of the worlds hearing the discussion.


    "So this is a part of the map of this world huh, it seems that they don''t have a world map yet," he thought, as he opened his mouth while looking at the map while listening to Erneis'' discussion. It was a detailed map on the continent where countries are plotted, it included rivers, mountains and some Island nations, the closest nation to Kydus was Ethareri, and next to it was Sagrait Empire, further north was the Holy Land of Adrar, a nation founded by religion. Andrei focused on the country he resides in, and the potential enemy, Kydus.


    "So if you want to raid the settlement you would need to place some forces here," Erneis moved several figurines to the left of the entrance of the settlement.


    "The location can be a good cover for archers who will fire from the gate, assuming the enemy soldiers were really knights from Kydus, they would have never forgotten some lookouts on the walls regardless-"


    "Wait¡­ assuming? Weren''t they really knights from that empire?" Andrei interrupted.


    "No, I don''t really think so" Michaela responded, sitting on the chair, crossing her legs.


    "Or should I say, the possibility is very low for Kydus to attack or kidnap me directly like that, first of all, our kingdom has an alliance with them. Next, our military strength is of no threat to them, plus even if I did offend the prince in some way, he just can''t issue an order like that overnight. Finally, their plan was perfect, that if there wasn''t an irregularity it would have really succeeded"


    "Irregularity?" Andrei asked in confusion, "Was there something like that?"


    "It''s you, idiot," Claire interrupted.


    "Ahhh okay, but wait¡­ the way you say that really pisses me off you know Ms.Claire? If you''re gonna diss me at least put some feelings or it will feel so real!" Andrei crossed his arms as he puffed out his chest, not willing to lose to her.


    "Ahhh because it''s real"


    "Ahem¡­" Erneis interrupted the banter of the two.


    "So how will you execute the mission Sir Andrei? It would be better if you could tell us the details. How many of our soldiers would you be needing?" continued the old man, pressing Andrei for an answer.


    "Ahhhh I don''t think I will be needing your soldiers" Andrei said nonchalantly.


    The room was filled with silence. Until Michaela decided to talk.


    "I thought you were more than this darling" she sighed.


    "Real deal idiot" Claire joined in.


    "Wha-what did you just say Sir. Andrei? Are you underestimating our soldiers? Our knight orders? That is an insult!" The old man almost choked while shouting his disagreement with Andrei.


    "Hey hey hey! At least let me finish first!" Andrei calmed down the three of their disappointment.


    Before going to the planning chamber Andrei already had a feasible plan in his mind, in order to complete the objectives of the mission which are, the safety of the queen, rescue of the hostages, and an optional objective; to punish the assailants.


    However he was unsure if the materials needed to complete the mission were around during the era of the country he is in right now. He also wanted to know everything about the settlement, it''s structure, the materials of the houses, and other information that could greatly affect the success of the mission.


    "First, why I said the I don''t need knights, that''s because you don''t want that superpower to go to war with you right?" Andrei held out his hand to make a point.


    "Then we''ll make them wear commoners clothes" Erneis suggested.


    "But what if they got caught? Torture will surely make them spit out where they are from. Plus, your knights are prideful and indeed very honorable, however, with the way, I will execute these things, those good qualities will simply be on the way." He crossed his hands and shook it.


    "Then what do you need darling?" Michaela interrupted with curiosity and worry.


    "First, I want to confirm if you have some materials," he smiled as he looked at them.


    "Materials?" Michaela asked him, curious of what he needed it for.


    "Yes, I need, empty liquor or wine bottles, sugar, wax, saltpeter, lamp oil, and rags or any unused clothes"


    "Are you going to bribe them Sir?" Erneis was in shock however, he was also curious about what the young man in front of him would want to do with such household materials.


    "No, I''m going to make something, if I get the materials and make it, it would easier to explain the purpose while making the tools and conducting the tests. Michaela can I ask you something?" Andrei looked at the worried face of the beautiful blonde girl beside him who responded in a startled manner.


    "Wha-Wha-What is it darling?"


    "Was there a location of the meetup indicated on the letter?"


    "No, in situations like this, the royal family would have to send a messenger for a reply, if I write that I agree to meet up with them, then they would send the messenger back to me with the location and conditions"


    "How long does this process take?"


    "Three days at the most"


    "Then please send the messenger tomorrow morning, agreeing on the proposal"


    "Watch your words, Sir Andrei! Even if you''re her highness''s betrothed, you can''t just send her to the enemy, even if it''s only for decoy purposes," Erneis said in a serious tone, which startled him a bit, looking at the brave aura of the old man.


    "No I don''t plan on letting the queen even take a step outside this palace," Andrei explained and continued. "If Michaela is right, the hostage-takers should be fake knights or bandits right? Going by that, then there''s no need to be honest with our response letter, its just to give us time. Once we know the location, the operation will start."


    "You''ve got a point" Claire commented while playing with the pieces. "So you need people right? How many would you need?" she took one piece of the figures and dangled it in front of Andrei.


    "I don''t need knights, but yes, I do need people" he took the piece from Claire and made it stand on his palm and stretched his hand to the map, and stared at it.


    "I need people who can act, good with their hands, and are agile enough, they should be able to execute these three qualities even under pressure," then he put gave the piece to Michaela who''s on his side.


    "It would be also better if they can fight, I can''t really kill or fight for real you know?" Andrei smiled which made Michaela look down and blush, "weren''t she always on the offensive earlier?" Andrei thought as he looked at her girlish behavior. "Can you find people like that? I would need at least the number of merchants and their servants that''d be in one caravan"


    "We already have people like that" Claire stood up."Percy, come in" a maid with black and short hair came in, Claire went to the maid and whispered something, the maid nodded and went outside immediately.


    Andrei and Michaela looked at Claire.


    "What did you tell her Claire?" Michaela asked.


    "Ahhhh, I just told her to gather all maids available in the house," she answered nonchalantly.


    "Why?" Andrei tilted his head in confusion.


    "Our maids and butlers have combat experience, they are also good with their hands, and most of all they are of common birth, which means¡­"


    "They are a perfect fit for the operation!" Andrei interrupted in delight.

 16 OPERATION PREPARATION II

    Andrei went to his room, he was mentally tired of the sudden turn of events.


    "Ahhh, I volunteered to command the operation but, can I really do this?" he laid on the bed with his feet still on the floor, he put his arm on his forehead and let out a deep sigh. He''s currently wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and breeches, as his original clothes have been taken by the maids for laundry.


    "I may have technological knowledge since I''m from an advanced era, but what if someone really dies? I won''t be able to sleep peacefully if it really happens." He has seen modern-day battles on TV; terrorists versus the government. However he himself never experienced it himself. He could stand gore scenes since he volunteered on search and recovery operations during disasters, but the weight of being a commander of a group of people would be hard even for him.


    Then he remembered his older brothers who went to the academy and became outstanding military officers, one was in the air force and two became officers in the army.


    "This is what it feels huh? To hold people''s lives in your hands" he stared at his hands and contemplated on his decision, "What''s done is done, I need to only think about every possible scenario; the best and worst case, and find out the best possible routes, actions, and options. Think logically, assess risks, as you deal with things," he told himself.


    "Unlike my brothers who have enrolled and graduated on the academy, my knowledge is limited to what has been taught to me, however, if it''s something that could help save them from the despair, then I will lend them this knowledge, so it may become a part of their strength. This is what should I do right? Ann?" He stood up and went to the drawer where he put his phone. He turned on his phone and unlocked it, various icons were displayed with two people in the background; himself and his beloved Ann. In the picture both had warm smiles written all over their faces with Ann hugging him from his side.


    Andrei felt a warmed in his heart, as he checked the date and time it showed.


    [September 27, 2018, 9:56 PM]


    "I don''t know if this is the real-time and date on this world, however¡­ tomorrow''s supposed to be a monthsary huh?"


    To save battery for important things that he might need the phone in the future, he decided to turn off his phone. He removed the phone case to test its voltage and its built-in firestarter. With a click the red light turned on and electricity made a crackling sound. "Hmmm¡­ the voltage is still good despite using it on that meathead"


    He took out the metal stick from the side and ignited it by sliding it with the side, "the fire starter seems to be also working properly, well it''s a survival kit after all, where did Ann even buy this?"


    He returned the gadgets back to their place and went to his table.


    "Hmmm¡­ papers and a map, and a quilt? I really don''t know how to use that one, but I guess I have no choice. Hmm¡­ there also seems to be a woman sitting beside the table¡­ wait¡­ what the! Claire why are you here? and since when were you here?"


    Andrei thought that he was the only one in the room, he didn''t notice anyone coming in. His heart almost jumped when he saw Claire nonchalantly fiddling with papers on his table, "ahhh the door seems to be open so I came in, you seemed so busy fiddling with those things in the drawer so I didn''t bother to disturb you" she responded in her flat voice as usual.


    "At least knock!!!" Andrei sighed. "Is this your magic or something?" he held his heart, and calmed himself down.


    "Ahh if it''s magic, then this would be a curse you know like people don''t even feel my presence and existence, do you know how that feels," she shrugged and looked at Andrei.


    "I¡­ I got it.. I got it. So why are you here?"


    "I gathered the materials"


    "But the test was supposed to be tomorrow, you came here to just tell me that?"


    "No, let''s test it tonight," her eyes sparkled with interest.


    "Why? Ahh, you''re curious aren''t you? Enough to bother you from sleeping? HAHAHA!" Andrei put his hands on his waist and puffed out his chest, boasting.


    "Ahhh that''s one reason but that''s not all"


    "Then what are the other reasons?"


    "It''s a secret"


    "C''mon¡­"


    "Then I will also ask and pry further on why do you have those strange objects, why are you wearing those weird clothes, and why do you not know much about the customs of the countries, do you want me to do that?"


    "Ahhh no, please don''t, I completely understand that maidens have their own secrets... Hmmm..hmmm" Andrei nodded while sweat appeared on his forehead.


    "Well, I think you might be cowering again, being a commander of such a high-risk mission like this" she leaned to the table stretching her hands on top of it, Andrei felt tired sat in front of her.


    "Well, I''d be lying if I wasn''t" Andrei responded with a complicated smile on his face.


    "Just as I''ve guess, your hand was shaking after all earlier"


    "You noticed that?"


    "Well thinking about it, it''s obvious. You might be able to trick my sister since you saved her and showed her your cool side and all, but you can''t fool me you know. You made that choice because of us right? But it''s not totally because of us, you have another reason for it I''m sure."


    "I hate intuitive women like you" Andrei tried to joke around by saying a cliche catchphrase.


    "Don''t worry I will gladly fight you" Claire pulled out a large knife from her dress.


    "Sorry, I''m joking, and where were you hiding that knife seriously?"


    "Anyway, what I''m telling you is that I know that you have another reason for helping us with this case, it may be for yourself, for your past, but I''m sure it''s something that won''t harm us, so I just want to thank you, Andrei. If you didn''t offer your help, I''m afraid my sister would have acted on her own. Even if she hides it, I know that she''s desperate to save those people so¡­" Claire stood up and bowed her head to Andrei, "I''m really grateful, Thank you very much"


    "No¡­ No.. please raise your head. Are you a mind reader or something Claire? Oh sorry¡­ Ms. Claire?"


    "Claire is alright, you will be my future brother-in-law after all, why did-"


    "I really can''t cancel this marriage?"


    "No," she replied bluntly.


    "Well" Andrei sighed.


    "Anyway, why did you come up with that conclusion? That I''m a mind reader?"


    "Well, you''ve guessed the reason the other reason why I''m helping you, and to answer your question, yes it''s because of my past, and maybe I''m also doing it for myself, can you listen to a part of my story?"


    "Why are you telling me this?"


    "Because I''m in a good mood I guess?"


    "Well if you insist, I''ll at least lend an ear"


    "You''re really brutal to Claire you know. Anyway I have lost someone dear to me in my life, it''s because of an illness, and who do you think could fight illness?"


    "The doctor?"


    "Yes, the docto-, wait I''m not talking about that! Anyway, that person died of an illness. I have been regretting it for a long time. Not being in the position to help her, I just did nothing but visit her, made her laugh, gave her gifts. But that''s all it was, I couldn''t do anything to cut off the source of her pain, I did nothing but watch her from the sidelines as she battled with the pain of her illness, "the paper he was flicking as he spoke made a crisp sound as he crumpled it.


    "Well, when I thought of your situation when I saw Michael''s face after hearing the news. Knowing her position as queen of the kingdom, who couldn''t save the people she loves because of the circumstances.


    I saw myself in her, and thought that this time maybe¡­ I could fight those who cause the pain of those people, they may be strangers to me, but if I save them, then there might be salvation for me, I guess, it''s something like that.


    I''m really crappy right? Well that''s who I am" Andrei gave a faint but pained smile and completely crumpled the paper in front of him.


    "Well, I think you''re wrong," her reply was so abrupt.


    "Wha-"


    "Why are you regretting it?" Claire immediately interrupted with a serious expression on her face.


    "Well, because I did no-"


    "No, you visited that person right? You made her laugh? In other words you made her happy! How is that not fighting alongside her in her illness? The doctor might be the one who will be able to cure the disease however who gave her the strength to fight in the first place? Wasn''t it you?


    Don''t insult yourself! Do you think that self-pity would make her feel happy?


    If I was her and heard this from you, I would be really pissed you know?"


    Andrei was taken aback by Claire''s sudden unusual behavior. However her words, her scolding made him feel warm in his heart for some reason, the feeling made him give her a warm smile from his heart, "but you aren''t you already pissed now aren''t you? HAHAHA!" he laughed his heart out.


    "Why are you laughing?"


    "Well, it''s strange seeing your face have a serious expression, try to look at the mirror, HAHA, it''s cute," he tried to be playful, but when he felt a sharp object near his neck that he stop himself from laughing, sat properly and bowed to the girl he''s facing.


    "Ahhh sorry I apologize"


    ...


    A few minutes later the two were walking together with two maids who are bringing the materials. They arrived at the testing site, it was a wide and plain area with stakes all over the place.


    "This is?" He scanned the whole area.


    "Yes, it''s the training place for the order of knights"


    The maids organized the materials on the ground at Andrei''s instruction. When the preparation was done, the three girls sat on the ground.


    "Okay, first we will make a Molotov Cocktail!"


    "Ahhhh just as I''ve thought, you''re gonna poison those knights with that cocktail won''t you? That''s why you needed actors instead of knights... I''m disappointed Andrei" Claire immediately interrupted upon hearing the word cocktail and tried to stand up.


    "Ahhhhh it''s not really a cocktail you see, it''s just called like that, anyway just let me finish please!"


    The three nodded, Andrei sighed and started to make the Molotov bomb or also known as a molotov cocktail.


    "I feel like a terrorist" he thought as he picked up a bottle and put it in position, he grabbed the cloth and tore a piece of it.


    He soaked the piece of cloth on the lamp oil and set it aside, and filled ? of the bottle with lamp oil.


    After filling it up he inserted the cloth inside the bottle until it reached the part oil in the bottle.


    "Okay it''s done" he picked up the bottle and stood up,


    "Claire, can you do fire magic like your sister?"


    "Are you an idiot? of course, I can''t, I know some magic but it''s very different compared to my sisters'' "


    Andrei was silent for a while, "Ahhh they have different magic huh? I guess I''ll learn about magic after this operation too. It might increase my rate of survival," he then diverted his gaze to the maids sitting together with Claire.


    "You maidens are?" Andrei asked for their names, and the two gave their names with a slight bow.


    "Percy Dyster my lord"


    "Eve Waller my lord"


    Percy was the maid was the one that Claire called in the meeting, she has black hair that reached to her shoulders, while Eve is a maid with red hair color, she''s wearing the same maid outfit however something bulging on her chest took his attention.


    "Ummm¡­ please don''t stare too much my lord," Eve responded in her cute voice and immediately covered her body to hide it, on the other hand Andrei''s eyes suddenly got poked that he screamed in pain.


    "Well to continue¡­" Andrei''s eyes now have been tearing up due to being poked by none other than Claire.


    "Eve, Percy do you have matches? Or anything that could start fire?"


    Eve stood up and bowed, "if that''s the case, my lord, I can do a bit of fire magic, what do you want to do with the flame?" she tilted her head in curiosity.


    "Ahh I just want you to burn this cloth a little later, can you come here with me?" The maid nodded and went to Andrei''s side.


    "This Molotov Cocktail is a type of explosive, throwing it to people could cause casualties in a certain area, while throwing it to buildings could cause the building to catch fire and be burned in a few minutes"


    "Wait Lord, what is an ?????????????????????????????????????" Percy asked, raising her hand.


    Andrei was taken aback of the question, "They don''t know what''s an ?????????????????????????????????????" He wasn''t fond of the history of the western countries, but he read that China has discovered explosives in the middle ages. He knew how to IED''s, but not the history behind them.


    "Well, my ancestors had to fend off foreigners who had metal cannons with cannons made of bamboo so I thought they would have discovered explosives already in this era, but I guess this is really another world, it has a different timeline.


    I can''t just assume what they were able to make, from now on I would have to really keep in mind that I am not in my world, the cultures and history are different! But....I have to start from there huh?" he thought as he let out a sigh dropping his shoulders.


    "An explosive is something like¡­ if you throw it at the enemy it creates a loud sound like BANG! And then the enemy when hit by the splinters of that BANG! They would die from bleeding or being hit by that splinters in the vital parts of the body," he made funny actions with his crappy explanations.


    "My lord what are ?????????????????????????????????????" this time it was Eve who asked the question.


    "The word means a part of a large object, but if I have to relate it to the tool were making its basically the small objects that''s been contained in order for when the explosion happens, it strikes the enemies around it, for example, a sharp fragment of metal or something.


    When sharp metal fragments were thrown to you at high speed and strikes your heart, what do you think will happen? You''ll die won''t you?


    That''s the concept of bombs, you''ll understand more soon!"


    "Ohhhhhhhhhh" the two maids clapped their hands in unison, Claire was just staring at Andrei without any expression which made him nervous.


    "Her stare feels like a professor during a project presentation, even when my classmates clapped at the awesomeness of the software, the professor would just stare at me like that" he gulped and continued.


    "For now I will just explain how this works¡­ well this is also a kind of bomb, except that what will be throwing are flames and this doesn''t have any splinters, given the time we have for production, in three days I will teach you on how to make these"


    He looked at Eve on his side.


    "Can you please light the tip of the cloth? Only that part please or else we will get caught in the explosion," it would be the first time for Andrei to witness fire magic and wasn''t sure how magic behaves, so in order to avoid the accident he reminded the girl to just light the tip.


    "Yes My Lord"


    Eve opened her hand and closed her eyes and held the tip of the cloth, after a minute a candle-like fire appeared on where the cloth was held, Eve pulled back her hand and the fire became stronger and stronger.


    "Good, the fuse has been lit, but next time let''s use matches!" he thought while twitching his eyebrows, "these girls can create fire from nothing... its amazing, but its, how do I say it? Slow?"


    Not only did the magic took time to appear, but it also needs a lengthy incantation, plus the caster had a hard time controlling it which is why the casting took more than a minute.


    "If this was an operation, I''m afraid we were already discovered before we could throw these" he kept his thoughts to himself while looking at the burning fuse of the molotov cocktail he is holding.


    "1¡­ 2¡­ 3¡­ " After the count of three he threw the bottle to one of the stakes. The bottle broke into pieces when it hit the stake and the flame appeared and crawled on the stake where it was thrown, the fire was taller than the human-sized stake, and it spread to three to four stakes.


    "See so that is-" When Andrei turned around to face the three, they were no longer there, "Huh? Where did those three go?"


    When Andrei turned back to look at the stakes it already spread to half of the stakes.


    "Geh¡­ I wish they had extra of these guys, or I''m in big trouble" he stared blankly as the wind carried the fire from stake to stake.


    In a few minutes Andrei could see Claire bringing with Michaela who''s still in her sleeping pajamas, the two maids who brought the other maids and butlers carrying buckets of water.


    "Wha-wha-what the hell is happening darling!" Michaela screamed as he was carried by Claire.


    "I''d like to ask you that! Claire why did you cause a commotion?! And also Eve and Percy! You woke everyone up?" Andrei was surprised by the audience he got in the middle of the night.


    "Idiot! You didn''t say anything about the fire being like that!" He put down Michaela.


    "Whoaahhh it''s spreading fast, all in this in one bottle of that tool?" Michaela admires the fire as it spreads.


    The maids and butlers arrived at the scene and tossed their buckets of water to the raging fire, but it had no effect. "Wait¡­ why are you putting it off?" Andrei tilted his head and asked Claire.


    "I thought it would be on a scale of a fireball or something, but it was larger than the stake, if this keeps up, our knights would lose their place to practice. Sister please"


    "Understood," Michaela walked to one of the stakes and stretched her hand towards it and mad an incantation, with the commotion Andrei couldn''t hear it, but it was lengthy. When she was done ice appeared from her hand, and crawled towards the stakes, putting out the fires.


    "This is her magic huh? Amazing!" The maids and butlers were also putting off the fire in the other stakes. Andrei noticed that Erneis also participated, still on his sleeping clothes, he looked like a normal grandpa on retirement.


    "I might have done something bad¡­ " Andrei thought, still in his place looking at the people around him putting off the fire he made. After an hour the fire was put out and it didn''t reach the last row of stakes.


    "Ummmm Michaela¡­ Did I do something bad?" Andrei asked the girl beside her who''s still in her sleeping clothes, a violet nightgown.


    "No, this is Claire''s fault, when she woke me up she said that there was an emergency when you guys tested the tool you were talking about and that she couldn''t put out the fire herself"


    Andrei looked at Claire, "Ahhhh so that''s why she disappeared the moment the fire appeared," he murmured.


    "Hey!" Andrei directed his gaze to Claire.


    "Ahhhh what is it, arsonist?"


    "Arsonist???!! You were the one who brought me here to conduct the tests you know!"


    "Ahhhh but I didn''t think you would really burn the whole training ground you know? I did compensate for it right? By bringing sister and everyone, so be grateful that you weren''t able to become a full-blown arsonist," she crossed her arms and looked away.


    "Now when I remembered, I didn''t really tell them that I was going to make something that could cause a large scale fire," Andrei thought to himself, hopelessly looking at Claire.


    He shifted his attention to Michaela in her violet nightgown. "She''s big", and his eyes poked again.


    Erneis then started to walk towards him, still in his pajamas and a sleeping hat on.


    "Am I gonna be scolded?" Andrei was on the verge of running seeing Erneis irritated and tired face.


    To his surprise Erneis put his two hands on his shoulders, "sir Andrei! sell this to us! The secret process of making it! Everything!"


    "Ahhhh haha, don''t worry, I plan on giving it anyway as a token of my gratitude for letting me stay"


    The whole troupe sat on the grass, and the maids distributed refreshments. Andrei looked at the stars in the sky, they were numerous and breathtaking.


    "The sky here¡­ looks really different" he thought to himself.


    He accepted the refreshment and formed a circle with Michaela, Claire and Erneis.


    "So, what was that tool darling? Why did it make such a huge fire, almost burning the training place to the ground?"


    "I''d like to know too" Erneis still on his sleeping clothes put his two hands on Andrei''s shoulder again.


    "I get it, I get it! Okay so, first here''s a bottle¡­" Andrei took a bottle from the side and explained to them the process of making it.


    ???????????????????? ???? ???????????? ????????????????????????????


    "What? Just that easy?" Erneis couldn''t believe what his eyes have seen.


    "Darling, are you perhaps an Alchemist?"


    "No, I''m not an alchemist or anything, so do you think your maids could make this in a short time period?"


    "Yes, it''s very easy after all, can you test it again? This time please only target the ground" Michaela suggested as she tied her hair on a ponytail.


    "Okay, then please burn the tip¡­ just the tip or all of us here will burn"


    Erneis and Claire instinctively got away from Andrei who''s holding the dangerous item. Michaela in a few seconds was able to burn the tip of the fuse made from cloth.


    "Here we go! Fire in the hole!" Andrei threw the bottle away hitting a ground a few meters from them.


    The bottle shattered and fire violently spread on the grasses. "This is amazing, in an instant you can summon large fire... If we could make tons of this¡­" Michaela couldn''t believe what she saw.


    "Yes your highness, we might be able to burn down the settlement!" Erneis commented while his eyes are focused on the large man-made fire.


    "Stop with the dangerous discussion! I''m not planning to use this to burn down the settlement!"


    "Why?" Claire asked nonchalantly


    "Well, I don''t want the civilians to get involved, I''d like to explain the plan tomorrow but since we''re all here anyway I''ll say it. This is only for diversion and nothing more, by making these and throwing it on selected areas we can cause a chaotic scene, and when it becomes chaotic, there''s a chance that the people guarding your attendants will flee or reduce their guards, if the latter happens we will make use of the second product"


    "The second product? Ahhh that''s right, the wax, sugar, and saltpeter are still left untouched, are you going to make something with this?" Michaela asked pressing Andrei for an answer.


    "What is it called?" The old man''s face was full of expectation.


    "Ahhh, it''s a thing called a smoke bomb, it can be used for escape and cover"


    Andrei explained to them the nature of the smoke bomb and discussed the way that it would be used in the operation. The discussion and demonstration lasted until dawn came, the maids, butlers, Michaela, Claire and Erneis started to have bags under their eyes.


    When their questions have been answered they all stood up and returned to each of their rooms tired. Michaela stopped and looked at Andrei who still stood in the yard.


    "Aren''t you gonna sleep darling? You haven''t slept since last time right? The sun''s going to rise anytime now"


    She rubbed her eyes and clung to Andrei''s arm. Andrei was startled to see the beautiful blonde cling to him, however the scene unfolding before his eyes made him ignore the fact.


    "It''s okay I''m used to it, and also indeed the sun is going to rise, that''s also why I must see it with my own eyes" as he said these words, lights starts to emerge from the mountains.


    "See it''s here" Andrei pointed his free hand to the direction.


    "Isn''t it amazing? Haha they say that when you see the sunrise your day becomes happier than it should be" Andrei smiled from his heart, with Michaela still clinging to him.


    Andrei was reminded that he was in another world, this was also why he should do the things that he couldn''t do when he was in his original world.


    For him the scenery was a spectacle, for someone like him who worked from 6PM to 4AM in the morning, it''s rare for him to get a chance to see such a beauty.


    He noticed Michaela clinging to him, he looked at her and found her to have the same expression as him looking at the same direction with her eyes brimming with expectations, he diverted back his gaze to the horizon.


    "It may be not too bad to live in this world"

 17 FINAL PREPARATIONS

    "So how many of these are we going to make?" Claire asked while fiddling with a shack of empty bottles.


    "We have ten targets according to the information, the goal would be to create a complete commotion without hurting civilians, so about two bottles per person perhaps?" Andrei answered while packing his bag with the homemade smoke bombs he made with the materials.


    "I guess we will have to depart at afternoon in order to make two pieces of these for ten people, about that swoke bomb, how many did you make?"


    "It''s smoke not swoke, smoke bomb, I plan to give two per person too, and also forget about making those here, we will have to carry these as goods, that''s why were travelling as merchants" Andrei was finally finished packing his things in an old-fashioned string bag.


    They both went to the castle grounds where people dressed in middle-ages version of common clothes gathered. They were the people Andrei requested; combat maids and butlers in the guise of merchants and common folk.


    Andrei could see Erneis and Michaela in their golden plated armor standing on the wooden platform, Michaela saw them and waved at them. They both went to the platform, among them in the platform, Andrei was the only one not wearing armor.


    Michaela came forward to speak.


    "Thank you for answering to my call my dear servants. The mission might be dangerous but it''s your skills that are needed in order to execute this rescue mission. The commander for this operation is my¡­ betrothed¡­ Andrei Spia"


    Michaela turned red as she announced her betrothal to Andrei in front of her servants. Andrei saw her expression and turned red too turning his face away from her. While Claire s facing the crowd with a calm and normal demeanor.


    "As you wish your highness", all the servants responded in chorus and bowed, the men in a butler and the women in maid-like fashion, that it didn''t suit what they are wearing at all.


    Hearing about what happened to their comrades broke their hearts, thinking that the queen has no business of risking herself for the sake of a few people, moreover for people like them.


    But when they heard that the queen''s betrothed was willing to take up arms to save their comrades, they were filled with hope


    And now that he requested for their help, they are more willing to follow him, also hearing about the man''s intelligence in strange weapons, somehow they became more confident.


    "If it''s this man, he may be able to do it" this is what they thought within their hearts.


    Michaela looked at her subordinates, and was delighted at the scene before her.


    The lenient-looking servants now have eyes filled with overwhelming determination and passion to rescue their comrades.


    Andrei came at the front.


    "I am Andrei Spia, I will be taking care of your lives, this is indeed a dangerous mission, however if you follow my instructions as it is, the risk of anyone getting injured or killed will be low- no... I promise, if you follow my instructions carefully no one would have to die, everyone will make it home" Andrei raised his hand on the air. "We will make it home! So please follow me!"


    The crowd went wild after hearing the proclamation. The people watching and the ten people who stood before the platform, there were almost at least fifty to sixty people combined.


    "Long live the future king!"


    "Long live the future king!"


    "Long live the future king!


    Claire extended her hand to command "Silence" which made the crowd calm down and listened to Andrei''s continuation.


    "You seem to be confident speaking to the public like that, are you sure you''re not a noble?" Claire whispered.


    "Well, I had public speaking experience, back then I had more than a hundred of audience, so this much is alright"


    He was used to doing talks and speeches as a student leader and a part of a software developer community which gives talks and seminars to college and senior high school students. However it was a first for him to have such an embarrassing cheer..


    "I thought they were just gonna clap or something" he thought.


    "Ahemm¡­ Ahem¡­ I think you know why I chose you instead of the knights, but to those who don''t, listen. It''s because this is the best possible solution in order to obtain the best outcome.


    You don''t have high honor and pride to defend, you could easily pretend and blend in as common folks and merchants. That''s the reason why I had you wear common clothes instead of your maid and butler uniforms.


    I will call this mission, Rescue-Demolition, this is a covert operation so details would be only discussed with the ten people coming with me. Thank you for entrusting your lives to me everyone!"


    The crowd burst into cheers again, the crowd''s cheer intensity was enough to make his legs shake. Andrei preferred not to do this however Michaela insisted that this would greatly increase their morale and for formalities.


    Andrei has no choice but to submit, so he wrote a short speech. Memorized and delivered it in front of the people.


    He was delighted with the cheers even though it made him very nervous.


    "Was this really necessary?" he whispered to Michaela while waving his hand.


    "Yes, but that "no one would die" part, it''s surprising, but if it''s you, then maybe that might come true, but why did you say that?" she tilted her head in question.


    "Ahhh that? I just wanted to drive myself in the corner, it''s my habit of pushing myself to the limits. I''ve been entrusted lives after all, lives are precious" he forced a smile, and looked at his ten comrades lined up. "They have people waiting for them to come back after all, I can''t let any of them die"


    Michaela looked at him with admiration, ever since he rescued her, this man at her side never showed the strength of a powerful person, however when it came to a crisis, he immediately sprung into action by lending them his strange but immense weapon knowledge.


    "And now you even promised them that no one would have to die in such a dangerous mission. You really are the man I love after all" she thought but blurted out the next sentence which made Andrei turn red.


    She realized her blunder and her soft and white cheeks immediately turned red so she turned around and covered her mouth with her hand. "Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"


    After the proclamation exclusive to the servants of the royal family, the rest of the maids and butlers scrammed to attend to their daily duties leaving the ten of them who were selected to join the operation.


    The four standing on the platform, Erneis, Michaela, Claire and Andrei went down from the platform and went to the ten people lined up.


    Four of butlers and six maids dressed in common-folk and merchant clothes.


    "So why did you have them dress before the operation?" Erneis asked, thinking that he might be able to add the knowledge to his knight training.


    "Ahhh about that, you see we will be teaching them to make the weapons right? So in order for them to be efficiently create those weapons successfully in the circumstances, they will also have to be accustomed to those clothes which they will be using in the actual operation"


    "It''s basically the same of practicing to fight in the knight armor right?"


    "Yes, you can put it that way"


    Andrei then rounded up the people around him.


    "From now on this will be called Rescue and Demolition Squad"


    "Lord Andrei, what does demolition means?"


    "The word itself means, to break something, for our squad it would mean destruction of our enemies" he proudly declared while clenching his fist. "I wanted to say that" he thought.


    "But Lord, all we know are simple fighting techniques, we don''t have high powered magic or strength"


    "I know, but we have these"


    Andrei picked up a molotov cocktail from the ground.


    "I''m sure Percy and Eve have already seen what this bottle can do" he looked at Eve and Percy who nodded in response.


    "But this will be the first time you will be seeing this, this weapon is called a Molotov Cocktail" using his flint match he burned the upper part of the cloth-made fuse. The fire eventually got stronger until it reached the tip of the bottle. And then Andrei threw it to the ground, this time there were no training stakes around so when the bottle landed and broke, the fire only spread to the grass.


    The fire spread in a 5 meter diameter. The servants could only open their mouths in amazement.


    "The future king really is an impressive man, to think that he could create something that dangerous from household materials we use everyday" Percy shrugged her shoulders, the other maids were listening to her and became more amazed.


    "So basically that''s what it could do, next"


    Andrei picked up the handmade smoke bomb made of sugar, wax, and saltpeter.


    "This item will be the key to our escape" he lit the top of the cloth-made fuse and threw it on the ground, in front of him, in a few seconds a large amount of black smoke was released from inside the bottle until the servants couldn''t see Andrei anymore.


    However they heard someone talk from behind the smoke.


    "The smoke that comes from this can is our trump card during our escape, (cough) it creates this large amount of smoke in a short amount of time. (cough)


    With the combination of these two weapons we would be able to successfully carry out the plan"


    The servants who weren''t present at the first testing could only open their mouths in awe. After Andrei was done speaking, he went outside the range of the smoke and instructed Eve and Percy to teach them on the process on how to make the bombs, and after that Andrei briefed them of the plan.


    Tomorrow they will be setting off to the settlement and the queen have already received a reply from the culprits. But before that, Andrei requested a new set of ingredients.


    "By the way, do you have chilies or any spicy bell papers here?"


    In the settlement, in a dusty old abandoned pub, Six women are tied together and all of them were beat-up, bruises and wounds are found around their body, they wore no clothing, and their eyes were dead as if their stole has been broken.


    One man was in front of them, he''s clearly beaten-up, and blood could be seen flowing from his neck and on his hand were his fingers are cut. His eyes did not show signs of life, the man was clearly dead and not breathing.


    "Man! That queen of the small kingdom really sent a response! If this goes well, we will really get our dreams! HAHA, a life of money, women and liquor! This calls for a celebration! Let''s **** those women again!" A thin man wearing a bronze plated armor declared, he''s one of the bandits a noble have hired in order to crush the and trap the queen of Ethareri.


    The abandoned pub had three of the hired bandits inside, including their leader. While the others has been making rounds on the area.


    "Forget it, we don''t want to break them too much or it may affect our transactions, once we capture the queen, you can have all the fun you want, of course the first one to mount the queen will be me! HAHAHAHA, don''t worry you''ll get your turns!" The leader of the bandits declared, he has a large sword on his back.


    "But will this really succeed? I know we placed some conditions, but what if they seek help from the empire to hunt us here? Or perhaps sent assassins to kill us?" the third bandit guarding the pub asked as he''s cleaning the bloodstained knife.


    "Don''t worry, that small kingdom doesn''t even have an assassin troupe, and even if they did hire from the mercenary guilds of Sagrait Federation, there wouldn''t be enough time according to the conditions we''ve put on the letter.


    They can''t also request help from the empire if they want to save the face of their nation.


    Also, according to the info from our client, the queen is a hot blooded woman that deeply cares for her people, that''s how I knew that she''ll sprung into action if we just dangle the lives of her subordinates in front of her. It seems that it was accurate enough, she''ll come alone I''m sure of it, I told her not to inform any of her knights and to come secretly, to think that she would really agree just like that HAHAHAHA our client really is helpful with us this time"


    "You''re really brilliant brother!"


    "But what about her powers? The rumors says that she knows fire and freezing magic, if she decided to come alone, isn''t it because she''s confident that she''ll be able to defeat us?"


    "Even if she did have that magic power, in order to cast wide range of that magic, she will need a chant for that, we''ll just surround her and make sure she doesn''t finish a chant"


    "Does that information also comes from the client?"


    "Yes"


    "It seems that the client really knows the queen huh?"


    "Well of course, the client is the prime minister after all"


    The three laughed their hearts out in the anticipation of the rewards that they will get from capturing the queen. They are a group of bandits hired by the prime minister of the kingdom of Ethareri who''s currently staying on Kydus in the guise of medical treatment.


    They were given armor and weapons just like the current issue of the knights of the Kydus Empire in order for them to conduct the mission successfully. They are careful and have set traps everywhere for any possible scenario of how the queen will attack.


    But little did they know that an irregularity that the queen have met will turn their ugly ambitions on them.

 18 DEMOLITION AND RESCUE

    The merchant''s horse-drawn carriages have arrived at the settlement at night, they stayed at an inn as merchants and their servant common folk.


    Claire and Andrei wore a merchant''s business attire that suits their facial features. Andrei has been exhausted of the day trip.


    "To think that it would take a whole day to reach here, guhhh¡­ I don''t want to see horses anymore"


    "You''re weird, a whole day is the standard speed of travel from our kingdom to this settlement, do you want to rest?"


    "No, we''re gonna be making the bombs afterall, still Claire, your attire suits you very much hahaha"


    "Well, I''ve heard you call me bland many times before, but I don''t know what to do with such a comment, should I pierce your eyes with this hidden dagger in my wrist?"\\


    "No, sorry. Anyway have you finished checking in?"


    "Yes"


    "Alright then let''s start the operation"


    Andrei went to one of the rooms they rented, inside he could see the ten servants together with the stack of empty bottles and ingredients. He looked at the passageway to make sure that no one was passing by, and then went inside, Claire followed shortly.


    "Okay, first, per person grab two bottles and two bombs worth of ingredients, make sure you do not interfere with others work"


    They all nodded and made a line to the bottle stack and the ingredients sack, forming a queue. After a few minutes they all got their bottles and ingredients.


    "Alright, as you can see making the process organized will make it faster. Next I''m sure Percy and Eve have already taught you how to make the bombs, you have to be careful not to make a mistake, or we will all catch fire in this room, got it?"


    They all then nodded in response.


    "You have been chosen because you volunteered and passed all requirements that are needed, that includes being careful with your hands, so I''m confident that no one would make a mistake, but just to be sure, please raise your hand if you want me to help you with the process"


    No one raised their hands.


    "Operation start! Finish making your own bombs in an hour!"


    The servants immediately placed one bottle and dipped the cloth in oil, they did just as they were taught.


    Andrei supervised the whole process to make sure there was no mistake, while Claire, sits near the door as the lookout.


    "Andrei, why did you put in the last ingredient without testing it? What if it doesn''t work because of that?"


    "Ahh it was just on a whim, but rest assured that it will work. My first idea was to escape after rescuing the hostages, however what if we were pushed to be on the offensive? Then we need to make this smoke more harmful that it could be."


    "Harmful?"


    "Yes, if the bell peppers burn together with the ingredients of the smoke grenade then what do you think will happen?"


    Claire pondered for a bit and then her eyes widened when the answer appeared on her mind.


    "Then¡­ it could be mixed with the smoke and it will smell spicy? And spicy hurts the nose, ahhh you were aiming for that huh? What a good invention!"


    "It doesn''t only hurt the nose Claire, it also hurts the eyes"


    "That effect is useful, but what if the smoke reaches our troops too?"


    "As planned, after the first squad finishes throwing the bottles to the target houses, they will flee and act like victims, this will be our plan to alert the real bronze plated knights to take action, they will act according to the script I made so there''s nothing to worry about that.


    The fire will start on the houses and they will regroup with us on the location we''ve decided on, they will be the ones to deliver the cloth dipped in water to us, these are our protection against the smoke, and then we will execute the rest of the plan"


    "Doesn''t it hurt the eyes?"


    "If we cover our noses it wouldn''t be that much of a problem"


    "What if they also know about that and covers their noses with cloth dipped in water too?"


    "When it comes to that I also have a plan to counter that so don''t worry"


    "Then why are you shaking?"


    Claire could notice that Andrei''s hand was shaking, he''s standing against the wall on where Claire was sitting at.


    "Of course I''m shaking, I told you didn''t I? I don''t have much killing experience, I don''t also want anyone to die on this operation"


    "You coward, what did you think I came here for?"


    "To make sure I don''t run right?" Andrei almost laughed.


    "That''s part of it, but that''s only one-third of the reason"


    "Then what about the two-thirds?"


    "Well, It''s because I want to carry this load with you, so don''t be scared that much.


    No matter what happens tonight, you will have me to carry the burden and the sins together with you"


    She looked at Andrei with her gentle and lenient eyes, as if they weren''t on the enemy''s territory.


    And Andrei himself could feel the comfort behind her words, it''s been so long for him to hear such kind, straight and sincere words. He felt crying but he decided to endure it, he doesn''t want to show Claire and everyone in the room how nervous he felt, he wants to keep the morale as it is, so he smiled at Claire and forced a few words out of his mouth.


    "Alright, then¡­ Thank you"


    Claire then diverted her attention from Andrei to the servants meticulously making the bombs.


    Andrei couldn''t see her face, but he saw her mouth move a bit but he couldn''t hear her words, so he was curious if she said something.


    "Did you say something Claire?"


    "...N-No, why do you ask? Do you want me to poke you in the eyes or something?"


    "No! And why did it come to that?!"


    Within an hour everyone was finished in making two bottles of Molotov and two bottles of smoke bombs with the additional ingredient Andrei requested.


    "How about you Andrei? Did you make yours already?" Claire asked.


    "Ahhh I made them ahead of time"


    Andrei faced the servants and looked at the time.


    "Alright, squad A will be moving with me, and squad B with Claire"


    Andrei feared that the enemy might be well versed with strategy and combat, so he prepared plan A to plan D, thinking that he has to be always one step ahead of the enemy or it would be a disaster for him and his squad.


    They moved in the night with their drawstring bags containing the bottles, they saw the taverns lit with lamps and candles. They walked in groups of three and two, however Andrei walked solo.


    "Why did no one pair up with me?" he asked within his mind while being disappointed.


    According to his instructions everyone was perfectly blending in with the crowd of people walking in the road while pretending to be normal citizens.


    For a settlement the roads were lively with stalls offering strange food stood up side by side. However the further they walked at the road the less livelier it became, until they came to a part where there were no stalls and people walking but them.


    This time they cut out their act and hid behind some houses. They could see people in bronze-plate armor walking around with their swords and shields a few meters from where they were hiding.


    "This must be the place indicated in the letter, then the houses around those parts must be¡­"


    "Yeah, Lord Andrei, as indicated in the letter they were to meet in the pub around that area" Percy was behind Andrei this time.


    "Take out the map, check the pubs that are around the area where those knights are guarding"


    Percy took out a map and started scribbling, when she finished she showed it to Andrei.


    "Ummm¡­ can you read it for me? And can you explain? I really don''t know how to read haha" the characters were different from the world he came from.


    "Is that so my Lord? Then if we exclude the places where the guards aren''t guarding, then there are about three pubs left, but how do we infiltrate that place? I can''t see any other civilians going at that area?"


    "I expected this, then execute plan A"


    They all nodded, and three maids ran to the side, lit the bottles and threw it on the nearby houses. On Andrei''s plan the spy told them that in their position the houses are mostly empty due to the decreasing population in the area.


    Andrei had to gamble that no one would be in those houses if they were to make a commotion.


    Fire immediately spread out, and when he could hear that no one was screaming he was relieved.


    The guards saw the smoke and the flame burning down the house, they went immediately to check it.


    "Now is our chance, percy throw out a smoke bomb, the one without peppers"


    "Yes my Lord!''


    Percy opened her string bag and threw a bottle of smoke.


    "Move out!" Andrei instructed in silence.


    They sneaked using the cover of the smoke and some buildings, they could see the backs of the guards who''s checking the source of the flame.


    "That was very easy Percy, now the next steps"


    However they were suddenly hit by a strong gust of wind, and when they looked up the roof of their cover and they saw a man with long white beard and a scarred forehead, he wielded a wooden staff.


    "Ohhhhh I thought what was the cause of the flame, to think that it was a diversion? I''m impressed rats! To think that our scouts didn''t even see torches? And I didn''t detect any magic? What trick did you use? Either Way I''m gonna make you spit it out when I''ve captured you" the man said while stroking his beard.


    But this was also in Andrei''s plan, he assumed that archers or any long range attackers would be lurking over the roofs of the houses, he came with this countermeasure due to learning from Erneis explanation.


    "Eve! Do it!"


    Eve nodded, lit the bottle and threw it on the roof.


    "You''re throwing a bottle over here? Did you forget that I''m a wind user?"


    The bottle flew through the air and broke into pieces when it reached the ground. The caster attempted to cast wind magic at the same time in order to throw the bottle pieces back at them, however he was taken aback when fire began to spread.


    "W-w-what fire? From a bottle? But¡­ it''s futile!" The caster tried to cast a gust of wind again towards the flame, however it only got stronger and wrapped his worn down robe.


    Andrei signaled the men with him who were combat butlers, they had a mini-crossbow attached at their wrists, they move a few meters from the bases of the house and aimed at the caster who was busy taking off his robe.


    The little arrows flew and hit the casters heart and stomach which made him fall from the house.


    Andrei was used to seeing dead bodies being a part of the emergency rescue team at his original world, seeing an old man dead didn''t make him throw up or faint.


    The fire spread to the house''s roof.


    "Okay now, as we instructed, divide into group and burn the houses around the three houses indicated in this map, after that act like the victims, after you''re done throwing, just run towards the rendezvous location while acting victims, do not look back or wait for the fire to spread"


    They all nodded, took out the molotovs out of their bags and went to their respective targets.


    They are five plus Andrei, they went in couples, Andrei was paired with Percy.


    With the sound of bottles breaking fire broke out from the houses near the pubs and screams could be heard , however this wasn''t from its residents but from the people who made the fire themselves.


    Andrei went to their target location, he could see that there were guards walking on the road.


    "Bingo, it seems we''ve found the hideout, Percy let''s go"


    They they threw smoke bombs from opposite side of where they were hiding, which attracted the guards attention, while they went to the other side.


    "There''s smoke over there! Let''s check it out!"


    Ten guards went to the smoke only to find out that the smoke made them tear out.


    "What''s with this smoke! Water¡­ Water!! My eyes! They''re burning fuck!"


    Ten guards suffered from the smoke while bottles could be heard breaking from the houses near the pub they''re guarding.


    Fire started on the houses, Andrei and Percy hid behind one of the burning houses, he could see several knights wrapped in flames coming out of the houses.


    He then saw a thin man with armor hurriedly ran to the pub.


    "Percy is that road heading to Claire''s position?"


    "Yes my Lord"


    Andrei knew that this was their target location. He took bottles from his own string bag and threw it on their side and one smoke bomb to the roof of the pub.


    "Lord did you just miss throwing the bottles?" Percy asked.


    "No, it''s to cut off their escape route and to give the signal to Claire, with this they could only escape towards Claire''s position, anyway, we''re done here, let''s head out to the rendezvous point, guide me."


    They went to the rendezvous point where the other four servants were waiting, Eve noticed that her Lord was carrying someone.


    "Lord who is that old man?" she pointed at the man Andrei was dragging with him.


    "Ahhh I think he would be good for provocation, my shoulders are hurting, someone carry him for me please"


    One of the men took the old man from Andrei.


    "Okay, now did you do what I told you according to plan?"


    "Yes my lord"


    Eve showed the wet towel and covered her mouth with it, the others did the same, one of them held a bucket full of water with cloth dipped into it.


    "Okay, ready your smoke bombs, we will be moving at the side of the road"


    They all swiftly ran into the side of the road and threw smoke bombs towards the road from there. The road was the only exit point from the inn.


    Andrei could see that the houses were burning from the other side, but his squad didnt'' do it.


    "That Claire, she really did it haha"


    The pub wasn''t burning but the houses beside and in front of it, the only way that the soldiers could escape was to Claire''s position as the road from the opposite side was cut off with Andrei''s squad, the road was also thrown with tear gas smoke bombs.


    Andrei saw Claire''s squad and some bandits being carried by her squad in pile.


    "Claire!" Andrei shouted towards the girl fighting off another soldier who''ve just come out from the smoke, he went to her direction.


    "Your plan worked! They are coming out one by one with the hostages!" she finished off the last one, and her subordinates carried the dead soldier to the pile and the hostage he carried to a carriage.


    "That''s great, do you have some more smoke bombs with you?"


    "Yes we have four left"


    Andrei and his squad finally rendezvoused with Claire''s squad, Andrei received two bags of unused smoke bombs, he hurriedly put the two from the other bag to the other.


    He took his taser from his pocket, and hid behind a building.


    "Help Claire with the attackers"


    More enemies poured out from the smoke with the hostages but their eyes closed, so Claire herself and Andrei''s squad finished them off easily one by one.


    Then Andrei from his side saw a shadow of a big man within the shadow holding a shadow of a girl with him at his waist.


    "The last boss huh?" Andrei thought to himself while hiding behind the building.


    "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?? MY EYES! ARE BURNING! FUCK! I CAN''T SEE ANYTHING!" he could hear the man screaming behind the smoke.


    He swung his sword while carrying the unconscious person on his waist, trying to keep away the smoke from him while covering his face.


    "Fred you useless caster! Can''t you use your magic to create a breeze or something, do something about this smoke!"


    "Fred? Ahhh that old man huh?" Andrei thought. "Anyway the smoke bomb is gonna run out at that area anytime soon, I have to provoke him to go further to Claire''s position.


    "Heyyyyyyyy!" he shouted to the man towards the smoke in a friendly manner.


    "Who are you? Are you with us? Come here and help me! I''m gonna give you a big reward for coming over to me HAHA!" the man responded.


    "No, I''m sorry I''m not one of you, but does your caster have long beard and a scarred forehead? He''s here with me you know?"


    "Then wake him up and tell him to cast a breeze or something"


    "No way"


    "Huh? What did you say! I''m gonna beat you hard if I found you young man!"


    "Ohhhh you''ve figured out my gender huh?"


    "Of course, you are talking to a captain of the bronze knights! HAHA"


    "Calling him captain of those knights? Sorry but I''m not an idiot" Andrei thought, but he was surprised when Claire''s voice suddenly echoed through the smoke.


    "You really have some nerves to call yourself a captain don''t you? You lowly bandit!"


    "Damn it! I don''t know who you are but if you move closer to me I will slit the neck of this woman over here!" Andrei noticed that he put the woman in front of him and put the large sword to her neck.


    "This is bad, I have to do something" Andrei thought as he readied his taser.


    "Taking hostages to the bitter end huh? Do you know how disappointed I am right now?" he spoke through the smoke in a haughty manner.


    "Disappointed? What the fuck are you talking about you little bastard, come over here so I can severe your head from your body!" the man got angered.


    "Good I have to continue this" he checked his taser and the two bags he''s carrying.


    "Yeah, I went through all the trouble of think of plans A to Z just in case you were smarter than I assumed, who''d think that you were as easy to lure out as a mouse? I feel bad for not getting any sleep for making those plans" Andrei spoke again with a tone full of mockery.


    "W-w-what did you say!" the bandit leader was provoked, through his rage, Andrei saw him charge through the smoke. Andrei at the same time secretly followed to his position in the cover of the buildings.


    Andrei could see the big man is now out of the smoke, and he could see his back open to him.


    The big man is facing Claire who''s standing up in the pile of corpses.


    "This Claire¡­ " Andrei thought with a complicated expression on his face.


    "You cocky little girl, How dare you!"


    He took his sword and and transferred the unconscious maid from his waist to his shoulder.


    "You must be skilled enough to kill these weak subordinates of mine while having that attitude haha, but I''m in a different level! You will die in my hands! Don''t worry I''ll make sure not to give you visible scars, I''ll play over your little body after I make you unconscious"


    The leader said with wide and crazed eyes, like an animal driven to a corner, his large body combined with his armor made him seem like a wild bear driven by killing intent.


    Andrei was angered with the statement, in his world, women are respected, and seeing that the other maids had no clothes to cover the whole body, he could assume what had happened.


    Even though he was angry, he kept his cool, and slowly lurked behind the man''s back.


    The man was sizing Claire''s strength, that he gave off an ominous aura.


    "What is this? Killing intent?" Andrei thought, he is now at the back of the man.


    Andrei remembered the fundamentals of his martial art, that is to be aware of the surroundings all the time, keep cool and try to suppress killing intent as it gets in the way of the fight.


    He inhaled silently and focus at the back of the man, "This is an opening I must take advantage of"


    He went into a running starting position, and immediately set off with the taser in his hand.


    With a click of the button and the timing of the dive, he was able to aim taser the man on the spine, a crackling sound of electricity could be heard, and the killing intent disappeared together with the man falling to the ground with a thud.


    "Do you know Claire, when a man is driven by that immense killing intent, he could only notice his killing target, making opening from his back. This is one of the fundamentals of our martial arts, to be aware of your surroundings and not to lose your cool"


    Andrei stood up, that his shadow covered the mans face.


    "Hidden attacks? How cowardly can you get you fools!" He said in panic when the Claire stood up and walk towards him.


    "That should be our line you lowly bandit, plotting the assassination of our queen, moreover keeping her subjects as hostages, who ordered you to do this? And where is the butler? One of the maids was awake and told me that you tortured him. You make me sick" Claire simply said in her flat tone.


    "Claire, can you do something about your tone? If you''re pissed at least make it sound like that" Andrei thought his nervousness started to fade out, although his heartbeat was still fast as it was.


    The man didn''t answer Claire and tried to get up while twitching due to the voltage transferred to his body, but this only made Claire''s expression turned dark and he cut the man''s right hand, blood gushed and the man screamed in pain.


    "Ahhhhhhhhh fuuuuck!!!"


    "Will you confess? Or should I cut your other hand?"


    "N-n-n-n-no please, not my other hand ahhhh" the man turned pale as he pleaded the woman in front of him, "Th-th-the prime minister ordered it!"


    "The prime minister?"


    "Yes, that''s how we are able to perfectly execute the operation, because of the details he gave us, please don''t kill me!" he pleaded while reaching out to Claire in front of him.


    Andrei got pissed at the begging of the man, he took out his taser and tazed the man at his balls. The man made a pathetic scream as he held his crotch while his mouth started foaming.


    "Oh, so you raped these girls tortured the poor butler and now you are asking not to be killed? Tch, Claire kill him!", in his rage, it was a first time for Andrei to want to kill someone for real.


    "I was going to, don''t interrupt with my interrogation"


    "Please anything but death, please" the man still pleaded even when his body was still shaking from the shock Andrei gave him.


    "Well if you tell everything about this in sixty seconds, I might reconsider my decision" Claire said while looking at the man with disgust.


    "Alright, alright! When we attacked a certain carriage, we were captured by the guards of the prime minister! After that we were told that we could be freed and get five thousand gold coins for a reward, so I went outside to gather some forces and when we came back, the prime ministers men gave us these armor! The plan was to capture or kill the queen who''s visiting the prince. That''s all I know, so please!"


    "What about the queen suddenly falling asleep?"


    "That was a special potion given to us, I don''t know the details and how it was made, but one of us infiltrated the kitchen, and put the potion on her food, it would take effect after a certain time, it was made so that not anyone wouldn''t detect anything. Now let me go!"


    Claire could only look at him with disgust. She raised her sword and slashed the mans back, blood sprayed from the wound.


    "That hurts! That hurts! That hurts! Ahhhh! You said you were going to consider!"


    "Yeah, and I''ve considered to kill you instead of letting you live, pests like you shouldn''t have existed in this world"


    The woman raised her sword, this time she was aiming for the neck.


    However the Andrei himself stood in front of her, making her put down her sword.


    "What are you doing? You''re the one who told me to kill him right?"


    "I changed my mind, I can''t let you kill such a scum like him, it''s not worth it"


    "Isn''t it a bit too late? I already killed his kind" she points at the corpses on her back.


    "This girl really¡­" Andrei could only sigh at the calmness of the girl in front of him.


    Before Andrei could finish, the man tried to grab for his sword, but Claire immediately summoned a pretty silver magic circle at her hand and a piece of steel appeared piercing the mans left hand.


    "So this is her magic huh? Maybe I could create something from her power , I should ask more about this when we get home" Andrei thought amazed by the Claires power instead of getting scared when the man was able to almost slash his back.


    "What was that? Do you know magic? Ohhh thanks by the way"


    "That''s because you are too vulnerable, we have to deal with him immediately or the knights would really notice, so what should we do? I can''t kill him with my sword right?"


    "Yeah, don''t stain your hands with that filth" Andrei grabbed a molotov from his other bag.


    "Anyway just to be sure he doesn''t live for tomorrow" he aimed the taser at the mans head and pressed the button.


    He pressed the button once, then twice, then thrice in intervals, Andrei felt no mercy at all tazing him endlessly.


    "That should do it" Andrei''s hand was shaking, but he picked up the molotov and stuck it on his underarm, he took his flint but his hand was shaking too much that it fell to the ground. As he was going to pick it up, Claire already picked up the flint, took the metal rod and started the flame.


    "Hold it properly"


    "Oh okay, thanks"


    Andrei grabbed the bottle and stretched it to Claire, who then lit the tip of the cloth.


    Andrei was reluctant to drop the bottle at the man, this was the first time he was gonna take a life. In order to overcome the feeling, he looked at the girls inside the carriage, and the maid that the man brought along with him, with their bruises and wounds and their eyes with no shine in it.


    He felt the rage again that made him throw the bottle at the man.


    The bottle quickly broke to pieces and the flame quickly spread to the man''s body.


    "This¡­ isn''t¡­ supposed¡­ to¡­ happen", it was faint but Andrei could hear the mans voice.


    "Think of it as punishment for your deeds" Andrei looked at him.


    "Let''s go Claire"


    Claire just nodded in responded and they both went inside the other carriage.


    "Now it''s just how we escape without attracting the attention of the real knights"


    "About that I have an idea"


    The maid with violet her who was unconscious a moment ago woke up.


    "Celeste?!" Claire immediately went to attend to the maid who was coughing.


    "That must be from the smoke please take us immediately out of here" Andrei commanded the butler in disguise of a coachman who nodded in response. "Hyaahh!" the man whipped the horses.


    "Are you okay Celeste?" Claire asked while patting the back of the maid.


    "First things¡­. First, in order to escape, tell them¡­ (cough) that we are slaves (cough) you purchased from the Empire"


    "It''s alright, this gentleman with me is the betrothed of the queen, he''ll make sure that we get out of this place safely, so for now, rest, thank you for the suggestion though, but our mission will be in vain if you don''t rest and recover okay?"


    "Okay" the maid answered in response. Claire and Andrei could notice that the maid had a painful experience based on her appearance, that tears flowed from her eyes.


    A butler in the guise of common folk from Andrei''s squad rendezvous with them at the location where Andrei got their cloth dipped in water. He was tasked by Andrei to take a look at the pub to find out any left hostages.


    However from his face, Andrei could find out what happened. However he still asked.


    "What happened? Did you find any?"


    The man looked at the his rescued comrades and tears flowed from his eyes, he wiped it, rode the carriage and went to Andrei to whisper.


    "There was someone¡­ left, it was the butler Olin, he''s already dead, he was tortured, without fingers, teeth and¡­ "


    "Enough don''t say anything more" Andrei couldn''t hide his frustration. His face showed an expression of regret and rage.


    "You can''t save everyone Andrei, at least in this country where wars and skirmishes like these happen all the time" Claire was sitting beside him wiping off the blood off her face.


    "I know that¡­ but still"


    "Save the frustration for later we have company"


    Andrei saw the soldiers that has been inspecting the fire that his squad made, they were approaching the carriage with horses, they were numbered to twenty a number they couldn''t take on.


    "Coachman, just as planned, I will throw some smoke bombs, change your direction immediately"


    The man nodded, and Andrei lit the smoke bombs and threw it on the ground, when the smoke got larger, the carriage changed its direction losing the pursuers.


    The carriage immediately headed to the gate.


    "Will there be another inspection?" Andrei asked Claire.


    "No, don''t worry about that"


    "Okay"


    The mission was successful without casualties. It took them another day to reach the kingdom, however the news had already spread across the borders, about how that there were bandits apprehended for wearing the armor of the Bronze Order of the Kydus Empire and were severely punished, some were left dead at the road in a pile and the leader has been burned dead.


    Rumors about an unknown magic caster that burned the houses using bottles have also spread.

 19 TO BE IN-LOVE

    "How are they doing?" Andrei asked Percy with, Celeste and Eve who''s tending to their bruised and wounded friends.


    "They are still asleep, they were crying all night after all" Celeste wiped the eyebrows of a young maid that slept at her lap and continued.


    "For them this is a miracle, for someone like a queen, to send someone over to save people of their ranks. Even if we came from a group of families that served the royal family, it doesn''t really change the fact that we are only servants.


    So I''m really grateful to you Lord Andrei"


    Percy bowed her head towards Andrei who was sitting at the carriage with her.


    "It''s alright really, also if it weren''t for the queen and Claire''s determination to save these people, I might haven''t considered it at all, despite of what happened, I''m still a coward after all"


    "The coward part is true, but Andrei if you didn''t stepped up for the queen-my sister, I''m afraid that she might have went there on her own. Despite of how she looks, she''s still a child at heart, if her loved ones are in danger, she would definitely save them even if she has to do it secretly. I''m thankful" Claire barged in the conversation, she''s sitting at the side of Andrei. Her tone was indeed flat, but it sounded happy and Andrei could see from the side that she was smiling.


    "I''m glad, thank you for coming Claire, if it weren''t for you, this mission would really be hard, and I might even have broken my promise-that is to return to everyone with no one dying" This time it was Andrei who bowed to Claire who was clearly not looking at him.


    "Did she just ignore me?" Andrei thought, while getting annoyed with the bumpy road of the carriage.


    Originally Andrei constructed a plan with him as the only commander of both squads, which seemed impossible and foolish for Claire, so she volunteered to command the second squad in order to lighten the burden of Andrei, Andrei being a gentleman tried to refuse at first.


    However with Claire''s flat-toned blackmail and threats, he decided to give in easily.


    After the long journey which took a day to arrive at the kingdom of Ethareri, when they passed through the gates Andrei could see the liveliness of the town.


    "Compared to the settlement, the people here are livelier eh?"


    "Of course, because the royal family of this kingdom is different from others" Claire responded to Andrei.


    "Is that so? How different?"


    "Well¡­ it''s a bit hard to explain, but I guess because the Queen, my sister deeply cares for its people, which I think it''s pretty rare for large countries like Kydus and Sagrait, we''re not as religious as Adrar though that has cults all over.


    Also we don''t allow slavery here, I don''t know what''s in the royal family''s mind, but it''s been like this since then, perhaps their family ties were so good that their traits were passed into each other"


    "Hmmm¡­ I''m a bit relieved that you don''t allow slavery here, anyway thank you for explaining.


    From what you''ve said it''s really a rare, but to think that the traits were passed into the royal family line was really this impressive, I have to say it was really a good parenting!"


    This time Claire became silent and looked away from Andrei, who became nervous and tried to change the topic.


    "Anyway, the way you say "the royal family" isn''t it your family? I think you should say "my family" right?"


    At this question Claire also didn''t answer. "Did I just add more gasoline to the fire?" Andrei started getting worried, he retraced his statements, and found out how insensitive his statements were.


    He stood up from where he was sitting and bowed to her.


    "Sorry, it was insensitive of me"


    "It''s alright, I''m used to it after all"


    However due to the shaking Andrei lost balance and fell over Claire who was sitting but Andrei managed to hold on the wall at Claire''s back, but still their faces was so close that Claire became flustered.


    Andrei hearing no protests from Claire stayed a bit on his position while looking at her deep gray eyes.


    "To think that you were not just a dumbass, but also a scheming pervert" Claires dead-fish eyes appeared and looked at Andrei as if an insect have attached to her.


    His eyes were poked and his left cheek became a red mess in a mere second.


    Awkward silence filled up the carriage, Andrei had no choice but to look outside where the carriage was passing, while Eve was silently fanning his red cheeks from his side.


    Unlike what he saw, at the settlement there were less gloomy and sulking people. It was so lively that if someone were to put a lively music everyone would sing and dance together-as what he saw in the musical movies.


    Kids are playing together, mothers chatting with each other, a blacksmith talking with what they seem as his regular customers, nobles shopping with their servants who doesn''t look unhappy at all.


    Since it was a covert mission, the details and glory of their mission was only known to the queen, her servants and the golden order of knights led by Erneis. So unlike the tradition of the kingdoms of the middle ages, no one greeted them at the streets.


    When their carriage passed by, they were just looked at as merchants.


    After a few minutes they finally reached the steel gate of the castle. Andrei reminisced the day when he tried to escape because of his "Lone Adventurer" scheme, and smiled at his simplicity.


    "To think that the my lone adventurer plan would turn into rescuing people in guerilla warfare, if dad" he shrugged his shoulders.


    Claire went to the guards and when they noticed who she was, they hurriedly bowed and opened the gates.


    The carriage went around the castle where the large training ground was, it was also where the golden knights were lining up together with Michaela and the maids and butlers that were left.


    When Michaela saw the carriage, she immediately dropped her shield and rapier and immediately went to the carriage. Her face got an expression of both fear and excitement.


    A few seconds the maids and butlers came out in one of the carriages, with the rescued hostages, some were still unconscious and were being carried, and some like Celeste could walk, and were assisting the process.


    Michaela showed them a smile, and the conscious maids and butlers bowed in return.


    All wounded and unconscious has been immediately carried to their quarters by the maids who were waiting in order to tend to them, and the ten-man team have already lined up with their beat-up clothes and dirty faces.


    Michaela started to worry why Claire and Andrei wasn''t showing, her fear got stronger and stronger, as she couldn''t see the faces of the servants as they were bowing as they lined up.


    However this was cut short when Andrei was kicked out from the carriage by Claire.


    Apparently he argued with Claire, that she should go down first, but Claire refused insisting that the betrothed couple should meet first.


    When Andrei tried to bring up that they were also sisters, and should meet and embrace when they''ve reunited. Claire immediately opened the door and kicked him out, as Michaela who was waiting outside has already started to get more worried.


    Michaela seeing Andrei sitting on the ground, she made a deep sigh and smiled from the bottom of her heart. Andrei noticed this when he looked at her.


    "This girl, I guess she was really worried huh?" Andrei thought as he fixed himself and stood up.


    However he was forced to sit into the ground again as Michaela have pounced on him already. With tears in her eyes she hugged Andrei tightly.


    Andrei tried to speak, being embarrassed at the position with the queen, while her knights are watching them, but when he felt tears on his shoulders, he just closed his eyes in the comfort of being embraced.


    He hugged her back and stroke her long golden hair which was braided this time.


    "I''m home Michaela" he whispered to her ear.


    "Mmm¡­" Michaela just nodded and hugged him even more tightly.


    Claire only looked at the distance and gave a smile, looking at her crybaby sister hugging the Andrei, however at the same time she could also feel a prickling pain within her heart when Andrei hugged her sister in return and stroked her hair.


    The little pain made her hold on to her chest however, when she saw her sisters crying face, the pain was overshadowed with joy. It''s been so long that she have seen her sister longing and crying for someone.


    Before Andrei came, Michaela was a workaholic girl who mostly focused on kingdom matters as the queen, her leadership made the kingdom prosper but somehow Claire had been worried about her sister''s health and happiness.


    If it''s for her people Michaela wouldn''t stop working on it until the result is enough to make the kingdom and her people happy and prosper.


    That was also the reason why she went to Kydus when a prince started courting her. Hoping to form an alliance in order to achieve her people''s safety, even if that would mean marrying the prince in the future.


    Claire was opposed of the idea but Michaela quickly rejected her concern saying that she''ll just be evaluating whether if the prince has a good nature, enough to bring her people happiness and make her nation prosper.


    But instead of returning with an alliance and the prince of Kydus, Michaela returned in a beat-up condition with a strange man in strange clothes in tow.


    Michaela agonized over the fact that she became so careless that made her subordinates sacrifice their lives for her.


    However, with the strange man she brought with her, the strange man who saved her and the subordinates she agonized about, in an instant Michaela changed.


    Claire was unsure of what really happened to his sister, but when she saw her expression when she jumped on Andrei.


    An expression full of happiness and relief.


    "This is how it is to fall in-love huh?" she thought to herself.


    "Maybe, me also... someday I could shed my tears for someone, just like that" she smiled and put both of her hands together at her back and tilted her head a bit while looking at the betrothed couple.

 20 WHAT IT’S LIKE TO TAKE A LIFE?

    "This¡­ isn''t¡­ supposed¡­ to¡­ happen¡­ why????? Why????? Why did you kill me?"


    A man with wounds from everywhere wrapped in flames reached out his hand to Andrei in a zombie-like manner.


    "Don''t come closer!" Andrei screamed, but the man wasn''t listening and kept getting closer, it was the man he killed in the last battle.


    The voices repeated in an infinite loop, again and again, it looked like the man could reach him, but he couldn''t.


    The loop repeated, the faces, voices, smell of oil and blood, everything felt so realistic.


    Andrei was having a nightmare.


    "Hahhh¡­ hahhh¡­ hahhh¡­"


    Andrei finally woke up from the nightmare, it was the first time he took a life with his own hands. He put his hand on his head as the nightmare caused him an intense headache, he felt throwing up.


    He immediately went to the bathroom and threw up, he washed his face and looked at the mirror.


    "What a mess" he said to himself.


    His face was pale and his eyes had bags under it. Since the rescue mission he has been having dreams like this. Where the people he killed or instructed to be killed would haunt him. Some faces were familiar some were not but they all equally looked gore as if their faces started melting.


    "And I thought I was fully prepared for this" he held himself and shivered.


    He slapped his face and went outside the bathroom and went to the window, he could still see the moon, he wasn''t sure of the time he could only assume based on the coldness of the air and how the skies looked like.


    "It may be 1:00 AM in the morning huh?"


    He decided that he couldn''t sleep anymore, so he put on his newly washed camo jacket and went to the kitchen.


    There was no one in the kitchen, although during the day to evening it was full of cooks and maids altogether preparing food for everyone in the castle.


    The kitchen looked large for Andrei, he brought a lamp with him and put it on the kitchen table.


    "Coffee¡­ Coffee¡­ Geh¡­ I forgot, I couldn''t read" he immediately had a sour expression on his face.


    The wooden containers had writings on it, however Andrei who couldn''t read can only look at it with a sour face, moreover that the containers weren''t visible.


    That would mean that if he had to find coffee he would have to smell everything in the kitchen, which has more than a hundred containers.


    He sighed in resignation and decided to just have water. He drank the water and went outside the kitchen with the lamp.


    He walked back to his room but stopped when he saw the dark blue firefly-like lights in a corner.


    "Ahhh those lights again huh?"


    As he walked towards it, he saw another lamp coming from the same direction. Holding it was Claire, who also had bags under her eyes.


    Andrei walked towards Claire who only looked at him leniently.


    "Claire, make me coffee or tea, hehe" he made a V-sign towards Claire.


    "Want me to hit you with this lamp?" the other responded in her flat tone.


    "No, sorry haha"


    "I bet you went to the kitchen even if you couldn''t read¡­ just wait a bit here, I will call for a maid to get it for us" Claire changed direction but Andrei stopped him.


    "I''d feel bad, they''re sleeping right?"


    "No, they are rotating in shifts, there are some maids who are awake right now, just waiting for orders. They make rounds on the castle every hour, see¡­" she pointed at three lamps going to their direction.


    They were the maids Percy. Eve and Clarissa chatting with each other.


    When Andrei looked at Clarissa was now happily chatting with her friends, he could feel a little comfort in his heart. That maybe the killing was worth it, but shook his head of this thought. "No, it''s never okay to kill"


    However the image from his nightmare showed up again which made have him a headache.


    He held to his head due to the pain.


    When she looked for Claire he couldn''t see her anymore, only to find that she went to the three maids.


    "This girl¡­ teleported? can''t you dial down the stealth mode?" he thought while still in pain.


    Claire seems to be asking for coffee and tea.to the maids who''s also seems to be surprised by her sudden appearance.


    After a while Andrei''s headache have lessened, and Claire had already returned in front of Andrei holding a lamp.


    "I already ordered for tea and coffee"


    "But I didn''t ask for tea?"


    "That was mine idiot"


    "If you''re gonna call me an idiot at least put some feelings to it!"


    "Just a minute, I think I''m having a dejavu" Claire shakes her finger.


    "You''re having it because you don''t always put feelings to your words, I bet you''ve heard many people complain about your tone, that''s why it''s not deja vu!"


    "No, you''re the only one who has the courage to do that seriously"


    "Seriously?"


    "Yeah, if someone bullies me the way you do, Michaela would freeze their shoes together with their feet, or perhaps secretly burn their robe?" Claire put his index finger on her head.


    Andrei immediately felt chills from his spine, thinking about what could happen if Michaela wasn''t in love with him, he would have already suffered those magical torture.


    The two were walked together towards the garden, as Claire instructed the maids to deliver the tea and coffee at the place.


    "So¡­ why are you also still awake during this time?" Andrei asked as he took a sip of his coffee.


    Andrei asked the girl with him who yawned cutely that her eyes became teary. Her hair wasn''t tied and fell to her waist.


    She''s wearing the same outfit but with a different color, in the past it was black with white frills, and currently she''s wearing pink with the same frills.


    "Ahhh¡­ my sister was sleep talking about you, and your name so much that it gave me a horrible nightmare"


    "Ahhhh¡­ ahahahaha" Andrei had a complicated expression on his face while pretending to laugh.


    They arrived at the garden and sat on the bench where Andrei had slept when he tried to escape.


    Claire had a delicate expression on her face, she gently touched the violet lights floating and seemed to have fun while doing it, making a smile on her face that Andrei rarely sees on her.


    Andrei didn''t say a word a just looked at the girl beside him happily touching the lights that came to her.


    But he was startled when her eyes met his.


    "So¡­ it''s my turn to ask right? So why are you still awake at this hour?"


    Her presence was the complete opposite of how it usually was for Andrei, she had a gentle smile written on her face and she was looking at him in his eyes, as if she''s looking at his very soul, that made Andrei''s heart feel comfortable, he wants to tell her everything about how he had those nightmares since the first time he took a life with his own hands.


    But the look and smile that she showed, gave him more than enough comfort that made him not want to tell her anymore. He just wanted to enjoy the silence between them, as they looked each other in the eyes.


    "No¡­ I''m alright" he unconsciously said the words as he responded with a warm smile on his face.


    "Then¡­ okay, but¡­" Claire once again looked at the lights coming at her gently playing with it, even when she couldn''t really touch it. It passed through her fingers, as she tried to caress it.


    "But?"


    "If you''re having bad dreams because of the men you killed¡­ then that''s something I really can''t help you about. You see, here¡­ in this kingdom, where war and skirmishes occur two, three¡­ or many times a month, between nobles, peasants, and the worst between kingdoms and empires, killing and strife has lived within the hearts of the people.


    But you know Andrei¡­"


    Her expression slightly changed with a hint of sadness.


    "Even if we''re used to the killings, we still have bad dreams you know¡­ that''s because we are humans after all.


    But, we choose to live on for tomorrow, for the people we killed¡­ and most of all, the people we saved"


    She looked at Andrei once again with the same expression.


    "Then¡­ what do you do when you get those scary dreams?" Andrei asked while staring at her gray eyes that shone as the purple lights passed through it.


    "Well¡­ for me, I walk to this garden and play with these spirits, I can''t hold them though" she giggled. "But for me, walking here when I have those dreams makes me feel relaxed, sometimes I fall asleep on this bench though" she caressed the vines that are growing through the bench they are sitting on.


    "I can''t hide anything from you can''t I? Well¡­ I was having those kinds of nightmares, how did you know?"


    "Just a hunch I guess?" she gave a smile to Andrei who was flustered of her sudden transformation.


    "This girl who always have threatened, blackmailed and dissed me, could be this cute?" he thought while still in awe with the the girl beside him, so much that he felt that his heartbeat went faster.


    "This¡­ is bad" he talked within his mind.


    "Andrei?" Claire tilted her head in curiosity.


    Andrei diverted his attention from Claire, and became beet red.


    "Th-thank you Claire" he stuttered.


    "Well, no matter how I hate your guts, I still think of you as a hero"


    "I''m nothing that great really, nor do I plan to become one. But why?"


    "Well, you did save those servants for my sister right? But you know Andrei, when my sister blames herself for the death of her subjects, she suffers so much that I can''t bear to see it"


    "Is that so" Andrei fell into silence and slightly smiled while covering his mouth to hide it.


    "Therefore you also saved me, it all connects right?


    So when you''re having those nightmares, believe in yourself... that you had things precious to you and to other people that you protected and saved when you did it.


    And that when you did it, you had an accomplice - you have me to carry the burden together with you, that''s what I said right?"


    Andrei could feel his heartstrings being tugged, while hearing the comforting words of Claire, he was sure that the load that he has been carrying has been lifted somehow, it wasn''t that heavy anymore.


    "You''re¡­ right" Andrei then made a sigh of relief.


    While sitting together at the bench, with just a few centimeters apart, the lights danced around the two. They noticed it and smiled at each other.


    "Then I''ll have to go now" Claire stood up and walked immediately towards the hall.


    "Good night Claire, you really helped me, thank you!" Andrei said the words on a hurriedly manner, hoping that Claire could still hear it, he felt happy when Claire stopped and looked back at him.


    "I don''t remember helping you with anything you know? Well¡­ goodnight" she smiled and disappeared into the hall.

 21 CHAOS BREWING AT KYDUS EMPIRE

    "Those mother*ckers!"


    An old man in his 70 to 80''s with white beard, hair and robe threw the glass he was drinking from to the ground and broke.


    His eyes are wide and crazed with red veins in them, it could be described that he was a scary old man.


    This man was the prime minister of the kingdom of Ethareri, Lazar Morbide.


    He was enraged when he heard about the failure of the bandits he hired in capturing or killing the queen.


    "They''ve just wasted the armors and that expensive potion I gave them! Gnugnunununu!!!!" he gripped the staff he was holding tightly while gritting his teeth.


    He''s currently on the veranda of the mansion he bought in Kydus, together with a woman that seems to be in her 20''s sitting behind him wearing a robe most of her face was hidden.


    "It''s alright, Lazar¡­" the woman spoke to him from behind.


    "What is alright with this situation?! Anyway¡­ I have to find another way¡­"


    "I said it''s alright, she was just a side dish after all. My comrades are almost done with the preparations inside Kydus"


    With the news Lazar''s anger calmed down and his expression got better.


    "Really???" said the old man with a smirk written on his face, his face brightened up like a child who has given candy for the first time.


    "Yes, when the time is ripe, the Empire will be ours and we will invade that little kingdom that you covet so much" the woman in her violet lipstick smiled.


    "And then¡­ I will be King! HAHAHAHA!" the old man''s expression got crazed again as he let out a laugh.


    And the woman turned around and disappeared.


    ...


    At the capital of Kydus Empire, a large castle stood in the center of it, unlike Ethareri''s castle that boasted in its height,the castle built at the center of the empire, even at first look boasted of it''s impregnable defense.


    It stood surrounded in a moat, at the three layers of curtain walls there were men in white and blue armor standing at the battlements.


    Inside these layers were four keeps with towers standing in four corners, and at the center of it, the Kydus Empire''s castle stood.


    In the castle an old man with white hair sat on the throne, he wore a red cape, and golden armor, for an old man his body is still well-built.


    He is the emperor of the Kydus Empire, Hadethius Popannus VII, he closed his eyes he was listening to his prime minister''s report.


    "Your highness, according to the reports, these bandits that wore our soldiers'' armor were tasked to eliminate the queen of the kingdom of Ethareri, Michaela Acirendra, who''s traveling back from a meeting with Prince Fracian.


    However this failed when her servants did all their best to take her away, this all happened on the Mizar settlement"


    The young prime minister reported on his white robe and was wearing round glasses, his blue hair was long and was tied on a ponytail. He''s wearing a round hat that signifies his position


    "That young girl huh¡­ so how is this related to the houses burned at the settlement? Did the bandits do it?"


    The man with his hoarse voice responded while still closing his eyes.


    "According to our spies, it seems that it was a rescue mission, led by the queens betrothed"


    "That young girl¡­ is too soft, she cares too much for her people, and that will be the downfall of their kingdom someday if she keeps this up, but what about her betrothed, I thought he went to Fracian because of the engagement proposal? Is he from another powerful country?"


    "About that your highness¡­ " The young prime minister fixed his glasses.


    "What?"


    "It seemed that her betrothed wasn''t of noble birth but a simple commoner, however, he excelled on making weird weapons..."


    This time the emperor slowly opened his eyes, which revealed to be silver-gray.


    "Hoho¡­ and what kind of weapons is that?" he strokes his beard as an expression of interest to the unknown person who pulled strings in the operation that was carried out in his heavily fortified empire as well as to what kind of weapons he is making.


    The emperor of Kydus was a conqueror, but when his empire reached his ideal he stopped conquering nations and decided to strengthen his current territory.


    His empire''s main strength is in its military, the resources were mostly supplemented by the nations they occupy, most of the empire''s men became soldiers because the premise of being able to eat three times a day.


    The people were mostly poor except for the nobles and the knights of higher position, for a big nation corruption was at large. However the emperor did not care about this, as long as his army is ahead of any nation, this is why when he heard that a certain individual has knowledge of weird weapons, it piqued his interest, it was on military-related affairs that the emperor is immersed on.


    "First, the first one was a weapon that could summon fire at an instant without any magic, next was a weapon that could summon a large cloud of suffocating smoke without any magic"


    "Are you sure that there wasn''t any magic involved?"


    "Yes your highness, the witness is a person who had the ability Clear Eyes which makes him able to detect magic in an object. But the person himself said that there wasn''t any magic involved at all"


    "Smoke and fire huh¡­ not much of a threat, but to think he could make something like that without using magic, it''s terrifying of what weapons he could make in the years to come"


    The subjects lining side by side was surprised of the words that came from the emperor''s mouth, it''s been so long for them to hear the word "terrifying" from the man who conquered nations after nations.


    The old man stood up and raised his staff.


    "We will maintain friendly ties with the Kingdom of Ethareri, next time an incident happens like that, I order all of you to help them at all cost"


    At this moment the first-born prince of the kingdom came from the side and knelt down before the emperor.


    "Your highness please wait a moment!"


    The young man had the silver hair he inherited from her father and was also wearing golden armor, his name is Glanus Popannus.


    "What is it Glanus?" the emperor looked down at the prince.


    "Instead of maintaining friendly ties why don''t we just attack that nation so it would become a part of ours? That would be easier right? Please consider your highness, for the glory of our empire"


    The old man went silent for a while, and then he sat on the throne again.


    "I was planning to do that, but not now" the old man responded.


    "Why father??!! Isn''t this the time to express our might? Right?? Right?"


    The prince had bloodshot and crazed eyes that seemed desperate.


    "You fool!" the emperor''s hoarse voice surrounded the castle. "You intend to invade other nations when our territory still has small skirmishes and uprisings? What the hell happened with your education? Can''t you figure out that simple fact?"


    However the crazed prince didn''t falter at all and gave a sinister laugh to his father.


    "HAHAHA, you''ve gone senile father. Even age defeats the mightiest emperor of the land huh? We have to get them!!! We have to kill them! Kill! Kill! Kill! Every single one of them! Absorb them to our nation and we''ll become the mightiest nation NO ONE WOULD EVER DARE CHALLENGE!"


    The prince became crazier that he spat saliva every time he talked, just like a rabid dog, the subjects that lined up became scared, and the royal guards readied their spears in caution.


    "Forget it father! I will come back another time, and I will take that throne from you! As the first-born prince that is! And I will get every nation in this land! Hahahaah!"


    The prince boldly declared as he stood up with his laugh.


    "What the hell happened to you Glanus, I know you were better than this¡­ Arrest him!"


    The heavily armored royal knights immediately scrambled and surrounded Glanus.


    "What¡­ unhand me! I am the one who will inherit the throne!" he kept resisting the arrest, but the guards were stronger than him, in a few seconds they were able to tie his hands on his back.


    "Is this what you do to the one who inherits your throne father!!!?" Glanus protested trying to face the throne as he was being taken away with the guards.


    "I don''t know you anymore Glanus! I don''t know why and how did you become such an unpleasant person, for the sin of declaring to usurp the throne, you will stay in prison for a while, be grateful that we are of the same blood, otherwise you would have been dead by now" the emperor''s mighty voice echoed throughout the castle.


    The emperor looked at the caster lined up together with his subjects. He was the same age as him, he wore a pointed black hat that hid most of his orange hair.


    "Ipzahr, what the hell happened to my son?"


    However the wizard that he called didn''t respond to his call, he was only looking at his son who was being taken away, shaking in fear.


    "W-what the hell happened, Ipzahr talk!"


    "Y-y-your majesty, I can sense it¡­ the prince¡­ has black magic around him-no, it''s much stronger than that" he shook his head and pointed at the direction of where the guards and the prince disappeared to, and continued.


    "The presence around the prince was just like a dark elf''s! Yes Your Majesty! The dark elves that the holy scriptures of Adrar have described!"


    The throne room was filled with silence, everyone in the throne room was shocked, much more was the emperor. His eyes weren''t as lax as before, it was filled with a combination of horror and rage.


    And at that moment, they heard screams coming from the direction where the guards and the prince disappeared to.

 22 TOWN DATE

    "Let''s go¡­ around the town!"


    A beautiful blonde girl pressed her face against the face of the half-awake Andrei. However he couldn''t keep up with the situation and thought that he was still dreaming, so he turned his face away and buried himself in the pillow facing sideways.


    "It''s my day off after all so¡­ "


    He heard the girl''s voice again as he felt someone moving the pillow away from his face. He slowly opened his eyes out of irritation, however this immediately went away when his eyes met the crystal-like blue eyes of the girl.


    "It''s beautiful" he said, in his low-tone sleepy voice, but he felt sleepy again and closed his eyes again.


    At that moment a soft sensation pressed against his lips, it was soft and tender, and it smelled good for him, a tingling sensation hit against his cheeks.


    "Is this¡­ hair?" he opened his eyes again and he realized that he was on a facing-up position and saw the girl over him, holding her lips with her two fingers and was beet red, he stared at him embarrassingly, while her hair fell down on his face.


    "This is¡­ because you won''t accept any of the rewards, as your future wife, I think I need to reward you with this"


    And her cheeks became redder than it was,as if steam was rising from it.


    From her reactions, their position, and the soft sensation that he felt before, Andrei could basically come up as to what have happened.


    At the sudden realization, the situation made him fully awake, as blood immediately flowed into his heart, as he became very nervous instantly and his heart have started to beat faster than normal.


    His face became red immediately and stared into the girl before him, hoping to confirm whether his speculation is correct or whether he was just imagining things.


    "Did you just¡­ " his shocked face was pathetic as he asked what the girl have done to him embarrassingly.


    "Yes¡­ I¡­ kissed... you" the girl whose face is now as red as a tomato responded and immediately looked away.


    At the end of the incident, Michaela as the queen of the kingdom together with the ministers who knew about the operation, wanted to reward Andrei with title and land, which he immediately refused to accept by saying that providing his basic needs and making him able to live in the castle was enough for him.


    Michaela herself and the ministers was surprised of his response, that the old men in their robes who were ministers of the different fields in the kingdom could only open their mouths in shock.


    "In my world, I would really have accepted land which would be a good investment for the future. However in this era, it would only mean being the lord of that land, which is a pain, even if I plan to live in this world, I don''t want to have such a responsibility yet.


    Also having a title, which would mean becoming a noble? That''s out of question, I can''t even read the characters here, those large scrolls of responsibilities...geh, it''s a pain, and I don''t want to do anything with politics, I have been making my classmates fill-up my attendance on the Political Science classes after all" Andrei was deep in his thoughts as he refused for his own personal reasons.


    But for Michaela, in her world, and country, the mission that Andrei completed was one where he risked his own life, and moreover he was her savior.


    She was so grateful to him that she couldn''t stay put until she rewards him with something, she thought of a way for Andrei to accept the rewards.


    She walked in circles in her study room, which was filled with exquisite furniture decorated by the pink roses that she liked, the walls were bookshelves filled with books and on the center was a table where her scrolls, ink and quills were scattered on top.


    "What if he doesn''t want the rewards because the country that he came from was very abundant of those already? Also his story of coming from another country with those technology was also fishy¡­ I should just show him the land, and the lives of the people here..." she muttered.


    And finally an idea came to her mind that she punched her fist into her palm as if she found a great idea and smiled with delight.


    "In other words I should just show him the whole kingdom! So he would realize that he needs the title and land that I will be giving to him! Yes! Yes! That should be it! Since he came here he didn''t have a chance to tour it after all" he nodded proudly, as if she found a great discovery.


    And when he came into Andrei''s room and tried to wake him up, when she saw his sleeping face, she couldn''t help but to give him an additional reward as his future wife.


    After Michaela''s surprise reward Andrei got up, went to take a bath and get dressed. While Michaela was waiting for him at castle''s hall while being served by her maids.


    Andrei wore a white trouser and a brown leather suit-like brown coat, layering each other, curious about how it fits him he looked at the mirror.


    "I surprisingly look good at this, it''s like I''m cosplaying-not like I tried it before"


    He went downstairs to meet Michaela who''s waiting for him nervously, he could see that she was dressed in a plain white dress layered by a pink coat accompanied by a hood.


    "Are you sure you''re not little pink riding hood?" Andrei said instinctively.


    "Huh? Who is that? Stop talking nonsense and come over here" Michaela tilted her head in response.


    "Are you sure you''re not sneaking out? Erneis aside, Claire might really kill me this time if she finds out that I snuck you out of here"


    "I''m not! My maids even picked this outfit for me! Hmmmf!"


    "Yeah, you look good in that"


    "T-Thank you, anyway let''s go" she went to Andrei and held his hand and pulled him.


    "Don''t you have any escorts?"


    "No, even if someone comes at me I''ll just freeze... " she opened her left palm and muttered a spell to herself, then a rose made from ice appeared on top of it.


    "And burn them!" and then the ice rose was melted forcefully and turned into water and the ice rose was replaced by a small flame.


    Andrei was astonished of what he saw, just like a kid who had seen a magic trick.


    "Hoohhhhh!!!! That''s awesome Michaela!"


    "Well, that''s how it is¡­ anyway let''s go!"


    The two went to town with Michaela''s face hidden on her cloak, and Andrei who had to escort her with a nervous expression on his face, aside from the knights, the maids, and the people at the castle, this will be the first time he will be meeting and talking to the other people aside from them.


    They walked side by side with each other, Andrei could see again the liveliness of the town, they were at the center of the town where the stalls are selling their stuff side by side, and where clothing, and weapons store would mostly be found, he could see carriages parked on a part of the street, vendors negotiating with their customers, and once again, the blacksmith that dealt with his regulars laughing together, parents with their children who pointed at delicious-looking skewed apples that seemed to be dipped with chocolate, Andrei enjoyed the lively atmosphere where people had happiness written at their faces.


    "No matter how many times I look at it, it''s like festival isn''t it? I have looked at this scenery when I took the ride home and at the top of the castle veranda, but seeing it closer, it''s definitely relaxing" Andrei talked to Michaela who was at his side.


    "Yeah, this is what I want to protect Andrei, this is¡­ why I became queen"


    "Is that so?" Andrei looked at the girl on his side who also had the same expression as she looked at the liveliness of the townspeople.


    "Now that'' you''ve seen the town plaza up-close let''s go see the other areas"


    "Yeah"


    They rode a carriage and went to various locations, aside from the town, the other areas were mostly agricultural lands and seaside ports. They ate lunch at a port where delicious seafoods were served, Andrei who came from another world, and Michaela who always stayed in the castle was bewildered of the food in front of them.


    They both ate happily that the other people on the restaurant had a peaceful expression on their face as they looked at the two.


    "What a happy young couple" and old man said who seemed to be a retired sailor dining with his wife. .


    "We were like that 30 years ago right? Grandpa?" his wife added.


    The two heard the comments of the old married couple and became red immediately. They stopped for awhile and looked at each other embarrassingly, but eventually smiled, with a complicated expression on their faces.


    After eating lunch, they passed through the castles of other nobles and ministers, and next the mines and other natural resources of the kingdom.


    When they finished the tour, they stopped at an elevated bay, overlooking the horizon, with the seawater splashing on the large mound of rocks. The view was marvelous, there were trees surrounding them however the see was right in front of them.


    "This place¡­ it''s like were in the middle of a mountain and sea?" Andrei sat on one of the rocks, while Michaela just stood beside him.


    "Yeah, this place is indeed called like that, when I was little, my Mom and Dad brought us- Claire and myself, here often.


    Telling us the tales of how about there are different worlds aside from this place"


    Andrei got surprised of the phrase "different worlds" so he moved closer to Michaela in order to hear more of her story.


    "As they pointed to us on how there are mountains surrounding us, while the sea is just in front of us, just like how the animals lived in the forest, and the fishes lived at the sea, they say that there are other races that lived under the earth, or above the skies"


    Andrei sighed as the description didn''t suit his "different worlds" expectation at all.


    "Why are you sighing so deeply?"


    "No, haha please continue"


    "Well, okay.


    Papa said that there were ancient writings on a certain tree that governs these worlds, the world of the elves, dwarves, giants, I forgot what other races, papa told me though, I don''t really know if it''s real or not, but I want to go to the world of fairies if possible!"


    Just like a kid, Michaela smiled from the bottom of her heart as the rays of the sunset colored their surroundings.


    Andrei who sat down looked up at her warm smile, making his heart feel the same happiness as the girl was having as she expressed her dreams. Her bright smile was something that made Andrei feel nostalgic, he reminisced the last anniversary he spent with Ann-it was also a sunset.


    "A fantasy world in a fantasy world huh?" he blurted out the words unexpectedly, but the girl seemed to ignore it and just faced the horizon as the sun was sinking to it.


    When it finally sunk, they could finally see the numerous stars with the moon glimmering above them. When the light of the moon hit the girls face, Andrei was surprised to see her bright warm smile, was mixed by a tad bit of sadness.


    "Do you know Andrei¡­ before you came, I wished that I could run away from my duties as a queen, it''s true that I had things I wanted to protect, but there''s a part of me who wants to run away from these duties, I just wanted to go to that land of fairies I was talking about. I was pathetic right?"


    Andei immediately understood what Michaela meant.


    "No, you''re not pathetic, bad things¡­ good things happen together unfortunately in our lives, but remember Michaela, that also means that our bad side and our good side, are parts of us that makes us what we are right now. So I would say that it''s not pathetic, it''s just who you are as a person"


    Michaela''s felt warm within her heart, as the queen she really wanted to fulfill her duties, and at the same time she wanted to run for it, and she hated herself a long time for it.


    "To think that you''ll just take these feelings away with just a phrase, just who are you really"


    Michaela returned to her warm smile and sat next to Andrei who was still looking straight at the horizon. The wind blew her golden hair and it swayed through her back.


    She hugged Andrei from his side, while Andrei patted her head with his other hand.


    "Well¡­ I''m just someone who have experienced the same thing as you, and I also met someone who just took away those self-hatred feelings away in a moment, so that I could just laugh at them the next day-oh?"


    When Andrei looked at Michaela, the girl was already sleeping.


    "Hmmm?? Her sleeping face is cute, now what should I do with this?"


    He put the sleeping girls head to his lap as he stared at the sunset in front of him while the waves crashed back and forth on the rocks, he stroke her hair and let her sleep until she woke up two hours later.


    Andrei could see himself in Michaela, at first, he was living a gray-colored life, living in a military family, his goals were already set of becoming a cadet after the first year of college, but at the same time, just like Michaela, he wanted to run away from the burden of being a soldiers son especially a higher ranked one.


    In his senior high of highschool, in a certain encounter, Ann became his best friend and his gray-colored life, started to have colors as she took him on different adventures that he could ever imagine that was there.


    It was her that inspired him to become someone that he wanted to be, it was her that gave him the courage to speak up to his family, that there was something he wanted to do instead of being in the military.


    And those comforting words that she said to Michaela, was taken from his conversation with Ann with regards to his career. When he himself told her that he was pathetic, the girl he loves gave peace to his soul.


    "If passing away means God leads you into another world, then please, let me see your face again Ann"


    ???????????????? ???????? ???????????? ????????????????????????


    While making rounds on the training grounds, Erneis secretly asked him if there was a way he could improve the bombs, which Andrei denied immediately by saying that it was everything he knew, the old man could only sigh deeply.


    As he was thinking of such things, a bell could be heard sounding an alarm.


    "Enemies! Enemies! Enemies!"


    "Quickly grab your weapons and take your positions!"


    "Raise the drawbridge!"


    "The enemy is 10,000 strong!"


    He could hear the voices outside.


    "No way! This early? And 10,000 knights? We haven''t even finished our preparations!"


    Andrei felt deep regret, memories of Michaela and Claire flashed within his mind, and a picture of the kingdom being invaded.


    "If only I¡­ If only I" he clenched his teeth.


    "I am really pathetic!" he wore his camo jacket and jeans and quickly went outside. He saw everyone was running around.


    He ran to his platoon and gave instructions. His platoon was mostly made of conscripts and a few female knights. "Deliver all available bombs to the battlements right now!"


    Two men nodded and started loading the carriage beside the area with wooden crates of Molotov bottles and tear-gas smoke bombs.


    "If we can just survive today, I will definitely find a way to make even the deadliest weapon I can recreate in this world¡­ make me a mass murderer for the hell I care!


    If I could fight the entire world for Ann, then I could do the same for Claire, Michaela, Erneis and for the people of this kingdom!"


    He told himself as he balled his hand into fists and looked at the men of his platoon who''s loading the crates to the carriages.

 23 THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE

    "Evacuate the empire! Hurry up!" a Kydus knight said as he was fighting his own comrade, however, it wasn''t his usual self, his eyes had a red glow inside it, his skin turned to a pale violet and his strength was three times stronger than it was before.


    "Crap, the blows are heavy, I would be finished if I get hit by one of that" he looked at his other comrades that were still sane fighting against their crazed comrades.


    "To think that even us - the strongest order of Kydus could hardly do anything but to stall time for our emperor to escape tch, this is horrible, they don''t show any signs of stopping no matter how much we cut them!"


    Swords hit each other, the crazed knights attacked relentlessly however the sane ones stood their ground, they were the emperors royal guards, the cream of the top.


    It all started when the emperor ordered the capture of the prince Glanus, when the guards were on their way to put him in his cell a sudden outburst of negative energy colored in pitch-black aura covered the crazed prince.


    The guards were the part of the highest order of knights of the Empire of Kydus, they immediately let go of the prince and started to chant, sealing light magic, knowing that the prince was engulfed of black magic.


    The four guards immediately stood back, knelt with one leg while their sword pierced the ground.


    "Mundos sacratos lumos let the angels hear the call to defeat the fallen! Aura of Cleaning!"


    Together they chanted and lights shone from the magic stone in their swords, and it converged into one ray of light, the light enveloped the prince and an outburst of it strikes him. The prince screamed and his voice gradually became different turning into a deeper and deeper voice as he was screaming from the pain.


    When the light magic disappeared, large smoke covered the area where the prince suffered the blow. Thinking that the prince has already been defeated a knight went closer to him. However as he couldn''t see the prince anywhere.


    As he moved his eyes through the area, a hand came from the smoke immediately reaching to the knight''s helmet, he was startled at first but he realized that his helmet was made from the strongest metal in Kydus, he raised his sword in order to cut the prince''s hand, however, before he could do anything, the hand was so strong that it crushed the helmet together with the knights head like a tomato being crushed and its juices spilling out.


    Blood scattered everywhere and the knight''s dead body fell to the ground in a thud, the three other knight guards that were watching was startled and tried to cast another spell. However it was too late, an immense black aura enveloped the dead body, making it pale violet, it rushed to them with a sword on its hand, two of the knights had time to raise their shield to defend themselves, however, the slash was too heavy, the strength of the dead body was times higher than when it was alive, the sword broke the shields and the second swing killed two of the knight guards, the black aura enveloped them and turned them to the same state as the dead body was as if it was possessed.


    And with this chaos spread within the castle, with knights fighting against their own comrades dead and controlled.


    Some of the sane knights fought to fend off the numerous corpses that are attacking who are stronger than them in order to give time for the emperor to escape.


    "Close the gates immediately!" shouted a person who guarded the secret chamber of the emperor, where a safe route existed.


    "To think that there would come a day that I would be using this escape route" he deeply sighed, as the knights locked him in the chamber.


    The emperor with a lamp on his hand, went through a secret door where a staircase existed.


    "Glanus, whoever did this to you I will cut their heads and feed their bodies to the pigs! Just wait for me my son" he declared and disappeared into the path.


    When the emperor reached the surface, he was on the wilderness, his youngest daughter Larierara was already waiting for him together with an army of 20,000 strong.


    ''Father, I''ve heard from the soldiers, I will fight with you"


    "No Rara, you musn''t! I will take half of your forces in order to try and retake the castle"


    "Then what should I do father?"


    "Wait for me outside, if I do not come until the sun sets, bring as many people as you can and ride towards Ethareri, they should be able to help you there"


    "Father we are the strongest army in the land, why should we back down?"


    "THAT''S BECAUSE THE ENEMY RIGHT NOW IS SOMETHING THAT WE CAN''T DEFEAT! WE ARE WEAK!"


    "What are you saying father?"


    "The enemy right now is not human!"


    "Then are they trolls? Goblins, whatever they are we can defeat them! Are you really the emperor who conquered four nations in his youth? Give me the command! I will do my best o eradicate the threat!" She put her hand in her chest bravely as if making an oath.


    However the emperor just shook his head.


    "No, they''re not those weak trolls either¡­ the conqueror you mentioned conquered nations, the enemy we are fighting now, at least in ancient scriptures have captured worlds!"


    "Do you mean?"


    "Yes, the race that according to the ancient scriptures had conquered the world of the dwarves and light elves"


    "Yes, I have read of them in the library, but aren''t they just hallucinations of our ancestors as mother have said?"


    The emperor didn''t answer anymore, and just shook his head.


    Silence filled the tent where the emperor and his daughter stayed, with terrified looks on their face.


    "Then father, you''re gonna take on such a dangerous enemy, what if something happens to you? the Empire will fall!" the princess asked in a calm manner finally breaking the silence.


    The emperor then patted her head and looked at her in the eyes,


    "Listen Rara, there are scary things in this world, or maybe they reside on the other worlds, but Rara, you must remember that no matter what happens as an emperor, or whatever you will be doing in the future, as a leader you must take responsibility for the people you are leading, you must protect them no matter what it takes. And about me being the mightiest emperor you say?"


    The emperor stood up from his seat, and faced his daughter.


    "Being a conqueror doesn''t just mean being strong enough to invade other nations, it also comes with a strong will to protect them when they come under your rule, you mustn''t forget that Rara, if you''re aiming to become someone like me in the future.


    Strength is not the only power, that could rule this world, kindness could become a frightening power if used well"


    "But aren''t you scared father? An enemy who can control corpses, moreover we do not know anything about them except for the little details we have read in the scriptures"


    "Didn''t you had a clear look at my face when I came out of the secret escape tunnel?" The emperor let out a giggle.


    "Yes father, it was horrible, doesn''t suit you at all" the princesses relaxed her nerves and let out a similar giggle.


    "Yes, I''m scared, definitely¡­ scared, but just as I''ve said earlier, it''s my responsibility to take care of my people, I must do whatever it takes"


    "Then father, take the whole force! Just give me five knights to assist me"


    The emperor shook his ahead in disapproval.


    "No Rara, just as you''ve said earlier, in the worst case if something bad happens to me, forget about retaking back the castle, the whole empire will fall into ruin if they kill all of us.


    If I succeed I will have the magic caster light the colors that you love at the sky, if not then do as I''ve said"


    "Then¡­ my colors are-" when she was about to tell her father her favorite colors the emperor put his index finger on his lips.


    "No, the whole point of making a caster shoot those lights are for the case that the enemy might be able to control me, they may be able to control my mind, but I do hope that they won''t be able to see through what''s in my heart"


    "But.. father"


    "Rara, promise me, if something happens to me, do not go after me" the emperor held his daughter in his arms.


    Tears started to flow from Rara''s cheeks, as she knew that nothing could stop his father from doing what he wanted to do. In order to hide the pain of her father going away to a battle that will most probably kill himself she immediately wiped her tears and acted on her normal demeanor.


    After the short deliberation the emperor''s force marched to the southern gate, the gatekeepers immediately let them in, the princess'' force waited outside of the gate, there was nothing unusual happening on the towns, however, everyone could feel an unusual ominous aura lurking within.


    Sunset came, and the emperor and his forces weren''t anywhere to be found. Rara grew more anxious.


    "Your highness, I think we should do what the emperor wants us to, that is to evacuate as many people as we could, I don''t know what the emperor meant by this, but we should trust his decision" Rara''s chief knights suggested.


    "Let''s wait a little bit more" Rara still wished his father would successfully retake the throne without getting killed, she worried so much that it caused her great pain while waiting. His father wasn''t just a mighty emperor, but he was also a great father to her and her siblings.


    No screams of fighting could be heard from where they were waiting, as the castle was far away from the southern gate. When the sun had finished setting, suddenly balls of colorful lights flashed out of the sky, the knights and Rara could see it and were amazed, but only Rara could understand what it meant and happiness filled her heart that she would almost cry at the appearance of such lights, however, something was different, something was out of place.


    "Those¡­ aren''t my favorite colors" she muttered.


    "Your highness?" her chief knight asked wondering what the princess meant.


    She remembered what her father said, and looked back at her army.


    "My father would have known what my colors was," she muttered as her heart fell into despair.


    Carle the chief of knights, with his experience could deduce what had happened to the emperor, and decided to not say a word.


    "Everyone! Evacuate as many as people as possible! Your families your neighbors, bring everyone you could bring on carriages!"


    "But what should we tell them your highness?" one of the knights asked her.


    "Ahh that''s rights, tell them the emperor has fallen and is being controlled by dark magic if should they stay here, what awaits them is to become food for the enemy!"


    Fear struck everyone who heard the proclamation, they couldn''t believe that the mightiest emperor has fallen, however the daughter herself said so, they believe in her.


    "On me!" the princess unsheathed her rapier and pointed it forward to the gate.


    "I will give you three hours to gather as many people as possible, if you do not come within that time, we will march ahead of you! Now¡­ go!"


    At that moment the force of 10,000 strong ran as fast as they could inside the gates to fetch their loved ones and evacuate the people.


    The princess was left with her chief knight, she maintained her normal demeanor, with raging flame in her red eyes, and her silver-white hair that flew through her back, the aura she showed was as mighty as her father''s.


    "Father, this burden, I will carry it for you, someday, I will retake this empire and free you from the spell"


    The chief knight Carle looked at her with awe.


    "This is¡­ the birth of an empress, Hadethius, you''ve raised your daughter well, I''m sure she''ll be able to retake the empire soon, I''m sure of it" he thought. At his youth, before Hadethius became an emperor he was Carle''s childhood friend, they grew up at the same time in the same village.


    In the three hours, panic could be heard within the city as the news spread, some even fought and stole horses and carriages.


    The force of 10,000 went back with the a large number of civilians.


    "Your highness, some refused to go so we left them behind" a knight reported to her.


    "That''s fine, as long as you''ve told them, now let''s march! Onto Ethareri!"

 24 NEW WEAPON

    "Like I said, I need your help!" a young girl argued with Michaela on the planning chamber. The girl was still wearing her bulky armor, her silver hair flew through her shoulders and her scarlet eyes widened as she tried to make a plea.


    "Yes I know, I know, but I am asking, why? Why do we need to help you? Why do I need to risk the lives of my soldiers, if it was a normal enemy we would have lent you some of our forces but against a force like that, what you''re asking for is insane!"


    Michaela responded in her majestic demeanor, wearing her gold armor, her crystal blue eyes sparked and was filled with authority.


    "Aren''t we allies? Isn''t that reason good enough? Then, I''ll give you some of our land and our resources! Please¡­ please help us" she bowed her head, and knelt.


    "Please save¡­ my father¡­ my people" she pleaded.


    Michaela felt sorry for her, but there was no way the she could risk all of her soldiers getting killed by an unknown enemy.


    "Let''s save that talk for later, what about the other refugees who came with you? Where are they now? Why did you come with all your soldiers covered in wound and bruises? Were you chased by the enemy?"


    "They are currently on the east side outside the gates of your kingdom, alongside the river, and about these wounds, half of our forces, the soldiers that the king took from me in order to reclaim the throne returned crazed and chased us until we reached your border" Rara still on the floor groveling.


    "Then the help I could give you is shelter and food for three months, until then you can stay on that part of the border, also I will lend you our tents and fishing tools"


    "I''m thankful for that but¡­ won''t you really help us with this war?"


    "I think I''ve already gave you my answer?"


    "But what if¡­ they attack your country next? Before my brother went insane, according to father he was talking about ruling over the world and invading other lands such as yours, what will you do when that happens? Everything then will be too late!" Rara felt helpless deep insider her heart that groveling was all that she could do, he understands the Queen''s position, but it was all that she could do.


    "Raise your face and stand before me, you''re a princess right? You shouldn''t be groveling like this" This time Michaela kindly picked up Rara from the ground and supported her stand up, Michaela couldn''t see her face earlier but now when she looked clearly at it, her eyes weren''t filled with revenge and grudge as she assumed, tears well up on her red eyes with the expression of guilt and helplessness.


    "I said we will talk more about this tomorrow, it''s not that I don''t want to help, I just want to think over this over again"


    She then looked at Andrei who was silently looking at them, and the girl Rara did the same.


    "Thank you, about this person, is he your betrothed? The one who performed that reckless rescue mission on Mizar?"


    "Yes indeed, he''s the one who punished those bandits from another faction who tried to use my servants to kill me" Michaela bragged and looked at Andrei who gave a wry smile, and gave a slight bow.


    "Ohhh"


    The little girl only looked at him in awe, she was looking at the person that piqued the Emperor''s interest.


    "What about you Lord Andrei, what are your thoughts on this?" Erneis asked him from his side.


    "Well¡­ if you think about it, sooner or later they will most probably attack this place, and with what has been described, that dark power is really scary.


    I think it should be better to crush them as soon as possible, offense is the best defense after all, but we can''t really risk our soldiers dying against the power of the unknown enemy"


    Erneis eyes widened as if he received enlightenment.


    "Thank you Lord Andrei, I have learned from that" the old man bowed his head to Andrei.


    "No, no it''s not that great, I''m just repeating what she said" he said as he waved his hand.


    The alarm that went off wasn''t the Kydus attacking, but rather the fleeing Rara and his companions towards the kingdom for asylum


    Rara on the other side with Michaela had heard their conversation and had her eyes more fixated on him.


    "Your Majesty, is your betrothed perhaps a military strategist from another country?"


    "Hmmm¡­ at least, I don''t think so, but he was the one who came up with that reckless plan and fulfilled his promise of bringing everyone safely, which makes him very cool, especially when he made those weapons" Michaela had a dreamy expression on her face as she imagined Andrei in her mind differently.


    "Ahhh I''ve heard from the eyewitnesses, those weapons made from bottles huh?" This time Rara moved closer to Andrei, she inspected him from head to toe, and even circled around him which made Andrei uncomfortable.


    "Say, Queen''s betrothed, do you have something will make us win against that unknown power?" she closed in her face to him, she tiptoed as her height was below Andrei''s shoulder.


    On the other side, Michaela''s aura suddenly became darker and darker as if there was a demon behind her.


    "This is bad, I have to answer quickly" he thought and his forehead started to sweat.


    "Ahhh about that princess Rara, I think we should fight the unknown using another unknown right? To make things balance, at least that''s what... I... think?" he checked on Michaela''s expression.


    "You''re¡­ interesting" Rara said with a serious tone as she closed in her face more into Andrei''s this time that their noses almost touched, Michaela picked her up with one hand and carried her back to her seat.


    "Andrei stop answering her like that!" Michaela protested cutely.


    "I''m only answering in a normal way!" then he looked at the corner and saw Claire drinking her cup of tea, and this made him jump.


    "You were there huh?" he thought as he didn''t notice her again, Claire only glanced at him, fixed her tie and drank tea again, Andrei facepalmed.


    "By the way Michaela, I have something to talk to you about" he glanced at Rara "It''s somewhat related to that, is it alright for Rara to also hear it?"


    "It''s fine, I think she also has the right to hear it, since their empire is involved after all"


    "Actually, I''m thinking of making another weapon to increase our forces capability"


    And the whole room suddenly became silent that they could hear Claire still sipping from her tea alone.


    "Maybe... it could help... Rara and... everyone?"

 25 ONE STEP TO DEFEAT THE UNKNOWN

    This time everyone opened their mouths in awe.


    "But Lord, didn''t you tell me that it was all you knew?" Erneis asked in complaint and disbelief.


    Andrei shook his head.


    "No, I''m sorry Erneis, I didn''t mean to trick you, but back then I was scared of making this weapon that would mostly kill ten or more people in a blast, which would totally make me a murderer"


    "T-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-ten or more?!!!!" Erneis, Michaela and Rara could only gasp, while Claire focused her attention on Andrei.


    He already predicted their reactions so this time he exhaled and continued.


    "Yes, and in your case it would kill more than twenty I guess, I don''t have the details about how much we could make with the materials, but as I have visited other places with Michaela I found some mineral deposits that I think we could use.


    I already drawn the blueprint, if you could give me time, I will make a sample in a week with Claire''s assistance that is" and he looked at Claire who made a sigh and kept drinking as if she doesn''t care.


    "But what changed your decision Andrei?" Michaela was the one who asked this time, "If that weapon is so destructive to kill at least¡­. 20 a blast as you''ve said it would totally make you a murderer right?"


    "When Rara''s army marched here, comparing it with our own forces, I saw the difference in strength, at the force is already fleeing from an enemy, and probably, I became scared¡­" Andrei looked away


    "No... I was really really scared if something happens to you, to Claire, to the people on the town''s square, to the farmers we visited, to the funny old ministers that accommodated us.


    A force like that running from the enemy, and the princess of that empire wanting to join forces with us.


    So inside my head I decided, if we could perhaps make it another day or two, with me lending you all my knowledge without any restriction, even if it''s something that could make me a murderer, as long as I have been able to protect you all that''s enough"


    Everyone on the room became quiet, Michaela became red and Claire looked away while sipping from her tea, and Rara could only look at him with her red eyes shaking.


    "If we don''t join forces right now, and if we abandon those civilians outside, I don''t know how else we are going survive this, by joining hands together I believe we can do something, rather than waiting for our doom, I believe we should at least make some preparations"


    Andrei made a deep breath. "I will leave the decision to you Michaela"


    Suddenly the old man beside him knelt in front of him.


    "I Erneis will serve you until the day I die, you are truly fit to become Lord-no, Your Highness Andrei"


    Andrei became embarrassed. "I totally got carried away and said that¡­" he thought, he wasn''t used to old people kneeling at him. "Hey, please stop that old man"


    Then he felt suddenly someone was hugging him, when he felt the soft sensation he quickly knew who was the one that was hugging him. It was Michaela who buried her face in his chest.


    "I don''t know what to say but¡­ I really feel, very, very very thankful to have heard you say that" then she turned her head to Claire. "Right, Claire?"


    Claire only looked away while knawing a piece of bread and became a bit red.


    "Michaela, I''ll leave the formalities to you, your deals with Rara and other complicated stuff"


    Michaela nodded, she felt that she truly found a kindred soul who loves the kingdom as much as she does, she felt very happy that she couldn''t help but hug him tight.


    Andrei became flustered of the sudden turn of events. But deep inside he was thankful, that the people that he would be sacrificing for have already appreciated of what he was going to do. In his moral code killing isn''t necessary, but that moral code was already broken days ago, he decided to carry this baggage for the greater good.


    "So what weapon is this Andrei?" asked Claire who nonchalantly asked him about the weapon.


    "You will help me make it Claire, after all your magic could make any form of metal right?"


    "Yes, as long as it''s a metal I''ve seen the ore up close"


    "That''s awesome!!! Then let''s start right away!" Michaela tossed her hair.


    "Then¡­ are you going to help me recapture Kydus?" Rara asked bringing back the pressure in the room.


    "Michaela is the only one who can answer that, I''m just going to make the weapon to defend ourselves with, but if she decides to use it to attack or help you retake your Empire, then maybe she''ll help you. Right? Michaela?"


    "Yes, after I see it I will decide, as I''ve said I will think it over again, the turn of events is too sudden that my mind couldn''t keep up"


    "Then let me help you Lord Andrei! With my power any sword, spear, arrow and bow would be invincible!" Rara volunteered herself almost jumping into Andrei but Michaela caught her by the collar.


    "Power?"Andrei curiously asked "What power?"


    "I can enhance any weapons power to triple"


    Rara knew what she was talking about however Andrei who lived in a world where there are different sources and kinds of power, didn''t know what she meant.


    "Power is power!"


    "Shut up you two" Claire interrupted who seemed irritated of the exchange, and looked at Rara.


    "You see Andrei here is an idiot despite of his knowledge, so I think it would be best if you show it to him, I mean, your weapon enhancement magic" Claire stood up and smiled at Rara.

 26 THE END OF COLD WEAPONRY

    When morning came the soldiers and knights of Ethareri together with Kydus gave the refugees the promised help, sacks of food and heaps of cloth to be made as tents was given as supplies, this made the refugees happy as they have been eating nothing but fish the other day, those who didn''t know how to get food in the wild starved. They were lucky enough that the princess got help from the neighboring kingdom.


    In the castle, Andrei faced sacks of ingredients he requested in different variants.


    "For now, let''s try making gunpowder!" he said proudly.


    "Are you sure you''re gonna make weapons from these Andrei? Are you perhaps an Alchemist? But these are useless ingredients, saltpeter is cheap it is being used for curing meat, these yellow ores are only trash from the mines and charcoal? Are you alright in the head?" Claire asked in curiosity nonchalantly dissing him, while looking at the sacks of charcoal, saltpeter and sulfur.


    "That really hurts you know Claire" Andrei was hit with deadpan remarks from the girl who pinched her nose while looking at the ingredients.


    "Ahhh sorry, but don''t worry I''ll keep my mouth shut from now on, yes yes" she nodded, and distanced herself from the smelly materials.


    "To be honest it''s the first time I''m making this stuff" Andrei nervously said while fidgeting.


    "Hey, are you sure this is safe?" Claire was worried hearing that it was Andrei''s first time making the powder.


    "Don''t worry, I think it''s safe as long as there isn''t fire around us during we work"


    " ''I think'' is not going to save you when you get engulfed in flames you know"


    "Hey I thought you were gonna shut up?"


    "Ahhh, sorry" Claire turned around like it wasn''t her problem anymore and shrugged her shoulders.


    Andrei covered his mouth with a cloth, and started working immediately, Claire only looked around him from afar as she wasn''t asked to help other than making the materials by her magic.


    ...


    Andrei was born from a military family, but even his world, his country''s military was behind in terms of assets, in air, ground, and sea, they barely had any fighter planes and their flagship was a second-hand coast guard cutter donated by their ally which is a world power. However when it came to their soldiers, his country had the best elite squads in the world, due to internal conflicts such as extremists and terrorists, their elite soldiers were one of the best.


    Andrei''s father was an air force officer, while his brother was a high ranked special elite soldier, who has expertise in demolition. Since Andrei was young he saw blueprints of bombs dangerously posted on his brother bedroom just like normal posters, living with a demolition-maniac brother, he was also taught on the basics of making simple bombs and IED''s as their brotherly bonding, even though this was supposed to be forbidden by the law, he would often tell young Andrei on how the terrorists use them and why they need to learn to make it.


    With Andrei''s advanced knowledge in technology and through series of trial and errors, they were able to come up with gunpowder in four days, making the sample bombs took place after that, and finally they were able to finish a sample within the week.


    The two showed up at the castles training yard with the sample, this time there was a separate area provided for Andrei to make the tests as the queen didn''t want to burn the stakes on the training ground which is being used by the Golden Knights to train.


    "Okay you see, this is another bomb, but it''s made with steel Claire made and gunpowder which made from the resources I have ordered"


    "Gun-powder? I can understand what powder means but what this thing called a "gun" Your Highness?" Erneis asked him with his hand on his chin.


    "Well you see¡­" Andrei was about to keep his mouth shut again, however he remembered his promise with everyone, that is to share all his knowledge in order to support them.


    "It''s another weapon but it''s harder to make given the time we have, I also forgot the process, I will probably try to make one when the mass production of this bomb starts"


    Everyone was happy with the news, that besides the newly created weapon, Andrei already has something planned.


    "You really are amazing Your Highness!" The old man was overjoyed of the news that he clenched both fists as if he''s a kid that got his parents to buy him the toy that he wanted, Andrei suppressed his laughter seeing the old man''s face.


    "I just noticed that you changed how you call me, it feels awkward Erneis, so please, calling Andrei is fine" Andrei said to Erneis "Even if it''s the casual setting of this world, it still makes me cringe whenever somebody calls me "Your Highness"" he thought.


    "That I cannot do, please understand as this is my pride as a knight" Erneis bowed to him with his chest puffed and hi right hand on his chest, making a small bang on the gold armor he was wearing.


    Andrei was surprised of the old man''s tenacity that he thought it was better if he didn''t say anything anymore.


    "Well¡­ it''s fine I guess"


    Rara arrived in a fluttery red dress, Michaela in her usual golden armor and Claire with bags under her eyes on her usual clothes.


    "Are you fine Claire?" Michaela asked her while holding Claire''s face in front of her.


    "It''s fine, Andrei just wouldn''t let me sleep last night" and she yawned as if she was half-asleep.


    "Hoho" Michaela faced Andrei and smiled but here eyes weren''t, "You won''t even let me sleep with you and you..." Andrei jerked away from her and immediately protested to Claire, who was speaking while half-asleep."Claire¡­ you really shouldn''t be talking if you''re half asleep you''re gonna make me get killed please, I beg of you" Andrei muttered in a prayer like manner.


    "Ann was scary when she gets jealous but Michaela is on another level" he thought to himself.


    "Andrei you cheater! You should have done it with me first!" Michaela finally let out a protesting high-pitched tone, destroying her queenly facade in a flash, luckily besides the guest Rara, the only people present were Erneis, Claire, her and some of the maids.


    Hearing the embarrassing accusation Andrei couldn''t help but to immediately retort,


    "That''s not what happened!!! And really¡­ is that what you''re worried about?"


    However the two were interrupted when a the silver haired girl who seemed to have become impatient came between them, "Ahemm! I think we should begin the tests already"


    Erneis facepalmed.


    "That''s right! We should start the tests right now!" diverting the topic, Andrei immediately took the bomb in the shape of a cylinder with filaments that looks like it grows on it, carefully he ran to the field where there were stakes, disregarding the area given to him, when he reached a certain long distance from the audience who''s sitting on the second floor of the castle overlooking the training site, he looked at the audience and winked at Rara, and gave her a thumbs up from far away "Nice save Ms. Rara!" thinking he gave her a good job sign.


    The young girl, didn''t know what it meant and looked at the man''s companions beside her, but to her surprise they were all already looking at her.


    "Me?" she pointed herself in confusion.


    "Does he hate me? To think that he would do that in front of the queen, now she''s staring daggers at me!" she straightened and looked away pretending not to notice Michaela''s expression.


    After placing the bomb a few feet under the ground and covered it with soil, Andrei then ran back to where the spectators where.


    "Why did you put that under the ground? And moreover are you gonna burn the training stakes again?" Michaela asked him, even for the kingdom''s queen, she wasn''t extravagant enough to let the training stakes made by craftsmen burn again.


    "Ahhh, sorry Michaela, it''s got to setup like this or else you wouldn''t be able to see it''s whole effect" Andrei patted her shoulders excited to see the blueprint on his brothers room come to reality.


    "I don''t really want to admit it, but this definitely interesting, I wonder if this is the reason why my brother became a demolition-maniac person? This excitement... " in modern day earth, Andrei would have already been raided by the investigation bureau by now.


    Before he began, he explained how it would work by his two hands, the mechanism, and how the bomb works together with gunpowder he made firsthand, everyone was amazed that such thing exists, everyone especially Rara had their eyes fixated on Andrei the whole time like a child in wonder.


    "This person, if it wasn''t for him I think the queen wouldn''t have even considered my request" she thought, and then felt that her heartstrings are being tugged as she looked at him longer... and longer.


    "No, my heart is beating faster, what''s happening? No, that shouldn''t be possible, since he''s the queen''s fiance after all, this can''t be! But¡­ he''s cool"


    Andrei finished the discussion with everyone''s mouth wide open, and Claire asleep, apparently Andrei gave her scrolls of blueprints of parts that he wanted to be made, and made the metal parts inside his room so she could ask any questions if there were any, it was the first time for her to see the shapes of the metals, that she never slept until she finished everything, Andrei on the other hand also didn''t sleep in order to make correction after correction, during the process they either were too focused or was busy bickering at each other - with Andrei on the defensive.


    "So what should we use to step at that bomb? Just like what you''ve said something has to trigger those "filaments" right?" Michaela asked.


    "What about a prisoner?" Erneis suggested nonchalantly.


    "Please don''t, that would be scary!" Andrei stood up.


    "I would like to avoid seeing human blood until a real battle" Andrei refused, while thinking, "This old man is cruel... really, doesn''t human rights exist on this planet?"


    "Then what should we use?" Rara asked him tilting her head to one side, but eventually looked away when Andrei diverted his gaze to her to answer the question.


    "Did I do something rude?" Andrei wanted to answer the question but didn''t expect she would turn away.


    "About that what if we put an animal food around it, wild animals should come and... " Andrei suggested while raising his index finger.


    "Idiot, there aren''t wild animals in these ground" Claire dissed him and yawned


    "Hmmm¡­ I guess that would work, what about a hare?" Erneis pointed at the maid who was carrying a fat hare with her to the kitchen, apparently it was going to be their lunch.


    The test proceeded and food was put around the bomb, the hare was released and when it saw the food on the ground it quickly approached it in high speed, in a few seconds when it sat on the ground, a click was heard and a big explosion happened.


    Balls of shrapnels whistled as they scattered around the area, it almost hit all the stakes and some even flew right through where they were standing.


    But Erneis being a knight with superhuman senses quickly took action, he stepped in front and chanted a one-line spell.


    "Clipeum, the shield of light will protect me!" He scooped both hands from the ground upward and a large invisible bluish shield appeared in front of them deflected the pieces of metal that flew to them.


    "You idiot, you should have told us that it would have reached us on this range" Claire was awaken and stood up.


    "He he" Andrei shrugged as he made a wry smile, "I didn''t expect it to fly this way"


    "This is¡­ " Rara imagined what would happen if her forces got caught in this explosion,


    "Without any warning, when the cavalry of a large battalion charges and steps on this weapon, it would be¡­ a massacre, and furthermore if this weapon is mass produced, it would make Ethareri and impregnable fortress filled with traps all over!"


    Andrei would have been a war criminal if he was back on his world, giving birth to the anti-personnel landmine which was banned by the United Nations, a weapon that have caused great suffering in the past decades.


    "I can''t believe it, that force from a single metal that flew, even a golden shield wouldn''t be able to hold out because of this speed" Erneis couldn''t believe when he saw the that have been broken beyond recognition, he imagined the knights who have trained for many years, but just by simply stepping on the trap would immediately make them lose their limbs, winning the war without losses from whoever own the weapon.


    "This weapon, throws away the pride and honor of a battle in order to kill as much as it can in a single blow, achieving victory in the most horrid way, could it be that the queen have met such a very capable and at the same time a very dangerous person?"


    Erneis thought as he looked Andrei with disbelief, who has a satisfied expression on his face.


    "It''s too destructive, forget about getting near, the enemy will be shred to pieces if they went into our defenses without knowing that these are planted under their feet, we wouldn''t even have to put archers on the battlements if we had tons these" Michaela clenched her fist in the advantage that it could give them.


    "Could it be, that the age of knights is over? And the countries in our continent are just so behind to rely on cold weapons? Where the hell did you come from Andrei?" Michaela thought as she saw the large explosion that made Erneis use his shield magic which she rarely seen him using in battles until it was a monster or a demon he was fighting.


    "Sister¡­ this may be the end of cold weapons" Claire who was still half asleep whispered to her from behind, and looked at the area where the smoke cleared and everything on the ground was a mess, the hare was nowhere to be seen, and some of the stakes were cleared out.


    "Even I couldn''t believe that something like this could be made just with those scrap ingredients and just a few metals, just imagine what country would have this kind of weaponry, it could be that Andrei is a son of a noble who commands the soldiers there, but what would be more scary is that if he was just an ordinary civilian and have already knew how to make weapons such as that, the soldiers in Andrei''s country could be more dangerous than the enemy in terms of weaponry" she said in a serious tone as she focused her sight on the site.


    "With this we might be able to take back Kydus!" Rara joyfully thought within her mind, at first she was scared on how frightening the weapon was, imagining what would happen to their enemies who will probably be their former comrades, however when she thought of the empire, she remembered his father and the task that she was given, "That''s right, even if it''s cruel, I have to do this, or else the empire is finished"


    "That''s it, I''ve decided I will also marry you Andrei" she muttered. However Andrei couldn''t hear this as he was in deep thought, only Michaela and Claire heard her and stared at her with a smile, as Michaela was about to open her mouth a sudden phrase from Andrei made her stop.


    "Isn''t the explosion still too weak? The balls spread fast but the explosion isn''t that loud, hmmmm maybe we should increase the powder?"


    Andrei muttered while scratching the back of his head.


    Everyone heard what he said and froze into their seats with wide eyes and open mouths, for some reason Claire didn''t care and fell asleep.


    When she woke up, there were already blueprints on the table, with clumsily made note by Andrei who started to learn writing, it says, "Make these for me okay? I need it by tomorrow! ^_^"


    Claire crumpled the note and cursed Andrei within her heart.

 27 AN IMPENDING DISASTER

    In the castle at the heart of Kydus, there were no subjects lining up side by side the hall, all that''s left were dead in their decomposing bodies, it has already been a week since a dark force took possession of the first prince.


    The emperor slowly walked through the corpses, destroying the decomposing heads as he stepped on it, when he was almost at the throne he could see a silver haired corpse in front of it, he looked at it for a while with cold eyes, but eventually did the same with the corpses he passed by, he stepped on it and the great pressure in his foot crushed the corpse''s head, the emperor traced the throne, and eventually sat on it.


    It was not the usual, full of strength emperor, as he faced the big door entrance of the castle which was half open, his eyes gave a purple shine, the sunlight reached his body and it wasn''t his usual color, it was now pale however his muscles were more bulky than it was before.


    "Enter, dark minotaurs" he said in a relaxed manner.


    With a creak the door opened, and it showed ten groups of fifty soldiers, it was as if they were lifeless, their faces couldn''t be seen because of their helmets however they were moving in chorus, as if one group each has their own commander.


    However this was not the case, when someone shut the big door it gave a big thud enough to shake the whole castle, just like someone bigger or as big as it is shut it, but nothing could be seen except the groups of soldiers and their zombie-like appearance.


    "Now, we must open the path for our brothers and sisters" the emperor Hadethius Popannus VII''s low voice echoed through the castle, just like he was speaking to someone, but except for the soldiers and him, nothing answered him but a series of loud roars.


    He then gave an evil smirk while leaning at one arm of the throne and rested his chin on his palm, which was unlikely of him.


    ¡­


    The citizens of Kydus were in panic when they heard the news about the first-born son of the emperor trying to instigate a coup d''etat, and when they saw the king with his soldiers and knights forcing their way to the castle, while the princess and her battalion is evacuating as many people as they can, the ones who were chose to stay behind was half of the population, mostly the nobles who couldn''t afford to leave their properties and mansions or the common people mostly the elderly who decided to die at their country.


    However, they were rest assured when they heard that the Emperor have successfully retaken the throne, but the princess, her battalion and the people they evacuated were still nowhere to be found.


    Guards posted at gates to block anyone entering or leaving and trading was halted, any activity that involved going outside the empire has been forbidden


    A letter from the Emperor was sent to every noble in town, it''s contents were.


    "Nobles of this Empire, I order you to gather as many knights and soldiers as you could, to follow me to battle against Ethareri, they are the ones who supported the prince''s coup d''etat which got him killed.


    But let the mourning be for later after we crush them, as they have brainwashed the princess, my one and only daughter and is now is planning to use my daughter to plot another coup d''etat.


    Those who do not comply will be traitors, and traitors will be executed first before we march onto the enemy"


    Most of the nobles saw this as an opportunity to get promoted to a higher rank by being distinguished, they knew how weak the enemy kingdom''s military strength is and were confident that the emperor could lead them to victory, they immediately made arrangements for soldiers some even conscripted civilians and hired mercenaries in order to increase their battalions power, showing off to their emperor.


    However, some of the nobles were skeptical of the letter, especially the ones who were close to the emperor and who fought beside him, they noticed that something was odd, especially on how the letter was written.


    Usually the emperor''s letter was written in a more charismatic manner, it would rile up their spirits, with words of courage, leadership and empowerment which would make them feel ready to die for their emperor. But the letter contained the opposite.


    One of these nobles was the Emperor''s close friend, Gideon Savoy a viscount, he and his wife fought in battles with the emperor on his youth, and were prominent magic casters who had a child, but was officially pronounced as dead.


    "It''s happening, Layla¡­ your clairvoyance wasn''t wrong" the letter was on their coffee table, both looked sad and at the same time happy within their hearts.


    "Yes, we can¡­ we can finally see her" she was glad enough to make her sight go blurry with tears building up, his husband went to her and buried her head in his chest.


    "Yes, I think it was a bit unfair but nothing could have stopped this, if your clairvoyance wasn''t wrong, if we kept her as a baby, sooner or later the dark force that destroys the empire will achieve its goal, sending her to Ethareri wasn''t wrong"


    "Yes, my dear, thank you" she sniffed within her husbands embrace"


    "For now, let''s go see her, this time we are standing against the dark forces that wants to take over this continent, we may still have a chance against those forces"


    "Yeah" the wife sat properly and wiped her tears, "But you know right? Even with the princess'' battalion and that kingdoms army, it''s us who will be defeated"


    "But it''s worth a try right? If we don''t stand up here eventually everything will be engulfed in darkness, I don''t really want our daughter to experience that, she should be around her youth this time" the man giggled, the candles in their mansion lit his chestnut-colored hair, the light was reflected by the spectacles that he wore, on the other hand, her wife had a blonde hair that hangs naturally to her waist, she looked younger than her age, but his husband knew why.


    When the light of the candles lit the area, he could see two images of his beautiful wife overlapping with each other, her current physical appearance, and her secret to her clairvoyance ability, but only he could see this version as her husband who knew everything about his wife.


    On the other image, the wife still had her normal look except for some differences, her eyes had a white glow within it, and her ears were long and pointy.

 28 VICE-COMMANDER OF THE DEMOLITION PLATOON

    The mass production of the landmine started, the task fell to the hand of the maids and Andrei''s platoon who have experienced making the bombs and were careful of their hands, a total of more or less than 100 people worked together to make the bombs.


    Because the metals were made by Claire, who could only make about ten sets a day, Andrei presented the blueprints to the blacksmiths assigned, they weren''t able to understand the blueprint at first, but Andrei brought a disassembled set in advanced, this time the blacksmiths started to try to replicate it.


    Andrei found out that the leader of the blacksmiths guild was the blacksmith he always saw in the streets dealing with his customers his name was Matthias Rogers, he has a long beard and have a short stature, he is wearing a pointy cap that one could mistake him as a dwarf if not for his clothes.


    "So young man, i mean¡­ Your Highness" Matthias tried to speak to Andrei after discussing the production surrounded with other blacksmiths.


    "Andrei is fine, they call me that at the castle but it feels really uncomfortable" Andrei responded as he was folding the blueprint copies one by one.


    "Then¡­ I''ll call you Andrei ey! By the way, just so you know I have been to other continents, I have seen other weapons such as straight swords, scimitars, and other foreign weapons, but it''s the first time I have seen this one, which country or continent are you from? If you''re from the east continent, then it explains how you were able to come up with that sparkling powder but there it was just for entertainment and nothing more"


    Andrei was surprised to hear that a certain country from the east already developed gunpowder for entertainment, "It was probably fireworks, or ninja balls?" he thought as he put his hand to his chin.


    Matthias became curious, of the actions of the young man who became silent all of a sudden and went into deep thought, and decided to not pry any further, so he adjusted his goggles and changed the topic and said, "That''s fine, that''s fine, anyway have you given this weapon a name? It''s developed by you after all"


    Andrei then let out an evil smirk, as he put his two fingers to his chin "Hmmm¡­ hmmm it''s something silent but it really can hurt if you step into it, just like someone I know who''s been so harsh to me lately¡­" his eyes sparked of the idea.


    The blacksmith''s forehead started to sweat, he can quite guess what the young man was thinking, as he was also close to the royal family as the head blacksmith, he only knew the one member who doesn''t hold back on her words, it was the woman who was constantly bickering with Andrei.


    "Y-y-y-y-y-you don''t mean? Hey young''un don''t do it, you''re gonna get yourself killed before the real battle!" his old voice covered with his beard gave a worrying tone for Andrei.


    "This is my revenge! So I shall name it, BC''s or Bouncing Claire''s!" and he gave out an evil laugh.


    ¡­.


    Andrei went to the platoon''s area where tents stood up, the gunpowder was made by the maids and his platoon was in charge of piecing the metal parts together.


    He noticed that Claire was there, chatting with a familiar person, she had brown bangs and a ponytail, it was the girl he saved from the cheating of the grunt during their match.


    When Claire noticed his presence, she quickly made a chant.


    "Aes metallicus¡­ I summon thee" she concentrated and a pair of long metal needles appeared in the middle of the air, and flew to Andrei swiftly, it passed through a few centimeters beside his eyes.


    Andrei was startled, that he fell to the ground. "My¡­ eyes¡­ my eyes¡­" he screamed in pain, the needles missed his eyes but it grazed the skin beside it a bit, that he thought he was hit in the eyes.


    "Ahhh I missed" Claire in her flat voice said and with a "tch" she clicked her tongue.


    The girl she was chatting with got worried at first but eventually laughed at Andrei.


    "Sorry Andrei but I think it was your fault, naming the latest weapon after Her Highness Claire" she giggled. "Girl''s are sensitive you know? Calling it "Bouncing" beside her name"


    "Damn, Gerald¡­ Geraldine why are you siding with that dangerous-" Andrei tried to protest but Claire gave him a cold stare accompanied by a new set of needles that appeared in thin air.


    "Sh-sh-she''s serious" he let out the words in his mind.


    "That very¡­ very¡­ beautiful woman right there" he retracted his words and made a sigh of relief but again Claire chanted the same spells and some needles flew again, but this time Andrei managed to avoid it himself.


    "What the hell is your problem Claire! And don''t waste your magic with those needles! Isn''t magic supposed to be sacred?" he protested.


    "Ahhh I''m actually practicing this long-range metal spell, I learned from a Kydus book Rara lent me, so it''s not a waste" she responded in her flat tone. "Especially if it''s for retaliation"


    Andrei finally got tired and went to the tent and sat beside Geraldine who was his vice-commander.


    "So Geraldine have you finish-"


    "Finished organizing the parts right? It''s done long ago" she responded in a happy and haughty tone not allowing Andrei to continue.


    "A-a-ahhh okay, okay how about-"


    "About the gunpowder right? It was already delivered this morning, we are already assembling at a high pace"


    "Somehow, I''m getting irritated by her attitude," Andrei kept the words to himself, but he felt safe knowing that she was someone he could trust with the responsibilities on the Demolition platoon as he wasn''t always present. "Plus she''s a girl, she can communicate better with this platoon made up mostly of girls" he made a slight smile.


    Andrei was surprised to have Geraldine as his vice commander, when the platoon was built to make Molotov and smoke-tear bombs, at first she was very obedient, but shortly after Claire''s visits her treatment to Andrei changed.


    "That Claire must be giving her bad impression of me" he thought within his mind.


    Andrei''s task today was to survey the production by himself to make sure nothing was amiss, together with Claire and Geraldine they walked towards the wooden house made for the production of gunpowder, the blacksmith''s area where Andrei met the old blacksmith again, and finally, they made their way back to the camping site where the platoon is assembling the bombs.


    "This is really organized, the process I mean¡­" Geraldine gave a remark.


    "Yes, instead of making the bombs per person, by separating the creation of the parts and assembling it later, we could double the speed of the production and avoid accidents as much as possible" Andrei proudly said with his hands on his waist.


    "That''s awesome Andrei!" Geraldine has been in the knight environment with Andrei when they first met, he hugged Andrei in a brotherly manner without restraint that he could feel her bosom pressing into his, "She smells¡­ nice" he muttered and suddenly he heard a chant.


    "Crap, Geraldine... wait" he tried to jerk away to avoid it.


    However Geraldine was still clinging to him, so they lost balance and with a thud the two fell to the ground in an embarrassing position with Andrei on top of Geraldine.


    "How long, are you¡­ " Geraldine tried to express her discomfort.


    "Ohh sorry, sorry" he then stared daggers at Claire who turned around whistling. "It''s her fault" he cursed her ten times within his heart.


    "Whew Whew¡­ keep it up vice-commander!" the girls stopped in their work when they saw what had happened.


    "Vice-commander I''m cheering for you!"


    This made the two uncomfortable, and they turned away from each other.


    Andrei then proceeded to the tent to get the new blueprints, while Geraldine went to the other women to help with the weapon making.


    "What the hell¡­ ahhh i''m so tired" he massaged his forehead and took the blueprint from his drawstring bag.


    In the blueprint, a drawing of a long tube showed on half of the page.

 29 FIRST THING IN THE MORNING

    "That''s right¡­ that''s right I should not think about something like this" Rara said to herself as she was denying something within herself while looking at the mirror.


    "Yes¡­ that''s right, I haven''t fell in love with him, I''m sure it was just the heat, today I''ll just be convincing him to lend us his knowledge in the case that the queen rejects my plea" then she splashed her face with the water provided to her by her assistant.


    Separate from the refugees, Michaela accommodated her in an inn owned by the royalty, aside from the fact that she was still a princess of the empire, she needed to come to the palace as often as possible, this way Michaela wouldn''t have to send a carriage just for her.


    "Besides¡­ today that queen will be giving me her answer, if she rejects it, I won''t see him ever again" then her sad reflection showed in the rippled bucket of water that she used.


    Today was the day that Michaela was going to tell Rara her answer, they decided to meet at the planning chamber with the whole party, Michaela, Erneis, Claire, Andrei, the ministers and herself.


    Rara quickly fixed herself, today she wasn''t wearing the usual dress, she wore the armor that Claire gave her, it was also silver in color and it showed her curves at the right places, it wasn''t the bulky armor that she always wore, but it was the same kind as Claire had.


    "They do like their light armor" Rara expresses her discontent on the quality of the armor the kingdom uses for their soldiers, Kydus knights boasts of their strengths, as such they wear armor from head to foot weighing heavily. While the knights of Ethareri wore armor was light and has gaps which made them move faster.


    Rara went out of the inn and starting walking towards the castle when he saw Andrei, in front of the bakery who was intently staring at the coins in his hand in front of a baker.


    "Huh?? First thing in the morning?" She was startled to see the man she didn''t expect to see until the meeting, she stopped and looked at him, he was still blankly staring at the coins in his hand, "Gold coins?? Is he planning to buy something? Wait¡­ from a baker?"


    She went to him as she got a gist of what had happened.


    "How much was it?" she asked the lady baker.


    "Only 10 copper but this man only has gold coins, I don''t know if he''s bragging or something but I don''t have change for that amount first thing in the morning! Not if he wants to buy the whole stock" The lady complained, while Andrei stood there dejected.


    Rara made a wry smile thinking about the words that came from her mouth when she saw him was the same as the baker''s, "First thing in the morning?!" but with different purposes.


    "Okay, I''ll pay for it" she reached to her pocket and gave the lady ten copper coins.


    "Did you just pay for me?" The dejected looking Andrei seemed to have recovered and asked the young lady in front of him who paid the bread he bought.


    "Don''t mind it" and she walked away from him and followed the path going to the castle, Andrei shortly followed her after, the two walked side by side.


    "No, I''d feel bad" Andrei took ten gold coins and tried to give it to Rara, but the young girl just stared at it and at him, she repeated the action three times alternating between the hand and his face.


    "I don''t know if I''m right or not, but perhaps are you¡­ illiterate? Even with that weapon-making ability?" Rara straightly asked Andrei in the eyes.


    Andrei who couldn''t handle the fact that a girl who''s like 15 or 16 years old have called him illiterate stabbed an invisible dagger to his body.


    He then recovered and ate one bread. He remembered that in the world he is in, only nobles and those who are higher ranked has the privilege to education.


    "Yes¡­ I''m not able to read and write, but I do know how to count¡­ except that I don''t know your country''s conversions, that Ms. Baker got mad at me"


    Andrei thought that Rara was going to laugh at him but instead the young girl just stared at him and took the a gold coin from his hand and presented it to him.


    "You see, it''s simple a gold coin represents a hundred pieces of silver coins, and a silver coin represents a hundred copper coins, understand? Simple right?"


    She gave him a lecture out of nowhere, Andrei was glad that instead of laughing at him like the haughty know-it-all middle school kids he encountered in his world, the young girl apparently was kind enough to teach him.


    Michaela was busy in her duties, and Claire was nowhere to be found, in his day off Andrei would go around the town, with an allowance that Michaela gave him, at first it was silver coins, but when the Bouncing Claire bombs were slowly being mass produced, his allowance became bigger than it was before, until it became 20 gold coins a week.


    He usually goes to town buying all sorts of food that he wasn''t familiar of, the country''s cuisine was very delicious compared to his original world.


    Michaela since the day she toured Andrei was very busy of handling her duties, and Andrei couldn''t find Claire anywhere, "Or perhaps she was just in the castle and I just didn''t notice her?" he thought of the girls no-presence and stealth passive powers.


    The two both went together to the direction of the castle.


    ¡­.


    When they reached the castle, the guards immediately opened the gates when they saw Andrei who was carrying a basket of bread with him.


    "Are you really taking that bread to the meeting?"


    "Huh? What meeting?" Andrei asked.


    "I mean¡­ today was going to be the day that Michaela''s gonna answer me right?"


    "Wasn''t that called off?"


    "Huh? Why!?" Rara''s expression became angrily surprised.


    "Didn''t she order a messenger to tell you that it was postponed?" Andrei tilted his head in curiosity.


    "No one went to me! And why did she postpone it!!"


    "Calm down¡­ Calm down¡­ she really didn''t want to do it, but she heard a sudden news and she had to go to the ministers as soon as possible"


    "What news?" Rara recollected herself and finally calmed down.


    "I really don''t know the details but when I went down for breakfast I saw her reading a letter and then her face suddenly became scared, she didn''t even finish her breakfast and immediately took off" Andrei said in a worrying tone, with Michaela''s expression he didn''t want to intrude, he decided that he would wait for Michaela to tell him.


    Rara finally let out a sigh, "So that''s why you''re buying bread instead of having breakfast, why didn''t you order one of the maids to get it for you?"


    "No, this is fine¡­ it''s boring to eat alone in that large place, I''d rather eat outside while seeing the scenery" he said looking happy.


    "He''s¡­ similar to me" Rara thought, but kept the words to herself, he remembered when his father was too busy being the emperor of the palace, and when her siblings became busy on their responsibilities as sons of the emperor.


    She would always eat alone in a long table inside the palace attended by maids, the routine went on daily that she would get sick of it and secretly would go outside to get some fresh air and eat while watching different scenery''s.


    He took a bread from the basket and took a bite of it. He took another one and shoved it to Rara''s mouth that was left open while looking at him. "You haven''t eaten right?"


    The girl took the bread from her mouth and protested, "Just how disrespectful are you?! I''m not hungry!"


    "Yes you are! because when you''re hungry, it''s more likely that you are to burst in anger just like that" Andrei pointed at her as if making fun of her as if she was his little sister.


    "Oh right, since you''re here and all, let''s have breakfast together"


    ¡­


    The two went and ate at a restaurant that Rara recommended, because Rara didn''t brought a penny with her, Andrei had to pay for her, it was an expensive restaurant but for Andrei''s bag of gold it was trivial.


    "I didn''t know that it was that expensive" Andrei let out a complaint in a small voice.


    "Didn''t the queen gave you 20 gold coins weekly?"


    "Yes, but yeah... it''s another story" he gave a wry smile.


    Andrei would use the gold secretly for his own leisure such as collecting and buying things.


    ¡­.


    "So, this where I go, see you" Andrei waved to Rara as he went to the direction where the bombs are being assembled.


    The girl got confused but immediately followed him, which made Andrei ask, "Hey, why are you following me?"


    Andrei walked faster, but she was able to catch up immediately and pulled him by the collar.


    "Teach me how to make those weapons!" she said in a serious tone and bowed asking for the favor.


    "If the queen rejects my plea, our forces would split up and my forces wouldn''t be able to make a stand without those weapons against such a force"


    He couldn''t see her face as her silver-white hair covered her face, he felt embarrassed when young girl bowed to him, however when he felt that she was being serious, he couldn''t help but allow it to happen until she finished what she wanted to say.


    "That''s right¡­." Andrei thought to himself, "Even if we just lend them the bombs, there are barely people involved in the making of it, even the blacksmiths are stills having a hard time in replicating it, if we teach them¡­ -no that wouldn''t be enough time"


    While Andrei was thinking the girl still bowed her head.


    "Please raise your head" Andrei lifted her chin upwards until she was standing straight


    "I really don''t think that Michaela would reject your plea, she''s thinking of it, and I believe she doesn''t want to leave the innocent civilians outside to die.


    And strategically it would be a win-win situation for both of you, all we can do is believe on her"


    Andrei patted her head.


    "Win-win?" Rara lifted her face and asked about the unfamiliar word.


    "Ahhh, it means that both of you would benefit from the situation"


    "Ahhh alright, but I''m not really confident" the girl looked sad, her red eyes started to get watery as she thought of her father and her people, each time she thought of how her father was doing, her heart would break. The country was closed, spies have sent them information, but they really didn''t get the overall situation of the castle. All they knew is that the Emperor gave orders to gather all the nobles forces.


    Andrei knew the weight that she was carrying in such a young age of 15 to 16, but he couldn''t just make a decision on a whim he knew his position very well.


    But this suddenly changed when Rara started to cry, her tears went down a river. Her eyes still showed a ray of conviction and determination, however being burdened by the responsibilities, and the possibility of being rejected of the help from her last thread of hope, her eyes couldn''t hide her frustrations anymore.


    "Okay okay I got it, don''t cry! I can''t promise real help, but when it comes to it I will help you okay? Even if it''s just me" Andrei said in panic


    With these words, the girl felt that her frustrations lightened up a bit, she slowly lifted her face, and from there Andrei could see that her eyes and cheeks still had the tears, the clouds covering the sun cleared and it shone on her directly, her surprised face could be clearly seen, and she could only look Andrei in disbelief.


    Did she just hear the words she was looking to hear from someone? did she just found someone whom she can rely on? Is it okay for her to rely on that person? Rara wanted to doubt the person''s declaration of his support, but it felt so real, "Is he serious? For someone like me? Who was a stranger to him until a few days ago?" she thought.


    "You are not lying right?"


    "I''m not" Andrei gave a wry smile, "I''ll be in trouble with Michaela though, but if it''s just me I can just sneak outside the castle and lend my strength to you if you need it"


    "What if she breaks up with you because of that?"


    "Well, that''s a different story, but I feel like helping you" this time Andrei was clear of his answer to the girl who couldn''t even believe what she heard. "This is what I truly feel"


    The girl didn''t say a word anymore and clung to him as if there was no tomorrow, Andrei felt that he had a younger sister that hugged him so he didn''t feel that embarrassed, although he was surprised at first.


    He patted her head and said, "So quit acting tough and smile, I''ll support you whenever you need it, leave it to me, everything will be alright"


    Andrei was reminded of his past.


    ¡­.


    In a modern audio-visual room Andrei presented his thesis, he was on his corporate attire and was wearing his anti-radiation glasses, the panel sat in front of him and there were several audiences at the back to give him support, one of them was Ann.


    "... so by that theory the A.I would gather user, weather and traffic data altogether, analyze using predictive analytics and produce the result closes to accurate on the fastest run time as possible"


    And he finally finished his discussion, it was the time for defending his thesis, series of questions was thrown to him and he answered them outstandingly, however one of the panel seemed to be irritated and wanted him to start over.


    This made everyone on the audio visual room shocked that his adviser forgot to follow proper etiquette and went full blown angry.


    "What the hell are you thinking old man! No matter how you look at it, it''s already complete! You can''t just reject something like that! The other panel agreed too!"


    "Re-defense! It will be a re-defense! I am the chairman of the department"


    "What about being the chairman! Then can you tell everyone why did you reject it?"


    "Because it''s trash!" everyone on the room was startled even Ann.


    ¡­


    "Don''t worry, the next panel would be better" Ann comforted him, they sat on the convenience store corner at the night, there were rarely cars passing by and the moon and stars shone at the sky.


    "Yeah, but to enroll for another semester just for that¡­" Andrei thought about his living expenses, and got depressed, he quit his part-time job to focus on his thesis, his family would rarely send him money since he refused the military academy letter.


    He had no money to enroll for another semester.


    "Then, I''ll lend you some" Ann offered with a smile, however Andrei''s ego wouldn''t allow this.


    "No, even if your parents support you, you also don''t have enough money to lend me that much" he sighed.


    "Then I''ll find work-"


    "No"


    "Then let''s stop studying, get married and find work?"


    Andrei stiffened and was surprised, but he knew that this was a bluff to make him motivated, he knew how scheming his girlfriend was, so he calmed himself to respond.


    "No, we are already almost at the finish line, I''ll be okay somehow"


    "Then let me lend you mone-" enthusiastically Ann tried to say.


    "-I said no"


    "Hmmmp!" Ann blew out her cheeks.


    "I really appreciate the help" he patted his girlfriend on the head who crossed her arms angrily looking away, "But, I''ll be okay, I promise" he smiled and kissed her on the forehead.


    And the two smiled at each other finally.


    "Don''t worry, I have your back, leave everything to me, everything will work out fine soon" Ann said to him seriously, she took the other end of her earphones and moved closer to him, she inserted it to his ear and played her favorite music.

 30 THE LETTER FROM THE GUARD

    "I hope this letter bid you well, I am Christopher Stanier a guard of the inn where you were attacked, I was one of the guards who tried to fend off those bandits, when my captain knew that we were going to be defeated he sent me to defend the guests, I also saw your servants fight, however I wasn''t able to do anything all I could do was hide.


    But today, I want to bring you the news, your prime minister Prolazar was the one who ordered your capture¡­"


    ...


    Michaela read the letter delivered to her early the morning when she was about to have breakfast, the letter seemed to be from one of the guards who tried to defend the inn but failed. As she read the letter it had content on how Prolazar - Ethareri''s prime minister betrayed and tried to kill and capture her.


    "Huh?!" she put his tea on the table and finished the letter all the way through.


    "... so to atone for these sins and to do away with this guilt I tried to gather as many information as I could so I could send it to you, I could never thank Olin Shields enough for saving my life.


    I signed up as the prime ministers entourage, as one of the guards they happily accepted me in, this is what I gathered so far; according to the maids, your prime minister seems to be always talking to his familiar, or sometimes he talked alone, this was one of the sentences that I got from the maid who happened to have listened to the conversation.


    "That girl is just a side dish, I will plunge this continent with darkness-and soon the world! This world will also be ours to keep!"


    To be honest it was nerve wracking to hear something like this, that the maid was very scared to share it to me, I think your prime minister has just become crazy, but please do be more careful.


    I will send you another update soon through your spy."


    And the letter was signed with the sender''s name.


    "Famillar? No, Lazar didn''t know magic, I''m sure of it¡­ dark forces? Did he just become crazy? Or¡­" Michaela got more bad feelings compared to the previous letters the her spies have sent her. The letters contents connects the dots between the incident on how did the bandits knew where she was staying, and how did the food got lazed with the sleeping tonic. "Inside job... that''s it" Michaela muttered.


    "I need to talk to the ministers" she stood up and ordered her maids, "Tell the messenger to inform the ministers to gather at the planning chamber, as soon as possible" the maids bowed and disappeared to the halls.


    "If that Lazar was really taken over by the forces in Rara''s story then¡­" her head suddenly with everything going on, "Surely we are next¡­ and with that ministers knowledge, it''s a nightmare for us"


    Prolazar Morbide was the prime minister and was in charge with the country''s army, in his absence Erneis the chief knight was the one who commanded the army, but the old man''s war strategies was the one that kept Ethareri unconquered until now.


    "That strategist¡­ to use that knowledge against his homeland, it will probably just be a child''s play for him"


    She was already surprised enough, but when she thought more of it, everything seemed to be out of place as the old man was his father''s best friend, and was the person who taught her how to become an outstanding queen.


    "It doesn''t make sense, how could someone like that do something cowardly like this? It isn''t his style"


    ¡­


    At the planning chamber, three old men stood side by side and bowed when the queen entered, their names are Trefor Walters, the old man had long white hair and eyebrows, he has a staff on his hand that he uses as a cane, at the middle was Prys Probert who was bald and the shortest among the three, the last one was Bradwen Gurganus who seemed to be a middle aged man with black hair and a face beard, among the three he was the youngest.


    She threw the letter to the table, Bradwen who was the youngest of the three picked up the letter, opened it and showed it to the three while leaning.


    As they read the contents their eyes widened, Prys was the one who was able to talk first, "Y-Y-Y-Your majesty! This means!"


    "Yes, we will be probably be their next target, the Prime Minister is being mind controlled, based on our spies he have changed drastically and the contents of that letter coincides with what the spies have seen" Michaela responded with a nod.


    "Still for a force this strong, a force that takes over the human mind just as the princess of Kydus have said, do we even stand a chance?" Garganus said with a pained expression on his face.


    "If we don''t stand here we will all be obliterated! Not just this kingdom, but the whole continent- no, the whole world will be under the rule of these vile creatures the scriptures have told us about" Michaela exclaimed


    "I think we do¡­" Trefor the oldest one who looked liked a hermit from fairy tales interrupted, everyone got silent, and the three ministers looked at Michaela, and he continued, "... this is the reason why you gathered us right?" he looked thoughtfully at Michaela.


    "I see¡­ so that is the case" Garganus sighed.


    "Yes it''s surely that we are going to war with them, and as you''ve heard, my fiance is a man from a country who excelled in those weaponry, and he possess the knowledge regarding that which makes it amazing, and I really do¡­ love him, but I think I would need your blessing for this, I want to have the marriage and make him the King" the serious Michaela got embarrassed but she remained the serious look on her face.


    "King?!" Garganus exclaimed, "Please think this through, the man didn''t even tell you of his origins right? Where does he even come from? Can we really trust him?"


    "If the queen and him gets married maybe we can form an alliance with his country" Prys muttered as he stroke his beard, "Giving him power would definitely increase our chances of survival, if hes the man as you''ve described him he would probably bring lots of fortune and potential to this kingdom"


    "Hmmm hmmm¡­ that''s right, if that princess from Kydus gets to him first, it would really be bad for the future, I will allow it" this time it was Trefor.


    Prys was the first one to give his permission, and the other followed shortly.


    ¡­


    Michaela walked to the hall with a smile on her face and at the same time felt embarrassed,


    "It''s not that I am hurrying up things so that no one would be able to take him away¡­" she remembered what Trefor said about the Rara,


    "But if I want him to protect the nation with me, I need to have a place here for him, and he seemed to be working hard these days. I can''t just ignore that, he''s doing too much for another nation¡­ I need him, the kingdom needs someone like him on the throne, hes the key to our survival"


    But still she couldn''t stop thinking about the wedding while walking to the palace to visit Claire who seemed to have locked herself inside her room.


    "Claire, I''ve got something to tell you¡­" she knocked at the door, but no one answered, she sighed and pushed it open.


    She was taken aback by what she saw, the room was filled with metal shapes that she haven''t seen before, there were small, long and rounded parts, some of it was set aside in the room and a set have seemed to be placed on a table with a card written. "It''s the parts you wanted for the day idiot"


    "Have she forgotten that Andrei didn''t know how to read our letters?" Michaela had a wry smile on her face but looked happily as her sister was sound asleep on the table. "I guess it would have to wait until tomorrow huh?" she opened the curtains and it was already sunset.

 31 ON THE RUN

    "On to me!" a flash of fire rose to the sky forming a phoenix, it came from a straight wand made of an old bark, the one holding it was Gideon Savoy, one of the nobles who opposed the order, when he confirmed that the king wasn''t on his right mind, backed by his wife''s clairvoyance, he immediately made the decision.


    Together with their people and knights who rode on horses and carriages, going at a speed, they approached the gate made of wood, Gideon knew that this gate was the weakest gate to breakthrough from Kydus.


    The Savoy''s are known for their magic caster company, most of the knights that they lead knew military-grade spells, as knights who specialized in ranged magic they wore gold heavy armor to focus on protection.


    The gatekeepers didn''t stand a chance, some of them when they saw the viscount, even jumped on their horses to follow his lead. Before Gideon plotted the escape, he already sent messengers to his like-minded nobles, the more they got closer to the gate the more their numbers increased, the phoenix that flew at the sky together with them was the signal.


    The phoenix made of fire flew into the gate broke it to pieces, everyone freely went out of the gates. It wasn''t just the Savoy''s who defected, there were also the Hawken''s and the Netland''s who was led by their Lords Raymond Hawken and Sunniva Netland respectively.


    Their force combined was a measly 5,000 however when they brought the civilians that they ruled with them their numbers went up to 10,000 during the escape. They were chased by arrows and a cavalry running at top speed, they couldn''t see their faces because of their helmets but from the high-grade lightweight armor that they wore, they immediately knew it was the knights of the nobles who accepted the king''s order.


    The screams of battle could be heard, while on the run towards Ethareri they were fighting for their very lives as the knights from enemy nobles chased them relentlessly. When they were near the border, their numbers were reduced to 9,000, the missing ones were killed or have fled.


    "We''re almost there! Raise the white flags!" they were near the border, however, a gust of wind passed through them and a huge sword stuck to the ground where they were approaching to, the sword was as thick as a carriage and was as long as a tree.


    When the large smoke made by the impact cleared up and they saw the appearance of the big sword engulfed in dark aura, their run stopped momentarily, as everyone was on shock.


    ¡­


    "Your highness! Defectors from Kydus have come to our borders they are approaching at high speed and seemed to be asking for assitance!" A knight reported to the planning chamber, where Erneis, Michaela and Claire was listening to Andrei''s as he pointed on certain parts of the map on their defenses.


    Michaela and Andrei looked at each other and nodded.


    "We will give them assistance, inform the princess of Kydus about this matter, Erneis, sound the alarm, we will be going to battle!" Michaela declared.

 32 TRUST THE PRINCESS

    "Pitiful humans¡­ no matter how much you run and defect and form forces against us, it''s already too late" the Emperor said talking to himself, however it wasn''t the usual emperor, he has been taken over.


    "Just a little bit and we will be able to manifest ourselves physically on this world, for now just make do with those fragile human bodies, but remember, if they die you will also lose your chance for our physical birth on this land"


    He wasn''t talking to people, rather he was telepathically sending the message to the soldiers who charged and chased the defectors, these were knights who got possessed by the dark elves, in order for them to physically manifest on the continent their first goal was to turn the continent into their land, so they needed to conquer every nation that stood on it first, using the bodies of their soldiers.


    ¡­


    "Hahahaha! Die human! Die!" a dark elf inside a knights body said as he slashed another knight who stayed behind to stall time for the escape, however with the enemy''s improved physique he was quickly defeated and in a thud blood flowed on the ground. He was stumped by the cavalry that continued the chase.


    "They''re getting away brothers, lets show them our magic!" a group of fifty knights moved closer to each other on their horses, and on their back a large transparent dark silhouette of a dark elf wielding a sword threw its weapon which flew and stuck the ground ahead of the defectors, which made them stop on their tracks in shock.


    "HAHA! Look at that brothers! Those fragile humans are scared! Let''s turn them to shreds right away!" the knights were not saying a word to one another but they were so organized as if they telepathically communicated with each other, this was because of the dark elves within them.


    The knights assembled became controlled by the hidden enemy. The fifty knights spearheaded the pursuit followed by an enormous number of forces assembled by the other lords of the empire, numbering up to 20,000 in total.


    ¡­


    When the sword struck to the ground, luckily no one was hit, Gideon knew that they had to escape at all cost.


    "Run! Run! Run towards our allies!" He declared and raised his wand, another phoenix appeared, it flew towards the group of knights who made the silhouette when they gather together.


    However the phoenix didn''t hurt the silhouette and it only passed through it as if there was originally nothing.


    "How could this be? This magic is... " Gideon shouted within his heart, he looked at one of his men and said, "Quickly, tell the princess and the queen about this!" they could almost see the castle as they were running.


    The man that he spoke to turned into a raven and left his armor on the ground, it flew to the castle hurriedly, another one followed but he turned into a sea eagle instead, both went to different directions.


    ¡­


    When the raven went back, on its feet was a letter, "Are these? Instructions? What the hell? Are they using us as bait in these times?"


    Gideon didn''t feel good about the suggestion as to running to a certain area as the instruction lacked specific details.


    The sea eagle went back with a letter on its feet, this time it was from the princess herself, "Please trust the queen" it said.


    Gideon clenched his fists and shouted, "Follow me!" and went north east, following the instruction on the paper.


    His men followed him without complain, in a hours of running they could finally see the wall, they could finally see hope, believing the viscount was right, finally they are safe.


    As they rejoiced of seeing a part of Ethareri''s wall, suddenly another large sword flew through the men in one platoon, beheading and cutting the fragile humans on its way. Gideon saw this happen, the valiant knights who followed him being killed in such a manner, there''s no way he would forgive the one who did this. "If we remained there we would have been a tool for those maniacs" he thought as he gritted his teeth in anger.


    "Everyone! Quickly take anyone who survived and-" Netland ordered, but most of them were already dead, scattered parts of the body were found.


    Some of the knights separated and went to the smoke, they took the survivors with them on their horses and rode back with Gideon. They could finally see the location the letter told them to go, it was a few kilometers near the tall wall of Ethareri.


    "There are flying huge swords to us you know! They''re still coming at us despite being on another country''s border, and that magic they made when they gathered together, it''s not just the king who went insane!" he shouted on his mind, "Will this really work princess?"


    When they reached the location Gideon declared, "We will stop here!"


    Everyone got crazy hearing his declaration.


    "What''s the meaning of this?"


    "Are we going to die?"


    "Why the hell are we staying here! We should go inside those gates!"


    GIdeon could only close his eyes on the comments of the civilians, however he already relayed the instruction to his soldiers and the other nobles, they knew the instructions and have gave their full trust to their princess.


    "Please, princess" Gideon closed his eyes as he heard the cavalry''s horses closing on them, while they stopped, the civilians started to panic, they went out of their carriages and scattered.


    "I couldn''t blame them for doing that" he thought as he saw the civilians running for their lives while they stood their ground and braced for the battle, knights took out their swords, those who knew magic started their incantations.


    The force coming at them was four times larger than them, they gritted their teeth as they waited for the enemy.


    As if answering to the trust, Ethatheri''s gate opened and an old man in golden armor rode in a horse and went to them.


    "Sorry for the delay, I am Erneis the queen''s chief knight, I know you must be scared but leave this to us for now" he mounted his horse and stood his ground facing the direction of the knights incoming.


    In a few moments they could finally see the knights that were pursuing them, Gideon''s men gritted their teeth seeing their bloodstained armor, some of them even brought the severed heads of their comrades.


    "What are you planning to do Sir Erneis? These crazy men are closing in!" Gideon anxiously asked.


    "It''s not me who will be doing things, I''m just here for an insurance"


    "Just you? Where are your knights?"


    "I''m afraid that the man who put me to the task told me that I myself is enough"


    "Man?" Gideon exclaimed, "I don''t think this old man would follow anyone except the queen" he thought, "Was there a change in leadership?"


    But these thoughts didn''t last very long as the knights were coming closer and closer.


    "It''s time" Erneis muttered that Gideon could hear it.


    Arrow flew from the battlements to the pursuing knights, however they were able to easily dodge it by changing their direction for a bit.


    "Where are your archers shooting at?" it was Hawken who exclaimed seeing the arrows fired were easily dodged, as if they were playing around, "What the hell are you trying to do?! Your archers suck! Is this what you mean by "leave it to us"?" he was starting to panic while he held his greatsword.


    However Erneis only responded him with vague words, "I also don''t know, but I''m sure Your Highness Andrei wouldn''t let you die" he turned around lightly to the panicking noble.


    When Erneis saw that the conditions were met he made a deep long breath and shouted.


    "Everyone cover your ears!!!!" Erneis shouted as he chanted his protection spell.


    "Clipeum, the shield of light will protect me!" He scooped both hands from the ground upward and a large invisible bluish shield appeared in front of them.


    As he did this a series of large deafening explosions was heard accompanied with high speed little whistles coming from all directions.

 33 UNKNOWN MEETS UNKNOWN

    "Brothers! Those puny humans have stopped, don''t let them get away even if they beg for mercy! Kill them! Kill Kill Kill Kill! Kill those insects and turn them into meat!" the crazed dark elf telepathically sent his message to his brothers.


    The pursuing party was composed of two divisions which amounted to 20,000 strong knights, 500 of them was possessed by dark elves and the rest was a gathering of nobles and their knights who were hungry for power and acknowledgment from the emperor, they only followed the silent knights in the vanguard of them in whatever they did, just as what the emperor has instructed them to.


    Even when they went to a foreign land they didn''t stop the chase, even the situation was abnormal, and their horses were exhausted they still continued the charge, until a rain of arrows from the battlements of the neighboring kingdom flew to them.


    "What a lousy rain of arrows, hahaha there''s a limit on how pitiful these little insects can be! But I can''t afford to lose this body right now" the dark elf leading the pursuit thought, "Change direction!"


    The moment they changed the direction they went to an area filled with tallgrass, that it hid the ground, however, their horses were fast enough, that it was able to go through it without a problem.


    [Click]


    [Click, Click, Click]


    [Click, Click]


    Until they all heard unfamiliar sounds underneath their feet.


    What followed was a loud explosion that disoriented them, a piece of metal appeared from the ground and it broke to pieces showering the enemy knights with fast-moving circle-shaped pieces of metal, the speed was so high that it passed through their armor without any problem.


    "W-W-What the hell is this!" Exclaimed the leader, who saw hell behind him as the battalion was being killed one by one by an unknown force which makes the metals fly in different directions killing them one by one.


    As they panicked, they moved their horses, and with click after click explosion could be heard not only affecting the one who stepped on it but also the knights around it. The explosions were too loud that they didn''t know what to do.


    The chain of command was broken, the cowards who tried to escape first stepped into another mine and led the doom of their group.


    "Damn it the ground is exploding!" the brother of the dark elf leader called for help.


    "Let''s join together! It must be those archers on top, let''s murder them!" it was already hell around them and for the nobles as the pieces of metal flew everywhere piercing holes in the knight''s body without a problem and as the explosion set off dozens and dozens of knights dropped dead, severing the knights their head from their body, some bodies were pierced by so many metals that they were already unrecognizable, the ones who were left, tried to band together to form another silhouette, as it was no problem for them to see the sea of dead humans around them.


    However when they went to gather, the leader''s horse stepped onto the familiar sound [Click], another chunk of metal flew from the ground killing the knights that tried to gather around with him, when he came around, the body he was possessing on has been cut into half, filled with holes everywhere.


    "Damn it, I could still feel the pain even if it''s just my spirit moving it" he exclaimed, as he saw the rains of the pieces of metal, accompanied with the explosion, his eyes hurt and almost went crazy, "HAHA, HAHAHA, HAHA", the spirit inside him laughed, the scene of humans dropping dead one by one for him was a spectacle, however, the immense power that it displayed made him crazy.


    "This¡­ this must be Muspelheim, Muspelheim the domain of fire has sided with the humans sister! It''s not only us who wants it!" He screamed in his soul as the body he lost control with the dead body, losing his chance of rebirth in the land, however, his telepathy message also reached the dark elf that resided in the Emperor''s body who was astounded of the situation.


    Almost no one was able to escape the massacre, as more explosions happened the horses panicked and rushed wherever they wanted, stepping on every bomb, making the little balls in super speed fly to their owners.


    ¡­


    Everyone on the battlements had a complicated reaction when they saw the enemy soldiers helplessly getting killed by the explosions on the ground, there were others who vomited out of the sight of the innards getting splashed around from the soldiers'' body.


    Andrei was of no exception he felt like vomiting, but he decided to hold it in until the end of the battle, he was standing together with Claire at the battlements, who could clearly see the sweat on his face, and how his eyes and mouth were shaking as he looked at the battle.


    "Are you okay? If you want, you can choose to get down from here you know?"


    "No¡­ I''m alright" he responded straightly without looking at her.


    "But¡­ you''re gonna have those nightmares again" Claire said in a low voice in order for the soldier to not hear them, she was reminded of the night when Andrei wasn''t able to sleep.


    "I already decided on this, so I have to look at the scene with my own eyes, this is the result of my invention after all, what it kills is what I kill, I would feel worse if I look away if I have to say - it is my responsibility to see this through," he said with a tone of determination put his hands on his back and looked at the explosions, "I already decided on this, so I have to get used to it¡­ there''s no turning back" he thought.


    Claire could only look at him with a plain expression, but she knew that this was all a facade, as the people on the battlements was looking at him, if he looked weak it would affect their morale, Andrei did his best to look good in front of them.


    "That power to erupt the ground, it''s amazing!" an man who was an archer cheered while raising up his bow.


    "Such a cowardly weapon, it does not honor the battle at all! This is just a massacre, I do not acknowledge this as a battle at all!" a stern golden knight commented.


    ".. but, its somehow, disgusting¡­ and¡­ uaaaa" the archer on his side couldn''t take it and vomited on the ground.


    Everyone had different thoughts on their minds; but it was grouped into two sentiments, the advantage that it gives on the battle, and the way it doesn''t honor the battle itself.


    ¡­


    As Erneis raised his protective spell everyone moved closer so that they would be included within the range of it, some chanted the same spells and made shields to protect them and the civilians, they were in utter shock as they saw how easily their pursuers was being shredded into pieces, they felt happy being safe but no one was able to raise a cheer, they could only look at the scene unfold.


    "W-W-What the hell is this Erneis?", Gideon asked as he couldn''t believe his eyes, flames covered the whole ground in a flash while a thousand enemies that ran after them were taken down at every second that goes by, the wounded immediately ran back to their direction together with those who were at the rear who were able to escape first, when they knew that the pursuit had failed and an unknown force is currently shredding most of the vanguards body to pieces.


    Pieces of ball shrapnels flew to Erneis'' shield, however, it was stopped and lost its momentum dropping to the ground after the impact, the old man had a complicated expression on his face, "It has become stronger¡­ damn it" he thought, as he remembered when Andrei muttered that the power was too weak, "So this is what he meant huh? Increasing the powder makes a louder sound, disorienting anyone who hears it, creating panic, and that panic itself endangers them much more" he looked at the shocked magic caster Gideon to answer his question.


    "At my age, I don''t really have the energy to find out how it was built, but the young-... I mean, Your Highness Andrei named it after the Queen''s sister, a bomb that takes the pride and honor of the battlefield, killing ten or more soldiers in a single blast¡­ honestly, I thought it was silly at first, however seeing this in use, it''s truly terrifying, this weapon called, BC"


    "Your Highness Andrei?... Andrei Spia?... bomb?" Gideon could only mutter the words unfamiliar to him, as he saw the massacre in front of his eyes.


    The heavy explosions ended leaving tons of corpses and severely wounded soldiers of more than half of the pursuing force. The rest have scattered already, the nobles who only cared about their riches, fame and honor, and those who wanted to take advantage of the situation.


    The knights who spearheaded the pursuit was nowhere to be found, they were the ones who triggered the first set of mines.


    The defectors arrived at Ethareri and were successfully received by their princess at the refugee camp.

 34 MARRIAGE FOR THE KINGDOM

    Hours before the encounter, Michaela gathered everyone at the planning chamber, Erneis, Claire and Andrei, to reveal the big news of the unavoidable war, everyone had a sullen look on their faces when they heard her explanation on the sudden turn of events, accompanied with the letter from the man named Christopher Stanier.


    "I guess that''s what happened huh? No wonder I thought it was strange for that old man to desire power that much, that old man who seemed to have been so stubborn on dying on his homeland, well¡­ it was us who forced him to get treatment on Kydus after all" Erneis said while putting his hand on his forehead, and continued, "Whatever the case, we currently don''t have a way to pull out those damn elves inside their bodies, with those two Kydus regiments with us, we may even stand a chance, just as Your Highness Andrei told us, ''Offense is the best defense''."


    "Indeed, I have already spoke with the ministers to start preparations for war¡­ well, I think we have already started" and she looked at Andrei who was standing at Erneis'' side looking at the map, she remembered when Andrei told them to prepare and boost the war assets ahead of time, and thought that the suggestion turned to be very useful when the war situation finally heated.


    "But, can that man be really trusted? What if he''s just bluffing?" Claire asked as she took a sip of her tea.


    "If our spies sent it for him, then it''s true, if we match it with Rara''s description of what happened to his father it all makes sense" Michaela replied, and went towards Andrei.


    "Andrei, please lend us your strength in this war, you can marry me ahead of time so that you''ll be the King and prote-" she bowed to him unbecoming of a queen however she wasn''t able to continue as, Andrei was just nonchalantly tracing the map with his fingers, and interrupted her without looking as he was focusing all his attention on the map before him.


    "About that, don''t worry, I already consider this place as my home after all, I don''t intend on letting anyone destroy it, but I don''t want the marriage if it''s only to keep me here." Andrei knew what would come next, after the word "marriage" but this is one thing he cant give up, he wanted to marry her not for a position or an advantage, but when the time truly comes for them to be.


    "I intend to fully give you my support without the marriage, I would prefer it to happen if everything is settled and the perfect time comes" and finally his finger stopped at a certain location at the map, he looked at her and smiled, "You also don''t want that do you?"


    What he said left a hint of sadness in her, but deep inside she didn''t want to hasten the marriage, so what he have said was true, but she placed her hope in him to help her guide the people of the kingdom during the war where a King is needed, so she needed something to tie him to the kingdom and have the authentic authority to lead.


    She was surprised to hear that the man that she loves have already decided to protect the kingdom even without her offer, in his eyes there were no signs or hints of lies, he just simply told her that he already treats the kingdom as his home and that the response that came from him was very natural as if it was inevitable that he would serve the kingdom and risk his life without anything in return, to her he gave a mysterious aura like never before, as if the man, who had the knowledge and skills to rule, didn''t have any ambition to do so.


    The expression on her face was still, but Andrei could deduce on what she was thinking, so he bent forward to the map again and used his index finger to trace some parts of it while talking to her "And isn''t it a bit too late for that? I already went on a mission once right? I even gave you the knowledge for the new weapons, and I think being a King wouldn''t suit me at the moment, but maybe in the future, okay?"


    Andrei was fully aware of his feelings for her, but he couldn''t just accept the role of being the King that easily, and marrying her in order to have the authority and power, as a modern person he knew that in the old times marriage was one thing that people offered to their protectors for them to keep protecting, but to him it was different; bonds and feelings were enough, so he wanted to help her protect what was precious to her, which also became precious to him.


    "I don''t even know how long can my knowledge be useful" he thought as he made a sigh.


    "It''s done" he said, surprising the people around him, and continued, "I found the right places to create our landmine defense line" he looked excitedly at everyone.


    Unfamiliar words blurted out from his mouth that everyone''s expression became complicated, while Claire whom he always lectured while making the metal parts in his room, didn''t even have the slightest hint of surprise, she just took another sip of her tea and sighed a bit.


    Andrei started to explain what he meant, so with his fingers and the figurines on top representing the battalions, he traced on the map what was the defense line he meant, when a raven went into their room and transformed into a man without clothing.


    "Who goes there!" Erneis shouted as he unsheathed his sword while Andrei instinctively covered Claire and Michaela''s eyes.


    "I can''t see idiot" Claire complained but stood still, while Michaela couldn''t say a word as it was a long time since his hands touched her face.


    "I come from Viscount Gideon Savoy of Kydus Empire, I am his messenger, currently our forces have defected and wishes to join with the princess Rara''s army.


    The enemy pursuing us carries is strong as well as they are accompanied by an unknown force enough to throw a large swords to our troops, the viscount requests any assistance from your kingdom who''s currently allied and is sheltering our princess" he said as he knelt, while maids covered him with a cloth.


    Michaela removed Andrei''s hand and stepped in the corner to think, and looked at Andrei who removed his hand from Claire''s eyes too.


    "What do you think? Should we lend our assistance? If it were me I would leave it to the princess'' troops"


    "No¡­" Andrei pondered for a bit, "Let''s make use of this opportunity to test our weapons against the enemies forces"

 35 HOW THE HELL WAS MADE

    Hearing the news everyone went to work immediately, Claire gathered the archers and went to the battlements while Andrei went to the platoon he is in command of, they were the ones who were trained on how to assemble the weapons as well as how to set it up on the ground.


    He stepped in front of them and said, "Today we will be planting the BC''s on the south-east side outside the gate, just do as what we did in the drills, and no accidents will happen. He looked at his Vice-Commander Geraldine, who now wore the same armor Claire has.


    His troops were mostly made of conscripts, maids and knights, the knights came under the command of their Vice-Commander Geraldine to be the guards during the camp, and the maids and conscripts were the ones responsible for assembling and planting the bombs.


    "I''ll leave it to you to look out for enemies as we plant them"


    "Yes Your Highness!" Geraldine put her hand on his chest as a salute.


    Andrei nodded and looked at the team who will be planting the explosives, on his request they were made to wear the same pattern as his grassland camouflage jacket on top and their pants. This way it will be most unlikely for them to attract enemy detection than wearing their usual working clothes.


    At first they complained about how they looked so silly wearing the clothes painted with different colors, but when Andrei told them its purpose, they felt happy that their commander was looking out for their safety. Right now as they stood in front of their commander their eyes were full of pride and determination.


    Andrei showed them the map and formed the strategies on placing the bombs after that Andrei put his hands on his back and commanded them.


    "Everyone! Let''s head out!" unlike the nobles who gave orders to their subordinates, he used a different phrase which made them curious and looked at each other, however, he only ignored this and rode the horse carriage Geraldine prepared for him, it was the carriage that carried the explosives, the carriage''s mast was also painted the same colors as their clothes. They rode three carriages in total, each for carrying the knights, the planters and the last one for carrying the explosives where Andrei rode on.


    ¡­.


    When they reached the outskirts, the knights quickly hid on the woods ahead of it, circling the area where the planters got down and started getting an explosive per person.


    "This is weird Geraldine, why are we hiding in these woods instead of guarding them directly?" a knight complained as he wasn''t used to the job, when knights guarded an area they would stand proudly with their swords, however, this time they were commanded to hide on the woods as a lookout.


    "Yes, it feels strange too, I feel like a bandit or something, but this is the commander''s order, we should just obey it"


    "That''s right" a middle-aged knight supported, while he closed his eyes., and continued, "I was looking from afar but I could see how powerful those weapons are, we also helped in assembling those dangerous things didn''t we? But we didn''t really see at close on how it kills the enemy, all we need to do is to assure that they plant those carefully without the threat of being found out, or else accidents might happen and they''ll blow up themselves to pieces with us"


    Hearing this the knight that complained simply gulped down his doubts and didn''t dare to ask anymore.


    In a few minutes the set-up of the explosives were done, and according to instructions they left at high speed, that when they entered a hidden passage that they could barely feel the shaking of the ground due to the number of people on the run.


    Andrei quickly climbed to the battlements and went to Claire''s side while panting heavily. "Preparations are done, according to instruction, have the archers arrows guide them to the target place"


    "Got it" Claire looked at the archers on her left and right, "Ready your bows!", on her instruction they pulled an arrow from their quivers and docked it to their bows. Then Claire looked at the approaching men and saw the two groups, a large number who were clearly running away from another group behind them, and it seemed that there were huge swords getting thrown at them in intervals that appearing magically on the center of the knight groups creating panic and murdering wherever it lands.


    However Claire stood calm and waited for the right opportunity to guide the enemy force to the traps, while Erneis alone went to the defectors to make them stop on the right place becoming the bait.


    When Claire finally found the right area he raised her sword to a certain angle, which the archers imitated, and then she shouted, "Release!" the archers'' lets go of the arrows and it went to the direction she wanted it to be, Claire was a natural-born commander, even she wasn''t blessed with powerful magic power, she was blessed with a strategists mind. When Andrei told her what he planned to do, Claire adjusted the plan in order for it to happen realistically, which he immediately acknowledged.


    When the rain of arrows were approaching the knights, just as planned they turned their direction to the area, and with click after click, hell from the ground erupted on them, shredding them to pieces as if the armors that they wore were no more than a sheet of paper.


    The commanders of the operation stood on top of the battlements, while the Queen and her knights prepared to receive the defectors together with the Princess of Kydus - Rara in order to protect them from the huge swords being thrown to them if the plan failed, as Michaela have great magic power of Ice and Flame while Rara''s magic can boost any weapon she touches, currently leaving Erneis at the ground to shield them from the splinters.

 36 COUNTERMEASURE MEETING

    When hell calmed down, leaving tons of soldiers dead on the ground, everyone in the battlements together raised their voices in cheers, even those who vomited tried their best to join in the celebration, however the people they protected on the ground had a mix of sadness and relief, as the ones that chased them were their own countrymen, this was also the feelings of Rara and her army who received the defectors together with Michaela as they rode horses to their position.


    Gideon savoy bit his lips in frustration, "It''s great that we survived, but¡­ If only they didn''t chase us that much¡­. Whoever commanded them is a damned idiot!" he kicked his own carriage as if he was in pain, and shortly his tears slowly fell from his eyes, "I refuse to acknowledge this as the Emperor''s order, Kydus¡­ no¡­ Emperor Hadethius Popannus VII isn''t this kind of man!" he exclaimed.


    Everyone who arrived at the scene as well as the people with him heard his words and the area was filled with silence, everyone had a sad look on their faces, even Ethareri''s knights bowed their heads lightly as a sign of respect.


    And a soft motherly voice could be hear from the carriage that he kicked, "It''s not your fault my dear" as she stepped out of the carriage, everyone knew that the woman was beautiful at first glance, if her ears were pointed they would mistaken her for a light elf that they read on fairy tales, she went to her crying husband and hugged him from his back.


    "It''s alright¡­. It''s alright, this was inevitable, I''m sure their souls will rest in peace once we return Kydus back to normal" then she noticed everyone''s presence and with grace she turned to them and bowed.


    "Queen of Ethareri, Princess of Kydus, we are the magic casters of the Kydus, Gideon and Layla Savoy, we will be at your service to defeat the dark elves that lurks in the hearts of Kydus'' men" she said with eyes of conviction unfitting her graceful looks and bowed gracefully.


    ¡­.


    Gideon and Layla went with Rara to Ethareri''s castle, while their servants and knights started to build up tents and any kind of shelter for the newly came refugees, they needed to attend the meeting first to pay respect to their allies who helped them defect successfully.


    When they arrived at the castle, Gideon could see the Queen, Erneis as well as two unfamiliar persons, a young girl who was nonchalantly sipping from her tea and a young man who wore strange clothes and was speaking to Erneis directly, to him he seemed to be a servant from what he was wearing, he moved his head around to find the man Erneis talked about, "If he was a King he should he around here, I have to meet him as soon as possible, so that I may ask about those weapons" he thought.


    As a mage, Gideon was also a researcher of magic, it first for him to see such kind of magic, he knew that he had to thank the person who save their lives with his magic, accompanied with the intention of knowing what kind of military-tier magic was it, thought that the person himself might be someone who stood equal with the Queen in appearance.


    When they finally settled on table Erneis formally introduce the couple to the royal family.


    "Your Highness Michaela, Claire and Andrei, here is the leader of the second batch of defectors Mr. and Ms. Savoy"


    Gideon couldn''t believe what he heard from Erneis when he introduced the servant-looking man to him as the Queen''s betrothed and the one who made the ground erupt, he couldn''t help but instinctively ask the old knight for a clarification, "...wait! This man is whom you were talking about?" as he pointed at Andrei who had a surprised reaction on his face when the man''s finger slowly got nearer and nearer to him.


    "Ahhh yes and ahem¡­ I can understand why you are pointing your finger on His Highness that way but no matter how he looks, it doesn''t change the fact that he''s still our future king and your savior as well" Erneis responded on a serious manner.


    Gidron reluctantly removed his hand, he didn''t have prejudice against the common people but it was a shock for him to know that the person who was able to kill more than half of the pursuing forces was a common man.


    To ease his doubts, since Rara felt that the meeting could not begin properly with Gideon''s expression, she began to give him a bit of information on how Andrei came to the kingdom, his past missions, inventions and the fact he wasn''t a mage, which Gideon attentively listened to, while nodding his head again and again.


    When she was done explaining, the man relaxed and sighed on his chair, the woman beside him, Layla bowed her head in front of everyone, "I''m sorry for the trouble my husband caused, he''s not a bad person or anything, but when he''s curious about something¡­ as you can see just like a child he won''t calm down" and she looked at him with a peaceful look.


    "It''s alright, it''s alright" Andrei waved his hand to the man''s wife.


    "-and it''s normal for a researcher magic caster to be shocked on the fact that a commoner who doesn''t even know how to read and write could produce military grade magic-like explosions that defeated half of the enemy forces, you don''t have to feel sorry for this idiot" Claire interrupted on her flat toned voiced.


    "Somehow¡­ coming from you Claire, it''s irritating" Andrei muttered as he was being dissed by Claire.


    The man regained his composure and bowed, "I''m very sorry about this Your Highness Andrei, but I do hope that we could get along in the future"


    "Yes, it''s alright, so let''s proceed with the meeting shall we?" Andrei responded while pointing at Michaela from his back who gave a yawn, it was a long day for her and she haven''t sleep for a few days.


    "Understood!"


    The meeting proceeded properly, firstly they exchanged information about what was happening in Kydus and the potential threats that it could produce to the continent.


    "So, about those large swords that were flying at you?" Claire asked Gideon who was still talking about the happenings inside the Empire.


    "I was about to talk about that when we get to that part Your Highness but, alright, let''s get to that first¡­ actually¡­" Everyone''s eyes were pinned at him, on curiosity about the large swords that dealt the defectors lot of damage, "My wife Layla would explain about that¡­ "


    "Wasn''t she just on the carriage the whole time?" Erneis asked him thinking that he didn''t see the wife until she came down from the closed carriage.


    "Yes she was indeed in the carriage, but she has the ability to see the things we normal people couldn''t dream of" Gideon couldn''t tell the true nature of his wife to them, that she was a light elf and had the ability to see through any disguise of the dark elves "at least¡­ not yet" he thought.


    Layla stood up from her seat and started speaking, "What we saw was a silhouette of a dark elf, I believe Your Highness saw the pursuing knights odd position?" she asked Claire, whom she believed oversaw the battle.


    "Yes indeed, some of them, no¡­ atleast half of them formed groups of 20 to 25 people which was odd for a pursuit strategy"


    "As you can see in those 20 to 25 people a large and dark silhouette of an elf appeared in their center, I don''t know what kind of magic is this since dark elves were only found in ancient scriptures and fairy tales, but I know that those knights that formed groups was the reason why they were able to do create such destruction, those knights were probably... possessed by some dark magic which allowed them to wield such magic.


    Dark magic can only come from a corrupted heart, and these dark elves according to the scriptures are experts on that. This dark magic when used by humans would make their bodies disintegrate, but by utilizing many humans at once they were able to utilize the magic by making them as containers for their souls.


    Luckily when those eruptions from the ground happened, some of the knights fell, it broke their formation and those silhouettes disappeared, that must be the what have occurred in the battle"


    After the long explanation she made an elegant bow and took her seat.


    "A magic that can be made by a group of non-magic knights by using them as containers for their souls¡­ they are disgusting, using humans like that" Michaela said as she pondered on the event, "Does any idea come to mind Erneist?" she turned her head to the old man, who seemed to be in shock and couldn''t move and was a bit shaking.


    "According to the scriptures, there''s a dark magic that could create magic from a non-magic person your highness¡­ but it was only used for rituals and sacrifices, with the use of magic they will be able to extract life power from them and convert it into magic, I never heard of such a high-level magic that makes sacrifices while the target is moving or perhaps¡­"


    "- Most likely a sacrifice is happening, and they are channeling the magic from those sacrifices towards the controlled knights and when they gathered, the sacrifices life forces was being forcefully taken, and formed those unbelievably large swords" with a sad expression Layla interrupted.


    A silent breeze filled the room when they realized how terrifying the enemy could be, and where the sacrifices would have been from.


    "Then we need to plan countermeasures as soon as possible, first how are they able to control minds, next how will we be able to avoid that, and finally, the plan to retake Kydus from their hands, this isn''t time to be shocked, that is why we are having this meeting right?" Andrei tried to break the silence.


    Everyone was lifted out of the heavy atmosphere, and the meeting went on to find the solution to these questions.

 37 ANOTHER WEAPON

    Everyone started to talk about the countermeasures, and everyone was able to give their insights as Andrei have suggested.


    "I guess they have to be in contact with the person, in order for them to take over their minds, right? Mrs. Savoy?" Michaela asked Layla in front of her, who was sitting next to her husband.


    "Yes Your Highness, my husband could also explain this¡­" and she looked at her husband to explain the part for her, he noticed it and immediately talked to not leave the conversation hanging.


    "Actually in the dark magic I told you before, in order for them to have a lasting effect on the person''s brain, they have to have something on that person, it could be a seal of magic or an item, anything that could transmit their power to their victims brain, I don''t know if the same applies to those dark elves, but for dark magic, that''s a fundamental. I never heard of anyone controlling people until now" he shook his head,with a hopeless mood, to end his explanation.


    "So these elves had a method to do that then, the most complicated part is that we don''t know anything about them, we lack information" Andrei commented, while fidgeting with a knight figurine that he got from the table.


    He didn''t notice it himself, but Andrei was turning paler and paler, after the battle ended, but he immediately headed with Claire to the castle. Forgetting what he felt, but the situation did not allow him to, his focus drifted to the new problem, but his body knew what he truly felt.


    As he was in deep thought, Claire suggested something, "Then maybe, we could be advantageous with the archers shooting them, once they stepped into an area we planted the Bouncing¡­ the BC''s" then she realized that the weapons name was the same as hers, his eyes turned dead fish and looked at Andrei as if she meant that, "It''s your fault" she couldn''t complete her sentence.


    Andrei, even though he was looked at as an insect by the girl he indirectly dissed, he felt comfortable and gave her a thumbs up and a warm smile.


    "That''s true, we also have magic casters who specialize in long range combat, combined with your Kingdom''s golden knights, we would be invincible!" Gideon proudly added, when he saw the firepower caused by the new weapons he couldn''t help but admire the young inventor who was still in deep thought.


    "But what if our arrows gets ineffective? Remember, what your knights armor is made of, and what if those elves brats have another unknown magic that could deflect magic attacks? We shouldn''t be careless when planning this" Rara was the one who gave out her thoughts this time, "My father, was a great magic caster, but he was also a master with the sword, he was supposed to be invincible! But still the dark elf was able to defeat him! Please let us think about this more and let''s not get into assumptions"


    The girl had a serious look at her face, as if she''d seen the battle of her father herself, she still couldn''t believe that his father was defeated and his mind was overtaken.


    When everyone looked at her due to the outburst, she felt so little not because she was the shortest in the room but by the fact that she acted like a kid, because of that she regrettably tried to hide her face, she didn''t mean to let it out, but hearing the carefree comment of Gideon triggered her to do so.


    She put both her hands on her shoulders to console herself, when he heard someone voice break the atmosphere she accidentally created.


    "I think she''s correct, we have to be more careful on planning this, isn''t that right Michaela?" It was Andrei who spoke up as he was released from his train of thoughts.


    Michaela who was still silent upto now have nodded, "As I was hearing your opinions, Claire''s opinion would make sense, but if that''s the case, I think that great emperor would have already known that method since he himself saw the battle, but what if¡­ what if¡­ we were wrong? Just a little wrong step then we will all be finished"


    "But¡­ Your Highness Andrei''s invention could tear their armors apart right?" Erneis saw how useless the armors were in the face of the new weapon introduced to them, without a magic like his shield spell, a normal shield and armor would just be like paper in the face of such a force.


    "That''s right Sir. Erneis, but I think you saw how they were able to be safe from the eruptions as long as they weren''t on the area? Am I right Your Highness Andrei? Its suited as a trap or for defense"


    When Rara heard about what Gideon have said, she remembered what Andrei have promised her, that he would totally help her even if the Queen rejects her proposal, that even if he has to go on his own he would, when she thought of it, the weapon would really be useless in an offensive fight, it could be used to defend a camp, hideout or castle, but it would be useless if used to attack, "That''s right¡­ that was just an empty promise, I was the one who asked him after all, maybe he felt bad and had to agree with me, in order to not make me sad, what he really wanted was to defend this kingdom, the promise with me¡­ it was just out of courtesy, he wasn''t serious after all, damn it¡­ I feel like an idiot for believing it" she thought as she closed her eyes and lowered her face so the people around wouldn''t be able to read her expression.


    Andrei looked at him and nodded, "Yes, it would be totally useless, and it takes time to set it up, so for an offensive battle, it would be hard to use it"


    As it was confirmed a thunder hit Rara''s heart as it was something that confirmed her doubts, tears slowly tried to build up, but it was stopped when Andrei opened his mouth again as if he wasn''t finished speaking yet.


    "But¡­ just as I have said, in order to have a perfect defense, a country has to be strong in both its offensive and defensive power, you said that arrows are ineffective against those armors right?" Andrei looked at Gideon with a serious expression who nodded immediately in response, Andrei continued and said, "Then we just need something to pierce those armors right? Just like what Bouncing Claire''s could do, but something that soldiers can easily use and carry with no set up needed"


    Erneis, one who''s very excited on new weapons, widened his eyes as he came into a realization, he immediately asked Andrei, in order to clear his doubts, "Then! Your Highness, is it already done¡­"


    Andrei could clearly deduct what the old man wants to say with his excited expression, he smiled lightly and started talking, "Yes, when the Bouncing Betty''s started its mass production, Claire and I spent nights together in order to create a prototype of the new weapon"


    Everyone went red of Andrei''s wording, he spoke it as if it was normal Andrei seemed to have forgotten this as he tried to continue, but realized it immediately when he saw their expressions, Michaela had the worst one, she was clearly smiling at him, but Andrei could feel the large black aura behind her. "Is a dark elf possessing you Michaela?" he thought.


    "No.. No.. it wasn''t that kind of night! What the hell are you thinking everyone? Right? Claire?.... Wait Claire?" Claire wasn''t around anymore.


    "If it''s Claire she went outside to tell the maid about the arrangements of the new rooms" Michaela said as she crossed her arms and was engulfed by the dark aura of jealousy.


    "As expected of sisters, only she could know where that girl who lacks presence have gone to" Andrei thought, he cleared his throat to support his defense, "Anyway¡­ what we did is just make the new prototype, that''s all"


    "What''s a prototype your highness? Is it the name of the new bomb?" Erneis asked, unfamiliar of the word.


    Andrei got startled as he carelessly let out an English word that currently doesn''t exist on the era.


    "Ahhh you see, it''s like¡­ ummm¡­ an example.. Yes! An example build of the weapon! It''s what we use for testing right?" Andrei tried to dodge the topic so he proceeded with the subject, "This time it isn''t a bomb, remember when you asked about what a gun means separate from the word powder?"


    "Yes Your Highness"


    "This time it was what I made,, it''s called a gun, and uses gunpowder, it may be not as destructive as a Bouncing Claire, but it could shoot through a knight''s armor without a problem, it''s kinda like a quick fireball, but¡­"


    Andrei observed that everyone''s expression was complicated as the words he used were becoming unfamiliar so this time he shortened it, he cleared his throat and started again, "It''s something that could shoot faster than and arrow and could pierce through the knight''s armor"


    "Such a frightening weapon again huh? As expected of my future husband!" Claire proudly declared coming out of her Queenly aura, when she noticed that everyone was looking at her, she immediately changed the topic.


    "Ahemm... Such a frightening weapon huh? Then I bet it would be operated by trained individuals, or perhaps magic casters right?"


    It was a natural question from the people in the era, the more frightening the weapon was, the more training the person who wields it has to go on through, but Michaela, in her rush to ask the question forgot that Andrei''s weapons were in a very different nature, being from a world without magic, Andrei''s ancestors prioritized in making weapons that can be used by even farmers without education.


    "No, it could be operated by any person, and training would be, at least one or two weeks perhaps? Hmmmmm.... One or two weeks perhaps?"


    "...."


    "Wha-"


    Michaela covered her mouth in amazement, even though he didn''t show it yet, she was astonished on the capabilities of the weapon, but her common sense couldn''t keep up when he said that the training of such a fearsome weapon would only take two weeks, where knights would wield and train their deadly unique weapons throughout their life, and what''s more is that the weapon incorporated a fireball which only magic casters could do, but it could be operated by a normal civilian.


    "Lies! Are you tricking us? Or perhaps you would also use the life force of the common people to shoot the fireball of that weapon? I hope I''m wrong but, are you also a dark elf?" This time a disturbing voice entered the conversation, it was the research dog Gideon, Andrei compared him to a weird classmate who got heated up when a professor mistakenly wronged his correct answer.


    Andrei couldn''t say a word with the accusation, he didn''t know whether to laugh or protest.


    "Careful with your words, Mr. Savoy" Erneis reminded him.


    "That''s right dear, you shouldn''t be like that" His wife told him as she pulled him on his ear.


    The man''s face was full of surprise as if he had made a new discovery, when he was about to say something, Claire came in the room holding something that was partly covered with cloth, Andrei immediately recognized what was it.


    But to those, it looked like a short spear with its spearhead missing, it looked strange as it was made compact together with wood.


    "Claire, is that?" Michaela asked her in surprise of what she was brought.


    "I overheard your conversation, so in order to clear your doubts immediately I have brought it here, Andrei would show you how it would work" she said to everyone in her usual tone.


    Andrei looked at her and smiled, she noticed this and lightly gave a smile in return, the craft that they made countless night together, will be finally be put to use.


    But by that time her image become blurry from Andrei''s sight, as he reached his limit, he started vomiting on the ground, and with a thud he fell unconscious at the floor.

 38 THE LOCK ON HIS HEAR

    "Yes¡­. yes¡­ just right there" Andrei said, gasping for air.


    "This¡­ is hard¡­ it''s slippery too, I can''t hold it right" Claire had a tired expression as she was grabbing something with her two hands.


    The two were in Andrei''s room as they were fitting the parts he asked Claire to produce with her magic, she often made the parts during the night when she had no other duties, at first she would make the parts with the poorly made blueprints provided by Andrei in her own room, but as Andrei''s scribbles were becoming harder to understand since the first landmine bomb and the parts were she made started to have been always rejected by him, she moved the work to his room until all parts were made.


    As Claire held both of her hands delicately while looking at the blueprint, while Andrei assisted her with his directions, a piece of molded iron resembling a snake that rose upwards was made. When this was finally done, the two who had held their breaths for a long time have finally been able to let it out.


    "That¡­ was¡­ exhausting" Andrei said as he looked at the pieces of metal at the side of the floor where they worked at, resembling what they have just made, but were crooked in different directions and the sizes were horribly unproportional.


    "You¡­ barely¡­ did anything, ahhhh I''m almost out of magic power" Claire said as she reaches for the cup for water on the table, "Now is that alright?"


    "Yes, it''s just about what I had in mind, I think we finished the last part" he spread out the paper on the table where he had drawn the blueprint for his new creation, "This was supposed to be modeled to normal flintlocks, but the shapes... I think is hard for blacksmiths on this era to imitate if this goes on production level, should I alter it a bit to make it simpler?" then he shook his head to deny his first thought, "No¡­ I can''t just alter the shape, after all these are designs made so that it would work properly, it''s worth a shot but I have to make the prototype first and consult that old blacksmith."


    He closed the blueprint and looked at the other side of the table where the completed parts were lined up, it took them nearly a month to make all the parts with all the trial and errors that they did, but to Andrei this was already a great feat as he never thought that that there would be a day that he''d be the one to make a gun himself, he looked at his back and there Claire had already fallen asleep, and seemed too vulnerable and cute, Andrei couldn''t help but pinch her cheeks lightly to check if she could return to her room or not, but Claire didn''t react at all.


    "This girl, she really pushed herself again, it''s been so long since she slept in her own room¡­ so just like the usual¡­ heave ho" he princess-carried Claire in his arms and laid her on his bed, "Thank you, Claire" he smiled at her vulnerable sleeping face, and put on the blanket on her, while he got himself a pillow and put it on the floor.


    After cleaning up the scraps of iron on the other side to make sure that he wouldn''t be sleeping on anything that could hurt, he put off the lamps and opened the window.


    As the light of the glimmering sky reached to their room, Andrei laid on the floor where he prepared his makeshift bed, his head faced the window as he laid and could see the stars at the night sky that shone like tiny bits of diamonds.


    "This¡­ isn''t so bad" he admired the scenery before his eyes and fell asleep, however when he closed his eyes, the images on the rescue mission flashed on his eyes, the enemy burning in the fire he created with the use of molotovs, suffering as their skin got burned into crisp, the bandit leader where the smoke-tear bomb he created melted his eyes turning him into a zombie like state while holding his already melted face, everyone on his nightmare was cursing him with their horrid and deep voices coming together, and all he could do was run away shouting for help, but in the dream, no one could hear his scream, he called for Ann, for Michaela, Claire and Erneis, but no one came to his aid, he ran and ran while cursing his fate.


    But this all stopped when he heard a smack, and felt that his left cheek was hurt, as he opened his eyes, he wasn''t in the darkness, but he couldn''t see the windows anymore, what was before him was the girl who was supposed to be sleeping on his bed, wearing her usual black dress with white frilly laces, she leaned over to him and her expression wasn''t as neutral as before, but it was different, "Is she¡­ worried? Why?" being half-asleep Andrei couldn''t understand what had happened, but he felt relieved that he woke up from the terrible nightmare.


    Accompanied by the silver lights that shone from her back, he couldn''t help but feel that the scenery before him was beautiful. In another smack, he was then fully awake.


    "C-C-Claire?" he reacted immediately, as the girl was sitting in front of him when he came to, her expression was not anymore worried, but it she was peacefully smiling in front of him as if she knew what had happened to him.


    "Are you having those nightmares again?" she asked him, while giving him a glass of water.


    Andrei was familiar of the scene, every time he felt down, she was always there for him, even though she often dissed him most of the time, the care the she gave him not only took problematic things off his mind, but it felt that she was touching and healing his very soul from inside, with her smile accompanied by her unpredictable but gracious movements.


    He took the glass of water from her and drank it. When he finished he let out a deep breath and talked.


    "You can tell huh? Perhaps, it''s because I developed another deadly weapon again? This dream, is just like¡­ it''s reminding me that I''m really a... murderer"


    "Hey Andrei tell me¡­ this is just a guess but did you come from a country without war and conflict?"


    Andrei paused for awhile, shook his head, and said,


    "No, my country, unlike other countries, it has a lot of problems itself, terrorists, rebels, small scale wars happens a lot, my dad and brother are actually soldiers and fought those on the front lines, my family is a Military family after all, most of our ancestors are warriors, I tried to escape this fate by choosing my own path unlike my brother, I really don''t like fighting after all, but either way I got all kinds of military and fighting techniques drilled into me¡­ However, I still tried to walk through the path that I chose, I believed that it was the right path for me, but as you can see, I ended up making weapons to kill other people, no¡­ it could kill a lot of people, it''s really contradictory to what I''m supposed to believe in"


    "Do you¡­ regret it?" she asked in a neutral manner but her tone was not as flat as before.


    "No¡­ if I just did nothing, I think you could have managed on your own, but still it wouldn''t sit right with me, having the knowledge to save someone but not using it¡­ I might have regretted it all my life, so right now, this is the path that I believe that I should believe in"


    Then, Claire laid her head into his chest sideways, with her ear on his heart, he could feel her slender body pressing into his, but Andrei didn''t panic, instead he let it calm his heart, he let out a deep sigh and looked at the window where he could see the glimmering dots again.


    "You''re really weird you know¡­ but don''t worry, this is our sin, you don''t have to carry it"


    "Don''t be ridiculous¡­ you said you''d let me carry half of it right?" Andrei answered Claire remembering the first time she comforted him at the garden, if Michaela was the one who inspired him to face everything he is dealing right now just like the sunlight, to him Claire was just like the moon that consoled him in his weakest times, "They are just like Ann if they fused their qualities together¡­" he carelessly thought, and immediately shook his head to deny it, "No, Ann is not around anymore, it''s rude for me to think about that"


    He stroked Claire''s hair that was scattered on hi chest, this time she didn''t tie her hair and it just fell down everywhere, "Claire¡­ why can''t you be always this sweet every time?" he jokingly said to her.


    "That would be tiring" she responded with her voice could be barely heard, as she buried her face more in his chest.


    "Really?"


    "Plus you did awful things to me, and you expect me to be sweet to you?"


    "What things?"


    "Like calling me flat-toned, no-presence, stealth-mode, and you always overreact when you notice my presence, and also¡­"


    "Also?"


    She pinched his side that made him scream in pain, "That hurt! That hurt!"


    "This is payback"


    "What for!"


    She raised her face from his chest, and looked him in the eyes.


    "Calling the bomb like that, you really don''t have any delicacy do you?" he could feel her breath as she spoke, as their faces are very close together, all he could do was gulp down his response.


    "S-S-S-So¡­ that''s what it was hahaha" he put his hand on the back of his head in shame and tried to divert his gaze from the gray eyes which were looking directly at his eyes, as if she can see his soul, "She smells nice¡­" he thought.


    "Ahhhh remembering it, made me angry again, should I poke your eyes right now?"


    "N-N-N-No¡­ please let''s just sleep okay? okay?"


    "This was supposed to be a talk about your dream, but it turned out to be completely different, idiot Andrei" she buried her face back to his chest while her hands wrapped around his waist, "Fine¡­ I''ll let you get away for now"


    "Claire¡­ you''re really weird today"


    "Yes, I also don''t know why¡­ but let me do this for now, I also can''t sleep after all"


    "Is that so?"


    "Mmm¡­"


    "Then, okay¡­" he hugged her back with a hand and started to close his eyes when he heard her final sleepy voice.


    "When we wake up, that weapon will be introduced right? I can finally have a loooong rest"


    "Yes and we''ll test it just like the usual"


    "What will you call it? If you call it by my name again I will really kill you, I promise"


    "What a scary promise is that¡­"


    "Anyway, don''t think that this weapon will just take lives, this weapon will save people okay? And also¡­"


    "Yeah, thank you, Claire for being there for me¡­ " he stroked her hair, "... and also what?"


    "Forget about tonight¡­"


    "There''s no way I can forget about your highest-tensions day"


    "Then shall I buy a magic potion?"


    "What for?"


    "Forgetting what happened for a day¡­"


    "That stuff is expensive right? Does it even exist? Fine fine fine, I''ll forget about it okay? Okay?" he thought as he murmured, "No way"


    He opened his eyes once again and saw her vulnerable sleeping face again, which was so close that it made his heart beat faster than normal. But being wrapped by the moonlight and her kindness, nothing more could make him feel better in his heart. Peace came into him and he finally fell asleep, and this time there were no nightmares instead he had a dream about his world and his beloved.


    "You cheating little¡­" Ann and him were eating on McDonalds again, more than a dream, it was a memory of their past, when Ann suspected him of cheating when he received chocolates from another girl on valentines.


    "It''s not that okay? Okay? She''s just a friend, no matter how you think about it, it''s obligatory!"


    "Obligatory huh? But it''s definitely¡­ handmade" she picked up the chocolate on the table and broke it to pieces with a hand, it was a heart-shaped chocolate and was clearly handmade. Andrei couldn''t say a word, instead the nervousness got him to eat the fries he ordered in speed of light.


    Finally in submission to the matter, Ann breathed a heavy sigh, and looked at him in her normal demeanor with a warm smile, "I wonder, how long our relationship will last, I definitely promise that I''d be with you for as long as I could, but we couldn''t really tell about the future¡­" she looked at her side and saw the sun slowly setting, painting the skies with orange, he looked at Andrei again who tried to argue.


    "N-N-No¡­ we have promised right? I''ll do everything to keep this going on, until we get married!"


    It startled her, and made her blush, however she reached out her hand to his forehead and flicked it, "It hurts!" Andrei exclaimed.


    "You mean¡­. ''We'' right?"


    "Ohhh, sorry" Andrei lost his nervousness and held her hand.


    "But¡­ if ever something happens to me, as I''ve said, the future is not certain, I want you to be happy Andrei" with a pained expression she looked at her beloved, forcing the words that were hidden in her heart.


    "Stop talking like that¡­ nothing will happen to you"


    "Yes yes¡­ nothing will happen" she waved her hands, to deny the fact.


    "If someone hurts you, I''ll blow them up with Arduino made bombs! Hack their profiles and make them suffer! HAHAHA" he said proudly and laughed in an evil manner.


    "Stop the dangerous talk¡­ anyway if ever something happens to me, again..."


    "...nothing will-" Before Andrei could continue Ann already hushed his lips with her fingers.


    "Again¡­ I want you to be happy, don''t let yourself be trapped of the past and move on, I''m sure there are great girls out there, but don''t choose one randomly okay? Or I''ll get out of my grave just to kick your butt"


    "Then I''ll do just that so you''ll get out of your grave¡­ and I will never let you go back to it again!"


    "Even if I become a zombie?"


    "That might be scary, but I don''t care, I''ll figure out something¡­ somehow" he held wrapped her fingers with his.


    This was one of his precious memories before he knew about Ann''s illness, but prior to that, Ann already knew that there was something wrong with her, as to why she said those words to him.


    The memory was supposed to be over at that point, but an extra image appeared on his dream, it was that Ann got up from her seat, kissed him in the forehead, and waved him goodbye, and white light flashed ending the dream.


    When he woke up the sun was already up, he was alone at the floor, and Claire couldn''t be seen anywhere, he started to fix his bed, while thinking of the things that happened overnight and the dream that he saw, when he saw the parts lineup on the table, he started to assemble it, and turned out that the parts were just the right fit of each other.


    "Now all we need is some flint, and gunpowder to test this baby" he said, he wrapped the gun with a blanket, then he heard someone knocking from the door, and a voice that spoke through it was familiar.


    "Your Highness this is Celeste, Her Highness Michaela is looking for you, please proceed to the planning chamber as soon as possible"


    "Yes, thanks!" he opened the door to respond, which made the maid surprised.


    "Your Highness?" she tilted her head in curiosity.


    "What?" then he remembered that he only needed to answer loudly from inside, "I totally forgot that," he thought to himself.


    But he was startled by the maids next sentence, "Your Highness, are you¡­ crying?"


    He immediately touched his face and felt that it was very wet, then he felt that his heart was really aching, as if it was being pulled downwards, "Ahh I''m sorry I just went to wash my face, I''ll be there soon" and with a bang, he closed the door immediately and walked inside his room.


    "I didn''t have a nightmare last night¡­ but¡­" and he sat to the corner of his room while his eyes flowed like a river, the droplets of his tears fell to the ground, with the pain on his heart, all he could do was crumple his clothes at his chest in order to suppress his outburst, he cried and cried, he didn''t notice it but his outburst wasn''t suppressed anymore, as his eyes flowed like a river, he was shouting out the pain that was meant to be buried deep inside his heart as if there was a lock on his heart and was unlocked, since Ann''s death he wasn''t able to cry, he cursed himself for it, and thought himself to be a monster who couldn''t cry for his loved one¡­ but not until that day,


    "... that damn Claire, did she put a spell on me or something¡­ this damn magic world¡­ damn it!"


    At the wall beside the door, Claire was wearing her armor and could hear everything, but she just looked down and stayed there with her back against the wall to prevent anyone from knocking and disturbing him.


    Two maids came to remind him again of the meeting, but Claire put her index finger on her mouth and shook her head sideways. The maids understood what she meant, they bowed and disappeared back to the hall.


    When he arrived at the planning room, everyone was tense, no one noticed that his eyes were red from crying, it was the day that the battalions led by Gideon Savoy defected from the Empire of Kydus.

 39 THE FIRST GUN

    When Andrei came to, six faces were looking at him forming a circle, the old knight Erneis, the pretty blonde Michaela, Claire with her neutral expression, Rara with a mystified look on her eyes, and the two new faces, Gideon and his wife Layla. When he realized what had happened, he became weirded out of the attention given to him, that on reflex he immediately lifted his upper body to sit, but it hit one of the faces that looked at him, their foreheads hit each other and they both crawled to the ground in pain.


    "Ahhhhh Your Highness! Why did you just sat up like that!" Gideon was holding his red forehead, while having a pained expression.


    "S-S-Sorry it was on reflex" Andrei crawled on the floor in pain.


    "Are you alright my dear?" Layla put her hand on her husbands forehead while a green light glowed in her palm, and she murmured a spell, "Ilya onta apsa... heal wounds" the green light glowed more and disappeared instantly as if it went inside the man''s forehead.


    No one was able to hear the incantations, until she shouted its name "Heal Wounds" as it was a spell for healing. Layla used the spell when Andrei fell unconscious, as to why he regained consciousness not in his room but on the planning chamber.


    The woman scooted over to Andrei, "Your Highness¡­" she put her hand on his forehead and repeated the same process, Andrei was amazed by the light that was on her palm, "Magic¡­ is amazing" when the light disappeared, he felt that his forehead and the dizziness it caused disappeared immediately.


    "Thank you¡­ Ms. Layla" Andrei said as he touched his forehead and stood up.


    "It''s a small thing Your Highness, compared to what you did to save our people" the woman bowed to Andrei.


    "Still¡­ to be able to use healing magic, your wife is quite a talented one Gideon" Erneis commented.


    Michaela went to Andrei with a worried face and asked, "Are you alright? You''re tired right? Let''s postpone the testing for tomorrow okay? And have a good rest?" she said in such a tone that made Andrei happy in his heart, as the girl asking him to rest, had bags under her eyes, and was the one who clearly didn''t slept for a long time at all.


    "This girl, she gets easily worried about others, but not for herself¡­ makes you wanna care for her" he thought and smiled while he patted her head, "It''s alright¡­ that spell made me feel better, besides it''s you who should sleep¡­" he pointed at her eye bags mockingly.


    The girl knew what he meant and immediately turned around embarrassingly, "You really don''t have delicacy do you!!??" she angrily said. "I''ve heard that twice now¡­" Andrei thought and looked at Claire, their eyes met but she averted hers in a second, "If I did that to Claire, she would''ve pierced my eyes with those magic needles already¡­ I''m glad Michaela is not that brutal"


    ....


    They arrived at the back of the castle where a lot of knights trained with the operational stakes made of wood. The golden knights practiced their magic, while the silver armored ones, practiced their sword fighting, when they saw the group that had appeared, they immediately lined up and knelt.


    Andrei could see familiar faces from his escape ruckus and from his platoon, also Geraldine his vice-commander was there.


    As they were currently slashing their wooden swords on the stakes, Erneis stepped forward and gave an order.


    "We will be conducting a test for a new weapon right now, everyone who''s willing to watch can remain, the rest could go and rest" he announced.


    All the golden knights remained, while a small number of the silver armored knights went outside the gate, mostly those who couldn''t accept the outcome of the battle during the pursuit. They didn''t acknowledge the new weapons and rejected it fully.


    The ones who remained had an excited look on their eyes, as they were given a chance to take a look at it, upclose.


    "Your Highness, should I set another barrier again?" Erneis asked him referring to the past invention where the shrapnel violently flew from random directions.


    "No, it should be alright" he proudly said as she took the weapon from the blanket.


    "Your Highness, you could use a spear huh? But, where''s the spearhead?" Gideon asked him, looking at the weird looking spear on Andrei''s hand.


    "It''s not a spear silly¡­ it''s a ranged weapon" he responded as he took the flint from Michaela, he took an amount of gunpowder from the cup on the table, put it inside the barrel, next he took a metal ball and with a metal rod he pushed it inside with a rod, he took another amount of gunpowder and put it on the pan and finally locked it. Next he tried to attach the flint, but seemed that it wouldn''t fit on the cock.


    Gideon was astounded by his answer and didn''t ask anymore but just watched him do the work.


    "Erneis can you sharpen this so it would fit on this space?" he pointed at the space on the cock.


    Erneis looked at it, he took his knife and in a second he sharpened it, Andrei accepted the flint back from him and it fit perfectly on the cocks mouth.


    "Ohhh, it fits perfectly¡­" he examined the weapon and with a satisfied look on his face he said, "It''s finished!" Andrei made a proud statement as he carried the weapon, "Life is too short to debug in staging" he murmured.


    Everyone had an still had an excited look on their face, Andrei requested for an armor to be put on the stake, and positioned himself a long distance to fire the weapon.


    "Erneis, can you position yourself on what distance are you able to shoot a sure hit with an arrow and pierce through that armor?"


    Erneis nodded and positioned himself a few yards from the stake.


    Andrei took steps backwards until it reached almost four times the distance where Erneis stood.


    "That''s enough Erneis, please go back to the side, I''m not a good marksman after all" and he gave a wry smile, Erneis, thinking it was dangerous, nervously nodded and ran back to where the Michaela and the others stood.


    He aimed the stake with the armor, and got ready to pull the trigger, and looked behind of him where the gunpowder, the bullets and the metal rod was.


    "Cover your ears if you''re weak of heart" but no one heard what he said, he remembered the testing of the landmine where he forgot to remind everyone to cover their ears.


    He let out a breath, which made his aiming calm down, at first he was shaking, but he knew how to fire the weapon, his family had weapons dating from the 1970''s to the current M4A1 rifle, he took deep breaths to make his shaking calm down, and when he was sure of his aim, he pulled the trigger. With a loud bang everyone was startled, Gideon who was trying to walk near him, who wanted to examine how the weapon works fell on his behind, Layla was startled but prioritized on going to her husband.


    Rara and Michaela opened their mouths in amazement, while Claire covered her ears with a neutral expression.


    A large amount of smoke, rose from the weapon, but Andrei wasn''t finished, "Click, clack, click" he loaded a second bullet snappingly, and in ten seconds he was able to load another bullet and pulled the trigger.


    Everyone''s attention was on him, that they forgot to look at the target, with his swift and organized actions he calmly loaded the weapon in a very short amount of time, and shot another round, he immediately prepared for the third round with the same process, and they finally covered their ears, which made Andrei smile before he shot the third around, he stopped and put the weapon back to the table.


    No one was able to say a word until Andrei shouted, "Anyone who can see if i hit the target or not?" the area around him was filled with gunsmoke.


    Geraldine who was also covering her ears realized her responsibility as the vice-command of Andrei walked towards the stake with the armor, and couldn''t believe what she saw.


    "What is it Vice-commander!" Erneis asked her from far away.


    "T-T-T-There are three hits at the armor, it passed through the armor and the stake!"


    Everyone was surprised of the announcement, Gideon who couldn''t believe the announcement ran to the stake to confirm it, with his hands shaking he said, "I-I-It''s true, from that freaking far distance, the three balls hit the target, and what''s more is that it pierced through the armor and stake!"


    The place was filled with silence, as they imagined of what would happen if the enemy was to be equipped of such a terrifying weapon, where in a far away distance the knights armor is useless.


    "So it''s just like the mechanism of a Bouncing Claire huh? Except that it could be used simultaneously with one ball shrapnel, and could be easily controlled" Michaela said as she evaluated the weapon.


    "But Your Highness, in those preparations, the enemy would be able to close in, won''t they?" Rara commented.


    Andrei who was coming to them overheard the conversation, everyone was brought to silence by the loud bangs of the weapon, so their conversation could be heard, "That''s true Rara, no¡­ Princess Rara" Andrei almost forgot that other knights were there.


    "But what if¡­" Andrei waved at Erneis to get his attention, "Erneis can you position yourself on my back and imitate my position" Andrei took a firing position, after a fake firing, he positioned himself, in Erneis back and continued, "... and then when I finished firing Erneis have already finished loading the weapon, if we repeat the same action over and over¡­ do you know what I mean?"


    "Then¡­ with the combination, the firing could be done in a terrifying speed" Gideon was surprised of the discovery.


    "That''s right!" Andrei stood up and returned the weapon to the table again.


    Everyone could hear the explanation and saw how the positioning was made, to them it was very unusual, but just by imagining, how it would turn out, they felt goosebumps on their skin. Everyone except the group started whispering with each other.


    "With this weapon, we might be able to retake Kydus!" Rara who still amazed of what she saw, said to herself"


    "In the face of a whole platoon wielding this weapon, casters wouldn''t be able to finish chanting, even a caster''s magic could only hit two times of the range of an arrow, and knights wouldn''t be able to go near it, if this weapon would be mass produced, it would be¡­ a massacre" Gideon thought to himself, looking at the man who made it, who was smiling together with the queen. "Just¡­ where did this man come from? Just how bloody is his country''s history for them to be able to think of making a terrifying weapon just like this?"


    "That trap weapon aside¡­ this weapon could kill a knight from four times the yard of archery¡­ a weapon that could be operated so easily¡­ he even said that the training would only take a week or two¡­ that means civilians could easily be hired to wield it.. They won''t even need knights to escort them to plant BC bombs¡­ The years of training that knights took, would be only useless in the face of the projectile that comes inside that long iron¡­ the era of knights¡­ is it over?" Erneis gave a deep sigh while looking at the knights who was evaluating the armor that was punched by circular holes.

 40 JUST A NEW DAY AND A NIGH

    After the firing exercise, Andrei immediately went back to his room to have rest, with the events that happened, he felt so tired, with his energy taken when he lost consciousness.


    "But¡­ that healing magic is really amazing, but yes, I should sleep early now" he thought.


    When he separated from the others, Michaela went back to her duties, while Rara and the Savoy''s went back to the camp, as for Claire, she stealthily disappeared before anyone could notice.


    Andrei faces the ceiling as he laid down on his bed, "I did¡­ the right thing¡­ yes¡­ I did¡­" he muttered to himself until he fell asleep. But shortly, after five hours he woke up in the middle of the night. The lamps already had run out and it was dark and freezing in the room, except for the left half of his body, where a soft sensation hugged him from his side.


    When he looked at what''s warming his body, there lies Michaela with her blonde hair, scattered everywhere as she slept soundly.


    "You finally had the time to sleep huh?" Andrei said to her as he stroked her hair with his fingers, "Now when I think of it, she looks just like this when I helped her escape¡­ she looks cute, it feels odd being the fiance of this beauty" he gave a laugh as he lightly pinched her nose to wake her up. "But, I can''t have you sleeping here you know?"


    As he pinched her nose, Michaela opened her eyes, "You can tell huh?... but I''m not going anywhere" she smiled as she hugged him more tightly. Michaela pretended to be asleep as she only arrived several minutes before Andrei woke up.


    "Hey¡­ your sleeping quarters are times more better than this bed right? Are you sure you want to take your long awaited sleep here?"


    "Not going¡­ Andrei is here after all, plus Claire have already slept with you right?" she said the words in a naughty way.


    "That was for the new weapons sake¡­ and stop making it sound dirty, and shouldn''t you be scolding me for that?"


    "Why should I?"


    "Well¡­ I''m¡­ your fiance right?"


    "Then?"


    "''Then what? Of course you would be angry about that right? I was even scared for a second when you found out that Claire slept here with me"


    This time, Michaela, thought about for a while, as she played around with his face and hair, but shortly gave her answer, "Well, I''m gonna be angry if you married another girl without my approval though, but if it''s Claire, my sister, there''s no problem, much more I would like to celebrate the fact, after all I want to be with her even if we grow old, I also don''t think that there''s anyone but you, who could handle her attitude"


    Andrei hearing her answer thought, "She doesn''t seem to be lying¡­ but if that''s the case, then polygamy is normal here" he looked at her eyes that were as clear as the skies, even if the room was dark, he could smell and hear her breathing, with her eyes just fixed on his. "In this tempting situation, something bad might happen¡­ I should divert the topic"


    "Y-Y-You can''t be so sure! Claire doesn''t even like me, maybe Claire meets someone on the way¡­ hey why are you talking about marriage so suddenly"


    "No¡­ I don''t think so, no matter how tight-lipped my sister is, I know much about her than you, now let me tell you a good reason¡­" she put up her index finger towards his lips.


    "Claire¡­ doesn''t just sleeps in another man''s room just because she intends to do something important that means she''s comfortable around you and trusts you, and much more sleep with that man, cuddling each other¡­ I just don''t know why you were on the floor, but definitely Claire is acting odd , but in that way it''s cute" and she gave a little giggle.


    "But¡­ I can''t have her monopolizing you you know, even if she''s my sister¡­" and she hugged him more tightly, "Now¡­ it''s my time for the cuddles"


    Andrei knew what she meant, and organized his mind, "I just can''t figure out this girl, well¡­ I think they''re both important to me, so..." he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the forehead, "Well, if you''re both okay with me then¡­ one day if possible¡­ for now, I just want to sleep"


    "Yes, you''ll marry us both right?"


    "..."


    "Right?"


    "...."


    "Riiiight?"


    "If the time comes alright? let''s not rush it! and don''t increase the pressure, you''ll break my bones" Andrei complained as Michaela''s hug on him became much more tighter, causing his bones to create a breaking sound.


    "Thank you, Andrei, with you by my side, I think I can go on with the troubles of this Kingdom, definitely, surely I''ll protect my people, I''ll have them be able to wear the smiles as they please, without the fear of getting harmed. I''ll do it¡­ yes, I''ll do it for sure, I may be weak by now, but surely¡­ someday" she raised her fist to the ceiling.


    Andrei laughed seeing the girls expression, "Are you an anime character or something?" he thought as he remembered shonen manga MC''s that raised their fists when they talked about their goals, "For now¡­ the great Queen has to sleep so save that for tomorrow"


    Michaela snuggled up to him, and closed her eyes, "...and don''t forget, you''re not a murderer, those people took up their swords to us, it''s normal for people to protect themselves to such lengths, don''t worry, I''ll be here to make sure that your weapons don''t kill the innocent, so for now¡­ the future King has to sleep soundly okay?"


    The word "King" made him shudder but seeing her sleepy face he chose not to retort.


    Hearing that with her sleepy voice, not only removed the recent guilt that started to build up inside his heart, but he was able to look forward to another day, without the fear of his weapons being pointed at the innocent, with Michaela''s words, he regained his peace of mind.


    He felt that the uneasiness that made him vomit has disappeared without a trace, with the beautiful girl within his arms, he looked forward to a bright future for the people around him and for himself.


    "Thank you, Michaela, thank you, then on my side, I will make the things that will improve the peoples lives, not just weapons"


    Michaela didn''t respond anymore, but with her eyes closed, she smiled, the feeling for Andrei was so comfortable for the temptation to start to take him over as the light of the moon reaching the room, and as he looked at her unkempt hair, pinkish lips, vulnerable state, and her white and soft complexion, and the sensation that he felt under his arms, before he could notice, his heart was already beating faster, and he couldn''t feel the cold anymore, he slightly tilted his head down and kissed her lips.


    Michaela was surprised of what he did, her eyebrows raised slightly, but for her this was the first time her lover made a move on her, driven with the love and longing for him, she responded by also kissing him without opening her eyes, and before they knew it, the rhythm started to build up and their mouths started to move around and their tongues have already intertwined with each other as if it was dancing.


    Michaela moved her arms on the back of his neck as they kissed and Andrei pressed her body more onto him, as he wanted to feel more of her. They kissed as if they longed for each other, and haven''t seen each other for a long time, but they both knew that they should stop there, they looked at each others eyes when they separated and with that position, they fell asleep together.


    When Andrei woke up, Michaela was still sleeping, hugging him tight, with her hair still scattered everywhere on the sheets. But when he noticed a shadow cast over him, where the sun''s light was supposed to be basking him from above, the shadow formed a humanoid shape, a shape that gave Andrei goosebumps as he could predict who was the person behind him.


    "Claire¡­ umm¡­ do you think you should knock before coming in?" Andrei talked to her while just looking at her shadow in fear.


    "Ahhh¡­ ohhh, ummmm why should I?" she replied on her usual deadpan retort.


    "Well¡­ know this is a boy''s room isn''t it?"


    "... but I see my sister in here though?" the shadow grew larger with this reply.


    "Claire¡­ I just woke up today, please don''t do it to my eyes¡­ "


    "..."


    "Claire?" he slightly tilted his head to the direction of the shadow''s owner, and when two fingers poked his eyes he screamed in agony that echoed throughout the palace.


    Those who heard it, had a deep sigh, the maids, Erneis, and Rara who was on the palace hall waiting for the audience of the queen.


    Gideon and his wife who was outside the room waiting for Claire, was startled and tried to take out his wand, "W-W-What was that scream Your Highness?" he started to panic and got ready in chanting position with both of his hand in the wand.


    "Just ignore it¡­ you''ll get used to it soon" the princess Rara who was approaching them gave a shrug making Gideon curious.


    The one who got it was Layla who gave chuckle while covering her mouth with a fan, "Is that so huh?"


    "What is it?" her dense husband asked her.


    "Nothing important, they are simply living up to their youth" Layla answered him with a smile seeing her husbands curious face.


    "Huh?...."

 42 THE WAR EFFOR

    As the threat unfolds itself to Ethareri, in order to counter it, Ethareri''s workforce shifts quickly towards the war effort. Everyone became busy in the palace, in planning, conscription and the production of the weapons.


    In the city, the message from the queen about the incoming war was posted into boards, in the message it describes the situation in Kydus, on how humans were being treated like cattle, abused, raped, put into slavery and being used as sacrfices, and that if the kingdom doesn''t make a stand now, Ethareri would become the next Kydus.


    Anxiety and fear welled up among the masses. Since the last great war centuries ago, where the Kingdom of Ethareri battled together with Kydus in order to defend the continent from an invasion of midgard monsters that came from the depths, Ethareri haven''t experienced real war against another nation, whereas Kydus with its great strength, conquered smaller countries making a bigger empire centuries after the great war.


    The people know how strong Kydus is in terms of its army, and with the intervention of the dark elves that they have only read in the scriptures they couldn''t imagine Ethareri winning in this war.


    "We are done"


    "We shouldn''t have accepted those refugees!"


    "We should enlist immediately!"


    "I was just getting started with my business!"


    There were all kinds of sentiments going on from the citizens, this affected the war effort which wasn''t doing good already. There were far less number of people who volunteered to enlist than expected, some citizens in fear decided to get out of the country reducing the workforce, supplies deliveries are getting late.


    Michaela closes her eyes feeling a minor headache while listening to the reports, everyone was out of sync with each other, ministers often bumped into each other on their duties, on occasions raising voices and blaming each other for failures.


    Michaela knew that at this pace, they wouldn''t be able to make it in two months.


    "It''s because you allowed the guards to open the gates that we are experiencing this manpower shortage right now!"


    "Old man! If we dont keep them open, supplies that we have procured will stop coming! What do you want me to do? Stop the trade? We are getting delayed already due to the lack of ships!"


    The youngest and the shortest ministers argued, Prys was in charge of the conscription and citizens affairs while Bradwen was in charge of trade.


    "Hey you two¡­ stop that already" Trefor tried to come in between the two, Trefor was in charge of the treasury, "Have you forgotten that you are in the presence of Her Highness?"


    Trefor was a higher official, being appointed to the treasury he has a higher position and responsibility compared to the two. Trefor was also the oldest among the three, his long and white beard makes him look like a sage, he was a minister even before Michaela and Claire''s father died of illness.


    The old man looked after the sisters and guided them to become the great queen and princess that they are right now, he was behind the rules of not allowing slavery and other laws that makes Ethareri a comfortable place for citizens to live.


    However this comfort can become a double edged sword especially during war times.


    Michaela pressed her lips together and stood up from her throne in annoyance.


    "We aren''t getting anywhere! We are in preparation for the war and all you could think of is pointing at each other''s faults, dismissed!"


    The three ministers bowed and disappeared from the throne room. Michaela massaged her temple. "Ahhhh those old men" and made a deep sigh, Michaela has been working on the plan that they have made in order to prepare for the war, but it didn''t go as she expected, that it stressed her out so much.


    Michaela went to search for Andrei, she went to his room but he wasn''t there anymore, all he could see was scattered paper all over. When she saw his bed she remembered the passionate night when they kissed and slept together.


    Mchaela jumps to the bed and smelled the pillows. "Sniff¡­ Sniff", she could smell Andrei''s familiar scent, "Ahhh this takes away the stress", but Michaela didn''t notice that the door was open, while indulging herself by hugging and smelling the pillows. Claire came in and knocked at the door even though it was already open.


    "Sister, what the hell are you doing?" Claire was creeped out, her expression was the same, but she lowered her voice so her sister could figure out how she felt about seeing her.


    "Ahhh it''s you Claire, come and join me" Michaela said while hugging the pillows.


    "Join you in?"


    "Smelling his scent?"


    "Why would I?" this time a visible expression of her disgust can be seen on her face. "Stop fooling around and come with me, that idiot came up with something I''d want you to see"


    "Andrei?"


    "Yes"


    Michaela then threw herself out of the bed and fixed her hair, Claire went out first and Michaela followed her as they went to the kitchen.

 43 GUN CARRIERS NEEDED

    When Andrei woke up early at dawn, he immediately washed his face and tied his shoes. Andrei immediately went outside and jogged around the castle, as he jogged around he saw the familiar faces of the maids, butlers and servants that worked with him since making molotovs, every time they saw Andrei they would bow or wave their hand Andrei then would wave back in return.


    Andrei''s platoon was composed of mostly servants, average knights, everyone was those of commoner origin like Geraldine his vice-commander, most of them bragged about how awesome their commander is when they get back to their homes, because of this he became popular to the masses immediately.


    "Your Highness Andrei!" while running Andrei saw a familiar person, but strangely he wasn''t sure, because he have only seen the person with bulky armor "Ummm¡­ who are you- wait¡­ Is that you Erneis???"


    "Yes Your Highness!" the old man bowed and smiled at him, when Erneis wore his normal clothes, he looked like an average old man in his 60''s or 70''s wearing a long sleeve and a suspender and behind him a small kid was hiding at the back of his legs.


    "You look totally different when wearing armor"


    "Well, it''s still early after all Your Highness"


    "I see, then I''m glad to see another side of you" Andrei couldn''t help but ask about the kid clinging to him.


    "Is that your son?" Andrei knelt in front of the child clinging to Erneis. He was happy seeing such a cutie early in the morning.


    "Surely you jest Your Highness, I''m already too old for that, this is Shri... my grandson" Erneis then patted Shri''s head.


    "Ohhhhh, he''s cute" Andrei then patted Shri''s head with a warm smile, "Nice to meet you Shri! Be a good boy okay!" Shri became shy and hid at the back of his grandpa.


    "By the way, where are you going this early Your Majesty? You seem to be in a rush?"


    "Ahhh, no, I''m just exercising"


    "Are you able to exercise just by running?"


    "I don''t know how it works with knights, but for an average person like me, this is enough" Andrei checked the sky and the sun was gradually showing already. "I should be going now Erneis! See you later!"


    "Yes your highness, I also have something to talk to you about later"


    Andrei knew well what should and shouldn''t be discussed in public so he nodded and set off.


    ¡­


    After exercising Andrei took a bath and dressed up, and went to the blacksmiths, when he was about to go out of the door, he felt a presence behind him for some reason.


    "This presence¡­ is that you Claire?" Claire and Andrei spent a lot of time together that Andrei could tell where she was.


    "Ahhh you noticed" Claire plays with her hair, this time she was in her armor.


    "Don''t just "Ahhh you noticed" me!" Andrei exclaimed.


    "Where are you going so early?" Claire ignored him and proceeded with her questioning.


    "The blacksmiths? Why?" Andrei made sigh, he was gradually becoming used to her habits that he doesn''t know how to retort anymore.


    "Ahhh the weapon? The mass produced version will be done today right?" Claire this time had a hint of happiness in her tone and Andrei was also happy hearing it.


    "Want to come along?" Andrei stretched out his hand which Claire ignored.


    "Yes, yes, Your Highness after you" Clair opened the door and just like a real gentleman Andrei gave up and just followed her.


    ¡­


    When the two arrived at the blacksmith''s, it was a house made with bricks mostly with a large chimney that releases black smoke, the door made of hard material, but from outside they could hear the sound of the fire roaring while metals were being beaten in certain intervals.


    As Andrei expected, the blacksmiths started early, he wanted to see what has become of the flintlock, he wanted to be mass-produced for the upcoming war.


    "Matthias are you there?" he shouted in order to get his voice through the noise. However no one answered, "Was the volume too low? MATHIAAAAAS!" still no one answered.


    "Are they so busy they can''t hear us? Or is the volume too low? C''mon you try it now Claire"


    "Don''t be unreasonable, it''s early in the morning and you want me to expend that much energy already?" she yawned while covering his mouth.


    "Power saving mode already huh? Didn''t you just wake up?" Andrei complained almost wanting to flick her forehead, but as they were talking the door opened and Matthias the blacksmith showed up, he didn''t wear any upper clothing so bulging and convulsing muscle showed.


    "This couple¡­ so early in the morning aye!"


    Andrei and Claire looked like children in front of him. Being a commoner and close to the Royal Family due to his special talents, Andrei was described to not much care about royalty and formality, Matthias was born on Kydus, but with the corruption that was happening in the lower level of the nobility, he chose to live in Ethareri, where his talents and skills were acknowledged.


    "Morning Matthias!" Andrei slapped Matthias'' bulging muscles as a greeting "Was that really muscle?" he asked in his mind as he felt slapping rocks instead of muscles. Andrei was comfortable speaking to Matthias because he didn''t care about Andrei''s position despite being a commoner, and Andrei was a person who didn''t want to be treated as noble each and every time.


    "So, is it done?" Claire asked flatly.


    "Ahhh about that¡­ there seems to be a problem, anyway come in" Matthias opened the door for the two.


    When they came in, the two saw the workshop with many of Matthias'' apprentices inside, they either sharpened blades with wheatstone or hammered burning blades. They were so focused and absorbed with their work that they didn''t notice the royalty passing by.


    The three walked into a separate room with a large table, there laid the mass production version of the BC and beside it was two flintlocks, and noticeably one is bigger than the other.


    "Isn''t this too big?" Andrei was surprised to see a bigger and heavier-looking flintlock.


    "Well¡­ how do I say this, the Miss'' magic power creates those tubes too small aight? But replicating it with smithing only results in this"


    At Matthias'' hands the flintlock looked normal but when he gave it to Andrei it was double his size.


    "Pfft¡­ " Claire almost let out a laugh, "lame¡­ pft" Claire turned around and hunched her back laughing at the corner.


    "HAHAHA indeed Andrei you look like a dork carrying a weapon like ''at!" the old blacksmith lets out a heartily laugh.


    It looked like Andrei was carrying a log, but to Andrei it didn''t bother him and he just muttered.


    "I see, so this is the level we can mass produce it huh?" Andrei remembered the Russian Federation soldiers that carried bigger guns, because of their physique.


    "Matthias can you hold it again?" he gave the rifle to Matthias, which Matthias took as he wiped his tears from laughing.


    "Hey Claire¡­ " when he looked at Claire she was still laughing at the corner without sound, just her shoulders trembling."Just how long are you gonna laugh¡­ " Andrei thought as he sighed.


    Claire recovered and turned to Andrei but when she saw the image of how Andrei looked carrying the weapon beside him, Claire couldn''t suppress her laughter and turned back again.


    "Hey¡­ I''m gonna tell Michaela on you just you wait¡­" Andrei exclaimed.


    ¡­


    After a few minutes Claire was finally able to be serious.


    "So¡­ what did you say?" Claire asked as she went to Andrei''s side facing the large Matthias.


    "Ahhh I''m just thinking that, as we don''t have that much advanced techno- techniques yet this is the level of the flintlock we can produce, if that''s the case, why don''t we just find people who can carry this? Just as Matthias could?"


    "It''s worth a try" Claire responded as she put her hands at her back.


    ¡­


    The next day the palace issued a recruitment for those who can carry the new weapons among the knights and commonfolk.


    It was written on the bulletin this time, without any pleasantries and formalities.


    "Gun Carriers Needed! The larger you are the better! Join Your Highness'' Platoon Today!"

 44 ICE CREAM FOR EVERYONE

    The recruitment happened at the plaza at the front of the palace, a mock weapon was displayed for applicants to lift.


    What''s new to this requirement is that even the common folk was being recruited as long as they satisfy the requirements, usually common folk or commoners would only be conscripted and they would comply in order to protect their homes and families, but this time it has a salary that rivals what an average knight would receive, if they were accepted the commoners would be able to feed their families with meals they didn''t dream of, and they would be able to buy the things that they weren''t able to due to their status. For them it was a dream and an honor at the same time, as this platoon would directly report to the queen''s betrothed, His Highness Andrei.


    Commoners, and average soldiers lined up hoping to be chosen, they had all kinds of body types but what they were all confident of was their strength.


    The selection was turned into phases, first the candidate should easily be able to carry the weapon, next they should be able to carry it into a certain positions, and if they pass, Andrei would personally interview them in a room.


    "The process was straightforward but why did you have to speak to them one by one?" Rara who was beside Andrei asked in curiosity.


    "Because I''ll be their commander after all, if I don''t know them how can I lead them?" Andrei rubbed his shoulder due to the long line of candidates. "Next"


    One after another Andrei talked with each candidate for 5 minutes personally, he introduced himself, explained what the candidate will be going through in his leadership and asked the candidate their intentions on joining.


    Most common folk answered honestly that it was their way to earn more money than their current labor work, or that they need more to provide for their family and that they are ready to risk their lives for it.


    For the soldiers, some heard rumors about him being an awesome commander or so, and that it would be an honor to serve him instead of their current platoon commander. Andrei giggled on this manner, it reminded him of his brother who was asking his father to be reassigned somewhere because he didn''t like being under the command of their father on the air force.


    Everyone gave different answers that it spent a half day to interview at least 100 promising candidates.


    But unknown to these candidates, this was just the start of the recruitment process.


    ...


    "Ahhh, it''s so hot out here" Andrei almost wanted to take off his clothes due to the heat, but he still has to preside over the last recruitment stage.


    "Hey Rara" he touched her lightly as Rara was oogling the weapon intensely.


    "Ohhh Hey Andrei, what do you need from me?" the little girl stiffened like a cat but got back her composure immediately.


    "There''s something I like to try out at the kitchen, want to help out?"


    Then he saw Erneis nearby, now on his full armor and was looking at the records of the applicants.


    "Erneis, you come too if you are free"


    The two couldn''t say no to Andrei with both of them looking up to Andrei at some degree, but for Andrei they were simply his close friends, as he saw how stressed the people around him was; Michaela was working as Ethareri''s center, Rara establishing her temporary government together with managing the escaped civilians and readying her troops, Erneis with the loads of demands for him being at the queen and his beck and call, and Claire¡­


    "Claire? Isn''t she always free?" Andrei thought.


    Claire was always hanging around Andrei when it comes to interesting stuff, but when she gets bored she immediately disappears.


    Immersed in his thoughts, the three finally arrived at the kitchen, and one of the maids was already there waiting for them, she was the maid assigned for the food preparations, she had violet hair that reached up to her shoulders.


    "Celeste, were you able to prepare the ingredients I ordered?" Andrei waved at her.


    "Yes Your Highness! Milk, sugar, cream, vanilla,salt and some fruits everything have been prepared!" the maid responded in a happy tone. "What are you gonna use these for? Another weapon?"


    "Thank you Celeste, but no, I just want to create food out of these!" Andrei went to the table and saw that everything was indeed complete for what we needed. "Why do they think I always create something dangerous? Well¡­ this is perfect to show them that I''m not that a dangerous person at all"


    "Your Highness Andrei knows how to cook???" Erneis exclaimed.


    "This really doesn''t count as cooking though" Andrei shrugged his shoulders and made a wry smile, when he saw Rara''s red eyes sparkling with curiosity, he knew that she would definitely like what he will be making at her current age.


    "Okay! Let''s begin everyone! Watch me closely! Especially you Celeste! Because you will be making this for us all the time!"


    "Yes Your Highness!" The maid made a cute salute.


    "You''re strangely fired up Andrei, are you going crazy again?"


    "Yea- ¡­ Claire why are you here suddenly?" as Andrei was about to begin Claire suddenly appeared in between Erneis and Rara, the two was also startled that she was even there.


    "No, you guys were just so focused" Claire then made a gesture to Andrei to continue what he will be doing. "Is this girl going to give the old man a heart attack?" Andrei thought when he saw Erneis reaction.


    Andrei mixed the milk and sugar until the sugar into a bowl and beat it until the sugar dissolved, then next, he put in the cream, salt and vanilla and stirred it. Finally it turned into a good texture, Andrei had a satisfied expression but he forgot the last thing. "Crap! Does this world even have a freezer"


    He looked at his four audiences, who also stared at him back.


    "Ummm¡­ sorry everyone, I think we need to freeze or cool this, in my country we have a cabinet that freezes things... is there anything similar here in the kitchen?" he looked at them one by one but they seem to be also thinking¡­ except for Claire, Claire doesn''t care.


    "If that''s the case why don''t I use my ability Your Highness?" Celeste raised her index finger.


    "I thought you weren''t capable of magic?" Andrei asked as Celeste went near to the kitchen.


    "Ahhh about that Your Highness, I''m actually self taught, I don''t have that much magic capability to create ice from nothing like Her Majesty Michaela, but I am capable of using it for chores" Celeste took a cup of water and put it near the bowl.


    "How should we freeze this?" Celeste asked.


    "Is it possible to just freeze it around the bowl and on top of it so that it won''t freeze the mixture inside?" Andrei describes with his hands.


    "Surely!" Celeste murmured her chant as she let water flow into her hands, water turned into ice and just like molding clay it took the shape of what Andrei wanted to make without freezing the mixture inside.


    "Okay then we wait 30 minutes for it to chill inside"


    ==AFTER 30 minutes==


    Celeste undid her magic and ice turned to water and water returned back to the cup.


    "Okay everyone let''s taste it!" Andrei gave a cup each, to Erneis, Rara, Claire, and


    "This is for you Celeste, thanks for helping me make this", Celesta was surprised as she was trained that the maids would only eat after their masters finished, and it was taboo to eat together with them.


    "But Your Majesty¡­" Celeste exclaimed, "I couldn''t accept such¡­" but Claire who knew what she was thinking interrupted.


    "It''s fine Celeste, go ahead and accept it, I''ll allow it"


    It''s the first time for Celeste and this made her feel very lucky that she almost had tears in her eyes, to eat with her masters is the greatest honor that she could get as a commoner and as a maid.


    "Nice follow Claire!" Andrei made a thumbs up to Claire which she ignored. "Now that everyone''s got their glass, let''s eat!"


    Everyone dips their spoon, and puts the strange mixture to their mouth, and just like thunder their taste bud was blown into pieces with the marriage of the sweetness and coldness that they couldn''t explain.


    In the end Andrei ended up making a weapon that made the ladies into cute maidens and made the old man look like he was going to heaven¡­ except Claire.


    Claire left together with her share and disappeared.


    ...


    Claire returned back with Michaela, she didn''t want to leave her beloved sister out on such a wonderful occasion, when Claire tasted the food Andrei made, she made an expression unlikely of her, as she didn''t want Andrei to see it, she immediately left, accompanied by her passive stealth characteristic, no one was able to notice her.


    At the kitchen Michaela saw Rara, Andrei and Erneis eating something together, Rara''s eyes were smiling as she was eating while Erneis had a heavenly satisfied smiling expression.


    "Andrei, what is happening here? Why is everyone having such silly expressions?"


    "Ahhh Michaela, there''s something I want you to taste" Andrei untied his apron turned to Michaela, he took a cup and scooped it inside the container, and gave it to Michaela.


    When he saw Claire scooping for another serving on her own clumsily without saying anything he felt happy in his heart. "This girl really looks out for her loved ones, what a sweet sister" Andrei was reminded of that night when Claire slept with him in order to quell his nightmares.


    "Here, taste it" Andrei gave Michaela her cup. "It was very hot so I thought of making this dessert for everyone, it''s not as advanced as what we have in our country but it should still taste the same"


    Michaela sweated seeing their expression, "Is my face gonna turn that weird also?" she was scared and somewhat excited of the food in front of her, but knowing that her beloved was the one who made it, and with Celeste on the side signalling her that it wasn''t poisoned, Michaela decided to take the dip.


    "HERE I GO!" she put the spoon with the mixture to her mouth and just like everyone else in the room, just like a divine revelation, she suddenly felt so happy, Michaela smiled like when she was a child putting her head on her palm.


    Andrei felt happy seeing Michaela eating his homemade ice cream at a fast pace happily, he knew that Michaela was handling too many duties and was barely able to relax lately.


    "How was it everyone?" Andrei puffed out his chest confidently seeing everyone''s expression.


    "This is¡­ a dangerous weapon" Rara said as she took another serving, "Nations would fight over this national treasure"


    "It''s not a dangerous weapon and its not a national treasure so just keep enjoying it" Andrei retorted.


    "Mmmm¡­ for once I would like my grandchildren to taste this" Erneis looks at the cup he finished.


    "For Little Shri right? You saw how easy I did it, you should be able to make it in your home!"


    "Really Your Majesty? I''m grateful! But yeah, for that I need someone who has water and ice aptitude right?"


    "No worries Sir Erneis, if you need it you can always come to the kitchen and ask Celeste to create the chilling method" Claire interrupted, Claire have always liked children but doesn''t know how to interact with them, knowing that Erneis would want a child to to taste it, she knew she had to help.


    Michaela was still speechless, and continued eating so Andrei didn''t ask her further.


    "Celeste I think they need second servings, can you take over from here? Also you can add flavors to it like strawberry to the cream, it would taste different" Andrei handed Celeste the apron.


    "Leave it to me!" Celeste was fired up, and excited she knew her maid skills wouldn''t lag behind.


    Andrei then wore his jacket, and as he was about to go out, Erneis knowing that Andrei would be continuing the selection tried to stand but Andrei held his shoulder.


    "Erneis you keep eating, I''ll do the rest of the selection myself"


    "But¡­ the writings? Can you read?"


    "It''s okay, really, plus Geraldine would be there" Andrei took the records from the table. "Take this opportunity to relax, Celeste would be making another serving that is much more delicious"


    Celeste took over the kitchen and Andrei disappeared from the kitchen.


    Everyone had happy faces as they ate together, seeing this happy image before his eyes Andrei was satisfied to be able to clear his goal for the day. That is to release them from stress even for a short time.


    "Everyone seems to be on the edge these days afterall"


    Andrei thought, right now he stands at the wooden platform where Michaela once stood to command his knights when he tried to escape with the armor he borrowed from the knight named Elford, together with him was his vice-commander Geraldine who was holding the records.


    Below them are the men who were able to clear the initial requirement, the strength capability and intentions requirement.


    "Okay, it''s time to see if they could survive the final selection" Andrei thought as he cracked his knuckles and made an evil smile.

 45 SELECTION PARTY

    Andrei knew what kind of soldiers he needed for his platoon, he needed soldiers who had discipline or the potential to be taught with it, he needed them to be able to follow instructions correctly, to be able to work with others properly and for them to be able to think for themselves in case of an emergency.


    "But first what they need is discipline" Andrei thought.


    When Andrei was still following his family''s wishes, he was drilled by his father, and brothers in order to prepare for the military academy, Andrei knows some of the basic training they undergo, while doing that, he was also educated in advanced, his family made sure he would be top of his class when he graduates.


    But it didn''t go well as his parents thought, Andrei met Ann, received encouragement to follow his wishes and fell in love. It was Ann who opened his eyes to a wider and colorful world, where Andrei didn''t have to follow anyone, but his heart.


    ...


    In an almost empty high school classroom, two students, a girl and a boy, can be seen hanging out with each other, both were in their school uniforms, however the girl wrapped the sleeves of a pink jacket on her waist, removed her necktie and opened one of the buttons of her blouse.


    She pursed her lips with her hair tie in between as she fixed her long and silky black hair into a ponytail, when she looked into the mirror and saw that it was fixed, she took the tie from her mouth and wrapped her hair with it, when she was finally done she sat beside the boy who was typing something on his laptop.


    "It''s hoooot" the girl complained, "Air please!"


    "What do you mean by ''It''s hot'', it''s raining cats and dogs out there you know, just for your information" The boy retorted as he fixed his eyeglasses and went back typing something in his laptop.


    Indeed, it was raining outside that it should have been cold rather than hot.


    "I don''t mean the weather¡­ "


    "Then what?"


    "Me?" the girl pointed to herself.


    "Stop it, you aren''t even sexy. Eat more and grow your boobs, look at your arms it''s so bony already" the boy responded while still focusing on the laptop.


    "Hey¡­ that''s sexual harassment you know"


    "I don''t care, just don''t get in my way for a minute, who''s fault do you think it is on why we are stuck here? And look at your outfit, are you from the 90''s or something?" his voice was stern but it was calm towards her.


    "But I''m bored"


    "Want to take over?"


    "No?"


    "Then shut up"


    This was one of Andrei and Ann''s old memories before they went to college, it was an odd combination with Ann being eccentric and Andrei being strict, but surprisingly this created a strange balance between them, eventually both were infected of each other''s qualities.


    With Andrei''s retort Ann pouted and started tickling him all over.


    "HAHA HAHAHA HAHA STOP IT!" Andrei''s focus was suddenly taken from his laptop towards fending off Ann''s relentless tickle attacks.


    "Now who did you want to shut up?? You¡­" Ann made a big smile and continued, tickling her man all over until Andrei had no choice but to roll over the floor.


    Andrei wasn''t that ticklish, but Ann knows where his weak spots were.


    After a few minutes the two finally calmed down, Andrei''s uniform and hair was all ruined, they both sat at the floor and leaned at each other''s backs.


    "Now how are we gonna finish your requirement? If we spent that time to finishing it, instead of fooling around we would have finished it already" Andrei said as he wiped his eyeglasses.


    "It''s fine, it''s already too late anyway, see¡­ " Ann pointed out the time, the clock indicated 5:00 PM which was the time limit of the submission..


    Ann had to submit a programming assignment but because she didn''t have a computer she decided not to submit anything, however Andrei insisted that she should submit something, resulting in him doing it for her instead.


    Ann was the top student, while Andrei was only next to her in terms of rankings, they often competed with each other since grade school, for each year one of them would prevail over the other, but in high school, it became different, they strangely found comfort in each other over the years, their fighting resulted into them going out unexpectedly as boyfriend and girlfriend.


    One of the 7 mysteries in their school was who was the one who confessed, because when asked, they would point out each other, being at the top no one dared to get into trouble with them, with Andrei''s background, no one dared to flirt with Ann and Ann''s intelligence made the girls that crushed on Andrei go away the instant she knows about them. Whenever there was a contest, the two would be the first one to be called, the school treats them as elite students, so no teachers also dared to get involved with them personally.


    "If you go on like this, I would be at the top this year you know?" Andrei made a sigh, as his attempt for help was completely disregarded.


    "Keep dreaming" Ann flatly retorted


    "Tch"


    Andrei truly cared for her even being at the top, he knew Ann''s financial situation and that dropping her grades would mean the termination of her scholarship. But it was also true that she would be fine even without finishing the requirement because her exam scores were monsters.


    "Hey Andrei¡­"


    Andrei thought that she was going to talk about another useless topic again so he replied in an irritated tone.


    "Yeah yeah, what is it?"


    "Are you really gonna go to the academy?"


    Contrary to Andrei''s expectations, the topic was much more serious, and it was a topic that he wanted to avoid, it was already their final year and it was a crucial decision making year for him.


    "Why are you asking Ann? I told you that this is¡­ " Andrei wanted to stop talking about the topic, however Ann interrupted him.


    "That isn''t¡­ what you really wanted to do right?"


    Silence filled the room, and the couple that leaned back to back together could hear the heavy rain pouring from the outside, Andrei stiffened when he heard the words, truly Ann was perceptive with things, but he didn''t expect the question.


    Just like playing a recorder he was told to repeat again and again, he answered her.


    "Being a soldier, gives great honor to me and my family, to serve my cou-"


    "Don''t lie to me"


    " "


    Andrei couldn''t say a word.


    "If you truly love it, I would have supported it, but you don''t really like it right?" Ann''s voice seemed to quiver as she spoke, even Andrei couldn''t see her, he knew she was deeply concerned.


    "If you truly love it, you wouldn''t be in so much pain like this" Ann hugged her knees.


    "If it''s for my family that raised me and gave me everything I have right now I will do everything I can to make them happy"


    "Family¡­ my ass, does it feel good to sacrifice yourself and your dreams for someone else?! Huh?" This time Ann stood up and faced him, Andrei almost lost his balance due to her sudden action.


    Ann''s statement was passionate and intense but suddenly she felt laughing about how Andrei desperately held the floor so he wouldn''t hit it. "Pft¡­ Sorry"


    "Damn it¡­ don''t just stand like that" Andrei''s voice was stern even though he was made fun of unintentionally.


    Andrei fixed himself, stood and faced his beloved, he was only a few centimeters taller than her.


    "I wouldn''t be stubborn, so let me explain this to you in a logical standpoint"


    Ann only nodded and looked at him in the eyes.


    "Firstly, if I choose what I want to do, what would happen? A family who spent their time and fortune in educating and building a person like me to just go off and ignore their orders, do you think they won''t just let me go like that?


    Even if they let me go, do you think they will support me financially? Do you even know how much university is? The dorms, the daily expenses, the overall cost of living? And-"


    Before Andrei could continue Ann already hushed him with her lips.


    It felt soft and smelled sweet, Andrei didn''t have time to react, all he could feel was his heart beating faster and faster and as it echoes, the sound of the heavy rain was gradually being replaced by the sound of his heart.


    After a few seconds Ann separated herself from him, smiled deeply from her heart and looked at him in the eyes. As he looked at her, Andrei felt very happy within his heart, for so long he has been seeking for this kind of warmth and love, and what he''s been looking for is already in front of his eyes, smiling at him, caring for him, looking out for him.


    "Some things¡­ are better... when you... follow your heart¡­ don''t worry, everything will work out fine¡­ you have me after all" Ann said to him slowly as she slowly wrapped him with her arms, and placed her head at the level of his heart.


    "Now¡­ What does this heart say? Where does he want to go in the future? What kind of goal does he want to achieve? Something¡­ something that¡­ he will be VERY¡­ VERY Happy to achieve in the future?"


    Andrei didn''t respond to her anymore, "I give up" he thought as he hugged her back warmly.


    "My heart says it loves you so much and that I want to go to a future with you, what do I want to achieve? Hmmm¡­ that might be hard to say right now, but I''m sure I don''t want to become a soldier"


    "Hmmmm¡­ then?"


    "I¡­w-w-wa-" Andrei stuttered.


    "If you''re gonna say something you should say it already, or were you that kind of beta main character in movies that waits for the girl to make a move on them?" with her joke Andrei made a giggle.


    "I''m not, you idiot" he said as he smiled and embraced his loved one and kissed her on the forehead.


    "I want to marry you in the future"


    "And have kids?"


    "Yeah"


    "How many?"


    "Depending on the salary?"


    "Then¡­ I''ll also work so we can have many hehe"


    As they embraced each other, Andrei forgot that his laptop was still turned on, and didnt notice that a mail popped up.


    "Looking for Junior Software Engineers for a Startup with with or w/o Education Background"


    ¡­


    "Your Highness?" Geraldine asked as he saw Andrei closing his eyes as if remembering something.


    "Is everything ready?" Andrei responded as he slowly opened his eyes with droplets of tears in it only Geraldine could see.


    "Ummm¡­ " Geraldine chose not to ask. "Yes Your Highness"


    "Then¡­" Andrei stepped forward and put his hands on his back.


    When he did this the 100 gun carrier candidates that passed the initial test went silent and focused on him.


    He put his right hand forward but to a higher degree, Andrei knew that this weird gesture would at least attract the attention of the mixture of commoners and soldiers for a while until he finished his speech.


    "Everyone here passed the initial test, as well as my personal questioning, now that we know a bit about each other it''s time to go to the final test!" his words echoed throughout the entire place.


    "I thought that the questioning was the final test" murmured one applicant to another.


    "Shhh¡­" another applicant said to him.


    Andrei noticed the small disorder so he continued but in a much louder voice that echoed and shushed everyone who dared to speak.


    "You passed the final test??? DON''T FUCK WITH ME! Do you think that''s all it takes to be capable to fight in the new battlefield? NO!"


    Some of the candidates almost stepped back from his voice that sounded angry. "Ahhh this is akward" Andrei thought but he knew he need to keep the act.


    "Don''t worry¡­ " Andrei calmed his voice, "The final test will be easy you just need to run away from the knights as fast as possible while carrying those mock weapons in front of you"


    In front of the applicants were mock flintlocks mass produced by the blacksmiths, but these flintlocks if installed with some parts can be easily turned into operational ones.


    "Ahhh¡­ is that all"


    "This will be easy, they are just few"


    "Whew that almost surprised me"


    Hearing this, Andrei lowered his arm, which became the signal. "Start!"


    The candidates tried to move forward to get the weapon but before everyone could make a move to get the weapon, smoke covered the area and explosions occurred beneath their feet.

 46 FOLLOW ME!

    As explosions occurred in the artificial minefield Andrei made for the test, just like ants that scattered, the group of strong men who were confident of their strength ran for their lives in panic, however with the smoke blocking their vision and with the succeeding explosive sounds that made them panic each time, either they bumped into each other, triggered another > explosion or they fell towards the ground.


    Believing that quality is better than quantity, Andrei didn''t intend to have so many gun carriers to join his platoon, aside from the slow deliveries of the ingredients for the gun power, the blacksmith''s flintlock line of production was also slow on its own.


    This was due to the fact that in the end, Ethareri wasn''t that big of a country, most of it''s economy relied on trade with its allies, in the continent and on some of the small island nations around it.


    As planned, in two months time, Ethareri will declare war against the dark elves-infested Kydus Empire, who are currently building up its force by butchering the citizens within it, since dark elves heavily relied on a human host.


    Michaela received this tip from the spies within the Kydus, they described the situation as horrible, women were being raped, the elderly were being used as target practice, and babies were being killed as sacrifices, and men were turned into dark elves'' hosts.


    Luckily the spies found a safe haven for themselves as such they were able to send messages to the queen, but were unable to receive orders or responses, all they did was to send info as much as they could.


    "The more time passes, the greater the force they become" Michaela stressed out her point as to why the attack should be in a short span of time such as two months.


    As a result, everyone worked hard to do their own part.


    "???????????? ???????? ???????????? ???????? ???????? ???????????????????????? ????????????? ???????????????? ????????????? ???????????????? ????????????????????? ????????? ???????????????? ???????? ????????? ????????????, ???????????? ???? ????????????''???? ????????????? ????????????????, ???????? ????????????????????? ???????? ????????????? ???????????????? ???????? ?????????????????????????," Andrei said to himself as he saw the chaos under that platform he was standing on.


    With their builds most of them bumped into each other, some screamed for help, Geraldine kept looking at the scene and her task was to make sure that no one would die by using her eyes which has a gift of vision, it was reported that she could see much better than normal knights, it was a valuable asset and she would have been accepted to become a golden knight, but her gender kept her in her position as an average knight.


    However she didn''t regret it, it was this way she met her commander, the man who also saved him from the brute during the golden knight selection.


    Even in the chaos there were certain people that stood out in Andrei''s eyes, these were people that got out of the chaos immediately and finished the assignment by taking the guns and getting out of the minefield circled by Golden Knights, the Golden Knights were only there to be the finish line on contrary to Andrei''s instruction that the candidates were to get away from them - in fact, all they needed was to cross the line they were standing from, there were those that remained calm throughout the chaos even with the smoke and explosions, there were some that covered their mouth as they searched for an opening. There were others who tried to form a group in order to get through the crowd holding hands with each other while bracing through the sounds of the explosions.


    The explosives used didn''t have any splinters within it, although it did have a small knock-back effect, what Andrei made was no more than firecracker level, still for these citizens who heard it for the first time, it was surely devastating enough.


    But this is in line with what Andrei wanted to happen.


    "????????????? ????????????? ???????????????????????????? ????????????????, ???????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????????????? ???????? ????????????? ???????? ???????????????????? ????????????? ???????????????? ?????????????????????????, ???????? ???????????????????????????? ????????? ???????????????????? ????????? ???????? ???????????????????????? ????????? ???????????????????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????????????????????? ???????? ???????????????????? ???????? ???????????? ?????????????????????? ????????, ???????????????? ???????? ????????? ???????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????," he thought as he remembered the timeline of the overall war preparation.


    For Andrei, it was just like a firecrackers party, but for most of the candidates it was a horrible and scary first-time encounter, that they even thought that Andrei was seriously trying to kill them.


    The gunpowder used within them are those that were of bad quality or had lower concentration, as there were required measurements and amounts of the powder, but due to human error, lots of powder came out bad, this was the perfect moment for Andrei to use it for something productive rather than throwing it.


    After 10 minutes, Andrei had Geraldine mark the ones he had eyes on.


    "???????????????? ???????????????????? 10 ??????¡­ ????????''???? ???????????? ????????????" Andrei realized that the number was too low, so he decided to make the 10 the squad leaders and to find members for them by giving the others a second chance.


    So he took a step forward and announced.


    "What you have witnessed are my inventions! They are the weapons you will be using but they far more lethal than that, it could either disintegrate or put holes through your body, ???????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????????? ???????? ???????????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????? ????????????????????????????????!"


    Then he looked at everybody who stopped and was shocked, because of them stopping, the minefield stopped exploding, some of them have already run out of energy, only a number were either still on the ground or were just too scared to do something as they held their heads and knees as they cowered in fear.


    Instead of feeling rage for pulling a prank like that, what they felt when they looked at Andrei was pure fear, because not only did he have a bit of authority for being the queen''s fiance, he also was ruthless as to put them into such an experience.


    Now, his impression from the masses of being the cool, awesome and kind commander turned to the opposite, but Andrei wanted this from the beginning, he wanted soldiers that can work on pressure, it was also the perfect time to destroy the nice-guy image of him in their eyes.


    "Now tell me how you feel?" Andrei walked around with his hands at his back.


    "Are you angry at me? Do you despise me for what I just did to you?"


    Andrei paused a bit but no one answered so he proceeded.


    "Whatever it is, I don''t care, do you know why?"


    Andrei looked down for a bit that they couldn''t see his face and when he raised his head again his demeanor, his voice and composure has completely changed, his eyes gleamed with passion and rage, such look made him appear very angry at them.


    "???????????????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????? ????????????????????????????, ???????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????????????? ????????????????!!


    ???????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ????????????????? ???????? ????????????!


    ???????????? ???????? ???????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ????????????????????????????!


    ???????????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????? ???????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????? ???????????????? ????????????, ???????????????? ????????????????????????????????, ???????????????? ????????????????????????????????!


    ???????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????? ????????????!


    ???????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????????? ???????? ???????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????????? ????????????????? ????????!


    ???????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????? ???????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????? ???????????????????? ???????? ???????????????? ???????????????????? ????????????! ???????????????? ????????????????????????! ???????????????? ????????????????????????????! ???????????????? ????????????????????????????!


    ???????????? ???????? ???????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????? 10 ???????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????? ???????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????????????????????? ???????? ???????? ???????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????? ????????????????????????????????????, ???????????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????????? ????????????????''????!


    ???????? ???????????????? ???????????????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????????? ????????????????! ???????????? ????????????????????????????????!"


    Andrei threw his right hand to his right as if he scorned them with all his heart.


    As if being scolded, silence filled the place, men lowered down their heads, thinking of the unforgivable situation they have been presented, they imagined the possible scenario where they were all already dead and their enemies started coming for their families one by one killing them using their own body, this made them grit their teeth and ball their fist.


    At this moment, Erneis had just arrived at a side veranda overseeing the platform and the ground area, together with Michaela, Rara, and Claire, looking from the side they were also surprised, but they just continued looking at it as it unfolded, no one uttered a single word.


    "But, my brothers, let me ask you this!


    Why are you looking down?!


    I repeat ???????????? ???????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????????? ??????????????????"


    His voice echoed throughout the entire place, and with his question they slowly lifted their heads and looked at him.


    "What the hell is wrong with being afraid to die?


    Isn''t that just natural?


    We don''t want to die so we can live tomorrow with our families!


    We don''t want to die because there are still things we can only do by living!


    That''s why I need people like you who know the importance of living, you who care for your own lives!"


    Their eyes were glued to him, a man wearing strange clothing, speaking about nonsensical things, however, strangely their attention became attached to him, that they never bat their eyes as they listened.


    "Just right now you have died, but if you follow me now and take the path with me, I will breathe new life to you!


    No matter how powerless you may be right now, it won''t matter!


    Powerlessness in the first place is how humans learned to make weapons! It taught some of us how to wield magic!


    The same way this powerlessness has taught us how to take action during the crisis!


    Just right now you were crawling in fear! Next time, you will be the ones who will place them under the enemies nose!


    You weren''t able to get the weapons because you were scared? Next time you will learn how to get them even under pressure and use them to take down the enemy!


    The enemies that will take your friends, parents, family or anyone you love into slavery, into lots of pain, and into torture!


    So what will stop them?


    The answer is the very thing that you encountered today! As well as the countless weapons in front of you that you weren''t able to get because of your fear!


    As I said living is good! But would you dare to live if your loved ones died because you let your fear take over? Because you aren''t able to wield your weapons properly that the enemy became unstoppable?


    Everyone in this world dies! But the worst way of dying is dying in fear, dying for your own sorry ass! It''s selfish! It''s meaningless! So how do we die with meaning?


    Simple!


    We do our best to live for the ones we love!


    We take our weapons, wield it, and master it because we love them as much as we love our lives!


    We struggle, we fight and but if death comes to meet us, we meet it with a smile! Why? Because we went down fighting for those that we love!


    And those that we protected and passed our light on will remember us and give meaning not only to our lives but also to our deaths!


    ???????????? ????????????????????????!


    Will you choose to remain to be an idiot who only cares for your self and give up? It is okay to give up! Raise your hands and a knight will guide you outside the field.


    or will you choose to move forward and brave yourself throughout the explosions? Stopping your cowardice for the rest of your life to fight for what''s important to you!


    ???????????? ????????????????????????!"


    The whole place went silent, men only looked at him and others looked at the weapons in front of them. If they moved again more of those explosions will occur. Of course, they are scared, however, something stirred them up inside, as if their hearts are telling them that they could do everything, telling them not to be scared as images of their family, their children, their parents, and their loved ones came to their mind.


    "I will¡­ fight!"


    One man took one step while shaking, when he moved his foot forward and an explosion occurred, > smoke filled up the area he was standing on, but when it cleared the man was there holding his weapon boldly and standing firmly.


    As everyone saw this, more explosions occurred.


    "This is for my family!!!!!" One man braced himself towards the weapon and >


    "I won''t let them take away my wife!" >


    "I will get promoted to a knight and get married! >


    One, two, three, and four more explosions occurred until the whole place became a raging minefield again. Each and every one of them shouted something important to them as they braced themselves.


    ¡­


    After a few minutes, the smoke cleared up and the men who were once crawling to the ground now stood bravely with their chests out, holding the heavy flintlocks with one arm with a determined look on their eyes.


    It was a moving spectacle for everyone, for the golden knights who were supervising it, and for Erneis, Michaela and Claire who were looking from the side.


    "Okay, it''s fine¡­ " Andrei crossed his arms and made a big smile. "You all pass! Now scream! And remember this day! From once you were dead! And now you were reborn as you brave warriors of the Kingdom! Follow me as I give you the power to protect!"


    "????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????!!" the whole place shook with the screams from the applicants who braved their final test, it wasn''t a scream of rage, but a scream of relief when they felt the greatest sense of achievement they achieved in their lives.


    Geraldine who was beside him almost teared up as she saw the unfolding of the events, as she saw the men who cared for their loved ones more than anyone, and much more she was moved with Andrei''s speech.


    Ideally, they wanted at least 50 to pass, however with only 10 coming up a way to get their weapons and made their way out of the fake minefield, Andrei had to adlib and devise a situation where they would be motivated to fight with him to the bitter end, no matter what unknown powers the enemy may possess.


    Most of the men didn''t just think of being a gun carrier just for the benefits anymore, all they wanted now was to have the power to protect, and they knew¡­ that if it''s that man leading them, they would definitely succeed.


    Andrei raised his flintlock, and the ray of the sunset shone through it. The others did the same and raised it and the place was filled with shouts and praises.


    "I wouldn''t mind dying for you commander!"


    "Commander! Thank you! Thank you!"


    "If it''s this man, I wouldn''t think twice of charging into the enemy"


    "Yeah if its this man"


    All 100 initial passers passed the final test, and 10 of them became their squad leaders.


    Andrei achieved his goal today.

 47 AS THEIR ENEMIES MULTIPLIED

    Michaela and the others looked at Andrei as he pumped his hand that to the air, with this the men who have just passed his test did the same. They all did this as they screamed their triumph.


    "That was an awesome speech Andrei your highness" Erneis spoke as he wiped the tears that welled upon his eyes, "???? ???????????????? ???????? ???????????????????????????? ????????????, ???????????? ????????????? ?????????????????????... ???????????? ???????? ???????????????????????????????????? ???????????????? ??????????????????????????, ???????? ????????????????????????? ????????." Remembering that he was with the queen, he quickly fixed himself, bowed and spoke to Michaela. "With this, we have completed the first stage of the key to our success in the battle Your Highness."


    "Yes, you''re right¡­ and all of that, so quickly," Michael leaned to the veranda and rested her chin on her palm, her eyes anchored to her beloved only, "????????''???? ???????????????? ???????? ???????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????????? ????????? ????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????? ???????? ?????????????, ???? ???????????? ????????? ????????????????????, ???????????? ???? ????????????????''???? ????????????? ????????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????? ????????????????????????????????? ???????????????? ?????????????. ???????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????????????? ???????? ????????? ????????????????????? ???????? ????????? ????????????????????????, ???????????? ???????????????? ???????? ????????????? ???????????????????????????? ????????????? ???? ?????????????????????? ????????????????????????, ????????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????? ????????, ???????????? ???????? ????????? ???????????????????????? ???????? ????????????????, ???????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????? ????????????????? ????????????????? ???????????????? ?????????????????? ????????''???? ???????????? ????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????? ???????? ???????? ????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????? ????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????? ?????????????????????????????????. ???????????????? ????????? ????????????? ???????????? ???????????? ???????????????????? ???????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????????????? ????????????? ????????????"


    "To think he can rile them up just like that, it''s the first time I''ve heard such a speech," Rara said quietly as she put her hand on her chest, it couldn''t be denied that she was also deeply moved with his words because it was their country that fell down first, her heart ached when she thought about her father and the people she left behind, since the beginning, even though indirectly, it was Andrei who saved her and her people.


    As the wind blew her silver hair to the side, her eyes were anchored to him, within her red eyes she saw him as her ray of hope.


    Without everyone noticing, Claire already headed back to the castle and wasn''t in a good mood. Because it was she who could only understand the hidden pain behind Andrei''s words.


    ¡­


    At Kydus, the whole country was filled with all kinds of atrocities, with the gates closed no one was able to get out, not the poor and not the rich, even the corrupt lord''s riches became useless in the face of the enemy.


    Because to the dark elves, the humans were no more than cattle, and they had the worst hobby, using the adult male''s body, they would make fun of the fragile humans in their eyes. They burned babies as sacrifices in front of their mothers, for the elderly they toyed with them, cut them and disposed of them in the most horrible way.


    "No! Not my baby!" The women screamed as they try to reach out for their children being tossed into the fire, however, the men who did it didn''t utter a word, however, within them the dark elves that possessed them laughed hysterically.


    They made a game of young men and women, they would let them go on purpose, and use their dark magic to hit them. For them, young men and women are the most agile and the perfect way to use them was for moving target practice, as they discovered that their dark magic lacked accuracy in the last battle.


    The lords who had a large number of knights who didn''t know the situation was swiftly dealt with and their dead bodies were brought to the sacrificial altar where they burned babies as the sacrifice for the ritual that invites their kind to the dead man''s body, the more time passed the more dark elves invited their kind into a man''s body.


    Their spirits inside men reflected their very image, they had pointy ears, a dark complexion, long tongue, and their faces were filled with all kinds of deformities, most of them had bulging eyes, a mouth with sharp teeth, however, each of them had their own deformities; some lacked noses or had never-ending pimples in their faces with bugs eating on it.


    At the top of their makeshift altar, the emperor''s body stood, within his dead body was the dark elves shaman, she looked different from her kind, even though she had a dark complexion, her face was beautiful, with her purple hair that reached to the ground.


    She sang as the babies burned beneath her, while their mothers cried, offering them to her gods, and in exchange for it was the magic to call the spirit of her kind, so that it may dwell on men''s bodies and hearts.


    ¡­


    Meanwhile, on Ethareri, Andrei with his platoon started doing drills, every day, early in the morning they would jog together around town, and do all physical drills to strengthen them more as a team and promote coordination between them. They trained intensively that anyone who sees them knew that they were dead serious.


    Unlike the knights of Rara and Michaela who trained together with their swords and magic on the training grounds, with the shortage of space and resources, Andrei and his platoon used everything they could get their hands on for training, wood, ropes, and even mud, for space they used the northern forest of Ethareri, it was a vast forest that overlooked the sea, Erneis was surprised on Andrei''s request to use such an are for training.


    In the afternoon they would practice with their guns, where Andrei taught them the basic handling, how to shoot, and other drills that made the slow loading guns effective.


    Under the guise of the northern forest of Ethareri, gunshots echoed throughout the woods.


    "Squad 1 and 2, shoot! Squad 3 and 4 get ready to take over and shoot on my command," Andrei commanded, because of the slow loading time, Andrei had the squads alternate with each other that made successive fire.


    "???????????? ????????????!" they spoke it in the English language which was unfamiliar to them, for Andrei it was a good code so that the enemy wouldn''t know what it means.


    "Squad 5 and 6 crawl! Crawl! Crawl! Spread around towards the enemy! Don''t make a sound! They''ll notice and kill you!"


    "???????????? ????????????!"


    They all took Andrei''s command seriously, having big and muscular bodies already, there was nothing that they couldn''t do even while carrying the heavy guns and weights at their back.


    "Squad 7 and 8, where''s the gunpowder supply! Don''t take too long or the enemy''s large swords will tear us apart!"


    "???????????? ????????????!" the squad leader shouted back.


    "Squad 9 and 10, ready your bayonets and onto me!" and they dashed towards the makeshift enemy made from sacks of sand, when they reached a good distance they practiced slashing, piercing and evading as if their enemy made a counter-attack.


    Andrei also wanted them to prepare to fight at close encounters, as such he also taught them how to fight using their gun bayonets, with Rara''s magic that strengthens material together and Claire''s metal magic, they were able to attach small swords to the gun.


    On Andrei''s request, which Geraldine treated as a command, the members of the makeshift group that were commanded by Andrei who were servants, maids and butlers, were placed on her command; they were also the people who made the BC''s.


    Being enlisted, after their shift in bomb-making, they would practice drills, wear camouflage as they practice to set the bombs under their enemies'' noses unnoticed.


    As their enemies multiplied, the coalition forces didn''t waste a single minute, in preparation to save their fellow humankind.

 48 EACH ONES STRUGGLES

    "Tomorrow is finally the day," Rara murmured to herself as she stared at the night skies, she wore a red dress that reached to her knees, the redness made her white complexion stand out more. She leaned her back at the veranda of her room, at the second floor of the inn where she was staying, her hair reached towards her hips, and her thin arms and hands looked like a girl who never wielded a sword.


    Rara made a deep sigh, and turned her gaze towards the dimly lit room, where her armor and sword was hanged, just beside a large bed where the memoirs of her father were scattered, from the toys he brought her, to the hairpin she got from him on her birthday, it was a normal hairpin, and it wasn''t too extravagant to be given to an imperial princess like her, but the Emperor Hadethius Popannus wasn''t a man who cared about these things, he preferred to give his wife, daughters and sons gifts from his adventures, and told stories about where he got it, and why he is giving it to them.


    "This hairpin¡­" Rara touched it as she remembered his father giving it to her with a big smile, "Rara! Happy Birthday! This is from a dryad I met in the forest when I was on a trip to Sagrait! She was very interesting, you know? She told me-" Rara roused from herself from the memories of her father, "He''s already¡­ gone," she bit her lip as she spoke the harsh truth, as if it was to convince herself to fight his father. "I should have already accepted it, but why¡­ why am I shaking like this," when she looked at the mirror she could see herself crying with her hands shaking, ".. and why, why the hell am I crying? I''m not the only one who''s suffering."


    Rara couldn''t contain it anymore and cried with all her might, she screamed as the pain finally got to her. For the past days all that she was thinking was her people, whenever she thought about her father she would immediately distract herself so she could forget about it.


    Her voice echoed throughout the inn, it was the voice of a young girl crying in pain. The four chief knights who were also renting a room within the inn awakened, they sat in their beds as they looked at each other.


    "We shouldn''t¡­ let her kill her father should we?" the first chief knight clasped his hands together.


    "Yeah, that''s all we can do for her, if it comes to it, we should be the ones who should kill the emperor"


    "Wipe our own asses¡­ huh?" the third chief knight scratched his head. "It still doesn''t feel like it right? It feels like yesterday we were having parties and being drunk till dawn, and now¡­ "


    The fourth knight laid back to his bed and murmured with his back turn to his comrades, "You shouldn''t be talking like that, we''re already lucky enough to be safe, from those freaks. Rest now, we still have so much to do tomorrow," his name was Carle, when he heard the little girl''s cry, he was reminded of his childhood friend, "Hadethius, I promised to protect your daughter, but I can''t do anything to take away her pain"


    ¡­


    Andrei couldn''t sleep, he looked to his side where the window was, it was where he could see the moon, it gave illumination to his room with a pretty blue color, "looking at it, the moon was this bright when I had that talk with Claire in the garden" then it flashed to his mind, "maybe I could sleep there"


    He quickly got up from his bed and fetched the lamp, this time he got his phone from the drawer, and looked at it with his hand, "A glance of that picture might be enough right?" Andrei was trying to save the phone''s battery as much as he could, he only opened it on times when he would use the calculator, the recipe book, and some books on Kindle that he downloaded. It was in a history e-book where he referred some knowledge on making the gun, and the strategies and tactics they prepared for during training, although Andrei had been immersed in military knowledge, if it wasn''t for the phone, he wouldn''t have been able to make his crudely made inventions which were perfected by the world''s citizens such as the blacksmiths and Claire.


    But this time, Andrei didn''t want any information from the phone, he just wanted to look at something that kept his heart calm during hard times. He turned on his phone and went immediately to the images, and looked for the picture he was looking for.


    It was his and Ann''s graduation pictures, they both wore their school uniform, and had their certificates with them, there were two pictures, one was formal and the other one was where Ann threw herself to him in public for the first time. Even though they were dating the two kept their relationship discreet, because of Andrei''s family issues and because of Ann''s strict grandparents. This was one of their happiest pictures, where he and she had big smiles on their faces, but it was also like a curse to him, because even after her death, whenever he looked at it, he would cry, even though at the same time it would calm his heart.


    As Andrei reminisced, a knock came from the door.


    "Andrei, are you there?" It was Claire''s boring and flat voice. Andrei quickly wiped off his tears and put back his phone and turned it off, there was still 70% battery left in it.


    "Sniff, Who''s there?"


    "Can''t you tell from my voice?"


    "Ahh, must be the maid Celeste, come inside" Andrei made a joke as he unintentionally made a sniff, uncertain that Claire heard him crying or not.


    "Really?" The voice''s tone was the same, but in Andrei''s intuition the owner was getting angry.


    "Just kidding" Andrei made a sigh and opened the door for her.


    "You really do knock huh? Claire? Then how have you been sneaking inside my room the whole time?"


    "Nah, you just leave the door open all the time"


    "So you''re admitting you''re sneaking huh?"


    Claire didn''t step inside but simply held out her hands.


    "Want to talk for a bit? I also can''t fall asleep" while doing this Claire made a dazzling smile, Claire wore her night clothes which was a black summer dress, which showed her snow-white complexion, that when the moon hit her skin, it was as if she was glowing.


    "I thought you''d want to cuddle" Andrei flashed a weak smile.


    "Ohhh, did you want that? That was an exception you know? And didn''t I tell you to forget about that?" The deadpan voice and retort were enough for Andrei to give up.


    "Ahhhhhh¡­ my memories are disappearing¡­" Andrei acted like he was in pain as he held his head.


    "Stop with the nonsense and come with me" Claire reached for Andrei''s hand and dragged him with her.

 49 OPEN THE GATES

    The sun shone on the veranda, Andrei slept so soundly that when he had drool all over his face. When he felt the warmth on his face he immediately woke up, and wiped his face with his shirt.


    "What the hell have I been doing here?"


    All he could remember was that he and Claire were went to the veranda, Claire took out a bottle of liquor and they started drinking together. "Ahhh my head hurts¡­ and I can''t remember anything, that damn, Claire just leaving me behind like this"


    Just as he was about to get up he found out that there was actually a pillow from where he was lying on. "How thoughtful" he thought but still his headache made him rush to the toilet as soon as possible.


    Andrei looked at the mirror after he finished washing his face.


    "Today is the day," he said to himself and slapped his face to wake himself up more.


    As Andrei prepared himself, everyone who was involved in the war immediately went to work, knights packed up and put their swords in their sheaths, and their armors were in varieties, because according to the plan, all of Rara''s knights will be assigned to be under Michaela who will be leading all the close-combat and caster forces. Michaela''s strength lies in her magic to produce ice and fire from nothing, there wasn''t any other person than Michaela who is suited to lead the force that would face the enemy on the battlefield.


    Everyone became busy, for the last preparations.


    Geraldine as the new commander of the demolition team had them line up and pick up their equipment, they looked like turtles with the large backpacks they are carrying, because of this load, they also carried light melee with them, such as daggers and shortswords, what made them look the same was that they all wore brown and ragged clothing.


    Claire had the gun carriers line up, they looked different from the others, they didn''t have a single armor on them, instead of steel boots they wore leather, instead of helmets they had hats, they all wore the same color as the forest they trained on.


    Andrei in his room dressed back to his previous clothing which was the camo jacket, and jeans, except that this time he also wore a utility belt which everyone on his battalion would wear to carry bullets and gunpowder for the flintlock guns.


    "This plan better work¡­ " Andrei felt nervous as he wore the leather gloves he requested to be made.


    After an hour, the coalition force which was composed of the Ethareri Kingdom and the Crown-princess temporary Government finished all their preparations, it was the time for them to head out to war.


    ...


    "Open the gates!" Michaela shouted, the men manning Ethareri''s main gate immediately positioned themselves in the colossal beams that supported the gates and prevented it from being opened by battering, it was a large gate made of bronze, it was so large that it was so slow to open, they pushed the colossal beam together with all their strength.


    While Kydus boasts of its strength in numbers and its ability to conquer other nations with its fighters, Ethareri boasts of its impregnable defense, in history, it was attacked by different countries who wanted to set foot on the fertile land, however, neither the gates or the walls have fallen from their attacks, they all ended up retreating.


    Behind the gate that was slowly opening, was the coalition forces, as they brace themselves.


    Michaela rode with 500 of his golden knights, 500 silver knights and 4000 average soldiers most of them are conscripts, behind them was Rara with her chief knights and Mr. and Ms. Savoy rode with 9000 Kydus knights that wore silver armor with blue accent.


    Andrei and Geraldine didn''t need to ride horses, they simply stood at the rear with the one thousand gun carrier''s who managed to pass Andrei''s tests throughout the preparation days and one thousand of the demolition team which dressed in either brown or ragged clothes, some of them rode horses as they will be assigned to make a supply line as suggested by Andrei, it was a concept that the other commanders didn''t know, however when Andrei explained it''s importance in battle, they were astounded.


    As the gates slowly opened it gradually revealed an orange sky beyond it, indicating that the sun was about to set in hours. The commanders have already laid out their plan, and there were no words that needed to be said.


    Andrei looked at Claire who was in front of him riding a white horse in her silver armor, it reminded him of waking up in the veranda with his memory of what happened that night gone. "Ahhh¡­ this is frustrating can''t remember anything."


    Claire glanced at him from her shoulders but quickly turned around as if she didn''t acknowledge his presence, and just like that she made a yawn and looked bored.


    "Everyone is anxious, but yeah... Claire is Claire after all" Andrei thought as he made a sigh.


    Erneis saw this and turned his horse to Andrei.


    "Hey Andrei, what''s with the long sigh" his horse got close to Andrei''s face.


    "Hey old man, don''t- ahhhhh he''s licking my face! He''s licking my face!" It was too late, the horse already licked Andrei''s face.


    "Hahaha sorry, but oh it''s rare, my horse hardly does this to anyone but me" the old man made a big smile, he then unsaddled from his horse, and patted Andrei on his shoulders. "Here, use it to wipe it," he handed a handkerchief to Andrei.


    Andrei received it and wiped his face with it, but he noticed something different about the old man.


    "Ohhhhh, you finally called me by first name basis! That''s an awesome development Erneis!" Andrei was happy to be called informally by the old man who was years older than him. Moreover, it was his wish to be stopped calling "your highness" each and every time Erneis speaks.


    "Well, we don''t know what will happen there, so I thought I might grant your wish even though it goes against my pride as a knight," Erneis proudly declared as he puffed out his chest.


    "Shut it, you''re doing that right because of Michaela''s far away, I''m gonna tell Claire-HEY CLAIRE"


    But Claire didn''t care and just played with the hair of his horse, making different hairstyles of it.


    "Tch, that''s not cute" Andrei squinted his eyes to her.


    "Well, I''m already old anyway, if it happens it happens" the old man looked towards the gate that was almost fully open, "Plus, if something happens to me, you''re already there for her highness."


    Andrei noticed the meaning behind the old man''s words, he realized that he was acting tough, so he thought of changing the topic in a positive direction.


    "Nah, if something happens to you, no one would make the ice cream for little Shri anymore! You don''t want that to happen do you? Can you imagine your grandson''s face if he cries? No! I will make him cry!" Andrei felt that he was joking, but in reality, Andrei has made many children cry in the past, but Ann was there to pull him on the ear.


    The old man was taken aback of his statement, he then made a wry smile to Andrei. "That would be¡­ horrible right?"


    "Yes yes, and I''m bad with children, you saw his expression right when he saw me? He immediately hid behind you" Andrei made an evil face.


    "I see! I''ll make sure to come back alive, I can''t have you making him cry!" the old man made a fist and aimed it at Andrei.


    "I''m just kidding!" Andrei distanced himself from the old man. "But I would like to see you again in your granddad outfit you know, hell you looked like a retired average old man in the street I almost didn''t notice you!"


    And they both laughed together.


    Everyone who heard the light-hearted exchange giggled, but stopped after they felt the warmth of the sun on their face - the gate had been fully opened.


    With this the queen put her sword into the air, the sword''s color was gold, as the sun hit its tip, light rays traveled in all directions. Everyone behind the gates became emotional when they saw this, especially for Rara and her men who came from Kydus, finally, they have a chance to retake their home and save their suffering countrymen. For those who were from Ethareri, it was the best time opportunity for them to protect their homeland, without Kydus'' princess support their numbers would have been very low to fight what Kydus has to offer.


    As the queen lowered her sword and pointed it to the horizon, everyone at the same time prayed the same thing deep within their hearts, which was to come out victorious and alive.


    "March forward! Destination! Kydus Empire!" Michaella''s majestic voice echoed.


    With this the war has begun.

 50 KEVIN AND ROCK

    The dark elves cared much about multiplying their numbers, they didn''t just burned all the babies they can find within the empire, but using the dead bodies they dwelled in, they raped women as they pleased, this was to ensure that they had more sacrifices to offer, in the cycle of months, which was to the dark elves in their long life span, was just a short time.


    Dark elves lived from 200-300 years, even if they were called elves they are a different from their light counterparts which lives up to 750 years, it was said in the ancient scriptures that they came from a mutated race of a cross between a light elf and an inhabitant of Hel which was the land of the dead, since then, they worshipped the Gods of Hel, which in turn gives them power stronger than the light elves, however, this made their life span sunk to 200-300, combined with the deformations.


    "What should we play today?"


    "Ahhh let''s do that again! Let''s release all of these young humans and aim for a beheading!"


    Two dark elves telepathically talked to each other, they all lined up with 1000 other dark elves within a dead knight''s body at Mizar Settlement, the weakest point of Kydus and was the entrance that faced Ethareri, the weaker kingdom in the continent, until a months ago where their plan failed and a few humans escaped with half of Kydus'' skilled knights due to some irregularities.


    To the dark elves, it was rumored that the eruptions were done with Muspelheim''s help, the land of fire, the dark elves expected war with Muspelheim''s inhabitants as such, instead of attacking the weaker nation once and for all, they focused on strengthening their force.


    Behind these knights at Mizar was a wooden cage full of captive humans, who bathed with the blood of their parents, for the elves this was just entertainment, to kill the parents of the young ones in front of them. All of them had fear written in their faces, some even lost their mind, however, there were still some who looked at the knights with contempt and rage, a sign of willpower and hope, for the dark elves this was an emotion they liked to play on.


    Even as they sought help no one came for them, they were helplessly massacred and were put into harsh mental and physical conditions, those who tried to escape were helplessly cut off limb by limb, those who didn''t resist was raped or tortured for fun, they couldn''t hear their laughter, but it was evident with how the knights were acting, they were doing it for their pleasure.


    "No, we should keep the females"


    "Okay, then just the males, I''ll release six, let''s get them with Unholy Swords, the one who hits other than the head will lose, ''kay?"


    "Yiehhhhhh! HAHAHA this will be fun brother"


    They opened the cage and got six males, some of them were young adults, or teenagers. The boys immediately what their captors wanted for them, as they saw this happen every day, in a few hours they would get a number of people and have fun killing them.


    The Knights pushed the five boys outside the cage and made a gesture shooing them away.


    In fear the boys tried to plead for their lives, but the knights didn''t respond, instead, they killed one of them for pleading, and made the shooing gesture again.


    Having no choice, the boys ran with everything they could, fearing for their lives.


    ¡­


    "Rock keep running!" one of the boys told his friend who was getting behind, the knights were still doing their incantations with their hands in the air.


    "Kevin! I can''t my feet are-" running without any shoes has made his foot swell.


    "Damnit!" Kevin had to decide, whether to abandon his friend who can''t run anymore, or to run together with the three teenagers who have gone ahead of them.


    "If they finish chanting, it would be the end of us" Kevin thought, stopping beside his friend while looking at the other three who ran for their lives.


    Kevin was a son of a noble who was celebrated by the commoners, his father was also the last lord to fall into the enemy''s control. The last words he said to him was "Escape, Live on!" as his father was skinned, tortured and beheaded in front of him.


    "Kevin, leave me behind, in the end, I''m just a commoner," for a teenager at the age of 15, Rock knew his status well, he knew what the right choice was, he only knew Kevin a few hours on the cage, there''s no way a noble''s kid would save him.


    Or so he thought.


    "Damnit!!!!!!!" Kevin, like his father couldn''t leave behind anyone who was in need of help he took Rock to his shoulder and carried him.


    "Kevin what are you do-"


    "Shut up! If we die, at least let me die like the heroes in the stories!"


    ¡­


    "Brother look at those puny humans! They are merging together! He''s using him as a shield! HAHAHAHA" one of the elves telepathically sent a message to the knight beside him where his kind dwelled on.


    "Oke, let''s get them for the last, a kill tastes more if we give them false hope GYAHAHAHAHAHA"


    Finishing the chant, one of them threw a small unholy sword, it was so fast that it hit the first one running, tearing him to pieces. Seeing this the other children still kept on running while screaming.


    "Brother! You hit the body!"


    "My bad GYAHAHA, you next!"


    A new unholy sword appeared and swung horizontally creating a vortex, and it cut the other kid into two pieces.


    "HAH! You suck! Okeh my turn!"


    This time the third one running was hit on his neck, his body still kept on running a few steps and fell down to the floor, the head was thrown to the fourth target, who was carrying the fifth target.


    ¡­


    As the head fell in front of Kevin, he could hear his innards growl.


    "Not good, I''m throwing up"


    "Kevin¡­ leave me behind" Rock said shivering as he saw the severed head.


    "NO!!! I''m not leaving you behind!"


    "It''s okay, you''ve done enough for me"


    "No!"


    Rock, who was touched by Kevin''s kindness, climbed down from his back and spread his arms facing the knights, yards away from them.


    "This time, I''m going to protect you! Now run! I also want to become a hero after all! It''s not just you!"


    "Kevin, run! Don''t give up!" He then turned his head to Kevin as he says this, but as he did this, an invisible sword cut his head, and his head with a smiling face fell to the ground.


    Kevin couldn''t help it anymore, he cried as he fell down to the floor and threw up.


    ¡­


    "See! 1-1 now were even! BWAHAHAHA!"


    "Now¡­ how do we settle this"


    "There''s still the last one right?"


    "But he stopped, what should we do?"


    "Geheee, we''ll wait until he gets to 60 yards, that''s the limit range of our unholy swords"


    ¡­


    "I have to stand¡­" Kevin said to himself as he held the ground, seeing Rock''s severed head made him lose almost every ounce of his strength left.


    "I have to stand! For father! For Rock!" with his flimsy hands, he dashed forward.


    "I have to go left and right, please let me make it! Please!"


    Kevin didn''t look back, but he heard the last part of the chant from the knights, it was the only time they would say a word - that is when they made a chant.


    "I''m done for," it was on Kevin''s mind but he didn''t stop, "I''m done for but at least I can show dad and Rock that I didn''t give up until the end!"


    [Whoooooooooooooshhhh]


    The sound was getting closer and closer to him, but still he ran and ran and ran going to different directions.


    "Dad, Rock, in heaven, lend me your strength!" he prayed within his heart and shouted. "I''ll survive and I''ll kill you all!" when he felt his hair move due to the flying object coming to him, he thought that it was his head will be rolling this time.


    Until numerous sound echoed throughout the entire plain, and the projectile that was supposed to hit his head has disappeared.


    [Boom!]

 51 BREAK THE DEFENSIVE LINE

    Kydus empire has a large territory, three times larger than Ethareri, this is because of the three walls that divide it, which also divides the people''s living classes; the lower class, the middle class, and the nobles.


    The lower classes live within the first wall where there is a large amount of fertile land for them to farm and produce livestock, it is a vast area for Ethareri''s forces to risk getting split up, the entry points for this area are the settlements which are heavily guarded by the dead knights, the number of dead knights matched the level of threat it faced, the settlement facing other empires such as Sagrait Empire which boasted of its mercenary guilds had sixty thousand dead knights guarding it, and for the Mizar settlement, at least fifty-thousand dead knights guarded it, numbering more than twice of Ethareri and the Kydus Princess'' Temporary Government combined, the large number was due to their suspicion of Muspelheim was also using the humans.


    This frightening info was relayed to Ethareri by the spies inside, as such they were able to come up with their own strategy. At first, Ethareri tried to get in contact with neighboring countries and island nations near the continent, but they didn''t believe such information, in the end it was Ethareri and the Princess Rara''s army alone that faced the giant force that threatened mankind.


    They were convinced that the root cause of it was the emperor, or the enemy residing on the emperor''s body, as there were eyewitnesses on him presiding over the sickening offering ceremony, their goal was to get to the emperor and end it once and for all, or at least to stop the ceremonies from happening.


    Seventeen thousand men from Ethareri marched, putting their full trust on their commanders, and two thousand of them will be the key to winning the battle. The first step for them was to take over Mizar settlement before reinforcement came.


    ???????????????????? ???????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????? ???????????? ???????? ???????????????????????? ????


    The deformations of the plain surrounding Mizar was deep enough for Andrei and his platoon to blend in, he divided them into ten companies and companies into squads and scattered them all over the place, the sun has set and they crawled slowly in intervals, avoiding to being seen, being the spearhead of the operation their task was to position themselves and place the enemy at their range which was 100 meters.


    With the clothing that they are wearing it was hard to spot them with the human eye.


    By retaking Mizar settlement they will have a temporary base to launch an all-out assault toward the empire''s capital and have a chance to fend off potential reinforcements, by using the buildings to their advantage, the settlement will also serve as their supply line.


    "If only we had radios to contact with each other," Andrei sighed as he lamented on the fact that they can''t spread much further than a distance where they could see each other''s hand sign which he taught his squad leaders who were now captains of each company that has a hundred of gun carriers each.


    Andrei could see the settlement from where they are crawling from, a thousand knights formed a defensive line with at the front, "according to the intel, there should be more, I guess they are inside perhaps, it''s time to draw them out."


    As they crawled they saw the knights open a cage full of boys and girls, and took out six of them, the boys knelt and made a pleading action after they were taken out, but to their surprise one of them was mercilessly stabbed in the heart. The dead knights then made an action as if they were laughing although there wasn''t any sound contrary to the loud pleading of the boys, "Please don''t kill us! Please let us go!" after that the knights made a shooing gesture as if telling them to run away.


    "These guys¡­ " Andrei was about to fly in anger. "If the intel was right, these boys serve as their target practice, and they''re having fun doing that, tch" realized that they needed to crawl more in order to place the enemy at their sights, he resolved himself to not do anything yet.


    Andrei and his battalion crawled and crawled and crawled, but he knew they can''t go faster or else they would be discovered, risking the whole operation. His comrades had the same expression especially Claire on his side.


    This time Claire wore a green robe to cover her shiny armor, she looked at them normally, however it was evident that she was angry, Andrei could see her expression turn dark as she bit her lip as if to suppress the emotion, it was the first time for Andrei seeing her in such an expression.


    "Claire¡­ " Andrei whispered, "keep going," while Claire''s eyes were glued to the boys running away while the knights spread their hands in the air and started reciting incantations, in the blink of her eye, one of the boys was cut in half by something, this made Claire tremble in anger, as well as the captains who were crawling first, but they knew well that they couldn''t risk getting discovered, Andrei signaled them to go on.


    [Forward] [More]


    His hand signals may seem simple and the order from him was cold, but everyone swore an oath to follow him, the captains who were now leading a hundred members each, couldn''t risk them getting killed, they can only close their eyes while the massacre was happening in front of them, even though how much it hurts their conscience to let the boys die, they continued and passed the message through hand signals.


    A few minutes after, another invisible projectile hit another boy, this time he was beheaded, with his body running a few meters before his lifeless body fell, the head of the boy flew a few meters in front of Andrei, with its eyes still open, Andrei felt that it looked at him.


    "Sorry, for not being able to save you," Andrei thought as he held his heart, as his blood rush to his veins, "damn, stop it!" he shouted in his mind, "only a few more yards, please let us make it"


    When he looked forward, he saw something he didn''t expect to see in such a run-or-get-killed situation, one of the boys carried an injured one, on his back, even though he looked beat up and tired, the boy''s eyes were still filled with of hope and determination. Even though the others were already dead he didn''t lose hope, he didn''t stop running, giving everything he can, all the captains and gun carriers who were further on their crawl also have seen the selfless action.


    "What should I do? At this range, we would still probably miss," as Andrei questioned himself as he held his chest that he felt was being torn seeing such compassion in the battlefield, while they did nothing, until the one being carried climbed down and spread his arms and told the other boy to run. "Shit! I can''t take this anymore," he then made the crawl faster, Claire just stared and didn''t stop him. "I''ll make sure to down these motherfuckers"


    Immersed his thoughts Andrei received a hand signal from the captains, they seemed to crawl at the same pace as him in his rage, miraculously they didn''t get discovered.


    [I''m in position]


    Andrei then saw that they were already indeed a hundred yards, 75 was supposed to be the current range of the guns, but with Rara''s material strengthening which improved the quality of the weapons, even at 100 yards, most of them could hit the target already.


    [Get into position] [Aim] [Heads][Upper Body][On My Signal], he signaled them, "it''s time for retribution, you fuckers!" he thought as he readies his own gun which was thinner compared to the oversized flintlocks his men carried.


    [In Prone Position][Load Bullets][Insert Charge][Aim], this message was relayed by the captains to each other, and them to their men. Just as they have been trained, they loaded the muzzle with gunpowder and then the projectile ball, after that, they put some gunpowder in the pan and locked it making a clicking sound, when they were done they aimed for the dead knights on their sights,


    When the captains saw that their men were ready they passed on the hand signal [Ready], it took a few minutes to pass the message all along, and the boy was still running with all his might. Andrei looked at him as he waited for the nearest captain to signal to him, which would mean everyone is ready, and when it did, he didn''t think twice in giving the order.


    "Shoot!" This time Andrei shouted so everyone could hear him and with his order, the gun carriers pulled the trigger, when the flint struck the steel which made sparks that ignited the gunpowder in the pan, this ignited the gunpowder which was loaded into the muzzle and it threw out the projectile at high speed.


    [Boom!]


    In seconds, hundreds of projectiles came out of the muzzles almost at the same time and it reached the knights who stood in the defensive line. The dead knight who was putting his hand on the air as it spoke incantations wasn''t an exception, Andrei made sure to aim at him.


    White smoke rose from where they shot, not understanding what happened, hundreds of knights dropped dead from where they were standing, some who weren''t hit made an action as if it searched for the enemy, but they couldn''t, all they could see was white smoke in line, that rose up from the plains.


    As the knights were in a state of panic, [Next Volley] Andrei signaled the captains, and everyone got busy immediately, doing the same process and when a ready sign was related to Andrei, he screamed at a certain level, "Shoot!" and swung his hand forward this time.


    The next set of projectiles hit the confused knights and the defensive line broke immediately, with the survivors going inside the settlement.


    Knowing that there was no one to hear him Andrei gave a command, "To the next position! Crawl! Crawl! Crawl! Or you''ll get stomped by the horses!"


    The firing line was cut into half, half of them crawled eastward, while the others westward. As they did this Michaela and the army showed themselves kilometers away from the settlement, the scale of the army was enough for the knights not to ignore it, that the elves within them decided to charge at the formation and defeat it with numbers.

 52 DARK ELF COMMANDER

    Inside the settlement, the elves talked to each other with telepathy.


    "W-W-W-What the hell happened?!! We didn''t move or anything right? Didn''t we?"


    "DON''T ASK ME!"


    Not knowing what to do, the dead knights scattered within Mizar, they were confused and disorganized, they didn''t know what happened to their comrades who lost possession of the human bodies they inhabited.


    During the possession rituals, the soul of a dark elf is being transferred from their realm unto the world of the humans, Midgard. Losing possession of it would mean that the soul will have nowhere to go and would disappear, for the dark elves it was something worse than death, but it was a risk worthy of their ambition.


    "Grrrr!!! HOW DARE THEY DO THIS TO US!"


    "These insects! Let''s break them to pieces and feed them to the pigs!"


    Every one of them became angry and confused, as they didn''t see any enemy and weren''t able to massacre them. With the fearsome explosions that could be heard and in succession, many of them had been downed and their souls lost forever.


    However when they saw an army coming to them, their mood quickly changed, as if seeing a target they can release their hatred on.


    "Hey look brother! It''s them! It''s got to be them!"


    The dark elf was supposed to talk in telepathy with someone with the same rank with him, but instead, it was the Dark Elf Commander that replied to him, he possessed a knight with a body larger than the ordinary knight, it was evident that his manifestation was almost complete, as the body he was using was starting to grow its pointy ears.


    The higher the rank the elf has, the faster they can manifest in the world of the humans, as such the more time comes the possessed body will mutate into their real form. In his case, being a commander, he has a high-level capability to dwell on the human''s body and gradually turn it into his body faster.


    "Oh, I see, I''m seeing someone with a large amount of magic with them, ohoho," unlike the dead knights who weren''t able to speak, the elf commander was able to speak flawlessly. He dragged a big sword with him with blood over it as he walked through the sea of dead knights before him, it was his hobby to torture humans especially children.


    "What the hell are you doing? Why are you hiding? For those who have horses, ride it! For those who don''t, walk those bodies! Why the hell are you fearing humans for one trick or two? We have an overwhelming force! Crush them completely!"


    No one sent a response, they simply acted as they were told to, most of them rode horses, and some picked up their swords and walked together, knowing that their enemies waited outside. They marched together in order, with the black aura oozing from their armor, and the rotting bodies turning into dark-elves body, Mizar settlement''s gate looked like it was vomiting out dark oil from its mouth.


    The elf commander was the last one to get outside the gate, they assumed a battle formation but it wasn''t in order. They looked like a mob that wielded all kinds of weapons.


    "See, if we go out like this, their tricks won''t work, with our numbers we don''t even have to take it seriously HAHA!"


    To the outside they looked like they were laughing with no sound,and it was only the large knight''s voice that could be heard, but on telepathy numerous voices echoed throughout them, as their means of communication. They sprouted curses and made fun of the force in front of them.


    "Charge!"


    The cavalry charged first, and then followed by the others who ran fealessly, the enemy was just a few kilometers in front of them.


    ¡­


    ???????????????????? ???????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????? ???????????? ???????? ???????????????????????? ????


    Michaela saw the knights getting out of Mizar settlements gate, she was at the vanguard of her army, together with the princess Rara''s representatives, the four chief knights, Rara was assigned to another role in the battlefield.


    Seeing their numbers, the warriors behind Michaela had a complicated look on their faces, it was understandable, seeing such a force that doubled their own charging into them. Some of them stepped back with one feet, Michaela who was able to notice this shortly turned around to face her people and bring forth her message.


    "What? Are you scared now?" Her voice was majestic and deep, and her crystal-like eyes burned with courage.


    "Are you scared? Of those dead men in front of you? Don''t you pity them as human beings? Having your body taken away from you, and using that to commit genocide, yes¡­ they may look scary, but what''s scarier is looking away from this tragedy in front of you!


    As fellow humans it is our responsibility to let them rest peacefully! And to prevent this from ever happening again!" she then turned around and tossed her golden hair to the side.


    "Their numbers may be greater but our cause has far greater meaning! My soldiers! Ready your weapons, and fight for righteousness! For our homeland, our future, and for humanity, together we stand!"


    With this, everyone came to their senses, they weren''t able to cheer because of the pressure of the dead knights charging into them, but the speech of their queen strengthened their will.


    "Warriors draw your swords! Casters start long-range attack incantations!" Michaela instructed.


    The warriors immediately drew their swords from their waist and back, and the casters started their incantations. The casters were composed of wizards and magic knights started their incantations, the tip of their swords and wands started to glow, but incantations were long; it took at least a minute of preparation.


    When Michaela noticed that they have finished their chants, she gave the next order immediately.


    "Aim at the cavalry and start bombardment!" Michael swung her hand forward, and with this, spells launched from their direction, in different colors such as purple, orange and yellow, which were the elements of the collection of casters that their army had.


    The bombardment that was composed of fireballs, lightning, and holy attribute rained down on the approaching cavalry, but they had their defenses. A black curtain protected their cavalry as it closed and rode into them getting nearer and nearer, it''s caster was the large knight at the rear commanding them.


    "Tch, Didn''t work huh¡­ " Michaela bit her lip, "Onto the next stage! Everyone retreat!" Michaela commanded.


    ...


    ???????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????, ???????????????? ????????????/???????????????? ???????????????????????????? ????????????????


    According to the scriptures the dark elves were blessed with their magic prowess just like their light counterparts, having taken their land, they have also taken their secrets, and when it came to magic, they became better. This is why they charged without formation, thinking that magic was on their side, as long as they can get close to launch their deadly unholy swords.


    "HAHAHA Are those spells? Lame!"


    "Even light elves can do better than that!"


    The dark elves'' morale was boosted with the failed bombardment, and their enemy''s retreat, the elf commander was pleased with himself as his black magic curtain blocked any magic that it encountered.


    "I got worried for a second there, but if this is their level, this might be an easy win, the rumors that Muselpheim was using them was just a rumor in the end," he thought as he rode his horse on the rear overseeing the battle.


    "Chase them! Faster!" He commanded his soldiers via telepathy, "The high king will be very pleased if I just took that small castle right now hihi," but he suddenly withdrew this thought as it didn''t go as he expected.


    The vanguard, the cavalry that have chased the retreating humans, was caught by the mysterious explosions from the ground, and this time the scale was far larger than what he heard in the rumors.

 53 TACTICAL RETREA

    ???????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????, ???????????????????????????????????? ????????????????


    "Retreat!" Michaela commanded, their advantage was that everyone except the special battalions rode horses, this improved their mobility to retreat when the bombardment failed.


    "The enemy''s cavalry is already numerous enough to catch us, and they also had the footmen chasing madly, if this plan works we should be able to reduce their numbers quickly," she thought as she rode together her horse retreating a few kilometers.


    "It''s visible!" Michaela saw brown rags on the ground, it indicated where their countermeasures were placed, she became happy to see it.


    "Okay everyone! Ride around those rags you see! Don''t ever step on one or we''ll all die!" She spoke with a smile on her face as she rode her horse.


    The men came after her, they had thousands of cavalrymen with them, seeing Michaela''s army far ahead, they increased their speed further to catch them as instructed, and didn''t notice that they just have entered the human-made hell by going in the middle of a wide minefield.


    [Click] [Boom!]


    As the horses stomped on the ground, BC''s were triggered and containers flew from the ground and spewed out projectiles. The cavalrymen who was supposed to be on the chase were riddle with splinters everywhere, including the footmen that came with them, often losing limbs, or getting thrown into the air.


    "The BC''s are placed correctly and with the elevation, those who are following aren''t able to see that the men in front of them were already within the field, as a result¡­ '''' Michaela and her army stopped a safe distance.


    The cavalrymen still kept going down from the natural elevation and when they went down, it was already too late, as their horses were already in the field without them realizing, it instantly became a raging hell, with this the number of cavalrymen has dropped significantly, but still their numbers were still large, those who were running was able to stop just a few meters from the field saving them from explosions.


    However in Andrei''s strategy, this was already accounted for, and if this would happen, the demolition platoon was to throw molotovs while being hidden. The dead knights who were safe from the minefield were engulfed with the fire quickly, unable to scream.


    A black sheet of magic tried to protect them, however, for a strange reason it didn''t save them from the splinters nor the molotovs.


    "I see, so it can only block magic," Michaela realized the weakness of the black curtain. In a few minutes the vanguard was already routed, which was 50% of the dead knights stationed at Mizar Settlement.


    ¡­


    ???????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????, ????????????????-????????????/???????????????? ???????????????????????????? ????????????????


    "Damn! Damn! Damn! What the hell is happening?" The elf commander''s eyes were glued to his soldiers, "Are those eruptions? I have been trying to block it with my magic, but why does it still do damage? Don''t tell me that those things don''t have any magic imbued within them? It''s impossible! But how? Didn''t they have assistance from Muspelheim? And what the hell is this noise? It''s too much to bear! My ears are ringing just by hearing it here!"


    His eyes looked like it was going to pop out from his anger, and confusion and then he saw humans that carried large bags throwing bottles of which became flames.


    "Such tricks! After them!"


    He ordered footmen to chase after the men dressed in rags, who were coming in and out of the nearby trees throwing bottles, but to his surprise when they got into some distance they were already hit by something, one by one they dropped like flies before they could do anything.


    "Damnit! Come back here idiots! And start Unholy Sword Incantations!" He gave a telepathy message, but it wasn''t able to reach them anymore.


    "Have we been routed? Damn I have to get close," he rode his horse, and directed the rest of the rear. to give support to the forces on the vanguard together with him, with this all the forces that gathered at Mizar settlement were no more, they all charged at the enemy kilometers ahead.

 54 THE ENEMIES ROUTED

    ????????????????????-???????????????? ???????? ???????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????, ???????????????????????????????????? ????????????????


    "Oh, they seem to be routed easily," Claire spoke as she was proning alongside Andrei, in her green cloak.


    "Let me borrow that," he suddenly told Andrei, and tried to take away his gun from him.


    "Don''t you have magic already? Without that I don''t have any weapons just so you know?" he retorted as he flicked away her hand preventing her from taking away his flintlock.


    "Then, make me one when we arrive home," she withdrew her hand and gave up.


    "I got it, I got it," Andrei sighed, knowing that he can''t keep up with Claire''s whims.


    Andrei then focused on the developments on the battlefield, "it seems that the plan is going smoothly, but that big one over there might be a problem, isn''t he calling the shots??"


    "Yes, probably, Andrei take a look at that," Claire pointed at the demolition team throwing out molotovs, "the big one saw them! They are chasing after them!"


    "Tch, so we have to change tactics huh,"


    Their strategy was simple, it was to draw out the enemies and lead them to the minefields, after that Michaela will take charge of cleaning up, the survivors on the minefield, but contrary to his expectations, there were still forces left at the rear, they were waiting for them to make a move first before creating the new firing line at their backs surrounding them with no way to escape.


    But they have seen the demolition battalion that has no weapons, being approached the enemy, and it''s also their obligation to keep them safe.


    "Company 1 and 2, on me! Claire, stick to the plan, if the rear force moves further than the location discussed, make the firing line immediately!" Andrei told her as he picked up his gun.


    "Got it, don''t worry, I know the basics" Claire responded bluntly.


    Andrei and two companies crawled to the side, using the tallgrass growing on the plains, the deformations and the shadow of some trees.


    "Everyone, ready your guns and prepare to shoot, aim at the knights coming for the demolition people," Andrei and the companies arrived safely without being discovered


    "Yes sir!" the leader of Company 1 and 2 responded.


    After a few seconds of preparation the flintlocks made a cracking sound as they pulled the cock. This was also the same as Andrei.


    "Okay, when you hear an explosion you are clear to shoot, that way they won''t be able to hear us, ready¡­ "


    [Boom!] one BC exploded after being triggered by horses.


    "Shoot at will!"


    [Boom!''] some of the men approaching the demolition team were eliminated.


    They repeated the process and the men who tried to go after the demolition team dropped one by one like flies, when they were done realizing the danger of being at such a place Andrei decided to fall back.


    "Okay everyone! Crawl back to the encirclement!"


    ¡­


    ???????????????????? ???????? ???????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????, ???????????????? ???????????? ????????????????


    "What is happening! Ahh!!!! Come with me you idiots! We''re ending this once and for all!" The commander sent a telepathy message to his soldiers who were with him in the rear. They then all filed and started charing also to support the vanguard.


    "Damn humans! You will pay for this!" He had a scary expression, his rage was focused on the golden-haired woman overlooking the raging minefield which he thought was the land erupting., whenever someone gets through it, she would freeze it and break them to pieces, or just simply burn them.


    "We''re halfway now, I''ll definitely take your head!" he cursed her in his soul while closing in to the direction, but he felt something different as he made the charge, he noticed that his forces were getting depleted and depleted the more distance they made, when he looked back he saw hundreds of his knights were already downed by something.


    "NO WAY!!! HERE ALSO? THIS IS THE REAR YOU KNOW?" something like fear was engraved on his soul, as he can use the mouth of the body he inhabits he screamed, "Who the hell are you! Show yourself!"


    But what answered him were projectiles that came from behind, killing again hundreds of his men.


    "YOU COWARDS!!!" he exclaimed, as he didn''t know what to do, most of his forces are already routed and now he is in danger of the projectiles coming to him.


    Another volley of projectiles flew at them and this time one was coming for him.


    "Corrupted Curtain! Manifest!" He cast a spell, but it didn''t help, the projectile passed through it and pierced his stomach.


    Smoke rose up from the plains strangely, and thinking it could be the enemy he focused on it until he could finally see it, there were green men with green hats proning towards them pointing spear-like weapons at them, and some of them they were busy doing something with it.


    "So there you are huh! puny humans! Your tricks are finished now! Casters! Unholy Sword Combined!"


    His men were downed but he still has a few thousands of them left, and they filed together and started their incantations. However the men in green were faster, after doing certain procedures, another set of valley hit him and his men, and the incantation was stopped.


    "Fucking!!!!!!" like a rabid dog, his mouth spewed out saliva as he talked with a horrid voice, "Casters! Don''t combine it just send swords flying in that direction!"


    "Commander, it won''t reach!"


    "What did you say??? What do you say it can''t reach!"


    "They are very far away"


    "You mean our magic is inferior to them?" This time, irritated, he held his soldiers head and crushed it, during this exchange another volley came for them and now a few hundred was left.


    "Forget it! I''ll do it myself!" Confident of his physique, where the projectiles didn''t have an effect due to his manifestation, the dark elf commander unsaddled from his horse and started his incantation where a large sword oozing with evil aura and blood appeared above him pointing it at the green men proning at the distance, but forgetting that his soldiers were already obliterated at the front he felt a surge of coldness at his back.


    When he turned around without stopping the incantations, it was the woman who wore golden armor, she walked with a golden sword towards him, and making her way to him, the dead knights that attacked her were either frozen or burned, and on her back, he could see her knights cleaning up the dead knights who were still moving, making sure no one survived.


    This sight alone made him fly in anger, and he knew clearly who was responsible for it, it was the woman who dared to walk confidently at him. He desired revenge more than anything else, "you''ll pay for this humiliation woman!" he shouted at her.


    The woman only looked at him and announced.


    "Michaela Acirendra, Queen of The Kingdom of Ethareri, you and your kin have toyed and hurt humans too much, now accept your punishment and die!"

 55 HUMANS AND TRICKERY

    "You cocky woman! So you are the leader huh? Do you think you''ll get away with this?"


    The elf commander''s horrid voice echoed, everyone who saw this was stopped in their tracks, however, the queen didn''t falter.


    Driven to the corner the elf-commander who saw his underlings eliminated, manifested a large unholy sword spell, and it looked more corrupt and bloody, showing how many lives has it taken so far, as it manifested a blood-colored thunder roared around it, showing the great strength it possessed.


    "You''ll pay for this! But don''t worry hihi! For this humiliation I will make sure to keep you alive and torture you every day!" He made a hysterical laugh, his chants were complete and he only needed to launch his spell on his target, instead of the green men who can only do little damage to his mutated body, he aimed it towards Michaela who dared to walk casually to him.


    "True to your colors to the end huh?" Michaella drew her blade, and swung it to her right, it was a golden longsword, flames enveloped it swirling around the sword, with this Michaela started her chant.


    [By the authority I was given, the seat of the righteous, I, the queen of my homeland, vanquish thy wicked enemies that dares to harm my people, manifest yourself]


    "Hellfire Wave!" the flame that engulfed the sword became larger and flames moved as if it was alive, she let go of it and it and it floated at her right side, it became as big as the corrupted sword the elf-commander has, but she wasn''t done yet.


    [ And with this righteousness, Oh, spirits of cold, the time has come to show us your wrath! I command thee to freeze my enemies!]


    "Ice Wrath!" from her left hand, manifested ice in the shape of a sword which became larger and larger, it broke into pieces and the pieces themselves became large.


    Michaela was often being called as the witch queen, being blessed with such talents in magic. This power made her able to quell skirmishes between nobles within her kingdom, or any attempt for a coup especially those who did not approve of a queen reigning over the kingdom.


    Her immense power that could control both ice and fire elements which was already very rare in the continent, the two elements didn''t go along with each other but it still gave her blessing to use them together, but this power was still limited and comes with a cost, the more power she releases the faster her mana gets depleted, which puts her at risk, this was the limits of being a human, the more she uses it, the more she''s risking herself to perish. However, with Andrei''s inventions wiping out most of the enemies, she didn''t hesitate to use it this time.


    With the manifestation of two elements, the elf commander started to become confused. "Two elements? Really? Do these puny humans have the ability to do something like that? It shouldn''t be possible! If someone has the ability to do it it would be-" his train of thought was stopped as another set of projectiles shot him at the back, which had little effect, but still, it riddled his body with small holes that blood came oozing from it.


    "This is not the time to think! This human body is fragile, even if it''s mutating to my body it''s still incomplete. I should finish this and heal these wounds!" It was obvious to him which target he should aim at, he had his black curtain that absorbs magic, and in front of him was the leader of the humans that dared to attack him, "Even if she has two elements, with my magic nullification, she is an easy target HAHA! The leaders'' head is mine!" He thought to himself proudly as he licked his own lips.


    "HAHA no matter how much you struggle, your magic is just simply-" before he could finish talking, Michaela already launched a barrage of ice to him, as he saw this he immediately wrapped himself with the black curtain which broke the ice into small bits of dust, then Michaela followed it with her fire sword which roared like a phoenix, as if it gained wings it dived into him, with the fire clashing with the ice pieces it created a large steam explosion and produced fog.


    "Do you think I didn''t know about your magic before charging? What a clown," her voice echoed behind the fog.


    But the bloody sword at the top of the elf commander didn''t disappear. He was behind the dark curtain, the elf commander was still alive, angry that he wasn''t able to finish his sentence he launched his spell.


    "You should learn to listen if someone''s talking! Take the head of my enemy! Corrupted Sword!"


    The sword pierced through the fog, but it didn''t find anyone, so it continued floating.


    "Damnit! Where did you go! Weren''t you gonna punish me huh? You filthy human beings!" he looked around still covered in fog.


    "Tch.. " he swung around his greatsword which cleared the fog, but Michaela wasn''t there anymore. However the green soldiers still kept shooting at him with projectiles that it was starting to weaken him.


    "These bugs, huh? Maybe I should take them out first" realizing that the range wasn''t enough for him to hit them with the sword floating above his head, he moved his foot forward which stepped into a brown cloth.


    [Click]


    "Huh?" After he removed his foot, a sudden explosion happened and splinters riddled his body with more holes than he can ever imagine, the force knocked out his balance and he fell to the ground. "What the¡­" he heard his ears ringing, he tried to touch his ears but when he lifted his hand up, he hears another similar sound, [Click], realizing what this is, he tried to scream, "STO-" [Boom!] but BC''s are tools that exploded when triggered, this time his body was starting to fall apart, his arm was severed and dropped into the side, the sword that he controlled above his head had disappeared because of his shock.


    During the fog, while the elf-commander was focused on the queen, the demolitions squads placed as many BC''s around him as possible, with their careful hands they were able to place them successfully without being found, and luckily they just go out in time before the fog have been fanned out by the large sword the elf-commander was holding.


    "FUCCCCCCCK!!!! STOP THIS!!!" He tried to get the severed arm but when he lifted it, [Click] [Boom!] his body wasn''t able to take it, parts of him came flying everywhere, and his head rolled over to one of the green men shooting projectiles at him.


    "This wasn''t supposed to happen," his severed head still spoke, the green man crawled back in fear, "AHHHH THE HEAD SPOKE!" The elf commander could barely hear it with the ringing on his ears, but he heard another voice, it was the voice of a girl calming panicking soldier.


    "Stop it panicking, it''s still alive," it was a girl that wore silver, under a green robe. "So the green men are her underlings huh?" he thought, looking at the color of her robe, "I will look at your face and send this image to the high priest!"


    ????????????????????-???????????????? ???????? ???????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????, ???????????????????????????????????? ????????????????, ???????????? ???????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ????????????????


    "So this is your trick huh?" The head spoke again angry, "Our magic is much more advanced! This is impossible! Didn''t you have an alliance with Muselphiem? Even still our kind is able to block their magic! What did you do! TELL ME!"


    Claire looked at it plainly, remembering the atrocities they did the children, her eyes instantly turned like dead fish, she looked like she was staring at something lower than an insect.


    "Huh? What the hell are you saying? You monster! We are humans, and you picked a fight with us, you are just reaping what you sowed," she took two pieces of projectiles in Andrei''s pocket who was panicking because of the talking head.


    "Hey Claire, are you really going to do that? It''s gonna leave a bad taste you know," Andrei asked, as he passed on some gunpowder and his flintlock.


    "It''s fine, at least let me do this, you didn''t let me borrow this earlier," she retorted flatly, Claire knew how to use the flintlocks by just watching Andrei from the side, in the first place she was the one who helped Andrei make the prototype.


    When she finished loading she aimed it at the talking head.


    "Here''s a parting gift, take it with your soul," she said calmly, and pulled the trigger.


    [Boom!]


    The last gunshot echoed, and it was the gunshot that signaled their victory.


    Or it was supposed to be.


    "Claire¡­ you didn''t hit it"


    "Ahh, maybe if I shot you it would hit" Claire became irritated, loaded the gun and pointed it on Andrei.


    "Stop! Stop! Stop taking out your anger on me, just because you missed after that cool line" Andrei spoke while his hands were on the air to try and stop Claire from shooting him.


    "Then let me do it!" Michaela appeared behind Andrei, when Claire saw her she immediately stood up and gave it to her.


    Michaela accepted it with one hand and went closer to the severed head who was still looking at her with rage.


    "You coward! Running away from that duel! You tricked me!" It was so angry that its eyes were bulging out of the helmet.


    "Ohhh? Did I accept a duel? I think I didn''t?" Then she placed the gun at the head and pulled the cock, making a clicking sound.


    "You¡­ underestimated humans too much, don''t you know? Trickery, lies, or emotions we all use them to fight battles, otherwise how would we defeat abnormalities like you and your kin?"


    "HAHHGGG??? WHAT ARE YOU-"


    [Boom!]


    Again, Michaela didn''t let him continue speaking, coldly she placed the muzzle at point-blank range and pulled the trigger.


    This time the head was hit and its soul crumbled unseen to the human eye, but with this, the coalition forces celebrated after the queen delivered the final blow.


    ...


    The green men who crawled stood up and stretched, the demolition battalion got out of the trees they were hiding from, and the warriors who were finished off those who scattered or were able to escape the minefield were guided by demolition members so that they wouldn''t trigger any leftover BC''s as they moved forward.


    When they were done, it was already night time when they marched inside Mizar. Still, they were cautious, but as they scanned the area they didn''t see a single enemy.


    Inside Mizar they saw the atrocities that happened, there were almost no humans left except the children inside the cages and the women who were raped on some rooms, seeing this scene all their expressions turned dark.


    "There''s no way we can forgive this"


    "I''m glad I joined this war, this is just unforgivable"


    "How dare they do this to my wife!"


    But the most affected by this were the Kydus knights, some of them saw their wives again but the shine in their eyes were lost, with the **** and torture that happened to them, and all they could do was cry as they carried them in their arms. But there were also some who found their children among the cages, they gave them a hug and reunited with them.


    Seeing this, Michaela felt a throbbing in her heart, however, she knew that they have to act fast.


    "We''re still not done! Everyone! Get your rations and go back to your posts!" Michaela shouted, the men who were filled with different emotions started working immediately, as they built fortifications on the houses and on strategic points.


    Even after miraculously beating fifty thousand with a force of only a third of it, without any deaths, but just minor injuries. All of them knew that another force eastward is already approaching them, the force of sixty-thousand with elf commanders on it, they were nervous, but still, they knew they had to make a stand, after seeing the atrocities with their two eyes.


    For Andrei, he knew the true value of occupying the settlement and it was the best are for setting multiple ambush points, especially when they have the advantage of having flintlocks, so he positioned them on roofs, while Geraldine and her battalion placed BC''s on ideal locations.


    After the long night of defensive preparations, the commanders went inside a rundown house that serves as their forward base, to have a strategic meeting on the next actions, and this time Rara, Mr. and Ms. Savoy and Erneis have recently arrived, catching their breaths with leaves and scratches all over their body.


    With everyone was still on their battle gears, they all circled around a table illuminated by a lamp, on it was the map of Kydus. Rara was the one who spoke first.


    "We found the escape tunnel. If we go through there we should be able to go inside the palace"


    Everyone had a bright expression when they heard the good news, Rara, Erneis and the Savoy''s since the start of the battle were tasked to find the escape route that was being used by the Kydus royal family which will take them inside the palace in a short amount of time.


    To everyone''s ears, this meant that everything was going according to plan.

 56 FACING THE ENEMY

    ???????????????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????? ???????????????? ???????????????? ????????????????????


    The emperor took half of the emergency forces provided by Rara, and immediately headed out to the shortest route towards the capital which was Mizar Settlement, when they got inside seeing that it wasn''t yet affected, they immediately gathered additional forces, their forces rose up to 30,000. The emperor immediately gave instructions to his aides.


    "Give me any light armor and a greatsword, one with a magic stone so I could cast spells. Have warriors change into lances and swords, and archers switch to crossbows!" his eyes flashed with anger. The aides immediately raised their flag scattered to gather what the Emperor needed and to spread the command.


    "If we take this long, the capital might be at risk," personally seeing how easily the evil force possessed a body and the strength it showed, the emperor decided that he needed to stop them as possible.


    They rode further into the second gate, and when they passed through it, the middle classes'' houses and town showed up, it was peaceful, yet there was something eerie, there weren''t people in the plaza, nor the shops, it was supposed to be a city bustling with life because most shopping districts were there, but not a soul was there.


    "What? What the hell is happening? No one''s here? Where did they all go? What''s going on?" Hadethious and his men started slowing down. "Everyone be cautious! We don''t know anything about the enemy! Maintain position!"


    Every one of them scanned left and right to see if there were people, while not breaking their formation when suddenly a knight screamed.


    "Your highness! There''s a man in front! It''s Ipzahr your highness! With another person!" his voice was shaking.


    Ipzahr the strongest caster of Kydus appeared in front of them, together with him was a man who wore a white robe and had a white beard, he was Ethareri''s prime minister who came to Kydus to recuperate, not only because they had the best healers, it was also his intentions to improve their ties.


    Their eyes had a hint of red within it, and they both had unnaturally happy smiles.


    "Ipzahr! Where are my subjects?" The emperor shouted towards the man that was just casually standing, suspicious of him.


    But the man didn''t respond, instead, he raised his staff.


    [ ????????????????- ????????????? ]


    Immediately a large energy ball about the size of a carriage appeared at the top of him, it looked like purple fire being enveloped by a dark circle. As soon as it appeared he pointed his staff towards the emperor and the fireball followed the trajectory.


    Hadethius couldn''t believe his eyes on what he saw, "Have you also been possessed Ipzahr! I''m disappointed in you! You the most powerful caster in the empire!" He exclaimed as he reached for his great sword at his back, he channeled his mana to it and slashed it to the air towards the ball horizontally, when he did this, a blue crescent emerged from it and it clashed at the ball, instantly the ball broke into two pieces and disappeared but the force it produced was enough to make a huge explosion of air on the two sides.


    As if it wasn''t enough, the possessed Ipzhar cast another spell in the language Hadethius wasn''t familiar.


    [?????????????????????- ???????????? ??????????]


    With this chant, possessed men gradually emerged from the houses and the supposed to be empty shops, they were men from different classes, they either were nobles or commoners clothes, what made them look the same was the menacing look at their faces.


    With them they dragged along living people tied like pigs; children, elderly and pulled them by the hair, they were screaming for help when they saw the emperor and his knights, but the crazed laughed and did gestures as if provoking the emperor.


    "What the hell did you do to my subjects!" The emperor''s rage cannot be quelled anymore he raised his greatsword to the air and gripped it strongly.


    As he did this the possessed men together with their hostage shields slowly went towards them and his knights to try and sneak a kill.


    "Casters! Gather all magic in the air and send it to me! Warriors and archers defend me!" with this command, the knights that were capable of magic put their sword in front of them channeled their mana to it, the archers aimed their crossbows at the possessed men, trying to avoid getting the hostage on their sights, the warriors took their stance as they protected for their emperor so he could chant his spell. No one was able to make a move due to the hostages.


    [ Omnia enim unum, by the strength given by people to the strongest]


    "Ejection of Mana!" The emperor''s hand and sword glowed with gold specs of light, as if strengthening him more, he quickly unsaddled, stepped forward and disappeared, the crazed men tried to block his path by using living people as shields were confused, in the blink of the eye, the emperor was at their backs and killed them from behind. It was so fast for the human eye.


    When the possessed men dropped like flies, the emperor temporarily decelerated to give his next instruction, "Get the hostages quickly!" He swung his hand to the right, with this his cape fluttered showing his silver light-weight armor, which was a great pair together with his silver hair and beard. He looked mighty and strong.


    He turned around to look at the possessed Ipzahr who was only meters away from him, "you fiend, I don''t know why you chose our kingdom, but this is what I can say! You made the wrong choice! Even if you used the body of my old friend I won''t think twice of taking off his head, because if it is that what saves people, it would be what Ipzahr would want, he will never submit to that kind of humiliation!" He then pointed the greatsword to him, and with a blink of an eye he was behind the possessed Ipzahr.


    "Take this!" He swung his greatsword at high speed towards the neck of the body of his old friend.


    But, it didn''t happen as expected, "Huh? What the hell happened? What happened to my strength?" he suddenly felt that his body was heavy and he dropped to the ground with a thud.


    "Is this the secret to your strength?" The possessed Ipzahr talked to him and pointed at his knights who were killing each other, the old man with the white robe and beard was also there killing the casters one by one with a rapier.


    "I knew your tricks beforehand, human! HAHAHA! Whenever I reside in a human''s body I can easily collect their memories! You''ve just lead yourself into a trap! I let you go for entertainment but you came back to me so soon, are you that willing to die? HAHAHA," his voice was the same Ipzahr but it had a woman''s echo with it. "For a mongrel like you, your battle power is impressive, even without having much mana, but you are too naive, or is it just your old age showing?"


    "YOU!!!!" He shouted and tried to stand up, "Huh? I can''t move my body" he tried even a single movement but his body didn''t move an inch.


    "HAHAHA" the possessed Ipzhar laughed hysterically, "Now! Feast your eyes as my underlings kill your beloved people one by one! At the front seat!" He held the emperor''s sleeve and dragged him to where he could see the massacre of his knights clearly, his knights who saw him were calling for his help as they get slashed into pieces.


    "No!!! No!!! Stop it!!!" he pleaded.


    But the enemy only laughed and laughed that he became like a rabid dog, "How do you feel? Tell me? Hey? HAHAHA you were so confident earlier. How does it feel to have hope taken away from you the moment you got it? Look at your men, cleaaaaaarly at their faces! HAHAHAHA! They''re asking for your help emperor! You''ve got to help them! HAHAHA


    Don''t worry you''ll be joining them soon! And I will display your body at the front gates for the humans in this world to see!


    The ritual is complete! And without any additional sacrifices, your forces there will be mine in no time! And we will keep multiplying using all the humans in the country! This country will be the stepping stone to our conquest! "


    Preoccupied in ecstasy, the possessed Ipzahr didn''t notice what would come next, .


    "You¡­ " a golden aura oozed from the emperor''s body symbolizing his will, "I''ll take you down with me!" The emperor then opened his mouth towards the possessed Ipzahrs feet and bit it with a strong force that it bled.


    "Huh???" the possessed Ipzahr looked down, "What the hell are you doing human?" he stomped the emperor''s face many times and got a look at the bite, his face immediately became angry.


    "Poison?! And a potent one at that¡­" the emperor couldn''t answer but gave a small smile as he murmured, "you''re the one who''s a naive kid, hahaha!


    Even if you survive it I''m sure my children will kill you and avenge me! Even if they can''t, humanity will! Humanity will not yield to ugly creatures like you who only know how to kill!


    You don''t have a heart!


    And you don''t know how to comprehend someone else!


    So you will die! I''m sure of it! You and your kin will disappear!"


    "Tch, there''s no choice then," He took a knife and stuck it to the emperor''s heart.


    "Guhh," the emperor immediately bled, knowing that he was about to lose his life, he thought happy memories of his wife and children. "My children, my wife, I''m sorry" the last image on his mind was when he gave a gift to his youngest daughter Rara on her birthday the young kid''s smile was so precious that when he told the stories about his adventure she seemed like she was having fun herself, it was Hadethius'' favorite memory, being in with his family, and having fun with his children.


    ...


    "Tch, the poison can''t be cured by magic, I have no choice but to transfer to his body immediately, I wanted to make him suffer through," the high priestess dark-elf inside Ipzahrs body didn''t have a choice but to transfer herself to the old man''s body as she couldn''t move the body anymore.


    Unlike her kin that needed sacrifices in order to manifest themselves, now that she is on Midgard, Runzulu the high-priestess can transfer her soul to any dead body, without her soul disappearing, it was why she was entrusted on the invasion even when she wasn''t the strongest dark-elf, it was her gift to be the bridge of the two worlds, Midgard and Svartalvheim.


    ???????????????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????? ????????????????????????


    Michaela, the four chief knights, and the other lords Hawken and Netland, stand together with the 15,000 troops stationed at Mizar settlement, as they guarded the gate where the enemies will be pouring from. They gradually heard the footsteps of the 60,000 enemies that they will face.


    Geraldine temporarily takes command of both gun carriers and demolition battalions as they take defensive positions. They hide in the roofs and the second-floor buildings with fortification.


    Layla Savoy with some female soldiers readies a field hospital in the outskirts, together with the injured knights from the last battle.


    Andrei, Claire, Rara, Gideon Savoy and Erneis lights a torch inside the escape path the emperor used.

 57 DECISION

    The second gate that separated two forces were two portcullises made with steel, it was large enough for an army to pass, it was mounted in vertical grooves in the walls of the castle and could be raised or lowered quickly by means of chains or ropes attached to an internal winch.


    Two of them were necessary because it was used to trap the enemy, the one closer to the inside would be closed first, and then the one farther away. After the enemy was trapped burning wood, fire-heated sand, or oil would be dropped onto them from the roof or murder-holes.


    But for the coalition forces this wasn''t a threat, as this time they would be at the defending side. The key to their victory was the defeat of the leader of the elf-possessed humans which was residing inside the emperor''s body.


    ...


    "Get to the roof immediately and bring as much gunpowder as you can!" Geraldine walked around the busy encampment, this time she wore her regular knight armor under a brown robe, indicating the color of the demolition battalion. "The supply point thing made it easy to transfer food, weapons, gunpowder, and projectiles, this way we don''t have to worry about running out of them, even if we are just a small force with this we should be able to last longer, the concept is amazing," she thought as she looked left and right overseeing the whole preparation.


    Bulky men in green clothes and hats ran around carrying wooden boxes that had powder and projectiles in it, meanwhile, men and women wearing brown in two''s, carried boxes of BC''s and Molotovs carefully, they went to different houses and areas. The settlement had wooden houses all over, except for its wooden gates, the houses were made from a sturdy material such as stones and bricks, the gun carriers were able to take positions within the houses nearer to the gates.


    Before the portcullises there was a small stone bridge where a small river flowed, with Andrei''s instruction, they used all available hands to create mounds as barriers following that line that will serve as the firing line.


    "Anyone who''s free immediately help create the barrier! Our fight is for when we get to close combat! We don''t know if any of them escaped but assume that the enemy knows our tricks, your job will be just like before except that you will be defending the green men as they take down the incoming enemies from a distance!" Michaela gave her instructions to the warriors, they knew well that their advantage comes from having a longer range thanks to the gun carriers battalion, but they also knew that their efficiency lies on that only, if the enemy are able to breakthrough they would have to protect them at all cost.


    Together with the mounds they positioned golden knights who are also casters, they can create spells by using the elements through their swords or wands, they know how to use magic but it''s limited, unlike Witch/Wizards who are blessed by spirits themselves, this time their task is to protect the firing lines from casters in the enemies side. The coalition forces had two days to complete their fortifications.


    "Michaela, shouldn''t you rest by now? Everyone''s started working already" Andrei asked her, while walking together.


    "No, I have to be here, if they see me just sitting around, who knows what they will think, they might get the victory over their heads and slack off, unlike your well-disciplined battalions, knights have a different mindset after all," she crossed her arms while looking at the mounds being built by knights and green men together.


    "Well, I could understand that, but you haven''t had a rest since the last battle right?"


    "Well, if you want to sleep with me, I might consider it"


    "Oh, you must be so busy giving instructions, I don''t want to get in your way so, bye!" Andrei waved at her with a smile.


    "I''m figuring out your attitude a bit, you''re a jerk aren''t you?" Michaela pouted as she put her hands on his hips.


    "Yes! I am!" he responded by putting his hand on his chest.


    "Hah! Intentionally turning me off like that won''t affect my love for you you know?"


    "Michaela, you are in front of the knights, you''re gonna reveal that side of you you know?"


    "Hell do I care!"


    While they were talking, Claire came over with her silver armor under her green robe.


    "Sister, the scouts have arrived, come over, and bring that idiot with you" Claire pointed to Andrei.


    "Me?" Andrei pointed to himself, to verify.


    "Yes, or should I call you by another pet name?"


    "Darling? Maybe?" Andrei retorted flatly, imitating her tone.


    "I''d step in your face you know?" her eyes turned like dead-fish.


    "Andrei, what is this difference in treatment?" Michaela asked with folded arms and raised eyebrows, which sent chills to Andrei''s spine.


    "Well, well, there''s a peaceful resolution for everything right? Oh there''s Geraldine!" Andrei tried to walk over to the chestnut hair girl passing by but was caught in the collar by Michaela.


    "I''m gonna lecture you later, so come over here"


    Michaela and Claire went to a house where the scouts were waiting, unlike knights that wore armor, they wore commoner''s clothes, but when they saw Claire and Michaela walking over to them, they greeted them with a knightly salute.


    "So, how many are there?" Michaela was the one to ask.


    "Around 40,000 in foot, 20,000 in the cavalry," he responded while looking down.


    "Just about the intel huh, any weird movements around them?" Claire asked.


    "Umm¡­ it''s hard to say but, they are¡­ dragging living humans with them," the three went silent, remembering what they saw in the settlement, this was something they expected.


    "What do you think they are using them for?" Michaela asked.


    "I don''t know your highness Michaela, but it was said that during the fall of the emperor they used humans to get near the knights, so probably¡­ "


    "Shields huh¡­ they know about our weapons," this time Andrei joined the conversation. He imagined them using humans to test the minefields.


    "Tch, this is bad Michaela, Claire, if they use those humans to trigger the explosives, we can''t use BC''s!" Realizing the fact, Andrei turned to Michaela, but she did not react so much, she was lost in thought, with her hands squeezed into fists.


    "We won''t sacrifice them right?" Andrei asked anxiously with his eyes shaking, he couldn''t bear the weight of his inventions killing innocent people.


    "Stop it Andrei, don''t put pressure on sister," Claire went in between them, "Sister, you don''t have to listen to this idiot, just do what you think you need to do."


    "I got it, let''s think about it, when it happens, you guys prepare yourselves and leave the battlefield to me, you guys are more crucial to make this happen." she made a slight smile and turned around, "Andrei is right, I''m a bit tired, I''m gonna take a nap for a bit"


    Michaela knew what was at stake, and that she would have to make the decision, as the leader of the coalition. "Sorry, Andrei, but in order for us to survive, I have to do this," seeing her beloved in such an expression hurt her deeply, she gritted her teeth while walking away, "I''m sure she''ll hate me after this," tears welled up from her crystal blue eyes as she imagines him walking away from her.

 58 MORALS

    "Sorry, I shouldn''t have said that," Andrei knew the gravity of what he had just asked, "but I just couldn''t help it, it was supposed to be used to kill enemies that threatened us, and not to kill the innocent."


    Claire was the only one there to listen to him, on the second floor of one of the houses where they can see the previous battlefield from while sitting in front of each other, they watched the sunset at the horizon, spreading its largess into a grateful sky. Rich hues of red blended with oranges, purples, crimsons.


    "Then, why did you get into this in the first place? Didn''t you think this through before rallying those soldiers? I''m not sure if you realized this or not, but this is war, we have our tricks they have theirs, the main difference is the morals, they can do things we can''t imagine doing, to be honest, I wasn''t very happy about it," she had her usual deadpan emotion, but her voice had a hint of sadness in it.


    Andrei couldn''t say anything, he just looked down with his hands tightened into fists.


    "It''s okay, you don''t need to say anything, but don''t worry, if something happens you don''t have to take on the sin all by yourself," she stood and turned away from him, "because I helped you make it, after all, we''re both guilty, so please," she put her head down, "at least stop worrying about that now, trust my sister, have faith in her, she may not look like it but she''s scared¡­ who the hell wants to take innocent lives?


    Even how crazy it might sound, she loves you so much, after all, if you become like this, because you are worried about those innocent lives, she might risk herself instead.


    I''m not being cold, If I were to choose between the lives of strangers or the life of my sister, it''s obvious who I would pick"


    Andrei looked at her still unable to say anything, but he knew what she meant. He decided to switch gears and gulped down his worry.


    "Are you a mind reader Claire?"


    "Why? Tell me some weird lines and I''ll slap you"


    "I''m that easy to read?" Andrei thought and made a wry smile, which Claire couldn''t see with her back turned to him, but he knew that she was sad based on her quivering voice.


    "Don''t worry, I won''t have her no matter what decision she will make, I might have been surprised earlier, but I know what situation we are in right now, so don''t worry"


    "I''m not worried, I''m just saying what I want to say, it doesn''t have any deeper meaning than you think,"


    "What meaning?" Andrei asked in a curious but a little perverted tone, trying to change her mood.


    "At least nothing like what you are thinking, idiot," Claire turned to him and showed a relieved smile.


    As he saw this, he felt his heart had just skipped a bit, "this cuteness, is a bit too much, why do you always smile, at the best timing?" he thought while looking at her beautiful face and precious smile accompanied by the color of the skies, "why do you always light me up inside so completely that my darkness disappears, even when you diss me on a daily basis," he was at a loss while looking at her grey colored eyes with his mouth open.


    Seeing him in such a state, Claire couldn''t help but chuckle, "do you want me to sprinkle gunpowder at your mouth?"


    "I love you, marry m-" Andrei muttered in a state of stunned confusion.


    "No," she retorted immediately.


    "Why not?"


    "Do you think I''m that easy? You may be able to fool my sister but I''m different," Claire was taken aback by the sudden confession, a faint blush appeared on her face.


    "Then¡­ I''ll just patiently wait,"


    "Stop with your nonsense, or I''ll kill you, cheating in broad daylight"


    "It''s already sundown, How will you kill me? in what way?"


    "Stomping?"


    "If it''s you I would gladly¡­"


    "Whoaaaa, since when did you become a masochist?," while blushing Claire made a disgusted expression.


    "Wait, is there a word for that here?!"


    "Yes, there are lots of people like you here, should I introduce some to you?"


    "I''ll pass on that"


    The two looked at each other and felt happy within their hearts, they laughed together as the warm bronze sunlight was swallowed by the horizon. The orange large sky engulfed in darkness. Beautiful darkness where shimmering stars illuminated the moonless jet black sky, that reminds them that even in darkness there is still light.

 59 RAVEN AND EAGLE

    The settlement was illuminated by lamps, everyone was on guard, knights stood with their swords and shields, and gun carriers with their large flintlocks laid their backs on the mound they just made, on one of the houses, Michaela and the others circled around the lamp which illuminated table and the map.


    "Everyone, we only have one chance, if we make this successful, Princess Rara Popannus, you would be able to retake the empire, and for us, in Ethareri our citizens can sleep without the fear of the enemy." Michaela spoke, while wearing her usual golden armor, "So I want you to focus on how you will defeat the emperor, if he is really-, ahem, if the soul inside of him is the cause of all of this, this should come to an end hopefully"


    Hearing this the others made a nod, Andrei felt quite anxious about what will happen to the hostages, but he didn''t want to upset Michaela anymore, so he didn''t question her further.


    "Erneis, Gideon, Claire, Andrei I''m counting on you on that, unfortunately, I can''t go, my magic is more suited to deal with the numbers of a large number of enemies we can''t just leave our men to die.


    "Yes your highness," Erneis put his hand on his chest.


    "As you will," Gideon spoke and made a kneeling gesture. Claire and Andrei nodded,


    "Then that concludes our meeting, have some good rest and food, according to the scouts the enemy will be arriving by noon, I thank Gideon for lending us his men who have the gift to turn to birds" Michaela spoke while confidently putting her hands on her hips.


    "So those two can transform into birds huh?" Andrei remembered the two scouts that reported to Michaela who made the same gesture as Gideon, and who wore weird commoner clothes. "Flight, bombs... " he thought as he put his hand on his chin, just like thunder an idea came into his head, "Awesome! maybe we could try this!" He immediately held the shoulder of the only other guy in the room,


    "Hey Gideon, can I have a minute?" Andrei asked him.


    "Me?" The middle-aged viscount pointed to himself.


    "Yes, how many of your men have the ability to do that?" Andrei asked excitedly, while the others listened to them.


    "It''s already a rare gift, so only those two, why are you asking me this, your highness?" With his curiosity he stared at Andrei with his eyes sparkling with excitement.


    "Really? That''s awesome! And how much weight can they carry?"


    "One of them can transform into a raven, he can carry at least a sack of rice, the one can transform to an eagle, he can carry up to two sacks," Gideon explained.


    Andrei then turned to Michaela who was curious about the questions Andrei asked Gideon.


    "Awesome! Michaela! We don''t have a plan yet to rescue the hostages right?" Andrei was smiling the whole time and his face was brighter this time. "I have a plan! I''m sorry everyone, I know you are tired, but please listen for a bit!"


    Andrei explained a plan to them, hearing it Gideon made the first comment.


    "Brilliant! Your highness! Truly you are a smart man! With this we can defeat them!" He held Andrei''s hand and shook it.


    "You''re awesome, commander! I never thought such a thing would be possible!" Geraldine did the same.


    Claire''s face had a hint of excitement with it, but she was silent the whole time, looking at Geraldine and Gideon.


    Michaela could only look at Andrei with astonishment, Andrei who noticed this went near her.


    "You don''t have to think about it anymore, you don''t have to choose between abandoning them or not," Andrei tapped her shoulders and flashed a big smile.


    "If the others aren''t watching I would have sat in the ground with relief," Michaela thought while looking at the eyes of her beloved, "really, just how much are you going to make me fall in love with you, thank you, thank you Andrei" she muttered and pulled his head towards her.


    "Wha-" Andrei couldn''t speak another word, as she pulled it closer and closer until, his lips met hers. Andrei''s heart pounded in his chest as his knees got weaker. He could only focus on how soft he felt against her mouth, how addictively she invaded all his senses.


    Meanwhile, Claire covered Rara''s eyes, Erneis covered his eyes and turned a 180 degree,


    and Gideon had a playful expression, "whew wheeww," then his wife pulled him at the ear and took him outside, the others followed shortly.


    In a few seconds, Andrei and Michaela parted with no words to say to each other, embarrassed they held each other''s hands.


    "That was embarrassing," Michaela turned red realizing that the others went out.


    "Couldn''t hold it in?" Andrei asked playfully.


    "That just shows how relieved I am," she tiptoed her feet and gave him a peck on the cheek, "and just in case something bad happens-" Michaela couldn''t continue what she wanted to say, Andrei gave her a kiss on the forehead.


    "Nothing will happen, we''ll make sure to defeat the emperor immediately, and come back to you safely"


    Michaela couldn''t hold her feelings anymore and hugged him tightly. With just a little lamp and a map as their witness, she sunk deeper into his warmth as if time had stopped, his touch made the room warmer somehow, her future seeming a little less bleak.

 60 TWO FRONTS

    The sound of metal being beaten, echoed throughout the settlement, [Clang!][Clang!][Clang!] it was a signal for everyone in the coalition to wake up and prepare for the last battle.


    As the sun blooms on the horizon, just like golden petals stretching ever outwards into the rich blue, the coalition forces got immediately busy, mostly to start their rituals. The warriors kissed the cross, the symbol of their faith to Adrar, as if making a prayer, the ones who mostly did this were the knights. The gun carriers and demolition or dubbed as the "green" and "brown" men who were a collection of commoners, servants, and soldiers, who didn''t have the luxury of religion looked at the things their family got for them when they set off, they were either a piece of accessory their loved one gave them or a piece of rock their children found for them, anything that reminds them of home, anything that reminded them of what they needed to protect, for those who didn''t have it, they simply looked at their flintlocks and inspected it making sure it wouldn''t malfunction along the way.


    Andrei saw this as he went outside of the house he slept at, when he looked back at the room, Gideon was still there and was sound asleep in pajamas.


    "This middle-aged guy sure sleeps like a log," Andrei said to himself, Gideon was supposed to be awake already, as they will be heading out to their assigned post. "Hey Gideon! Wake up!" Andrei tried to wake him up.


    But the viscount only rolled over, while murmuring things at his sleep, this made Andrei sigh as he carried his flintlock with its strap on his back. Seeing everyone was busy, the sleeping middle-aged man irritated him, "if you don''t wake up, I''m gonna tell Ms. Layla about this!" Andrei knows that the viscount fears his wife more than their enemies.


    With this, Gideon, just like lightning woke up, fixed his bed, changed his clothes and washed his face.


    "Isn''t he too scared of his wife?" Andrei made a wry smile, knowing that the viscount was already awake, he headed out to the location where they were told to gather, it was at the front of the house they had their meeting on, there he found Erneis and Claire in full gear, Claire was still yawning.


    "Didn''t you get some sleep Claire?" He asked her nonchalantly.


    "Nah, not too much, sister wasn''t used to the beddings so she kept rolling around, and I kept getting kicked out of the bed," she made another yawn as she squinted her eyes.


    "Sounds troublesome," then he noticed that Erneis was sitting at the wooden stairs of the house, closing his eyes, Andrei wanted to greet him but Claire made a shush gesture to him.


    "He''s meditating, better not to disturb him," Claire told him flatly.


    Andrei turned to her and decided to tease her a little bit.


    "You, why are you not meditating?"


    "No neeeed," she said nonchalantly as she yawned again.


    "Why?" Andrei asked in curiosity, but made it sound playful, waiting for a line to hit Claire with.


    "Erneis is a magic knight, or a caster and a knight at the same time, they can cast spells any element they prefer or are used at, so they need that meditation every day." She pointed at Erneis focusing while a breeze started enveloping his body, the white hair of the old man swung back and forth as he closed his eyes. "On the other hand, I''m just blessed by the spirits of forging, that''s why I can make any metal weapons I want as long as I have its ore near me," she then tapped at the pocket at her waist, opened it and showed a metal ore.


    Andrei stopped looking at Erneis and focused on Claire who was just standing a meter from him


    "You''re awfully serious and nice to me right now Claire, did you have a change of heart?"


    "Nah, you''re just imagining it," she retorted flatly as she wagged her index finger.


    "Should I make you angry or excited so you will change your tone a bit?" he replied imitating her deadpan tone.


    "Yes, yes, try it and I''ll make it so you won''t be able to speak again, ever, in your entire life," as if Andrei was an insect to her she wasn''t bothered and still in her deadpan expression and voice while rubbing her eyes from yawning.


    While dissing each other Michaela with the Savoy''s came to the scene, with the wife dragging the sleepy viscount by the ear.


    "So early in the morning to cheat Andrei," Michaela told him as she smiled and put her hands on his waist, "treatment should be equal you know!" she puffed her cheeks.


    Unexpectedly, Claire interjected, "Equal? No way, there''s no way I would KISS that idiot in PUBLIC, in an OFFICIAL MEETING WITH other people gathered" she changed the tone for the words the wanted to be focused on, and waved her hand, indicating she would have none of it.


    Hearing that Michaela and Andrei went silent, and looked away from each other blushing. Everyone around them who heard this stopped a bit, and looked at them. The gun carriers who were busy inspecting their flintlocks, the knights who chatted with each other, and Erneis'' meditation was interrupted and the wind around him stopped.


    "Ahaha I don''t know what to say to that Claire," Andrei broke the silence, "Anyway! Is everyone ready?" Wanting to change the topic he looked intently at the safest choice, the Savoy''s.


    Layla read his expression and rested her cheeks on her palm making a girly gesture.


    "Yes your highness, please take care of my husband along the way, he might be jumpy but he''s useful in combat, he fought with the emperor after all."


    "Good to hear that Ms. Layla, how about you, Erneis? Claire? And Michaela?"


    "Yes!" Erneis responded as he started walking down the stairs.


    Claire didn''t respond and just gave him a V sign.


    "That''s a peace sign right? Well¡­ it could also be a victory sign" Andrei thought. He nodded at her and turned to Michaela who was anxious but was back to her queenly aura that matched well the golden armor that she wore and the sword she has on her hips.


    "Yes, thanks to your plan we can pull this off! I''ll do my best to hold until you finish the emperor!" she said as she clenched her fists and showed it to Andrei.


    "Just stick to the plan and you''ll be fine, Geraldine will be there in my place after all," Andrei patted her at the head, "don''t push yourself too hard"


    "You too," she took his hand away from her head and held it, "this will be your first battle in close quarters, don''t get too close, fight at a safe distance, let the others fight, they have much experience after all," she then looked at Erneis at the distance.


    "Erneis, you are the strongest and wisest knight of Ethareri, I wish you good luck! Defeat the evil that threatens our homeland and return together with your comrades"


    "Yes your highness," Erneis placed his right hand on his chest and bowed, "leave everyone to me, I''ll make sure everyone comes home safely"


    As the commanding group exchanged their goodbye''s Rara appeared from behind them, she wore a light silver armor with a red straight accent to it, her silver hair was tied into a ponytail as she wielded a greatsword a bit taller than her at her back.


    "Everyone, the enemies are closing in!" Her voice didn''t have a trace of fear on it, behind her were the surviving Kydus knights, and they had only one wish, that is to take back their homeland and free their countrymen from suffering.


    "Michaela, I leave my troops to you, that includes the four chief knights led by Carle, and also Raven and Eagle that you requested from Gideon''s men," she presented his proud troops and men, ready to battle against the force that hurt their people.


    "Yes, leave them to me, you may now set off with Andrei, Erneis, Gideon and Claire, but are you sure of just taking only them?" Michaela asked.


    "Yes, the passage is narrow, having a large movement will get us caught, right Andrei?" The red-eyed girl looked at Andrei, the one who suggested the infiltration strategy when they found the passageway.


    "Yes," Andrei scratched the back of his head and made a small laugh.


    "Everyone! Let''s set off! Two fronts! We defend and our best fighters will take down the enemies leader!" Michaela announced being surrounded by everyone.


    ???????? ???????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????????? ???????????????????????? ????????????????


    Sixty thousand elf-possessed warriors marched together with living humans, dragging them as they walked, the humans lost their will to resist.


    A corrupted aura oozed from their bodies, as they marched in succession, although they were silent, their minds weren''t, it was filled with telepathic exchanges between them, they talked about how fifty thousand of them were defeated, and how its commander pathetically died and left information about the enemy.


    This time they decided to take on the humans seriously, red eyes glowed under their helmets, they were filled with wrath, and disgust to the humans that dared to take on them.


    Soon, they reached the portcullises and they stood by there with the troops, some of them open it went near the winch and turned it. By turning the winch it slowly moved upward, and as it did they saw the odd formation of the human warriors.


    They didn''t have formations such as phalanxes, they simply stood by the other end of the small river behind the mounds.


    "Tsk, they believe they can fool us by making us step into those erupting grounds!"


    "We are smarter than you humans! We are higher beings! You disgusting little insects!"


    "Release the hostages and let them see how their fellow humans get killed by their own traps!"


    Several knights came upfront and dragged the humans with them, the number of captives numbered up to a thousand and more. They untied them and pushed them, and made a shoo gesture.


    The hostages who saw this were broken, yet they knew that this was the perfect time for their escape, they run through the portcullises. Thousands of men, women and children with tears in their eyes screamed and ran through the portcullises and go through.


    "HAHAHA! It should erupt by now!"


    "Yeah! HAHAHAHA let''s enjoy the spectacle!"


    But contrary to their belief the ground didn''t explode nor any of the hostages who fled were turned into pieces as they saw in the elf-commanders memories.


    The hostages cried as they ran together and crossed the stone bridge, some female servants received them and assisted them to safety. The dark elves who witnessed this were angered.


    "BROTHER! THERE''S NO TRAPS!!!! FUCK!!!! TAKE BACK THE HOSTAGES!!! THEY ARE WITHIN RANGE!!! PREPARE LONG RANGE CORRUPTED HOLY SWORDS!!! OUR ANGER AND WRATH AS ONE!!!"


    But before they could move they saw two birds flying at the sky, a raven and an eagle, a strange combination of birds, that should be hostile to each other, they circled around them, the dark elves noticed that they were carrying something at their feet, they were sacks of rice.


    The eagle with its scream swooped down, and the raven did the same, as they swooped down their feet reversed the sacks, emptying them, instead of rice, black objects in lines fell down from the sky.

 61 SIXTY THOUSAND STRONG

    Eagle and Raven came from the same tribe of indigenous people who were chased away from the Holy Land of Adrar, they were the last of their tribe. It was Gideon who found them and accepted them to his domain and made them into full-fledged loyal soldiers.


    The two had unique gifts, to turn into an eagle and to turn into a raven respectively, as such they received their new names Eagle and Raven from their master Gideon, whom together with his wife Layla, treated them with great sympathy.


    In a few years of staying, they already made a family within their lord''s domain and lived peacefully, their daily duties were to become messengers for Gideon''s friends and relatives, however, when the news spread about the emperor''s fall, they were tasked to deliver messages to the other lords, Hawken and Netland about the defection.


    Together with their family, they evacuated the city together with Gideon, and now that the time has come to claim back their once lost peace and to punish the ones who destroyed it. Their family were safe, however, they couldn''t accept what they did to their countrymen, some of whom they became close to in the past.


    In human form, their faces were a bit different than usual humans, this is why they were hunted by the holy clerks of Adrar, to them they looked like demons as their mouths slightly looked like beaks, and their eyes were sharp, they looked scary and angry most of the time. However, in truth they were both kind and gentle since they were children, those who were able to know them closely became their friends, Kydus to them was their home.


    Now, they have been given a critical mission by their master, not to deliver messages but to bring destruction to the enemy. In their talons they carried the so-called BC''s from their allies, being in their bird forms all that they could do was communicate to each other through bird language.


    Eagle: [Raven, ya redy?]


    Raven: [Swoop down and drop ayt? Ezzy ezzy]


    Eagle: [Comin'' in hot]


    Raven: [What das mean?]


    Eagle: [Nothin'' just somethin'' ally Andrei told me about when attackin'']


    Raven: [Raven too, comin'' in hot]


    As the Eagle and Raven screamed, they swooped down and emptied the sacks on Andrei''s instruction, they swooped down on a certain level above the clueless enemies.


    Black objects fell down forming a line as they did this, just like falling debris, however when it landed the filaments were triggered and it ignited in a fiery ball of yellow flame, it was an enormous explosion. It was as though a fist of orange flame had decided to punch the knights who were around it, but it didn''t end there, projectiles flew from all directions creating holes at the bodies of the knights as if making sure they were dead.


    To the knights who were in formation, and with their armors and shields deemed useless, the successive blows were deadly, and it came from the sky, normally they would have sent their dark magic after the birds but all of them were in a state of panic.


    They didn''t understand what was happening, the harmless-looking birds dropped harmless-looking debris, but when it dropped it turned out to be gifts from Muspelheim.


    Out of this, the elf-commander who led the force of sixty thousand felt himself issuing amid a mass of terrible sensations: the fearful blow of the explosion, the noise by the projectiles smashing into their armor, the hoarse howl of people and horses, and the rushing of men.


    "IDIOTS!!! STAY IN POSITION!!! WE CAN''T THROW A BIGGER SPELL IF YOU RUN AROUND!!!" He tried to shout telepathically, but no one listened, as another set of debris was thrown into them, they didn''t want to leave the human bodies and their souls extinguished, they were running for their lives.


    It was a rare sight even for him, the mighty, crafty and feared dark elves, getting cornered by the enemy, and much more an attack from above utilizing flying animals. This angered him so much as he stared beyond the portcullises, where the humans just stood and watched them getting destroyed.


    "DAMN HUMANS!!! CHARGE!!!" but still the force of sixty thousand was enormous, while some feared for their dark elven souls, some of them were like the elf-commander, in rage and in thirst for human blood.


    The cavalry charged while clashing into their own killing them along the way, there were only two birds, and it took time for them to drop another set of debris which gave them a chance to charge.


    As they went beyond the portcullises they were greeted by an iceberg at the center, behind it was a blonde girl in golden armor, but it didn''t do reach them because each magic has its own effective range, however, it did block their way.


    "GO AROUND!!!" He commanded his men, cavalry and men on foot ran around the ice like savages in rage, however, what happened next surprised him.


    [Click!] [Click!]


    [Click!][Click!][Click!][Click!][Click!][Click!][Click!]


    [Click!][Click!][Click!][Click!][Click!]


    [Click!][Click!][Click!][Click!][Click!]


    What greeted them was destruction, the force that was resentful enough to charge at the humans was blasted by the hundreds of explosion that greeted them on their path around the iceberg, it was the infamous tricks that the humans used to defeat the first four, it was what they called the ???????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????.


    "JUST HOW MUCH ARE YOU GOING TO HUMILIATE US!" Unlike the other elf-commander, his body was fully manifested, although he wasn''t large, he was much more proficient with their dark magic and can use a variety of it in succession, he looked like the dark elf mentioned in the holy scriptures of Adrar. He had a dark charcoal complexion, pointy ears, and grey hair.


    But this also meant that his power exceeded the previous one, he looked at the ice blocking the way, "so this is the safe way huh?" he thought as his men were blasted one after another by the aerial bombings and the raging minefield.


    As a fully manifested dark elf, he didn''t need incantations, he simply shouted the name of his spell.


    [Corrupted Soil]


    As he placed his hand to the ground, Ice turned into rocks, and it crumbled into dust, leaving no trace of it.


    "NOW!!! USE THE MAIN PATH!!!" He commanded his forces, the ones who were in the minefield were still left struggling however the next wave used the center path, where the hostages passed through, however instead of warriors they were greeted by the long-range gunshots, the product of human ingenuity, although it was inspired by an irregularity brought by an otherworlder.


    No one was able to pass through, waves of gunshots echoed whenever a wave tried to squeeze their way in, as they also wanted to avoid the minefield in their left and right.


    ...


    Geraldine called the shots whenever someone crossed the center path.


    "First to Fifth Company reload! Fifth to Tenth Company switch and... Fire!" with the enemy concentrated on one path, they didn''t need to aim accurately, as long as the enemies were on their sights.


    On Andrei''s instruction, they were to divide the battalion into half this time, switching after shooting to reload, in this rotation the guns fired non stop.


    The refugees who saw this was amazed, together with the knights who only stood there to defend them, deep inside they were cheering for them, but they couldn''t say the words, because some of them are from Kydus and those whom they are killing wore the same armor as them. Some of them saw the unit in action for the first time, they couldn''t hide the astonishment of seeing a thousand men, downing the same number at each shot from a long distance. Those who held magic shield defenses for them were startled by stray projectiles attacking their shields from time to time.


    They were all synchronized as if they were machines, some of them were slow in loading their weapons but they did exactly as they were told to, all it took for them were simple movements and the pull of the trigger, hearing the news that they were only trained for a few weeks sent chills to their spine. All they could do was watch, get ready, and feel safe that they didn''t have to battle yet the large waves of bloodthirsty enemies coming for them.


    The rotation of gun carriers enabled Michaela to cast another spell, she blocked again the main way with an iceberg, freezing the rest of the first wave in the middle.


    ...


    "NO WAY!!!" The elf-commander scanned around him, at the front were his men being shot or being killed by the minefields, at his back were his men scattered because of bird-dropped the debris. He had no choice but to make the call.


    "RETREAT!!! RETREAT!!! RETREAT!!!" He called out but no one was listening to his telepathy due to the explosions. "CURSE YOU!!! CURSE YOU!!"


    He looked at the girl behind the iceberg who crossed her arms with a dignified expression, his eyes were about to pop out due to his anger.


    "At least I have to save myself," he started to look around, for an escape route, "if I survive I could just help the high priestess call some more reinforcements! I can''t die here! This bunch is done for, next time I will crush these humans!"


    But he didn''t see any route, it was crowded and his soldiers were pushing one another in order to avoid being hit by the explosions, it was pure chaos and panic. Some of them gave up, went to a corner and covered their ears throughout the chaos, every time a debris made a fall they felt their heart was also falling, not knowing if they would survive or not.


    Some of them tried shooting down the birds with their unholy swords and bows but they were too swift, the ones who were angry ended up in the minefield or were shot by the enemy hiding behind the mounds. They were pounded by explosions from the air and ground, but the enemy haven''t suffered any injury yet.


    This angered him so much that he wanted to escape immediately and report it to the high priestess so they could make a counter measure.


    [Corrupted Sword!] he called out a large bloody sword above his head.


    But instead of throwing it towards the girl who was out of its range, he threw it to his comrades who blocked his way.


    "GET OUT OF THE WAY!!! IF ALL YOU CAN DO IS RUN! DON''T NEED WUSSES LIKE YOU!!!"


    The corrupted sword bulldozed a great number of his soldiers, killing more than a hundred of them.


    "Okay! Now I can- guhhh" before he could move forward something had done great damage to his fully manifested body, with a blurry vision he looked at it and saw bleeding everywhere, it was in his gut, in his heart, and in his head.


    "No, this shouldn''t be possib- guhh" he coughed blood, "I see, so it was much more powerful than I thought, that commander of the fifty thousand had a large body, defense was his specialty, and I am¡­ " his vision started to get blurry, "humans, I''ll give this one to you."


    With a thud he fell down and was stomped by his soldiers that were trying to escape and attack.

 62 REACHING THE ENEMY

    Andrei, Rara, Erneis, Claire, and Gideon found themselves at the front of the escape path used by the emperor, it was found at the east side of Mizar settlement, on appearance, it was a wall covered by plants and veins, when removed it revealed a sturdy stone door that had writings in it. Andrei, who couldn''t read their text, only saw them as scribbles. "What are these? Worms?" He thought to himself to avoid insulting the worlds language.


    "Should we pull? Or push? Let''s-" He asked them, as he held his flintlock at his back.


    "Shut it," Claire interrupted him after seeing Rara taking a knife from her pocket, as Rara sliced the skin of her finger with it, scarlet blood appeared, painting her porcelain colored skin, as it flowed down to her hands.


    "Are you okay?" Andrei asked Rara, but as he saw the greatsword bigger than her at her back and the determination written on her face, he didn''t ask further. The girl simply nodded and wiped the blood on her hands at the wall where the writings were.


    As if sucking her blood, it gradually disappeared into the stonewall, together with a large unlocking sound that can be heard from the other end, it sounded as if stones were rearranging themselves, opening a path.


    "Geh, blood as password huh? That''s quite amazing," Andrei crossed his arms as he saw it open a path, what greeted them was an empty passageway devoid with any kind of light. Due to the sound of whirring it produced, it was evident that it was a long passageway.


    "Rara, after this, teach me how to set this up, Claire here you see, keeps intruding to my room," he pointed his thumb to Claire at his back.


    Claire immediately touched an ore with her left hand in her pocket and produced a metal knife at her right, she held Andrei''s hand and put a knife against it.


    "Yes, yes, so, do wanna try what Rara did earlier? I''ll do it for you," she spoke bluntly focusing on the knife and the hand.


    "D-Don''t do it! We are on an ongoing mission!" He tried taking his hand but Claire was stronger that it won''t budge.


    "These two, are you really having that husband and wife banter on an ongoing mission?" Gideon giggled, "Andrei, I''m gonna tell her highness Michaela on you," he made a smirk, Gideon wore a blue tailcoat and breeches with golden patterns in it, his hair was tied to its back, and covered himself with a robe. He and Andrei have gotten closer since talking with each other being roommates in the forward base.


    ¡­


    "Your highness, can''t sleep? Is the bed not to your liking?" Gideon rolled over to the side facing Andrei who laid on a separate bed with his hands on the back of his head.


    "Nah, just thinking of something, here and there," his eyes stared fixedly at the empty ceiling, he was deep in thought, seeing that the viscount was still awake he looked at him, who was dressed in his pajamas. "For a viscount, aren''t you too comfortable in that bed? It''s just a makeshift one right? And it''s made from straws, it''s ticklish. Aren''t you nobles supposed to be picky on that stuff?"


    "No, your highness, although I was noble by birth, we were at the lowest rank, I was raised as a commoner, I had commoner friends, ate stretchy bread, drank soup that almost tasted like water, and slept in beds like these, I''m comfortable with it because it''s nostalgic. I was only able to climb the ???????????????????????? ???????? ???????????????????????????? as they say by fighting together with the emperor"


    "I see, what kind of enemies did you fight?"


    "Well¡­ there are men, monsters, and also men who are monsters, lots of them, but when he conquered, the emperor did not savagely treat the conquered, he banned looting and pillaging, although there was still slavery it wasn''t that bad, the emperor made sure that they would be treated properly"


    "But as I''ve heard Kydus is a corrupt country," Andrei asked, remembering his talk with Michaela and the other ministers.


    "Yes, we have a wealthy country after all, when the emperor aged, he stopped conquering and settled on the territory we have now, he also gave back the island nations he conquered, but still the empire is large, and the lords who are supposed to protect their people ended up using them to gain power over the other, with no common enemy on sight, small scale conflicts happen from time to time, in a struggle for power"


    "If the emperor was that strong, wouldn''t he normally, stop that from happening?"


    "Well, your highness, he was proficient at war but definitely not at politics, and those idiots try to use loopholes to try and get great wealth for themselves. Even how righteous the emperor or any ruler, may be, if some of his people are rotten it, would spread out eventually to the others, resulting in the people''s suffering for generations and generations"


    "Didn''t you wish for your wealth also? You''re a viscount aren''t you?"


    "Well, if I hadn''t met Layla, I would have been one of those idiots right now, but I do have a wish just like everyone else your highness," he put his hands at the back of his head the same manner as Andrei.


    "What is it? And stop with the ???????????????? ??????????????????????????, your sentences become long"


    "Well, your wish is my command ????????????????????????," he chuckled, "what I wish for was for only one thing, that is, to reunite with my daughter," after staring fixedly at the ceiling he closed his eyes and turned away from Andrei. "Let''s sleep, tomorrow we have an early start, I won''t wake you up if you''re late," he told Andrei, who felt a mellow sadness in Gideon''s voice, he decided not to pry any further and closed his eyes.


    When they woke up, Gideon was still sound asleep, and he had to threaten him into waking up.


    ¡­


    With the passageway open, Erneis muttered his spell, and produced a shield large enough to cover everyone, Claire produced a rapier and held it with her hand, Andrei held his flintlock tightly, aiming it beyond the darkness, Gideon carried a torch with him, the passageway''s floor was properly made with bricks, they didn''t have to to worry about tripping.


    As they walked, the passageway made a hollow whirring sound due to the air passing through it, but in a few minutes of walking they could hear subtle sounds of explosions from the outside.


    "It''s starting huh, we should hurry," Erneis told them, he sped up his advance and they all followed, this time they all ran with Erneis in the lead, but in intervals, they rested due to the long distance of the passageway. They couldn''t afford to be taken by surprise while tired, as they walked the light from the entrance became smaller and smaller until it had become just a tiny dot.


    After an hour they finally reached a dead end.


    "A dead end?" Rara exclaimed, "but it shouldn''t be, did we take the wrong way?" she asked anxiously, her red eyes scanned but there was no other way than the dead-end they were facing.


    "Gideon, can you get the torch here," Andrei asked, as he felt the wall and felt the worms deformation at it.


    When Gideon passed on the torch, they saw another set of writings again. They all breathed on relief.


    "It turns out that her highness Rara has to use her blood again," Gideon looked at the girl and they both nodded together.


    "Everyone! Prepare your weapons! We don''t have any assurance of what we will face when this is unlocked!" Gideon announced as he took his wand from his pocket.


    Claire readied her rapier, and Andrei loaded his flintlock ready to fire.


    As Rara''s blood was gradually sucked into the wall, the sounds of rocks arranging thud after thud was heard on the other side, Rara took out her greatsword and jumped back inside Erneis'' magic barrier.


    Light slowly emerged from the other side, as the dead-end wall rearranged itself brick after brick, and at the same time the stench of dead bodies invaded their noses, this made them warier, the enemy was just on the other side of the wall.

 63 SURPRISE ATTACK

    Runzulu was in a state of panic, she who hated humans so much, found it nauseating to be defeated in battle. With her gift, she could call up the dark-elves soul inside a human''s body, with that they clearly had an advantage by numerous, by staying at Midgard for many years she knew about their politics, culture, strategies and other kinds of information that she needed to have in order to successfully invade the world without any problems.


    She has set her eyes for the invasion of the whole human world and yet right even before it, she was already met with heavy resistance she didn''t expect, and it was done by no more than a small neighboring kingdom, who was in smaller numbers.


    Anger poured through her, as she saw through the eyes of her soldiers, the panicking possessed knights, the elf-general that just have died, their pitiful telepathic screams for help as they scattered, and their reckless and mindless charge resulting in killing themselves.


    All of these happened with the humans having no losses at all. As she looked in her mind, she saw from a distance the peculiar weapons that the enemy used, in the years that she stayed and observed their world, the weapon wasn''t something that should have existed.


    "I have already scanned this human''s memories but I can''t find anything about that weapon! This is an anomaly! This must have been brought by Muspelheim, otherwise, how would they get those weapons? I have been on guard, but they have adapted to Muselpheim''s magic too fast! Damned humans!" she told herself as she resided on the emperor''s body that sat on the Kydus throne.


    She was guarded by four strong fully manifested dark elf fighters she handpicked, they guarded her as a queen would be. In the dark-elves domain and world colonies she was no more than a high-priest that reported to the dark-elf king, but with her gift she was sent to the world of the humans and now she enjoyed sitting at the throne just as how her rulers did, to satisfy her envy.


    After all the years she had to put up controlling humans that disgusted her so much, it was finally the time to reap her rewards, to be the queen of the new colony or to ascend to higher ranks.


    "If it weren''t for that small kingdom!!!" she gripped an arm of the throne which was made of steel and with the bare hands of the emperor''s body she crushed it, to take out her anger.


    The human hand bled and was distorted, but it didn''t matter to her, just as if nothing happened, she restored back the hand in a blink of an eye, but as she did this, she sensed something approaching her.


    "Now what is it?!" she couldn''t take any more humiliation than she already has.


    She scanned the emperor''s mind to find an answer, and an image of a passageway appeared on its mind.


    "Ohoho, this is a great chance to vent my anger," as she was about to stand and welcome her enemies that lurked at an entrance adjacent to the throne room, an object was thrown in front of the throne, it rolled and emitted smoke, the smoke covered the whole room making her the warriors confused, "huh? Is this also one of their tricks? Sneaky humans!"


    She scanned the room with her eyes, but the visibility was poor, shortly a phoenix appeared and with a piercing cry it dived into the dark elf warriors, the flap of the phoenix wings cleared the smoke, and two of the warriors were turned into cinders, with the other two having burns and wounds all over.


    ...


    "DAMNED HUMANS!!!" the voice of the emperor shook the palace. After Andrei threw the smoke bomb, Gideon fired a phoenix and killed two of the underlings.


    "So it''s weak to purification magic huh?" Gideon thought as he saw the smoke clear up with two of the guards turned into cinders. The two dark elf warriors covered in black armor all-over stopped moving for a bit and were clearly taken aback, but in a few seconds, without a sound they started to stand up and get picked up weapons as if the burns they suffered was nothing.


    "Erneis, you''re up!" Gideon commanded as he swung his wand towards the dark elven knights, he immediately started chanting his spell,


    [ Fire that scorches all creation, O'' Pure Flames! Burn up and be Reborn! Phoenix! ]


    Flames of the same phoenix that dived appeared in the middle of the air as a small bird, then gradually grew bigger and bigger until it became the same size as the previous phoenix, it hovered with its feathers and wings made of fire.


    Erneis nodded and unsheathed the sword on his side, it was a silver sword that had metal chains with it, as he brandished it to his right wind gathered swirling around it.


    He courageously stood before the enemies who stood more than 7ft tall, and with his strong hands, with all his force he stuck the sword to the ground, the floor made of bricks shattered and at the same time specs of dust flew to different directions as if the wind carried it way when it created a great vibration, the white-haired knight started his incantation.


    [ By Pride and Justice, Winds of Time, Winds of space, Winds that all around me race! Be unleashed and take my shields! Cut through the enemies that I face!]


    From the sword he stuck to the ground, a gale appeared with four floating barriers around it, the floating barriers that were in the form of a shield shifted its shape and it took the form of deadly greatsword as it danced and spun with the gale.


    "Burn them!" Gideon aimed his wand at the remaining guards, the phoenix once again screeched and dived towards the warriors; it flapped its wings and dived towards them, however, it was met with a black curtain and was extinguished to nothingness.


    "Wha-" Gideon exclaimed, "it''s the same magic!" then he looked at the throne, it was his beloved emperor casting it, but his skin was rotting, his complexion became pale purple, and ears grew from him. "How much will you defile the body of our ruler!" he screamed within his heart as he bit his lips in anger, the emperor that he fought with was no more, and now his body is being used as a tool for massacre.


    "Then how about this!" Erneis held the sword on the ground, turned it, and focused on the warriors covered by the dark curtain, the gale followed where his eyes and the direction of the blade. The curtain looked like a wide sheet of paper and looked large upfront but Erneis made the deadly gale move around it and crashed it against the two warriors cutting their bodies to pieces.


    "This is punishment! You devils!" The old man had rage written on his face, behind them were corpses of the children and babies used for sacrifices, there were two piles of it, it was the first sight that greeted them when they opened the passageway and was the smell that invaded their noses.


    "Andrei!" Erneis shouted, Andrei also had the same look, his eyes were sharp, unlike his usual self, this time he had the urge to kill the one responsible for the slaughter of the children behind him, he couldn''t forgive them for it, he swiftly ran to the entrance carrying his flintlock, then hid at the sidewalls of the entrance for cover, he loaded, aimed at the emperor and pulled the trigger.


    [Boom!]


    The sound of a gunshot echoed in the room, the emperor canceled the dark curtain he used to protect his underlings and used it to cover himself, but the bullet devoid of any magic passed through it without any problem.


    The bullet pierced the chest and blood splattered out of it, but contrary to Andrei''s expectations, it didn''t do any damage, it was sucked and healed immediately. "So this is what I have seen huh? An exploding staff, but it doesn''t have that much power than I thought HAHA! This will be easy! I panicked for nothing!"


    The emperor manifested two big unholy swords beside his hands and brandished them while floating. "I''ll kill them while I have the chance, who knows what more tricks they have, in a fair fight they are nothing!"


    "Tch," Andrei was irritated that his bullet didn''t have any effect, he loaded the flintlock again in the same process, but this time the possessed emperor sent unholy swords flying to him. When he saw this he immediately rolled forward to evade it.


    One of the swords hit the wall he was using for cover, but it opened a path for the other one to follow, it was so quick that when he glanced it was already at his back, "damn, it''ll hit me!" He bit his lip and braced himself for the pain as he landed after his roll.


    However Rara appeared in front of him and shielded him with her greatsword, she used the wide side of the greatsword to stop the unholy sword that was about to cut Andrei. The force of the sword was stronger than her, however, Rara had the ability to strengthen any kind of weapon, making the greatsword the sturdiest shield she can ever have in the situation.


    But still, she had a body of a girl, even how sturdy the makeshift shield was, the impact sent her flying towards Andrei whom she was shielding, her white hair fluttered in Andrei''s eyes, as she got thrown to him, she caught her with his body but the momentum was still not finished, it became so heavy that they got thrown back to the corpses of children at their back which saved them as a cushion.


    "Uahh," Andrei almost threw up and covered his mouth, as he saw the faces of the dead children around him, some of them didn''t have eyes, and most of them had either broken skulls and jaws other had clear blunt injuries, indicating that they were killed in the most gruesome manner, "how could they do this!" he strongly thought as anger flooded his veins. "This is not time to throw up!" he propped himself using the flintlock.


    "Rara are you okay?" but she wasn''t there anymore, she had already got her greatsword at her hands also propping herself with it, as she already bruised her foot while protecting him.


    "Just be patient father, I''ll free your body from that evil!" She didn''t have a shred of hesitancy in her red eyes, before, she had hoped that there would still be a bit of trace of her father, but the figure the stood at the throne wasn''t her father, it was pure evil.


    Erneis still held his sword directed the deadly gale towards the emperor however the possessed emperor had faster reflexes, he manifested unholy swords and this time he held it with his hands and pounced at Erneis who was unguarded.


    "Fool!" The possessed emperor''s voice echoed as he thought that this was the end of the golden knight that dared to throw magic at him, however, Claire appeared in her green robe and launched multiple metal swords, piercing his body many times, it sliced off some of his limbs while airborne.


    The possessed emperor did not have a choice but to forget about the golden knight and land. He grew back his limbs, starting from the bones to the flesh, and just like an animal he crawled in fours while looking at the girl who had metal swords floating and appearing one by one around her.


    "So they also have that kind of magic huh? Impressive and rare, isn''t she the one who commanded those soldiers that had weird weapons? She''s beautiful!!! I want to take over her body and appearance! I want to have the knowledge about those weapons!!!" the high priestess thought to herself, as she admired the beauty and elegance of the girl who sent swords flying to her, inside the body of the emperor her eyes became obsessed, as she scratched her own face with her long nails as if in pleasure.


    Andrei had also difficulty in walking, so he knelt, loaded his flintlock, aimed and shot again, this time he got a headshot, however, the bullet was simply absorbed into the skull.


    "Damn! I''m useless here!" He thought as he looked at Claire generating swords as much as she could. As more swords floated around claire, the generation became slower and slower and couldn''t keep up with the number she threw to the possessed emperor in all fours. Beads of sweat appeared on her face, and her usual deadpan face now struggled as if fighting a headache.


    Erneis pulled his sword and held it in his hand preparing for close combat, Gideon on the other hand was sweating due to rebirthing his phoenix two times in succession, he was a great mage but such techniques consumed his mana greatly. Rara had one foot damaged while holding her greatsword.


    The possessed emperor who walked in all fours smirked at them, "INSOLENT FOOLS! DO YOU THINK A SURPRISE ATTACK WOULD WORK ON ME!" he was making a fool out of them, the soul inside him was blinded with her desire to take the whole world under her.


    "IT''S TIME TO FINISH THIS!"


    [Corrupted Beast!]


    The human who walked in all fours slowly deformed starting from his back, bones and flesh came out, as is if transforming it into another creature gradually. To Rara who was seeing his father''s body turning into a different creature left her stupefied, her eyes shook as memories surfaced while she saw the body turning into something uglier.


    "Wh-W-Wh¡­ " she asked while shaking, "What the hell are you doing to my father!!!" She screamed from the bottom of her heart, as it echoed throughout the entire throne room.


    Hearing this, Claire didn''t just stand and watch, she sent her swords flying towards the creature transforming, Gideon who recovered a bit, pointed his wand towards the transforming creature, and bricks that were enchanted by purifying fire flew towards it.


    But both attacks didn''t work, swords were deflected by unholy swords that floated while the rocks that had enchantment in them didn''t have enough power to get through the creatures flesh that was still gradually growing on it.


    Erneis was in his attack stance, while a floating shield protected him, propelled his body towards the gradually transforming beast to prevent it from transforming further. Memories of his grandchildren surfaced as he did this, with their happy faces calling him grandpa while he gave them his homecooked ice cream.


    Erneis didn''t marry, he didn''t have any real sons or grandsons. The children who called him grandpa were kids he adopted from the streets, who were abandoned, sold by their parents who didn''t have enough to feed them, or children who tried to steal in order to survive, he gave them a home within Ethareri using his monthly salary and hired a caretaker for them.


    Some of them came from different countries, including Kydus, Erneis had saved seven orphans in total, among them Shri was the youngest who followed him everywhere during his day-offs.


    Erneis who deeply cared for children, had rage overtook him when he saw the pile of children and babies corpses.


    As he propelled further the transforming beast generated a claw, to deflect Erneis and his shield, but he still has his sword, with his sword in two hands he swooped through the beast, in a blink of an eye reaching the other side, he was too fast for the claw to react, the claw that was generated fell down, rotted and turned into ashes.


    Erneis with his back turned away from the beast, threw the blood on his sword by swinging it down, he sheathed it again as he turned towards the beast and generated a shield again as he made the same stance to propel himself again.


    "You are just a monster with intelligence, I don''t know about your business here in this world, but I will not forgive you! I, Erneis Chief Knight of The Golden Order of Ethareri, will slay you!"

 64 Erneis

    Erneis wasn''t of noble birth; he was a commoner and was born as an orphan. In his younger years, in order to live, he slept in the slums, pickpocketed and did all kinds of odd jobs that would give him even the smallest penny. When he grew up, he decided to live an honest life, and volunteered to be a soldier, with his skills and proficiency with magic, he immediately rose up as an average knight, and then during the defensive wars of Ethareri, he rose up to become a golden knight.


    However the other golden knights at the time weren''t all happy about it, Erneis didn''t have any noble blood, yet he was more proficient in it, more than the golden knights at the time, they were mostly sons of nobles who had private tutors. Erneis was constantly victimized by bullying and discrimination, but he didn''t mind, as long as he could do his work properly, and feed the kids he adopted, he was happy about it.


    Every day a young caretaker who was also from the slums, would go and cook meals, while the children would do house chores to maintain the house, every time Erneis went home he was greeted with smiles, and hugs from the small children that surrounded him. They called him "Papa", Erneis was still young at the age of 22.


    He only wanted a simple life, but at the same time he wanted to serve the king who gave him the golden knight rank. But his colleagues'' jealousy ran deeper than he thought, Erneis wasn''t only favored by the king, he was also adored by women, one day after his service while walking home he bought some sweet bread from the bakery as he thought of the happy faces of the children when he gives it, but as he went closer and closer, the common people around him whispered to each other as they stole glances at him, he couldn''t really hear them, but he knew something was off.


    He ran towards the house while hugging the bread in his arms until he was in front of it, but what greeted him was the charred remains of their house that stood in the orange afternoon like a skeleton. It had been so alive, so vibrant. Inside had been a place of love and security, a place with memories and warmth. Now the wind whistled through, the orange sky was filled with dark clouds and the steady rain fell right into the burnt wood.


    He dropped the bread and started searching for the children he held dear.


    "Tom, Pepper, where are you? Rodney, Mika, Jeff, answer me!" As he called out the names of five more children no one answered, as he walked inside, he discovered small charred remains that huddled up together, tears flowed unchecked down his cheeks and dripped from his chin, in their last minutes the children hugged each other. He was too sad to cry out or wail, he just stood there as still as a statue while the magnitude of his loss swept over him.


    "I''ll kill them! I''LL KILL THEM!" The young Erneis screamed at the top of his lungs. His shaking body was slowly enveloped up with air, as rage ran through his very being, images of the nobles swept through his mind, he decided to kill them once and for all, even if it meant that it would change his very being.


    But as he turned around, what he saw was a man in casual clothes, he didn''t even wear a tailcoat, he just wore a white long sleeve, behind him a blonde child tugged on his breeches and looked at him at the same time. Erneis knew the person, it was the man he saw every day on the castle, the man who gave him his rank, the man whom his loyalty belonged to.


    The man''s peaceful crystal eyes looked at Erneis with sorrow, which made Erneis temporarily contain his anger, even how enraged he was, he didn''t want to disrespect the man who gave him everything.


    "Your majesty, why are you here, and you shouldn''t bring your child in a place like this," he looked away to hide his expression.


    But the man walked up to him and hugged him as a best friend would, and he whispered to his ears.


    "I heard the news, I came rushing... calm your anger, and sheath your sword, I''ll make sure to punish the wrongdoers, they aren''t worthy to be killed by your own hand"


    "Your majesty, if you do that you''ll lose the support of the Lords, I have to end them myself, this isn''t your business," Erneis balled his hand into a fist, and bit his lip, while his tears endlessly flowed.


    "It''s fine," the King patted Erneis back, the child that tugged behind the King also hugged Erneis on his side and looked at him with her crystal colored eyes that he inherited from her father. The only difference was their hair, the vast difference between golden and brown.


    Seeing the child stare into his eyes, Erneis was touched in his heart and finally was able to let out the pain on his chest, he hugged the King''s back tightly as he clutched into the white long sleeves as he cried his heart out. He cried and cried as he recalled the smiles of the children he treated as his sons and daughters, he imagined the fear that they had experienced as they huddled up waiting for him to rescue them until they died.


    "Sorry, everyone, Sorry," Erneis held the king tighter to express squeeze out all his grief. The King smiled as he tapped his back, no words were needed.


    ...


    With the King''s help Erneis wasn''t able to dirty his hands with the blood of the corrupt nobles, the day after, the King ordered the investigation and capture of the nobles and publicized their acts, the people of Ethareri were enraged and they lost authority over their domain and were sentenced to death.


    Since then, Erneis has been on the King''s side for many years and was promoted as chief, now the Golden Knights recruited common people as well as long as they have the abilities, which was the monthly tournaments, and any form of corruption was punished severely.


    A few years later, the child who once tugged at the back of the King as he comforted his favored knight, ascended to the throne, her name was Michaela Acirendra. At the deathbed of the King, Erneis was entrusted to search for his illegitimate children, it was Erneis who found Claire Acirendra. Erneis swore to the King that he would take care of his daughters, and protect them at all costs.


    ...


    ???????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????? ???????????? ???????????????????????? ????????????????


    With Claire, Andrei and Gideon''s attacks being useless against the enemy, Erneis was the only one left who could go toe to toe and damage the beast who has fully transformed, it was a mishmash of different creatures, it had the body of a lion, its tail was of a serpent, it had extensions of claws growing out of its body, and the face had the same features of the emperor. To them, it was a horrible and hopeless sight, but for Erneis who swore to protect the children of the King, it was no more than a monster that needed to be slain.

 65 FRAGILE HEART OF THE STRONGES

    The corrupted beast turned towards Erneis who posed the highest threat to it by being able to cut down one of the extensions of its body.


    The golden knight who had a floating shield in front of him as he wielded a deadly sword imbued with wind magic, announced his desire to slay the monster in front of him, and now he was in his stance and made the same move again.


    Wind enveloped him as he propelled his body forward towards the beast, with the shields protecting him, and just like the raging wind, the more attempts he made the faster he moved and cut down the beast from limb to limb.


    For every attempt the beast would attempt to throw unholy swords at him, however, Erneis was becoming faster and faster, at the same time it would be repelled by the metal swords made by Claire, the beast that was able to regenerate the lost extensions was shortly cut down by the golden knight that danced with the wind.


    All Andrei, Gideon, Rara and Claire could see was the beast struggling with a golden gale, wounding it gradually, the creature wasn''t able to fight back much, all it could do was make pitiful screams as its regenerated limb was cut down, or when it got sliced directly.


    ¡­


    Runzulu who turned the body of the emperor into a corrupted beast started to panic as she couldn''t catch the golden knight who was swift as the wind.


    ["Grrr¡­ this old man! I''m taking them seriously already but still, I can''t win, should I retreat? No. I should pay them back for this humiliation first]


    Unlike his warriors who would have their souls crumble after leaving the human body, Runzulu''s gift enabled her to travel human to human. She didn''t fear of having the emperor''s body die, she just had to transfer to a new body in a time limit.


    Then an idea came to her mind, she knew how corrupt and selfish humans were which was why she was able to infiltrate Kydus successfully, but she also knew that some of them were the opposite, selfless, valiant and, "NAIVE!!!" she screamed to herself the answer to her worries.


    She looked at the adjacent room and saw the three humans who were still finding a way to fight her, the two men were exhausted, the girl using the greatsword was having a hard time walking, only the girl wearing a green robe was able to give support to the golden knight.


    Runzulu knew that the girl was the leader of the irregular unit that used the strange weapons, based on the records left by the elf-commander, she now had an idea to kill all of them once and for all.


    ¡­


    Erneis who moved along the wind focused on dealing with the beast blow per blow, Andrei in the meantime knowing that his flintlock was useless tried to conserve bullets. Gideon channeled more mana so he could summon another phoenix, while Rara who hurt her leg, was almost unable to walk without her sword.


    Andrei saw the hopeless situation turn over, he was confident that Erneis who was the strongest knight in Ethareri could defeat the best in front of them, however, something caught his attention.


    While Claire was busy sweating concentrating on generating more swords, the beast''s eyes turned towards her, the claw extension that was cut down was alive and was on the ground, but the ground was hollow as if something pierced it under.


    He then remembered the nature of the dark elves, they prey on humans'' weaknesses and wouldn''t fight fairly, they commit any dirty and brutal tactics that they could use to take down the enemy and make them suffer.


    "Don''t tell me¡­ " he muttered to himself, and shouted from the top of his lungs, "Claire! Get away from there!"


    "Huh?"


    Claire broke her focus and the swords that floated beside her dropped to the ground, she didn''t know the reason why Andrei suddenly called her name, but what came next was a horrible scene, he could see Andrei running towards her, and in a few seconds one of the limbs appeared from the ground and went towards her.


    "Make it on time!" Andrei jumped towards Claire and pushed her to the side, with both of them falling on the floor, however even if they evaded it, the extension followed them.


    "I won''t let you!" Andrei stood and used his bayonet to pierce it, blood came out of it and it paused moving for a while, but in a second it only elongated and went for his head. He wasn''t able to react quickly.


    But Claire who saw this took her rapier and threw it towards it, which made it switch directions towards her, and without any weapons, Claire was slashed on her waist.


    "NO!!!" Andrei screamed and slashed diagonally with his bayonet to fend it off from wounding Claire further, however, even his bayonet that was sturdier thanks to Rara couldn''t cut the limb extension that was bigger than his torso.


    The limb flicked him away easily and he was thrown to the wall with great impact, being a normal human, he hit his head and felt pain throughout his body, it was the first time he was able to experience such pain.


    "It hurts¡­ It hurts, help me!" Andrei thought has he felt pain all over his body that dulled some of his senses, such as hearing and vision, he wasn''t able to notice but his head bled and blood ran down his face, as he breathed in and out as he felt his lungs weren''t getting enough air.


    With his blurry vision he saw Rara coming towards him propping herself with her greatsword, "Are you okay? Andrei!" she screamed but she couldn''t hear her properly.


    Gideon used another magic to fend away the claw from Claire, canceling his plan to create his deadly phoenix that was supposed to down the monster as it was weak to the purifying flames of the phoenix.


    He immediately knelt down to Claire and pushed his hand to the wound where it emitted a green aura, similar to the healing spell his wife used, Andrei felt a bit rest assured that Claire was being healed.


    Rara finally arrived at him and carried him on her small shoulders.


    "So this is pain huh¡­ I underestimated it, but.. " Andrei couldn''t move most of his body, but he gripped and never dropped his flintlock along the way. "Hahh¡­ Hahh¡­ Hahh," his lungs were damaged severely and he couldn''t breathe properly.


    "Hold on a bit Andrei, Gideon will heal you, once he''s done with Claire" Rara said as she took Andrei on her shoulders, unlike men of his age, to her Andrei was lighter, and didn''t have much muscle. Tears welled in her eyes, as she realized that Andrei didn''t have the body of a combatant, but still he gave his all to protect Claire even in close combat, realizing that bullets won''t stop the beast.


    "That was supposed to be my job," she muttered to Andrei, "didn''t the queen tell you to just shoot in the distance."


    Erneis was still fighting with the beast more fiercely as he saw Claire being slashed and Andrie being flicked towards the wall, seeing him getting more desperate the beast now smiled, as it saw two of its attackers taken down, it now knew the efficient way to kill them all.


    Another claw went underground, Erneis saw this and knew that if he wanted to go after it, he would have to cut down the claws attacking him.


    "Damn!" he swung his sword in all directions and moved together with the wind, cutting them but they kept regenerating one after another, and the wounds he inflicted to the beast directly wasn''t that deep, "if I go after it, my back will be unguarded, and I''m running out of mana already"


    Andrei was brought towards Claire, and there he saw her unconscious face, "wake up Claire! You shouldn''t be sleeping like that!" he thought to himself, as he couldn''t speak anymore with his lungs damaged, doing everything just to breathe.


    The cut on her waist was deep, and Gideon was sweating to heal her with all he could. "My magic can''t keep up with the bleeding!" Gideon was desperate that he couldn''t detect the danger coming to them anymore.


    Unaware, a limb went underground towards them, Erneis screamed to Gideon to protect them but he couldn''t hear it, given how fast Erneis was moving and Gideon''s desperation to save Claire.


    Andrei''s eyes were locked to the unconscious Claire, her beautiful face that didn''t have a sign of struggle to it, she just laid there and peacefully closed her eyes.


    "Why the hell are you sleeping there Claire¡­ " his heart sank as she saw her dying in front of him, it was because of him that she was hit by the claw, he couldn''t fathom the idea that someone sacrificed herself for him.


    "Again¡­ I''m letting it happen again, even in this world, I''m useless, and powerless¡­ I attempted to save someone, yet she saved me instead, how pathetic can I get? I thought that this time with the knowledge I had from my previous world I could finally save the people dear to me, I got too confident, my weapon didn''t work and now she''s there¡­ unconscious, because of me, because of my weakness," Andrei balled his fist as he saw Claire desperately being treated.


    But as he lamented his weakness, another tragedy approached them.


    As one of the claws extended underground, it appeared again to kill them, but at the same time the golden gale disappeared, Erneis appeared in front of them and summoned a shield in front of him, but the old man''s mana was too low. The shield easily broke and the claw went through the old man''s heart, together with several claws that followed him.


    As the golden knight fell, and was caught by Gideon, he looked at Andrei''s eyes and muttered his last words struggling to open his lips.


    "Every¡­ one¡­ I leave¡­ to ¡­ you," after a few seconds memories surfaced on the Erneis'' mind, the new batch of children that he was taking care of, Michaela and Claire who have grown to be beautiful and wonderful women, and finally, he saw the King whom he had given his loyalty to.


    As he saw him standing in front of him, standing on top of the water as the skies extended behind him, he asked, "King, forgive your servant, I may have failed to fulfill the mission you gave to me," he bowed towards him, however, the king just smiled and held out his hand, "no, you did a great job, let''s go and leave the rest to them" Erneis wept as he saw the first batch of children he took care of appear together with the King, they came to him and hugged him, he could feel the warmth of their embrace overflow as the light flashed and enveloped everything.


    ...


    Erneis'' breath came in ragged, shallow gasps. Seconds passed as he laid there, he heard voices. Andrei, Gideon and Rara swarmed all over him, trying to help him, he realized.


    They wanted to save him. However it was far too late for him to be saved, with all the holes on his body pierced by the claws of the enemy, Erneis wanted to be able to leave all the pain behind as he closed his eyes happily joining the loved ones that have left him too soon.


    With this the fragile, human heart of the strongest and wisest Golden Knight of Ethareri beat one last time.

 66 Goodbye, My Friend

    "Erneis! Wake¡­ up old... man, Erneis!" Being carried by Rara, Andrei''s shock made him able to speak again, his voice hoarse due to the pain he had in his lungs, but seeing the knight lose his life, he knew he had to wake him up, he couldn''t imagine that the old man would die.


    "Wake up¡­ what about Shri¡­ I''m gonna tease Shri¡­ I''m not gonna give him ice cream," tears flowed unchecked to his cheeks. With the little force, he got he lifted up his hand that was being held by Rara to get closer to the old man who was on Gideon''s arms.


    Andrei held his shoulders and shook him, "hey¡­ hey¡­ wake up¡­ Erneis" then he saw Claire who was also laying on the cold floor, her bleeding had stopped but still, she closed her eyes unconcious, "you too Claire¡­ what the hell are you doing you two¡­ "


    The two who saw him could only look away, Gideon who found the situation hopeless used his palms to close Erneis'' eyes and laid him on the floor.


    "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING GIDEON!" Andrei who wasn''t in control of his emotions pushed Gideon away. Gideon didn''t budge.


    "Erneis is... dead," Gideon told him calmly, he understood what the young man was going through.


    "No, don''t lie to me¡­ " Andrei shook Erneis once more.


    "It''s the truth, if you treasure him, stop shaking him and let him rest in peace," Gideon could only look away, he didn''t want to Andrei''s face in grief.


    "NO! He-" but before Andrei could speak further, they all heard the beasts hysterical laughing. Flames burned in Andrei''s heart as he heard it, he couldn''t accept such a creature celebrating over someone''s death, and moreover his friend''s death. He was filled with grief and anger.


    Meanwhile, Rara and Gideon were filled with fear and despair, knowing that Erneis lost his life, Claire was unconscious and badly wounded, Rara''s leg was damaged, Gideon had canceled his phoenix, and Andrei''s weapon that didn''t work on it. Their hands tremble and their eyes water as they reached for their weapons.


    ¡­


    To Runzulu who saw the only threat die, felt great pleasure at the sight of the hopelessness in front of her, she felt very satisfied with her work.


    "I did cheat a little but this is what I wanted to see, FEAR!, ANGER!, DESPAIR!, HAHAHAHA!" She laughed hysterically, "this is what you get for humiliating me! Now, what should I do? Ahhhh¡­ I should kill them one by one, by tearing their limbs, it would be a waste to just let them die easily- huh?"


    But before she could continue thinking about what to do with them, the man holding the irregular weapon looked at him with anger as he muttered something.


    "Oh¡­ so the weakest one still hasn''t lost its spirit after all, hasn''t he realized that they''re already done for? Should I flick him again?"


    The young human gave something to the girl, and then the girl handed it to the healer, the human did something to his weapon and received something back from the healer.


    "Ohhh¡­ they''re doing some of their tricks again, but that weapon won''t work on me, but just in case, I have to make them unable to move before I play with them"


    She went closer to the humans to attempt to play with them, but suddenly the human loaded his weapon and pulled the trigger.


    She tried to use her unholy swords and claws to defend against it but it was too fast for her reaction speed.


    "I missed huh? As usual, I''ll absorb it!" The projectile went towards the beast''s forehead, and just like usual he absorbed it the projectile with her flesh,


    "Easy¡­ Now to start with the heal- " before she could do heal it she felt something burning on her head.


    "This is¡­ Purifying flames? How?" The pains grew larger and larger until she could feel it in half of her head.


    "This can''t be!!! I was only hit by a projectile! It wasn''t supposed to be this!" Using her regenerative control she searched for the projectile and used the flesh to take it out, but still the pain did not end. The projectile has already been ejected yet the pain was still on the location.


    "WHAT???? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!!!" She angrily screamed as she was blinded with flashing colorful spots and craved darkness, quiet and stillness. She felt the burning pain in her head that would throb so violently around her skull that as if it would crack open.


    With all her senses taken away she couldn''t do anything but crash her head into the walls and go berserk with her claws in an attempt to stop the pain or stop the caster, but the claws didn''t find anything or would just crash into some metal or bricks.


    It didn''t hurt her physically but it hurt her soul directly. The purifying element was something that they were weak against, and now she''s feeling it directly like flames engulfing her very soul.


    ...


    Hearing the beast''s hysterical laughing Andrei swore that he would definitely kill it, his mind was full of thoughts on how to kill it, but nothing came handy, even when he relied on his knowledge from the modern world.


    While he was thinking Gideon spoke to him abruptly.


    "Andrei, get Rara and Claire outside, the mission has failed, I can buy you time to escape, but there''s no guarantee, I only have only a small amount of mana left for imbuing bricks with flames, but it''s better than nothing, now go!"


    Andrei knew that the situation was hopeless and they had to escape, but as he thought of Michaela, the warriors and his battalion outside fighting, and as he saw Claire lying unconscious while Rara tried to carry Claire on her back, he knew that it would be all or nothing.


    He took in a deep breath to calm himself down, taking away unnecessary emotions that would affect his decisions and thoughts.


    "They are fighting outside so we can take down this beast, but instead it outwitted us, taking down Erneis, and wounding Claire, Rara can only walk on one leg which makes it hard for her to fight with a greatsword.


    And now Gideon is planning to sacrifice himself for us to escape, but in this situation, we won''t make it even if we escape, that makes the whole sacrificing act useless, Gideon has only his imbuing magic for bricks that didn''t work earlier, and now... wait¡­ imbuing magic?¡­ bricks¡­ wait-"


    Something came into his mind, he reached for his utility belt and felt the projectile bullets. He immediately asked Gideon.


    "Gideon, can you imbue the purifying magic to these projectiles too?"


    He showed the round metal balls to Gideon, as he did this Gideon caught up on what Andrei wanted to do, he smiled slightly at Andrei and nodded at him.


    "Yes, this might work if we did it this way," he replied quietly.


    Instead of running Andrei chose to fight, not because he was naive, but he wanted to take more chances in saving the majority.


    If they fail the evil forces would be unstoppable, if they escape the chances of it succeeding is also low, he couldn''t let more of the people important to him die, he couldn''t let Ethareri become the next Kydus, he didn''t want to abandon the town that welcomed him when he was lost in another world, and moreover, Erneis'' grandchildren lived there. He knew that to the coalition forces this was the final resistance they can mount up against the evil force, it was everything they''ve got.


    "I can''t face the old man, even after death if I let little Shri and the other kids die," he thought to himself, "and I have to let Claire rest in a peaceful environment after everything is finished, or she''ll beat the crap out of me if she knew I pulled back" he smiled bitterly looking at Claire who was still unconscious.


    To find a breakthrough, Andrei chose to abandon his thinking that modern weapons would be much more effective as he saw his flintlock useless against the beast, and now he tried to integrate it with the rules of the world that he was in to use it to his advantage.


    "They are weak to Gideon''s purifying fire, they didn''t deflect my bullets anymore with the black curtain, and Rara can strengthen these projectiles, I don''t know if this will work but it''s worth a shot."


    With no time to waste, he relayed the plan to Gideon and Rara and passed on the bullets. From him to Rara, from Rara to Gideon and from Gideon to him.


    Rara strengthened the projectiles.


    Gideon imbued the bullets with his magic.


    Andrei in a process readied his flintlock and loaded the magic-imbued bullets to his weapon while kneeling he placed himself in a comfortable position to a position that would enable him to nail the first bullet at the head of the beast which was a large target.


    Noticing him, the beast continued it''s hysterical laughter and went closer to them as if it would play with them before killing them.


    To the beast, it looked like all of them fell in despair when Erneis died, but it was completely mistaken, Andrei had already a new idea as he aimed his gun towards the beast head, in his eyes were unwavering flames of his courage and hope.


    "It''s all or nothing!" he shouted as he pulled the trigger.


    [Bang!]


    The bullet went outside the barrel in a fast speed, the beast didn''t bother to put up the barrier that could cancel any magic remembering that the projectiles weren''t any kind of magic, the two unholy swords that tried blocked it, failed miserably, due to it being faster than the normal reaction time could deflect, the bullet was by no means faster than the gale it encountered earlier due to the strengthening.


    The bullet easily stuck itself in between the eyebrows of the beast, and went deeper and deeper, and with this Gideon stood up and pointed his wand towards the beast as he muttered his incantation.


    [ Fire that scorches all creation, O'' Pure Flames! Burn up and be Reborn! Phoenix! ]


    But no phoenix appeared anywhere near Gideon, the answer was that he was rebirthing the phoenix on the bullet that went inside the beasts head. A small bird came out from the ball, burning the flesh of the beast and slowly cleaning it and the soul that inhabited it.


    The beast was in a panic as it slowly felt the pain on its head growing steadily, it couldn''t understand what was going, usually would just absorb the projectiles, but what it absorbed this time was a trojan horse that would lead to its demise.


    The process was slow, it took time for Gideon to make the phoenix bigger, he was out of breath and was just pulling out the last of his mana, but for his emperor, for the princess, for the empire, and for the comrades he was fighting together he gave his all and maintained his focus.


    The flesh of the beast threw out the projectile outside its body but the phoenix bird already manifested inside of it, the beast panicked as it was gradually becoming bigger and bigger as if bursting out of its head.


    It smashed its head to the walls and went berserk trying to find the caster by using the extensions of its body.


    Rara''s flames in her heart didn''t waver anymore, even though she was afraid at first, she was infected with Andrei''s determination to protect, she herself had something at stake.


    In the first place it was their kingdom that fell first. The death of the chief of knights of her ally hurt her deeply, even though the old knight gave his all protecting what he loved and believed in, it couldn''t be denied that what he did also protected her and her people, giving them hope to see a better future for themselves and for Kydus, giving them a chance to rebuild their country.


    Whenever a claw went towards Gideon or Andrei, Rara fended it off with her greatsword, even on one foot, the girl gave all the courage she could, as she thought of her father and her people and her allies while buying time for Gideon to enlarge the phoenix inside the beast''s body and protecting Andrei who was already aiming, ready to pull the trigger for another round in case Gideon''s phoenix was extinguished prematurely before it could kill the beast.


    As if the three''s prayer was answered, in a few seconds flames came out of the beasts'' eyes, and at the same time holes gradually appeared on its body emitting flames from the phoenix that grew inside as if it was bursting.


    And then it finally happened, the bet Andrei made had won, since the beast was hit on its head first, the purifying flames burnt the Runzulu inside of it, she couldn''t find another body to transfer to as the body she inhabited lost its ability to sense anything. Her soul burned by the purifying flames of the phoenix, and the flesh of the beast was burst into pieces.


    Becoming a beacon to their victory, a phoenix appeared in the place of the beast that was shattered to pieces, it made a shriek and disappeared. Gideon, became exhausted, and passed out on the floor himself, with zero mana he was in a state of mind down. But it wasn''t a threatening condition as long as he rested or was given mana intakes.


    Andrei, finally was able to look properly at Erneis who died peacefully, his eyes were closed and his mouth had a hint of a smile on it. But as he did this his adrenaline rush wore off, and finally, the pain that attacked his body and lungs came back, making him pass out before he landed on the cold floor Rara caught his head with her hands and placed it carefully on her knees.


    The moment Andrei shut his eyes, memories of his interactions with Erneis came to his mind, the old man whom he met as a referee who warned him about losing his fingers,


    the old man who went together with his plans,


    the old man who went crazy about his inventions,


    the old man who followed and helped him everywhere,


    The old man who looked like an honorable knight at work yet looked like a skinny old retired man on breaks,


    the old man who just wanted to make ice cream for his grandchildren,


    And moreover, it was the old man who became a precious friend to him, in the world unfamiliar to him, where he was an irregularity.


    As if the old man was saying goodbye, Andrei saw his visage on his dreams, he couldn''t make out what he was saying but he was completely happy as he waved goodbye at him and walked away towards the blinding light that reflected and removed his bulky armor revealing his retired old man figured as he walked being pulled by children.


    Seeing the old man''s happiness on where he was going Andrei didn''t attempt to hold him back and all he could do was a wave and say the words of farewell.


    "Goodbye my friend"


    And just like a miracle, the sun showed itself coloring the sky with hues of orange and blue and the dark clouds of the afternoon of Kydus gradually cleared up, the dark-elves who lost their high priestess that acted as a bridge between their worlds were taken out of the bodies they possessed unwillingly.


    Bodies of the possessed soldiers all fell at the same time, without being able to break the firing line nor get through Michaela who was the single one in the vanguard.


    To the dark elves this was a humiliating defeat, but for everyone in the coalition, victory felt like the warm light embracing them.


    Initially, they thought that the dark elves would still be able to fight without their leader and that even if the surprise attack was a success, they would still have to fight for days, however seeing them all fall, indicated that the threat from the evil force was no more, and they would finally be able to return to their families or be able to rebuild their country.


    Deep into the Kydus palace, there was a knight who fought for what he protected and treasured the most, and through his valiant actions, he defended his comrades who were able to find a way to win against the enemy even when the odds were stacked against them.


    The knight died surrounded by his comrades whom even for a short time he became friends with, and with deep respect they laid him at the cold floor as they waited for the arrival of the victorious coalition forces.

 67 The Cat That Acted Like a Dog

    The coalition forces who held their line at Mizar settlement saw their enemies fell down lifeless at the ground, the sea of people pushing towards the gate like crazy beasts was no more, silence filled the battlefield, as gunshots have stopped, and BC''s stopped exploding also, Eagle and Raven also landed back at one of Mizar''s roof and took their human form.


    The knights who didn''t have to fight stood in agape, the close combatants had a mixture of impressions, some of them were frustrated not being able to fight and some of them were able to breathe in relief, thinking that they didn''t have to fight the flood of men-turned-monsters, the majority was the latter.


    They gazed as the gun carriers knelt behind the mud mounds, even when the enemies have stopped their guns are still ready and aimed at the gate because their commander has yet to give them another command. They admired the men in green and brown, it was thanks to them that they miraculously didn''t experience any loss during the defensive battle.


    Michaela who looked at the strange phenomenon dispelled the ice on the center and bravely walked towards the gate to confirm the danger. The four chief knights who saw this equipped their swords and joined her as a courtesy.


    A demolition company made a path for her which guaranteed that she won''t be stepping to any of the bombs.


    Michaela passed through the line made by men and women wearing brown all over, it was her first time to see them closely, the demolition platoon of Andrei that turned into a battalion mostly from commoners and servants, she couldn''t deny that these were the people who equaled knight in terms of their bravery and skill. BC''s were dangerous if one were not careful and made a single mistake in placing it, that person could die instantly with the unlucky people that surround him. It was all commoner in the battalion due to its dangerous nature, but it played a very important role.


    While walking the path was laden with corpses, so they had no choice but to step on top of it, with each step they took the sound of their shoes stepping on the armor was the only thing that they can hear, together with a disgusting smell attacked their noses. As they went beyond the portcullises they scanned the area and saw that they were all dead, unlike when they were possessed their remains were either corpses with melted flesh or were pure skeleton under their sturdy armor.


    In a few minutes they finally, confirmed that the enemy had indeed been defeated.


    "The enemies have fallen! March towards the castle!" Michaela told the Chief knights, who then went back to the defensive line to give the order.


    Everyone who heard the announcement was overjoyed of the confirmation. Knights raised their hands and swords and victory, gun carriers raised their flintlocks, the demolition people hugged each other, the silent battlefield was filled with delightful cheers of victory.


    ...


    They all marched with the close combatants in the vanguard until they arrived at the castle, by Michaela''s command they opened the large door, while the gun carriers aimed at it in case a threat occurs, the first thing they saw was the defeated beast and its flesh all around the palace. Michaela who saw the scene felt her heart racing, as she didn''t see anyone in the throne room other than it, she scanned the room until she heard a small girl''s scream for help.


    "Is that the coalition? I need healers here! Hurry up! Come here!"


    The voice came from the adjacent room, Michaela who heard it immediately gave out commands while running towards the room herself.


    "Anyone who has heal magic, come with me! Eagle and Raven fetch Ms. Layla immediately"


    Michaela arrived at the adjacent room and was horrified by what she saw.


    There laid three people dear to her, Claire her sister, Andrei her fiance and her loyal old knight who served her since she was young.


    The three had severe wounds, all over their bodies. The old knight had the worse of them, with large holes over his body his blood flowed on the floor. Gideon was found laid at the back of the wall, in the state of mind down, only Rara was conscious with a few wounds on her body, tears fell down her cheeks as she held Andrei''s hands as she looked at Michaela "Sorry your highness, Sorry, I''m sorry, I''m... " she cried as the pain in her heart hurt as worst as an open wound.


    She clasped onto Andrei''s hand for support, as her whole body shakes. Her sobs were stifled at first as she attempted to look strong in front of the queen and her chief knights, but then overcome by the wave of her emotions, she made a break down entirely.


    "NO!!! NO!!!" Michaela covered her mouth, in disbelief, "Rara, what happened¡­ " Michaela was too shaken to even move, she simply stood there, not knowing what to do as emotions flowed endlessly, the knights who had healing magic immediately tended to the four, but when the chief knight Carle who attended to Erneis felt his pulse. He looked at Michaela and shook his head.


    She felt weak and dropped on her knees, as much as she tried to hold it in, the pain came out like an uproar from her throat in the form of a silent scream. The beads of water started falling down one after another, without a sign of stopping. She hit the wall and tried to scream, but her voice was melted by the sound of the place.


    ¡­


    ???? ???????????????? ????????????????????


    Claire and Andrei were continuously being treated by Layla in their own rooms, Gideon had already recovered his mana and was helping his wife with the treatment. The two took turns, in order to bring back the two''s health as soon as possible.


    Andrei was the first one who woke up, he sits in his bed every day, looking at the scenery at the window where he could see the horizon. Michaela comes from time to time to check on him after her duties as they talked their topic was about the resolution of the war.


    But for some reason, Michaela did not even once talk about Erneis. If the topic was leading to him, Michaela would try to change the topic and make a forced smile.


    "Rara you see... ascended to the throne, and thanks to you guys defeating the leader no one suffered an injury on the defensive battle. There will be a crowning that will happen at the end of the month, do you think you can go?" Michaela told him as she sat on a wooden chair beside him while holding his hand.


    "Well, I might be able to, thanks to Ms. Layla," Andrei opened and closed his fist, and moved his feet under the blanket to check the broken bones. When he was first treated he would scream in pain every night due to the aching of his broken bones and wounds, Gideon would have to cast a sleeping spell to ease the pain, and now he didn''t feel a single pain as they were now magically healed.


    "This is amazing, in our previous world I would have to undergo surgery and use braces for years," he thought to himself as he checked his body, he remembered the painful days of treatment but most of the time he was put to sleep, the pleasant feeling after healing made him appreciate Gideon and Layla.


    "I think the inner wounds have already healed. There are still bruises all over but I think I''m all good to attend," Andrei told Michaela, he didn''t want to worry her further, "what about Claire, will she attend?"


    "Ah, yes Claire," her eyes shook, and hid her expression as if there was troubling her, but still she continued, "Claire can''t attend yet, her wounds are deeper than we thought, so it might take a while before she could walk again," she told him with a smile.


    But he wasn''t dense to be rest assured by such a smile, to him looked so fake as if she was forcing herself even when she looked so sad, but he also didn''t want to corner her further, all he could do was also reply awkwardly in the same manner.


    "I see, then we can''t help it huh... Thanks for coming again Michaela, I really appreciate it,"


    "Then, I''ll come back again tomorrow, the servants will give you something to wear tomorrow, for now, have some more rest so you can fully recover. Then if you''ll excuse me," Michaela stood up, and waved him goodbye as she went out of the room.


    Andrei didn''t know what to do, he knew that he would have to ask her directly but he found it very hard to say the real questions he wanted to ask, for some reason she was on the edge, knowing Claire and Gideon was safe was enough for him, he also knew what happened to Erneis already even how much Michaela avoided the topic, as the thought of this, he remembered the dying face of Erneis as he looked into his eyes.


    As emotions flowed into his chest, he immediately shook his head to stop thinking about it and looked at the scenery outside.


    "I guess there''s nothing I can do," Andrei wore his slippers and got up from his bed, "but I do need some change of pace, or else I will go insane,"


    With his clothes in shreds, from the last battle, he wore the clothes provided to him, the white long sleeves with strings on the collar, and the black-colored breeches. After dressing up he went straight to the kitchen, and saw the head maid Clarissa, on the way.


    "Where you may be headed your highness?" The straight-laced maid asked him with a bow.


    "Andrei is fine, can you prepare something for me?"


    "Will you be having breakfast? Then, please go back to your room, her highness Michaela told me to deliver it to your room like the usual," Clarissa tilted her head in confusion.


    "No, ummm.... it''s not for me, but can you call Celeste? She knows how to prepare it, and I''m going out for a bit," he smiled helplessly.


    The maid immediately, partially understood what he meant and sighed, "okay, but I''ll inform her highness about this, please be careful as you are still not fully recovered"


    "Gotcha, thank you Clarissa," Andrei waved to her as he turned around towards the hall that leads to the door outside.


    "No, your highness, I should be the one thanking you for rescuing us before," Clarissa closed her eyes as she bowed, to the man who planned their rescue when they were held captive at Mizar.


    "It''s not really myself who rescued you, I''m just a part of it, but... You''re welcome," Andrei replied as he walked forward as he waved at her from the back.


    ¡­


    Andrei went around the town by himself, he recognized some familiar faces which were the gun carriers from his battalion, mostly he saw them strolling around shops happily with their family, "so they are already spending their reward huh? Not so bad, rewards are handed in just a week, no wonder Michaela is busy," he told himself.


    After the battle, Michaela and Rara immediately arranged the recovery of Kydus, the rebuilding of the homes, the burying of the dead, the rights Kydus will be handing to Ethareri as thanks for their help, the compensation to all the soldiers and other matters that are related, the queen and the crown princess became busy in their own countries.


    As he strolled around he realized how different the town was compared to his old world, life was slow, yet it was abundant, people lived in their own little ways, he could see on the streets, the nobles and their attendants talking, the wives gossiping with each other, the children playing imaginary monster-slaying, there were many sceneries that calmed his mind in his early morning stroll.


    "Michaela will probably be mad, I hope Clarissa can cover enough for me," pausing his early morning adventure, he stopped by a stone bridge that overlooks a wide part of the city and the horizon at the same time, he learned by the stone as he was mesmerized by the peaceful town it was the perfect time for him to sort out his feelings.


    The loss of a friend, the pain he felt, the hopes that were placed into him, that last-minute idea that sprung up to his mind that was able to take down the beast.


    "If we had planned that beforehand, Erneis didn''t have to die, I got cocky, I closed my mind, I imposed my logic in this world that doesn''t follow the same timeline and history as my old one¡­ strategies, tactics, weapons, magic, monstrous enemies, we could have planned better but I¡­ "


    He blamed himself for not being able to think of the solution in the first place, the solution was hilariously simple, but he only thought of it in the last-ditch attempt. The thought frustrated so much that he wanted to punch the stone where he was leaning on.


    But, as he was engrossed on his negative thoughts he felt something bunting at his feet that sounded like a cat, he was distracted and looked at it. It was a white cat but strangely it acted like a dog as it rolled, panted and barked.


    "See... the animals here are even weird, to me, it might be weird that a cat that acts like a dog, but for this world, this may be just a normal cat," he tried to rub its belly but a shadow appeared on the ground, it scared the cat, it stood, barked at Andrei and ran away.


    Andrei turned stood straight and turned around, he saw someone he asked a favor an hour ago.


    "Ohh, Clarissa, you should have said something if you were there, you scared the cat away"


    "That wasn''t a cat your highness, it was clearly a dog, it''s common sense that cats clearly don''t bark" she replied sternly as she fixed her eyeglasses that made a sparkling effect.


    "Seriously?"

 68 Grandpa Wont Come Back

    The sun gradually showed itself as it bloomed on the horizon, golden petals stretched ever outwards into the rich blue, Clarissa was holding a basket covered with a thick cloth on top of it.


    "Your highness, I''ve prepared it," she tapped the basket she carried, "but, her highness Michaela requests you to return shortly to your room after this, it seems that you need to have more rest according to Ms. Layla Savoy," the maid in eyeglasses bowed to him.


    "Thanks, Clarrissa, can you lead the way?"


    "Yes, it''s just a few more blocks from here," she replied sternly and pointed her hand to the direction.


    They walked the road together until they saw kids who were playing outside, they wore commoner''s clothes, three of them were girls and four of them were boys, they looked like children at the ages of 6 to 12, but they look more lively than their age when Andrei saw them he immediately recognized one of them, it was the Shri, the one who followed Erneis around.


    When Andrei first woke up, he immediately wanted to know about what happened to Claire and the others, with the Erneis loss, he asked about what will happen to his grandchildren, it was only then that he knew that they were only adopted by him. He felt anxious, knowing that without Erneis no one would take care of them, but when he heard about Michaela personally financing the children''s daily necessities and also with paying their caretaker until they were of working age, he felt better.


    Despite his complicated feelings he decided to see them personally, when he went to the kitchen he asked Clarissa to prepare some ice cream for them, and asked for the location of the old knight''s house. It was the final goal of his unannounced early morning stroll.


    As he stood by the road on which they were playing, the other kids didn''t recognize him, but when Shri saw him, the small child ran towards him and tugged him on the breeches and asked.


    "Granda, where?"


    He felt his heart shrinking, as the child repeated again the same question,


    "Grandpa, where?"


    Hearing this, the oldest child immediately ran to Shri, separated his hands from Andrei''s breeches, and bowed down to him and the maid, the oldest was clever, he knew that only nobles would have a maid following them in their work clothes, having servants or maids was a sign of power, the caretaker followed after, she knew their position well, and knew that the child have committed improper behavior towards the noble, she prostrated together with the other children.


    "I''m sorry my lord for what has happened, please forgive him, he''s just a child, I''ll make sure to discipline him properly so it won''t happen again," the caretaker desperately prostrated, in order to protect the children, the caretaker was a woman that was around the same age as him, she had orange hair and a fair complexion, it was said that Erneis had hired her for a long time, knowing that Erneis can only come home once or twice a week, she was familiar with the children and was on good terms with them.


    Andrei was lost for words, he didn''t know how to react first, to Shri''s question and next to the gesture in front of him, not knowing about the country''s customs he didn''t want to stand out or mess up by answering in a not-so-noble way, and to be seen by the scrutinizing eyes of the people passing by, and he also didn''t want to discredit Clarissa who was kind enough to prepare the ice cream, give him directions and carry the basket for him in her work clothes.


    He stepped back a bit and whispered to Clarissa.


    "Have they already heard the news?"


    "Yes, your highness, but only the caretaker and the eldest can comprehend it, the caretaker decided to keep it a secret to the other children for now"


    "So I have to break in the news huh? Tch," he made a sigh as he held the back of his head.


    "Your highness?" Clarissa cocked her head, not understanding what Andrei meant.


    Andrei had a different opinion towards the caretaker and the eldest hiding the fact about Erneis'' death.


    "The eldest and the caretaker has their answers, I have mine, don''t blame me if they cry old man," he thought as he closed his eyes and envisioned Erneis on his mind.


    He sat at Shri''s eye level and held the child at the child''s small arms.


    "Shri, Grandpa you see, won''t come back"


    Clarissa the maid, and the eldest adopted, was in shock to hear Andrei say such words to a toddler, they were all still prostrating, but Shri didn''t move and just listened, he was an observant kid that didn''t want to endanger his family by further enraging a noble, but there was confusion and bewilderment in the child''s eyes, the other children have about the same expressions.


    "Your highness I think-" Clarissa tried to stop him from speaking further, but still, he continued.


    "He won''t come back... your grandpa died bravely on the battlefield and saved me, so you need to be strong and kind just like your grandpa, for your siblings, for your family and for yourself, got it?"


    Clarissa could only sigh, seeing that the children were silent but were on the verge of tears. At the same time she could see Andrei shaking.


    "Your highness, he''s just a kid no matter what you tell him they wouldn''t understand so- "


    "So what? Do you want them to believe that lie? This isn''t a matter of choice, even if they are just children or toddlers, you must tell them, They have every right to know what happened.


    You don''t protect them by keeping truths from them, even how unpleasant it may be. If you are able to lie to them, then what you are doing is just making things easier for yourself, and that for me is indescribably selfish," he spoke bluntly and didn''t bother to lower his volume.


    Clarissa didn''t answer further and just bowed and stepped back.


    "And plus I swore to Erneis I would make them cry if he doesn''t come back," he thought to himself, as he felt a tingling pain run on his chest. He took the basket from Clarissa and gave it to the eldest, who had teardrops on his eyes, it was clear than when he leaves they would definitely cry.


    To make things easier for them, Andrei decided to leave immediately so the children can sort out their feelings.


    He looked at the caretaker and smiled at her, and told her "I''ll leave them to you," he then turned back towards the maid.


    "Let''s go, Clarissa,"


    ...


    After finishing their business in the town they went back to the castle, what awaited them at the gate was Michaela. Her ponytail swung left and right as it was carried by the wind as she leaned her back at the castle gates wearing her golden armor.


    As he went closer to her he could see her crystal eyes that had full of strength and courage in it looking at him.


    Michaela was indeed shaken by what had occurred in the war, but for her, it was the best outcome for them, their side was almost unscathed, even though their numbers were already small to begin with. What saddened her most was that during this, she lost a valuable friend and loyal knight. But she knew her responsibilities as the queen and she knew that she couldn''t afford to look weak in front of her people.


    As she looked at the man coming towards her, she was reminded of the miracle he brought since the day she was attempted to be assassinated, no matter how much she thanked him, it wouldn''t be enough for all the things he did for her, even to the point of going to war with her and getting hurt himself.


    At the same time, she also felt anxious, as Rara told him about how Andrei was deeply hurt as he saw Erneis die in front of his eyes.


    As much as possible she avoided talking about Erneis when she visited Andrei, as she didn''t know how to react and how to tell it to him. She looked down at her shoes anxiously as she waited for Andrei to get closer to her, thinking on how to greet him after surprisingly knowing that he just went to Erneis'' home in the morning.


    Andrei stopped when he was a meter distance from her.


    "Sorry for going out without your permission first," he told her as he made a wry smile.


    Seeing his expression, Michaela met him with the same easygoing attitude, as she crossed her arms.


    "So, did you finish what you needed to do? Seriously did you make Erneis'' children cry?" She asked teasingly as she made a quick smile and pinched him on the cheeks.


    "Ouch Ouch¡­ is that your attitude to someone who has just recovered," he replied as she let her pinch his cheeks, but he noticed that Michaela was finally back to her usual self.


    "Michaela, I thought-" Andrei wanted to ask why she has been avoiding talking about Erneis in the past few days, but he couldn''t continue as Michaela hushed him with her fingers.


    "No, don''t say it, I''m sorry, to be honest I didn''t know what to say, it''s partly my fault and I don''t want you to blame yourself over his death, I heard from Claire a bit, about your past¡­ but seeing you visiting the children, I instantly knew I was wrong," she looked away to hide her embarrassment.


    "Don''t worry Michaela, I won''t be just throwing his sacrifice into the mud, I realized just earlier, no one could have predicted the situation, no matter how much we prepared or thought about, still there was still something about the enemy we didn''t know about. He died heroically and honorably, and everyone was saved thanks to him. The old man will smack me if I were to disrespect him further," he told her as he also crossed her arms on his chest trying to imitate her.


    "I see, Thank you, Andrei, I feel a bit better now, I''m glad you were able to accept his passing that way, and find meaning for his existence in your life" Michaela answered, as she faced him and didn''t hide her embarrassment anymore, and made a bright one, as the dews that appeared on his eyes reflected the radiant of the sun. Michaela had an expression of relief, sorrow and happiness at the same time.


    Andrei, who was able to understand it, embraced her and rubbed her back, even though most of it was her armor. They felt the warmth of each other, the warmth that comforts each other''s hearts from the loss of someone important to both of them.


    "Now let''s head back to castle, Clarissa made another set of ice cream for us," Michaela told him as she separated herself from him.


    "I got it, I got it, and stop drooling like a kid, we''re outside of the palace gates you know Michaela, what will happen, if they saw the queen like that"


    "I''m not drooling! And you stop crying like a baby! Technically you are my fiance you know Andrei!"


    "Yes Yes, stop yelling, you are becoming so fickle nowadays Michaela, usually you''d just be so aggressive"


    "Your highness Michaela and Andrei, please have your love quarrel once we are inside," Clarissa told them wanting to stop their banter as she rubbed her forehead and sighed, but also at the same time she was touched at the scene that she just saw, that she felt her eyes tearing up, she took off her glasses and wiped it as she followed behind the two.

 69 The Forgotten Lunch Date

    Weeks passed after the war, Kydus started to rebuild itself by the leadership of Princess Rara''s temporary government and her loyal servants, with the support of the citizens who escaped and those who survived, a large cleanup was initiated because of the dead bodies that was found everywhere, in order not to risk of an epidemic from happening, as their population have dwindled due to the war.


    Advising Rara was Gideon who was still in Ethareri to conduct negotiations with Queen Michaela and to help his wife with the recovery of Princess Claire who was still in a coma, Raven and Eagle delivered messages for him back and forth.


    At the meantime, diverting from the anxiety and worry of not being able to even see Claire, Andrei drafted some plans for some inventions he could make in the level of the technology of the world, while also learning more common knowledge of the world, through the butlers, maids and whoever he runs into, making sure he asks a different set of questions per person to avoid being suspected.


    After learning his lesson from the previous battle, he tried to learn more about magic and studied ways on how to improve the weapons and his inventions by using it. At the same time, he also decided to hone more his close combat skills through a strict daily routine while his battalion trained themselves under the command of their captains in the mountains, although the war is over he made sure that they were in complete shape.


    He would wake up early to train himself religiously running for at least an hour a day back and forth from the city to the mountains to build up his stamina at the same time receive the reports from the captains, then he would go to the training grounds with Geraldine to practice his swordsmanship, which was his two-swords technique in practical battle, making sure to be able to use swords effectively whenever necessary.


    Their training ended up with Andrei being kicked in the face, letting down his guard as he made a careless attack on Geraldine.


    "Ouch, ahhh¡­ it hurts," Andrei lets go of his practice swords which he ordered from Matthias, they were lightweight swords which he can brandish with no problem with each hand, its center of gravity was before its tip, the sword was made to enable Andrei to move swiftly.


    He touched his face to make sure it was intact, his whole face was red from being kicked by Geraldine who was skilled in all kinds of weapons and close combat fighting.


    "Sorry Andrei, it must have hurt," Geraldine held out her hand to Andrei, on his request she wore her training clothes that was a lightweight iron breastplate, leather pants with boots up to the knees, as he was afraid that he would hurt her with the blunt swords, but upon training Andrei can only defend, as Geraldine was faster and had diverse techniques, to incorporate sword battle with her body, on the other hand, he only wore knee and ankle pads for protection, which was why Geraldine used only her sword to deflect his attacks and uses her fists and kicks when she confirmed a sure hit.


    Andrei who learned eskrima didn''t know how to fight with his whole body, he ended up losing to acrobatic evasions and counters of Geraldine, she would just either lure him into attacking to let down his guard or outspeed him and knock him down with her fists.


    "No, No, it''s fine, I asked for it after all," he waved at her to tell her that it didn''t hurt, "I told her to not hold back, but she''s a monster when it comes to combat, if I faced her at the tournament I would have been wacked completely," he thought as he made a sigh and took her hand and pulled it to stand, but the grass he sat on was silky that the foot that supported him in getting up slipped, this time it was Geraldine''s guard that was lowered with Andrei''s clumsiness, that she fell on top of him, with her lips almost touching his.


    Her face immediately turned red like a balloon that was about to blow up.


    "Ummm¡­ sorry," her chestnut-colored long hair luckily covered Andrei''s eyes who was also starting to panic.


    "Ummm¡­ it''s okay, can you get up, you¡­ armor¡­ is heavy" he told her as he struggled.


    Hearing this she immediately rolled over the side, stood up and turned around, and awkwardly tried to walk away with her whole body stiff.


    "Umm¡­ if you''ll excuse me, ehehe," before she could walk more steps Andrei stopped her.


    "Where are you going? Aren''t you gonna have lunch with me?" He called out to her as he stood up and took off the dust on his clothes.


    ¡­


    The two arrived in their training clothes in a pub in the town that served commoners mostly, there were all kinds of men that dined and talked, some of them were soldiers and some were civilians, he chose the place when he saw its liveliness as they passed by.


    When they entered, those that knew the two immediately stopped talking, stood from their seats and made a snappy salute.


    They were a mix of conscripts, green and brown soldiers, their stiff salute to Andrei and Geraldine proved it, they didn''t form groups according to what battalion they belong to, it was a scene Andrei wanted to see on commoners, their potential lies on their camaraderie that wasn''t limited to affiliation.


    When Andrei saw this he faced them and made the same salute.


    "Carry on," he told them and put it his hand down, they proceeded to one table where a nervous pub girl who saw the salute took their order.


    With the two commanders inside the pub, the people around them became conscious, that they minimized their voices as they talked, but eventually became lively again, like rain that started with a drizzle.


    Andrei was the first one to open a topic.


    "Geraldine, how''s your battalion going?" Andrei asked as he nonchalantly sliced the meat with the wooden knife and fork.


    But the girl he was speaking to couldn''t concentrate and just sat there in deep thoughts with her face red as a hot iron, "i-i-it''s the first time I have been invited to dine by a man, and much more it''s Andrei, the queen''s fiance, w-w-w-what should I do, will I get court-martialed for this? Last time when I fell on top of him her highness Claire threw needles at him," she thought anxiously as an image of an angry Michaela and a ruthless Claire appeared on her head.


    "Geraldine?" Andrei popped his head, seeing Geraldine not touching her food yet.


    "Ahhh sorry about that Andrei, but you invited me to have lunch, won''t we get yelled about this?" She asked shyly unlike her attitude when she hugged him without knowing that he was the queen''s fiance, when she knew about it she immediately changed her attitude to him.


    "Yelled? Why?" He asked back, munching on the meat.


    "Well¡­ don''t you usually eat with the queen? And here you are, eating with¡­ me"


    "Don''t worry about it, Michaela is busy anyway" he swung his fork back and forth, "plus it''s more comforting to eat here than at the castle," his voice had a hint of sadness in it, he didn''t want to eat at the castle because it felt desolate for him, the kitchen reminded him of them eating altogether where Erneis asked him about the recipe for the ice cream.


    He may have moved on, but still, he wanted to avoid some of the places that reminded him of memories that stung his heart. He couldn''t eat at such a place yet.


    Seeing his expression, Geraldine had a hint of what he was thinking while holding on to her cup she tried to change the topic.


    "So Andrei, what did you think of the training today?" She asked with a smile from her heart.


    "Well, you really beat me up there, I think I should practice more on my footwork and coordination with my techniques, what else do you think I should improve?" His sour mood left him, seeing the refreshing smile of the girl in from of him, and he was curious about his performance.


    "I think you are already there Andrei, just a bit more practice! And you''ll get better! Since you are emphasizing on speed, maybe you should make your wrists more flexible since it stiffens when you attack too much, that''s why you can''t follow up with another strike in time"


    "My wrists?" Andrei felt his wrists with his fingers, "is it really that stiff?" Andrei curiously squeezed his wrists but he didn''t know what''s stiff for Geraldine and what''s not, "can you hold out your hand?"


    "Huh? Okay?" Geraldine didn''t know what he meant, innocently held out her hand and was surprised when Andrei held it and felt it, tracing from her fingers to her wrists.


    "W-W-W-What are you doing Andrei?!" She immediately turned red, being sensitive to the hand.


    "I''m just figuring out the difference between our hands, wait a moment, can you squeeze my fingers like you''re holding a sword?"


    "L-L-Like this?" Geraldine held his two fingers together, and Andrei felt her wrists again, all she could do was close her eyes being sensitive in the part.


    "Hmmm¡­ yes, your evaluations are right, when you hold a sword your hand your wrists are different from mine, but I don''t know why... how about-" Before he could continue he noticed that the lively pub had no people left and that Geraldine was staring something behind him while shaking, he looked at it and saw Gideon forcing a smile stiffly standing beside a woman who wore a golden breastplate as she crossed her arms and with her brow lifted, her foot-stomping constantly in speed, as nerves started popping on her head.


    "M-M-M-Michaela?"


    "Oh, so you are having an affair in broad daylight huh¡­ just because Claire is asleep¡­ tell me what should I do with him Gideon? What does your wife do to you when you do this kind of stuff?" Her expression darkened.


    Michaela was flaming in anger, he then remembered that he promised to have lunch with her outside of town when he woke up, but being absorbed to his routine he forgot about it and invited Geraldine instead.


    Geraldine immediately pulled back her hand and looked away, hiding her face with her hair.


    "G-G-Gideon don''t say something stupid," he called out to the middle-aged guy who was clearly under pressure, he knew that the guy was someone who liked to make fun of him, but when Gideon heard him, he winked at him as if telling Andrei to leave it to him.


    "What a good guy!" Andrei thought to himself, as he folded his hands, he imagined him as a sparkling knight in shining armor, "I should thank him later for being such a good friend!"


    "Ummm¡­ your highness, in those cases my wife Layla would whip me at the butt three times, I think that would be enough," Gideon answered Michaela as he bowed to her and passed on a beat-up whip with two hands.


    "Ah, what an asshole... and why is he bringing that whip along with him?" Andrei''s eyes turned dead fish as he immediately retracts all the gratefulness he felt, knowing his demise was near on his fiance''s hands.

 70 Target Practice

    Andrei came back to the castle with red cheeks, luckily Michaela didn''t continue her punishment and he was left off easily with her pinching on his face, they all had lunch together at the pub, and returned back together at the castle.


    "Gideon, I''ll pay you back for this later," he felt his cheeks as he stared at the middle-aged guy beside him, who tried to whistle but couldn''t let out a good sound, instead, he was spitting saliva everywhere.


    "That''s what you get for being popular," Gideon beamed at him, "plus it''s her majesty, Michaela who dragged me there, for you standing her up, you shouldn''t do that to ladies you know? Tsk tsk tsk," he told Andrei as Michaela was walking in front of them talking with Geraldine, who was too flustered to answer back to the queen.


    As they walked towards the training ground, he noticed that Geraldine''s hair color was similar to Gideon''s as he looked closer to it, the two had also similar eye color.


    "Gideon, is chestnut hair color common here?" Hearing this Gideon stiffened for a bit but still continued walking, looking away.


    "Yeah, pretty¡­ much," with his head turned to look at the knights who trained on stakes, Andrei couldn''t see his face.


    "Strange¡­ this old man¡­ " he thought, then he looked at Geraldine again, "I have seen lots of hair colors but theirs look so similar could it be... No no no, Gideon is a wimp, and Geraldine is pretty agile, and Gideon lives far away on Kydus," he compared the two''s similarities, his instincts were telling him something but he chose to ignore it as he saw Gideon''s nature which is opposite to Geraldine.


    They arrived at the training ground and at a table there laid flintlocks that were now smaller, under a sheet, Matthias was also there cleaning it with a cloth making the steel on it shine. Seeing this Andrei immediately ran up to him.


    "Matthias, you were finally able to reduce it to this size?" He excitedly went towards him, there were five flintlocks on the table, at the same size as Andrei''s.


    "Aye! But we blacksmiths didn''t have the ability to make the inner parts smaller, so we had the craftsmen make it for us, surprisingly there were fast when it came to the production we could barely keep up!"


    The macho man this time was wearing decent clothes that looked like they were about to be teared up with his bulging muscles, we wore a shirt and his usual work pants, as he put down the rifle he was cleaning and wiped his hand with it.


    "Now we can hire gun carriers who are not as bulky as your first battalion now Andrei," Michaela murmured as she picked up one of the flintlocks and passed it to Gideon and Geraldine on his right and left sides.


    Seeing them, Andrei also did the same, as they evaluated their weapons, Matthias took two heavy boxes under the table and held out his hands, "you want to test them aye?" The box contained gunpowder and bullets.


    Andrei and Geraldine finished loading their gun ready to fire, however, Michaela and Gideon had trouble in loading theirs, Michaela had gunpowder all over her face while Gideon''s hands were shaking, not knowing about the weapon''s mechanism, he was afraid of blowing up himself.


    "Michaela, give it to me," Andrei held out his hand to Michaela with a handkerchief, "and wipe your face with this," she accepted the handkerchief but as she did it, she nonchalantly to traced out his hands with hers as she took the handkerchief from his hand, Andrei was suddenly creeped out as a chill ran over his spine, "ah, she''s being aggressive again," he thought to himself as he took her gun and loaded it by himself. Michaela on the other hand wiped her face with the handkerchief he gave.


    On the training grounds there were five target practices erected, it was a plane that has been shaped to be a half-human body, with the usual red dot and blue circles, it was the same target practice the soldiers that are using to train in the northern mountains of Ethareri.


    Andrei, Geraldine, and Michaela aimed their guns at the targets while Gideon gave up with his gun and spectated behind them, Andrei didn''t help him due to Gideon betraying him earlier.


    "Aim! Pull! Fire!" Andrei commanded, [Boom!] Sounds of three gunshots echoed as smoke rose from the muzzles. Everyone stopped momentarily on their activities, the knights who practiced fighting, the maids who took out the laundry, and the ministers who were scribbling with their ink and quill, wondering where the noise came from.


    Andrei whispered something to Michaela, and strangely Michaela''s face brightened and ordered Gideon.


    "Gideon, can you check if we hit the targets?"


    Gideon complied and ran to the targets to see where the bullets hit, when he was halfway, suddenly he heard Andrei shout.


    "Reload! Aim! Target Gideon!"


    "Hey Andrei stop joking around!" The poor middle-aged noble turned around worried, but Andrei had his rifle placed at his side, with the two girls laughing. Gideon looked at Geraldine who was laughing, and for some reason it made him smile and continued running towards the targets.


    Results were Geraldine hitting the center almost to the red dot, Andrei farther at the first blue circle line, and Michaela hitting nothing.


    In the next exercise Gideon helped Andrei conduct experiments, while Geraldine and Michaela went back to their duties.


    "So Gideon, what are the other imbuement spells you know? Is it rare magic?" He asked as he showed the bullet to him. As they remembered the moment that they thought of the idea and killed the monster once and for all.


    "Hmmm¡­ imbuement is a pretty rare skill, in five casters there is about one caster who can do imbuement, and that also varies to the elements they are used to dealing with, for example me and my fire magic.


    I could imbue the phoenix, my highest ranked magic on the bullet due to its nature to die and then be rebirth as a small fire, so following that magic formula, if the projectile wasn''t fast to shoot at the beast that we encountered, the Phoenix would have already been large and would be noticed by the beast, resulting to extinguishing it with the dark curtain when he sees it, luckily he didn''t notice it and it went to his body without a problem"


    "What are the other elements you know that you could imbue?"


    "Hmmm¡­ I have rock magic, that starts as a small piece of dust, but it doesn''t help much"


    "Why?"


    "Because the projectile is not hollow, the dust I would imbue would just fall down at such speed, unlike fire that wraps itself on the projectile."


    Matthias, Gideon and Andrei brainstormed on possible applications of magic to the bullets, but they couldn''t figure out anything that was on Gideon''s magic arsenal.


    "Ahhh, this is taking too long, aye! I''m feeling sleepy already!" Matthias yawned as he sat on the wooden chair, while Gideon and Andrei still had a productive argument on how to use the bullets with magic.


    At the end of the day, they couldn''t figure it out, so Andrei entrusted Gideon to find some ways by researching with some of the books he has on his home.


    The development of arms was a partnership between Kydus and Ethareri, in exchange for Andrei''s knowledge on weapons, Gideon promised to impart training to the knights and help develop the weapons Andrei made, Matthias, on the other hand, would be in charge of making a physical prototype of the ideas thought up by the two


    The sun came down and stars slowly appeared on the skies, Andrei was sighing as he was walking to the room, not being able to find out about magic, on his way he found the garden magical garden, attracted by the purple lights that were floating, he decided to take a break at the bench before going back to his room to make more drafts on some inventions he thinks he could make, after the flintlock, it became harder for him to improve it.


    "It''s not that easy huh¡­ well, I''m not a scientist after all" He said to himself as he sat on the bench and of the lovely garden with his arms spread on the rails, since Claire was still in recovery and he couldn''t see her, he missed her so much that it left a void in his heart.


    He couldn''t deny the fear of losing her that was consuming him every day that passed by, the same way as he lost his ex, he remembered the instances when she smiled at him that calmed his soul, and the night when she wrapped him in her thin arms.


    As he thought about it, he felt his chest tightening, the day was long and each day he would think about her and worry, even when he kept himself busy. He closed his eyes and rested, and suddenly memories of the night when Claire invited him for a drink came rushing to his mind, the memories that he had forgotten before he set off into battle.

 71 The Forgotten Nights

    Claire took Andrei by the hand with a bottle of wine in her hands, Andrei felt her thin hands wrapping around his, and noticed its gentleness and warmth, her black summer dress fluttering, showing her thighs, as she walked.


    When they reached the garden, there was a mat, laid on the floor in front of the bench, Claire made him sit on the matt as she made some metal cups with her magic, she placed the cup and the bottle at the bench and gracefully sat in front of him she placed her knees on the floor and rest of her buttocks on the top of her feet.


    "Hey Claire, what is this all about?" Andrei sat casually in an Indian sit.


    "Nah, I just want to drown over my failures over wine," she replied sarcastically with a deadpan expression while pouring some wine on the cup she made and offered it to him.


    "What are you? An old man?" He took the cup from her and smelled it, "Oh, Claire this smells nice!" He made a bright smile as he looked at the wine, in Andrei''s college life, he would sometimes be invited on formal occasions, where pricey wines were served, he was able to identify that the wine poured to him was indeed of high quality just from the smell.


    "Really? That''s great, I''m glad you liked it," Claire poured some for herself too, and raised the cup.


    "What are we cheering for?" He asked her as he also held up his wine, cup not bumping it to hers yet.


    "For our safe return," she said softly as she made a brief smile and bumped her cup to him.


    [Clink] The sound of metals echoed in the garden.


    "For our safe return," Andrei replied and drank from his cup.


    After this part, everything was fuzzy and Andrie was roused up from his memories, as he felt someone was leaning at his shoulder, it was a girl with a golden hair that reached up to her waists as she wore a white summer dress, he didn''t recognized her at first, but seeing her sleeping face, it made his heart jump to see that it was Michaela, sleeping soundly.


    "Hey¡­ Michaela, why are you sleeping here? You''ll catch cold with that dress," he tried to shake her a bit.


    The girl slowly opened her eyes revealing her crystal-like irises, that looked gems when illuminated by the moon. She lightly rubbed her eyes and stared at him while half awake.


    "I''m tired," she told him as she rested her head on his shoulders, as a response Andrei hugged her with one arm as he stroked her head.


    "Really? Then¡­ good work for today," as he did this, Michaela felt safe and made a smooth smile, as droplets of tears appeared on her eyes, being soothed and protected by his fiance''s presence, taking away, even for a short time, the stress, pressure, and worry that she felt every day in her duties, while also waiting for the recovery of her beloved sister.


    When Michaela couldn''t take it anymore, she would usually go to see Andrei''s in his room and sleep with him, but when she saw he didn''t come back yet, she asked her maids who told her that Andrei was sleeping at the garden.


    "So, what is troubling you this time?" He asked while he kept stroking her head.


    "Well, lots of things, ironically thanks to the war Kydus paid us lots of gold and jewels, for their stay at our land, and the costs of the horses and metals for the swords of their knights, this boosted our treasury enabling us to maintain our green and brown soldiers salaries, plus the mining rights at some areas in their border, but managing these assets are a headache, no wonder Kydus is a large country and has lots of ministers"


    "Why don''t you do the same? I mean employing different ministers?"


    "Well, it''s a bit complicated-" Michaela elbowed him, "why are we talking about work stuff when I''m relaxing?"


    "Ouch, haha, well¡­ I just wanted to know about what''s bothering you"


    "Well, if it''s about that, what concerns me most is my sister, I haven''t seen her for weeks now, it makes me a bit¡­ anxious," as she spoke the words her eyes shook a bit and closed, Andrei who noticed it had an idea of what she was going through.


    Claire was Michaela''s only family left, it was natural for her to feel such worry. Andrei patted her at the back slowly not saying anything as he looked at the stars above them sparkling.


    "When do you think we can see her?" she murmured in a small voice.


    "I''m sure you''ll see her soon," Andrei reassured her as he kissed her in the head.


    "Why are you being so kind to me now, but you avoid me when I try to be aggressive?," she puffed her cheeks, remembering her many aggressive attempts to Andrei, sometimes she would attack him in his sleep or through their every day interactions, but Andrei would find a way to avoid it.


    "You''re so beautiful yet you are so aggressive to someone like me, I''m not even that good looking, plus you are a queen right? You need to stop doing those things," he turned the hand that stroked her hair into a chop and softly chopped her head with it.


    "I can''t help it, sometimes my appetite for you go to this level, that I can''t take it anymore"


    "Uahh, you''re scary Michaela"


    "Don''t worry I don''t have the appetite for you tonight"


    The two looked at each other and smiled, forgetting about the magnificent view in front of them, to them, the sight of the smiles on each other''s faces was more attractive and magical than anything around them.


    Michaela, who told him that she didn''t have an appetite for him, was driven by her desire to make him hers, she negated her sentence with her actions just seconds after she said it, as her hand slid on Andrei''s neck towards the back of his head, and slowly pressed her lips to his. Andrei this time didn''t feel the need to avoid her, seeing how sincere she was in baring her feelings, pulled by her tantalizing eyes that relayed her love to him.


    The purple lights, like happy fairies, danced around them as the two let out their affection for each other. Andrei pulled her and wrapped his arms around her hips and Michaela hanged her arms at his shoulders. Her insistent mouth parted his shaking lips, as it sent wild tremors along his nerves, evoking from sensations he had never known he was capable of feeling. And before a swimming giddiness spun him round and round, Andrei knew that he was kissing her back.


    "I thought you didn''t have an appetite for me tonight?" He whispered to her as they parted.


    "Sorry, I lost control," she replied with a bright smile that suited her golden hair, which became a bit messy from their intense kiss.


    "I''m sleepy, I should go back to my room," Andrei told her as he turned away to hide his face that was blushing.


    "Then I should go too"


    They stood up and held hands as they walked back inside the castle, then they found the maids lining up with their ears that were red.


    Andrei who knew one of the maids by name went near to her and asked her.


    "Celeste, why do you all have the same expressions?"


    "N-N-No your highness, T-This is just from¡­ " she looked at her colleagues for help, but they just ignored her.


    "Don''t tell me¡­ " Andrei could assume what they had seen to cause such redness and blushing at their faces, Michaela crossed her arms and walked ahead of him.


    Andrei facepalmed in realization and went back to his room, and covered himself with a blanket and within it shouted with all his will.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH DAMNNNNN THAT WAS EMBARRASSING!"


    ¡­


    The morning after, Gideon arrived at his front door with a smile on his face, crossing his arms. He was still in his sleeping clothes while the middle-aged viscount wore his usual flashy attire.


    "What?" Andrei told him as he rubbed his eyes and yawned.


    "I have some good news for you"


    "What good news?"


    Then Gideon gave him a small ball that looked transparent, it was the same size as the projectile except that it looked brittle.


    Curious about what''s in it, he picked it with his thumb and index finger and peered through it by closing one eye, inside it, he saw a flame icon rotating and glowing inside it.


    "Is this¡­ a marble?" he asked him, but before Gideon could answer, it slipped through his finger and fell on the floor. "Ah," at a speed it dropped on the floor and unnaturally broke into tiny specks of dust.


    [Boom!]


    Flames appeared on where it dropped and it scattered on Andrei''s floor.


    "Andrei you idiot! Why did you drop it!" The middle-aged man panicked and took out his wand.


    Andrei stepped backward as he saw the flames, the flames were the same color as Gideon''s phoenix and it reached up to his knees.


    "Gideon could this be? A new type of bullet?" He asked as he stared at it blankly.


    "Yes it is but forgets about that for now! You''re gonna get roasted inside if you stay there!"


    "Huh?.... Ahhhh! Gideon idiot! Why did you bring it here in the first place!" Andrei came to his senses finally.


    "Shut up! I''m casting!" Gideon''s incantation was broken and he had to start anew.


    "Gideon it''s coming to my room you idiot! I''m gonna tell Layla about this!"


    Andrei backed as the flames went closer to him and was cornered at the wall behind the door. But suddenly a cold breeze turned the flames off, taking shape of the flames it extinguished. Andrei made a sigh of relief but at the same time nerves popped into his head for Gideon bringing the dangerous item to his room, but it was also his fault for dropping it.


    "Whewww Gideon, if you didn''t have that ice magic, I''d be toast now! Next time don''t bring something dangerous inside the castle!" He protested while still being surrounded by ice.


    "Huh? It''s not me though?" The middle-aged man was still halfway through his incantation.


    "Then where did it come from?" He searched his room and saw that Michaela was under his blanket, looking at him irritatedly, half only showing her head and shoulders.


    Seeing this he panicked and shut the door, so Gideon couldn''t see her. And then put his body behind the door.


    "Gideon, shooo"


    "Why?"


    "Just wait for me at the grounds," he pointed towards the end of the hall.


    "Okay, whew whew, such a popular guy we have here" Gideon could read the expression on Andrei''s face.


    "Go away"


    The middle-aged viscount gave up and disappeared from the hall. Andrei returned back to his room and saw the bulge inside the blanket.


    "So Michaela, why are you here again in my room? And not wearing anything at all? Don''t tell me?" He asked slowly as he crossed his arms and closed his eyes to remember what happened during his sleep but he couldn''t remember anything.


    Michaela showed her flushed face and didn''t answer, "Andrei, you pervert" she spoke under the blanket.


    "Why? Why do you call me like that? I didn''t do anything right?"


    Still Michaela didn''t answer, so he asked once again.


    "I didn''t do¡­ anything right?"


    Michaela''s response was to hide under the blanket, Andrei also saw her clothes at the top of his bed on the side where he slept, it was the white one-piece outfit she wore yesterday.


    "Don''t tell me I did something to her in my sleep?" He thought to himself, as he has forgotten another night.

 72 Seeing Claire

    I went outside the room confused about what happened to Michaela and me, but still, nothing registers into my mind, it''s not that I am forgetful, more like I was so tired that I immediately fell asleep, if Claire was there, I''m afraid that metalworks would have been flying at me endlessly.


    Then, at the moment I thought of her, I felt my chest burning in anxiousness.


    "What if she doesn''t wake up?"


    The thought registered into my mind and stabbed like a dagger into my heart, maybe I was too traumatized of being powerless again, I don''t want to fight for someone I love again, against an enemy I know I can''t defeat. Just thinking of being in the same position again, I felt my body engulfed in coldness, that it made me hold my arm to suppress it.


    "No, nothing bad will happen again, but still its been weeks already, why can''t they even show her to us?" I muttered angrily as I walked through the hall towards the training grounds to meet up with Gideon, not just for the new bullet that created the accident, but to also ask about Claire, the waiting time has been taking a toll on me and Michaela.


    "Hey Andrei, its been hell in there huh?" before I knew it have already arrived at the training grounds, on the section where we can test out our weapons, I''d like to avoid setting fire on those stakes again, and garner the animosity of the knights, I heard the voice of the energetic viscount, isn''t he too excited? I''m gonna tell Layla about what he did earlier, so he can get scolded.


    "Yes, thanks to you," I annoyingly crossed my arms and glared at him. Why are you brightly smiling when it''s your entire fault, is he really a noble? He''s not as cranky as those nobles I met regularly when following Michaela around which is a relief. But thanks to him, I almost got roasted inside my room.


    "So, what was that bullet earlier?"


    I asked him, to verify the details about the bullet, magic to me seems to be surreal, I don''t know the laws around it, so my old world knowledge is useless on this part. I have to rely on this overly enthusiastic viscount who seemed to be proficient in it.


    "Yeah, it''s a magic stone, that I carved to look like a bullet, remember those swords of the magic knights? It''s something like that"


    "But doesn''t it have to be channeled with magic in order to set off?"


    "Yes, but the stone itself packs some power that has been stored in it through time, when you told me to research about how to imbue magic to the bullet, I thought that it might be very inefficient because the magic imbued would eventually wear off, but these stones although expensive have magic sleeping on it that can be awakened through channeling mana to it, or by destroying it completely where the base element of the stone gets out, just like the fire that you have witnessed earlier"


    "Well, that''s awesome, but I hope this stone wouldn''t break during firing, or else it would be a catastrophe for the shooter" in the table beside Gideon, I saw stones lined up and the gun and I gave him, I inspected them one by one, inside the perfect sphere there were icons with colors and shapes I recognize; wind, lightning, flames, light, and flames the same one that I dropped ealrlier.


    "Gideon, can you tell me what happens when each of them breaks?"


    "Want to try it yourself?"


    He took the gun I gave him and handed it to me,


    "Don''t worry, it won''t break within the gun, trust me!" he smiled brightly at me, seeing that he''s confident I took the bullet that I was familiar with, the flames bullet, judging on what I have seen this morning, when this breaks, the target should be engulfed with flames.


    I load it to the gun and got ready to fire, and I aimed at the nearest target when I was sure of my aim I pulled the trigger.


    [Bang!]


    The sound of the gun echoed once again in the training grounds, the bullet traveled at a high speed and hit the wooden target burying itself to it, with the force applied to it, the bullet turned into dust and flames appeared on the wooden target,


    "Awesome, it works Gideon! This will do!" I was astonished to see what happened, and thinking of the choices of the bullets, this will become a great asset for the Ethareri! I looked at Gideon who for some reason was overjoyed of what he saw, didn''t he have tested this already? Isn''t this the reason why he let me test it?


    "Amazing! It really did not break during firing!"


    Wait... What did I just hear? Did he just make me a guinea pig?! Unbelievable! This insane viscount, what would happen if it indeed exploded in my gun! This idiot! Come to think about it, he doesn''t even know how to load the gun yesterday.


    I was about to protest when I saw the other bullets, there was still wind, lightning, and land, I became curious about what it can do. I took the lightning bullet and loaded it to see how it would work.


    [Bang!]


    The bullet buried at the target practice and a surge of lightning engulfed it, that lasted for a half minute. The scene looks familiar, it looks like those rifle stun guns they use at the US, except that this doesn''t have that safe voltage, once someone is hit with this, he would either die of the lightning or have wounds all over and would be taken of his ability to reproduce.


    Next, I loaded the wind bullet, and shot it, what happened next surprised me, the target practice that the bullet hit, was engulfed by a gale and was uprooted, and flew, and was never seen again as it made a farewell spark in the sky.


    While I''m doing this Gideon was making strange noises of amazement, but I''ll ignore it, out of respect for him in discovering the use of magic stones and turning it into these bullets.


    Finally, I tested the bullet with the earth icon, I''m curious about what will happen, will the earth rise and form a wall? Unlike the previous tests, I have no idea about the form of the release of magic energy from it.


    The earth element in anime and movies to me looks bland and was rarely the element being used the main protagonists, so I''m really not that excited when it comes to this bullet. But I''ll test it anyway. I immediately loaded the bullet to the gun and shot it.


    [Bang!]


    What happened next was the opposite of what I thought, the bullet broke when it hit the target practice and in its place appeared a large boulder that, crushed the target practices, and rammed over the targets behind it until an unfortunate tree hit it and stopped its momentum! Isn''t this like artillery?


    "Hey Gideon! How many of these can we make in a week?"


    My eyes shined on his discovery, this middle-aged guy is really smart isn''t he? It doesn''t show on his face though.


    Well, I don''t even know how Matthias even made those metals into those shapes, but I can remember him huffing angrily to me, complaining about how hard it was to make the mold for it when I placed the order to cover for the number of green soldiers.


    Each soldier was given at least fifty bullets to budget, and they were put into specific positions in their body so they can get the bullets if a fellow soldier was to die in the battlefield, luckily none of them died, and the supply line wasn''t cut off making it easy to transport additional bullets and gunpowder.


    But still, bullets are valuable and hard to make, if those metal bullets were hard to make I can''t imagine the struggles in making these from expensive magic stones.


    "Make? well, it depends on the number of magic stones, plus the crafting process, so about ten bullets per week"


    "Crafting process? Ahhh, so it wasn''t you who made this into a perfect sphere... how is this possible in the first place?"


    "Ahh, I made that order from magic craftsmen in Kydus,"


    As I expected from this lazy middle-aged viscount.


    "Really? How much does it cost?"


    The viscount went silent and put up one finger.


    "A silver? That''s cheaper than expected"


    According to what I know in this world''s currency system, 1000 coppers equals 1 silver, 100 silvers are equal to 1 gold, I don''t know if there is any currency beyond that, but I remember Kydus transferring lots of gold to Ethareri, a single metal bullet costs about 500 coppers, Michaela should approve the budget, it''s for defense anyway, in my past world it would have gone through government to government procurement to purchase defense articles, but strangely in this world, the head of the state has the last say, so as long as she maintains good relations with Rara, Kydus''s head of the state, Michaela should be able to make continuous orders.


    "Silver? It''s gold though?"


    "W-W-What? That''s expensive! Come to think about it, there are only a few magic knights in Ethareri..."


    "Yes, they aren''t meant to be disposable after all, but there''s currently a surplus of magic stones due to the death of many Kydus knights lots of magic stones were taken from their swords, if the timing is right you should be able to buy them for a cheaper price, but they differ in size, the bigger the stones, the more bullets we can deform from it, and they are sold according to their elements, then in exchange for guns, Kydus would help in producing the bullets, it''s fair right?"


    I can''t follow him anymore, but I can''t trust him being deciding things about trade, so I''ll leave it to the old prime ministers and Michaela, if only my buddy Kazu was there he could do the maths, but that stuff is outside my specialty.


    While lost in discussing the magic bullets, I nearly forgot about the question I needed to ask him the most.


    "Gideon, I think it''s about time... to tell me about Claire''s condition? I really appreciate all the work you and Layla have done so far for our recovery, but we have been feeling anxious these days, we can''t even see her, its been weeks already, at least just let me see her even from a window would be enough"


    Wanting a serious answer, I put up a grim expression and as if my thoughts have been relayed to him, the same expression appeared on his face.


    "Okay, I understand, but let me tell you one thing... "


    He closed his eyes, steeling himself as if it was something hard for him to say, I remember the same expression from Ann''s parent''s faces when they told me that she had cancer, I felt my heart sinking, thinking about it, it''s like having a premonition.


    "What? Just tell me quickly!"


    "... Claire, have already recovered, she is just sleeping, and not waking up, Layla will explain the rest"


    "What the hell does that mean? So she''s in a coma? Then why can''t we visit her!"


    I raised my voice without thinking, due to the emotions I have been holding in, seeing the viscounts expression unchanged I realized I took back my composure as I inhaled deeply and look at him in the eyes unwavering waiting for an answer.


    "Because, she has been cursed... right? Gideon?"


    The answer didn''t come from the man himself but from a sobbing voice behind me, when I turned around it was Michaela, standing drenched in her tears, as she sobbed and held herself in her arms.

 73 To Lift The Curse

    "Why are you crying?"


    I asked Michaela who suddenly showed up behind me, why do you look so sad? Cursed? What does that mean? I glared at the viscount, in front of me.


    "What''s this about Claire being cursed? Hey Gideon tell me!"


    "Yes, indeed, her highness Claire has been cursed, and that''s why even when Layla''s magic can heal her physically, she still won''t wake up, it''s not that we are hiding the situation, we just needed confirmation.


    Her wounds were supposed to be healed already physically, however, she still won''t come back to us, Layla needed at least a month to confirm the existence of the curse and today is the last day, that''s why her majesty Michaela also arrived at the same conclusion"


    Really? So I''m the only one that doesn''t know, so Michaela has been having that fear of waiting, while I''m here knowing nothing, why didn''t I sense it? If she was suffering that much, why didn''t she rely on me?


    Questions popped up into my mind, as I saw Michaela slowly breaking down,I have lots of questions to ask her, but she was already breaking down herself. I couldn''t ask her in her current state, the blue skies slowly replaced by dark clouds and raindrops poured from the heavens.


    "Gideon¡­ tell me more about the curse, it''s something you and Layla can cure right? I don''t know anything about magic but it can be cured right?!" I muttered as I was slowly being bathed in the raindrops unable to move, its as if a past trauma was slapped in front of me, telling me that it''s my fate to lose the ones that I love.


    "The curse was inflicted on her soul, it severed the connection to her physical body, although her soul is still there, if she passes on, her body will just be a husk of her former self, and will be a state similar to death.


    The reason why we couldn''t let any visitors at that point was that Layla was taking precautions, if indeed she was cursed the protection magic she cast wont to let her soul disintegrate yet.


    Cure¡­ we don''t know any cure at the moment, the dark elves are masters on arts humans know nothing about, it might be better if we see Layla right now, she''ll be able to answer your question.


    But if this continues, her highness Claire will most likely¡­ die"


    The faces of the doctors telling me that Ann''s surgery would go well, popped into my mind, they were liars, in the end, Ann didn''t come out alive from the operating room, I loathed those faces so much that I cursed them in my heart, and this time it''s happening again, but this time I''m confronted with the truth - the cure doesn''t exist.


    A comforting lie and hurtful truth, even which it is, it crushes your soul when it''s for someone you love.


    I felt my knees wobbling, I dropped to the ground at my knees, as I remembered Claire''s faces, since coming to this world, she has always been at my side, she even healed the wounds that I got from my former world, although she was always throwing something at me, when we are alone she was always thoughtful, understood and cared for me the best way that an awkward girl like her could, she was the one who calmed the storm inside me, a storm that I myself created due to my hurtful past, thanks to her I was slowly finally able to love myself once again and be able to fall in love with her.


    Just imagining living in the world without Claire, struck intense fear within my heart, I covered my mouth tightly and closed my eyes in order to stop my tears from falling, but little I know that it already did, all I could do was I breath out in rapid succession in order to suppress my heart that was slowly breaking inside.


    "No¡­ it couldn''t be, Claire would die?" my eyes wandered towards Michaela who curled herself up, not showing her face, but seeing her face earlier and knowing that she already had clues of what was happening to her one and only family, she must be suffering way worse than I am, way back and right now that it has been confirmed.


    I gritted my teeth as I stood up, it''s not the time to fall into despair, think Andrei Spia, you need more information, you shouldn''t give up, you don''t want Claire to die right? You don''t want to see Michaela in that state right? Stand up!


    I looked at Gideon who could only stare down, it must have been hard for him to be ambushed by my question and to be the one to break the bad news, however, it was thanks to this man that Claire is barely hanging, and for that I find him to be a reliable comrade and a true friend.


    It''s much easier to confront a hurtful truth, at least one thing is different from Ann and Claire''s situation; First this world has magic, the cure hasn''t been found yet, but if we can find it, Claire''s recovery isn''t impossible, next, the existence of Layla and Gideon and finally, it''s called a curse for a reason, I don''t want to believe in fairytales but a curse is meant to be lifted


    "Gideon¡­ can you take me to Layla?" , The viscount slowly stared into my eyes, don''t feel bad, it''s not your fault, in fact, I am very thankful to you old man.


    "Got it, will her majesty Michaela also accompany us?" But when we saw Michaela, she was still sitting on the grass, with her hands on her knees, her face hidden under it as she sobbed.


    Hearing no answer from her, Gideon and I decided to go on our own and entrusted Michaela to the maid''s Celeste and Clarissa.


    "Sorry, Michaela, don''t worry I''ll be back soon"


    I told her without waiting for her reply.


    ¡­


    We got out of the carriage Gideon provided and went towards a two-floor Inn, where Layla and Gideon were staying, it was at this Inn where Claire is being treated, around the building there was a presence of Kydus and Ethareri knights patrolling, making sure no one would come near the building.


    We were greeted by Gideon''s loyal servants, Eagle and Raven, it''s been long since I saw them on the battlefield when I gave them instructions on how to carpet bomb the enemies. When they saw me, they put their hands in their chests and made a slight bow, and didn''t say anything, it seemed that they could read my mood well.


    After entering the inn, we were guided into a room on the first level, where Layla was waiting. When we entered Layla was in her ladylike clothes, she wore a pretty sleeveless dress with rose patterns on it, she greeted her husband with a warm hug, it seems that they are intimate when he saw me he made a slight curtsy and offered me a seat.


    "I thank you for coming here your highness Andrei, I''m sorry about the trouble my idiot husband has caused, but it''s better that you are here so I can explain more about her highness Claire''s situation"


    Layla told me about Claire''s curse, and how potent it was, it was due to her wounds that the dark elf was able to cast a curse before dying, the rest was about the situation of her soul, all she could do was construct a successive healing barrier to stop the threads keeps her soul and her physical body connected as such no humans were allowed, as it may cause interference with the magic she was casting, at her explanation a question popped into my head, desperate to see Claire.


    "Can I ask a question, please don''t take it badly but why can only you be allowed, you are a human like us right?"


    At my question the couple went stiff for some reason. In my question Gideon tried to stand up as if trying to tell me something but Layla held his hand stopping him.


    "It''s okay, I''m sure Andrei will understand," she told him. It seems that Gideon was trying to protect her from something.


    Layla put her hands together and muttered a spell.


    ["Rimb?- kal, Spirits of light, Reveal my true self and remove my disguise, Mirror of Light"]


    Layla''s figure glowed and I closed my eyes due to the intense light. When I opened my eyes again, I saw Layla but something was different about her, she now had pointy ears and her eyes emitted a faint green light, other than that her appearance did not change much.


    "I can go near her, because I''m not human, I am a light elf," she told me with a slight smile. Gideon knelt in front of me as he pleaded.


    "My wife¡­ is not human, so I hope that you''ll keep this to yourself Andrei"


    As a stranger to this world, I don''t have much knowledge about races, I haven''t read the scriptures that was rumored to have knowledge about the other races, but one thing is certain, due to the light in her eyes, and the pointy ears, and the complexion that changed so much into pale, I knew that what she was saying was true and indeed she was a light elf.


    Although I was surprised, I was desperately looking for answers.


    "I see, so you''re a light elf huh, it''s okay Gideon stop doing that, I don''t intend to do harm to my last pillar of hope," I told Gideon and immediately faced the light elf Layla in front of me, "then is really Claire''s situation that hopeless?"


    The two looked startled that I immediately went into business, and the fact that I just took their reveal lightly, to be honest I was quite surprised, but I already saw the elf-commander up close, Ms. Layla''s appearance was beautiful compared to the grotesque appearance of the dark-elf-commander.


    "Actually, there isn''t a cure, but to end a curse there''s only one thing to be done"


    "And what is that?"


    "To find the source of the curse and kill it, which means, one has to go to the dark-elves realm and destroy it"


    In fairy tales, to lift a curse, the prince would usually, have to kiss the princess, would go through the thorny barricade, or would have to kidnap her from the tower by climbing her hair, but in my story, I guess I may have to go against a whole country or realm. What can a single human like me even do?


    But for the person I love, nothing is impossible.

 74 Dangerous Journey

    "How do I get there!? Please tell me Ms. Layla!"


    "First, to explain, there are currently other worlds than this world, Midgard, that exists, ¡­ or how do I describe it, domains, lands¡­ land of the light elves Alvheim, the dark elves and dwarves Svartalvheim, land of the giants Jotunheim, land of the fire beings Muspelheim, and finally the land of the dead Helheim, these worlds are ruled by the tree of Yggdrasil, the worlds are connected one into another level by level, it comes into this order; humans, light elves, dark elves, fire beings, and the dead, in order to reach the dark elves one needs to pass through the land of the light elves, which is currently¡­ already a colony of the dark elves. If you want to save her highness Claire, our little hope is that the source of the curse welling in Claire''s body is in that territory"


    What is this? Norse mythology? If it''s Norse then there should be a world missing right? The land of gods¡­ Asgard, but that isn''t something I should worry right now, Claire is in danger, I have to do something about it immediately.


    "I see, then being a light elf you are what they call¡­ a refugee right? You are taking refuge here in Midgard"


    Layla looked surprised at my ability to take in her outrageous explanation almost immediately, but aside from the resemblance of the world to the Norse mythology famous in my world, I think she had no reason to lie to me - as a result, I am able to believe her in her explanation easily.


    "Tell me Ms. Layla, how do I get there? "


    It''s all or nothing, even how unrealistic it is, right now if there''s a way, I don''t feel like stopping.


    "Andrei! Don''t tell me!"


    "Chill Gideon, don''t overreact I''m just gathering information":


    Gideon losing his cool is rare, but it''s the right response for that kind of question, he guessed my intent and may have thought of it as reckless but I don''t plan to go without a plan, that''s why I need to know.


    "There''s a portal, and I have the key to it, but only light elves can go through it, if we tweak it for humans, at best I can send a few persons to go through, which means we can''t send an army, I''m telling this only because we owe you very much for the reclamation of Kydus and protecting us in our escape, but I advise against going-"


    "But Ms. Layla Claire is-"


    "Think about it Andrei, will her highness Claire be happy if you save her that way? Will her majesty Michaela even agree? You may be in a high after defeating the dark-elves with your ideas, and inventions, but the time you set foot at the light elves territory what you will meet is a world destroyed by dark-elves with all of them occupying the majority of the lands, have you seen how the humans that were possessed transformed into? That was just a fraction of their force, this time you will be facing more of them, and they won''t have any restriction in their magic, a vast difference to how you faced them before! As a woman, if I were her highness Claire, if you truly love her you won''t throw your life so easily.


    The paths between worlds only occur when there is an alignment between the bridges that connect to it, it happens only once yearly in the human world, once you are in you can''t come back until I open it again, and that will be after another year, our communication from here will be severed, 99% it will be only then a one-way trip, you won''t be able to come back. "


    Layla made me realize that what I was thinking was far too naive, I was only able to win because of the people behind me; the people of Ethraeri and Kydus, Michaela, Rara, Gideon, Layla, Claire, and Erneis. I didn''t do the miracle all by myself, everyone did their role perfectly if I was thrown into the land or world she just described a man who doesn''t even know magic, its the same as throwing my life for nothing.


    "Then, are there other alternatives?"


    I tried asking for alternatives since she''s so against it, then there may be a loophole we can use so that Claire may still live.


    "I''m sad to say Andrei, but nothing, there''s nothing we can do at the moment, all we can do is wait for a miracle"


    There are no alternatives after all, and a miracle? I tried relying on that, I was powerless and I tried to pray for a miracle to heal Ann, but there was nothing. It''s foolish to wish for such a miracle in a godless world, even if there''s one I doubt he would give that easily, god sometimes plays favorites.


    Ms. Layla looks sad, she must have been shouldering the responsibility since she has been entrusted to heal Claire, she''s also desperate, I can tell from the look in her eyes, she wants to save her but she couldn''t. Feeling obligated to me, she told me the solution at the same time, gravely warns and stops me from doing it - however the situation doesn''t change if we maintain the status quo, there''s no cure. If that''s the case, then am I okay with just waiting? No, I know I have to do something.


    Fate! God! Whatever or whoever you are! You''re not going to take someone away from me this time, the situation right now is different, something can be done, it may be risky and dangerous, and I may not even live before I can do something, but at least its better than doing nothing.


    I made my decision, I''m not going to let Claire die, thinking about it, this isn''t even my original world, I have come from far far away, I do not belong here, and I may have died already in my old world which may be the reason why I was sent here for some reason or coincidence.


    If that''s the case, the answer should be clear, I who comes from a different world have no business in preserving my life. Claire has yet to live her life fully, she is kind enough to die, of course, I am afraid, since fighting those beings, it still shakes me deep into my core, but Claire and Michaela, those two kept me going, together with the people here who accepted me for who I am.


    At least in return, I have to give back a thousand folds of what they gave, even how tiny hope there. This time I won''t be powerless, I will save Claire from her curse, and save Michaela from her sadness, Claire who''s just like the moon and pretty stars becoming my light in my darkness, Michaela who''s like the sun, who keeps me motivated, and gives me the courage to live another day with a smile - although they may not realize it, these two helped me a lot.


    I looked at Layla who had a worried look on my face, I think she told me that she has the key because she unconsciously still believes that I may be able to do something. I look at Gideon next to her who also has the same expression, it''s priceless, just how perfect are these two? They even have the same expressions.


    "Ms. Layla, I want to save her¡­ I don''t want her to remain at that state forever, if that''s the only solution to this problem, then I''ll willingly do it, I may be just a fragile human, without a single speck of talent or mana, but I think I''ll go after all"


    "I see¡­ it seems that you have made your mind already huh? No matter what, the desire to save your love comes first before everything huh¡­ I admire that. And it seems me and my idiot husband can''t stop you anymore, with that look in your eyes.


    Then at the new moon, thirty days from now the bridges between Midgard and Alvheim will align again with each other, please prepare by then, you can bring up to two companions to accompany you, please get ready and prepare everything you need by then.


    And you also need to talk about this to your fiance her highness Michaela"


    Ms. Layla''s tone was a bit stern, it may be due to my persistence, or maybe my feelings to save Claire got through her, I understand where she is coming from, and if something bad happens to me, she might end up carrying the burden and responsibility, I thank her from the bottom of my heart.


    After the serious talk, I excitedly discussed with Gideon on mass-producing bullets at the end of the month so I can use them, those magic bullets will increase my survivability role, and also I set with them some appointments when I could learn more about Alvheim and some common knowledge I need to know from his wife Layla, which also increases my survivability rate and ensures that I am on track to destroying the device.


    As the couple talked about what I need to get ready, I stared at the stairs of the inn that goes to the second floor.


    Claire, don''t worry, soon enough you''ll be lowkey dissing me again, you who saved me from my darkness when I came into this world, this time I will be the one who''ll do the saving.


    "I can''t wait to hear your deadpan responses and your smile once again," I muttered.


    Now that I found a lead to Claire''s recovery, I have to prepare for the long and uncertain journey, and the first thing to do is to ask permission from Michaela, the one who took me in - she has the authority over me, but in her current state will she even answer to my question? I''m afraid she might even want to come.


    After that will then be choosing my travel buddies, it''s a hard task, who would risk themselves for someone they barely know? Even if they did know Claire do they even have the same strong feelings to be in such a suicide mission?


    Unlike the last battles where the odds are calculable, the upcoming battles may be very different, in that world where the dark-elves are at their full strength. But what about the light-elves? Since Alvheim is their land or domain, then I might be able to ask for help.

 75 Farewell, Michaela

    I, the queen of the Kingdom of Ethareri, Michaela Acirendra, holds some people dear in my heart, first my sister Claire Acirendra, we have different mothers but since we were children she was always there for me by my side after my father''s death, being there with me I didn''t feel alone, she was also one of the reasons why I became as what they say - a just and magnanimous queen, being next to me protecting me and learning with me.


    Next is Andrei Spia, my fiance, although it''s sketchy from where he came from, he was the one who saved me when I was about to be captured, and helped me in lots of things by going as far to go in missions and even in a war, winning it by using his peculiar inventions and unique ideas.


    But after the war against the dark forces, I overheard Gideon talking to Andrei who was asking desperately about Claire''s situation, based on how Gideon answered him there''s only one conclusion, Claire has been affected by a curse, which was why she won''t wake up.


    Hearing it, I felt like the whole world came crashing down upon me, I couldn''t imagine my little sister dying in front of me. I lost all my strength and fell down to my knees, as I felt my heart sinking. Andrei and Gideon seem to be telling me something, but I choose not to answer, no¡­ my mind is just full of thoughts and fears and I was being overwhelmed by it.


    I have already lost my father at a young age, and the thought of my little sister, my last remaining family dying, it sent chills all over to my body, I couldn''t speak, I couldn''t feel, my head was full of thoughts, and my heart was in pain. It seems too unrealistic, Erneis, the loyal knight who has served us since my father, whom I treated like an uncle figure, have died recently by the hands of the dark-elves, and now, they will take my little sister?


    "No¡­ No... NOOO!!!!" I screamed as the rain covered my surroundings, it echoed in the surroundings just like the roar of thunder, I felt was I was breaking inside. The maids tried to take me to a shelter but I refused, I wanted to be alone.


    O God, how many more loved ones will I lose? Is it my fate to lose the ones that I love the most? As I questioned the almighty the memories came back, as I was in my father''s deathbed, at the age of 10 as he patted my head.


    "Michaela, Erneis here will find Claire for you, she is your little sister, and your last remaining family, be a good older sister to her okay?"


    He told me, but father¡­ for the sake of the people, I endangered her life, and now her life is hanging in the balance, a curse done by an unknown power would be a curse uncurable.


    I screamed, again and again, punching the wall near me.


    "Claire¡­ no¡­ this can''t be happening¡­ AHHHHHGGG... hah.. hah.. hah... AHGGG!!!"


    I screamed to let out the pain I was feeling, but it was suddenly stopped by the gentle warm arms embraced me from behind, as he buried his face at my shoulder, held the hand that was bleeding due to me punching the wall, and whispered to my ears.


    "Michaela¡­ it''s okay, it''s okay, Claire¡­ Claire will be okay"


    This voice, this warmth, it''s him, my fiance, the one and only man I and my sister loves, Andrei¡­ are you gonna save us again this time? How many times am I gonna be saved by you? I was supposed to be the queen, but you¡­ a stranger who came from nowhere is risking your life for me and the people around me¡­ yes, you have been doing it since the beginning.


    I turned back to him as I clutched on his arms and showed him my face as tears were flowing from it, but it couldn''t be seen, as the rain was taking it along with it, however, as if knowing I was crying, he still wiped off the tears in my face, with a caring and loving gaze.


    "Really? Claire''s gonna be saved? My little sister is gonna be saved?"


    I asked him to confirm that the words he said were true, all he showed me was a peaceful smile that suited his dark hair and eyes.


    "Yes¡­ she will leave, I will make it happen"


    "Really? You''re not lying right? You''re not just saying this to comfort me right?"


    I asked him, I don''t want to have false hopes, he told me his answer by getting closer and hugging me tighter.


    "Yes Michaela, don''t worry, everything will be alright, Claire¡­ Claire will live definitely"


    "Sorry... for being such a useless Queen, don''t leave me¡­ Andrei, please¡­ don''t leave¡­ me, please"


    "No¡­ it''s because of you that I had the motivation and will to live¡­ here in this world, because of you I didn''t feel lonely, because of you I had a chance to redeem myself, if it weren''t for you I didn''t have the chance to be able to make these wonderful encounters and memories and I was able to find new people whom I can call friends. In such a beautiful world you became the sun, and Claire became the moon, and as I decided and as I promised Erneis, I will take care of you too from now on, so for that, I will make sure Claire¡­ Claire comes back to you¡­ "


    O God, Is he your answer to my prayers? Such a wonderful embrace during the cold rainy afternoon, that warmed up my withered spirit, and filled me up with such a wonderful feeling of love, yes I can feel his love for me overflowing through his embrace. Do I even deserve such love? When all I did for him was cause problems?


    Unconvinced that Claire might not be returning I asked him desperately to stay, but he didn''t tell me he would, but I just ignored the fact and hugged him tightly without saying any word, without asking how he would do it, on that day he only reassured me that he would do it until I was able to fall asleep in his arms comfortably as the rain covered us, never did I think that it meant he was going away, without telling me.


    The next day he disappeared, leaving only papers of instructions to maintain the green and brown soldiers, manuals and blueprints of his new inventions to be tried out by the blacksmiths, and some recipes for the sweets that he thinks I will enjoy.


    I asked the maids, and they say that they saw him leaving with his battle outfit, it also didn''t feel odd to them. I also asked the Kydus representative Gideon whom he talked to yesterday, but they didn''t tell me anything, they seem to know something but I guess Andrei made a gag deal with them. I can''t get anything from them no matter how much I shook Gideon, being a representative of another country I have no authority to force out the information from him. Unlike Andrei who doesn''t understand nobles, I have my position to consider, it''s frustrating... did he also predict this?


    I held into my chest the papers that he poured all his soul into, with the sweets recipe at the front page, as I reminisce the times when we happily ate ice cream at the kitchen, with happy smiles on our faces


    "... but how can I enjoy this¡­ without you, who left me without any words, not even a farewell in the notes you left, Andrei¡­ "


    But as I held it a small piece of paper fell from it, I picked it up and flipped it and there was a message written on it.


    "Learn how to bake that yourself, when I come back, and let''s eat these sweets together with Claire"


    .....


    I, Andrei Spia, decided to leave Ethareri early and went towards Kydus with Eagle and Raven accompanying me, it''s a bit earlier than the planned 30 days but after what Michaela told me, during that rainy afternoon, I can''t stay there anymore, if I would she wouldn''t let me go, or worst she would come with me.


    Without Michaela at its heart Ethareri would surely crumble, it''s almost a year since I have been with them but it feels like I''ve been there with them for a lifetime. Really, time flies when you are with the right people.


    In the 30 days, I would be trained by Gideon and his men in fighting and magic, although it was confirmed that I had no mana to begin with, I still have my gun with magic bullets in it, that alone gives me the need to understand magic as a whole and increase my odds of surviving a bit before I go to Alvheim.


    "Farewell, Michaela, I have to go so you may smile once again, together with Claire"

 76 The Man of the Mis

    The sounds of spell bombardments awakened us, as we rested on one of the camps of the Free Elven Forces, a collection of elven military forces, that continued to fight against the Dark Elf King after the fall of all the kingdoms, we are the rightful owners and beings in this world, the true and pure elves.


    Since the royal family and some young elves fled to another world to ensure the continuity of our race, some chose to stay to continue the resistance. Like me, being born to a family that is within the elven military it is my fate to fight for my world, my family did not choose to flee, they chose to fight.


    I''ve lived a young age of 120 years, and became a mage of an elven kingdom, although it got overrun by the enemy''s forces, my desire to protect my race and this world burns like a fire in my heart.


    "Lyra, take the others, and use the hidden routes to escape, hurry up! This camp is finished! We won''t last long! They outnumber us greatly, this isn''t just a recon team!"


    Amid the loud sounds of the spells of the dark elves who wore black robes, our commander still had the composure, as he shouted orders while fending off the spells using anti-spells that can be done by identifying the spells and countering it with the opposite element. In magic it is important to know the elements and to know which to use to counter in a defensive battle, light elves who are proficient casters are able to do that.


    "Yes commander! Take care!"


    I immediately took my staff and took some supplies with me in my drawstring, the others seeing me shortly followed.


    It''s a soldier''s duty to follow the officer''s orders although I''m worried about our commander, it is his command for us to escape and nothing more. If he told us to fight we would have done it, but as expected he is no fool, he sacrificed himself as a delaying action so many of us could escape and meet up with the others, to continue the resistance in these high mountains.


    "Run! Run! Run!"


    I screamed as we crossed the stream by jumping at the rocks, we went beyond the thicker forest and split up as we plan to meet up at a certain location and go together to the main camp where our leader lady Allannia Leotoris waits for us. It is our duty to defend the last royal blood of the elven kingdom, the only one capable and strong enough to lead us light elves in the resistance.


    "As usual, it''s not working, magic and numbers, they are above us, the brave ones are dying first, but still hope is left us, we will continue resisting no matter what! For our fellow elves, for our race, for our world!"


    I ran towards the thick forest covered with all kinds of vegetation, one thing that works to our advantage in this escape is that we are used to the woods compared to those dark elves soldiers who have been used to their comfortable city lives as they abused and used their captives, sometimes we launch attacks and free them to get them to join the resistance.


    To me running in this thick forest is just like dancing with it, with my light body I jumped from tree to tree, used vines to cross trees that are out of my reach. But there''s something strange going on today, they are being so aggressive that I could still feel their bloodlust from here.


    "What the hell happened? Usually they wouldn''t chase us this far?" I looked back and saw some shadows forcing their way through the forest, swiftly cutting and destroying everything that blocked their way, based on the scale, it is one company that is chasing me.


    "This is bad, if I go to the meeting place like this¡­ we would all be discovered, tch! I have no choice but to make a diversion"


    I pointed my staff on the plants and called forth my guardian spirits.


    [Spirits of Green, Uproot, and Bind Thy Enemies!]


    Seeds that glowed green manifested in my hand as I threw it to the ground, which grew immediately into several treants, up to six feet high.


    They formed a barricade that made the shadows that followed stopped shortly, my green spirits can use any part of the body of the tree or plant I choose a body to fight, this time I used a hard tree that I spotted that also produces vines, I pray that it would be enough to stop or at least give more time to escape.


    "Surely, they won''t be able to get through them that fast¡­ "


    Now that I release my spirits I went from treetop to treetop, now I can finally go back to the original path.


    But I underestimated too much of the enemy''s persistence, a rain of paralyzing arrows flew at me at high speed. I adjusted my body to different angles as I ran by using the trees, until a small mistake would cost me my life.


    As I was evading the arrows I stepped into an old branch, it was supposed to carry my weight but as I was evading the arrows my focus was directed to my whole body and not on my feet as a result, I slipped and fell down.


    "Mother. Father, I''m sorry, at least I won''t be a burden to the rest, I''ll be killed here and they won''t be able to follow their tracks"


    As I fell down, the next volley of paralyzing arrows hit my shoulder and my limbs, strange¡­ Why didn''t they go for a direct hit? I landed on the ground at my back, I couldn''t feel it but I''m sure some bones are broken. It hurts¡­ but I can''t do anything, the spell that coated the arrow wont let me. I couldn''t speak, nor move anything in my body.


    "Well Well, what do we have here, a spirit user brother!"


    The dark elves who easily escaped my plant magic appeared as I laid on the ground with my head facing above, I can see them surrounding me, the stench of their dark mana pierced my nose, as usual, they looked like hideous monsters, taking the shape of an elf.


    "Heh Heh! We got a haul today! We got spirit users and the commander''s head!"


    DAMNIT TO TREAT US LIKE ANIMALS, WHEN THEY ARE THE ONES WHO LOOKED LIKE IT! Spirit Users!? The images of my commander and my comrades who fled with me appeared on my mind, I thought that they were only chasing me! Just how many forces do they have, did they send a battalion just for a small force like us!


    "Let''s playyyyyy with the femalesssssss before we hand them off! They will be used as ingredients anyway!"


    These ugly bastards!!! NO!!! Just kill me! Please! Someone! Kill me!


    And then I felt it, my clothes being ripped off one by one with their smelly and bloody fingers, with their ugly faces looking at me with saliva dripping from their mouths in their deformed faces, no matter how much I resist, I can''t move. I should have killed myself before I got paralyzed¡­. O God, how can you let these creatures do this to us, isn''t evil supposed to be extinguished?


    Then, suddenly I felt the temperature around us going down, I can feel it with my naked body, that it also made the dark elves stop as they tried to make sense of the mist that started to cover the area crawling in the deep forest, making the visibility zero.


    "Be on your guard!"


    "Yes commander!"


    What the hell is happening? All of them are on guard and this mist¡­ it''s a spirit, and then I heard it, as if answering my prayer and desire to live, coming from the mist, a sound of a metal projectile going through it piercing through the heart of the dark elf, I can''t see what it is but base on what I hear, it is indeed a fast-moving projectile coming at them at high speeds, I can hear them falling one by one.


    "No way¡­"


    "Who the hell are you! Show yourself you coward!"


    But no one responded to their cheap provocations, this time it was their time to be hunted by something that caused them to fear, someone they can''t see, and defeat, as one of them got taken after another, on sound, another sound.


    In a few seconds, only the commander was left surrounded in the strange mist, who had a big body, the sounds hit him two times, but his fats served as a cushion, his flesh fell out but it didn''t bother him.


    "Where the hell is the girl? I could use them as a hostage!"


    He can''t see me? Could it be that the mist is also protecting me? I looked around the mist, with my heart singing in thanks, if not for it I would have been raped without having to die an easy death.


    As I was thanking the invisible attacker in my mind, it happened, pretty two magic circles appeared on top of the commander''s body representing water and lightning, lightning from its circle fell on the water magic circle and a strong stream of water gushed out from it hitting the commander under it.


    It''s a strange magic, the caster can''t even be seen everywhere, nor I could hear a spell casting from anywhere, usually casting would mean to call out loud the magic.


    A phenomenon occurred that I couldn''t perceive in my mind. The commander was suddenly electrocuted by the water as if he''d been hit by thunder, the commander screamed in pain as he was endlessly electrocuted as the water flowed everywhere in his body.


    Someone casted a spell without saying a word, sent magic circles directly without touching the enemy, and the concept of layering magic circles, creating a strange phenomenon, and then a spirit user using mist spirit to cover the area. There are certainly two people responsible for such a feat.


    But what appeared to me was a single man covered in a dark cloak with a hood that covered his ears, he wore strange black clothing, but it wasn''t armor, he held a staff with some metal tubes on it, smoke rose from it as if it was heated, the person wore a mask covering half his face, his eyes were black and looked dead for some reason, his complexion is the same with me, which rest me assured that he isn''t a dark elf.


    I, Lyra Vaeri Sarwynn, have just been saved by an unknown man, who has unconventional magic casting techniques and a capable spirit user. He took off his robe and covered me with it as he disappeared together with the mist.

 77 Meeting the Man of The Mis

    I, Lyra Vaeri Sarwynn have arrived safely on the main camp, of the resistance, by one of our leaders spell it is being kept hidden on the top of the mountain, our camp was simple, we had our houses embedded onto the large trees on top of it, we can''t create elaborate construction but it''s enough for our necessities. As usual, everyone seems rowdy as they ate the provisions the hunters and foragers got for us, we are self-sufficient and didn''t need much in daily necessities, I have lived here for 95 years of my life, most of the residents here are the ones we have rescued from the towns controlled by the dark elves, we take them away, rescued females who have been raped by dark-elves or used for their production undergo 50 years of cleansing and live under the esteemed high-elf lady Allannia, rescued males are trained as hunter, forager or fighters. For me, I''m lucky to be on the saving part rather than the rescuing part, having to spend 50 years in cleansing, in order to restart your life seems horrible, the atrocities done to them is horrible enough. I can''t forgive them¡­ for what they did to my town¡­ to my parents, and to the people around here.


    As I walked with the black robe I donned at myself to keep my body from being exposed the elves who saw me immediately came to me, most of them were from the fighters guild, most of them wore a red bandana, scarf or bracelet, to signify what they are fighting for, a fight to eliminate the dark-elves from our homeland.


    "Lyra! What happened?! Where are the others?!" The one worriedly coming me to me is my best friend, Valeri who''s also a fighter and proficient at the same magic that I do, nature magic. I shook at her question, the others? The others did not arrive yet? Does that mean¡­


    I unconsciously bit my lip, thinking that what might have happened to me happened to them, if it wasn''t for that mysterious man I would have been caught long ago without having to deliver the news to them.


    Perhaps at the sight of me broken as I shook in fear as I held myself at my shoulders, she didn''t say anything more and hugged me.


    "It''s fine¡­ It''s fine¡­ let''s go inside for now"


    I have been together with Valeri since I came to the resistance, our kingdom fell because of the overconfidence of the leaders, they refused to work together, and when they realized it, only a few kingdoms remained to join the fight, the remnants of the nations became part of the resistance.


    It''s the stubbornness and pride of elvenkind that led to its own demise, Valeri is from one of those kingdoms who crumbled at the first offensive. She was the one who reached out to me when I was in my shattered elven armor, as a refugee from the kingdom I tried to defend. We are usually mistaken as twins, although elves have the same golden-white hair, Valeri and I have the same long and smooth hair, our differences are on the color of our eyes, I have blue, she has green. Right now she is wearing a light white breastplate. I also wore the same except that it got destroyed when those evil dark-elves took off all the clothing from my body.


    "Valeri¡­ it was¡­ it was scary¡­ they almost¡­. "


    "Yeah I know, I know¡­"


    Everyone who saw us hugging each other had sympathetic eyes, as elves being hunted down was normal, but its the first time a whole camp didn''t return. They all took their hats with feathers on it and placed it on their heart, in silence for those who weren''t able to escape with me.


    ¡­.


    After crying with Valeri inside our quarters, we immediately headed to the leaders quarters where I told our leader the esteemed high-elf Allannia Leotoris the highest-ranked light elf, the founder of the resistance, and the most powerful elf that I know of, she was the princess of the strongest kingdom that held its ground, on the front.


    Contrary to her position and high power, she was approachable and loved by the people of the resistance, she had an excessively tall figure, with glossy, golden hair hanging down her back. She has white skin, almond eyes, a high nose bridge, and thin lips, at one look anyone can tell that she looked so beautiful and one look at her face expresses her kindness.


    She is magnanimous and is kind to everybody, just like any other elf, she laughs and interacts with other elves no matter what the rank is, opposite to the other officials in the higher echelon, she is the reason why the mental state of the elves in the resistance is still in a good condition, even in the long years of battle. As I arrived in her quarters she immediately came to me and hugged me putting my face on her health chest.


    "My child, the battle must have been hard, but don''t worry, our comrade''s spirits are with us"


    I was comforted of her kindness and concern, does she even get tired of this? I mean, personally caring for lots of people is a hard task, her words made me almost cry, I was deeply depressed by hearing the deaths and capture of the comrades I spent years with at the forward camp.


    But that is why, I shouldn''t spend any more time I should give information about that man, he may be the key to destroy the dark-elves, the key to our victory.


    I immediately knelt in one knee to deliver the news, I am a soldier of the resistance, I must pay attention to formalities.


    "Lady Allannia, I have something important to report to you, it''s the details about the one who saved me"


    I told them everything that happened, about the mysterious mist, about the multi-layered magic circle spell, and the mysterious man who saved me.


    "I see, that''s strange, the way you described him¡­ black hair¡­ in the first place we elves have golden-white hair, while dark elves have pure white hair¡­ strange clothes¡­ in the first place elven and dark-elves have different clothes but you say you also have not seen that type of clothes, and that multi-layered magic circles which is certainly different from our spell usage, as if he''s using magic as a tool and not as partners or friends as we do... "


    "Yes it''s really strange, and the mist, only a spirit user can create such mist in a short amount of time"


    "Using spirits and magic at the same time¡­ wait, isn''t this the man that has been taking down dark elves'' settlements and stations?!"


    "Really?! Wait... SettlementS and StationS meaning its many? By only one man?! Impossible! Even we are outnumbered by them! Am I hearing things wrong?"


    "It''s unbelievable but it''s the truth, so far he has hit 10 stations and 21 settlements, the conditions are the same¡­ white mist, strange magic, a covered figure, and eruptions coming from above"


    "Total of 31 divisions¡­ that''s more than what we have achieved so far! While we have been in a defensive battle, he''s out there fighting dark-elves without being seen, plus eruptions? I haven''t seen him use that when he saved me."


    "According to the elves that have been running out from those settlements, they were highly destructive it came dropping from the skies and from the ground, so maybe he didn''t use it out of consideration for you"


    "So the recent influx of refugees was from his doing? And not because our comrades have freed settlements one after another? Why haven''t I heard of this until now?"


    "That''s because that information is limited to the higher echelon only until you have been involved with that gentleman directly that I am allowed to disclose this information to you, it''s unfair but please understand that this is part of protocols, as we are using it to promote our cause, and claim responsibility for those attacks, in order for us to look stronger, but on the case of your unit it backfired, I''m very sorry"


    "It''s alright if it''s for the resistance, so it''s because of him that the dark-elves have been more aggressive, going so far as hunting a company-sized unit with a battalion"


    Then, esteemed high-elf, we should come in contact with him, and get him to our side! If we can have him the resistance would win more fights and it would boost the morale of our soldiers"


    If that man joins us, the resistance would have great momentum, with this we can even hit cities and free out countrymen.


    "That''s not a bad idea, but will he even join us? And can he even understand our language?"


    "Esteemed high-elf! Allow me to find this man and-"


    But before I could continue, we suddenly heard an explosion.


    "Huh? An attack? Directly? Here in this fortified forest?"


    I immediately headed outside the quarters with the lady Allannia, and we saw a fearsome scene, no¡­ it was much more than that.


    We saw the pathway from the gate with our comrades screaming as if their eyes were burning as they coughed in pain. Don''t tell me, it''s poison? I saw smoke everywhere that mixed with the air and became mist.


    "Don''t breathe it in!"


    I shouted, the mist had a transparent color, and I didn''t detect a single trace of magic in it. As I went towards some of my comrades to drag them away from it, there appeared a man, from the mist, walking silently with a strange staff on his hand, the same staff I saw when I was rescued.


    He confidently walked past my comrades with confidence without batting an eye as the belts on his body sounded, the smoke didn''t bother him, maybe because of the mask he is using or he is simply immune to it, I can''t tell... because I''m sure he''s not an elf. I could tell that he wasn''t killing them but knocked them unconscious.


    He continued walking towards me and the esteemed high-elf, don''t tell me he followed me to kill our leader? What a blunder! How presumptuous of me, to suggest taking him as one of our comrades, look at what he''s doing to our kind right now!


    "What the hell are you? Why have you come here?"


    I covered my nose and mouth with my hand as I asked him, but he didn''t answer me, he only looked at me with his dead eyes,


    "I am¡­ your¡­ ally"


    He knows our language? How come!? He spoke in broken elven, it''s clear that it isn''t his language.


    "An ally huh? To put my children into that state, reveal your self or I''ll obliterate you here right now!"


    This time it was lady Allannia who asked, she seemed to be mad, that the earth shook with intensity as she faced the masked man, lady Allannia has the spirit of the land with her and with a higher-ranked spirit at that. For some reason lady Allannia didn''t attack him, maybe she''s sizing him up? If she were serious she could take on the dark-elf commanders.


    Strangely the man was numb of the lady''s intense spirit power, which is making me feel nauseous, how can he endure this pressure? Is this the power of a man who defeats dark elves on his own?


    "See, I¡­ prove it¡­ you"


    He pointed his index finger at the skies, is he gonna attack!? Damn! I left my blade at my quarters! It doesn''t matter, I still have my fists to use, I have to support and protect the lady Allannia!


    But as I was about to move, the lady stopped me with her hand and the strong pressure she emitted was gone.


    And there a chilling scene unfolded into my eyes.


    As the piercing cry of unfamiliar birds reached my ears, flags of divisions of the dark-elf army were falling from above, dark colors, with different accents that represent different designations, also they weren''t just small divisions, there were also bigger divisions that have elf commanders in it.


    All of these were done by one man? I don''t know whether to cheer in the joy that my enemy is defeated or to fear the man who has done it.


    "Dark-elves¡­ we''ll destroy"


    The man showed his fist, and opened it, and there hanged the high powered amulets being used by the dark elves commander that served as power amplifiers that originally came from the elven kingdom''s leaders.


    From taking down our guards easily, and walking in confidently as if he''s walking on his own yard, to be numb from the lady''s intense spirit power, the dark elf division flags that have now scattered on the floor, and then to the high-powered amulets which can change the tide of the battle.


    Even I can see the lady''s astonishment, she was left in agape and disbelief.


    Who the hell is this man?

 78 Resistance Council Meeting

    What the hell is he doing? Announcing about destroying the enemy as if it''s too easy, still for harming our men, lady Allannia should be quite furious.


    "Lady Allannia, we can''t trust this man, we should-"


    I turned to the esteemed high-elf but as I looked the pressure from her was gone, as she bent and picked up one of the flags.


    "These are¡­ real flags, for someone to be able to do this you must be highly skilled, but still¡­ harming my children, that alone, I can''t tolerate"


    "Don''t worry¡­ "


    Then he did something strange to his staff, moving parts of it, as it made a sound of metals going against each other, as an elf we weren''t really a fan of metalworks which the dark-elves uses for their weapons, could it be that this man is a dark elf himself?


    He then pointed his strange staff at the skies with two hands¡­ strange, why would you hold a staff like that, plus his staff, doesn''t look like it came from nature, usually staffs would be made from a special tree that houses a great spirit or divine power, that kind of staff isn''t from a tree, it looks like from a normal tree and has been molded together with metal.


    And suddenly we heard a loud bang, I can''t really see it but from his gun came out a projectile together with smoke on his staff, is it really a staff in the first place? I heard the same sound when he saved me.


    Shortly after the explosion I witnessed the same scene again, a magic circle appeared in thin air, and from it, circled a strong wind enough to disperse the mist, and everyone now could finally breathe.


    "That magic circle¡­ wind? There wasn''t any incantation for that! Lyra how many elements did he use when he saved you?"


    "I believe it was two¡­ "


    "Were they all effective?!"


    "Yes, they were on an effective level"


    "Then does that mean that he has a strong affinity to all those elements, and now the wind? And what''s interesting is he can use them together, he''s using it differently with us, he knows certain laws that we don''t know to make the magic work together without interference"


    The camp that was covered in smoke was now cleared of it, by the strange application of the wind magic. The man faced us and threw the amulets from his hand at the ground and at the same time handed out a map, in the map lies a detailed picture of the elven land with some red X marks on it, there are details in the map but I can''t pick it up yet, what if it has traps in it?


    "Where are you going? Why not have some tea inside?"


    Surprisingly the leader offered him tea, a precious resource that the elven kingdoms had abundantly, now it is only made by hand by the princess herself, what does she intend to do to the man? Maybe poison him? But wow she''s taking it easily.


    The mysterious man turned around us as his mantle fluttered walking away from us, perhaps he''s also cautious of the leader? The men who were on the floor especially those who were armed tried to go after him as they readied their weapons.


    "No don''t!"


    I shouted, what if he uses his skills to us? If the sturdy dark elves divisions cant handle him how much more this hastily made camp? We can''t afford to make an enemy of him right now!


    But before they could fully stand up and chase him, with a sudden human-sized puff of smoke, the man disappeared together with the screech of birds, strange, is he a ghost or something? Appearing and disappearing just like that?


    As everyone rose up on their feet, they saw the division flags scattered on the floor. Seeing those with burnt parts and tattered parts they stared at it beneath their feet. It reminded them of the divisions that killed someone close to them, they held it strongly near them and crumpled it, as tears welled in their eyes, it was an expression of anger and a bit of pleasure.


    The scene was emotional, we haven''t acquired victory yet but in their eyes, they were celebrating, most of the fighters and the people who have escaped from the fear of the dark elves have been invaded with dark elves who carried flags as they raided their people and took their loved ones.


    While I was looking at the scene that unfolded in my eyes, the leader picked up the amulets and the map.


    "Leader¡­ I should have picked that up for you"


    "No¡­ it''s fine, Lyra, can you help collect the banners that our mysterious friend has scattered? It causing quite a commotion right now. Also, please come tonight in the same quarters, a meeting will occur"


    Her expression improved as she also saw the people at the camp who were rejoicing the fall of the forces that instilled fear in them, by attacking them or taking away their families and friends.


    "I guess this is what years of oppression can do, just seeing the flags of their oppressors makes them feel better"


    I''m happy to see their faces, at the same time it felt odd, after all we weren''t the ones who defeated those divisions.


    ....


    "Today, at noon, a mysterious man came in contact with us and entered the village by using unknown magic and then scattered the flags of dark-elves division in our camp from the skies.


    It seems to me that he wants us to ally with him in destoying the dark-elves, he gave us these bundle of amulets as well, that he have taken from the enemy, and this map that has the markings on which divisions he has attacked.


    It also contains a message in our language.


    "Establish contact with us. We will help you destroy the elves, the enemy of my enemy my friend"


    Now the council is to decide on what we will do from hereon"


    The council of elves held a meeting with the map of the "man of the mist" (as they call him), is shown in front of the council of 10, they are the leaders of each branch of the resistance.


    In charge of food and foraging, Ms. Alre,


    In charge of carpentry and housing, Mr. Orrian,


    in charge of intercamp communication, Mr. Wistari,


    Presider of spirit communication, elf-priest Sylvar,


    Master of magic casters guild, elf-priest Ellarian,


    Three fronts resistance generals, Alwin, Bulas, Conall,


    Vice-leader of the resistance, high-elf Revalor Larneiros,


    Leader of the resistance, former princess of one of the fallen elven kingdoms, esteemed high-elf Allannia Leotoris.


    The first one to speak was one of the resistance generals Alwin, who was known for his sword skills that go along with his spirit that lets him create a battle scream that temporarily stuns even a commander-level elf. It is known that he is the best fighter when it comes to close combat, his strategies are known to be bold and risky.


    "Did you see those flags? I think it''s safe to at least talk with this man, he didn''t only destroy small divisions but also cleared up some medium-sized divisions, I just discovered when I saw the flags, one of those are the enemy who almost routed us, if it weren''t from him there would have enemies on both sides and would have been routed"


    I think I just witnessed a miracle before my eyes, this musclehead who''s known to be the training demon of the resistance actually praised someone, just how much did the mist guy help you? Well I''m not one to complain, as he also saved me but the moment he entered I went hostile towards him.


    The next one to speak was Mr. Orrian.


    "Can you even tell from which race he is? According to Lyra he might be not of our kind, can we even trust someone like that? What will you do if he''s just another dark-elf plotting against us?"


    "From my perspective, it wouldn''t be, after all if you have the power to do that to 31 dark elf divisions why didn''t he completely finished us when we were on the floor crawling because of that smoke? Also its 31 divisions, 31! From our perspective that is a number that deals a hurtful blow to the enemy, that''s why we must meet him again and talk with him, even if its risky"


    The one who spoke was general Bulas who happened to be at the scene because the camp was meant to be temporary, there weren''t any hard fortifications built, so instead of guarding the gate, most of his men were scattered around the mountain, which was a natural barrier, way stronger than any type of fortification.


    "Let''s not quarrel about this, let''s lay out the usual votation, leader if you may"


    As usual, the vice-leader is calm and collected, according to rumors he was a former noble, among the elves here he is the oldest male elf, everyone respects him as if it wasn''t for him, the resistance wouldn''t have lasted long.


    "So we have come up with two possible paths we may take.


    First, is to make contact with him, in order to assert his usefulness to our cause, seeing his power he might be the key to us landing a critical blow to the elves, and possibly occupy some cities, however, it comes at a high risk where if he would be a traitor, we would definitely fail, in other words it has a high risk and a high reward.


    Next, is to stay neutral and not get associated with him, although it doesn''t have any benefits, we don''t have any risk and we will be just fighting like usual"


    It is indeed a hard question, the flags he scattered around have made them look at him as a symbol of hope, even the generals are siding with him, but I think it should be time to move forward, the dark-elves are definitely getting stronger by the day, if we fight just like we used to, we will just be waiting for our end.


    "Do we even have a method to get in contact with him?" The one who asked was Ms. Alre.


    "Actually, yes, along with the map he marked a part where we can meet up"


    Oh, so that guy didn''t give up on the alliance but have marked something on the map. The mark on the map is at the other end of a waterfall, however, it is unlivable due to the bugs that reside in it, even how much elves commune with nature, we generally hate bugs.


    "What if someone ambushes us when we are out there?"


    "But it''s better than doing nothing right? Can you not even recognize his strength, waltzing casually to our camp, destroying enemy camps, there is no choice other than to make contact with him, although there is a risk, it will be minimized!"


    "How?"


    "We have someone here who was saved by that person, if she sets up the negotiation table for us, the risk would be lowered"


    "I see, that''s a great idea, then we should head out tonight, while the dark-elves are inactive"


    "Yes!"


    Wait! What? Do I have any say to this? Even if they are the high echelon, shouldn''t this be something that I have a say on? As a free elf citizen? A shiver ran up to my spine as I saw them in their theirs turn their heads towards me as they smiled, these oldies!!!


    And just like that, I was used as a bait-, no, an envoy of the elves to conduct negotiations with the man of the mist, and as if living up to his name, as we crossed the wooden bridge to the other side of the waterfalls, there was the forest that was filled with fog... and bugs.


    "Hey, mister! We have arrived! Can you show yourself?"


    I shouted towards the foggy forest if he doesn''t appear I would definitely look like an idiot, please appear!


    As if hearing my thoughts, a man slowly appeared among the trees and bushes, he still wore the same clothing, with the dead stare in his eyes he made a signal to follow him with his hands.


    With a gulp, I led the team to the other side of the waterfall with plant magic, I have already met him three times, and I''m not that afraid of his power, even if he has the power to kill divisions, I can''t sense a strong magic power from him, so if I made a physical attack I would surely defeat him, but should I be thinking about doing that to the person who saved me?

 79 Tea and Coffee

    We disappeared into the thick vegetation, while the noise of the waterfall gradually disappeared as we got farther from it, following the man in a mantle in front of us. Accompanying me are three members of the council, whose faces weren''t seen yet by him.


    One of the generals Alwin, the fiercest close combat fighter if something happens, the elf-priest Ellarian to analyze his magic, and the vice-leader high-elf Revalor Larneiros, as lady Allannia''s representative. There were also other fighters hidden in the trees on the other side of the waterfall with bow and arrows, to accompany us back or to be our reinforcements if we decide to escape. Because... why the hell am I mixed up with these important people!!!


    "B-B-Bugs¡­ there are bugs everywhere¡­ how can he even sleep in this kind of place, elf-priest can you cast anti-bugs magic around us?"


    The one who complained was the high-elf Revalor, who scratched his body as we went deeper into the forest.


    "Don''t be an unreasonable vice leader, what if he thinks that we are attacking him? And those itches are from the lead blades, not bugs"


    Being an elf noble, the high-elf wasn''t good with the forest and fighting, his ability was better used in administrative jobs, unlike most elf who commune with it and fight in it in order to survive.


    The man in front of us had light steps and had strange movements, instead of going around trees he would cut it with a small knife, making a path, while we elves don''t do anything in order to not leave any tracks but this man just does whatever he wants. Is this really the man who killed divisions? If he does that wouldn''t his camp be already discovered?


    Finally, we arrived at a small camp, it was a crudely built camp, but it''s enough for shelter and storage, as if it was built not to last for long. Even in forward camps of the resistance we built our tents spell proof by casting a spell on anime hide tents, it''s the most basic magic our magic casters know.


    "I¡­ name¡­ Slaine, I¡­ live¡­ here"


    Wow, he introduced himself casually in broken elven, looking at him wrapped in several pieces of strange clothing. I was drawn into his eyes and manner of speaking, his eyes looked lonely and devoid of light, I wondered what happened for a man to have that kind of unrelenting yet lonely stare. And his voice is also deep, brought by the cloth that is covering the lower half of his face.


    Since he was the one who rescued me, I feel great gratitude to him, without him I would have been taken to the dark-elves camp and would be used until unusable, but I also have my duties and oath as a fighter of the resistance, no matter what I feel, our cause comes first, that is my honor and pride.


    I put up a strong front and went towards him.


    "I am Lyra, a fighter of the resistance, the people behind me are my colleagues, our leader expresses her thanks for the amulets and for the elves that escaped through you destroying the divisions of dark-elves"


    I handed out a hand of friendship, I planned to thank him after the formalities, but he didn''t say a word, he just stared at me blankly for a minute.


    "Ummm¡­ can you¡­ speak¡­ slowly"


    Crap, I thought he could understand us clearly, but I forgot he isn''t used to our language, and seeing that black hair I''m sure he isn''t an elf as I reported to the council. I covered my mouth out of embarrassment.


    "Lyra, switch with me"


    The vice-leader tapped my shoulder as he moved his cracked round glasses upward. What the hell is he getting ready and fired up for?


    "I¡­ represent¡­ resistance¡­ I¡­ Revalor"


    "I¡­ Andr¡­ Slaine"


    "Andr Slaine?"


    "Sorry¡­ Slaine¡­ me¡­ me Slaine"


    The vice-leader said to him as he made some weird hand gestures. I see! He can understand words but phrases confuse him, I can''t believe this blunder.


    But still seeing the vice-commander doing this is so surreal, I feel like laughing but surely I''ll get fried up with his fire magic when we get back to the headquarters so let''s hold it in for now.


    "Leader¡­ thanks¡­ amulet¡­ and¡­ help¡­ destroy¡­ dark-elves¡­ flags¡­ people happy"


    He nodded and offered his hand, it seems that he also knows the hand of friendship, is it me or is he friendlier than he looks?


    The man named Slaine, without saying a word disappeared to his tent and got his staff and a kettle, it''s an item that enables us to cook.


    "Me¡­ heat¡­ water¡­ for¡­ tea"


    "He has tea? Awesome! Even we can''t get that easily!"


    Whoah, calm down general, the general was a former battalion leader of one of the elven kingdoms, I''m sure he misses his cup of tea and coffee all these years. But those can''t be harvested anymore as most of the fields are dark-elves occupied.


    In other words, tea leaves and coffee beans and other harvestable drinks are now coming from taken away camps, or by nobles who brought it with them in their escape.


    "I¡­ also¡­ have¡­ coffee"


    "COFFEE?!!"


    The four of us exclaimed, coffee is even more rare! It is found on the northern farms in one of the kingdoms, how did he even get the supplies! If I can remember he burned down the camps he attacked.


    "Fire¡­ I¡­ make with¡­ this"


    He showed us the strange staff he is carrying, seeing his unguarded friendliness towards us, as he clumsily placed the kettle with water on the firestones, all of us exhaled and lowered our guard. As if we were idiots for being on our guard.


    "I''ll help you, Slaine"


    The vice-leader offered his help with a smile, to lessen the tension on our side that we might have already been leaking to him, as a practitioner of fire magic, he took out a wand and directed it at the firewood, where Slaine put the kettle, after an incantation, a small fire engulfed the firewood, enough for cooking.


    "Thanks"


    Oh, he also knows how to say thank you!


    Wait.. what am I? A mother?


    Slaine brought two bags one of them contained tea leaves and the other contained coffee beans.


    "I give it??? after we drink¡­ give it¡­ to countrymen"


    "Really? But these are rare right? Shouldn''t you be enjoying this luxurious stuff all by yourself?"


    "It''s okay¡­ take it¡­ enjoy it¡­ with¡­ others"


    The vice-leader opened them and smelled the beans and tea life. As he made a satisfying expression, the elf-priest and the general also took turns to smell them out of curiosity.


    "These are indeed a nice gift, thanks! And here''s from ours"


    Wait! Are you serious? Those are our rations you idiot elf-priest! How could you offer rations for something luxurious as those? This is robbery in broad daylight!


    "Thanks¡­ I¡­ enjoy it"


    Ah, it looks like a cultural exchange between countries in the uninvaded years. Are you really alright with that Slaine? Those are just rations! Not something to exchange for the stuff you gave us. They are taking advantage of you!


    As we waited for the kettle to boil, the vice leader and Slaine exchanged information about each other. According to their surreal exchange of words, Slaine came from a faraway country outside the continent which was invaded by the dark-elves, and someone close to him was cursed by one of them, which is why he is taking divisions down one by one. The vice-leader, in turn, explained to him proudly the small history of the resistance, on how it was formed, the history lesson was a tiring part as it is being told mostly everywhere in the resistance as a recruitment spiel and was common knowledge.


    "So, how did you take down divisions all by yourself?"


    Aldwin, interrupted, the general had the normal body of an elf, which was slender but his lean muscles can be seen bulging from his body. Seriously, are you doing that on purpose? It''s just intimidation! If I can remember you were the first one to support getting in contact with him, why are you acting stiff and strict?!


    "No¡­ I have¡­ friends¡­ but¡­ they not show¡­ they against making contact"


    "Really!? How many?"


    Then he raised two fingers.


    I see, so not just us are being cautious of making contact of each other,


    "Three?! It does increase your number, but it''s unbelievable really that you have taken all those by the three of you"


    In surprise I asked him, almost spilling the tea Alwin passed on to me. The cup was a metalwork cup clearly taken from one of those divisions he attacked.


    "Sorry¡­ slowly¡­ please"


    Why does he only react that way to me! Well, it''s my fault for asking him fast in sentences, but can''t he really understand me? He can even understand the vice commander and Aldwin perfectly¡­ ahh, it''s making me irritated for some reason.


    "Not¡­ really¡­ if you use¡­ proper tactics"


    "Tactics? Really? We have been battling them for years, wayyyy longer than you are fighting them now. If we just use tactics we should have been winning at least right? But you sir are scoring way better compared to us¡­ so, what''s the secret?"


    Secret? Seriously what are you asking Alwin...


    "No no secret, you see¡­ my country¡­ have more¡­ history¡­ war¡­ bloodshed¡­ that''s why¡­ we have more advanced¡­ thinking¡­ war and battle"


    Slaine explained to us how he defeated the divisions, even how slowly he talked under his bandana, we got a clear picture of what he is trying to tell, about the importance of information, positioning, careful planning, patience, concealment, maneuvers, and shock power. He told us the story of how he took the divisions, he told us about the staff he is holding which is actually a weapon called a "gun" and how only he could use it at the moment. He told us how he is using disposable magic tools that explode when someone steps on it, and how it can be dropped from above the enemy. We were amazed at how these tools worked conveniently in destroying the enemy and the brilliant execution of the stuff he wanted us to remember.


    Alwin and the vice-leader were patient and attentive as he explained how he would use smaller high mobile individuals against a larger group.


    "Your tactics are a bit¡­ sneaky and irregular¡­ and burning the tents to tents and fields¡­ wouldn''t that lose the reason for the battle? What can you take if you burn those"


    "Man can plant¡­ build¡­ again¡­ however¡­ if man¡­ defeatet disappears¡­ Being sneaky¡­ is weapon¡­ if you keep fighting¡­ small numbers¡­ honorably¡­ you will get¡­ many honorable deaths¡­ but¡­ if think differently¡­ we get win and live, even not honorably doing it"


    Indeed he has a point, up to now the elves have been fighting honorably, as we hate sneak attacks. This is the pride of being the proud but fallen race, which is still weighing us down even when it''s already reduced into a resistance group. If we can think and act like him we would have probably won by now, the way he describes things is something we can do the same, but without pride in the way,.


    "If¡­ you want¡­ destroy¡­ dark-elves¡­ abandon¡­ pride¡­ pride and win different. I only know how to win"


    "Why are you giving all this information for free, and also this precious tea and coffee that we are drinking as well"


    The vice leader asked as he indulged in the aroma of the coffee he is drinking.


    "Because¡­ the enemy of my enemy is my friend if you win¡­ I win¡­ the curse¡­ lifted"


    And there we finally got an idea of who he is, he is someone who is putting his life on the line for someone important to him, his eyes might not have that glow, but I''m sure it sparkled for the one he truly cares for and saving right now. In order to do that he picked the most difficult thing to do, which is to cut the source of the curse.


    The source of this curse is clearly from someone within the higher-ups of those vile dark-elves. He''s just like those heroes in the books I''ve read before, and the reason why I chose to wield the wand and to serve as a magic knight. Because I was exactly inspired by those hero stories.


    We might have encountered the hero we are looking for.

 80 Offer Your Hearts

    "Well, that was an awesome chat with him"


    "Yeah we even got these luxury"


    After the conversation, we set off to return to the headquarters in order to report the situation. With my nature magic, we crossed the waterfall and we met with the escort team that was waiting for us at the other side.


    "General Alwin, I''m glad that it went well"


    "Yeah, surprisingly the masked man there is friendlier than he seems"


    "Really? Just as we''ve said he''s a good guy!"


    The one talking to him was one of his commanders who seemed to idolize the man who stormed the headquarters himself without getting stuck in the lady''s barrier and took down dark-elves divisions himself, with an amazing performance of scattering the division flags at the headquarters.


    "Okay Okay, let''s go home"


    "This smell¡­ General, I smell something nice"


    "Yeah¡­ our friend gave us some take-home presents"


    "Woah! This is amazing! Mist man is amazing!"


    "He''s not "mist man", he told us his name"


    "Whoah! That''s amazing! So, what is his name?"


    "Slaine¡­ he says I don''t know if it''s real or not but if that''s how he wanted to be called, it''s courtesy to use it and identify him by that name"


    "That''s awesome general!"


    "Yes yes let''s go home and share this with everyone"


    "Gotcha General¡­ Everyone! Form ranks!"


    The elves that hid on the treetops appeared, without sound, appeared and went down from them and formed two lines and stood side by side, forming two lines to let the council members pass.


    Wow, I almost forgot that I''m with the higher-ups of the resistance.


    Being at the same rank with them, I positioned myself beside the resistance fighters.


    "Hey Lyra, you come with us we need to discuss something with you"


    "Yes! Vice-leader!"


    It seems that they haven''t finished interrogating me yet, I walked beside the council members as we walked through the human aisle formed by the fighters.


    On the way home, the council members discussed the alliance potential with Slaine, the tense was lifted when he offered coffee and tea, after that all he did was to introduce himself and told us how he took down the divisions by himself and two of his teammates that didn''t appear.


    We have also already known his intention, it was simple, to destroy the dark elves in order to lift a curse. In exchange, we told him information on where this dark elf caster he is finding could be, which could be one of the higher-ranked dark-elves who dwell in their castles, however, they have already occupied the three great elven kingdoms so it would be hard to pinpoint. But for that alone he was grateful.


    We also gave him other information we have on the dark-elves, as well as a small history about how the resistance was formed.


    "So¡­ elf-priest were you able to pinpoint his magic output and race?"


    While they were talking the elf-priest secretly used magic in order to identify the man''s mana, it''s sneaky but we had to be on guard with such a dangerous person, and it seems that he didn''t notice at all, or did he let us do it on purpose to display that he has no intention on harming us?


    "Yes vice-leader, Lyra was right, he doesn''t have mana, about his race I can''t identify him because he really doesn''t have any mana signatures, usually I would have known it due to its mana output"


    "Then how is he able to produce those magic? Ah¡­ it hurts my head, plus that weapon called "gun" I haven''t seen anything like that before! Which tree produces that kind of wood embedded with metal?!"


    "Calm down vice-leader, we have come here for a potential alliance, right? So why didn''t you bring it up to him immediately?"


    "Well¡­ to be honest, it would be dangerous to ally with him immediately, I can surmise that after three visits we should be able to propose a formal alliance with him and his team"


    "Can''t we just offer him a space in HQ? That way we won''t have to make this troublesome visits"


    "I already told him about that, that during the negotiations we will offer him enough space near HQ"


    "What did he say?"


    "He rejected, he says he doesn''t need it, and that it''s dangerous, I don''t really know what he meant by dangerous though"


    "Why? It''s better than being bitten by bugs at where he is staying right?"


    "I''m not sure, he seems to be a peculiar one, but yeah let''s not rush it, I''m sure it will go well, our interests align, and I couldn''t detect lies from him also"


    "I''m really jealous of that item you have in your ears, the earings that tell you if someone is lying right? Shouldn''t that be an item for wives rather than yours? Haha!"


    "Shut it, if it were easy to produce it I would have already done it and given one to your wife, so she can tell that you have been flirting with other women when you visit the other camps and bases"


    "S-Shhhhh!!!! Shiihhh!!!! What the hell are you saying in public vice-leader!"


    The tense aura and pressure that they had before visiting the man called Slaine, was gone and they are now able to have a banter with each other, maybe they are really happy with the results? That he wasn''t an enemy.


    But as the three of them continued their banter the scout ahead of us suddenly shouted.


    "Commander! General! And honorable council members, enemies ahead of us! They are surrounding the HQ!"


    "Huh?! Where the hell is it?"


    "According to my magic eyes, this direction¡­ it''s in front of the headquarters anti-dark elf barrier! And they are slowly surrounding it!"


    "Impossible! How did they find it? Our lady''s spell should still be in effect!"


    "Everyone! Let''s hurry!"


    We immediately headed towards the headquarters, and as we got closer we saw our comrades barely holding our line as a barrage of dark elven spells were thrown upon them. Lady Allannia is at the rear maintaining the anti-dark elf magic barrier.


    The number of dark-elves moving upward was uncertain due to the trees that covered them, but they were numerous and have brought magic beasts with them. They covered themselves in robes with vertical white lines, indicating that most of them are elf-priests level. They looked like a sea of forces gradually swallowing the mountain.


    The defense was holding thanks to the barrier spell and the counter-attacks of the defending force led by general Bulas, numbering up to ten battalions while the enemies that were swarming couldn''t be counted.


    "General Alwin, they have discovered the headquarters, what shall we do?"


    "According to protocols, they should evacuate the non-combatants as soon as possible while the defending force will hold until the retreat if finished, elf-priest, but at that encirclement, it would be hard"


    "Then they have to fight there to death! What about the lady?!"


    "We have no choice, roughly the numbers climbing the mountain are about two to three divisions or so, if we can just make a passage somewhere we can create an exit point for the refugees and hold that line, but we are heavily outnumbered"


    "What about reinforcements from other camps? This is bad! They are getting surrounded! The encirclement is getting thicker as we are running!"


    "No! They won''t arrive in time! According to what I see, they are barely holding against elves that have nullifiers with them!"


    Nullifiers are magic that dark-elves specializes in, while we have the ability to counter magic with another element, they can make their dark magic all-use anti-magic, in other words, its a weapon specialized in taking us on who are prideful of our magic and spirits casting. This dark magic is also the reason why many elven kingdoms have fallen easily.


    We are running towards the east side where we could see the climbing dark forces and our defensive fighters throwing magic at each other. Hearing the conversation of the council members, I felt my heart sinking due to the fear, however, I kept my mouth shut as I follow orders.


    My newfound family in the headquarters... will be once again taken away from me? No! Vaeri... please be safe.


    "Alright men! We are on their flank! This is a good position! Continue running!"


    While they were busy trying to penetrate the barrier, they climbed at the mountain where our HQ is it was supposed to be a big hurdle but with their numbers, the disadvantage that they should have was gone.


    Closing in, we on their right flank are running towards them under the general''s orders.


    "Commander! Have the casters prepare a barrage of their most deadly magic and the spirit users to awaken your partners and manifest them already! We are gonna hit them quick and rendezvous with the main force! We''ll try to open a path for the non-combatants to evacuate!"


    "Yes general!"


    The escort team that we have was a single battalion, but with the elf-priest, general Alwin and the vice-leader with us, we have more firepower than we need to cause some damage. As we ran we got close and closer, first, we just saw their figures like ants racing to the top of the hill, and now we can already see their grey-colored skins that were showing in the gaps of their stuffy clothing, and when finally we were in range the general made his first order.


    "Casters deploy magic! Spirit users unleash your partners! Others prepare your bow and arrows! Offer your hearts for the resistance! Charge!"


    ¡­


    I Valeri, is currently working with the polishing of the arrowheads, with my nature magic I can summon small treants to help me speed up the work, right now I am sitting in a circle with them, they have different flowers in their heads that makes them smell good, the kids get scared of them but personally I think they are very cute.


    Unlike Lyra''s power treants, these little ones are small spirits, but it helps everyone in the camp.


    Daily life for someone like me who has supporter magic is less dangerous than the ones on the frontlines, I don''t have the courage to fight against those horrible looking monsters that just happened to have the look of an elf.


    Just as I was about to finish my chores, I heard a sudden scream that would destroy my daily life.


    "Enemies! Enemies sighted climbing the mountain! HQ has been discovered!"


    "What? How did they even discover us, what were the scouts doing noticing them at the last minute!"


    Long rage spell bombardments exploded on top of us, hitting the barrier the esteemed lady set up for us, its fierce firepower echoed to us within it, we felt our ears ringing as different kinds of spells with dark magic within it was bombarded to us. They are trying to break the barrier by force.


    The barrier did well in defending us, but for some reason, we were found out, it was supposed to keep the camp hidden.


    The sound of evil powers pounding on the barrier is pounding the hearts of everyone who heard it, everyone who was used to the peaceful life in the resistance was suddenly reminded of the terror and humiliation of living in the fear of them, being hunted as livestock and being killed and used in the most horrible manner.


    However, we couldn''t let them do what they want to do. Those dark-elves!


    "Over my dead body! Even how small power I have I will fight!"


    We immediately headed out to our defensive positions, where lady Allania also showed up with her glimmering white armor, she looked like an armored fairy, in the chaotic scene, the sight of her made us calm down for a second as she appeared together with the elf-priest Sylvar, the two have the monstrous spirits in all of the resistance.


    "Attention!!! I will be explaining the plan to defend our headquarters! According to protocols non-fighters will be evacuated at the back with the supporting team as an escort. But this is something I must tell you, our escape!


    It has already been blocked!"


    Suddenly everyone who heard it who was scattered everywhere couldn''t believe what they are hearing, fear and terror are written in their eyes, as they held their loved ones.


    "The only choice is to fight! But don''t worry, we have amulets that can boost my magic for a longer time, we can still keep up the fight! Even we are outnumbered and surrounded, we''ll show them that the resistance- no¡­ the true elves! The elven people will not submit to their terror!


    This will either be our ending! or be the start of our victory! Everyone! Offer your hearts for the resistance!"


    Her voice echoed throughout the entire headquarters, together with the long rage magic bombardment. Everyone immediately took up their wands and staffs, as well as their bows and arrows.


    "The only threat to my barrier are those dark knights that carry magic nullifier swords with them, and elf commanders! I and the elite squads will hand them, while the others will focus on the dark knights that will charge! Defend the non-combatants at all costs!"


    We know how dark-elves treat prisoners, they will either be submitted to **** or their body parts will be cut into several portions and be distributed to each one of them to attach to their body. This is why they look so much different from us, although they have the same kind of ears, they have so many distortions all over their body, the more decorations they have the more elves they have killed as if it was a trophy.


    To them, it what fuels their dark power, which is why the select dark knights and commanders the dark elf who hunted the most elves are able to use the nullifying ability. Just the sight of them can make you feel sick.


    Even so, I have to fight! In my own way, the small treants made from flowers can go around and cast heal on the fighters, I''ll summon as many as I can.


    Please¡­ reinforcements, please Lyra, come back, even a small number of soldiers could at least open a path for the non-combatants to escape.


    I won''t let myself be a prisoner! I will die protecting the ones I care for! I will offer my heart for the resistance! So that the day may come that we will be able to reclaim our lands, our nation, our rights, and our freedom!

 81 Falling Resistance

    "General Bulas have arrived!"


    The general who visited the main HQ has arrived, he seemed to have just been woken up from his sleep, we are lucky that he and his forces are still here.


    Everyone is in panic, magic casters used all spells in their disposal, and spirits were released and went wild, from water maidens, fire phoenixes, rock golems, and nature treants.


    Unlike magic casters, we spirit casters fight along with our spirits with our weapons, our spirits unlike magic can move in different directions we want them to, in other words, we are the only ones who can possibly deal great damage against the dark elven forces that have nullifiers, which are mostly in the form of swords and shields, but we are in a great disadvantage, with the spirits varying in sizes and their abilities, our chances rely on the individual''s spiritual strength, so even if you are a spirit user if your spirit is weak and slow, it''d be useless, aside from that we spirit users are also greatly outnumbered.


    The strongest spirit that can harm the nullifier units is General Bulas who is in contract with a spirit capable of producing a powerful rock golem that wields a large sword in his hand. We elves don''t fancy swords but for some reason, his spirit likes to swing such a barbarians weapon, which is proof that spirits didn''t originate from our ancestors as what history book told us before.


    At the moment knight and commander level, dark-elves are entering the barrier one by one, cutting through with their nullifier shields and swords, the sounds of their heavy armor were heard across the headquarters, as the magic casters bombarded spells on them and spirit users released their partners as they released their arrows towards them.


    But the dark-elf knights that are are 10ft tall, easily brushed off the spirits and magic that flew to it, they slashed them with their swords. In a clad of black armor with the skeleton protrusions from their bodies that were clearly unnaturally attached, they smiled at the spirits coming at them as they swatted them easily with their clubs made of dark power. Some were careless enough and was taken down by phoenixes and treants, the ones are taken down, making them immobile as they gnaw at the enemy they used this as an opportunity to swat them with their sword even killing the knights that have fallen.


    "Spirit Users! What the hell are you doing? Don''t let your partners head straight to their weapon! Remember your training! As magic can''t go through them you need to go slip through their defenses!"


    "General! They aren''t giving any gaps, the knights lining up side by side, and have converted their swords into defensive barriers upfront! Our spirits cant get through anymore"


    "Tsk¡­ Damn! They really have read our strategies! Reserve your strength! Tell the lady that we are not going to hold out for long!"


    "B-But if they proceed any further they will soon reach us! The exit point has already been blocked in the south!"


    "No choice! We have to push our way out! Or we will be completely annihilated!:


    "General! a company of dark-elf knights is also coming from the south!"


    "General! company-sized unit of dark-elf Knights coming in from the west! We are holding them by continuous bombardment! But they are still ineffective! Only our golems can hold them back"


    "Two dark-elf commanders spotted coming here from the east! General! Your instructions!"


    Everything was in chaos, the general could only hold his head as he gritted his teeth intensely trying to find a way out. The lady was focusing hard not to let the barrier fall, as thousands of spells bombarded it from all directions, while also repairing the gaps that the nullifiers made when they entered, because of the heavy bombardment, the lady stopped fighting entirely and focused on defenses when general Bulas arrived.


    "We have been surrounded so easily!"


    Don''t tell me, we have already been surrounded?! Just how many nullifiers have they brought in this mission! I can understand their supply for magic beasts and casters, but having too many dark knights and generals¡­ it''s similar... to invading a kingdom! But why?! They treated us like prey but they didn''t go after us this intense before?


    "Come! My partner! Rise up!"


    The general shouted, and the stones on the ground moved and placed themselves on top of each other, forming a humanoid shape, it appeared then as a 14-meter stone golem, the strongest golem, of the resistance, general Bulas is the strongest golem users in the resistance, and could fight with it fiercely, having full control of it.


    The general seemed to be talking with the esteemed lady about something, the esteemed lady is using her earth spirit to make the barrier. If I could remember there were two ways to use the barrier, to use it as an immobile fortress that hides and protects anyone that goes inside it, and to wrap in on herself where she uses it to flatten enemies.


    "My lady, we are not going to survive if this keeps up! We should use your barrier in spear form and go past the enemies!"


    The general suggested as he left his partner the 14-meter rock golem on a rampage, for its size, the dark knights couldn''t do anything to it, however, they fought back with their swords as they swung it, parts of the rock golem was broken.


    The general is right, if we were to get out of this situation, we would have to gather all our firepower at one point and break through the encirclement. With the general''s golem to throw nullifier units of enemies, and with the lady''s shield to protect from magic bombardment this might actually work!


    "Indeed, the enemy is using its full force of dark knights in its disposal, we should have had the upper hand if they were few but to think they have brought a whole battalion of these freaks. We have no choice but to risk it all"


    As the lady responded, the 14-meter golem was taken down, as it also took thirty dark knights with it in its rampage, as it hit the closing knights from the south, with their magic nullifiers finally having gaps, the other elements such as fire, water, and air spirits tarted their assault once again, taking down the entire company of a hundred of dark-elf knights, but they were easily replaced by another company lining up with no gaps.


    However, it wasn''t all for naught as it gave us a chance to set our plan in motion.


    We, the supporters and fighters formed a spear-like formation with the non-combatants inside, with the lady''s magic we will be able to shield ourselves from magic attacks, the only thing that could harm us are those dark-elf knights and commanders.


    "All golems form a circle with me with the non-combatants at the center!"


    "Yes sir!"


    "Treant users! Try to hinder their movement!"


    "Sir! Our treants have already been taken down! It will take some time to summon them again!"


    The one who responded was someone who wielded the same magic as Lyra, a power treant.


    "Hinder thier movement... hmmm... General my little ones might be able to do it!"


    "Really?... then I''m counting on you!"


    Did the general just believe me without confirming it? I steeled my heart and made a salute.


    "Yes! Leave it to me!"


    This isn''t for fame or for pride anymore, this for the survival of the elves!


    I evaluated the formation that was pushing towards us, trying to sandwich us, with their nullifying magic acting as shields... no, as an absorption matter to all magic, no matter what type of magic gets near it, the magic is suddenly sucked into the black sheet that can be turned into a sword or shield.


    While the non-magic arrows that were flying to them were just blocked by their hard armor or were deflected by their swords, at this distance we could see the smiles on their mouths under their helmet, and a part of their horrible appearance. It sent chills down to my spine, but I have to do something!


    I spoke to my spirit, the little ones.


    "Little ones¡­ please burry yourself in front of them"


    [Plu? Glu?]


    "Yes, at their feet, slowly... without them noticing after they pass by you, alert me"


    [Plu! Glu!]


    "Thank you"


    My spirits that went to different directions to heal, have now disappeared and buried themselves somewhere the enemy couldn''t see.


    "General Bulas! Movement restriction are complete! If you want to have good timing to escape it would be the best time to do so!"


    "Thank you, Valeri, your small power will make a difference to the elven people"


    "Yes sir!"


    "Now! Lady Allannia! Towards the east!"


    "East?! Isn''t that where the commanders are!?"


    "Yes my lady, but they are fewer than the knights we are facing in all directions"


    "But.. something is strange! Why would two commanders go on their own!"


    "It doesn''t matter now lady! We have to escape now! They are closing in rapidly!"


    "Got it! I''ll trust you!"


    All the 50,000 more or less, non-combatants gathered at the center of the headquarters where there is space to gather. Everyone held the people dear to them, their children, their wives, and husbands, their family, everyone made sure that there would be no one left, they know the despair of having a loved one fall into the enemy''s hand.


    As we looked back on our headquarters, the place where we trained for years and became our second home was slowly burned into pieces by the bombardment that went through, due to lady Allania removing the barrier and engulfing it around us, with our formation the barrier looked like an arrowhead.


    Dark fire magic burned our houses and swallowed them whole, dark rock magic penetrated the walls and turned them to rubble, due to the numerous bombardments the scenery around us was a raging hell of burned houses, broken buildings, clothes burning, even the resistance banner that flew proudly in the lady''s quarters was brought down by dark thunder magic, it cut through its stick and dropped down.

 82 Valeris Wish

    "Okay! Golems are in position?!"


    "Yes sir!"


    "Magic casters and Spirit users ready for anti-personnel attacks?"


    "Yes general!"


    "Non-combatants! Those who can pick up weapons, the treants are distributing makeshift bows and arrows! Make use of those and protect yourself at least!"


    "Yes!"


    "Now it''s our turn Valeri, are your little ones planted on the right spot?"


    "Yes sir!"


    "Then on my count¡­ 1¡­ 2¡­ 3, MISSION START!!!"


    Little ones! Now that you are behind the enemy soldiers there''s only one thing you can do that the stronger spirits can''t! That is not only to heal! But to also do this!


    With my minds eye I imagined that my hands are vines as I put myself in the mind of my partner, I slowly dug myself out of the ground and there I saw the feet of the countless knights who are trying to annihilate us, and with my vines, I pulled them and med them fall face first.


    "Inferior spirits! Dare to humiliate us! Kill them!"


    They tried to get off the vines, as they slashed their swords but I made sure they wouldn''t hit it, as a result, some of them sliced off their feet instead.


    The enemies who were bloodthirsty upon killing us suddenly found themselves in a predicament, which became the opportunity for the resistance.


    "NOW!!! General!"


    "Arrowhead CHARGE!!!"


    And we made our war screams! This is a fight for survival! A fight that might doom our entire race, to annihilation! or would enable us to carry our hope to the next generation!


    Our footsteps became one as we starting heading to the direction of the commanders who were as tall as the stone giant general Bulas can manifest.


    ["Partner! It''s time to defend us again!"]


    ["Land golem! Awaken!"]


    ["My knights, manifest yourself and turn yourself into an impregnable warrior!"]


    As we ran our golem wielders called out for their friends in any way they could, including general Bulas. Outside the arrowhead formation different types of golems manifested themselves, general Bulas'' golems manifested as rocks topping each other until it formed a humanoid shape at 14ft high, others either were from the clay under the land that shaped themselves into a humanoid shape similar to their users at 10 ft high, other was made of sand that slowly built themselves into a formidable knight shaped humanoid still 10 ft high, in total we had 20 golems protecting us from each side of the arrowhead with general Bulas'' golem at the vanguard, the spear of the operation.


    "Golem users! Orders! Ram your golems into those commanders!"


    All the fighters were afraid, even us who were running all together with them as when we got nearer the dark elf commanders we saw their large body with protruding dead elves all over their body, using our people as decorations for their body, the way they smelled, the way they looked were getting horrible as we got nearer.


    Topping 15ft they looked at us their smile reached their ears as if they are looking at a very delicious meal.


    "HaHahAHhAhA when are these idiots gonna learn? A suicide charge?"


    "HAHAHAHaaHAhA! I have a present for them!"


    We could hear them talking to each other as they readied their clubs made of the skeletons of our kinds, we could see the bones and their skull and even some of the leftover skin.


    But no one stopped¡­ to be precise, no one could, everyone was filled with disgust, despair, and hate.


    How could they do this to our kind, simply not taking away their freedom and using them as slaves and milking cows, they are using our dead people in any way they could. We could also see that the cape they were wearing was just stitched all together, they looked like skins, but not of animals¡­ they were skins of our kind.


    I almost threw out, as I imagined the countless elves they have skinned to make such a cape. No¡­ I shouldn''t lose heart right now, get it back in, or I won''t have the strength to run.


    "They are only two! We could take them down!"


    The general shouted as he made his golem run farther than him to charge at the first dark elf commander that has no club.


    The golem who had a sword made of rock swung it to the dark-elf commander which in turn also swung its club made of the skeletons of our people, a gust of air occurred with a blast of sound from two giants that clashed with each other.


    Meanwhile, the smaller golems went to hold the other dark-elf commander, knowing that nullifiers don''t work with golems they didn''t bother to put up the dark barriers.


    "Their barriers are not up! All other offensive spirits attack them directly!"


    The spirit users that were getting read attacked together, they did damage the commanders but the nullifier worked again and the spirits that relied on their elements too much were extinguished.


    But It was at that moment, that we could see the slope going downward, and as we passed by the dark elf commanders that were being held down by the golems. We, in the arrowhead formation, have finally escaped!


    "Were out!"


    "Yeah!!!!!!!!!!"


    "Everyone it''s not yet finished we still have to delay-... huh?! What the hell is that!"


    The one who exclaimed was the general himself, down the slope there were more dark knights waiting for us, numbering up to hundreds.


    "General¡­ its¡­ their main force¡­ the dark elf commanders¡­ we''re not alone"


    A commander answered his question slowly, in shock.


    They gathered like a dark cloud waiting to swallow us whole, and for the worst, the elf-commanders finally defeated the golems that were holding them down and have set their eyes to us.


    O god¡­ are we just gonna die like this, being hunted like animals, even how far we try to get away from them they always make sure to chase us and trap us like this. We don''t have anywhere to go now.


    "Can any god hear me? Please tell Lyra, to carry on the resistance! And drive these vile creatures to extinction..."


    We lost all hope as we were stopped on our tracks as the clouds of dark knights and the commanders behind us are about to crush us and turn us into slaves and prisoners. Most took out their knives, those who were ready to die rather than being captured.


    They hugged their children and loved ones, ready to kill each other as they cried in their arms. General Bulas, fell into his knees as he consoled the lady who was crying her heart out, maybe she''s blaming herself for the defeat.


    Until... as if my wish has been granted, a God appeared... no... a man wearing nothing but black with his mantle fluttering on appeared on the skies falling down and what he carried with him was...


    "Lyra???!!!"


    No... he isn''t falling a large bird I have never seen before acted as his wings.


    He swooped down for a bit and dropped Lyra, to me in a few feet.


    "Take her... hindrance"


    In a few feet, Lyra came falling to me.


    "Ahhh!!! You''ll pay for this Slaine!"


    Slaine? Who is that? That man in the mantle... isn''t he the one who scattered the flags at HQ!!!!


    Oh gosh, how could a man just throw a beautiful elf-like Lyra so easily? Maybe he knows girls much beautiful than Lyra?


    Airborne he pointed out his staff towards the skies just above of the gathered knights, he took something from his pocket, and it gleamed three transparent crystal balls that looked so beautiful. He inserted the first one to the back of his staff and pointed it to the skies and his staff made an explosion.


    "Earth..."


    [Boom!]


    Then, inserted the ball in the same manner, at the same angle, another explosion occurred.


    "Fire..."


    [Boom!]


    Finally, for the third time.


    "Gravity"


    [Boom!]


    This time the angle as to the cloud of dark knights that gathered.


    A large magic circle appeared beneath the cloud of dark-elves, and it expanded that it covered most of it, and then it appeared, from the skies a large boulder appeared, dashing with fire.


    His voice, in a deeper tone, he declared something, that I think would be the name of the most destructive spell that I have ever seen in my life, but was declared with no passion at all.


    "Layered Magic: Meteor"


    And then I caught Lyra, as she screamed at us.


    "Everyone! Get down!"

 83 We Are Just Stubborn

    ???? ???????????????????? ????????????????????????


    As we were approaching, to help with the defensive battle happening in front of our eyes as fast as we can, with the dark forces heavily pummeling their way to kill the people of the resistance, everyone was anxious, because the more time passed, the more the forces gathered, the thicker the encirclement became, the more of our people died.


    However, through our scouts eyes, he declares that the resistance was still fighting, but was suffering heavy losses because of the dark-elf knight''s power that can break through the magic barrier with ease because of their dark magic, only spirit users of earth elements can stand up to them.


    But as we got closer to the cloud of enemies circling around the headquarters, we noticed a separate division coming to us.


    "General! Division-sized units have spotted us! We won''t be able to get through!"


    The one who shouted was the commander who was leading the charge, he shouted to the general at the center of the formation pointing to the approaching enemy division.


    Leading the charge were five dark-elf knights who rode at magic beast''s back, the beasts from Hel that has a one body and three heads. Behind them was a large unit of dark-elf priests that were ready to bombard us with dark spells as they ran towards us while they raise our staffs.


    "When they get in range, they would bombard us with spells, plus we don''t have anyone who could counter those spells¡­ this is bad, before we can assist, they might annihilate us first"


    The general was sweating, and then at a heartbeat as the force was getting closer he stopped and raised a hand, ordering us to stop the charge.


    "General! Why are we stopping now?!"


    The commander asked him panicking, as he readied his bow.


    General Alwin sheathed his sword.


    "Retreat to the woods! Now!"


    "What?! Aren''t we going to help them?"


    The commander pointed at the encirclement that was just getting thicker and thicker with a worried look on his face. His family is still at the encampment, along with the other fighters'' families too.


    As we stopped, all fighters expressed their opinions with a dejected look on their faces.


    "But our families!"


    "My wife"


    "... my kids are still there"


    "My siblings¡­ "


    "General¡­ I am prepared to die!"


    "Yes! I''d rather die together with my family!"


    "Give us the order to attack!"


    The anxiousness spread as everyone stopped while the division was already closing on to us.


    "REATREAT!!!! I SAID RETREAT! WHAT WILL GOING BACK THERE DO?! THIS IS AN ORDER!"


    The general gave the cruel order strongly that it ringed wildly in our ears, that the faces of the fighters turned further in despair, because everyone knows that the general''s only daughter is still in the headquarters, and regardless he is still ordering to stop the charge.


    He is a general through and through.


    "AS LONG AS WE HAVE THE VICE-LEADER, WE STILL HAVE HOPE! I SAID RETREAT!"


    The vice-leader and the elf-priest remained in silence, knowing that in the situation, the General has the highest authority, but everyone looked horrified at him as they also looked at the hopeless situation in front of them.


    They desired to save their loved ones, but the situation was too hopeless.


    But amid it, I remembered something important. My best-friend Valeri is still there, and I want to save her, but in this situation, there''s no choice.


    There''s no choice? In these thoughts, I noticed that I was trembling as I looked at my hands. How could I think of something so cruel?


    Wait¡­ What is this? I thought, I have steeled myself already?


    C''mon Lyra Vaeri Sarwynn, this is your second life already, are you going to be reckless again? I''m sure Valeri would think the same... she won''t blame you, if you back down now.


    "I SAID RETREAT! THERE''S STILL TIME FOR US! TURN BACK!"


    The general continued shouting.


    At this critical moment, images with Valeri flashed in my mind, the moment we met, the day she accepted me like a sister, and the predicaments that we went through together which made us closer.


    Right now she''s my only family.


    Am I going to lose a loved one again? In the hands of those pieces of shits?!


    I can understand the General''s orders, and I know that deep inside he knows how cruel such order is, but still¡­ I don''t want to turn around doing nothing.


    To numb the trembling, I slapped my cheeks and raised my hand.


    "General, I''m quitting the resistance!"


    I took the red bandana off my shoulder, folded it and placed it softly on the floor, this bandana symbolizes the years of service I had with the resistance, the memories I shared with the people I encountered here, the friends I made, the people whom I witnessed sacrificed themselves to keep the resistance alive.


    "General¡­ either way you won''t outrun that division-sized unit, right? Look how fast the magic beasts that they are riding.


    Let me stay here! I can hold them for a few seconds at least, I respect your orders, and I know your foremost duty is to keep the resistance alive no matter what happens, but this time it''s my personal wish, that''s why I''m quitting.


    I''D RATHER DIE HERE FIGHTING THAN ABANDON THE PEOPLE PRECIOUS TO ME!"


    "LYRA! STOP THIS NONSENSE AND RETREAT!"


    "It''s okay general, please escape now! As a nonmember of the resistance, you don''t have to care about me! I''m just Lyra now"


    The general hesitated but turned away, that''s good, leave me here¡­ at least¡­ at least this time I''m dying not for myself, but this time I''m dying for someone I care for.


    I breathed in as I took some seeds out from my pocket to prepare to summon my spirit.


    As I looked down at my hand, suddenly¡­ I saw a shadow of a group of people passing me by from my back, taking away their armbands almost at the same time.


    "Don''t worry about you?! Ha! Don''t underestimate our battalion!"


    "Yeah, you cannot last one second by yourself, allow me to lend some assistance"


    They were the elves who voiced their opinions to the general.


    I see, so I''m not the only one, I''m glad.


    "Yeah, I''ll gratefully accept that, thanks, let''s do this"


    That man Slaine have told us that we were too prideful to fight against such an enemy, but deep down we elves are just stubborn.


    We just want to live the way we want, even how selfish we become, we may not win.


    But, personally, I believe, that doing your best in something you can truly be proud of even if failing, that is something to be proud of even in death.


    And that is the reason for my existence.


    "Okay men! Let''s do it!"


    Huh? There is more?


    More of the fighters removed their armbands and joined us that we have already halved the battalion.


    They cracked their knuckles and readied for combat. One of them was the commander who also voiced out his opinion to the general.


    "Sorry General, but you have to retreat alone with the vice-leader. Don''t worry, we''ll be taking as many dark-elves heads as we can, see you on the other side someday!"


    He gave the general a thumbs up and readied his bow.


    It seems the commander is a spirit user as well, only spirit users would ready a physical weapon because they will be vulnerable once the spirit attacks the target and leaves the summoner.


    As for me I have my dagger.


    "YOU IDIOTS! DAMN! IF I WASN''T THE GENERAL I WOULD HAVE JOINED YOU GUYS! YOU GUYS ARE SO MANLY!"


    "What are you saying general, you still have to keep the fire burning right? At least for now. Let us do as we please. We won''t be taken that down easily I assure you!"


    "Lyra is a woman though Haha!"


    In our last moments, all we could do was tease each other.


    The other half were those who were too scared to fight, all they wanted was to escape immediately with the general.


    But it''s better than being totally annihilated, next time they could take our places and become powerful fighters of the resistance.


    But a shocking member of the retreating force stepped up and removed his red symbol of the resistance as well, and it was the vice-leader.


    He fixed his eyeglasses and looked at us.


    "Strangely, I agree with these young people here, and one thing I know is that if HQ falls here, the resistance has no future anyway, so I''m also helping.


    Sorry Alwin, I know that you are in charge at times like this but you might have to retreat yourselves"


    He smiled at the general and readied his magic like the rest of us, who can see the division that was moving to us closer and closer that they were only just yards away from us.


    "Don''t be so cold vice leader, I''ll fight with you"


    He readied the enormous sword at his back and stuck it to the ground with his two arms.


    "NOW I CHANGE MY ORDER, ANYONE WHO CAN FIGHT WILL FIGHT! THOSE WHO CAN''T, CAN RETREAT!


    MEET UP WITH THE RESISTANCE AT THE NEAREST BASE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AND RECEIVE INSTRUCTIONS THERE FROM NOW ON!"


    The more people joined, the heavier my heart felt.


    Did I just lead them to their own demise?


    If I hadn''t acted like that, we would have already retreated¡ª no I shouldn''t think like that, it''s their own decision to fight, just like me.

 84 Im Not Courageous

    "MEN! REMEMBER YOU ARE DOING THIS ON YOUR OWN CHOICE! SO YOU HAVE TO DO YOUR BEST SO THAT YOUR LIVES WON''T BE WASTED! AT LEAST TAKE SOME HEADS WITH YOU BEFORE YOU FALL DOWN!"


    As the general finished his rallying cry, the dark-elf priests were in range to bombard us with spells. Their black robe with white accents and stripes all over fluttered as they stopped and raised their staff together, while the knights that rode beasts kept coming towards us.


    The spells converged with dark energy. It looked like a black ball made of all their dark magic power, the black ball rose at the skies and went coming towards us, made by a huge number of dark-elf priests it expanded larger than our formation,


    We were filled with despair and horror, as they slapped us with the reality¡­ that our courageousness was not enough to hold a candle, against a power like this.


    How much more will our race suffer, because of our repeated mistakes.


    I suddenly remembered what the man named Slaine told us about pride¡­ I guess he''s right.


    "Ahh¡­ I wished to drink that coffee again"


    The huge ball of negative energy then was rammed against us.


    Or so we thought it would be.


    With a sound of metalworks clanking, along with a bird''s screech, chilling, a man in a tattered mantle suddenly showed in front of us. How did he appear in front of us without us even noticing his footsteps? Is it because we were too occupied?


    No, I think it''s not the case this time.


    "Oh, they are¡­ lined-up well"


    He murmured, and then took something from his pocket, as we stood there stiff and wide-eyed, what he took from his strange pocket was squeezed between his index finger and middle finger.


    It was a transparent ball that has golden color inside.


    As I looked at it I noticed that the ball itself has a tremendous amount of mana.


    Could this be his actual power? So that''s why we couldn''t detect any mana from him!


    He carried his weapon he called "gun" in two hands, and covered its tube with something like a black powder.


    Next he placed the transparent ball inside the hollow.


    "Loaded bullet, everyone who hates thunder cover your ears or it will hurt"


    [Click!]


    He placed his finger at the well-crafted metalwork, just under the wood, and strangely leaned his head atop it.


    "Lightning"


    [Boom!]


    An explosion was heard and a lightning magic circle appeared in the middle of the air.


    Just like what I saw when he saved me. The sound of the explosion is hurtful to the ears, but this isn''t thunder and is tolerable, also nothing have happened.


    The black energy ball was already only a few from us. No matter which way we ran it was too big to outrun, however the man in front of us didn''t falter.


    He quickly repeated the same process, but this time he used another ball but this time it isn''t transparent, and it doesn''t have mana at all.


    "Metal"


    [Boom!]


    At that moment, I briefly saw the metal ball colliding with the lightning magic circle, and as it passed through the magic circle, the metal ball sped up and we heard the fierce sound of thunder, it was so loud that we instinctively covered our ears.


    But it was already too late.


    The sound was just too loud, as if thunder seamed to crack the air, as if the very heavens might split apart. I felt my ears ringing as it disoriented me.


    And then we saw it, an immense lightning drove past the battalion ahead of us so fast that we could only see the flash of it accompanied with the crack.


    The enemy who were so fierce and were excited to have the ball flatten us was completely fried up with their faces still having the same expressions, including the farthest dark-elf high-priest at the rear.


    At the same time the negative energy ball that was about to flatten us disappeared in the air.


    "Electromagnetic Bullet"


    He muttered under his bandana that covered half his face. No one could say a word. The spell he made annihilated one division in an instant.


    ¡­


    The division that was chasing us was no more. We all, in relief, dropped to our knees.


    A miracle just happened, the enemy division numbering up to ten thousand, has perished in that one strike.


    What the hell just happened?


    Wide-eyed, we looked at the man who slowly turned around to us as the tube on his weapon was emitting smoke.


    Was this man blessed by the spirit of smoke? Is there even a spirit with that element?


    "Stand up¡­ "


    He offered his hand to me as he looked at the council of ten who was also sitting on the ground relieved.


    "Still¡­ not finished"


    He pointed to the encirclement.


    At that moment we saw that the barrier has disappeared and all the people of the resistance were now under the lady''s mobile shield and have made an arrowhead formation.


    Could it be that they are trying to break away? And that direction!


    They are clearly misunderstanding something! Why would they charge at the horde of dark-elven knights!


    And then I noticed that they pointed the arrowhead at two commander level dark-elves.


    I see! They have been misled by the slop of the mountain!


    They couldn''t see the danger waiting for them!


    The commander level elves are leading them to a trap! Where an entire division of rare dark-elf knights are waiting to slaughter them!


    No! Valeri! Don''t go there!


    I now knew what he meant by, "it''s not finished."


    "Does this mean you''ll help us?"


    I took his hand and stood up.


    His hand felt thin for a man, it felt that he never held a bow nor a sword, but still its manly and strong.


    "Yes¡­ as long as you follow¡­ what I say"


    All of us recognized him, some for his description, the others who saw him directly like the council members and me, as everyone saw him giving me a hand, they didn''t feel nervous anymore, as he wasn''t an enemy.


    Everyone stood up and faced him.


    "Everyone¡­ I¡­ give¡­ plan, please¡­ execute"


    ¡­


    The council members and the commanders formed a circle with him, but the circle was broken as he tried to keep as much distance as he could from us, I didn''t notice it before because when we visited him, his seat was already a distance apart from us.


    He''s keeping people away to seeing his face.


    I''m curious about his ears, his hood covered that, could it be that his ears have been cut, and he''s afraid to show it?


    Or is it just that long that it is embarrassing? Well, in elven society the way ears look like give brilliant points to women.


    Or¡­ maybe he doesn''t have the same ears as us? Like the dwarves and flame dwellers? It''s impossible! Because his body looks like just us! At least from its shape under his mantle.


    There he explained the plan to us quickly, he told us in his broken elven, about some unfamiliar maneuvers that uses the woods they have passed through, the camp was already surrounded by them, and behind them was the woods.


    We were to be separated into squad-sized units and would run along the trees in intervals. After shooting our magic, we need to change locations as we circle around them, it''s a simple strategy but is extraordinary and is worth a try, it''s the best way to handle them when they are preoccupied with attacking the headquarters.


    "Then what about the dark-elf knights? Our magic and spirits can''t handle them"


    The elf-priest Ellarian asked, as he scratched his head.


    "Leave it to me¡­ and "


    He pointed to me.


    "I need you¡­ to¡­ direct¡­ the¡­ escapees to a safe place¡­ "


    He told me as he made hand gestures that meant transferring from one point to another.


    "I got it¡­ but why me?"


    I asked him, what''s the use of me, who doesn''t even have a powerful spirit to begin with.


    "Because¡­ you are¡­ courageous"


    Don''t tell me¡­ he saw that? Where was he watching from in the first place?


    "Courageous?"


    His words resonated with me.


    I never considered myself courageous, I just thought of myself as going with the flow to survive, I had my own ideals, and that was to reclaim the lands of the kingdom I was born from by joining the resistance, more like I didn''t have much of a choice, it''s either to join or to be hunted.


    Time passed when I joined the resistance. I lost those ideals, and I was just satisfied as long as the people I care for are alive.


    That''s why this time I became selfish and announced that I would fight, even if it''s certain that I would die, but that was just me, doing selfish things.


    Can you call that courageous? Because of me, all of us stayed and was about to go on a suicide assault.


    If you didn''t appear we would all have been humiliated and annihilated.


    But, regardless, I would take you on that, if you believe that I''m courageous then let it be. You have already saved my life two times, and I will spend it this time serving you.


    "Okay, what will you have me do?"

 85 Forward!

    "AHHHHHH!!"


    I screamed as I felt my insides get sinking as I was suddenly lifted up in the air. I closed my eyes and crumpled his shirt. If he drops me, I will really stab him with my dagger.


    The next thing I know was that I''m being princess-carried by him, as we flew high above, and saw the ludicrously beautiful horizon.


    No way! Flight magic?! I can also see wings growing out of his back, so flight magic allows you to wield these mighty-looking wings?


    "Hey! Is this flight magic?"


    He looked at me with his lifeless eyes, and slowly shook his head, and then used his thumb to point out his back.


    Behind him, his wings turned out to be a bird carrying him, it''s the first time I saw such a bird that was also extremely strong to carry us together.


    We went higher and higher and when we are at a considerable height another bird with its noticeable black color, carrying his weapon and a bag with him on its feet.


    "One¡­ two¡­ could they be, whom you call your friends?"


    I shouted so he can hear me; the wind was powerful, and the bird''s wings were flapping strongly and loudly.


    Then he nodded.


    His friends are these birds, but how can he talk to them? Maybe he was so lonely fighting alone that he befriended these birds?


    But this isn''t time to do that, I looked down below and saw the arrowhead formation was complete and that they started their charge with the summoned golems of different varieties accompanying them.


    "You¡­ once I¡­ take you¡­ friends¡­ tell them¡­ get down¡­ I will cast¡­ spell¡­ after¡­ move forward"


    Move forward?! Against those dark knights? I saw his power earlier, and it is indeed remarkable, as it also took down the dark knights that were supposed to be immune to magic, but that''s because it was too fast!


    The enemy below is an entire division of rare dark knights, it looks like the combined dark knights of all the dark-elf kingdoms that decided crushed us once and for all.


    Does he plan to use that magic again? Anyway, the only path for us is to trust him.


    I nodded to him slowly, in which he responded by also nodding to me.


    "Eagle¡­"


    He muttered, "Eagle?" what is that?


    We heard the birds'' screech as it dove to the arrowhead formation that by now has already passed by the commander-level dark-elves. By using the golems they were able to move ahead of them but they didn''t know that a lot of dark-elf knights were waiting to massacre them, as soon as they appear at the slope, and the lady''s barrier will be totally useless against those nullifier weapons.


    As we dove, I felt my insides sinking once again, but I held on and was ready to do my duty.


    With no communication magic user from our team to communicate with the council member Mr. Wistari whom I saw is in this formation, this is the only way to deliver the message to them.


    As we passed by the sea of knights waiting, we also saw that the commander-level dark-elves finished with the golems, and the arrowhead formation trapped. As they saw the sea of dark-elf knights waiting for them down the slope.


    In the middle of the formation, I saw Valeri with a worried look on her face.


    She''s alive¡­ I felt my heart being relieved as I saw my best friend, my sister and my one and only family left.


    I felt my tears starting to go down my face, don''t worry Valeri, we''ll survive, help has come for us!


    "Drop me by that woman right there"


    "Ok"


    As we got nearer the formation, they were too busy thinking to notice us. Also, with the sun on top of us, it was hard to see us.


    Closer and closer we go to them, until in a considerable distance, where we can see Valeri''s face, he dropped me.


    "W-W-Wait¡­ Slaine this is still so high--"


    "Take her¡­ hindrance"


    With me unready, and him with no reservation, Slaine dropped me a few feet in the air.


    "Ahhh!!! You''ll pay for this Slaine!"


    Luckily, Valeri together with the other women were there to catch me. But, as I fell, I glued my eyes to him as I saw him hover at the skies, facing the divisions of dark-elf knights below him.


    Airborne he pointed out his staff towards the skies just above of the gathered knights. He took something from his pocket, and it gleamed three transparent crystal balls that looked so beautiful. Inside them there was a noticeable color, brown like the earth, red like the flames, and a dark-green color just like jade.


    He inserted the first one to the back of his staff and pointed it to the skies and his staff made an explosion.


    "Earth..."


    [Boom!]


    Then, inserted the ball in the same manner, at the same angle, another explosion occurred.


    "Fire..."


    [Boom!]


    Finally, for the third time.


    "Gravity"


    [Boom!]


    This time the angle was to the sea of the dark-elf knights that gathered.


    A large magic circle appeared beneath them and they could not move, some of them fell face down, as if the ground was absorbing them heavily.


    From the skies, an enormous boulder appeared, red and flaming.


    His voice, in a deeper tone, he declared something, that I think would be the name of the most destructive spell that I have ever witnessed in my life.


    And as if mocking me, he eyed me as Valeri and some women in the formation finally caught me.


    Then, he declared the name of the spell devoid of any feelings.


    "Layered Magic: Meteor"


    Oh right, I have to tell them.


    "Everyone! Get down!"


    The boulder we saw was larger than we thought it would be as it made a sound when it parted the clouds going towards the dark-knights.


    And with an enormous explosion, the boulder hit the magic circle on the ground on the cloud of knights that gathered, as if the skies have punished the dark elves for their evil deeds


    It was as though a fist of orange flame had punched the dark-elf knight division that gathered. It crushed them like paste. Their armor shattered to pieces. Smoke and fire rushed out.


    Thousands of pieces of the boulder, a deadly rainfall, showered down. All that remained was a bowl-shaped depression produced by the impact of the boulder as it blew the remains away by the wind, as if a star had fallen from the skies, but on a bigger scale.


    It was as if his magic was based on that phenomenon.


    Everyone was left in agape, as we were all in the ground, and where we could avoid the fragments of the explosion.


    But this isn''t the time to be surprised, as the dark-elf commanders was still behind us.


    When we looked back, we saw them fell down on their behind as they covered their faces with their enormous arms. I see¡­ even these vile creatures get scared.


    They couldn''t believe what just happened.


    "Lady Allannia! Where are you?!"


    I screamed over the crowd to find the person responsible for creating the moving barrier.


    "Lyra! Lyra is that you?"


    I heard a magnanimous voice in the rear middle of the formation. There I saw the lady in her armor that made her look like a fairy.


    "That path has been cleared! Order everyone to keep running forward!"


    "Understood! General Bulas! If you may!"


    The lady looked at the general, at the vanguard. It was General Bulas, the one that has the strongest golem that wields a stone sword, but he himself wields a bow.


    "Y-Yes! Everyone! FORWARD!"


    Everyone immediately took action, stood up, and ran, with the dark-elf knights erased, the commander-level dark-elves and the other divisions that were still on our back, continued their chase and bombardment, luckily the barrier is still up.


    We ran towards the crater made by the boulder and ran around it.


    At that was the signal to begin the operation Slaine made for us.


    An enormous and extraordinary signal, in which for the first time the resistance would be successful in defeating the dark elves in battle, led by a strange and mysterious man, who doesn''t show his face.


    I still couldn''t believe it. How is he able to create spells like that? If only I was that powerful enough¡ª no even just a shard of that strength, I would definitely use it for the benefit of all elves.


    At that moment, the ideals and dreams that I have abandoned, came back to me.


    "Valeri¡­ "


    I muttered as we continued running.


    "What is it? My sister?"


    She smiled at me as we continued running.


    "Do you think if we had his power we could take back our lost kingdoms?"


    I thought Valeri would say ¡ª "Yes" ¡ª immediately, but I was wrong.


    "If we got that power, I doubt we could wield it better than he did, I think it''s just me Lyra, but I think everyone has the power to change their own destiny.


    It''s just this man¡­ I think has a bigger reason to fight, as such why he had honed his skills perfectly to have a power like that"


    As usual, Valeri is sharp, and has an eye for people.


    Exactly, that man carries a bigger mission in his life, to save his love, he has to defeat the dark-elves altogether.


    Does this mean that if I pushed through my dream of taking back the kingdoms I would have wielded that kind of power already?

 86 From now on, I am in charge of my fate!

    I, Alwin have just received a weird strategy from our reclusive friend, to be honest I am quite a fan of him ¡ª the power to destroy and that clumsy friendliness towards us, and a passion to save the loved one, what a man! He''s a true man!


    Plus that power just now. He erased an entire division that was coming at us in a flash. At the time where we were almost certainly have been annihilated, he has saved us.


    As a man, there''s no way we wouldn''t follow this guy!


    But still that cruel order I just gave¡­ left a bitter taste in my mouth, ahh! I have to apologize to everyone later!


    As we heard Lyra''s weird scream as she was being taken away by Slaine, we proceeded with the plan by heading to the woods. We were told that he would give us a signal from the sky to begin our operation; I wonder what it would look like.


    As I waited for the signal, I thought of my one and only cute daughter, whom I devoted my life to after my wife passed away. If Slaine didn''t appear, I would have already been dead and my daughter, if she wasn''t able to escape, she would have already been caught and¡­


    With such a thought I unconsciously crushed the bark of the tree that I held onto.


    Please, let this operation succeed, my daughter is still young, if there''s any gods out there, please.


    As I was lost in thought of my daughter, I heard the men in the squad I led panicking as we sat on top of the trees.


    "General! Look at that! The skies! It''s opening!"


    As we looked above, I saw the clouds opening as a flaming boulder came down from it. With a great impact it landed at the area where the dark-elf knights stood. I heard a loud and devastating explosion on the impact as it echoed.


    Brought by the loud impact, we felt a powerful air blowing towards us.


    And there, I realized I shouldn''t be praying for any gods.


    This man, in front of us, who is exhausting his body and is risking his life for us, is changing our fate at the moment, a fate that these gods I was praying to have been ignoring for too long ¡ª a fate these gods decided that we didn''t need at all.


    That''s right¡­


    It''s up to us if we keep letting these gods playing with our lives, or we should become like him, who has the power to change one''s fate by acquiring such a power!


    From now on, I will follow his example.


    From now on, I am in charge of my fate.


    "Everyone hold on!"


    The powerful air from the explosion was so strong that we had to hold on to the trees or else we would lose our balance. However, I will not falter, I will witness this it with my eyes, and engrave it to my soul.


    This destruction in front of me, the destruction which will change the fate of the elves.


    Slaine¡­ thank you¡­ thank you¡­


    From the depths of my heart.


    For saving us, and for making me realize these things that have been weighing on me since I lost my wife from those dark-elves and became a soldier of the resistance.


    I didn''t notice, but tears were falling from my eyes, as I endured the wind and watched the annihilation of those dark-elf that ruined my peaceful lives.


    And after it finished, I inhaled deeply, knowing what would come next.


    and shouted.


    "COMMENCE OPERATION!"


    "Yes! General!"


    The others also followed through with the plan. We attack the elf-priests from behind, with our best magic, with no nullifier they are an easy prey to our magic.


    We sneaked behind the robed dark elf-priests.


    I summoned my partner, which was a shadow-type spirit, its form is a shadow bat. As it engulfed me, I inhaled and screamed.


    ["DARK-ELVES!!!! LOOK HERE!!!"]


    And this was enough to stun them, I wield my sword and ran towards them, slashing them one by one. The other four were all magic casters, even not being elf-priests, their magic easily killed the vile creatures, as they weren''t able to move due to my stun.


    However, with the encirclement so thick, there were more enemies in the front.


    Okay¡­ to the next step.


    ["RETREAT!"]


    We went back to the woods and ran at the treetops.


    This was the strategy he developed on a whim.


    We have no choice to trust him.


    Leading the other squads was the other council members and my commanders.


    I''m sure that they can do what we just did, those people are in another league on their own.


    ¡­


    With the appearance of the mysterious man named Slaine, the escort battalion was about to do their suicide charge as they decide to push through and die fighting rather than to escape.


    Being close to death, and being saved by Slaine as he used his strange magic, the four council members in this battalion had no choice but to trust him.


    The elves in the headquarters, realizing that the enemy brought in lots of units that has nullifier magic with them together with a large number of forces and magical beasts, they switch from a defensive strategy to an escape strategy, by using the elf leader, Allannia''s barrier.


    Lady Allannia wrapped everyone in the arrowhead formation with her anti-magic barrier, they penetrated the encirclement where they were only two dark-elf commanders, but as soon as they could pass by them using their golems which are able to hold against the dark elf commanders, they despaired when they saw a whole division of rare dark-elf knights, which was a symbol of destruction was waiting for them at the bottom of the slope.


    Sandwiched between the commander-level dark-elves, and an entire division of dark-elf knights, the situation was looking grim.


    With no means to communicate with the trapped elves in the headquarters, Slaine takes Lyra and fly towards them. And again with his magic and his weapon called "gun" he made three magic circles and summoned a meteor that flattened the dark-elf knights were about to massacre the escaping elves.


    The elves were horrified seeing the magic for the first time, but this was not the end of the plan.


    With the encirclement broken, and with no one left to catch up with the escaping elves, there was still an enormous force from behind them, which was the thick encirclement that was climbing at the slope and were about to chase them.


    With only a battalion left to fight who were a few kilometers from the encirclement, Slaine''s plan was to divide the battalion into smaller squads and to make them fights in another encirclement but this time using the trees as a cover.


    With teams acting in squads, it was highly mobile and was hard to spot.


    After each squad hit the enemy, the comrades of the enemy behind them would chase that squad deep into the woods, and with such encirclement, and with the disorienting meteor that squashed the best division that the enemy has, all of them were in disarray, and gave in to their instincts to chase the squads that has been ambushing them from the woods.


    With this the escaping elves were successful in escaping and arrived at the rendevouz point Lyra directed them to.


    Slaine went down to them, immediately for the next stage of the plan.


    "Are you¡­ free now?"


    Slaine asked the white armored woman, seeing her shiny armor and her fairy-like appearance because of it, he immediately knew that she was the leader. She was also the woman he gave the amulets to when he infiltrated the headquarters.


    "Yeah, I was told of the plan, now what shall we do? We have to escape, right? Which path do we take from here?"


    Slaine took time to understand what he said, and there was dead air between them, but after a few seconds he replied.


    "No¡­ let only non-combatants escape¡­ all capable fighters¡­ with me, this is¡­ chance¡­ wipe out a large force¡­ of dark-elves"


    The woman couldn''t believe what she was hearing. It took all they can to just escape, and he already wants them to fight again.


    But also it was because of him that they could escape. She wanted to protest, but she felt that she didn''t have the right to.


    However, Lyra interrupted.


    "Lady Allannia, please trust him"


    Lyra told the lady, pleading with her head down. The man also nodded as if telling her everything will be okay.


    "Okay, I''m all ears"


    ¡­


    Slaine explained the plan to them. With the dark-elf troops in disarray, and with only a few nullifiers left since the dark-elf knights were crushed, it left only a few knights and commanders.


    The escaped resistance fighters from the HQ were still many and had a few battalions of fighters with them.


    Slaine commanded them to sweep the dark-elves in disarray who chased the squads, tracing a circle full circle starting from the east, until reaching the other end. It was the perfect chance for them as the woods and the forest were their territory when it comes to fighting, and the advance squads have already lured their enemy inside it.


    Hearing the brilliant plan, they did not waste any time; they left their non-fighters and immediately headed to the nearest woods at the east. Where they met up with a person from the first squad who told them the locations of the scattered dark-elf divisions.


    They set off their spirits and cast their magics which killed all the dark-elves within the forest, there were surviving dark-knights and commanders, but they didn''t escape Slaine who was the rearguard of the sweeping formation.


    The elves only used their magic on those that can be affected by it, the dark-elf priests, the magical beasts, and the average dark-elf soldier.


    It was swift because of this, and the angered dark-elves who were ignored because they have nullifier magic or weapons submitted to their instincts and followed them, not knowing that Slaine was in the rearguard, together with some golem users at his request.


    His bullets were planted at the heads, and their strong nullifier magic can''t do anything about a magic-less destructive weapon, unlike the elves who skipped from tree to tree, Slaine ran on the ground and used the tree trunks to hide himself to get closer and get a good shot.


    While the forward force was sweeping, Raven delivered messages for him, while Eagle was flying high above as he watched the impressive counter plan.

 87 Wrong Turn

    "Andrei mister¡­ you might have changed a bit¡­ but your plans are so brilliant.


    Look at the faces of the elves, just a few minutes ago they were despairing waiting for their end, they have found hope, and what''s surprising is that revenge isn''t written on their face, but those are faces of victors, they knew that following your plans they could win.


    At the battle in the human world, we all felt the same. In the darkness, you stood up for us, that''s why when you chose me and Raven to accompany you in this strange world, we felt honored¡­ and still right now¡­ seeing this scene, makes me proud of myself for accompanying you in this another world.


    You have endured so much, knowing Princess Claire''s time limit, you knew that you didn''t have much time to dillydally, taking on an entire race for someone you love¡­ that''s not an easy feat mister.


    You have all of my respect and loyalty. I''ll follow you to the world''s end."


    Eagle screeched as it soared high, giving the information on the enemy''s movement to Raven, who''s at the forest with Andrei ¡ª whom in this world has taken up the name Slaine. Meanwhile. Raven transmitted this information to Slaine, who gives the next order to the separate squads, making sure that the distances they are doing in the sweep allows them to kill as many dark-elves as they can.


    No spells reached the sweeping unit, as the lady wrapped them with the unpenetrable barrier, with nullifiers being taken down by Slaine they were easy prey. The more the formation got larger due to the squads that have separated joining.


    After the fierce battle in the forests, where the dark-elves were helpless and disorganized, the sweep continued until sunset; the bombardment has stopped and only the voices of the fleeing dark-elves could be heard, asking for help, but with their system of command collapsed, the low morale of the soldiers and with the shock of the speed the elves have progressed their sweep, all they could do was run, some who tried to fight either got the general Bulas'' arrow, or general Alwins'' sword, or Slaines bullet engraved in their bodies and heads.


    For the first time in history, the resistance, the Free Elven Forces, dealt a tremendous blow to the race that gave them terror for many years.


    At the end of the battle, it was counted the ten divisions of dark-elves sent to crush the resistance was shamefully routed and obliterated. Some of them were able to escape but was instantly killed after reporting to their higher command for their dereliction of duty.


    The body count dropped to almost a hundred thousand, including their special division composed of purely dark-elf knights, where only the ashes of them remained.


    On the elf''s side, because of the quick thinking of general Bulas, general Alwin''s cruel retreat order, lady Allannia''s barrier and Slaine''s intervention, the losses were minimal, with a thousand deaths and injuries, the deaths were mostly brough by the sudden invasion ¡ª the first elves to respond.


    However, unlike dark-elves, to the elves losing a thousand precious companions was hard. Children lost their parents, wives lost husbands, and parents lost their children.


    The ten battalions under general Bulas, was still intact and the one escort battalion led by general Alwin that was divided into squads ¡ª no one was stupid enough to be caught as they lured the dark-elven forces into the forest.


    As the sun have set, and the moon took its place together with the stars, in charge of inter-camp communication, Mr. Wistari transmitted the victory to all the camps and bases. Together with Slaine and his comrades, they moved to the next HQ.


    Together with some captives, weapons, amulets in tow.


    ¡­


    The new headquarters is under a rock cliff, the dwelling place was under it with the entrance facing the sea, it was an enormous cave inside, and is another base the higher-ups of the resistance prepared in case of a retreat meant to hold many elves.


    Thanks to Slaine and his birdy buddies, we were able reach this place still with all our forces and council of ten intact. And of course with our non-combatant people.


    I reunited with Valeri as we led Slaine, with his buddies on his shoulders, this time around he went with us with his weapon is under his mantle, covered by it.


    It feels that I am dreaming. We won against those dark-elves who had much power and numbers than us, with his strategy.


    He is not only strong but also wise.


    Maybe I could be stronger like him someday?


    I stopped for a bit and looked at him, remembering something that he did to me earlier.


    "Hey Slaine, why did you just threw me like that? You could have got down lower before you did that!"


    And Valeri supported me.


    "Yeah yeah, you shouldn''t be throwing pretty girls like that, or you''ll get bad luck you know"


    He stopped and momentarily looked at me with his dead eyes, with his face and ears still covered with his hood, and the lower half of his face covered with his bandana. I can''t see its shape, I wonder what his ears looks like? I''m curious.


    "Sorry"


    He bowed his head a bit.


    It surprised me at how unexpectedly humble this person is despite of his strength and intellect, hey¡­ you shouldn''t be bowing your head to us, after all you''re the one who saved us, and a celebration will be made later to thank you.


    Now I feel bad, after everything he did for us I got him bowing his head to me who barely did anything. But what is this feeling that I''m getting from him¡­ he seems¡­ so lonely. I guess this is from his desperation to achieve something, to do something for the one he cared deeply for, the reason he''s fighting right now.


    I couldn''t help it and with my right hand I held his right cheek softly.


    "Raise your head, I should be the one who should lower my head to you"


    I looked at him, as he slowly turns up his head as he looked at my eyes.


    Those eyes¡­ how long have you been fighting to lose the gleam in your eyes. Seeing him like this, I wanted to do something for him¡­ to do something about this loneliness that I can feel from him.


    "Why¡­"


    He asked with his voice obscured because of his bandana. But I can tell we are just at the same age.


    "Why you ask?


    Well, you saved me, right? Many times¡­ in the forest where I was about to be captured.


    You saved my heart from breaking as you appeared in front of us when we were about to fight even death is certain.


    And finally, you saved what''s precious to me."


    I held Valeri''s hand, and she went to my side.


    "This girl here is my one and only family left, we might not be related by blood but we have been together for many years. Without you, I wouldn''t be able to hold her hand like this"


    "Really? I saved¡­ you?"


    "Mmmm¡­ "


    I nodded, and just for a bit, I saw his eyes glowed again, his black eyes when it shone, it looked like the stars I saw every night at the camp, those twinkling of the stars were enchanting; they blinked and flickered away, and yet always returned like rogues hiding away in the shadows, however they were always full of kindess and gentleness that shines in the darkness and leads us toward daylight..


    But as he blinked, it went back to normal.


    Perhaps was my mind playing with me? Did I see it because I wanted to see it on him?


    I want to see it again.


    Then I saw the bird whom he calls his friends look at him. These birds are intelligent? His birds looked at him as if they were concerned.


    He took the tip of his hood and lower his face, concealing the little of what we can see of his face.


    "Lyra, let''s take him to the gathering place now? The council of 10 are waiting. He requested not to be seen by many people, right? We should hurry up now or the others will catch up."


    "Okay, Slaine, can we go now?"


    He nodded and followed us silently, as we went deeper to the cave lit by several gems and the bugs and plants that grew in it.


    The three of us were silent, but from time to time, I looked at him over my shoulders, and I saw him let a light bug land on his finger. The birds on his shoulders were surprisingly not freaked out of being under the cave.


    He talked with them, muttering, and with the silence of the cave, we could hear him speak with them in an unfamiliar language, a language I have never heard of.


    And the birds would respond by squawking and screeching. I wonder how he could understand that?


    Is talking with birds more fun than talking with me and Valeri? I pouted.


    After a few minutes of walking in the dimly lit cave, we finally arrived at the place. We saw bridges that span across the crystal clear waters. The water is so clear that cave formations look close but are nearly 50 feet below the water''s surface.


    The bridge went to one direction straight at first, but after, it separated into three paths, and we crossed the first bridge until we arrived in front of the three bridges.


    "Valeri, where should we go from here?"


    Valeri also looked at the three directions.


    "You two are going to the council of 10, right? Then you should go at the center, I''ll take the path at the right, I have to go back to my unit, bye and good luck!"


    She waved at me with a sly smile and disappeared into the right path, I can imagine what she meant by good luck, that Valeri!


    "Slaine¡­ we go in this direction"


    He nodded as we went further on the center path.


    And there we saw a platform where the council of 10 are seated, with lady Allannia on the center.


    "Esteemed high-elf Allannia, and everyone Slaine has arrived"


    I lowered my head and went to the side to present Slaine.


    "Umm¡­ Lyra, where is he?"


    As I looked behind, he wasn''t there!


    ....


    On the other side of the cave, Valeri was surprised. Or should I be scared that the council of ten and Lyra might scold me?


    "Ummm¡­ Slaine, I think you got the wrong direction"


    "Really?"


    I showed him a wry smile as we have already arrived in the quarters of my unit. And there were lots of female elves who stared blankly at us.


    Oh no, this will be troublesome. He even requested to not interact with other people.


    The females were shocked at first¡­ but when they realized who he is; they stood up with glimmering in their eyes.


    "Oh, my¡­ is it that him?!"


    "The one who defeated dark-elf division by himself!"


    "Yeah! The one who saved us!"


    It''s not my fault because he''s the one who followed me here. But I have to fulfill my orders.


    "Sorry ladies, but I''ve been instructed not to ¡ª"


    Before I can even finish my speech, they dive into him like hungry hyenas.


    What a poor guy.


    Wait! That isn''t the time for that!


    "Run! Lyra''s at the center path!"


    He nodded and threw something to the ground and smoke appeared.


    The ladies, who tried to go after him, hugged nothing but smoke.


    Tsk! These hyenas''s have no self control.


    If he gets annoyed because of it, I would be the one who would get scolded by the council members!

 88 Losing My Humanity

    "Crap, I chose the wrong way"


    I held my head in regret, as I walked towards the underground bridges in the beautiful cave.


    Since coming to Alvheim, one thing I can''t get used to is the beautiful scenery. If only this world isn''t overrun by dark-elves, how beautiful would this more be?


    However¡­ I don''t have that much time to appreciate such beauty.


    At this moment Claire''s soul is fading away, I don''t have that much time.


    With me resolve to do something about Claire''s situation, I dove into this world with the help of Layla, and the sponsorship of Kydus empire under Rara''s rule.


    Eagle and Raven came with me, my instructors in physical combat and magic, I was very grateful for them for coming when I asked them to. But when we come into this world abundant with magic, they weren''t able to transform back into humans anymore.


    However, even their bird form I could still understand them as if our thoughts get connected.


    In the first year, when I came into this world, I gathered information through Eagle and Raven who can fly freely in the skies and at the same time who could speak to me their thoughts.


    My first goal was to grow accustomed to the world, to know its structure, geography, and other information that might be handy to me in situations I would be in the future.


    As they gave me information the first thing that I knew was that the language is different and hard to learn, so I gave up with just a few useful sentences Eagle and Raven taught me, just enough to build a sort of communication when I decide to finally speak directly to the non-dark-elf inhabitants of this world and perhaps build a sort of cooperation with them.


    I made a camp at the nearest part to the portal where I came from, beyond it was a thick forest the led to the top of a waterfall. That way when a year passes its easy to get the supplies, plus moving this large amount of supplies takes time, I have large metal boxes of bullets, gunpowder, tools, swords, tea, coffee, clothes and dried food enough for me to last in a year if budgeted adequately.


    Everything was all thanks to Queen Rara who not only promised to keep my quest as a secret from Michaela, but also sponsored me with all these stuff.


    Day by day Eagle and Raven would fly to gather information on the nearest elven hidden village where the original inhabitants of this world reside, they live in small hidden villages forming micro-communities to help support themselves together.


    The two observes them and listen learning their language, culture and other information related to them. If only Raven and Eagle could turn back to their human forms I won''t have to learn all these complicated languages.


    Suddenly, one day this small village was attacked by the dark-elves, these vicious race found their hidden village by accident. The news network was slow with only birds reporting to me, so I arrived late, the village already burned, and there I met the first elves I spoke to, who were young elves that were on the run, and I killed their pursuers on long-range.


    When I extended my hand they became wary of me and screamed in fear, seeing my black hair and non-pointy ears, according to Raven they called me a resident of Hel who gave power to the dark-elves.


    I wonder where they are right now? Those ungrateful pricks.


    Since then I wrapped myself with a black cloth all over, first to cover my hair and my ears, I wore a black mantle that has a hood, and then I used a bandana to cover the lower half of my face. This way I won''t be recognized as a human on the elves side, and dark-elves won''t know my real intentions, and they wouldn''t know where I came from.


    I''m wary that they might attack the human realm because of my actions. It''s better safe than sorry.


    Driven by my hate for the dark-elves for killing Erneis, and cursing Claire, day by day I used my time by consuming information Raven and Eagle sent me, making plans and simulations in my head and in magic and physical training.


    As my supply of bullets was limited I made sure to do it in moderation, just enough to make sure my aim wouldn''t go bad, mostly trained my body and mind instead.


    The magic here worked differently than on the human realm, the magic bullets was more destructive and I could also make different combinations of them, layering them on top of each other based on my understanding of it, I could create different phenomena''s that are destructive enough.


    I can create a meteor by mixing earth, fire, and gravity.


    I can create a sweeping gale that dances with flames and lightning.


    I can also create a tidal wave that electrocutes every living thing on it.


    Knowing this, just after six months of my arrival, being impatient I hit a small dark-elf camp, with a goal to get information, one captive or two would help.


    I didn''t know how to torture like the movies I saw in my original world, but it can''t be helped. Claire''s life depended on it ¡ª the information that I get from them is crucial, I have to find the one who gave her the curse in order to lift it.


    With the various artificial phenomena, I created that camp was flattened, and not wanting to waste magic bullets which are valuable I also used the BC''s in my supply which Raven and Eagles bring up to the air and drops them on top of the enemy.


    After each camp was down, I also freed the elf who became their slaves. They desperately ran back to the mountains, only a few were grateful enough to try to talk with me and thank me. Just like those boys who saw my real face.


    I fought with guerilla war strategies and managed to get dark-elf captives but no matter how I hurt them they won''t confess, in fact they just mocked me, as I asked about their invasion of the other worlds and about the curse wielders.


    In the end, I didn''t get any information. Not wanting to see its death I had an eagle, the stronger bird takes off and throws him over the cliff. This is a war I am waging, after all, I can''t be soft or else Claire''s life would slip away from my fingers, I would lose the one I love again.


    Back then, I just thought they were just fodder dark-elves, so I hit larger camps, and every time I would capture someone that looks like of higher rank I would torture them to get information, but no matter what I did, they just mocked me like crazy as if I was the idiot for talking with them in the first place.


    But I never gave up¡­


    Again and again and again, I killed, I tortured, in any way and different ways that I could, that I got used to it, so much that at one point I felt a satisfaction in killing dark-elves that I knew them better, their ranks, their nature, their characteristics and personalities.


    As time passed I also knew how to instill fear in them, they were masters of evil but also had some pride in them, and I knew that I just had to be eviler than them in handling them, that way someday I would encounter a dark-elf that would spit out information.


    First I would break their pride first, by humiliating them in front of their comrades that I captured, and then followed was intimidation, and next, I would make them fight over themselves over food, making sure that they don''t think of themselves dying honorably, rather they just died as they served as my playthings.


    To them, it was something much worse than death. I am the dark-elf to them who would chase them to the depths of the earth just to see them suffer.


    As I carried this out, I noticed that Eagle and Raven turn a blind eye, but also, from time to time they asked about how I was doing and how I was feeling about it.


    My answer was always simple.


    "Nothing feels so good as much as killing these pieces of shits who gave us so much pain"


    I''m sure they would agree as residents of Kydus. The country which lost most of its men and had their babies killed, when I left Kydus population was 50% much less before the war.


    It was so unlike me¡­ but these words didn''t bother me now, to defeat evil in stories heroes would be good.


    Because of those cliche movies, evil feared the good.


    But what about these dark-elves? They only laugh at the good, and injustice and rightfulness.


    So what do they fear?


    Something more evil than them, and to become the evil that they fear, I had to abandon a part of my humanity.


    But because of that, I got the tiniest bit of results that I got after the first year when I toppled down a middle-ranked camp, it was big but enough for me to bombard and burn everything inside it.


    The results of my year of torture and knowing what the dark-elves fear reached its peak as I did it on the dark-elf commander that I captured.


    It told me that it doesn''t know, or that these kinds of invasions are left to the people on top, and that he was just based on a forward base to take down the light elves, the remaining elven resistance that camped in the forests, I haven''t encountered them yet so far.


    Knowing that such resistance exists, I prepared some gifts. If I want to hit the higher ranks, I need them, as I was reaching my limits with my magic stones, and eventually these highly adaptable dark-elves would figure out my strategy.


    It is important to be unpredictable with such an enemy.


    After the new year as soon as I refilled my supplies when I came back to Kydus through the portal, I immediately hunted for more camps taking their flags, freeing the elves that were captured.


    The fortified bases bolstered their defenses but were useless with my aerial bombs and the phenomena I would create from the elements I have at my disposal. With my knowledge from my old world, my understanding with the elements, and my aerial advantage.


    They were no match for me.

 89 Raras Troubles

    A year after Andrei went towards the portal, Kydus have slowly recovered to normal, although the wounds that the war has inflicted on the people still remained, it has already started healing I guess, humans like us are just tough.


    Day by day I was busy with the reparations, repair, and organizing the new order of knights.


    With the distaste of knights around town, the effort was made secret with only a few people involved who know it.


    And these men didn''t wear the usual armor anymore, the armor of Kydus have become a symbol of defeat and a reminder that once humans have been corrupted by an evil species.


    Their armor was a reminded of the dark-elf attack and the atrocities that they have caused.


    Right now to bolster, our military we started making large orders from the kingdom of Ethareri for weapons known as guns. The symbol of victory, that the surviving knights of Kydus themselves witnessed.


    As the technology wasn''t really given to us, we ordered the weapon as well as the maintenance cost, truly a genius idea for profiting over defense hardware and articles from the new general of the new Ethareri Armed Forces, Geraldine Savoy.


    Who turned out to be Gideon''s daughter whom he has hidden in Ethareri because of Layla Savoy''s premonition that something will to the baby if she stays at Kydus which really did happen which was the dark elven invasion.


    The name of the army was odd, but I heard the rumors from Gideon that before Andrei left Ethareri, truly a sinful gentleman, even when he''s away he still makes sure that the woman he left still remembers him.


    I''ll pinch him in the stomach when he comes home as a greeting!


    I wonder how will he react.


    Recently, I have been bored of my duties and this month Layla is scheduled to open the door that connected to another world, although I don''t know much about it and the complicated stuff about magic, I know that its a different world than our own and that it opens yearly and can only carry up to three persons per year.


    If only I wasn''t the empress I would have loved to explore that with Andrei¡­


    Ahh, adventured with Andrei huh? I absentmindedly thought as I seated at the throne my father sat on for many years, my new ministers are lined up were rather young, of course hand-picked by the new prime minister Gideon Savoy.


    To be honest, if Andrei wasn''t on Queen Michaela and Princess Claire''s clutches I would have taken him for myself. But I have gratefulness to the country that saved us and is even helping us now, and for that I''m not making any moves yet until I pay back my debt as an empress.


    Although I feel bad for hiding the truth from them, as explained by Andrei it''s the right thing to do.


    As what he will do is something for them, and if Michaela isn''t at the cornerstone of the kingdom, it would collapse.


    But it made me feel guilty, since then I didn''t see the queen smile anymore, she would only speak to me when there''s business, and she hates small talk. There was also a talk that aside from her duties Queen Michaela hasn''t shown her face that much.


    Is this really the right thing to do Andrei? Right now¡­ she must really be sad. If I were in her position, I would have left the throne already and adventured with you, but still this is your choice and I don''t have anything to say about that.


    In your way, you are thinking about their welfare.


    And then suddenly Gideon came in.


    "It''s Gideon, Empresss Larierara Popannus"


    "You may enter Gideon, and how many times did I tell you to call me just the usual, Empress Rara or something easier to say¡­ "


    Gideon fought with me after all to reclaim the throne, I don''t want him to treat me as a stranger.


    "That won''t do Empress, you are now the Empress of the people after all"


    He bowed to me magnificently as usual, but to be honest this middle-aged guy is annoying when I was still a princess.


    The Empress of the people thing was a new praise to me since the news was spread that it was me who delivered the final blow to the creature my father turned into, with the part where the creature was my father kept secret.


    Thanks to that it was easy to ascend to the throne and gain the trust of the masses and the nobles alike. I was called the Empress of the People for I fought with my people and built the empire again with the trust of the people.


    "Okay, what''s your concern for today? I''m rather bored today, so I don''t want to take on any other boring jobs, rather I want to go out and help the people"


    I asked him as I leaned on my fist bored.


    "Empress, the lion has returned back to the sun"


    I immediately was alerted and stood up.


    It was a phrase we used that will be told when the door was opened and when the man I fell for returns.


    Finally, Andrei is here!


    I rose up from the throne and too my sword with me.


    "Okay! Let''s slay that lion!"


    ¡­


    In the middle of the forest, I and Gideon arrived at the ruins where the portal was, it was a secret ruins only known to me, Gideon and Layla.


    When I arrived it seemed that the transfer was already a success and I can see Raven and Eagle at their human forms stretching.


    And Layla in her elf form tired sitting at one of the stones, it may have consumed lots of her magic, its been recent that she showed it to me, she needed to be in this form in order to cast high magic.


    And there was also someone sitting on one of the stone he wore a black mantle and a black bandana on the lower part of his face, with black all over covering his whole body.


    His eyes looked dead as he carried a weapon simillar to Andrei.


    Could this be his new ally?


    I smiled wryly as I waved at him.


    "Hey Gideon, could he understand human language?"


    Gideon was surprised as he also stared at the man.


    "I''m pretty sure he could understand it, after all¡­ that man is Andrei"


    "Huh?"

 90 Eagles Repor

    The young man is back again from his journey, and with a heavy load at that judging from his looks.


    After meeting up at the portal we immediately went back to the palace where we were about to have our dinner and a small celebration, Andrei was silent the whole time, and was still wearing his dark and worn out mantle.


    Andrei¡­ do you think we should also replace that?" I told him, trying to break the ice, Layla herself was also in agreement, as she nodded after I asked the question.


    It took a while for him to answer as if he was processing the question.


    He looked at his clothes and looked at me again.


    "Yes¡­ Thanks"


    I couldn''t tell what he is thinking, after all, he looks absentminded and his voice was deeper than it was before.


    "... and along with that can you also give me spare guns just in case mine breaks down?"


    All he talks about is anything related to his mission, and strangely he isn''t asking questions to Layla who''s supposed to be a former resident there.


    "Yes, Andrei, that will be done, so can you tell me about your journey while we dine?"


    The one who asked was the empress herself, I tried to make fun of her so Andrei would laugh earlier in the forest, but it seemed that he didn''t get it.


    "Ahh, about that, just ask Eagle, I''ll sleep for now. Thank you for the invitation empress"


    He isn''t also calling the empress by her name the way he used to. When the empress was about to lose hope, the young man was there for her, this kind of concern coming from her is normal.


    As the attendant who will be leading him to his room arrived he bowed to Rara and me.


    "Wait a moment young man, want to drink with me?" Everything is so awkward from the start, maybe a good drink at a good bar with ladies will change the mood.


    "No, thanks. I still have three days here right? For now, let me just rest, the portal takes a toll on my body"


    He walks away and disappears, confirming that he was already away I called on my attendant that I didn''t see for a year.


    I opened the window and called for them.


    "Eagle, Raven are you there? Can you dine with us instead and tell the Empress everything that happened?"


    Two bird flapped their wings as they entered through the window and transformed themselves as men.


    As Eagle and Raven told us everything that has happened, both the empress and I were wide-eyed.


    I felt the hairs in my arms standing, the young man has definitely undergone lots of struggles by himself in a year, and it was something so cruel for him to do, that he lost his former self totally.


    "Are you serious Eagle?¡­ Andrei has done something¡­ like that"


    The empress was too surprised hearing how many Andrei killed in that world, how many dark-elves he tortured by his own hands, shaking in fear.


    "It''s true that the dark-elves have made our people and if they are eradicated I would feel that we are winning, but¡­ having Andrei, Andrei didn''t have to go through that"


    The empress stood up from her seat hitting the table with her tiny hands, but the table did crack a bit due to her force, if I can remember the former emperor was the same when he snaps off.


    She also had an aggravated expression on her face. Maybe due to the guilt of taking in Andrei and supporting him in this journey.


    "Calm down, Empress, if you show that expression to him later, he will definitely feel more dejected"


    I told her to calm down and nodded at Eagle to continue.


    "Sorry, your imperial majesty, but it''s the truth.


    I can''t even watch it anymore, and Raven here would fly away once his torture session starts.


    Desperate to find the curse source, he killed and tortured as many dark-elves as he can.


    But during his tortures the dark-elves mocked him, which made him much more desperate.


    Unable to get any information from them, at the months that passed, he killed and tortured as much as he can, learning from each instance and finally just last month before the portal opened he mastered the way of extracting information from these vile creatures.


    And when we crushed a huge dark-elven base, he was able to finally get a clue.


    As such why he is on the edge right now."


    "I see, then what kind of enemy is he after when he returns? That clue leads to it right?"


    "It isn''t exactly an enemy, but a resistance group formed by the Free Elven Forces, he intends to find this group and gain information"


    Hearing this I noticed my wife Layla flinch, in concern, I whispered to her.


    "Layla, do you know this group?"


    And she simply slowly shook her head.


    "No¡­ I was just surprised, that there were still survivors, I thought that those who only know of the portal''s existence was saved"


    "Just shows how tough your race is"


    I smiled at her, and she looked at me in the eye and smiled. When I met Layla before and discovered her true identity, she told me that she was 95 years old already, to convert it to a human''s lifetime, it was somewhere around 18.


    Because of the key she has, that was passed amongst her family, she was able to travel to another world in an attempt to live in peace once again. Knowing my wife she must be feeling responsible for running while some of her brethren are still fighting.


    But it doesn''t matter anymore, she made a promise to me, to live as my wife and as a human for my family.


    I held her hand and entwined it with hers, and I felt our wedding rings collide, reminding us of the day we promised to be with each other forever.


    Eagle''s report continued for the whole night and the Empress was clearly bothered about it, that she wasn''t able to finish her meal.

 91 Michaela without Andrei

    Thinking about it, after fighting a war with the possessed Kydus, he mourned the death of Erneis, and then suffered as he saw his loved one Claire not waking up, and then finally ending up in another world in an attempt to end that suffering.


    Is this fate something he deserves? He helped so many people but us the one''s he helped we can only help so little.


    Ahh¡­ seeing him like that makes me want to clear my thoughts with wine and a cigarette.


    Young man, how far will you go, at this rate you are going to break soon.


    As I was lost in my mind thinking about the young man, Eagle and Raven already finished their meal and went back to their families, their excuse was that they were sent with the party who''s looking for the hero from Ethareri who have disappeared after the war ¡ª Andrei''s nickname in the empire, as many Kydus knights have witnessed his contribution to the battlefield.


    When Queen Michaela asked for our help in search for Andrei a search party was made, in order for Raven and Eagle to disappear in record, we listed them amongst that search party.


    "Gideon!" The small empress shouted at me, as I wasn''t paying attention.


    "W-What your imperial majesty?"


    I was startled by her sharp and childish voice.


    Ouch¡­ I can feel my wife pinching my sides for not listening to the empress the whole time. Layla really cares about formalities.


    "I''m saying¡­ we should tell Queen Michaela and have them meet before he leaves"


    "Huh?!! Why?!! Are you going against Andrei''s wishes?"


    I was too surprised that I lost my formality, and my wife pinched me at the sides once again.


    "I only went along Andrei''s wishes because I was grateful, but if Andrei keeps that up longer he will eventually break. At least¡­ let''s have him meet¡­ the woman he loves. That''s an order"


    I guess this woman really deserves to be the new ruler of this empire; she doesn''t only has a good mind, but also a good heart.


    Just from the reports of Eagle, she was able to make her own decision and thoughts.


    "I humbly accept, but to do this to avoid scarring our relations with both of them for hiding the truth, let''s have Carle the head of the search part contact her, that way she''ll be convinced that we really helped her.


    And for Andrei let''s play it dumb once they suddenly meet, he''s going to the other world after all, I''m sure if he gets angry it would subside after a year"


    "That''s a magnificent idea Prime Minister Gideon!"


    She replied to me while her eyes sparkled.


    On outside she looks like a normal kid, but inside she is already a great ruler who can fight, think and feel.


    ...


    ???????????????????????????? ???????? ????????????????????????????????


    "Your Highness, report for today, the production of guns have been keeping up, along with the establishment of the armed forces achieving the goal of the road map according to the A-notes, and sale of articles to Kydus Empire, with this the ministry of treasure have increased the warchest into 30% just from the sale of arms"


    "I see, how about the development of the larger weapon?"


    "About that, we still haven''t found a suitable magic user or craftsmen who can bend the metals at will"


    "Then hurry it up, use the 10% of the sales and increase in the funds to the research and development but make sure they give it their all if they waste the budget, I''m expecting the completion of at least a prototype by the end of the year. Tell them to hurry up if they don''t want to lose their jobs"


    "B-But Your Highness, the end of the year will be hard, we would have to go through winter, supplies of metal ores and saltpeter will be low that time around, shouldn''t we using the profits for something else?"


    "No, we still have time before winter, let''s focus on defense first. Also, how are those attack boats and maneuvers coming along?"


    "Yes, they are doing great maneuvers, with guns our soldiers can fight at sea"


    "Great, how about searching for refugees like Eagle and Raven?"


    "Ummm¡­ for the air force huh¡­. the search is a bit hard, as their clan have been deemed as evil by the Holy Land of Adrar, according to the townsfolk that lives nearest to them, all of them were killed by the temple knights.


    Are we sure we should continue this your majesty? Won''t we be deemed as the enemy of the church if we keep doing this?"


    "Continue the search, next time try to search for the slaves with characteristics like them, and buy them at all costs understand? And you are right, getting the attention of the holy church would put us in a tough spot right now so try to avoid attention at all times"


    "Yes, your mejsty!"


    "Okay, you may go now, Geraldine. Good work for today, you may rest for today, thanks to you the plans that man left us is bearing fruits"


    "No, your highness Michaela, it''s thanks to your efforts, and the A-notes'' contribution to all this new technologies that we are having. I wish you a good rest your majesty"


    "Yeah, thank you. You may leave now"


    As the general of the armed forces of Ethareri, Gerladine Savoy exited the castle, I finally was able to rest easy.


    Sick of sitting at the throne room everyday I stood up and immediately went to my room.


    As I passed by the hall, I saw the room unused for a year, the person who used this left it clean, but his belongings still remained in the drawer, however I''m not touching that room and its off limits to anyone.


    It only reminds me of painful memories.


    The moment Andrei left me in that despair I found strength, strength to become the proper queen I am right now.


    I don''t need him anymore.


    I pursed my lips as I steadily went towards my room, irritated I kicked the door of the room of that man.


    How could he just leave like that, without saying a word, doing something about Claire''s illness? What? Is he going to travel to other lands to get the medicine? Does he even have a plan? That idiot!


    Deep inside, I was deeply annoyed¡­


    To keep any more damage to this kingdom, to make sure nothing more get''s taken away from me, I''ll make sure these weapon deals and research succeed, even if I have to work those blacksmiths to the bone.


    I lay down at the bed and rolled on it, scattering my golden hair on the soft cushion made for the queen.


    It''s true that I miss him so much, and that everyday I''m annoyed that he left me.

 91 Resupplying

    Thinking about it, after fighting a war with the possessed Kydus, he mourned the death of Erneis, and then suffered as he saw his loved one Claire not waking up, and then finally ending up in another world in an attempt to end that suffering.


    Is this fate something he deserves? He helped so many people but us the one''s he helped we can only help so little.


    Ahh¡­ seeing him like that makes me want to clear my thoughts with wine and a cigarette.


    Young man, how far will you go, at this rate you are going to break soon.


    As I was lost in my mind thinking about the young man, Eagle and Raven already finished their meal and went back to their families, their excuse was that they were sent with the party who''s looking for the hero from Ethareri who have disappeared after the war ¡ª Andrei''s nickname in the empire, as many Kydus knights have witnessed his contribution to the battlefield.


    When Queen Michaela asked for our help in search for Andrei a search party was made, in order for Raven and Eagle to disappear in record, we listed them amongst that search party.


    "Gideon!" The small empress shouted at me, as I wasn''t paying attention.


    "W-What your imperial majesty?"


    I was startled by her sharp and childish voice.


    Ouch¡­ I can feel my wife pinching my sides for not listening to the empress the whole time. Layla really cares about formalities.


    "I''m saying¡­ we should tell Queen Michaela and have them meet before he leaves"


    "Huh?!! Why?!! Are you going against Andrei''s wishes?"


    I was too surprised that I lost my formality, and my wife pinched me at the sides once again.


    "I only went along Andrei''s wishes because I was grateful, but if Andrei keeps that up longer he will eventually break. At least¡­ let''s have him meet¡­ the woman he loves. That''s an order"


    I guess this woman really deserves to be the new ruler of this empire; she doesn''t only has a good mind, but also a good heart.


    Just from the reports of Eagle, she was able to make her own decision and thoughts.


    "I humbly accept, but to do this to avoid scarring our relations with both of them for hiding the truth, let''s have Carle the head of the search part contact her, that way she''ll be convinced that we really helped her.


    And for Andrei let''s play it dumb once they suddenly meet, he''s going to the other world after all, I''m sure if he gets angry it would subside after a year"


    "That''s a magnificent idea Prime Minister Gideon!"


    She replied to me while her eyes sparkled.


    On outside she looks like a normal kid, but inside she is already a great ruler who can fight, think and feel.


    ...


    ???????????????????????????? ???????? ????????????????????????????????


    "Your Highness, report for today, the production of guns have been keeping up, along with the establishment of the armed forces achieving the goal of the road map according to the A-notes, and sale of articles to Kydus Empire, with this the ministry of treasure have increased the warchest into 30% just from the sale of arms"


    "I see, how about the development of the larger weapon?"


    "About that, we still haven''t found a suitable magic user or craftsmen who can bend the metals at will"


    "Then hurry it up, use the 10% of the sales and increase in the funds to the research and development but make sure they give it their all if they waste the budget, I''m expecting the completion of at least a prototype by the end of the year. Tell them to hurry up if they don''t want to lose their jobs"


    "B-But Your Highness, the end of the year will be hard, we would have to go through winter, supplies of metal ores and saltpeter will be low that time around, shouldn''t we using the profits for something else?"


    "No, we still have time before winter, let''s focus on defense first. Also, how are those attack boats and maneuvers coming along?"


    "Yes, they are doing great maneuvers, with guns our soldiers can fight at sea"


    "Great, how about searching for refugees like Eagle and Raven?"


    "Ummm¡­ for the air force huh¡­. the search is a bit hard, as their clan have been deemed as evil by the Holy Land of Adrar, according to the townsfolk that lives nearest to them, all of them were killed by the temple knights.


    Are we sure we should continue this your majesty? Won''t we be deemed as the enemy of the church if we keep doing this?"


    "Continue the search, next time try to search for the slaves with characteristics like them, and buy them at all costs understand? And you are right, getting the attention of the holy church would put us in a tough spot right now so try to avoid attention at all times"


    "Yes, your mejsty!"


    "Okay, you may go now, Geraldine. Good work for today, you may rest for today, thanks to you the plans that man left us is bearing fruits"


    "No, your highness Michaela, it''s thanks to your efforts, and the A-notes'' contribution to all this new technologies that we are having. I wish you a good rest your majesty"


    "Yeah, thank you. You may leave now"


    As the general of the armed forces of Ethareri, Gerladine Savoy exited the castle, I finally was able to rest easy.


    Sick of sitting at the throne room everyday I stood up and immediately went to my room.


    As I passed by the hall, I saw the room unused for a year, the person who used this left it clean, but his belongings still remained in the drawer, however I''m not touching that room and its off limits to anyone.


    It only reminds me of painful memories.


    The moment Andrei left me in that despair I found strength, strength to become the proper queen I am right now.


    I don''t need him anymore.


    I pursed my lips as I steadily went towards my room, irritated I kicked the door of the room of that man.


    How could he just leave like that, without saying a word, doing something about Claire''s illness? What? Is he going to travel to other lands to get the medicine? Does he even have a plan? That idiot!


    Deep inside, I was deeply annoyed¡­


    To keep any more damage to this kingdom, to make sure nothing more get''s taken away from me, I''ll make sure these weapon deals and research succeed, even if I have to work those blacksmiths to the bone.


    I lay down at the bed and rolled on it, scattering my golden hair on the soft cushion made for the queen.


    It''s true that I miss him so much, and that everyday I''m annoyed that he left me.

 92 Intruder

    I lay down at the bed and rolled on it, scattering my golden hair on the soft cushion made for the queen.


    From time to time if I don''t make myself busy, flashbacks of that rainy afternoon comes back to me.Those warm feelings that was immediately turned upside down when he suddenly left selfishly.


    Just thinking about it, I unconsciously crumpled the bed as much as I could to subside the pain etched in my heart as much as I could.


    "What the hell are you doing¡­ Where the hell are you¡­ This isn''t what you told me about¡­ If you really did intend to protect me¡­ then why am I feeling this pain¡­ why does it¡­ why does it hurt so much? How can you do this to me if you really love me?"


    With no one to talk to I can only drown in my own sadness, even though how much I try to deny it, even how much I try to turn this grief into hate, the truth doesn''t change.


    He''s no longer here.


    From time to time bad thoughts come into my mind. What if he just used Claire as an excuse for him to walk away?


    What if the one he only truly loved was Claire, and I was just an extra? And that he already lost hope in her recovery and ran away.


    What''s going to happen to me now?


    You showed me how wonderful it is to be loved, and how wonderful it is to love, even though I know you have much more affection towards my sister.


    Still we were so happy.


    "So why¡­ why did you leave me so suddenly"


    And tonight, my daily life after that never changed. After my facade as a queen, when I''m alone in this room I''m just an ordinary girl who have been abandoned by his man.


    And for safety reasons I am also not allowed to meet my sister is in the basement sealed by Layla Savoy''s spell, to make sure her soul never totally leaves her body.


    But despite all of this, I still have to move forward and confront this sadness.


    I''m sure I''m not the only one suffering, as the queen of this kingdom I must not be moping here.


    I mustered up the courage and wiped the tears in my eyes with my pillow.


    And imagined our happiness together, the memories we had together been all that remained and what gives me strength.


    But what would happen if truth confronted me, that Andrei¡­ didn''t really smiled for me?


    And those memories were just fabricated by him as a make-believe?


    I felt gloomy inside and threw a pillow towards the window where I can see the same moon we watched over that veranda.


    Where I was able to sleep in his arms, as his hands stroked my face and my hair, and at that night where our lips met each other ¡ª a night when I was showered by his love and affection.


    As it reminded me, I walked towards that veranda still in my work clothes, usually I would have preferred to wear comfortable clothes, but I don''t feel like it anymore, because it would make me feel weaker, if I get out of these work clothes I''m just Michaela who is grieving over the loss of the people dear to me.


    As a queen I have a duty to not worry my subjects.


    However, unlike the golden armor I wore, now I wore the military uniform that was written in his documents he left a well-made sketch, unlikely of him ¡ª so being in these clothes doesn''t feel hot and stuffy than the armor I wore at all times.


    It''s called a pinks and greens uniform, I don''t understand why it is called like that, but it was his suggestion to me so I don''t have to wear the stuffy armor each and every time I sit at the throne.


    It''s composed of a brownish green blouse with lighter-colored trousers of a slight pinkish hue with some accessories showing my rank. The age of knights is over and to raise the morale of the soldiers of the proposed Ethareri Armed Forces that is being made into a reality by General Geraldine through the documents left by him, I have to wear the same uniform as them.


    Lost in my thoughts I finally arrived at the veranda where we saw that moon we stared at together, in this strange garden on top of the castle, where strange purple lights gather, according to father it was supposed to be fairies of some sort, but there were also other records showing it as souls, or just normal light bugs that happened to gather.


    In other its uncertain where these lights came from and why they appear here at night, only the first King of Ethareri knows, but now even his portrait is blurry.


    I sat at the same bench we sat together and stared at the moon as the chilly wind brushed at my face.


    "Andrei¡­ I pleaded right¡­ not to leave me, if you were going why couldn''t you take me? Now look at me¡­ I''m a complete mess right now."


    My heart that pained every day, once again produced tears as it flowed down my face as I watched the moon directly. I made myself cry again by just being here in this place.


    Why did I even come here?


    Noticing it, I stopped looking at the moon and wiped it with my trousers.


    And just as I was finished wiping it, as if it was an illusion, I saw a silhouette of a man wearing a beat up dark mantle that fluttered at the same direction my hair was carried by the wind. I couldn''t see his face due to the bandana that obscured the lower part of his face.


    But¡­ how did he find this place? This is the highest part of the castle!


    Could it be an enemy? It''s normal for me to think like that. However just from how he looks, I sensed something from him, for some reason my mind instinvely didn''t treat him as an enemy.


    It was the opposite¡­


    My mind wanted to know who this person is.


    But knowing that it was maybe my longing that the man was Andrei and that the real world is much cruel than that, I bit my lip to get out of my illusion.


    That depressing-looking man is not Andrei at all.


    He''s no more than just an intruder.


    "Who goes there!"


    I shouted, and on the same time, the rays of the moon slightly passed by his grey eyes devoid of light. In that moment I saw beads of tears shine.


    I stood up and faced him.


    But as I stood, no one was there anymore.


    Was I just seeing things because of my longing for him?


    What''s his deal? Why is he also crying?


    Could it be a spirit that also knows what I''m feeling.


    No¡­ I''m sure I definitely saw something.


    "You can hear me right?! Celeste!"


    I called out to the door where I ordered Celeste to not let any maids or butlers disturb me.


    I saw the maid appear to the door and bowed.


    "What is it your majesty?"


    "Wake up everyone and put the castle at high-level alert! There''s an intruder! At the same time all maids are to guard Claire''s recovery room! That''s an order!"


    "Yes your majesty!"


    Celeste then disappeared quickly.


    And then the sound of a bell ringing was heard around the palace, alerting everyone in the castle.


    In the notes made by Andrei, the simple warning procedure, so that the everyone would be alerted immediately, this is something he learned from Kydus, where no one was able to inform about the emperors whereabouts, as everyone passed on even the single alert or message through messages.


    It''s a warning procedure for the palace, especially in this critical times where we are building up our military based on the knowledge he left us.


    I won''t have the same mistake made by the previous Kydus emperor.


    I readied the miniature gun that the blacksmiths exclusively made for me, something I could carry anywhere I go.


    As Celeste bell was sounded, the members of the Ethareri Army, who were once called the green men, wearing the same green uniform as me but with no decorations, immediately stormed the palace and surrounded it in an orderly manner.


    Compared to the past where the guns were large, the blacksmiths have made it smaller, as such the were able to make average-sized men carry it making us able to increase our range of recruitment.


    The maids then used fire magic to turn on the lamps and the entire palace became busy to find the intruder.


    Geraldine also came to me bring with her her own gun and three of the ten commanders she and Andrei handpicked.


    The numbers of the army have risen to five divisions, with three equipped fully with guns while the other divisions focused on logistics or research divisions. With this strength we could clear more land forward as all monsters that appeared were no match for gunpowder and bullets.


    One unit is also undergoing conversion to a unit that specializes on amphibious operations, but the boat for their use is still on development.


    "Your Highness Celeste informed me, but can you tell me more about it?" Geraldine asked me in concern. The commanders who was with her shouted orders to their men as they occupied the palace at every corner.


    "There''s an intruder, I saw him. Search the entire castle. I''ll allow you to search every room, except that Andrei''s room"


    "Yes your majesty"


    She made a quick snappy salute and turned to his men.


    I won''t make such a careless mistake¡­ ever.


    After a while, I feel tired and sat at the bench of the veranda while being guarded by the soldiers, and after a while Geraldine came to running to me.


    "Your majesty¡­ no intruder was found but we are still currently searching, and there''s a matter I think you need to attend to personally."


    "Excellent work, Geraldine, what is this matter?"


    I asked her as she was out of breath; I think she really has been sleeping well when she finished her report to me.


    "A messenger came from Kydus your majesty"


    "At this late?"


    "Yes your majesty, I think it''s very urgent, the messenger himself wants to meet you in person"


    "Okay, lead him to the parlor immediately please keep the search and the guards until morning, we don''t know what we are dealing with, that person was at this garden the highest part of the castle. I don''t know what methods he used to climb here, but please be aware"


    "Yes, your majesty!"


    I stood up as Geraldine ordered one of her aides to speak with the messenger.


    As I arrived at the parlor, the one I saw is the knight Carle from Kydus, the one Kydus entrusted with helping me find Andrei when I asked them for their help in the search.


    Seeing him surprised me a bit, hoping that he has no more unpleasant news for me.

 93 To Be Truly Home

    The moment I entered the parlor Chief Knight Carle of Kydus empire was trying to sip on the teacup, but while in the middle of it, he saw me and returned it quickly to the plate to give a bow.


    "Your Highness Michaela, I am Chief of Knights Carle from Kydus, my sincerest apologies for visiting you this late"


    He bowed to me showing full respect with his eyes shut. Although I don''t like visits like this, sometimes these emergency visits are the most relevant news ¡ª after all Kydus is a day or two on a horse from here, they wouldn''t send the Chief Knight himself for something trivial.


    "I accept, now you may be seated, and also you can continue drinking that tea."


    "No your highness, I must relay this information as early as possible"


    So that is why he''s so desperate to finish that tea earlier, even how hot it was.


    "Okay, speak."


    "Umm¡­ but Your Majesty, General Geraldine Savoy is here, this message is for the empress herself, privately towards you."


    "It''s fine, she''s my most trusted aide right now"


    Carle looked slowly a bit at Geraldine, maybe deciding whether to say it in her presence or not, Geraldine who has a curious expression on her face smiled wryly at me.


    "Then, if you insist, I''ll declare the message verbally, Empress of Kydus invites you to the palace, your fiance Mr. Andrei Spia have returned."


    Huh? What the hell does that mean?


    And just like that, as if time have stopped for me, I couldn''t move a muscle, and just stared at the messenger in front of me. I couldn''t believe what he just said, even beheading won''t satisfy me if he just made that up.


    After all this time? Why?!


    Why the hell did he come to Kydus instead of coming here directly?


    Is there any reason?


    So I my guts was right after all, Gideon definitely knew something that day but decided not to tell me.


    But why now¡­ and why there?


    Annoyed I took Carle on his collar, I don''t know if its just me venting out my anger and frustration, but I want more answers from him.


    "Hey, Carle you are really not lying right? If you are lying here, I''ll send you to the firing range, here and now!"


    Carle, seemingly understood my expression and as if he saw it coming, didn''t resist that much, instead of panicking from being collared he only nodded.


    Geraldine has als othe same expression as me, filled with shock, and a mix of emotions that we couldn''t tell.


    Except Geraldine wasn''t that frustrated as me, she could onyl cover her mouth as beads of tears started coming out from her eyes.


    "Andrei¡­ have he really returned?" she muttered, confirming it with Carle in her own way, we were both wide-eyed in disbelief, but Geraldine started crying.


    It makes sense¡­ she''s also waiting for his return after all.


    Not seem able to wait, as we were paralyzed with the shocking news given to us, Carle immediately spoke.


    "But¡­ your majesty, you would have to hurry, as he will set off shortly"


    "Huh?! Get real Carle! Sir Andrei wouldn??t do that to her majesty! After all he-¡­ he-"


    Geraldine answered him in her disbelief.


    I had also the same reaction.


    Setting off? Where is he going right now again?


    Is he going to leave me again?


    No¡­ I won''t allow him until I see him again.


    If Carle is saying the truth, then I should head out immediately and verify this with Rara, if it''s false I''ll freeze and burn his body altogether.


    "Carle¡­ we will leave now, escort me with your men. Do you have a carriage reay?"


    "Yes your majesty, the carriage is already waiting for you outside. Then I shall inform the coachman immediately"


    He immediately bowed to me and ran towards the exit.


    Seeing how he paced himself, I can feel that Carle really is talking about the truth.


    I felt my heart beat faster and faster, so much that I couldn''t control it.


    With Carle''s action I can tell that he didn''t harbor any bad intentions and was really hurrying it up.


    And knowing that Rara sent Carle here to say the message verbally then, it makes sense.


    Empress Rara doesn''t have any benefit in lying.


    "Your majesty shall I prepare some guards for you?"


    Geraldine immediately brought back the commanders with her bringing guns.


    "It''s fine, I''m fine by myself, it''s faster that way, please keep the guard around the castle I need to go now"


    With what I have seen earlier, it might be possible that the man is still here. But if I''m not there that man might have already retreated if his goal is to assassinate me.


    This should come first more than anything.


    I have waited, worried and became anxious for a year waiting for this day to come.


    I have so many questions to ask him.


    But what if this a dream? And my real body is still sleeping soundly at the veranda? After all, too much has already happened today, including the news about Andrei''s arrival.


    Not wasting any time, Carle, Geraldine and I immediately set off for Kydus in the middle of the night, Geraldine who wanted also to see Andrei, entrusted the search to her knights.. With no regards to my safety, with no questions, with just the desire to see him again once more.


    After riding for a while in a jumpy carriage, it only took at least a day to reach Kydus.


    And that Carraige was amazing no matter that the road was bumpy because of something on its wheels the shaking is not that confusing anymore. Thought I don''t know what the material is called but its sturdy and stretchy at the same time.


    As we got close and closer with Kydus'' carriage that was made exactly to be fast, I started praying to the gods for our reunion.


    Please make it, please don''t walk away before I could even talk to you.


    I still have a mountain of questions to ask you.


    And much more... I miss you, Andrei so much.


    Please take me with you, I''ll go anywhere if it''s you.


    ¡­


    ???????????????????? ???????????????????? - ???????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????


    It''s finally the night for Andrei to go back.


    The portal remains open only for three days. After resupplying, together with Eagle and Raven, Andrei dresses up again in a black mantle, the same way he looked in the other world.


    But this time it''s a new mantle made just for him, with a durable cloth. He also has spares with him, the three of them are bringing huge backpacks with them and two carry-on at each hand.


    According to their info they their base of operations is just outside of the portal, so it they just need to carry it in a few steps.


    To be honest, I wanted to talk with Andrei more, but right now it doesn''t really feels like he has come home, it is as if his heart and mind is still trapped in that mission. He always keeps his guard, even though it''s just me, Layla and Gideon who knows about his secret.


    As he hasn''t truly come home yet, I won''t lay my feelings bare yet otherwise it would be useless¡­ and cruel.


    As I watch the hues of orange and sky blue at the skies I worried about the other arrangement I made.


    Did Carl make it? Did Michaela believe him?


    I wanted Michaela to talk with Andrei first before he goes through that portal and never come back again after a year. Another long waiting time for her.


    But I already did my part, from hereon it''s her decision, it''s her choice.


    The sun has already set and Layla took the food from her basket as we all sat on the stones of the ruins we bathed on the light of the moon the stars and moon. It was a tasty bread, with a piece of meat in between.


    "Was it in accordance to your taste your majesty?"


    Layla graceful as ever made a short curtsy.


    "Yes Layla, thank you, to be honest it''s much better and homey than the one made the royal cook"


    "Thank you for your compliment, your majesty."


    Then she looked at Andrei, who''s eating the same thing with Raven and Eagle at his back. Being with the two for too long he only spoke much with the two while Gideon is checking the supplies one by one.


    "Your majesty, will Queen Michaela really arrive on time? If she doesn??t catch up, she might not see him for a longer time."


    "We''ll leave that to fate Layla, there are things in this world we are not in control of, let''s just leave it at the hands of the gods, we already did what we have to do.


    We honored Andrei''s wishes before, this time we will show our gratitude to the Queen herself"


    "I see¡­ "


    As we waited more and more the new moon already appeared, the portal became active, two tall stones in the ruins parallel to each other emitted a faint golden light, similar to the color of the moonlight it bathed in.


    The reason it only activates once a year because it receives energy from the moon and converts it to magic, its the only characteristics we could tell as its construction is still shrouded in mystery, and there are no records of Kydus about it, I only knew about it when Layla told me about Andrei''s plan.


    Seeing that it already shone, Andrei, Raven and Eagle including Gideon started throwing their bags inside.


    Really men are¡­ and I thought they were going to bring those by themselves, and now they are just throwing them around lazily.


    In this I noticed faint footsteps behind me and saw some golden strands of hair behind a tree. Clearly the human behind it is hiding, for some reason, but with that hair, there''s now way I wouldn''t know from which person it is.


    Seeing this, I know that it''s time for me to show back my sincerity. I wiped the food crumbs on my lap, stood up and went near Andrei.


    "Hey Andrei! You done?"


    I told him loudly with all of my energy, so that the person behind that tree can hear us clearly.


    He looks at me closely with his lonely eyes and turned to me with a bow.


    "Your majesty, thank you for these supplies, I''ll make sure that the next time I come I will deliver good news to you."


    Knowing that I can''t do anything about his loneliness right now, I did what I want and smiled.


    After all the only person who could make him happy is either resting on Ethareri right now enclosed in a barrier, or is hiding at the tree behind me.


    Right now, I have no right to approach Andrei, or it would be too cruel for both.


    That''s why I''ll wait¡­ for him to be truly be home.


    And it will be a contest then ¡ª person with the golden hair hiding behind the tree.


    When that times I won''t be holding my punches anymore.

 94 The Selfish Selfless

    "Stop calling my formally and just call me Rara are you really going now? There''s still time after all"


    I pointed at the new moon that have just appeared in the skies.


    Trying to hold him longer, I tried starting small talk.


    Michaela, if you''re hesitating to talk to him, I''m going to hold him as much as I can, but I won''t be able to hold him longer, he has to return after all¡­ to his own battle.


    "Yes your majesty, I''ll be going now I still have to do lots of stuff."


    He replied directly without a slight hesitation, as if he''s in a hurry.


    Just how much would this person give himself for the person he loves?


    Not hesitating to go back to a battlefield where he fights alone, slowly losing himself, doing things he wasn''t used to.


    It turns out, Andrei was a really kind person before.


    I do not care for what happens to those vile creatures that eradicated half of our population, but his mental state worries me.


    Eventually his heart would break.


    A kind person like him who didn''t want to hurt people, was now forced to hurt beings that a bit resembles humans to extract information.


    Maybe deep inside, subconsciously he still recognized them as a species of humans.


    After all, according to Eagle, they could talk, and even mock him as Andrei tortures them.


    Seeing him run through his things and trying to answer Gideon''s small talk, I tried asking him a question I''ve been holding on for a while out of respect, and so Michaela who''s still concealing herself could hear it.


    "Then¡­ Andrei, aren''t you concerned about the people you left behind?"


    Hearing this, I noticed him flinch a bit as he started to cover his mouth again with the bandana, now he looks just the same as I saw him arrive.


    Him not answering him, was an answer for me, so I proceed with a few of my personal thoughts, talking to him as Rara and not as the Empress.


    "You see, Andrei¡­ I''m a bit angry about you, as a woman you see.


    I know that you are doing this for Claire and Michaela, and you had a point about not telling them about this war you are waging yourself to lift Claire''s curse, but as a woman I really find it harsh."


    This question is for the person hiding behind the tree.


    If you can''t show yourself, then as a woman I''ll tell him exactly what I think.


    Even our questions for him might be different, as both women who love him.


    The answer to this question should be at least one or two answers to what you want to ask if you want to confront him.


    So just listen to this answer, if you don''t want to show yourself, this is at least what I can do for you.


    "Really?"


    His reply was a but a single word that it made me sigh.


    "Yes, yes, really" I nodded.


    "You immediately made a judgement that the Michaela might do something risky and come with you if you told her where you are going, but isn''t that only your opinion? What if you talked it out with her and properly came up with a decision? Should you be really doing this? This self-sacrifice shit is just your own selfishness, right?"


    He might hate me after this, but these questions are both from me and if I was in Michaela''s shoes.


    Michaela¡­ please show up and confront her yourself, this is unfair as a woman, to be the one to ask this.


    "That rainy afternoon she pleaded me¡­ not to leave her¡­ though I understand her because she fears being alone, but I got that feeling, that deep inside she might have already given up on Claire, that''s why I left.


    Then¡­ that means that there''s a chance that she would still come if I told her, or she would bind me at that castle.


    Michaela is way more beautiful when she smiles from the bottom of her heart. I know she won''t be able to be truly happy, if Claire is at that state forever."


    "I know but¡ª"


    "I know what you are saying your majesty, it''s about the woman''s heart right?"


    Woah, I''m surprised that he gets it.


    "Yes, good guess, then what do you think about that?"


    "Ahh¡­ it''s simple, I would rather make her hate me rather than throw her life in danger."


    "Is that self-sacrifice feels really that good, Andrei?


    Why do you not rely on others that much? Are you insulting us?


    Do you know how special she thinks about you, and you say those hurtful words so lightly as if your life doesn''t matter!"


    Given his nonsensical answers, without noticing it myself, I became a part irritated that I answered him storngly as I crossed my arms and looked up to him, as he was obviously much taller right now.


    "You know your imperial majesty, it was Michaela who found me when I had no home, she sheltered me and gave me a home in this world, plus she also told me she loves me, and I too love her as we spent our days together.


    It''s hard to explain, but if you are going to tell me your point as a standpoint of a woman, my argument is on my standpoint as a man.


    Though it may sound unreasonable or selfish, or it may sound like idiotic self-sacrifice.


    But¡­ for me this is my love for her.


    Believe me¡­


    In this world that doesn''t make sense, she became my one and only light.


    That''s why I''ll be selfish and put myself back to the darkness again.


    So that the one who has given me that light ¡ª Michaela, who''s now sitting in the darkness right now with the loss of Erneis, an uncle figure and a loyal knight and Claire, her one and only family ¡ª her sister, could find hope once more.


    This time I''ll be the one bringing that light to her, and you can laugh at me, and hate me for what I''m doing but I don''t care what everyone else thinks of it."


    He then went towards me and suddenly patted my head without warning.


    It reminded me of the time when she patted my head on Ethareri, the days where I was full of doubt on myself and on him.


    In a way, he was the one who brought that hope to me, and the reason why I fell for him.


    Then at that moment, when I looked at him, his eyes shined for a moment and I saw it smiling towards me, although I can''t see his mouth anymore if it smiled or not as a bandana covered it ¡ª but I can feel it, at that moment he truly came back to his former self as he tried to console me.


    "Please understand, this is also being a man for the woman he loves means.


    It can''t be reasoned with, because it''s stubborn,


    It''s selfish because it wants to keep his loved one safe,


    Right now this is the only solution that presents itself, and even how much danger it possess I''ll still move forward for the those that I love.For both of them.


    To return Michaela and Claire''s smile"


    Seeing once again his warm smile to me as his manly but warm and gentle hand caressed my head, I couldn''t help myself anymore but look down. To hide my embarrassment and tears.


    It embarrassed me to be happy by his touch, but I was deeply hurt that he admits that they were the ones he cares for.


    I flicked away his hand and move a step away.


    "You shouldn''t be doing that to the empress! Do you want to be beheaded?!"


    I don''t know if his eyes returned to its usual state or not, but I noticed his shoulder slightly move as if laughing.


    Did he just laugh at me?


    Okay, it''s death penalty then.


    Then he turned to me and his eyes were now back to its normal, the Andrei whom I met outside the portal.


    He and Raven and Eagle then went near to me as the three bowed to me, Gideon and Layla in unison as their goodbye.


    "Thank you for everything your imperial majesty, we shall return with good news."


    Eagle and Raven then disappeared the portal first after talking with Gideon and offering their farewells.


    At the same time Andrei turned around as his mantle fluttered.


    Seeing him disappear halfway to the portal I forgot something very important.


    "Andrei, anything I should pass on to Michaela after I get you executed by my order?"


    He raised his hand without stopping.


    "Tell her not to wear the military uniform when she sleeps, it ruins the purpose."


    "Huh? What does that mean?"


    And just by a little his smugness came back.


    Andrei didn''t really change that much in the end, rather he was just focusing on the battle, he knows still didn''t end, that''s why he was on his guard not to forget about it.


    He may knows that he''s the biggest coward and might abandon that world of war, solitude, pain and death, and stay here once and for all abandoning any hopes of saving Claire.


    So he pushed himself to return immediately, not meeting anyone who will tie here in this world.


    I don''t even know anymore if he''s selfish or selfless.


    Andrei then disappeared to the portal, and then the light on the portal finally disappeared without a trace.


    "You heard him Michaela, I don''t know what it means but is it important? That newly issued uniform of yours?"


    I went towards the tree and looked behind it.


    There I saw the queen of Ethareri crying her heart out, trying not to make a sound.


    Tears flowed from her eyes like a river, even how much she tried to wipe it it still kept coming.


    She cried without a sound, trembling, even when Andrei wasn''t already there.


    Seeing it I felt my heart sinking further, I also want to cry right now.


    Teary eyed I sat beside her and hugged her.


    "Michaela, you can cry out loud now, he already went to the other side. You hear everything, right?"


    On that night a beautiful woman cried in the forest basking in moonlight, she cried for her lover who has set off into battle for her, lamenting on her weakness to stop him on a mission that would most likely cost him his life.


    As she tried to stand, and ran over to the portal screaming for his name no one was already there but a bunch of ruins.


    She didn''t have the courage to face him; the portal closed leaving her a mix of bitterness and regret.


    She dropped on her knees as she screamed out her pain; it was the pain of loss, a pain of powerlessness to stop him, and her longing for him.


    Seeing her lost, I covered Michaela with the ragged mantle Andrei left to replace it with the new one.


    And she pulled the two sides close to her heart, engulfing herself with it.

 95 Join The Resistance?

    [???????????????? ???????????????????? ????????????????????????(????????????????????????????????????????) - ???????????????????????????????????? ????????????????, ???????????????????????????? ???????? ???????? ????????????????????????????]


    After getting lost I finally arrived at the council of ten chambers where they formed a semicircle as they sat on the ground solemnly, while the female elf Lyra, standing at the side of the entrance of the cave.


    She was the one who talked too fast that I followed the other female elf instead, surprisingly they look the same even when she told me earlier that they weren''t related by blood. Really elves are strange.


    "How unfortunate, that I got lost, and then some female elves tried to jump on me, perhaps they wanted to take a look at my weapon that much?"


    I whispered to Eagle, he then responded by looking at me for a while and looking down as if sighing, it''s the first time I saw a bird sigh, well on the inside it''s a full grown man.


    "Mister... why have you become so dense since coming here?"


    He transmitted his thoughts to me, as he chirped.


    "Dense? Me? So they are still hiding other intentions than seeing my weapon? Then they want to know about the magic bullets?!"


    "Mister... I''m glad that I''m in bird form right now or else I would cover my face, too embarrassed for your sake."


    Raven for the entire time was sleeping, because of the dimness of the cave. Raven wasn''t as talkative as Eagle, and won''t engage in small talk.


    He also doesn''t help in my torture sessions and makes excuses to fly away.


    l stared at the leaders, as I stood, waiting for them to start, I don''t intend to sit down with them; I think it will be rude.


    There''s lady elf at the center, their leader, she''s the one I met before to whom I had those flags scattered and gave those annoying amulets that dark-elf commanders used to defend against my spells.


    To think she''s the leader¡­ well, I went to that center tent which looks more grandiose than the others.


    But I think the lady''s barrier is fairly strong without those amulets. If only they had more attack power¡­ well it would be useless against those anti-magic elements. I''m glad I received new magic stones from the last resupply such as [Gravity], not only I can drop meteors I can also direct where I want it to drop and the force is much stronger, as such instead of raining down small meteors one big meteor is enough to crush, that annoying number of dark knights.


    I also needed to preserve my inventory or else it would run out before the next resupply, but I hope it won''t come to that, I need to finish everything this year.


    I pursed my lips as I thought of Claire.


    Claire¡­ hang in there, just another more year, please¡­


    As I was preoccupied by my thoughts, the lady spoke first.


    "First, I would like to thank you for your help, the resistance, formally the Free Elven Forces are grateful to you, our savior"


    She bowed towards me together with the other council of ten, solemnly as they close their eyes.


    Their bow is pretty, the same as how they were in Japan in my old world.


    In response, I bowed my head and placed my hand at my heart, the way I did it in the human realm, these are small gestures that makes me remember that I have somewhere I have to return to after everything ends, and also my promise to Michaela.


    "Now, the second thing, I know this is sudden, but I want to know if you''re interested in joining the resistance? I don''t know where you are from, but judging by it we have the same enemy, right? It makes sense that we should work together, right?"


    I intend to do so, but I think it''s not enough. At this rate, they will be useless to join with, and I might have to play in their own rules and rank.


    I have to play my cards right, or it would burden me along the way.


    "Sorry."


    I shook my head, telling them no for now.


    I think this is the best answer, I''m fighting here for my reason, aside from that I don''t want my actions to be restricted by them.


    Hearing my response they were for a second shocked and wide-eyed, some of them were in agape. The leader lady herself looked sad as she looked downwards and closed her eyes.


    "Why are you apologizing? You have the right to refuse, we are grateful enough for your help that time, but will you let me ask one question?"


    I nodded in response to at least hear her out.


    "What do you plan to do from hereon? May we know?"


    I intend to help them while keeping my distance, in a way that they won''t rely on me too much, my aim is one thing, as long as I can achieve that, nothing else matters, I can''t have any more burden than what I already have.


    After they take back their kingdoms, I''ll watch by them as they''ll be able to self-rule after this war, in a way that evil forces won''t defeat them again, the evil forces who wants to climb up to the realm of the humans.


    But I already planned out that there is to be gained by helping them a bit, as they have fought longer than me.


    "I plan¡­ to teach you?? how to fight¡­ my way¡­ of fighting. We have¡­ same enemy"


    Their saddened faces now returned to normal as they gaze at me intently.


    Oh, they look happy. I hope they didn''t misunderstand what I told them with my poor elven language.


    This time they don''t have any disagreements this time when they saw what I could do, back then when they visited me they told me how sly my tactics are, but now that they''ve experienced that victory through that strategy they called "dirty" they are now willing to take it on.


    They excitedly talked with each other, especially the three generals. I imagined elves to be lean, that these bulky elven men look different.


    But they got too noisy that the lady in the center stopped them.


    "Stop discussing amongst yourselves you''re supposed to be the council of ten."


    She told them in a graceful tone but with a menacing aura oozing out from her.


    I think if I take her one on one, I wouldn''t be able to defeat her with that magic of hers.


    But also with her magic, I can devise a more efficient way to use it against those creatures.


    "Sorry about that disgraceful display, our comrade Slaine, they must be so excited. But really¡­ sincerely, I thank you"


    "No worries¡­ for now¡­ I''m tired¡­ discuss¡­ tomorrow"


    "Yes, we prepared your quarters for you, please use it."


    "Thanks¡­ but¡­ I don''t need."


    "Huh? But you are our savior, to honour you, we have to do our best to at least pay you back."


    She worriedly asked me.


    But I don''t plan on staying in this cave, though it''s safer than that obvious headquarters of theirs, I''m worried about Raven and Eagle.


    Eagle can''t see well in the dimly lit cave, and Raven sleeps when it''s dark.


    "It''s okay, I''ll go¡­ surface."


    I raised a hand and turned back to where I entered the cave.


    At least I can sleep at the nearby trees at the forest, it''s much comfortable living by the trees.


    "Then at least bring Lyra with you, to assist you on the surface, you should be familiar of her right?"


    Yeah, I''m familiar with her, first she is a klutz that slipped while trying to escape, and next she''s inconsiderate and talks fast that I can''t understand her well when she speaks to me.


    Are they sure? And look at her, looking so prideful¡­ or maybe I''m judging her too early, after all, earlier when we came down she also said those un¡­ necessary things.


    Anyway, it would be rude to further reject their kindness.


    "Okay."


    I nodded and walked away with the elf girl following me.


    Tomorrow I''m going to introduce and teach them the basics in guerilla fighting.


    Magic is a stronger weapon than guns, aside from they can cast it endlessly as long as they have mana.


    If I teach well these tactics, it would drastically increase their power.


    The only problems are those nullifiers, those are their natural enemies and the reason they fell so easily.


    I have to also understand more of their magic and find efficient ways to use it.


    But so far from what Raven and Eagle collected for me, this world has a rule when it comes to magic in this world.


    One, magic casters can cast different magic spells but aren''t able to connect them or layer them together like what I do, this is because probably it conflicts with the magic user''s mental state and their understanding in the elements themselves, if they try to cast two spells on the same time it would cause an interference as they don''t know what shape it will take, this means that they can know how to cast a high-tier magic, but if they don''t understand its nature and behavior, and how it will take shape, they wouldn''t be able to use it efficiently.


    Which is why those who only saw the magic and undergone training in it, can learn it.


    Next, two or more magic casters also can''t combine could also cause interference with each other according to their basic use, which is why magic casters can counter the enemies spell, for example fire against water, they would cancel both if the elements meet.


    The rule seems to be fire vs water, wind vs earth.


    That''s why magic caster needs to learn not only one magic but more in case their first element find its match.


    And finally, there are more spirit users than here than magic casters, their magic comes from their spirits or they call it partners, which comes from the land itself, and it seems that the older the spirit is the stronger it is, and those stronger spirits are located at the kingdoms which they don''t have access to.


    So right now the elf-priest Ellarian, member of the council of ten, can only assign lower to medium ranked spirits to the new spirit wielders.


    There are exceptions such as their leader earlier, that lady Alla ¡ª or something, who possesses a high-level spirit. I wonder what element was that barrier made of? If I know what it is, it could become a significant asset to their resistance.


    As I thought and walked by the cave following the elf girl that I saved back then, she seemed to take glances at me. Maybe she still couldn''t trust me? Or was she ordered to keep an eye on me?


    I don''t know, women are too hard to understand.


    Basically, the common traits of elves are their ears, skin color and hair color, that''s why I''m freaked out that their hair colors are the same, as it would be hard to hide my black hair, but it seems my display earlier made them not to pry further into it.


    But when I looked closer, I noticed that they each have their own characteristics, that now that I saw lots of them face-to-face today, I can differentiate them from each other.

 96 Lightless Firefly

    After walking through the floating bridges, then through the crevices of the cave, we finally managed to make it outside after climbing through some rocks.


    What greeted us was the beautiful blinking fairy lights in the night sky. Valeri told me, they look like fireflies only they burn brighter against the glowing black fabric behind layers and layers of clouds above our heads.


    At these times when the world is dark, these lights called as stars light up so much. It''s so surreal and it makes anyone wants to reach up for one, keep it in our hands and display them.


    As I gaze at this magnificent view, I looked at him at my side looking at the same scenery.


    What is he thinking? What does he want to see? Who does he long for?


    Wrapped in black clothing, keeping people always at a distance. But deep inside it should be lonely, right? That''s what I would feel if I were him.


    In this chaotic world where no one knows exactly who you are, no one can give you their warmth and affection.


    You risk your life for someone yet who takes care of you?


    In this colossal wall that you are trying to climb on to save your loved one from that curse, it would at least take ten, twenty and even fifty years to defeat the enemy even if you have that strange magic of yours.


    Are you going to live life in such a way in all those years?


    It''s too cruel.


    Upon realizing what misfortune the strongest man I''ve ever seen is in my lifetime, I realized how lucky I was to have Valeri by my side, someone I can go home to no matter what I go through, she was always by my side, that''s why no matter what happened I never broke down and lost hope, it was my reason to live every day, along with the dream to take back the nations that were rightfully ours.


    As I looked at him he looked at the fireflies that gathered around us as he lifted and stared at his two palms where some fireflies landed into.


    "You don''t you have those bugs at your country?"


    I asked him out of curiosity. Those bugs called fireflies that illuminates the forests were always everywhere when the elven nations was still around. They were also around in my hometown.


    Unlike other bugs, elves don''t hate it that much as it doesn''t sting, bite or carry any disease, as if they were made to make nights pretty.


    "No¡­ we have them¡­ but not so many"


    Then he stretched his hand and the fireflies that gathered at his hand flew away, its light flickered as it went together with its friends, flying with them.


    "I see, they are pretty right? And they gather mostly, as if their light makes them able to follow each other with no problem, that''s why they are always together, forming seas of light that looks like paths."


    "Really? That''s amazing, but some of them still get lost, as they have lost their light already, and no one can find them anymore¡­ "


    "Oh¡­ you''re getting fluent now"


    I smiled and tried to tease him, as I leaned towards him with my hands at my back.


    "Really? Maybe because it''s so long since I''ve been here."


    He looked at the fireflies as they went to the tree and surrounded and danced around it. Back then, when the kingdom was still there, fireflies gathered at trees like this. But I wasn''t able to appreciate it really back then, because it was normal, and now that they have driven us off our nations, those trees wrapped in fireflies we saw each night only feels so nostalgic.


    "But does fireflies really lose light? If they really do, they would simply rest at the ground and wait right? For its family to find it?"


    "Really? I hope so¡­ "


    He said as he looked at the fireflies that circled around the fir tree, as if wanting to be a part of them, with his seemingly empty eyes reflected their lights.


    "Then¡­ are you the firefly who lost its light?"


    "Maybe."


    "Do you want to be found?"


    "No."


    "Why?"


    "Because I don''t want them to lose their light as well."


    He looked down and closed his eyes, though I can only see his eyes, for some reason I felt some sadness engulfing him, that I felt bad for all the suspicions I had on him before.


    "Really? So that''s why you are fighting on your own here?"


    "I''m really not alone."


    "Those birds?"


    "Yeah, Eagle and Raven are with me."


    He caressed the head of the raven who slept at one of his shoulders, while the large and heavy-looking bird he called Eagle was beside him.


    Seeing the raven fancy the way he caressed it, I smiled and felt happy. At least he has some birds supporting him on his lonely journey here. Even without another''s touch, those strange-looking birds are still with him.


    But how far can a man go with those birds alone? For me, it would probably drive me insane, but I think for him it''s not the case, just look at how sweet are those birds to him.


    "Yeah, but you also have us right? You saved us after all, the council of ten welcomed you with open arms, right?"


    He simply stood silent, without giving me a reply. Maybe he still doesn''t consider as an ally yet, well it couldn''t be helped, even how friendly he is, he still may have reservations, and he only met us for two¡­ no, three times.


    I sighed and shrugged.


    "Now where are you going to sleep?"


    He then pointed at the same fir tree that he was looking at earlier, where the fireflies gathered. How silly, he''s just like a kid, but it isn''t so bad.


    "Then, I''ll go sleep behind of those big rocks so you can call me whenever you need me, I''ll see you tomorrow okay? If you need something, just wake me up."


    I pointed to the rock just right before the entrance.


    However, this time he turned to me and asked me.


    "Isn''t the rock... hard?"


    Oh, he''s surprisingly worried about the useless things, just like how he gave us that coffee and tea. That makes me happy a little, that I was able to smile truly for a bit, it''s been so long since I had a strange interaction like this.


    "It''s okay, I''m used to it after all, goodnight for now"


    I turned around and stretched as I yawned.


    Tomorrow he told us that he would teach us his ways in fighting, I wonder what it would be? I''m excited and looking forward to it.


    I looked behind my shoulders to check on him, and there, I saw him already the tree, with his back head resting on one of its bigger roots and have fallen asleep with the bird named Raven at his shoulder, while the bird named Eagle, slept on top of the tree.


    "Good night, and sleep for now, lightless firefly. Even if you don''t want it, I''ll still pray that someday you''ll be found soon by the people you treasure."

 97 The Reorganization Plan

    I Lyra Vaeri Sarwynn, have been tasked to go and assist with our savior and hero Slaine in everything he does.


    Did the leaders think of me as a friendship token from them to him? How rude! This is tyranny!


    After that strange night and strange conversations with our hero, I woke up to the sound of birds chirping, with the sunlight so bright hitting my face as I felt its gentle warmth.


    I sat and felt a strange sensation covering my body. As I rubbed my eyes gently I touched it and when I opened my eyes I saw a black mantle, the same mantle he was using.


    Which means he took it off and used it on me as a blanket.


    "I wondered why the coldness of the mountain didn''t bother me while sleeping¡­ how considerate of him," I gigled as I felt it with my hands, the feel of it is strange, as its not a cloth we elves usually use, it feels like it wasn''t made from a plant, the threads are also so fine, and it looks like it was never used before.


    Curious, I smelled it, and it smelled good, I thought it would smell sweaty, he''s a male after all, and males sweat frequently right? Especially with this cloth wrapped around his body at all times.


    "If he wasn''t as reclusive as that, we would have been close friends by now."


    I folded it to return it properly to him and thank him. The air was still cold even though the sun was already up, but I should return this immediately, in this coldness, a foreigner like him might not be used to... or he is? He lives by the waterfall right? And it''s pretty cold there sometimes.


    I stood up behind the rock I was sleeping at and I squinted my eyes through my surroundings as I searched for him.


    "Is he still sleeping? It''s stil so early after all"


    And found the tree where Slaine slept that night with his birdie friends, but he was not there anymore nor his friends.


    "Then he might be at the base, he should have waken me up and I would have taken him there, I''m the one who''s gonna be scolded... I even woke up early, but he beat me up to it."


    I told myself worried, as I was given an important task by my leaders, and I failed at that.


    "Okay next time, I''ll wake up even when the sun is still not up!"


    Then, I looked at the mantle, a sudden realization came into my mind.


    "Wait¡­ if he doesn''t have a mantle, does that mean that I can see more of his face now?!"


    My curiosity was aroused as I scanned the entire place again for him.


    "He''s not here¡­ where could he be?"


    But as I was searching for him while his folded mantle hangs in arms, my ears moved as I heard some elves screaming.


    On impulse I immediately ran into the direction where I heard it, with a fear waking me up totally.


    "Could it be¡­ did they find out our last hideout that quickly? And Slaine is not here because he''s fighting?"


    Questions showed up in my mind, maybe because of the trauma of almost being killed, knowing the true terror of facing those abnormalities.


    What will happen then?


    Will everyone face the same terror again?


    Right before when we are trying to become stronger!


    Just how far will this world be unfair to us! Damnit!


    I ran as fast as I could, but as I got closer, I figured out that the screams weren''t screams of death and fear, but they were shouted orders, and the answers and complaints of those who followed it who were exhausted.


    These were the generals shouting commands, and the qualms of the elves that followed them.


    With this, I was able to sigh in relief and went towards the cliff that faced the sea, where the entrance of the hideout is, I finally found the source of the strange screams I have been hearing were exactly what I assumed would be.


    Below the entrance, at the beach, all of able-bodied elven men and women gathered, including those who are non-combatants.


    They gathered in groups neatly lined-up in rows as they ran together at the beach in laps, it was a surreal scene, I can even see in their faces that they dont understand what''s happening to them, especially those in the non-fighjter units.


    "Even I don''t understand them¡­ what the hell are they doing? Elven men running together, and if they aren''t able to stay in formation they are made to do some strange exercises by the generals¡­ seriously what the hell is this?


    So this is why they are screaming, in order to be in perfect harmony as they ran together with their group."


    As I scanned the area, I finally found the cause of this pitiful scene. There I saw him wearing the same mantle I am holding.


    I pouted in disappointment seeing him wearing another mantle.


    "What? He had a spare? Where did he even pull that from?"


    As the men ran around in laps listening to the three generals'' orders, shouting words to keep them in rythm with each other, Slaine on the left side of the beach directly under the entrance of the cave stood in front of a big rock that served as a table, with papers lined up as he spoke surrounded by the council of ten, who seemed to be thinking as they put their hands to their chin, scratched their heads with their eyebrows furrowed.


    "So it''s not only me huh¡­ "


    I went towards them in order to get my next orders as Slaine didn''t bother to wake me up.


    When I was finally at a distance where I could hear them talk, I heard Ms. Alre who asked concernedly.


    "Everything is okay though since we are the ones who are asking for your help, but are we really making the non-combatants or non-fighters fight as well?


    They don''t have any talents in fighting, nor compatibility with magic or with the fighting spirits."


    This was a question to the man infront of her,Slaine, who still wore all black with a bandana under the lower part of his face with his mantle covering his body and his hood covering his head and ears.


    He answered her by slightly shaking his head and facing her looking her at the eye, talking to her respectfully like an equal.


    It''s one of the things I look up to him for, he posses such strength but he''s humble, and treats us as his equals, he is also not bragging about being our savior nor took advantage of the fact that he saved us.


    "They need to fight¡­ when the necessary time comes, you need to increase¡­ their survivability, or else they would be¡­ burden, like the last time¡­ if reinforcements did not come, fighters die defending non-fighters"


    Hearing his words, it surprised them all, as it did make sense, but he was so blunt that even the council of ten have a complicated expressions on their faces, lamenting what have happened


    I myself was surprised... by how well he is talking right now in elven. Back then he was like a baby who just learned how to speak.


    As he looked at them, and no one answered he added to his sentence to explain further.


    "When the time comes to fight¡­ they fight¡­ also, magic? Spirits? Talent? That''s not the only thing that decides it.


    Imagine this, non-combatants have training¡­ and you were trapped¡­ in an all or nothing situation, non-combatants can fight with you, even if they are not that efficient in it, it could change the tide of the battle.


    You are also able to retreat faster."


    He is also great with handling people, realizing that he made a mistake with his words, he explained further in a way that the leaders can understand and think of it in a positive note, hearing this their faces lightened into a smile.


    Hearing their exchange, I finally got the idea why the non-combatants as well are running. The running in circles thing seems to be training for them so they can fight with us if necessary, an idea we hadn''t thought of, as we lived in a community where the fighters protect the non-fighters, while the non-fighters provide food, shelter and clothing for them.


    As I was deep in thought, the words escaped my mouth.


    "Then what about our daily lives, if the non-combatants trains with us, they wouldn''t be able to provide us food and our needs"


    And with that, they turned their head towards me.


    Noticing what I just blurted out in front of the council of ten I immediately held my mouth in surprise and bowed towards lady Allannia


    "I''m sorry esteem high-elf, and our leaders, it was out of my place. I just came here to return our comrade and hero''s mantle, I''m sorry for not being able to perform my duty well as when I was awake he was already gone"


    But the esteemed lady just giggled a bit and caressed my hair.


    "It''s okay, and that was a good question, and don''t worry about that, it was the same for us as well, he suddenly stepped into our quarters and told us to gather immediately... even though it''s still too early."


    She yawned and a droplet of tears appeared at the corner of her eyes, her sleep must have been cut short.


    "Slaine, if you don''t mind can you answer her question?"


    She looked at Slaine waiting for an answer, and he immedaitely nodded and spoke.


    "They''ll only train when they are done with their duties, while they train the basics the fighters will have advanced training with me.


    Also, Ms. Alre I have something I really need you to do."


    Ms. Alre was confused, as she puts her index finger on her cheek.


    "What¡­ do you want me to make?"


    ¡­


    As the meeting continued, I just sat and did nothing I wanted to join the strange training myself because of my curiosity but general Alwin stopped me, telling me to accompany Slaine at all times with a big smile on his face.


    Wow... this is how they treat me right now... even how obedient I am to orders I still have a heart you know!


    As I sat and heard the rest of the planning, the details were laid out.


    The battalion was first divided into the magic and spirit elements they specialize in and then they were then categorized into different types, according to how their magic will affect the enemy or our forces.


    He classified them into four types:


    Support - Those whose magic or spirit specializes in healing, strengthening, or any kind of magic which can be use on a comrade, in this role, the non-combatants are given a chance to show their skills, as lots of the non-combatants have magic or spirits that can do it.


    Attack - Those magic or spirit that has a high chance of damaging the enemy, almost all elements have this trait, but mainly those that have fire, lightning and water elements were chosen.


    Defense - These are the very scarce amongst the users, most of them have earth or nature elements with them, these are those that can summon golems that are immune to nullifying weapons.


    The spirits I am contracted with are also can be called golems, but even if they are immune to nullifers, it can still be easily hacked by a steel weapon.


    Communication - These are the disciples of Mr. Wistari, but due to their small numbers they have picked amongst the non-combatants for Mr. Wistari to teach the original magic of his. Although Mr. Wistari was hesitant at first as most of his students before have given up the training due to the side effects to the brain, Slaine convinced him to give it a try.


    Each team would have one member who''s magic or spirit was categorized into. This way they can attack, support, defend themselves and communicate with other squads whenever they need to.


    For us, who never thought of this idea before, was made to realize its impact to our forces and to how we will fight our battles from now on.


    We have been taught not only a new system of using our manpower, identifying ourselves, categorizing ourselves with our magic, a different way of organizing our forces, and understanding more about our magic and what it can do.


    "Before we wouldn''t have considered this, as the proud race we were, we wouldn''t let anyone put us on a pedestal, we competed against each other on who knows best."


    I mumurred as I remembered the past.


    However, it did not stop simply from there, as everything wasn''t just a plan, in order to get used to it Slaine have planned "practical trainings" with us. I don''t know what the word means but he said that it''s a kind of training which we will experience the situation he will put us into, and each squad will respond to that according to what they have learned in his teachings.


    For the reorganization of the Free Elven Forces, the forward scattered forces across the continent were also recalled to attend the trainings.


    Which makes me excited for a bit, I can finally learn more his strength through these trainings, but unfortunately I was tasked to assist him again, which means I can''t join a squad to train with.


    With tears in my eyes I waved goodbye to Valeri who joined another squad.


    Valeri is on the supporting role as she had proven herself in the last battle with her small spirits that could bind the enemy.

 98 Practical Training?

    After the rigorous information the council of ten learned from Slaine, with a well though plan of action we relearned, we discarded what we knew before to get to this new era of warfare Slaine is introducing us to.


    There were rigorous lessons every day, using the stone of writing, a white piece of stone we used to write on rocks, Slaine gave us the lessons on the new tactics we never have heard of, there were also some tactics that relied on shock power, ambush, hiding and hiding in the shadows.


    He also knew more about the dark elves, although he didn''t tell us where he got the information he told us about their thought process.


    Back then when we were still on toe-to-toe against them, we didn''t try to understand the enemy ¡ª we were too shaken, prideful and we let our emotions flow out, and we merely looked at them as mindless murderers and monsters, that could only be wiped out by force, however he was different from us, he understood the enemy and even got this information that could turn the tides of war.


    On the practical training day, we will be using the knowledge that he gave us in order to fight the enemy. I wonder how he will train us?


    But I was na?ve, the "practical training" that he told us, was to ambush small camps of dark-elves with him.


    "Slaine¡­ are you really sure about this?"


    I told him as we were at a prone position at the top of the hill while we watched the small camp of dark-elves, in their mindless activities, some of them sharpened their weapons, some of them fed their beasts and some of them cooked food and some of them played with the slaves they have caught, they were clearly female elves.


    Seeing the sight made me want to vomit and erase them from this world once and for all. However, I was also reminded of the terror of those species after facing them many times, and what it meant to fight them if you think on their level.


    "What? If you have time to ask, can you give me the enemy count now?"


    After teaching us for so long, he became so fluent in elven that he seemed to become a different person compared to when I met him first.


    Despite being fluent though, he is hard to communicate as he has terms we didn''t know before, that sometimes I would just sigh and give up. He would then click his tongue insultingly to me not being able to know what he means.


    Or was he really clicking his tongue because I don''t understand him? Or because he can''t make me understand what he means? He is a hard fellow to understand, but he isn''t as friendly as I thought he would be.


    The misunderstanding was because of the language barrier.


    But I know from deep inside, he is a righteous person.


    I think I have become closer to him in the past month, I''m the only one he could speak to in a straight manner, without any reserve, unlike when he''s speaking with the higher ups.


    Because, even when he is fluent, he''s still reclusive to others aside from me. After all, we sleep in the same quarters, that has two rooms, in order for me to attend to his needs in writing the plans.


    He also has a good hand in drawing, though it was becoming very hard to understand lately.


    It''s not that I''m special, it''s because I''m the one who does lots of things for him, it''s a natural part of the work assigned to me by the council of ten, and also it''s my opportunity to work for him and learn from him just like what an apprentice would do.


    "Hah¡­ you really have been rude to me lately¡­ wait, weren''t you rude to me from the beginning?"


    "E-NE-MY COU-NT."


    He murmured under his bandana as he counted something on his belt, which he called "utility belt" its the first time I heard such a pairing of words.


    "Two hundred¡­ Three hundred¡­ Four hundred¡­. climbing up to Fi-Five Hundred! It''s around five hundred! It isn''t an ordinary camp we can use for that training you planned for Slaine!"


    I stuttered as he pressured to give him the numbers immediately.


    "Against a measly half-battalion? Did you really fight at that defensive war against many divisions?"


    "But¡­ Slaine¡­ it''s¡­ half a battalion you know¡­ we only have 10 squads¡­ I have notice for a while but your view point is a bit¡­ "


    "A bit?"


    "No¡­ nevermind."


    I prevented myself for digging a deeper hole.


    "Ah, I might have been mistaken, I should call them a mob of monsters or something, calling them a battalion has caused some misunderstanding and is an insult to real soldiers. How silly of me."


    "Real¡­ soldiers? It''s been long since real soldiers have perished, what are the soldiers in your country like?"


    "Stop the small talk, we have to start soon."


    He''s been unfriendly to me lately just like this¡­ but if this is what makes him comfortable, I''m fine with it. It makes me feel better he''s getting used to his daily life at the camp. It eases some of my worries about him.


    Wait¡­ why am I even getting worried? I should be worried about myself first if I could keep up with this man, just look at his absurd viewpoint in this battle!


    "Okay, just the right numbers¡­ everyone, mission start!"


    He puts his index finger and thumb together to his mouth and whistles.


    What followed was the screech of the bird named Eagle, Slaine gave orders to Eagle, and Eagle screeched the orders in one long screech.


    There were also other patterns we have devised in order to understand orders coming from Eagle.


    Because Slaine can''t learn Mr. Wistari''s communication magic, it''s the best way he can give orders without being noticed, and we the squads will communicate with the communication person in our squads.


    Eagle''s screech reached the other elves who hid at the hills scattered in squads and the communication started to happen between us.


    All of us wore our new clothes, these looked like our usual uniforms except that it''s color was very different from before, it looked very irregular and strange, to be honest it doesn''t look good to me.


    Also, the new uniform is stuffy and hides our legs and our arms, we could still move freely but this uniform makes it hard for us to climb on trees, but thanks to this even when we are near the enemy they haven''t spotted us yet. I hope Mr. Alre would make a version for this where it''s easy to jump on trees, its too heavy at the moment.


    Our uniform in the past was just clothes Ms. Alre made for us. It''s usually a bright green cloth with a brown belt and a red bandana, ribbon or armband, which symbolizes our resistance.


    The new version is still green however there are patches of different colors of green which makes us able to blend naturally with the forest and the surrounding area ¡ª it''s an astonishing idea, and strangely¡­ it feels like this kind of uniform was made for us to be able to make prone positions like this.


    Does wars like this happen in Slaine''s home country? Maybe he isn''t really from the continent after all.


    As if he has been in non-honourable wars and battles where sneaking behind the enemy''s back is the norm. It''s too irregular and unfair, but as he has said before, it''s what has to be done in order to win. The dark-elves also has their own tricks, such as taking hostages, this is why the first objective of this mission is to save the slaves before they can use them as hostages.


    After eagle screeched he swooped down to Andrei and carried him at the shoulder.


    When I see them both, it just looked like Slaine have grown fierce and mighty black wings.


    He loaded his weapon, called the gun and loaded a golden bullet to it.


    "Hey¡­ maggots, up here!"


    He screamed at them in elven, and fired the bullet where a lightning magic circle appeared in the air in front of his weapon.


    A roaring thunder cracked and blasted the ground of the camp, however no dark-elves was hit. But this is all within his plans that we laid out on the quarters.


    In order for us to learn, he knew he had to be the diversion, but I didn''t know that being a diversion can become so cool as he hovered in the skies of the camp.

 99 Secure The Hostages

    The dark-elves started throwing any kind of unholy magic at him, different kinds of elements with a slightly darker in color, flew at the skies, there were also unholy swords with them ¡ª the dark-elves favorite, however all Eagle had to do was lift him up and he would be outside the range.


    "Everyone! Let''s match the timing of our firepower together!" I told them through the communicator as I gave out my command while holding her shoulder as my thoughts got passed through the other squads and their respective communicator..


    "In three¡­ two¡­ one... deploy magic!"


    [Boom!]


    From our position the attackers concentrated their magic silently and fired, and there we saw it.


    Our magic was shot concentrated into one target coming from different directions. It hit the camp and the dark-elves that gathered at the center to throw spells at Slaine, their formation reduced their numbers heavily.


    "Ahhh!!! What the hell is this!"


    "It''s that scoundrel again! Commander!"


    "I''ll tear your limbs! Come down here and fight us!"


    "We''re getting shot from different directions! Is this possible?! He''s just standing there doing nothing!"


    "It''s possible! He''s the one who hunted down many divisions! We can''t defeat him! Let''s run!


    The big explosion happened, and the dark-elves became confused¡­


    They didn''t know where it was coming from¡­


    The diversion was succesful they thought that it was the man above them who casted the multiple bombardments coming from all directions.


    Their eyes were glued on Slaine and having casted their spells already all they could do was wait for the next round after the cooldown, as they talked amongst themselves with anger to the man flying above them.


    They were in panic, disarray, and in terror, I never thought that the day would come when I would see these expressions on their faces. If this was a normal victory we would have cheered and mocked them, however Slaine instilled discipline to us, he always told us to focus at the mission at all costs, and to shred away our pride.


    So everyone kept proning in silence, but in our hearts once again the taste of victory was so sweet, seeing our spells bombard them.


    However, there were still the tough ones, like the commanders who stood their ground with nullifier shields in front of them, they eyed Slaine with anger and hatred and threw another spell at him, but aside from some dark-elf commanders almost all of them of them were afraid, that they tried stepping back, but they couldn''t ¡ª because a dark elf-commander was there. This was one of their traits Slaine told us about, and it was true, they had a chain of a command, and just like us they had their own sense of pride.


    Slaine didn''t take action and just carried his weapon as he looked down on them with his dead eyes, as if mocking them. For some reason, after following him for months, I could tell, even when he''s just showing that emotionless eyes of his.


    According to Slaine''s orders, we proceed with our bombardment ¡ª we continued as soon as we could after the cooldown, the camp that was filled with the voice of obnoxious dark-elves was now blinded by flashes of light that came from the point where we directed our magic to, avoiding the locations where they held the slaves.


    At this point in a prone position we thought that we would already been discovered discovered, however we weren''t.


    One of our training was to cast our spells silently, the shorter the incantation the better.


    Back then the army of elves, our ancestors and the generations that followed shouted their spells as much as they could in a face-to-face battle with the dark-elves, filled with pride to defeat the filthy enemy.


    The way we are doing it right now, mocks our ancestors and the pride we once had.


    If we removed pride from our hearts, we didn''t need to shout our spells, all we have to do is murmur our spells with great feelings in it ¡ª this was a great discovery, it isn''t the louder the voice of the incantation, but with regards to how we feel, and our magic maximizes its potential through it, although not anyone could do this, this alone presents us the opportunity to cast spells while being hidden.


    It was the first time for us to conduct the unfair tactics dark-elves are proficient at ¡ª the ambush, successfully.


    "They didn''t notice us!? They didn''t notice us! Keep concentrating!"


    Valeri exclaimed but in a whisper, because Slaine was heading out, I joined the nearest squad with me, where Valeri belonged.


    Their attacker was a female elf who had fire magic, who could concentrate on the next bombardment. Our focus was to keep the dark-elves from the huts where they keep the potential hostages.


    Slaine was more aware of the methods of the dark-elves.


    "Lyra, Valeri, I have cleared the dark-elves near the hut, now go!"


    We crawled faster and faster, remembering our training, we silently crawled into the hut as fast as we could, while the bombardment happened, and hell was being unleashed upon the dark-elves.


    We only had 10 squads with us, numbering up to 30 elves. We didn''t know that our practical training would be like this, however all of us believed in him and he responded to our trust by this impressive plan.


    Everything was within his expectations, it''s almost too accurate that I can feel the hairs in my body stand.


    Just by showing his intimidation and his reputation, he inspired fear and confusion on the dark-elves.


    And with his idea ¡ª these new clothes that Ms. Alre had made for us, we were not detected and we were free to do all we wanted as long as we were acting according to the protocols he set beforehand.


    The dark-elves in confusion, finally collapsed their chain of command ran for their own lives like the filthy beings they are, however they were hit severely by bombardments coming from all of the directions.


    After crawling, even how many bugs we couldn''t stand crawled in our skin, I and Valeri didn''t mind it, if it''s for our comrades that have been enslaved.


    We reached the hut and scanned for enemies, but we were protected by the squads who were firing from behind.


    I summoned my treants and had them pretend as trees as I get closer and closer to the backdoor of the entrance of the hut making a tree isle where no one can see us passing through it.


    It''s not just the tactics that Slaine taught us.


    In his free time he would approach some elves that had potential in their magic, and would devise a way to use them efficiently.


    And for me, it was this that he devised for me.


    My treants that looked like normal trees if they didn''t move sprouted as many leaves as they could as they became a staircase for me to go to the hut and open the door.


    When I opened it, I saw an amount of female elves captured; they didn''t have any light on their eyes anymore, they just stared in a daze, with their naked bodies exposed.


    I felt hatred once again as blood pumped into my head; I bit my lip, and it bled.


    I want to take part in the slaughter that''s happening and kill one dark-elf with my own hands!


    However, I then when I looked up to the skies with the sound of the wings, I saw Slaine who''s still hovering. I don''t know if I just imagined it, but I felt him looking at me from above as he crossed his arms evading the spells being thrown at him.


    Then I remembered the feelings he gave me, the hope, the chance and the potential if we just follow him.


    "I know¡­ we should secure the objectives first right?" I murmured.


    I balled my fist and punched my leg to ease the pain in my heart seeing these women and girls.


    Just how much suffering the dark-elves caused them to look like this.


    This awful stench of feces and body liquids, those scratches in their naked bodies, the tip of their ears that have been cut.


    It was truly a horrible sight, but this will end starting today!


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 100 Slaves and Onslaugh

    No matter how damaged they were, the slaves still looked beautiful except from all the scars in their bodies, it was the trait of us female elves, and the reason why dark-elves hunted us for their reproduction or to make us their playthings.


    "Everyone! This is the Free Elves Forces, we have come to take you back, please get out of here immediately the dark-elves will be eradicated. They will pay for their sins, for what they did to you! So come with me!"


    I reached out my hand, and they looked at me with those pitiful eyes of theirs.


    They slowly stood up¡­


    But they were afraid to take a step forward.


    Maybe their suffering was so great it was hard to trust anyone anymore


    Their feet were in pain, their legs were all bruised, they just stood looking at me emotionless, none of them spoke.


    How can their fear surpass their desire for freedom?


    As I thought of this, I felt my chest hurting as I looked at them in front of my eyes.


    "Please! Come with me! You don''t want to suffer anymore, right?


    Please! Sorry for not being there for you when you needed us the most! Sorry! The Free Elven Forces instead of saving our people have been focused on preserving its forces¡­ but we couldn''t do anything about it!


    They were too strong even for us! We had forward camps and everything, but they keep destroying everything we built.


    The terror, the fear¡­ it was a horrible nightmare.


    But someone has given us hope! Which is why we are certain, this time we can protect you¡­ so¡­ so¡­ please"


    I didn''t notice¡­ that I was crying my heart out to convince them to go with me.


    Maybe unconsciously as a soldier of an elven kingdom before I joined the resistance, I had this goal of saving the elves who have been enslaved, and helping those that were oppressed.


    However, the days at the resistance were so frustrating¡­


    We were never able to rescue our people, all we could do was run and keep the resistance from crumbling¡­ and suddenly this man appeared and this day came¡­


    Being focused on saving ourselves we had forgotten them, and now they couldn''t take a step to be saved.


    They didn''t want to be given hope.


    They are afraid for it to be crushed later on.


    I don''t have any right¡­ to tell them that we can protect them


    Because it''s not our own power¡­ that brought us here.


    As I tears fell in my eyes as my heart hurt for the female elves in front of me, I felt someone clasping my hand.


    They were gentle but shaking hands¡­


    When I faced her, she was a beautiful-looking elf, her eyes looked tired, and her body was way more bruised than the others showing that he might be the dark-elves favorite.


    However, she was able to smile as she consoled me.


    "Okay¡­ let''s go."


    It was a peaceful and happy smile, even though how battered she was, with the tip of one of her ears cut, with her short hair messed up, with the cuts and burns on her skin.


    This woman¡­ has she been protecting them?


    I nodded, and she looked back.


    "Everyone! We have help! Let''s run! Fast!"


    They listened to her immediately.


    With her words the female elves took action and ran towards Valeri who waited on the other side of the aisle formed by the treants to hide the escape.


    The last one to escape was she, and they left me in a daze on how easily they followed her.


    "What are you moping there for? Aren''t you also going to escape?"


    She looked at me with her tired eyes as she held out her hand to me as she entered the treant isle that I made.


    I came back to my senses, and immediately followed them. The treants in my bidding alternately moved around each other to hide us as we escaped, the treants surrounded me and Valeri and the fifty female elves that we had found.


    The others also saved the other female elves on some other huts.


    We ran and ran, covered by my friends there ¡ª the treants hiding us until we reached the other side of the hill.


    There, another unit was to take the hostages to safety.


    I returned to the position where Slaine was lifted by Eagle and there the black bird Raven was standing on a log.


    "Raven, evacuation of hostages is a success!"


    With my words, Raven momentarily looked at me and flew.


    The bombardments continued however in the end we were only 10 squads, our mana and firepower wouldn''t be enough, And they are noticing as well¡­


    Which leads us to the next step.


    The star of the show, to end this once and for all.


    Raven returned to me and landed at my shoulder, and he imitated eagle''s screech but a short one.


    It was the retreat order that came from Slaine where Raven flew from.


    We passed on the message through the communicators and everyone moved back to the retreat point, not so far and not so near as he also gave an order to capture any dark-elves that will escape.


    The reason why the dark-elves we bombardment were still alive was because they had commanders with them who could nullify our attacks.


    But they will be no match for what''s coming next.


    From our retreat point, we saw the man hovering with the wings of the bird called Eagle.


    And his weapon shot three projectiles at the skies.


    Then we saw three magic circles, representing wind, water, and ice.


    Just like his other spells it layered with each other, but this time it condensed with the clouds which got darker.


    And then he flew outside of the clouds range which was on top of the whole camp, as if he anticipated that the cloud will be there at the certain time.


    When he was outside the clouds, he looked back at the dark-elves who were brave enough to chase him by running on land, and there he muttered the name of the spell.


    ["Hailstorm"]


    Rocks of ice that can only be seen in the north of the continent appeared from those clouds as they heavily dropped into what''s left of the more than 500 dark-elves we encountered, the ice balls were so heavy that they tore the huts apart, leaving holes with their shape, and when a dark-elf was hit it would create a big hole in its chest.


    This rain of ice rocks didn''t stop and he would shoot a certain land-based magic circle to where he wanted the rocks to fall from.


    "So this is how he defeats them¡­ "


    Everyone stood agape, as the dark-elves scattered but were hit in their heads and their stomachs, creating holes everywhere on their bodies.


    In a few minutes, after the onslaught, the clouds cleared up, and the sun finally appeared.


    The once busy dark-elf camp was now a desolate place full with dark-elf bodies, and some who were lucky to be saved by their luck have been captured, and they will be taken to Slaine''s quarters as soon as possible.

 100 The Onslaugh

    No matter how damaged they were, the slaves still looked beautiful except from all the scars in their bodies, it was the trait of us female elves, and the reason why dark-elves hunted us for their reproduction or to make us their playthings.


    "Everyone! This is the Free Elves Forces, we have come to take you back, please get out of here immediately the dark-elves will be eradicated. They will pay for their sins, for what they did to you! So come with me!"


    I reached out my hand, and they looked at me with those pitiful eyes of theirs.


    They slowly stood up¡­


    But they were afraid to take a step forward.


    Maybe their suffering was so great it was hard to trust anyone anymore


    Their feet were in pain, their legs were all bruised, they just stood looking at me emotionless, none of them spoke.


    How can their fear surpass their desire for freedom?


    As I thought of this, I felt my chest hurting as I looked at them in front of my eyes.


    "Please! Come with me! You don''t want to suffer anymore, right?


    Please! Sorry for not being there for you when you needed us the most! Sorry! The Free Elven Forces instead of saving our people have been focused on preserving its forces¡­ but we couldn''t do anything about it!


    They were too strong even for us! We had forward camps and everything, but they keep destroying everything we built.


    The terror, the fear¡­ it was a horrible nightmare.


    But someone has given us hope! Which is why we are certain, this time we can protect you¡­ so¡­ so¡­ please"


    I didn''t notice¡­ that I was crying my heart out to convince them to go with me.


    Maybe unconsciously as a soldier of an elven kingdom before I joined the resistance, I had this goal of saving the elves who have been enslaved, and helping those that were oppressed.


    However, the days at the resistance were so frustrating¡­


    We were never able to rescue our people, all we could do was run and keep the resistance from crumbling¡­ and suddenly this man appeared and this day came¡­


    Being focused on saving ourselves we had forgotten them, and now they couldn''t take a step to be saved.


    They didn''t want to be given hope.


    They are afraid for it to be crushed later on.


    I don''t have any right¡­ to tell them that we can protect them


    Because it''s not our own power¡­ that brought us here.


    As I tears fell in my eyes as my heart hurt for the female elves in front of me, I felt someone clasping my hand.


    They were gentle but shaking hands¡­


    When I faced her, she was a beautiful-looking elf, her eyes looked tired, and her body was way more bruised than the others showing that he might be the dark-elves favorite.


    However, she was able to smile as she consoled me.


    "Okay¡­ let''s go."


    It was a peaceful and happy smile, even though how battered she was, with the tip of one of her ears cut, with her short hair messed up, with the cuts and burns on her skin.


    This woman¡­ has she been protecting them?


    I nodded, and she looked back.


    "Everyone! We have help! Let''s run! Fast!"


    They listened to her immediately.


    With her words the female elves took action and ran towards Valeri who waited on the other side of the aisle formed by the treants to hide the escape.


    The last one to escape was she, and they left me in a daze on how easily they followed her.


    "What are you moping there for? Aren''t you also going to escape?"


    She looked at me with her tired eyes as she held out her hand to me as she entered the treant isle that I made.


    I came back to my senses, and immediately followed them. The treants in my bidding alternately moved around each other to hide us as we escaped, the treants surrounded me and Valeri and the fifty female elves that we had found.


    The others also saved the other female elves on some other huts.


    We ran and ran, covered by my friends there ¡ª the treants hiding us until we reached the other side of the hill.


    There, another unit was to take the hostages to safety.


    I returned to the position where Slaine was lifted by Eagle and there the black bird Raven was standing on a log.


    "Raven, evacuation of hostages is a success!"


    With my words, Raven momentarily looked at me and flew.


    The bombardments continued however in the end we were only 10 squads, our mana and firepower wouldn''t be enough, And they are noticing as well¡­


    Which leads us to the next step.


    The star of the show, to end this once and for all.


    Raven returned to me and landed at my shoulder, and he imitated eagle''s screech but a short one.


    It was the retreat order that came from Slaine where Raven flew from.


    We passed on the message through the communicators and everyone moved back to the retreat point, not so far and not so near as he also gave an order to capture any dark-elves that will escape.


    The reason why the dark-elves we bombardment were still alive was because they had commanders with them who could nullify our attacks.


    But they will be no match for what''s coming next.


    From our retreat point, we saw the man hovering with the wings of the bird called Eagle.


    And his weapon shot three projectiles at the skies.


    Then we saw three magic circles, representing wind, water, and ice.


    Just like his other spells it layered with each other, but this time it condensed with the clouds which got darker.


    And then he flew outside of the clouds range which was on top of the whole camp, as if he anticipated that the cloud will be there at the certain time.


    When he was outside the clouds, he looked back at the dark-elves who were brave enough to chase him by running on land, and there he muttered the name of the spell.


    ["Hailstorm"]


    Rocks of ice that can only be seen in the north of the continent appeared from those clouds as they heavily dropped into what''s left of the more than 500 dark-elves we encountered, the ice balls were so heavy that they tore the huts apart, leaving holes with their shape, and when a dark-elf was hit it would create a big hole in its chest.


    This rain of ice rocks didn''t stop and he would shoot a certain land-based magic circle to where he wanted the rocks to fall from.


    "So this is how he defeats them¡­ "


    Everyone stood agape, as the dark-elves scattered but were hit in their heads and their stomachs, creating holes everywhere on their bodies.


    In a few minutes, after the onslaught, the clouds cleared up, and the sun finally appeared.


    The once busy dark-elf camp was now a desolate place full with dark-elf bodies, and some who were lucky to be saved by their luck have been captured, and they will be taken to Slaine''s quarters as soon as possible.

 101 Something That Makes You Special

    After I cast "Hailstone" a layered spell I can create by tracing the movements of the clouds and shooting three magic bullets, Water, Freezing and Air.


    I grew them into a full hailstone. The air bullet I cast made up an updraught air temperature which is -25 degrees Celsius.


    Then collided them with water droplets with the water magic circle, and then super-cooled them with the freezing magic circle, causing them to freeze on impact.


    Once the hailstones have collided with enough of these droplets, building up in size, they become heavy enough for gravity to take over, and fell.


    I looked down below and saw the devastation that I caused. Seeing these dead gray-colored dark elf bodies have been a norm to me, and I have gotten used to it.


    There''s no shock or bad feeling.


    Before, I would have been a nervous wreck before the start of the battle. I would intentionally have to get my adrenaline to kick off, but now even without these factors things have become very easy for me.


    Today I had the trainees undergo a trial by fire, by casting away their traditional ways that had them defeated they were able to win this time.


    With this trial they were able to become a proper and strong force to be reckoned with, this time they know a way of battle that to them seems to be dirty but gives them victory.


    Those new camouflage uniforms, those new formations and team compositions.


    If they only thought of it well, analyzed their enemy, they wouldn''t have been defeated by these abominations of an elf with simple measures.


    But they chose to put their pride and traditions first, and for all these years they remained to be the one to be hunted.


    If it didn''t happen, the dark-elves wouldn''t have been able to reach us¡­ and that war on the land of us humans wouldn''t have happened, and Claire right now would be¡­


    As I thought of it I didn''t notice that I was already lost in thought, a thing that would be very dangerous while I''m hovering at enemy territory.


    From above I can see the trainees capture the escaping dark-elves, and with my instruction they cut their limbs off and covered their mouth with what seems to be a cloth so that they couldn''t kill themselves by biting their tongues.


    "Eagle, were going back to my quarters, however a little lower to the trainees so I can pass the orders to them"


    Eagle responded by screeching as he made a slight ascend and immediately made a downward motion carrying him with me.


    As I swooped down towards the trainees being carried by Eagle, I saw their faces.


    Faces filled with hope and what seems like quenched with its thirst for revenge.


    They look more like the hunters now, and not just some random boy scouts.


    They looked at the dark-elves as they were being carried by the support squads.


    The captive dark-elves tried to resist however, with no limbs, all they could do was wiggle their body and heads squealing as their mouths are covered.


    "Bring them to my quarters swiftly, no one kills the captives. Understood?"


    "Yes, sir!"


    By the time I was done giving my orders, I was already meters ahead of them.


    From my distance I could hear them cheer for their victory, some of them even had tears in their eyes.


    Especially Lyra and Valeri, who walked together with the freed slaves as they wrapped them with cloth to cover their bodies.


    That''s right¡­ this is how you should fight, not for useless things like pride and honor.


    But for the thing that''s important to you.


    ¡­


    After guiding the freed female slaves to Lady Allannia, I told her about how we were able to defeat a half-battalion of dark-elves, with our meager numbers.


    Hearing this, she was so astounded in disbelief to hear about it and tried to verify it, but as soon as she saw the smiles of the other fighters, she could finally believe it.


    The freed slaves were well received and were taken under the care of Lady Allannia directly.


    They reluctantly wanted to leave mine and Valeri''s side, but as they saw Lady Allannia''s smile as she reached her hand to them, tears flowed from their eyes with just two words Lady Allannia told them.


    "Welcome home."


    The scene was mesmerizing; I felt touched, as Lady Allannia, with no reserve, hugged the girls who underwent such suffering, even how dirty and uncleaned their bodies were, she wasn''t bothered by the dirt nor the smell coming from them.


    The onlookers had teary eyes seeing the scene.


    The nightmare they were experiencing was now over, and now they are back to the people who would accept them, treat them as equals and would love them as the same race.


    After watching for a while, I left the touching scene.


    Deep inside I am half relieved and at the same time half frustrated.


    Relieved that the girls were finally able to express their emotions hidden deep within them, but at the same time frustrated about how my words weren''t able to move them.


    I guess that''s why she is the leader; she has the power to move hearts by just words.


    She was able to do the same to me when I was the one who was traumatized.


    I wonder how can one have such charisma.


    Admiring Lady Allannia as a woman, unknowingly I started to want to become like her, while also wanting to have the same strength as Slaine.


    Noticing me, Valeri suddenly tapped me from behind.


    "What''s with the long face Lyra?"


    She smiled at me as she held my hand and walked beside me.


    "No¡­ just lost in thought, maybe the events that have happened are just getting to me this time."


    "Really? Well, taking on that number of forces was really scary and crazy, but with Slaine with us it worked and went easily as expected, but I think that''s not the case with you right now."


    "You really are sharp, Veleri."


    I smiled bitterly.


    "How long do you think I have known you? C''mon tell your sister everything"


    She hugged me from the side as she rubbed her cheeks towards mine.


    "Ahaha, Valeri that tickles¡­ "


    "As usual your cheeks are so puffy, so what''s the problem my sister?"


    As we walked together, we didn''t notice that we were already almost at the edge of the cliff where we can see the horizon, as the setting sun painted the skies and the sea hues of orange, as it''s showed that it was about to be in its slumber.


    We sat at the grass as we saw the scenery.


    "Well¡­ I wonder how some people can be special while we are not, when we are all trying our best every day."


    "Hmmm¡­. Are you worried about lady Allannia taking away Slaine from you?"


    "Wha-what are you talking about Valeri!"


    Really¡­ this girl''s head is sometimes in the flowers.


    "Just kidding, I just wanted to liven up the mood."


    "Really? But you ruined the sentimental mood."


    "About that¡­ this is just how I see things, but I don''t think anyone''s really that special Lyra"


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    "It''s just that everyone is unique to each other, and sometimes we try to admire those people that seemed leagues away from us, we try to seek what they have, those pleasant qualities. And we forget about what''s good about us in the first place.


    And sometimes it can be frustrating how that person can do it easily or how it means nothing to that person.


    I guess, this is just how the world works."


    "I don''t even know what''s good about me, even my words¡­ couldn''t reach the slaves we wanted to free."


    "But it was your power that enabled us to free them without problem, right?"


    "Well¡­ yeah, but-"


    I wasn''t able to continue as Valeri stood up and patted my head, still looking at the horizon before us.


    "Anyway, don''t think too deeply about it, Lyra¡­ you have your own good qualities, it may not be the power that Slaine has, or the aura that lady Allannia has, but I''m sure it''s there if you just look more into yourself.


    Something that makes you special."


    -------------------------------------------------------------------


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 102 Is He Maybe Smiling?

    When I and Valeri went to Slaine''s quarters, we saw a horrible scene.


    No¡­ it far surpasses of what "horrible" means. It''s something I haven''t seen in my entire life.


    Slaine stood by two of the dark-elf captives that didn''t have any limbs.


    They were both squirming in pain.


    One seems to be a male and the other one seems to be a female dark-elf.


    When I came in, at first there was just one of them, just laughing at Slaine however in just a few hours another captive was brought and the fear trip started.


    According to Slaine, the dark-elves treasure their females too much, but it''s a wonder how can he even identify females from males as they all look disgusting.


    And right now, he is whipping the female in front of the male dark-elf.


    The whip was constantly being freshly taken after being heated, each strike would cause the female to scream loudly not only because of the strike but also the burn that went inside its skin.


    And each time the female would scream, the male dark-elf would make pleading sounds, screaming and crying, but it can''t do anything as it doesn'' have any limbs at all.


    To think that these shits still have emotions.


    "Now¡­ speak, you understand me right? How much time do you think I spent to learn this language? Now, point at the map where are the important locations, routes and where your higher-ups are"


    Slaine asked as he looked calmly at the male dark-elf.


    However, the male wouldn''t speak.


    He looked at Slaine in rage, shaking and grinding his teeth.


    Seeing this, Slaine simply made a sigh and took the blazing whip and without any mercy hit the female dark-elf with it again, this time it was stronger than usual that it made the female dark-elf scream so much and blood started gushing from its eye.


    "So¡­ you won''t talk, huh?"


    Seeing him like this, I felt fear within me.


    How can he be sane doing this? How long has he been doing this?


    Once again he kept whipping and whipping as he went on with his interrogation.


    The hours that went by and the room became full of screams and the cracking of the whip, I and Valeri who were assigned to accompany Slaine couldn''t bear to watch it anymore, Valeri decided to leave first.


    Only I and Slaine was left in the torture room.


    "That Valeri¡­ running out first."


    I pouted as I sat on the side, covering my ears, and looking away.


    The gore scene was too much for me to bear anymore.


    From time to time I would steal glances at Slaine, but as I watched him do more of his interrogation, I noticed his hand shaking, even though his eyes didn''t show any trace of fear or pain.


    Could it be¡­ he doesn''t really enjoy doing this? Like what I had in mind? That he is still sane to feel the fear of hurting a life, making it suffer and not totally killing it?


    He was also out of breath, and his eyes were showing signs of frustration, at the end he could only get insignificant details about where the camps were, it was the only thing the male dark-elf knew as he pleaded until he passed out.


    Seeing him finish, I ordered the fighters waiting outside to get the bodies and put them back to their cells.


    As they came in I saw their faces also looking disturbed on hearing the interrogation and screams of pain.


    It was the first time for us to hear a dark-elf screaming in pain, confessing and pleading. And because we somehow speak the same language, it was hard to hear¡­ it was too disturbing.


    I handed him a cloth to clean his hand, but he was just standing up, in a daze, looking down with his dead eyes.


    He was suppressing his shaking hand with his other hand.


    Just like me¡­ he is¡­ afraid.


    As he won''t accept the cloth, I calmed down myself and made a long sigh and looked at him.


    "Amazing¡­ so this is how you get information on their bases. But at what price? Look at your hands, they are shaking"


    I opened the cloth and wrapped his hands with it and wiped the blood and filth, as I held it, his hands weren''t what I expected, I thought his hands were more manly because of his strength and power, but it turned out his hand was as thin as a woman would be, but like a man his fingers were sturdy and long.


    And as I held it, it was still shaking.


    "So¡­ how many years have you been doing this? It seems you haven''t been used to it at all."


    But he didn''t answer me, but after it, noticing me, he pulled the cloth and used it to wipe his hands.


    "Don''t tell me you lost your fluency with our language agai¡ª"


    "Don''t you¡­ don''t you see me disgusting? You should have just waited outside."


    He suddenly asked me before I can make small talk with him.


    Far from his temperament earlier in the battle, right now he looks and appears like the opposite, together with his strange question.


    "Disgusting? Why? You are doing this for something important, right? Also, it''s my duty to be at your side always, truthfully its bloody, but its something you have to do right?"


    "... "


    "But¡­ if you don''t enjoy doing it, then you should stop doing it, what''s the point of gaining that information if you become a wreck like this afterwards?"


    "If I don''t do it, who wi¡ª"


    "You are already with us, you can rely on us for other things, if you want, I can be with you every time you do this.


    Even if you are doing this for your own reasons, because of your victories you are already doing so much for us, there''s no way I wouldn''t help you.


    Even Valeri and those men that came to retrieve the captives feel the same. It''s just that they aren''t used to it."


    "But this is¡ª"


    "Yes, it''s gore, and it hurts my eyes, but these creatures also killed our kind and did the same thing or much worse.


    They should be ready for the exact thing happening to them.


    So you don''t have to feel guilty. You don''t have to carry all that load.


    Stop blaming yourself.


    Rely on us¡­ or at least rely on me, you don''t shoulder everything."


    As I''ve said those words, I noticed him flinch and stopped wiping his hands and his eyes looked sadder than usual.


    What? Did I hit a nerve? Or was he bothered that I kept talking and cutting him off?


    "Wait! did I say something wrong?" I worriedly asked him.


    Even though I don''t know which part of that was wrong, I just wanted him to feel less of the burden he is carrying, seeing him like this, I just couldn''t help it, after all he is my savior, and the resistance savior.


    I looked down realizing that I got carried away again and maybe have offended him.


    "Sorry¡­" I lowered my head and closed my eyes.


    But, in response, I didn''t receive his scolding, but instead he just shook his head and walked beside me and then I felt his hand suddenly patting my head.


    "It''s okay, stop sulking and let''s go to the surface, I want to breathe some fresh air."


    For a moment I could see his eyes smile a bit.


    Seeing it mesmerized me a bit as it left me astounded as I recalled his face when I first saw him.


    Cold¡­ with no emotion at all.


    But just now as he patted my head I could see a bit of warmth from his expression, even though I couldn''t see the lower part of his face.


    Is he maybe smiling?

 103 Facing Fears and Eating Bugs

    "Okay! Let''s do this!"


    I shouted with high tension as I stretched my hands to the air. As the lush greenery surrounded me as the sun faced its rays on me.


    The news of our victory has spread out and the camps that have scattered have now converged into the major camp.


    There were also independent resistance groups who weren''t part of the resistance before, and knowing our victory, they placed themselves under the resistance.


    And today, they are being assigned to their own squads and units, and are being sized in for their new uniforms. The resistance looks more of a formidable force, I can see many news faces. It feels like the kingdom was reborn for a bit, even when there''s no castle or proper houses.


    For someone who''s been in the hard days of resistance, the scene I am seeing is so moving.


    The non-combatants were keeping up with the production of the uniforms and there were also spirits that helped with it, such as Valeri''s small and little spirits.


    Since that victory the tension we have been feeling was wearing off, feeling that this time we can finally win.


    Unlike the times when we were uncertain about where and when we will run, and how many will be left, next time the dark-elves attack.


    Now, I am seeing this liveliness as I climbed the tallest tree near the cliff where I can see the trainings, the group assignments, the uniform making, and strangely, the melee weapon making ¡ª Slaine wanted us to carry a small sword with us each time, instead of relying on our bow and arrows.


    Luckily, there were mineral deposits on the cave, and on the fresh groups that have joined one of them was a blacksmith. So now he is teaching others how to make it.


    "Does it really feel good? Watching people work¡­ well, what are you getting excited about? You aren''t even working"


    I heard the voice of the man, who''s lying at one of the branches with a bird on his shoulder munching on an apple.


    He is lying opposite to me, he did this in purpose so I wouldn''t be able to see his face.


    "It''s just a moving sight that makes me want to work on something other than babysitting this mean gentleman. Also shouldn''t we be at the leaders now?"


    Well, technically I am working by watching over you though...


    I don''t really get him, sometimes he tries so hard and there are also days where he''s just lazying around.


    Well, I can''t complain because I don''t have to do any work or training¡­ wait!


    "That''s right! Slaine! Training! You haven''t trained me yet!"


    "Huh? Did I promise that?"


    "Yes, you did! After we got out of the torture room!"


    Slaine before just taught me about a good usage of my treants, but not really the training that will make me strong as him, I want to have that power too, so I can be stronger to protect the ones I treasure. So as payback for patting my head at the torture room, I force ¡ª convinced him to promise into taking the same training as his, or else I would spread the word.


    It seems he wanted to keep up his cold and mysterious persona.


    When a male elf pats the head of a female elf in our culture is like saying that he likes me.


    So it surprised me when he did that, but it turns out that he didn''t know our culture. For some reason, it pissed me off that I was stupid enough to become flustered and hazy even for a short time.


    When I told him about that he immediately agreed to my request, but it seems like he has forgotten about it already.


    "Well¡­ ahhh, just go train with the others. And I will have nothing more to teach you my pupil."


    "Hey¡­ take me seriously will you? Or else I''m going to tell everyone about it this time!"


    These days, Slaine has been more responsive towards me, I wonder what has changed?


    He threw what remained of the apple and wiped his shirt and stood up but almost fell from the tree. If not for Eagle, the bird desperately flapping its wings he would have already fallen down.


    I wonder how can someone be so bad at balancing, walking and jumping on trees should be a basic right? I even learned it when I was 2.


    Maybe he was a sheltered mage before? And was just awakened because the world needs him??


    or¡­ not, it doesn''t suit his image and attitude that I''ve been closely seeing these days.


    But still¡­ that was funny.


    "Pfftt.... What are you doing Slaine?! Hahahaha"


    I held my stomach as I was laughing out loud as I failed to hold my laughter this time.


    "I''m just not used to it¡­ if you keep laughing I won''t fulfill the promise you know?"


    I immediately covered my mouth.


    "Really?"


    He just nodded.


    "Okay, I''ll shut up¡­ "


    ....


    After following him around, and being carried by Eagle to the skies, we suddenly found ourselves at the waterfalls where he lived.


    "Okay, first training, face your fears,"


    "Fears?"


    "You guys¡­ don''t like bugs, right?"


    "Huh?"


    What came after was more like Slaine putting me into all sorts of ordeal.


    He left me into the thick parts of the forest and I have to stay there and deal with bugs.


    Next, he had me capture them by hand, and next he cooked them for me, with me assisting him, and finally¡­


    "Eat"


    "What?"


    "Eat those bugs"


    "Whaaat!!??? NO!!! NO!!! NO!!!"


    "You wanted to be strong, right? This is the first step!"


    "Y-Yes! I wanted to, but this is too much already! AHHH NOOO!!!"


    "Okay¡­ open wide, it''s my handmade meal you know, say ahhh"


    I struggled and told him no, but Eagle''s claw was at my shoulders, and I can''t stand as well, because the cute Raven was resting at my feet looking at me cutely.


    Slaine opened my mouth and dropped cooked insects.


    As an elf a race that instinctually hate bugs, I felt the hairs on my body standing as I felt the bugs at my tongue.


    "Okay¡­ chew it."


    With tears in my eyes, I shook my head.


    Slaine¡­ no more please¡­ or I''ll really cry like a baby right now.


    But, his eyes simply smiled and told me.


    "Chew¡­"


    Driven by the pressure, and subconsciously wanting to follow his ways, and my duty to accompany him always in his craziness, no matter how I despised insects, I finally chewed it.


    My elven ancestors¡­ please forgive me.


    It was disgusting and crunchy and¡­


    "This is¡­ delicious."


    "I told you, right?"


    It was a strange flavor I never tasted before; it was salty but a bit sweet, and also I just realized that it smelled great, it seems like. I saw him use some dried plants, ground it and poured it on his cooking.


    I never thought that something that looked some disgusting could taste so delicious.


    "I thought that you were just being mean with me for laughing at you earlier"


    I took another insect and munched it.


    Wow¡­ this really tastes good, I wonder how it would taste if he cooked bird and boards the same way.


    I then unconsciously looked at Raven while chewing.


    Is it my imagination or did my thoughts get transmitted to him? Raven immediately flew away from me and landed to Slaine''s shoulder and turned away from me.


    "Well¡­ that was part of it."


    So he was really being mean to me.


    "But¡­ I also wanted you to learn the lesson, that not all things can be judged by how they look.


    For example, dark-elves look scary at first, right? But when you use your mind and figure out how to coo¡ª, defeat them most of them are just simpleminded right?"


    He almost slipped and spoke "cooked", cooking dark-elves.


    That would be disgusting no matter how delicious he tries to cook it.


    "That''s why the most important thing to train is here¡­ "


    He pointed towards the temple of his head.


    "Be sensitive to different things in the battle.


    If you are, you??ll learn to fight whether you want to or not.


    Always choose battles you can win, there''s only so much you can do with pride and courage.


    Never rely on what you know beforehand. Things can change quickly in the battlefield.


    Also, don''t rely on tradition, or what''s common, because the enemy can use that on you if you are not careful, being dynamic and unpredictable is also key.


    When I first met you guys, most of you were cowards. I think cowardice is important sometimes to protect yourselves.


    But you guys are more afraid of something than that, you fear about honor and pride getting tarnished more than death.


    Your skills are superb but your strategies are lacking, you guys take the battlefield too personal, even in a bigger picture.


    That''s why I got rid of that first and put you into a battlefield where you realized that protecting your honor and pride won''t get you anywhere.


    Now, did you learn a lesson from this my pupil?"


    At first, I thought he was just really messing with me, but to think that some important lessons can be taught just by facing my fears and eating bugs.


    I wasn''t able to answer, so he just took a bug from my plate, opened the cover on his mouth a bit, and munched on the bug with satisfaction in his eyes.


    For the first time I saw just a small part of his lower face.


    -------------------------------------------------------------------


    If you are not reading this in webnovel, please use this url instead: https://www.webnovel.com/book/16423907105880405/Isekai-For-My-Ex


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    Reincarnated To Another World with My Ex ( https://www.webnovel.com/book/16709284106052505)


    Also, I''m looking for an editor and a proofreader for this novel, as I''m not an English native speaker and I want to polish this work as I go on, but it''s hard to edit while writing. Please reach out to me on discord firiewww#4548

 104 The Right To Save Yourself

    "That''s an outstanding reply for making me do all of those"


    I crossed my arms, remembering the ordeals he put me through.


    "Well, you learned something from that, right?"


    He asked me as he meticulously wiped the steel ware we used on cooking, he then hid it behind the tree where most of his stuff is and covered it with a sheet resembling the same patterns as our uniforms.


    "I don''t know¡­ but yeah, I guess. After following you all this time I have learned and discovered many things."


    "That''s why I have nothing more to teach you, I have already passed down all tactics I have in my head to the leaders of the resistance, other than that are the tricks I only know myself or only I can use."


    "Really?! That''s awesome Slaine! Why can only you use it? Ah¡­ could it be, that weapon?"


    He nodded and tapped the weapon that he carried on his back, attached to it a leather that enables him to carry it like a sword on his back, seeing it closely just made me more curious as to how such a powerful weapon can be created by little chunks of metals and regular wood.


    "Can I touch it?"


    "What?"


    "You weapon of course! What would I want to ask to touch from that question earlier?!"


    "Well¡­ lots of things, but okay. If it''s you."


    He skillfully unstrapped the weapon, held it with two hands and handed it to me.


    Now, I am reaping the benefits of being by his side!


    As I stood up to hold the weapon, I congratulated myself for the reward of following him on his whims that put me into different sorts of ordeals in the past.


    I held the weapon with two arms, the way he presented it to me, and then I put the heavier part of the weapon at my shoulder blade, and held its body the way he held it when he was crushing the dark-elves.


    The moment I held it I immediately realized that this didn''t really need any kind of spirit to operate, nor it is made from the divine trees that produce wands.


    "It''s just really a bunch of small metalwork and wood"


    I then pointed the weapon to him.


    "How does this work? Anyway?"


    I explored every part of it as its still pointed to him, I wonder where does he put those magic balls, that fires different magic, or are those balls his own original magic?


    "First thing is, don''t go pointing it to people.... "


    He raised one hand and used his other hand to point the tip of the weapon elsewhere beside him.


    "Oh sorry, but yea, can you tell me?"


    "Hmm¡­ I''m not sure, but why do you desire to use such weapon? You have your own powerful spirit right?"


    "Well¡­ that''s true but its not strong enough"


    I held the weapon with two arms, fed up with it already and gave it back to him gently by two arms.


    "Strong enough¡­ huh¡­ so that''s why you are so persistent with me training you. You really are a hard worker Lyra, I''m jealous, even I can''t do that"


    With his response I flinched, it''s the first time someone called me a hard worker, but that doesn''t make me special at all because everybody is working hard to accomplish the goal of the resistance.


    "But you don''t have to overestimate me that much Lyra, as I have my limitations also, if not why would I ask for your help, right?"


    "Even when you can defeat divisions single handedly?"


    "Yes, I do have power but it''s limited, and knowing them, I want to be careful as much as possible, the battles we fought might be just for those of the lower hierarchy, we don''t know what kind of monsters are those in the higher echelon. I learned that lesson myself¡­ very well."


    For a moment, I saw him clench his fist as if he was reminded of a nightmare, but immediately breathed out a sigh and turned around to me.


    "I learned it the hard way, and I lost many things because of that careless thinking, that''s why this time I''m gonna be careful as much as possible.


    And, it turns out that your race and my goals are aligned, there''s nothing to lose if we work together, if it increases the probability of making this work, then I''m going to do my best to pass on to you my knowledge and techniques."


    Hearing him explain this makes sense. Aside from the cursed loved one he wanted to save, he already lost some loved ones to the enemy.


    This man lives in such solitude, and fights alone with the enemy that has overwhelming numbers and strength, and because of his knowledge he was able to do that.


    Losing your loved ones and desperately trying to save one that remains. What a lonely journey one man has been into.


    And then that''s when a few things made sense to me somehow.


    "So¡­ is that why you are keeping your distance from us? Knowing that one day some of us might perish, you don''t want that to feel that pain again."


    "You may be right, I don''t want to feel that pain, ever again"


    He told me as he shook his head and turned to the tree where most of his belongings were tucked, where the sun showed itself setting, illuminating the tree from behind with its rays. The tree for a moment looked like it glowed but shortly after, the orange sky darkened and the tons of skies lightened the skies.


    "Then¡­ What if you perish first before you can accomplish anything? You''ll die a lonely death apart from the people you love.


    Isn''t that too cruel?


    You care too much for other people, but who takes care of you?"


    The words was only in my thoughts when we talked on that night where the fireflies surrounded us, finally came out.


    Behind the strength and tranquility, there lies a man walking a thorny path alone, and seeing it and hearing it, is too much for my heart to bear.


    And something deep inside me wants to support him even when he tries to push us away.


    And I think this is the only chance I got before we set to the battlefield once again, where we can''t have these conversations as we go back to just being comrades, where all I can do is follow his orders.


    "Even without someone''s care, you are already doing enough for me, Lyra.


    That powerful will and kindness of yours will make any man happy to be with you.


    With our goals aligned, I''ll do my best in taking back the rightful place where your race belongs to, so that one day you can find your own happiness and live in peace."


    Once again, he reached out his hand to me and patted my head once again without warning.


    "So for now, don''t mind me¡­ if that time comes, I already accepted it, and if I die, it doesn''t matter how it would be, even if it''s somewhere where no one can see me.


    What matters is how I try to use what remains of this insignificant life of mine.


    I just want to bring back someone''s smile, and if I can''t do that, then it just means that I''m not worthy to see such a smile again"


    With his words, loneliness filled deep inside me, that I couldn''t help it anymore, it''s the same thing when Valeri cries, I also feel that my heart is being tugged inside, that tears slowly came out of my eyes without me noticing it.


    "Why are you cryi¡ª"


    Without any warning, just like how he always patted my head, swayed by my feelings, I stood up and embraced him tightly with my arms.


    "Don''t say¡­ don''t say something like that, Slaine. Drop the tough act for now, doesn''t it tire you? Just for now, at least? Okay?


    You''re a good person, and you don''t deserve such an end.


    So please, okay? Don''t think of your life as insignificant, because if not for you, I wouldn''t be alive right now.


    Can you feel it? The warmth, the beating of my heart, this is because of you.


    Remember what I told you when we entered the new headquarters? You saved me, and not only me, you saved our race from that decisive battle that would have ended all of us.


    I don''t know if this is the right thing to say, but you have the right to¡­ the right to love yourself, even when things didnt work back then, and you failed to save someone you are still significant.


    So please¡­ okay? Stop treating yourself that way."


    -------------------------------------------------------------------


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 105 An Unsavable Person

    As I explained to Lyra what kind of an unsavable person I am, I started recalling my past, with the death of Erneis, Michaela''s crying face and Claire who is now in a coma.


    Deep inside my heart, I was the one who couldn''t forgive myself, no matter how much I told myself that I have already moved on from it.


    In truth it was far from it,seeing Michaela crying that day made me realize it.


    That''s why I''m here.


    To fight¡­


    That''s right¡­ Just as what I have told her, I don''t care where I die or how I die.


    If it''s in exchange for Claire''s recovery.


    I''d gladly shoot myself down, at this moment.


    However, reality doesn''t work that way, even in this fantasy-like world I have been transmigrated into, things aren''t working my way.


    First, I had a horrible life, bringing terrible luck to the ones I love.


    And now, after just one year, what I have are the hands of a mass murderer.


    I thought that this time, I will be able to atone for my uselessness, even when I stood by Ann''s side, nothing came out of it, and the same thing happened again, and with those attachments it hurts even much more, seeing Claire''s unconscious face while she was wounded badly, Gideon declaring Erneis death in front of my very eyes.


    It was too much to bear¡­


    Filled with too much hate, I decided to obliterate the enemy once and for all and killed as many as I could.


    But a part of me is hesitating, the small part of me that clings to the hope of getting me back to my previous self.


    So I had to kill that part of me which as the tiny speck of humanity left of me, or else I wouldn''t be able to fight those monstrosities.


    Noticing myself starting to get emotional, I shook my head to physically wake myself from these thoughts.


    No matter how much I hate myself, one thing is more important.


    I have to save Claire first, I don''t know care happens to me after.


    As the skies got filled with stars, shining brightly and obnoxiously without a care to the pain and suffering I and the people of this land endured from the hands of the enemy.


    I turned back to Lyra, whom I was talking to earlier.


    The girl who has been watching over me for months, a hardworking elf girl who does everything she can on the job she was given.


    There she was, sitting staring at me with a subtle expression on her face that I couldn''t read. No matter which world where you come from, women are a mystery ¡ª you can''t tell how they really feel just by looking at their faces.


    For the first time, since coming to this land of the elves, she was the first one who told me words I didn''t expect to hear from someone who saw the horrible things I did in the torture room.


    One time, after one of the most horrible torture sessions, she wiped my bloody hands casually without even flinching and told me to rely on her and her friends a bit.


    She was honest and admitted not liking what I did, however she did state some important facts, which was something I also believed as I did the killings. It was a relief that it''s not only me who thinks of it that way.


    And at the end, she told me not to blame myself.


    She was able to see the tiny speck humanity left in me that I thought I already have killed.


    Maybe through watching me for all those months she was able to know me better. Even if it''s her job, I still appreciate it, and because of it, for some reason I felt the load on my shoulders getting lighter.


    And at that one moment, I decided to take care of this person as gratitude for taking care of me.


    She''s not like the other elves who are wary of me, and only tries to become friendly with me because they have something to get out of it¡­ she''s different.


    Being true to herself, too straightforward, and serious, she tries to do the job she was given to her with everything she can, aside from that she also has a desire to become strong as if she''s trying to conquer herself.


    I''m really glad I got out of my way to save this girl, as if fate made me go to her because she wasn''t meant to die at that time and in that way.


    If only fate was that kind to everyone.


    If this war goes to our favor, I want her to live a happy life and find her happiness, like any woman deserves to be.


    But as we looked at each other, I noticed her eyes getting teary-eyed.


    Her eyes were beautiful, the obnoxious-looking stars when reflected on her eyes looked pretty this time as her tears slightly bent its reflection, it stared at me with sadness, as if knowing what I''m feeling.


    Seeing it calms me down, seeing it makes me want to cry as well.


    "Why are you cryi¡ª"


    Before I could continue, she stood up and embraced him tightly with her thin arms as she rested her head at my shoulder.


    "Don''t say¡­ don''t say something like that, Slaine.


    Drop the tough act for now, doesn''t it tire you? Just for now, at least? Okay? You''re a good person, and you don''t deserve such an end.


    So please, okay? Don''t think of your life as insignificant, because if not for you, I wouldn''t be alive right now.


    Can you feel it? The warmth, the beating of my heart, this is because of you.


    Remember what I told you when we entered the new headquarters? You saved me, and not only me, you saved our race from that decisive battle that would have ended all of us.


    I don''t know if this is the right thing to say, but you have the right to¡­ the right to love yourself, even when things didn''t work back then, and you failed to save someone you are still significant.


    So please¡­ okay? Stop treating yourself that way."


    Her action caught me off guard, I didn''t know how to react, but for some reason I felt my cold heart melting, I felt it being squeezed, my heart wants me to let out these tears I have been suppressing all this time.


    Feeling her warmth, I closed my eyes in order not to let out the tears,I have to do it, if I fight with a speck of humanity within me, I will lose again.


    Didn''t I promise myself already? I wouldn''t be attached anymore to anyone? Now my actions are conflicting, and now I even got her worried about me.


    Realizing my blunder I breathed in and opened my eyes, where I felt it wet.


    I''m glad I managed to hold it in.


    "Lyra¡­ sorry for worrying you, but really¡­ I''m okay"


    "No¡­ you''re not okay"


    "I''m really okay¡­ so you can let go now"


    "No¡­ "


    "You are surprisingly stubborn"


    "Aren''t you the one who''s stubborn, I''ve heard that already. I wouldn''t be able to get it off my mind right now if I don''t do this."


    "I''m sorry¡­ "


    "Stop apologizing¡­ is that how you have been thinking of yourself all this time?"


    "Yes¡­ it''s what I deserve, so you don''t have to--"


    "No, I won''t let go¡­ When I was little, my mom used to do it for me when I''m said, and Valeri also does the same to me also, as I told you before, I am here for you.


    I''m sorry¡­ I only saw you for your power¡­ I didn''t realize you were hurting yourself this much already."


    "It¡­ doesn''t¡­ really hurt¡­ that much."


    "Lies¡­ there you are acting tough again, stay silent for now and let it out."


    In silence, she hugged me tighter.


    Having someone cry for me for the first time, I felt my heart getting further pulled down, and this time I couldn''t hold it anymore, and tears flowed from one of my eyes as it reminded me of how I hugged Ann back then when she was trying to act tough, but this time, I''m on the receiving end again, counting that night when Claire made my nightmares disappear.


    Ann is not here anymore, and Claire is at death''s door if I don''t end this as soon as possible.


    "Is it really okay for me¡­ to feel weak for now?"


    "But I wouldn''t be the powerful man you admire me to be"


    "It''s okay¡­ even if you do, I would still admire to become a person like you.


    After all, you are a kind person¡­ if you weren''t you wouldn''t be suffering so much right now, aren''t you?"


    "I''m not a kind person at all¡­ yes, it indeed hurts."


    "Yes¡­ that''s why you don''t need to hurt yourself further, you have the right to forgive yourself."


    "I¡­ I¡­ It''s frustrating"


    "Yes¡­ you did your best after all, right? And it didn''t work."


    "I¡­ I miss them so much¡­ "


    "Yes¡­ but you''ll see them soon right? You are strong after all. You have the power to end this and save your loved one who has been cursed."


    "I''m¡­ I''m scared"


    "Don''t worry¡­ I''m here with you, always¡­ "


    "What if¡­ What if it doesn''t work out again¡­ I cannot¡­ I cannot¡­ en-...dure"


    Hearing her gentle voice consoled the unpleasant emotions I hid deep within my heart, and without noticing I was already crying, as if the dam that held my tears broke.


    The bandana that covered my mouth had already fallen to the ground, and I was already hugging Lyra back as tightly as I can, I can feel her warmth, and a refreshing forest-like scent of her clothes.


    I was shaking¡­ in fear¡­ and in doubt¡­ and in sadness...


    "I bring bad luck to people¡­ the ones I love¡­ they died and got hurt because of my uselessness!"


    "Mmm¡­ " She shook her head.


    "I''m sure those people felt fortunate to have met a kind person like you in their life.


    Just like how fortunate I feel right now to meet you Slaine"


    She caressed the back of my head as she told me this and leaned her head close to mine sideways.


    "Slaine¡­ your heart might be broken right now because of all the things that have happened and didn''t work, but from now on let me carry it with you.


    Let''s fight this war, and our internal battles together okay? We are comrades aren''t we? And right now, we are much closer than that, am I not right?"


    "But¡­ if you get closer to me, you will¡ª"


    Before I could continue, she placed her forehead to mine, as she looked at me in the eyes.


    "I won''t¡­ I promise you¡­ I''ll get stronger so I can protect you, Valeri, and all the people in the resistance.


    I''ll also protect myself, so no matter what distance we have from each other, I''ll make sure you wouldn''t be suffering like this ever again in your life, okay?"


    As our faces separate, I realized that she can already see my bare face.


    However I wasn''t bothered at all.


    Seeing my face, her expression didn''t change at all, she was still teary eyed and had the same smile as we separated from each other.


    "You have a handsome face, Slaine, such a waste to cover it all the time"


    She leaned towards me, smiling.


    Feeling as if a big thorn on my chest has been pulled out, my response was a wry smile as I wiped the tears on my face and picked up the bandana that fell to the ground and used it as a mask to cover the lower part of my face.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll keep it covered, it''s a Lyra exclusive for now."


    I replied as now, the lower part of my face is covered.


    -------------------------------------------------------------------


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 106 HOW TO DECLARE WAR

    EASTERN DARK-ELF COLONY, FORMER EASTERN ELVEN KINGDOM


    In the three dark-elven colonies, there was a certain disturbance that will shake the rule of the dark-elf high echelon, at the east where the remaining light elves has been hiding, there were a huge number of small-scale attacks that slowly reduced the forces of the divisions posted around the mountain.


    At the dark castle where the former royalty of the eastern elven kingdom stayed, at the heart of its throne room, an unknowing, male dark-elf, that has a bulky figure, whose eyes were all reddish and darkened, sat at the throne made of gold, the throne looked to have been made from the finest gold formed into branches that intertwined each other to give an image of the fallen royal family''s former glory.


    The throne didn''t suit the one who sat at it at all, with his bulky appearance, and his arms that sprouted body parts of the elves he killed.


    His name is Nork the leader of the eastern part of the elven colony. He is one of the leaders of the dark-elven colonies who is in control of the colony in the land of the elves, and made the fallen kingdom of the east his home base.


    Nork''s favorite hobby was something dark-elf is notorious for, whenever he found a body part that he liked, he would cut it off and attach it to his body.


    But his hobby was a bit more extravagant as he only takes most of them were from royalty, powerful elves, and sometimes from other races that they colonized that he fought personally.


    On his head was a crown smaller than his head, the crown was from the former king of the throne he sat on, even though his face was slender, his temple was bulging forward, with tiny horns in it.


    Behind him are the ladies of the fallen elven royal family, the former queen and the former princesses who were now treated as his personal slaves, they didn''t wear a single piece of clothing, however even how badly they were treated because of their royal blood they still looked beautiful.


    As if basking in the glory he achieved years ago he sat at the throne room as he was being served by the ladies while he drank from the wine mixed together with their blood.


    The blood of the royal family has pure mana in it, and to him it''s the best drink he could mix with his liquor.


    "Hey you¡­"


    He pulled the hair of the elf who has the longest hair to his side who was massaging his shoulders, it was evident that the beautiful elf was ragged down for years, with the bruises on her body, and the dead look on her eyes, she was the former queen of the kingdom and what remained of her now is the husk of her former self, after all the years of torment she underwent.


    "These eyes and nose I''m wearing on my arm, this is from your husband right? Do you remember the day when we surrounded this castle? YOUR HUSBAND WANTED A ONE ON ONE DUEL! HAHAHA, THAT WAS THE BEST JOKE I HEARD IN ALL THESE CENTURIES!


    Why should I, the victor play with the losers rules?


    I pretended to accept it, but shortly after we released the beasts and made them ate him! Do you even remember those beasts mauling him as he asked for help? as he called us liars? HAHAHAHA!


    Thats funny really! But I have to give props to him for leaving you and your daughters here!


    So that you can serve me with all your life! HAHAHA, so who''s next tonight?"


    "That would be me, milord"


    "Oh¡­ isn''t it supposed to be your first-born daughter? Forget it, I''m sick of you,anyway! I''ll take your firstborn tonight"


    "... yes"


    The foolish king wanted a one on one but was ridiculed and was fed to the dark-elves beasts, meanwhile, the foolish queen surrendered thinking that just like other wars, because of their blood, they would be treated as bargaining chips and wouldn''t be harmed, not wanting to leave all their wealth and the life they lived for many centuries.


    However, the dark-elf who only knew to take, had never this kind of concept, so what awaited the foolish queen and her daughters was years of torment and horror.


    The once beautiful queen and her three daughters were just now spoils of war, and were being used by the leader by himself or as rewards to his aides.


    Because of the selfishness of their parents, the three daughters grew up in torment and pain, treated worse than the dark-elves pets, and it became more horrible as years went by as they matured.


    As this was going on for years, their emotions and sense of self have died out, they only live to please their master, by giving him their bodies and blood. So no matter how much the leader ridiculed his dead husband, there wasn''t a reaction anymore.


    "Tche, you''re no fun! The first century I told you this, you would have raged all the time, and it was fun to do you when you were that way! HAHA, this is why I can''t get tired of freshly caught elf."


    As the leader was having fun, as he recalled his victory in the battle enabling him to get the satisfaction that he has a certain knock came from the door.


    "High-elf Nork, I would like to report the progress on the cleanup"


    "Enter"


    The large doors were opened, and a dark-elf commander bowed, came in, and knelt at one leg.


    "So¡­ what is it? Do you have any freshly caught female for me?"


    "There have been some disturbances at the mountains, the divisions that have surrounded it have been demolished one by one, our brothers and sisters were not only killed but some of them were disgracefully captured."


    At the message of the commander, Nork impulsively threw his cup to the dark-elf commanders head, the force was so strong that the cup made a booming sound as it passed by the commander''s head missing it in hair width, the cup that passed through his head hit the large door and was embedded to it.


    "What did you just tell me?! The remnants are fighting back? How! And we lost divisions? Not squads?! Did I misheard you?"


    His loud voice echoed around the throne room, and his slaves were too afraid that they crawled to the back of the throne to hide themselves from his wrath with their necks still chained to it.


    "T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-They are using some kind of unknown mmmm-m-magic milord, according to eyewitnesses, large balls of fire came from the skies splitting it apart, or large amount of solid ice rocks appeared out of nowhere from the cloud in the middle of the summer heat, and lightning magic that was so strong it eliminated a magic beast division in one strike!"


    "Then! They are just magic after all!


    Why do you think I positioned commanders at that front!


    Can''t you use that head of yours!


    What are those nullifier weapons I gave you for?!


    Do you want me to stick these weapons to your arse? Huh!???


    Where are the knights that were supposed to be immune to all magic? Even how strong the magic is, they should be able to deflect it!"


    "Milord! That''s the mystery! Our nullifier weapons doesn''t seem to affect this magic, it just passes through it!


    The dark knight divisions were eliminated, and the clearing up raid divisions that have discovered the remnants main camp into a fourth of the whole force. But I will make sure¡ª"


    "ENOUGH! THE WHOLE RAID DIVISIONS!!!???? WHY THE HELL AM I HEARING THIS FROM YOU FOR THE FIRST TIME!"


    "I-I-I sent a message through your aides, but they told me they would be dealing with it by themselves, that''s why I came here personally¡­ this time."


    "Tch¡­"


    Even how displeased he was, Nork knew that it wasn''t the commander''s fault, but rather his trusted aides, who wanted to take on the task.


    "The second colony has failed in their assault on Midgard, as a result many dark-elven souls were lost, we can''t let those shitty light elves take advantage of the situation. This just has to be a fluke¡­ magic that can''t be deflected? It''s just a trick I''m sure!


    You there! Tell me the location of my those three idiots and mobilize the army! We are going to crush them once and for all! We will launch a full assa¡ª"


    As the Nork was about to give a message to his commander, a sudden telepathic message was sent through the commanders mind.


    "Milord, we have an emergency here''s how it goes ¡ª Message! Message! High-elf Petrahorn and Licht have fallen in battle! It''s an ambush!!!! Their armies have suffered a huge blow and their ranks have fallen!"


    "Wha¡ª"


    Couldn''t believe what he had been hearing, Nork was astounded, this time he finally stood up his throne.


    "THOSE BRAINLESS IDIOTS!!! WASTING OUR RESOURCES LIKE THAT! The enemy''s numbers?!"


    "Numbers unknown, it was too quick, they have bombarded our armies before they can even react! The magic couldn''t be deflected?!"


    He looked at the commander with a shocked look on his face; the commander was telling him the truth.


    "This is bad¡­ if they got a weapon or a method that they could use to get their magic through our nullifiers, then we have already lost our advantage already!


    To think that they have evolved like this in just a few years! But how! This is all so irregular!"


    As he talked to himself, the commander was speaking out what he had heard in the telepathic message, he suddenly then heard the voice of his men crying in anger and fear, a voice that couldn''t be often heard from dark elves who were who is known to not fear death.


    "What!? What the hell is happening!"


    "It''s the head of High-elf Licht! A man is holding it with a hand!"


    "I''ll take over your eyes for a while"


    He then puts hi hand to the head of the commander.


    Using one of the lost magic he gained when he ascended as a dark high-elf, he synced his eyesight with the commander that was onsite, and there he saw his close aide Licht who ascended to the same rank as him at the same time.


    Licht was beheaded and his head displayed in front of his fleeing men.


    When he saw it a surge of anger went through his body.


    He wanted to crush this man he believes to be a light elf.


    He was covered all in black, with his face covered cloth.


    Using Lichts hair he swung the head in circles with Lichts blood spilling everywhere, and when he was done he threw it to Lichts men who were trying to escape the bombardments that came from the forest, also no elves could be seen onsite, if this was a regular ambush the light elves would have showed themselves proudly casting their magic.


    This scene made hit his final nerve and he finally gave his order.


    "Mobilize the whole eastern colony!!!!!!!


    Trample them!


    Search the entire forests and mountains!


    GRRRRRR! HOW DARE THESE LOWLIVES RIDICULE ME LIKE THIS! THIS IS WAR!


    I''LL SHOW THEM WHAT IT REALLY IS! THEY''LL PAY FOR THIS!"


    But Nork didn''t know, that by his order, he already fell into his enemies trap.


    -------------------------------------------------------------------


    If you are not reading this in webnovel, please use this url instead: https://www.webnovel.com/book/16423907105880405/Isekai-For-My-Ex


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    Reincarnated To Another World with My Ex ( https://www.webnovel.com/book/16709284106052505)


    Also, I''m looking for an editor and a proofreader for this novel, as I''m not an English native speaker and I want to polish this work as I go on, but it''s hard to edit while writing. Please reach out to me on discord firiewww#4548

 107 The Drums of War

    [Lyra POV]


    As the Free Elven Forces and independent groups finished regrouping, we immediately laid out our plans.


    On the cliff illuminated by the sunrise, the leaders of the resistance together with the leader of the individual groups that recently joined stood together facing the resistance soldiers standing in front of them.


    Forming ranks, with large elven forces in history since the fall of the kingdoms.


    "Now that we have regrouped, we should be able to at least expand our forces in the mountains to build a stronghold, with this we can finally build a kingdom once again!"


    The elf-priest Ellarian was elated as he saw the number of soldiers gathered, however one thing was different from the past, the uniforms they wore were the same, there were no special colors nor insignias for those of higher ranks, there was no division between those of noble blood and commoners - everyone was more united than ever, with the leaders setting aside their differences to achieve their one and only goal.


    Beside their camouflage uniforms they also carried heavy-bags that contained many different items depending on the unit they were assigned to, the most basic items every fighter has is that they all have carriable with them.


    From healing potions, food, knives, clothes. Then there was a space for our own belongings, together with our written will that Slaine told us to write before we set off.


    Previously we only thought that once we die, its over, and the spirits will carry us to their realm and make us into their kind or reincarnate us back as elves, and that in death there''s no words needed.


    That''s why all this time, we didn''t feel the need to do it. But as I wrote my own will, I felt it¡­ the strong urge to live after the battle overwhelmed me as tears run from my eyes as I wrote my own will, thinking of Valeri and the people I love, and the sense of satisfaction that if ever I die, these words will possibly reach the people that I loved when I was living.


    That''s why this new method of writing wills made us more ready for the big battle upcoming, the elves with brave faces formed ranks is a proof of it.


    Knowing they might die, but their death will serve a purpose and not just something to be written as a number, just like how the other wars went with the hunting of the dark-elves.


    They fight now not to survive, but to change something, and with their death being part of it, there''s no need to be afraid, as their wills will be passed onto generations and generations in their family, through just a simple written letter.


    Aside from the "care package" Slaine had the leaders distribute, there are also special items Slaine gave us from his stock of weapons he has, we don''t know where it is coming from.


    At the look of it, they look like made from metal work just like his gun.


    The unit he assigned to do it, is the unit general Conall, who is known to have a strong spirit that can holes to the ground to provide an escape path or change the topography to a certain area to stop beasts.


    But aside from that he only has his large crossbow and a strong stature.


    Knowing Slaine, he must have studied him already and thought of him as the best person for the job.


    The leaders actually tried to get it out of general Conall and Slaine about the item, but they simply shook their heads, as the unit will be crucial to the success of the operation, they don''t want to leak information about it, incase there appears to be a dark-elf that could read minds.


    And that is also surprising, how did Slaine know that the higher echelon of dark-elves do actually have this ability?


    Now he is casually leaning at the tree beside me as the leaders give passionate speeches to their troops.


    Curious about what was the thing he gave and taught those special units to use, I tapped at his shoulder


    "Hey, what kind of item was that? The one you gave the special units?"


    He opened his eyes that looked bored and sleepy as he responded. If I can remember he has been meeting secretly with the general at night. It''s amazing how he can endure being awake during night. My condolences to the general who has to go through his whims.


    "Ahh, nothing special, just something that can slow down the enemy''s advance"


    He rubbed his eyes and yawned.


    "I see, then why don''t you also give me one of those?"


    I inched closer to his face as I excitedly asked about it.


    If it''s something to slow the enemy, I''d also want it, it''s unfair he is giving it to the special units only.


    "You don''t need it, and stop doing that, its annoying"


    "Huh!! Annoying?!"


    What the hell is this treatment!


    But as I remember his face again, it wasn''t as cold-hearted as I thought it was, compared to how he is acting towards me right now.


    "Hey Slaine¡­ were you keeping your distance? Was that night still bothering you? Fufufu"


    I tried to tease him a bit as I put covered my mouth with the tip of my hand, and in response he flinched as if I hit a nerve and looked away,


    "Don''t be ridiculous, who would be?!"


    "Ufufu, you are raising your voice¡­ it''s fishy¡­"


    "You really are teasing me huh¡­ Eagle! Bring me some bugs! The creepy ones!"


    He looked at the enormous bird that was sitting at the branch of the tree.


    However, Eagle just momentarily looked at him and me, then ignored him and continued on cleaning its feathers.


    "Ignored! HAHA, who do you think is feeding Eagle and Raven when you are loitering around with the general?"


    It was indeed difficult feeding the two birds as they won''t eat my cooking, and one time he came back, with his clothes that stink of dark-elf blood and his gloves had pieces of white dark-elven hair.


    I didn''t ask about it, just in case he went back to the torture room again to extract information.


    "Tch¡­"


    "Tch?"


    "After this battle, I''m going to pay you back for this"


    He sighed and faced me as if he has given up on scaring me with bugs.


    But a part of what he said bothered me, that a sense of uncertainness and anxiety slowly filled my heart.


    " ''After this battle'' huh¡­ Slaine¡­ what I will ask will probably just be my anxiety¡­ but am I really going to survive tomorrow?"


    I held my left arm with my right hand and made a deep sigh as I saw the elven forces bravely listening to the leaders whom each made their speeches to raise their morale.


    "Even with the large the force we have compared to the past, and with your help the battle will probably differ from before when we were fighting aimlessly and divided, but when I imagine the large force that attacked us before, the black river of dark elves, who trampled our forces, burned our lands, castles and homes, I can''t just help but feel anxious."


    He turned around and then patted me at the head, making a mess out of my hair I thoroughly combed after I woke up.


    "Don''t think about it too much, thinking really doesn''t suit you. That''s why I easily fooled you into eating the bugs you hate"


    I took off his hand from my head and slowly twisted one of his fingers slowly to the opposite side, to inflict pain.


    "Isn''t that a bit mean?! Even I can think for my own good!"


    "Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! I-I-It will be alright, though I can''t tell you that it would be 100% successful, but I don''t start a fight I cannot win."


    Then I finally let go of it.


    "Lyra, I''m supposed to be your superior, you shouldn''t do things like that. What are you going to do if I''m unable to pull the trigger right now?"


    He shook his hand and held his weapon, checking if he can still pull the trigger, then let out a sigh of reassurement.


    "Sorry¡­ you were being mean these days so I couldn''t help it anymore. Plus, going by your rules, we are off duty right now, I''m even not in my uniform."


    ???Well¡­ it makes sense."


    "Ahh¡­ I don''t care anymore! I feel like an idiot for being anxious in the first place! If you say so, then let''s do it commander! Let''s win this!"


    "Yeah!"


    He nodded at me, and we made a "fist bump" something he taught me before when we are both in affirmation, and at the same time, the four divisions of elven soldiers marched under the direction of their commanders.


    Meanwhile, Slaine whistled and Eagle, and Raven flew from the branches to his arm and shoulder.


    Among those divisions were led by the three Generals and Slaine.


    War has started, and there''s no more coming back.


    ¡­


    At the foot of the eastern mountains, an encirclement was formed, and was strengthened with the presence of Nork, the leader of the eastern colony.


    He rode in a golden carriage taken from the fallen kingdom, where he sat at a lavish golden seat, it was pulled by a dual-headed manticore, which is also a dark-elf commander class creature, surrounding his carriage were his personal guards, mostly dark-knights and commanders.


    Totally displeased of the news he has heard and seen through the eyes of his kind, he went to wage war totally.


    But just as he arrived, the challenger appeared in front of him, looking down on him from a cliff, sitting casually as he ate an apple under the bandana that obscured the lower part of his face, his dark mantle was fluttering all-over and he held a weapon towards his shoulder.


    He then stood up and looked at the half-eaten fruit, and then extended his hand and threw it in front of the carriage.


    "I know¡­ I know that elf!!!"


    He pointed out to the man he believes to be a light elf, sitting casually attop the cliff, the one he saw killing his subordinate Licht and throwing his head.


    Anger ran through his veins that it made him stand up in anger and reached to the sword at his back to give a command.


    "Take that light elf''s head and bring it to me!"


    He shouted, and with this he mobilized the large infantry of dark knights and commanders.


    As they climbed the mountain, the sounds of the drums of war echoed and the roars of the dark elves and their sinister laughs went with it.


    The carriage move forward and they raised the flag of the leader of the eastern colony which was a two-headed beast, just like the one pulling his golden carriage.


    The other elves in the encirclement also did the same.


    His plan was to make sure that no one escapes this sweep.


    "Catch the females and murder everyone of them!"


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 108 Good Weather Landslide

    "That f*cking annoying light elf, I''m gonna rip off that mask of yours, humiliate you, cut you into pieces and feed you to the beasts!"


    Nork and his men started to conduct the largest operation the eastern colony forces ever did since the great invasion.


    Using their most powerful weapons and bringing in the all the high-level dark-elves, and beasts they slowly climbed the mountain, if it could be seen from above it would look like a dark cloud is slowly engulfing the mountain.


    "I will teach you what a real battle is! GRRRRR"


    Nork announced grudgingly gritting his teeth, totally enraged about the elf that ate an apple and threw it to him.


    The force pushed through the thick forests, the hugged-bodied giants trampled on the wide vegetation while the average dark-elven soldier using their slender bodies laughed sinisterly in excitement as they scoured through the forests as scouts to find their enemies however, as they got closer, something seemed strange.


    The forces were already halfway through the peak, however there was no resistance whatsoever, Nork who was also eyebrows met, as he also felt it strange.


    The dark-elves have battled other races than the elves, and Nork was of no exception, he was also adept at war.


    Knowing the light elves, he ordered a charge to the mountain with their main force, even though they were put in a disadvantaged position, but to him this was just to taunt the ever proud-light-elves into attacking, the same way before, where they met the dark-elves with their main force, having too much confidence in their abilities, or whenever they found an opening.


    "In the past they would have showed up, with their flimsy and shiny armors, and charged at us, but I guess they have changed, learned and adapted.


    No wonder those idiots lost, they totally underestimated their enemy.


    But, I have already gone through many different wars, such tactics have been used by those smelly dwarves.


    So after all, their confidence comes from this small change of tactics? HAH! Don''t make me laugh!"


    Nork raised his hand, and with this, the war drums played a different tune, commanding a halt as he stood up, an elf-commander then took a glowing yellow stone from his pocket and presented it to him.


    This was a stone that enabled him to increase his telepathic ability to the numbers of dark-elves surrounding the mountain.


    "From here on, only the scouts will be proceeding, the main forces will halt here and wait for my order. The scouts will find-... huh?"


    But as Nork was speaking something unbelievable was happening.


    The ground started shaking, as if something was erupting from under the mountain.


    "DON''T TELL ME!"


    His attention was then pulled to the peak of the mountain, where a mixture of trees, land and rocks started to roll down from above them.


    As the other dark-elves saw this, with the cowardice hiding under their sinister faces and laughs, for the first time, they feared for their lives and the encirclement, seeing the landslide coming upon them, they started running downwards.


    The dark cloud of encirclement that was engulfing the mountain slowly broke into four directions.


    Nork was of no exception, as even his powerful nullifier weapons wouldn''t be able to handle such a large devastation made by nature that was coming at him.


    "I should run! RETREAT RETREAT!"


    He used his telepathy to communicate to his soldiers, however in such a chaotic situation no one got his message perfectly.


    Some were too afraid to even run as they shivered at the large debris getting closer to them at a high speed, and the majority who were afraid caused a huge panic, and as they tried running down the mountain they bumped into each other and caused unimaginable damager to each other.


    Nork, who saw this through the eyes of his soldiers decided not to run anymore and just brace for the impact with seething rage .


    "THIS IS INTENTIONAL!


    IF I SURVIVE, I WILL FIND THE ONE THAT CAUSED THIS AND I WILL EAT HIS INNARDS!


    THOSE ELVES THAT CANT EVEN DEFEAT US IN MAGIC,I GUESS THE OTHER RACES MIGHT BE INVOLVED!"


    Nork immediately got his sword and with all his strength, he flipped the carriage, to serve as cover and then shouted his next order.


    "COMMANDERS! OFFER YOUR BODIES! SURROUND ME AND COVER ME!"


    The commanders who were also his personal guards, looked at him in confusion and out of fear for their own lives.


    "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU JUST LOOKING AT ME?! IF I DIE HERE THE COLONY WOULD FALL!"


    He angrily shouted orders at the dark-elf commanders that were near him, while the rumbling made by the mass of rocks and debris was coming at him at a high speed.


    And just in time when the debris hit him, the dark-elf commanders used their bodies to cover Nork with the carriage that carried him by holding each other''s backs and engulfing Nork in it. The manticore that was also his pet, that beast that had two heads also helped in covering him.


    However the mass was so strong that it blasted the beast immediately with a large boulder and the dark-elves commanders, one by one were stripped out of the cover by the debris and rocks that crushed them, leaving only Nork and his golden carriage.


    "DAMNNNN!! USELESS SHITS!!!"


    With this, Nork who was under the cover of his carriage was swept a great distance down the mountain.


    And was severely injured, if not for the carriage he would have already died.


    At the end of the landslide, Nork with injuries dug up using his strength and magic, when he appeared at the surface, his limbs were severely injured and his face was torn apart. He then used his sword as a crutch.


    As he scanned the area of the aftermath.


    "Im¡­ possible"


    The only one standing on his special regiment that was composed of the best soldiers was annihilated.


    "No¡­ way, No way, No way¡­ this is impossible, impossible, impossible"


    He was shaking as he took the amplification stone from his pocket and used it to count the minds that synced with him.


    In the eyes and minds of his soldiers it was pure devastation, the large regiments were wiped out, there were units in the rear that survived but most of them were injured and started fighting each other.


    It was pure chaos, a veteran like him had never seen in a war with the other races.


    At the ground he saw the apple that was thrown to him at the foot of the mountain.


    "That means¡­ we have been thrown back at the foot of the mountain."


    While shaking because of his injuries he slowly picked up the apple.


    However, a gust of wind blew through him, which he felt strange.


    He looked at the area but no one was there, until he looked at the skies.


    The figure that inspired rage within him, now reversed that emotion into fear, as he remembered the figure and the devastation he believes the man caused singlehandedly.


    The man he believed to be an elf now flew over him with the wings of a large bird.


    The man then pointed his staff towards Nork.


    "N-N-N-N-No¡­ "


    Out of fear, Nork put up his nullifier to cover him.


    However the man still continued in calibrating his strange staff.


    It made a few clicking sounds.


    "No matter what he is doing, he wont get through this barrier."


    And then, at the final click of the staff.


    A blast echoed through the devastated land.


    And a wound like a blooming flower, appeared on, Nork''s stomach.


    "I-Impossible¡­ "


    He utters the same word once again, a certain projectile was fired at him and passed through his nullifier with ease.


    The pain was too intense, that his barrier was dissolved, he also discovered that his focus was too much in a mess that he could conjure any kind of dark magic, together with the reason that he used up most of his mana trying to get to the surface and that his limbs were broken and he couldn''t get his balance.


    Left without a choice, his only hope was to challenge this man he believes to be an elf, to something he feels the elf wouldn''t be able to decline.


    A one on one duel.


    "N-N-No! F-F-Fight me! YES! One on one! Soldier to soldier! Fair and square, right?!"


    He pleaded as he held his stomach, even though the projectile was tiny contrary to his body, the wound was too deep to ignore as his blood was gushing from it, his regenerative abilities was also not keeping up with it.


    However the man, without any words, hastily calibrated with the strange staff that he was carrying and this time fired Nork at the knee of his feet that was still working, forcing him to kneel.


    "No! Don''t do this! You elves fight fair and square right? If y-y-y-ou do that what would make the difference between us? huh?"


    He pleaded to the man, with tears and snot running from his face.


    Nork, who never tasted defeat before, was now on his last legs.


    In the mercy of a man and knows no honour unlike the elves he encountered before.


    After hearing his plea, the man didn''t make a move, and relaxed his body a bit, lowering down his strange staff.


    Seeing this, finally Nork was able to sigh in relief, if they were to duel, he would have time to recover at least his internal wounds and decided to finish him once and for all.


    With evil thoughts on how he will win that duel with all the clever things he had in mind.


    However, just as he had these thoughts, the man made another calibration, and pointed it to Nork''s head.


    "Wha-"


    Before Nork could say anything in surprise, a projectile flew out from the tube of the strange staff.


    The projectile hit Norks head as it passed through his skull.


    With a thud Nork''s dead body fell down towards the ground facing it, still with a surprised expression on his face.


    -------------------------------------------------------------------


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 109 Crush The Pets and Raise Hell!

    [ 3 Hours Before the Landslide, Lyra POV ]


    "General are you done yet?"


    Slaine came being carried in the air by Eagle, the apple I just fetched him a few minutes ago was nowhere to be found.


    Around me was General Conall and his men started digging around the slope, and in those holes, they placed the special rounded metals, Slaine gave them. Looking around many of those holes have already been placed.


    Could this be the thing he and General Conall always does, that he gets to the quarters very late? Its impressive.


    The more I looked around, the diggings looked like a new plantation field for rice and wheat.


    However,


    "Put more charges on 30 degrees"


    He told General Connal, who was also digging along with his men.


    "Could it be¡­ "


    General Connal had a strange expression on his face as he looked at Slaine. It''s the first time I saw the tight-lipped General Connal have that expression.


    "Yes, exactly, I found the snake''s head, and they made it flashy gold for us"


    Slaine then passed by me as I carry raven at my arms and patted my head again as he said a few surprising words.


    "Lyra¡­ "


    "What?"


    "Your race''s counterattack starts today"


    "Huh?"


    Then, with his hand still on my head, he announced.


    "Make sure to place those modified BC''s where the rock joints are, use it efficiently, I don''t have a supply for it anymore!


    In 3 hours, an artificial landslide will occur straight to our enemies creeping after us, after that when they are in chaos and disarray we charge.


    However, don''t get too cocky to just head straight to them.


    Their numbers are times larger than ours, that''s why in order to win you must follow orders from your superiors.


    Then, just do it just like your training and per protocol.


    I won''t say anything inspiring, as your leaders may have already told you lots of things.


    However, there''s one thing I could say, I am here to bring you victory, however, such victory can only be achieved if you follow us your superiors who will be elading this battle.


    Men, do you remember what is our mission?


    Resistance?


    No¡­


    It''s extermination!


    Extermination of the vermin that have sucked the life out of your plentiful land!


    Vermin that made their way to your world and with their enormous number through their disgusting way of breeding, they outnumbered and defeated you, and you who were a defeated race, ran and ran until all that''s left of you is this mountain!


    And what do we do with them? Again, exterminate them! ALL OF THEM!


    Need no mercy to pests! Need nothing to talk with them, we don''t talk to animals!


    You trample them! Crush them! Starting with their head!


    Sprinkle some salt and let it die wriggling in pain!


    That''s how this mission will be!


    The main force who formed ranks stayed silent as they listened with courage written on their faces, standing brightly in their green uniforms.


    As no one was permitted to speak, by following the orders - they didn''t speak.


    "Got it, men?"


    With his question, they all responded in unison.


    [["Sir yes sir!"]]


    "Good answer!


    That''s why I won''t let you look at the enemy that is climbing right now! Some of you might run when you see the enemy.


    Also, I want you to know that the cave you retreated to will be used for this mission, it will be blown up, collapsed and will be unusable.


    So running is not an option after all, even if you try to.


    You''ll just greet the dark-elves and will be probably killed.


    So if you''re so scared to even trust my word that we will win this, at least believe in the thought that its better to die for something than to die running for your own life.


    So steel yourselves!


    If you want to win, follow orders!"


    The words that came out from his mouth, stuck fear into some soldiers, however at the same time, it inspired courage to some, driven into the corner with no option but to fight ¡ª Slaine have clearly made them realize the situation we are in much better, its an all-or-nothing situation.


    After talking, Slaine then went beside General Conall as they looked at the enemy below.


    Even I was not allowed to do this.


    Does he really think I would run if I see the enemies below?


    Here am I with a small unit, specifically assembled by Slaine, to carry his necessities and his strange gadgets., take care of his birds and to guard him at close quarters battle.


    Makes sense, I haven''t seem him use a sword before, after all.


    The main force then received their orders, and with this they divided themselves into four directions, meters away from general Conall''s men who were rigging something into the rocks.


    We stayed in the same position until in three hours, Slaine gives the order.


    "General Conall, it??s time¡­ let''s blow it up"


    "Yes sir"


    And with Slaine''s signal, General Conall''s men got away from the rocks areas they have been digging from, taking a long and thin strings with them.


    They grouped together near the main force and passed on each of their string to the general.


    "Lyra, is everyone within the point I designated? Make the final checks"


    I immediately then checked the divisions on where they were standing at.


    "East, North, West, and South¡­ are at their designated positions. Everything is ready sir!"


    Our friendly days are over, and at times like these he is my superior, so I have to take my job seriously as his second-in-command.


    After checking with me who was at a higher elevation, he simply nodded and whistled calling for Eagle, who immediately swooped him down and carried him with his talons.


    With this, just as planned I called for lady Allannia for Slaine''s request.


    "Lady, Allannia, the barrier please."


    Lady Allannia then closed her eyes in focus to summon her spirit, but this time she isn''t using it to deflect any kind of magic like he did before on the defensive war against the huge force the eastern forces sent to wipe-out our first hideout.


    Instead of putting her hands in the air, this time she touched the ground with both of her hands and had the spirit dwell on it.


    The spirit, answering to her call, strengthened the ground beneath us.


    We felt the intensity of the spirit that dwelled beneath our feet.


    Everyone who didn''t have any high-ranked spirit protection felt nauseous.


    Including me.


    But I still had a job to do, I pinched myself in the cheek and ran towards General Conall.


    General Conall, the spirit summoning is a success, please do it!"


    "Understood"


    General Conall then with all his might in a quick motion pulled the strings in one go.


    And right at that moment, sudden large blasts occurred so strongly that it made everyone cover their ears.


    At the same time the ground was shaking after each and every explosion.


    I myself was not an exception.


    With the loud explosion, it made me immediately cover my ears.


    "Slaine, what the hell?"


    I screamed as each explosion was so loud than I expected.


    Slaine was nowhere to be found already moving on to his first adjective.


    "To crush the head of the worm¡­ huh?"


    I muttered as I helplessly covered my ears.


    "If I were more powerful would he have brought me with me?"


    For some reason I felt sad, seeing the man I admire and believe in setting to the battlefield alone, and I his second-command, a weakling ¡ª no matter how many times he trained me I was still average at most. I also didn''t get most of his rumblings about how things work.


    But I did get something¡­ his life changing thoughts and views.


    And those did change me the way I see things now.


    Strategically, I am here in his place to continue his commands.


    That''s why¡­


    I shouldn''t feel down right now, I have been entrusted with a big role!


    "Is it over?"


    "Ahh¡­ my ears hurt"


    "What the hell were those?"


    Chatter can be heard from everywhere, knowing that the fearful blasts finally came to an end.


    However what came next was more horrific than we thought.


    The land besides the what we are standing on has eroded, it looked like as if the mountain started melting.


    Debris and boulders started running, collapsing, and it rolled down the mountain.


    "What''s next is¡­ "


    I then looked at the leaders were now at the vanguard, to lead the charge.


    As expected, they truly are the leaders.


    They rode in wood spirits that took the shape of a horse, as they were in front of the forces that faced the four directions of the slope


    On the north was Lady Allannia is with high-elf Revalor, the two wore their full elven armor that shone like the sun, the same armor they wore when they were nobles, at the east was the three fronts Generals Alwin and elf priest Sylvar, on the south was the elf-priest Revalor and General Bulas.


    The communications and support units was evenly divided between the regiments.


    While the children and elderly and those that couldn''t fight would support the realy in the so-called


    "supply line" Slaine taught us about.


    At this day, every single elf worked, for the sweet taste of victory.


    And just as we were prepared, Slaine, just as he promised returned to us.


    "Lyra¡­ is that?"


    "...yeeee..ahhh.. probably???"


    Lady Allannia was and High-elf Revalor was left in agape.


    "In an instant¡­ in that chaos¡­ Lady Allannia, how could he do something so easy?"


    High-elf Revalor who couldn''t believe what he was seeing attempted to wipe his eyeglasses when Lady Allannia stopped him.


    "Don''t bother Revalor, I know that head¡­ I can see it¡­ clearly I¡­ I can see it¡­ but¡­ how in the world?


    He told us earlier he would crush the vermin''s head, I thought it''d be just to raise morale¡­ but he did it¡­ literally..."


    "But contrary to our expectation he didn''t crush the head¡­ he cut its head and brought it to us"


    High-elf Revalor like a broken metalwork turned his head to me.


    "Lyra, what the hell is wrong with your commander?!"


    "Ah.... ahaha"


    I was only able to let out a fake laugh as even I couldn''t comprehend him anymore.


    Slaine raised the enemy leaders head as he announced.


    "THE HEAD HAS BEEN TAKEN! IT''S TIME TO CRUSH THE PESTS AND RAISE HELL! COMMENCE MISSION!"


    -------------------------------------------------------------------


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    Also, I''m looking for an editor and a proofreader for this novel, as I''m not an English native speaker and I want to polish this work as I go on, but it''s hard to edit while writing. Please reach out to me on discord firiewww#4548