A wrinkled hand landed on Hakam’s shoulder. It was Aja, the man who had been continuously standing on the front line despite his old age and wanted nothing more than to see his disciples grow.
“Heh, me too,” agreed Aja. “He and I have known each other for a long time, and we always used to sneak out of the castle to drink some cheap booze nearby. This genuine taste is right up our alley. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that beautiful women are here too.”
Aja grinned, and Wridra returned a dry smile. He clearly wasn’t just complimenting her but Team Diamond as a whole, who were the servers of the night and adored by all of Arilai. While the drinks weren’t high in alcohol content, the refreshing aftertaste and the comforting buzz they provided were addicting. Their seats faced the garden, and the orange lanterns lighting the night sky provided a nice ambience.
“Ah, I’d love to go right to sleep, but there’s far too much to do,” Aja said regretfully.
Hakam, once known as Desert Tiger, nodded in agreement and sharply gazed at Wridra as if he were on the battlefield. “I trust that you remember what I said to you before. You’re free to do with this second floor as you please, but there are steps you must take to make it officially yours. You must make a mark and prove that this place benefits Arilai and make the royal family acknowledge your importance.”
“Hah, hah, I know that full well. But know this: I am not lending you my assistance here for your or anyone else’s sake. It is for myself, for a grudge of sorts.”
The black-haired beauty smiled and crossed her legs. Other important figures of the battlefield, such as Doula, Zera, the members of Team Diamond, and Aja’s disciple were present. But Wridra’s indescribable intensity sent chills down their spines.
Hakam cleared his throat as if to snap himself out of it. “We sent a spellcaster to investigate using a Magic Stone and discovered the existence of a mysterious entity on the Ancient Labyrinth’s third floor. Aja should fill you in on the details.”
“Indeed,” said Aja. “We had them use the ancient scripts as reference for their research. Supposedly, means to control monsters can be there, and we suspect those are what the enemy army is after. Whatever it is, that must be what the rebels used to send monsters at us. The third floor has completely transformed because of it.”
In other words, this would be the decisive battle between Arilai and Gedovar. The invaders planned to seize the monster-controlling device and march into Arilai’s royal capital, laying waste to their enemies with the horde of monsters from the labyrinth under their control.
“Hm,” Wridra pondered. She recalled the time she had gone after the rebel leader and had seen a dim room lined with strange devices with a black water tank in the center. There was more to the device than being some convenient item that could control monsters. But it would amplify Gedovar’s military power as they had intended. If that happened, they would be practically impossible to defeat. They wouldn’t last a night against the Gedovar forces, even if they had a “tower” protecting them. Wridra tried to direct her consciousness toward the battlefield, but the voices around her interrupted her efforts.
“Sir Hakam, Great Aja, please try some mixed rice. The vegetables cooked with it give it a nice, crispy texture.”
Wridra turned to the speaker and saw Mariabelle dressed in a maid outfit. The elf smiled at her, and Wridra smiled back, then beckoned her over with her finger. Mariabelle curiously moved closer, and the Arkdragon reached toward the elf’s mouth.
“It appears you have been doing a little taste testing,” she said as she picked a piece of rice from the corner of the girl’s mouth.
Mariabelle stiffened awkwardly, her cheeks rapidly turning pink. She covered her face with her tray and quickly walked away, leaving Wridra chuckling amusedly.
The mixed rice was indeed delicious. Chopped wild vegetables accented the chewy, mildly flavored rice, further stirring one’s appetite. The white-haired Aja displayed a wrinkly smile.
“Ah, this is delicious,” he said. “There’s something comforting about it. The food here never ceases to amaze― Ah, but we’re getting off topic.”
“Right,” said Hakam. “Anyway, we simply can’t allow them to advance into the third floor. But to stop them, we’d have to allocate our personnel there when we’re already spread thin. Puseri, will you come here for a minute?”
A woman with twilight hair and eyes turned as she heard her name. While she had a slender build and wasn’t particularly tall, she boasted the highest firepower on the entire raid team. She gracefully stepped toward Hakam and took a seat as requested.
“I want to hear your opinion. As the master of Team Diamond, do you think you should join the battle against the demon army?” asked Hakam.
His was a deliberate question, as several half-demons were part of her team, and he was uncertain whether they should fight against Gedovar.
As he’d expected, Puseri’s eyes showed a hint of sorrow as she said, “I must say, I can’t agree with that idea. No one wishes to fight against their own people. Though I don’t know how this war will shape up, I would rather not take away their option to return to their country if the time comes.”
“I thought you’d say that,” said Hakam, sipping his drink.
A soldier would usually scold anyone who turned their back on the battlefield, but Puseri was anything but normal. She was the descendant of a powerful bloodline that once ruled over Arilai and had a strong sense of faith beneath her quiet demeanor. The public would have openly revered her if the royal family hadn’t kept her in check.
“I suppose that applies to that Demon Arms Kartina,” continued Hakam. “It seems she’s been walking around calling herself security, though I’m sure the war is on the forefront of her mind. She’s powerful enough to turn the tides of battle single-handedly. Should we force her into the battlefield, it would open a whole new mess.”
Even though Kartina had accepted Shirley as her master, she could betray them at any time. As the commander of the raid team, Hakam especially had to keep this possibility in mind. However, he already knew those women wouldn’t join the battle even before he had asked the question. He sighed deeply, then looked around at each of them.
“Then we’ll split our forces into two groups as we’d originally planned. One side will face the enemy army, and the other will retrieve the monster-controlling device from the reports,” he announced.
Just then, Kitase and Mariabelle appeared to serve more dishes. Wridra stared directly at them as she said, “Make that three groups. I will go my way.”
She waved her hand before they could raise any questions or protest, and an image appeared midair.
“Ah, so this is the visualization magic I’d heard about. When did you pull this off, Aja?” inquired Hakam.
“That Wridra girl is marvelous. She connected with my Magic Stone team on a distant battlefield as if it were no challenge. You aren’t familiar with the mechanics of magic, so don’t even ask how. It even hurts my head to think about,” said Aja.
Visualization magic seemed simple, but it was deceptively complex. The Sorcerer’s Guild in the Alexei region, of which Mariabelle was a part, could use similar techniques. But one could only do that using the Water Mirror Sacred Treasure, considered a national asset. Wridra was sending and receiving signals, projecting them into images, and even filtering them to be more visible at night.
But Hakam had no interest in asking about the finer details of her technical prowess. Getting a glimpse into the opposing army’s forces was far more important to him, and he glared at the image of the battle with great interest.
§
Surprisingly, the people of Arilai showed little interest in the war, even after it had been going on for some time. Such occurred because Gedovar had been continuously marching westward through Arilai’s desert. The war had not yet reached their neighborhoods, with their only exposure being the rare sight of solemn soldiers. For the citizens of Arilai, there were far more things in their daily lives that were more important than worrying about a battle that didn’t affect them directly.
The Gedovar army’s trajectory had been avoiding the three towers in the southern regions of Arilai known as the Tower of Conflagration, Tower of Inferno, and Tower of Purgatory.
Said monstrous army marched forth like a thunderous black tidal wave. They were heading directly toward the ancient labyrinth they coveted above all else. After all, their people had a history of living there and devouring humans there, where the very roots of their existence lay. No one yet knew their objective except the upper echelons of Arilai, such as Hakam and Aja.
About three thousand of their forces were left behind near the aforementioned towers while the rest continued westward. Arilai’s royal family felt this invasion was an attempt to bait them into action. The invading forces appeared wide-open at their flanks, and the smaller garrisoned forces seemed like a prime attack target. They should not attack under normal circumstances. It was wiser to lure the invaders farther away, where they would split from reinforcements, and destroy them with a devastating blow.
Still, they could not leave the forces near the towers alone for too long. The alliance between the three countries was the only reason they outnumbered the enemy. With their concentrated forces, avoiding battles would only result in wasting rations, funds, and mercenaries over time. It was strange to consider, but mercenaries who die in battle cost less in the long run. That was why the other two allied countries had suggested an assault operation. Arilai had accepted the proposal as an opportunity to test run their forces armed with Magic Tools and to show off their might to the other countries.