“…No matter what you choose, I’ll do my best to see this through. I’ll put everything I have into making it happen. I’ll rethink our plans if I need to. I promise you that. I never did factor Fugi into our current strategy. It’s just that…”
It’s just…
“There’s a chance the enemy could have powers we don’t know about yet. A hidden source of strength. Without a clear picture of what our foes are capable of, it’s best that we have every possible option at our disposal. That much is true.”
It’s true. All I’ve done is tell the truth. What Munin wants right now isn’t for me to sugarcoat the situation. At least, that’s what my gut tell me.
“But let me say one more thing—again, this is ultimately your decision, Munin. You get to decide. I said it’s best that we have all options available to us, but in this matter, I’ll respect whatever you choose.”
“In this matter…” said Munin, sighing. “Thank you, Too-ka.”
What was that for? Was it for giving her the choice, or was it for something else?
In that moment, I didn’t know.
Munin turned back to Fugi. “Let me sleep on it.”
Early the next morning, Munin visited me in my tent. Her eyes were puffy and red as she told me her decision.
“Understood,” I replied.
I sat in a chair, looking up at the roof of my tent. Silence fell over the room.
“Munin. It’s difficult, I know.”
“Yes.”
That’s right…
“Feelings can be difficult at times. They can be troublesome.”
But that’s exactly why they’re so important.
The Anti-Goddess Alliance finally crossed the border into Alion. I had confirmed ahead of time with Lis’s familiars that Vicius and her disciples hadn’t moved from the city of Eno. There were, however, reports of armed eucharists gathering outside the capital—though none yet on the road that lay before us.
Could she still have a demonic device hidden in some fortress somewhere? Is she going to activate it to call a horde of golden-eyed monsters and humanoid types to us?
No, that doesn’t seem likely. She doesn’t want to strengthen our heroes any more than she already has. Sending golden-eyes and humanoid types our way would only give us EXP for defeating them. She can’t underestimate our forces anymore, now that we’ve made it this far. She’ll want to prevent us from leveling up. Or at least, that’s what I’d do if I were her. We’ve ventured surprisingly safely into Alion. So smoothly, in fact, that it makes me suspect that she might be laying a trap for us.
“Seems like…she might’ve been trying to finish us off with that eucharist army attack.”
I’ll be happy if that turns out to be true. If she has more and more waves of eucharists to throw at us, that would be a pain.
Also…this is a bit of a tangent, but something interesting has happened.
The Empire of Bakoss is to the southeast of Alion. We’re currently marching with the Black Dragon Knights, but it seems the Bakossi homeland hasn’t been able to decide what side it’s on for a while now. Geographically, they’re close to Alion. I imagine that makes it hard for them to declare their allegiance. They might’ve been overrun by an army of eucharists before we even arrived in Alion if they’d joined us too early. But now—finally—they’ve started sending out reinforcements in earnest. They were watching our Anti-Goddess Alliance closely to see where this might end up.
“Perhaps they intended to shield themselves if the Goddess won this war—claiming the Black Dragon Knights and parts of their army in the west acted without their knowledge or instruction in answering Cattlea’s call,” the Wildly Beautiful Emperor had surmised.
Well, that does seem like a smart way to do it. It’s cunning, I suppose. There’s also the possibility that the voice recording and video we sent them has changed their mind. Personally, I think that’s more likely…but either way, what matters now is how Yonato responds.
The White Wolf King—Magnar—is on our side. A magical war pigeon from the imperial capital of Mira has already confirmed that. The time lag in receiving info via magical war pigeon can be a problem. We can’t get the kind of immediate confirmation that a phone call or messaging app would provide. Can’t exactly make radio waves with our skills either, I suppose…
We can achieve something close to that using familiars, but it’d be difficult for them to keep track of what’s going on in both Yonato and Mira right now. Lis can only control two familiars. One is traveling with us, and the other is in Eno, keeping an eye on Vicius. Those two familiars are vital to keeping tabs on her movements, so we can’t move either of them. The familiar that’s watching Vicius detected the eucharist army heading north, but it couldn’t follow them all the way to the state of Yonato.
…Speaking of Lis’s familiars.
I looked out over the lightly rain-soaked plain as I sat astride Slei.
The course our army is on now… The road we’re taking is the western one that Lis recommended we take to get to the capital. This route is the shortest path to Eno. Apparently, the Wildly Beautiful Emperor always intended to take this route—but Lis also chose it as our best option.
A messenger came.
“Excuse me, Lord of the Flies.”
This messenger… He’s the one who comes when the reports aren’t vitally important.
“There is a strange woman who is asking for an audience with you…”
“With me?”
There were hardy merchants who sometimes came by to sell their wares during the war, and others who wanted to offer up their towns to allow the emperor and his soldiers to rest.
There have been requests to meet our leaders as we’ve traveled the road…but no one has asked for an audience with the “Lord of the Flies” without even identifying themselves.
“Did they say who they were?”
“Astorva, the Second of the sworn swords of the Lord of the Flies, Belzegea… She stated that you would understand,” said the messenger, sounding wholly unconvinced.
…What?
“Astorva?”
There’s a name I’ve heard before…
“She also stated that an audience with either Lady Seras Ashrain or Lady Makia Renaufia would be sufficient to prove her identity…”
The messenger went on to describe the strange woman’s appearance.