I stood bathed in the morning sun, exercising my body as I applied a heavy load of mana to it. My morning training was a daily routine. I’d never missed a day since I was a child.
The first day had ended at the manor with no attack. As expected, really.
If they’d been planning to come at us suddenly, they wouldn’t have waited for nightfall and attacked while we were wandering the forest. The reason they didn’t do that was probably because they wanted to wear us down by keeping us on high alert longer.
I returned to my room to wash off the sweat. Seeing as magic items were everywhere in this world, things like baths and showers were commonplace. I could clean myself with the Cleanse spell, but showers felt nicer.
I got dressed and then went to have breakfast.
“Good morning, Arius,” greeted Sophia.
“Want to eat with us?” asked Milia.
I sat across the table from them, and one of the manor maids poured me a cup of coffee and brought a plate with breakfast on it.
“I knocked on your door, but you didn’t answer. Were you sleeping?” Milia queried.
“No, I was outside training. My morning training is part of my daily schedule.”
“You never miss a day’s training? That sounds very like you,” Milia teased, smiling.
“Did you sleep well?” asked Sophia.
“Yeah. Being an adventurer means I can get a good night’s rest anywhere,” I answered, but Sophia frowned.
“You’re surprisingly bad at lying. You were awake the whole time so you could protect us, weren’t you?”
“Wait, Arius, you didn’t sleep at all?!” cried Milia.
Was I really that easy to read? No, Milia hadn’t realized it was a lie. Maybe Sophia was just particularly sharp.
“I’ve trained for this. I’m fine without one night’s sleep. I’ve gone a whole week with practically no sleep when I’ve been in dungeons.”
“Still… Well, I suppose if anyone can handle it, it’s you. Just don’t push yourself too much,” Sophia sighed.
“Yeah. We’ve got Prince Eric and the guards too. Let us know if there’s anything we can do,” grumbled Milia. They both looked concerned.
“All right. I won’t push myself.”
Managing your physical condition was another basic of adventuring. I didn’t have any intention of overexerting myself too much, but we didn’t know what our enemy’s forces were like—I had to assume the worst.
The knights and the Ministry agents were rotating lookout shifts, but we should be fine if we were prepared. Zeke was also on the watch along with his guards, and he seemed to have gotten a little more used to the situation. He didn’t seem as tense as yesterday, and his complexion was looking better.
Before we knew it, night fell on the second day without an attack. We ate dinner together, then went to our separate rooms.
Just as the second day was nearing its end around midnight, my Scan got a ping.
“Eric, they’re attacking,” I wrote in a Message. I quickly sent Messages to Milia and Sophia, then used Short Teleport to jump about a mile toward the direction of the ping in case it was only a distraction.
My Scan only allowed me to see within a three-mile radius; if I strayed too far from the manor, I wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on the manor for attackers as quickly if it were the case.
There were about ten big pings of mana in my Scan, all over level 500. They weren’t flying, just moving slowly through the forest. It would be some time until they attacked the manor.
I returned with a Short Teleport and headed to Eric’s room. He was already in his equipment; Bela and Isha were beside him awaiting orders. I reported the findings from my Scan’s pings.
“There’s a decent number of them, but the number isn’t the problem. I can’t tell all the details from just their mana, and there’re at least ten people as strong or stronger than Blast,” I explained.
“It seems the duke has thrown a decent force at us. Begin preparations for battle immediately.” Eric remained calm even after learning how powerful the enemy was, then he sent orders to the Ministry agents and knights via Message.
When we came out of his room, Sophia and Milia were waiting in the hallway with Sophia’s guards.
“The attackers are here?” asked Milia. She was in the equipment she’d used for the Combat Tournament, and Sophia had changed into her cloth armor as well.
“They’re still a ways away. It’ll take time for them to get here. We’re going to have a strategy meeting in the main hall. Will you two come too?”
Already gathered in the hall were the two squad captains of Eric’s guards, Oscar and Gregg, and Jeffrey. Zeke was also there with his guards.
There was one more person, a man in his late twenties with gray hair, wearing all black. That was Leon Graham, Section Chief of Section Three of the Royal Intelligence Ministry. He was a trusted subordinate of Darius and leader of the Ministry agents who had joined for the mission. The other Ministry section chief was already with his section outside on watch for anything unexpected.
I relayed to everyone what I discovered outside.
“I was surprised yesterday by that. Can you really detect mana from that far away, Master Arius?” asked Gregg, despite the cigarette between his lips and his nonchalant demeanor. He, Oscar, and Leon had remained calm even after hearing about the enemy’s forces.
“There’s a chance some people were hiding their mana, so assume what I told you is the minimum number of enemies,” I explained. “I’ve got my eyes on their movements at all times, so I’ll let you know right away if I get any new information. All of you focus on fighting.”
After that, Eric gave everyone their orders. Oscar, Gregg, Jeffrey, and Leon went to their respective posts. Zeke was going to be defending the manor along with his guards.
“Eric, I’m going out for recon. If I learn anything more, I’ll let you know,” I told him.
“Thank you, Arius. Under these circumstances, I’m not in a position to ask you to let me handle everything.”
Sophia and Milia looked concerned.
“I know you’ll be all right, Arius, but don’t do anything extreme,” Sophia said.
“Yeah! You’d better not!” warned Milia.
“I know. This is Eric’s fight. I’m not going to be going off on my own.”
I cast Perception Block and Invisibility, then Short Teleport, so I was in the air above the attackers as they came closer. They were about two miles from the manor, heading our way.
Still hidden, I flew around Evaluating the attackers whenever I encountered one. Since I was used to battles in extreme-difficulty dungeons and instantaneous reactions, it didn’t take me that long to Evaluate all of them. Now I knew all their levels and stats, as well as the skills and spells they could use.
I then moved a little way off and dropped Perception Block and Invisibility.
“Hey, Alisa, stop hiding. Come out. I know you’re there,” I told the empty space.
I’d known Alisa was there the moment I detected the attackers. Her mana was already hidden, and she tried to bluff her way out by not responding, so I cast Dispel at her location.
There she was, the small-framed woman with white hair and gold eyes wearing a robe of bright red lizard skin. It was Alisa Kusunoki, second-in-command of the hero’s party, with her endearing smile.
“Oh, you found me. Should have known you’d be able to,” she responded. Her eyes weren’t smiling though. She probably didn’t understand how I’d noticed her. “I didn’t mean anything bad by being here. I just got word you’d be fighting Duke Jordan, and I wanted to see you in action. Sorry for peeking. Forgive me.”
I expected she’d try to talk her way out of it.
“You were at the Combat Tournament and nearby when Blast attacked too. Almost like you knew exactly what the cleaners hired by Duke Jordan through Altana the Merchant of Death were doing. Tell me, are you the Merchant of Death?”
She looked shocked very briefly, but quickly hid it.
“You knew from the beginning I was watching you? You’re a tricky one too, aren’t you? But you misunderstand. I was just watching you to see how strong you are, so I happened to be at the attacks. It was easy to find this big force that Duke Jordan is leading. I figured if I kept my eye on him, I wouldn’t miss seeing you fight, so I came along.”
I only noticed her at the Combat Tournament because I was looking for Zack Trigger. There was a chance she just happened to be there, but the Blast attack was different. She showed up right before he launched his attack. I didn’t detect her until that moment, which meant that she wasn’t constantly watching me.
It couldn’t be mere coincidence that she appeared during these attacks, but that alone didn’t prove she was Altana.
“Alisa, right now, I don’t actually care if you’re the Merchant of Death. I want to ask your opinion on something. Altana got the duke this enormous fighting force. Do you think they’d do that just for money?”
I’d learned from Evaluate that there were more attackers concealing their mana, as expected. They weren’t just over level 500; they were high enough level to rival the members of the hero’s party.
Alisa smiled slyly. “Well, my opinion, as an outside party, would be that this sort of force can’t be brought together with money alone. The Merchant of Death is interested in you and wanted to see how strong you are.”
Right. That made this a pain in the rear.
“All right. So, you want to see me fight. Then I’ll let you see me fight.”
I cast Impenetrable Defense and Teleport Jam around us, making it so Alisa couldn’t get away.
“What are you doing, Arius? You’re not planning to fight me, are you?” She focused her mana regardless, ready for an attack.
“No. I’m not planning on fighting you right now.” I let myself out of the Impenetrable Defense. “Alisa, I’ll prepare you a special seat, so make sure you get a good look at me fighting.”
I moved the Impenetrable Defense, along with Alisa, back to the manor.