A young woman was standing at the gates of Winsor, along with multiple relatively important individuals. The [Thief] was waiting for her best friend... her only friend in this world. Though now that she thought about it harder, Hannah came to the conclusion that Edali could technically be considered a friend, even though all she did was criticize her control over her mana and magic. Gregory could also be sort of a friend. A frenemy? He had been nice to her, but he'd also stolen all of their money, which had rendered them homeless and starving in the streets of the city for weeks.

Regardless of what she thought of him, Hannah was now indebted to Gregory and his boss, Skull. They had basically forced her to sign a magical contract, which forced her to pledge her life to the Mob. Even remembering how powerful and terrifying Skull had seemed back then was still giving her goosebumps. She swore that if she ever became strong enough to have her revenge she'd...

"Happy thoughts Hannah. Happy thoughts..."

One of the grunts frowned and looked at her.

"What are you mumbling over there?"

"Nothing!"

Gregory and Edali weren't the only ones here however, as there were multiple people Hannah had never seen before escorting them. The outskirts of the city were dangerous, even if they'd largely taken control over the part they were currently waiting in. And they had been waiting way too long in fact! Esme, Kayden and the other [Scouts] were supposed to have arrived hours ago! That's why they were here in the first place. Originally, they would have just ridden in without anyone standing at the gates. Edali spoke out, as she had done many times while they were standing by the gates.

"I think we need to go out there and find them."

Gregory snapped back at her.

"Go find them where?! We're completely in the dark. They could be dead for all we know. Or it could be a trap! I say we give it a couple of days."

"They could be in danger! I'm not going to let my brother die out here while I do nothing! And if you're not coming, then I will go. Alone!"

"I can't let you do that. You're one of the few competent [Mages] we have."

Hannah grumbled at the thought of her being useless, but she knew deep down that even if she learned [Mana Bolt], which she was very close to learning, it still wouldn't even compare to what Edali or other [Mages] could do.

"No– I can– Hey! Stop! Let go! Fine, I'll stay put! Just let my arm go."

"Hmph."

"'Hmph' all you want, asshole."

Gregory let go of her arm. He was way stronger than Edali would ever be because of all the physical work he was doing in the organization. He was also taking the brunt of the fighting on Main Street, but it was apparently coming to an end. They were winning! Hannah wished she could help but the [Thief] was simply too low leveled to do anything. She'd get annihilated in a few minutes. She argued that they could use her [Charm] skill to ease the pressure on their side, but Gregory had told her that it was too risky. They didn't want her to get killed before the siege.

If a siege was even coming. They assumed it was, but they had no idea, which is why having the [Scouts] return was so crucial to their plan. If they were going to get sieged, they needed to be quick about beating the enemy army, or the food would run out and they'd starve. Ironically, thievery had become rampant all over the city, which meant that the food had to be running out. The situation overall seemed pretty grim. And now the scouting party wasn't returning?

Hannah felt her heart sink into her stomach. Only now had she realized that Esme was in possible danger. Real danger. And this time her friend was too far away for her to do anything about it. And if Esme died, well... what was the point of being here?

"Wait... I see them! Over there!"

A man pointed in front of them, towards incoming horses. Hannah perked up and stood on her tiptoes to see if she saw Esme, and she did! The [Thief] breathed a huge sigh a relief. Esme was safe. She was safe! Although... now that she looked closer, some of the men looked wounded, and some were even missing. The scouting party's size had been reduced.

After a few minutes, they finally reached Winsor's gates, amidst cheers and claps from their comrades, but their expressions were darkened. Edali was the first to speak up.

"Kayden. I'm glad you– most of you made it back. What happened?!"

"The army knew we were there. I don't know how. We– we stayed so far. We were safe! But they still found us! They sent [Riders] after us. They were faster with their movement skills and some of us got cut down."

He pointed toward his wounded men behind him.

"They need urgent help. Potions."

"We don't have any. We... ran out yesterday."

"What?! How is that possible! We–"

The cheers and claps had disappeared now, and they had turned into a heated argument. Hannah was surprised too. They were winning, right? But at this moment, there was something far more important to her than this war.

"Esme! I– I'm so happy you made it back! I was terrified something had happened to you."

The [Rogue] got off her horse and pet it gently. She had grown to like it over her days spent in its company. Esme smiled gently, although Hannah knew her well enough now that she knew there was something going on. She kept going.

"Is it true? I mean– the story. Kayden's story."

"Yes. It's true. We got ambushed when returning. It's all... true."

"Crap... well I'm glad you made it at least. Is that selfish of me?"

Esme smirked lightly.

"It is. Terribly."

The two girls hugged tightly. They had only been apart for a week and a few days, but sometimes that just felt like forever when you liked someone. After a while, they let go and Hannah refocused on the conversation. The argument had died down and relevant information was being shared.

"Twenty thousand. That's how many Ricky counted with his skill. He... died. They should be reaching us in three days."

Gregory answered almost automatically.

"Oh. I'm sorry. His life was not in vain."

They all nodded seriously. He kept going.

"Twenty thousand. Not good, not terrible. I'll have to relay this information to Skull immediately. I'll take my leave."

He ran and left. Hannah was feeling many emotions at the moment. First and foremost was happiness from seeing Esme again of course but there was also stress... growing by the hour. In three days they'd be under siege. That wasn't a long time. In fact, days seemed to pass extremely quickly, almost like a blur, but maybe that was because she'd started to become accustomed to her life in this new world. She looked up to Edali.

"So what now?"

"We wait for orders. Three days is faster than we expected. Way faster. We need to take full control of the city. Fast. Or else we're fucked. The troops will pour in and we'll be annihilated."

Hannah and Esme shuddered at such a thought. Sure, Gregory had explained to them that a relatively minimal amount of high leveled individuals could hold a walled city against thousands, as long as they didn't have many [Mages] showering them in spells like [Siege Fireball].

It still boggled Hannah's mind, how there was magic in the world. She couldn't wait to show Esme her new spell but unfortunately, she hadn't gotten the skill just yet. Here she was, struggling with [Mana Bolt], while there were high leveled [Mages] flying and launching [Siege Fireballs] from their palms or scrolls.

How did magical scrolls even work?

Thoughts for next time. Right now they awaited orders from Skull. Hannah expected the worst.

"What do you think Esme? What's Skull going to tell us?"

"An all-out attack. We have three days to take the city, so he will be rushing to do so... you heard what would happen if we don't seal the gates before they come."

"Yeah. We... we die."

She hoped it wouldn't have to come to that.