Gabrio saw that the war effort had started to become more rabid after the Reconnoiter Company started to gather for a full offensive.

The area that they started to assault was the Protectorate of the Icean Spine.

It was a territory called Gaerden.

The leader of the assault was Arkshield Island that traveled one-thousand and ten miles over the past months. Accompanying the monstrous island that could fire cannons, and summon tree-armored protectors that stood ten meters tall made them a walking nightmare for the Protectorate of Gaerden.

Lord Seke tried to negotiate with the Proctororate, but he was sent away, as a traitor, and a disgraced noble pf their land despite desperately trying to save them from the slaughter.

Gabrio only heard of the news passed by mouth. When the negotiation was over, the upper area of the Icean Spine was assaulted by four rifleman regiments, two artillery units accompanied by the treants of the Elven-kin that decimated the area around Chaw.

Reports from the scouts, and the information that Mana shared said that there was a mining town called Tinefall, and Fenhou that had a stockpile of iron and copper. It became a priority of the two Grand-Galleons while the Ark went to secure the gold mining town called Skiple.

It was not the gold that they were after, but the sulfur that can be found in the vicinity of the gold. Gabrio found it interesting that there were tales of how they used to follow sulfur to find gold, but this time the sulfur was the most valuable resource that the fleet wanted.

The Elven-kin could manipulate some of the resources they found floating in the ocean to turn them into ingredients, but it was impossible for them to make sulfur. It might be hoarding at this point, but the Grand Fleet wasn’t going to take chances if they were traveling the Great Seas.

It wasn’t going to be easy to take those resources with a city-state called Halton which had called fifteen thousand troops. The amount of troops they had were staggering, and although it was an absurd number.

The Grand Fleet was ready.

The Elven-kin in the Ark had decided to help fully when faced with this number of enemies. If it was left to the fleet. It would take days for them to accomplish the task. The fleet itself was not cocky about their chances, it was just that they were backed by the Elven-kin whose songs could destroy the enemies, and soldiers that could crush their barricades and their defensive positions.

Not to mention that the Son of Light, the Blinder went to war alongside the fleet-kin. It had been four weeks since they had that conversation.

The Son of Light was a busy person that had a duty to protect this fleet and those who live on it. Gabrio couldn’t read minds, and he was a Doctor of the Milostiv.

His duty was to the people who were under his care. And with the incident that had happened, he was forbidden to get far from the fleet.

Gabrio couldn’t leave the Grand-Galleon alone either. The 1st regiment of the Milostiv had received quite the injuries when they assaulted the Protectorate of Gaerden.

He had taken the initiative to have them treated. Most of the injured ones couldn’t be towed back to the Grand-Galleon, so he had to go to the shore, and preside over the injured ones in the tent.

Gabrio might have a treeheart, and a greater sense of the world around after the incident, but when faced with people who he regularly checked on the Galleon, injured, and roughed up. Gabrio entered the long tent with his doctor’s bag, and was greeted by their warm calls, but he kept his face frosty.

He had to numb the caring parts of him if he wanted to do his job better. He had started his nagging, admonishing the soldiers who had been reckless, as promised.

Ten hours straight he focused on their treatment. Some of the idiots couldn’t take a rest properly so he had to sew them up. The rest whose arms couldn’t be saved had to be amputated, and were reduced to a cripple.

Robert, who had been around, had to hold down some of their comrades to have their arms cut off. Gabrio had to sedate them. The fortunate ones lost only an arm, while the rest had to have a leg and an arm cut off.

It was a bloody business. Some begged Gabrio for their arms and legs to stay on, but Gabrio had explained to them clearly what might happen if it wasn’t amputated.

“Doc, can you really not save their limbs?” Robert asked, while taking a drag of his cigar roll.

“I have no medicinal techniques that could help at the moment. We might have the Elven-kin, the Son of Light on our side, but our medical technologies are still inferior.”

It was something that needed time. Time that his Teacher didn’t have, and his seniors wouldn’t have. It was not wholly his life any longer, and that scared Gabrio.

Staying in the tent, he had done what he had done for the past months in the fleet, to sew them back to health, and keep their wounds clean.

He had to shamefully ask some of the field medics to watch over the patients in Grand-Galleon with Wiles. He wouldn’t have heard of the reports if he was in the Grand-Galleon.

Seventy-two hours of nonstop working, stitching flesh, and helping the other Doctors made Gabrio’s mind feel like it was floating.

He dragged his boots on the sand, and carried his doctor bag to the tent where a regiment was met with an ambush. He had to hold down the patients, while letting the surgeons do their jobs, and had assisted them in the suturing.

Gabrio took over some of the stitching, suturing, and cleaning of the wounds. One of the patients that he had helped was a scout whose fingers and toes have lost all of its colors because of gangrene.

The scout had eaten this herb that somewhat infected him. The lower area of his body had this pustule that alarmed the surgeons of the medical tent.

Gabrio informed them that he had seen that pustule on Fort Rava, and had warned them about the threat of that pustule. It might just be him being too wary, but it was better to be safe than sorry. They couldn’t allow any plague on the fleet, and handed opiates that could put down the patient.

It was heinous. Even Gabrio knew that he had ways to save that man, and the surgeons were good enough to know this as well.

They put the man to sleep with a concoction, and neutered him with a heavy dose of opiate. After neutering the man, they had the cloth, the bedding, and all the items that the man had buried and burned on.

One of the soldiers who saw this had looked at them with utter disgust, and even if they did explain. What could they say? That they killed one patient for the sake of the greater good?

Gabrio remained frosty, and cold, keeping his professional demeanor. He had let the soldier do what he wanted, but even the soldier knew that he couldn’t distract the surgeons, knowing that they still have lives to save.

Casualties, injuries, were not unusual when it comes to a skirmish. The skirmishes had led the fleet into victory. It also helped that most of them were with professional soldiers, and veterans who helped in uniting the mainland.

They were soldiers who had grown tired of killing in the mainland, reunited with Aon, and had traveled out of the mainland, beyond the dread line to sail to the thousand islands.

News of the victory came to them in the morning where a scout had reported that Arkshelled Island, with the help of the Elven-kin, the regiments, and the Son of Light, were able to defeat the fifteen thousand strong army and forced the City of Halton to surrender.

It was nothing more than a massacre to Gabrio, but the scout who reported the victory spoke as if it was a miracle. How the Son of Light manifested into the giant figure made of light they saw in the Coral Island, landing a killing that tore through the bodies of the enemies.

He became a Giant of Light, and tore the battlefield asunder with his powers, weaving a storm of lightning and fire that broke the enemy ranks.

Hearing the scout’s recounting of the what he had seen made Gabrio remember that Terin Gaspar was the chosen of the light. He was a living sun that possessed enough power to combat the Elven-kin and challenge them if he could. He had gotten stronger after doing whatever he was doing with that pillar of light that broke the skies.

With the victory of the forward assault team, they were ready to launch an assault into the area where the Great Brampi Gate could be found.

The assault in the capital meant that it wouldn’t be long until the Arkshelled Island would pry the great gates of Brampi, secure the area, and make sure that the Reconnoiter Company could passed through the Thatkean Channel, and enter the coastal area where they could then proceed their journey.

Gabrio felt like they had been here for a year already. The months were good, but he thought to himself that it was faster than the usual skirmish, and they had to thank the Elven-kin who supported the assault.

Gabrio sat on the sand while looking at the fleet floating in the waters.

Just keep on going, focus on what you can, and then do your best.

He couldn’t believe that the Doctor who was desperately looking for a place to work would be a thousand miles away from home, and was experiencing the abnormal.

Despite all that had happened, the feeling that he was only a cog in the machine didn’t leave his mind. He might have a longer lifespan, but that didn’t mean shit when he had the long-lived Elven-kin, the son of light, the Blinder of Light himself with them.

He felt miniscule. But it didn’t mean that he had a delusion of being part of the role they play. He was a doctor, and his role was to save the lives of those who were injured, and helped them out.

He couldn’t be in the place where the killing was happening. He couldn’t be in the front-lines either because he didn’t have a role to play in that place.

All he could do was hear the exploits of the assault regiments while he tended to the wounded. It felt like he was missing out on the bigger picture, and although he had many questions in mind.

It couldn't be answered.

He wasn’t there, and he could only rely on the reports and those who saw the events that had happened. Responsibility was a heavy burden, and when it comes to lives, Gabrio of Fort Rava couldn’t allow himself to act without thought. To satisfy his desire and seek out what had happened. It would have been selfish and irresponsible.

He already was busy enough that he could not sleep for hours in order to tend to the wounded. How could he leave for the front-lines, and abandon the patients?

They have their own role to play, and I have mine. Teacher always said that one must focus on what our roles are. Focus on the need and have, before the desires.

Gabrio felt his shoulders heavy. His eyes weary and his hands trembling for a moment. He then suppressed all his fear and worries, throwing them into this bonfire inside his head that burnt it all away.

Robert called for him to attend to another patient. He dragged his heavy body, and walked back to the long tent. He saw the wounded soldier, and went to where his doctor’s bag were, sanitizing them, and walking to the patient, ready to do what he could to play the role that had been assigned to him in this fleet.