There are plenty of good reasons to invade the Castle forest some of them are:

- Lowering the moral of the other race who are trying to oppose the empire.

- If the main forest of the elves will fall, it will cut off the main trade lines between the Demon Race and Stilk forest.

- Preventing any communication between the Beastkin and the Orcs that way they can use fake information to send it to them instead and they can spy on them if they need to.

- Humanity's population is growing larger at a rapid pace. Since the humans can now live longer, their death rate is low, but their birth rate is considerably high. They need a new land where the new generation can stay.

- By occupying the Island, they can make a new port and it will shorten the travel days from the Western Royal Navy to Eastern Royal Navy.

- The Island is located between the Orc's Wasteland and the Stilk Forest, Slave hunting will be more efficient if the Royal Slave Hunter establishes a base on the Island.

- It's essential to the future invasion of the Demon continent if the Empire decided to wage another war with them.

Commander Armand of the Royal Slave Hunters are currently looking at the list presented by both Admiral Vern and Prince Kyle, Armand is a man with a stern look on his face, but dresses magnificent, he is a man who cares a lot about his appearance.

He glances at the young prince who's showing a slight smile on his face.

"It is true that there are 'some' benefits if we manage to invade that island, but are you sure this is the right time to do this?"

After the last war with the Demons several years ago, the Empire decided to stop invading other territories because there is a conflict inside their own territories questioning the Empire's reason to invade the Demon territory and sacrificing a lot of human lives, but what the people didn't know was the Emperor made a deal with the dragons that after helping him he will help them get the black diamonds that can only be found on the demon continent.

The Dragons can't do the mining because they would just destroy the entire mines and the fragile black diamonds by their uncontrollable power so human help is necessary if they want to get a hold of it.

Since the people didn't know this, some of them tried to make a revolt like what General Nathan did, but they were immediately killed by the empire, their friends, families and anyone acquainted with them was all killed to prevent anyone from having a grudge against the empire. The Empire also focused a lot of work to hide their own misdeeds and only show the people their great achievements, that way the new generations will never know the evil deeds of the empire. They spent the past hundred years fabricating histories and information to feed it to their own people.

The people who only know the real history are the non-human race, but since the empire poisoned the minds of their own people, there is no way for the humans believe them. The Humans thinks of the Empire as a good administration.

"I think there won't be any problem since the Emperor gave his approval, his subjects will do the other works such as showing the benefit of the invasion to the people and other things."

Or they can just fabricate stories like the navy was attacked by the elves and the navy retaliated. Prince Kyle didn't completely say his thoughts, but the two persons with him already know this without saying.

"Commander Armand we need your men for this invasion to be successful, so will you cooperate with us?" Admiral Vern sips his tea after asking the commander.

"Well, If the Prince needs me then I would love to give you my assistance. I'll be under your command, your highness" The commander stood up and bowed his head to the young Prince.

In response, Prince Kyle stood up to declare his thoughts.

"Then you must prepare all of your men to depart tomorrow morning."

""Tomorrow?"" Both of them were surprised by his sudden declaration.

The prince walks near the door of the room, but just before he opens it, he stopped and look back at the two.

"The Third Prince Nizel said that he would forcibly intervene if I don't show any good results soon, he's already running out of patience about my past failures. That fucking bastard, I will show him what I'm capable of. "

He went out of the room and closed the door with annoyance.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

A town....

A desolated town destroyed by heavy bombardment.. judging by the damage that was done in this town, it's unlikely for anyone to survive.

Several groups of soldiers infiltrated the area to assess the damage and temporarily occupy the area as they advance. The soldiers ignore the pile of corpses and continued to advance inside the town, one can assume that these soldiers no longer care about these dead people, probably because they've seen much worse, but a young soldier who's currently accompanying them can't help but speak out his thoughts.

"Everybody is dead.... I can't see any soldiers among them...all of them are civilians" This young man sadly mutters.

"Yes... There's no point regretting it now. "

The one who responded to the young man was a lieutenant with a cold expression. He's name is Heins Cross. He's the one who suggested bombarding the area before advancing.

"We could've infiltrated without killing everyone... so why did we-"

With slight irritation, the young man presses him for an answer.

"We are special units dispatched in the front lines, and we don't have the leisure to call for back up. You know what happened in Mario's unit right? We're the only special unit remaining."

Before the young man can answer, Heins continued.

"That's why, I suggested to bombard this are because we're unsure about the numbers and the resources of our enemies, but seems like the enemy abandoned this town.."

"Then-"

"Look, I could care less about civilians dying in this war, but I can't let any more of our soldiers to die or else we would fail this mission. If we fail this mission then we can assume that more civilians are going to die."

"Then we are no difference from our enemies!"

"Exactly."

The young soldier was taken aback from Heins cold tone and clenched his fist.

"We are not different from them. Our enemies see us as evil, but we also see them like that. Do you think they're fighting us if they think we're on the right side and Do you think we're fighting them if we think they're on the right side? Both sides think they're fighting for what's right and no soldier wants to go to war thinking that their country is the on the wrong side. That's why leaders are doing their best to manipulate information to win the heart of their people and avoid internal conflict."

"....."

"And before you punch me, think that nothing will change. We killed these civilian and it's inevitable that we would kill more as this war drags on. The only way to stop this is to finish this war as fast as we can."

"That kind of thinking would only bring the pain..." The young soldier turns his back from Heins and went ahead of him. He doesn't want to hear anything more from him

But Heins spoke loud enough for him to hear.

"Your kindness would not bring this war to end, Andrei."

Even after hearing that, the young man continued to walk ignoring Heins.

"Quite harsh in my opinion."

A middle-aged man who's been listening to their conversation spoke to Heins.

"Hey Heins, why do you think Russia has sent someone like him to spy us?"

"Even I have no idea, probably because they're running out of people to send?"

Both Heins and the middle-aged man knew that Andrei is a spy agent sent by the Russian government to spy on them. He pretended to join the UN army and was able to pass the test to join the special unit.

Instead of arresting him, Heins use this opportunity to give wrong information to Andrei to mislead the Russian advance.

Heins is no fool and knows the risk of doing this, but if he plays his cards correctly then this would be advantageous to them. Right now, it's easy for him to manipulate Andrei because...

"He fell in love with a woman named Talia. I don't know much, but he seems pretty serious about her and already dating her."

"Haha, When did you have an interest in other people's love affair."

The middle-aged man chuckled while taking cigar from his chest pocket

"I don't know much about love but as long as she's dedicated to Talia, he won't do anything stupid that would expose his true identity and by tapping all his items then we can know the next movement of the Russians. "

"You're playing a very dangerous game here, if that guy managed to get a hold of key information then that would be the cause for us to lose. "

"That won't happen as long as he's with me. I could control him by using that woman."

By that words, the middle-aged man stopped smoking his big cigar.

"Could it be..."

"If it gets to that point then I would have to do it."

"This war has corrupted you, Heins."

Heins stopped walking and looked at his pal, his doesn't show any light at all and with a serious voice, he spoke.

"We've been fighting together for years, we both saw good friends die with our own eyes and for those people we cannot fail, for the sake of those people who died for us so that we can live, we will not fail. I'll resort to anything just to end this nightmare."

✦✦✦✦✦✦

"!!!!!" Flint woke up while having a hard time breathing.

"Oh, you woke up?"

While holding his chest, Flint looks around to find the source of that voice and saw Wendell sitting on his knees, standing beside him is General Connor.

When he looked around once more, he realized that he is currently in his own prison, but there is some magic circle flying around him.

"What is this?" He asked in a ragged voice while confused.

"Oh, I was just trying to peek on your memories?"

He said it in a casual tone and he started to remove the magic circles one by one.

"My memories?... Why?"

Don't tell me that was the reason I was having a bad dream. Why is this guy wants to see my memories?

"Why? Hm, Because I want to see your fight against Chief Mau and this would also help us to know everything that happened"

... Probably he wants to see my memories to prove my innocence? Kaya probably sent her again for this purpose, but if he saw my memories there are chances that he also saw my past life.

"So did you see it?..."

I need to know how much of my memories he saw.

"Actually... Nothing, "

"Huh?"

"Yeah, that's right.... I've been trying to go inside your mind for a while now, but all of my attempts were all failures. Your mana always intervenes with mine.... Can you do something about that? "

I think I was lucky he didn't saw any of my memories, but that also means that he won't be able to help me in my trial.

"I still can't control everything, so I can't help you about that."

It's impossible for me to turn off Rhaegal's power of automatic protection, I've been trying to mess with for the past four years, but I always fail to control them. It's the other half of the power that I can't control.

"Today is your first and last trial, you will receive your punishment today." Connor stood up and walk near the iron bars of my prison.

"Today? Already? I though it would take a few days before they decide?"

Did Kaya fail to save me? And what's more, today is the day they will kill me. I need to think of a plan right now!

Wendell is smiling while looking at me.

"Worry not, Flint because my dear sister was able to convince some of the council not to give you a death punishment and she also pleaded our father about that. So you should be grateful to her! Hahaha!"

He put his hands on his waist and started laughing.

I see so Kaya really did her best for me, I need to thank her properly for this.

"Yes, they decided to let you live because you help the princess to gain her own voice but one of the reasons was so you can suffer for the rest of your life." Connor chuckled and revealed a mocking smile.

That's actually better than dying and it will also give me more time to make my plan.

"Fix yourself we'll go to the Justice Court once you're ready."

Wait, you're not gonna let me eat? At least let me wash my damn face first!

✦✦✦✦✦✦

Wendell gave me some new clothes to use, unfortunately, he didn't bring any food, but he gave me some water to drink. When we went out of the prison, Wendell has been greeted by the guards waiting outside for us. These knights would probably escort us to the justice court room.

"This way your highness..." Connor leads the way and naturally, we followed.

"Hey, Prince Wendell is Nahla doing fine?"

"Hm.. Yes, there is no visible injury in her body she just woke up a few days ago but she's fine and she's actually very about you, you know?"

Nahla was injured because my power was able to reach the Elven village, Thankfully I was able to use recreation magic one last time before I passed out. I need to apologize to her, I almost killed her so I guess I'll do anything she wants to show my regret.

"I see. Is she and Kaya will be present during the trial?"

"Yup! They were both eager to see you so they'll be present."

"Call her Princess!"

Connor looks back at me when he heard I didn't address Kaya properly.

"We're finally here."

After several minutes of walking, we finally reached a certain Castle Building, this castle is called the Castle Forest the biggest castle on this floating rock.

I've seen this a couple of times now, but this castle is very beautiful, in front of the door there are two small Treants who have the height of a human guarding the door.

These Treants are capable of creating roots, despite having none themselves, and able to influence the treelife around them. These creatures are necessary for the forest to grow magnificently.

"Those Treants looks capable, right? They can make their branches as sharp as knives and they can live for almost eternity."

"...Yeah these guys really looks........ capable"

"Stop looking at them, they're hostile toward humans"

We enter the castle and to a certain room on the 7th floor, there was something written on top of the door room. 'Justice Court' So this must be the place.... Behind this door are the people governing the entire Elven race.

Connor slowly opened the room and we walked inside.

There are several sets of seats above the room where the elves are sitting and at the very top was the seat of the King. The King has the appearance of a brave warrior, his white long hair match his silky robe and his fingers are wearing different kinds of magic rings, every inch of his appearance defines a King.

"Stand on top of the magic crest" Connor pointed his finger at the magic crest embedded on the floor.

I slowly walk to the center of the crest and suddenly a barrier appeared around me and the floor which i'm standing on suddenly rose up and match the height of the of the Elves sitting above that room.

When I look around once more, I saw Nahla and Kaya sitting on the edge, Nahla is cheerfully waving her hand at me while Kaya is showing me a gentle smile. Her beauty is really irresistible. I nod at them in response then I raise my head to look at the King.

"Let's start the court trial"

One of the elves on the left side has declared while reading some documents on his left hand.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

2 hours of a relentless barrage of questions has been given to me. they ask me how I got into the Island and my first contact with the elves, they asked me why did the son of the emperor came here and I told them that I was running away from the emperor at first they won't believe me but when explained the things about Rhaegal they finally understood, I didn't tell them Rhaegal's name to avoid any more tension. It causes a stir when they heard I made a contract with a dragon so it's not good to tell them that it was Rhaegal.

And finally the matter about the Chief, I told them everything I know. How we fight and how it ended. In the end I lost control of myself because of too much usage of mana but I explained to them about the recreation magic, recreation magic takes a lot of mana from my body and I used it to help the Princess and during the battle against Mau I unconsciously used the other half of my uncontrollable mana and the reason I was able to use recreation magic for the second time to heal Nahla was because I was also using the other half that I can't control, fortunately, I passed out before going on a rampage again.

Kaya was about to cry when she heard my explanation while holding Nahla on her side.if I have a chance to talk to her, I'll tell her that she shouldn't blame herself for what happened.

Those were some of the few questions the asked me and they finally made a decision.

After an hour whispering with his subjects, the King open up a scroll.

The King stood up from his seat and began reading the contents of the scroll.

"Flint Entros! Because you used your power to grant the Princess a voice, the punishment of death was avoided and you have been proven not guilty on the battle against Chief Mau, but you are proven guilty of killing several innocent Elves although it was an accident it doesn't change the fact that you were the origin of the power that killed them and our decision will be...."

I gulped a couple of times when he was about to say my fate.

"Agreement of Exchange between the Empire. We will try to communicate to Entros Empire and exchange you to the Elves that they enslaved."

"Wh-what...."

I'm horrified to hear their decision, that makes no different by giving me the punishment of death, I look at Kaya and she is also horrified by the decision as well, she stood up at glare at her father.

"Fa-father! You know that he is going to be killed if send him back! You promised me!"

"You liar! liar! liar!" Even Nahla is protesting to the king.

The surrounding became noisy because of them.

"Princess, you must get a hold of yourself" one of the council tried to reason with her, but Kaya refuses to back down.

"No, We all know that he didn't wish for this to happen... None of this was his fault....." Then finally she broke down in tears.

"Kaya.... It's okay...I'll be fine" I try to comfort her by my words, but this only made her mad.

"You'll be fine!? Don't lie to me! Do you think they would keep you alive after what you have done to the Emperor!?... No! so.... don't go."

Kaya tried to plead me at the end but right now, there is nothing I can do.

The King raised his right hand and the entire place became silent, only the sobbings of Kaya can be heard.

"By giving this person to the Empire, Our people that have been enslaved by the humans will be returned to us and if you ask me which one is more important, this man or my own people. It's obvious which one would I choose.... I want to triple the security and the magic restraint onto this person, we can't let him escape.

Then the King and his subjects went one of the room one by one.

"Flint! Kaya tried to jump at me, but she was stopped by the Elven maids."

I tried to go to her, but the guards immediately pulled the magical chains to restrain me.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

The King of the Elves Ulysses is in the King's chamber of the Castle Forest located on the 60th floor is currently discussing something with his subjects when a scout rush inside to report something to him.

The scout looks terrified while sweating a lot, he kneels down to give his respect to the king.

"What's wrong?" One of King Ulysses's subjects asked him in a worry.

"The Royal navy of the Empire has been seen by one of our ships and sent me a bird to pass the message and they are also using ✡Flash Wind✡ to reach us as fast as we can."

It would usually take a week before the humans can reach the island but by using ✡Flash Wind✡ they can reach the island within 24 hours if they keep on casting the spell nonstop.

The King gave a command to the scout to stand up and ask him.

" ✡Flash Wind✡ is a spell a Master Sage rank can use so I assume not all of their ships is using ✡Flash Wind✡ so how many their ship is using the spell. "

"All of their Battleships..."

"What?"

The king asks once again while slowly standing up.

"All of their ships are using ✡Flash Wind✡... Probably because there a lot of mages in the rank of Master Sage."

The surrounding becomes tense... Gathering Mages in Master Sage Rank is no easy task an average person can only reach Sage Rank even though they do all their best, if some people reached the Master Sage rank it means they are genius and Magus Rank like Princess Kaya is like finding a needle in a hay sack.

While Warlock and Invoker are in a completely different realm.

"So how many ships are coming." one of the subjects asks nervously.

"70 battleships...."

"Ar-are you kidding me!? 70 Ships? and all of the are using ✡Flash Wind✡ is this an all out invasion!?"

Some of them began to panic, but the King speaks in a calm voice.

"Calm down, If we tell them that we have the prince of the empire then they might be willing to negotiate with us."

"But your highness, that Prince is a wanted criminal in the Empire......"

"We can use that Prince as a key for negotiation... But we must be also prepared for the worst.... How much time do we have before they reach they shore? "

"According to the information, we have 15 hours before they reach the shore."

"I see, Then gather all our generals...."

✦✦✦✦✦✦

Wendell and Connor brought me back to my prison, usually, Wendell will be laughing while chatting with me, but this time he didn't say a single word on the way back.

"It is I who should be feeling down, you know?"

I decided to speak because I can no longer bare with the silence.

"I'm sorry about the decision of my Father..."

He feels bad huh? I know that this person is a really nice guy and he possibly feels bad because I'm someone close to her older sister.

"You know, your father made the right decision, he could've killed me, but he chose to save his people that were captured by the Empire in exchange for me. I would have done the same thing."

"Yeah... Also, thank you for taking care of my sister. I wish you good luck Flint, I really do."

"Yeah..."

While Wendell and I are currently talking, an elven knight walks beside Connor and whispered something to him. Connor looks surprised, I wonder what the knight said.

"Your Highness we're the King wants us to go to the King's Chamber."

Wendell turned his back to look at the astonished General.

"Hm? That's unusual, why is father suddenly calling us?"

"We'll talk on the way, for now, let's move."

He pulled Wendell's hand and the began to run away.

"Hey, Wai-!... Ah! Flint, I promise to visit you tomorrow!!!"

"Ahh yeah!"

Thank you, Wendell, for caring about me, I'll thank you tomorrow when you come back. I'm curious about the thing that shock Connor so I decided to ask the Knight that was left behind when Connor and Wendell ran together.

"Is there something serious that's happening?"

But the Knight just glance at me and left after locking me in the room, what a snob!

Now that I'm left alone in my prison, it's time to find a way to break these chains. There's no way I'm gonna surrender myself to the emperor. I sit on a cross leg and starts to emit my dark mana, but there's no mana coming out. Damn it! I can't even communicate to Rhaegal because these chains are restraining my power if only I could control all my mana then i'm confident I can easily free myself from these chains.

I need to break these chains before they triple the magic that's currently binding me.

Then I suddenly came up with an idea.

Now that I think about it, early this morning when Wendell was trying to peek in my memories, Rhaegal's power that I can't control protected me and prevented Wendell from taking a look at my memories, that means that the other half of my power that I can't control can come out even though the chains are binding me.

So if I can control it then, it means that I can break away from these chains. That's it!

I concentrated once again and recall all my training with Kaya... My mind is suffering a lot while trying to control a small amount of the power that I can't control, but I can't stop here. Stopping here means i'm gonna be sent back to the empire. I concentrated for an hour before trying to control the mana.

After another hour, I began to command a little amount of that mana to break the chains because the king was so paranoid he planned to triple the number of chains binding me.

"Ugghh...." I began to groan as I feel the mental pain is gradually getting stronger.

The dark mana is beginning to eat one of the chains, little by little the chain is losing its light and gradually disappearing. That's when I heard two knights coming in my prison and I quickly stop and lie down my body and pretends to sleep.

"Hey wake up!" One of the Knights struck his spear on the iron bars to make noise.

"...What?" I rose my body and look at the two.

"The King summons you."

Huh? Again? I just came back from the justice court, why would he want to talk to me? Well, whatever.

The knight opened my prison and pull the chains that are rooted on the ground and they began to pull me out, I obediently followed the two and after we reached outside I saw several knights surrounding me.

So these people will escort me? They all look skilled and there are too many of them.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

*Thud*

"Then we must fight!"

General Harlan stomped his feet in front of the other Generals.

"Teacher calm down... You are putting more tension on us." Wendell tried to calm his teacher, the one who thought him everything he knows about fighting and using magic.

"He's right Harlan, We must first negotiate with them, we must know what they want before engaging in battle."

General Connor agreed with Wendell and tried to loosen the tension around the room.

"But they're obviously here to invade... bringing 70 battleships is just.." A woman with a blond hair murmured her thoughts she is the only female general in the history of the Elves, though there are a lot of female knights, reaching the rank of general is very rare, her name is Amena.

There are currently 32 people in the room, The 8 general of the Elves, Princess Kaya, Prince Wendell, Nahla, The King and 20 of the Elven Council.

"I'm pretty sure it's the Empire Prince fault! These things are happening because he is here."

Another General voiced out his thoughts. After Princess Kaya heard what he said she glare at the general and spoke.

"Stop blaming everything to Flint! We still don't know why they are coming to us!"

The general shut his mouth, but one of the members of the Elven council stood up and began to talk.

"But what else could be the reason they're coming? That Prince stole something from the emperor... "

"No.... They didn't know that Flint is here.... so there could be another reason." Princess Kaya tried to protect Flint, but most of the member of the Elven council are unconvinced.

This time, they King decided to speak.

"Enough! I gathered you all here so that you can listen to my orders."

"King Ulysses, I suggest we position our Infantry units few meters behind the sea shore and position our cavalry unit on the west side, this way they can cut and break the Human army formation and the cavalry will prevent their reinforcement to aid their first wave of attack. "

"No! Positioning our Infantrymen few meters behind the seashore would be very dangerous, the humans have mages that are in Master Sage Rank. They would be able to cast explosion magic that can travel 500 - 800 meters."

"Then we can give command to our own wizards to create barrier to-"

"Harlan!" King Ulysses raised his voice and General Harlan chose to shut his mouth.

General Harlan tried to suggest his plan, but the King didn't listen to him. The King never did listen to anyone he thinks it only his sole responsibility to protect his people and he even influenced Princess Kaya about these beliefs, but thanks to Flint he manages to open Princess Kaya's eyes and she began to rely on Flint, but the King is different, He thinks his people should only rely on him and he can't rely on others because as a king, he can never show weakness to his people.

"We will first send someone to give them our message first, we will try to use the empire prince to our advantage and if they agreed to retreat in exchange for their prince, then that means we can also demand them to give back our captured people."

"But Father, Flint will..."

"Kaya... I know that person had a special place in your heart and thanks to him, you can now speak, but this is the right thing to do."

The King spoke to Kaya in a very soothing voice. Kaya also understands she knows that she can't be blinded by her feelings but letting Flint go means they will never see each other again.

"But are you sure they will retreat for their prince? That person is wanted in his own Empire."

"I know that General Amena, but he is still their Prince, I know that the humans have a little ounce of honor."

*Knock* *Knock*

Someone knocked the door room and one of the Generals opened the door and the person that they have been waiting for has arrived.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

I enter their room where the King is waiting, but it surprised me that there are many people inside the room.

"Fliiiint~" When I turned to the right to see who's the shouting my name, what I saw is Nahla who currently flying at me.

"Gumbo!" She accidentally hit her head on my stomach, but she didn't apologize and instead she flew around my head and she hugs it tightly.

"It's been so long~ Flint~"

"Oh, Nahla... It is so good to see you." I held her hands that are currently around my neck.

"Ahem!" Then General Connor cleared his throat while looking at me. I gently put down Nahla and told her to behave she looked displeased, but I patted her head to comfort her and her mood immediately brightens up.

"Okaaaay~ Hehe~"

I fixed my eyes to Kaya, She looks like she wants to come and talk to me, but she's restraining herself.

A beautiful woman with a greenish-silver armor walks towards us and took pull Nahla's clothes from behind.

"Nahla, Did forget that you are not allowed to talk to him."

"Ahhh no! I want to sit beside him~ " Nahla tried to protest, but the beautiful woman hit Nahla's head.

"Awww~ You're so mean Amena"

"Now, Just behave like a good girl."

One of the Knights who escorted me guided to me my chair, he also sits down beside me while holding the chains.

I take a look at Kaya once more and she gave me a sweet smile in response.

"General Amena explain the situation to our....very important prince."

A man beside General Connor spoke with a mocking tone.

"Yes, General Harlan. This is the situation....."

The beautiful female which turns out to be a General explained the situation to me and every word that comes out from her mouth is surprising me.

The Empire's navy is coming and the battleships are around 70, then that means that more than 100,000 Empire knights and mages are coming here!?

Do they know that I'm here? But how? Were they able to track me down by using magic or they were able to figure out the place where Rhaegal teleported me? Damn it! Problems after problems!

"So what do you plan to do?"

I ask the general nervously, but the King was the one answered.

"We plan to use you as our bargaining chip, if we give you to them there's a good chance for them to turn back or we can use you as a hostage."

Sounds reasonable to me but why the hell he's telling this to me?

"Uhm.. so why are telling this to me?"

"Because you have the right to know your fate and I know you will be killed when you reach the Empire... but I want you to know that your sacrifice will bring back the people that were taken away from us. We at least want you to know that. "

".... I see"

Too bad that's not gonna happen, even if the empire agrees I don't think they will give back your people.

"What would you do if your plan fails and the royal navy decided to still invade."

"Then... We shall fulfill our duty even though the outcome is doubtful..."

"......"

These people are doomed.....

✦✦✦✦✦✦

Few hours after the meeting the King has sent a boat to convey his message to the navy.

The watchman saw the small boat paddling by a young Elf, when the elf saw the watchman he immediately waves a white flag and the watchman reported immediately to the captain of the ship. The captain immediately went out to see the boat. He let the Elf climb into his ship to hear what he has to say.

The young Elf stood up proudly in front of them and opened his mouth

"I am a messenger sent by his majesty, King Ulysses. I have a letter to give to the person leading this entire fleet."

"...Admiral Vern is on the 7th ship together with Prince Kyle and Commander Armand... I guess I'll just take you there."

"Understood."

The captain gave an order to his men to bring out a small boat for the captain to use.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

In a certain room in the 7th battleship, that's currently sailing to the Elven Island

Admiral Vern is currently explaining his plan to the prince and to the commander of the slave hunters.

"With the combined forces of the royal navy and royal slave hunters, we currently have 130,000 knights and mages under your command so even if some things won't go according to plan we can still make up with our large number."

"That's certainly true admiral... What does prince Kyle think of this?"

"Hm... So the first wave is a decoy to attract the attention of the elves on the west side of the Island... Well, I can just go to the battlefield myself if to support our men."

"But that's too dangerous your highness."

"Commander Armand, I am way more powerful than you and leading our men in the front lines will boost their moral."

"He's right Armand If we add his highness strength into our troops then we can easily push back the Elves."

*Knock Knock!*

They stopped talking when they heard a light knock on the door

"Hm? Come in.."

The Prince responds to the person knocking on the other side of the door.

A Knight in his prime came inside and gave a light bow to his superiors.

"Captain Reeve is here. An Elf messenger is with him, your highness."

"Messenger? Oh, I see let them in."

"Yes."

Prince Kyle looked at Armand and Vern, they both nodded to each other since they already expect that the Elven kingdom will send a messenger to make terms with them.

Two persons came inside, Prince kyle put his gaze on the elven messenger beside the captain and asks.

"Welcome, I believe our captain here brought you to us because you have a message for me?"

The messenger nodded and hand him the letter. The prince immediately took the letter and opened it after confirming that the Elven crest is embedded on the letter.

[We have the Prince of the Empire, We shall hand him alive and well if you agree to make negotiations with the Elven Kingdom.]

Prince Kyle grins broadly after he read the message even Admiral and Commander Armand were both surprise after he saw his reaction, this is the first time that Prince Kyle shows such emotion on his face.

"Hand me the quill and ink"

Admiral Vern took out the quill and ink that was hidden under the table and hand it to the prince. Prince kyle took out a paper from his breast pocket and began writing.

[The Prince holds no value, kill him if you desire. Only the Emperor can stop us from invading your kingdom.]

The prince folded the paper and took out a small envelope and put the letter inside, he also stamps the mark of the empire into the letter and hands it to the messenger.

They don't need Flint to be alive, they just need his body and they can immediately recover it after they reach the Castle Forest. Rhaegal won't be able to get a new host since his soul is permanently embedded in Flint's soul. 2 souls that became one.

When a person die it would take several weeks before the soul fades away from the body and continue on its journey to the dimension of life and death.

The Empire mages told everything to Prince Kyle, that's why he is confident on every gamble and risks he takes.

"Thank you for coming all the way here. Here is my response to your king. Now, go back immediately."

The Elven messenger immediately went out led by the captain after the Admiral Vern made sure they're gone he politely asks the Prince.

"What is the message?"

"They're trying to negotiate with us as expected."

"*Chuckles* I see."

He turns his attention to the commander who is silently observing the two of them.

"Commander Armand how much time is left before the first wave arrives at the shore."

"Around 4 more hours...."

"Then I will go with the second wave together with our main army."

""Yes, your highness. ""

"Let's bring glory to the Empire!" The prince grins broadly one last time.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

*Cling!*

Sounds of metal resounded inside a certain prison in the Elven Island.

"*Huff* *Huff* That's the last one."

I finally broke all the chains that were restraining my body, but my mind is completely exhausted. After the talk with the King, they quickly brought me back here and since I'm alone inside my prison I slowly remove the chains one at a time.

"Now.... I should silently get out from here."

I gather my dark mana on my right arm and touched the iron bars. The mana is slowly but silently eating the iron bars and after several iron bars disappeared I went out of the room.

I walk slowly towards the exit while hiding my presence, I can't any mistake here.

I peeked at the exit and saw several Elven Knight standing on guard, there are currently 7 of them, thanks to the moonlight I can perfectly see them.

I approach them silently until they are in the distance where my ✡Tempest Strike✡ can reach them.

"✡Tempest Strike✡"

I silently cast the spell to the Elven knight facing his back towards me.

The Elf immediately lost his consciousness, but his companions were surprised when the saw me suddenly appearing and knocking out one of them. I don't want to kill these guys so I'll just knock them out.

One of the Elves draw his sword and attacked me, but I wrap my hand around his shoulder and break, his broken hand lets go of the sword and I knocked him out from behind.

4 Elven Knight attacked me at once, I jumped back and accumulate mana on my palm then I move forward to strike them. The four knight stab their sword at me in unison, I lower my back while facing upward and avoided their attack then I swing my hand that was wrapped by my mana and destroy their swords.

The Knights were dumbfounded and I took that chance to do a spin kick to one of them and gave a reverse punch to the other person, Still confuse of what just happened, I cast a ✡Dragon's Binding✡ to the two and they passed out since they can't take the mental pain from the spell.

"I'm quite happy I still remember how to use martial arts..."

Seven Elven knights are lying around though their life is not in danger, but it would take a while before they regain their consciousness.

"...I need to see Kaya."

I would like to talk to her, but I don't think she wants to leave her people especially when a large number of the enemy is approaching.

...Should I say my goodbye to her? It's not like we won't meet again and I'm pretty sure we will meet in the future.

.

.

.

.

.

Nope! I promised her that I will always be there in her hard times, I can give a lie to any person and I won't bet my life to strangers, but I never break my promises. Kaya is already an important person to me.

In my past life I abandon a lot of people, I turned my back away from them even though they were trying to reach their hands to me and instead of taking those hands, I moved forward without looking back at them.

I will never do that again, never in this second life. My ruthlessness in my past life died along with that nuclear explosion.

I should lend my hand to Kaya..... But how about the king and his subjects? They plan to use me as a bargaining chip and I don't think they would listen to me..... urgg! I'll think about it later after I find Kaya

While hiding my presence and using body reinforcement and ran silently.

I managed to avoid the Elven Knights roaming in this floating city by sensing their presence and going different direction before we see cross other until I finally see the Castle Forest.

"...This Castle is really beautiful"

Even in the night, it's still so beautiful, the moonlight shining upon it gives a sacred feeling to this Castle.

"..Oops, this isn't the time for this..."

I peek at the Treants that were guarding the Castle... I feel bad doing this to these forest guardians, but I have no choice.

I showed myself to the Treants and cast ✡Dragon's Binding✡ on them before they can reach me. I amplify the mental damage of ✡Dragon's Binding✡ to make sure the Treants will pass out.

They both fell down and I kicked lightly on them to check if they are still conscious.... since they didn't react I continue to sneak inside.

I immediately went up to the upper floor while trying to sense Kaya's location, I was forced to slow down when I reached the Kings Chamber.

I sensed several presence in the room and the door is slightly open, so I peek inside.

Inside the room were Princess Kaya, Prince Wendell, Nahla and all of the Generals, of course, the king is also present inside.

The king is holding several letters while looking devastated. No, actually they all look like devasted except for Kaya and Prince Wendell, Nahla looks confused. I wonder what they talked about?

Prince Wendell went in front of King Ulysses to express his thoughts.

"Father, We must fight!" He raised his voice to his father.

The young prince continues to express his thoughts

"Father, It's my duty to protect our people, please let me go to war!"

*Bang!* The King slammed his fist into his chair and narrow his eyes to the young Prince.

"Don't talk to me like I've never seen war!"

"...but Father the humans refused your offer.... and everyone is preparing to go to the battlefield so why won't you allow me?"

"Listen Wendell, I already lost your mother and I'm not gonna lose you too. You and Kaya will stay here. "

"Father..."

"General Harlan and General Connor will lead our Knights into the first line of defense, the other Generals will cooperate with General Amena to make a defensive plan jut in case the humans will pierce through the defenses of Harlan and Connor."

"I will not fail you, your majesty!"

"Yes, your highness!"

General Harlan and General Connor both gave their respect to their king.

Wait.... The Empire refused the King's offer? That means I lost my value as a hostage! I don't know the reason why, but this is a good opportunity for me.

"Father, I think we should accept the Orcs and the Beastkins offers of reinforcement"

This time, it was Kaya who suggests her thoughts to the King.

"No, If the Orcs and the Beastkin fight with us, they will also be attacked by the humans and they don't have strong defenses like ours, I'm happy they want to help us but I afraid I must decline their offer.s "

"Then how about calling all our people that are living in several forests of Entros Continent?"

"That would take too long, some elves are living very far away from us it would take them at least 7 months to reach here. "

"I see..."

She looked down feeling downhearted.

"The Demon Race won't be also able to help us, they're so far away."

That's certainly true if I'm correct they're located on the other part of the world.

The king put his hand on his forehead, He's obviously depressed. Hmmm..... A strange idea suddenly came to my mind.

I don't really think this is a good idea, but I gotta give it a try.

I open the room with and stepped my way in, all of them were surprised. They saw that there are Magical chains attached to my body and after a few some of the Generals including Amena draw their swords and prepares to attack me at any moment, Kaya and Wendell were bit surprised, but they try to calm down everyone while Nahla is waving her hands cheerfully at me, she obviously couldn't read the atmosphere.

"Hey, Flint~ You came see us again~ Hehe."

"Calm down everyone, Flint won't hurt us!"

"Teacher put down your sword it's dangerous."

General Harlan stepped forward while covering Prince Wendell from behind.

"How did you get here you cursed human! No, more than that how did you escape your prison!"

Now I should speak with a calm tone to avoid unnecessary troubles.

"Calm down, I just heard the terrible situation happening in this place, It seems like they didn't accept the Kings proposal... "

"You rascal! This is all happening because of you!"

"If they're coming for me then they should've accepted the King's proposal but they didn't, that means they are coming here for invasion."

But maybe the Empire is probably coming because of me and they thought that this is a good idea to also invade this place but, of course, there's no need for me to say that out loud.

I moved my body in front of King Ulysses, I kneel down and lower my head.

"You know things about me your highness, let me join the fight."

"Wha-!"

Everyone was shocked by what I said the King even looked with eyes full of astonishment.

"My King! Don't let this criminal join us! Letting him join our army will taint our honor!"

One of the Generals spoke loudly while pointing his hands at me but I won't let him stop me.

"Your highness! Now is not the time to think about such thing everyone here must think of how to overcome this coming tragedy. Your highness, I've told you about my power I'm not asking you to trust me but to use me!"

I'm willing to serve under him for now, I can't abandon this place....

The King stood up, he let go of the letters he was holding and it scattered on the ground.

"Why.... What's your purpose for doing this? You won't gain anything from this."

You're wrong, I don't want the empire to catch me it's true that I can just escape alone easily but...

I put my gaze towards Kaya, She is also looking at me.

"Abandoning this place means abandoning my promise to Kaya."

Kaya Widened her eyes or a moment then her eyes moistened she probably remembered the night that I made my promise.

"Don't be foolish! We know you have ulterior motives!"

This stupid General standing beside Connor keeps on spouting nonsense. The King put up his right hand to signal silence to that General, General Harlan also put back his sword to his waist.

".. I know you and Kaya had become friends during her training, I don't know what kind of promise you had with her, but what pushes you to go this far, do you have feelings towards Kay-"

"I want to compensate for my crimes "

and also I don't want to break my promises... I said the last part to myself.

I immediately intervened with his words to avoid anymore problem to arise, I don't want the King to know what happened that night with me and Kaya, but I didn't lie about my answer. I want to change my way of life and be a different person. I'm also a person who never break his promises that's why i'm very careful giving promise to other people that night with Kaya was a little bit different, but I don't plan to break my promises. Kaya's face intensely reddened, but we have to ignore that for now.

"I know Elves cares so much about their honor... Then please give me the opportunity to bring honor back to myself."

The King looks at me intensely thinks for several minutes before giving his answer.

".......Very well, I will send you into the frontlines under General Connor."

(If we can't use him, then I should let him die the way he want to. Since he looks eager to die I'll grant that to him. It's also impossible for him to escape alone from this place without encountering the incoming human army or without encountering our own army. All of his choices will bring him his death....) The King carefully thought to himself.

"Your highness, Are you sure about your decision? "

General Harlan asked his King with shock.

"Don't worry he is going to fight on the front lines... If he does something suspicious, Connor has my permission to kill him."

"Yes, your majesty."

He didn't question the King since he can kill Flint anytime he wants. He also know fighting in the front lines would bring certain death.

"The Humans will reach the shore before the first light of the morning. Let's prepare immediately!"

The King declared with a determined voice.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

After the talk with the King, General Connor told me to meet him and his men deep in the forest to prepare to depart, Wendell suggested his self to guide me but he leads me in a certain room of the Castle forest.

"Why did you brought me here?"

The room looks beautiful everything was organized and the floor is shining the owner of this room must be a female because of the girlish design around the room.

The door slowly opened and what met my eyes was Kaya, she quickly runs and hugged me so tight after she saw me.

"Kaya..." I was a little bit surprised, but I also hugged her tightly.

"It's been so long... I know this might sound cruel, but I'm glad the empire refused my father's offer. *Sob* *Sob* "

She's burying her face in my chest while sobbing.

"Kaya...I'm also glad to hold you... I'm happy that you tried your best to save me until the very end."

Wendell told me that she kept protesting to her father after he made the decision to send me back to the empire.

"...but my people will... My heart and my mind are conflicting with each other.. I don't know what's the right choice anymore...*Sob* *Sob* I don't want my people to suffer, but I also don't wanna lose you."

I brought my mouth near her long ears and began to whisper in a gentle tone.

"I won't let that happen... I'll make a way to make sure they won't suffer..."

She then looked at me upward and whisper my name.

"Flint..."

"I promised you right? That I will always be here for you."

She then brought her body closer to mine and hugged me again.

"Ahem!"

"We are also here...."

Kaya returned back to herself and quickly separated from me, her face reddens up to her long ears, she avoids her glance with mine and looked downward while holding her face. She looks very cute when she's acting like that.

"You totally forgot us haha!"

"Unfair~"

Wendell just laughs it off while Nahla is protesting while flying and hitting my chest, I patted her head to make up for her and she looks satisfied after that.

"N-now! I Asked Wendell to bring you here to spend time with us before you go."

Kaya poured tea on my cup while explaining why I was brought here.

"I'm grateful for that, to you too Prince Wendell thank you for taking care of me when I was in prison."

"Haha! I didn't really do that much, but you can praise me as many times as you want. "

"Hey Flint~ Do you want some cookies?" Nahla offered me the cookies and I took some.

"Thank you, I will serve under General Connor and will be on the frontlines."

"Don't worry Flint, I know you are strong and will be able to defeat them I'm very confident about that"

Kaya really has a high expectation towards me that's why I can't fail.

"I'm actually jealous... You will earn honor fighting the enemies.."

Wendell's voice looks disappointed for some reason.

"I also want to fight! To fight for the honor of defending my own race! but the father refused my request to go fight."

"Wendell, You must understand Father, I also want to go since my ✡Grand Healing✡ will be a great help especially to our female knights and wizards. "

"Of course, I understand Father, but Big Sister it's our duty to go and fight the enemies. "

"Wendell..."

The atmosphere became a little bit gloomy that's why I decided to change the topic.

"Well, let's talk about something else, Prince Wendell can you tell me about the kinds of training you went through under General Harlan?"

"Oh sure! He trained me like an animal!"

The four of us talked for a while.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

Kaya and Nahla went back to their room after our talk, both of them wants to guide me in the forest but, unfortunately, they're still not allowed to get near me but thanks to Wendell we were able to have a fun talk with them secretly.

"There they are!" Prince Wendell shouted while walking beside me.

He runs excitedly towards general Connor and his men, there are several thousands of elves around, they're too many I can't count them.

"Uguh!!"

I just heard Wendell's voice but when I turn back my eyes to where he was running, he's not there.

"Down here!"

I looked down at saw Wendell stuck on a quagmire. He's trying to get a hold of some branch, but his just hands keep on slipping.

"Just what the hell are you doing?"

"S-stop looking at me and start helping me!"

I lightly ran to where he is and pulled him up, but he pulled me instead.

"Wah!"

"Ahhh!"

Now we're both stuck here, Just great!

"Just why did you pull me? I was supposed to be the one pulling you!"

"I thought I would help you raise me if I pull you too? Hahaha! "

"How's that going to happen you dumbass!"

General Connor and his men immediately ran here when they saw us both stuck on the quagmire.

".. Just what are you two doing?"

How about you stop asking and help us? I wanna say that, but i'm currently under his command. They began to pull both of us and after we managed to get out the General gave us a change of clothes.

By the way, the people who helped us were the ones that I beat up when I escape the prison, they didn't show any hostility towards me probably because General Connor already explained the circumstances to them.

"Can you ride a horse?"

General Connor asks me.

"Yes"

I taught myself how to ride a horse during my past life but I didn't really ride a horse that much, I mean why would you ride a horse if you can ride a tank or a humvee.

"I see, then you would sit with the other on the carriage"

I felt a bit uneasy even though he explained the circumstances some Elves might not accept it easily and try to do something against me.

"If we have the opportunity I promise that I will teach some interesting things."

Wendell tapped my back and promised me.

I gave my goodbye to Wendell before I went to the carriage, when I went inside I saw the opposite of my expectation, everyone is silent some of them looked at me, but they quickly lost their interest to me. They all probably nervous because we're going to war.

"Let's go, everyone! We'll reach the defense line before morning I want you to rest well so that you can fight effectively tomorrow."

Thus, we began to ride our destination.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

Several hours later before the first light of the morning. The first wave of the attack has begun to reach the shore. Prince Kyle and his officers are watching them from his ship.

"I wonder why the Elves didn't immediately attack us?"

"My prince, they're probably aware of the ranks of the mages we have." Admiral Vern said so while lighting his cigarettes.

"Hmm.. That won't change anything, do you plan on fighting Commander Armand?"

Admiral Vern asked him in curiosity.

"Ahh yes! I'll probably join the 3rd wave"

"Hahaha! You're too old for this Commander" The prince laughed at his declaration.

"My prince, I may be more than 90 years old, but thanks to humanity's advance research and magic I look like around 30 years old and stronger than my age."

"Then I would join too"

"I'm afraid you can't Admiral."

"Huh? Why so Commander?"

"You have to take command of the entire fleet while the prince and I are fighting the enemies."

Then a young knight approached them while they are cheerfully talking to each other.

"Sir, The second wave of the attack is now ready."

"Then it's time for me to go now, see you later on the other side Commander Armand!"

The Prince followed the Knight after he wore his armor and swords.

"We wish you good luck, your highness!"

✦✦✦✦✦✦

Preview to the future chapters of Munivit Anima (Link)