A three-foot-tall figure rushed out from within the bush and appeared in front of the vigilant Aldon and Sylph. Aldon quickly recognized the figure. It was Kesha, the Healer of Celes’ squad.

Seeing the two of them with their weapons drawn, and ready to engage in combat, Kesha hurriedly spoke, “It's me. Kesha. I’m a member of Lieutenant Celes’ squad!” Sylph quickly glanced at Aldon for his confirmation as she lowered her sword slowly. Aldon nodded in response and released Alastair's summon.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Kesha grumbled, twirling a strand of her brown hair, “First, you call me a child, and now you even draw your weapon at me! Bad Captain!” Smiling wryly, Aldon questioned her, “Why did you rush in like that? We thought that you were a Dungeon Beast!”

Kesha pouted and answered, “Well, I was hunting a weak Dungeon Beast nearby when I heard the Captain’s scream! It really scared me! I thought you were in huge trouble and came rushing here! And what do I get for my compassion? A staff pointed at me! Huh!” She huffed and looked away after answering Aldon.

Still smiling wryly, Aldon spoke, “I’m really sorry about that! What can I do to make up for it?” As if she was waiting for these words, Kesha perked up and answered with an energetic look on her face, “I’ve heard of something called ‘Ice-cream’ being a specialty food in this Kingdom! After we complete our mission, you have to treat me to it!”

Aldon smiled and agreed to it. Seeing Aldon readily agree to it, Kesha’s eyes flared up with childish greed as she added, “Not only one serving, you have to buy me two servings. One for calling me a child, and another for drawing your staff against me!”

Aldon, still smiling, agreed to it, “No problem! In fact, I’ll treat you to how much ever servings you want!” Kesha’s eyes sparkled with joy when she heard this. She jumped around in ecstasy, shouting, “Best Captain, ever!”

Sylph cleared her throat and asked Kesha curiously, “How did you cross the fog without experiencing its hallucinogenic effects?” Kesha stopped jumping around and replied honestly, “When I encountered the fog, I felt a sense of bewitchment from it. So, I cast a Realm 6 Healing Spell, ‘Immune Cloak’ on myself and tried to pass through it. But, before I could enter the fog, it automatically started thinning and after a while, disappeared completely. So, I just sprinted towards the direction of the Captain at full speed!”

Both Sylph and Aldon were shocked to learn that the small Kesha could cast Realm 6 Spells! Stunned, Aldon asked, “Are... Are you a ‘Realm of Conflict’ Mage? A Realm 6 Mage?”

Smiling widely and puffing her chest proudly, Kesha answered, “Ahum! Yes, I am! I broke through to the Realm of Conflict a week ago! Though I’m still in the very early stages of the Realm of Conflict, I’m a full-fledged Realm 6 Mage!”

Aldon and Sylph’s faces were indiscernible as they were shocked silly. Seeing their reactions, Kesha smiled cheekily and continued, “I am the first among Celes’ squad to have broken through to the Realm of Conflict successfully! The others have been trying for months, but with they've had no success!”

Kesha’s words were like pouring water on boiling oil as both Aldon and Sylph burst out in awe, “All of Celes’ squad are at the peak of Realm 5? Unbelievable!” Even the voice inside Sylph’s mind whistled and exclaimed, “That’s one powerful squad!”

Aldon took some time to calm down and questioned curiously, “If you all are at the peak of Realm 5, what about Celes? Is she also in the peak of Realm 5?”

Kesha smiled and replied, “No. Celes is still at the early stages of Realm 5. We all chose her as our Lieutenant because of her battle prowess and acuity!” She shuddered slightly, seemingly remembering something, and continued, “Once she joins a battle, she’s an unstoppable force!”

Remembering about Celes, Kesha asked curiously, “Where’s she? In her broadcast to everyone, she mentioned that she was with you?”

Aldon pointed towards Celes and answered quickly, “She’s just over there. We encountered some sort of Dungeon Beast that was capable of emitting a fog that caused hallucinations. She seems to be out cold due to exhaustion. Please take a look at her!”

Noticing Celes lying unconscious down on the ground, Kesha hurried over and began to examine her. Aldon turned to Sylph and tried to clear any misunderstandings, “It’s not that I don’t believe your assessment. Just that, Kesha is a Healer and has more expertise in the field. That’s why...” Sylph interrupted Aldon with a smile, “Hey, I understand. No worries. I’d probably have asked her to do the same if you hadn’t. So, don’t worry!”

Aldon sighed in relief and turned back towards Kesha. She finished her examination and spoke with a frown, “It seems that Celes has exerted herself way beyond her limits. As a result, the mana inside her body is all dried up. It also appears that she’s experiencing quite a dreadful nightmare, and as a result, her vitals are very erratic. I’ll infuse some of my Healing Mana into her. It’ll help ease her nightmares and hasten her recovery.”

After infusing some of her mana into Celes, Kesha stood up and questioned Aldon curiously, “What happened here!? I’ve never seen Celes in such a state before!” Aldon took a deep breath and narrated what had occurred.

Sylph also shared the information known to her about the Dungeon Beast ‘Bufotarius’ after Aldon finished his narration. She revealed that due to the slight presence and aura of Bufotarios still enveloping the surroundings, the area around them was now a natural deterrent to other Dungeon Beasts.

Learning about the Bufotarius, Aldon felt a drop of cold sweat running down his spine as he realized how much of a danger they were in before and how fucked up they would’ve been if Sylph hadn’t intervened in time.

Kesha exclaimed how lucky they were for surviving the ordeal. Aldon nodded in acknowledgment and asked, recalling something, “Kesha, you mentioned earlier something about a ‘broadcast’ made by Celes to everyone. What was it? I only asked Celes to pass on my orders to her squad!”

Kesha twirled her hair in awkwardness as she answered, “Our communication artifacts have two channels. One is ‘local’, where only the members of a particular squad are connected, and another, ‘broadcast’ that literally broadcasts the message to every communication artifact provided by the Empire around a hundred-kilometer radius. Celes must have accidentally switched to the ‘broadcast’ channel while relaying your orders to us. Because other than the broadcast, I haven’t received any orders in the local channel.”

Aldon pondered over this mistake of Celes and came to the conclusion that it was actually for the better since every soldier from the Empire now had clear instructions and they could regroup quickly. He still made up his mind to reprimand her for her mistakes.

Curious about something, Aldon asked Sylph, “Do you possess any means to communicate with your squad?”

Sylph silently shook her head in response. Seemingly suspicious about something, Aldon spoke his mind, “After sending us on an undeniably dangerous mission, why would the Empire forget to provide us the most essential thing required for its successful completion? Do they expect us to never split from our squads? That doesn’t make sense!”

Sylph also started to ponder over it as the voice inside her whispered, “This lad is quite sharp! I like it!” Shushing the voice, Sylph continued to try and figure out the reason behind the Empire’s actions.

Kesha gave her opinion on the matter, “The Lieutenants had actually expected you all to possess them as it was a mandatory artifact for any soldier belonging to the Empire. What if it is a type of test for the Captains? You all being sent here is basically a test of your prowess and battle sense.”

Sylph seemed to agree with Kesha’s opinion as she nodded repeatedly. Aldon didn’t seem to be convinced as he raised some questions, “If it really is a test, what’s it testing? You mentioned that the communication artifact was mandatory for every soldier of the Empire. Wouldn’t it make more sense for the Empire to provide the artifacts to us to make sure we get proper exposure and experience using them? Something feels fishy to me!”

Sylph shook her head as she replied, “We simply cannot determine the objective of the Empire on this matter. But I think that you’re simply overthinking this. Maybe the objective of the test is to assess our capabilities in emergency situations?” Aldon didn’t seem to be completely convinced as he muttered, “Maybe so...”

While Aldon, Sylph, and Kesha were busy trying to figure out the intentions of the Empire by not providing them with communication artifacts, Celes had gained consciousness and was busy holding back her emotions from her nightmare.

After a while, Celes sorted out her emotion and slowly sat up. Noticing this, Kesha quickly dashed towards her and hugged her tightly. It appeared that she had been quite worried about Celes. Celes softly caressed Kesha’s head, reassuring her that she was fine, and smiled wryly at Aldon.

Aldon felt a sense of camaraderie towards Celes as they both had experienced their worst nightmares and had gone through the trauma of facing them again. He forgot to reprimand her for her mistake and softly asked, “Are you alright?”

Celes forced out a cheerful response and changed the subject, “I’m alright, Captain! Enough about me, how about you? How’re you? I heard your scream even when I was hallucinating! Is everything alright?” Aldon nodded in response and brought her to speed with the events that had occurred and also revealed the information regarding the Dungeon Beast ‘Bufotarius’ shared by Sylph.

After Aldon finished his narration, Kesha teased Celes, “You made a mistake, right? I heard that the Captain had asked you to convey his orders to your squad, but you accidentally conveyed it on the broadcast channel! I should have known that you would do this as you’re very clumsy while operating an artifact!”

Seemingly remembering something, Kesha turned to Aldon and continued, “Hehehe! I remember one time when we had gone to a hot spring to relax, and Celes here had accidentally...” Celes abruptly closed Kesha’s mouth with her hands as she turned beet red, clearly embarrassed by the memory of the event. Kesha struggled to free herself to tell the story, but no matter how hard she struggled, she just couldn't escape the clutches of Celes.

The sight of small Kesha flailing her arms and legs to escape Celes’ clutches was humorous as both Aldon and Sylph started to chuckle witnessing it.

After a while, Celes completely recovered and joined the group as they sat around in a circle. After discussing their next steps, they decided to wait for the arrival of the squad members of the three Lieutenants in the same spot. Since the area was free from Dungeon Beasts as the presence of Bufotarius kept them at bay, it was the most appropriate place to regroup.

While they waited, they shared their adventurous and exciting stories to pass the boredom.

***

Inside the Throne Hall of the Kingdom’s Castle, the King just received the report of the Dungeon inside the city of Cartos collapsing and trapping the Prince and the elves from the Empire within the Barrier.

The King’s face distorted in a ghastly manner as his heart sunk to rock bottom. The bickering court elves all shut up when they saw their liege and awaited his response to the news.

Though various ominous thoughts were running through the King’s mind, he exhaled deeply and ordered a Royal Messenger to pass this report on to the Empire.

Some of the court elves thought that the decision was largely risky and shared their views, “Your Majesty, sending a messenger to the Empire to relay this news would be quite risky. What if they pin the deaths of the elves on us? We would be in more danger than before!”

The King frowned at these court elves, and with a piercing gaze, reprimanded them, “Don’t just declare that the elves trapped inside the Barrier are dead! Have you seen it yourself? Does the report mention it? No! If anyone has any chance of surviving the ordeal, it would be the elves from the Empire! Didn’t you all appraise their strength when they first entered the court? They are strong, capable elves! Let’s put our trust in them and hope that they are still alive!”

The court elves remembered that the King’s youngest son was also trapped within the Barrier and fell silent.

The Royal Messenger quickly exited the Throne Hall and went outside the Castle to teleport to the Empire. He quickly activated an Artifact, and a small Magic Circle began to form beneath his feet.

The court elves inside the Throne Hall soon began to argue, torn between two factions. One wanted to find any means to destroy the Barrier and save the elves trapped within it to avoid the wrath of the Empire, and the other ridiculed this notion stating that the only thing protecting their Kingdom from the encroachment of the Dungeon was the Barrier and destroying it was uttermost tomfoolery. The King sighed in frustration as he slightly slumped into his Throne. He could only wish and pray for the well-being of his son and the elves.

The Magic Circle beneath the Royal Messenger’s feet finally finished forming, and he was teleported to the Empire.

***

The Royal Messenger hastily arrived at the Castle of the Empire and requested an audience with the Emperor. He was granted with it almost immediately after he mentioned that he was from the Kingdom of Anae bearing news for the Emperor.

The Royal Messenger entered the Throne Hall nervously, and seeing the penetrating eyes of the Emperor, quickly knelt and relayed the report to him. After relaying the message, he fell prostrate before the Emperor and repeatedly asked forgiveness for his Kingdom.

The Emperor’s face slightly changed when he heard the report, and he ordered the Royal Messenger, “Stand up! You’ve done well to inform me about the matter quickly. Go wait in the Audience Chamber and await further instructions.”

The Royal Messenger stood up, bowed his head in respect, and exited the Throne Hall. He waited for the response of the Emperor while nervously and anxiously pacing around the Audience Chamber.

After the Messenger had exited the Throne Hall, the Emperor spoke out loud to the empty Hall, “Send my summons to the family heads of the Throm, Neige, and the Lunos families. Make it quick!” Three shouts of affirmation rang out in the empty Hall as three shadows sprung from behind the Throne and exited the Throne Hall.

After a while, the family heads of the three families, Haldir Throm, Hagan Neige, and Myrin Lunos, quickly arrived at the Audience Chamber. Casting only a glance at the nervously pacing around Messenger, the three family heads entered the Throne Hall. The arrival of the three family heads sent the Messenger to even more of a panic.

***

Once the three family heads entered the Throne Hall, the Emperor quickly explained why he had summoned them there and revealed the contents of the report he received from the messenger.

After the Emperor finished his explanation, Hagan laughed out loud as he exclaimed, “Your Majesty, it was for such a trivial reason that you sent the Imperial Messengers to us? Hahaha! I don’t worry about Sylph for even a moment! In fact, I even think that this has happened for the best since she could gain huge battle experience from this if she seizes the opportunity!”

Though Hagan replied enthusiastically, the other two were not so thrilled. The Lunos family head was making an expression as if he had swallowed a cactus with its thorns intact, and Haldir was immersed in his thoughts with a frown on his face.

Noticing this, Hagan energetically slapped Haldir’s back as he questioned slyly, “What, old Hal? Do you think Aldon is in danger or something? Have you pampered him to such an extent that he has become incompetent? No, right? More than anyone, you are the one who is most familiar with his prowess! Do you think he’ll be hindered by a slight inconvenience?”

Haldir snapped back to senses and spoke annoyedly, “Of course not! I am not worried about him! I’m more than confident that he will overcome this slight inconvenience without a scratch. The thing bothering me is entirely something else!” He looked at the Emperor with a slightly worried look in his eyes. The Emperor nodded almost unnoticeably in response to Haldir and glanced over to the Lunos family head, awaiting his response.

Though he was extremely worried for the safety of his son, Myrin spoke proudly, “I too believe that my child wouldn’t be deterred by this slight inconvenience. He might even exceed my expectations. Who knows!”

The Emperor seemingly made a decision after witnessing the reactions of the three family heads. He quickly dismissed the Neige and Lunos family heads and held back Haldir.

After Hagan and Myrin exited the Throne Hall, the Emperor’s face drastically changed into a grim one as he asked, “Do you think the Eye of Eclipse might be behind this?”

Haldir grimaced as he answered, “Perhaps... But Aerin hasn’t received any conclusive reports from the Prince that indicated any presence of them within the Kingdom of Anae. We can’t be completely sure!”

Making up his mind about something, the Emperor ordered, “No worries. The collapse of the Dungeon has made me more certain about the involvement of the Eye of Eclipse in the Kingdom. Ready your troops. The moment the Prince’s reports hint to even the slightest involvement of the guild, we will take immediate action.”

Haldir answered affirmatively and took his leave. The Emperor took a deep breath and ordered the Royal Messenger to enter the Throne Hall.

***

The Royal Messenger was freaked out of his mind when he saw the slight grim look on Haldir’s face when he exited and dreaded the worst. Just when he was about to lose his mind, he received instructions to enter the Hall by the attendants inside the Audience Chamber.

Though his knees had turned into jelly from his nervousness, he entered the Throne Hall bravely, expecting the worst. Instead of the grim expression he thought the Emperor would possess, the Emperor was smiling slightly as he gave his response, “The Empire has the utmost trust in the elves dispatched to aid the Kingdom of Anae. They entered the City of Cartos out of their own volition. I believe that they will resolve the unexpected development successfully. There is no need for the Kingdom to feel any guilt regarding this matter. Convey this to your King, ‘Take it easy. Leave the Dungeons to the elves sent by the Empire, and focus on more pressing matters. I personally have complete faith in those elves.’ You are hereby dismissed.”

After the Emperor dismissed him, the Royal Messenger bowed deeply in gratitude to the Emperor’s benevolence and hurried back to the Kingdom to relay the unexpected response. Using his Artifact, he quickly teleported back to the Kingdom of Anae once he was outside the Castle of the Empire.

***

The Royal Messenger quickly entered the Throne Hall of the Kingdom and relayed the message from the Emperor in front of all the court elves. He had never felt so many eyes on him, so he felt quite a bit nervous, and as a result, rapidly relayed the message.

The King sighed in relief as he began to admire the kind and compassionate nature of the Emperor. Noticing the uneasiness of the Royal Messenger, he quickly dismissed him. Taking this chance, the Royal Messenger almost ran out of the Throne Hall.

Once the messenger exited the Hall, it once again became rowdy as the court elves began to argue over some matters. The King sighed as he attempted to mediate between the elves.

***

Inside the Barrier, Aldon’s group was still talking when a huge red light exploded in the sky a few kilometers to their west. All of them quickly realized that it was the emergency flare that was widely available in all of the stores within the Empire.

Realizing that one of their own was in dire need of assistance, they quickly drew their weapons and rushed towards the direction of the flare.