--Mark's pov--

The new day's light was now illuminating the battlefield.

After the battle ended, I decided to take a look at the battlefield. I wanted to see with my eyes what war looked like, and what I saw hit me hard.

I always knew what war was, but I didn't truly understand until I saw it, no, probably I still wasn't understanding completely.

I returned to my camp with my head hung low, Roxanne was waiting for me outside my tent.

“Hard to watch uh?”

I smiled sadly at her.

“Yea.”

“You should imprint that image in your mind, you'll see it again if you keep following David.”

“If it's for protecting you guys I can do it how many times I need.”

She sighed.

“If you want to protect us then just stay out of trouble and don't go looking for environments like this one.”

“But otherwise how can I get stronger? The empire and the league are constantly at war so whatever side I take, if I want to fight and get stronger, I would end up on a battlefield anyway.”

“You don't need to become strong until you remain as out of trouble as you can, you might always get unlucky and be targeted by the wrong person, but you would probably be fine.”

“I told you, I can't protect you if I'm powerless.”

“You are already quite strong, how far do you have to go until you don't feel powerless anymore?”

“That...... I don't know, but I think I'll know when I get there.

“I don't think you can keep us safe and chase power at the same time.”

“I think I can, I think you can do anything in this world.”

She sighed again.

“Nevermind, just always think twice before you do things, okay?”

“Uh, all right.”

I could understand what she said, it was dangerous to aim for strength, but I was confident I could do it while protecting everyone in this novel-like world.

What I just saw made me feel powerless, but that horrible feeling only motivated me more.

“By the way, why were there so many young and middle-aged people?”

“Zaven is probably throwing at us everything it has, they were newbies and retired adventurers, they were probably forcefully drafted. Zaven doesn't care much about its weaker components, so it used them to buy time for its real force to prepare.

You see, Zaven shares part of its culture with the league, and on the eastern continent the law of the strongest reign. Everyone has the chance to become stronger, but if you don't succeed you'll belong to the lowest class, and you'll have a very hard time. You'll be safe, but you'll be considered socially inferior and it will be difficult to get by. The only ones that have it relatively easy are the blacksmiths and the magical tools' artisans.

If we siege Zaven those people will probably be the first ones to starve.”

“Allow me to add something.”

Ron walked up to us, he came at the exact right moment to enter the conversation.

“This is also one of the reasons why we are always trying to take the league's territory, it's to stop that flawed mentality. The empire produces a great quantity of grain to allow more people to live instead of selecting only a small few. We are fighting to bring upon everyone the blessing of the goddess Esha, the goddess of fertility and life; and to bring a just government upon them thanks to Horus's rule.

You saw how they treat their people. That was one of the reasons why I wanted you to participate in this war, it was to see with your eyes what they do, they send kids and old people to die so that their governors can flee to the eastern continent.”

David told me not to believe anything that Alua and Ron said, so I guessed he was trying to do propaganda here. I couldn't help but consider that the fact that the empire allowed for more people to live was true though. He had some points, maybe.

After a pause, he continued to talk.

“So, if one day you desire to fight for the empire, I can help you get a good position.”

“I'll consider it.”

I wasn't sure about it, I didn't want to take any decision too hurriedly. I wanted to think about it, after all, being on friendly terms with an empire was both a good way to obtain chances to get stronger and keep my friends safe.

I wanted to talk about it with David.

--Lae's point of view--

As I was waiting for him to return, I kept looking for something to do, there was nothing I could find though. I already fed Direshadow, cleaned all the spare equipment, cleaned his tent, and washed his clothes, there was nothing else I could do.

Usually, I did those tasks happily, but once I finished I never felt the urge for more, but today I felt like I needed to be more useful to him.

I kept walking around looking at things only to find them in order, then I decided to just sit and calm down.

I stopped thinking about chores, but I still felt the urge to do something.

I thought a little about it, and I realized I was feeling useless. When he risked his life, I could do nothing but call for someone else's help, and today, I almost died of something extremely weak. I just found someone important again, I just started feeling happy again, and I didn't want to die now. On top of that, I also made him worry about him

Well maybe I was a little happy about the fact he worried for me, but I didn't want to be a burden to him.

There must've been something I could do.

I thought about all the people around me: Mark, Erian, Oliver, Roxanne, and David himself.

They were all fighting for what they desired, yet I just received it without doing anything and was enjoying it without risking anything, it made me feel useless.

He was an amazing person, even if a bit problematic, yet he was shouldering a dead weight like me while receiving little in return.

I wanted to be more useful, to protect him, and to help him more concretely, and if I could I wanted to be praised by him and become necessary to him so that he would never let go. I, of course, wouldn't ever let go of him either.

I decided to fight to determine my fate, and protect my newfound place in the world against everything and everyone.

I rose to my feet and talked to no one while nodding to the air.

“I'm going to start training with Roxanne, I'm going to impress master, just see.”

I raised my fists in the air to express my excitement.

I started thinking about what weapon would be best.

--David's pov--

When I returned to my tent, I saw Lae doing a strange dance walking in a circle with her fists in the air while laughing.

I expected her to be shaken by the fact that she almost died earlier, but instead she was dancing. Well, maybe she was happy to be alive, she sure could see the bright side of things.

“Hey Lae, did something good happen?”

“Uh.”

Se noticed me and rapidly took a composed posture and bowed to me.

“Welcome back master. I was just thinking about something.”

“What?”

“I think it would be best for me if I started training alongside Roxanne, I want to be able to be more useful to you, master.”

That was unexpected. I didn't like the idea of Lae endangering her life, but it was also true that by remaining weak she still risked dying for something trivial. Also, if in the future I made myself enemies she would become an easy target. Well, I would definitely make that kind of enemy in the future so maybe that wasn't a bad idea.

“All right, I think it's a good idea, but be careful to always stay safe, you don't have to grow as fast as me or Mark.”

“Thank you, master, I'll ask Roxanne to teach me whatever she learns.”

Training this way wouldn't be efficient, especially since they would probably use different weapons.

Lately, the only training for demonic attributes that was giving results was the meditation, mana, and ki circulation and manipulation could be trained only so much without getting caught so I could spare some time.

“There's no need for it, let's do it like that. I and mark will train you two together, we'll train together two times a day. When one of I and Mark train alone the other will train you, while when we spar, you'll spar too and apply what we taught you. You'll have less time to do the chores but I can do some on my own, is that fine with you? I'm sure Mark will agree too.”

“Y-yes it's fine by me, thank you, master. But you don't have to worry, I'll still do all the chores myself.”

“Great, and what weapon and combat style do you think of using?”

“I don't know, what do you need me to do the most?”

“You don't have to think about me, just choose the weapon that suits you the most, it will also make you stronger.”

“Then I'll think about it.”

“Good, now I'll go look for Mark since I have to tell him of the training.”

“Training?”

Mark's voice came from behind my tent.

“Oh, you're here?”

“Yes, I wanted to talk about something.”

“Sure, I also had something t ask you.”

Lae left us alone.

First I told him about my idea for the training and he eagerly agreed.

“Now I also have something to talk to you about.”

“What is it?”

“Ron asked me if I wanted to fight for the empire more actively, I was thinking that might not be a bad idea.”

I was a bit taken aback by that, I told him the empire wasn't as good as it seemed, and he should have seen it with his own eyes.

“Why, have you started believing in Esha or something?”

“No, I was just thinking that if everyone is equally ev- hem....... controversial........ I might as well fight for the one which allows more people to survive. And like this, I can gain some influence and protect you in a different way other than just use my shield.”

He had a point, I honestly liked more the league since how much importance they gave to strength, but I could see where he was coming from. Having an ally inside the empire could prove beneficial. If I managed to flee and get by myself I would probably not see him for a while, but eventually, if I continued pursuing strength, I would eventually find him again, and at that time I would have an influential ally.

My biggest worry was him giving in to their brainwashing and start believing them blindly, but he seemed to know what he was going towards, maybe I had to trust him. No, I had to trust him, he was doing that for me too, I didn't want to do the same mistakes I did with Jane. If I stopped trusting him one day he might stop trusting me too, and I would lose him for good.

“If you think it's a good idea do it, I trust you, just remember what you are doing and why you are doing it. Don't trust anyone inside there and remember what I told you. Also, keep Roxanne by your side, she seems to care about you, so let her support you.”

He blushed a little and said with a smile.

“I'm happy you trust me, I'll make sure your trust will be repaid entirely.”

“Good, then what about some training after we sleep? We can start training the girls.”

“Good idea, let's go to sleep now, I'm dead tired.”

We then went to our tents and tried to catch some sleep, I struggled to fall asleep, and I woke up covered in sweat and still feeling tired, I probably had a nightmare, but I didn't remember it, and I didn't feel as bad as the night after the first battle.

--Alua's pov--

I went inside Ron's tent to report, He was busy cleaning his sword after the battle. He didn't even look at me, which added to my already present irritation. I hated having to report what I saw to him, but I had no choice, trying to lie to an agens was way too dangerous.

“Reporting: only David participated in the field battle. Initially, he behaved well, although with some hesitation, as natural, but during the search for survivors he committed treason with Erian.

They rescued two enemies soldiers and escorted them to one of the hills, they also killed a sentinel.

Afterwards, Mark talked to him about your proposal and he seemed to approve of it, but he seems to want to maintain his influence on him. They also decided to start training the other demi-human.

Mark seemed to have taken a slight liking to the empire's way, but he still doesn't trust us.

Oliver did well, he didn't participate in the battle but didn't hesitate to kill when threatened, he's coming out well.

Erian is doing whatever she wants, as expected, she's conscious she's going to die soon so we've got nothing to stop her. But she's still alone, she had the chance to talk a little with David but they still dislike each other.”

Ron nodded.

“Well, this will add to David's already bad history. I still didn't receive a reply, but the chances of him living longer than the end of this war are getting slimmer. Prepare yourself to kill your favourite boy.

That's all, return to your duties.”

I did the salute and got out, I then started walking rapidly towards my tent, everyone was resting so I had some time for myself too.

I wanted to sleep and forget the irritation I was feeling, I wanted David to belong to Hoss, I was sure he would become a huge resource eventually, but he continued to screw himself over, why was it so hard to just do what you're told? It was the best way to meet everyone's interests.

I sighed.

Anyway, there was nothing I could do against it, at least I could think about how the war was going. Both armies were steadily advancing and thanks to the absence of Zaven's allies we arrived deeper than we ever did. Conquering Zaven once and for all was no longer a dream, and then we would have the monopoly of the northern continent, or at least of the part not belonging to the hollows. They never attacked anyone over their borders in a thousand years so there was no reason why they would start now, their way of expanding was converting people into one of them after all.

I arrived in my bed and fell asleep thinking about the importance Hoss was about to acquire.