The castle was dark, damp and cold, more so now after nightfall.

Alex sat with his head in hands. He massaged his temples trying to calm the throbbing ache.

How did his life turn this haywire this quick? Just yesterday he had been over the moon that he would go on a planetary expedition with a Worlder. Even manage her planet! But after the repeated near-death calls, the novelty of it was wearing off.

Besides, his talk with Nekya was still fresh in his mind. It laid bare how ill-prepared he was. And how much of a kid Nekya still was.

“We just kill everyone!”

“Are you stupid? This must be your first expedition as well,” Devin, the retainer, chuckled.

The Hall within the Gypsum castle was great in name only. It was just a large room with a long wooden table at the centre.

The army that had set forth to the Leypoint had just returned. Devin’s army had successfully taken the marketplace. But that was the extent of the good news. Only four of Brazen Outcomes had survived the ordeal including Captain Zevin and Lieutenant Venessa.

“I’ve seen as many years as you when you were still in your mother’s belly eh,” Captain Zevin roared, rising from his chair.

The mages in the city had gathered in the great hall. Candle lights flickered on the long table casting light on the arguing mages. Only Lieutenant Venessa remained absent, still recovering in the temple after her brief tussle with Devin.

In the end, there were just seven mages in the entire city!

“Don’t tell me how to run my city,” Devin shot back. “Just do your damn job and keep Lady Nekya and the boy safe.”

The campaign was off to a terrible start. If it wasn’t bad enough the city was on the verge of civil war, he had just lost half of his force. To add on, the Leypoint that he was supposed to project wasn't even within the castle stronghold and the retainer leading his army barely listened to his orders.

“Enough!” Alex slammed his fist on the table. He added, “This is not your city, Devin. It’s hers.”

Devin’s face warped into a scowl. “You aren’t even a real Manger, kid. Just let us adults talk this out. You will bring the city to ruins overnight.”

“It can’t be worse than what you’ve done,” Alex furrowed his brows, “There are locals in arms murdering your men. The Leypoint was almost taken today. you didn’t even know about it before we came here.”

“You’ve no idea what it takes to-” Devin growled, leaning forward.

“Oh as if you do, eh? You’ve got more than half my men killed!” Captain Zevin pounced.

“Cut this crap, all of you,” Alex felt his temper rise. “I got all of you here so that to decide what to do. So that we can survive the two weeks!”

The mages shot angry looks at him, but no one spoke up.

Alex nodded. He looked acrooss the table at the retainer and asked, “ Devin let start with who were those locals that attacked us.”

Nekya had already answered a few of his questions, the most important of them – why was the Leypoint in the middle of a marketplace.

‘Well… I’m supposed to be the Goddess, right? So, I thought the locals… you know… will be amazed when I appear out of nowhere!’

Alex wanted to get Nekya’s brain checked when he heard that. Her narcissism had led to the deaths of six mages of the Brazen Outcomes. But it wouldn’t end well if they found this out. Alex decided it best to hide it from them.

“It’s just stupid locals that can’t accept that they lost. Nothing more to it,” Devin replied with a shrug.

“That’s it?” Alex asked with narrowed eyes. “Even I know that. Tell me who’s leading them? How did they know we were going to be teleporting today? What do they want?”

“Who cares,” Devin shrugged, folding his arms. “It must be one of the royals, Mehuj. Those people were worshipped before we got here. A few of them must have got away.”

Alex tapped his finger on the table. This was pointless. Devin was either woefully lacking or was being pointlessly difficult.

“How are things at the Leypoint?” Alex moved on. If he wanted to find out more about the city, he would have to find out more information on his own.

“Well, thankfully the Leypoint connection didn’t break. Those idiot locals didn’t have a clue what to do,” Devin said with a glint in his eye, “I told you, these locals are just pests. They had no idea the Leypoint was even in their city, much less what it does.”

Alex nodded with his eyes closed, “The spell is still intact?”

“Yup, not a scratch on it. Fully operational,” Devin replied with a smug smile.

“Good. That’s good,” Alex let out a sigh of relief. It would have been a disaster if the spell had been interrupted. Taking control of the Leypoint involved an especially difficult spell without the reserves of the Worlder casting it.

Alex looked around the room. Nekya sat at the head of the table with Alex sitting on her right, with Captain Zevin and the two surviving mages of Brazen Outcomes sitting beside him, while Devin sat on the other side of the table.

“Captain Zevin, your men must have some sort of communication spell, right?” Alex asked.

The Captain nodded yes. It was common for mercenary groups to have specialized communication spells which sent coded messages across large distances. Phones weren’t that reliable during long campaigns where they could run out of mana. Or even during planetary expedition where phones were completely redundant.

“Alright. Captain Zevin, I want two of your mages stationed at the marketplace,” Alex said.

“Cynthia and Ray will go.”

Alex nodded his head. It wasn’t much of a choice with only the two remaining of the Brazen Outcomes. He looked at the tattooed woman and the one-eyed man, their appearance screamed combat-mage.

“Okay, the soldiers that are deployed there will be under your control,” he said. “Start with constructing a stronghold around the Leypoint immediately. If anyone asks, tell them it’s a new temple for the Faith of Nekya, understood?”

“Yes sir,” said Ray, the one-eyed combat-mage. Cynthia only gave a curt nod.

“This is stupid!” Devin roared, shaking his head furiously. “You want to weaken the castle even more! What happens when the rebels mount an attack with casters on their side? This is stupid!”

“What will you do with the castle if the Leypoint gets taken?” Alex shot a dark look. He was getting annoyed at the retainer’s repeated interruptions.

“Those idiot cats have no idea what to do with the Leypoint. Assuming they can actually find it,” Devin continued.

“I’m sure you with fifty soldiers can hold the castle from the idiot cats,” Alex said with a straight face, “and you’ll have Lieutenant Venessa’s full support.”

Devin clicked his tongue and gave a reluctant nod.

Alex thought for a moment. With fifty soldiers dedicated to guarding the castle and thirty more at the marketplace, there were only a handful of twenty soldiers felt at his disposal. After a while, he decided to keep them as a reserve, in case something popped up.

“I want reports sent to Captain Zevin. Got it?” Alex said.

All the mages nodded, some more reluctant than others, but no one said anything. Cynthia and Ray still hadn’t recovered their mana yet, so it was decided that they would take their posting the next morning. The Brazen Outcomes soon felt the Great Hall and retreated for the night.

“I hope you don’t get us all killed, kid. You’re trying too hard here. All we needed to do was hold the castle for two weeks, that’s it. The catfolk can take the rest of the city, who cares. Not like they know what the Leypoint is. For them it’s just a mysterious place from where evil aliens pop out from,” Devin said, standing up.

“I hope the catfolk are as ignorant as you say,” Alex said with a half-smile. “Now, where are the prisoners you caught?”

***

The dungeons was cold, with water dripping off the walls.

“You get why I stopped Lady Nekya to stay back?” Devin asked.

“Yeah,” Alex agreed, it was a good choice not to bring the Worlder along. The entire place reeked of waste.

The prison was barely lit, with just a single torch outside the cell. Heavy steel bars locked the two catfolk behind the wall wearing heavy chains on their arms. The two catmen looked unharmed as they glared at them unflinchingly.

“Go ahead,” Devin said.

Alex nodded and stepped forward. He channelled mana to his [All-Speech] Bio rune and spoke, “I will set you free. Just give me the name of this royal, the Mehuj you work for.”

A soft chuckle echoed as one of the prisoners stood up. The chains clanked on the stone floor.

“The Mehuj are scum just like you lot!” the prisoner spat on the floor. “You will learn the truth when the true Goddess Nekya arrives. All you heretics will burn in an eternal flame!”

Alex stared the prisoner with surprise. This didn’t make any sense. The only Nekya was in her room right now!

***