“Get me some numbers, Nexus. And a holographic display, if possible.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do the latter, Master Gaius,” replied the artificial intelligence. “I don’t have enough bandwidth to display the entire map to you.”

Gaius shook his head. “So be it. Enemy numbers then. Split them up between the East and the West, if the Map is able to differentiate between the two.”

“Already done. Ninety-six troops from the Eastern Holdings, and one hundred from the Western Territories. Most of them are Squires, but there are also two Knights.” The voice paused for a moment. “And thirty-two Squires from the Southern Continent.”

"You didn't mention anyone from the South earlier...never mind." Gaius took a deep breath as he moved into the shadow of a naturally-formed boulder of snow. “Captives? Defectors? Or is the South now working with the Alliance?”

“Unfortunately, I’m unable to differentiate between these three points, and the Map can’t do that either.” replied Nexus. Its wooden head popped up from the insides of Gaius’ clothes, and a well-made arm followed next. “There. It’s a bit too obvious from my point of view, so you should be able to spot that scout too.”

Gaius briefly reflected on how he was now engaging in anti-scout operations, despite having argued against it earlier, and chalked it down to the convenience of the Map of Stars. His body faded from view as he took to the skies. From above, the person hiding behind the boulder was rather conspicuous — the enemy was using some white cover all around him, but there was nothing that could be done to hide from a bird’s eye view.

It was the same thing with the metal, roofless building all over again. Never be covered in darkness.

Unsheathing his knife, Gaius dropped like a stone from above, and blood sprayed out. The enemy never even managed to let out a squeak, as Gaius had stabbed his throat with his left hand. The corpse crumpled on the spot, but the little boy couldn’t exactly set it on fire, not in the field.

After covering it with the white cloth the scout had been using, Gaius hopped into the air again. Nexus had pointed out five scouts that were spread out, along the route of the main body. Gaius didn’t intend to let any of them return back to the main force to report.

“You seem rather calm, Master Gaius. I know you’ve been through a lot on Earth, but it is rather spooky from my point of view.” Nexus spoke in his ear as Gaius looked down on the second scout.

“Shush now, talk later.” Gaius plunged from the sky again. Metal shrieked as the second scout slashed skywards in what looked like a preternatural intuition at work. The little boy landed on the ground and skidded a metre backwards, his eyes still on the enemy scout.

But that was all the foreign teenager could do. A knife had been found its mark in the enemy’s chest the moment Gaius had been pushed backwards — something that even the enemy’s intuition had failed to notice. The teenage boy gasped and tried to open his mouth, but before he could speak, Gaius had struck out again.

A severed head toppled onto the snow, and its body followed suit soon afterwards.

The little boy dismissed the gruesome sight, and tossed the white cover the scout had been using over his remains. Gaius’ right arm was tingling slightly — he didn’t expect someone to be this strong.

A Knight? Yes, it’s possible. There are a lot of gifted people in this world, after all. Gaius stretched his right arm. It was fortunate that he had thrown out his knife, since a prolonged fight against someone of a higher realm could turn south swiftly, especially considering the fact that they probably had their own trump cards.

The little boy didn’t really feel up to stripping them of their valuables, though. The Knight’s corpse, however, was a different temptation altogether. Lifting up the white sheet slightly, Gaius began to remove whatever that looked remotely valuable, like the shiny ring it had on its wrists and the armguard, tossing them into the bag on his back.

It used to just carry some supplies, but adding some equipment probably wouldn’t change much. The only he took was a few pieces of probably enchanted armour and some jewellery, all of which didn’t take up too much space. He would probably split the spoils…or not, but the idea of examining these pieces of equipment now was a bit tiring, given that he had to get Nexus to do it.

“Three left, I guess.” Gaius spoke quietly.

“Yes,” said Nexus, its head popping out of Gaius’ tunic. “They aren’t aware about the deaths of those ahead of them yet. But they’re travelling together now.”

“I don’t want any surprises. Report on their strengths.”

The wooden figurine rubbed its head. “I thought you wouldn’t have any issue with that one.”

“That’s what everyone says until someone dies,” said Gaius. “And I don’t want to be the person to trigger this change.”

“Understood, Master Gaius. Two Squires and one Knight,” replied the artificial intelligence. “The Knight doesn’t look too good though.”

“Another Knight? Why did they send two out for scouting missions?” Gaius shook his head, bemused. “And what do you mean when you say he doesn’t look too good?”

“She’s clutching her stomach.”

“Stomach ache? Or cramps?”

“I’m not too sure, Master Gaius. But the Knight you just faced, and the Knight with the stomach ache are both from the Southern Continent, so there’s probably some politics at play here.”

“South, eh?” Gaius examined the knife that he’d thrown earlier, and frowned at a small nick on it. “I think they’re using the Southern troops as a canary to scout for dangers.”

“And of course, ‘They’ are people whose names and position remain unknown to us,” the artificial intelligence added on. “Might be some trouble down the road later.”

“There always is.” Gaius took to the skies. “But if you’ve been able to create plans that apparently span years and decades in the making, I’m quite sure you’ll be able to overcome these small hitches too.”

“More flattery, but I’ll bite.” The wooden sculpture pointed to Gaius’ left, where a mound of snow three times the size of the Warmaster was. “Anyway, they’re half a kilometre away from that landmark.”

“Let’s go then. Time to gather some more intelligence. Continue to keep a lookout on our surroundings as we go, Nexus.”

“Yes, Master Gaius. Do take note that the main body of the enemy troops is not too far away from the scouts too.”

“Noted.” Gaius stowed his chipped knife and readied a new one. “Let’s go.”

Snowflakes danced as the little boy sped off.