After rebutting his suggestion with three rock-solid arguments, Marie ushered Aziz back to the Heaven-cleaving Fortress. Although the Mortal Light Dynasty had indeed requested their help earlier, the First Aerial was ultimately a crack troop of the Republic, which meant that there were bound to be some mismatches in protocols and operating procedures.

Rather than have an ally’s troops fumble around in trying to offer help, the North had ordered some of their fliers back to act as reserve. From Aziz’s point of view, the North had indeed screwed up earlier in ordering every single combat unit to enter the Wildlands, but now that they were making amends, the First Aerial’s role in the whole thing was a lot smaller now.

That still didn’t stop him from cursing at the War Council, though. On the way back, he could see that the militaries of the other nations were already mobilising for an invasion. Did they not know that the North had been forced to stop their advance? Or did they see that particular event as a boon?

“This is a mess,” Aziz muttered, his eyes following the Republic’s ground troops as they marched across the landbridge between the two worlds. They weren’t alone — the East’s infantry troops were already further ahead.

“Yes,” Marie replied. “The East’s ground reinforcements haven’t even arrived, and they’re already sending in whatever troops that were supposed to be defending the fortress. Is land really such an important thing that the lives of their soldiers are worth…”

She didn’t complete her sentence. Air shrieked as she threw on another burst of speed, prompting the remaining members of the First Aerial to do the same. Streaking across the skies, the two battalions split up and returned to their respective battalion barracks.

Marie had issued orders for them to rest and relax when they returned, in order to make up for that abrupt sortie. The request to provide aid earlier had been fast-tracked by Minister Pauline herself, and although the First Aerial was in position to refuse, the marshal had wrung out some concessions for their understrength, over-strained division.

Unfortunately, the two of them weren’t included in the list of beneficiaries. The Minister of State had requested for their presence the moment they returned, presumably to ask them about their opinion on invading the Wildlands.

As they continued on towards the headquarters of the Heaven-cleaving Fortress, the colonel a familiar couple rocketed past them at a breakneck pace. In the frozen moment in which the two had zoomed past them, Aziz had managed to recognise the duo. The rest of their bodies were pretty much a blur, and within moments, they had plunged deep into the Heaven-cleaving Fortress.

“What’s going on?” Aziz asked out loud.

Marie narrowed her eyes and stared in the direction Aziz was pointing at. “Oh. Gaius seems to be carrying an injured person, and they’re headed…in the direction of the hospital.”

“Maybe someone who’s critically injured, I guess.” Aziz looked at the golden-haired girl that was moving with Gaius. “Wow, she’s able to keep up with him in flying speed…”

After making a noise that somehow included both envy and surprise, Marie turned her eyes away from the sight. The two descended a moment later, vanishing from sight.

Critically injured soldiers rarely survived, often bleeding down or dying from complications shortly after being mortally wounded. From how the duo had rushed past them from behind, Aziz could tell that they had been in the Wildlands earlier; with the Wildlands’ simultaneous ambush, it was inevitable that people would be killed or grievously wounded.

The Pint-sized Railgun, however, had managed to bring back one such casualty to the most advanced medical facilities in the whole of the Five Lands. If said casualty was lucky, he or she might make it through and all, if prompt treatment was administered in time when they arrived.

For the sake of Gaius and Isabelle’s sanity, Aziz hoped that the casualty ferried back by them would indeed make it out alive.

Shortly after that thought flashed through his mind, Marie and Aziz began to descend too. Their destination, however, was different. The headquarters of the Heaven-cleaving Fortress, where the War Council ruminated on their next moves and issued orders from, was a rather ordinary building.

Other than a few more people milling around and reading newspapers — those people were actually guards in plainclothes — it looked like any other building that saw a moderate amount of use. People came and left every so often, and as far as things went, there weren’t any excessive displays of authority or wealth outside the building.

Aziz could only wish that he could say the same for the interior.

Dazzling light from precious gems and statues assaulted his poor eyes as he entered the building, forcing him to look away for a few seconds. Once again, Aziz found himself longing for some method to darken the world around him. Fights were blinding enough — Aziz did not want to repeat the experience whenever he walked into the glitzy interior of the War Council’s building.

The Guardian Barracks, which served a similar function to this, was far more sensibly decorated. To begin with, he didn’t get why a building to explicitly house the War Council’s functions were needed when the Guardian Barracks were more than enough. After a few visits here, however, he was beginning to get the feeling that this building was a means in which nations tried to degrade their peers and elevate their own standing.

Other than the stupidly ostentatious interior decorations, all sorts of guards stood around the place too. Although the myriad uniforms were something that made them stand out, all of them shared one thing in common — they were all battle-hardened grizzled men and women who would have silenced a tavern by simply walking inside.

Veterans like them should be in the battlefield, but it would seem that the higher-ups of every nation had collectively drilled a hole in their brains and placed valuable personnel to guard an installation that was probably never going to be attacked from the inside.

After getting used to the blinding light, the two of them began to head upstairs.