Early Morning - Late Spring : Kingdom of Kaelallan

Once the sun started to rise, I headed back to the palace. I needed to meet up and talk to Helen before going to the academy library.

*Click*

"Good morning Helen."

"..Good morning.." She had bags under her eyes and looked like she was going to fall asleep at any moment.

"You should get some sleep."

"I will here shortly.." *Yawn* "So I called you in this morning to inform you about some things. First of all, the librarian at the academy is a top rank information broker, if you need any information about this half of the continent, he can get it for you. Just be aware that on top of the information being absurdly expensive, sometimes it isn't very useful, its why we don't use him any more."

-So is he a scammer or something?-

"Second of all, please keep your eye out at the academy. If you see anything suspicious, please at least report it. Since the attepted assassination of my husband, we have found several spies among knights and nobles. I feel bad to ask more from you but-"

"No, it's alright. It's not like it's anything major."

"Phew.. Thank you.."

"No worries."

Finishing the talk, Helen put her head down on her desk.

"Want me to call in a maid to get you a pillow?"

"No, it's alright.."

"Alright.. Well, have a good nap."

"Mmm.."

*Click*

It was about time to meet back up with Lucy again so I walked around and played some with Ilios to pass the time.

"Good morning!" Lucy was the first out of the palace, followed by Viviana wearing a beaming smile.

"You guys must've had a good night."

"Well of course!"

-Seems like Viviana got used to everything after all.- It took her a while to warm up, but things worked out.

The ride to the academy wasn't quiet like it was yesterday, but instead was filled with Vivana and Lucy's chatter.

I ended up using wind magic to make them a little quieter for Ilios and I, but the ride finished not long after.

"We have arrived." The carriage driver opened up the door and gave a deep bow.

After walking the girls to the classroom to make sure there wasn't any more trouble, I headed back to the library.

*Click*

"Good morning." I gave a greeting with a smile to the Librarian and leaned over the desk.

"Good morning, is it necessary to lean over the desk like that?"

"How much for information about the towers moves?"

The man froze, puzzled, "how do you know about that.."

"Wow, asking questions about the client already? How unprofessional. So what numbers are we looking at for that information?"

"Your question is too general."

"Then how about what the tower is planning to do with their new alliance."

"More than you have, even the royal family can't afford that kind of information."

-So the alliance really was the towers doing.- "How about I trade information for it?"

"What kind of information?"

"Maybe something about the fate of the tower."

"Alright, you've got my ears." This time he used a silencing artifact. Even though no one was in the library, he didn't want to chance someone walking in on it.

"Within the next 5 days, the tower will cease to exist."

He was looking at me like I was crazy, "And how could you possibly know that?"

As soon as he finished, I looked him in the eyes and let my aura loose, only keeping it from escaping the room. "Because I will destroy it myself." Although I said that, it wasn't entirely true. What I was going to do entirely depended on the news father brought back. If he got reinforcements, I wouldn't involve myself in it, but if not..

The man's face paled as he started shivering.

"How about now, you willing to trade me that information?"

"Y..yes.. that works.." He knew deep down he couldn't get out of the situation and he was nowhere near strong enough to object.

Quickly retracting my aura into a layer, I gave him a moment to catch his breath.

Instead of taking a moment to calm down though, he pulled out a drawer and pulled out a few papers.

"Please forgive me, my collection of information regarding the tower is rather limited, but I have made some recent connections regarding the movement of wealth between nations allied with them."

"Alright, that works."

After an hour of explanations, he made a daring prediction. "The tower is going to attack the Bay alliance without declaring war, knocking out Kaelallan first."

All of the countries near the Bay Alliance had been gathering their troops and armies over the past few days. Over the past week, since the towers alliance was formed, there had been a steady stream of money and high ranking troops traveling from central and western nations to ones near the Bay alliance as well.

There was a whopping 12 foreign Nation rank adventurers in the non-allied nation next to Kaelallan, the Kingdom of Zan. This was far more than enough to completely destroy Kaelallan before news could reach the rest of the alliance.

-This ended up becoming much more of a problem than I had anticipated.- "So do you know how long until they move those nation ranks?"

"My best guess is tomorrow night, or the day after."

-So they want the jump on us..- "Alright this will be the last thing I ask."

He let out a deep breath hearing that I was going to leave him alone at last.

"What does the composition of the 12 nation ranks look like?"

"4 mages, 3 archers, and 5 melee fighters.."

-This is gonna really suck..- They had a good layout on top of the fact that even without teamwork, I would need to resort to some of the big guns to win.. -12 Nation ranks is too much even for an elder..- "Alright, thanks."

I quickly left the library and academy, I needed to talk to Oliver immediately.

As I was heading back to the palace, the scenario started to weigh on me.

The situation was grim, 12 Nation ranks was far beyond what father could handle.

The only thing I was confident in was that I would find a way to completely obliterate them, be it by scummy means or simply nuking them, I couldn't just let them through to destroy Kaelallan after all.

-If I were to survive and Kaelallan was destroyed, mother and father would hate me.-

Just before I opened the door to Oliver's office I thought back to the Librarian, -wait.. He was a little too carefree now that I think about it..- but I decided to not think much about it.

*Click*

"Oh you're still here?" Oliver thought it was odd seeing me enter his office after just leaving for the academy a few hours ago.

"We need to talk."

His face became serious, quickly setting aside his paperwork and giving me his undivided attention.

"I'm going to need that monster core early, or else Kaelallan will likely fall." In all honesty, my confidence against all of those Nation ranks was very low.

Oliver furrowed his brow, "That's alarming. Where are you getting that information from."

"From an information broker Helen recommended me. That old librarian at the academy." -He was incredibly suspicious, but I dont think spies are what I should be worrying about right now.-

"Oh.. him… That's fine, the core is not more valuable than Kaelallan, but I need you to explain just how Kaelallan will fall without it. We aren't weak enough to fall so easily."

I quickly gave him a quick overview of the information and he started breaking out into a nervous sweat.

"T..twelve.. How did I not hear about any of that.."

"I don't know if my father will make it back in time, but he won't be able to win on his own anyway. I plan to go out tonight and either catch them off guard, or intercept them."

"I will get the academy grandmaster and Lawton to go with you."

"No.. they shouldn't come."

Oliver paused for a moment, "and why is that.."

"If I have to resort to my trump card.. I don't want any friendlies in the area."

After thinking for a moment, he finally agreed, "please take anything you may need from the vault.."

"Thank you.. I'll be sure they won't get through." I gave him a smile before I left.

*Click*

After I left, tears slowly came to Oliver's eyes, "How could I agree to let him go alone.."

Realizing he couldn't just let his friends son die, he quickly wiped away the tears and called in a maid.

"Summon Lawton Keen and the Grandmaster please." His eyes no longer filled with sadness, but instead with determination.