I did not expect the hot spring venture to end with us executing plan 32. What’s plan 32? I have no idea but I was able to put together the gist of it through context clues, as did everyone else except Adam. After we all left the hot springs, we regrouped at the tower. We didn’t have our clothes at first but luckily Will was able to open a portal to the hot springs and get all our stuff. He says that while he was there he saw the girls beating Adam and Luther. The former looked like he was about to die while the latter was enjoying it. Those girls don’t understand that you cannot beat Luther via normal means, the man is too powerful for this Earth. I had this idea for a while now that Luther is no mere man, but a demi-god on par with Hercules in terms of strength. Or not but it would explain a lot. Anyway we put our clothes back on and just chilled for the next two hours on the tower’s first floor. Everyone besides me was playing poker while I read a book. From what I overheard the bear can pull off a good poker face. After everyone lost their money to the bear for the third time the door opened revealing the girls. They enter talking amongst themselves followed by Luther carrying Adam over his shoulder. Yep I knew it, the boy’s dead.

“Luther what was the time of death?” I ask, looking up from my book.

“Oh no my friend, the fair maiden here has not perished but merely sleeping. The things she saw were so great that she has entered a state of bliss.” Luther proclaims, plopping Adam on the couch in front of me.

I look at Adam’s face and he has a few bruises. I don’t know what Luther thinks happens when you peek on naked girls but entering a state of bliss after getting your butt beat is not it. I take a closer look and see that Adam is in fact breathing. Maybe he’s gonna die shortly, I should just bury him now to get it out the way.

“Yo guys we got a shovel?” I call out to the rest of the guys still playing poker.

They’re surrounded by some of the girls who seem to be interested in what’s happening. I think most of them are in awe of the fact the bear has all the chips.

“Ugh I don’t think so. I could just dump Adam in my pocket dimension” Will proposes.

“Nah don’t do that, it'll just stink up your dimension” I point out.

“Oh yeah you’re right.”

“Alright I guess we could dump his body somewhere. I’m too lazy to do it now though” I say, diverting my eyes back to my book.

“U-ugh. Guys what’s happening?” Adam whimpers, regaining consciousness.

“Dang I was hoping you wouldn’t wake up until after we dumped your body” I sigh.

“D-do what? I’m still alive, and in pain, I need help.”

“Well you ain’t gonna get it from me. You got what you deserved.”

“To be fair, we barged in on him and not the other way around. Once he saw us we just attacked instinctively.” Lilith reveals, looking up from Will’s hand.

Lilith and Remi are behind Will trying to help him win the poker game by recommending what to do next.

“Nah don’t feel bad Lilith. One of the laws of the universe is that if a guy sees a girl naked without her permission he is gonna get his ass beat. It don’t matter the circumstances.” I explain.

All of the guys nod their heads in agreement. They know how it is. Everyone except Luther, he’s just gone. I don’t know when he left but if I had to guess he went upstairs.

“Wait, we attacked him because he saw us naked? I thought it was because he was about to attack us.” Akane questions, looking up from Warren’s hand.

Except instead of trying to help Warren win like Lilith and Remi are for Will, she’s been staring at the cards in awe, like she’s never seen the game before.

“No Akane, that's not why we did it. That’s why I had to keep telling you to put your sword away. Don’t worry about Adam, I administered a powerful healing potion so he’ll be fine by tomorrow morning. By the way Ryder you are awful at this.” Azura berates looking at Ryder’s hand.

“It’s ok Azura I’m gonna get it alllll back” Ryder promises, throwing more chips into the center of the table with a confident smile.

“Ryder your hand is trash and you went all in. Stop playing, I’m gonna have to take over” Azura orders pulling up a chair next to Ryder.

“I had no idea these cards were used in such a fashion. I thought they were weapons. A man tried to kill me with cards like these once” Akane states watching Warren fold.

“Oh really?” Warren replies sounding very uninterested.

“Yes. It was a great battle. Do you want me to tell you the tale? There were many cool moments”

“No”

“Ok so it all started-” Akane begins but since I don’t wanna hear it I stop listening.

“So where are the other girls?” Will asks aloud.

“Huh oh Anastasia, Nerva, and Nazuko are still at the hot springs. They’re paying for our damages. They are the ones who caused the most trouble so we thought it was only fair they do it. Anastasia is there as their babysitter.” Remi answers with her eyes glued to the table.

From the looks of it Remi is slowly taking over the game. Will is still playing but he’s just doing everything Remi recommends. Lilith at this point stopped recommending things knowing that Remi is in complete control.

“Well now I feel bad, we did break one of their doors, maybe we should’ve paid,” Will admits.

“Nah we didn’t do a thing, that was all Luther. He’s the one who made the sauna too hot.” I point out as I flip a page.

“Did you guys also get set on fire?” Lilith questions.

“Ugh not literally. Why did you all?”

“Yes! Nerva freaking shot fire into the sauna burning everything!” Remi discloses angrily as she makes Will bet more chips.

“I wanted tonight to end nicely but I should’ve known better to be honest. I should’ve prepared for something like that….. AND THAT’S HOW YOU PLAY POKER RYDER!” Azura exclaims pulling in a mountain of chips towards her.

“Damn” Remi curses.

Warren just shrugs his shoulders in defeat. Akane is still talking behind him but it’s clear he zoned her out as soon as she started talking. The bear lets out a sad arf. The next few minutes were quite tranquil when suddenly I heard loud stomping coming down the stairs. I look up to see Luther in the middle of the room sparkling.

“MY FRIENDS GOOD NEWS! We have all been ordered to move to the south. The end is nigh for these rebel fiends, we are to launch an assault on the rebel base very soon. We shall depart for the South first thing in the morning!” Luther shouts bursting with enthusiasm.

I look around and the reactions among us vary. Warren’s eyes squint as he realizes how close he is to reaching his goal. Akane stopped talking but her face remained deadpan. Remi, Will and Lilith’s eyes widen in shock at the sudden news, Adam moans in pain, I’m just relieved, I’m ready to get this peasant rebellion over with. After hearing the news everyone collectively agreed to go to bed so we all headed towards the soldier’s barracks which is a floor above us. I guess we’ll just tell Nerva and them the news in the morning. Thus ended the night we went to the hot springs.

I awoke to the sound of heavy breathing. I slowly open my eyes and see Luther’s helmet right in front of me.

“AH!” I scream, shooting up in my bed.

“My friend, I like your enthusiasm! It is time for all of us to begin our adventure! Come now, it is time to head to our vehicle!” Luther screams with his arms in the air showcasing his excitement.

“Ugh what time is it?” I ask as I try to wake Will up by poking him in the head.

“Hmmm I believe it is about 5:00am my friend. The perfect time to wake up.”

“W-what? We only slept for 4 hours?” I say in disbelief as everyone else groggily gets up.

Will tries to get up but can’t as Nazuko’s on him. She must have gotten into his bed shortly after we fell asleep. I can tell Will’s tired because he’s not in a good mood. Instead of waking Nazuko up he shoves her off the bed.

“Luther can’t we leave later?” I beg.

“And be late? Of course not my friend, a gentleman always arrives on time. Now come on!” Luther beckons, jumping out the window.

I slowly make my way down stairs and exit the tower. I see Ice Cube waiting outside, who doesn’t look tired at all.

“Ice Cube you’re coming with us? How come you’re not dead tired?” I question, yawning.

She takes out her notebook and scribbles a reply.

When we’re on missions, we always wake up at the crack of dawn. I’ve gotten used to it. I’m coming with you all because all knights have been ordered to assemble in the South for the final assault. Colonel Bianca also ordered me to continue being your protector. My whole squad has been assigned to protect the first and second heros during the assault.

“Does that mean we’re gonna see Marianne soon?”

She nods her head. I haven’t seen Marianne in awhile so it’ll be nice to see her again as she’s one of the few normal people I know. I try to find Luther but it appears he already ran off towards the airship. The idea of seeing Marianne again must have made him more excited than usual. I turn around to see if everyone’s up and luckily they are even though most of them look like they want to die. The only people who don’t look tired are Warren and Akane. Nerva and Nazuko collapsed to the ground falling asleep. Ice Cube had to carry the former while Remi dragged the latter across the dirt. Slowly we make our way towards the airship and we get on without any trouble. As soon as we got on we all immediately went back to sleep except Warren and Akane. When I headed to my room Warren was in the common area drinking wine while Akane continued her story from last night to his dismay.

I woke up again but this time I don’t want to die so that’s good. I walk out of my room into the common area to see that everyone else is up too, guess I’m the last person to wake up. I look around to see that everyone is socializing in their respective groups eating cookies. Colonel Bianca must have given them to Luther as a parting gift. Before I could talk to anyone though Luther emerges from the cockpit of the airship.

“MY FRIENDS WE HAVE ARRIVED!” He exclaims.

Everyone goes to the windows to see the view and it’s not what I expected. I thought I was going to see another town like the ones we’ve been to but instead I see a huge military camp. In the flat plains below I see a bunch of tents surrounded by huge wooden walls. Soldiers are patrolling along the top of the walls while there is a huge bustle of activity in the camp itself. A bunch of small dots are moving to and fro throughout the camp reminding me of an ant colony. In the center there is a very large tent that dwarfs the others which tells me that’s where the highest ranking officer presides. Outside the camp is a convoy of wagons lined up to go through the camp’s gates.

“My friend, are you ready?” Luther asks, standing next to me.

“I mean as ready as anyone else is. What’s the plan anyway?”

“We are to meet with my best friend who is to lead us to where my love is. I have been told that she is in General Frederick’s quarters awaiting our arrival”

“Wait hold up. The General Frederick. A.K.A Frederick the Magnificent? I read about his military campaigns; the man’s a genius. He’s still alive?”

“Oho of course he is! He had his 90th birthday last week. I’ve never met him, today will be the first time.”

“That’s so cool” I say in awe.

I turn to my left to see Will looking at me.

“Don’t say anything. It is cool shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything,” Will responds.

“Yeah but I know you. You were about to say something. Just let me enjoy meeting historical figures ok?”

“Yeah you got it. I won’t ruin your enjoyment of seeing a 90 year old man”

“Hey he’s not just a 90 year old man. The man’s a military legend. He’s been in the military for 70 years. He’s been a part of every major military campaign this century. Put some respect on his name” I charign as our airship lands in front of the military camp about two dozen feet away from the camp’s entrance.

We exit the airship to see there are soldiers saluting us on both the right and left sides. They’re all lined up so that they make a path straight to the camp’s front gate, they must have moved those wagons out of the way for our arrival. I’m not gonna lie, this is really cool.

“This is quite the welcome isn’t it?” Azura says as we walk down the path towards the front gate.

“Yeah it is. Are we supposed to do something or do we just keep walking?” Remi whispers.

Before anyone could answer it appears Nerva took the initiative. As we walked Nerva goes up to one of the saluting soldiers with her hands in her pockets.

She eyes him and says “Sup bitch?”

The soldier doesn’t respond, just keeps saluting. Reminds me of the guards in front of Buckingham Palace, they don’t react no matter what you do. The soldier’s silence quickly angers Nerva.

“Oh you think you’re fucking better than me huh?! Stop ignoring me asshole!”

“Nerva I-I think he’s just been ordered to salute and not talk to us that’s all” Adam says trying to calm her down.

“You wanna go bitch?!” Nerva threatens, puffing her chest.

“Drop it Nerva let’s go.” Warren sternly orders.

“Come on Warren let me at least beat this guy’s ass! Look at this dude’s smug ass face! It wants to be hit!”

“No, we don’t have time for this.”

“...Fine you got lucky asshole.” Nerva curses, catching up to Warren who’s ahead of most of the group.

I whirl around to see why Nazuko didn’t try to stop Nerva and see it’s because she’s in the back pickpocketing one of the soldiers. Wow these knights are strict, they follow orders so much that you can rob them and they won’t react. After turning back around we walk into the camp itself. There are knights walking about doing a myriad of activities such as carrying firewood or hauling supplies. It is the latter that is most striking. Most of the knights I see are carrying supplies to wagons so they really are getting ready for an assault. Our group stops after going through the gates because Luther-the one who’s been leading the way- has stopped in front of a man on a horse. The man is wearing a Lincoln green outfit that looks like something Robin Hood would wear. His outfit reminds me of Nazuko’s except that it has some extra brown padding on his shoulders. On his back is a bow and quiver full of arrows. He has a buzz cut hairstyle but from what I can tell from the hair there he’s a blonde. He looks familiar, do I know this dude? He looks down on Luther from his horse and sighs upon realizing who’s in front of him.

“Ricon it is I, your best friend!” Luther greets.

Wait Ricon? Ohhh I remember this dude now, he’s the archer in Marianne’s squad. He was there when I got saved from those slaver hillbillies. It’s been so long I forgot all about him. Ricon looks to his left and right trying to see if he can escape this situation but sighs realizing he can’t.

“Out of all the experiences we’ve had, all the countless hours of me glaring at you and not saying a single word, how did that translate into ‘oh, this guy is my best friend?’” Ricon responds, sounding quite angered.

“We are tortured souls Ricon, we belong together”

“No we do not. I come from a distinguished family of knights, I doubt you even have a family”

“I have many girlfriends who are my family, my best friend.”

“...right”

“HAHAHA! We are going to look back on this memory fondly!”

“I regret knowing you every day of my life!”

“I’m taking mental photographs and putting them in a folder called “I. LOVE. MY. BEST. FRIEND!”

“STOP. FORCING. YOUR. FRIENDSHIP. ON. ME!” Ricon yells, arming himself with his bow.

“NEVER!” Luther screams, expanding his arms getting ready for a hug.

Luther jumps about 20 feet in the air then starts to divebomb toward Ricon. Ricon takes out an arrow and fires it straight at Luther. The arrow makes contact causing a huge explosion to happen in the sky above, making most of us roll back from the sheer force. I look up and after all the dust clears I see that Ricon is still standing on his horse while Luther is laying in front of him on his back.

“You are so shy my best friend.” Luther says, springing up like nothing’s happened.

“Ugh Luther...I don’t mean to interrupt but can we get going?” I ask on behalf of everyone.

No one else says anything. They’re all speechless because of what they just witnessed. To be honest, I don’t know what I just witnessed either.

“Oh of course my friend! It appears we must catch up later my dear Ricon.” Luther declares.

“..Right. I’m here to escort you all to General Frederick. You’re going to meet up with him and he’s going to tell you the plan for the assault so we can end these disgusting peasants once and for all. Follow me….don’t touch me” Ricon comments, looking at Nazuko who attempted to pickpocket him.

Nazuko slowly backs away back to Will’s group. My group is walking next to Ricon while Will’s group trails in the back. I hear them talk about how busy everything is and I think I hear Azura at some point yell at Nazuko not to steal anything else and for Ryder to stick with the group, something about him trailing off because he wants to see what kind of explosives they’re keeping in the camp. Back to my group I see Ricon conversing with Luther and Ice Cube. I ain’t adding anything to the conversation because I don’t like this dude, with his skinhead looking ass.

“You know my friend I got to say I am fond of your new hairstyle.” Luther compliments.

“...” Ice Cube adds.

“This hairstyle isn’t deliberate, you fool. I was on a mission to assassinate one of the rebellion’s leaders when the fool shot a fireball at me, burning most of my hair. That’s why I look so hideous” Ricon explains.

“...” Ice Cube comments.

“You know Anastasia Ganiadi Theano Remeli I am not in the mood for such sass”

“...”

“What do you mean you don’t go by your full name anymore? Did your family lose their money? Are you poor now?”

“...”

“That makes no sense, why do you want to be treated like...like a peasant? You're a member of the aristocracy, you should act like it. Luther was this your doing?”

“Of course not my friend. The fair maiden simply had a change of heart.”

“Well you need to change it back Anastasia Ganiadi Theano Remeli.”

“Hey Ice Cube can be called whatever she wants.” I cut in.

If I remember correctly, people are expected to say a member of the aristocracy’s full name as a sign of respect, but since I don’t like Ricon and find the custom stupid I’m gonna call it out.

“Ice Cube? Where did I hear such a dumb name before? Ohhh I remember you now, you’re that black peasant, I forgot you were the second hero.”

Oh it’s on. I raise my fist about to knock this dude out but Warren grabs my fist and slowly lowers it.

“Warren let me do it” I whisper as we get closer to the huge tent in the center of camp.

“No.” he whispers back.

“Are we about to engage in combat? My blade is ready” Akane whispers, slowly unsheathing her weapon.

Warren stops her by smacking her hand away from the blade. I realize that we’re in front of the huge tent now. It’s gigantic, and reminds me more of a circus tent than one you would see in a military camp. It’s a nice baby blue contrasting with all of the other tents in the camp which are a dirty brown and it’s circular instead of triangular in shape. Ricon’s horse stops in front of the entrance and turns around to face all of us.

“Ok this is where I stop, once you head inside head towards the center where the war map is, that’s where General Frederick will tell you everything. The only piece of advice I have to give is to show respect, you’re going to be in the presence of a legend and don’t get any of your dirt anywhere.” Ricon describes.

“My friend, you are not coming inside with us?” Luther questions.

“No. I could, but I don’t want to be with you any longer than I have to and I don’t want to be in a tent all day. I pity Marianne but she’s your problem now.”

“Very well, I’ll see you later, my best friend. Now I get to see my love. Hiyaah!” Luther exclaims, cutting a hole into the tent with his sword instead of going through the flaps that lead inside.

This is why Luther is great. I wish I was his best friend instead of this Ricon jerk. He doesn’t know the beauty that is Luther.

“Of course he enters that way. I’ll be seeing you later, Anastasia Ganiandi Theano Remeli. No doubt our squad is going to play a major role in the assault” Ricon remarks as everyone starts to head inside the tent.

“...” she replies.

“Nope, not treating you like a peasant.” Ricon shoots back riding away on his horse.

“It’s ok Ice Cube I’ll treat you like a peasant….wait” I say realizing that sounded weird.

Not knowing what to say next I awkwardly head inside. The first thing in the tent that catches my attention are a bunch of lights strewn up on the ceiling, reminding me of Christmas lights people put on their houses. Lowering my head I see that this place is more empty than I thought it’d be. The only thing in here is a huge rectangular table with a huge map on top of it. Unlike the maps we’ve seen, this one is a full 3d model. Around the table are chairs aligned on the left and right reminding me of a board of directors meeting. Will’s party is already seated looking at the model in front of them; Nazuko’s about to touch it when Azura strenly tells her not to. My party members are sitting on the other side. Everyone is mostly quiet as there’s a serious atmosphere here preventing us from acting like our usual crazy selves. I sit between Warren and Adam with Nerva sitting on Warren’s other side and Akane’s on Adam’s other side. The chair at the head of the table-the place where the CEO in a business would sit- is empty. Luther is sitting in the chair closest to it from my side of the table. I just realized that Luther is the only knight in here, where’s Marianne and the general? Before I could ask this question aloud I heard someone rush their way into the tent.

“Oh I’m so sorry everyone I hope you all didn’t wait long” Marianne says, briskly walking her way towards us.

She looks pretty much the same since the last time I saw her. She’s still freakishly tall, like 6’3, still wearing silver knight armor and a blue cape, and still has that huge lance on her back. The only noticeable difference is that she has her black hair in a ponytail now.

“MY LOVE!” Luther cheers, jumping up from his seat like a jackrabbit.

“Arrggghhh I forgot you were going to be here Luther. ” Marianne complains.

“My love, it has been many months since I’ve seen your beauty in person. Let me greet you with a kiss.” Luther proposes making his way toward her.

Marianne is having none of it, she kicks Luther in the gut sending him flying out of the tent leaving a hole, the second hole Luther has made.

“I’m not in the mood for Luther’s stupidity right now. I would love to catch up with all of you but right now we’re about to have the meeting and we have a strict time schedule to keep.” Marianne says, taking the seat Luther was previously in.

We would question if Luther’s ok but at this point everyone knows he’s a tank. The girls tried to beat him up last night to no avail and my party has seen first hand that the man is indestructible.

“So where’s General Frederick?” I ask.

“He’s entering right now...you’re gonna have to be patient with him ok guys? Don’t say anything rude.”

“What does that mean?”

“You’re about to see right now”

We look towards the entrance and slowly, very slowly, a figure enters. It’s an old man in a gray tunic reminding me of what someone from the medieval time period would wear. He has gray hair with a huge bald spot making the top of his head look like a target. His face looks like a raisin because of how many wrinkles he has. He has these huge circular glasses which makes his eyes appear bigger than they really are. This guy does not look like a general in the slightest, he looks like a dying cancer patient. He walks with a cane and he’s moving so slowly it's like watching a turtle, a slow turtle at that, like one that’s about to die of old age. We all remain silent not knowing what to do, the earlier atmosphere is replaced with one of awkwardness. Every now and then you hear someone move in their seat producing the only sound in the tent. Now and again you’d hear a cough. This is taking forever, it’s been about five minutes and he’s only halfway on his journey to the seat at the head of the table. What happened to us being on a strict time schedule? This is torturous to experience. Suddenly I hear someone slam their hands on the table.

“Hurry the fuck up!” Nerva screams, no longer able to take it. Ice Cube-who’s been sitting at the opposite side of Marianne- springs up from her chair, walks over to Nerva and gives her a karate chop on the head making Nerva sit back down in her seat with a thud.

“Ow god damn!” Nerva curses, rubbing her head.

“Sir do you need help to get to your seat?” Marianne questions, understanding our frustration.

“No……...I got it.” the old man says, still slowly making his way towards the chair.

Oh god he even talks slowly. Luckily Will thought of a solution, as the old man walked he opened a portal right in front of him and opened another portal right behind the seat he’s making his way towards. The general goes through it and is now right behind his seat. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief. The old man takes his seat so we can finally begin.

“........Hello…….heroes…...I’m…...gonna tell…..you….the plan” The old man starts.

“Sir should I speak on your behalf?” Marianne proposes knowing how long this is gonna take.

“No…..I’m ok” General Federick declines.

He then just sits there. He doesn’t say anything else, just starts to breathe heavily. The wheezing is the only thing being heard in the room. We all stare with confused looks, no one knowing what to do. After 5 minutes of wheezing it stops, being replaced by snoring. Oh my god this man just fell asleep.

“Given that General Frederick has fallen asleep I have the right to take over now praise the gods and goddesses.” Marianne sighs in relief.

“That was quite possibly the worst thing I ever experienced” Remi notes.

“If you thought that was bad you should see him when he goes to the bathroom. I had to deal with him for the past 2 weeks. Anyway the battle plan, thanks to the intel you guys got and what some informants have told us, we know exactly where their base is.” Marianne explains.

“You’re welcome” Akane deadpanly states.

“What was that?” Marianna asks in confusion.

“I’m the one who told you where the base was. No need to thank me”

“Wait wait wait you’re the reaper? W-why aren’t you in jail?”

“Akane’s unfortunately a part of my party now. Didn’t Colonel Bianca tell you?” I inquire.

“No! She didn’t mention that at all in her report, she just told me you guys took down the reapers. She’s always doing stuff like this. So what’re the conditions, she works for you and faces less jail time?”

“I don’t think so. I think she gets to walk after helping us.”

“Yeah there’s no way we’re letting that happen. Do you know how many men she’s killed?”

“475.3” Akane answers.

“H-how do you kill .3 of somebody?” Adam asks.

“You take someone, and only kill 30%” Akane elaborates.

“What?”

“Ah shit Akane you going to jail now? I’ll go with you. Nazuko you down?” Nerva offers.

“Ugh I dunno I’ve been to prison a few times, it’s not really that fun” Nazuko reveals.

“No Nazuko you should definitely go, you’ll have a great time” Remi teases.

“Well now I definitely don’t want to go if she wants me to”

“Alright everyone stop talking about jail! I’m gonna have to deal with you later, for now we’re talking about the battle plan.” Marianne says, pointing at Akane.

“If you look at the map the base is located right here in the Teutoburg forest.” Marianne informs us, pointing at a part of the map that’s pretty much on the border of another state. I think below Ayana is Astus if I remember the maps from my history books. Yeah I think I got it right, Dreden is pretty much in the middle of the empire, Ayana is to the west, and Astus is below Ayana. Ayana and Astus are the only states on the continent that connect to the sea. The only other state that touches the sea is Albium which is an island nation off the coast. Back to the map; since the map she’s pointing at is a 3D model I see that she’s pointing at an area full of trees, yet these trees look different, they are really tall in comparison to the other trees on the map. Most of Ayana is farmland with the exception of a few swamps here and there so they stick out.

“Wow how tall are these trees?” Will asks in astonishment.

“The Teutoburg forest is home of the bluewood trees, the tallest trees in the empire. Each tree grows to about 390 feet, which makes the dense forestry the perfect place to hide a base. These trees in fact pose the greatest problem for us. Because of how compact they are it’s very difficult to move troops in and because of their height it’s difficult to get any intelligence from the sky. All we know is that the base is an old castle that was abandoned a few hundred years ago. The only road through the forest is a narrow path called the Adwa road. This is the road we’re gonna have to take if we want our soldiers to stick together, otherwise we’ll be too spread out. So the plan is quite simple, we’re going to head down this path with all of our troops and launch the assault.” Marianne lays out.

“Isn’t keeping everyone together a bad idea? Couldn’t we get ambushed?” Lilith points out.

“There won’t be any ambushes. The only person who'll be waiting for us outside the castle is Archer.” Akane reveals.

“Isn’t this attack going to be a surprise?” Azura mentions.

“No. The Man of Stone has dozens of spies, I wouldn’t be surprised if he has some in this camp. He knows you’ll be coming but it doesn’t matter, they’re not gonna run. That’s how much faith the Man of Stone has in Archer”

“So what, he's going to fight off everyone himself?” I say slightly annoyed by the idea of one man being so confident he thinks he can fight off a whole army.

“Yes.”

“I have an idea, why don’t we let Ryder blow the whole castle up?” Will suggests.

“Now that’s a good idea. I’ll use my largest explosive and boom rebellion defeated” Ryder jibes.

“That won’t work. I’ve only been there once but I know there’s a protective shield over the castle built to withstand aerial bombardment from all kinds of weapons. It’ll have to be shut off first before you can attempt that. Luckily people can move in freely, it’s only attacks directed towards the castle that are stopped.” Akane states.

“That’s true which is why we have to do a full frontal assault.” Marianne adds.

“What if someone went in and turned off the shield beforehand?” Warren mentions, speaking for the first time since coming into the tent.

“Well that would definitely give us more options but that’s a suicide mission.” Marianne dismisses.

“I’ll go. I’ll go in and turn off the shield so you can bring in the big guns.”

I know what Warren’s trying to do. He wants to go save his friends and is worried that the rebels will either kill or move them if the attack begins so he wants to move them out beforehand.

“W-what? Warren she just said it’s a suicide mission. I know you want to save your friends but-” Adam blurts out in shock at the idea.

“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me” Warren cuts off.

“At least let me go with you.” Adam pleads.

“No. Sorry Adam but you’ll slow me down.”

“I wanna do cool covert shit! Can I go?” Nerva requests.

“You’re not exactly the quiet type.” Warren acknowledges.

“What you talking about? I can do quiet shit. Check this out I can sneak.”

Nerva gets up from her chair, bends her knees and tries to tip toe only to immediately fall on her face.

“Oh fuck!” Nerva curses.

“Yeah you’re not coming. Don’t worry Nerva you’ll have more fun on the frontlines anyway.” Warren remarks.

“How about we send an actual thief? Nazuko are you willing to go with Warren?” Will brings up.

“Hmm if I go I wouldn’t be by your side, yet at the same time it does sound like fun.” Nazuko says, trying to decide what to do.

“If you go, I’ll promise to give you a head pat.”

“Hmm that’s enticing but what else you got?”

Oh great now Nazuko’s trying to haggle.

“I’ll give you…..two head pats”

“Hmmmmm”

“Three head pats and I’ll won’t go near Remi for a week”

“You got it!” Nazuko exclaims as she and Will shake hands.

“Wait what?” Remi questions utterly confused as to what’s just happened.

“Fine by me.” Warren acquiesces.

“Question tall lady. How many knights are you sending in?” Akane inquires.

“A cohort” Marianne states matter of factly.

“Wait isn’t that only 500 men?” I point out.

I’ve read about plenty of military campaigns in my history books so I know the terminology. 500 is a miniscule amount of soldiers for a military assault.

“There are two reasons for the small number of soldiers. The first is that given how narrow the path is, a cohort is the largest number of troops we can send in without grinding to a halt. Second is politics. In the grand scheme of things no one really cares about this rebellion besides Creon so the other lords were only willing to send in about 500 troops on top of the ones already stationed in Ayana. The other lords don’t think it’s worth removing troops from their land to suppress a peasant rebellion. In fact, there are rumors that some of the lords want this rebellion to succeed. If they dethrone Creon and promise not to attack any other states they would be ecstatic” Marianne expounds.

“Yeah but isn’t this the largest state in the empire and you know...this rebellion is a sham in order to give the Man of Stone favor with the demons?” Will contends.

“That may be true but the people don’t know that. If the government stated that the rebellion was a ruse no one would believe it, they’d say it’s propaganda. That’s why one of the secondary objectives of this assault is to find conclusive evidence to prove it to the people. However the priority here is to put down the rebellion and establish order.” Marianne declares.

“The fact that this is the largest state doesn’t mean much when most of it is farmland. Sure it’s the state that supplies a lot of food to the rest of the empire but I guess that’s not enough to justify sending in more troops. We’re essentially in the boonies.” I state referencing Will’s first point.

From what I can gather Ayana is nowhere near the strongest state, Creon likes to pretend his state is more powerful than it really is because it’s big.

“I recommend sending in more troops. I can defeat 500 men easily, you need at least 5000 if you want to defeat Archer” Akane deadpanly advises.

“That may be true but a single cohort is all we got. Maybe if you and your reaper friends didn’t kill most of the knights that were already stationed here we’d have more reserves.” Marianne says in an attempt to offend Akane.

“They’re not my friends and most of them are dead now.” Akane deadplanly retorts.

“Ugh so when is this assault happening and how long will it take to get there?” Adam questions.

“It’ll take about two hours to get to the Teutoburg forest. As for when we’re leaving, it’s going to be as soon as this meeting ends.” Mariane discloses.

“W-wait we’re going today?”

“Yep. Time is of the essence, we have no reason not to attack asap. I know you all just got here but the sooner we attack the better, the convoy is already set to go.”

“Guess I gotta get going now then. You got horses we can borrow?” Warren asks, standing up.

“Yeah got two in the stables you can take. If we get there and the shield isn’t down we’re just going in got it?”

“Yep. Are you ready to go Nazuko?”

“Yeah I’m ready. I have never ridden a horse before but there’s a first time for everything.”

“Alright then stay here, I’ll go get the horses”

“If no one else has any questions that concludes the meeting. Everyone else follow me, we got wagons set up for you.” Marianne orders, getting up.

Everyone else gets up as well. As we head to the exit I realize that Adam and Nerva aren’t with me. Wait where’d they go? Leaving everyone else behind I jog out of the tent. Outside I look left and right to see where they went off to and I eventually see Warren talking with Adam and Nerva near some horse stables. Warren’s on top of a black stallion while leading a brown one. I make my way over.

“What is it Adam?” Warren asks as the horses start to trot towards me.

“I-I just wanted to say to be careful ok? I know what you’re trying to do and...I know you want them back but I don’t want you to get your hopes up.” Adam replies.

“Wait, that's why we’re here? The way you ran out made me think you needed to take a shit and was heading towards the bathroom. I followed you cause I need to take a piss.” Nerva comments.

“I’m not stupid Adam, I have realistic expectations.” Warren says ignoring Nerva’s comment.

“Wait what the fuck we talking about?” Nerva questions in confusion.

“Nerva I think they’re talking about the other members of your party. You know the ones that went missing?” I cut in.

“Ohhhhhhh I see your game now Warren. What’s there to worry about Adam? He’s going to find them and bring them all back and that’s that.” Nerva states nonchalantly.

“...Things aren’t so simple.” Adam mutters.

“Adam you need to be more supportive. Weren’t they your friends too?” I question.

Adam has a point about having realistic expectations but the last thing Warren needs is to get more depressed.

“I mean yeah but Nerva and I didn’t know them very well. We kind of joined late. We only knew them for a few months.”

“Hey speak for yourself bitch I liked most of them. The only one I didn’t like was Andrew. Something was always shady about that motherfucker. A complete contrast to Joana. She’s a bad bitch so it’s gonna be fun talking to her again.”

“I’m bringing them all back so there’s nothing to worry about.” Warren declares.

“I’m looking forward to meeting them. You watch yourself alright Warren?” I say as we arrive in front of the tent again.

“Yeah. You guys stay safe.” Warren replies as Nazuko jumps onto the other horse.

“Be careful Warren. You have medical potions on you right?” Adam asks, sounding quite concerned.

“Yep got about 6 on me.”

“Nerva, give Warren some words of inspiration before he leaves” I ordered.

This a perfect opportunity for another famous Nerva-ism. I had to get her attention because she was saying her goodbyes to Nazuko.

“Alright here goes; ‘Everybody fucks up sometimes. What matters is that you know when to fuck down.’ Now you go out there and kick some ass! ”

“W-what does that mean?” Adam asks bewildered.

“Nerva that was beautiful.” I compliment.

“You should write a book Nerva.” Nazuko adds.

“Thanks. I’ll see you guys soon” Warren says riding his way out of the camp with Nazuko in tow.

It is clear Nazuko doesn’t know how to ride a horse, she almost crashed into another tent but I’m sure they’ll be fine. With that out the way it took us a few minutes to see where everyone went but we eventually found where we’re supposed to go. I’m in an assigned wagon with my party which is a part of this huge convoy of troops and the next thing I know we started moving. This is all going to end soon, one last glorious assault to end it all, I’m ready.