On a field full of broken weapons, arrows, and blood, the group combed for clues. The place was ravaged by all sorts of martial techniques and the residual energies of different artefacts. The corpses were kept in a specially emptied out Time-space ring. On the other hand, they did not find a single corpse belonging to the enemy.

“They are dead at least for two days.”

“I couldn’t find even a single emblem.”

“It likely, the ones who did this had the time to comb the field and remove any evidence.”

“To quickly do this, they will need tracing artefacts and a large number of people.”

“Likely a group twice the number of dead.”

“Then the reason they left these corpses lying around is to show them to us?”

After clearing the field, and vowing to bring the bodies back home to their families, the group set forth to the Keep protecting the north with an idea of what had happened.

When they reached the highwalls a couple of days later, a soldier shouted at them from afar with fear in his voice, “HALT! Who goes there? If you don’t identify yourself, we will fire!”

Watts Yournae stepped forward from the group and yelled back, “I am the young master of the Green Dog Clan, I bring friends. Let us through.”

“Young commander, you’re back! Men, hurry and open the gates!”

The soldier recognised him immediately. After all, the northern keep has several military forces guarding it at all times and one of them is the Green Dog Guards.

As a young commander who had spent a year in this place with the others, Watts Yournae is quite popular. It is a kinship that soldiers develop on the battlegrounds.

The gates were opened hurriedly, and the defending troops within went out to welcome them.

The group marvelled at the northern keep, a great rectangular fortified tower that more than thirty thousand stood guard.

There are highwalls linked to this castle, allowing soldiers to walk along Saint Empire’s borders. If one walks further down, they will arrive at smaller keeps, each able to hold up to ten thousand.

They were escorted to a large hall, filled with tables and chair, and the smell of food.

Over there, Watts requested to meet with the Green Dog Guards, those that are not on duty or sleeping.

His former subordinates were all enlivened to hear that their young commander has returned, and they charged over without caring what they were wearing. There are those who had yet to put on pants and were already running over.

The girls in the group blushed uncontrollably when they saw a group of burly men rushed over half-dressed. Some were wearing singlets, and some even topless. They crowded over, grabbing Watts and giving him pats on his heads and shoulders, or pulling him into a bear hug.

When they swarmed towards him, some of the girls nearby almost fled in tears.

The barracks aren’t devoid of females, but in times of war, many tiresome etiquettes and decorum were thrown out of the window.

The women in the keep did not even raise an eyebrow at the sight, but they still chided the men, “Come on, you’re making those missies cry.”

“Oh oh oh! There are cute girls here?!”

“WHOA! MY BLOOD IS BURNING.”

“Guys! Flex now!” one of them said.

“FLEX NOW!” the rest shouted and started showing off their muscles.

“These idiots,” the women in the keep complained.

“What do they meant by cute girls?! Are they blind? There are plenty here!”

*plonk plonk plonk*

*bam bam bam*

Instantly the canteen was filled with the sound of miserable cries.

After a while, the group of soldiers stood in rank with swollen faces.

“This is my commander, Kairos,” Watts said, and added, “You will give him the same respect you give me.”

“Sir, yes, sir!”

“Good. I’ll let him take over.”

Kairos nodded his thanks and asked them to stand down before saying, “We discovered more than five thousand dead on the way here. It’s impossible that the northern keep do not know about it. I need to know what happened recently.”

The soldiers had faces filled with uncertainty. They all know about the battle in the south several days ago, but everything happened too quickly for them to know anything.

One of the soldiers raised his fist and reported, “We don’t know much. It was a battle that started and ended on the same day.”

Whenever a soldier had something to say, he will raise his fist, wait for Kairos’ acknowledgement first before speaking.

“At ease,” Kairos replied, “Speak as you will normally.”

“Sir, yes, sir!”

And the soldiers began telling him all they knew.

“I think I’ve heard that initially it was only a minor scuffle. The guards from the Astroire family were seen rushing to a smuggler’s lair. I think there were rumours of human traffickers in the area.”

The soldiers did not know that Kairos is from the Astroire family. They only treated him as their superior, like Watts instructed.

Hearing this, Kairos nodded and indicated for them to go on.

“When conflict with the north increased, more of those scumbags will appear, attempting to capture people to sell.”

The Snowdrifts understood what they mean and did not say a word. When soldiers had their hands full, it made things easier for the outlaws. Moreover, when civilians go missing during times of war, it will be far harder to track down than usual.

“But, they quickly sent out a call for help.”

A frown appeared on Snow’s brow, and she asked, “Was there any battle between the guards and the smugglers?”

“I… Hmm, I don’t think they fought?”

She concluded, “That means the enemy forces had been overwhelming.”

“Sounds like a trap to me,” George said, much to the agreement of everyone else.

“I suppose other armed groups rush to their aid?” Luciette asked.

The soldiers looked at one another and nodded, “We’ve all seen their signal flare for half a day. During that time, many had went to their aid. It was surprising.”

They discussed amongst themselves, and had a rough idea of what had happened. The Astroire guards must’ve found out about smugglers trafficking captives, and decided to save them.

The strange thing was they were told to meet with the soldiers from the other families and clans. If they had detoured, it must’ve been an incident serious enough for them to disobey orders.

“Was it the Dev…,” one of them said, but before he could finish, George flashed him a hard stare and caused the person to swallow back the words.

The Devilheart family is doubtlessly the main suspect to have plotted all these, but to say it out before soldiers loyal to Saint Empire is tantamount to treason.

“What we need to know is who executed the plans,” Snow explained.

In the grand scheme of things, they only need to complete their mission and confirming the mastermind behind wasn’t vital.

“Whoever they are, we will meet them soon,” Kairos suggested then he asked, “How many troops can we take from the northern keep?”

A sergeant stepped forward and reported, “There are thirty thousand stationed here, but only about two thousand of us could leave our post and it requires approval from above.”

Kairos nodded saying, “Which groups are they from?”

Instantly the sergeant reported, “Purple Turtle Clan, 500 soldiers. Green Dog clan 500 soldiers. And an assorted group made up of 300 city guards, 200 quartermasters, and 500 mercenaries.

Shall I submit an expedition request?”

Kairos nodded, then said, “Please inform the superiors that the Dark Hall needs them. They will know the mission we are on. Also, pass word to the men this is a difficult mission and they are free to choose for themselves. Those that follows will have great honour, and additional repayments from the Snowdrifts.”

“Can you back it up?”

Kairos took out a token that indicates he is the owner of the Gilded Snow, and everyone went silent.

For a moment, these men stared enviously at the shiny metal in his hands, then their eyes lit up when they realised what was in store for them.

The frontlines had been the greatest patrons of the Snowdrifts, not only the Star Rune weapons, but many intricate talismans, enchanted weave armours, healing solutions, and even their rations were provided by the shop.

While the combat department of the Snowdrifts dwindled due to the Devilheart’s manipulation, the business side had flourished to the point where it is difficult for Saint Empire to do without their patented products.

Fortunately, the blueprints of those inventions are protected by the Trade Federate which is a cross-empire superpower.

The soldiers were excited, to say the least.

Many of them are professionals that live on a stipend from the army. The chances of getting chosen for special missions are rare, but rewarding.

There is a chart of compensations given according to the difficulty level of the mission. For harder jobs, the pay is better for the dead than the living and because of this there will be takers even for those with over 90% mortality.

One must know that in times of war, the cost of a life is cheap and soldiers that fall on a battlefield gets less than those sent on a mission.

Moreover, Kairos promised additional repayments. Holding the Gilded Snow ownership token, they already found out his identity.

The men discussed with him about the mission, the dangers, and the repayments, and only after they were satisfied with what they heard that they ran into the keep gathering the rest.

Half a day later, all those who volunteered to go had gathered, and only the minority refused.

This is all due to Kairos giving them a large enough reward for coming, and a promise to do all he could to keep them safe during the mission.

“Your lives are not needed for the mission to succeed. Only your participation,” he said. These words are only possible because they no longer have their heads lying on the guillotine after taking back their Soul Slips.

The soldiers were surprised. If another person said such a thing, they would’ve laughed. Their target is the Ku Kang Camp and that legendary commander. It’s a ridiculous notion to succeed without great sacrifices, but on the other hand, it is already incredible to dare take on such a task with numbers fewer than a hundred thousand.

Yet, they dared, because the one who are leading them is the Kairos Astroire.

It wouldn’t be the first time that the boy led a small group and ended a war. Until today, the Silent Lambs Empire had not fully recovered from the Snowdrifts’ last excursion.

This time round, there are thousands following him.