Running through the halls with papers flying everywhere, a weak and lanky looking rookie sporting the Lis uniform burst opened the doors to an office.

“Vice-General! Good news and bad news!” He barely said in between breaths.

“Hm?” I turned to him, “Well go on, don’t just stand there. Tell me the news already!”

“A-Ah, right away sir!” He saluted, “The good news is that your strategy once again took the Carmen troops by surprise, leading to another flawless victory.”

It’s been a few years since I was freed by Pierre’s group and enlisted in the Lis side of the army. Since then, a lot has changed. For starters, the very moment we made it to Stringwood, we were ambushed by thousands of Carmenian soldiers, who had by then already taken over the entire Western side of Trivis Numerica. After just barely escaping with our heads on our shoulders, we set up a base of operations in Tertis, where I had to attend bootcamp with the other rookies.

Well, in all honesty, this bootcamp was a walk in the park when compared to the atrocities we had to endure back in the prison, so I quickly got accustomed to it. Not to mention the only people who would yell at us were the drill sergeants, but even they only did it because they wanted to toughen us up, so it was alright. Actually, it was there where I met another rookie who seemed to be doing just as well as I was, or well, at least better than the others.

“Heh, ever the tactician, huh Meil?” A blonde young man with Brown Eyes and a boyish face chuckled as he reclined in his chair.

“You make it sound like my previous victories were flukes, Edward.” I scolded him, “But never mind that. In these situations, the bad news is always more important than any good piece of news that may come our way.”

“Boo hoo!” He stuck his tongue out at me as he jeered, “Come on, stop it with the serious act! I know for a fact you’re just trying to act tough in front of the rookie, but I’m telling you there’s no need for that!”

“Uh…?” The rookie shakily raised his hand, “If I may? Ahem – the bad news is that now that we’ve taken back Station Arfa, the people that lived there wish to go back to their homes. Even the higher-ups recommend this action, stating that by doing this, the Carmen army won’t be able to attack it anymore, since it’s a civilian zone.”

“My ass they won’t!” Edward fell back on his chair, “They attacked my hometown four years ago, so why the hell wouldn’t they just do that again? Tell the higher-ups to suck a fat knob!”

“Exactly what I was thinking.” I addressed Edward before turning to the rookie, “That being said, I’d recommend you use a bit less, how do I say it, colorful language when addressing them.”

“No need to tell me twice, sir!” The rookie saluted before running off, even forgetting to hand us the pieces of paper that kept flying out of his arms.

Geez, that boy’s too hardworking. Frankly, I’m kind of worried about his wellbeing if he’s this eager to do everyone’s dirty work. Either he’ll die of over exhaustion or people will start blaming the messenger for having to always deliver the bad news. Actually, he kind of reminds me of Apollo in a way…

“So, what do we do now?” Edward fidgeted his pen around as he spoke, “I know I said we shouldn’t let the people return to their homes, but even I know how low were running on living spaces, not to mention rations.”

“We’re on the right side of history.” I replied without worrying about the matter too much, “We have the entire world backing us, they just don’t even realize it themselves.”

“Aaaand just like usual, I don’t understand a word you’re saying.” He rolled his eyes, “Ugh, how the hell did Grim ever hold a regular conversation with you?”

“Unlike you, he doesn’t spend every second peering into people’s minds.” I retorted, “Maybe you should take a leaf from his book and try to think a bit less.”

“Hey! Don’t go offending both me and my best friend at the same time!” He threw the pen at me, missing horribly mind you.

“Alright, alright!” I got up from my seat and signaled for him to follow, “You’re right, that was mean of me. But seriously though, we’re slowly but surely taking back the territory we lost, whilst at the same time trying to make the enemy call a truce after each and every consecutive victory. It’s only a matter of time until the King gives up and calls back his troops.”

“Ah, is that what you meant?” Ed strolled behind me at a leisurely pace, “Y’know, I’d really like to believe you on that, but the King just doesn’t know when to quit. I honestly think he’d rather die than give up at this point.”

True, the King is being rather persistent, even after all this time… Frankly it’s a little disquieting, but it doesn’t change anything at this point. Our goal is to return the land that was taken from the people of Trivis Numerica, and I intend to make that dream into a reality. So what if he’s not giving up? Ever since Ed and I were promoted to Vice-Generals, we’ve been getting non-stop victories back to back. He’ll understand soon enough, but for now there’s more pressing matters to attend to.

“Yo, Aaron!” I politely knocked on the door before entering, “Any new mail come in recently?”

The person I was talking to is apparently a great friend of both Lune and Edward, not to mention Edward’s in-law. I actually feel kind of bad referring to him so casually like that, but he insisted, so I went ahead with it.

“No, I’m afraid there’s nothing new yet.” He shook his head, “But I’ll be sure to inform you the moment it comes in, cough!”

“Aaron, you’re really not looking so well these days.” Edward removed his cap as he addressed him, “That cough has been awfully persistent, and now that Harper’s left, we can’t even have anyone take a proper look at you. What if, just maybe, that mysterious disease Arthur had is genetic?”

“Oh, nonsense, Eddy!” He brushed off all of Edward’s worries as he took a sip of his tea, “It’s just due to the winter season coming up. Don’t fret over this General!”

“Of course I will!” He ran up to Aaron, “You’ve done so much for me, you’re my fiancée’s uncle, for Gods’ sakes! Honestly, a part of me is still regretting not forcing you to go with Arthur, Harper and Anna to Lichtenstelle…”

“Of course I won’t!” He banished the thought, “This is my home too, y’know? And I’m of ripe age to still fight, so I don’t at all mind coming back here from Great Hiana.”

“Ah, speaking of which.” I thought to interject, “About those friends you asked to join us, what happened of them?”

“Those guys?” He sighed, “They’ll definitely be here soon, but knowing their tendency to be fashionably late, I wouldn’t put it past them to only arrive after the war is over.”

“Then do we even need them?”

“They’re the best leader’s Great Hiana has to offer! Of course we do!” Edward praised his companions, “Don’t worry, if they can lead the entire country’s underworld, then winning a war will probably be a cinch!”

“Alright…” I blindly trusted his words, “In any case, we’ve almost completely retaken the territory of Trivis Numerica, so I don’t even see the point of anyone showing up anymore. The war will soon be over.”

“Hmm, let’s not be too hasty…” Aaron donned a devious grin, “Sure, our military power’s enough to retake the land we’ve lost, but I don’t think the King will just up and go the moment we take back Ren.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean.” He smiled, “This war is far from over. In fact, if we ever want to bid it goodbye, then we’ll have to kill the King of Carmen. There’s just no other way around it.”

Eh?! Kill the King? Wait, are you out of your mind, man? I mean, I know the King isn’t that good of a person. In fact, from the very little diplomatic talks we’ve held with him, I’d actually call him the lowest scum of the world, but that shouldn’t really be a reason to kill him, should it? And even if we did, do you have the slightest idea how many repercussions such an act would have on Trivis Numerica? Since we’ve literally been telling every country out in the world “Hey, we only need your help to return the territory we’ve lost”, the moment they hear we’ve used their help to bite off the hand that fed us, they’ll turn on us! Then we’ll have to worry about a World War! Grraargh! It’s just so illogical! It isn’t the right path! No matter what, it’ll lead to a needless death!

“Yeah, Meil, Aaron’s right on this one.” Edward took his family’s side, “I know you’re usually right about a lot of things, but none of the Generals or Vice-Generals think that the King will just let up after we retake our land. It just makes no sense for him to do that.”

“What the hell do you mean?!” I started verbally barraging him with my predictions, “Since the dawn of time, in every possible cycle, revenge ALWAYS brought forth revenge! If we just talk with him after we corner him…!”

“Wrong.” Aaron objected, “He’s even more sly than the gang leaders I’ve fought back in the day. He’ll say that he gives up, but then he’ll send countless assassins after you on the daily, for the rest of your life. He’s that type of guy, after all.”

“Grr… I know, but…” I started second-guessing myself, “Even still, it’s too risky to just start attacking from the South of their country after we take back ours. No matter how you slice it, we won’t survive.”

“Yeah, that’s why we’ll postpone the idea.” Edward smiled, “We’ll postpone it until he comes back.”

“Ah, you talking about Lune?” Aaron chuckled, “If memory serves, didn’t Cecily go with Nelly to visit him and chew him out for cheating on her or something? Geez, when you told me that story, I really thought you were kidding…”

“Actually, knowing those two hopeless lovebirds, they most certainly made up during their time away from home.”

“I can vouch for that.” I scratched my cheek, “They certainly did make some rather rude comments to one another back when they were still with me in Abyssus Solis, but anyone could tell they were slowly starting to let go of the past after a while. They really care for each other, huh?”

“Is that so?” Aaron put his cup down, “Alright then…”

Be it a coincidence or planned, no one could have expected what had happened next. Knocking on the door before immediately opening it, a young brown-haired man sporting a ponytail hopped right into the room, making all of us jump in surprise as he smiled and waved.

“Oh, I guess this was the right room after all.” He turned with a smug grin, “Heh, I told you I could hear them in here, Cily!”

“Geez, and what if you were wrong?” The redhead with a pixie cut approached close behind him, “Oh, hey guys, long time no see.”

“Y…!” Edward was at a loss for words, “You’re… G-G…!”

“Yep, it’s your old pal Grim!” He introduced himself, “Nice to see you all again!”