Leona couldn’t quite control her facial expression from the reaction that name brought to her mind. Miyamoto, the same name of the now departed soul that rested within her, was being uttered to describe a young man from the eastern continent. Though possibly just a coincidence, it left her restless.

“Leona? Is something wrong?” Cecile tilted her head a bit while inspecting her face closely. “Your face suddenly became pale.”

She snapped out of it trying her best to regain composure as she attempted to fake a smile.

“Ah- no, it’s nothing, please go on. Tell me more about this man.”

“Oh, he must be in his mid twenties or so? He’s the swordmaster and mentor for the troops defending Nara. He’s said to be able to cleave the clouds with his blade, not that I have seen in person.”

Concentrating on a foreign feeling swelling in her chest she mentally asked herself, which in turn was the same to be asking the swordmaster.

‘Did you have someone else other than Krieg?’

A few seconds passed but no reply which made her feel even more on edge.

“Ah. That guy, last voyage I didn’t have enough time to chat with him.” Charlotte put away her empty ceramic cup as she spoke. “Maybe I’ll go pay him a visit this time.”

“A swordmaster huh…?” Krieg muttered to himself, he discreetly glanced at Phoebe, who seemed to notice his gaze yet she decided to not say anything until he asked her. “Is this man perchance connected to the reason Eleonora left the kingdom behind?”

“Who can say? That name doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Phoebe, this has been on my mind ever since we crossed paths near Karna village.” He settled his cup down on the table and looked at her dead in the eyes. “Do you truly work for Eleonora?”

A few days ago, far away from the coastal city of Astera. The siege on Akrapocalis by the Arcadian army had reached a stalemate. Both sides had suffered enough casualties to force a diplomatic solution. While the Arcadian army was still recovering its numbers from the Great War, the extra combatants brought forth by the acting King far outmatched their difference in numbers and with the dwarven army stretched thin as it were thanks to the constant death angel threat, they couldn’t mobilize their entire army to fight off the invading kingdom.

Amidst the rubble and dead bodies, the acting King of Arcadia Alexander Lorraine and the dwarven general Kurt Dietrich were standing with a few guards by their side as they tried to finally put an end to the conflict.

“I have two conditions for a truce between our kingdoms.” Alexander, despite being a king, was wearing just a formal red wine suit, fine cotton white shirt underneath, trousers of the same color as the suit and custom made leather shoes. He had a calm expression on his face as someone who knew they had already won. “First, free access to the mines without the imposed limit for trade and second, that you hand over the traitor Leona's whereabouts.”

“Are you out of your mind?!” A tall blonde elf of shoulder length hair was outraged as he brandished his arm out which made the rifle that was resting on the sling on his shoulder waver back and forth. Both his right green and left blue eyes were filled with hatred. “Arcadia attacks first without warning and then wants to decide the conditions?!”

“Sergeant Lest!” The hulking man beside him shouted. Kurt Dietrich, general of the Akrapocalian army, his bulky tanned body, grizzled hair and sharp eyes showed how much experience he had on the battlefield. And as mighty as one person can be, there are still limits to how much they can accomplish alone, he knew that better than anyone. “I will handle this, do not let your personal feelings affect the decision for the entire kingdom.” He sighed discreetly before turning back to Alexander. “If those are your conditions then we accept it, however I do still ask for some time to venture into the mines, we are still amidst fighting the death angel menace and most of the miners are currently preoccupied searching for materials to aid our defense.”

“Hmph.” Alexander snapped and one of the knights to his right came forward before his right armored arm suddenly began to tremble before splitting in half and engulfing itself into a mass of flesh and bones that slowly took the form of a blade. “I’ll have a few of my own forces to aid you in the fight against the death angel menace. In return I’d prefer if your miners could procure some materials for Arcadia.”

The soldiers that stood behind the general were nervous, although none of them did anything harsh it was obvious that it rattled them.

“...I’ll see what I can do.”

“Good! Then we are done here, thank you for your time, General. Do send the report with Leona’s whereabouts to my second in command in the next hour.”

He turned around and the rest of the disguised knights followed him. Kurt clenched his right hand into a tight fist and began to walk back to their main base.

‘We were thoroughly beaten. I’m sorry Princess Leona…’

“Was that really necessary?” A rather tall high elf stood by the destroyed western gate. Her long black straight hair was tied to a high ponytail, her serene deep blue eyes had a piercing gaze as she directed her question to Alexander who had just walked out of the meeting. “You could’ve just ended things there.”

“What is a king without subjects? Even if said subjects cower in fear, it is better to have those who bow to your power than mindless soldiers who can’t ask themselves if something or someone is worth keeping.” He glanced at the mangled body of a female elf who was standing behind Kaeli before sighing. “See? This is a waste of potential.” He flickered its forehead but the elf’s right blue and left green eyes simply stared with an empty gaze as it slowly turned towards him. “I wanted more soldiers but not like these.”

He continued walking out through the gates.

“If I may.” Kaeli continued while accompanying his footsteps. “If my assumptions were right, Princess Leona may be on her way to Astera and possibly Nara. Considering the flying vessel she was employing, it wouldn’t take more than two days to reach the coastal city.”

“If, that is. We need decisive information. I can’t keep sending mages in a blind chase. Thanks to that blasphemous Crossford family the capital is riddled with half demons and keeping most of them subdued is an arduous task even for the royal knights.”

“Sir, think about it, where else would she go if not the coastal city? Unless she’s attempting to launch a surprise counter attack at Arcadia directly she would have to cross the mountain range once again through either the north or south. Even then, with how small the number of soldiers that support her it wouldn’t be too difficult to just stomp all of them in one go.”

“You’re not wrong, but not entirely right either. We must account for this ‘secret’ weapon her mother had been working on. None of the people I assigned to search for it have reported anything significant. If it can truly kill a demon, it is surely dangerous enough to kill me.”

“If she knows where and what it is in the first place.” She adjusted her cloak. “We have many high aptitude mages guarding the mansion, or what was left of it. Surely she wouldn’t be stupid enough to try and go there.”

“Despite her family’s foolishness in aiding the half demons, she still holds the title of Princess Tactician for a reason.” He clenched his hands into tight fists. “Demonkind must pay the price. She is the only obstacle to me at this point.”

There was a shimmering glint in his eyes, something much darker and ancient than his own flesh and bones. A seething hatred engraved so deep in his soul that it was pouring out in the form of mana that scorched the air around him. However despite the pressure, Kaeli kept her composure while discreetly shielding herself with her own mana.

“I must ask, however, has your objective changed? You mentioned you wanted her alive before but now I see that you’re seeking to kill her.”

“If capturing wasn’t possible when she was at her weakest-” He turned to face her and the malefic glint in his eyes seemed stronger than before which sent a chill down her spine. “-then kill her I must. Those that aid demons must perish. All of them.”

“Then… what do we do about that monster? The one that helped the dwarven forces.”

“It’s badly wounded, even if it doesn’t die now we’ll finish the job later when we rebuild some of our own numbers.” He went over to the elf holding a distant gaze. Her tattered uniform and empty stare prompted him to reach for the side of her face. “I wonder if they have any memories of who they once were.”

“Maybe, maybe not, how does that matter to us my lord?”

“You don’t understand a thing do you? Demonkind has one inherent advantage over us, that despite our numbers we still die from natural causes. Them on the other hand can live up to centuries. Diseases and age are but trifling things for them.” He lifted the elf’s chin, inspecting her appearance that seemed to be slowly getting better as opposed to the gray looking skin when she had first turned. “I intend to change that. We need to live as long as them in order to cleanse their filth from this world. These slimes are but the first step for a true homunculus. They are, however, too primitive, perhaps the mana inside their bodies is a factor…”

He let go of the elf’s chin which it then returned to stare forward, not displaying any sort of emotion. Though promising, it was a far cry of what he had in mind.

“I will excuse myself now.” Kaeli bowed slightly. “I’ll prepare some of the troops in case we need to depart.”

“Yes, do that.” He was still observing the elf’s body to check for any noticeable changes from the other subjects but they all seemed the same, mindless husks that are compelled to follow his will. “Also incapable of speech unless I teach it so… this is disappointing.”

He placed his open palm on its forehead before dark red lightning sparkled and the elf’s eyes went wide. Despite not muttering a word it did flawlessly replicate the expression of pain before it slowly began to crumble into dust that dissipated away by a gust of wind.

“Hm…” He closed his eyes, focusing on the sensation inside his mind. “Astera, then huh? Very well.” As Kaeli was heading out, he shouted. “Arch mage! Assemble the flying troops. You’re heading to Astera.”