Nathan

Year 2850 | Month 12 | Day 24

When I reach the entrance, I find the noble’s forces waiting patiently for me. Which is a new occurrence in and of itself.

“Great Undying Magician, I am one of the top officers for Duke Elmwood,” a man with gray hair wearing fancy armor clearly being taken from the Republic in the past declares while giving me a salute with his fist to his chest. “Our Kingdom is now facing a threat. One that none of us can face alone. Will you work with us to fight against them?”

I fight to not raise a brow at that.

Okay, this guy works for Katie’s father. Who is supposedly a neutral power in the feuding between nobles. The Class A magician.

A nature affinity magician to be exact.

Almost the opposite of the king, ironically enough. Not quite though as that would be a life magician, not a nature magician.

I turn to the other officers – and I can tell they’re all officers, since each one is wearing scavenged magi-tech armor from the Republic – and they all begin to introduce themselves just like the first one. Which quickly leads to me finding out that they all belong to different higher class nobles.

Nobles above the rank of barons and baronesses.

And they’re all making similar requests. An act I can’t help but find rather amusing considering how I’m certain at least some of these nobles were just discussing amongst themselves how to capture and experiment on me not too long ago.

Yet now they’re treating me like some longtime ally and a fellow noble meant to fight against the incoming Republic forces. Despite me being formerly from said Republic.

There isn’t much of a choice though. And this helps me more than them.

So I go ahead and focus on the officer for the duke and tell him, “Very well. I will work alongside you to oust the Republic.”

They all pause for a second before the officer belonging to the duke smiles and says, “I’m glad we could come together at a time like this.” Then he frowns ever so slightly. “But I need to inform you that it’s not just the Republic invading.”

I blink at that.

“Excuse me?” I ask with a frown.

Weren’t the other nations too busy with the war on the mainland?

“All of the nations on the mainland have split off into two forces, each of which is attacking each other and our great Kingdom,” the man says, his frown growing a little deeper. “The war will be a three-way brawl, with some of the nations even split in a civil war, backing more than one side.”

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

I stare at him for several seconds before looking down at the ground.

That’s… not good.

Well, mostly. It’s good in the sense that it’ll mean an easier war for us. With their forces not working together and fighting on another front.

I knew the Class S magicians were at odds with each other, but not the nations themselves.

Damned skeleton not keeping me in the loop.

Last I’d heard it was every nation against the doctor and his Class S magicians.

After looking down for a little bit longer in thought, I raise my head again and focus on the officers when the man says, “This has become a much bigger conflict than anyone suspected. And it’s beginning to attract the attention of the other continents.”

My eyes widen at that.

The other continents…

Damn. That’s not good.

If more people join in this’ll become a damned world war.

“Sir,” a soldier standing at attention behind the duke’s officer declares, bringing everyone’s attention to him. “We’ve just received reports that the Class S magicians have all retreated.”

As expected. That wasn’t a real conflict. They were just testing the waters a bit.

“But in their place…” the soldier mutters, sounding rather reluctant to say more. But he does anyways with a frown on his face, “Ships have been seen on the water coming from the direction of the mainland.”

Looks like it’s begun then.

The officer turns to me and says, “Undying Magician, we’ll be in touch.” Then he reaches out and hands me a radio. “This is a direct contact that will connect with the other nobles no matter where you are in the Kingdom. And there will be a group online meeting tomorrow to discuss the details of our arrangement.”

“Very well,” I state while ignoring the other officers, none of whom look pleased by the duke’s officer taking charge. But none of them say anything either.

Fine with me.

After a brief pause, the officer salutes once more and says, “It has been a pleasure to meet you, Nathan Fox. My name is Jake Elmwood.” And without giving me much time to react to that, he turns around and walks away without another word.

Wait a second, Elmwood?

He can’t be Katie’s brother or anything, since he’s too old. But could he be her uncle or something like that?

Unless there’s just another family with the name Elmwood lying around in their little dukedom. Which I find rather unlikely.

I watch him walk away for a bit, with the other magicians quickly joining him. Then I turn around and head inside of the caverns again, briefly handing the radio to Claire after we enter the Caverns and leave the officers’ sights.

“Inspect it for any traps or spyware,” I order her, and she nods her head and begins tapping away on her terminal.

It’s unfortunate that the other nobles of the Kingdom of the Fallen don’t have terminals, but there’s nothing I can do about that. Not when they’re still enemies at least.

I frown as I walk through the tunnels of the Caverns back to the meeting room, with the others walking behind me.

There’s no way I’ll help the nobles grow stronger. But I will work with them during this war.

The atrocities of war aside, it will benefit me in the end. Especially since my people are far away from the frontlines.

A benefit of being in the Inner Ring.

So I only have to fight myself and can leave the others behind here to protect themselves.

Whether or not the skeleton will assist in that is up to him though. Since I know he doesn’t want my people to die. And just because we’re at war on the same side doesn’t mean some of the nobles won’t turn on us during it.

But the skeleton is also busy with the war.

Regardless, I’ll need to discuss these matters with the other nobles.

War isn’t something to be taken lightly after all.