Guardian stood in between two women; the air surrounding them radiated an aura of rivalry.

“She has accompanied me here, that is all.” Guardian stated the simple fact.

“M-hm…” Tiramisu doubted that a simple walk and talk was the only intention Iustitia had.

“It was nice to see you, Tiramisu. I'll better be going.” Iustitia decided not to push it this time.

Tiramisu took Guardian’s arm away from Iustitia and led him inside.

“If you get any news about Islanders let me know.” Guardian asked Iustitia just before he disappeared down the stairs leading to the prison dungeon.

The two finally were alone away from men stealing slut.

“Say, how about we sleep together today?” Tiramisu asked this while rubbing her chest on his broad arm.

“Why?” Guardian genuinely wanted to know. In his perspective Tiramisu was acting weird.

“Why not? I am sure it will feel good for both of us .”

“I will consider it.” At the moment Guardian did not feel the urge to sleep with anyone. However, he suspected that refusing her would lead to a lot of trouble later.

It was very late and everything left to do now was to get some rest. As he walked past the narrow corridor leading to the hall Tiramisu was still clinging to him unwilling to let go. They reached his sleeping champers which were conveniently partitioned in his research hall. He went inside with full intent to get a good rest regardless of Tiramisu being with him. Inside the chamber on a soft matt where he slept was another person laying on top of it already. Of course, it had to be Aiu.

“Eh!” “Huh!” Both women exclaimed at once. Neither expected to see one another here.

Guardian was having none of their antics. He laid on his matt, shuffled a couple of time to get comfortable, “It is time to rest - Shhhh.” He shushed them and closed his eyes.

The women looked at each other intently, sparks were flying from their eyes. They wanted to complain but had a hunch that if they were to get noisy now they might get kicked out from the room. Both Aiu and Tiramisu knew what they have to do; a temporary ceasefire was put in place. They laid on the matt separated by Guardian who laid in between them. The women hugged him from both sides, pressing their bodies to his. Aiu and Tiramisu wanted to make a move on him, but they could not. Neither of them felt like doing that when another female was there. So they slept like that In an odd sandwich composed of human, lizard and something else entirely.

The morning came but the sleeping trio could not know that. There were no windows in the dungeon for the morning sunlight to come in and announce a new day. It was Ithayiga’s job to be morning sunshine and wake his master up, or at least he thought of himself so. He went inside the partition where the Guardian was sleeping. The boy did not expect to find others sleeping together with him. Ithayiga did not know how he should behave. Should he wake them up or just pretend that he did not come here at all.

He stood there for good two minutes pondering what to do. He made his mind up to interrupt their slumber; he had to.

“Guardian, It is morning!” He got nervous and his voice sounded broken and uneven.

Guardian rolled Aiu away from his chest. She was still sleeping like a log.

“Oh, it is you. I did not expect you back so soon. Weren’t you with Cynthia?”

Ithayiga had to run away from that woman. At first, she was pleasant and nice; he loved to be cuddled and petted. However, the things turned to something he could not handle and he had to run away.

“Iustitia is waiting for you. She has some news.” Ithayiga changed the topic avoiding answering Guardian’s question.

Guardian pried his tail away from Tiramisu, she was hugging it like a body pillow, and went with Ithayiga to meet Iustitia.

He sat with her near a dinner table. He was keen to hear what she has to say.

Apparently, things were worse than anyone could have expected. The matter at the sea escalated even further. Islanders having superior navy and experience won that one. However, having a harbour town which was hostile to them was not preferable. They lost too much and had enough aggression and resentment to feel like going for a bit of revenge and some pillaging. Islanders were in preparation to mount an inland invasion and take down the noble families which ruled this city.

There were groups of recruiters going around the city and recruiting people for the upcoming fight. The wealthy were afraid that their fortune will be pillaged and were doing their best to secure enough guards for their property. The nobles were recruiting mercenary’s to meet Islanders on the shore. But in the end, it was the nobles and the wealthy who were fighting the Islanders, the ones who were poor or lived in the slums had nothing to do with it. Actually, the slum dwellers knew that this time they will be just left alone.

The only ones who decided to risk their lives were the ones who needed the reward of money desperately.

“So their recruitment isn't going well?”

“I am afraid not. You didn't change your mind about joining the nobles?”

“No. I think I will just lay low here in the dungeons until this mess sorts itself out.”

“Makes sense and this place looks very secure. It is more spacious than I thought.” Iustitia gave her general impression of the place. Even this dining room where they talked could host an entire village of people.

“It was a prison that is why." Guardian pointed the obvious, "Actually, with enough men and coin it could be turned to a fortress.”

“Say, do you mind if I and other girls take shelter here. The harbour is not the safest place to be right now.” Actually, it was the last place to be on the safety list.

“I owe you for all the favours and todays' info. So I guess you can. There is plenty of rooms here, they just need cleaning.”

“Thank you for that. I will get the girls now.” Iustitia did not want to waste any time and ran to get her co-workers.

Trouble has never been a thing which walks alone. Just as Iustitia ran out another woman let herself in. Not like anyone would be able to stop her coming in uninvited; she had a huge war golem accompanying her.

“Guardian I need a favour from you.” She went straight to business.

Ithayiga looked panicked for a moment. He ran had away from her, after all. He feared that she came here to reprimand him.

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“What is it?” Guardian asked without paying attention to his shaking assistant.

“There will be a battle in this city. A big one. I want you to stand by my side while we defend the city.”

They fought quite a few fights already and Cynthia grew to value him as a companion and a friend she can rely on.

“Ah… About that…” Guardian was thinking how to rebuke her.

“You can’t?” Cynthia noticed his reluctance.

“Let me ask. Why have you took a side and decided to fight this time? He asked her.

“I can’t believe you really ask this. You are serious?” From his look, she judged that he was. “Okay. First, I have always defended this town and the people in here so it is only natural that I will continue to do so. Second, Guard Captain and others requested my assistance and I was in no position to turn them down. Lastly, I am a noble myself. Well, my situation is a bit different, but still, I am from a noble and a high ranking family. We nobles need to stand together now and then.” Cynthia explained her reasons. She left out a tiny detail of receiving a handsome pay for her assistance. Also, her rank in noble society surely would go up. That is if the battle was successful and she proved herself capable.

“I see. But who will defend the people here in the slums? Surely, all guards will be stationed in the harbour or by the noble houses. The slum district will be even more vulnerable than usual. What if anything happened here?” Even though it was extremely unlikely Guardian was pushing his point. “I have to stay here.”

“I understand. What you say is true, if they attacked the slums no one would rush to help. It might be better if you stayed here.”

Guardian nodded his head sagely; they have reached an understanding. Cynthia will have to collect favours he owed her next time.

“We still have time before the things get nasty. I have another question.” She glanced at Ithayiga for a moment.

The boy wanted to run away but he knew he couldn’t. Even if he tried he would get caught and probably pulverised for failing his duties. Yet the question Cynthia asked was nothing to do with him.

“So what did you do with the crystal?” She was curious and wanted to know ever since she left it with Guardian.

Ithayiga let out a sigh of relief.

“Come, I will show.” Guardian stood up from the desk and led her to his research hall.

There he showed her a dark red crystal glowing with power. She put her hand on it and she could feel the overwhelming power, it was pulsing and vibrating from all the mana it held trapped inside.

“You have managed to charge it, but how? This would take months even for a large group of mages.”

“My means of doing that are my own. It is a mages' secret and it is better if you did not know.” Guardian was sure of it.

“I dislike that you are unwilling to share this secret with me, but I understand.” She knew that this was normal when it came to magic. A mage had to protect his secrets to protect his powers. “So, how do you plan to use it? Tell me this at least. This thing is quite dangerous now, the energy stored inside would be enough to blow up a small portion of a city. You are not doing that are you?” She had to be sure.

“What? No! And I don’t know a proper ritual for that. Actually, I am undecided how to use the crystal. But I assure you that this won’t be used for that sort of stuff. It would be too destructive.”

“I will trust you on that one. I better go to prepare, if you change your mind please come and join my side.”

“I doubt I will but okay. Oh and good luck in your battle.”

“I will need it.” Just before leaving, Cynthia looked at a cowering boy cheekily and smiled.

Ithayiga knew that this was her twisted way of bullying him. She was definitely not a nice person he thought she was.

He said one thing, but actually, Guardian had a use for the crystal. He will use it as a mana battery. It was perfect for him as his mana did not regenerate on itself so he would get it from the crystal instead. He opened the research book he had inherited and cast a binding spell on the crystal. This way he wouldn't need to hold it in his hands but it still had to be close to his body for him to be able to draw mana from it.

Then, Guardian dressed in a large black robe and put his two chains across his torso. He took the crystal, stored it in a sack and strapped it to his back. He did not want to pick sides but it did not mean that he will be sitting here doing nothing. He has decided to observe the fight from relative safety.

He opened the entrance leading to the sewers and went through the narrow corridors leading to the main city. He had his map finally completed and ready to use.

It was easy to navigate the tunnels and finally he had to make his way out from the sewers. The exit hole was too small for him and he had to widen it with magic. It was quite a remote location and this did not cause too much of a commotion. The city folk had more pressing matters to worry about, the collapsing sewer tunnel was not one of them.

Guardian headed towards the harbour. Once there he could see a fleet of ships approaching from the distance. evident from foreign design, It was an enemy fleet. It seems that all of the Harbour City ships were captured or sunk, otherwise the foreigners would not have made it so far. To see how the battle unfolds he climbed on top of one of the buildings.

The ships got closer to land and both sides were getting ready for battle. Just before ships could dock both sides launched a ranged attack. The city forces fired multiple fire arrows trying to set the ships ablaze while the islanders used mages to deflect them. The defending force was mostly human and beastmen fighters, it did not look like they had many mages within the ranks. The Islanders, on the other hand, were mostly mages, but their total number was far less than the men gathered to protect the city. To put it simply the defenders had numbers but the attackers had overwhelming power concentrated in a few individuals.

Not only were the attackers able to deflect most of the arrows using magic, but they also managed to launch a counter-attack of their own. They fired magic projectiles at the archers. Those were fire bolts which exploded on the impact. The men seeing dangerous magic flying at them had to disperse and retreat further away, behind the line of melee fighters. This gave Islanders enough time to get close to the harbour docks leaving their ships mostly intact.

The attacking forces jumped out of their ships and ran towards the defenders to meet them in melee. There was only a small band of horned fighters coming from ships. However, they were clad in metal from top to bottom. Their armour was shiny and well made. Only their hoves and horns poked out from their metal suits of armour. The melee fighters had menacing war axes in their hands. Opposite to the city defenders they did not need shields because of this sort of armour. Contrary to what one might believe the armoured fighters moved with considerable speed and finesse. The armour did not hinder their movement at all. On top of being well-trained fighters, they had multiple buffs and enchantments put on them by the mages.

The defending forces were in stark contrast to the Islanders. They have been poorly outfitted, only the guards had a semblance of professional protection. However, the guards were probably the ones here who had the least experience. The most experienced melee fighters here were the hired men, the mercenaries. Nobles paid good coin for them. To put it simply they had the numbers but not the quality, and on top of that, the organisation was very poor. Actually, there was no commanding officer or anything like that. Each noble commanded their own band of fighters and archers.

The archers had enough time to reorganise and shot their arrows towards the attackers once again. Most of the projectiles missed their target or were deflected by the metal armour. The Islanders slammed their huge axes at the front lines sending blood and decapitated limbs with each swing. The axes were well sharpened and they cut through leather protection the guards had like butter. It was not only the leather vests which were next to useless but their wooden shields too. On the first or second impact with the heavy axes shields splintered leaving the men exposed.

The city guards' defending ability was very poor while the Islanders demonstrated overwhelming attack power. They pushed the guards out of the harbour deeper into the city. The Islanders' goal was the nobles and their mansions. During the first phase of the invasion, the guards suffered significant casualties managing to take down only a few of the attackers. The Harbour City forces had to retreat from the harbour and take the second line of defence in the city centre.

The Islander mages did not have to protect their ships from the archer’s anymore so they joined the ground forces. They reapplied the buffs and enchantments on their warriors and continued their attack.

Guardian used the commotion to retreat to a safer spot where he could observe the fight. So far he was not impressed with the city defence. The lack of equipment was not the main problem, the lack of strategy and organisation was. It seemed like the nobles had no strategy to speak of at all, they just threw men to battle hoping that the number will be enough to win the battle.

Fighting in a densely populated city was different from the relatively open harbour district. The streets were very narrow and Islanders had to divide their forces into small groups of fighters, each band had a few mages with them. The building surrounded them on all sides and the ambush was highly likely.

That’s where the overwhelming number and fighting in your own city helped. Archers hid in the buildings and took invaders by surprise while the ground fighters prevented them from retreating. The streets were narrow and a small group of men were able to completely close it. Not to mentions that some streets were barricaded. The mages within the invaders managed to deflect the arrows keeping their men uninjured but still, they were pushed and guided where the defenders wanted them to be. This was where the city defenders had an upper hand.

Guardian took back his previous words, the nobles or at least someone in their ranks had some idea of what they were doing. After all, this was the very basic strategy they could use against invading forces. Guardian wondered who that person was. Also, he missed Cynthia; she and her golem were yet to join the fight.