Nacilia’s army was most well known for its highly trained mages. Before annexation by Arlin, it was considered one of the pioneers of magic and its utilization in warfare. Researchers and professors from across the continent would commonly visit and study at Nacilian universities as a way to expand their own craft. After the 8th campaign, many experts in the fields of magecraft were executed or forcefully brought to Arlin to have their knowledge utilized for the sake of the Empire.

***

“I’ve already told you, that’s a stupid idea.”

Elric took another spoonful of gruel before continuing his rant about the problems with my plan of destroying the mine. Breakfast was the same as it had been a few days ago, and the taste of it was clearly starting to deteriorate.

“I get that we have protection against it, but what exactly does that accomplish other than making a big scene and grabbing the attention of every single individual in the camp? Plus, if they realize it wasn’t natural and that a slave did it, what do you think they’re going to do next?”

I kept my face as neutral as possible while listening to him explain all the problems with my ideas. Alex and Elina were both watching the spectacle with bated breath, wondering how something which seemed so simple and kind of sensical was so offensive to him. The fact that no guard was listening in on us was a miracle, even though Elric and I were keeping generally hushed tones. As he took another break to eat, I finally spoke my mind.

“We need a distraction if we’re going to do the run to the armory and the captain’s office. The guards are here to make sure that the mining operation goes well, right? So obviously the main focus they’re going to have is the mine. The guards will all be distracted with that and run over to see what happened and whether a miner did it, and we can use the lack of guards to make the run for it. All we need is one big distraction to get their attention so we can make the move. Plus, if we do it at night, it won’t be as easy to hit us.”

Both Alex and Elina were sitting there, seemingly taking mental notes as we argued with each other. It was definitely interesting to watch, but it felt as though we were both being heavily judged. Elric sighed, leaning back a bit before holding up three fingers on his hand.

“Fine. Let’s assume that this works and that we can do this mad dash to the armory and the captain's office. Tell me, how do you expect someone to sneak into the mine in the dead of night while it's surrounded by guards?”

“I could do it.”

All three of us turned to stare at Elina who looked as though what she had just said wasn’t completely insane. I admit that my plan was built off of some heavy assumptions, but hearing the woman say that she was this confident that she could pull off stealth of that quality felt surreal.

“I’ve done more insane shit. Plus, if I get caught, I can still have that fight I’m looking for.”

Elina’s look of sheer confidence was worrying, but it wasn’t something that I could really focus on. It at least meant that if I did actually go through with the plan, I had someone who was up to the job of sneaking in there. Elric lowered a finger before continuing.

“Ok, let’s assume that Elina is our master of stealth and is able to get in there to blow up the mine? How’s she exactly going to do that? It’s not like they keep refined magore in there to cause the reaction and we’d need a lot of it to actually make it work and blow up the entrance to the mine.”

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This one I had actually thought about the previous night. We still had 38 days for me to prepare and get everyone ready, which wasn’t a lot, but it gave me opportunities to use the tools that I had at my disposal. Rather, it gave me the ability to use my current situation with Elm to my advantage. One thing that we occasionally would replace were broken pieces of magore. Very rarely, small bits of it would chip off or the primer piece used in a burner would get misshapen and need to be stored away. If I got enough of those chunks together over time in small amounts to not arouse suspicion, then I could probably have it brought to the mine in some small container and then use it to react with some of the unrefined stuff to create a big explosion. We didn’t even have to do it at the direct entrance to the mine, just somewhere which was vulnerable enough to it. Hell, we didn’t even have to worry about it causing a chain reaction with the unrefined stuff, since only the refined material would be the one that would explode.

“Easy. We take refined magore from the armory over time and bring it to the mines using the one thing they let us keep,” I grabbed my canteen from my hip and showed it to the others at the table, “Bring it in and then we use it to create the reaction. The reaction we need isn’t too big, but I think if I get enough small bits I can fill up the canteen to the point where it can act as a good catalyst for a reaction. We don’t even need to worry about leaving the mine for the unrefined stuff. Just grab the bits on the floor, put a tiny bit in the canteen and then throw it at the walls.”

Elric stared at me slack jawed while Alex and Elina both seemed completely content with the explanation. As Elric languished in frustration, Elina stared at the canteen she had on her hip and began to study it and see how it was shaped, presumably to see if she could throw it easily. After a shrug that appeared to be confirmation that it was indeed possible, I turned back to Elric with his head in his hands.

“I really hope that you’re aware that this entire thing is suicide, right? Even if it doesn’t blow up the entire cave, the person who blows it up from the inside is going to still be inside the cave. You know that it’s going to mean that, even if they survive, you’re not going to have one of us who can actually help in the revolt?” Elric took a quick turn over to Elina “And you realize that if you’re the one who goes in there, you’re not going to be able to fight even if you survive?”

Elina seemingly paused in time, her body no longer moving as her thoughts were very clearly elsewhere. As she returned back to the flow of time, she simply responded “Oh. Guess I’m not going to do it then.”

All three of us stopped and turned to her, confused by this complete reversion in interest. As I took time to ponder what I should do now that I had lost my best candidate, I heard a deep groan coming from Elric. His black hair which was only somewhat messy by the beginning of the conversation was now matted as he messed with it in frustration.

“Fine. If Elina can get me there, I’ll do it. I’m used to messing around with the raw stuff anyways, and I’ve seen a few explosions with the stuff.”

Elric’s solemn tone about that topic suggested that it was an experience that he hadn’t shared with us. The most I knew about his past is that he was a craftsman since it was the family trade, but never divulged the depth of how much they did. Hearing him say that he’d messed around with Magore was worrying, but I didn’t have the time to think about it.

“I can pull that off as long as you don’t mess up. I’ve led a few sneak attacks in my time.”

As Elric seemed to be melting internally from the amount of confident stupidity he was surrounded with, Alex leaned over to pat me on the back.

“Feels like a team already. By the way, how do you plan on getting into the Captain’s office unnoticed?”

As I was about to celebrate my victory over Elric, I paused as my brain mulled over the lapse in judgment. I had completely forgotten that entire part of the plan and how I was going to pull it off. Running into the office and grabbing the key was…

Fuck.