Currently, it was night, and we, being in the barracks, sat with weapons in our hands, ready to engage in battle at any moment. Judging by the bioscan of the surrounding area, we were carefully guarded. At the exit from the barracks there were guards and entire squads were waiting in the wings in other rooms.

We are now in the enemy’s lair and must by any means get out of this castle and this city, but before we decided on such a bloody act, I asked Granid what we could do now, to which I received a very comforting answer from the old wizard:

"I wish you wouldn't kill anyone."

“Of course, I understand you perfectly, but how do we get out of the castle?”

"There's no need to rush into this."

Granid calmed us down.

"You don't have to do that. We can still go to the capital and ask the young king for permission to pass in exchange for your help."

“And the fact that we are already on the territory of the kingdom is no longer a problem?”

“I accompany you, you follow me, which means you are my companions, guests in this kingdom and can walk through the lands of Lakuus as long as I allow.”

In response, I wanted to ask why it was necessary to offer a deal with the king of this country, but then I remembered that it was Granid’s idea, it was he who said “save this country.” He wanted us to provide assistance to the kingdom, that is, he knew that this kingdom was in danger from the Empire and therefore made such an offer to us.

Neither the king, nor the count, nor anyone else except Granid himself proposed this idea, which means it was strictly his initiative, his idea to use us to protect this country. He is clearly hiding something from us, but for some reason he doesn’t say what exactly.

"Granid, do I understand correctly that we are now dealing with you when it comes to the deal?"

Hearing this, the old wizard’s face darkened even more than before. It seems that he understood that I had guessed something and did not hide it.

"Yes. Until His Majesty desires your help, then I will ask for your help. By my right you will walk on the lands of the kingdom, and you swear to protect this people from future misfortunes."

What other misfortunes?

I was about to ask, but then Will intervened.

"Then why did we even come to this castle?"

I decided to answer this question instead of Granid:

“It would be better if we could make a deal with the kingdom and receive specific instructions to provide military assistance. By working together with the royal army, we could achieve better coordination and we could work together to effectively operate the units, but now we are like mercenaries subordinate to Granid, who are committed to holding up their end of the deal."

Hearing this answer, Forn decided to insert his word:

"But the laws of the Republic prohibit military personnel from engaging in mercenary activities. A deal with representatives of local governments would add legitimacy to us to conduct military operations, but a deal with a specific individual would simply mean nothing."

“So you can’t do that?”

Granid asked me and I, recognizing Forn’s words, sighed heavily and shook my head, confirming the Martian’s words.

“We can’t. I’m sorry, but our command will not allow us to send part of the army to defend this country for some kind of deal. If we agreed with government officials, then this would have weight in the eyes of the command, because in this case it would be considered part of diplomatic negotiations, but no one will send an army just like that. If we did come to an agreement with the king, this would open up the opportunity for further negotiations."

I can already imagine a picture where General Zeonid and the gray-bearded king dressed in aristocratic attire meet, shaking hands and opening the airport through which supplies, food and trade are carried out. Since we have limited resources, General Zeonid would probably agree to trade resources in exchange for military support. This picture would look very funny, but alas, it will now be difficult to imagine.

Of course, the king rejected our offer of help, because he could have considered our help insufficient or simply did not believe that we could send ten thousand soldiers here, although we could have sent the entire division. Or maybe the king was confident that with the available forces he was able to resist both the Empire and that same duchy, or maybe he did not receive letters from the count at all.

I don’t know exactly the reason for the refusal, but since we could not conclude a deal with the state, it means we cannot help this state in any way. And with all this, we have already violated enough of the laws of the Republic regarding the first contacts and contacts with primitive civilizations and yet we have the opportunity to afford to do whatever we want, but otherwise we would simply be no different from the pantorians, who on top of that everything here would be destroyed, turning into solid matter.

"Then I have another idea."

The droid operator suddenly intervened.

Everyone turned their heads to Stern and began to listen to this man. It was really interesting to find out what he would offer because usually everyone hears grumbling from him, not ideas.

"What if our help is enough?"

"Are you serious?"

Fred crossed his arms, skeptical of everything as always.

"We're running out of ammunition, what are we going to shoot with?"

"Granid and Incartia could create cartridges."

"It would take too long."

"Yeah, but I noticed something."

Stern said with a smile and removed the clip from his assault rifle and offered it to the young sorceress.

"Try to recreate it entirely."

“Of course, I know what spell to recreate this with, but it will take time.”

The dark-haired woman said, taking a full cartridge clip.

Incartia closed her eyes and began to cast a spell. Knowing how much Granid made one cartridge, we knew how long it would take and yet something interested me in Stern’s words. He suggested that she create not a separate cartridge, but an entire clip at once. I didn’t immediately understand why I should do it this way.

Making several things at once, rather than each one separately, somehow reminds me of the classic method of industrial production, when parts are made in batches at once, rather than individually, saving time for transportation between technological operations.

Did Stern think that part of the time spent producing this magic was spent on some kind of magical preparation? If this is so, then Granid could no longer produce 50 rounds per day, but 50 clips per day. In this case, we will immediately be able to solve the issue of shortage of ammunition.

This could actually work.

I thought, and after waiting for the young sorceress to finish, she presented us with a second clip that appeared in her second hand as if from a water mist.

"Look."

The sorceress gave the droid operator two clips, one real and the other a duplicate.

“It’s hard for me to do this, I very rarely use this spell, or rather never. Mmmm~... this thing alone gives me a headache, but what is it anyway?”

"Cartridge clip."

I explained while Stern checked whether there were cartridges in it.

"Just as I thought."

The droid operator said and made the offer again.

"Let's put all the clips in one pile, and you duplicate them, that is, create exact copies."

"Did it work?"

In the meantime, I decided to make sure and took the duplicated clip and looked into the slot in which the cartridges were indeed visible.

"Wow! So we can replenish our ammo."

"This spell, what you call «duplication», requires too much magical power,"

Granid said, estimating the number of clips we now had.

“But if you really need these cartridges, then we can try. How many of these cartridges will you need?”

"As much as possible."

I answered with some optimism.

“And how much does it take to satisfy you? I can’t do them endlessly.”

That is, what is the minimum required quantity?

I thought and immediately blurted out the following:

"Ten clips each, minimum."

Even though this was quite a small number, it would be difficult to carry such clips in large quantities without an exoskeleton, so let each person have ten clips. That’s what we decided to do, we collected all the available clips of ammunition in a pile and began to wait for the old wizard to complete his witchcraft.

While Granid was casting a spell, Niana suddenly turned to me, watching what was happening and seeing our increased enthusiasm.

"Can you fight now?"

"In a way, yes."

I answered, crossing my arms over my chest and at the same time decided to ask the princess.

"What are you planning to do? You won't be following us endlessly, right?"

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Yes, you're right."

The princess lowered her head and said with reluctance in her voice.

"We will have to separate someday. We must find a way to free our country from the rule of the Empire, but... I don't know what to do."

Her words sounded reasonable. We don’t want to babysit them, but we can’t leave them either. At a minimum, they need to be accommodated here so that they take root here, in another country, in a foreign culture. They will have to learn the Lakuus language in order to understand the speech of the local residents and perhaps forever forget about the possibility of returning to their native lands. It is unlikely that we will help them return their kingdom, because helping the natives is not our responsibility, and in general we do not have the opportunity to fight the entire Empire, even if it is very backward in our understanding.

It would be cruel to abandon them here. They were counting on us, and we are going to abandon them in the end?

I thought about it and decided to propose something:

"I think that when we meet the king, we will demand that he take part in a campaign against the lands of Hippolytus. In this case, the defensive military campaign will affect not only the kingdom of Lakuus, but Hippolytus too."

Although I said so, I still have no idea how to do it. I imagine a picture where I, a stranger on this land, stand in front of the king and demand that he send troops beyond the vast dense forest behind which there is a captured country. It is unlikely that he will agree, because the offensive campaign will require enormous funds and resources. Moreover, the Lakuusians now have their own internal problems and are unlikely to worry about what is happening in another country; they are unlikely to even believe that they are threatened by the Empire.

In general, there is no hope yet for the release of Hippolytus, however, judging by Niana’s sad eyes, I can see that she did not believe my words. She also doesn't believe in the outcome, where the Lakuusian army marches through the forest to liberate her home country, which she may one day rule.

"Done."

He said Granid and showed us two piles of clips.

"I'm afraid my magical powers have run out."

"Teacher?"

Incartia said with concern seeing the tired face of the old wizard.

"Are you okay?"

"I... I'm very tired."

Granid said, and the next moment he collapsed and fell onto the bed, instantly snoring.

We, in turn, went to sort out two piles of clips and yes, they all actually had cartridges and were suitable for use. Well, we were able to increase the amount of our ammunition, but it is still better to save it. Granid was able to duplicate a total of 30 clips, that is, three clips each. This is not to mention the fact that Granid did not duplicate the Forn machine gun belt and clips for a sniper rifle.

Magic really is amazing.

I thought with a smile on my face and already imagined many possibilities with her.

If it can be used to create exact copies of ammunition out of thin air, then it is likely that it can also be used to create certain items from scratch, using blueprints and diagrams, i.e. provide the mage with parameters, and he will become a walking replicator. However, it seems that using magic has greatly tired Granid, since he fell face down on the bed and fell asleep.

I decided to find out if everything was okay with him.

"Is he alive?"

I asked Fred, who had already examined Granid, and the senior medic calmly answered:

“He’s just tired. Apparently magic consumes glycogen and protein. Granid will now sleep the whole day, the restoration of these substances takes too long.”

"What does it mean?"

Incartia asked worriedly, sitting next to Granid, and Fred was still not too lazy to explain to her:

“He will sleep for a long time, about the whole day. If he is very tired, this is normal. Next time we better not demand something impossible from him, otherwise he may die from exhaustion, but don’t be afraid, he’s fine "

Even though magic works real miracles, it still turned out to be not as omnipotent as we previously thought. It was now interesting to listen to Fred, who put forward another scientific theory trying to understand how magic works. He put his finger to his chin and, looking off into space, walked around the barracks from one end to the other, thinking out loud:

“Based on what I saw, the use of so-called «magic» consumes the energy of the human body. This is unexpected because I thought that magic had to consume too much energy to influence material objects, so why is the internal energy of the human body used? It is quite possible that the human energy is a kind of spark to ignite the flame necessary to use other energy located outside the human body. What kind of energy is it at the moment is unclear, but something else is clear, it exists only on this planet, that is, the physical nature of this planet, planetary system. is very different from the material universe we are used to. Maybe that’s why our ship was thrown out of subspace? We were thrown out as a result of contact with a nature that is different to us, in which there is a different type of energy. Then there should have been significant differences, discrepancies in the material universe, the work of its mechanisms and itself? its physical nature. Even if a new form of energy, particles or other phenomenon is already part of our «Universe No. 1», that is, in this «Universe No. 2», everything should be completely different. Why are the changes in the nature of this supposed «Universe #2» so minor? Or maybe this unknown form of energy has always existed in «Universe #1», but can simply work within this space?

"Fred, stop it!"

I said irritably to the senior medic, instantly tired of his relentless stream of thoughts out loud.

“We still know little about the nature of this magic. Leave these thoughts for later. We must now decide what to do.”

“Should I go to the capital and offer help in exchange for the right of passage to the king or break through with a fight?”

Fred asked and I nodded, to which the senior medic answered.

“With ammunition, we can do this even right now, that is, break through with battle, but it is still advisable to avoid bloodshed.”

"I agree."

Esko said as he inserted a cartridge clip into the sniper rifle.

“There’s no need for us to add any more worries, we’re already in the crosshairs of this Empire.”

I also agreed with this, but what if the king, as now, rejects our proposal? Conclude a transaction with an individual? We can do this, but it is highly undesirable. It is unlikely that General Zeonid will approve of actions taken purely on our initiative. Even if we agree on our own behalf, the general will still be against it.

"We have to at least try."

I said it and added it.

“We need to accumulate the required amount of ammunition, after which we will go to the capital and ask for an audience with the king of this country.”

The natives, who had not interfered with our conversations until that moment, suddenly decided to insert their word. A native approached us, looking very menacing and massive. As far as I remember, his name was Furgur and from his gaze I already felt an endless stream of silent insults rushing in our direction like the wind.

“Are you really planning to meet this king?”

The archer asked, twisting his face and shaking his head, after which I answered:

“We must, on our own behalf, make a deal with the head of this state. If we simply fulfill Granid’s request, then the command of our army will simply not fulfill its part of the agreement and will not send part of the troops to defend the kingdom. The agreement with the king will be more legitimate and will give weight our presence on your planet."

"Then I think you should learn something about the terrible side of the royal family."

The archer said and sat down on the edge of one of the beds while I wondered out loud:

“What are you talking about? Isn’t this same royal family just relatives of the king? Moreover, the new king is a man worthy of ruling.”

Well, that's true based only on Diana's words. To believe the words of Count Laroy's daughter right away is the same as believing political rumors about the elections to the Republican Senate. Fucking politicians.

In the meantime, I thought until Furgur suddenly agreed with my words with a displeased grunt.

“Where did you hear such nonsense? Is the new king a man worthy of ruling? They made fun of the pig. If you knew what scoundrels they are, you would have already given up the idea of going to the capital. It’s just pointless and stupid, a waste of time.”

He may have said it, but I am not going to change my decision to meet the king just because of the knowledge of his unfavorable character, otherwise it will only be my empty sign of bias. As a person from Earth, I know very well that most conflicts arise not because of the sharing of lands and resources, but because of simple misunderstandings. One party may enter into conflict only because it does not consider the other party competent or worthy of negotiations.

I shouldn't care what skeletons the new king hides in his closet, be he a rapist, a murderer or a real tyrant. Their morality does not bother me and should not, because I am a guest in this country and it is not my responsibility to judge its foundations. Based on my own views on such things, I responded to Furgur in the following words:

“I don’t care whether the new king is a scoundrel or not. I have to negotiate with him and get what I want from him.”

Furgur looked at me with a stern and at the same time disappointed look. He sighed, realizing that I follow strict principles when it comes to negotiations:

“Baran, you don’t understand anything. I’ll tell the truth, I used to serve in the royal guard and I know what dark things are going on in the palace. For as long as I can remember, the old king lay in bed, exhaling the last remnants of his life, and his wife mercilessly poured out all the gold from the royal treasury, eating sweets, buying expensive dresses and cosmetics. The First Prince of Monrid was completely terrifying, I know he sees in people only steps that you just need to step over, he never makes concessions to anyone. If he becomes a king. , then I would never negotiate with a person like you. And the second prince is even worse, he is terribly unfit to be the king, he is more worried about women, whom he sometimes likes to fuck right in the middle of the palace corridor and he did not care about the audience, he did not care. a shameless womanizer. Even the youngest third prince grows up with huge handouts from everyone around him. He is covered with such care that even at such a young age he shows unprecedented arrogance towards all the people around him. It's a little stinking monster. And only the first princess, sick and bedridden, does no evil. The only thing she can do is read books, having forever lost the ability to walk on her own two feet. And having learned this, tell me, do you want to negotiate with a king who won’t even listen to you? He will order you to be killed on the spot and no matter how strong you really are, you are nothing to him, and your name is a nameless ram."

"Wait... that's not what I heard."

“I’m not at all surprised, because Prince Monrid is doing everything possible to look powerful, proud and noble in the eyes of those around him. It makes me sick just to think about it. He spreads rumors that the entire royal family are people worthy of their status, blaming the whole blame for embezzlement on the helpless princess Ilifreeta."

"Interesting."

Camellia, who had been listening attentively to the archer, suddenly inserted her word.

“So, bad rumors about the princess are spreading throughout the country? If this is so, then how is it that you are here, knowing the whole truth about them?”

Strange, I've never seen Camellia so serious. When we met she looked like an ordinary timid girl, but now she looks like a very proud and at the same time interested adult girl. Even her posture was straight as she sat on the edge of her bunk. Furgur, meanwhile, sternly snapped, clearly not intending to answer her question:

"You shouldn't worry about that."

"And yet, you know the truth. Does Prince Monrid not see you as a threat? Surely you can undermine His Majesty's rumors by spreading your own."

"I could do that, but I don't need to."

“Are you sure? Then why did you try to persuade Boris not to negotiate with the king?”

Furgur did not find an answer to this question, he was silent while Camellia continued to develop her thought:

“You probably have a personal grudge against this person, and you just don’t want to meet him. In that case, what’s stopping you from leaving the squad right now? You’ve already received payment, so why are you still here?”

“You know perfectly well why. Until the campaign is completed, I will follow Mrs. Incartia, I will protect her while she explores the ruins of the dark ones or whatever else she is going to do. And in general, shut your mouth while I... while I...”

Furgur's voice suddenly became heavy, and Incartia's gaze was filled with horror. The dark-haired sorceress jumped up from her seat and shouted towards Camellia:

"NO! Stop! What are you doing?! Don't kill him!"

We all turned our gazes in surprise to Camellia, whose expression reflected a hitherto unprecedented bloodthirstiness. I've never seen anything like this. She just sat there while Furgur sat and held his neck with his hands, gasping for breath.

"Don't tell me to shut my mouth."

Camellia said angrily.

“I won’t leave a living place behind you, dog.”

"STOP!"

Incartia shouted and attacked Camellia with her fists, throwing her onto the bed, after which Furgur coughed and finally began to breathe.

"Nasty bitch!"

Furgur shouted taking hoarse breaths.

At this time, Incartia, with panic on her face, held Camellia on the bed, holding her hands. Camellia's gaze suddenly changed, as if she had just been in some kind of prostration. She, having blinked a little, now looked at Incartia with fear on her face and stuttered:

"What did I…"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Incartia shouted as she hit her face with her palm causing Camellia to hiss in pain.

"WHY DID YOU DO THIS?! WHAT HAVE HAD YOU?!"

"I didn't…"

Camellia froze without finishing her sentence; she simply lay on the bed with panic on her face, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

We also did not understand what was happening. Camellia unexpectedly changed for us, for a moment she became a different person, not the shy girl she used to be, but a very determined and arrogant girl who is ready to respond to every insult addressed to her. I was really more concerned about why she asked a question about the royal family and why she was trying to extract information from Furgur about his past, but I also care about why Furgur was also hiding this and then something dawned on me:

Did he not want us to meet the king just because of personal animosity?

Thinking about it, I now looked at Furgur differently than before.

He noticed my gaze while drinking water from his leather flask and asked me:

"What are you staring at?"

"At you."

"For what?"

"Do you really want to know this?"

I asked and Furgur nodded.

“Then know that in my squad, only I make the final decision. If you have no desire to meet the king or other members of the royal family, then you are not on the same path with us.”

"Are you kicking me out?"

"No. I'm just warning you."

On this note, we ended our conversation and went to sleep, leaving the duty officer for the night. Based on Furgur's actions, we can say that he was not just a member of the royal guard, but once stood at its head. Otherwise, I don’t know why he made such an attempt at manipulation. He tried to take the initiative and offer his own version of action, which should have been very different from ours.

This was unforgivable for me.