"Are you ready, boys?" I asked as I looked at the shrouded figure of Limenta, standing next to Takis wearing a golden set of armor, putting the last touches to escort the huge caravan that contained our promised weapon delivery.

Well, fake delivery. I had actually handled the real delivery with Terma's help, putting our speed to good use. They were safely in a secret warehouse at the Wall I had rented through Iron Trust, defended by Zolast in case our trick was discovered, ready to be delivered to the Princess the moment I sent an order.

The whole point was to force the Marquis to make a move. I didn't want a war, but war was not something I could avoid just through my wishes. Somaton wanted the Breach to set up a superior dungeon, and they were clearly willing to push for it. I had personally visited their forces — the concealment was very useful in spying — and spotted signs of mobilization.

Since they were already planning to attack, forcing them to do so prematurely was the most palatable option. The fake delivery was a good bait. The carts were filled with dismantled ballistas and other siege weapons, designed to be assembled quickly once they were attacked. As long as I was with them, I wasn't afraid of anything less than a flying fortress.

The only problem was that, due to the superior mobility given by the flying castles, I couldn't predict where they would hit. They could target the Wall or Town Maell instead, or hit the mines, which was the reason I had left the younglings with detailed instructions.

Technically, even Town Yoentia was not safe from being targeted. We might have successfully concealed the link between the guild and the church, but the Princess' engagement with Kyrll worked against us there. They could easily attack the town with a token army to force her to disperse her forces.

Or, with more than just a token army, if Marquis wanted to punish poor little quartermaster Euon for his betrayal.

The possibility of an offensive against Town Yoentia was one of the reasons we kept the true nature of the delivery hidden even from the Princess. We wanted her to act natural. Though, that wasn't the only,or even the biggest reason. The biggest fear we had was a leak. We didn't have the ability to vet the trustworthiness of her allies. The more people there were, aware of the secret, the higher the risk of the truth getting out was.

"For the fifth time, boss: yes, we are ready," Limenta said confidently. Takis nodded, but he was much more serious, understanding the implications. "If something unexpected happens, we're going to do our best to delay and distract them rather than engaging directly."

"Good," I said as I looked at their expression, satisfied with their confidence. I had a similar chat with Mahruss and Jertann regarding Town Yoentia. I trusted them to hold against any forces, especially since we had a team of newly promoted warriors, each earning their class upgrade, and armed with the best magic armor and weapons Launara could forge.

Combined with master skills and my additional training, they were strong enough to hold back any threat that might come their way.

The trade caravan left. Thirty large carts, surrounded by five hundred guards, all dressed in gold-plated armor. There was no doubt about who the caravan belonged to.

I followed the caravan from a distance, dressed in a black cloak, and underneath, I had the golden armor.

I wanted to keep my options open in terms of which identity I wanted to intervene in each case. I wasn't sure they wanted to avoid the 'Steward' or kill him first, but either way, keeping them guessing worked to my benefit.

Information was the most precious thing on a battlefield.

I used our connection to signal Zolast that the move had begun. Barely a minute later, Zolast responded with news of his own. Twelve Somaton flying castles and two flying fortresses started to attack the Wall. After the Wall had been reinforced, that shouldn't be enough to take it down.

But, it was a good way to make sending reinforcements troublesome.

At the same time, a message arrived from Mahruss, alerting me of suspicious movements from the Night Blades and some of the smaller guilds, near the dungeon; subtle enough that only Karak noticed.

I sent a message back using a communication stone, giving him permission to arrest them using the town guards, with additional instructions to take them down lethally using guild forces if they didn't comply. It would be a political mess if I misread the situation. The independence of the guilds was no simple matter.

Letting them act before catching them was tempting, to keep it fully legal. Ironically, because of my criminal past, I knew just how useful legal justifications could be, but I wasn't willing to take the risk. It was a tightrope to walk on, and while the youngsters were coming along nicely, ultimately, it was too much of a challenge for them.

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I'd have rathered dealing with the political mess afterward.

While we dealt with the mess, four flying carts appeared in the sky, coming from the Wall. They carried the flags of the princess.

Baron Maell, tasked with the glorious task of protecting the very important caravan, unaware of the exact content, moved forward. "Stop. This caravan belongs to the Church of the Sun, and any force that approaches without permission will be treated as an enemy!" he shouted.

There were two reasons I picked him. First, for all his faults, he was the perfect bait, willing to take the mission for the glory of the church without asking too many questions. He was high-ranking enough to sell the value of the caravan, yet short-sighted enough to ignore the potential risks of our order.

Such as political suicide by refusing the presence of the princess' forces.

One disadvantage of keeping Zolast hidden was the inability to talk with the Princess directly. We had other contacts, but none of them were high-ranking enough to gain an audience with her directly. And, talking with her subordinates who might as well be traitors didn't matter.

The carts ignored Maell's order. Unfortunately, that didn't mean that they were actually traitors, as ignoring the orders of a Baron just to flex their authority was also not out of the question.

Ignoring a volley of magic arrows that would have destroyed the vehicle was much harder. Even their pride wasn't strong enough to take a hundred arrows.

The flying carts landed in a hurry. I let my concealment cover me completely before moving closer to them. Meanwhile, four squads of knights, each made of twenty people, departed the carts. An intimidating force.

But, considering every single one of them were a melee fighter, they would have been far more dangerous if the Baron allowed them to get closer.

"What are you doing, Baron Maell. How dare you attack us? Are you rebelling!" he shouted.

"My orders are from the High Priest himself, Commander. Anyone that dares to approach our caravan is declared an enemy to the church."

"We're sent by the princess to protect you. Somaton forces are attacking, and the Princess has sent us to escort you."

A reasonable excuse, one that would have pushed someone wiser to wait. But, in front of them was the great Baron Maell leading the caravan. "I have my orders," he said as he looked back to his caravan and gave the order. "Move, and if they stand their ground, pump them full of arrows!"

As the caravan moved, the knights held their ground. In response, Baron Maell spread his command skill, and took a hundred archers into his direct command.

It was hard to bluff such an order, which was another reason I had picked Baron Maell. He wasn't bluffing. If the knights got any closer, they would be treated as enemies.

The situation had another nice benefit. With the knights focusing fully on the slow approach of the caravan, even the pilots didn't notice my approach as I sneaked into the commanding cart. "… they look like they want to start a fight, my lord. What should we do?" the pilot asked.

"Stay near and be ready to find an opportunity. Once the fight starts, you can approach with the excuse of helping them, and drop the mana bomb. We need a distraction," a familiar voice explained. It was the agent that accompanied Baron Tarug to his ill-fated venture.

The identity was not a surprise, but I didn't expect them to refer to the attack as a distraction. Either they were thinking about the attack at the Wall or the insurrection in Town Yoentia … or they had another plan in the works.

I used the Heroic Party connection to check in with Limenta, asking him to send some more scouting parties. At the same time, I hid behind the mana bomb, its dense magical signature helping me stay behind it without being noticed.

Hidden from the enemy's detection,,I used my Charisma to send a signal to Baron Maell to decide to camp. He shouted, calling the camp to a stop. "My lord, they have just stopped," the pilot informed the Somaton agent. "What should we do?"

"Try to question them. Aren't you the soldiers? Send one unarmed soldier. They will speak then," he said.

It was a reasonable conclusion. The pilot went out hurriedly to inform their commander about the developments … leaving the communication crystal alone.

Before he could return, I moved forward. "They attacked us, my lord. And now, they are retreating back to Town Maell. What should we do?" I asked.

"You incompetent bastards. How did you screw this up? You had one job…" he said. "Stay near them and wait for an opportunity to drop the bomb. We will handle the rest," he said.

Communication crystals were complicated yet fragile things. If Zolast was in my position, he could have easily hacked the communication. My casting abilities were nowhere near as developed, but tracking the connection and detecting where the other end was possible, particularly with Intelligence helping me with the calculations.

I turned off the communication crystal, then, I went to the other three flying carts to see if there were any other communication crystal or mana bomb. I found no extra mana bombs, but there were several inactive communication crystals. One by one, I visited all three carts and dealt with the pilots. The rest of the force was too distracted by the unexpected movement of the army to notice it.

I sent another command to Baron Maell, using Charisma. He sent another volley of arrows, this time falling on top of the army. It was not honorable to attack a bunch of knights without warning, but considering they had another highly forbidden mana bomb, ready to be dropped on us, I wasn't feeling merciful.

As for killing Princess' soldiers without warning, that was a problem for the future. For now, I just wanted to prevent them from informing the main army.

"Retreat," their commander shouted, but Baron Maell and his guards were already charging forward. Some of them reacted slowly enough to get caught. Some of them were faster, but they were not ready for an assassin to appear from behind them.

I showed myself, wearing a dark cloak with the sun symbol. "Clean it up, and activate the defenses," I ordered, then returned to the flying cart.

With all the hidden siege weapons, Baron Maell should be able to handle the crisis.

I had a surprise gift to deliver.