"Sorry, Gaius," Angela said while looking away and trying to recover her composure, which took a while. "I got too relaxed and went too far. I swear that we only talked about weird things and nothing too serious."

"Yes, little master," Relia said, and she sure sounded refreshed. "There are still many things that I don't know about you, but I am willing to help you."

"Yes, I believe you too… believe that!" Gaius said, and the sarcasm was almost visible. "I never said that I wanted your help, and now I feel even less eager to let you return."

"Oh, come on, little master!" Relia said. "You seem like such an interesting person. I want to see how you are going to change the world, and I also want to know more about Angela, but she never speaks about herself."

"Find other methods," Gaius shrugged his shoulders.

"It seems Gaius is really mad… he doesn't like people who talk about him even if they aren't exactly bad things," Angela furrowed her eyebrows. "I guess he will always remain incognito since he dislikes that kind of attention."

Gaius just stayed silent and walked around that space. It was only natural that those two would talk about him since that was basically the only connection that they had, but he got pissed since now he felt like a clown. He was helping Angela out of self-interest, and she probably gave him a second chance for the same reason, but that didn't make things easier or more understandable.

"Maybe I went too far…" Angela said, showing a sad smile.

"Give it time. The little master will forgive you, I am sure," Relia said. "I wouldn't be here and have talked with you for so long if he weren't a kind soul."

Angela could only nod, and then Gaius waited for time to pass. Relia told him to summon her several times, but he ignored her as well. He wasn't a master of human behavior, but he could tell when it was necessary to act harshly and when people were making light of him.

Call him petty, but Gaius let Relia stay one more week in that place to show her who was the boss, and he was planning to let her stay there one week for every time she called him "little master." Naturally, Gaius summoned her to the fields north of the village.

"Head west and gather intel beyond the territory of Ekirenton. Don't try to turn around and look at me," Gaius said and then sighed. "Take your knife and try to live a normal life to blend in. Every time you call me 'little master,' I will add one week of vacation for you to talk about me behind my back with that other one."

"Whoa, you are seriously mad, little master," Relia said, still trying to turn around but trembling like a robot with rusty engines. "Still, you never told me your name."

"People can talk without telling each other's names. Now go," Gaius ordered. "Besides, Angela just did it."

"Geez, you are no fun," Relia said and then shrugged.

Relia was no longer depressed, and Gaius wondered how Angela had changed her from depressed to annoyingly cheerful. In any case, talking with her was tiring, probably because Gaius had become too serious after dying… one can't take their second life lightly. He had killed a lot of people and creatures to survive; he couldn't allow himself to be like he was before dying.

In any case, it took one month for Gaius to hear some new information from Relia. Crossing that territory on foot wasn't that easy, but it looked like Relia was enjoying herself since she always sounded annoyingly cheerful.

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"I had heard that Ekirenton was a pain in the ass, but at least the security levels in his territory are fine. No one mentions bandits," Relia said when Gaius asked for his daily report. "Still, everyone mentions now and then that he is quite greedy and wants more territories. He is getting impatient, so another war might happen soon."

Gaius nodded… his summoning list wasn't growing, so that was worrying. It looked like he had sent his soldiers in the wrong direction since they didn't find any new types of monsters. He also couldn't just tell them to look for people to capture… that was a bit too much.

A month later, Relia reported that she had reached the territory of another lord, but it didn't look like there was anything worth reporting. Which was weird given what Angela said… it was hard to imagine that she would send him on a goose chase.

"Stay there for a while longer and inform me if you learn anything new," Gaius said.

Gaius waited another month, and nothing happened. He wondered what he should do… maybe there was something there that only he could notice. Either way, Gaius decided to tell her to go south and check the enemy of Ekirenton. She should be able to do that well since her people worked with them… still, Gaius felt a bit troubled since something might happen to her if she was recognized.

Regardless, during those months, Gaius trained hard enough to become a problem even for his father at close range despite his low strength and endurance. With his sword, there wasn't much he could do with his parameters and against someone who had used a broadsword for decades, but it was different with the spear.

Over these months, Gaius started to like using the spear quite a bit since most enemies hated it when he focused on using quick but precise stabs. Few enemies didn't hate that.

"Although you were the worst with the spear, you improved the most in the last few months," Zairus said while nodding to himself. "You also seem to enjoy annoying your opponents."

"Very," Gaius said while grinning.

Gaius' good mood changed when he heard a report from Relia… an army of fifty thousand was marching toward Ekirenton's territory.

Fifty thousand… that was a large number. Gaius wondered how a lord managed to create an army of that size… Gaius thought that most of the lords around didn't have one hundred thousand people in their territories, so using half of that in war seemed insane.

Gaius waited a few days, and then the village got a message from Lord Ekirenton. All of the guards of the village were to head to the city of the territory. All boys above eight were supposed to go as well and work as squires. When Kaira heard that, she passed out.

Gaius was already expecting something like that. He heard that in some places, even on Earth, younger boys joined battles that cost their lives even when they didn't have weapons.

"Gaius, don't be afraid. Your old man will protect you no matter what," Zairus said while he was carrying Kaira back to her bed.

Gaius wasn't afraid; he was worried that his mother would be alone for a while, and she was going to worry every day until they returned. That certainly can wear on one's mind and health.

In any case, another large battle was soon going to happen, and no one in the village was denying that they didn't have any other option aside from going.

This time, Gaius wouldn't be able to use the same tactic on his side, and perhaps he wouldn't be able to hide that he could use magic. Perhaps that was for the best since while he wanted to remain incognito, there were more important things than that.

When Kaira woke up, the first thing she did was try to convince Zairus to run away. She was absolutely terrified of the idea of letting those two go to war, even more so against those odds. Zairus could only shake his head… run away, then what? Keep running? Zairus felt bad for her, but they could only go and do their best to survive and return in one piece.

Gaius felt bad when he saw his mother crying. She understood that they couldn't run away, but she didn't think that they would be able to return… Even if they did, the village would lose a lot of people, including children who had barely started living their lives.

"I should leave one of my monsters here to keep Mom safe just in case… I guess it would be too much if Relia were to come here," Gaius thought.

Zairus couldn't help but frown at Gaius' behavior. He wasn't a kid who didn't show much emotion, but he was completely calm and certainly was weird.

"I want you all to head toward Cress' territory," Gaius said to his soldiers.

At the same time, he made his level 30 hawk return and kept an eye on the area. The creature could fly faster than cars, and its claws and beak could even kill a desert wolf… just to be sure, Gaius also made the level 35 slime stay nearby as well.

"What do you want me to do, little master?" Relia asked.

"You can start off by breaking your own fingers to stop with your nonsense," Gaius replied while massaging his forehead. "Just focus on informing me about the movements of the enemy's army and other things that you might find important."