Before Gaius could ask what that was supposed to mean, he woke up and then saw the ceiling of his tent. Angela had been developing some troublesome habits lately since she had been interacting with Gaius and Relia a lot. Cutting the call off in the middle was rude...

Relia Lv 30

Cost: 135,000

Charge: 00

Summoning Bonuses: Silent Step

Health: 240/240

Mana: 240/240

Stamina: 240/240

Strength: 39

Endurance: 09

Adaptability: 09

Magic: 39

Resistance: 09

Wisdom: 09

Dexterity: 39

Perception: 39

Luck: 39

Free Points: 00

“Damn… it is starting to get expensive to summon her, even though she is only at level thirty,” Gaius thought when he checked Relia’s status screen. "Still, I can't complain since it will save time and she is skilled enough to make it worth it."

While Gaius could charge the summoning in a few hours, he could probably summon fifty of the soldiers he had already defeated. He would have a level-zero battalion, but it should have some uses. Still, before deciding that, Gaius checked his other soldiers and confirmed the situation with the archer’s squad and Rein’s squad of melee fighters.

“Master, the archers are recovering their strength pretty fast, but we still lack enough weapons and armor for the others,” Rein explained. “We didn’t have the chance to find those items since we helped Relia.”

“Figures… she is a real handful,” Gaius thought while imagining that summoning her back again would be better than having level-zero soldiers who would also be naked. “Keep hunting the animals in the area and gathering materials.”

"Understood," Rein replied.

Rein was a lot less troublesome to deal with than Relia. Gaius would usually feel suspicious of him, but since his loyalty was at the max level, it didn't look like he had second intentions. Besides, it wasn't like Gaius was making him do a lot of dangerous things, and he also knew that death wasn't the end as long as Gaius was around.

During the next few hours, Gaius helped the wounded with cleaning their bandages. The last thing they needed now was a delay in their return to the battle. Still, soon something else began to bother Gaius's mind. It didn't look like the enemies on that flank were preparing for the next battle.

When night came, Gaius and his father confirmed it. Despite changing their commander out of necessity, it didn't look like they were going to do anything.

"Did we receive any news from the other battlefields?" Gaius asked.

"We have our people keeping an eye around, but we didn't receive any new information. The scouts saw that ten thousand more soldiers arrived in the last three days, though," Zairus replied while he studied the enemy's camp with his arms crossed. "Things are at a stalemate, but the enemies still outnumber us two to one on all fronts."

They still had the upper hand, but while they were in a hurry before, they realized that they didn't have to charge around without thinking. They suffered enough losses with their haste.

Gaius confirmed things with Herac. While Lord Ekireton didn't leave his house, he was organizing more troops and supplies for the war. He hadn't given up on everything yet. That was better than nothing. Still, Gaius didn't want to stay there for weeks. He had to find a solution to the problem since he couldn't expect someone incompetent to solve the problem for him.

The enemy's army had split up into three groups, but neither of them moved that night. The soldiers on the defenders' side kept a close watch on them to avoid surprise attacks, but they only saw them preparing as usual and letting their soldiers rest for the day.

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"I am starting to think that they didn't give up on ending this war fast. They are only wasting some time now to finish things even faster tomorrow onwards," Gaius thought.

Gaius used that chance to summon Relia back, alongside a bunch of the soldiers he had killed. Training all of them to become useful for the war was going to be hard. The others had barely reached level five, and it looked like they had hunted a lot of the animals in the area. Things would have been better if they didn't have to hide, though.

When the next morning came, the leaders of the village began to talk about what they should do. A few of the soldiers who were wounded on the first day could return to the battle, but their numbers were at best 240 strong. They had four hundred more with the kids, but they couldn't be considered a force equal to one hundred able soldiers.

While they were talking, Gaius confirmed that he had one hundred soldiers under his control. They were at a low level, but they were better than kids without combat experience. Still, he would have a hard time using them effectively.

"You seem quiet, little master," Relia suddenly said. "I have a suggestion: if you don't know what to do, find us some pieces of cloth that will be enough to cover our faces. We will join the fray while claiming that we are allies who came from further west to help. No one knows what is beyond the demon's territory, after all."

Gaius considered that for a moment. It wasn't a bad idea. If they convinced everyone, they could get some weapons and be even more effective than the kids with the bows. A force of fifty archers was bound to be destructive. However, if their appearances were discovered, then chaos would spread, and since they were helping the people of Gaius's village, they would gain a very bad reputation.

“I guess we can do that if we make sure that neither of you will reveal your face. But even so… it will be too risky,” Gaius said. “I don’t know if I will have to make you all fight in situations like this many times, but your presence will eventually be connected to us if that were to happen, so we will have to avoid it for a while. However, you all will still join this battle, but in another way.”

Gaius explained his plan to Relia and the others. He wanted to end things as quickly as possible, so things were going to happen on a larger scale now. Moreover, he had an idea of what the enemies were thinking after fighting them for a couple of days, so he knew what they were expecting as well. It was time to use that against them.

During that afternoon, the people on the defending side noticed the enemies moving their forces. It looked like, along those three days, they had lost ten thousand soldiers. Despite not achieving much, they split their forces evenly on all sides. That didn’t seem like the best of ideas, but their intentions were clear. They wanted to crush all fronts with all of their soldiers.

"It looks like the enemies realized that we are proving to be far more difficult and that they won't face many hardships dealing with others in other areas," Zairus said with his arms crossed while tapping his fingers. "The battle tonight won't end until one side loses."

From what Gaius heard, the defenders had fifteen thousand soldiers. Thirteen thousand of them were in the main group, and a bit more than one thousand were on the right flank. The main group had a chance to wipe out the enemy’s main force thanks to their changes in positioning, but it wouldn’t come cheap or fast. As for the flanks, they wouldn’t last that long. That was why some of the villagers were thinking that day might be their last. They couldn't retreat without giving the enemies a chance to wipe out their main force as well.

"They don't have horses. If they didn't use them until now, their main forces are made of infantrymen with simple weapons," Gaius rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That, at least, is a small ray of hope for our side."

The leaders of the villagers went to have a meeting, but they didn’t have anything to say. It was a meeting to try to calm down their allies while they were pretending to think of a solution, but they didn’t have any.

"This is the first time I am seeing people from other territories, but they really know how to make someone feel welcome," Gaius smirked.

Zairus silently returned from the meeting and then had a quiet meal with Gaius. The sun was going to set in two hours, and so the battle would take place in two hours as well. During that time, Zairus didn’t know how to approach his son and tell him what he had to do. The reason for that was the fact that Gaius was completely calm, even though his father was a bundle of nerves.

"I am a poor excuse for a father," Zairus said suddenly and then sighed. "I am like this, and you are as calm as ever. I want to think you inherited your steel nerves from your father, but it certainly didn't come from me."