It seemed that Kennil imagined that Gaius could use magic because his father or mother came from somewhere… he wanted to deny that, but he didn’t know if he was right… it was a fact that he was only good at controlling raw mana, and he wasn’t good at all at using elemental magic.

“I don’t know where my parents came from,” Gaius replied.

“I suppose you can’t explain why you can use magic then…” Kennil said after he studied Gaius for a moment. “Still, even if you came from the south, it is weird that you can use magic well… your mother is just an ordinary woman who works making clothes and your father didn't use any magic in that war. If neither of them used magic in order to hide their origins, it would be weird if you showed this now…”

“You can get to the point now, commander,” Gaius said.

Gaius was a bit annoyed that Kennil knew that much about his mother… maybe it was because he stood out in the last conflict as well. Either way, he didn't like that his family was being watched. He had to act with that in mind... perhaps even taking out the commander and turning him into a minion would be a good idea, but if Gaius starts doing that, then he will truly become a tyrant where he thinks that only his opinion and values were the correct ones. Fortunately, he already had his defenses at home to protect his family.

“I thought that you didn’t have any loyalty toward the state, but I guess I was wrong since you thought that revealing your skills is a better option than seeing your allies die,” Kennil said. “You don’t have much of an aptitude to get along with other soldiers, but that should improve your reputation tremendously if you continue working like this. Keep up the good work.”

Gaius was left speechless… he was expecting a lot of questions and he didn’t imagine that things would turn like that. He could only think that he overestimated the intelligence of the commander and the people around him… his goal was a promotion, and he was far from being loyal to the state.

In the end, Gaius could tell that such a faulty interpretation would cause more problems to him than help… but maybe he would have the chance to talk with Ekirenton and deal with him without having to move sneakily at night to get rid of him… that should balance things out. That being said, he shouldn't let simple lip service get the better of him.

Regardless, Gaius received the order to rest for a few hours since no one knew how his mana recovery worked and he might have to use his magic in the next battle… they didn't know that his mana was already completely full and he was ready for some action. Still, Kennil went to check things with the other soldiers.

"I guess I will use this free time to train," Gaius thought and then began to use his new technique. "Come to think of it, if my spear even breaks in battle, maybe I should train to create one with mana as well… one that hopefully won't explode in my hands at the first attack."

It wasn't likely that he would need that any time soon, but the idea shouldn't be forgotten. Another thing that he decided to save in the back of his mind was the fact that he had to ask Angela a few things about his skills… why he had no talent for elemental magic even though he could control his mana so well. Wisdom affected that, but it shouldn't be the only answer.

"Anyway, I feel like she will only answer that if I give her some answers as well… about this world and about all these wars," Gaius thought.

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Throughout the day, Gaius didn't receive the order to join any other battles, but he heard the news about the soldiers from Ekirenton state moving around and helping things behind the scenes… the recruits should be particularly busy since they couldn't fight… unless things get really dire.

In any case, when night came, even without heading from Kennil, Gaius was able to hear some soldiers talking about the situation beyond the walls. As expected, everyone was well informed since rumors spread like wildfire in times of war. The downside of that was the fact that some rumors could be lies and cause more problem than help.

"It looks like the enemies are splitting their forces now… they are moving the archers and those weird warriors with daggers to the other sides as well."

"They lost the first battle, and now they want to stop pulling their punches… still, they are betting that the Northern side of the walls will fall soon, that is why they weren't moving their siege weapons."

"I guess I have to deal with those…" Gaius rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

The basics of warfare are relatively simple, if you lose all of your generals, you are basically a goner. Some people might take their place, but they won't have the experience or the charisma to make the other soldiers follow them with all their might… they might not be able to show even half of their strength. That is why there are all sorts of strategies out there to take the heads of the enemy generals.

Unfortunately, those guys didn't show up yet and Relia had yet to find any signs of them… she and the others couldn't get close to the center of their formations. With even her daggers, Relia didn't have enough time to do so. Still, there was another thing that Gaius could do to deliver a powerful blow to their morale.

"What is wrong, young master?" Relia said as soon as Gaius opened her status. "We heard about a magic archer that is also a dwarf causing a lot of damage on the enemy's lines, they were talking about you, right?"

"... Status report," Gaius ignored the question after taking a deep breath.

"The enemies look a bit more nervous thanks to your actions, nothing else changed," Relia shrugged. "While they underestimated those five thousand soldiers, they know now that it had been a mistake, and we also are causing a lot of problems in order to not let them have peaceful nights of sleep."

"Can you target their siege weapons?" Gaius asked. "Without them, they won't feel that confident on invading the city, and even if they pull that off, they will suffer a lot in the future without them."

"We can, but I thought that young master didn't like suicidal attacks," Relia said. "They have more than fifty of those and we should take down ten or so of them before they kill us all."

The math was terrible… sacrificing eight soldiers for each siege weapon. It would be another matter if they could destroy all of them. It would take a while, but Gaius could summon them back.

"That would be a bad idea… instead of that, I want you guys to do something else," Gaius said.

It would be better if Gaius could talk with Kennil and the other generals about what he wanted to do, but he didn't want to get acquainted with too much pain in the asses. He wasn't someone who wanted to be in the spotlight, even more so when considering that a lot of people would only want to get closer to him for their own personal agenda. He could benefit a lot from that, but he didn't want to take any chances or be influenced by those in power… just to be safe.

In the end, Gaius took a nap for half of the afternoon and then got up when at the sunset. The mood had improved a bit in the city, and on that side of the camp, but things were far from over. It was time to put his plan in motion, but before that, he had to make sure that no one will notice it.

"Kennil isn't back yet… but I shouldn't worry about him complaining a lot if he returns and I am not here," Gaius thought. "I can do whatever I want with my free time."

Gaius began to walk around the northern side of the city and while he saw a lot of people working on the walls and fixing things to endure the attacks of the catapults, Gaius didn't see anyone actually living in that part of the city. Things were completely silent there and roads were empty.

"It will take too long to bring him here and I am in a hurry…" Gaius thought and then opened the status screen of his Hawk. "This will be kind of a waste when it comes to mana, but it can't be helped… just in case, I will make the Goblin and the Desert Wolf guard the village instead."