Months had passed since they captured the city, and although, for the ancient inhabitants who survived the massacre, it seemed like Armageddon was looming over them, reality proved otherwise.

Workers returned to construction, farmers to their fields, and miners to the depths of the mountain. Life had almost returned to its course, and if not for the remains of buildings charred by the siege, one could think that nothing had happened in the city.

The remaining Kobolds had no problem submitting to their new human masters, as they showed the ability to protect them from other groups and allow them to continue existing in their hometown.

On the human side, the order began a slow process of recovering their manpower, training new soldiers from the Kobold population, gathering materials to repair their weapons and armor, improving what was possible, and equipping their new recruits.

They also received a pleasant surprise from the city. Like the majority of societies in this world, Kobolds were slavers. In the aftermath of the battle, they found thousands of humans in their barracks, and among them was a little girl, according to Lissie, with an extremely strong natural affinity for the magic and energy of ashes. Jane naturally accepted her, as finding someone with an affinity for both was extremely rare. The energy of ashes was unique to humanity, specifically to those who came from or had ancestors from the earth. Moreover, humanity, as a species, had a low affinity for magic, making the joint probability of finding such an individual quite slim.

For this reason, Lissie was on cloud nine. Her friendly and conciliatory attitude changed to one of tenderness and joy. She could always be seen with the little girl following her like a mother duck with her duckling.

Despite the heartwarming scene that could warm the hearts of almost all the knights present, Jane couldn't afford to smile. The weight of defeat and the loss of her brother was a mark too great.

"We're close; hold on a little longer, dear brother," Jane said to herself before going to sleep every day.

When they first arrived in this world more than 50 years ago, with their innocence and ignorance of their new reality, they quickly fell into mistakes, one after another, until the worst happened.

In a poorly made deal, the order marched into a lost battle where they ended up losing almost 10 percent of their members to the corruption of chaos. They weren't dead, but corrupted—their minds and souls deeply damaged, turning them into monsters.

There was only one way to save them, but for that, they needed to further increase their cultivation.

Currently, all the knights had passed the first level—the creation of foundations—where they created their channels and energy nodes, gaining enough knowledge about their bodies and the energy of ashes.

A significant portion of the knights was in the second level, developing their energy of ashes, refining it to increase its quality and production, and learning to use it in techniques and abilities that enhanced their fighting styles.

The best among the knights were in the third level, where they had acquired mastery over the energy and had begun a slow process of fusion between this energy and their own nature, on a spiritual level. Both the lieutenants and Jane were stuck at the end of this point, unable to progress because to advance to the next level, they needed to undergo a sacred ritual, and there was no one present who had knowledge of that ritual.

Not all was lost for the knights, though. Even though this knowledge wasn't native to this world, they knew that there should be at least one person who knew it—the person who invested them as knights. Although they hadn't heard from him in the last 50 years, through various rituals, they had gradually approached his position.

Now, after so much time, they finally had a concrete direction to go. Iretar was a region prior to which humans had been transported. It had been here for at least two processes before them, making it a very ancient area with many empires of long tradition. Searching in that place would be extremely arduous and tedious, but they had no other choice. They needed the knowledge to develop, or otherwise, they would be at this crossroads, and humanity would lose its greatest trump card against the terrible times that were coming.

Jane shook off the pessimism. They had already gone through a dark invasion; the next time wouldn't catch them off guard. In fact, they already had several plans in motion to obtain resources and strengthen the order. Jane decided that for these days, she would simply clear her head and let others finish their work.

With this thought in mind, she went for a walk around the facility where they were. This village, which before the invasion must have belonged to some rich Kobold, now housed almost the entire order within its premises.

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Jane walked through various courtyards where knights were training with each other, with their superiors, as well as testing the humans they had found to see who could join their ranks. Since they didn't have the original process to train new knights, those who had joined subsequently were undoubtedly of lower quality. However, Jane, like the other high-ranking officials, knew that they couldn't let the number of knights fall too low.

The atmosphere in the facility was full of determination and hard work. Jane watched the knights and the new recruits closely, evaluating their progress and seeking potential in each of them. The little girl with an affinity for magic and ashes, under Lissie's tutelage, was also in the midst of the activity, observing with curiosity and learning from the training.

Suddenly, Lissie noticed her grandmaster and decided to approach for a conversation while leaving her protégé training.

"How are you, Jane? Do the old wounds hurt?" Lissie asked with curiosity. It was rare to see their leader walking without a purpose.

"No, nothing like that. I've finished my planning, and there's nothing more to do until we're ready to march," Jane replied.

"Do you really plan to take the order to Iretar? That place will be much more dangerous than anything we've done before. The mere fact of its long existence guarantees that there will be beings far beyond our power," Lissie asked with some apprehension.

"We have no other choice. We've searched far and wide, in the mountains and valleys, and there's no way to progress without the origin of the ashes," Jane said, shaking her head.

"King Ethan said there was a way," Lissie said timidly.

"King Ethan is a massive pile of shit," Jane responded with disdain.

"Oh, come on, she can't be that harsh. We all miserably failed to adapt to Glamoria during the first few years. In the last 20 years, Ethan's policies have led humanity to solidify its position among the other races," Lissie said.

"And yet, these last 20 years have been nothing more than getting humanity out of the hole he put us in during the first 5 years. There's still a lot to recover from all that he destroyed. He'll never be as good a leader as our former leader," Jane replied.

"Jane, you need to stop idealizing our former leader so much. You know very well that it happened more than 50 years ago. We were still children back then, time changes everything, and we don't even know if he's still alive," Lissie told her.

Jane knew that the probability of their former leader being dead was very high, especially now that they knew he had appeared in a region much older than the one they had appeared in.

"He must be. I need him to be," Jane said.

The loss of her brother due to her mistake was something that couldn't be forgiven. The fact that there was a small hope acted more like a thin thorn than a comfort—it caused a pain in her chest that didn't go away no matter what, and it grew larger the more comfortable she got in a place, preventing her from settling down and turning the page.

Lissie just sighed; she knew there was nothing she could do to convince her otherwise. However, she didn't want to abandon her either. Over time, they had become so close that they could almost be considered sisters. Still, Lissie had long started to think about settling down and starting a family, despite being almost 70 years old. In this world, where a common human could have a life expectancy of up to 150 years, and once you started developing your internal energy, it would be increasingly extended, it wouldn't be strange if they could live beyond 500 years.

Lissie thought about John and sighed again. Some time ago, she had had some dates and adventures that, although they didn't lead to intimate contact, left her with a feeling of longing. She also wanted to have him back and start a family together. Then they would truly be sisters with Jane. Lissie's mind began to wander, and since she was so happy with her new protégé, all her musings went in the direction of a happy family with a house on the prairie.

So, every person passing by could see two deeply engrossed women—one with a gloomy and depressive atmosphere, and the other almost having rainbows all around.

Both continued like this for a few brief moments until a sudden sound of metal against metal caught their attention—a lieutenant was present in the place.

"William, what's happening?" Jane asked.

"A council has been convened in the city; apparently, the Kobold allies have started to mobilize. The other leaders expect your presence at the council. There are a couple of messengers waiting for your response at the reception," the lieutenant declared.

"We really don't care about fighting to defend this city. I doubt hostilities will start immediately, and by the time both sides are ready to fight, we should already be far from here," Jane said.

"Perhaps you would like to reconsider our hasty departure. Talking to some of the rescued humans, we've heard rumors of special resources nearby and in the possession of some enemies. Maybe you should talk to them first," William suggested.

Although Jane had always been the natural leader of the order, she had never led with an iron hand over them. Allowing each of her subordinates to contribute their experience had been an essential part of how they had come so far.

"Well, first, we'll inform the messengers that I'll attend the meeting, then we'll talk to these people. Lissie, stop daydreaming and go prepare the girls. I have a feeling the meeting will have many surprises," Jane said.

Lissie snapped out of her reverie, and seeing the seriousness of Jane, she simply followed orders.

"Roger that," Lissie said, sticking out her tongue, and left. She still had work to do training the novices and her new acquisition. Besides that, she had to oversee the Kobold shamans and help with the synthesis of some magical elements that the troops needed. "No rest for the good," she said as she walked away from the others.

The human camp was once again bustling with activity, but this time, instead of the usual stockpiling of food and weapons, it was related to troop training. It was very likely that more wars were coming before they marched to Iretar, and as always in these situations, it would be necessary to have a large amount of manpower. These wars could be used to separate the wheat from the chaff, allowing them to distinguish brave and skilled soldiers from the cowardly and useless.

In the midst of the bustling camp, Jane took a moment to breathe and look in the direction of Iretar.

"Alex, I'm on my way. It better be worth it," Jane said in a faint murmur.

End of the Interlude