Several days later.

A female figure with a rapier tied to her horse was galloping through many passing knights and mages.

She continued to increase her speed with each passing moment. Her guards and the female figure forced their horses to gallop as fast as possible, pushing them to the brink of death.

Several days have already passed since they left the fort. They have already changed dozens of horses, stopping by the nearby units.

They have already left behind swamps a day ago and continued to move.

It would continue forever, but finally, a distant hill appeared before them!

That was their destination! The reason their commander, Astra, galloped here as soon as she got a message.

As soon as Astra and her company appeared in this area, several dozens of riders in armor moved out to accompany them from that hill.

Their destination was the camp on that hill.

...

..

.

Entering the tent, Astra gave a signal to three knights and followed their leaving figures with her glance.

As soon as they left the tent, she turned and looked at the male figure that was spitting his blood.

His armor was broken in many places, his body injured and the face color was pale.

In short, a man inside the tent was in dire condition, and even many alchemic pills and potions could only help a bit.

However, Astra almost immediately released a sigh when she saw an iron bow near that man, realizing that it wasn’t him. It wasn’t her uncle!

His usual practice to give a sign to her he is okay never happened this time and a certain feeling disappeared in her heart at this moment.

Besides, it looked like she entered the tent at the wrong moment because his condition worsened and the man spitted another portion of his blood.

Astra already wanted to leave to calm down herself when his tired voice stopped her near the entrance.

“He once told me about you, about the girl he raised when her parents died. He promised to introduce you to me and others. Never thought that our meeting will happen in such a way.” said the man, releasing a regretful sigh and pinning her to the ground.

As soon as she heard him, something tore inside her, a bleak feeling that she still had disappeared, replaced with sadness, rage, and hate.

Once again, her family died because of them!

Instantly, many thoughts passed through her mind, but Astra was a warrior and knew how to control her feelings. So, she just clenched her fists and turned, looking at the man. She needed to know how the person who raised her and helped to make her first steps ended his path.

“How it happened?” She asked, making the man wrinkle from pain. Even talking was painful for him.

“Syndicate, we entered their trap, successfully killed one of them, but another one dealt with the whole group. He died in a battle, like a warrior,” said Alex, releasing a sigh. He just couldn’t tell her he died, falling to the enemy trick they never expected.

However, she continued to hold a stoic face, with no reaction.

“Did you revenge him?” she asked the man, concentrating her sharp and calm glance at him.

At first, the man said nothing, thinking whether it was right to tell her, before releasing a sigh and looking right into her eyes.

“I could only seriously injure him in exchange for the lives of my comrades.” Only when she heard his words, a subtle reaction happened in her eyes. A certain flame appeared inside them, a promising flame. Of course, Alex noticed that change.

“If you want to revenge, I won’t interfere, but you are still too weak right now. A dozen of Great knights and Great mages attacked him at once, only to end up dead moments later. Besides, they could be considered as veterans against such enemies, but their experience and skills never helped us there. I have already made a fatal mistake, believing that the power of the Great realm would be enough to deal with them.” said Alex, raising his body and standing on his two legs before moving his glance right at her eyes.

“I don’t want you to die in such a manner. He wouldn’t forgive me for that. So, Don’t make a similar mistake, girl. Engrave this moment, sharpen your sword, and train. Only when you will be three times stronger than an ordinary Great knight, you can start thinking about revenge. But, never forget that he will also develop himself. The last time we met he was on par with ordinary Great knight, but this time dozen Great knights and Great mages died because of him.” He said and looked right into her eyes, trying to share at least a tenth of the pain he felt right now, both physically and mentally.

Astra realized the meaning behind his words and nodded, engraving his words deep in her heart.

She already turned to leave when she heard him once again.

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“By the way, I need to get access to a special message courier. It’s urgent.” Astra said nothing when she heard him and just nodded before leaving the tent.

...

..

.

A week later.

Theo, Leonardo, Nora, and other water porters were busy gathering trophies from the recent ambush.

Unlike before, there were no longer carriages and hundreds of nagas dead around them, but only a few dozens of injured and tired nagas.

These nagas no longer looked like warriors, but refugees. Their scales darkened from dirt, the armor was damaged and even tridents dulled. They were no longer members of the organized army, but monsters that were trying to save their lives.

In short, several weeks have already passed since they dealt with the last enemy organized unit and only met such groups that could do nothing against Ned’s independent group.

Finishing with another injured naga, by piercing his heart, Leonardo turned and slowly approached Theo with a tired expression on his face.

“I am already tired of sitting here,” said Leonardo before throwing a trident towards others and turning at Theo. “Shouldn’t we leave already? Scouting groups have already made it clear for all nagas not to pass through these fields. We won’t earn much merit points if we continue to sit here.”

Theo, who was busy evaluating different tridents and armor pieces, stopped his business and looked at his friend.

“Relax, Leo. Ned has already told us he would report our merits in this operation. We will get our much more merit points than we could earn back at the camp.” said Theo before returning to his business. “But, if you want to earn extra, stop wasting your time and come help me, we will have to report to Ned about the number of trophies we gathered today. I doubt you want to lose to Bell again, right?”

Hearing him, Leonardo furrowed his brows, remembering about a certain arrogant guy before remembering what happened last time and how they earned fewer merit points because of him. That was enough for Leonardo to increase his speed and effectiveness at work.

A top of the nearby hill.

Nora, Ned, Raimund, and other scouts were busy enjoying their meal.

Raimund has just started chewing a delicious and fresh grilled meat while Ned raised his glass, saluting Nora.

Nora also raised her glass and returned the favor.

Soon, they started eating their lunch.

But, a short time later, after finishing the nth glass of wine, Ned put the glass away and moved his glance at Nora.

“You might not know yet, but we will return to being adventurers after this war. You know, we wouldn’t mind if such a good knight would join our group,” said Ned, raising his glass while his comrades made different reactions when they heard him. Ainz and Robert smiled with understanding smiles while already drunk. Raimund widened his eyes in shock and quickly put his arm on Ned’s shoulder.

“Cap, why is it the first time when I hear about it?” asked Raimund, turning at others only to see that they don’t look surprised like him. They ignored his question and concentrated their glances at Nora, that was now looking at Ned.

Raimund wanted to tell something else when scouts quickly grabbed him and crawled away, leaving only Ned and Nora behind.

Both Ned and Nora followed the company with their glances before they disappeared.

“So, what do you think?” asked Ned, concentrating his glance at Nora.

At first, Nora stayed silent, thinking about his proposal. She has already realized a hidden meaning behind Ned’s words. He was not only inviting her to their group but was also proposing to her to become his woman.

Quickly thinking about all potential outcomes of her decision, Nora looked right at Ned’s eyes.

“Ned, I also like you and you aren’t disgusting to me, but I have to ask you several questions to decide,” said Nora, without moving her glance away from his. Ned withstood it when nodded to herself.

“How serious are you about this?”

“Very serious,” said Ned.

“Does that mean that you are ready to leave your current life behind if I end up pregnant?”

“Yes,” said Ned, firmly nodding to her.

Nora once again nodded to herself.

“And the last one, do you realize I am warrior myself and won’t become a housewife that would wait for your return home?” asked Nora, unleashing her sword to prove that point.

“I know. I would have never invited you to join us if it was the opposite,” said Ned with a light smile on his lips before approaching her and taking her arm in his.

“So, since you have already heard my answers, what do you think, Nora?” asked Ned, sitting next to her and looking right into her eyes.

Nora stayed silent for several moments before smiling and looking into Ned’s face.

“Fine. I can try it,” said Nora and inclined to kiss him. Ned also smiled and inclined his head to seal their kiss.

At the same time as they kissed, a loud metallic noise resounded quickly approaching them, but the newly formed pair paid no attention to that and just continued to do their business.

When Theo and Leonardo finally appeared atop the hill and left their trophies, they noticed what was happening there. Leonardo already wanted to ask something when Theo just put his arm atop his mouth and grabbed him, leaving the pair behind.

...

..

.

A long-distance away.

There was a gathering happening, discussing what to do with the culprit of too violent enemy behavior during this war.

It looked like many generals disagreed with a certain idea and the temperature in the hall has risen because of that.

“He should be executed!” cried one general in the Roland uniform, looking at general Barko and general August.

“He is right! Nobody can flee after violating Continental War Laws on our soil!”

“It’s our right to execute him and do it in any way we want! Why should we transfer him to the Union?”

Many generals continued to pour their rage and hate about certain naga, responsible for war atrocities.

General Barko continued to listen to all their opinions for half an hour before nodding to himself and raising his hand, silencing them.

“Generals, I have heard all your thoughts and opinions. But, you don’t need to strain your throats, our Lord has already decided what to do with that naga,” said Barko, understanding now what to tell them so that this topic didn’t become a problem back at the Freinos city.

“I know what that naga has done with war prisoners. I want to kill him most painfully. But, generals, don’t forget about the bigger picture! You all know what usually happens when monsters violate our Continental War laws, right?” asked Barko, looking at the generals, making them calm down a bit and remember about the ancient tradition of humankind.

“Crusade!”

“Expedition!”

“Revenge!”

Satisfied with their answers, Barko nodded before continuing his speech.

“Since you remember now, you will see why our Lord will transfer that naga to the Trade Union and report about everything to the Saint kingdom, in case someone will ignore our message,” explained Barko while looking at the generals, and noticing several of them that were still unconvinced.

“If you still want to kill that naga, just know that the one who kills it, will die himself and remember about all those many knights and mages at our northern borders at the Iron mountains range that die annually because of the monsters. And, remember about an increasing strain that our people feel there.”

Barko wanted to add something else when a certain voice interrupted him.

“We need this crusade to secure our northern borders, you have seen monsters yourself during this war and now should realize what type of enemy is hiding behind the range,” added August with his sharp glance that quickly landed on the several unconvinced generals who quickly nodded, forgetting about their previous thoughts.

Noticing that generals won’t act against that naga, Barko nodded before clearing his throat.

“Now, let’s move on to the next topic and decide who to awards for their actions in this war,” said Barko, quickly returning their attention.