After a nice lunch the team of five youngsters made their way out of the forest.

All that was left was for them to give their report to the mayor, reaching his house Yukino told of the happenings.

‘’Admirable as usual lady Yukino, as promised here is the reward.’’

Expressing his gratitude the mayor handed Yukino a sack of coins and some fruits that are grown on their fields.

The coins were the payment for finishing their job, the fruits were a gift from himself.

‘’Mhm, thanks mayor, the fruit looks delicious as always.’’

‘’Won’t you all rest for the remainder of the day in my village, I’ll have some rooms prepared for you all right away.’’

A lovely gesture but Yukino shook her head.

‘’I have promised father that I would be back by days end. Next time we’re back we might take you up on the offer.’’

Having received their payment the five bowed towards the mayor and returned to Nivalis.

The sun was still out at the time they had left the village, by the time they had reached Alos night time had approached.

Though they were expecting a warm welcome, the castle was in uproar.

‘’Somethings wrong the entire place is in chaos.’’

They started asking people about what happened, but nobody stopped to explain anything.

‘’We should find Lord Nivalis and father, they can explain the situation to us.’’

Kaze’s comment was the right one to make, their fathers would be able thoroughly explain the commotion.

‘’Worth a try but how are we gonna find them? We can’t even walk straight without gettin knocked around.’’

‘’Lord Nivalis and the captain will probably be secluded somewhere, Yukino where is your father’s office?’’

‘’This way follow me.’’

Yukino headed towards the most secluded hall and walked in the direction of Ran’s office.

‘’Uhm, Yukino do these kind of things happen often?’’

Setsuna was worried seeing so many hectically walking all over.

‘’No, there have been times when there was commotion in the castle but never this much. But something that would cause this much chaos would have to be on a grand scale.’’

Having heard Yukino’s answer made the others faces tense.

‘’Here it is.’’

Yukino knocked on the door and awaited an answer from within.

After an ‘’enter’’ was heard the five youngsters opened the door and walked inside.

Inside the room were Ran, Skald and his retainers also two unknown persons, they were surrounding an oak table covered with maps.

‘’Lord Nivalis our mission was accomplished without any trouble. I know that this is rude of me to ask, but there seems to be a great deal of turmoil going about. What has happened?’’

Ran looked around the room to confirm if he could speak of it. Everyone present nodded as to say it’s alright.

‘’Under no circumstances is this allowed to leave the castle grounds, understood?’’

Of course, seeing in what state the castle was no one would dare to speak of it. Otherwise the entire city might soon follow their actions.

‘’A few hours prior to your departure a messenger arrived with troublesome news. Ships of Falak packed with soldiers attack our western border, the port town of Larach was wiped out.’’

Silence befell the room, no one dared to break it.

Since the war with Madow ended roughly eighteen years ago Nivalis was in a state of peace with the other countries. This attack would practically a declaration of war in itself.

Attacking Nivalis’s mayor port town meant that trade would decline, likewise the Falak army would be able to stock up on supplies.

‘’Yet this is not our biggest problem, the one leading the Falak troops is none other than their Great Lord himself.’’

Frightened by thought of facing against a Great Lord made the already tense atmosphere twice as heavy.

‘’Might I ask, how many soldiers does their army consist of?’’

Kazehaya regained his composure quickly, although even this was a feigned bravery.

Ran answered him without sparing any details while drawing with his finger on the map.

‘’According to our intelligence their number is approximately ten thousand soldiers. How so many ships went unnoticed for both Nivalis and Izumu I do not know. But right now ever second counts. Lord Falak will definitely stop here at Muzou plains roughly five days away from their current position.’’

While looking at the imaginative drawing it was a mystery why he was so certain of this.

Izumu could be found in the western part of Siegdrak, between Nivalis which lay in the North-West and Falak in the South-West.

Going further West was nothing but ocean for hundreds of kilometers, except for some small islands.

No matter how one would look at it they could not have hidden themselves anywhere.

‘’But amassing an army that can counter theirs and gathering recourses will take a large deal of time. Won’t we either need to prepare a smaller army so that we can move out immediately?’’

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Ran smiled at Kaze who had questioned his reasoning.

‘’Very good, it is true that preparing a large army would take too much time. So when the message arrived, I prepared some of myself. ’’

‘’Messages of yourself?’’

‘’Yes they are designated to noble territories who lie in the path between here and Muzou. They are to prepare as much soldiers and provisions as the can spare, along the way we’ll add them to our forces.’’

Being able to make such an swift decision was a necessity for a high ranking leader of any kind.

Finishing his explanation a soldier abruptly entered the room and presented himself to Ran.

‘’Milord the preparations are near completion, seven thousand soldiers and enough provisions to last two weeks should be finished within the hour.’’

‘’Thank you, go take so rest for now.’’

‘’Yes, sir.’’

Having left the room Ran drew attention to himself once more.

‘’Our enemy are at our throat, we cannot turn a blind eye towards their actions. If we fall there is no telling who might strike us next, failure is not an option now make preparations for department we leave in one hour, now go!’’

‘’Sir!’’

He seemed fearless, almost invincible, Kaze had seen his father lead Andor’s sight multiple times. And even Nimura who led the bandit subjugation, but none gave him this odd feeling.

But now was not the time for these thought, right now he had to pack and prepare for war.

One hour after the meeting ended it was time to depart.

An army of approximately seven thousand men, taking about six days to get to their destination. But at with their current time they were forced to do it in five.

If they wanted to stop the Falak army at the right time they were forced to run through the night for as long as possible.

Resting was crucial to the soldiers morale, so deciding when to call it a night was left to the general, in this case Ran.

Night time was also the time when wild beasts were known to roam, so for safety measures extra torches were brought along.

It’s been about four hours since the Nivalis army left Alos, fatigue slowly started to build up.

But more than that it was too dangerous to continue with their view being no more than a dozen meters.

Wild beasts could be roaming about to camp was set up quickly.

Those with great dexterity were the group to guard the camp.

Since they had left after dinner time everyone went straight to bed.

In a certain tent a faint silhouette could be seen inside the darkness, the dim light of a burning candle made it appear.

It was Kaze, tending to the sword in his lap, he brushed away his dark blue hair due to the fatigue it had become dull.

Earlier this morning he had made a trip from a few hours, hunted a pack of wild boars, and then had to take the trip back again.

Nevertheless once weapon was once lifeline, if it wasn’t tended to everyday it was like asking to be killed.

‘’There, all done.’’

Having finished tending to his weapon the young man blew out the candle and prepared himself for bed.

His mind was racing but his body was exhausted, it took only a few breaths for him to fall asleep.

Without his knowing the night had passed.

Hearing the cry of the birds and the clanking armor of the soldiers woke the boy up.

But he reluctantly tried to stay awake.

For some reason he had trouble breathing, his chest felt unusually hot.

‘’Ugh… heavy.’’

‘’How rude, my armor makes me feel at least twice as heavy as normal.’’

Unwillingly opening his eyes, he slowly adjusted to the darkness.

‘’Hey you gonna sleep any longer.’’

His eyes now adjusted he was able to see that a person was lying on top of him.

A woman, most noticeably was her snow white hair and ruby eyes, of course one could not overlook her ample bosom.

Yukino daughter of the Great Lord of Nivalis was laying on top of him.

A dark room alone together with a girl a little older than him, anyone would take the same guess as to what was going on.

‘’…Wha!’’

Before Kaze was able to make utter a sound Yukino put her hand over his mouth.

‘’Calm down I’m not planning anything, or do you perhaps want me to do something.’’

Kaze was had just woken up yet he already felt fatigued.

His face was bright red as he tried to avoid eye contact with Yukino.

‘’Fufu, I wonder what you could be thinking about.’’

‘’Lady Yukino did you wake him up yet?’’

Having heard the voice from outside Yukino jolted.

 ‘’Ah… Setsuna.’’

Entering the tent and looking over at Yukino lying on top of Kaze almost drained all the life from the young maid.

After regaining her composure she let lose the fires of hell.

Both Yukino and Kazehaya were forced to sit on their knees and apologize for their indignity.

Yukino was also banned from ever waking Kaze up again.

‘’Lady Yukino have you had breakfast yet? If not would you like to join us.’’

‘’Oooh sounds great, but you really don’t have to be so formal to me just address me normally.’’

Setsuna seemed happy to hear that she saw her as a friend.

She was always surrounded by men, so having a female friend around her ago was very pleasant.

‘’T-Then may I call you Yuki?’’

‘’Yuki?’’

Flustered by what she said Setsuna quickly rebutted her words.

‘’Ah sorry I shouldn’t say such strange things.’’

Yukino tilted her head seemingly deep in thoughts, before blurting out.

‘’I love it, just like you to think of something like this Setsuna. Right Kaze, from now on you call me Yuki too.’’

‘’Kyah!’’

Yukino now known as Yuki was hugging Setsuna from behind while stroking her head.

One their way they met up with Rentaro and Fubuki, the group of five went to get some food.

‘’This is amazing, Setsuna come back with me to Alos.

Even if it was an obvious joke Yuki held a strange look in her eyes as she gazed at Setsuna.

After finishing their breakfast they could all use some exercise.

Deciding that it’ll be one on one duels, It was Rentaro versus Fubuki and Yuki versus Kaze.

They each grabbed a wooden sword and stood before their opponent.

‘’Take it easy on me Rentaro, this is not my forte.’’

‘’Right right you’re great with a bow but only okay with a sword.’’

The two crossed blades without holding back.

‘’Those two are really passionate at training, now shall we do the same.’’

‘’Mhm, no holding back.’’

Yuki stood motionless waiting for Kaze to make the first strike.

He knew that she was someone who even his father would praise greatly, so a single bad move would lead to defeat.

But being too careful would only make him indecisive, so he acted as if it were a real battle.

Multiple strikes were blow without a single on hitting his target, but it did seem like his actions were working.

‘’Not bad but I know you can do better.’’

Yuki took up the pace and started striking back, Kaze was forced to go on the defensive.

Carefully monitoring each of Yuki’s moves and awaiting to strike was his only option.

Suddenly she made a big overhead swing leaving her side unguarded.

Thinking that now was his best opportunity Kaze dodge her blow and swung at her side.

A wooden sword flew through the air when it hit the ground it got stuck, just a second ago it was tightly gripped.

‘’Hehe you had me worried there for a second but I win.’’

The sword that got knocked away was Kaze’s, she had tricked him in striking her.

But to be able to parry from her position should be impossible.

Were it not that Yuki’s reflexes were trained to the point that not even an entire squad of bowmen would be able to hit her.

Kaze got down on his knees and solemnly asked her.

‘’Yuki please train me.’’

‘’Huh?’’

Surprised by the young man’s remark too her thoughts back a couple of paces.

‘’Dueling with you made it even more clear to me I am still lacking. I have to develop my skills so that I can be of use to father and everyone.’’

‘’…Kaze you’re a great soldier, everyone would put their fate in your hands. You are in no way lacking.''

A mixed feeling of sadness and pride got over Kaze, not knowing what to do he just showed a soft smile.

‘’But I guess training is necessary for ever soldier. Rentaro, Fubuki you’ll be joining us too so prepare yourselves.’’

Surprised by her comment broke the tension of their training.

‘’Milady I found you.’’

‘’Ah Hatsu why are you here?!’’

‘’Lord Nivalis had sent me, he suspected that you would head to your friends.’’

This man was in the office of Lord Nivalis yesterday.

Looking over at

‘’We meet again boy, pardon my rudeness from yesterday. My name is Hatsu I am Lord Nivalis’s retainer.’’

‘’Pleased to meet you, I am Kazehaya mercenary of Andor’s sight.’’

Hatsu nodded towards Kaze after which he turned to Yuki.

‘’Now milady let us head back, your father is worried about you.’’

‘’*sigh* Very well, Kaze after we set up camp once again we shall start our training, but prepare yourself I’m a strict teacher.

‘’Thank you very much.’’

Having said goodbye to her friends Yuki followed Hatsu back to her camp.