Bismuth dismounted his Griffon and stared down the soldier camp from atop the hill the airstrip had been built on: Dark brown tents were erected across the land, their colors camouflaging perfectly with the dirt and the surrounding tree bark.

Soldiers walked about, paces quick and panicked as they tried to do their various tasks, some prepared food and took out rations, others were counting their army's remaining arrows, and a few were repairing the wooden walls that surrounded the camp's perimeter.

Right next to him, he heard Nish purr and he rubbed her head, ruffling her feathers and making her let out more purrs, this time in contentment. He stopped when a guard walked close, nodding at him, he handed the reins of his mount before walking off to find the tent of the general- or rather, his tent.

Truth be told, there really should’ve been no need for princes like him to go out into the world and fight Demons, but reality was slapped in the face a long time ago and facts and logic no longer dictate the fight against humanity’s greatest and longest enemy- now that the Hero is gone, the comfortable and luxurious life that they set up for themselves is under threat and thus, even Royalty must personally step in and exterminate the Demon hordes that fall upon their Kingdoms.

A lot of the men under his command nodded at him as he walked past, Bismuth nodded back at them in return.

When he reached the largest tent in the camp, he didn’t wait for anyone to invite him and simply walked past the flap and the sight that greeted him was the usual; a table with a large map of the Everlast borders sprawled on top of it while markers dotted said map, small indicators about which force is where, color coded as well, with blue for the humans and red for the demons- and, it seems that the Demons have started to become more numerous, if the large number of red markers on the map is any indication.

The atmosphere within the tent was ominous and sullen, fear stricken faces barely held back by Bismuth's many advisers as they nodded grimly at him in order to acknowledge his presence.

He nodded back to the people who, much like him, were the children of nobility and of higher class, some were even from Royal Families of other Kingdoms, the children of Kings and Queens who ruled lands under Everlast itself, acting as allies, or were nothing more than simple trade partners.

There were 14 of them in total; with 7 from the Talira Royal Family- two Royals, a pair of siblings named Varh and Rart, and 5 nobles, two from one family, and three from another.

Each group of nobles were blood related with the most notable pair being those from the Aggressa Familly: a brother and sister with bright red hair and a permanent scowl present on their otherwise attractive face, but nevertheless, they are good fighters, that much is nothing more than fact when it comes to Kartel and Pastia.

And the last among the Talira entourage are two siblings and their cousins from the Ririha Family, Hans, Waggaer, and Vrish. Two boys and one girl.

The remaining six were small in number compared to the Talira's, with them being split between two different Royal families; Vagran and Larick- 3 from Vagran, one royal and two nobles- Kris, the Royal, Vax and Ayri, the Nobles.

And lastly, 3 more from Larick, with the same composition- Fawd, the Royal, Nax and Tar, the Nobles.

All in all, despite their rather authoritative backgrounds, they all managed to work together and have been doing good work, with their group managing to push back Demon Horde after Demon horde with the army under their command.

Bismuth walked to the table and the meeting officially started when everyone stopped what they were doing to join him, the first to speak up was a Royal, a trade partner, Fawd, “so I’ve heard your sister got herself a Dragon,” he bowed, “congratulations, she's pretty prodigious isn't she?”

Bismuth smiled, then sighed, “Neophyte… is like that, yes.”

Everyone here knew how sensitive of a topic she was, since what she did when she was a child had not been a secret, “she’s impulsive but definitely does good work,” really, it made him wonder just what she could have done should she not have killed the Hero, marry him, perhaps, but after learning of her preferences… he sighed, maybe the Hero could’ve mellowed her out or something.

But enough about ifs, back to reality, “thank you,” he nodded at Fawd, “Her newly gotten Adolescent Dragon would be a good addition to our fight against the Demons,”

At that, a number of eyes widened, “an adolescent Dragon?” Asked Kris, her blonde hair waving back and forth as she shook her head in disbelief, “she truly is talented,” Bismuth nodded, “guess what you said about her getting visions from the Goddess as a child isn’t a joke… or, in my opinion, it has increased my faith in it,”

“Enough about Neophyte,” Bismuth put the topic back on track, “how’s the situation? Rart?”

The girl stepped forward, glossy black hair glistening under the yellow light of their tent, she bowed, “me, Waggaer, and Vax have set up plans and sent out scouts earlier this morning, and they came back with information on infected terrain as well as Demon Composition,”

Bismuth nodded grimly, “give me the composition first,”

He isn't a tactician, Bismuth can humbly accept that much, and he also knew he wasn’t like Neophyte when it comes to fighting, sure he’s a good fighter, and he can even go as far as say that he likes fighting but he's no tactician and definitely not a Demonologist, but one person is in their group and when it comes to the types present among the Demon Leadership- ones who possess enough raw power to decimate entire armies back to back, - there's no one else better in their group when it comes to identifying Demons than Waggaer.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Nodding, Rart turned to the guy on Bismuth’s left and Waggaer, the one who they tasked to memorize Demon weaknesses, stepped forward and gave out a long explanation, “to start,” he said with a calm voice, which means things have gone bad, “I think we might need to call for reinforcements,”

And that’s not a good start, Bismuth sighed, how he wished that Neophyte would just grow up and start fighting Demons already, her getting a Dragon didn’t help to lessen his desire for such a thing to happen either.

He closed his eyes, “I’ll think about it,” their Kingdoms cannot spare any more manpower lest they risk them being undefended during Demon invasions, but… maybe he can write to his father about a request for multiple caches of weapons, especially artillery, “but don’t get your hopes up, the best I can do is give us weapons,”

“What about from the Fauna and Flora territories underneath Everlast?” Asked Kris and Bismuth glared at her, “sorry.”

“You can’t just expect me to go there and ask, you know how I feel about asking Neophyte for something.” Bismuth said, “Sure she can convince them, even the girls, to fight for us but…” he sighed, “it’s probably a prophecy from the Goddess, or else she wouldn’t go there every week and spend most of her money buying medical supplies for them and giving them books about martial arts,”

It being a potential prophecy is one of the reasons why their father allows Neophyte to lavishly spend money there whilst also giving her what she wants should she ask for it- deeming it as the same in the end, just that Neophyte isn’t asking the King for supplies on the two territories but instead, her own stuff because she’s spending most of her allowance for said supplies.

Kris backed off, “now, Waggaer?” Bismuth gestured for him to continue.

“Right… we have confirmation on at least 200 Hundred Demon Captains,” Bismuth growled, that Artillery request is going to have to be written down post haste, he gestured for Varh, Rart’s brother, to get him a parchment so that he can write it as they talk. Nothing more was said and the guy did as he was told, “3 Demon Barons,” and now they’re gonna have to work together to exterminate those, “and… hundreds upon hundreds of regular Demons,”

“The last one is fine,” Bismuth said in relief, “we have men for those after all,” Varh soon came back and he was given a chair to sit on as well as the parchment he asked for, paired with a quill, he started writing the request down, “tell me the types of Demon Barons we are fighting,”

On the corner of his eye, Waggaer nodded, “we have confirmation on one of them being Sloth, as seen when most of the regular Demons and a good number of the Captains were… boosted, with larger than normal sizes and bulging muscles,” Bismuth nodded, that’s standard for them, Sloths are always around no matter where they go and what kind of army they fight, “one is Lust, male, so women are now out of the equation,” Bismuth grunted, a bit bad but nothing to be worried about, “and finally… we have uhm. A Demon Baron of Greed Leading the two others. A Caster Type, so that means that all across the battlefield, we won’t be able to use silver or gold.”

Bismuth stopped writing, realization dawning on him, “They have a Pride somewhere in there don’t they?”

“I think that one belongs to the larger Horde, and I think that one’s a General,” Vax stepped forward and pressed his index finger on the massive group of markers on the edge of the map, a Demon Army descending down on them, “and… Bismuth?” He hummed to tell the guy he was listening, “from the speed they’re moving at, we estimated that they’re gonna descend down on us during Pledge Academy’s first exam,”

“You can’t be serious?” He looked up at Vax, who shook his head in dismay in reply.

…

Nalera Whiskey Tequi entered her room gracefully, like a proper lady should, before grabbing the hem of her green dress and preventing the bottom from touching the carpet, she walked to the edge of her room’s most prominent window, where the beautiful view of Everlast’s- the floating land, not the city, - edge could be seen; a horizon full of trees and color, that is what she sees every time she sits on this spot.

On the far distance, a series of mountains whose peaks were colored in white from snow could be seen.

The word beautiful does not do the sight justice, she rang her bell and a maid stepped forward, “bring me snacks, and something to drink- water only okay? Make sure the pitcher’s cold as well,” she hummed, “oh, and for the snacks, no hard bread, something soft like cake is best, and also… chocolate,” she reluctantly said, not because it's sweet and would make her gain weight. Of course not.

It is mostly because it was the Redeemer’s patented sweetener, chocolate- how could someone so crass come up with something so delicious? Someone so bitter think about something so sweet? She did not know.

And she only cared about that fact by a little bit- which is to say, Neophyte and not the weight gain from her devilishly sweet and poisonous treat.

Anyhow, she cares about the princess mostly because of what the girl did to her sister’s marriage, which, by all estimates, has been going well! House Nari has provided them with workers of all types and the family members under them worked tirelessly to find hires and check for anything amiss within said hires’ backgrounds, it has made everything efficient and Nalera could not believe that it’s all about to crumble down because her sister got seduced by- by the- hmph.

Killing the prophesized Hero should be the biggest sin in the Goddess’ eyes, and Nalera did not know the reasoning behind giving the princess a Pledge instead of condemning her.

But, she supposed that is what an all benevolent Goddess would do.

She sucked in a deep breath and pressed her cheek on her palm, she hummed, staring with a bored and dazed expression at the scenery on the window, should she take another vacation to the Alps again? That… well, she mused that it probably would not be allowed since Demons are starting to enter the Border, with more to come according to a few of the soldiers, but maybe when things pass?

Hm.

“Lady,” Nalera turned to the bowing maid and thanked her, it seemed that her meal had already been prepared while she was dazed off thinking, with a small slice of cake sitting in front of her as well as a glass of water right next to it.

Nalera grabbed the smallest fork and started eating, “hm…” she hummed, delicious, maybe she can ask Neophyte to go with her? Ask/interrogate the girl who’s about to marry her sister about her motives for taking in concubines of two powerful houses- which the two houses behind them somehow allowed to happen, - for her own.

“Say, are the rumors of the Dragon true?” She asked and the maid right next to her nodded, “did… its shadow truly get cast over all of Everlast when it flew?”

Another nod and Nalera hummed- well, that confirms it, the larger than normal Dragon housed within the Royal Stables has finally been taken, and it was none other than Neophyte who did so, hm. It really makes her wonder if this was all planned on the princess’ part or if this is one of the Goddess’ machinations…

Well… if Neophyte's lover, or at least one of them, got a Pledge in the same week where a powerful Dragon bonded with her, then those are no mere coincidences.

Nalera found herself sighing, now, if only she wasn’t so impulsive when she was young and used the prophecies that the Goddess told her more efficiently, things would’ve been different.

Perhaps Nalera would be out in the Alps, enjoying herself instead of sitting here in boredom.

She ate another piece from her cake before drinking from her enchanted glass, which keeps itself cool no matter what, “say,” she said as the cake got washed down, “how’s the situation on the border? All around.”

“Bad.” Came the brief and simple answer.

“That bad?” A nod.

“Hm… I assume the Demons are attacking on all directions now?” Another nod and Nalera sighed, “well, they do have the numbers for it, on account that they weren’t properly culled, and with the way they reproduce-” that is to say, with no need for partners as other Demons spawn from the dreams of others, an efficient reproduction that causes their numbers to spontaneously erupt every night, “- then they are getting larger in numbers with each passing day,”

“I suppose so,” said the maid.

“Yes, you suppose so.” Nalera said sarcastically. How is the maid not worried about the situation?