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image [https://i.imgur.com/LoYByv0.png]

Our uncontested march into Renaultian territory didn’t last long… Once we’d breached the central plazas and crossed into what was considered the living quarters for nobility, we started encountering resistance that was difficult to counter.

The closer we advanced towards the palace, the more roguish attacks we suffered: stray bolts of magick from shrouded alleyways, arrows aimed at our heads from the rooftops, and buried or hidden traps set along the main roadways.

Practically all of our forces were made to deviate from the roads and were now stuck navigating the winding backstreets.

Although we could rely on the two parties from Julius, we simply didn’t have sufficient numbers to safely find every trap or would-be attacker by scouring every nook.

As I rounded the corner into an alley the knights had just cleared, one of the Scarlet Wing knights gestured us to a halt with a hand signal.

Flik approached slowly as the rest of us hung back.

When she returned, my guard captain filled us in with hushed words, “There’s a small group up ahead, but the thick clouds from the storm that void crystalline-thing summoned are making it too hard to see if they’re friendlies or not.”

“Good chance they are.” I replied with a hunch, “Every baddie we’ve come across has been inside a building, behind heavy cover, or attacked from above. If there’s a group taking refuge on the ground, I’d bet they’re some of ours.”

The knights agreed with me and confirmed advancing orders to make contact with the group. Before I gave final approval, a thought occurred to me. There was another possibility.

“They could also be Maarins.” I suggested, “Incredibly dumb ones if they’re lost this deep in Renaultian territory.”

Aeko reacted negatively at the idea of encountering the so-called Maarin resistance fighters. Her expression narrowed, twisting into a soured grimace.

“What’re our orders if they are?”

I shrugged, “My directive remains unchanged. They were made aware to keep their noses out of our business with Renault. If they’re armed, we treat ‘em the same as if we ran into an enemy squad.”

Hailey nodded, expressing her agreement with a soft, “Mhmm.”

Hawken uncharacteristically chimed in, sharing my sentiment, “Blues or Greens, they’re in our way.”

His hoarse voice out of nowhere startled both Aeko and Hikita, the latter shying away to hide behind me.

Aside from the rare, and always concise, calls relating the battle updates, our field monitor didn’t speak up much.

Flik freed a water-sack from her pack.

“Keep hydrated. And be mindful.” She chided, thrusting it at Hawken. “That goes for all of you as well.”

The Knight-Captain stared the knights down until everyone had at least a sip of water from their canteens.

“Let’s move out,” I ordered once everyone was done, “Weapons at the ready, keep low, stay quiet.”

We advanced down the alley in a two-line formation. The noise of our movements was muffled thanks to one of the Scarlet Wing knights—a passive ability, URBAN-STRIDING.

It had been affecting our whole group since I formed a raiding division before we departed from the void crystal.

“—grant us your blessings as we head into danger, O’ Goddesses.”

As we approached, a man’s voice became clear. I peeked down the line of knights and glanced over at the group we were creeping up on.

They were all huddled around a single person, who looked to be wearing a far-from-pristine white robe.

Is that…?

In the span of a second after I laid eyes on him, my mind began processing a series of details.

He was clothed in robes.

Everyone is huddled in prayer, and he’s reciting said prayer.

He’s a priest.

Any priest saying prayers only to ‘the Goddesses’ is one of ours.

He’s a priest of the Church.

The Church falls under Karina—a shudder ran down my spine as I recalled the eruption of light not long ago—and her followers are de facto my followers.

I activated SENSE FOLLOWER and checked for nearby presences… and, of course, every single one of these guys ahead of us is one of mine.

Any tension I had been feeling melted away, and I stepped out of our formation.

“Anathalo, is that you?” I called out, surprising both my knights and the ones we had sneaked up on.

I recognized the man, Exarch Anathalo. He was one of Karina’s close attendants.

“Who is it—Oh!” Anathalo bowed as I approached, motioning in a manner close to those given by nobles to one of a much higher status, “I humbly greet the Light of the Empire.”

The soldiers along with him stood to salute, and I returned the gesture.

“What are you doing out on the front?” I asked.

“Fighting the enemy. Same as you, Your Divinity. Our Goddesses have delivered upon our people a great purpose. Who am I to shy away from where I am needed?”

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Oh boy, the folks at the Church have been getting real weird after this ruler-ascension stuff.

The squad leader of the Exarch’s team debriefed us on their encounters and how they came to be in the same alleys as us.

They’d been with the main group alongside Julius, but made to split up the same as everyone else once they started triggering the hidden traps—Julius’ divvied out parties in every direction to find a safe route to the palace. Safe being a relative term.

Because I’d been warned ahead of time, we broke off the main road pretty far back.

Anathalo and his group had just been assigned this route to begin with, so they had made the trek away from the main force.

“So, have they found a way to the palace, then?” I asked, not to anyone in particular. I’d been hands-off the comms since we broke off into the alleyways, focusing on DANGER SENSE pings to avoid trouble.

Hailey and Flik exchanged looks.

“I didn’t think to ask, to be honest.” Hailey admitted.

Flik avoided eye contact with me.

I sighed, turning to the leader of Anathalo’s group.

“They have, Your Majesty. We were just about to push through the last uncleared stretch between us. We’ve arranged a rendezvous with a Specter team, who will lead us straight to the palace. Commander Adaemus has already begun setting up a forward base.”

I shot my knights a look of mock disapproval.

“We’ll tag along, since we’ve got the same destination.” I informed the squad leader, then turned back to my troop, “Someone call this in to avoid any confusion. And for the sake of my mental integrity, get some status updates while you’re at it.”

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“What the fuck am I looking at?”

I asked the heavily inflected question the moment we crossed into the square leading to the Renaultian palace.

The ground before us had been torn apart so severely that it was hard to even call this a plaza. It was like the world had split apart as a giant mouth and swallowed half the palace walls.

What was left of the massive defensive turret towers barely rose a few feet above the ground, which was now one solid shade of matte white—bleached in the devastation GLORIA had inflicted.

“Why even ask?”

An unexpectedly cheerful answer from nearby drew my attention, I turned to find Julius and some of his officers already closing in.

He gestured back at the upheaved stonework with his thumb, “That is your handiwork. Aren’t you proud? I am. It’s a real improvement to the place. I bet Renault’ll appreciated it.”

“Enough with jokes,” I chided, “How in the Aether are we supposed to mount a siege on that? No way we have the gear for climbing. That’s a deathtrap just waiting for us.”

Julius nodded, agreeing with me.

“It was, yeah. We’ve just about cleared a way to the front door, though. Should be all set in about… Oh, say, twenty minutes?”

“Through all that mess?” I asked.

I looked back at the aftermath of my divine spell. I had a hard time reconciling his words with what I was seeing.

“Aestori knights have some useful abilities in their repertoire. A few spell-casts of earth magick and we had safe passage up and around your newly installed cliffs. Hope you don’t mind, all sales are final.”

Julius beamed at me smugly.

It gave me a bad feeling.

“Why’re you in such a good mood?” I pestered him, “It’s suspicious.”

“Whaaat? I’m acting normal. You’re just being sensitive.”

I glared at him, knowing I’d lose if I got sucked into his game right now.

I turned to his attending officers, “I’ll have you all charged with treason if you don’t answer right away. Spill it. What does this idiot have planned?”

“The Commander has prepared artillery support to start off the attack, Your Majesty!” one of the officers, an elven man with dual-crossed golden sword insignia of a Grand-Crusader replied immediately.

Julius’ smile didn’t even waver.

“And? What else.” I demanded.

The officer hesitated under Julius’ gaze.

I raised my brow.

The man gave in to my pressure, “…and some kind of prototype war wagon is on its way with an attachment of artificers from the fluxworks.”

I glanced at Julius, and his triumphant grin faltered.

“I don’t have a clue what those words mean. Whatever. Behave yourself, Julius. It’s a battlefield, not a playground.”

Julius rendered me a salute.

“As your humble paladin, I shall follow your will.” he said in a sarcastic tone.

“Haah. Watch it, you may accidentally strip yourself of your fancy bulwark ability. You’d have to get a new nickname if that happens. Maybe I’ll be the one to choose it this time?”

I swung my hand toward his chestplate, knocking his arm down. He laughed and rallied his retinue, motioning for us to follow.

A quasi-command post had been setup inside the entry hall of a relatively undamaged manor house. Our troops had stocked it with supplies and tracked down some comfortable seating to fill the space.

I fell onto a couch near some other officers who were resting.

Hailey and Akari joined me, sitting on either side.

Hikita looked distressed, so I gestured at the smaller couch next to us, “No need to be nervous. Grab a seat and relax for a bit.”

She pushed the couch up to ours, plopped down, and leaned in close, “If anyone asks, what am I supposed to say about not having any rank-markers?”

“Uhm…” my voice trailed off. I tilted my head, slightly confused.

Hikita motioned at the collar of her coat. She was glancing over the room, her eyes darting between all the relaxing officers.

“Ah.” I reacted in understanding.

Hailey and I had been the only ones around wearing the red with gold-trim long-coats while the rest of my knights were in either divisional standard gear or full armor.

However, this room was filled with people wearing the various trims of the divisional officer’s coat and older generation imperial army coats the Aestori used—all with full insignia.

“I doubt anyone would bother you about it while you’re with me,” I tried to reassure her. “But if we get separated, I can see it being a problem.”

Akari shifted, dislodging herself from the sinking cushions.

“Whatcha doing, kiddo?”

“I can fix it!” the little girl said enthusiastically.

She put her hands out towards Hikita and cast something using her Ki—I felt a slight pressure in the air and caught the ripple of orangish color rushing across her arms.

Hikita’s collar was now decorated with the golden sun and quadruple chevron insignia of a Grand-Paladin.

“Did you make those with your glamour spell?” I asked.

“Yep!” Akari cheered, “Now she’s the same as Auntie Hanna!”

“Well, there you have it, Grand-Paladin Hikita.” I teased, “Congratulations on the temporary promotion.”