Baltsar gulped in anxiety as he approached another checkpoint, Thorin had chosen him to drive the carriage as no one would find anything suspect if a northerner was the one driving the carriage.

-" Halt!" One of the guards yelled as he gestured for the carriage to stop. "What is your business here?"

Baltsar quickly took out a small parchment and showed it to the guards. " I'm taking a merchant to Chaistos."

-" A Merchant?" The guard's eyes brightened with greed. " Business not doing so well?"

-" Sigh... The war caused too much chaos, many countries stopped exporting goods, so he had to come all the way here to get gemstones." Baltsar tried his best to remain calm, the closer they got to the center of Calm Highlands, the harder it was for them to progress.

The guard smirked, if this merchant came looking for goods, he was sure to have a hefty amount of money on him. " I want to check the carriage." The guard approached the carriage and knocked on its door.

-" Good morning." Thorin opened the carriage door and greeted the guard with a smile. " Do you want to see our authorization?"

The guard nodded and observed the luxurious interior of the carriage. " Where are you from?"

-" Just some merchants from Whitelake City." Thorin took a small emblem and an envelope from his pocket and passed it to the guard. " This is my documentation."

The guard opened the envelope, and inside it, there was a stack of papers and a few gold coins, he took the coins and returned the items without even looking at the papers. -" Everything is fine, you can continue ahead."

Vysard let out a deep breath as the carriage continued to move, soldiers were stationed in almost every important road leading to the Calm Highlands. " Money can truly open doors." Vysard felt impatient as they traveled, he couldn't even observe the forest outside as Thorin had ordered for the windows to remain closed.

Thorin smiled weakly at Vysard, he knew that the boy was not faring so well on this boring trip, but, caution was necessary for this part of the mission. " Corruption will always exist, but, when times are this hard, even the most righteous person will fall for temptation."

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Vysard nodded to Thorin, still time whoever without his usual cheerful attitude, even Oppius and Dilia were surprised by the boy's lack of enthusiasm.

-" Don't worry, before long you will have the opportunity to spend your energy." Thorin always found Vysard's childish nature funny. " After we reach the next city, we will begin the last part of this mission."

Vysard, Dillia, and even Oppius became serious as Thorin finished speaking, they all were excited by the thought of finally facing Daalmak.

-" Do you think that he is really that strong?" Dillia fiddled her fingers as she spoke, since she lost control a few days ago her confidence was shattered.

-" Daalmalk?" Vysard thought for a moment and answered while smiling. " Even if he is strong, I bet that thorin is stronger." Dillia was friendlier and less rude now, which caused Vysard to have a better opinion of her, so he tried his best to calm her.

Thorin didn't know whether to laugh or cry at Vysard's comments. " Dillia is right to be worried, this mission will be far harder than you expect." Thorin didn't want to cause them to panic, but, he need to have them prepared. " Daalmak was an army after all, and we just have four people."

-" How big is even his army?" Dillia's nervousness only increased the more they talked about his mission.

-" I don't have the exact numbers, but, close to forty-five thousand?" Thorin smiled, the idea of four people entering the camp of such a big army and killing their commander was truly a hilarious thing.

-" F-F-Forty-five thousand??" Vysard almost choked on his saliva as he finally learned the size of the eastern empire army. " Can't we turn back?"

-" What use that many people would have?" Oppius's smirked with confidence. " Most of them are just a bunch of useless worms, just SBO-1 can deal with half of that army easily."

-" And waste all of his energy, just to have to fight against their elites?" Thorin shook his head, he always had found Oppius too fond of themselves. " Don't underestimate their powers Oppius, arrogance will only bring us more danger."

-" So you do have a strategy, right?" Vysard sighed in relief, the thought of fighting a whole army caused him to almost give up.

Thorin smiled, calling what he had planned a strategy could be considered an overstatement. " Kinda...." Thorin coughed as he continued. " Let's just threaten the army camp with a big attack, I bet Daalmak won't sit still and watch as his entire legion is wiped."

Everyone was speechless as THorin finished speaking his plan, they all thought that he had a carefully crafted plan, but, in the end, he had the same idea as Oppius.

-" Isn't this fighting an entire army?" Dillia asked while looking defeated.

-" Totally." Even Vysard was disappointed with Thorin.

-" Well, pray that this work then." Thorin laughed joyfully, he wanted to enjoy each peaceful moment he still had before the big day. " If everything goes well, we won't even have to fight the entire army."

Vysard pouted as he saw how carefree THorin was acting. " If everything goes well? What if everything goes wrong?" Vysard was still in disbelief that this was Thorin's plan.

-" We will fight a good part of their army, I guess?" Thorin enjoyed playing with Vysard and the now more docile Dillia. " Don't worry that much, We just need to make some preparations and it all will go according to the plan."

Dillia's face had lost all color, she wasn't even sure that she could fight against Daalmak anymore, so fighting Daalmak and the entirety of his army was definitely a no-go.

Vysard on other hand was way calmer, he knew Thorin very well, so he knew that he still had some surprises, what he understand was why he was trying to cancel them.

Vysard sighed to himself, it was no use trying to predict what THorin was trying to do, so he decided to just go with the flow and follow him.

-" Whatever then." Visard's had a smirk full of confidence. " IF things don't work we just have to fight forty-five thousand people right?"