“Listen everyone!”

  I gathered everyone’s attention, the army, the knights, I have never been in charge of such a huge amount of people before, it really made me feel self conscious for a second, but I have been captain of the pace knights for a while, their look of unwavering trust was enough for me to calm down and give orders appropriately, simple ones, everyone is getting ready to march, it’s the same as some expeditions we’ve done before, so I got a somewhat good idea of preparations and other things that are needed for this, while the troops prepare, we have some supplies and the burden beasts are ready for our departure, Doe came over to me and requested to talk in private, so I brought him to the commander’s tent, hopefully no one will eavesdrop in here.

  “Captain!”

  Doe kept his stance and manners with me like he has done countless times when we worked together, I guess it was destiny that I end up in charge of them again, it’s surprisingly heart warming, I wanted to tell Doe that he’s the captain of the knights now, but I rather not have the command chain be broken by my sentimentalism, for much that I enjoy the retion I have with Marisa as my boss, I’ll have to keep a straight face and a professional attitude.

  “Knight Doe, what is it you wished to speak about?”

  I at least won’t call him vice-captain, even if it made me sound a little less formal now, I really wanted to call him captain regardless. He's now an important member and I appreciate his efforts tremendously.

  “It’s about our pn to attack Captain! What are the specifics or tactics for the assault?”

  Of course he would ask, It’s the most worrisome of topics, and the least one I desired to hear, the answer is that I don’t know, We were told to attack the next town over, that would be the town of Darrel, I know that taking over such a town would leave us in an incredible footing, but precisely because of it, it’s gonna be ridiculously guarded, more so on the border, as that’s where the empire has their military base pced down to quickly attend the frontline, we have the same after all.

  “For now we march forwards, the pn is a frontal attack”

  “Frontal attack!? Captain, sorry for my rude remarks but that would be suicide!”

  “Let me be the one to worry about this Doe! Don’t concern yourself over the details”

  I loathe lying! In a sense, Marisa is rubbing off on me a little bit, I did the same as she did with Celestial, not a lie, but not the complete truth either, the fact of the matter is that I know nothing about the pn, nothing of anything really, even the army teleporting is a mystery to me, I know Marisa did it so the information doesn’t leak, but she could’ve at least gave me a heads up or anything!

  “Captain... Will everyone be alright?”

  “Of course, I was tasked to command this operation, and as such, I will take full responsibility for whatever may happen on the battlefield!”

  “O-Of course captain! Apologies for putting your authority into doubt!”

  And like that, Doe gestured the salute once again, missing my own limbs, I couldn’t respond to him properly so I banged my walking cane to the ground and stood straight in the most respectable way I could. Doe left the tent afterwards.

  “Sigh...”

  I couldn’t help but worry, countless thoughts crossing my mind, and the burden of the possibility of taking everyone into a grave is weighing on my shoulders, but it’s precisely because of the situation, that I cannot afford to show weakness, Doe is simply manifesting the doubts of the army, I do not bme him at all for confronting me about it, I must stay strong, I trust Marisa with my life, she’s not a monster and is surprisingly affectionate, thinking about her, and the power and strength she commands, is the only reason I haven’t broke down yet...

  For now I sat down to take a rest for a second. We should be able to go at any moment. It's better to clear my mind now, as to not endanger anyone with my self doubt.

  “What the!?”

  I couldn’t help but scream, a girl appeared in front of me in thin air, I quickly grabbed my sword, lucky for me she had a bit of distance so I managed to get into stance.

  “Wait a minute, you’re the girl from the basement the other day!”

  I remember her, the one Marisa freed, she simply proceeded to nod in agreement, if she can’t speak then it must be her, what would she want from me or what’s the reason for her sudden appearance? While I was wondering, she made a gesture as if writing in midair.

  “Writing? Ok”

  There’s pens and paper here for any need in a meeting or things of the like, so I handed her one and told her to approach the table to write, she seemed to simply write and handed me over the paper.

  -The border military is basically non existent, there’s less than a tenth of the soldiers right now, all of them are reserves, I made sure to get them sick one st time, there’s also canons set at the border fortress, and 6 mages stationed around, these will probably be the ones to give you the most trouble, I advise approaching from the front, I poured water on all the gunpowder for the cannons on that side-

  “What!?”

  I couldn’t help but get up astonished, this was invaluable information, but as I was gonna question her, she simply disappeared without a trace, I looked around but she was nowhere to be found, this made me worry about her intentions for a second, but why would she give me this information out of the blue? Is she trying to trick us?

  This information is dangerous so I took the piece of paper and folded it the best I could to then hide it in between my chest piece and my inner clothes, I already have a lot on my pte, for now I’ll assume it’s fake information, I can’t let this cloud my judgment.

  For now the preparations were complete, and we departed forward, As we were going in our march, the border of the country was visible, officially turning us into the invading force, but to our surprise barely anyone was stationed in here, there were so few people in fact that they decided to flee instead of facing us, a wise choice but there really was a surprisingly small amount of people, weird that they would let us advance, usually the frontier guard is here to make us spend ourselves so we cannot go fresh to any actual facility, they just let us go through without any problem, is this a trap? Ugh! No point in dwelling on this, we have to attack the military fortress, and well, as the name implies, it’s protected on all sides, for now we advanced.

  “Ok everyone! There will probably be cannons up ahead, we need to try to keep our distance in groups so we don’t get wiped out!”

  As I said this, I could see people manning them in the distance, but despite them being there, They’re not shooting despite clearly spotting us, in fact they’re panicking in pce!

  “What’s happening!?”

  Doe asked me, it really seems like they have trouble shooting!

  “Our chance, that's what! Look alive! Everybody charge!”

  We managed to blitz through the front door, granted the cannons were shot eventually, but we were already close enough, we didn’t receive much damage, once inside I then realized, there were exactly 6 mages, the empire trains and keeps them better than us, so we ourselves don’t have many, but we can still overpower them, we quickly rushed them without a second thought, making them flinch in terror for a second, and securing our victory, we are inside the fortress so the battle is already won, as we’re gonna keep the doors wide open.

  “Everyone! Demolish the barricades and seize the watching towers, once we’re sure there’s nothing left we’ll blow this pce up!”

  I yelled my orders, morale went from dubious to rather high, it turned into a one sided fight with how little people there were in here!

  “Do not kill anyone who isn’t resisting anymore, restrain them if possible!”

  Their casualties are piling up on their sides, and we’re overwhelming them in numbers by 10 to 1 or more, it didn’t take long for them to raise the white fg, and so our army proceeded to use the resources and materials of the fortress to tie the remaining forces and brought them outside the fortress, this pce is a menace and it needs to go, so once everyone was out, we all sprinkled the gunpowder and ammunitions on the structural bases of the fortress, we don’t need to tear it down to the ground, just make it unusable for any defense they try to create on the short term.

  “Captain, what do we do with the prisoners?”

  “Leave them, we have a mission and we cannot afford to carry them with us!”

  It pains me to leave them to their luck tied up in a forest, but such is war, it’s the most merciful we can be in this situation, but I will not leave them to their luck entirely.

  “Gather the generals and high ranks of the opposing army! I will have a personal talk with them!”

  They’re really not in a position to bargain anything, but I will still give them an offer they simply cannot refuse.

  “We march for Darrel now, is there a city your troops can take refuge in besides this one?”

  “As if we’ll listen to the enemy!”

  “I can kill all of you with a single order, think of the position of your people”

  “Tch!”

  He’s angry, I know the feeling, his pride as commander is too great to back down, I know for once I was just as foolish.

  “Think about it, stick to your pride and die or cooperate and live to see another day!”

  “What would underhanded heathens like you people know of pride!”

  “I know of it, enough to understand that sometimes I have to swallow my ideals if it means saving more lives!”

  It took a bit of arguing but they finally agreed to my terms, their commander and a small troop will be set free to head to the southern town opposite of our direction, to call for help for the rest of the tied people, or they can stale and save them themselves, I really don’t care about their choice, but my words were loud and clear, there will be no mercy the second time, if they follow us, we WILL annihite them, not that they can use the fortress anymore.

  “Phew...”

  “Everything ok Captain?”

  “Doe, yeah, it’s nothing”

  Doe looked at me, with a warm smile in his face, making me want to punch him for some reason, I don’t have the energy for this, I-

  “I know that you hate needless violence, you did the right thing captain, thanks for your hard work”

  Doe... he really is the one that should be in charge of the knights from now on, more so since he’s helping keep the morale of the troops in check, we’re taking a short break before continuing our journey to our destined town, still the situation has gone smoothly, extremely so, I looked at Marisa’s letter once more, ‘I don’t expect you to find a very strong resistance, if any at all’ are her exact written words, it is more than obvious now, Marisa did something, it helped me ease my heart now, we’re more than ready for our takeover of the town, is like Marisa cleared the path for us, still I wish she would’ve told me beforehand, to help reassure the people as well.

  And so we marched with Marisa’s poorly drawn map in hand. The capital of the empire is surprisingly close to our country, so if the pn works, we're basically at their throat, but I don’t believe they would just let us pass freely once again.

  I feel bad doing this, but then again we’re surprisingly keeping casualties to a minimum. I hate the idea of invasion, since next up we’ll rip through people’s homes and their lives. Let's hope we can keep it up with the most pacifist invasion we can.

  ...

  ...

  *Gasp... pant...*

  “Uh... Captain Heather?”

  “Yes?”

  “Are you ok?”

  “Yeah, why do you ask?”

  “You look tired, are you sure you can march with us like that?”

  Ugh... I hate to admit it but it’s excruciating marching with a walking cane in the brutal sun, Marisa offered a wooden leg just like the one that the piggy has but me and my stupid pride, had I known this would’ve happened I would’ve accepted it!

  “You can use one of the cavalry horses if you need”

  It is customary that the captain marches on foot to give the troops the sensation of trust by the image of being in a perfect physical condition, I am whoever, nowhere close to that definition, guess I’ll just swallow my pride as well and accept Doe’s offer.

  “I... I’m sorry for getting in the way, I’ll take the horse”

  “It’s no problem, by all means”

  It hurts my pride but guess I’ll just tough it out, like this we continue marching, if the pn goes accordingly we'll be out here for a while, about a day and a half, no point in needlessly wasting my stamina, let’s continue marching onwards.

  ...

  ...

  “Umm... what are you guys doing?”

  I noticed the formation around my horse, but I’m probably imagining things, so I’m gonna ask them about it anyways, just to be safe.

  “Sorry captain, the knights wanted to try this despite my suggestions to refrain themselves”

  “Guys, this would be considered a punishable offense, need I remind you that this is the formation to protect the town lord when he or she is riding with the knights”

  “I told them the same but, well, they said that at this point they see you as the town lord’s wife, I mean representative, I...”

  “...”

  “I’m gonna scold them a bit, excuse me captain”

  Seriously... they’re so dumb...

  Why need to practice to begin with? I doubt Marisa is the kind that would take the knights as escorts anyways. Still they seemed to have a really high morale for them to try to do stupid things like this, so I’ll let it slide for now.

  It took a couple of solid hours, and the sun it’s about to set, but we finally arrived at Darrel town, security got down to basically town guards, no match for a militia, more so since the town is not guarded by walls around them, so they were especially vulnerable to such an attack. We crushed the guards and entered the town, there was resistance from the people that saw us, so I had to be very clear on our way to the city ruling lord.

  “We mean no harm to the common people, if you refrain from engaging in a fight we will not disturb any more than necessary!”

  Obviously it didn’t work for everyone, but for the most part we’re trying our best to minimize deaths, especially from civilians. The feeling was surreal, as the people moved to the side to let us get through, terror filled in their eyes, as we continued, a kid threw a rock towards us.

  “I-I’m sorry! Please forgive him!”

  Presumably his mother came to defend him, as one of my troops, the one that received the rock, was looking at him.

  “We do not have the time for this, leave it”

  I said to the soldier, and then looked at the mother.

  “There will not be a second opportunity, don’t push your luck”

  Maybe I’m scaring them too much, the guards and other people tried to defend the town, they died in vain, still I wish they would refrain from this, they’ll be spared if they just stand down, in fact their lives will probably improve under Marisa’s rule.

  Once in the town lord mansion, we tore it down and made the ruler a prisoner of war, with this our mission was complete, in a eerily easy way, for now I instructed the troops to take down any guard posts and try to take control of the weapons in the town, the least chances for a rebellion by the people the better, it’s just for now, I hope they can bear with us until then.

  It was a rather hectic afternoon, but by night, everything was under control, and we got ready to barricade the borders as much as possible for any possible attack.

  “Well done captain Heather”

  “Thanks Doe, but I told you you’re the captain now, not me”

  The mission is done for now, so I can finally rest from my strict charade. I feel like I’m gonna start to lose hair at this rate.

  “Right Midy!”

  “Seriously...”

  I don’t even know anymore, I’m dying from tiredness, so it’s rather pointless to retort anymore.

  “I know it’s sudden, but I have a message from Lady Marisa”

  “Eh?”

  “Yes, she asked me to deliver this to you if we took over the city of Darrel, in fact she gave me this letter with another letter inside”

  “Seriously that girl...”

  **********************************************************************************************************

  Just follow Heather’s orders and gave her this other one if you managed to bring the next town over under control

  **********************************************************************************************************

  Would you even consider this a letter? Anyways, let’s open the other letter that is actually addressed towards me.

  **********************************************************************************************************

  Heyoo~

  Me again, surprised? Not me I knew you would be able to do it, you’re the greatest knight I’ve ever met, and I know you good enough to know you probably kept violence to a minimum, anyways, great job!

  If you’re reading this, I’m probably on my way to you as you read this, so hold tight, In the meanwhile, I leave you in charge of that new town, I heard something about turning knights into nobility or something like that, so see this as your first step in that path, and Doe is captain of the knights and at your command so ask anything you might need to him.

  With love~

  Marisa

  **********************************************************************************************************

  “Heather!”

  “Wha!? Marisa!”

  She just appeared and entered through the window!

  “You did it! I knew you would! Oh you’re just reading that? Well no biggie just-“

  “You dummy! What are you even thinking! What did you do!?”

  I couldn’t help but retort, I took the letter and rolled it my leg to then proceed to hit Marisa in the head with the rolled up letter. I really don’t know what happened or why I acted this way, but I felt refreshed when I saw Marisa again. I was worried for some reason, I’m gd to see she’s safe, now I worry about what my little sister is doing...

  —————————————————————————————————————————

  ***Back on Celestial’s cave, Rushka’s POV***

  “I’m bored!”

  Ellie retorted, yeah, it’s quite a lot of doing nothing, so I simply sat down to sketch while she was running around the cave, she then looked at me and asked.

  “What are you doing?”

  She mentioned, curious about my doodling, I always carry a notebook and pen with me since I never know when inspiration will strike.

  “I’m drawing blueprints”

  “blueprints? what is that?”

  “It’s the instructions of how to make a machine, do you know what those are?”

  She simply looked down at it and gave it a thorough look.

  “It looks like an arm!”

  “Sharp, that’s because it is”

  I’m working on the prosthetics that Marisa asked me for. Miss knight, unlike Marisa and Celestial, is not a mage, so she wouldn’t be able to move it or use her own visualization to make it easier, since it’s meant to be fully automated, the complexity grew exponentially.

  “Why are you drawing an arm?”

  “To build it, Marisa asked me to do it, for your sister”

  I said in as sweet of a tone that I could, Ellie is still a very young child after all.

  “Ah! Is it for big sister!? Will she be able to get her arm back!?”

  “Maybe, I’m still working on the design phase sweetie”

  “I see!”

  Ellie then sat down on the table in front of me, and just stayed there, doing and saying nothing. Weird girl, For now I continued with the blueprint, that is until I realized that she’s falling asleep on her chair, but still not saying a word. Didn't she say she was bored? I know I can lose myself on my designs for hours, is she gonna stare at me all the time.

  “Say sweetie, do you want to do something together perhaps?”

  “Ah! No need, I don’t want to distract you! Sorry!”

  She’s such a good kid, she’s staving off her boredom to not bother me.

  “It’s ok Ellie, I hit a block for now, so I was gonna take a break, want to py a bit?”

  “But...”

  She really loves her sister huh, she will still feel bad about it, or so it seems.

  “Want to help me with the blueprint then?”

  “Can I help with something?”

  “Of course, here~”

  I dragged my chair next to her and pced the notebook on the table and gave her the pen, opening it on a bnk page.

  “What do I do?”

  “Why not draw? I want to do a pattern for her arm”

  “But draw what?”

  “Anything Ellie, something that Heather would be happy to see”

  “Something that my sister would like to see? Ok!”

  And so I spent the afternoon watching Ellie doodle flowers and other motifs on my notebooks. They are frankly adorable, I’m gonna ask her to paint the final product. They make a nice addition to the pages upon pages of designs and measurements that I wrote.

  Joanne_carper