“Sir! Those people…”

  “Don’t worry about it, soldier,” I told the young knight running to me after I saw off the supposed hero and her entourage. “I’m unsure if they’re insane or if they have a plan, but we can’t stop them. That group has too much backing for rank-and-file like us…”

  Calling myself, the oldest knight in service of Baron Christophen, rank-and-file stung. I was even comparing myself to some unknown aristocrat playing knight by my side, but that was the truth in this situation. Just the symbol in their carriage was enough to overrule anyone in this Frefcross and ensure we had to help them in case anything went wrong. And all because I couldn’t fight this ‘one-night castle’ down.

  Wouldn’t be a problem if, at least, instead of a vague order from my lord and some walking trouble, they had brought actual reinforcements… But nothing can be done now.

  “And I won’t risk my career for this.”

  “Sir?” The rookie asked as I sighed, so I waved him away to start our preparations instead.

  “You’re off watch duty, soldier. Go to the barracks and get everyone who can still move to mount a horse. We may need to charge that fort again today…”

  I could see the surprise, and fear, on the knight’s face as he was involved in my failed attempt the day earlier. It was fair. I could see how wrong I was by reacting too fast to the fort at the Triple Crossing, and now I had to pay for it with my reputation. Still, the young knight obeyed his orders dutifully and moved on as I readied myself.

  If things went wrong, we would need to react fast, and in the condition my men were in, they could make mistakes if I didn’t react right. I only had to get a new spyglass now that mine was taken by the blondie before that...

  But as I did so, what I saw surprised me in a very unpleasant way.

  Instead of some scouting party or a very powerful mage going for a frontal assault, all the little group did was stop halfway between us and the fort. They stopped there as if it was a lady's outing. An outing in the middle of an active skirmish. No more than a provocation, and a very weak one too.

  Where she was, it would be easy for us to help, but it wouldn’t do much to the situation. As is, they wouldn’t even bother to keep an eye on her.

  It was useless. So much so, I wasn’t surprised when her maid got a decorated chair from the inside of the carriage and a basket of snacks. They then started to unload boxes and weird packages all the while the pompous blonde waited, snacking on her chair.

  Some other things happened, but they were too far from me to see the details. The most I could get was that the forester girl was holding a bow while the noble-looking one did something to her arrows. I could even see a faint glow of magic there, but that was all.

  Firing spells and arrows from this far away was just stupid anyway. This whole mess was going to be the greatest annoyance in my whole life. Or was it what I thought during the minutes before the first explosion happened on the hills around Frercross. And by the time the third one managed to hit the fort, my expression was already impossible to recognize.

  It was an impossible spell with impossible range. One that was way too much, and that I couldn’t even comprehend right now. All I knew was: if that was her magic, be it hers or of that forester girl, then she should’ve told us beforehand! More than that, I knew that I now had to rush off right away.

  The brat at that fort wouldn't stay quiet anymore, I could feel it. And as I rushed to my knights and rode through the hill, the situation in the picnic area was far from whatever I could expect.

  In a few words: it was too much.

  By the time my knights reached them, two dozen enemies were already dead and the whole area was in chaos. And that was without mentioning the chaos happening at the fort set ablaze.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  The blondie herself seemed to be either fainted or wounded, being treated by her attendants right now, but the results were way too much. Especially so if she actually managed to defeat the enemy commander. The same commander that mocked me and made the city fear for the first time.

  Even though the enemies were sure to manage a retreat, the daring ‘one-night castle’ was defeated. And it was so by a group of four girls in their leisure time.

  “Ma’ams! Can I offer to hurry the wounded lady back to the citadel?” I asked with some newfound respect for the pompous hero and her entourage. “I’m sure my lord will give her the best treatment he can offer.”

  “Fuck off. We’re dealing with it.” The one in the hero’s group that I marked as the most troublesome answered me in a very authoritarian, and honestly, somewhat threatening tone. More so, it was the most disrespectful anyone was with me ever since my training days.

  She seemed very angry, too much even. Enough to assure me I shouldn’t stay close.

  Nobles… You can't understand them.

  Luckily or not, all went as expected. After leaving the girls and trying to pick the fleeing enemies, the fight ended as a clear victory for us. There were little to no engagements as they did so, but that was expected too. It was still a big strike to the Federation, so I didn’t force too much anyway.

  And everyone in the city knew that.

  From the horsemen coming back with me to the garrison waiting at the wall and the people bundled around the streets as we returned. It was almost as if we had won the biggest battle of them all. I couldn’t understand how it happened so fast, but as we moved back to the barracks, the truth behind this situation became clearer.

  Or to be more specific, I heard shouts of ‘breaking news’ as we moved and noticed the kids spread through the city moving as if they were all criers. They were more numerous than the official criers too, not that the real ones weren't saying the same.

  Someone fed them the information right away, or so I could guess. What a cunning heroine…

  How many soldiers came to fight the four girls, how hard was running them off, and how thoroughly destroyed the fort was. They knew it all. But in particular, they knew too well how dangerous the fort was. More than any peasant could or should.

  This sort of ovation was good to have from time to time, but there shouldn’t be a reason for it yet. Not to underappreciated, of course, but even with the fact an enemy forward base was bad, it wasn’t anything that would topple this citadel right away.

  It was bad, but they’re making it sound apocalyptic, and although a huge feat, that heroine shouldn’t be the messiah they were making her be.

  There wasn’t a thing I could do about it either. Even after I dismissed everyone, the peasants were still on the streets and the shouts continued. Some were around until I finally reached the inner walls, and I was very sure it was only because they couldn’t enter. But the group of mages, one of which was easy to recognize, approaching the lord’s manor made me wish they could.

  An annoyance, but greeting them was something I should still do.

  “Greetings, Archmage Randoul.” I approached and bowed to the chief of the royal mages and his group, likely also composed of mages, ignoring how he seemed to be looking for something else. “Can I take it as the capital’s reinforcements?”

  “You can say so, yes.” He answered me with his attention somewhere else. “About what the peasants are saying in the streets…”

  “I couldn’t ask much at the time, but it does seem to be true. Or close enough.”

  “Then, about that heroine and her magic?”

  “Only asking her to know how it works, but she set the enemy fortification on fire from farther away than anything I ever saw. Even a group of earth mages wouldn’t reach a fifth of that range.” I tried to explain even if the person hearing me was barely paying attention. “She did faint from overuse, though, so she should be recovering somewhere.”

  “So that’s how it is…” He sighed in an annoyed way before turning back to me. “Could you escort me to your lord’s location, captain? I have to organize the situation with him now that we’re here… And I believe you have to report.”

  “Of course, milord... Please follow me.”

  “Thank you.” He answered in a business-like voice and then turned to the closest person in his group, a tall mage in glasses. “Can you take care of the hall, Calixto? Just stay around with me and make it clear we got here. It doesn’t seem we’ll be staying for long…”

  Not exactly something I wanted to hear as I was the one who called reinforcements, but it was fair. Concentrating resources now that the enemy threat was down wouldn’t be very smart.

  For now, I’m better off focusing on escorting these mages and reporting. The consequences will be seen soon enough, but first I had to report. A report that ended very fast as it seemed my lord was already aware, and seemingly angry, about what happened. The talk with the archmage was much longer, though. Not that I paid much attention.

  Messy politicking isn’t something I’m interested in. And to be honest, my mind was already on the festivities growing on the outside…