“I oppose this!” Celena snapped as she rose.

  The motion propelled her simple wooden chair slightly backwards. It tumbled a few times, creating a muffled noise before landing on its side. Still, none of them paid any attention as their gazes were fixed on Ethan.

  “That’s not up to you,” Ethan replied sternly. “You will respect the chain of command, or I will have you dismissed.”

  Despite the words threatening to come out of her mouth, it remained closed as Celena bit her lips. Ethan could see her tiny fist clenched tight upon the wooden table yet ignored it, for he was more concerned about Theo's reaction.

  “While her reaction was rather extreme, I agree with the premise. You’re in charge of this convoy. We can’t have you running around on the front line.” Theo said after a long moment of reflection. “Should anything happen to you, this mission would be deemed a failure. I should be the one to go.”

  “You think too highly of me,” Ethan sighed, leaning back into his chair. “You’ll be fine without me. Besides, do you really think your fellow students would be inclined to follow my orders if you were gone?”

  Ethan's gaze was fixed on Celena, and she returned him a look laced with anger and frustration. She hadn't forgotten what she had been told just a day prior. It still lingered in the back of her mind, constantly gnawing at her. She even wanted to rid herself of this man, yet didn't dare to cross Theo.

  As usual, Ethan was right about his analysis of the situation. If Theo left, it would remove the only factor uniting the Martial Division's students. Ethan simply didn't have the means to make them obey, much less punish them for insubordination. Fortunately, the rest of the Academy's staff shared none of their arrogance. They were nothing less than professional soldiers.

  My sister must have arranged this. She must have said something to them.

  “Can't they just go alone?" Theo asked. "While young, Celena is more than capable of scouting the way independently. And with his aid, they should be back even before we know it."

  "I have no doubts in her capacity as a mage," Ethan explained. "However, we need someone to make decisions for the entire convoy. It's either you or me, and I'm obviously the better choice."

  The two were unconvinced, and the young man possessing a mermaid spirit looked highly uncomfortable. He had stayed silent the entire time, keeping to himself as he tried to sink deeper and deeper into his chair. Still, Ethan couldn't bother to argue anymore.

  "Enough," he said sternly. "I have made my decision, and it is final. This is an order from your superior officer. Go on and get ready; we'll be leaving shortly."

  Celena scoffed and stormed out of the tent and back toward her own. The young man made a small salute before following closely after her. On the other hand, Theo couldn't help but look toward Ethan with a look that said something was stuck in his mind.

  “Spill it out or get out,” Ethan said sharply.

  “Are you sure you're not being paranoid?" Theo said after a short sigh. "From the report you received, those creatures should only be patrolling the forest. Do you really think they would reach its edge? We haven't received any sightings from the surrounding villages nor the garrison patrolling the highway. I think you're reaching too far on this one."

  “Maybe I am,” Ethan said, looking slightly weary.

  Right at this moment, he couldn't help but want to be back into his small, isolated world found with the black tome, away from all this drama and responsibility. All he wanted was to explore the possibilities of magic, yet now he was forced to go to war against an enemy without reason that only wanted to rip them to pieces. However, the work had to be done, and Ethan was chosen to do it. He couldn't bring further shame upon his house than he already did.

  “These supplies must reach the fortress promptly," Ethan added. "We cannot afford to waste any more time. According to the reports, we could probably prevail against them considering our numbers, but there would no doubt be casualties. I can't, in good conscience, report to Beth that I lost some of her troops even before the fighting began due to my negligence."

  Theo’s eyebrows rose slightly, and a knowing smile appeared on his lips. Yet, this smile couldn’t help but prompt a shiver to flash through Ethan’s body. He didn’t know where this originated from, yet he couldn’t stop it from spreading everywhere.

  “As you wish, commander,” Theo said as he rose from his seat and headed toward the door. “I just hope you find what you are looking for. For all of our sake.”

  Theo then exited the tent, leaving Ethan with all of his thoughts. He didn’t know if he was doing the right thing, but action was better than passivity. He had only a few moments to prepare before they left, so he jumped straight into action. There was something he wished to try, and now he finally had the chance.

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  ******

  "Are we all ready?" Ethan asked, sitting on the back of his steed.

  This was a different mount than the one he had used until now. It was a veritable warhorse. Instead of brown, this horse was black as deep as midnight. Even with the midday sun crashing down from overhead, not a single ounce of sunlight was reflected from its body.

  It was also massive, at least one and a half times the size of other steeds, with well-defined muscles that bulged everywhere. On its back was a large saddle, almost too big for Ethan to sit on properly, yet it seemed just the right size for this mount. It all felt very imposing.

  Two large bags hanging on each side lay slightly behind the saddle. Ethan had spent all morning preparing them. He hoped he wouldn't have to use them, yet he had made them just in case they strolled into problems the two scouts coming with him couldn't handle.

  Speaking of them, they were also on the back of their own steed. While much less gigantic than Ethan's own, these two horses were also much larger than the norm. Still, unlike what their size might indicate, they showed no hostility or aggressiveness. In fact, they showed no emotions at all. This was due to a technique the Imperium liked to use, and of course, it was magical in nature.

  The land near the Capital was plains as far as the eye could see. Most of it was used for farming, feeding the whole of the Imperium, yet a small piece of it was bare of farmland. That land was owned solely by the Imperial Family and served as the breeding ground for all of the Empire's horses, whether workhorses or warhorses.

  Within that facility, mages with an affinity with beasts were employed to breed these creatures to reach the apex of their own species. As for how they achieved this, Ethan had no idea. There weren't any records of it, even within the Endless Library, and the Library had everything.

  I searched every inch of that place but never found those records. There's probably a section only available to the Head Librarian or those authorized by the Imperial Family.

  Still, the fact that they were allowed to ride a steed of this quality spoke volumes to the expectations of the ruling class. They truly wished for the students to distinguish themselves and had spared no expense to make it so.

  Ethan found it sickening how pampered these students were when the army couldn't even be adequately supplied. Just imagining what the fortress could have done with all those resources left him seething. They might not even have had to go on this expedition in the first place.

  With everything in order, the three departed from the camp. In fact, they were the last to leave, as Ethan had only just managed to finish his preparation. As they were on schedule, the convoy already went ahead, but they were mostly on foot, so it took less than an hour to overcome them.

  Ethan stopped for a few minutes, asking how the journey was going and relaying some of the things he had noticed before departing again. Their late departure made it hard for them to reach their intended destination, so they stopped as soon as the sun went down, hoping for an early departure.

  Unlike the hot meals that the Academy's staff usually prepared for them, all they had to eat were dry rations. These were suitable for long travels as they were light and shelf-stable but also flavourless. They were made primarily of bread and dried meat, but both were extremely hard to chew, considering they needed to remain edible for a long time.

  Celena bit into her bread, yet she couldn't help but frown as her teeth barely broke the surface. Unlike Ethan, she didn't possess the jaw strength to rip right through it. She could only tug on it until the bread snapped apart, straining her neck to do so.

  Once a piece of it was finally in her mouth, her mood couldn’t help but darken. All light vanished from her eyes as she let the bread soak into her mouth. She barely resisted the urge to spit it out before her stomach started to growl. No matter how much she despised the taste, she could only swallow, for the journey on horseback had sapped her strength, and she needed to replenish it.

  As for the young man, he summoned a part of his spirit to moisten the bread, but it only further diluted its taste. The texture also became spongy, and he almost gagged as he put it in his mouth. He could only spit it out and nibble on the dried meat instead, yet it wasn’t much better. It was almost too leathery for the young man to cut through with his teeth.

  As for Ethan, he had no problem at all. He didn't care about the taste since food was just a means to fuel the body. Flavourful food was always lovely, but he wouldn't always seek it. His sister had ingrained the idea into him from a young age. In fact, he had arranged this on purpose.

  These two had the makings of powerful mages, yet they were still rough around the edge. As they were, they wouldn’t be able to assimilate within the army, much less contribute as they should. They were much too used to the comfort the Academy provided.

  This was the main reason for this expedition, yet the Academy hadn't fully committed. They even sent countless of their staff to take care of them. If they were to join the army the way they were, they wouldn't be able to cope, so Ethan took it upon himself.

  “This is as hard as a brick!” Celena shouted, throwing her bread to the side, yet Ethan showed no reaction.

  Instead, he said, “You are free to starve, then. You should be grateful you even have something to eat.”

  “What about our tents? Where are we supposed to sleep?” she replied.

  “Tents would have only slowed us down. We need to reach our destination as fast as possible if we want enough time to do something impactful. Besides, the sky is clear tonight. Be grateful I even made a fire for you.”

  The flames danced in front of the three of them, fighting back the darkness, yet the night seemed all-consuming. The light barely pierced a few metres away before vanishing into the distance.

  Once his meal was done, Ethan put his back against a tree facing the highway. Their camp was located a hundred metres away from the road, far enough they could see someone coming and close enough to be able to run.

  He plunged the tip of his sword’s sheath into the soft grass and rested the handle on his shoulder as he closed his eyes for the night, seeing the light of the dancing flames through his eyelids.

  "Once you're done eating, snuff out the flame and go to bed. We have a long road to travel tomorrow," Ethan said before letting his mind drift off to sleep.

  Still, a small part of him remained alert to any danger that might assault them. They had no need for a night watch; this was why these warhorses had been bred. Even comfortably on the ground, Ethan's black horse remained completely alert, taking the first shift of the night.

  Celena and the young man were completely taken aback by how casual Ethan was about all this. Still, they could only heed his words and do as he said. And so came the end of their first day away from the convoy.