Legacy of the Dark Sage

Because the battle did not appear to be ending soon, Lira, with the remaining high-ranking officers under Gael and Ingrid not participating in the battle, gathered in a makeshift tent to discuss their next course of action.

Inside the tent, empty boxes of supplies were lined together to form a makeshift table. On top of it was a map filled with lines and marks indicating the positions of their people and the emperor's army. The markings on the map had two distinct colors. Lira's side was blue, while red represented the emperor's.

From above, it was obvious that the red marking was outnumbered and was gathered at the center. A huge black X was at the center of the red markings with a question mark on the side. It was the location they presumed to be where the emperor was at.

"They managed to regroup and surround the emperor in a short span of time. Their adaptability to the situation and quick movements show how strict Mannick had disciplined them," one of the officers said. He was huge and had five gold badges pinned on his vest, proving his rank as a Lieutenant General.

"It's Deputy Marshal Mannick," a woman with similar numbers of gold badges on her vest looked at the man disdainfully. "Until he is not proven guilty of treason he is still a Deputy Marshal."

The man returned her disdainful glare and said, "He abducted the emperor and fed his Majesty's head with lies. The moment he retaliated already proved his guilty."

"That is enough, Lt. General Bo and Lt. General Esme," Lira told them with a slight frown.

In order to mobilize the army, Lira showed them the Crown Princess's decree, which also had the Grand Marshal's seal. However, she still had to give them a good reason. They would be attacking the emperor, after all. Ingrid was the one who said that Mannick had plotted against the whole army and fed the emperor with lies. It was unknown what his motives were, but because of this, the emperor suddenly changed his mind about going to Noser and, instead, went to deal with the Crown Princess's confidante, who was currently handling the matter in the Regis Estate alone.

Lira found the story farfetched and questionable. But these people bought it. It appeared that Ingrid's neutral stance in the power struggle within the army did not diminish her fame. As a matter of fact, most saw her as the most trustworthy Deputy Marshal among the three.

"Putting aside the matter of Deputy Marshal Mannick's treason, we have to find a way to get to the emperor," Lira reminded them.

Another man, whose build was smaller than Bo, with four gold badges on his vest, spoke up and said, "Have we found who shot the arrow earlier?"

"No," a man with the same number of gold badges replied.

They were Major General Tate and Major General Musa, under Gael and Ingrid, respectively.

Lira furtively glanced at Fiona. The latter stood by the side and had her eyes closed. It was Lira who asked Fiona to order one of their family's men to shoot the arrow at Emperor Euan, which started the whole ordeal.

"That person is likely Mannick's mole. We have to find him as soon as possible," Bo said.

"As I said, that is not our main objective," Lira said with an exasperated sigh. She looked at them and said, "We have to get to the emperor as soon as possible. There is still a way to clear this misunderstanding and save him."

Of course, Lira only said this to express the Crown Princess's fealty to her father. She had no plans to keep the emperor alive.

Esme looked at her and slightly shook her head, "It is difficult to break through the current impasse. Deputy Marshal's men are far more resilient and battle-ready than we imagined."

Initially, they had thought that with their advantage in number, it would not be long before Mannick surrendered. But they did not expect his men to hold their formation.

"We can form two spearhead teams consisting of high-rank officers that will break through to the left and right wings," Lira suggested and drew two lines on the map. "After that, we only need to send our Scout team and plant the anti-cast stones around the enemy's middle formation to ensure Mannick and his highly offensive mage officers will not be able to launch any magic counteroffensive."

"Are you ordering us to sortie, Miss Royal Knight?" Bo asked as he looked at her indignantly.

A Royal Knight's rank was equivalent to a Brigadier General, and to Bo and the rest of the officers inside the tent, that was one or two ranks lower than them. Lira might have the Crown Princess's Decree with the Grand Marshal's seal, but that did not mean they had to listen to her.

Fiona opened her eyes when she sensed the sudden tension inside the tent. She wanted to avoid this situation, so she questioned Lira's decision to attack the emperor. But now that it came to this, as someone from the noble family supporting the Crown Princess, she had to step up and pacify the situation.

"Lt. General Bo, Ms. Lira only wanted to save the emperor. Whether you decide to go into battle is entirely up to you," Fiona said. "However, if we look at it from a different perspective. If any of you lead the spearhead team and save the emperor. He will definitely reward your meritorious action."

The four officers did not respond. They only looked at Fiona with unreadable expressions.

Unlike Lira, they all knew Fiona served as Gael's secretary as well as the Royal Family's keeper. She did not possess any magic, but her status within the army could not be underestimated.

Lira looked at Fiona with a complicated expression. She thought the latter was only an ordinary mole the noble families planted within the army. To think that these officers treated Fiona with such high regard surprised Lira.

Before any of them could respond, a badgeless soldier hastily entered the tent.

"U-Update from the left wing battalion! A-An intruder appeared!"

All of them looked at the officer with a scowl. Initially, Bo planned on reprimanding the soldier, but upon hearing his report, his focus shifted.

"What did you mean by an intruder?" He asked.

"An unknown person appeared in the left wing and has been targeting both our men and... t-the others," the officer hesitated to call the others 'enemies.' It seemed not all of the soldiers viewed the emperor's army as enemies.

It was quite understandable. Most low-ranked soldiers were new and had little knowledge of the internal conflicts within the higher management. These soldiers swore to protect the empire under Emperor Euan's regime and being ordered to attack the latter was contradicting. Unfortunately, they could only follow orders and had no right to question their superiors.

Bo's frown deepened. He approached the soldier and demanded, "What does he look like? Is he a mercenary? A fugitive?"

The soldier shook his head, "I-It is unclear. We tried to ask for additional information but failed to reestablish connection with our people. Upon checking their tracking signals..."

The soldier hesitated for a second before blurting, "W-We lost more than 15% of our people in the left wing in less than an hour."

Everyone inside took a sharp intake of breath. Each wing consisted of 15,000 soldiers, and losing more than 15% of their people was not a small number. Though the battle had been waging for hours and casualties had piled up, the last update only showed less than 1% death. For it to suddenly shot up to 15% in less than an hour meant the intruder was not an ordinary person.

"I am in-charge of the left wing. I will go take a look," Musa said and was about to leave when Esme stopped him.

"Wait, I am coming with you."

She looked at the others and said, "If the intruder is attacking indiscriminately, then the left wing is mostly cleared. We can use the intruder's momentum to break through the center."

"U-Um... actually..." The soldier stammered as he looked at them uneasily. "We also received a strange report. It seems the o-other side suffered casualties, but their number has not decreased. There are no deaths on their side."

*

Kyran found the commanding officers of the enemy's side and killed them at once.

The moment the enemy in the west flank lost their leaders, their formation fell. Mannick's men took advantage of the chaos to plow through the enemy and reduce their number in an alarming momentum.

They also ignored Kyran when he continued toward the middle formation. Apparently, they already received Mannick's order to let him pass.

[It seems Azaloth managed to hold their formation. As expected of the most powerful Abjurer.]

True Void said after getting a good grasp of the battle's situation.

[Are you going to reveal your identity to the emperor, Void Halfling?]

Kyran was busy charging into the middle of the formation, killing all hostiles. He did not respond to True Void because he had not decided yet. Though the current situation showed the Crown Princess had finally bared her fangs against the Emperor and Kyran could capitalize on this opportunity and get his support, it might not be simple.

There were several reasons the Crown Princess could come up with to turn the Emperor into the empire's public enemy number one. If that happened, how many would support the Emperor? Apart from that, what if the Crown Princess placed a spell on the Emperor that enabled her to see or know what he was up to? If Kyran revealed himself, wouldn't that put Zephyr and the others in danger? They were only cautious about Zephyr because they did not want him to unleash his 'Void' magic. If those in Noser found the real Kyran was in Meliora, they would definitely attack Zephyr without reservations.

Nevertheless, to have Mannick on his side was one of the things Kyran was grateful for. The former might not be allowed to meddle in the Human plane's affairs directly, but that rule did not restrict his men.