The Eye of the Sky found a group of mercenaries marching through the forest. There were no enemies around them, but the mercenaries were all very careful.
"They all look very powerful," Ozzic commented, "or else they wouldn’t have been able to get to this point. Storm City is about sixty miles from here. They might have come from there."
"Not necessarily," Orsie said, shaking his head. "I don’t think they broke through the line of zombies by themselves."
"What?" Ozzic asked, frowning. "Are you saying the necromancers let them out?"
"That’s just my thought," Orsie shrugged.
"But why?" Ozzic asked incredulously.
"I’m not joking," Orsie said. "Think about it. We haven’t encountered large groups of zombies in days, which means the necromancers aren’t as powerful as they appear. I think they have moved most of their forces to deal with the Shield of Light legion."
"I agree," Anfey said, nodding. He had thought about this before, as well. The necromancers did not try to stop him from leaving, and even allowed the Knights of Death to retreat. The necromancers must feel pressured by the battle with Fernando, which proved that the necromancers were not as powerful as he had originally expected. They could not fight on two fronts at the same time. Fernando must have already cornered them. Anfey felt respect towards the man. Despite what he may have planned, Fernando was an able and smart man.
"Should we send someone to talk to them?" Ozzic asked.
"That’s a good idea," Anfey said. "We need to know more about our surroundings."
"Wait! Guys, look!" Blavi suddenly called.
The group moved their attention to another Eye of the Sky and saw an army marching through the forest. There were not a lot of soldiers, but there were a lot of carts carrying supplies.
"Why is there an army here?" Anfey asked, shocked.
Ozzic frowned when he spotted the army’s flag. "It’s from Shansa Empire."
"What are they doing here?"
The mercenaries glanced at each other, unsure how to answer that question.
"That’s their supply line," Black Elven said. "The main army must have already passed. This is a lot of supplies. They must have at least fifty thousand troops."
Anfey frowned. He wasn’t worried about ruining his relationship with the Church. Most members of the Shield of Light legion were from Maho Empire, anyway. Fernando wouldn’t do anything out of line. But now that Shansa army had joined the fight, the situation became much more complicated. He was famous for destroying part of Shansa Empire’s Griffin Aerial Unit, and he was certain that Shansa Empire wouldn’t mind killing a few thousand mercenaries in retaliation.
Black Eleven was a very honest person, and he wouldn’t try to scare them. If he said that the army must have at least fifty thousand, then the army must have at least fifty thousand.
The mercenaries turned to Anfey. They knew that the relationship between Anfey and Shansa Empire was not good, and having Shansa army in the Country of Mercenaries could threaten the alliance.
A few minutes later, the mercenaries and the Shansa army saw each other. After a few moments of chaos, both sides realized that they had not encountered zombies or necromancers. The army sent out a few soldiers to greet the mercenaries.
After a brief conversation, the mercenaries ran towards the army and surrounded a supply cart. A few mercenaries jumped onto the cart and found some waterskins.
"Blavi," Anfey said. "Keep an eye on the army."
"Alright," Blavi said, nodding.
"Armin, count how many soldiers they have."
Black Eleven nodded.
Ozzic blinked. "You’re not…"
"You’re not going rob them, are you?" Orsie asked.
"We’re not robbers," Thompson said with a grin. Then he realized that Orsie wasn’t joking and frowned.
Thompson was a new member. He had never met Alice and did not know Anfey’s past, which was why he was surprised.
"I don’t know," Anfey said. "I need to think about it." He knew that it was better for the world if he left the Shansa army alone, but robbing them would be beneficial to him and Maho Empire.
"We should do it!" Ozzic said. "This is a perfect opportunity!"
"This army is here to help with the war effort," Anfey said. "We shouldn’t take advantage of that." He looked up from the Eye of the Sky and found the others around him staring at him, strangely. To his companions, he wasn’t one to say something like this. Priests were the most important part of the war effort, yet he had just ordered the mercenaries to murder a few hundred a couple of days ago.
"Sir, do you need some rest?" Ozzic asked quietly.
"No," Anfey said with a laugh. "I’m perfectly fine."
"Sir," Shinbella said, "if we run into the army, will they recognize you and attack us?"
"Maybe," Anfey said. "I don’t know." Shinbella nodded and did not say anything else. She did not need to. If the Shansa army could attack the mercenaries, why couldn’t the mercenaries attack them?
"They outnumber us," Thompson said. "If we are going to attack, we need a good plan to minimize damage. Shansa Empire doesn’t have the best armies, but we cannot underestimate them."
"You’re already underestimating them," Black Eleven said, shaking his head. "They never performed well because they lacked a good general."
"You mean…"
"Do you see that flag? That is the flag of Silver Griffins. I’ve read about it before. That is the standard of Scarlet. I don’t know why General Baery would speak so highly of a woman so young, but I know that General Baery never makes mistakes."
"Armin, you know General Baery?" Thompson asked, shocked.
Black Eleven froze. He had made a mistake and exposed his identity. Anfey coughed. "Concentrate," he told Black Eleven. Then he turned to Thompson and shook his head.
Thompson frowned. "We can’t fight them head on, then," he said, trying to change the topic.
"He’s right," Ozzic said. "We need a plan."
"What is that?" one of the mages suddenly asked.
"What is it?" Riska hurried over and asked.
"I just saw a shadow, but it was too fast."
"You sure you didn’t just make a mistake?" Blavi asked, frowning.
"No," the mage said. "Here it is again!" He leaned closer and his eyes widened. "God, it’s a griffin!"