As the harvest festival came to an end, Zeshald was thoroughly basking in attention that the sacred treasure that was supposedly bestowed by the queen has drawn to him.
Since the announcement about the formation of the [Water Mirror] on the first day of Zalnar’s month of fire, Zeshald has been working almost without breaks. Because of their position, some members of elite troupes secretly came to visit him under the shroud of night to express their interest to become a member. Thus, he had to handle the visitors regardless of if it was day or night.
Still, the divine arts aura that Zeshald had around him emitted the power of the sacred treasure. The artifact also calmed him down as well as sped up the body recovery processes thus Zeshald felt part of the power of the item with his own body.
Although, these effects were beyond what Zeshald had expected of the artifact, the old man used them as part of his propaganda which, little by little, spread between the members of the [Water Mirror] and the common folk alike. This envy and awe was a good tool to boost the queen’s influence.
“Hmm, so the construction of the Deernook fortress had started anew.”(Zeshald)
“Is that so…We have created quite an organization on this side. Izapnar’s faction looks to be slowly preparing for something.”(Zeshald)
“They are acting faster than I anticipated. It has to be due to the effect of the festival…”(Reifold)
Reifold, bearing the latest reports from Fonclanc has received Zeshald’s report and headed towards the Shalnar temple where queen Rishause was residing.
By communicating between former royalists and working as a messenger for the queen, Reifold was also actively contributing to the queen‘s faction’s rise to power.
“Hmm, it looks like it is going to rain tomorrow,” whispered Zeshald, looking out through the window, towards the direction of Fonclanc.
~Sanc Adiet, Volance palace~
In the parking area on the first floor of the palace, knight’s corps carriages were lined up and ready for departure. Near the line of these carriages stood two men, one wearing a black palace knight’s uniform, another wearing a red one.
These men were the commander of the darkness corps, Yuusuke, and a member of the fire corps, Hivodir. This time around, as a special case, Hivodir was given the position of a squad commander. Although the actual reason for his selection was of course related to his position as princess’s Violet’s fiancé candidate.
Should Yuusuke obtain yet another achievement this time around, he would be able to rise to a social position that would allow him to stand beside the princess as a fiancé candidate. Wary of this, the fiancé candidates raised their voices of concern during one of their meetings, calling out for one of them to also participate in this mission. Sadly, there were no volunteers.
Although the palace knights were powerful divine arts users and held the social position of the elites, the truth was that, aside from the mock combat drills, they had no real fighting experience.
As the place that they would be dispatched was near the country border and would likely become the front of the battle, it was not strange for them to be hesitant. As the heavy silence descended on the meeting room, Hivodir volunteered, saying “In that case, would you let me go?”
“I didn’t expect you to actually tag along with us.”(Yuusuke)
“I hope that nothing will actually happen.”(Yuusuke)
“Hahaha. It would be nice if there were just enough enemies to earn my achievement. I don’t care about anything else after that.”(Hivodir)
After exchanging this cheerful conversation, the two guys boarded their respective carriages. The darkness god corps left the parking area first, accompanied by the knights that were put under Yuusuke’s command for the duration of this mission. In total Yuusuke’s group was comprised of twenty people. Hivodir’s group, comprised of thirty members as it was accompanied by servants and other personnel, left the parking area after Yuusuke.
Ten carriages, traveling separately towards the Deernook fortress, were seen off by a lot of people as they were leaving the city later than the garrison forces.
A wind user scout detachment of Blue Garden, stationed near the country border at the side of the highway to Paula reported that Fonclanc is amassing troops near the state border and constructing some kind of fortification. A large amount of raw material was also seen to have been moved in. After making their report, the scouts were observing the site since a few days ago.
As this information was provided by the scouts in the enemy territory, it seemed that a plan to construct of a new fortress with a garrison of soldiers was underway.
“Another new group has arrived, right?”(Scout)
“Ah, are those guys seriously thinking about an invasion!”(Scout leader)
Commanding officer was inspecting the mass of Fonclanc troops through a telescope. He unintentionally raised his voice towards his subordinate as he was surveying the newly arrived troops who were getting off their carriages.
“That guy! That black guy, isn’t that the darkness corps?” (Scout leader)
“That guy is the hero of Gearhawk?!”(Scout)
His subordinate, who was near his captain, confirmed Yuusuke through a similar telescope. Since they were sure that they have not made a mistake, they called for the communications officer to relay this information to Paula headquarters. As the fire god corps members, the royal guards of Fonclanc, were also present, something big was obviously happening there.
“There are rumors that this guy has a special divine art that allows him to build a huge tower out over one day.”(Scout Leader)
“I have heard a number of rumors about that myself. Some of them mentioned a monstrous power that raised a tower in a blink of an eye.”(Scout)
The rumors of Yuusuke’s tower had also reached the Blue Garden, although the “raised instantly” part was treated as an exaggeration or a figure of speech. It was thought to describe a composition of a new construction skill and a special type of divine art to perform rapid construction.
While his subordinate was talking to the communications officer, the scout leader was continuing to monitor the Fonclanc encampment to which the hero of Gearhawk had just arrived. He stared in disbelief as the tents were suddenly folded one by one.
[“Are they relocating? They can’t be marching forward like this, can they?,”] thought the scout leader, as he wondered if the arrival of the hero was a trigger for something.
“What?!”(Scout leader)
“Are there any new movements, sir?”(Scout)
Telling the communications officer to wait, the scout used his telescope, which was installed near his leader, and tilted his head in a similar way. All of the tents have been removed and the area was vacated. A person, clad in black clothes, stood alone in the field, his hands stretched forward as the ground started to shine, enveloped by a mysterious phenomenon.
“What the hell are they doing there?”(Scout)
“I don’t know…”(Scout leader)
The communications officer crouched behind the two whispering scouts as he narrowed his eyes to be able to see the shadows of the people in the distance.
“Good, I like how the basement part feels now.”(Yuusuke)
“Leave me alone!”(Yuusuke)
“By the way, have you created some proper commander quarters?”(Hivodir?)
Yuusuke firstly created the passages and rooms for the basement that would serve as the foundation of the fortress. Soldiers were awed by the sight as they stared into the vast underground portion of the fortress, appearing before them. Those that have seen the construction of the observation tower in the plaza trembled, waiting for the construction of the actual fortress.
“Okay, I am going to put the upper part. Just in case, everyone please stand back.”(Yuusuke)
By referencing the design of the Gearhawk fortress in the map item data window of his customization menu Yuusuke performed the final checks in the menu for the construction of the Deernook fortress.
“Execute!”(Yuusuke)
Above the fortress foundation a huge wall stretched into the sky, enveloped by light effects. Simultaneously, the raw materials in the area got enveloped by the same light, and disappeared. Before long the light effects vanished and a huge fortress stood before the army in all its glory.
The hundred and twenty knights and service personnel who were sent to be stationed at the Deernook fortress cheered loudly, witnessing the appearance of their new “home”.
“What the heck?!”(Scout leader)
The scout leader shouted that as he stood up by pure reflex after witnessing such a sight. Forget about the telescope, he could confirm it with naked eye, the fortress was clearly there.
“So… it was not… just a rumor?”(Scout leader)
“Le-leader! Please look at that, more buildings have appeared.”(Scout)
They were able to see the front right corner of the fortress from their vantage point. Just like how the fortress appeared, many walls of light sprang up in succession around the fortress. Some of them seemed to have become stables, while the others turned into some other sort of facilities.
Finally a stone lookout tower rose above the fortress and the entire area was enveloped with a defensive ditch, and with that the mysterious phenomenon has ended. The Fonclanc knights, who were in within the premises have once again sprung back to work.
“Th-they managed to build one huge fortress…”(Scout)
“Give me a break…”(Scout leader)
The scout leader started sweating he became aware that he was standing in the open, defenseless, and hurriedly hid himself in between a rock formation. However he was still feeling uneasy as if the fortress itself stared through the rocks right at him. He would have surely felt reassured if such a fortress had belonged to his allies.
The fortress that could only be built over six to twelve months at the fastest pace, was raised in an instant. But, since it was built on the enemy side, there was nothing to be exhilarated about.
“Inform the headquarters of this immediately. We will be continuing our surveillance over here.”(Scout leader)
“Oh, looks like a drawbridge has just appeared.”(Scout)
Leaving the relay of the intel to the communications officer, the two scouts have resumed their surveillance duty. The sky that was clear until yesterday has begun to darken with gray rainclouds which were starting to conquer the blue expanse.
Having built the fortress and its facilities, Yuusuke was slacking outside while the preparation of the fortress interior was underway. After leading the horses into the stables and parking the carriages in the sheds, Hivodir, for some reason, climbed up the watchtower and was overlooking their surroundings. The tower had no other purpose other than observation.
Members of the darkness god corps began gathering around Yuusuke. Since Hivodir has been around Yuusuke for a while, they seemed to have trouble approaching their captain.
“Thank you very much, captain.”(Vermeer)
“Truly, no matter how you look at it.”(Fonke)
“It is truly great that you are our ally, captain.”(Aisha)
Everyone gave Yuusuke their thanks. As Yuusuke was embarrassed from all the flattery Isotta suddenly gasped as she had noticed something, and a troubled expression has appeared on her face.
“Hmm, what happened, Isotta?”(Yuusuke)
“It’s those Blue Garden scum. They probably have a surveillance post nearby.”(Fonke?)
Isotta felt the presence of the enemy, which was not a surprise, given the proximity to the state border, thus there was no tension in Fonke’s reply. Isotta was only surprised that the feeling she felt was not the usual wind arts surveillance but the feeling that [someone was watching her].
“Hmm…”(Yuusuke)
“If you like it, you can share a room with the captain.”(Fonke)
“Eh? Th-this kind of thing!…It-it’s rude… Y-you c-can’t do that!”(Isotta)
Isotta stuttered, startled by Fonke’s teasing, while Yuusuke was inspecting his surroundings, thinking about whether he could create some additional useful improvements.