Nicolea entered, carrying a tray with a clay teapot and three cups. I declined the tea and slapped Emily’s hand when she reached for a cup, so the hostess set down only one for the Emerald Blade and left the pot and tray with him. The man received the drink in silence and gestured at the matron to leave. For a time, he didn’t speak but sipped the steaming hot tea, like any average breadwinner of a rural household after a long and tiring day.

  Did he think he’d sell the service with his hammy act? Even a baby knew you could build tolerance to poisons by repeatedly consuming them in small doses over time. That was how these people historically chose their Emperor. The candidates would take turns visiting each other for tea to see whose immunity was best developed. He could have the whole pot for all I cared.

  Though the tea's fragrance by itself was very pleasant and my throat was parched—but no, I wouldn’t make that mistake.

  I felt I’d already learned enough tonight, more than I cared to know, and would’ve liked to go back. Go back and sleep. But there were a few more points I needed to ask.

  “What is the enemy's plan of attack? No matter how they're 'elite', only one platoon is too small to cause any serious disruption in the capital. Especially if they mean to split their force two ways. Or else they’re really underestimating our defenders. There has to be more to it.”

  Naradhran Jeiyd set down his teacup with a contented sigh before giving a non-answer.

  “Their chosen route should give you a clue towards that.”

  Meaning what? The reckless route through the Wood. The thousand-mile hike among monsters, predatory spirits and deadly trees and mystical phenomena. How could that factor in their tactics…Then, as I thought about it a little more, it hit me.

  What was the Tarachians’ specialty, besides poisons.

  “Hellions?” I asked, stunned. “They’re going to use the beasts from the Wood?”

  The Emerald Blade nodded.

  “If the initial imprinting is successful, an expert shaman can coordinate as many as thirty small E-ranks, or up to three B-ranks at once. Then bringing more human warriors isn’t necessary.”

  Forty combatants and up to ninety beasts. Now that was a force you didn’t want loose in a major population center.

  “That’s crazy. How could they even get the monsters to the city? If Canelon truly is their target.”

  There were over eight leagues to go. A jolly caravan of monsters strolling across the fields would be sort of hard to ignore by anyone. A straightforward frontal assault would be crushed before they ever saw the city walls. The capital guards weren’t so stupid that they’d let mysterious monster-sized boxes through the gates unchecked either. That was nonsense.

  But how else? By air?

  “That, I don’t know,” the man answered and refilled his tea cup. “We are still investigating plausible infiltration routes.”

  “Would be simple if we found them first. Clean them up in the cover of the forest without having to keep guessing.”

  “I agree. That is the plan. Having to wait for the opponent to move is a disadvantage in many ways. Whether they'll target the school directly on this side, or the town, I cannot say that for certain either. But they wouldn’t throw their full strength against the Archmage, of that I am confident. It is expected that the attack on this side will fail. They don't want to sacrifice too many of their number only to bolster the wizard’s fame. On the contrary, the operation is intended as a humiliation on Belmesion’s master as well. Despite all his powers, the greatest wizard in the world cannot be in two places at the same time. He may only watch from afar as the heart of the Kingdom burns.”

  So he said. But I didn't think our positions were so bad, now that I was here. Even if the enemy managed to slip out of the Wood and past the academy, we could still strike against from the rear if we located them in time. They'd be stuck between two fronts then, us and the city. The scenario where they successfully eluded both the school and Canelon's guard and got all the way into the city seemed a little too incredible. Who would even attempt a plan so self-destructive? Someone with nothing to lose, I guess.

  Yet, somehow, I had an unpleasant feeling. Like we were still missing a crucial piece to the puzzle.

  It was at the moment when victory seemed clear that you had to be most wary of deception.

  Though there was no need to tell that to the Tarachian sitting in front of me. He may not have been hiding hellions in his basement, but being too open about our insecurities was only asking for complications.

  “I understand the situation now,” I said and stood. “You have our cooperation for the time being. If I learn anything new, I'll pass it through the other guy. But give me any cause to regret this arrangement, and I'll make you my warm-up before the grasshopper unit.”

  For the third time, the Swordmaster reached for the teapot to refill his small cup.

  “Coming from a former enemy, this might not mean much—but rest assured. You, of all people, we never want to fight again.”

  I turned then to Emily.

  “It’s time for us to go.”

  The talks finished, Emily and I headed out into the brisk, cold night. The temperature hovered barely above freezing and the sun was fully gone out of sight. I would've liked to book a room in the town, with how late it was, but a pair of girls returning to the dorms after an unpermitted night out would’ve made the front page. I had to keep my record clean if I wanted to stay a prefect.

  I'd have to compose a report to the General too, and get it in the mail tomorrow. I couldn't reveal who I met tonight, but the things discussed were too important not to share. Especially the part about Canelon being the enemy's primary target, which we didn't anticipate beforehand. With luck, that'd be the end of my involvement in this whole affair.

  So even as Nicolea offered a guest room for us free of charge, and Emily tried to signal with her kitten eyes to take it, I only bid goodnight and went out.

  We made our way through the slumbering town to the north gate and joined the highway curving across the black, trimmed country.

  Belmesion's unnatural lights were just about visible, projected in an ethereal glow onto the misty sky above the trees. Halfway there, I had to pause and question the intentions of the ghost persisting on our tail.

  “What do you want? Are you looking to settle the score?”

  Emily started, only just now noticing the dark figure of the commando thirty feet behind us.

  As much as I wanted to criticize my pupil’s lack of alertness, it could be forgiven in this case. Tatari barely had a presence distinguishable from autumn mist, and her footsteps produced not the slightest sound. She used prana to absorb the vibrations without any hint of conscious effort.

  “I'm your escort,” the young lady mumbled scornfully through the black mask covering her lower face. “If anything happens to you on the way to the school, they’ll blame it on us.”

  “Did you forget who you're talking to?” I replied. “What other peril could there be on a road this short but you?”

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  “Who knows. You're much weaker than I thought, so you might accidentally trip on a pebble and crack your skull.”

  Emile snorted. I wasn't amused. Did you spend half the night thinking up that one?

  “Disappear. Your job is done. If you come any closer to the campus, they'll detect you by the smell.”

  “Gnn…Fine.” The western girl spun proudly around on her heels. “Bumping your head randomly and dying in a ditch would make a fit end for you, Destroyer. Your ancestors shake their heads at you.”

  As young as she was, there was also something timeless and ancient about this girl that made me feel like she could maybe have real contacts to the afterlife, and her taunt held secret truth to it. But so what? I didn't live for my ancestors, whoever they were, and whichever pocket of Hades had them.

  “My name is Hope,” I told her turned back.

  She paused. “And do you remember the names of all the people you killed?”

  “As if that were possible.”

  The girl clicked her tongue.

  “Creep. Then there’s no reason I should remember yours either!”

  “Do you think that’s why wars are fought? To have your name remembered? For honor and glory? What century was this, again?”

  “What are you trying to say?” she growled.

  “I will remember you, Tatari. But only as long as you live. If you go and die a fool’s death out there, for any stupid, trivial reason, I’ll be sure to wipe it off my mind. That’s all.”

  “Hmph.”

  The girl strode off, huffing and puffing, and her slim figure soon became one with the darkness.

  We resumed our stroll the opposite way.

  Now that the unwanted third wheel was gone, it was finally time to address the elephant in the room.

  Belmesion’s gates drawing closer, I glanced at the girl meekly marching beside me, her face highlighted by the warm tones of the school lights.

  “So? Why and how are you here?”

  “Ah! That's right!” Emily exclaimed, stopping, as if she’d already forgotten. “I'm really mad at you, you know? Rafel told me you were meeting the others today, and I expected you to invite me along! But in the end, you never did! And when I went to your room to ask what you were up to, you were already gone! It was a long dang trip to run and I barely made it in time! What the crap was that!? How could you do that to me!?”

  I stopped to glare at her. How could she be so clueless?

  “Why did you think I was going to drag you any deeper into this? Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? This isn't some trivial class assignment or a game, but a very real conflict between two nations. Humans lives are at stake.”

  “I do get that!” she argued. “But with all the more reason! How could I let my friend go into such a bad spot alone? Were you going to fight all of those people by yourself if anything went wrong? Are you crazy? Isn't it for times like this that you've been teaching me? What's the point if I'm not with you then!”

  Her words did sting a little. I turned to go on.

  “I advised you for your own sake. So that you could have the power to reach your own dreams. Not so that you'd throw your life away for me in some senseless skirmish that's none of your business.”

  “Well, it is my business now!” Emily retorted. “Because it'd really ruin my day if you went and got yourself killed, while I knew nothing! That would really suck! What good is there in reaching my dreams, if you're not there to see it!? When I get there, I want you to stand right next to me, so I can then tell you, ‘This was all thanks to you!’”

  I turned back to stare at her, stunned into silence.

  For a moment, my vocabulary eluded me.

  “You’re…”

  “What?”

  “...I can’t even say.”

  “Hey. I may still have ways to go, but I'm not all useless, alright? I saved your butt earlier too, didn't I? I can be helpful!”

  I resumed towards the gates.

  “...I had the situation under control.”

  “You were about to swallow a very big dagger. I saw it.”

  “I would've gotten her first. It was that girl you saved, not me.”

  “Sure. Whatever you say, Boss.”

  “You need to hone your senses more. Not everything is obvious to the eye.”

  “Suuure. We’ll leave it at that.”

  This stubborn donkey. She didn't believe me at all.

  We entered the school area and hiked along the paved path lit by the long line of lamps. We were already close to the dormitory entrance, when a pair of students came up along the same side of the yard from the main school building's direction.

  Nobody should have been out so late, unless…They were prefects.

  Damn it. We were late, but it was still before midnight and the last patrol was making the rounds.

  I should’ve delayed our return by another half an hour, but forgot. Not even my head had room for every little detail in it.

  To make matters worse, one of those prefects was a very familiar face.

  “—Hope?”

  President Vanille D’Arnos stopped in her tracks when she recognized me. Her eyes widened with what I thought was a very exaggerated look of shock, like a detective who'd just identified the unlikely culprit in a hair-raising murder case.

  We did get caught breaking two ironclad school rules: the curfew and leaving the campus without permission. Not even prefects could do that without a good reason. Suspension was the minimum penalty, but repeated offenders could be expelled too.

  The devil in me was a bit curious to see just how big a drama I could turn this into, but the more sensible side soon won over. Since Vanille did look sincerely shaken.

  “Good evening, senior D'Arnos,” I said, minding my manners in front of her pair, a female second-year fencer I didn’t know. “My apologies for being out so late. A sudden emergency required me to go the town. I have the headmaster’s permission. Ms Troyard was helping me.”

  To support my words, I took out the headmaster’s gift badge from my pocket and showed it to the patrollers.

  “Emergency?” Vanille asked, taking the badge to appraise it closer under lamplight. “What happened?”

  “Sorry, it’s private. Family matters.”

  I wonder if it was specifically for situations like this that the General said I could use her name. Not only as a cover identity, but a shield to deflect difficult questions. Whether she intended it or not, that was how I’d planned to use it.

  But…It didn’t occur to me I’d have to parry friends with it too.

  Vanille looked at Emily, who flinched under the fencer’s keen gaze and stood stiff like a toy soldier.

  “Troyard…”

  “Y-yes?”

  It didn’t seem the president actually meant to ask her anything. Just pronounced the name, as if to test the sound of it, and then fell under a sullen silence, chewing her lip. I could sort of guess what she had to be thinking. Emily and I weren’t even from the same class. So how was this girl connected to me and my alleged family matters…?

  Suspicious.

  Vanille turned her gaze at me, as if to extract the answer directly from my head through the pupils. But she asked nothing aloud and neither did I speak. When it came to making up stories, the basic rule was “less is more.” Blabbering too much and trapping yourself in inconsistencies was the downfall of many amateurs.

  So I kept my mouth, even though I would’ve liked nothing more but explain everything, starting from the very beginning and skipping nothing, whatever it took to get her to stop looking at me like that.

  Finally, Vanille handed the badge back to me.

  “Okay. Good night.”

  She strode past me without a second look, her confounded partner hurrying after her.

  “...Gah, somehow, that was the scariest thing tonight,” Emily whispered when they were gone, wiping her brow.

  I shoved the badge back into my coat’s breast pocket and sighed soundlessly. I didn’t think my heart had been as restless since the time I stumbled into a basilisk nest, even though nobody’s life was at risk. But we made it.

  Only then did I belatedly remember it.

  My promised date tomorrow morning.

  How was that going to turn out?