After waiting for almost half an hour, the commander finally arrived at the meeting hall. Her arrival finally put a stop to the other captain's bickering for short while.

The minister regained his consciousness after Captain Elewisa used her healing abilities under the order of the Commander. And after the minister awoke the first thing he started was complaining.

“I can’t believe this! The Knight order captains bicker among themselves like little children. I can’t believe I was about to die because of the captain’s little squabble. Not to mention the use of such vile languages, it’s unbecoming of nobles such as you people.” complained the minister as he wiped his glasses, “I will report this to the King as well as your family head. I will not let it slide.”

Although, no captains showed a shred of remorse for their action.

“Hahaha, that’s hilarious.” laughed out loud Cecelia, “So that’s what happening behind my back. I thought as much. Anyway, you are fine anyway now as the saying goes, all good that end’s well.”

The minister wasn’t in the mood to accept Cecelia’s statement.
“Oh, my life just flashed in front of me, and you say that’s okay? How could you take such a matter so lightly! I am the chief minister for crying out loud, this should be a capital offense! Not to mention, you as their commander not only failed to keep the captains in line but you, yourself a have no manners. You are late to the meeting for about half an hour, and the first thing you do is laugh?! Is this how a commander of the Magic Knight order should behave!” complained the minister.

The room’s atmosphere becomes quite heavy and stagnant.
“Oi, Mr. chief minister! Try saying another disrespectful word about me and I’ll make sure to smash your head inside out, this instant,” replied Cecelia as she glared at the minister furiously.

The minister’s body suddenly was paralyzed with fear as he could feel the bloodlust emitted by Cecelia.

The minister calmed is nerves and gathered his courage and acted all hight and mighty,
“Are you going to threaten the chief minister of the Rublor kingdom?” asked the minister while acting furious, “Should I take your action perhaps as treason for the kingdom? If so then you’ll-”

“I said shut your yapping or you really have a death wish?” responded Cecelia, “You minister ain’t worth jack. It’s just that you are convenient for the king to be used as a pawn. You can complain to the king as much as you want but who would he favor? A good for nothing noble jackass, as a minister who likes to complain? Or a Magic Knight Captain whose power is equal to a thousand mages? The answer should be obvious.”

The minister was terrified as he thought,
‘She’s really crazy. She really intends to kill me!’

“I… uh... I am very sorry.” the minister apologized immediately.

“Good! You’ll live to see another day.” said Cecelia with a bright smile, “Anyway, so let’s start this meeting already, we already wasted so much time.”

“And whose fault is it anyway.” murmured Captain Egnius in a muffled voice.

Although, Cecelia heard Egnius’s remark.
“Oh, pardon me. Did you say something, Captain Egnius?” asked Cecelia as she leaned intimidatingly on the table while staring furiously at Egnius.

Egnius just gulped his own saliva as he thought,
'She doesn't scare me. So what she's a bit strong, I am captain same as her.'

“Of course, I do,” answered Egnius, “It’s all this minister’s fault! We captains had to spare our time just because this minister demanded so. He’s at fault, right!”

Egnius cleverly dodged and shifted his blame and avoided angering Cecelia.

The minister was quite confused,
“What are you even saying! I just came here to pass on the king’s orders.” argued the minister.

“Silence! Stop hiding behind the king, all the time,” replied Egnius furiously.

“Now now! Don’t give the minister a hard time,” said Cecelia then she turned to the minister, “You said something about the king’s orders right? Out with it.”

The minister stood up from his seat,
“Yes. The king and his ministers came to a decision that we must mobilize our army on the campaign on the lands of Esther kingdom as quickly as possible. The Sinnet noble house, one of the seven noble factions that rule over a part of the Esther kingdom has finally reached out to our aid. With this opportunity, we need to capture the lands under the Sinnet noble house’s banner and bring law and order under the Rublor kingdom. This way we'll also avoid violating the peace treaty and also gain control on their lands. Hence, it’s best you cancel this year’s Magic Knight exam and focus instead on the campaign.” said the minister as he adjusted his glasses, “At least that’s what your king decided.”

Cecelia nodded her head,
“I see. So that’s what the king wants, huh,” said Cecelia as she nodded her head.

“Yes, indeed.” responded the minister.

“Tell the king- No can do,” said Cecelia.

“Pardon me?” asked the minister with a puzzled tone.

Cecelia glared at the minister and replied,
“You heard my reply, I cannot do that.”

The perplexed minister tried to argue,
“But... But the king-”

“Listen well, I won’t repeat twice,” said Cecelia as she stood up from her seat, “Cancelling the Magic Knight candidate exam will be like neglecting the potential soldiers for our army for a year. We need more and more powerful soldiers for this campaign if we wanna capture the lands of Esther kingdom swiftly. So I would rather continue to keep the exam as it is.”

The minister was quite anxious,
“You don’t get it, commander.” said the minister, “As we speak, the Sinnet noble guards are at their last legs fighting the rebels. They can lose their ground at any second. And if we were to let the Sinnet nobles fall on the hands of the Rebels, then all would be for nothing. This is our only way to get our hands on the lands of Esther kingdom without violating the treaty of Versailles.” stated the minister strongly.

The treaty of Versailles is a peace treaty signed by the 8 major kingdoms which also includes the Rublor kingdom. If the signed Eight major kingdoms tried to violate this treaty, it would by default means to wage war against the other seven nations.

The Esther Kingdom was one of the major 8 kingdoms who had partaken in this treaty. So even after they lost their capital along with the ruling royal family, the Versailles treaty’s terms were still in place.

After the Mabrar incident, the Esther kingdom was later run by 7 noble factions who looked after its lands. But soon things start deteriorating between the noble factions which later rose into a civil war. The Noble factions soon started to lose power while the Rebels overpowered them in numbers. With noble factions backed into a corner, they turned to the other major nations for aid. Hence, this gave a good opportunity for the other major nations to interfere with the Esther kingdom’s affairs without actually violating the peace treaty. Out of the 7 distressed noble factions of Esther kingdom, the Sinnet noble house sought aid from the Rublor Kingdom.

Cecelia let out a sigh and sat back on her seat,
“Yeah, I am aware that the Sinnet nobles soldiers are making a last stand. So I had already figured things could get so dire but you don't need to worry about that. All is going according to my plan,” replied Cecelia with a smile.

The minister was astonished by the commander's reply.
“What do you mean by ‘your plan’?”

“Well I had already predicted that the Sinnet family was going to send a convoy, so I already sent some of my best soldiers beforehand to help them out. They must have already reached by now,” answered Cecelia with a wide grin.

******

Meanwhile, Esther Kingdom was in a war between the Revolutionary Army and the Noble factions. The Rebel leaders consisted of former soldiers and other various notorious criminal organizations banded under the banner of the ‘Revolutionary Army’. Their main goal was to abolish the hierarchy system from their country so that people can live here without any discrimination.
Although their goals would sound noble, the way they were trying to achieve was quite brutal. They meaninglessly killed all high and noble heritage people, that even children and women were not spared. They said that if any of the noble bloodlines survived then it might once again trigger the hierarchy system. But that reason was just a facade to lure the common citizens to the Rebel’s side. The Revolutionary Army was getting corrupted as more notorious criminals and thugs joined them.

Now the noble faction power and their soldiers were dwindling catastrophically as the Revolutionary Army rose in numbers, day by day.

In the middle of such Chaos, one of the commanders from the Revolutionary Army has successfully invaded the Gleyon city with 500,000 rebel soldiers under his command. They torched the houses and massacred all the citizens of this city who once used to live luxurious lives here.

“Damn, this is quite a sad sight,” said a blonde man who was wearing heavy armor without any helmet. He carried a giant lance almost as big as himself on his shoulder. This man was Jacob Darrington.

Jacob was watching the chaos from the rooftop of a tall building in the Gleyon city.

He glanced at the sad sight of death and the destruction of the rebels.
“Well, it looks like here’s nothing but just your regular bunch of armed thugs. Most of them have headed towards the interior part of the city while the rest are just trying to salvage loot. An ugly side of human beings which is not surprising.” mumbled Jacob, “What about you, Nina?”

On the other side of the roof, at the edge stood Jacob’s comrade, a short blue-haired girl who was busy staring faraway sight with intense concentration. She was wearing light armor with a bow hung on her shoulder.

“We must hurry. The Rebels have surrounded the castle and laid a siege. It won’t be much late before the castle gets invaded.” she replies and turns towards Jacob, “Let’s inform the others.”

This girl was Nina Carter, an archer with extraordinary pairs of eyes. She could clearly see the Gleyon city’s fort and its soldiers engaged with the rebels, which was a mile away.

Jacob let out a sigh,
“Well then let’s climb down before those three could start any trouble. We might be outnumbered by the rebels but we still have the element of surprise. If we play our cards right, we must completely pulverize our enemy and-”

But for some reason, Nina’s face turned pale,
“Umm. I think your plan’s a bust, Zara has already been discovered.”

Jacob was in shock, he glanced down the street.

There he saw his comrade Zara, a girl with greenish hair being surrounded by dozens of rebels.

Jacob became frustrated,
“What the hell is Zara doing down there?! And where’s Ruth and Amelda? I was afraid this would happen so I told them to keep an eye on her.”

“I spotted Ruth over there.” said Nina as she pointed at the small house's rooftop, “It seems, she’s out cold.”

Nina spotted their fellow comrade, a little girl with black twin-tailed hair laying unconscious on a rooftop of a nearby house.

“What about Amelda?” asked Jacob.

“No sign of her.”

“Nevermind, Amelda can take care of herself. So I shall go to Zara’s aid, meanwhile you go check on Ruth.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Both Nina and Jacob split to help out their fellow comrade. Nina climbed down the building sneakily and used the rooftops to travel to their unconscious comrade's aid.

Although, Jacob seems to have other plans.

“Who’re you? And what are you doing here?” asked one of the Rebel.
The Rebel soldiers had surrounded Zara who appeared on the street out of nowhere. They hadn’t attacked yet and proceeds to question her instead.

Although, Zara was not even slightly bothered by the fact to be surrounded by dozen of rebels pointing their weapons at her.

“Umm, I am looking for my friend. She’s a girl about my size but with a bob cut hair. Last I saw her was walking the street. As being one of the eldest people in my battalion, I should look after her. But she went and…” mumbled on Zara in quite a tone that was almost inaudible.

“What is she saying? I can’t even make out anything from that mumbling of hers. Speak out loud.” said out loud one of the Rebels.

Zara was shocked to hear the reply and became a teary-eyed.
“I see. I am sorry, my voice has always been an issue since my childhood. Since a little kid, I have been training to overcome my shallow voice and be able to communicate with others, without any trouble. But again just try to understand for once, I will try to speak louder. I am looking for my friend. She’s a girl with…” Zara continued to mumble on and on.

“What is she muttering? Some curse spell? I don’t understand a word she's speaking.” said the confused rebels.

“But what should we do?” the other rebel asked.

The Rebels have not attacked Zara yet. If she was an ordinary girl, the rebels would have attacked and killed her mercilessly like the other citizens. But because they were wary of Zara who was carrying an enormous hammer on her back. The Hammer was almost twice her size and could easily be weighed a ton.
But Zara seemed to be having no trouble carrying that around her back.

“Be on your guard, she’s no ordinary girl. Should we call for backup?” suggested one of the Rebels.

Just when Jacob jumped from the building and made a flashy entrance.
His landing was quite loud that it created a small crater that even shook the ground, thanks to the heavy armor and weapon he carried with him. The impact was powerful enough to knock some rebels from their feet.

“Hey there! What are you guys doing cornering a girl like that?” asked Jacob out loud.

The rebels were quite surprised to see him and the big lance that he carried on his shoulder.
“What the- she's not alone!” shouted one the rebels.

The rebels were now cornered, one side was Zara, a girl with an enormous hammer, and the other side Jacob armed with a huge lance.

“Trying to outnumber a girl with numbers, how cowardly,” said Jacob as he smiled, “Let me be your opponent- Huh?”

Just when Jacob noticed that his feet were stuck in the ground. He tried to lift his feet but was unable to free himself.

“Damn it! I guess the building was a little too tall. Shit!” said Jacob as he desperately tried to free himself.

The rebels noticed Jacob was in a pinch,
“Nows the time! Kill him.” saying so the rebels charged at Jacob who was just an easy picking.

“Hey! Wait for a second! We are your allies!” shouted Jacob.

The rebels stopped for their charge quickly.

Jacob made a friendly smile,
“Yeah, we are allies sent to help. So could you guys lend me a hand here?” he asked as he continuously tried to free his legs.

Although, the rebels weren’t buying it,
“His spitting nonsense! Let’s just kill him before he can free himself.”

Jacob glared back at those rebels,
“Oh, so you wanna attack? Go ahead then. I can easily kill you guys with a single swing of my lance without even need to take a step. Alright then, come at me but be warned I will make sure to remember your faces so that I could inform the General of the Revolutionary Army, that you attacked a high ranking officer. Your commander along with your family, every one of them will be put to death.”

The Rebels started trembling at their feet after listening to his words.

Jacob was rather enjoying this,
“The General was kind enough to send two relic wielders to aid your army but instead you repay our gratitude with a sword. What a shame, we also traveled so long to get here,” said Jacob as he sighed.

The rebels lowered their weapons and started to buy Jacob's crap.
“I… um. I am sorry, sir. We had no clue that the general sent reinforcements.” said one of the rebels.
“Yes, please forgive us. We thought you were the remaining Gleyon city relic wielders. Please forgive our rude behavior. I beg you, please don’t tell the general about this.” begged the Rebels.

Slowly all the rebels lowered their weapons and instead begged for forgiveness.

Jacob stood tall while puffing his chest,
“Alright, I will overlook this one time, just help me out here.”

Meanwhile, Zara was just standing there the whole time as she watched the drama unfold as she thought to herself,
'I must take lessons from Jacob about communication skills.'

Jacob then used his lance to dug the ground under his feet and finally able to free himself.
The Rebels later even apologized to Zara.

“Alright, give us a quick status update,” commanded Jacob.

One of the rebel saluted,
“Sir, the city has already been captured, but the Sinnet nobles are making their last stand at their fort.” said the rebel.

“Hmm. I see.” nodded Jacob.

“Sir you guys came at the right time. We would need your help to capture that fort. We should head there at once.” answered the Rebels.

Jacob just smiled,
“Well, but first I need to meet the commander,”

The rebels were a bit confused,
“But sir, why would you wanna-”

“You fools.” replied Jacob furiously, “Me and my companion here, would like to pay our respects to your commander. It would be quite disrespectful otherwise.”

The rebels immediately bowed their head,
“We are sorry. We’ll take you right away.” replied the scared rebels.

The rebels then started heading to their commander meanwhile, Jacob and Zara followed them from behind.

Zara elbowed Jacob,
“Nice work, please teach me to speak like that,” she mumbled.

Jacob proudly smiled,
“Well, what do you expect. I am quite the-”

“Hey, there’s Nina and Ruth there,” mumbled Zara cutting off Jacob.

"I was trying to sound cool- uh... nevermind."

Nina and Ruth were peeping from the rooftops.
Nina looked pissed as if she had a bad day.
Ruth scratched her head and smiled as she waved at Jacob and Zara. For some reason, she had a big bump on her head.

Jacob took a sigh of relief,
‘Thank goodness looks like Ruth’s doing alright.’ he thought to himself.

Jacob and Zara kept walking with the Rebels without alerting the rebels of Ruth and Nina's presence. Then Jacob carefully gave some hand signs.

Nina nodded her head in reply whereas Ruth was confused.
Zara and Jacob went along with the rebels to their commander's camp as the Ruth and Nina watched them from afar.

“What did he mean by that hand signs?” asked Ruth.

Nina was still angry at Ruth,
“Didn’t you take the lessons for hand signs?! Or were you sleeping in the lectures too?!” she asked furiously.

Nina just scratched her head and laughed in her reply.

“Oh jeez, Ruth! How could you sleep at such an important mission! I can't believe you fell asleep on the rooftop like that. Anything could have happened to you! We are in enemy territory.” scowled angry Nina.

“My bad! My bad! I was keeping an eye on Zara as you instructed but then the next second I fell asleep! I can’t help it, I was awake all night, remember?!” argued Ruth as she played with her hair curls.

“I still don’t get how- Uh, nevermind, where’s Amelda?”

“Oh Amelda, she was with us before I fell asleep.”

Nina once again glared at Ruth angrily.
“I am really sorry! Come on, forgive me already!” begged Ruth as he hugged Nina.

After Nina calmed down a little, the two girls went ahead to the fort as instructed by Jacob.