The commission was to take care of an infestation of mole-like earth silencers. The site in question was an elven farming community bordering grasslands and a group of mana beasts had set up camp nearby.

The elves tried to take care of the problem themselves, but they were ultimately helpless when it came to driving away monsters. The limits of their plant magic was ensuring that their crops are healthy and accelerating the growth of the crops for a quick and bountiful harvest. But when it came to battle in a place without trees and with only the fragile grass to manipulate, the elves were put on their back foot.

“So there you have it. It’s not a problem yet, but it’s only a matter of time before those things begin multiplying and expanding their home. They’re going to leave tunnels all over the place and render this place worthless for farming.”

The elven head of the farming establishment grimaced at the prospect. His livelihood was at stake. Hiring hunters to take care of the problem already cut into their income for the year. 

Back in his elven homeland, the local council always sent troops to take care of monsters when trouble popped up, but in return they collected a large tax. These moles would have been eliminated the moment they appeared and would never have expanded to this degree.

In comparison, vampires states had a tendency to be much less restrictive with their laws and their taxes were low as well. That's why the elf came all the way here instead of staying in his homeland: because he thought he could live a better life here.

But now that he was having to pay out of his own coin purse directly for hunters, he was having second thoughts. Unfortunately, he made his bed and now he had to sleep in it. Pushing down his resentment and accepting the reality of having to part with his money, the elf put on his business smile.  

“I hope that you can take care of this problem.”

“Don’t worry. You can count on us.” Camilla smiled with benevolence. But rather than kindness, it sounded patronizing, as if she was talking to an innocent child that needs protection. 

Kagriss was speechless. Was this Camilla in templar mode? A templar protected the citizens of the human territory, but a hunter was a mercenary. The context was different. 

If the speaker was a tall man clad in armor talking to a defenseless villager, then perhaps the scene wouldn’t look as strange as it did, but… Camilla was short, no matter how much she wished for that to change. 

The elf was as tall as Kagriss, which meant face to face, he towered over Camilla. For him to be talked to in this tone of voice, no wonder he struggled to maintain his smile. It looked more and more fake by the minute. 

It had been fake before and Kagriss easily saw through his disguise, but now it was so transparent that even Lucienne was shifting uncomfortably behind Camilla. A low rumble came from Elyss.

Camilla might be the only one who didn’t notice. After a moment of thinking, Kagriss came to the conclusion that unfortunately, Camilla couldn’t see the man’s expression well enough from her vantage point. Because her view of the man’s face was already distorted thanks to having to look up at him, she didn’t notice the distortion from the man hiding his irritation.

As soon as that thought crossed her mind, Kagriss closed her eyes and silently apologized to Camilla. “But… I don’t think I’m wrong. Should I tell her? He’s being so rude.” 

On the other hand, she felt kind of sorry for the elf too. 

Not that Camilla was doing anything wrong. It’s just that… she’s trying to make small talk and get friendly with the person hiring them. Perhaps that was standard business when Camilla was still a templar, but Kagriss expects that things are more pragmatic and straightforward when it comes to hunters. After all, hunters had customers, not citizens.

Judging by how hostile Lucienne was looking, Kagriss didn’t think that she was too far off the mark.

And all that still didn’t take into account how irritating it must be for the elf to be “reassured” by someone mere fractions his size. It must be digging into his pride about how even a little girl was stronger and could do things that he could not even in his wildest dreams…

Okay, she was embellishing a bit from her imagination, but from the looks of it, the elf was about to blow his temper, so Kagriss tapped Camilla on the shoulder.

Camilla turned, a huge friendly smile still on her face. Her voice was still in that gentle tone—she hadn’t switched back yet. And this time, it was directed toward Kagriss.

“Yes, Kagriss?”

Thump. Kagriss’s heart skipped a beat. Camilla was in templar mode, and the smile on her face was so sweet, as was her voice. Even after spending so long essentially stuck to Camilla all day, every day, Kagriss had never seen this side of Camilla.

Even if it was an act, that it was possible for Camilla to be this precious was something new to her.

“Kagriss?”

“Oh. Um, I think we should go now. You said that we have to be back before dark, right?” She made up an excuse on the spot after shaking herself out of the trace that Camilla put her in. If possible, she wanted to see Camilla like this again, privately, but now was obviously not the time.

“I did? Really?” Camilla scrunched her eyebrows.

Camilla’s memory wasn’t any worse than Kagriss’s so before she could put too much effort into remembering, Kagriss shot her a glance that by itself meant nothing, but with the strong “no” that traveled through their bond, Camilla nodded and allowed herself to be pulled away, but not before sending a smile that she believed to be compassionate toward the elf.

In reality, that smile might as well be the height of all mocking and condescending expressions in the eyes of the elf and it almost sent him over the brink.

“What an idiot. He knows nothing about Milla’s good qualities,” she thought to herself. Of course she wasn’t biased. “But that means I can keep her to myself.”

Well, not completely; Camilla wasn’t hers yet. There was another person that Kagriss felt could be a threat, based on her instincts. Victoria. She’d only met Victoria once, but in that meeting, she lost completely to her, both in charm and in ability. It was like she was an ant dancing in that vampire’s palm.

It felt bad.

Camilla looked at no one else but her right now, but Victoria acted like she staked a claim on Camilla. Although Camilla meets with Victoria even less than she sees Lucienne and Elyss, Kagriss felt that the two vampires were closer. They shared a bond that Kagriss lacked, one of blood and race. What if one days Victoria decided to use that bond and take Camilla away from her?

If Camilla wanted other women, Kagriss could accept that, but no matter who else Camilla has, she must always look at her as well. No matter what.

Kagriss’s nails dug into her palm. “How irritating…”

The site of the infestation wasn’t too far from the farming settlement. It only took a while to reach thanks to the need to be stealthy. Even if there was no hiding Elyss, at least the others could do their best to conceal their numbers and let the earth silencers drop their guard.

Surprisingly, Ariel and Sariel both managed to hide their mana quite well. When Camilla praised them, they looked toward Lucienne, who beamed in delight.

Further and further, they drift. By now, the only connection that the twins had with Camilla was through Lucienne. Although Kagriss didn’t really care whether or not they stayed, she couldn’t deny that it would be more convenient for her if everyone else was gone.

That way, she could finally have Camilla all to herself. Before, there was always someone that came between them, be it Camilla’s niece Fleur and her girlfriend, or Lucienne, Elyss, and now those twins.

While her thoughts wandered, Kagriss made sure to pay attention to what was happening in reality. At the edge of easy detection, Camilla had gathered the party for a chat. 

Unfortunately, Camilla had returned to the usual Camilla. The precious, cute side of her with that bright smile and voice was gone, replaced with a strict tone that booked no nonsense. It was cute in its own way, though, since it was like a child pretending to be mature. 

“Alright, our goal is the extermination of these mana beasts. It’s preferable that we annihilate them to cripple them permanently, but if that’s not possible, then driving them far away is also a valid option. What do you think we should do?”

She phrased the question like an examination problem for Lucienne who didn’t seem to mind at all. The former templar thought hard about her answer, trying to formulate a solution in her mind after taking into account everything she knew, including the information she received from Celaen. 

Although mana beasts differed, they still shared some commonalities. There were exceptions, but these exceptions were rare. Based on the information provided by the elven leader who had some previous experience fighting these beasts before giving up, the moles had a single king and many followers. 

Despite normal moles being mostly solitary, everything changed the mutation. As a result, there was a strict hierarchy with the king at the top, a few queens that the king granted power to and mated with, and lesser beasts that served as the mole den’s main troops. These troops are naturally the king and queens’ offspring. 

The king was powerful enough that his mana emanated from his throne deep underground, clearly felt through so much dirt and stone.

“The key to victory is obviously killing the king. If we manage to do that, then the whole nest falls apart. Without something to unite them, there’s a good chance that the troops will scatter. With luck, we might not even have to face the other moles all that much if we manage to assassinate the king first.”

“We don’t want them to scatter though, at least without culling their population first. Remember, we have to somehow decrease the chance of a second infestation and leaving too many of these mana beasts alive might cause one to take up the crown should they grow in power.”

Camilla pointed out the flaw in Lucienne’s plan mercilessly. Lucienne nodded, easily conceding the point, but Camilla wasn’t done.

“The conclusion also hinges on some assumptions that might not be true. What if, for example, the lesser beasts go berserk after the death of their king? A cornered beast is a dangerous beast and that might put us in danger.”

Although she tried to hide it, anyone could tell that Lucienne wasn’t very happy. 

Seeing the darkness on her face, Camilla sighed and swallowed the words that she was going to say. She was trying to teach Lucienne, not corner and upset her. Kagriss’s words still remain fresh in her mind and she didn’t want to push Lucienne away further.

If Lucienne lost motivation to improve, then she won’t be able to keep her promise of helping Lucienne grow stronger and be able to help more people.

“Never mind. Try again?”

However, Lucienne shook her head. “No, I think that you should be the one to come up with the plan instead, since you’re the one with the most experience among us.”

Was this Lucienne giving up? In the Order, it wasn’t unusual for trainees to be provided with tactical scenarios and be asked to formulate a response, and then be graded on that. Sometimes, the feedback could be harsh.

There even seemed to be a hint of resentment in Lucienne’s voice, however slight it seemed.

You’ll lose them. 

Camilla’s heart fell. Kagriss had only just warned her on the way here, but already she was already seeing several signs of that widening gap left and right. Trying to interact with Lucienne like she usually did was useless and only seemed to make Lucienne more distant.

She looked toward Kagriss for help, but only received a shrug in response. There was nothing she could do. She rarely felt so helpless, but she hated that feeling more than anything else.

“I’ll do my best then, but if you have anything you want to add, please don’t hesitate…” Camilla licked her lips and began laying out the plan she came up with. It was rather barebones, but that was due to a lack of data. A good plan of action did not map out everything blow by blow, but rather left room for adaptation. 

“To be on the safe side, we should observe how the enemy fights and their reactions. To start, we need to bait them to do something. Elyss will cause a ruckus and lure them out, and then retreat. Elyss?”

Elyss nodded, rumbling her assent.

Camilla felt cold sweat pour from her in sudden relief. That was one who hasn’t changed. Elyss had always been aloof.

“That’s it for now. We’ll repeat the process a few times to gather information and proceed based on what we get. Make sure to not overextend and face at most…four at once. Retreat away from the farm if there’s more until they stop chasing and take on the ones that are left.”

“How should we fight them?” Lucienne asked.

She asked a perfectly valid question, but to Camilla, the words grated on her ears. Although Lucienne didn’t do anything strange or put any special inflections in her voice when she asked the question, Camilla couldn’t help but feel that the question was a jab, a payback to her questions from before.

She wanted to smack her own face a few times to reset. She needed to, but not right now. Focus on the mission.

“Right. After Elyss lures them out, she’ll pull them away from their nest. Make sure to keep an eye on the ground for an ambush. From there, we’ll gauge how fast they move, how destructive their magic is, and see how smart they are. We’ll start with long range magic and when we get a better grasp on their abilities, we’ll go in and fight them up close. Elyss will take center stage. Any questions?”

Camilla looked around, making eye contact with each member. No one said anything until she reached the two little girls.

Ariel remained silent, but Sariel raised her hand.

“What about us?”

“Follow Lu—” She almost told them to follow Lucienne’s command but she caught herself just in time. “No, never mind. Try to see if you can distract them with magic from the side. If you can, blind them with light.”

“Got it.”

The exchange seemed too formal, so Camilla squeezed out a friendly smile. “Do your best!”

To her relief, Sariel smiled back. Fleur should be her age right now, and the smile reminded Camilla of Fleur who was still back at Moltrost. How was she right now? Was Arvel keeping her safe?

“Great. Remember, don’t go all out. This is just to scout them out. If there’s nothing else, then let’s get going.”

She clapped her hands once to end the meeting and they moved out, suppressing their mana as best as they could as they prowled toward the nearest known entrance to the mole nest.