Oblivious to the lurking dangers and boiling scheme against their kingdom, the people of Aurum continued their everyday activities. The same can be said to the territory of Nachtwald.

During the Lull, the period before the monster tide comes, swordsmen and knights return home to snuggle with their families. Though it was a rare rest, it was accompanied by a restlessness brought about by the upcoming tide. And this brief period of being at home with their loved ones could somehow lessen the worry they felt. 

Some come to work on the fields to shave off excess energy and temporarily clear their thoughts. Since the harvest for grains is coming soon, the timing of their break came just in time.

For the knights who came from other Orders for a joint exercise, a few days of rest is not enough to travel back home so they decided to remain in the duchy and visit the towns. Some just continue their routine. 

Despite the duke telling them to use this period to bond and relax, some still geared up to challenge the woodlands teeming with monsters. The young ones in particular were highly motivated, especially when they finally made advancements in their respective ranks.

Knights and Swordsmen are divided into seven ranks according to promotion abilities. For example, a starting knight will be called Junior Knight apprentice levelling up to Knight → Crusader → Hero → Grand Knight → Warlord → Paladin. Swordsmen are free people who can choose either to venture on their own or join the Chivalric Order also follows a certain flow of class improvement from Junior Swordsman → Swordsman → Swordmaster → Grand Swordmaster → Warrior → Wargod to the highest Sword Saint which unfortunately only one has ever achieved. Furthermore, these ranks are divided into ten subcategories to determine the level of expertise. 

The Obsidian Order of Knights is strict when it comes to implementing this system, after all, they are tasked with the heaviest duty as border guards and exterminators.

Sir Lyon, the duchy’s guest knight, decided to remain in the garrison to improve his skills. Dio took pity on him and dragged him back to the estate. If he hadn’t done so, Sir Lyon might have joined the exercise in the forest.

"Just staying there is boring, especially since it's Lull. there is no training yet." Dio said, picking swords from the weapon's rack mounted on the wall. 

Lyon chose his weapon as well, "I have been meaning to ask you for some advice since the expedition in the Sleeping Forest."

"Oh, why didn't you come sooner then?" 

"I would have if only our schedule didn't begin from dawn to dusk."

"Well, Sir Lyon my boy, the opportunity finally comes." 

"Then I will trouble Sir Dio to be my practice buddy," Lyon said, finally picking a sword. 

"And I won't be polite." Dio was all smiles, of course. It's not every day the lamb would offer itself for slaughter. "Don't go running back home in tears."

As soon as Lyon heard that, a cold sensation brushed his back. 

"Ehehe… if you could spare my face, that would be much appreciated."

Aiy! You shouldn't have voluntarily walked into the mouth of danger. Sterne shook her head.

What's with men and their romance with bodily harm? Sterne was stupefied watching from the balcony as the two fought inside the hall. She came because she wanted to take this opportunity to ask Dio about the Monster Tide this year, unfortunately, the great rogue is preoccupied playing sticks with his new playmate.

The girl silently lit a candle for Sir Lyon. I hope we still have enough bandages left... 

Most of it was used by her and Sir Ahmose's apprentices. Now that both are engrossed in fighting she surmised that it will be impossible for her to squeeze in. 

"Why the long face, milady?"

Fluttering with the wind, his silken brown hair tied with a green ribbon Viktor floated softly and landed on the stone balustrade where she was leaning. From the third floor of the right wing where the mage offices are located, he noticed that she kept looking inside the hall with a pout.

She must have been eager to join in. 

"Oh Viktor, you're flying." 

"How do I look?" 

Sterne raised a thumb. "Like a flying person." 

Viktor: "..." 

Last time, when she made him use that revised fire spell made him realize that he still has a long way to go. The little girl had already made shocking progress faster than him. Viktor's competitive spirit was lit. For days he immersed himself in his study and finally developed a floating spell. Unfortunately, it's not ready for use yet.

"Hehe, it's actually not an elevation spell that made me float but an enchanted item, milady," Viktor admitted. "I bought a few interesting scrolls from the one sold in Freesia and tested them."

He was anticipating for that smile to break, but surprisingly she did not alter expression.

"What? You bought it on a whim and succeeded on your first try?" Sterne clapped in amazement. 

Uh… he groaned inwardly. Strangely enough, what she said made him feel satisfied. 

"I also tried making my own floating spell but…" 

The floating spell he first made was nothing but a failed experiment. What he truly wanted to create is a spell for a legendary flying tool but alas, he doesn't have enough reference nor was his knowledge sufficient. The shabby spell can only make him float for a minute because it was hard to maintain. It consumes plenty of mana like a voracious beast. He would die of an overdraft if he went over the limit.

It made Sterne laugh, "You always come up with interesting things. Be careful of accidents though."

The corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up. Sterne, three years his junior, is easily amazed by his useless creations. 

"It's alright, I'm sure that you will make progress soon. You have already touched the threshold."

The compliment made him blush. Her trust was too much to bear, but it certainly is delightful to have.

"Oh, now that you're here…" There goes the sudden surge of her enthusiasm, he can more or less tell what she was going to say next. 

Sterne perked up and aimed her sparkly eyes at him completely ignoring her big brother after she found another target.

"Err, h-how may I help you then, milady?"   

"Hm, say Viktor, have you ever made a magic matrix?"

"Of course I have. Why so?" A matrix or a magic circle in its simplest form is the root of all magic activation because it is the foundation that contains spell script and commands to make mana flow. Without it, one cannot imbue 'things' with magic and bring forth its effect.

"This floating cape made of wyvern hide is rigged with a permanent magic matrix. It has several layers of enchantments written with the spell script of defying gravity up to ten meters and complete aerial control. Once the owner injected his mana to it, the spell would activate and bring this phenomenon of flying. The good thing is that because it is a permanent enchantment, the owner can use it several times without worrying for the spells to wear off." 

Thanks to the scrolls from her he made a lot of progress. 

He had been helping her transcribe and revised a few spells before distributing them to everyone in the manor for study. Some simple spells were put on scrolls and sold at reasonable prices. For the rare ones like the floating spell, they cost a little too high because of their quality. After all, those were never before seen spells, to make it so that it's not copied, the formulas will disappear once it was opened and understood by the owner. 

Viktor bought so many and emptied his purse quickly. 

"As expected of a genius." She murmured. They just released those scrolls and it was already out of stock. 

The culprit was also their Junior Mage-- no, perhaps the whole Mage Brigade. Those fanatics with nothing but magic in their heads. 

"And here I thought it would take a long time for the result to come out…"  

Uhm, then why do you have such a bitter look on your face, milady? Viktor observed. 

Looking at her dead fish eyes and gloomy smile evoked a strange feeling of unease in him. Sadly, he has no way of knowing what the imp was planning until it was too late.  

"Hey, Viktor. You love learning right?"

Bothered he may be, he still nodded his head. 

"I have just the perfect module for you…" 

Hence, a week after that conversation his nightmare began and it all started with those 'mysterious' papers she pulled out of nowhere. 

"This… is for a barrier matrix." Viktor swallowed when she first showed it to him.

The concisely drawn magic circle filled with spells looked similar to the ones he saw at the Magic Archive long ago. The difference is that the one on paper is a finished formation with minimal incantations.

"Where did you get this?"

"In a dream," Sterne replied still not over with the blow to her pride. 

Viktor gave her a suspicious look, she tried hard to press down her nervousness while avoiding those dubious eyes.

"So, is it passable or not?"

"Are you kidding me? This is the most simple yet accurate formation I have ever seen."

And he calls himself a genius? What a laugh. A girl nine years of age has made this Tier 8 barrier that even history books have no record of! Whoever calls themselves a genius better jump in the river and drown.

"Then you keep and study this," Sterne said, pressing the paper to his hand as if it was going to bite her.

"Hey, hey what are you talking about?"

"I have no idea what's written inside I just… I just made it according to what I saw." She lied a little. "You know I'm not a mage and I don't understand incantations."

Made it according… WHAT!? Is this girl alright in the head? Viktor's body felt like he'd been struck by lightning. In the end, just what kind of dream did their little lady have to produce such a revolutionary barrier matrix?

He wants to have one as well. 

And he thought [Fire Shot] and her scrolls were enough to give him a heart attack. He'd probably suffer a stroke on this one. 

As soon as they reached an agreement, Viktor spent two days studying it profusely as an answer to her complete trust in his ability. Comparing its structure to the ones the mages normally use. Magic circles, as its name suggests, is just a circle with spell incantation written around, both inside and outside. But what Sterne gave him is drawn similar to a flower. A series of interlocking petals with spells, commonly known to them as a script. The middlemost part is where the command symbol is placed. A single spell matrix takes years to develop under the painstaking efforts of several mages, but this happens to pop out from a dream.

Hehe… then pigs are probably flying outside as of this moment. He knows Sterne has a secret but it was not his place to inquire about it. He was already thankful enough that she allowed him to know she can revise useless spells and improve them several times over. 

A little girl, huh. Even he could feel a tinge of bitterness as he stared at the paper longer. Well, you just have to get used to it. 

"I'm telling the truth, I don't understand what is inside." Sterne reasoned when tried to press for an answer again. "All I know is that it is some sort of formula for barrier magic."

Milady, has no one ever told you that you blink a lot when you lie? Just say you're trying to intimidate me, I'm not going to get mad at you. 

This… this precious thing. "I can activate this?"

Too good to be true. Too good to be true. Does she not understand that for a mage to activate a never before the performed spell or magic matrix it will promote their strength to a higher level?

She nodded. "It's wasted on me."

Viktor gave up trying to probe for an answer. 

"But this is yours!"

"Even if I spend weeks looking at it I will never understand what is written on it." Sterne said wearily. "However you, you only took one glance and you already decipher most parts correct?"

He averted his eyes. She's sharp when she's observing others but she cannot even put up a decent lie to save herself!

"Then, it is done. This matrix for the barrier magic is yours and your team."

Viktor: I suspect that Lady Sterne is purposely dumping this job on me but I have no evidence.

"We still have to ask His Grace's permission." 

However, there are still questions in his head. Why would a certain young miss who loves swords suddenly take an interest in the magic formation? She said she was curious, that was the reason she gave him and so he accommodated her simple request. As the day passed, however, her questions turned strange.

"Who reports about the Monster Tide?" With her seemingly innocent voice no one suspected the relevance of this little girl's inquiry.

Sterne was fretful about it since it is greatly linked with calamity. Without Behemoth, all of Nachtwald, possibly the whole Kingdom of Aurum will turn into a huge hunting field for the monsters.

"Monster Tide is a natural phenomenon within areas with dense miasma. Along with them is a mass of accumulated chaotic energy, those clusters of energy resonates with a tool kept in the Magic Bureau." Viktor thought that if he gave an exact explanation it would be enough to quench the little lady's curiosity.

Who knew that the totally harmless question could give rise to an ever-cautious nature, and he had no idea that it was he who lit the fire.

"Is it the bureau who sends subjugation requests?"

"Yes."

So it was them. Everyone who went for the mission that day almost lost their lives if not for the Regen Solution. In her heart, Sterne has already formed a dislike towards the place that put her family in danger. Another thing was, why would they request such an impossible task of all times? They knew that the Monster Tide was nearing. Sterne hated to think about it, but the dream made her realize a lot of things.

Behemoth is a formidable foe, a cut above any other monster and because of it, there was still some restraint when it comes to the monster appearing annually. They fear its existence that is why they could not take their whole force every time they sneak past him. But in that hellish dream, the large number of monsters covered the whole ground that even a strand of hair couldn't get through. She could still picture it out making her skin crawl.

If only she had dreamt about the calamity sooner she could have warned her father not to go and slay that monster. Unfortunately, no amount of regret will change the course of the story.

She can only lament her lack of timing. The Behemoth is gone, the one hindering a large horde from stampeding their way blocks their path no more. 

"Are you worried about the upcoming tide?"

"Unn."

Viktor sat comfortably and fiddled with the map on the tabletop. "That's not for a girl like you to worry about."

"So when am I supposed to? When everyone else is gone?"

A chill seized his heart. Viktor was dumbfounded. A glimmer of light shone in his intelligent eyes as he stared at the little lady's indignant face but it was gone shortly. Her face looked glum and her voice even cold. He had no plans of taking her questions seriously but her intense reaction changed his mind. Might as well tell her. 

He sighed. "There are still six weeks before it comes."

"Six weeks!? I thought we still have seven months to six at least."

With a grim smile on his face, Viktor rolled a small red marble around his long fingers.

"The moment this tool completely turns black, those things inside the forest have already come knocking on our doorstep."

Sterne's eyes were arrested by the shiny red thing. What exactly is that in his hand?

Weeks... she very much wanted to cry now. The previous monster tide was not something the Obsidian cannot handle. In fact, they treat it as some huge event where after they drink and feast in the evening while the residents are still quaking like frightened rabbits. This time, however… Well, there is no use breaking her head over it.

There is only one solution and she better say it before everyone turns into a flat cake from the monster horde.

"Viktor, I need a favour from you." 

"Oh, another favour from our lady." He teased deliberately but instead of pouting or glaring at him she surprisingly let out a bell-like giggle suited for her age. "Fine, I'll help. What is it?"

"It's about the barrier..." 

The day after their conversation, he stood with her inside the hall with His Grace and Sir Ahmose talking about the lady's suggestion. He wasn't quite sure how she came up with the idea of using the new spell to stop the horde. Sterne had first intended to give it to him as a study material. Who knew it would come to this?

Sterne on the other hand felt restless with the idea of telling her father about the barrier. She had put off broaching the subject for a few days simply because she did not want to give them hope only to disappoint them in the end. But this matter is very important and needs a serious deliberation that could no longer be delayed. It was a good thing Viktor promised to help her explain so that at least she would appear credible, not a bumbling fool. When everything was discussed, her father put the suggestion under probation while they waited for the harvest furore to settle down. Then they will have to ask everyone for approval to break the rune ore.

The Knights answered with laughter saying why does the duke himself had to ask for his retainers' approval?

They reminded him once again that, that kind of attitude is what fuels his enemies' malice towards him. Duke Al is not a pushover nor is he a benevolent man, he just simply respects the opinion of his men. After all, it almost cost them their lives to defeat that monster.

After going the roundabout way and spending many days, they are finally half done with the spell matrix on the walls. Twenty-one junior mages were divided into four teams to prepare the barrier array in each bastion. It took a month to have those inscribed using chalk as a medium. Thankfully there was no rain during the process.

The activated matrix is permanent and impossible to erase since it is fortified by strong magic. Viktor, the Junior Mage oversees the inscription, making sure that his companions are scrawling the right script verbatim.  

The backlash would be fatal if there was even a wrong input of spell so everyone felt like stepping on eggshells for the whole month. Fortunately, there was no mistake.

Bastion guards cried tears of joy after hearing about the barrier and ward. It was after all the first reinforcement since the old wall was built.

Speaking of Viktor and his companions, they came to Nachtwald about a year ago. Sterne's father was the one who approved their joining with the Obsidian as mage apprentices. It has been years since the order had their very own mage squad then these young ones suddenly came asking the duke to accept them.

Everyone in the kingdom knows that the Magic Bureau has always been at odds with the Obsidian so why send a batch of children from their new crop of talents?

The truth is, they were originally gifted as an insult, and the duke had no way of knowing.