I woke up once sunlight started streaming through the windows, I squinted my eyes as soon as the beams reached my eyes. I opened my eyes slowly and let my blurry vision focus. I saw someone from the corner of my vision. Is that Leah? I tried to sit up but my head was still a bit heavy, thus I had trouble sitting up. What the hell happened? I was just breaking the slave collars, and that’s the last thing I can remember.

“Answer: You have expended all of your mana by using the Break Curse skill … This resulted into what is known as mana sickness and knocked you out for the rest of the day… “

Urgh, my head hurts. I wish I knew that beforehand.

“SIR!” Leah said as she rushed up to me, “Christina, call the medics, HURRY!”

“YES MA’AM!” Christina replied before heading out of the room.

“Sir! How are you feeling?” Leah asked concernedly.

I clutched my head and replied, “I’m fine, but this headache is killing me.”

I summoned some headache medicine and a sandwich. Can't take medicine with an empty stomach.

"Leah, can you please bring me some water to drink?" I asked.

"Yes, sir." Leah answered before going out of the room.

I gotta keep an eye on my mana so this won't happen next time.

I was only alone for less than a minute since Leah returned not even a minute later. In her hands was a tray with a pitcher of water and a goblet. “Sir, here’s the water you requested.”

I thanked her and ate my sandwich before taking my medicine. Christina came inside the room together with the two medics moments later. The medics checked on me and found nothing wrong.

“I don’t see anything wrong with you, sir.” The male medic said.

“I second that, everything about you is normal, sir.” The female medic added.

I stood up from my bed and put on my officer's tunic over my clothes, "It's mana sickness." I said.

"" Mana sickness? "" Both the medics asked.

"It's when all my mana gets used up. It just feels like a really bad hangover, nothing else." I explained.

The medics replied with an, "I see." and "Sorry for not knowing what made you ill, sir."

"It's okay, there’s a lot of knowledge in this world that’s completely unknown to us.” I said.

“” Of course, sir. We will strive to learn medical knowledge in this world too. “” The medics replied.

After the medics made sure that nothing was wrong with me, they left the room together with Christina, Leah stayed behind and it looks like she wants to say something. “Is something wrong?” I asked her.

Leah hesitated for a while before answering, “Sir, an hour after you passed out, we received a report from the bravo team.”

“And? What is it about?” I asked.

“They have rendezvoused with the alpha team, but…” she trailed off.

“But? Did something happen to them?” I asked again.

“Sir, not to them. Rather, to your friends.” Leah said.

“WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM!” I asked in a panicked voice.

"Sir, according to bravo team's report. Johan had his men knock out your friends using poisoned arrows." Leah explained. “After which they were taken to a town, the town of Centaria to be exact.”

"What the!? Where is that!?" I said angrily, "No, nevermind that. Leah, prepare the first platoon, we're going to war."

"Yes, sir." She said before running out of the room.

I'll just use the choppers to quickly deploy my first platoon. I'll also need a squad of engineers and the flamethrower team. I'll need more choppers. And I’ll need more men.

With this plan in mind, I decided to leave my room and head to the courtyard. The 1st platoon was already forming up when I arrived. While I was waiting for them to finish forming up, I summoned 3 more H-19s with the crew and built 10 farm plots in the area that the engineers cleared. I also summoned 4 more infantry platoons to increase the town's defense while we're away. This summoning spree cost me 25600 points, which is more than half of my total points. The already crowded courtyard became more crowded and the slaves were surprised at the sudden increase of soldiers. It might've been a bad move showing outsiders how I summon my soldiers.

A few minutes later, Leah came to me. "Sir, the 1st platoon has finished forming up. What are your next orders?"

"1st platoon together with an engineer squad and the flamethrower team will board the choppers." I said, "You will also command 2 of the 4 newly summoned platoons. This will form a company that you will lead. The 2 platoons will board the APCs and will serve as our reinforcements."

"Yes, sir!" Leah answered.

After talking to Leah, Henry approached me. "Sir, what about my tanks? What are your orders for us?"

"The 2 M48s will stay behind, only the M41 will follow the mechanized troops." I answered. "Hold the town for me will ya?"

"Of course, sir! Leave the town to us. I'll also order the M41 to follow the mechanized troops." Henry replied.

John, the leader of the second platoon, also came to me, "What are your orders, sir?" He inquired.

"You will also take command of the 2 new platoons. You're no longer just a platoon leader, you'll be a company commander now." I answered.

"Sir! I will strive to meet your expectations." He replied, "The 2nd plat-, no, 2nd Company will keep the town safe for you."

"Good, oh and one more thing. Tell the town rep that we will now exchange their old currency to our own. You'll be in charge of that too. You can ask Henry for help." I said.

"You can leave that to us, sir!” he replied confidently.

After delegating more tasks to both John and Henry, I left them and went to the newly assembled 1st company. Leah was still Talking with the newly summoned platoon leaders. But once she saw me, she dismissed the platoon leaders. "Sir! The 1st company is now ready."

"Okay, I'll be riding together with the 1st squad, if that's fine with you." I said.

"I see no problems with you joining us, sir. In fact, it is an honor to ride with you." Leah replied with reverence.

We spent another half an hour or so making final checks on all of our equipment and vehicles. After our final checks, 6 H-19 choppers took off. I peeked out of the window and saw a convoy of 10 vehicles coming out of the mansion's gates. What a beautiful sight to see, if only there was some sort of bgm.

The choppers were flying in a V formation with us at the front. We'll first go to the capital then head east from there. We don't know the exact location so we'll follow the road that the SAS teams took. It’ll take us an hour or so to reach the capital. But after the Capital, we don’t know how long it’ll take to reach our destination.

We kept constant communications with the SAS teams so we’re updated with the situation inside the town. According to them, the town is currently being besieged. But the defenders are holding strong. The SAS operators estimate that there are around 3000 defenders and 3000 - 4000 attackers. I just have 115 men: 8 SAS troopers, 90 infantry, and 17 engineers. 127 if you include the pilots. Is that enough? Yes. We’re all armed with automatic rifles and smgs versus the enemy’s bow and magic. It doesn’t even matter that they have armor and we don’t, we can easily penetrate their thickest plate armor with ease using our small arms.

An hour or so has passed and we’ve already passed by the capital. We contacted the ground troops to ask their location. They were apparently 66 kilometers south of Nareña, how did they know the exact distance? Well, I had them reset their odometers as they exited the town.

After checking on the ground troops, I began a strategy meeting with Leah. "Before we drop, I want the machine gunners to fire from the doors. They will repeat this until we have completed 3 laps around the walls. Though, I don't know how long the walls are."

"We can ask the SAS teams for a rough estimate of the wall's length." Leah said.

"Yeah, that's a good idea actually. Nice thinking, Leah." I said as a complement.

"Thank you, sir! I'll do it right away!" She replied cheerfully.

As Leah was contacting the SAS teams, I was contacting the other squad leaders in the 1st platoon. I told them what I previously told Leah, "Let the machine gunners open fire from the doors.”

After discussing several more contingency plans, our trip continued on quietly.

+ + + + +

On top of the walls of Centaria, the Crown Prince looks at the enemy camp with eyes full of hatred. Damn those Elyuans. I should be playing with the otherworlders right now. Why the hell would they launch an assault now! Screw this, I’ll just let the troops handle this, the Elyuans already lost their siege equipment anyways. Without their siege equipment, they won't even be able to scratch the walls.

With that train of thought, the Crown Prince left his post and went to his assigned mansion in the town. Upons arriving, he immediately went to the mansion's cellar which has been converted into a makeshift prison. Inside the prison are the heroes.

The heroes were still bound and blindfolded ever since they arrived last night. The Crown Prince walked to the heroes and inspected them one by one. When he finally got to Cess, Damn merchant, I told him not to damage my toys. He saw that Cess had several bruises and wounds in her face.

He grabbed Cess' face, to which Cess reacts fearfully. Her body trembled with fear as the Crown Prince continued to hold her.

"Hmm, you still look good despite the wounds." The prince said as he removed her gag. "I'll be having you first then."

"N-nooo!" She screamed.

The Crown Prince got annoyed that he was rejected, so he picked her by the hair and punched her in the stomach. *Grahk* Cess let out an unfeminine sound. Her friends and classmates could only react by turning their heads toward her and making muffled sounds.

"You dare reject me!? Me, the Crown Prince!?" The Crown Prince yelled. "It seems like I need to teach you basic etiquette when dealing with me, the Crown Prince."

He then threw Cess to the ground and left. He ordered the guard at the door to bring Cess to his private chambers. The guard entered and picked up Cess as if she wasn't a human being. Cess tried to free herself, but the guard knocked her out with another punch to her stomach.

The guard knocked at the Crown Prince's door, "Your Royal Highness, I've brought the girl you requested."

"Come in and lay her on my bed." The Crown Prince replied from inside the room.

The guard entered and placed Cess on the Crown Prince's bed, just like how he was ordered to. He then quickly left the room afterwards.

The Crown Prince went to the bed and saw the knocked out Cess. Dammit, that guard will pay for knocking out my toy.

He took off his clothes and laid beside Cess where he also slowly removed her dress. After Cess' top was completely off and her undergarment was exposed for all to see. Her eyes slowly opened, she screamed as soon as she saw the naked prince.

"It seems like I'll get to hear you scream after all." The prince said with a sadistic grin. "Scream all you want, I'll enjoy it even better if you do."

Once she heard the prince's words, she shut her mouth and bit her lips hard. The prince's smile grew wider as he watched Cess tremble with fear. He proceeded to slide his hand into Cess' undergarment and groped her chest. Cess let out a moan each time the prince would squeeze her chest.

“HyaaaH, s-stooop!” she begged, but her begging fell on deaf ears.

Having been satisfied with playing with her chest. The prince let his hand slide down Cess' body. But before he could even reach her skirt. He heard several loud sounds coming from outside. Disturbed by the sounds that kept on getting louder, he put on a robe and went out to the balcony attached to his room. What idiot dares to disturb my playtime!? There he saw several flying objects circling the walls. Monster attack!? At a time like this!?

A few seconds after the ‘monsters’ circled around the town, the prince saw several flashes from the ‘monster’s’ belly and heard something that sounded like fabric getting ripped. These were followed by streaks of green light raining down on the walls, some would even bounce and disappear into the afternoon sky. The prince squinted his eyes and saw humans inside the 'monster's' belly. What in the nine hells!?

As the prince watches the spectacle, his men on the walls are dying one after the other because of the green streaks coming out of the ‘monster’s’ belly. The Elyuan army that was supposed to attack the walls stopped dead in their tracks and just watched on. The 'monsters' circled around the town all the while spewing green streaks of light three times. And after the third time, they started to descend and landed on the ground. As soon as the 'monsters' landed, several people in grey clothes came out of their belly one by one. The men who witnessed this event later recalled the event as 'The descent of the grey demons'.