When I woke up again, I was in my bed. The excruciating pain was no longer, but the experience would linger forever in my memories and nightmares. 

As usual, I called out to the two units standing guard outside my room to let them know I was awake. But to my surprise, Ayumi was the one who entered. 

"Supreme Commander, I apologise for not being able to prevent that sage from harming you. But Lady Elora has dealt with her and has asked me to report to you."

"Wait, Elora dealt with her? What did she do?"

"Yes, she says that Merci is now very cooperative and is even willing to join our ranks."

I was surprised that Elora managed to do something I didn't know was possible. Merci's childlike attitude was something to be reckoned with. But to even make her willing to join us was something beyond. 

I rushed to the research lab, where Elora was barking out orders to Merci like a drill sergeant. Whilst Merci was in tears writing something on paper. 

"Umm, Elora, what is she doing, and what the hell did you do to her?"I asked.

"Oh, a bit of this and a bit of that. More importantly, whilst you were recovering, the 22nd platoon spotted the advance attack party's leader. 

Also, the giants are fighting against their will due to the slave collars placed on them. Since we had few details on how the slave collars worked, I asked Merci to help us out nicely."

Then why the hell is she in tears!? -was what I wanted to shout, but I held back; my recovering crown jewels were on high alert, especially about Elora's scary expression. 

I looked back to see that what Merci had been writing was all smudged because of her tears. She looked back at me with pleading eyes full of tears, but I pretended not to notice. 

"So, how did you get her to help us out?" I asked, knowing that I should tread lightly.

"Simple, I just said that we would not give her any more alcohol we make because of what she did, and she began bawling her eyes out. I figured our magic development team could use someone as knowledgeable and powerful as her to lead. However, I'm starting to think that her childish personality might be a problem."

I was certain Elora wanted Merci to hear that last sentence, considering she basically shouted it.

Merci helped us on several projects on which we were making little progress; most required high-tier rune magic, which none of our mage researchers knows. Rico, the magic sword, was also quite knowledgeable in combat-related rune magic. 

There are two main types of magic. The first is simple spell casting, where the user channels magic and casts a spell. The stronger the spell, the more mana it required. 

Rune Magic, which we used the most, only needed to be written out and mana to activate. The high-tier rune magic was highly complicated, but with modern technology, it was easy to copy. The only problem was that it required lots of mana to activate, so we developed the silver mana batteries. 

I was very impressed at the sheer amount of knowledge the duo had; it would be foolish of me not to try and recruit them. At the end of the day, we discussed a work contract; Merci was eager to get her hands on the elven wine and other types of alcohol. 

She would get a base salary which we would pay out at the end of every weekday, and most importantly for her, is to be able to purchase alcohol at a discounted price. I made sure to tell her that drinking on the job was not okay. 

If selling alcohol at a lower price could get us one of the strongest sages in the world, then so be it. 

Rico, on the hand, was fine with money. I learned it was an artificial soul created by a highly advanced magic civilisation hundreds of years ago. It had its own personality, which developed over time. 

"My friend, if you have lived as long as we have, money is sometimes stronger than any other power.," it had said with a laugh. 

Later that day, I had a meeting with the three lords to tell them about Merci the sage. It was safe to say they were surprised but happy to have someone as 'capable' as her join. 

And that was how we managed to recruit an alcoholic sage and a talking sword. 

On the other hand, the civil war that broke out in the Kingdom of Haiumi was still progressing. The Prime minister and his prowar faction were slowly closing in on the Queen and her peace-loving faction. 

So we needed to speed up our operation. I had levelled up once again, and I had another two hundred units available, so I made another company of a hundred units. 

Under Ayumi's recommendation, I also created a squad of units specialising in melee combat. This squad was called the experimental chevalier squad, but not only did they use melee weapons, but they were enchanted, courtesy of our duo of magic geniuses. 

The squad comprised six units, but these units were unique. During the few days they were activated, they began to form a personality and their own identity. 

We had the two shield wielders, nicknamed Titan and Demo. Titan prefered to hold ground, whilst its twin Demo, short for Demolition, liked to charge and demolish things. Their tower shields had many enchantments, such as physical and magical defence, but Titan's shield could create a magic barrier, whilst Demo could shoot small explosion spells. They also had regular swords reinforced with dragon fang dust. 

The next pair had polearms, a spear, and a glaive. The spear was wielded by Noble, a unit very serious about warrior's ways; its spear could create lightning. The glaive could send blades of wind, which could easily slice through a person, and cause a lot of damage. But the unit, called Mute, was the silent type and didn't talk much. 

The final two were different. There's Riot, who is kind of like the group's jokester. Pranks and annoyed people were everywhere it went. It wielded twin blades, which had magic that caused people to lose sight of it. 

To keep this group functioning, we needed a unit that could control everyone in the group; that's where Chief comes into play. As the squad leader, it had all the necessary skills to lead this group, but most importantly, the other units followed its command, even Riot. 

This squad and another company of units were dispatched to help speed up our mission. We need to get to the Queen before the prime minister does, or else we need to devise another plan.