"Greetings, students of the empire, and especially you, the future high mage of the empire. My name is Carl Marx, and I am a Royal Guard platoon commander. There has been a security issue, and new rules will be implemented in response. I hope you follow them obediently. First, going outside of the dorm is strictly prohibited, no matter the cause. Second, all mage students must be within eyesight of Royal Guards except after they reach their dorm. Third, report any suspicious individuals. That is all."

The Royal Guard then left. I tilted at their overreactive behavior. Then, while wearing my earclip, I asked R25B about the situation. I suspected I killed someone important during my work yesterday and wonder if R25B already collated all the data. Two days have passed, after all.

"R25B?"

"Well, congrats. The capital is in chaos due to your work yesterday."

"Hmm? But it was the royals that wanted this assassination, right?"

"Yes. It worked a little bit too much. I am not sure about the details, but Duke Luca arranged a meeting with His Majesty today after the news of your assassination became public yesterday. By the way, I just received word that the commission with Baron Don was completed in full. There would be no penalties. So your points become 620P. The clients simply asked us to stop all assassination."

"Alright. Exams are around the corner anyway. Don't wanna go outside in the night with royal guards guarding the school."

"Hahaha... exams huh? I sometimes forget you are still in school."

Although the guards made the announcements seem incredibly important, it was none of our business. We could simply go through with our lives as usual. We could treat these Royal Guards like an additional decorative statue.

---

"Your Highness! These assassins were killing us! Last night, hundreds of our members were killed!" Duke Luca exaggeratedly reported to me in the throne room. Johann stood beside me as the prime minister, with all the other dukes present. The assassination we ordered went a little too well. We intended to scare them a bit, but R666 went ahead and killed several sons and daughters of a count. Moreover, he also killed three mages.

"Indeed. This must have been because of an assassin from the Elderan country. We have caught one of them that caused the death of Baron Denah. Unfortunately, we have yet to obtain much intelligence regarding Elderan." I bullshitted this merchant faction noble with the facts about Denah and Mala, whom the reapers caught a few months ago.

"Was the interrogation not going well?"

"Yes. They were tight-lipped. Unfortunately, Baron Denah, who we later found out worked for them, was assassinated."

"But I heard Baron Denah was assassinated by reapers?"

"Elderan might have hired reapers. Remember, they weren't exclusive to us. Other countries might have hired them too."

"I see. Then, what should we do? Should we hire reapers, or should we rely on our intelligence agency?"

"If we crush the Elderan empire, they will ultimately stop sending these assassins," I said.

"But what about the Western Front?"

"Hm… Western Front is certainly important, Duke Luca. But remember, we are not alone on the Western Front. It is time for our friends to pull their weight there. Elderan should take priority as our allies are too far from County Shadowsteps."

"We need to pull the Royal Guards! The Shadowsteps certainly didn't do a good job acting as a border town there! First, the one with Baron Denah, and now!" one of the new viscounts lashed out. If I recall, his child was one of the victims during the assassination.

"Calm down, Viscount Remilton. We will not pull the Royal Guards. This incident should make it clear that the Elderan kingdom is a bigger threat than the Western Front. In fact, we should prepare for it more," Johann said to the panicking viscount. His mage son was a level 3 mage. After bribing our academy and paying a hefty tuition, he finally managed to make his son graduate as a respectable mage, only to be killed during Baron Don's party. I understood his grief.

"Yes, His Majesty was correct, Viscount. We should unite and crush Elderan with our might, and then we can continue with the Western Front. I thank Your Majesty for his wisdom. It seems as if the doubt in my heart has cleared away." Duke Luca bowed. He then moved out of the way, finishing the meeting. I held my chin in contemplation as the throne room emptied. Then, I looked at Johann for his advice.

"Do you think the merchant faction believed our scheme?"

"Our scheme was perfect. We have Mala, the spy whom R666 captured along with Baron Denah, as proof that Elderan has infiltrated our country," Johann said.

"He seemed to back down a little bit too easily…" I muttered. I thought Duke Luca was going to ask us for compensation for the bereaved family or more knights to guard their mages or hound the reapers responsible for the assassins. It happened right on their faction, after all.

"Well… it was good, right?" Johann shrugged.

A week later, surprising news sprouted up from County Shadowsteps. About a thousand royal guards were sent back to the capital. I immediately called Duke Bron for confirmation. However, he was currently on the Western Front, so we had to use the Virtual Magi room, an expensive magic tool made by a Light mage and a Wind mage, to produce a hologram from both sides.

"Duke Bron, I heard half a division of royal guards were called back from Shadowsteps. May I ask why?"

"I didn't order them to pull back. From the report, Count Shadowsteps was the one who kicked them all out," Duke Bron replied. "I tried to get in touch with him with the phone. But the call didn't go through. "

"The call didn't go through?"

"Yes. The enemy must have used a signal-blocking tool like the one they used on the Western Front's frontline."

"Ah, the one we also used in the castle. Does this mean the battle there has gotten serious?"

"Yes. These royal guards either abandoned their post and reported that they were kicked out by the count, or Count Shadowstep really kicked them out due to supply issues; the guns we sent them barely cover a third of their forces after all." Duke Bron replied. Duke Bron mentioned the possibility of desertion. Royal Guards were known for their discipline and training. However, Duke Bron noted that most of them had never seen real wars and thus lacked appropriate judgment in emergencies.

"Can Shadowstep County weather this attack? Does it need support?" Johann asked the capital military affairs. "The Shadowstep hero died three years ago."

"While the current Shadowstep is not as great as his father, he has experience in war. He is going to be fine," Duke Bron dismissed the notion that Count Shadowstep would fail.

"Very well. I shall trust in your judgment," I replied.

The video call then hung up as both parties had nothing more to discuss. Johann reported that the returned royal guards were quickly tasked to guard the merchant faction's family and mages. Moreover, numerous complaints arose from the royal guard that Count Shadowstep had taken all their equipment. Many of them returned to the royal capital with only the clothes on their person. The muskets, swords, and armor were all taken by Count Shadowstep.

"Johann! Elidranthia, Count Shadowstep's second daughter, was in the capital, right?"

"Yes."

"Do you think she knew what happened in her county?"

"I doubt it, Milord. The Royal Guard returned here just three days ago, and she has been in the capital for almost 4 months due to her studies."

"I see. Make sure she stays in the capital. I have questions for Count Shadowstep when he returns," I said to Johann before retiring to my room. War is coming. We are in danger.

---

"We are going to lose! The enemy is coming!" The royal guard burst into our HQ in a panic. We were under siege, with cannons positioned at the border of the forest. Wooden towers and walls were scattered across the battlefield.

"Relax! We only lost one tower! Get your act together!" My father, Count Shadowstep, said as he listened to the report. John Sark, beside him, remained silent. He seemed a bit aggravated by my father's decisions.

"We should hole up in this city! Why did you send those men to die? Why did I build this tower and wall if you risked an open war?"

"We couldn't let them surround us; if they do, our supply route will be cut off," I replied. "Moreover, from last week's attack, you should realize that the enemy outnumbers us twenty to one."

"We have provisions!"

"Not enough, especially the ammunition. If they launch another committed attack like last week, we would only last a single engagement."

"It is enough; we have provisions for a single engagement even if they surround us! It took less than a week to get the royal capital to help us and break the encirclement."

"There won't be reinforcements from the royal capital. We need to keep the line open ourselves," Father said.

"Huh? What are you talking about? If there was a supply line, that includes replenishment soldiers too!" John Sark said.

"The deal was to defend this place with what we have. The royal capital couldn't afford manpower right now. Even if they send more people, it would be farmers or peasants from the slums. They don't have any training whatsoever. Training the next batch of knights takes years. Moreover, they still need to protect the capital. We can't expect reinforcements from them."

"Then all the more reason for you to stop this ridiculous plan. If the empire didn't send reinforcements, it would be doubtful they would send supplies too."

"Like I said, Count Sark, we needed supplies: bullets, feystones, cannonballs, mines, bombs, and food still needed to be delivered from the capital. We have to protect this supply line." I supported my father. Even though John Sark was in the military, he didn't graduate from the Military Affairs School and thus didn't know what soldiers needed. He was not the only one; all mages were only required to graduate from magical training in the academy, and they could apply for any job.

I didn't know what they learned at the academy, but I honestly couldn't appreciate John Sark for his inability to assess our situation correctly. My little mage sister, Elidranthia, and her mage friends, Alicia, said that in advanced magical academies, there were curricula for military affairs. However, they were all optional. After all, mages were expected to fix magic tools, not strategize and do clerk jobs. John Sark has proven to be very capable of building this fortress and completed it before Elderan attacked. He has earned respect even from our soldiers, so it was a bit hard to reprimand him.

When we had our own debate, an alarm rang. The usual monster alarm now turned into an alarm signaling an ambush by the enemy. I left the two debating uncles and ran to the wall. Rows of soldiers lined up with muskets and bows. We only had 200 old muskets and 50 new-generation muskets on us, so bows were still used.

"Cannons ready!" a military engineer shouted, aiming our cannons at the approaching enemy. Last week, a committed attack by 100 cannons was launched by Elderan, and it took down one of the four towers in front. We managed to repel them, and our cannons managed to destroy 30 of theirs. I have high hopes we could win this.

Our fortress was hastily built and needed more defense at the rear and the side. We only have 2 towers there. We only have 20 cannons in total, with five in repair by John Sark's aide. Luckily, we had no need to move our cannons as they stupidly attacked our front incessantly.

"What's the status?" Father came to the wall with John Sark.

"Same as yesterday: two thousand goblins, fifty trolls, four hundred humans, and 80 cannons. Against four thousand of our troops. Repelling them would be simple, but I worry about our supplies."

"How did Elderan control that many monsters?" Count Sark asked.

"They didn't destroy the spawner in the forest but analyzed them and recreated it for their own," Father mused. "I need to send letters to the Royal Capital. Give me your best messenger."

The second day of battle began, and we lost yet another tower. Morale was plummeting, and the inexperienced royal guards formed a whisper.

We will lose we have to retreat