Legacy of the Dark Sage

The Royal Army set up camp outside an army-owned small building in a town called Tracomill, east of Noser. Two large tents were prepared where all the wounded were being treated, while those who were only exhausted stayed in medium-sized tents scattered all around the small building.

Due to their number, they already occupied the town's plaza. The townspeople had been transported to the next town to ensure there were no civilians inside.

Gael, Imman, and the remaining seven abled Grand Masters gathered inside the small office that served as a huddle room.

Gael looked at the grand masters inside the room and could not help but grit his teeth in anger. There were more than fifty abled Grand Masters at the start of their operation, and now it had gone down to seven. More than fifteen of them died, while the others were fatally wounded.

Gael's brow furrowed when he thought of the scene when they got bombarded by attacks from unseen perpetrators. He knew at once the attacks were caused by Spirits. It was only then that he recalled Kyran's mother was a Summoner and it wouldn't be a surprise if the Spirits would side with him because of this.

He also saw people. They were dressed in all black and there were wearing masks he did not recognize, thus, he did not know who they were. Nevertheless, the appearance of these people made it clear that Kyran had been busy when they thought he was only 'running.'

It made Gael wonder whether the reason the Special Ops who were after Kyran disappeared was because of these people.

Gael shook his head and put aside the matter about the Spirits. They first had to check the condition of the rest of the soldiers and their resources. He glanced at Imman, who appeared to be wearing a solemn expression, but with eyes gloating over his failure.

Imman looked at him and seemed to send a message: 'If you have waited for me, this wouldn't have happened.'

In the end, Gael ignored Imman. Even if the latter felt that he would have made a difference if he had taken action, Gael did not feel the same. Imman's Stone magic was not that extraordinary. Even if he could mold huge Golems, any of the first four legendary beasts could easily crush it to death.

"Let's hear your reports, starting from our array, communication tower, personnel, and last our supplies," Gael opened the meeting without further ado.

All the grand masters nodded.

"Yes, Grand Marshal."

"I'll start then," the first one to speak was the grand master seated at the far right of the small rectangular table. "The first layer of the defensive array around town has been completed and we are over 65% in completing the second layer. We should be safe from any sneak attacks in the meantime."

Imman scowled at him, "You make it sound like we would be in danger if they decided to sneak up on us."

The grand master lowered his head in apology at once, "That is not... I'm sorry, Deputy Marshal Imman."

"Humph."

"Next," Gael looked at the grand master, sitting beside the one who had reported first.

Gael's dismal attitude toward Imman did not go unnoticed by the grand masters. However, they could only turn a blind eye lest they might suffer.

The second grand master nodded and continued as if they had not been interrupted, "One of the two mobile communication towers we managed to salvage is beyond repair, thus we decided to integrate the other one with the town's tower. Although we have not completed the integration, we are already connected to the Meliora Headquarter's main channel. Still, the signal is a bit weak and can only reach this area. As long as we are inside this building we should be able to connect to HQ without any problem."

Gael furrowed his brows.

"How long will it take for the integration to complete?" He asked because they could not possibly return to the building just to connect to the HQ.

"I'm sorry, Grand Marshal. We cannot determine it yet," the grand master apologized while looking at the two grand masters sitting across from him, who happened to be the ones in-charged in reporting the personnel and supplies status respectively. "Due to our limited manpower and materials, we can only use the salvageable parts of the other tower."

Gael also looked at the two grand masters.

Without waiting for him to call them out, the third grand master already spoke.

"He is right, Grand Marshal. Most of our men who knew how to fix towers had been killed during the sneak attack. Although not all soldiers who can fix it had stayed close to the towers and the supplies, the others assisted in creating the restraining arrays and were either killed or fatally wounded."

Gael leaned back on his chair and closed his eyes. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he sensed a terrible headache coming.

"Proceed with the personnel," he urged the third grand master to continue.

"From our original twenty thousand head count, we are down to sixteen thousand. 26% of this number is currently receiving medical care, 62% are resting with a few suffering light injuries, and the rest of the soldiers are fulfilling miscellaneous tasks, such as Array Creation, integration of the two towers, inventory of supplies, escorting the townspeople to the next town and guard duties."

Gael opened his eyes and looked at him. Instead of commenting on the report though, he addressed the fourth grand master, "How're our supplies?"

"We only salvaged 35% of all our supplies, Grand Marshal, and most of them are medical supplies, which are now being used to treat the rest."

"What about energy-replenishing potions?"

The fourth grand master hesitated for a second before replying, "It is one of the items that got destroyed first by the fire."

Gael slammed his fist on the table, resulting in web-like cracks appearing on the surface where his palm landed.

All the grand masters could not help but shrink back in their seats in fright.

"Can't any of you tell me something good?"

"The ones with me are not accounted for, am I correct?" Imman asked the third grand master.

"Yes, Deputy Marshal."

"So that's around 31% addition of abled soldiers."

"That's right."

Imman looked at Gael and said, "With this number, we can launch a preemptive attack."

"No," Gael responded without looking at him.

"Why not?" Imman replied with a frown. "You may be my superior but the emperor ordered me to head this operation."

Because Lira hid the fact she had targeted the emperor, even Gael, the two were unaware of what had happened.

"If he did, then where is his official decree?"

"Grand Marshal Gael—!"

"Since you don't have one then shut up and follow my orders."

Imman gritted his teeth. Unfortunately, he had no way of retaliating. Though it was true that the emperor ordered him to lead the soldiers, Gael possessed a written Royal Decree from the Crown Princess. It was impossible to counter it with just the emperor's words.

The seven grand masters fidgeted in their seats and glanced at each other apprehensively. They had only heard of the tension between the Deputy Marshals and the Grand Marshal and never expected they would one day bear witness to it. Although the two had only exchanged words, the tension between the two was suffocating.

Ignoring Imman's glare, Gael looked at the grand masters and said, "Gather the soldiers who arrived with Imman—."

"You—!"

"—I will give you five minutes to brief them on what happened to Noser. After that, I will meet all of them."

"Yes, Grand Marshal."

Gael looked at Imman and said, "Stay here and contact Ingrid and Mannick. I need them here, too."

"Mannick is with the Emperor. I am not sure when they will come, but the three of us are supposed to come here."

"Are they still in Mourchton?"

"I don't know."

"Then find out," Gael ordered. Without giving Imman a chance to retaliate, he stood up and said, "Dismiss. I will meet all of you in ten minutes."

"Yes, Grand Marshal."

The seven grand masters stood up and saluted before leaving the tent in a somewhat hasty manner. They could not bear to stay in the room with the two in fear of receiving Imman's ire.

Gael left soon after while Imman stayed for a bit to control his anger. Then he also left to find where Mannick and the Emperor were.

Crackle!

A small fissure appeared above the small rectangular table. It was then followed by three soft puffs as two Fire Sprites and one Wind Sprite appeared.

'Void Master, we have successfully entered the town. We are inside a building where the Shadow old guy had just met with the other ugly humans,' the Wind Sprite telepathically sent a message to Kyran.

Two hundred meters outside Tracomill, Kyran looked up after hearing the Wind Sprite's report.

'Good. Proceed as planned.'

The three Sprites giggled and replied in unison.

[Yes, Void Master.]