Several days passed.
On this particular day, a light snowfall dusted the mountains—a thin, pale layer, as if the mountains themselves had put on makeup for winter. It was enough to lift Charles's spirits, even as it put the people on edge.
To them, snow always brought back memories of bitter cold—and those who never survived it.
Meanwhile, in the Mountain Purifiers' new headquarters, inside Anno's private tent—
The paladin girl set down her Sending Stone, exhaustion etched on her beautiful face as she collapsed back into a rickety wooden chair.
Behind her, Charles stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her gently. "What's the word from Blackstaff Tower?"
Anno pouted. "What do you think? They said I'm doing a good job, and now they're making me the official liaison between the Alliance of the Mountain Purifiers and the Dwarven Mining Consortium. I'll be in charge of communication with both sides."
Charles chuckled softly. "How's that bad news? My Anno is a big shot now, with real authority."
But Anno rolled her eyes, totally unamused. "What's good about it? I'm a paladin! I'm supposed to be out there slaying demons, that's the whole point of coming here—to unite people against the fiends. Now I'm just a glorified messenger, and the thing I most wanted to do is the one thing I can't."
She vented her frustration, and Charles hugged her tighter, voice gentle. "This isn't a job just anyone can do, you know. If someone else was here, those Mountain Purifier leaders wouldn't listen to a word. You believe me?"
"This really does need us. Anyone else would blow it."
That actually got a reluctant smile out of her. "Well… maybe you have a point. Still, I wish I could be part of the demon-slaying. I'm still young—I don't want to sit at a desk all day."
Charles ran his fingers through her hair comfortingly. "You'll get your shot. This is a deep-mountain outpost; Blackstaff Tower won't abandon it. They'll send more troops soon enough."
"And when that happens, we'll finally get our chance to shine."
But at his words, Anno only looked more downcast.
"Blackstaff Tower can't send many people. Force Grey is stretched thin. We might get a company—maybe a hundred and twenty soldiers at best," she said. "But they struck some kind of deal with a hobgoblin warlord named Krammer. He's bringing his own band—about four hundred strong."
"Apparently his crew is all hobgoblins, bugbears, orcs, goblins, even gnolls and ogres…" Her scowl deepened as she listed them. "It's a ragtag, thrown-together patchwork army!"
Even Charles had trouble keeping his composure. After a moment, he sighed. "It's better than nothing, right? Manpower's short everywhere—this kind of thing is bound to happen."
Anno just sighed. "Let's just hope they actually help out instead of brawling with our own people the second they get here."
Charles had the same worry. It wasn't just about numbers, after all—it was about quality, discipline, gear…
Take his Battle Nuns, for example. Armed with Blue Dragon ion beam emitters, they could blast fields of enemies apart; even though they were few, their impact was massive.
But this so-called hobgoblin warlord's ragtag battalion…
Well, who knew.
Best case? They'd be up to standard for an army of their size.
Worst case? They might not be able to hold a candle to even the hundred-odd elite Blackstaff Tower soldiers.
But what could you do? In times like these, you had to settle for what you could get.
Charles was thinking about how to comfort her when his face suddenly lit up. "Sophia and the nuns are here!"
Finally, after all this waiting, Sophia had arrived with the Battle Nuns!
...
Outside the Alliance of the Mountain Purifiers' camp, Sophia—raven-haired, dark-eyed, with long, straight hair and a gentle face—stood with her contingent of Battle Nuns in an untouched drift of snow.
They wore thick black habits, traced with colored lines of simple design, stark against the white ground. Their snow-white hair only set off their dark uniforms in a way that almost defied description.
When Charles and Theresa came out of the camp and spotted the familiar figures, delight was plain on his face. If Sophia wasn't dressed in black, she'd look every inch the noble heiress from his previous life, the kind you couldn't help being drawn to.
Charles hurried up and took her hand, speaking softly. "You must be exhausted—run into any trouble on the road?"
Sophia shook her head. "A group of adventurers insisted on acting as our escorts, so nothing happened. Everything's been smooth."
Lifting her head, she looked fondly up at Charles, her voice and gaze impossibly soft. "And you, Pr—Priest? Has everything here gone well?"
She caught herself—no way she'd call him 'Master' in front of the nuns.
Charles nodded. "Of course. Everything's waiting for you guys."
He led the nuns into the satyr camp, where space had already been cleared for them to set up. There were less than twenty of them, but their matching hair and beauty definitely caused a stir—mountain folk snuck glances their way, faces lighting up, clearly running all kinds of thoughts through their heads.
Once the girls were settled, Charles took Sophia back to his private tent, and from his ring, released the Remnant Soul of Ines. "Here—this is why I called you here in the first place."
"Things got out of hand—I had no choice but to burn her. This tiny fragment is all that's left. She can't speak now."
"But I'm hoping to extract some intel from her. Sophia—do you have a way to read her memories, maybe figure out if she was really Montport's plant?"
His hope was obvious, and at this, Sophia grew serious.
"I'll give it a shot," she said. "But honestly, I don't know how much we can get. Her soul's already badly damaged—some memories may be missing."
Charles exhaled in relief. "Anything would help. Uh, if it works, start with her master's identity. Let's see if she really was Montport's spy."
Sophia reached out, infusing magic into Ines's soul fragment. The succubus remnant quivered, on the verge of dispersing completely.
But Sophia was a practiced hand—seeing this, she laid a second hand over it, holy light blooming softly to contain and stabilize the fragment.
Only then did she close her eyes and begin to probe the memory.
After a while, she snapped her eyes open, her face conflicted.
Charles leaned in eagerly. "Well? What did you find?"
"Hmm…" Sophia searched for words. "You could say she was a Montport spy, but that's not the whole truth."
"She did infiltrate the Alliance of the Mountain Purifiers on Montport's orders. But at the same time, from the very start, she was actually another Demon Lord's spy, planted near Montport as a double agent."
Charles was floored. "Who could pull that off—wait. Is it—?"
Sophia nodded slightly. "That's right. The Queen of the Succubi."
Charles instinctively clenched his fists, palms already sweaty.
What the hell…
How are all the endgame bosses lining up while my level's still in the single digits?
The freaking queen of the succubi…
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