I strapped on my armor and flicked back my silver cape lined with the Anstalionian sigil.
I turned back and looked at the fortress, now bearing the name Fort Mayham, and smiled.
After a day of practicing and testing my new powers, I decided to lead a march to confront the incoming army.
During this time, Fertical had made many advancements into our land, directly avoiding this place.
As a result, they ended up clashing with other forces.
In such a case, I sadly had to release a collection of troops under my command to assist them.
It seems the war is now being fought on equal ground.
My current goal is to take down incoming armies while we build up enough strength to launch a final assault.
I finished readying my gear and turned to Jennifer, who was speaking to a soldier about his personal mission.
After taking in the information, he nodded and ran off.
She had sent him to inform the nearby city of Lander that we would intercept the army heading toward them.
Fort Mayham sits almost directly south of Fort Havel, with the city of Lander lying northeast of us.
The enemy was approaching from the southwest, taking an oddly indirect path.
They're coming across nothing but wide, flat grassland, completely clear of obstacles.
That route's faster, easier to march through, and better for mobilizing in formation. But that's not why they took it. No, the truth is simpler.
Fertical has always struggled to breach our northern borders. The snow is relentless.
Wagons get trapped, soldiers freeze, spells misfire, and visibility drops to nothing.
That's why they were forced to curve westward and circle back in. Anstalionah's climate is more than an advantage; it's a natural defense line.
But here? There's no snow, no elevation, no weather shielding us.
So I'll confront them head-on and make sure they regret every step they took across this grass.
Only around five hundred of our soldiers would be marching out; the rest would remain behind.
We planned to rendezvous with the five hundred troops stationed in Lander.
The forces staying behind tripled our current marching number, and we had additional troops coming in from the north.
Besides that, I also intended to attack cities and overtake villages as we advanced. By doing so, we would expand our territory.
In fact, our border has already pushed outward from nearly every direction throughout the course of this war.
As for Bamdia, an entirely separate coalition of soldiers is handling that front.
They've got support from the royal knights, which makes sense. All royal knights are at least of the fifth wall.
I took a deep breath and looked down at my sword. "All right, let's go."
Jennifer walked up and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Talkin' to yourself?"
I smiled. "Nope. Let's go!" I shouted.
All the soldiers following me gathered, and we began our march.
The one downside was that we needed to leave the horses behind.
I could traverse the battlefield within seconds, but that would be a waste of mana. Not that I needed to anyway.
As we walked, Jennifer rifled through her bag of medical supplies, then pulled out a small needle of pure, filtered mana.
It was a wondrous mix of blue and hints of purple, surprising, considering her color was bronze.
She caught me staring and smiled. "As you know, I'm pretty bad at using magic directly."
She plunged the needle into her arm and pushed it down. "Now, earth and time magic are under my full dominion. Well… kinda."
I gave her a sideways glance. "Time magic? You have that affinity?"
She chuckled. "Well, I've got most natural elements and forces under my control, just not their intrinsic nature."
I nodded, extremely confused. "I see, I see. So you can use all types of magic?"
She sighed and reached into her bag, pulling out a scroll. "Don't you wonder why I could activate an earth spell with such ease?"
Huh… I just thought she was good at rune magic. That's how my father used to channel the forces of the world.
His runes were so powerful, he could create entire planets within simple trinkets.
Nicholas has to wait until he's twenty-one, but I have access to the treasury.
Of course, I haven't had the chance to enter it yet for obvious reasons. Actually, that reminds me, I needed to go back.
"You're not so bad, are you, Jen?" I said, patting her back.
She gave me a disappointed look. "And I thought you understood me."
I sighed. "Ah, don't say it like that. It sounds like I'm a bad friend."
Soft chuckles and murmurs spread through the crowd, and I turned back.
"Wait, you all agree as well?"
The soldiers avoided my gaze. Well, I couldn't really tell through the helmets, but I just knew.
I cursed under my breath. "Damn you all. Don't expect me to come help when you're dying."
They all burst out laughing as Jennifer shook her head. "It's really unbecoming of you, as both a commander and a princess."
I turned around and began jogging ahead. "All right, you grunts, pick up the pace!"
It seems these little bastards don't respect me.
It would take a while to meet up with the others, so I figured I might as well work them a bit while we travel.
With my newfound power, I've accessed an entirely new level of my Regalia.
Before, I was able to take away, and with enough power, even steal things.
But now, I can do more than that.
Now I can harness another person's jealousy and warp it, influencing what they want.
And with that, I can change it, effectively making someone jealous of something or someone they never even considered.
Though the limits of this ability still escape me, I can also influence the world itself more easily than before.
My inner world is a place of pure, conceptual envy. It shifts as my understanding of the real world deepens.
It's more or less a lesser form of this world, though in many ways, it's no easier to grasp the things that exist beyond me.
I decided to slow my pace.
Looking back, they'd fallen pretty far behind. I could almost laugh.
While these people were supposedly just like me, it seems maintaining faster-than-light movement for long periods of time was still too much for them.
As I halted my progress, a potent aura flared before me.
I turned my gaze forward and saw a face I hadn't expected.
Long, curly white hair framed her sharp features, and her dark blue eyes gleamed, oval pupils and all.
She wore sleek black armor beneath a golden cape and carried her helm beneath one arm.
Saint Satire.
She was beautiful, almost as beautiful as Jennifer, and her grace exceeded that of most nobility.
She was a common visitor at the royal castle, a symbol of strength and dignity.
But Saints weren't supposed to involve themselves in mortal conflicts, not unless demons or dark forces were at play.
So why was she here?
I had no idea.
I came to a slow stop and waited as she walked up, a faint smile on her lips. Jennifer caught up and stepped beside me, brows furrowed.
"Why is she here?" she whispered.
I shrugged. "No idea. Maybe there's a Hellgate nearby, though I can't sense one."
Saint Satire approached and gave a soft bow, then looked up at me with a glint in her eye.
"I'm pleased to have finally found you."
She chuckled lightly, her tone bright. "You're a hard person to track, Nicole. But after that spike in power, I locked on right away."
I turned back toward the soldiers. "What are you doing? Take a knee!"
I then bowed slightly after. "Ah, if you'd informed me, I would've arranged a meeting place."
She waved my words away. "Don't worry. After all, you aren't supposed to know this, but…"
She stepped closer and leaned in. Her breath touched my ear, and shivers ran down my spine.
"I'm kinda here to kill you."
I took a step back, and Jennifer mirrored me as Saint Satire drew her blade and tossed her helm to the ground.
Her smile widened, but now, it felt less like warmth and more like a threat.
"In fact," she said, voice laced with wicked delight, "I'm here to kill all of you."