The forces of the town had gathered by the guild. Under Glyea's command–though somewhat reluctantly–they were separated into groups. The ascended fangs would be the scouts, the mercenaries the vanguards, and the masked greenhorn soldiers would assist from the shadows as a special force of sorts. The adventurers were free to offer their assistance wherever they felt they fit the most.
With the tasks divided and the preparations done, it was time to head out for a war for which the army was not in the least prepared. They simply hoped that the enemy forces weren't as fierce as they'd presumed them to be; however, that was no more than wishful thinking, and most of them already knew it.
'I should've sent that letter to my brother.' Watching the groups saying their final goodbyes to their families and friends, Glyea felt a deep sense of regret for not sending her brother in the capital a letter from her beforehand. 'Whatever, it's better this way, I suppose.'
In her gaze, dying without letting him know of the danger that she was putting herself through was better than making him worry and then dying anyway. She had little hope of returning after all, and even with a devil by her shoulder, what could she do but a few waves of her wands and a flourish or two with her sword?
Looking around at the many faces–friends, family, and lovers–she was once again burdened with the weight of responsibility. One that she knew she wasn't qualified to bear. Not now, perhaps never.
"If some of them die and I don't–" Turning her head to Zephyr, she crossed her arms and sighed. "--Just bury me next to them, I wouldn't have the heart to answer to their families."
"Nobody's dying," in a moment's daze, Zephyr spilled more of the truth than he realized. "We're not even going to fight. But victory will be ours."
"What are you talking about?" Pulling herself off the fence, Glyea folded her arms and turned towards him. "There's an army of monsters heading our way, the last thing they would listen to is diplomacy, and as persuasive as you might think you are, no monster is going to parley with you–even if you're a devil."
Feeling a hand tapping on her shoulder, Glyea turned to find Aura standing behind her. Holding a loose bag in her hand, she was offering it to her.
"Potions and elixirs, in case you need them after all."
"Thank you…" Taking it off of Aura's hand, she wondered what the duo had planned. But as she turned back to face Zephyr, he was already gone to attend to someone else. "What the–"
A bit further out, the fiend had walked up to Rudy's group. Talking to them about their next move, he bid them well and handed a pouch full of potions and elixirs to them as well.
"What do you plan to do, Zeph?" Walking beside her husband, Aura hummed a quiet tune. "I say we let the men die. Rid the ladies of their burden so that you can take them instead."
"I thought your standards were high, Aura."
"They are, but an orgy never hurt anyone."
With a chuckle, the archmaiden concluded the jestful conversation. Instead of focusing on the preparation, she and Zephyr showed everyone their faces while also handing them different sorts of goods to bolster their image without standing out too much. A merchant and its slave, that's all they wanted to be, nothing more, nothing less.
Yet, the little attention that he was getting from everyone was burning someone's heart. And that was none other than the hero–Rudeia, for that dream was still vivid in his head, and the innumerable list of lewd stats besides Zephyr was making him jealous. He was furious. However, given how much the merchant had helped him, of course, he couldn't do anything to hurt him–nor did he plan to, as he was a man of inaction who always hoped that somehow things would work out in his favor.
Alas, the rest of the party was far more grateful. So much so that they did as Aura had asked them to and drank one of the women–specific potion bottles. It was meant to prevent them from having their period in the middle of this war. What they didn't know, however, was the fact that it would also boost their odor, their pheromones, and drive the closest man to them nuts.
Not an hour and its effects would drive the hero insane, but until then there was plenty of time to waste. Mostly, the preparations took precedence, and in that, too, the logistics of how everything would work. The soldiers weren't going to blindly intercept the enemy but hold a phalanx as soon as the army was located. From that point onwards, it was a matter of which side could overwhelm the other.
The food, the equipment, and the ranks that everyone must follow were being overseen by Glyea as she'd read numerous books on war strategy as part of her curriculum. Even so, she was far from confident about winning–especially since the group was still divided into subgroups that stuck together. If one of them were cornered, the other might just start running instead of helping them. And to prevent that, the only thing she could do was hope for the best and try to keep morale up.
"I seriously hope that your plan works, Custer…" She said to herself, moments before the march to the forest was about to begin.
In that time, Zephyr and Aura both took a back seat and manifested two clones of themselves. Leaving them with the army, they decided to get a headstart and gauge the monster army's capabilities for themselves. But of course, killing them themselves was out of the question.
"Possession and aid, that's the plan then?"
"Yeah, a few of them can die to make the battle believable."
"I thought you told Glyea that nobody would die."
"We both know that she doesn't believe that for a second."
With that final back and forth, the devils began their march a whole half an hour earlier than the army. And to their suprise they wouldn't have to walk for long to run into the army, as the forest edging the town was already full of monsters stalking the territory.