The preparations for departure from my tower to meet with the army were well underway. My assistants energetically ran to complete the tasks I set out for them. More time to prepare would have been better, yet that always seemed the case before battle.

I could only do so much. I had crates of bread that Chelsea had spent yesterday, last night, and this morning baking loaded up into the wagons first.

Crates of my version of the Asrid Flower Tea had already been loaded throughout the evening. The mushroom men, at Jax’s direction, had taken to drying the leaves of the flowers atop the dungeon core. This not only dried them faster than hanging but also infused them with mana which should make them thrice as potent. While I hadn’t tested the reactions among humans yet, it worked wonderfully on the rodents and wolves I tested it on. The normal tea leaves I obtained from the Scouts could potentially overpower mine, if given later and in a higher dose. Otherwise, as long as my tea was imbibed after the Kingdom's, it would overtake the effects.

This morning, I turned down the men and women from Kine’s village that sought to join me in battle.

Not only were they untrained, but I preferred that they care for the orphans. The nuns, though, I sought out two of them to accompany me. I intended that they would serve as my defense against any religious magics during the battle and act as healers afterward.

My former guard, Tond, requested to join me for this battle, claiming with pride that it would be his ‘last act of service,' and I accepted under the condition that he would serve as a personal bodyguard, even if such were unneeded. It wasn’t that I didn’t think him capable, far from it. It was that I had no desire to listen to Chelsea blather on about the man for the rest of her life should he fall in battle.

I was joined by a nascent magical cadre in the form of my three assistants, and most of the local magic users. Rhela the Red deigned to stay behind with her new position, as well as the man who carved totems. I doubt I could keep Pyl the Necromancer away from the opportunity to see how death mana formed on recent battlefields, the man practically danced with excitement.

For my own personal attire and weaponry, I chose an elegant robe made from the leathers of a wyvern.

The tailor had left the large, blue feathers on the shoulders and upper back. I’d gone further to enchant the robe with a quite obscene number of magical protections. Each feather would not only nullify a specific type of spell but also absorb a fraction of it to grow its own framework. No traditional magics below the fourth tier could harm me. It was a spellwork I’d patterned after the internal matrixes of mana crystals, with some very specific variations.

In my hand, I held the Staff of Umin-Lile, an artifact I’d found as an adventurer after defeating the fifth-tier beast at the end of a dungeon. While I may have been able to craft something more powerful if I gave over twenty years to the task, whatever I crafted wouldn’t have the sheer fame associated with the artifact. The staff was made from the bone of some unknown creature, with a dark red mana-crystal at the top. The enchantment in it was a simple, yet powerful magical shield. A fifth-tier shield spell that could cover an entire army that I could cast twice a day.

It was in this manner, as I stood proudly atop my newest summoned elemental, that we traveled towards Woodhoot. One of the unfortunate things I had failed to consider when designing the elemental was the damage its spiked tentacles would do to the road. It left me traveling to the side of my caravan rather than at the fore or rear of it.

It was a humid afternoon when we arrived at Woodhoot, and I contained my smile as I watched the soldiers and mages gaze up at the powerful elemental I rode. While I’m not certain morale was a problem before our arrival, the delivery of a massive amount of freshly baked loaves of bread and a beast that towered among the tall forest trees certainly didn’t hurt. Not if their cheers were any indication.

The forces I could see below as I flew down to the army were varied. Many of the townsfolk that joined from Lark had been formed into their own unit, and I could see them as they trained in formation with cheap spears under the guidance of mercenaries. The adventurers kept to themselves, all in a disarrayed mix of classes, but did set their tents in some semblance of lines. Unfortunately, three bards had joined with the adventurers, their brass horns and voices poorly playing some song of their own device.

The main soldiery of house Shielding was situated in the center of the camp, with tents circling around the inn so that it was clear it served as the command center. They dutifully marched in patrols through and around camp, and clearly took great pride in their uniforms and discipline.

Not that I blamed them, the Shielding soldiers were well trained, and looked to be well experienced as well. It was a show of discipline that reminded me of my younger days.

The six guards outside the inn bowed low in greeting before they stood and opened the door for me, an indication I was expected.

I joined the newly raised Count Wilchrest and his command staff in the inn called Walker’s Rest. I was relieved that Lilly hadn’t pushed to join me because the very name of the Inn left me in a foul mood. That she may have stopped here on her trip to my tower and already gone through the same inner turmoil I felt only made me feel worse.

The Count performed admirably in imposing a commanding and authoritative presence. His polished armor and oiled hair glinted in the lantern light. The way he carried himself and gave orders with the expectation that they be followed without doubt or question lifted him a step above several other officers I had worked with before.

The inn itself hadn’t changed much in appearance, but felt entirely different as it functioned as a command post for the surrounding soldiery. Two of the long tables had been pushed together to support a map of the area, with different wooden tokens denoting the forces arrayed in the area.

It only took a moment to note that it was the same map I had seen in the Scout’s headquarters, and how it came to be here wasn’t a question I was willing to ask for fear the answer might implicate me in some crime I wasn’t a party in committing.

Beside Count Wilchrest was a dangerous-looking woman that I belatedly recognized as Baroness Nix.

Gone was the courtly attire, replaced with well-worn enchanted leather armor. In fact, as I looked closer, she was wearing a great number of enchanted items that displayed the truth of her history in adventuring. Rings of protection, a belt for agility, a thin sword that induced bleeding were only a few of the items. The scuffs and scratches on her seemed fresh, and one of her hands was bandaged, both marking recent combat.

On the other side of the Count and across the table were many of the different officers and important figures from the various collected parts of the army. This included both Mena and Meathead, and while I did not intend to stop the conversation with my entrance, that’s exactly what Meathead’s boisterous greeting did.

“Hiya second boss!” the man called from the center of the room much more loudly than was needed. He followed the greeting with quick waves of both hands that knocked some of the surrounding men aside.

I nodded my head once to return the greeting, and then again to Mena before looking towards the Count.

Count Wilchrest gave a formal bow, a greeting for equals, before speaking, “Savior, it is good of you to join us. We have some unfortunate news you should hear.”

His words were spoken with a grave face, and I could tell by the looks of the others in the room that I might not like what he was about to say. Many of those faces also held fearful or nervous expressions, so I suspected that his bringing the matter up as soon as I arrived was purposeful.

“Oh?” I asked as I nodded a greeting to Baroness Nix and a few others before walking across the room to stand before the map. The officers and others in the room were quick and polite as they shuffled to make room for me to get there. “What news?”

The Count had a tight smile on his face that he held for just a moment before speaking, “The enemy forces we face,” He paused to make a displeased face, “With them are three fifth-tier mages.”