I had already highlighted this to Davna, but the mission this time, rather than an expedition or a state visit, was a full-scale military operation, with everything that entailed.

Thus, though it was certainly possible to have some of the mages use magic to store food and create water—in other words, eliminate the need for a supply chain, it would still be unwise for me to go on ahead.

Well, in the end, that just meant my subordinates and I would have to travel alongside the rest of the army.

And thus, I was in a carriage, the beast-children on either side of me and Alpine in my lap.

With its recent evolution to a Frost Kobold, probably brought on by the events in the elven nation, it had acquired not just several loyalty-related skills, but also ice magic and a passive skill that lowered its body temperature.

In other words, it was great to touch and pet and such. Well, no amount of heat or cold would make me uncomfortable with my recent evolutions, but a bit of refreshing coolness was still nice.

The seats across from us were empty, in case someone needed to come in to speak with me. My Demon Generals were in a carriage of their own, and both Saniel and Evyna could ride a horse, no problem. It had been more than ten years since I was a Hero, so I did not remember, exactly, but apparently, horse-riding was a regular part of Hero training.

… Which left me questioning the fact that the wielder of Claiomh Solais was apparently incapable of riding a horse, but I decided not to dwell on it.

It was not like I really needed the children by my side—there were no wild monsters stupid enough to attack an entire military convoy, and even some stray national patrol from the dwarves would rather report back than engage us, and in the first place, the bodyguards were weaker than the person they were guarding. But it was not like they had any better places to be, either.

Given I had nothing much to do apart from pet Alpine—after all, it would be nigh impossible to attempt to sign paperwork in a jostling carriage, let alone the logistical nightmare of getting it back to the castle—I decided on a different activity I had found myself doing every once in a while.

Training my senses.

My recent evolutions, alongside a hearty amount of training, now meant that I could hear people’s breathing and their heartbeats from well over a metre away, and in a similar vein, I could identify magical metals and artifacts and the like from the same distance. At the same time, I was now also capable of limiting the amount of mana I leaked into the environment, so as to hide my power.

In a sense, I was testing the limits of those abilities.

Well, they were far from the most impressive new abilities I had cultivated, but there were not exactly any fresh corpses around to test my newly-developed spell on.

And thus, it was not very hard—no, no, not hard at all to feel Kesthis approach the carriage. Not a second after he was next to it, he knocked on the door.

The children turned their eyes to me, so I nodded and they let him in.

Somehow, Kesthis managed to fit himself inside the carriage.

I could not have imagined it was comfortable.

As a Demi-Dragon, he stood at a good two and a half metres tall—he had to hunch over to even fit inside—and on his back were a pair of majestic wings.

When he was not crammed inside a carriage, his dark-blue scales oft shone gracefully in the light of the sun. As for clothing, he wore a white jacket with golden trims and similar trousers, though the jacket was open more often than closed.

“I have come to make a report, Your Eminence.”

He somehow managed to make a splendid bow, his claw in front of his chest, even while still crumpled up.

“There is no need to stand at ceremony, Kesthis. In the first place, there is no space to stand at ceremony. Make your report.”

“Understood. The Sage’s Tower has become visible. By my estimate, we will arrive in another thirty minutes.”

“Hmm. Then I suppose we are right on schedule…”

We had already taken several breaks along the way, but those too were factored in. And thus, the schedule was indeed that we would arrive at the tower after a few days’ worth of travelling.

“Did you see or sense anything, Kesthis?”

“No, Your Eminence. Not a single barrier or magical defense mechanism is in place. Though I admit, I am not sure I would be able to identify a mundane trap at this distance…”

With a laugh as if ashamed, he placed a hand on the back of his head.

“If you say there was nothing, then I will trust you on that. And if there is a soldier amongst my army who is dumb enough as to be caught off-guard by a mundane trap she has set up, then I will kill them before the trap can.”

Indeed, his judgment when it came to magical matters was most certainly trustworthy—if one ignored, for a moment, Tempest’s coven, Lilith’s specialist team and my Demon Generals themselves, there was no doubt Kesthis was the strongest sorcerer in my entire army.

“I am grateful for your trust, Your Eminence… And I will relay your message to the troops.”

Once more, he chuckled. Although his face was very much reptilian, I had no doubts I saw a merry smile play across it.

As one could surmise from the address ‘Your Eminence’, Kesthis was very much a religious person… So I decided to give him a little reward.

“Kesthis.”

“Yes, Your Eminence?”

Like a curious, playful kitten, he tilted his head.

A kitten more than two metres tall, with scales and wings.

I tossed one of my gloves into my [Storage] and kissed the tips of my index and middle finger, then beckoned Kesthis closer with my other hand.

He approached.

After a moment of silence, I pressed my newly-kissed fingers to his forehead.

“The Goddess’s blessing be with you.”

Another few moments of silence—

“You have my deepest gratitude, Your Most Reverend Eminence.”

I was, after all, in a practical sense, Entropy’s only priest. Doing this much should be natural.

“Go now.”

“Yes, Your Eminence.”

And thus he left the carriage.

A tired sigh slipped out from between my lips as I looked up at the tower before me.

Considerably tall, though not as tall as the world tree. Of course not.

“Finally seeing Cy again, huh…”

It was not like I was not at all excited at the prospect. Seeing her again was, by all standards, a delight—she was adorable, and in any case, she was the only one I would call a ‘friend’.

Yet at the same time, she was a little…

“Shall I knock on the door, Your Eminence?”

Kesthis was once more the one to speak to me. Admittedly, he was a fair bit more mature than my Demon Generals, and when compared to the other two lieutenant generals, he was indeed the one to turn to in any situation that required diplomacy.

After all, Grink was a musclehead through and through, while Selaia could not keep up a conversation.

Meanwhile, both Saniel and Evyna, the two others one might turn to, were complete rookies.

But—

“No, that is quite alright, Kesthis. She is my friend. I shall be the one to greet her.”

“Understood, Your Eminence.”

“Put a good word for me in, ‘kay?” Lilith said as she emerged from the carriage my Demon Generals were using. It seemed she had left her book inside.

Soon after her, the other three appeared, as well.

With a resigned expression, I stepped forward and knocked on the door.

“Comin’~” a voice called out from inside.

And a few moments later, the majestic doors were opened from the inside by—

A purple-haired, purple-eared, purple-tailed, purple-eyed catgirl in a purple robe.

Yes, a robe that was undoubtedly sleepwear.

“...”

“...”

The next moment, she was wearing a purple uniform. Not quite like the style I usually employed in my uniforms, but still rather pleasing, with a tall hat and a double-breasted coat.

Yet there was something different about her current appearance to how I remembered her looking. Sure, it may have been several years since I last saw her, but something this blatant, I would have remembered.

That is, she looked almost like a glitching computer graphic.

Well, if one considered her race’s origins, it was not all that surprising, nor was it so surprising that I only just became able to see it, so I decided to pay it no mind.

“Asty! You really came!”

Before I had time to respond, her arms were wrapped around me. Indeed, this was a hug.

A very, very tight hug.

And with that momentum, she would have tackled me and pushed me over had I been a normal person.

Her purring was loud enough to shatter the heavens.

“Indeed I did, Cy,” I said, forcing a smirk.

She seemed to finally notice there were other people around, because she separated herself from me—not. She just moved her face away a little to have a look around.

And thus, she spotted—

“Ohmigosh she’s so cute! Even cuter in real life than through the crystal!”

Before I could get my thoughts in order, Cy had already separated from me, and was now wrapped around Davna, instead.

And then she spotted Asami, and thus clung to her.

And like that, she flitted from person to person until every ‘cute’ person—something must have been wrong with her definition of cute, since that list included not just Selaia, but also Kesthis and Grink—had received a hug.

Eventually, she presented herself to me once more.

“Ah, sorry about that,” she said, her hand behind her head as she laughed out of shame.

Kesthis had looked almost dignified when he did the same, half an hour ago.

Cy just looked like an idiot.

“Anyway, you really did bring an entire army with you, didn’t you… When you go for something, you go all-out, huh?”

“Cy, you have known me for more than ten years, even if several of those consisted of radio silence. Surely you have managed to identify such a basic facet of my personality by now.”

“Well, I guess that’s true… So if you have such a big army with you, I guess you won’t be stoppin’ by for tea? Guess I was hopin’ for too much… Sorry. I know you’re busy ‘n all, I just wanted to catch up…”

With an expression that was clearly her trying to force a smile, and failing spectacularly, she directed her gaze at the ground.

“Did I ever say that?”

“Huh?”

“Well, there is no time right now, but… Once we return, I will take my Demon Generals and come have tea with you. I will even invite Entropy, if it pleases you.”

“Really?!”

Her eyes sparkled like a child’s. Oh, what I would give to see her expression if I said ‘no’. But even my bullying habits had a time and place.

“Really.”

Once more, I found myself the subject of a tight hug. Her purring was even louder than before, and she practically looked like she would glitch straight through me.

With a bit of an awkward smile on my face, I stuck my hand under her hat and gave her a few pats.

And then she froze in place.

“H-hey, Asty. Did I mishear something just now?”

“How am I supposed to know?”

“Right, right. Then, uh… Didya just call En ‘Entropy’? Like, without the ‘Lady’?”

“Indeed I did?”

“Asty, are you okay?!”

With a rude, legitimately concerned expression, she seized my collar.

“How rude. I am just fine.”

I grabbed her hands and pulled her off me.

“If anything, it would be stranger of me to continue calling her ‘Lady Entropy’.”

“Don’t tell me, you two…”

A few moments of silence as she looked at me—

“Congratulations! When’s the wedding?”

Followed by a bright smile that did not reach her eyes and a clearly mean-spirited question.

“Why do you think I am so reluctant to meet you, Cy? Five minutes. It has been five minutes, and you are back to this—!”

“Well, what’re you expectin’ when you drop a bomb like that?! Give a girl some warning! I don’t even have a present for you two!”

“Knowing you, any present you actually prepare would be better not to have! I can guess what the present you mentioned in your letter is, and I will take that and be done with it.”

“How mean! Is this how you treat someone you haven’t seen in several years?!”

“Same to you, I cannot even imagine what kind of curse you would cook up under the guise of a gift!”

“Master’s shouting, but he has such a bright smile! How come?”

“There are some things you should not ask, Davna.”

I decided to pay no attention to Davna and Tempest’s conversation in the background. Eventually, however, I was interrupted by a hand on my shoulder.

“Erm… Boss?”

It was Grink, the green mass of muscle otherwise called a War Ogre. Whereas Kesthis just barely managed to fit inside my carriage, I could not assume the same would hold true for Grink—he probably just would not fit.

“Yes, Grink?”

“Could you, er… Maybe introduce us t’ the girl? Even if you tell us t’ follow her instructions, you’re not exactly inspiring confidence, here…”

Resident musclehead Grink, making a valid point.

What had the world come to.

“Right… Well, that is true. Cy, over here.”

Without awaiting a response, I tugged her in my direction and put her next to me.

“Everyone. This girl will be our guide. The great sage and the only currently existing Grimalkin—this is Cyci.”

Her salute was terrible.