Knock! Knock!

When Melody opened the door for the mysterious knocker, she didn’t expect to meet Phillips Odysseus.

“Hello, Phillip,” Melody switched to the kindly teacher mode. “What do you need?”

“I think I found what I wanted,” Phillip said with renew determination in his eyes. “I need to meet with that strategist.”

“You need to wait for a while, he is out scouting.”

“No need.”

The two saw Rem walking to the house with a stack of papers in hand. The Knight of Dawn looked exhausted. They could have sworn he did a lap around the country. It was a guess that wasn’t far off. Rem spent chunks of his returned trip monitoring the area around the Acropolis settlement, beating bandits and helping travelers. Dream got more thing from Napoleon Bonaparte than military wisdom; namely the backbone to enter the ditch with his army.

“So, what is your answer?” Rem pumped himself up for one more conversation.

…

Acropolis’ Barrack was divided into two parts. A cozy sleeping quarter that recruits could freely decorate as they saw fits. Originally, there were three quarters, but the recent improvement in both food qualities and lectures’ quality saw the increase in permanent participants. Although Melody and Luxinna increased the training rigor to match the demand, the circuit of hell, gravity machine and atmospheric Mana manipulator did little to deter the recruitment rise.

Helping those numbers was the Dawn’s refusal to believe in measuring talent with a glowing orb.

If you have a brain, you can be trained. If you have a heart, you have a will. Thus, the training was open to everyone regardless of race and station. You only need to come with one thing; the willingness to be a true citizen of Acropolis. And no, the citizenship wasn’t a certificate written by Rem and approved by Cytortia; it was the willingness to protect the spirit of Acropolis’ settlement to the last constitutional brick; to defend freedom, dignity and unity of this newfound home, so anyone with a willingness to start anew under the law would have every opportunity to do so. Yes, Rem partially ripped that off from America’s founding, but if the wheel worked you don’t reinvent it every time.

For that reason, the mascot and symbol of Acropolis United Militia (AUM) from its founding early days as a settlement to the most powerful nation wasn’t a lion, a dragon or a bald eagle, but a honey badger. An animal whose, despite its size, was famous for its inability to die, courage that shamed the lions and the balls that earned Rem’s respect. Seriously, Rem was almost ashamed for their species that Scathach disguised herself as one. The goddess probably made for the meekest badger alive. The real honey badger would rather die arguing with Rem than submit, and Rem pretty sure it would extract its weight worth in calories before it past.

“Is that rodent your mascot?” Phillips was confused at the flag stationed in the sparsely decorated commander-in-chief room Rem occupied.

“That rodent fights off apex predator 10 times its size, and possesses such credit big cats that can hit 130 Km per hour in running speed disguises as it to survive to adulthood,” Rem listed the basic honey badger fact. “Their cousin is among the most devious and smartest mammal in the natural hierarchy. You will be well to respect the rodent. If they learn how to use magic weapons, I will give them half a decade to enslave elves and kick the Olympian off Mt. Olympus within fifteen years.”

Phillip glanced at Melody.

“He wasn’t joking,” Melody said, recalling the video about Stoffel. “Those things are smarter than most people I know.”

Phillip looked at the rodent flag with wariness.

“Anyway, time for you to pitch. What is the miracle bullet you will give me that will somehow persuade me to go on an assault?” Rem said.

Phillip stared at Rem’s eyes. The eyes color wasn’t natural. The effect of the Center Force already bleached his eyes and turned it into a darker shade of grey. Sooner or later, Rem’s cornea would be dyed unnatural white, divorced completely from humanity. Yet, despite the inevitable demise, what Phillip found within the greyness is a shade of unyielding light. He gulped, but he won’t back down.

“You are right. I never want to save Centuria. Frankly, I think if we are honest with each, letting it be wiped out in a clean slate will bode well for everyone involved”

“Kinda obvious,” Rem said.

Phillips sighed. With his back fully cornered, this was the moment. Either he succeed and lived, or walked out of the wall and die. The moment he admitted this was the moment he put his metaphysical nut on the chopping block. He either died as a man or fold as a fungus. It would be impossible to take back what he was about to say.

“I only want to save one person. I can’t let her die. I know she is in an impossible situation. I know the chance to rescue her is nigh-impossible, but I can’t throw her away,” Phillip spoke with grimed certainty.

“I made a vow to myself that day.”

…

It was a sunny day in Centuria’s capital when a girl walked through Phillip’s shop.

“Hello,” the girl said shyly. “I am interest in what you are selling.”

She had an auburn hair tied into a twin tail, shy smile and the eyes as bright as a star.

Phillip responded over the counter, “Magic Item is over the chest counter, but we are mainly specialized in redistributing imports. Oh, I am Phillips, by the way, nice to meet you.”

The girl looked at the boy for a solid minute, “Are you a bit too young to do business?”

“Can’t help it. My parents already died and left me this shop,” Phillips shrugged.

“I am sorry,” the girl sympathized.

“Don’t worry, so what is your name?” Phillip looked at the girl. “And how can I help you?”

“My name is Penny.”

…

“She isn’t even trying with the name,” Phillip commented toward the lamest disguise he ever seen. “Took away the twin tail and replaced the town girl dresses with a gaudy clothes at it is pretty much obvious. It took me less than a week to work out the ruler of the country just visited my shabby store in a disguise.”

“Let me guess,” Rem said. “You keep it a secret to build connections.”

“At first,” Phillips admitted. “But she is damn innocent. It is almost painful.”

…

“So, what is business like?” Penelope swallowed down a cotton candy. “Are you happy here?”

“Well, the ruler could be doing a worst job,” Phillip eyed said ruler completely oblivious to the charade wouldn’t fool anyone. “There is corruption here and there, but I believe the Princess still doing great. Who knows? The king might recover soon.”

“Really?” Penny looked down at the ground. “I think the royalties are complete failures.”

Phillip was surprised the very Princess of the nation admitted that. He expected her to be a little more pompous and this burst of humility caught him between the eyes.

“The king’s health is getting worse,” Penny was visibly biting back tears. “The courts are like a band of wild animals, and the Princess doesn’t even know how to do anything.” Penny made a self-depreciating complaint. “It is almost inevitable Centuria will flip upside down. I don’t know what to do anymore. I am scared.”

Phillips Odysseus glanced at the crowd of travelling passerby. Beside him on the wooden bench by the sidewalk, the Princess-in-disguise sat petrify by an uncertain future.

“You speak like you are the Princess.”

“…”

“Now, assuming I am sitting to the Princess,” Phillips opened a little of his heart toward the girl facing an impossible future. “I will tell her to do what she believe in. She is a stronger person than she looks. The fact she cares enough to worry about us already meant a lot to most people I know.”

With that, a little girl smiled, “You know what I want to see.”

“I am listening.”

“I want to see this every day,” Penny looked at the busy crowd in the marketplace. “Where I com from everything is so tense and stuffy. The pressure and the constant lying in my home are really draining, but every time I come here, some of those weights are lifted from my shoulder.”

“There you go,” Phillips grinned. “I believe you find your footing.”

…

“She is bumbling to a fault,” Phillips recalled. “But I want to believe in her even when the deck is so absurdly stack. If there is anyone who deserves to be happy, it is that goofy little girl.”

…

It was gloomy that night.

Penny came to his shop suddenly and asked him to accompany her on a night date. Dazed and confused, the dumbfounded Phillip walked along the street. Something ominous was coming. The gravity pressing on this usually bubbly girl was all he needed to know. Nothing about that night was moderately fine.

In the street lighted with lamp and tensed atmosphere, the young girl finally said what she needed to say.

“My father passed away yesterday. This is a least time we will ever meet.”

“Why?”

Penny refused to meet his eyes, “I am forced to inherit the family business.”

That massage was all Phillip needed to hear. The king had passed away and Penny was up to inherit the throne. Given the amount of workload and burdened of the entire nation that upon to land on her shoulder, she wouldn’t have another opportunity to make a carefree visit like this. Compounded with the fact this girl had lost her father, miserable was the correct word to describe her.

Beneath the gaze of the full moon, Phillip wanted to shed tears. He had no ideas where this burst of emotion came from, but still, his face remained dry, “Are there another way?”

“Every other successor is way worse than I am.”

Phillip absorbed that in, “Are you happy with this?”

“Not at all,” Penny’s face was filled with despair.

“Hey, Penny,” Phillip tried to smile at the girl. “I know it will be hard, but whatever happens, just do your best. I am rooting for you.”

Penny’s face lighted up for a moment, “Yeah, it will give it my all.”

…

Phillip’s eyes were filled with the fire of a thousand suns, “Centuria could fall and I would agree it has a decent run, but I can’t accept Penny as the sacrifice on the altar of progress. I know it is selfish, but I can’t take that. I love her and I want to be happy. The world may disagree with that option. Fate itself might want to screw her over as a final hurrah, but I have another thing to say.”

Rem looked at the man who finally found the hill to stand on, “You know you must fight through the army to rescue her, right? She a symbolic prize to the duke rule.”

“Yeah, the duke won’t give her up without a fight,” Phillip agreed, but remained undentable. “And the scary thing is I am fine with that. The moment I admit I value one person above my country, well, I no longer fear dying.”

“Even when she might not be the same,” Rem pointed out the genuinely dreadful possibility. “The bloodline of the previous dynasty is quite a scary tool to legitimate their control. If the Duke forces her into a marriage, it will attract many traditionalists. Mind Control. Drug. Torture. There are fifteen million ways they can break Penelope. Assuming, we can even take her back, the Penny you know might already be gone.”

Phillips took a solid minute to accept Rem’s words, “My friend promised she will do her best. Penny might have already fallen, but even then, I have to know. I know I might be up for a crushing disappoint. I accept that, prepare for that, but it won’t change the fact I will take the march of faith.”

“And why do you think I will march alongside you,” Rem asked the trick question.

“Because you are here to save the people, aren’t you?” Phillip said. “It should be obvious, but you want me to arrive at this answer on my own. You already plan to rescue Penelope from the very start, right?”

“Guess, the facet pure motivation can sharpen the mind is true because you are certainly smarter than you were,” Rem commended.

“What is in it for you?” Phillip asked. “I know where I stand, but what about you?”

Rem smirked, “You think we are a philanthropist with an agenda,” Rem said. “You are half-right. If you call serving a higher ideal an agenda, you will be fully correct. We are a secret Order found to protect all that is beautiful in this world. For that purpose, no hill is insurmountable, impossible is a suggestion, and numbers is irrelevant.”

Melody stood and walked toward the exit. The Dawn had cometh. She needed to prepare the rest.

“The beauty of a soul cannot be priced,” Rem said. “And thus, there is nothing that should be protected more than a bond between them. That bond you have with the princess worth more than a country or the delusion of grandeur from the three morons. Congratulations, kid, your feeling for the Princess summon a force of nature, be sure to treasure it.”

“You have an army to fight those dukes?”

“Sorry, kiddo, but we can’t ask the garrison to march toward suicide mission,” Rem said. “Instead, you get every combat active member of the Dawn. We are still lucky. Interrogation of Promtus indicates out that Acrisius didn’t touch the Penelope, yet. With Kakia incapacitated, the risk toward the girl drop sharply. We recently eavesdropper some of Acrisius’ troops and all the military activity pointed to a preparation of a serious march toward the Hidden Vault. With the key remaining with Atlanta, I believed Acrisius knew alternate method to open the vault and preliminary investigation we performed on the Leyline after a certain tip off from an anonymous source more or less spell out they needed Penelope’s contract with the land to pull it off. Said source also stated that they needed at least a month of submerging her inside the Mana to loosen the contract for a removal. That is our attack window.”

Phillip blinked. Those were very concise detail.

Rem knew what he was thinking, “Dude, we haven’t been slacking on the job. Oh, and we also provided an accelerated training course for you. You vow to protect the girl, and we will ensure you will earn the strength to do so. You make a promise to yourself, and as a man, you should fulfill that by your two hands.”

“That is the plan,” Phillip asked. “Ambush Acrisius’ army next month?”

“We aren’t ambushing them. As I say, our only target is Penelope. It will be a basic snatch and grab, with side quest to blow up the Vault. Plus, you are wrong, Eurytheus and Minos have spies in Acrisius’ rank. It will be naïve to think they won’t be moving too.”

“All three?” Phillips said. “That a solid 250000 troops plus every S-rankers in Starland.”

“268,000” Rem corrected.

Then his voice tuned to a chill, “Still, I can’t see how that is our problem. For where I sit, there are only two results in this. Either the entire military force of a country humbly gets out of our way or we move them. The result will be the same.”

Phillip nodded. After accepting his feeling, the notion of a quarter million solders being laid to waste barely bother him.