After his warning, Major Igor vanished into the sea of people, which had started moving around and mingling with others. Most of them were simply seeking out people of the opposite gender for some reason, but a few were milling around, near the radiant shadows of the great gods and staring at them as they conversed with each other.

“Do the great gods keep in regular contact with each other?” Aziz wondered out loud.

Marie hiccupped again. “From what we know, not really. Most of the time, the great gods are apparently sleeping. And no one really knows either, since it’s their private life.”

“I haven’t forgotten those familiar spirits we met while going back to the South, though,” said Aziz. “Maybe they’re the ones responsible for communication between the great gods, although given how the Breath-Maker was able to listen in on their scandalous talk, I don’t really put much stock in that theory.”

“Or maybe there’s limitations to conversations that take place from one Divine Kingdom to another,” Marie suggested. “Maybe we could ask them about it. Could be useful for the upcoming war.”

“You ask.”

Marie cleared her throat. “As your immediate superior, I order you to ask the great gods.”

“I formally protest this abuse of power, ma’am. I will make a note of my protest and send it— ow!” Aziz rubbed his shoulder. “Can I not? One look from them and I’ll probably be drifting ash!”

“And you’d think I’ll fare better?” Marie asked.

“But you can definitely get someone else to do it!” he replied. “Just push it to Warmaster Eventide, and this matter’s no longer our issue!”

“True, but…” Marie had a conflicted face, one that was clearly a battlefield between duty and aversion. Aziz’s eyes twinkled — this was the best time to convince her. With his brain running at two hundred percent, the colonel soon came up with the best solution.

“Besides,” he said, “Eventide’s a Lord. He’ll be far better equipped to resist anything the great gods toss at him. And as the Minister of War, the great gods are unlikely to do anything to him, unless they want to piss off the first few lines of defence.”

“That’s…not wrong,” Marie murmured. “And he isn’t as high profile as the two of us, the leaders of the Republic’s airborne forces.”

“Exactly, exactly,” Aziz replied, giving himself a healthy pat on the back.

“In that case, we’ll drag him along to talk to the great gods!” The marshal nodded to herself in satisfaction. “He’s not going to stand and watch if anything really happens to us.”

Aziz blanked out for a moment. “Even if they don’t make a move on us now, it’s possible that they might leave a mark or delayed attack on our bodies! Right now, our biggest protection is that we aren’t people they care about. Stepping up to talk to them is just going to make them notice us!”

“But I want to know how the great gods talk!”

“Then use a recording crystal or something! We have so many artefacts!” Aziz downed another glass of water. “C’mon, let’s go back to the table and bring this up subtly. If something happens to you or me halfway through our trip home, the Republic’s going to be in big trouble!”

“But—”

“No buts!” Aziz grabbed her shoulders and forcibly steered her back to the table where the others were eating, drawing a few odd looks from everyone present. After making a few excuses and some small talk, Aziz forced Marie back onto her seat, ignoring her aggrieved gaze. He’d used the excuse that she was still somewhat asleep to make her seat down obediently, thereby preserving her life and his own.

And of course, Minister Pauline had given him all the help he needed, through a nicely-worded order to seat and enjoy the desserts, before launching into an explanation of the famous desserts of the Five Lands. Within moments, both ladies were engrossed in their conversation, and it was in such a fashion that the hours drifted by.

Thankfully, Minister Pauline seemed to have heard his inner prayer, and after her presentation on the Five Lands’ famous desserts, she moved on to the North’s meat cuisine and talked about the effects of a high protein diet on soldiers, which immediately got Marie fired up.

And so, the banquet ended without Aziz being dragged over to talk to the great gods, which was good for his heart. As the guests began to leave, the colonel cleaned off his last plate of ice-cream and followed the rest out.

A voice whispered in his ear as he stepped out with the others. “Remember to come over to the vault at nine.”

His body twitched at the unexpected sound transmission, and the colonel looked around closely. His eyes fell on Pinnacle Kolya a moment later, who had a warm smile on his face. The ruler of the North winked once as their eyes met, and Aziz immediately understood that the Pinnacle was already aware of his presence. A moment later, Pinnacle Kolya turned to look at another direction, and someone else twitched.

This Kolya seems to be quite the weird guy…like he’s acting mysterious and all. Why use this method to remind us? The colonel rolled his eyes. He would never dream of using such cheap tactics to show off or to impress others, definitely not. The way the Pinnacle did it was too crass.

“Something wrong?” Marie asked.

“No, nothing. It’s just that I remembered that I’m supposed to claim my own treasure from the Holy Temple’s vault,” Aziz replied. “Have you gotten one from there too?”

“Got a small armguard two days ago,” she replied. “But I had to use a whole lot of one-use artefacts to pass the trial. But from Igor’s words…such a strong opponent doesn’t seem natural. It was almost as if I was fighting that boy once again.”

Aziz lowered his voice. “Gaius?”

“Yeah. But you’ll only understand once you try it for yourself.”

The colonel glanced at Marie, and then followed behind the departing delegates of the Republic in silence.