As it turned out, walking while lost in thought had a nasty habit of making even a grown man into a lost child. While in a state of minor despair over the issues that had taken hold of the Republic and how even someone like him was being targeted by beastfolk supremacists, Aziz had accidentally gotten himself lost in the fortress.

“Great,” Aziz muttered, looking out at the Great Divide, “just what I need.”

The opaque black ring stuck inside the Great Divide was still as visible as ever, but after a few days of absolutely nothing, the fear and alarm within the fortress’ inhabitants had dropped to a more manageable level. The guards and observers posted all around the place had been reduced, but the troops here were still on high alert.

Three hundred and forty-two thousand troops on high alert. It was an impressive number, considering that the standing army of the Republic was only one-third of that. The numbers here were mostly made up of infantry from the Eastern Territories, who had been spared from utter devastation as few of them took part in Operation Spring Fury.

The sheer numbers of the Eastern troops were really amazing, now that Aziz though about it. Despite having most of their aerial troops wiped out in Spring Fury, they had managed to churn out another huge batch despite being in the middle of a civil war and then an intervention staged by the Mortal Light Dynasty. The Southern Assembly had contributed quite a good amount too, despite having a good number of their professional soldiers slaughtered during the Republic’s founding war.

Once the war was over, would these troops take aim at other countries? The survivors would be elites of the elites, hardened soldiers baptised in blood and death. If post-war preparations weren’t handled well, it wouldn’t take long for a new war to break out.

“Tch. Why am I thinking about such complicated things?”

“Perhaps it’s because you like thinking about them, little mortal,” a voice, pumped to the brim with natural pride, replied to him.

Starting in shock, Aziz turned around to see a man with long blue hair, who was sporting blue clothes, armour and even a blue sword. A small hairband tied his flowing azure hair into a ponytail, and he was holding a small bun in his hand.

“Oh, it’s a small bun.”

Paragon Abele, one of the late Conrah’s familiar spirits, blinked at those words. “Insect, do you have an issue with small buns?”

Ignoring what the Paragon called him, Aziz replied, “It’s just that I’ve seen two huuuuge buns in the canteen today. I was going to beat someone if I saw a third huge bun or something.”

“Huge bun? How huge?”

“This huge,” Aziz replied, drawing out the circumference of the damn thing Marie and Eventide had brought back to the table. “Anyway, Paragon Abele, what brings you to this fortress?”

“You know me?” The Paragon blinked his blue eyes. “Wait, now that I think about it, you do seem rather familiar. Who are you again?”

It was Aziz’s turn to blink. “Wait. Let me get this straight. You’ve been butting into other people’s monologues and whatnot, even though you don’t know them? Where do you get all that courage to do so? Don’t you feel awkward?”

“The great Abele never feels awkward.” He grinned. “You look very familiar, though. I demand that you pardon me for forgetting your name, however. Insects look the same to me, no matter what. It is hard to differentiate between flies.”

Aziz felt his eyebrow twitch. “How did you just insult everyone here without actually blinking an eye?”

“Because Abele is just an idiot, Aziz. You’re…still a colonel, right?” Another voice spoke, but Aziz didn’t even get to look for the source before it came crashing down on the Paragon’s head.

“You’re…Paragon Maylin? And yes, I’m still very much a colonel, I’m afraid. My guaranteed yearly promotion benefit expired three years ago,” Aziz replied, a grin on his face.

“The one and only.” Paragon Maylin, who was wearing blue for just about everything, grinned back, before stamping her feet on the Paragon underneath her. “Abele, if you dare to look up my skirt, I’ll teach you a few secret techniques the Lord passed to the more competent familiar spirits.”

Abele struggled violently at those words.

“With my fists.”

The resistance he was putting up vanished instantly.

“Excellent. Now stay down while I apologise for your overbearing rudeness to Aziz here, who I presume was monologuing to himself when you jumped in to interrupt his thoughts.” Maylin cleared her throat. “Colonel Aziz of the Republic, I formally apologise to you for the disturbance caused by my idiotic brethren.”

“It’s okay. No harm done. And Abele’s a rather cool guy under all that bravado anyway,” Aziz replied.

“Insect, are you—argh!”

Aziz winced at how Paragon Maylin trampled Abele’s mouth into the ground to shut him up. “Brutal.”

“It’s something you get used to after three years,” said Maylin. “He mouths off to virtually anyone he meets in this fortress. Your Minister Eventide, for instance, was soundly insulted as ‘a bug’, ‘an insect’, ‘lowly mortal’, ‘foolish mayfly’ and ‘edgy precocious child’ within three minutes of their interaction.”

“Uh.” Aziz opened his mouth, and then closed it shortly afterwards, lost for words.

“So I had to beat him up,” Paragon Maylin replied with a sigh. “Why does he keep doing this? He’s not a goldfish! He’s a Paragon made by the late Lord! He’s supposed to be capable of pattern recognition and basic politeness!”

Abele’s body, now in a small crater, twitched.

“Maybe you should let him up for now,” said Aziz. “He looks like he’s in discomfort.”

“Are you sure?” Maylin asked. “He might go off on an insulting spree again.”

“He’s making googly eyes at me,” Aziz replied, “and that’s not something I really want to see on a grown adult, let alone a Paragon.”

“Googly eyes?” Maylin stepped off his body and picked Abele up by the neck to examine up close. “They do seem rather watery, true. Have you learned your lesson yet?”

Abele quivered.

“You’re somewhat strangling him now, Paragon.”

She let out a squeal and released Abele, dropping him like a sack of potatoes. At this sight, Aziz finally understood that it wasn’t just Abele who was an oddball; Paragon Maylin was one too. She was probably the strongest combatant in their team, but she probably didn’t know how to…not go overboard.

What a cute bunch… Aziz rolled his eyes. “You should take care of him. I’ll go wander around the fortress.”