[Book 12: Boundary Belligerent]

Gaius, who was on a tour in Countess Reinford’s territory with Isabelle, frowned. He hadn’t felt the disturbance in the Great Divide last night, as he was fast asleep — locally speaking, the Great Divide had crumbled away at around three or four a.m., so the fact that he hadn’t felt it was natural.

“Are you going over now?” Isabelle asked.

“Not alone, that’s for sure.” He tweaked her noise. The two had ambled down to the first floor of a nice inn Reinford had recommended when they woke up, only to be slapped in the face by the premature destruction of the Great Divide.

“Good that you remember your promises.” Scooping out some porridge, she raised the spoon to his mouth. “Say ‘aah.’”

Personally, Gaius didn’t know what to feel about him flirting away with Isabelle in the morning after the Demon God attacked, but he had wasted more than enough time in worrying about his destiny and duty. There was a time for everything, and this was the time to be with her.

After swallowing the spoonful of porridge, which Isabelle had taken the liberty to puff on for a few seconds, Gaius reciprocated the gesture, ignoring the scandalised gazes that came from the other customers in the inn.

“If only I had more information,” Gaius muttered. “I don’t want to cut short this period with you, but the Demon God’s forces cannot win if we are to have a future.”

“You’ve been saying that ever since we left on this honeymoon,” Isabelle replied. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay,” the Lost Star replied. “What happens if we don’t get a private room?”

“Again, why is that your priority?”

After trading a few more jokes, the two finished up the giant couple’s bowl of porridge, which was a speciality that apparently all inns in the Reinford County had. Their baggage was already packed and sitting beside them; an unspoken consensus that they would head over to the so-called Hall of Guardians located in the Heaven-cleaving Fortress.

“Nexus?” Gaius asked, as the two of them stepped out of the inn.

“The demon armies have shown no sign of movement ever since they encircled and annihilated the Stabiliser’s reinforcements,” the artificial intelligence replied. “Hereward himself remains in battle with the Demon Sovereign, while the other great gods and the Demon God are fighting somewhere beyond Orb.”

“If that’s the case, the Heaven-cleaving Fortress should still be standing, right?” Isabelle asked.

“It’s not just standing,” Nexus replied. “It’s positively armed to the brim. It seems that the initial strategy of the Five Lands was to prevent the demons from crossing over from the Wildlands, but…”

“But?” Isabelle prompted.

Gaius couldn’t help but appreciate her worry. She wasn’t worried for the Five Lands; she was worried about the fight Gaius was going to get embroiled in, and that sentiment made him happy, but he did feel bad that she was getting worried about him.

It was…quite a contradictory set of emotions.

“Did I not mention it to you?” Nexus asked. “About how the Demon Sovereign expanded the land bridge that connected the Wildlands to the Five Lands?”

“Nope,” Gaius replied.

“Hmm. That’s odd.” The little sculpture, which was sitting on Gaius’ shoulder, tilted its head.

“Maybe you forgot about it,” Gaius replied.

“Maybe,” Nexus answered. “But basically, the first wave of demons came through the original, narrow land bridge, which the Five Lands exploited to inflict disproportionate casualties. Then the Demon Sovereign showed up, forcibly widened and strengthened the area, before trying to crush everyone on the other side as a cherry on top.”

Gaius didn’t know how the little fellow was able to retell stories of such gravitas into something like a children’s tale, but a talent was a talent, no matter what.

“What’s the situation like over there, then?”

“The demons’ vanguard…well, the forces the Five Lands were facing off were evidently a vanguard. I’m…looking down from above, using the Map of Stars, and…”

Nexus was uncharacteristically hesitant.

“Spill it out,” said Gaius.

“Well, there’s…lots of demons. Like, millions or something. Remember how I told you that they aren’t making a move?” Nexus asked. “It’s not that they aren’t making a move, but they can’t. There’s no more space to move on, except forward, into range of the Heaven-cleaving Fortress’ defences.”

Gaius didn’t know what to make of that.

From Isabelle’s blank expression, it was clear that she didn’t either.

“Forget it,” said Nexus. “You’ll understand when you get there. Anyway, you aren’t the only gobsmacked fellows. Right now, thousands of Knights and tens of Lords from all over the Five Lands are rushing to the Heaven-cleaving Fortress, and the looks of their faces when they get close is more entertaining than the last.”

Reminding himself to keep a straight face when they arrived, Gaius headed over to a park. The Westen Holdings — or at least, Reinford County — had a penchant for kites. Such a penchant was obvious even to Gaius, who had only been in the Holdings for one and a half days, and right now, in the middle of the park, tens of kids were flying kites.

Pulling Isabelle over to an empty bench, Gaius looked up into the sky.

“You don’t seem rushed for time,” Isabelle noted.

“Funny, isn’t it?” He shook his head. “I’ve lived the past few months in anticipation of a deadline, but now that the deadline has shifted forward…mm. To say that I feel cheated, swindled and hoodwinked is quite the understatement.”

“They all mean the same thing, silly.” Flicking his forehead lightly, Isabelle pulled out a small bottle of iced tea and handed it to Gaius.

“Are you telling me to chill out?” Chuckling, Gaius took a sip, before handing it back to Isabelle. “I’ll just sit around here for another hour or so first, though. It’s not going to make a difference anyway.”

“Well, so long as you don’t ask for an extension…”