I spent the better part of the day alone at the center of the War Room, mentally repying the battle and mulling over what happened. How could it have slipped my mind? As I remembered what became of the two Dragon Rider Commanders, the horrible wounds and burns fshed through my mind ever so vividly. Those two fought against an Imperial Commander, and that was the result.

  At Fort Vozal, I heard from the Company ter on that the Commander died in action when Lucia fired her spell. I also came to learn that the second-in-command was killed in battle when they invaded the forest, so perhaps that skewed my vision a bit. I truly underestimated them, I thought with a heavy sigh. On top of that, I had dirtied my hands once again, and this time, for all my men to see.

  "A leader must not dirty his hands, Dougs," My uncle's words were sharp and painful at the moment, almost as if he were rebuking me in person.

  "I know. You're supposed to get others to do the dirty work for you while keeping your hands clean," I muttered my thoughts and sighed again, thinking, How are they going to see me from now on? And will they remain loyal? But a familiar, unexpected voice jolted me back to reality,

  "That's an interesting philosophy. Sounds like something he'd say."

  "Isis?!" She was standing in a corner of the room with her arms crossed.

  "It's been a while, Daphne," She greeted me with a smile. How did I not notice? I wondered as she approached me. "Don't worry," She began, "I altered their memories of the event."

  "You what?"

  "Let's just say, they remember things differently now. To them, someone else decapitated him and announced his defeat," She expined as I stood there frozen in shock.

  "H-h-how many skills do you have?" I asked.

  "That's a secret," She replied with a pyful, seductive wink. "I love what you did here. With this, the Empire will be forced to fight for her honor, and all eyes will be on you," She changed the topic but still nded on a particurly concerning point. "You'll need all the help you can get moving forward, and I'd love to repay you for everything you've done for Kathryn. My daughter has truly blossomed into an incredible warrior," She said, her voice full of motherly affection.

  "You're going to help me?" I couldn't believe my luck.

  "Yes, I and my girls have already started spreading the information to other countries."

  "Thank you, I was so worried about that!" I hugged her out of excitement but soon realized my mistake. If those Wujia guards were to see this, I'd be killed in a heartbeat, I thought to myself as I quickly separated myself from her, saying, "Sorry, I... got a little too excited there."

  "No, it's fine," She said. "I do like you, so I could let you do more." There it is. That ferocious glint in her eye was the other thing I was worried about.

  "Oh, um, I'm already in a retionship, so..." She looked a tad bit disappointed but still accepted it with grace as she asked,

  "What are you going to do next? Where are you going to go from here?"

  "I'd love to cause more of a stir by conquering more Forts, but... I don't want to fight another Commander like that," I admitted. Even with our combined effort, we barely won against him. If I hadn't brought those weapons along... I didn't even want to think about it.

  "There's no need for concern. You won't encounter another Commander like Fargus," She stated quite confidently.

  "How can you be so sure?" I asked.

  "He was a former Corps Commander renowned for his near-impenetrable defenses." Former Corps Commander?! "He went by many names in his heyday: The Rock, Juggernaut, The Moving Fort, and many more. He must have maxed out his HP and P.DEF stats. "Growing weary of battle, he asked the Emperor if he could be relegated to the back, and he obliged."

  "Just like that?" I asked, finding it somewhat hard to believe.

  "Yes, he was one of the Emperor's closest friends." It was a lot to digest. "You truly achieved an incredible feat. Very few people would've been able to defeat him, even as a group," She praised me, but her praise rang hollow in my ears.

  "You give me too much credit. I'm just a weak Ranger who manages to get lucky from time to time."

  "If that's what you want to believe, I won't argue with you, but know that... under his service, you'll become far more powerful than you ever thought possible," She said before vanishing into mist, leaving me there wondering, Who is he?

  Kureous

  [colpse]