"Silvaria?"

"Ahaha~ sorry I didn't state it the first time. My name is Serilla Silvaria, formally a Lunarts. My sister, as you can now tell, her full name is Lucia Silvaria, formally a Yukihime. We changed our last names after we married our husband."

"..."

"..."

Fatima couldn't believe her ears. These two girls were Silvarias. She wasn't sure how many 'Silvaria' families there were out there, but from what she found out; there was no precedent or any present family in any of the native human powers that had her family's name.

This could only mean one thing... the person who was their husband was without a doubt a person from her family. None of her brothers have gotten married yet, they were all still single. As for all her male cousins, the ones that had gotten married recently had already introduced their wives to the main family so Fatima knew about their spouses.

She's never seen a Silvaria man marry the two girls that she had just befriended, so there was only one conclusion that Fatima could arrive at...

"S-Serilla, that husband of yours, what's his name?"

"Hm? We didn't tell you? His name is—"

"Your Highness, we've spotted a larger force of Merkruz soldiers in the distance to the northwest of us! They're heading straight our way at top speed! Please give us an order, Your Highness!"

"What?!"

Their talk was interrupted when a soldier had approached the group and informed them of another update.

Serilla turned her attention towards the direction that the soldier reported and enhanced her sight. She could see a large company of soldiers and monsters indeed heading their way. She made a rough estimate of about 3000 thousand soldiers and 5000 monsters of varying ranks.

"There are about 3000 soldiers and around 5000 monsters ranging from rank D-B," Serilla reported.

"Huh?" Rowan immediately frowned when he heard the woman's words. He was a little skeptical at the report since she was obviously next to them and had only observed the approaching force for a moment earlier.

"Trust me, Your Highness. I have abilities that aren't just limited to combat."

"...We pull back. They caught wind of Fatima heading back out to the frontlines, I'm sure they're trying to prevent her from aiding our main force because they are afraid she'll lead us to another victory. As for the remnants of the Merkruz forces, leave them behind!"

"Yes, Your Highness!" The soldier saluted before he went back to report to his Prince's orders to the commanding officer.

Rowan took out a horn and blew into it. A magic formation formed just above the horn and amplified the sound. Hearing the signal for retreat, the Prince's soldiers immediately started retreating and regrouping back with the Prince.

Serilla separated from the Fatima and her group and made her way back towards the Wanderer. Lucia had already seen the large Merkruz force moving towards them from the distance and immediately helped Serilla fasten the wagon's harness onto Sleipnir.

"Lulu, get ready to support the Prince's army later!"

"Gotcha!"

Right now, Fatima could only shelve the questions she had and support Rowan within directing their retreat. They made a clean break away from the remnant forces of the attackers who had initially ambushed Rowan and his troops.

The pursuing army was still a ways away in the distance so they were able to retreat safely. It was regrettable, but the Prince's army had experienced some casualties within their ranks. The ambush from the Merkruz forces had taken a good chunk off of the Prince's forces.

His initial 1000-men army was reduced to around 800. The ambus.h.i.+ng force was only around half their numbers, but getting caught off guard had cost them.

Serilla was on their wagon's driver seat while Lucia was vigilantly sending out her Detection Spell, making sure that there were no hostile forces around them. They followed behind the Prince's army and Lucia kept an eye on the Merkruz Army which was in the distance.

Lucia's eyes flashed in the next moment. She had picked up a large concentration of mana gathering and soon a spell formation formed above the Merkruz army.

"YOUR HIGHNESS! MAGIC SPELL INCOMING!"

"d.a.m.n!"

Rowan spun around and grimaced when he saw the magic formation, he couldn't tell what kind of spell it was, but it was undoubtedly a long-ranged spell. Judging by its light purplish color, it was a lightning element spell and from the a.r.s.enal of spells that could strike them from that distance...Rowan gritted his teeth and immediately had his mages begin conjuring a barrier around their forces.

"It's a lightning spell! Barrier! Mages hurry and create a Barrier!"

A barrier was quickly created, but as the mages were only beginning to strengthen the barrier, the enemy's spell had finished activating and a large bolt of lightning came shooting at them. Halfway before it could reach them, a large purple beam intercepted it.

A large explosion occurred in the distance and Lucia shouted towards the army which had halted in place.

"KEEP MOVING!"

Rowan glanced at the young lady standing on the roof of the wagon his beloved had just arrived in and nodded towards her. He immediately ordered his troops to make haste with their retreat as Lucia continued to defend them from all of the enemy's magic spells.

Seeing that their spells weren't effective and the Prince's Army which was already retreating far into the distance, the Merkruz forces stopped their attacks and immediately turned back after their routed ambush forces regrouped with them.

"Your Highness, they are retreating!"

"Continue moving! We'll head into the forest just ahead and rest up there!" Rowan commanded after receiving Fatima's advice.

"I'm sorry Ima, it looks like the enemy has somehow gotten word of your impending arrival."

Fatima nodded and explained to Rowan about the undead ambush that they had experienced which led to them meeting with Lucia and Serilla.

"d.a.m.n...so they already knew about our plans."

"We might have a spy within our midst..."

"...Most likely..."

"We'll continue our discussion after we've set up camp in the forest. Gather the injured together, we'll treat our wounded before doing anything else." Fatima said.

"I'll keep the troops in high alert. Commander!"

"Your Highness?"

"Post some of our scouts outside the forest. Make sure they stay alert and if they detect anything, report back immediately."

"Yessir!"

Fatima nodded in approval at Rowan before she turned around and began asking the Prince's Personal Guards about the situation before she had arrived there with the reinforcements.

After Rowan finished organizing his soldiers, he turned to look at the strange wagon in the distance and the two unfamiliar women who were conversing with each other. From the introduction that the pink-haired woman had given earlier, these two women may have a connection with his fiancée's lost brother.

He turned his attention towards Fatima who was busy sorting out the news she had just received from the reports of his subordinates. Even when she had a belly full of questions, Fatima still put work ahead of her personal feelings. Seeing her like this, Rowan couldn't help but feel a little exasperated.

"Ima..."

"Hm? Yes?" Fatima asked without turning around.

"Let me take over that, I'm sure you have something more important to do than this."

"N-no, I'll finish it fir—"

"Ima!"

"!"

"Just go," Rowan said gently.

"O-okay..." Fatima nodded sullenly. If she were, to be honest with herself, she wasn't quite ready to learn anything about her brother.

She wasn't even sure if the man that Serilla and Lucia were married to was indeed her little brother. Like, she couldn't even imagine that her quiet and introverted little brother would have the audacity to marry not one, but 2 women!

Of course, she wasn't sure what had happened to her brother during the past few years and he was bound to have grown up in ways that she couldn't even imagine, but still, she didn't want to get her hopes up too high.

If the person the 2 women were talking about didn't turn out to be Cecil, but instead some other character who coincidentally had the same last name as her family, then despite having a strong mental fort.i.tude cultivated over the years of her life, Fatima knew it in herself that she'd probably break down and cry due to the pent up frustration built up over the past years.

Fatima steeled her heart and approached the two women casually conversing in the distance. They seemed to be oblivious, but from Fatima's observations, the entire camp had their attention on the two women.

Whether it was due to curiosity or the fact that both of these women were powerful, she didn't know. However, from what she saw, it was simply because of how beautiful these two were that they attracted the gazes of admiration and longing from many in the camp. This included both the bachelor men and women within their army.

Fatima let out a light chuckle at her thoughts. In this world, the strong were revered and wors.h.i.+pped. She shouldn't be too surprised that these 2 strong individuals were being eyed as potential spouses by the many n.o.bles in the army despite them being nothing but ordinary commoners.

Fatima also thought that once their accomplishment of single-handedly saving the Prince's army as well as repelling the strike force sent by the Merkruz Princ.i.p.ality, the King might even award these two with a peerage.

It was too bad for the people who had thoughts of courting them, these two were already taken. And hopefully, they were taken by none other than her missing brother, Cecil.

Lucia noticed that Fatima was approaching them from the distance. She waved at her with a bright smile. Fatima smiled back and hastened her steps over to them.

"Hey, you two, on behalf of everyone here, including the Prince, I'd like to thank you," Fatima said as she bowed down in thanks to the two women.

"H-huh?!"

"Ahaha~ there's no need for that Fatima," Serilla quickly replied and pulled Fatima up. In the eyes of everyone here, both she and Lucia were only commoners. Having a person of high stature like Fatima suddenly bow to them and express her thanks publicly was very flattering and all, but it went against the royal code of conduct.

"I know this is against basic mannerism of royalty, but as a human being this is just what's natural!" Fatima insisted as she once more bowed in thanks.

Seeing her so a.s.sertive, Lucia and Serilla were at a loss and could only receive her thanks.

"I-it was nothing...we only did what we should have done as mercenaries..." Lucia replied awkwardly.

Fatima smiled at the modesty these two showed. Just judging on appearance, temperament, character, that she was able to glean from their short time together, not to mention their power if these two were indeed her younger brother's wives, she had no complaints at all.

The only complaint she'd have was for her little brother. How dare he have the audacity to seduce two women and even marry them! This just went against society's moral principles and she'd no doubt scold him for it later, IF he turned out to be the husband of these two women.

"So, Serilla, Lucia...there's something I've been meaning to ask since earlier, but can we talk in a private place?"

Her sudden seriousness puzzled Lucia, but she quickly agreed, "Hm? Sure!"

"Let's head into the wagon then," Serilla said as she gestured for them to enter the wagon.

"I-is it okay to bring Rowan with me?"

"Rowan? Oh! You mean your fiancé! Sure, it's alright!"

After receiving Lucia's permission, Fatima quickly went back to drag Rowan over. Serilla went in to prepare some refreshments for the guests while Lucia remained outside to wait for the guests.