Elder Kuran and a few other elders' families were acting a little bit suspiciously during the past few days and Elder Kuran himself was spotted meeting up with some people inside the city who Luca believed to be members of the Goldenia family.

He couldn't help but curse a little since his family's enemies were somehow able to enter the kingdom. Luca decided to wait and see because he wasn't able to make any decisions in the house. Only his mother had the power to do that and her att.i.tude seemed to be uncaring at what was happening.

She only told Luca to be more careful and wait for his father to come back. Their family members will be dealt with according to their family's laws so it was best for him to not act out rashly.

Luca however could only continue worrying because today, he had just found out that the branch families were in contact with some other people other than the Goldenia family. As for whom these people were, Luca still wasn't able to discern who they were and what their motive was.

******

Back on Cecil's side, his party had already finished scouting out the two cities they were going to attack and also the other 2 cities that his father was going to attack. Just like he had suspected, the 4 border cities had turned a little bit wary that there had been no contact with the city they were occupying after almost 2 weeks had pa.s.sed by.

They did send some people to scout out the situation in their city but the Silvaria army were fortunately able to fool them with the help of the city's citizens but this only bought them a little bit of time because the citizens had suddenly informed Kaiser about the monthly meetings that the border cities' lords had to attend back at the capital.

It was coming soon however Kaiser saw this as an opportunity. Since the city lords were all going to be attending, the border cities would be somewhat vulnerable since their leaders would be gone.

Kaiser immediately changed his plans and split the army into 3. 2 bigger forces were going to attack the east and west border cities while the remaining force would be going to the capital under the guise of being the city lord's army.

Cecil would act as the city lord and be the one leading this smaller force. Fatima was also going with him after she had thoroughly prepared separate battle plans for the armies for each city that they were going to attack.

Lucia would separate from Cecil this time and remain on the east force with that was going to attack the 2 cities on the eastern side of the border with Matheus, Silver and Quinn while Kaiser, Ren, Gabriel, Angelia, and Yuna would go attack the western cities.

Once they took down the cities and thoroughly raze 2 of them, Lucia and Yuna would teleport the two armies back to the first city they occupied using the Misty Gate before quickly chasing after Cecil and Fatima.

On the day when they were going to split their forces, Lucia was currently reminding Cecil to make sure that he didn't raze the capital city to the ground.

"Cel, don't forget, okay! You're not allowed to do anything rash and act out, okay?"

"Yes, Lulu, I know...jeez, just how many times are you going to remind me?" Cecil replied in mild exasperation.

"As much as it takes so that thick skull of yours understands!"

"...Do you really have that little faith in your husband?"

"Hmph, if it was something else other than fighting, then I wouldn't be worried but you take things too far sometimes when you fight!"

"Uh..."

"Don't deny it!"

"...Well, it's only when my family is being threatened—"

"And when sister Ima is being threatened, you go and raze the city~"

Cecil's face twitched a little at Lucia's playful comeback.

"Lulu, have a little more faith in your husband, okay? I promise I won't do anything!"

"Huuuuhhh...I wanna hurry up and go home. I miss Seri already and she really needs us to be with her now more than ever..." Lucia said with a sigh.

"This war will finish quickly. It's not like we're going to siege them for long and if it does take too long, we can just directly wipe them out with our—"

"Cel!" Lucia immediately interrupted.

"Hahahaha, sorry, you were the one that wanted to hurry and go home..."

"Hey you two, stop flirting already..." Matheus spoke up from behind them.

"Oh, big brother, sup!"

"Don't 'sup' me, it's irritating to look at you two flirt. Think about all the people around who are still single. You're dropping the morale of the troops!"

Cecil and Lucia looked around and saw the soldiers around were acting a little bit awkwardly after Matheus had spoken up.

"Hmmm? Isn't this your fault for speaking up, Matty?"

"Eeehhh? S-sorry, brother-in-law..."

"Ah, no, no, no, there's nothing wrong with you Lucia, its Cecil that I'm talking about. You on the other hand have nothing to worry about!"

"Tsk, look at you showing so much biased. Am I not your brother?" Cecil quipped up.

"It's because you're my brother that I'm nitpicking on you!"

"Hmph, you're just jealous!"

"And? You got a problem with that?"

Cecil gave him a condescending chuckle before quickly turning his face away. This gave Matheus the urge to pound his little brother on the head. He quickly restrained this impulse and said, "It's time for us to depart so for now, I'll be stealing away Lucia from you, little brother~"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, just hurry up and get the job done. I wanna finish this quickly go back home...actually, since I'm going to the capital anyway, can't I just end it by crus.h.i.+ng the princ.i.p.ality's lord?" Cecil mumbled dangerously.

"..." Matheus was left a little speechless when he heard Cecil's words. He immediately turned towards Lucia and asked, "...Hey, Lucia... did this idiot just realize that now?"

"Haaaah...unfortunately, yes, it will defeat the whole purpose for our kingdom to launch our attack if he takes action like that, but—"

"It's the most efficient way," Matheus finished her words before continuing to say, "However, we originally came out here to make them an example of what would happen if people attacked our kingdom, so it's better if we let the soldiers do it."

"That's why I never told him to just take action himself so that we could quickly end this..." Lucia said.

"It's really surprising that considering how smart he is, our family's Cecil is surprisingly quite slow to realize some things."

"Should I tell him to—"

"It won't matter anymore," Matheus quickly replied.

"Why is that, brother-in-law?"

"Because once we raze the other cities to the ground and Cecil takes action to threaten the Merkruz Lord while he's supposed to be tucked away safely inside his city, it'll immediately prove how efficient and scary our small kingdom can be, don't you think?" Matheus said with an evil smirk.

"...You're surprisingly scary sometimes, brother-in-law!"

"Not at all, I'm just repeating what Fatima's already said~"

"Hmm..."

"Anyways, let's get going. I overheard that you wanted to return home quickly, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Me too, I've been having a bad feeling cropping up on the back of my mind ever since we returned from our scouting mission."

"Eh? Brother-in-law has been feeling uneasy as well? I have a feeling that something might happen back at home..."

"Same here, that's why I want this whole thing to quickly come to an end, I hope nothing happens back at home," Matheus replied before walking away.

Seeing as Matheus was heading over to his a.s.signed unit, Quinn immediately spoke up from the side, "Master, Mistress, shouldn't we be getting ready to depart as well?"

"Oh yeah, you're right, Quinn. All preparations are already complete so all we need to do is wait for father to begin the operation," Cecil said.

"I'll get going now then, Cel. Quinn, Silvy, let's go," Lucia quickly bid farewell to Cecil before chasing after Matheus along with Silver who followed after her.

"See ya later boss~"

"Keep her safe, alright, Silv?"

"I'm sure Lulu can take care of herself! You worry way too much boss, hahaha~!"

"I shall get moving as well, Master," Quinn said.

"Okay, I'll see you later then."

"Yes, Master. And please, don't do anything too overboard... you'll only make Lady Lucia and Lady Serilla worry for you..."

"Go, go, you're nagging more than my wives and mother, now!"

Quinn smiled at his master's joke before he bowed and disappeared before immediately reappearing next to Lucia who was already a distance away.

Cecil himself turned around and quickly made his way over to Angelia, Gabriel, Ren, and Yuna's group.

"Yuna, I'm not sure if Lucia has given you permission but if you need to, please use your magic and quickly put an end to things on your side," Cecil said.

"Yes, Master Cecil."

"Ren, Angelia, don't cause trouble, ya hear?"

"Tsk, big brother, you're nagging wa~y too much now!" Angelia pouted playfully.

"Don't worry, Teacher, I'll make sure to keep an eye on Angelia," Ren spoke up.

"Hey, Ren, what's that supposed to mean?!"

"...I'm just following Teacher's orders."

"..."

"No need to worry about them, Cecil. I'll make sure to protect them," Gabriel said from the side.

Cecil turned towards his brother and patted his shoulder, "I won't have anything to worry about since you're there Gabe. I should get going now. Big Sis Ima will kill me if I'm late!"

"Get going then."

Cecil nodded and started heading over to Fatima's side. The army was already divided and each division was already debriefed of their missions so all that was left was to wait for their mobilization orders.

"Cecil, you're late!" Fatima called out.

Cecil waved at her and hastily walked over.

"Where's Rowan?"

"He's organizing the soldiers," Fatima replied.

"Isn't he being rather diligent~"

"Yeah, unlike someone I know."

Fatima eyed her little brother with a sidelong glance and harrumphed.

"G-Give me a break, please..."

"I'm sure you've had your 6-year long fun break with your wives, right?"

"Uhm, we've only been married for 3—"

"Quiet."

"Y-yes, ma'am..."

Fatima eyed her brother seriously before saying, "Listen Cecil, it's about time that you learn about the obligations that come with you being the next family Patriarch, alright?"

"..."

"I'll make sure to teach you all about them once we return from this war. No buts and no running away! Father and mother are happy that you've come back, but the elder council wants to use you to bring some stability back to the family. As we are now, the main branch has full control over the family, not something we could've expected to hold if we were still back on Earth."

"Uh, okay?"

"I won't deny that you're powerful Cecil, but you still need to learn more. Not everything can be solved by using your fists. You have to remember that our family is now responsible for a nation full of people!"

"Y-yes..."

"And you're the future leader of that nation! So you better pull yourself together! Can't you see that everyone around you is also learning things? Quinn, Silver, Yuna, and especially, your two wives, they seem to be more aware of your position than you do yourself, little brother," Fatima said with disapproving frown.

"Ugh..."

"I know it's a lot to bear. However, there are people here to help you, but it doesn't mean that you can go ahead and slack off! You should be the one doing more!"

"Y-yes, sister..."

"Hmmm... well, that's enough about me nagging. You did just get back after all so you'll have plenty of time to learn more about things later. For now, I'm just reminding you so that you'll be more aware! Don't just stay holed up inside your workshop! I know that what you're doing is important but there are things around you that are equally important. Like right now, you should be prioritizing accompanying Serilla since she's pregnant and learn more about our family's inner workings!"

"Y-Yes sis..."

Fatima nodded in approval before nagging one last time, "You better follow up on your 'yes', alright?"

Cecil could only nod somewhat sullenly at her words. He didn't understand why her sister suddenly got mad at him after he had complemented her fiancé. He honestly thought he would get a pat on the head instead of a figurative smack to the face.

'Setting aside Seri's matter, everything else is so much work...' Cecil painfully thought.