The journey towards the capital would normally take 3-4 days by carriage so the city lords departed early in order to make it for the meeting that was held on the very last day of the month. Cecil and Fatima's division had only a few soldiers but they were the army's elites. They had already disguised themselves using the Merkruz Princ.i.p.ality's soldier uniforms while Lucia had transformed Cecil into their occupied city's city lord.

The transformation wasn't perfect but luckily, Cecil's build was similar to the city lord, so after changing faces, it was easy for him to pose as the city lord. Of course, his voice didn't change so he had to be very careful when he talked. At least, he should do his best to try and imitate the city lord's voice.

It was unfortunate that they had killed the man but Cecil had been present when the city lord was killed and was presenting to everyone his last words so he had still been able to hear how the man's voice was like.

Cecil couldn't make it sound exactly the same and he also didn't have any sort of grasp of how the man acted or behaved but if he talked and did less, then no one would be able to pick up on the differences...hopefully.

While Cecil's division was on their way to the capital, once night fell, the remaining divisions immediately began their operations.

Since Fatima had the full layout of the 4 cities that they were going to be a.s.saulting, she had already devised a plan for the troops to directly infiltrate the cities using Lucia and Yuna's Misty Gate as the core.

Right from the city, the 2 divisions that were going to attack the other border cities would immediately teleport into the city via Lucia and Yuna's Misty Gate and attack the city from within.

They didn't want to waste any time because the city lords who were going to partic.i.p.ate in the monthly meeting back in the Merkruz capital had supposedly departed today in the morning, about the same time as Cecil and Fatima's division had.

The plan was to attack during the night when the city lords were already a good distance away from the cities. No one would suspect such a swift and covert surprise attack so even if some enemy messenger was able to escape and relay the news about their attack to the city lords that were enroute to the capital, it would already be too late.

Hopefully, without the city lords there to lead the enemy forces in their defense, the two divisions would have an easier time taking over the cities.

"Alright, Lucia, Yuna, it's time," Kaiser solemnly said.

Inside the city square, the Silvaria Army was neatly divided into two divisions with Lucia and Yuna at the forefront. The two women began their incantation and quickly conjured 2 Misty Gates.

Once the gates stabilized, Lucia and Yuna stepped to the side and nodded towards Kaiser. Seeing this, Kaiser immediately turned towards his adjutant and the man pulled out a MID and immediately roared, "GO GO GO!"

The men immediately received their orders and orderly rushed into the gates unit by unit. Lucia and Yuna had especially made the gates bigger in order to accommodate the large amount of people that were going through it.

The mana used was a lot, but luckily, their mana pools were abundant. Lucia had only used up a couple tails' worth of mana while Yuna had used up nearly all of her mana and had to immediately rest.

Once half of the soldiers from both divisions had gone through the gates, Quinn and Gabriel immediately rushed into their respective gates.

It was only after the last soldier of the divisions had gone through the gates that Lucia and Yuna followed after them.

"Silvy, stay here," Lucia ordered before she walked into the gate.

"Eh? Why, big sis?" Silver asked questioningly.

"As insurance, I don't want anyone in this city acting up while most of the army is gone. Although we left a majority of Angelia's monsters, all of the Spell Cannons and a few units behind, my intuition is telling me that the citizens might try something."

"Hmmm, alright then, but you be careful okay? If something happened to you, boss isn't going to like that one bit!"

"Oh please, when did I become so weak that I would need protection? It's not like they have the M-Jammer. I'll be fine!"

"Alright then, see ya later big sis!"

"Mhm."

******

"They should be starting by now," Fatima said as she looked up at the 2 moons in the night sky.

"Yeah, it'll be easy since for them since we have the city's layout confirmed. Besides, with our soldiers' martial prowess, it'll be a cinch," Cecil leisurely replied but in a voice that was certainly not his.

"...Cecil, can you please stop that? It's creepy and you're sending chills down my spine..."

"Aww, come on big sis, I'm just practicing~"

"Stop it, please. You calling me big sis with that face and voice makes me want to vomit..."

"Alright then, Secretary Hiba," Cecil playfully replied.

Rowan chuckled lightly at the two siblings' banter.

"Our city is the closest to the capital so it'll only take us 2-3 days before we arrive. Hopefully we don't encounter any monsters on our way to the capital..."

"If Silver was with us, then there would be no way for monsters to even get close to us!" Cecil replied.

"Really? Is that one of his abilities?" Rowan asked.

"Well, you've seen his true form already, right?"

"His large wolf form?"

"Yup, that's the one. His presence alone is deterrence to any other monsters since you could say that he's a king among monsters."

"Oh? Is it because—"

"Ah, hold on a sec, brother Rowan," Cecil said as he whipped out his MID.

He was receiving a call and noticed that the caller was his brother, Luca. He frowned when he saw this since Cecil knew that his brother wouldn't be calling him for any trivial reason. He prayed that nothing bad had happened back at home as he quickly accepted the call.

"Luca?"

"Cecil, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, bro!"

"Ah, good, I was worried that because of the distance, I wouldn't be able to get into contact with you," Luca said through the MID.

"Is something wrong, Luca? You wouldn't call me for no good reason, right?" Cecil asked.

"Listen carefully, Cecil, the branch families might be up to something and it might have something to do with your wife, Serilla," Luca replied solemnly.

"...my wife?"

"Not just her, but mother and I might also be in danger."

"Hmph, not if I have anything to say about it!"

"What's that?"

"Luca, listen to me. Back at home, Lucia and I had installed a magic defense system all around the family grounds. If you want to know more, go ask mother and Serilla, they'll explain things to you."

"What?! You had this set up the entire time?!" Luca yelled incredulously.

"Jeez, brother, you don't have to blow my ears out..."

"anyway, what you're saying is, is that the house and our family's compounds are...safe?"

"Of course, did you honestly think that I'd leave behind Serilla without any protection? I'm not that stupid y'know!"

"... If you're not stupid, then why didn't you tell me about this magic defense system?"

"Uhh...that's because you didn't ask?" Cecil replied.

After hearing his brother's dumb reply, Luca sighed heavily.

"Lil bro, important information like this should be told even without us asking you... seriously, I've been fretting over their safety for the last few days... now I know why they're still acting so carefree..."

"You could have just asked mom..."

"Yeah, I know...anyway, how lethal are those defense mechanisms that you've installed?"

"They're lethal enough, big bro, don't you worry about that."

"Ah, now that I remembered, since the defense system will only activate when someone unregistered in the system approaches and gets in range, does that mean the elders from the family's elder council are registered in the system?"

"h.e.l.l no! I wouldn't register those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds even if you held me at gunpoint!"

"I see... so why are they able to come and go as they please whenever they come by?"

"The control crystal is with mom so maybe she's deliberately letting them pa.s.s through?"

"Okay, thanks for letting me know, Cecil. I should get back to work now. It's a good thing that things are safe on our side. That's one less thing for me to worry about. Return home triumphant, alright?"

"Sure, sure—ah—by the way, Luca."

"Yeah?"

"I've got a control crystal here that'll warn me if one of the higher-end magic arrays of the defense system have been broken through or activated. If they do activate, I'll immediately rush back so you don't have to worry about a thing."

"That's good to hear, I should get going now Cecil, make sure you stay safe and quickly end the war. Even though things may be safe, I still feel a little uneasy. It's better if you guys get back home quickly."

"Don't worry, Luca, we're already marching for their capital. All we have to do is take it down, extor—ahem, ahem—I mean, politely ask for some compensation and information before we head back. We're going to be returning using Lucia and Yuna's Misty Gates so we'll be back very quickly. Naturally, I'll head back ahead of everyone."

"Good. I'll see you in a few days then?"

"Yeah."

Cecil ended the call and Fatima hurriedly asked, "Is something wrong back at home?"

"Yeah, apparently, the branch families are up to something again..." Cecil replied with a dark look.

"... Are they planning something against Serilla?"

"Yeah, but Luca said it wasn't just her, but him and Mother as well... don't worry though. I've put up plenty of safety measures for them. I won't let anyone threaten my family."

"I'll take your word for it then, but for now, we should focus ourselves on finis.h.i.+ng this war. We'll change the plans a bit. So Cecil, once we get to the capital immediately locate the Merkruz Lord. We'll attack him on the night just before the monthly meeting begins."

"I like that idea big sis, but are you sure it's alright for us to not wait for father and the others before commencing our attack?"

"Trouble is brewing back at home and it'll take too long for us if we have to wait for them. We should make short work of them and continue on to the more important matters," Fatima replied.

"Alright, then this means I won't need to hold back, right?"

"...just keep it on the low side, Cecil. I don't want you destroying the entire city and killing needlessly."

"Don't worry. I'll only attack the Merkruz Lord, his army, and any other hostiles."