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Volume 7 Chapter 2 Part 10

(Maybe we’re actually going to be fine?)

That’s what he started to feel like. However, if everyone, including Milza himself, doesn’t doubt the possibility of their victory, then he should be the only one worried, if only to provide an alternative point of view to their situation.

(Theo Cornero’s contracted Mage is Siluca Meletes, after all.)

Terius and Siluca are the same age, however, Siluca entered Magic University two years earlier than him. By the time Terius enrolled in the Magic University, she had already completed several undergraduate degrees and was rumored to be a genius. If she had stayed in the Magic University like she originally planned, she definitely would have mastered all the faculties and she would definitely have become a Rainbow Mage.

However, Terius didn’t care about other people’s talent. He has not attended the same lectures as her, nor has he had any personal contact with her at all.

Unlike her, Terius only completed the Red Faculty of Liberal Arts and the Green Faculty of Life Magic. He wasn’t very good at magic overall, and since he didn’t belong to a prestigious family that would give him a job in the executive body of the Mages Association once he graduated the Magic University, he had instead resolved himself to aim to become a contracted Mage of an influential Lord from the very beginning.

What a contracted Mage needs is knowledge of the art of war and other affairs connected with ruling rather than destructive magic to be used on a battlefield. That’s why he focused on the Red Faculty of Liberal Arts. He also chose Green Faculty of Life Magic as his major because he heard that many Lords would hire him if he possessed magic capable of healing.

Perhaps because of that, he was able to make a contract with a prestigious Lord such as Marine Kraische, the current leader of the Factory Alliance. He has heard that the Magic Division of the Kraische family is the one that’s ruled mainly by a meritocracy, and if you prove yourself to be a talented individual, you might even be hired as one of the Lord’s closest aides. However, if you’re going to be deemed as useless for any reason, you’re going to be assigned to one of the knights who became Lords, which means that you’ll also be forced to fight with them on the frontlines.

Thinking about it now, he thought to himself that maybe that was his fate from the very beginning. But even so, he still couldn’t understand why would Aubest Meletes, the Head Mage of the Kraische family, assign someone like him to a Lord such as Milza Kuches, the Viceroy of Dartania.

At first, he was just a liaison, but just as Aubest taught him, he continued to offer his insights and advice to Milza even at the cost of putting his own life in danger many times, and with time, thanks to all the hard work and plans that he managed to implement in practice, he was eventually stationed at Milza’s side.

It was a job that was always stressful. If Milza truly lost his temper around him even once, he would really be put to death on the spot. However, even though he was constantly afraid of such a possibility, he couldn’t take the easy way out anymore, because even though he was only dispatched to serve Milza from the Kraische family’s Magic Division, he began to develop a sense of loyalty towards Milza.

Milza intended to become the sword of Marine Kraische in order to place her in the position of Empress when the Great War will finally come to an end. Therefore, he told himself that what is useful to Milza is also ultimately going to be useful to Waldrind and Lady Marine as well.

Mirza was given Artuk as a territory to govern by Marine and used it as a base for expanding his territory on the continent. However, everyone knows that the complete pacification of Artuk would be a long and difficult task. However, he has continued to fighting almost alone against the Lords of the Fantasia Union, who have even tried to fight against him by signing treaties amongst themselves. This is because Marine has to deal with the Earl of Leclerc’s large mercenary group that has invaded the northern part of the continent.

The Nords who settled in Stark enslaved all the original residents of that region, so they were also unable to prepare and send out any sorts of reinforcements, because they already have their hands full with the surveillance of the slaves and the suppression of their rebellion that has recently erupted in Stark.

However, they frequently raided the coasts belonging to the countries of the Artuk Treaty to continue with their favorite sport: plundering. It is exactly for tha reason that Milza thought that Ulrike was not suitable to be the ruler of Stark.

There is even a rumor that Milza was led astray by Marine’s charms, and that she has used her femininity to make him do her bidding only to leave him behind to fend for himself when she no longer deemed him necessary for herself. However, even when faced with such rumord, he felt no regrets or hesitation towards the Viceroy of Dartania. He believes in his own strength and continues to fight to prove it to everyone ale around him. And he intends to create an era in which Lords will rule the continent by force.

Terius sincerely wanted to be of help to him, but Milza still decided and executed everything on his own.
There was no doubt in Terius’ mind that he started falling into Siluca Meletes’ clutches the moment he decided to invade The Forest of Eternal Darkness. He could swear that he could clearly predict exactly what kind of move she was going to make next.

Therefore, he offered a plan to Milza, and asked him to keep moving between his troops on all the time. If they see him, the morale of Dartania’s warriors will not drop. The Forest of Eternal Darkness is a terrifying Demonic Realm, so if there will ever come a moment that the soldiers will become frightened and lose their will to fight, they’re not going to be able to pick themselves back up from that, and that moment will spell their doom.

After all, their opponent is Theo Cornero himself. He can’t help but think that this fame of his has come too far, but nevertheless, they cannot allow themselves to let their guards down when facing him simply because of that.

Although he was often simply lucky, he managed to defeat the Heavy Knights of Waldrind in battle not once, but twice. The demonstration of his leadership skills during the conquests of Veltava and Sistina were also quite impressive.

(Besides, even if we do manage to defeat Theo Cornero, his defeat won’t do that much damage to the Artuk Treaty as a whole.)

This is because the Artuk Treaty is united not by Theo Cornero, but by Lassic David, the King of Selvis who’s been elected as the Treaty’s leader.

There is also information that Theo was the old master of Lassic David, and that they were fighting over the position of the Treaty’s leader. If he was left alive, there was even a possibility that the Artuk Treaty would fall apart from the inside due to the infighting between Theo-faction and Lassic-faction.

However, Milza despises Theo and hates his fighting style of inciting and involving the people of his territories in his battles more than anything else. If his opponent wasn’t Theo, he might not have taken any risks in this battle.

Siluca Meletes must have even anticipated Milza’s reaction, and possibly build her whole plan around it.

(But don’t think that I’ll allow everything to go your way.)

Terius murmured in his heart and looked at the figure of Milza’s imposing back in front of him.

It was sometime after the forces of the Dartanian army entered The Forest of Eternal Darkness.

All of a sudden, a mass of fog rolled in all around them and engulfed the soldiers.

「It’s probably not a natural thing. The magic of summoning mist is something that the White Witches of Artuk specialize in. 」

Telrius advised Milza.

「Do you think this is the work of Siluca Meletes? Or perhaps the White Witches are working with the Artuk rebels once again? 」

「I think it’s safe to say that this is the work of White Witches. After all, Siluca Meletes is a contracted Mage of Theo Cornero, so she probably stayed at his side for the time being. 」

「So they’re going to attack us, right? 」

「Definitely. 」

When Terius nodded his head, a sudden sound of laughter rang out all around them. It was the sound of a young woman’s laughter. The voice echoed through not only the nearby trees, bushes and thickets, but also throughout the entire forest.