And (N)one Shall Remain

 

“Honestly? I’m most likely traveling further west, maybe make life a bit more unpleasant for the priests of the temple where I can, but otherwise keeping a low profile,” replied Esperanza openly. She trusted Alissa enough to be honest, but it was not honesty without insurance. Esperanza also had confidence in her group’s ability to keep their trail hidden, barring special circumstances like with the temple guards back then. “Why did you ask? Do you need a hand with the fighting or something?”

 

“Mostly just curious, and can’t really say for sure since I haven’t seen the current situation at the frontline yet,” replied Alissa with a shake of her head. “The demons took Fort Gurzil in a single day so that caught everyone off-guard. If they had chosen to press on harder, they would have been able to push much further into the kingdom’s territory by now, but they hadn’t done that…”

 

“So your side suspects that the demons responsible for taking down the fort might not even be here anymore, probably aiming for another area, huh?” guessed Esperanza after a moment of thought. Neither of them could claim to be versed in military matters, but even they could make guesses on things like feints and the likes, especially when it was an obvious one like what Alissa described. “It likely isn’t a ploy to lower your guard here either. That’d give the demons no real benefit and you people aren’t going to let your guard down in the first place.”

 

“Precisely. It’s why the forces nearby only sent small detachments as reinforcements. Nobody dared to shift a large amount of troops in case their place might be the next to be targeted by the demons,” admitted Alissa. “At least that’s what Sir Inolet explained to me. The logic fits, and if it is what the demons intended, they are succeeding so far.”

 

“Sir Inolet? I think you’ve mentioned that name before…”

 

“Ah, he’s the old knight that has been training me and Ethan for the most part since we got summoned here. Fought in the previous war, one of the strongest people in the kingdom,” explained Alissa who realized that she had not done so before. “Also he’s not much of a fan of either the royal family or the temple. Other old knights like him basically banded together and formed a third faction in the kingdom’s power politics.”

 

“I’m surprised they even allowed that to happen, but I’m guessing that since you said he is one of the strongest in the kingdom, some of his other friends likely counted amongst that number as well?” asked Esperanza. “That would explain how they managed to get off the ground at all. People in power usually hate seeing rivals rise, as far as I can tell.”

 

“More than half of the strongest ten people in the kingdom and the majority of the strongest hundred are part of their group, as far as I know,” admitted Alissa based on what the old knights had told her. “They simply possess too much power for either the royal family or the temple to be able to do anything to them without sustaining grievous losses to the kingdom as a whole. Sir DelVillar is supposedly tied for the strongest in the kingdom along with someone under the Royal Family’s employ and an old Bishop from the temple.”

 

“That would give them the capital to hold their own, all right. Power is definitely something we need to be able to make our own choices in this world, as you have realized yourself,” noted Esperanza with a wistful sigh. “When do you plan to head out of Eastcliff and catch up with the other soldiers? I know they’re fighting a few days to the south from here.”

 

“Tomorrow morning, before noon. We plan to catch up to the main force by going full speed, why?” asked Alissa in turn. “There are going to be plenty of fourth tiers at the battlefront. My own group brought like a dozen, not counting my party. If you want to cross over to the demon territories you might want to avoid getting too close to the battle.”

 

“Oh, I’m well aware of that. Hard to miss them since they don’t even bother hiding their presence when they pass by here. I count at least two and a half dozen fourth tiers out there, probably three or more, since I can’t always get a clear read on those that passed by from the other side of the gorge,” replied Esperanza with a nod. “Your group’s easily the one with the most fourth tiers in it though.”

 

“I guess it’s to be expected. Most smaller forts and towns wouldn’t have one stationed in them, or if they do, it might just be the one,” noted Alissa in agreement. “As far as I could tell the kingdom tends to concentrate their fourth tiers in the key defensive bases, which I guess counted for the places I’ve been in so far.”

 

“Makes sense. Spreading yourself thin when the other side already has the numerical advantage is just asking to be crushed,” replied Esperanza. “I might be able to do something that would make things easier on your end along the way, but don’t count on it, at least not quickly, since we’d have to sneak through the border first to do it.”

 

“That would be appreciated, though I’m honestly surprised you are willing to do something that’d help out the kingdom’s side in the end,” stated Alissa with some curiosity. “Come to think of it, way back in the east, before we assaulted the demon camp near Fort Ixlay, there were reports of sabotage in the demon territories nearby, was that also your doing?”

 

“Was that near the mountain range? If so, we did hit several demon camps along the way, yeah. That was some distance from the frontlines, though,” queried Esperanza, to which Alissa replied with a nod. “In the end, this war happening for longer would be to my patrons’ benefit, if I end up having to go against the world. It would be easier when both the kingdom and the demons had beaten each other silly first than otherwise. It’s as simple as that, honestly.”

 

“As for why I helped the kingdom’s side instead of the demons, it’s because we all know that the demons are the stronger side here. If I help them out and sabotage the kingdom they might well win easily, which I’m sure none of us want,” she added. “I guess you can consider my motives selfish, cruel, even, since it entails the war happening for longer and likely causing more people to die in the process, but it is what it is.”

 

“I can’t say I completely agree with what you’re doing, but also that I’m not sure I would be able to do better, in your place, to be honest, so I guess for the time being we should keep progressing our respective goals,” admitted Alissa with a sigh. “I guess we should split up? People might get suspicious if I didn’t return for too long. Any way I can contact you in the future?”

 

“Hmm… that’d be a bit tricky given our circumstances, but if you happen to be somewhere safe enough to meet with me, you can try heading to whichever forest is nearest and let your aura flare openly. I can detect that and notice you even from afar,” said Esperanza. “Mind you, don’t expect me to be anywhere near your military bases or the like, unless it’s one of the temple’s that I’m ransacking.”

 

“Understandable. I’ll see you later, then?”

 

“See you later. Adios, Allie.”

 

Alissa returned from her patrol and reassured the soldiers she was assigned that everything was fine after a while. She also had them make preparations for departure on the following day, something the soldiers did with gusto as they clearly wanted to be at the frontlines, fighting with their compatriots instead of dealing with the situation at Eastcliff.

 

It was an understandable sentiment, even if Alissa had to frown a bit on it.

 

The detachment gathered some representatives from amongst the townspeople and refugees, people that had been chosen by the same folks in question themselves, and handed the remaining excess supplies to them. They themselves brought none of the supplies with them since it was all intended for Eastcliff to begin with, and since they plan to reach the frontline base by the night, there would be minimal need for supplies along the way.

 

After the handover, the detachment left Eastcliff and after one final look at the town, took off at full speed towards the south. Alissa even used her buff skills to help the group speed up some more, and the others similarly used what skills they had that could increase their traveling speed. Within a minute, the detachment had gone far enough away that they could no longer be seen by the naked eye.

 

At least, for a normal person.

 

Esperanza kept track of Alissa’s departure from atop the town’s bell tower, where her group had been hiding these past few days, until they eventually vanished behind the horizon far away. Only then did she give a nod to the rest of the infiltration team behind her. They had taken care to remove their traces before the army came, though fortunately the army left quickly and only left Alissa’s little detachment behind, which made things more convenient for them.

 

“What shall we do next, Exalted One?” asked Tiara after a moment of silence. The young girl had been quite nervous – justifiably so, given the presence of many fourth tiers who would have considered her a heretic to be burned at the stake just days ago – during the time they hid, but fortunately controlled herself well enough to not give anything away.

 

“First, we gather with those still at the forest,” said Esperanza in reply as she watched over the town’s people. After the rioting the people managed to vent their pent-up frustrations and anger, and while the situation remained tense afterwards, it was more stable, since everyone had some food to use. There were some who robbed others even under such conditions, some got away with it, but others were caught and often beaten to death by the still-emotional masses.

 

Alissa’s arrival had further stabilized Eastcliff’s situation, as had her unexpected choice to summarily execute people who tried to rob the distributed food supplies from others. She had unknowingly taken care of the few who got away with robbing others after the rioting, which rendered the town mostly safe, especially now that their worries of starvation were no longer there, at least for a while.

 

The townspeople and refugees had enough to tide them over until either more help arrived or the battle in the south reached a conclusion, either of which would alter the situation some more.

 

“Afterwards, we’ll discuss our future course together. I have something in mind, but I’m not certain if we could pull it off or not, and even if we could, I wouldn’t go for it unless we could do it safely,” continued Esperanza, thinking of her talk with Alissa the previous night. “I don’t want to risk any of you just to help someone else. That’s not worth it, not in this case, at least.”

 

After they heard what Esperanza said, the rest of the group gathered behind her exchanged looks and nods with one another. They had faith in Esperanza. To them, she was a messenger from the Deities of Yore they had always worshiped all their lives. To hear from herself that she wouldn’t risk them needlessly was a confirmation that furthered that belief in her, however, since they would have risked themselves at her command without any qualms.

 

A couple hours after Alissa’s detachment left Eastcliff, Esperanza brought her group out of the town as well, with none the wiser, as they headed to the forest where the rest of their group had hidden themselves.