11 New objectives

The next morning I woke up refreshed and in good mood. For now, I secured the help of one of the most powerful and influential people in the kingdom. Of course, I shouldn't forget that our partnership is shaky at the moment and mostly based on fear. While I consider fear a good method, I'd like avoiding it without a serious reason. In time, I plan to convince the duke that we could genuinely collaborate and benefit from our relationship.

"Well, that's a matter for another time. 'Veil of death' proved to be a useful spell but quite costly. When I escaped the mansion my mana was already at a dangerously low level, that considering the fact that I used the spell at night, when it had the lowest possible cost for me. "

"Pretty much I confirmed that the spell is a total bust in terms of combat usefulness. It's a little bit annoying that, for now, I don't have a way of fighting someone without killing him. That's my biggest weakness at the moment and I plan to work on it in the nearest future. " I got off the bed and checked the current time.

It was about midday, I planned to meet the duke of gold in the evening so I had the whole day free for myself and I planned to make good use of it. I went to the first floor of the tavern and had my meal before going outside and heading towards a weapon shop. I returned the bow and the knife to Harold after the bandit subjugation so, at the moment, I didn't have a weapon to defend myself, that's why I decided to buy a sword.

Considering my skillset, a weapon isn't that necessary but appearance wise I think I should have at least a sword, even though my swordsmanship is at best amateurish.

After visiting multiple shops I found a decent sword, that was to my liking and bought it. To be honest I could've settled for any sword but I was curious about the products of the local armories so I went through a lot of them.

After my shopping trip, I headed for the duke's mansion. When I got there and scanned it preemptively for threats I noticed that it was guarded even heavier than yesterday. As I approached the main gate I was stopped by the guards.

"Halt! The duke of gold's mansion lies ahead, state your business!" One of the guards said in a loud voice.

"I have a meeting scheduled with the duke for this evening, I'd appreciate if you notified him of my arrival." I said in a polite tone.

"Oh, his grace told us about you, follow me please, I'll escort you to his office."

He proceeded to lead the way and after a brief period of time, I was sitting opposite to the duke, in his office, sipping tea. After escorting me the guard left, so we were alone in the room.

"I'm glad to see you in good health this fine evening, sir Edvin." I said in a light and polite voice, opening the dialog and trying to ease the tension between us.

"The feeling's mutual, mister..."

"Max Goldwin, that's the name I go by."

"Yes, of course, mister Goldwin."

"Your grace, be at ease, we are partners now so I'd like to have a good relationship with you." Judging by his face he didn't quite believed it, but at least he relaxed a bit.

"Now that's better, did you prepare the information I asked about?"

"Yes, in fact, it wasn't anything special. The heroes destination isn't really a secret for the nobility, I could've told you yesterday but I was a little bit perplexed and confused, so I'll apologize for that. "

"It's alright, you did indeed have a hard time yesterday."

"Thank you for your understanding, we've recently received news that a massive demon army was spotted preparing to attack Parandor, one of our biggest citadels, so the king decided to mobilize the heroes, as that was a vital strategic position for our defenses."

"Hmm, are the heroes strong enough to impact such a large battlefield?"

"Hardly, they are at a decent level but I would've waited for a couple more weeks before deploying them. It's just that our situation is that bad at the moment and we're short of hands."

"How many soldiers are defending the citadel?"

"About 4-5 thousands while the demonic army is estimated to be at 20 thousands."

"So 1 to 4 ratio, it's gonna be a hard battle."

"The good part is that the citadel is build between 2 tall mountains, guarding the only way through that mountain range and it is really well fortified. It is one of the few citadels considered impregnable by humans, but then again, when it comes to demonic hordes, you can't be sure of anything. If it falls, it's gonna be a huge morale blow for us, as well as a strategic blow."

"So that was the reason the king decided to go all in and deployed the freshly summoned heroes."

"Exactly, it is a gamble, but if it pays off, it could massively raise humanity's morale, proving that we can still fight back."

After those words we stood in silence for a couple minutes. I was contemplating the newly received information while the duke analyzed my expressions.

"I'd like to ask you for a few more things. First of all, a guide to help me reach Parandor, second, about 10 of your guards to escort me there and third, I'd like for you to make me your main aide and give me the respective authority and power." The first two favors weren't anything important but the third one was the problem and as I expected, the duke's expression darkened on hearing it.

"You do realize what you ask of me right?"

"Of course I do, don't worry, we're partners so I won't be doing anything that could harm you or your interests, if anything you'll only benefit from that. Don't give me that face, I'm speaking the truth here. I plan on traveling and making use of your influence and name here and there to further expand your trading network as well as for my own business from time to time."

The duke proceeded to stare at me for a couple minutes before getting up from his chair and walking to his office table. He then took something from the inside of it and walked back, putting it before me. It was an emblem which had the drawing of a gold bar.

"This emblem will give you authority second only to mine. It can bring a lot of harm in the wrong hands so take good care of it." He didn't look too exited handing the emblem over, but at the end of the day he was bound by a contract to help me so he thought that he didn't really have a choice.

"Don't worry too much, I'll make sure to use it carefully." I said that with a large smile, putting the emblem in my storage ring. He then handed me another storage ring and said.

"You'll need lots of money on your journey but for now, I'll give you a small sum."

I checked the ring and found 500 gold coins in there. So much for the "small" sum, normal people could live a couple years with those coins. I took the ring and placed it on one of my fingers.

"Much appreciated."

"So, when do you plan on departing?"

"In a couple hours."

Yes I indeed planned to move out as soon as possible. I am aware of how much of a bad idea it is to travel at night but I wanted to reach Parandor fast, before any major battles took place and the situation escalated.

"What?!" The duke was understandably startled by my words

"Calm down, I just want to reach the frontlines as soon as possible, and it shouldn't take you much time to get me 10 guards and a guide, right?"

The duke sighed and then said.

"Fine, I'll make it happen right away..."

"Wonderful, I didn't doubt you for a second."

"You can rest here, I'll send for you in a couple hours." Said the duke and then left the room to make the arrangements for my guards.

He probably could've stayed here but I guess he just really doesn't like my company, not that I care, as long as he helps me properly. I guess I might as well take a short nap, I got a long night ahead.

In a couple hours I was woken by someone knocking at the door.

"You can enter." After those words a fully armored knight entered the room.

"Excuse me, the duke asked me to escort you to the stables." He said in a respectful manner.

"Lead the way."

After a couple minutes I was in front of the stables, where I found the duke and a couple knights waiting for me.

"Those are some of my best men, they will be guarding you, as well as guiding you, on your journey to Parandor." The duke said in a serious tone when he approached me.

The knights looked imposing, in good armor and with good weapons, but what surprised me the most was the fact that they had quite the amount of life force as well as mana. I should find a way of asking the duke about the training his soldiers receive, without exposing the fact that I can see mana and life force.

"Nice work mister Edvin, I'm quite satisfied with what I see." I said to the duke and then turned to the soldiers, analyzing them further.

"Soldiers! This here is sir Max Goldwin, my personal aide, he has some business to attend to on my behalf in Parandor. Your mission is to protect him at all cost and execute his orders as you would execute mine. The mission that I entrusted him is of utmost importance, so you'll be setting out immediately and force march to the citadel, is that understood?!"

"Yes, your grace!" The soldiers answered in chorus and mounted their horses. I was offered a horse by a servant, and mounted it as well.

"With that, I wish you a good journey, let's hope we'll meet again and in good health." Said the duke after I mounted my horse.

"Thank you for the help, your grace, until we meet again." I did a light bow and rode off with my escort.

The journey was exhausting. We took small breaks, to eat and sleep, and were travelling for about 18 hours a day but eventually reached Parandor in 7 days. On the sixth day I ordered the knights to rest well, so we could arrive freshly the next day at the citadel.

On our arrival we found the fortress in a surprisingly good shape. As we found out later, it was because the demons decided to wait for more reinforcements before launching their assault. They were still harassing the defenders from time to time though, bombarding the city from afar with deadly magic. Human mages eventually responded to the bombardment by creating a barrier and supplying it with mana everyday.

When we got inside the citadel, some of my men found a decent tavern and eventually we decided to stay there. After we settled down I had an important decision to make. From the beginning I planned on not joining the heroes. While my mission is indeed to watch over them and not let them die, it is also to not let them defeat the demon king. While joining the heroes might offer me an easier way of keeping an eye on them, it will prove problematic in the long run.

Considering the current situation though, I might find myself forced to work with them and that bothered me. Eventually, I decided that if push came to shove I'd be doing everything to help them without interacting with them, as much as it was possible.

Four days after my arrival the demonic harassment suddenly became stronger. While bombarding the citadel they sent some flying manticore looking creatures to attack the walls. Those creatures easily bypassed the barrier and engaged the wall defenders in fierce melee combat.

During those days I found a nice mountain ridge, overlooking the citadel and the narrow mountain passage to the demonic camp and made it my observation point. That was my position from which I observed the battlefield with a 'gate' behind me. I mean, I couldn't waste the chance to empower myself right?

After a couple minutes of fierce fighting I saw the heroes for the first time, in flesh. They made short work of the manticores, and in about 20 minutes cleared the wall. To be honest. I was impressed by their skills and teamwork and began reevaluating our chances at a victory in the upcoming siege.

A couple more days passed uneventfully with the heroes defending the walls everyday from the usual aerial harassments until one day I found myself in a precarious situation.

"Who are you?"

With Ozawa Ayaka, the lightning hero before me, in a battle stance.

"Shit."