Getting Clear With The Plan

Aizen departed at dusk when the teaching and learning activities at Raven Academy finished. He didn't say goodbye to Milo and the others because he didn't think it was necessary. He walked through the deserted suburbs. Where at night, many petty thieves, crooks, and thugs roam around looking for prey.

But with the appearance of Aizen, who looked mysterious with a spear over his right shoulder carrying a large cloth bag, no petty criminal dared to approach.

On top of that, he was covered in a heavy cloak that made him difficult to notice at night. No one could tell whether Aizen was young or old even though his stature wasn't that tall.

After walking for half an hour, he arrived at the exit. The gate was kept rudimentary with two guards at the tier-1 Knight level. There was nothing but them.

It was sufficient. After all, it was a time of a warless era. So security had been slacking too much, and that was a natural thing. It had been established for nearly a hundred years that no nation had been colonized or entered by force.

Aizen also felt it was a good thing that security was that lax. He passed casually without showing his identification placard, and the two guards didn't bother to stop him at all.

After some distance outside of the city area, he turned around and stared deeply at the lightly guarded gate.

'No wonder it's easy for spies to enter the city. Also, if war suddenly got in front of the wall, the two guards would pee in their pants. And the city will be flattened in a matter of hours.'

At the same time, Aizen also felt pressure not to fail in his mission to prevent the Omni War due to the unpreparedness of the realm to become a place of war.

All innocent people or nations that were not associated with the Brotherhood of Spectre would fall down in vain, and the Azure Realm would become an abyss of tribulation in the long run.

He tightened his grip, 'I will not fail. No matter how dangerous it is to change destiny and how difficult it is to guess the history that changed because of my actions. It's a cheap price and the thing I have to do for the peace of all beings.'

Aizen turned around and started walking, hitching a ride on the caravan headed for the Seca Kingdom on his way out of the Aslan Empire's territory.

Due to an encounter with Rashagul, he bore a firm decision after knowing what he must do to prevent the Omni War despite his almost complete lack of knowledge about the organization.

Win the first war and keep the Tucan Kingdom from collapsing!

There was no doubt that those two things would hinder or even prevent the Omni War from happening.

Aizen realized that as long as he wasn't at his peak like in his previous life, he couldn't investigate anything about the organization casually. Especially interrogating influential people in the government of a kingdom or empire was something he couldn't do with the state he was in since those people would undoubtedly have powerful attendants on their side.

How about waiting until his power as the Supreme Knight returned? It wasn't a wise choice, while the Brotherhood of Spectre should have already put their Omni War plan in motion.

So, he chose to focus on the easy things, and that was also in line with the preparations he made through Odin Axzec. If his trading plan was successful, then the wealth he and Axzec Trading had would be enough to set up a unit of troops behind a curtain.

Even though it would only consist of around five thousand soldiers, it was enough to shift the course of a war.

However, he put the troop unit issue aside first. That could be taken care of later when the amount of money he wanted was sufficient.

It took Aizen three days to reach the northern border of the Aslan Empire. It was fast compared to his having to go from city to city within the empire to reach the border. Well, it was also his good fortune to run into the caravan that was about to depart straight outside the empire's territory, even though the final destination wasn't the Seca Kingdom.

The stopping place was in a small but magnificent city called Azorg. It was the only regional trade route with adequate facilities compared to the other cities that weren't tied to the Aslan Empire or the Seca Kingdom.

Aizen decided to stay in Azorg for a day. After all, he was only three days away from arriving at the Seca Kingdom's territory. He could use the time to find a ride or transportation to the nation.

After settling into the cheapest hotel, he headed to a bar for information and a ride. Luckily, before he came home from school, the principal gave him pocket money for his adventure. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to travel with just his 15 silver coins.

Even so, the cheapest hotel still costs around 20 silver coins a night. It was more than double that of most hotels in the cities of the Aslan Empire. Now, he only had 95 silver coins left. That should be more than enough for a week or two of traveling to the Seca Kingdom and back to the Aslan Empire.

"Did you hear? The Asylum Empire is said to be increasing the number of their battle equipment to arm their hundreds of thousands of troops." Said one of the men sitting while drinking wine from a wooden glass.

"Yeah, I heard the news too. Is the war going to break out?" Asked another man with a pale and worried face.

"Tsk! Those are just baseless rumors. If the news is true, then it won't be on the streets. You should know that information traders are very greedy, especially if there are big names in it." Answered the man, who was sitting while crossing his arms across from the man drinking the wine.

The previous two men gulped down their saliva and nodded, confirming their friend's logic. Such important information would be worth a gold coin. Not drifting carelessly from ear to ear.

"Besides, what nation would dare to start a war while the walls of the Tucan Kingdom are still standing?! No rulers would be foolish enough as to forget of the Tucan nation's role in this Realm."

"Ah, right. I forgot there was a Tucan."

"How could you forget something important like that!? You idiot!"

"You can't blame him. It's all because Tucan never did anything big or grand again after the war that was written in history a hundred years ago. So it's only natural that we forget what the Tucan Empire could do if they opened the gates and released their generals with hundreds of thousands of troops."

After his friend's words, the three men looked at each other in fear. They know what it means to open the gate.

It was like a demigod releasing ferocious dragons to wreak havoc among the humans.

There wasn't a single general in the Tucan Kingdom whose name had never resounded across the land.

Shunsuijo Ren, Nefertire Leif, Mako Erich, Deni Porcher, Kallian Morc, Ten Rafuuku, and Sascha Charlotte.

They all had the title of the Seven Greats, which were all at the level of Genesis Knights, with outstanding commanding knowledge.

No nation possessed that number of Genesis Knights, even in non-human territories.

And after a victory in a historic war drove the demons out of the human territory, the seven of them were granted the eternal privilege of being free to wage war by their viceroy at the time, Louis der Cyrus.

The three men could imagine the fierceness of the seven generals, even though they had never directly witnessed that historic war.

That was because every storyteller would always describe them clearly and exaggeratedly. Thus, the images of the seven Genesis Knights were etched terrifyingly on everyone who knew the story.

On the other hand, Aizen, who was eavesdropping beside the table of the three men, didn't take the news about the Asylum Empire as a lie. He knew it was true because, during the Omni War, the Asylum was one of the most hostile nations and held on to its greatness while others fell.

On top of that, the Asylum also reached its peak by successfully dethroning Tucan as a peacekeeper at the start of the disaster.

It would not be achievable if preparations were not made as early as possible.

And that made Aizen fully believe the people of the Asylum Empire were working with the Brotherhood of Spectre for the Omni War. Not just client and seller relationships for those weapons.

'Hmm. The Asylum Empire should be one country to watch out for. And, of course, the fate of the war with the Tucan must change, unlike in the past. But progress wouldn't have gone that far if the Aslan Empire hadn't fallen in this timeline.'

Aizen couldn't help but clench his teeth. Defending the Aslan Empire was indeed one option as well. But he knew it was difficult. Because in terms of combat power, the Tucan Kingdom was way above average.