Rear

The sky was already night, the soldiers were seen gathering in front of the gates of the Estafera kingdom, at that place, Rizumi along with Ruka and Archi was already there and ready to meet the gathered soldiers.

"From now on, if any of you want to resign, then step back, the task we are carrying out now is not the duty of the kingdom and the task that we will carry out is against the decision of the General Romandia," said Rizumi explaining to his soldiers who numbered around 200 people. .

With the word "General" it was sufficient to explain that it was possible that they would receive the consequences regardless of whether the task of the kingdom was successfully carried out or not even the General would not be able to protect them.

"If anyone wants to retreat, put down your weapon and leave, no one will judge you" Rizumi gave another signal to his soldiers but no one listened to it and still stood firmly facing Rizumi.

Rizumi looked around to see if anyone would retreat, seeing that no one was intending to do so, Rizumi raised his sword and shouted

"Be faithful to the end, To Estafera"

"Haaaaa" the cheers of the soldiers signaled they were about to head to Esmoth city.

The reason why they could easily gather in front of the royal gates was because those guarding the royal gates were also Rizumi's troops, so no one would have guessed that Rizumi would gather his entire army at night intend to go and help his father on the battlefield.

Rizumi's troops immediately rushed to the city of Esmoth, led by Rizumi as the captain, Archi as the Magic Swordsman, and Ruka as the paladin, Rizumi's troops could be said to be the ideal troops because the soldiers in this army were chosen people who were certainly very reliable, besides Archi, Ruka and Rizumi himself has a reliable ability in war.

The journey began, about 5 hours needed to travel to Esmoth city, especially when they did it at night, of course it was very dangerous for the troops, but this did not become an obstacle for Rizumi's troops who were used to battlefields like this.

"When you get there what are you going to do Rizu?" asked Ruka who wanted to know the next plan.

"Of course report to my father first" replied Rizumi

"Huh… so we just let ourselves be found out?" asked Archi who was confused about the scheme.

They came as unexpected reinforcements but reported directly… wouldn't that be absurd plan.

"I will sneak up and tell my father, Rostalia's spies are everywhere, they should have reported the number of our royal troops in Esmoth by now, but to be safer, I have to sneak into my father's army" explained Rizumi telling the plan when he arrived in the area. Esmoths.

"Then we will hide near the city of Esmoth, I hope you are right and the enemy does not suspect our existence even though it only consists of more than 200 soldiers" replied Archi who seemed to be starting to waver about this plan.

"Couldn't you use magic to keep us from being seen by the enemy?" Ruka asked about Archi's abilities.

"My class is Magic Swordsman, of course I focus on sword art with magic, not studying magic to the level of battlemage" Archi gave an explanation to Ruka

"Sorry..sorry...I slept while we were still doing class selection training" Ruka apologetic tone came from her mouth as she closed her hands towards Archi and apologized.

"You guys just hide, this should be easy right… considering our battalion is an elite battalion within the kingdom." Rizumi was the one who encouraged the two of them and tried to end the argument.

The three of them also chatted with each other during the trip, ranging from serious things such as strategies that would be used later to the daily conversations of the three of them as close friends.

Unknowingly, they were already close to the borders of the Esmoth city territory.

"Get ready, we will soon enter Esmoth's territory, all of you hide and avoid being found by both the enemy and the patrolling soldiers around" said Rizumi giving orders to all his troops.

"I'll go first" Rizumi said as he headed towards Ruka and Archi then continued his footsteps towards Esmoth city.

This is Rizumi's first time in Esmoth city, considering that Esmoth city has always managed to withstand enemy attacks with only a small army from the Rostalia kingdom. He was never assigned to this city but was the captain of another battalion.

Rizumi who was already in a state of not wearing armor considering that he would be instantly recognized if he wore it could only look like an ordinary citizen while wearing a cloak to cover his face.

Fortunately, it was still early in the morning that gave Rizumi protection, he was able to sneak through the darkness to his father's tent.

In that dark situation, Rizumi managed to hide the city's defensive walls without anyone suspecting him. Step by step he did while looking at his surroundings, but what he saw was shocking and unexpected for Rizumi.

The city of Esmoth is located in the border area that borders the kingdom of Rostalia, even though this area is rarely attacked and attacks from the kingdom of Rostalia are more focused on other areas. Because it is an area that is a war zone, the situation of this city is certainly much different from the state of the central city in the kingdom of Estafera.

The first thing that Rizumi saw was that several people were lying helpless on the streets, although there were still signs of life but at first glance, the person looked dead. Rizumi who was surprised to see this, could only continue his goal so as not to be caught by the soldiers who were on patrol in the area in the city of Esmoth.

Traversing the city streets, many city defense preparations were plastered around the buildings, but what Rizumi couldn't escape his eyes was the presence of a girl in chains walking through the street.

From the light of the path that was lit by the torch to the darkness that didn't know where the girl would lead. With shabby clothes, and a blank stare the girl just walked straight without a glimmer of life flowing.

'Is she a slave?' Rizumi thought, but to him, this shouldn't exist in the kingdom of Estafera, considering the previous King was very against slavery and would punish those caught with slaves to death.

While thinking about that, the girl was lost in the darkness, Rizumi who saw that finally realized and could only continue his goal to the tent.

'arriving at the tent I have to ask father' thought Rizumi who wanted to ask for further explanation of what he saw in this city.

---

Romandia, who had finished discussing the plans and strategies to be used in this war with his captains, finally took off the armor he was wearing, the room in the tent seemed empty after the discussion. What Romandia felt was weariness from the fact that another war was imminent. He began to get ready to rest while once again looking at the table.

On the table, there is a sheet containing a picture of the city of Esmoth and its surroundings, as well as several areas marked with white stones and red stones that indicate the position of Estafera's troops and the enemy itself.

Romandia decided to review the plan that they had discussed carefully to prevent mistakes from happening, he also knew that it was possible that the enemy already knew the number of troops deployed considering the many spies scattered in the kingdom of Estafera.

The evidence that this kingdom is still surviving with many spies and information being scattered is proof that the troops from Estafera are very careful in carrying out their duties and have prepared a contingency plan.

Still thinking carefully about the plan to be carried out, suddenly someone entered the tent, of course this made Romandia rush to draw her sword considering that no one else should have visited him at that time.

The person who entered the tent was Rizumi, suddenly Romandia was very surprised by Rizumi's presence in the tent.

"What are you doing here Rizumi?" Romandia asked Rizumi who was still holding the sword in his hand

"Sorry dad, I just decided to help out considering this seems like a very dangerous task." Rizumi replied jokingly to his father who was a war general.

"You idiot, this is not a playground!!!" Romandia's anger peaks seeing the presence of Rizumi who disobeys his decision as a general.

"I know dad, this isn't my first time on the battlefield," replied Rizumi trying to calm his father down.

"Get out of here quickly, maybe they will arrive tomorrow" orders from Romandia as his father.

"I have deployed my battalion troops to come, besides the possibility of enemy spies already knowing the number of our troops right" Rizumi tried to convince Romandia that his arrival on the battlefield was not a mistake.

"The enemy might not know of my battalion's whereabouts, this could be an opportunity to ambush them"

Romandia who was listening to this tried to look at the table once more, 'it's true, this ambush will work' Romandia thought, but the battlefield this time was too big. generally only around 2-3 thousand soldiers, but this time more than 6000 soldiers were deployed. It would be a lie if he wasn't worried about his son's presence on this battlefield. In the end…