Brave Warrior Miller

The human attack was over. There were a few casualties on the Alliance side, but apparently, the guild got the worse of it. However, several warehouses and important infrastructure were hit, which meant the army was more vulnerable for the moment. After she said her goodbyes to Blue, Hera moved back. She tried to find Delta and the people who saved her during the fight, but couldn't. Even the raid haired elf was nowhere to be found. Still, she didn't stop to smell the roses. A lot of people in the area needed help and despite everything, her injuries were minor despite of everything. There was still a large bruise around her neck, but that was about it. The court took the brunt of the damage. As a matter of fact, among the titled blades, only Nimbus and Vulcan were out. All the others had to retreat back to the legacy to recover. Shadow, Twiggy, Pyro and the others were moving around, but they couldn't help properly when it was about saving people. The only one who was going against the Empress' wishes was Daskka. Instead of helping, she was focusing on healing Hera and Nimbus from the wounds they received.

For a couple of hours, the army dedicated itself to reorganizing and assisting all those who were injured. Once that happened, the Ophidianite was called to the command center. Roan was the one who found her and explained how the high command wanted to talk to her.

"Did they say why they were calling me?" Hera asked as they walked through the camp.

"Not really, just that you might be involved in an important part of the battle," Roan replied.

"Ah. OK, I think I know what it is," Hera nodded. From what Blue told her, Delta was just a prototype. Which meant there couldn't be many of them. If they were following the Greek alphabet, this would be the fourth one, with Alpha, Beta, and Gamma coming before. Maybe they were also somewhere around the battlefield, and now they had a chance to gather all the intel about those 'Soldier of Strength' as the New Dawn was calling them.

They waited in a reception room of sorts for a few minutes before the doors opened, and two soldiers gestured for Hera and Roan to enter. There were three people in there, a harpy, a dwarf and a beastmen. The same three people who saved her from being killed by Delta. The beastmen in particular stared at Roan for a moment, communicating something to him without words.

"These are Eldrin Oakheart," Roan gestured to the dwarf with short, brown hair and a clean, shaved face. Which was somewhat uncommon for his kind. His armor was completely made out of wood, but it seemed to stretch without hindering his movement, "Pilla, the Clawed Wind," he gestured to the female harpy that had bright green feathers and silver gray wings that almost seemed made out of metal, "And Brave Warrior Miller," the beastmen was sitting at the head of the table. With an armor made our of bone and fur. His nose came up in a point almost like a rhino and the skin around his face had a grayish coloration.

Hera gave them all a nod, "Hello. I'm Hera Quetzaveth. If I'm not mistaken, you three saved me while I was fighting with Delta. That enhanced human. Thank you for that. I don't think I would be here without your help."

"What?" Roan looked up with wide eyes.

"Don't worry, someone had to take that dude out," Pilla replied.

"Yeah… I still don't know what was up with him," Eldrin sighed.

"It's good to know that you were not in such a state of shock that you weren't able to remember what happened. Still, I thought you to be a coward when I sew you running," Brave Warrior Miller tilted his head, studying Hera's reaction, "But then I realized your movements had intention. You were going after something, or someone. Care to illuminate us about your actions?"

The Ophidianite understood that she was in hot water. Maybe not hot, but at least warm, "Of course. Mr. Miller," before she continued speaking, she noticed a shift in the mood of the room. Brave Warrior Miller frowned while Pilla and Eldrin seemed to take a step back. Roan's eyes grew even wider, and he poked the Empress to get her attention.

"Brave Warrior is a title in the beastmen army. It would be the equivalent of a general in an elven or dwarven army. Or the tip of the spear for harpies," Roan quickly explained.

"Oh!" Hera felt her cheeks getting red, but quickly recomposed herself, turning to the general, "My apologies, Brave Warrior Miller. I was unaware of the significance of your title. Please don't take my ignorance as intentional offense," she ended the phrase with a bow.

Brave Warrior Miller seemed to accept the apology, as the intensity he displayed lessened, "That is understandable. We had similar issues here before. Nonetheless, I still want to hear your report."

"Of course. After the fight with Delta, which is something called a Soldier of Strength. I followed a human. One that I believed to be a friend of mine. She had stolen some of the supplies and was now trying to escape with them."

"You are friend with a human? We've read your file, and there was no mention of an association with a human on the guild's side," Eldrin asked.

"I am. Before the war started, or before I was involved in it. I met a few humans. Most of them stayed on the Alliance side, but this one in particular couldn't afford to do so."

"Why is that?" Brave Warrior Miller asked.

"She has a family back on Earth. We are friends, but asking her to abandon her father, her mother, and her siblings that is too much," Hera replied. After getting a slight nod as a response, she continued, "I was able to catch her, and we used a combo of skills to create a soundproof barrier and a visual barrier around us. That way, we could communicate without the risk of being watched. She shared with me some information about Delta. Such as he being a prototype of the Soldier of Strength project. Apparently, the final version will be less capable of instant recovery, but it won't come with the drawback of eventually reaching the point of no return. From what I understood, this prototype would just be taking in mana non stop. And because of that, it would break down at one point. I also want to add that I know about the reality of those soldiers. They are the ones being benefited by the experiments happening with our people in the labs."

"Did she tell you anything else about them? These, Soldiers of Strength, I mean. Even if they are weaker, if they are still somewhat like that dude, we are fucked, and we need all the help we can get," Pilla asked.

"Just that they are not sharing what they actually are to the humans. They are marketing this project as a Spirit Greenhouse. And not the daemon bound intermediary they are using. Our conversation then shifted about her situation and the general situation back on earth."

"And how is it? We have some information, but it's good to know if it matches," Eldrin asked.

Hera gave a brief overview of things, she included how Blue was being blackmailed into being a part of the war, but didn't go into details. She was also very careful not to mention anything about her friend's legacy. She wasn't deluding herself into thinking that the Alliance would leave Blue alone just because she was her friend. If she was participating in battles like this one, or worse, she was risking getting killed. But right now, she was just another random human in the army. If Hera was to say 'oh and she has a legacy,' it would paint a target on her back.

"And can I take it that you didn't kill that human?" Brave Warrior Miller asked.

"That is correct. She is a friend. I wouldn't kill her, especially knowing her situation. That's part of the reason why I asked not to be in the front line. I knew that something like this could happen, and hesitating to kill someone in a war will result in more casualties."

Brave Warrior Miller stared the Empress down for a moment, analyzing her movements before sighing, "I suppose I should at least praise your self awareness. You also mentioned supplies. Were you able to recover all of them?"

"I let her go with half. A crate with non enchanted ammo, mostly arrows with a few pellets for slingshots. And another with soap and some blankets. The other two crates that had medicine and mana crystals stayed with me. If I let her go without anything, it would be suspicious, but among the items that we had, those should be the least impactful to be stolen," Hera replied.

Pilla turned to Brave Warrior Miller and gave him a nod. With a sigh, the army general replied, "I suppose this is better than having everything stolen. Now, Delta, that… Soldier of Strength that you mentioned. He was the only one in the entire attack. We saw some of his abilities, but since you were the one who fought him for longer, I would like a more detailed report," he gestured for the empty chairs on the opposite side of the table. One for Hera and one for Roan.

Hera sat down and started recounting the battle with excruciating detail. She even called her blades out, the ones that could be called, to give more information, considering they saw him from different angles. That part of the conversation lasted almost two hours, and by the end, Roan had a pretty good idea of how dangerous Delta actually was, and how close he got to killing Hera. Thankfully, the three leaders of this army were notified of the man in time and were able to reach the Ophidianite before it was too late. However, even this trio of people who were all level 70 and above, with Brave Warrior Miller being at 85, still struggled a bit in the fight against Delta. It wasn't a situation where they appeared and killed the man right away. And he was injured, which only made the idea of those Soldiers of Strength even scarier. Sure, they would be weaker if the information Blue provided was correct, but that didn't mean much when a level 43 could face someone double their level.

When they were done with the conversation. Roan and Hera left the command tent, ready to call the rest of the team and head back to the city. The beastmen had already confirmed that everyone was ok, but convincing Neria she had to go would be a bit of a struggle. He still insisted for Hera to just stay near the command center and rest. She didn't feel like she had to do that, but it was so rare to see Roan worried that she couldn't bring herself to say no.

As she was sitting on a chair, an elven woman with red hair approached her, "Hello?"

"Oh, hi," Hera smiled at the woman.

"Sorry to bother you, I just wanted to thank you for saving me back there," the woman said.

"I saved you? When?"

"When you fought against that red human."

"Right, you were the one that I saw being tossed around," Hera paused and took a good look at this woman. She recognized her from a different place, "And also the one who complained about my floating weapons. Right?"

"Yeah… sorry about that."

Hera shrugged, "No worries. Everyone is tense. But are you ok? His punches were no joke."

"Yeah. I didn't break anything. One of my skills saved my ass. Again. Thank you, and I'm sorry. I just ran after you showed up. Thankfully, I was able to find Brave Warrior Miller and ask for help."

"Again, it's not a problem. And if you were the one that called Brave Warrior, then you saved me, too. I would've died if it wasn't for him."

"You… almost died?"

"Yeah, wasn't that why you ran? Because you saw me getting my ass handed to me?"

"No… I just ran when you stepped in. I'm really sorry. I should've stayed to help or something."

Hera waved her off, "Don't be. I don't think you would've helped all that much. Don't get me wrong. I'm not calling you weak. Delta was just… a problem. The big dragon lady that was with me had a skill to double her attributes and even then, it wasn't enough to push him back."

"Yeah. I don't think I could've helped. But if there is anything I can do to help, please, let me know."

Hera looked at the woman. She was pretty, green eyes and a red hair that was no longer in a tight bun but now fell to her shoulders. Aside from the fact she was an elf, she could've been that stereotypical Irish woman.

"What's your name?" the Empress asked.

"Alessandra. How about yours?"

"I'm Hera," the Ophidianite smiled, "Are you staying in the camp today or going to the city with the people who were injured?"

"I'll be going to the city. At first it was just for a break, but I just got a message that I need to see a therapist before being cleared for active duty again. Just to see if facing that red man didn't cause any PTSD."

Hera nodded, "I see. Tell me, do you know a good bar in the city?"

"I think so. There are a couple that are really famous among the troops."

"Then how about, as a thanks, you buy me a drink?" Hera smiled at Alessandra.

The elven woman looked at the Ophidianite, pausing for a moment before the realization dawned on her, "Oh… I'm… Thanks but… How can I say this… I don't know if I'm into your kind. Is that ok to say?"

Hera shrugged, "Rejections are never fun to hear. But if you are worried about offending me on a deeper level, don't be. I understand that inter species relationships have a few more barriers. Just like someone might not like men, or women, they might not like harpies, tritons, or, well, me. Don't worry, but I would appreciate the names of the bars, nonetheless. I feel like drinking tonight."

"Sure," Alessandra pulled her tablet, "The best one for the army is 'The Awkward Swan.' It's close to the entrance and they serve a lot of strong drinks. You know… I have a few friends that are more… adventurous than me. If you want, I can have them meet you there."

Hera smiled at the elf, trying not to show how that idea bothered her, "There is no need. I liked you. That's why I shoot my shot. If you say no, I'm not into the idea of a random hookup," Hera got up, "Either way. I'll be on the Awkward Swan later if you change your mind," she winked and walked away, trying to save the little pride she had left.