SWNOVELXO Chapter 27: Aren't The Clouds A Bit Too Dark?
"So, what's the plan?" Melissa asked, elbows on desk and fingers crossed. The massive desk housed a couple more chairs for Augustus, Aurora, Lily and Aaron and they sat adjacent to one another.
"I've evolved Fredrinn's talent to «100x Resource Multiplier» and had him work on the resources for weaponizing the village. Most especially anti-siege tools." Augustus started.
Augustus placed the piece of paper on the desk, pushing it towards Melissa, "I will not be able to participate in the battle. I have bigger problems to face before going front line."
"Bigger problems? We are facing potential— What's this?" Melissa took the ruffled up piece of paper, squinting her eyes as she tried to decipher its contents, "From the palace?"
"They are going to help?" Aaron, who sat adjacent Lily with Aurora and Augustus by his sides, joined with a joyful expression, "If the palace lends a hand then it will be easy!"
'Haha! They are going to send a force alright, but not for helping…' Augustus felt his brows furrow, then he narrowed his eyes and lay back in his seat, '…but, not this early…'
In his past life, the palace invasion did not start until after Iona was destroyed. He'd lived through the chaos of the palaces launching war against each other for many years.
Unlike these weak skirmishes, a war of that mass would wipe out all civilisations at the C-Rank or lower. Augustus rubbed his chin, turning to Lily, "What about Valentine?"
"Taken care off, they won't find them even if they wanted to." Lily replied, turning to Melissa who sat besides her, "I'll try scouting round the forests for anything out of place."
"Why are you looking at me? I have no business outside the village." Melissa snapped her fingers, causing a spark to go off around her fingers, "Aurora and I will remain here."
"That leaves only Ylil and I available for front line duty." Aaron nodded his head and cleared his throat then he blinked, "What if they attack us with underhanded methods?"
"I had Margret and Henry level the forests around the village while Fredrinn prepares traps. We'll use our terrain to contain the threat if they try sneaking in." Augustus replies.
"You had them level the forests? How?" Melissa turned towards Augustus, raising her brows in shock. She coughed, calming down after some thought, "You helped them too?"
"Helped them how?" Aurora chimed in, looking quite curious. She turned to Augustus who blinked, then chuckled, "Why are you chuckling? I'm just curious how you did that."
"Did what? Helped them level the forest?" Augustus shrugged, turning his gaze to the side to give Aaron a glance, then returning his glance to Aurora, "It's a very huge secret."
Aurora opened her mouth to speak, then went silent. The group remained in the room and discussed minor issues like suspicious areas to cover and the rak infestation till dawn.
——
Lily stepped forward, patting the trees and stepping back. Her eyes were wide, and her pupils gleamed, "You mean these trees were all generated by your skill? That's incredible."
"Get this," the grey haired man started, demonstrating with his hands as he circled the one tree, spittle flying from his mouth, "Bulling through these trees sets off a chain trap."
"That sounds nice Fredrinn, so how much damage does this deal exactly?" Lily glanced from left to right, seeing various trees replaced by his generated ones, "Must be massive."
"It is!" Fredrinn replied, clearing his throat and puffing out his chest, "Of course, it all started with just one tree. Just one tree, and all of this was possible. I'm shocked at this."
"Not as much as I am." Lily muttered to herself, turning to the side and lifting her eyes to stare off into the sky, "The rain has cleared, but the heavens' still murky. What a pain."
"You like it bright and sunny too, don't you?" Fredrinn sighed, turning around to stare at Lily with furrowed brows, "Well, there's no power in the world to control the weather."
Lily clicked her tongue, leaving Fredrinn and advancing deeper into the forest, "Maybe I'd rotate through the paths around the wastes to scout the enemies without getting seen."
"You sure she wouldn't trigger anything?" Ralph stepped out of thick trees, letting out a loud sneeze as he wiped the dust off his face. He patted more off his thick brown clothes.
"Unless she's rolling down the forest like some kind of boulder, it'd be fine." Fredrinn waved the thought off, turning around to walk in the path that led to the village gates.
——
Augustus returned to his granted quavers, sitting down in his chair and lifting his cold gaze to the wall before him, 'It's more complex than I'd thought— the sacrifices, the slave.'
Esmeralda and Enryon may not be connected, but the moon slave is to Valentine. Since Valentine is a princess, she's connected to Esmeralda, but Delusion proved something else.
Even though Esmeralda and Valentine are connected, they share different goals. One is after annexation while the other Iona's artefact, the Ten Thousand Year Old Autumn Leaf.
Enryon, with the moon slave sacrifice, is after another goal. Augustus speculated he'd had a hand instigating the demon hordes, so his goal was not of peace, but destabilisation.
'Destabilisation. Both Esmeralda and Valentine's goals have little impact on Iona when compared to the demon attacks that outright destroyed it.' Augustus laid back in his seat.
He'd secured both Valentine and Delusion to cut off the flow of information, but there were still leaks, just not in the areas he had thought to seal up. This flow reached Rachael.
'I'd been too focused on moon palace spies in the village to root out this threat. In this village, literally under the piety of the sun god, that isn't easy.' Augustus's pupils gleamed.
It was like searching for a hairpin in a bag of needles. Trying too hard will deal much damage than good, and Rachael took advantage of this, even daring herself to taunt him.
"Haha…" Augustus laughed, his fists balled and vein popping on his forehead. As his gaze focused on the board before him with his scribbling and dotting, it turned icier.