As we ran to one of the pre-arranged positions, I could only hope for the best. We barely had any promoted units, so I appointed Kimmel, Sarde, Batti, and Phildina as ptoon leaders. I knew how strong they were, so they were probably fine, but I was still worried. I didn't want anyone to be careless, as we were facing greater numbers.

  "Don't worry. They'll be fine," Lucia said with a reassuring smile.

  "I know. It's just— I know how sick these bastards can be, and you guys have good hearts, so I'm worried they'll take advantage of that."

  "What do you mean? W-what happened at Fort Turion?" She hesitantly asked. I could tell she had been looking for an opportunity to bring this up, so I smiled, thinking, Thank you for looking out for me, as I began to recount the tragedy,

  "I never expected them to move in such a sickening way, but when I got to where the water mage was supposed to be, I found some children they had performed ritual magic on. The spell they imbued into those kids was the same spell that was controlling the waters and with ritual magic..."

  "You have to destroy the object to stop the spell," She muttered with an appalled look on her face.

  "And that's not even the worst part. They set up an ambush for us, so if I or any other person hesitated, they would lose their lives in a heartbeat. I saw through this, defeated all those Archers, and then, I... dirtied my hands terribly to ensure our victory," I said as I looked into my right palm, remembering everything from the weight of the bow to the tension in the string.

  "No one should be forced to make such a choice," She said with a sympathetic look on her face.

  "True, but that's the kind of enemy we're facing and another reason why we must crush them."

  When we finally arrived, we were shocked to find all the soldiers and adventurers in Company 317 C gathered with Phildina at the center. Phildina, what did you do this time? I wondered as I asked, "What happened to all the Empire soldiers?" Kimmel looked up at me and said,

  "We were doing just fine until Phildina arrived and handled all of them."

  "What?" I couldn't believe it.

  "You know," She began, "I was so disappointed with not being able to do anything in that st battle, so I—"

  "Took all the EXP for yourself?" I asked as I tapped my feet impatiently, looking like I was about to explode.

  "No, Daphne, you don't understand. I was trying to help everybody." This one statement from her took me over the edge.

  "What do you mean you were trying to help everybody?!" I bellowed in anger. "Damn, I take my eyes off you for one second, and this is what happens!"

  "B-but Daphne," She tried to act cute, but I couldn't ignore the fact that she practically stole all the EXP for herself.

  "Were there any casualties?" I finally managed to ask despite my anger.

  "None," She answered with an uncharacteristically serious look. "I didn't let any of our own die, and I ensured every single one of those Empire soldiers perished miserably." I was guessing she did this with her [Killing Mastery] skill, which prompted me to reconsider things a bit.

  "I mean, you practically stole all the EXP for yourself, but since there were no casualties, I'll let it slide this time. I couldn't ask for a better outcome," I answered with a smile. From there and with what she told me already about her skills, I wondered if I could tell her about my [Nature's Bounty] skill ter. I trust her, so there's no need to overthink that. It was honestly a nice surprise. Everything went smoothly, and they didn't py any dirty tricks this time. I was most worried about that, so it was a massive win in my books. There'd probably be a feast after this, but before all that, we still had some things to do.

  "Are you thinking about the Fort?" Phildina asked as she got really close to me.

  "Um, yeah. I'm thinking of sending a few ptoons to clean up all the soldiers that may or may not be remaining and recover all the items. Would you like to lead?" I asked innocently but was surprised to hear her response,

  "No, you promised me a kiss after this battle," She whispered.

  "Um, ah, now is not the time, Phildina! We have more, uh, important matters to discuss!" She started dragging me away despite my protests, saying things like,

  "Ooh, that's a nice spot over there!" Woah, outside?! That's wild, I thought to myself as I called out, saying,

  "Kimmel! Please, take Batti or Sarde with you to the Fort. Capture any remaining soldiers you can and kill the ones you can't." As Phildina continued carrying me deeper into the forest, I added, "Also, remember to recover their items!" Ooh, boy! What's going to happen this time? I was overcome with excitement as we engaged in another passionate affair.