Beyond Napre

…

Recoveries were soon engaged in Napre. But they're not the only ones recuperating, though.

Northern tower… Three days after the battle at Napre…

Mastermind has returned back to the large tower, far to the north of Napre. He and his forces suffered some casualties, but not enough to bother their powers. Mastermind himself had given up on Napre because he has other important things to do. One of them…

…is moving his throne.

"…ookay… slowly, slowly, now… aaaaaand…. STOP!"

"Over here, sir?" one of his soldiers asked.

"Eh…hmm…." He watched closely to the positioning of the throne. "Hm… kind of not symmetric to the center," he said unassumingly. "Alright, then, a bit to the left!"

"Errgh…. bwah… over here, sir?" said one of the soldiers. Mastermind gave a big thumb, "Perfecto!"

"Huff… the hell's this chair made of? Some thick shit? Huff… moving this tall throne really bothers… we've spent five hours just moving this big thing," Mastermind grumbled. He claimed he was tiresome, although the truth that he was just telling his men to carry them.

Two days earlier, Mastermind received a message from the emperor to return the 'super weapon' he borrowed from him. When Mastermind first borrowed the 'Frying Pan' tank, he was amazed by how the tank looked like. However, he was told about the tank's name a few days after, making him uninterested to make more use of the vehicle.

He sent General Rezzo and some of his soldiers to go to the capital city to return the lent weapon…

…but they've yet to come back. Of course, going to the capital might take a day or two IF by carriage. But in this case, Mastermind used the same magic—one that was used to retreat from Napre by teleportation. He believed they should return the day after, but there's no news from them ever since.

"I purposefully used the magic so that I can make use of Rezzo in my next move… sigh..." said Mastermind while looking out through the large tower window. "Even though I've guessed 'this might happen' but the chances are quite null."

"Even for the null number, I had prepared a backup plan already."

Suddenly, he heard ramblings from outside. "Huh…?" he turned around. He heard voices beyond the main door. His eyes scrunches, "Don't say…"

Outside…

"Hah? What do you mean 'You weren't summoned here'?" said the girl in armor.

"As we said earlier, Sir Mastermind didn't expect visitors from the empire today," said one of the two lookalike guards. "Yeah, if Mastermind had expected you to come today, we will know it immediately," said the other guard unfriendly. Together the two lookalike guards give an unwelcoming look in their faces and say "So beat it!" loudly.

The girl in armor looked pissed when the two of the most loyal men to Mastermind said that. "I've came ALL THE WAY here from Meridia to get this treatment?! Unbelievable!" she said angrily.

"Uwah… the labile soldier starts again…"

"Yeah… I hope you bring your earplugs, bro."

"WHO DO YOU CALL 'LABILE'?!" she shouted. The two guards stared at her for a second before throwing their faces as if there's nobody in front of them.

"HEY! Look at me when I'm talking!" she yelled. Unfortunately, the guards retained silence. "Why you two sickos… grr… that's it! I'll blast—"

"—Don't start a ruckus in my front yard… Tate, Yaiba."

"Whoa, Sir Mastermind!" said the two together in surprise. The girl was no different. Nobody thought the head of this tower would waltz through the thick and giant magical iron doors like a ghost. The two soldiers quickly kneeled down in respect. The girl didn't do the same as the two, however. She looked at Mastermind in the eyes with a pouting face.

"…you arrived sooner than I thought. No-no, too soon, to be precise, I haven't even told these two about you coming here." Mastermind said quickly and seemingly exaggerating. "Then try telling them sooner. I came all the way here to be treated like this…? How awful," the girl crossed her arms and looked away.

"Yeah, yeah… pardon me for the inconvenience. Happy, now?" Mastermind stated. "Um… well… it can't be helped. Besides… you're my superior."

"Good! It's better you don't look too serious and too soldier-like."

"It can't be helped, you know… being a Royal Knight isn't easy as you think." "—Huh? Who the hell said it was easy?" Mastermind said. "Ach, forget it. So? What happened till you called me from my post at Meridia?"

"Ah. About that, let's discuss about it inside, Reila." Mastermind then turned around and touched the giant door. On the door's surface, thousands of magical circuits appeared briefly. The doors slowly creaked open, letting both the commander, Mastermind, and the Royal Knight, Reila, into the tower.

…

..

.

A few hours later…

Their discussion ran quite long. "So… you want me to go to the Fortis Kingdom?" asked Reila. "Yeah." Mastermind replied short. "Apparently, their involvement with my, err—no, I mean the emperor's plan had gone too far."

Reila leans back on the couch and sighs long, "Bah… I know the emperor wouldn't likely gonna let the Fortis Kingdom do as they please. But who would've thought that YOU are the one giving the mission to deal with them. Not to mention that I was the victim of your mission, hmph."

"Huh, now I really question your credibility as a Royal Knight, Reila Myrmid," said Mastermind.

Reila Myrmid, she is one of the Royal Knights of the original Sacranopolis Empire, which means she was also stuck in this merged world. When the worlds merged to one another, she was sent by the emperor to work under the Imperial commander. She adorns a golden armor with red stripes going around the waist. A symbol of cross and shield can be found on the breastplate. She wears a magenta cape. Despite her symbol of a royal knight, she was exquisitely young, having able to reach such rank in the age of 17. Even her slightly long black hair is made into twin tails with two purple flower bands tying each tails.

"With your Manasbreaker sword, I believe you can do it." Mastermind stated.

"I don't know if I can… but seriously, can't you give me an easier task? Being at Meridia is already tiresome, now you want me to go to Fortis…" said Reila pouting.

"Oh, so you can't do it, huh? Aww… that's too bad."

"W-Wha?! N-No! It's not that I couldn't do it—

"—A royal knight couldn't do anything about it, huh? I can understand."

"I… erm…"

"Hm-Hm! If that's the case then it can't be helped!"

Continuously being bombarded, Reila finally gives in. "AAArrgh! FINE! I'll damn do it!" she said while holding her head roughly. She is the type of girl that doesn't want to be called as helpless or useless.

"Good." Mastermind winked.

…

…

After a few hours later, the royal knight takes her leave, of course with the mission being accepted by her. "Humph… that bastard, hideous, weird, crazy, mindless commander…" she pouted. Reila then looks at the paper given by Mastermind. "Sigh… he forced me to go on a mission like this…?" she said.

"Honestly… I had a hard time going along with him. He's full of himself, using his fellow comrades to carry out hard missions in order to accomplish something that we don't even know what…

Even I don't know…

The only thing he say to me that he had the same intention as the emperor: To save the world, but somehow… I can feel both of them have different understanding to that sentence.

Mastermind… I couldn't understand you. After discussing a fatal mission with danger level that may threat thousands of people, he still can emit some jokes. Unlike my emperor… but I don't know what really happened to him."

After wailing to her innermost thoughts, she raises her head, "Hmhm! I mustn't look miserable. If Mastermind trusted me on this mission, then I suppose I can do better than what he expected," she patted her cheeks two times, "Hm! I can do this."

"Fortis Kingdom… huh…?

I wonder how this mission will go…"