Commander

The next day at the crack of dawn, a small convoy of carriages had been prepared to carry half the elven army out of the forest. At Romer's suggestion, only half of the small elf army was mobilized for the purposes of this raid. Where exactly they were going was kept secret from them as it was for much of the elven soldiers that came with them. It seemed like the only one who truly knew where they were headed was Romer himself. 

 Roko's group had a small cart to themselves. It was a bit of a tight fit as their usual party numbered eight plus Brook now who was dressed in her usual heavy cloaks and hoods but with a bit of light armor now.

 "You can take off your mask you know." Helena said, "We all know who you are here."

 "...No. It's fine."

 Helena looked around the carriage, where everyone sat with a grim or gloomy expression, silently awaiting their arrival without looking at anything or anyone, each lost in their own thoughts.

 "Something wrong guys?" Helena called, "Yall look like someone died."

 "No, we're fine." Momo smiled, "It just...feels a bit different this time. Just a bit...weird...right?"

 "That because we're no longer defending." Roko replied, "It's one thing to protect oneself or a city or town. It's another to enact cruelty onto a group of innocents, as hostile as they might be."

 "I..." Momo blinked, "Yeah...that sounds right."

 "We won't always be on the side of justice." Kaguya added, "Or rather, justice isn't always a shield. Lady Justice in fact never held a shield. A scale to balance the rights and wrongs and a sword to enact justice is the common interpretation."

 "I didn't know Lady Justice existed in your universe as well." Roko said, "I suppose it's a pretty universal symbol. But it's true, it's not justice to defend oneself. You don't need justification to protect yourself. Justice is a sword. A weapon. A justification for something that can be merciless. A paint to make black into gray. Or white."

 "True." Kaguya nodded, "We can't always keep protecting something. Sometimes harsh measures must be taken to ensure fair treatment. A little retaliation is fair play considering all that's happened. Perhaps it might be more...good to forgive and forget but that's not-"

 "Oooookay..." Momo interrupted, "Let's talk about something else now, okay?"

 The carriage fell back into awkward silence. The worries of those in the carriage were only strengthened by Roko and Kaguya's discussion, those two being the only ones who seemed comfortably oblivious to everyone else's worries. It was a short moment that felt really long before someone else spoke up again.

 "Murder..." Brook took out two daggers that she had from underneath her cloaks, "I'm...going to be murdering people...orcs...aren't I?"

 "Yeah." Roko replied, "If you don't think you can do it, you're free to leave."

 Brook's face was indiscernible from behind her mask. But her grip tightened over her dagger as she continued to stare at them, "No. I'm ready."

 "I can't say I'm not surprised to hear that the elf princess of Granreveria can fight." Kaguya remarked, "Were you trained?"

 "...Yeah. Once I became a dark elf and my role became more...subdued, I was taught in the ways of espionage instead of royalty. Including how to fight."

 "Nice!" Momo smiled, "I dunno about espionage but I was taught how to fight when I was young too! We should have a duel sometime!"

 "Err...no, I don't think I'd be a fun sparring partner."

 "Aw, you never know. You could be stronger than you think."

 "Not as strong as you." Brook muttered.

 "What was that?"

 "Nothing." Brook sighed, "At any rate, Roko. You said you have some business to attend to at the orc camp?"

 "Something I have to check, yes."

 "Well if you want to be all secretive about it, you better do it quick. Once the fight's over, we'll probably be making a sweep across their camp for anymore cursed objects or such."

 "That would be fine. If I do find something, I'll let Rivera know as well."

 "Well alright then." Brook shrugged, "Speaking of cursed objects, don't forget to take careful notes for any strange effects from your respective cursed items. I'm not expecting you to take notes in the middle of battle but if any symptoms manifest in the middle of battle do try to remember them."

 "That's fine." Helena said, "I for one have been using the cursed object a bit but still haven't noticed any side effects."

 "That's probably because you haven't strained yourselves quite yet." Brook explained, "If this raid is as hectic as we expect, you might start seeing some side effects after this."

 "Oh boy." Helena gulped as she looked down at the ring on her hand, "I hope it's nothing too serious."

 "I wouldn't worry about it too much for now." Roko said, "If the side effects were really so severe we probably would've seen them on Waur. At the very least, I wouldn't start worrying about it until after the fighting is over."

 "But if you start feeling really bad, come find me and I'll remove them immediately!" Corissa cried.

 "Thanks Corissa." Momo smiled, "You're always so reliable."

 "I-I've only really started becoming useful." Corissa blushed, "But I promise I'll do my best with what powers I have!"

 "You cook for us everyday." Helena chuckled, "You're already useful."

 "Yeah!" Roland quickly cut in, "And they're really good too! I, for one, would love to eat your cooking everyday!"

 "Oh..." Corissa blushed lightly.

 "Alright Casanova, let's not go overboard with the flattery before we start putting up death flags." Helena said as she pinched Roland's cheek and tugged on him.

 "You think we'll die in this raid?" Brook asked.

 "Well if the only other orc I fought is any indication we probably don't have to worry about that. But who knows what might happen. The orcs may try to pull some sort of stunt. Waur might've had some contingencies. But our greatest danger is probably those tentacle monsters."

 "Yeah." Momo nodded, "Now that they can eat magic, they're much trickier to deal with. And they reproduce like crazy so there's no telling how many they might have trained. There may be more monsters than orcs."

 "That many?" Brook gulped, "You sound like you've faced them before."

 "We have." Helena nodded, "Thinking back on it, we might be in for a much harder fight than we thought."

 "B-But hey, we've gotten stronger too!" Momo smiled, "We can handle this!"

 Momo's cheer was meet with a few agreeing nods but the memory of their encounter was still daunting enough to silence the caravan once again. And this time the silence stuck until their carriage reached their destination.

 Climbing out of the carriage, Roko found himself in a remarkably different forest. The trees around them were back to a normal length with bright red leaves all around them. Yellow sunlight filtered into a maroon hue through these leaves, bringing a sense of autumn to their surroundings if not for the fact that the forest grass was bereft of fallen leaves. Looking around, Roko could see a large wooden wall stretching around small mountainous spire several meters away from them. The elven soldiers were busy unloading from the other carriages but Romer was already surveying the camp from behind the trees.

 "Nice armor." Roko said as he walked up next to the dark elf, "Looks fancier than your old one."

 "Rivera provided me this." Romer scowled as he touched the white steel armor adorned with gold trimmings, "It honestly doesn't suit me. Feels more like a display piece than for actual combat."

 "So long as it can stop a sword, who cares?" Roko shrugged, "Plus it doesn't seem like it's weak to water like your old armor."

 "My old armor was made of what's known as drought stone." Romer scowled, "They're incredibly sturdy and surprisingly flexible. It's just when it's exposed to water that it swells and begins crumpling from excessive movements."

 "Sounds like a pretty big weakness."

 "Not when I'm fighting beasts." Romer scoffed, "I could fight an army of owlbears with it and emerge without a scratch."

 "What if it's raining?"

 "What if I shove this spear up your ass?"

 "Now now." Momo chuckled as she came over, "I'm sure the rain doesn't ever get that heavy with how thick the canopy is back at Arbrea."

 "Uh huh." Romer growled as he turned back to the camp.

 "Notice anything?" Roko asked.

 "For a camp built by orcs it's pretty well fortified." Romer said, "That mountain's blocking off one direction so our forces can only invade from the front."

 "The mountain's pretty sturdily formed too." Roko noted, "Plenty of packed earth between rocks. Can't easily cause a landslide from outside the gates."

 "You're a real piece of work." Romer scoffed, "But yeah. These walls are pretty well built for orcs as well. Can't really find a weakness in it. Except, of course, the obvious."

 "It's wooden so we can set it on fire right?" Momo nodded.

 "Yeah." Romer replied, "The problem is we don't know what the camp's structured like so we don't know how much of the camp will catch fire. If it gets too out of hand we'd be doing more fire control than fighting."

 "So we need information on their camp's layout?" Momo said.

 "Yeah but I don't think we have that information handy."

 "Hold that thought." Roko said as the sound of rustling grass drew their attention to new company.

 "Roko!" Reaumur and Klaus and Penny ran over enthusiastically with Drift and Ohm following her, "We got the job done!"

 "Reaumur." Romer rumbled, not surprised but not happy either, "I knew you three were probably behind this."

 "Sorry dad!" Reaumur tried to look as apologetic as possible to little effect, "This was a personal request from the queen!"

 "Was it now?"

 "A-Actually it was all Roko!" Drift quickly cut in, "The queen didn't even know about it before Roko called us in! Let's not misrepresent the situation."

 "Roko..." Romer turned to the human outsider.

 "What, you wanna fight again?" Roko smirked, "Winner gets to talk to Corissa this time. If they can, anyway."

 "Dad, no!" Reaumur cried as she saw Romer's anger starting to peak, "We're in the middle of a mission! And Roko, don't provoke him!"

 "Fine, fine." Roko shrugged.

 "And what's this about talking to Corissa? Has dad been trying to do something to Corissa?!"

 "AHEM!" Romer cleared his throat loudly, "I'll have to come up with a suitable punishment for running off and lying to your superior officer later! For now, let's hear what you've learned about the orc camp!"

 "Yes sir." Drift stepped forward, "We've climbed a few trees to try and gleam inside to little success. But we did manage to have the blink dogs teleport in and sneak around for a bit."

 "Anything we really need to know?" Roko asked.

 "The orcs have a few huts but the majority of them seem to spend their time inside a cave under that mountain." Drift reported, "There seems to be orcs coming and going there all the time so we weren't able to safely determine what they were doing inside."

 "Probably a breeding cave." Romer nodded, "Orcs are notorious for their excessive debauchery."

 "We have heard human screams before." Ohm said, "We haven't seen any though."

 "Well then, I guess we can shift this mission from a raid to a rescue." Helena smirked as she joined them, "So what's our plan of attack?"

 "First, I believe we should determine some roles." Brook added as she came over, "Roko, I want your team to be in charge of rescuing any captives, transporting them away from the battlefield and keeping them safe."

 "With only the handful of people in my group?" Roko frowned.

 "I anticipate more orcs than captives." Brook explained, "The main army will hold off the orcs as you rescue them."

 "Let's not forget the monsters." Momo added, "There won't just be orcs, those tentacle monsters should be here too. Right, Drift?"

 "Umm..." Drift thought about it for a moment, "We haven't been able to confirm anything ourselves but I don't think we've seen them yet."

 "There was that really big one that appeared out of nowhere." Momo mused, "I guess it's possible they're hiding."

 "Oh man, if we all get blindsided by these monsters then we'd be in big trouble." Helena gulped.

 "Their biggest threat is that they eat magic right?" Romer said, "Most of the knights aren't able to use magic in a combat setting so we don't have to worry about that."

 "Yeah, maybe for you." Helena frowned, "All I know is magic."

 "Well you've got those knights for a reason."

 "That's literally only three people!"

 "And me." Momo added.

 "And I appreciate you leaving me out." Roko said, "I'm not even kidding, I'm glad I don't qualify as a knight in your mind."

 "Oh, I was counting you." Helena smirked, "I wasn't counting Roland."

 "Damn girl, you really going to do your own knight dirty like that?" Momo smiled.

 "Eh. He's used to it."

 "Should he be though?"

 "I dunno, let's ask Roko. Roko?"

 "He deserves it."

 "See?!"

 "You know, I don't know what I was expecting." Momo laughed.

 "Can we focus?" Brook said, "If you really need the forces, I can have a small number of soldiers help you out."

 "Nah it's cool, we got it." Helena smiled.

 "That was a quick turnaround." Brook muttered, "Are you sure you're taking this seriously?"

 "Are you seriously asking me that?"

 "You know what, never mind." Brook sighed, "Romer, I'll be joining your group to fight the orcs."

 "Are you strong?" Romer frowned, "I thought you were part of Roko's group. I don't believe we've met."

 "Oh, that's Rivera's-" Reaumur began.

 "ASSASSIN!" Brook quickly cut in, "I'm the royal assassin!"

 "...Uh huh." Romer said, unconvinced, "As long as you're strong enough not to get in our way, I don't care."

 "Thank you, general." Brook breathed a sigh of relief, "If we're done with basic task management, I'd like to finish this raid before the day ends."

 "Same." Romer said as he turned to the soldiers behind him, "Men! We move out in five minutes! Prepare yourselves for battle! Today we remove a violent scourge from our forest today!"

 The elves let out a measured cheer, loud enough to bolster their spirits but quiet enough that they wouldn't give away their presence to the orcs.

 "It's finally time huh?" Kaguya said as the rest of Roko's party came over, "Ah, Drift, Ohm and Reaumur are here. Will you be joining us?"

 "Yes!" Reaumur grinned.

 "No!" Romer scowled.

 "Aw come on dad! We're already here anyway!"

 "While we are under operations, you will refer to me as General!" Romer said sternly, "And you've already done your part. Leave the rest to us."

 "If we're soldiers then this battle is also our responsibility." Drift said, "And all dark elves are soldiers aren't they?"

 "Is that true?" Helena whispered to Reaumur.

 "Oh, yes." Reaumur whispered back, "All dark elves are considered soldiers the moment we are born. We undergo training and are ready to fight, hunt or defend at anytime. The defense and health of our village is everyone's responsibility but if you really don't want to fight, you can apply for a non-combatant status."

 "Interesting."

 Romer wrestled with Drift's statement for a while, wanting to rebut his statement but unable to conjure a convincing one.

 "Drift and company can be with me." Roko offered, "We're in slightly less danger trying to rescue hostages and we could use more people to gather and defend the refugees. That shouldn't be too stressing for them."

 "Alright." Romer scowled, "But they remain back and protect the escapees."

 "Dad..." Reaumur moaned.

 "No backtalk!" Romer stated, "It's time. We move in."

 "Aight, so what's our way in?" Helena asked as they all turned back to the orc camp, "We going to break down a wall and attack from the side or-"

 "We give them a taste of their own medicine." Romer sneered as he summoned a fireball, "A direct assault."

 Before anyone could react, Romer threw the fireball and set alight the camp's front gate.

 "Charge!"

 The elven soldiers rallied behind Romer's yell and ran around Roko's group to attack the gate. With one swing of his spear, Romer broke apart the sturdy, burning wooden gate, allowing their army to easily invade. Roko and Helena sighed as the chaos began several meters away from them.

 "Sorry about my dad." Reaumur said.

 "No, it's fine." Roko replied, "Let's get in there ourselves."