Unlike his master, Brad had to walk to his destination. Still, he managed to arrive at the base of the mountain where Count Tusk's castle was a day before the attack.
As it was a proper castle town, he remembered there being a variety of shops open for business and travellers staying at inns. It didn't seem like a bad place to take a short vacation, but Brad's mind was more concerned about how it would perform when the town came under attack than anything else.
From what he could tell, the guards and knights seemed confident that they could handle everything and eagerly confronted the group of one hundred that charged into the city, quickly turning it into a disaster area.
There weren't as many as they expected, so their side was even more sure that this defence would be successful.
Unfortunately, despite being aware that something would happen, it seemed to Brad that they didn't prepare enough.
Though they should have had the most time to prepare, for some reason it looked like they had barely bothered to restock their supplies or set up proper stable formations.
'It's not over-confidence. Likely, they actually believe that the enemy should have been weaker. But where did they get that idea from?'
Worried about how badly they were doing, Brad tried to report to his master but,
'I can't connect to him?'
***
Meanwhile, Lia had a meeting with a distinguished guest from the capital. They sat facing each other from across a long white table. She was dressed in plain black, like she was in mourning, yet this outfit still brought out her dangerous sex appeal.
Her dress only slightly exposed the lower area of her neck and went all the way down to her ankle, while her forearms were safeguarded in lacy black gloves. Even so, the two demons who were supposed to guard the guest were forced to turn their eyes away from her.
As he thought about this, the guest also lamented that he would be in their position if he wasn't trained by her and had gotten used to the minimum amount of her charm.
"My my, you're as attractive as ever Mistress," he said with a grovelling tone that didn't fit the slit pupils that were behind his glasses.
"Your tongue is as skillful as I remember it, Edward. Still, I'm not sure I can fully appreciate your compliment when I have to dress like this just so you can meet me."
"My apologies, Mistress. I would love nothing more than for you to do as you please, but unfortunately I lack the cold heart to look at your unrestrained figure without singing endless praises."
"Fufufu. You do always know the right words to say."
The lovely smile that appeared on Lia's face caused her guest's smile to stiffen and his guards to blush. The succubi who stood behind her wished that they could also see that expression, but they were veterans at suppressing these desires.
"I'm, glad that I'm able to please you."
"Mmm, so, on what business did you come here? I hope there wasn't a problem with the last shipment."
"No, it was without error as always. In a sense you could say my business is more of the, personal variety."
"Ho? It's quite rare for you to visit for personal reasons. Please, elaborate."
"Well, I just couldn't help but find myself interested in certain rumours that have been popular in the castle lately."
"Oh, what kind of rumours?" Lia asked.
"You see, and please forgive me for saying this, but doubt has been growing among my superiors regarding your recent activities."
He was beating around the bush but the topic was just as Lia expected. The circumstances, she couldn't predict, but she knew that they would confront her about the plan she was executing with Elios.
"I see. Are they already that worried?"
"Well, you're a very important business partner to us after all. We wouldn't want for that relationship to be in jeopardy."
"Then there's no need to be worried, my loyalty has never changed. Tell them that I'm just having some innocent fun."
"Understood. Oh, I also have a message for you."
"A message? Very well, play it."
With her permission, the guest took out a letter, but instead of opening it, he blew an ember on it that lit it aflame. And from the burning letter rose strange smoke that gathered above the table to form the image of someone.
Besides the vague humanoid shape, nothing else could be seen from the figure. Not their sex, age or race. However, as a voice came from the mass of smoke, the sex became more clear.
"Satalia, you may hear about the nonsense flying about the castle but you don't need to worry. No one knows how loyal you are more than I. You, who willingly gave up your position so that you could see our people prosper."
Lia felt the urge to loudly refute the words coming from this figure, but she was far too experienced to make that urge noticeable.
"Even so, I must ask that you tone down your games as the youngsters are getting too jittery. I don't mind if you want to have fun, but please remember to limit yourself to less bold means. I'll be waiting eagerly for the next time we can meet in person."
Once the message ended and the smoke dissipated, Lia gave a polite smile and said to her guest, "Thank you for relaying this message. Please return my gratitude to him as well."
"Of course."
Lia then stood up and proceeded towards the exit with the two succubi behind her.
"Hmm? May I ask where you might be heading to?" the guest asked.
"Oh, I'll just be watching a little show that's happening right now. It should be rather interesting."
"Ah, in that case I shan't keep you any longer."
As they parted with courteous expressions, neither believed that they had the upper hand. The guest had failed to shake her, while she failed to expose his true intentions.
Since this was her homeground, once there was good enough distance from the room where they were in, Lia grumbled.
"Hmph, I really am too perfect. To think the boy I trained would be such a nuisance as an enemy. Ah, why must I suffer from my own gifts?"
"Surely hell must be jealous of your talent, Mistress."
If Elios were here he would surely sneer at Lia's comment, but her loyal followers only had praise for her.
'I still like hearing it, but at times like this his amusing comebacks are such a breath of fresh air.'
Still miffed about how her meeting went, Lia headed straight for her personal office/bedroom. She entered the room by herself and saw Sher already there with two live recordings being played on the darkened windows.
"Status."
"It's still going as predicted. The guards of Count Tusk's underestimated the attackers while Sir Elios' castle is holding strong for now."
Lia nodded at Sher's response before taking a seat in the couch that faced the videos while reaching for the plate of grapes that had been prepared for her.
"Any news on Elios?"
"He seems to still be inside Dead Seilez Forest so we can't confirm, but it's unlikely that he's died."
"I see."
While she had not explained everything she knew about these battles to Elios, she was certain that he would be able to connect the dots for himself.
'Even if he's hit with the instant death curse I'm sure he'll find some way to come out of there. The only question is when.'
"Mistress, should we send some of our forces to provide aid to Sir Elios' castle if the situation gets worse as we expected?"
"No, it's best if we appear to be as passive as possible this time. Besides, we're only partners, I'm sure he wasn't expecting us to help."
'Therefore, there must be a surprise waiting for me. Oh, I can't wait.'