After dispatching the cultist riders off the skies, Marcus landed back on the ground. He used [Mass Surveillance] to give a quick scan of the situation around them. It seemed that the village was now alerted to the ruckus, with most civilians worriedly looking up at the sky.

  On the other hand, the cultists were also on the move. They were embedded deep within Eisenfeld’s people, he suspected, as only a few of them rocked the signature black uniforms of the Death God Cult, and most of them weren’t in the village itself.

  Instead, many of them were coming out of caves around the village. They were quickly organizing and rallying to their leaders, most likely in preparation for defensive operations.

  Marcus ignored them for now. First, he went straight to Stella. He tracked her using [Mass Surveillance] and [Blink Step], finding her inside a cave on a hill just a mile away from the village.

  Inside, she seemed to be performing a major skill of hers, as her sword was planted to the ground, and she was emitting an ethereal, golden light. Marcus remained silent.

  He viewed magic as something awesome and appealing, but Stella always took the cake whenever she used her ultimate healing skills. It was like watching something so divine and holy that his rational mind short-circuited just to gape at it.

  He was still human at the end of the day, he supposed.

  But, it only took a second or two before Marcus recomposed himself. He walked straight to her, right as she finished using up her skill. She breathed out a sigh of relief when she noticed Marcus behind her.

  Then she let out an adorable yelp.

  “U-um, Sir Marcus!”

  “The skies are clear. The cultists on the ground are on the move, though.” Marcus then peered inside, seeing Stella’s hard work. “Seems like you saved quite a lot of folks again. I knew you could do it well.”

  Her cheeks subtly reddened, and her tone was bashful after receiving Marcus’s praise.

  “Thanks,” Stella said, before clearing her throat. “Sir Marcus, what should we do? These people are still knocked out and vulnerable.”

  “Hmm…” Marcus frowned. “Yeah, right, we don’t have the manpower to defend this cave and attack the village at the same time.”

  Tsk, being a two-member party sure sucked ass.

  Marcus reminded himself that he wasn’t exactly fully used to fighting with such a small force. While they were two capable figures, quantity had its utility that couldn’t be easily replaced by more quality.

  In this case, the area they could cover at the same time was extremely limited. It would be hard, therefore, to keep these people safe while going after their main target here, which was Archbishop Salvador Magath’s magic crystal.

  Since it was Stella who held Siris’s pendant, and since it was only she who could call out to her familiar to confirm the location of the item and use it before the enemy could destroy it and deny it from them, it was gravely important to have Stella’s presence in the assault.

  While Marcus’s mind generated various remedies for their predicament, one of the soldiers suddenly moved, holding his head with a groan.

  “Ah, damn it,” the soldier croaked. “Am I dying? Shit…shit…”

  “Good sir!” Stella suddenly rushed to the awakening soldier, kneeling close to him. “Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

  “Uh, hey…” Marcus spoke up, but he was ignored by the worried elf.

  “Who the hell are you?” the soldier asked. “Wait, you’re the one who saved me.”

  “I…I did.” Stella looked down. “I’m sorry, but if you have questions about who I am, I can’t say it yet.”

  Stella…you don’t have to start on making us sound terribly suspicious.

  But Marcus allowed her to do her thing.

  It seemed to be working, after all. The rest of the soldiers were starting to wake up too, and they were looking at Stella. It was quite ironic, Marcus thought.

  Here they were tasked to save the 4th Princess of Sordale, but they were instead saved by Stella. Yet, they didn’t know that it was their damsel in distress who was in front of her.

  He shook his head. One use of [Mass Surveillance] later, and he quickly confirmed that the cultists were still trying to regroup. They had time, but the clock was ticking faster and faster.

  “My name is Lieutenant Heinrich Richthofen,” the soldier suddenly said. “If the Death God Cult is your enemy too, then you have my word, we’ll support you. You saved our lives, after all.”

  “Now that’s what I wanted to hear,” Marcus suddenly spoke up. “We have a common enemy, so if we want to get out of this alive, we have to work together. Everyone, stand up. We’ve got a fight to finish.”

  Marcus’s commanding tone quickly took everyone’s attention, and they fumbled and stood upright. Even the ones who were still confused and suffering from concussion stood up.

  Stella and Heinrich did the same, while Marcus placed his hands on his back. He ordered them to present their available weapons.

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  Most of them were only armed with defense rapiers, with two of them equipped with an extra crossbow slung on their backs. Unfortunately, both of them lacked most of their arrows, as they were in their fallen wyverns.

  All in all, it all looked quite bad. But, when he asked them of their system ranks, all of them reported that they were at silver rank, ranging from level 31 to level 38, with Heinrich having the highest rank.

  Knowing that, Marcus decided that they would make do as a reserve, rear force. He explained to them that they, the White Watch, were currently about to attempt to eliminate a high-ranked Death God Cult member.

  He didn’t divulge the rest of the reason for their planned attack, namely their goal of acquiring the magic crystal held by Salvador Magath.

  After explaining to the soldiers how they would conduct their assault and what they were up against, they filed out of the cave. One look at Heinrich, though, showed that the man seemed a bit annoyed that Marcus took charge quickly.

  But the man made no moves to oppose Marcus. He must be quite the cocky bastard to act that way, though. But Marcus respected him. He had a good head on his shoulders, enough that he would shut up and follow his saviors, who were clearly more powerful than him.

  “Alright,” Stella spoke up as they moved quickly to the forest. “Everyone, if anyone is injured, just call me out, okay?”

  “Okay!” the soldiers all replied behind the two.

  Stella seemed satisfied as she began running, catching up to Marcus.

  He sure cares a lot about her countrymen, huh?

  She was indeed a model princess, Marcus thought.

  Archbishop Selena vi Lusbeck did not expect this.

  At all.

  “The White Watch! They’re the White Watch!” Selena frantically shook Salvador as the two watched the battle in the skies from far away. “They’re here!”

  “Will you please stop it!?” Salvador swept her off. “We shall begin preparations to kill them then. I want those starmetals in my stash once this business is concluded.”

  “Wait, wait, wait,” as Salvador descended the stairs, Selena tried to catch up to him and pull him to face her. “We have not yet finished our preparations. Our grand plan isn’t ready yet!”

  “Woman, are you perhaps blind?” Salvador scoffed as he looked up at Selena. “They’ve marched blindly into my domain. Mine.”

  Salvador extended his arms wildly, as his tone became wild.

  “The Parish of Abundant Arsenal is my fortress. No one, not even that cretin, will defeat me. He fell into a trap. Into my jaws. And I will eat those two whole.”

  “No, no, no! If we shall avenge my beloved, I need us to be fully prepared. We need…a tactical retreat!”

  Salvador’s face darkened.

  “That’s right!” Selena giggled nervously. “A tactical retreat. It was how I survived. It’s how I am able to continue my righteous struggle—”

  Before she could continue, Salvador grabbed her wrist roughly, staring darkly into her eyes as he leaned close.

  “Unlike you, I am no loser,” Salvador said. “I win, I take, and I become greater. I, Salvador Magath, helped defeat the elven saintess, and I took her pet’s essence. You, on the other hand, have been defeated by vigilantes on the road.”

  Selena gasped, scandalized by Salvador’s accusation.

  “H-how dare you!”

  “Shut it. We’ll win here.” Salvador’s eyes trembled. “I will not leave my belongings, my loot, my wealth, in this place. I will win and add their valuables into my stash.”

  Salvador laughed darkly.

  “That’s right…how foolish of them! To go straight to my base, where I am most prepared, this grave mistake will be their undoing!”

  Then, Salvador tightened his grip on Selena.

  “Stay and fight. You want to avenge him? Then cease your cowardice.”

  Cackling to himself, Salvador descended the stairs. Selena could only watch as panic grew in her heart. She knew, deep down, even when she wanted to fight that man…

  He’s strong.

  Too strong.

  She couldn’t understand it till now, but it made sense why her Hector died at the hands of that man. Would Salvador end up the same? Even she, the Archbishop of the Ministry of Wholesome Love, technically died already in the hands of the White Watch.

  Will the Ministry of Justified Acquisitions, headed by Salvador, meet the same fate as the Ministry of Fervent Service?

  She trembled.

  The answer in her mind wasn’t ideal.

  “So that’s their headquarters?” Heinrich asked. “That’s church property.”

  “Yeah? So what? It’s clearly not theirs anymore,” Marcus answered, observing the enemy using his telescope.

  “Damn it. Those bastards.”

  The soldiers behind Stella and Marcus all grumbled, clearly angered by the idea that the Death God Cult embedded themselves this deeply in Sordale’s territory. Most of all, these riders were still bitter that they were outmatched by a bunch of cultists.

  Marcus could practically smell the bloodlust coming from these men. They wanted revenge for their defeat and their fallen comrades. This was as much a mission for them to repay Stella as it was for them to enact retribution.

  Marcus both liked that, and at the same time, he found it concerning. After all, soldiers who were motivated by something greater than themselves were better at fighting.

  Unfortunately, they might be driven too much by their personal urges. He’d like to temper that as much as possible. With Stella around, Marcus didn’t like the idea of casualties happening under his command.

  “Alright, folks,” Marcus lowered his telescope. “Here’s the plan. It’s simple. Lieutenant Heinrich, you and your team will cover our left flank. Sergeant Manfred, your team will cover our right flank.”

  As the two sub-commanders of the Sordalian squadron nodded, Marcus turned to Stella.

  “You and I will act as the spearhead. We’ll head straight into that church, storm it, and take out the Archbishop.”

  “Right,” Stella nodded.

  “Secondarily, should complications arise, you’ll be in charge of supporting Lieutenant Heinrich’s team,” Marcus said. “I’ll keep watch on Manfred’s team. That way, we won’t have any unnecessary casualties or delays.”

  Everyone nodded in affirmation to Marcus’s words. He smiled beneath his mask.

  It’s good that I haven’t gone rusty after all.

  He could still command a military unit. That was good. He looked down at his pocket watch. 15:35 hours. Then, he closed it, satisfied.

  “Let’s move out,” Marcus declared. “The operation starts now.”