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When they chose Elomir as the place to rest, they could witness firsthand the preparations for war. Streets filled with soldiers and carriages filled to the brim with weapons, armor, and rations being pulled by agimae and sometimes even centaurs.

The kingdom had long since expected this northern invasion, so the warning simply helped them get the timing down.

Shifting their focus from reclaiming lost land in the south to protecting the north. Their swift action following the warning prevented the scouts from the chaos lands from destroying any towns, though many villages were abandoned due to their lack of defensive structures. Lives, at least, were not needlessly lost.

When flying to Elomir, it was always amazing to see the activity growing more and more at the northern border of the kingdom by the day.

Eldrian and Ceph had even run into trouble a few times when crossing paths with flying monsters. Luckily, in most cases, casting strong wind spells was enough to ensure their retreat, thanks to Ceph\'s amazing top speed.

—

Nearly a week had passed, and the two returned to Elomir once again, this time to meet up with the rest of the guild. Eldrian had also made a trip to Kynigo to follow up on things, but the construction of the magic towers was still under way and he couldn\'t help much in that regard. So, he returned to the north to help where he could.

Luckily, unlike with the orcs, this invasion was not as organized. While there were organized armies, they did not all work as a collective towards the same goal. The true danger was not these armies, but rather the monsters that followed as their food source left the chaos lands.

"Can\'t believe that the night demons are leaving the chaos lands, too." Eldrian commented, clearly recalling the time he and Vivian had struggled to chase one off. Killing it had not been in their means. Eldrian still clearly recalled how resilient the demon was. A creature made of shadows that took nearly no damage from conventional weapons.

"The Nychterninos Tromii?" Ceph first confirmed, not used to the common name for the demons but easily guessing what Eldrian meant. "Yeah, they will probably cause some massive damage. But I doubt they can roam freely outside the chaos lands."

"Is that so?"

"It is. In fact, outside the normal monsters that you can find everywhere, most shouldn\'t be able to leave the chaos lands. At least not for extended periods of time."

"Then them doing so must mean something is stirring them to move." Eldrian said, the implication clear.

\'Do you think Miracle is behind this?\' Ceph asked, quickly shifting to a telepathic communication, as they were currently in the middle of a busy street on their way to meet with the guild.

\'At the very least, the AI, gods as they are in this world, is causing the invasion. This might simply be a part of the invasion. We can\'t be certain whether this is manipulated manipulation or normal manipulation for an invasion.\'

\'You could have certainly worded that better,\' Ceph scoffed, having needed to decipher what Eldrian meant with that last comment. \'When are you going to visit your sister?\'

\'I\'ve been preparing, but I\'m hesitating. I know I said I should simply go, since I can never truly prepare. But it just... doesn\'t feel right.\'

\'Why don\'t you ask her to join you here? She does have one of the headset you guys use to enter our world, doesn\'t she?\'

\'She does...\' Eldrian wasn\'t sure about risking something like that. In fact, he hoped Jen had thrown out the headset she had. The laws should protect her from anything happening, but he couldn\'t be sure since this was Miracle they were talking about. He doubted they would care about laws after all they had already done and further planned to do.

"Hey, Eldrian! Over here!" An excited shout forced the two to drop the subject. Which Eldrian was most grateful for.

"Hey Ilmadia, what\'s up?" Eldrian asked, following the spirited lady as she led them into the temporary collective guild hall for all the players and guilds currently in Taurus. A massive mansion like building with a large hall normally used for balls or ceremonies by the rich.

Ilmadia was unusually energetic, to such a degree that Eldrian almost doubted this was the same Ilmadia he knew. However, this was certainly her. The hop in her step clearly showed that she was overflowing with energy for some unknown reason. And this made Eldrian wary, for he did not know what was the source of all this.

Ilmadia was even dressed more flashy than normal. She was still in full robes of a mage, but had added on top of that some leather armor which magnificently accentuated her form. It was just the right amount of subtle hinting and clear defining to stress the imagination.

Eldrian would have almost preferred a style like Judith\'s over this. At least that was less taxing on the mind and his imagination.

"Nothing much..." She paused, wishing to stretch the tension in the air. However, that only caused Eldrian\'s mind to wander. And not wishing for that to happen, he quickly tried to break the awkward silence filling the air between them.

"Come on, just say it." Eldrian pressed her for an answer.

"Hehe, I finally did it."

"Did what?" Eldrian asked, still completely lost.

"My hidden quest, of course." She replied, and Eldrian nearly tripped over his own feet. He paused, recollected himself, stared at her, and asked her to repeat. Which she happily did. "I completed the hidden quest! Finally, got the second part of the quest to advance!"

"Con-congratulations..." Eldrian forced out the word, trying his best not to sour the mood. It was great that she had managed it, but it made Eldrian just a little sad.

To escape from the trap Zaphreal had caught him in, he had sacrificed the death crystal he had, and now he was incapable of diving into his own personal hidden quest until he got a new aspect of chaos.

"What\'s with that stutter!?" Ilmadia questioned, and realizing that Eldrian was in for a lecture, Ceph made a quick retreat towards the other players he knew. Having spotted Therdul and Judith talking with a mixed batch of \'Chosen\'.

"It\'s just..." Eldrian paused, unsure how to word it so as to not dig himself even deeper into a hole. "Sorry, I\'ve been quite depressed ever since the tourney."

Bringing up the tournament helped Eldrian escape the lecture, but not Ilmadia\'s enthusiasm and wish to converse. After all, there was no one better than Eldrian to talk to when hoping to further develop her magical theorems.

AN: Hey everyone, apologies for the unstable releases this past week. Been overthinking things instead of simply writing, which is never good.