Chapter 29

Early the next morning, Four woke them all up. Neila was still suffering from the hangover. Syorin helped her stabilize with her ability. Had her healing ability worked on a still drunk Neila, they wouldn’t struggle so much.

“Alright, first we…”

Neila began her work. She took a piece of paper from her bag along with a special pen used by the empire’s nobility. At this point, Kakashi no longer questioned whatever thing was inside her bag.

Kakashi did see something akin to a writing skill on her ability list, and now he saw that very same ability in action. Neila didn't even need a reference. She smoothly wrote a fake document, even with the emperor's signature, then stamped it with the imperial stamp she stole.

“Hey, are we sure this is going to work?” Astill asked skeptically. “Surely they have some magic system to check its authenticity, right?”

“That's what the stamp is for, plus the average soldier isn't privy to the technical details.”

Due to the way the empire operated, the average soldier's task extended to no more than following orders.

“We can use a military uniform as a disguise, then pressure an unsuspecting commander.”

“Is it really that easy?”

Had this been drunk Neila, Kakashi would have dismissed it, but the Neila currently giving out her plan was pretty much sober. At the same time, Neila was a native of the empire, so she should know more about the country than the rest of them. That didn’t change the question, however. What's next? Since it wouldn't be long before all the soldiers in the city were put into looking for her, they couldn't just go out. Baronnt could see through Neila's disguise, so they needed a better one.

“How about we use the empire's soldier uniforms? Their helmets covered their faces, right?”

“I only have a full set for two… the third one lacked a helmet.”

For once, Neila didn't have everything they needed, although Kakashi would prefer that to happen some other time.

“What should we do…”

The room fell silent, everyone trying to look for a solution.

“Should we split? A part of us headed to the coordinates, the rest went to look for the commander,” Four suggested

“But if one side faces trouble, the other can't help.”

“You are correct…”

Just then, an idea popped into Kakashi’s mind. “Neila, do you still have your explosives?”

“There should still be a lot left. Let me check.”

Just how much did she have?

Kakashi was the one who suggested it, but he was surprised Neila still had ‘a lot’. He hadn’t seen her make any new explosives throughout their journey together. If she still had a lot, just how many did she make? Why would a princess even learn to make them in the first place?

“There should still be around nine hundred.”

“Ok- Okay.”

The amount was terrifying, far more than what he needed. “How about we do this…”

•••

Wearing the uniforms, Kakashi and Neila headed straight to the eastern gate, where they arrived from yesterday. As they walked through the city, it became clearer just why the people hated the empire so much.

“Akh! Ah!”

Three soldiers were beating up a person on the side of the road. Around them, there were several spectators who stopped to watch. No one dared to help the unfortunate guy, though. Neila was about to head there when Kakashi held her hand.

“The faster we get this done, the faster we’ll be able to help them.”

“Right, I’m sorry.”

The ruckus did help them, as the surrounding soldiers were more focused on the fight than the two people in uniform walking straight past. They didn’t even stop them.

Eventually, they arrived at the gate. The soldiers guarding were different from the ones before. Most just let them through, but one of them tried to talk to them.

“An assignment?” he asked in a somewhat friendly tone, probably because he thought of them as allies.

“Looking for a group of merchant guards that went missing.”

“Merchant guards? I thought those merchants were traitors.”

Kakashi tensed up. He wasn’t expecting that the soldiers would figure out that they’re the same person. While it’s true that there weren’t many people with such clothes, surely that’s not the only merchant group that this town received.

“That’s precisely why we were asked to do reconnaissance. Be ready, you might need to move out. Warn the others as well,” Neila answered, covering Kakashi’s slip-up.

“Affirmative.”

The two headed out. They traded no other words until they reached the forest.

“Alright, time to set up.”

Kakashi would love to take off the helmet, but he understood well that they didn’t have the luxury of that. Someone might see them, and they wanted to reduce suspicion even if only for a bit. Kakashi and Neila planted the explosives near the forest's outskirts, in an area where they could see the city.

While planting, they made it look like they were discussing something, like the ground underneath them, pretending to talk about how they could see where the rebels fled to. They started pointing random directions, making it look as if they were arguing over which tracks were the right ones.

All while they continued hiding explosives. Kakashi sent a silent apology to the trees that might be destroyed by the explosion, but there was nothing they could do about it. The trees’ shadow helped them hide what they were actually doing, so they had no other option but the forest.

Once they finished planting the explosives, they made their way back to the city, while pretending to discuss their findings.

“No, chocolate ice cream is definitely better. Strawberry ice cream is sour.”

“You’re crazy. Just what kind of strawberry ice cream are you eating?”

“Have you never tried that brand? Their strawberries are definitely way too sour.”

“They literally prided themselves on vanilla- I mean, it’s impossible. They shouldn’t have reached the borders just yet.” Neila switched to an argument that made more sense when they got close. She then pretended to notice the soldiers and stopped speaking.

“Did you find anything?” the soldier asked.

“We’ll report directly to the commander,” Neila answered. The two pretended to be in a rush and walked right past. By the time they returned, the poor guy had been taken away, and the crowd had dispersed. The streets returned to their previous silence. Some of the people were still there and glared at Kakashi, and Neila walked past. Neither of them was surprised, though.

“I sent Astill the signal,” Neila whispered, and Kakashi braced for what was about to come next.

A loud explosion echoed in the distance. Smoke rose from the forest, prompting the soldiers to all run toward the gate. Kakashi and Neila looked at each other, pretended to be surprised, and headed back toward the gate. The soldiers brandished their weapons, thinking the explosion must have been caused by the traitors and rebels.

“What’s going on!?”

“There’s an explosion over there!” the soldier pointed toward the part of the forest that had exploded. A large fire began to spread.

“Are there any orders!?”

“Take the third company and investigate the area! Tell the mages to focus on extinguishing the fires!” a loud voice came from behind the soldiers. He had a darker color on his armor, differentiating him from the average soldier.

“Commander!” Neila ran up to him. “We got orders from the capital!”

“What is it?”

“Utmost secrecy, commander!” Neila handed over an envelope. The envelope was sealed with a stamp and a note about it being top secret. The commander looked at the envelope with slight doubt, but another explosion echoed through the skies.

“Quick!” he ordered. A large group of soldiers hopped on a few horses that had just arrived and rushed to the forest. He then ripped the envelope open and read the contents. It didn’t take him long to reach the end.

Now, the moment of truth…

Kakashi waited. The commander furrowed his brow. “This just has to come at such a time, huh… Get me the captains of the fifth and seventh regiments, and tell them to prepare for battle!”

“Yes, Sir!” The soldiers under his command began running.

“Excuse us, we must return.”

And with that, Kakashi and Neila ran away. They headed toward an old abandoned building, where Astill, Syorin, and Four waited for them.

“Alright, let’s move.”

They didn’t have a lot of time. They rushed to the castle on top of the hill.

“Here, follow me.” Four led the way. She had worked with the rebels before and knew some routes that avoided the main road. The city itself was in chaos. Imperial soldiers ran all around, many heading toward the castle. It was like watching a wave of gray wash through the entire city.

“Are two regiments of soldiers this many?” Kakashi asked.

“No, I’m guessing something happened and they need more people,” Neila answered. The cause soon came into view. The main road heading to the castle had been locked down, and the soldiers were wearing red. Baronnt’s private army was preventing the imperial soldiers from heading into the castle.

“Capture them!” the imperial shoulders shouted.

“Don’t let them through!” Baronnt's army responded. The two sides were locked in battle, preventing either side from pushing through. Civilians ran away from the battle area, trying to escape.

“Ah!” Neila ran and supported an old lady who was about to fall. She escorted the old lady to a safe area before running back.

“What are you doing!? That’s risky!”

“I can’t just leave her. Four, where should we head next?”

The crowd of soldiers only grew larger. They couldn't cross into the castle using this route.

“The sewers! Follow me!” Four led the group back westbound, but after a minute of running, she turned north. They took several smaller alleyways. Four managed to find a small manhole that connected the streets with the sewers below. Neila helped her open it, and everyone jumped in.