Plan of attack

The next morning for Mina had started out much the same as the previous, minus the beginning crying session. She was woken up by Iro and had breakfast, followed by a short lesson with Old Lady Sofos and then some farm work with Natalia and Vasilis. This however was cut a lot shorter, and she was brought in to train with Agapi and Lefteris much sooner than yesterday. Rather than focus on her goddess powers, this time they focused on her stealth and agility, likely to make sure she would be ready for the upcoming mission. Luckily, Mina also had a lot of experience playing hide and seek, meaning she knew how to sneak around to a degree. The training ended at lunch, then after lunch she was pulled into a meeting alongside most of the group.

“Thank you all for agreeing to this meeting today.” Athan began. “I know I’ve already spread the word that we’re planning on doing a mission today, but now it’s time to formulate the plan.”

The group, which consisted of Athan himself as well as Elias, Lefteris, Agapi, Iro, Dory, and Mina herself all focused in as Athan laid out the blueprints to a building on the table in front of them.

“Now, I don’t need to explain to any of you the false king’s habit of creating false laws to arrest whoever he wants. It’s not something we can properly do anything about as we are, and thus it’s something we haven’t even tried to fight.” Athan continued. “But, even though we can’t prevent it, we might be able to use it to our advantage. Especially now that we have a direct representation of Uraina on our side.”

Elias then stepped forwards, placing a hand on the table and drawing everyone’s attention to him and to the blueprints.

“What we have here is the blueprints to the recently constructed prison within the city. Luckily, I had already retrieved this a few days ago. With these, we are able to reach any location as quickly as any guard, if not faster.” He explained. “And we will use these to plan a prison break. The goal and expectation is that freeing the prisoners who have been unjustly imprisoned, particularly if the person doing the saving is the chosen one of Uraina, then that will draw more attention to our cause. And that in turn will allow us to invite more people to help us in our quest to save the kingdom. Does that sound good to everyone?”

Everyone voiced their agreement, and this prompted Elias to step back and for Lefteris to step forwards to explain the plan.

“Our plan is as follows. Athan and I will break through the walls using bombs that I had Nik create this morning here.” He said, pointing to a spot on the west side of the prison layout. “We will blast in, cause as much damage as we can, and in general cause mayhem. This should draw the attention of the majority of the facility’s guards, allowing Iro and Mina to enter from here with little resistance.”

Lefteris then pointed to a spot on the opposite side of the layout.

“Once inside the walls, you will enter through a maintenance tunnel and travel through it to approximately here.” He said, pointing to a location within the prison. “This is where the prisoners are kept. You will be provided some more bombs created by Nik to blast open the cells as well as the outside wall and any other obstacles you might encounter on the way. Ideally, you will then guide the prisoners back out the way you came and out to a meet up point which we will establish once we arrive, though it is likely that your prison break will alert the guards. Thus, you will likely have to fight your way out.”

Lefteris then looked directly at Agapi.

“Agapi, you will be set up with your bow on a building south of the prison, and will act as our lookout. Keep an eye out for Iro and Mina, and alert Dory or Athan and myself should they find themselves in too much trouble. Understood?”

Agapi nodded, so Lefteris straightened up and looked over everyone.

“Alright, are there any questions?” He then asked.

“Um, yeah, I have one. Why do we have to use Nik’s bombs? Can’t you guys and Iro just make your own?” Mina asked. To her surprise, Dory was the one that answered.

“Nik’s bombs are not a common ability Mina. Nik’s magical potential is extremely high, higher than many of us in this room combined. However, his control is extremely unrefined, and as such he struggles with magic. Thus, these explosives are a technique I helped him develop to utilize his power instead.” Dory explained.

“Oh, ok. That makes sense.” Mina said calmly, though inside she was scowling.

‘Of course that idiot’s some kind of genetic chosen one.’ She thought angrily. ‘Is he going to end up becoming some kind of rival to me like in some anime? Because I don’t want that. As cool as rivalries are to watch in shows, it would be really annoying to actually have one.’

“That said, I also have a question.” Dory continued. “Where do I fit in all of this?”

“You will be in charge of guarding the meet up point, as well as being back up just in case things go south.” Lefteris replied. “While you would be a big help on either part of the infiltration, we decided it was best if one of our best fighters was held back and pulled in only as a last resort.”

Dory didn’t look entirely happy with the decision, but nodded in agreement nonetheless.

There was then a pause as Lefteris waited for any more questions, but when no one spoke up, he stepped back and allowed Athan to step forwards.

“Alright, you all know your roles. Go take an hour to prepare yourselves in your own way, and then we’ll meet up at the take off point.” He said. “Good luck everyone, and may both Uraina and Mina be with us.”

And thus, everyone was released from the meeting. Mina blushed at that last comment that Athan made, but otherwise followed everyone outside. Though, out of the corner of her eye she noticed Elias pulling Iro aside for some reason.

Ignoring that, Mina made her way outside with everyone, and the first thing she saw was Nik. Nik also saw her just as fast, likely having been looking out for Iro, and glared at her the moment he saw her.

For a moment, Mina considered going over and apologizing to him. Less because she felt he deserved it, and more because she wanted to head off any potential rivalry nonsense she might end up having with him, but screw that. He’d been nothing but a jerk to her ever since they met, and even when he was trying to be nice he was utterly terrible at it. Plus, she had every right to be angry at him for being an idiot, while he was only angry at her because of his own idiocy. No way was she going to apologize first!

So, Mina returned his glare with one of her own, making sure he saw it before she turned and walked away, planning to prepare for the mission by just relaxing.