At this point, why did he even bother making plans anymore?
Every single time he did, something like this happened.
The one time they had some fun into the early winter night, the world seemed to collapse.
At least Paula had managed to sober up the rest of the bunch, too, and—
Ugh. They didn't exactly seem happy about it.
"So are they going from village to village, or split their forces?" Maou Midori demanded from the still-upset Nimrod. "Tell me where they were last, and I'll portal us all right now."
As the former leader of the nomads who battled the same folks—
He was more than ready to throw his weight around now.
"I don't know," the twin repeated, head shaking. "I've got cries for help from all over the place."
Oh? So the tribes used telepathy between each other, too?
That made a lot of sense. Each seemed to have their own shamans, after all.
They didn't even have to be powerful to handle an early warning system like that.
The nomads did, too, earlier. They had to be careful while dealing with their telepaths.
But now that he thought about it—what if the Church's men also had the same methods?
"Find Benedictus and confront him again," Konrad grunted. "Behead the snake. We'll force him to stop his knights, as fighting them group by group would be a disaster waiting to happen."
Actually, thank the spirits his hot-headed twin didn't actually start with that.
Which was surprising, considering how dumb he used to behave, but—
'Hey, uh. Can't you contact your wives?' Paula interrupted the thought. 'No matter how I try, I can't reach them. And there are way too many magical signatures around than should be.'
"Huh? What do you mean?" he asked, confused.
First, she said nobody was around. Now there were too many signals?
"Is it the Church? More bishops and acolytes?!" Konrad theorised.
But then, he felt it, too.
Not a shift in the ambient essence, but the rumbling ground.
"You said there wasn't fighting," Maou grunted, facing Nimrod. "Can you still hear their voices?"
The Shaman shook his head.
"It's all silence. Everything's gone. If they had already done something to them—"
Another rumble. Even the beer kegs were dancing on the tables now.
Konrad reached out, using Paula's amplification for a strong boost, but—
Still no answer, no matter what.
"Hmm. No. It's not that they're gone," he realised. "But something's jamming our telepathy now."
He had the same feeling in the Zone.
Could the bishop pull something like that? Or someone else did?
"Look, a crow," Welf yelled, pointing skyward, and—
Indeed, a bird flew towards them in the least graceful manner possible.
It was more like diving. As if it were already dead, feathers missing or rotting away, and—
It crashed into the big, redheaded blacksmith's hands, croaking out twisted human words.
"Invaders. Portals. Fight. Reinforcements. Follow."
It was as creepy as it was surprising, but—
Hold on. Konrad had heard about this before.
"Is it one of the Deathguard?" he muttered, raising an eyebrow. "What fight? Where?"
"Follow, follow," the bird cried out, flapping its broken wings, but he'd rather have used a portal.
'Unless they were to jam those, too,' Paula noted. 'And damn, remind me not to try reading another undead's mind ever again. What a jumbled mess. I've no idea where it came from.'
So there was a fight. And portals, too.
That didn't sound like the Church, but something was definitely afoot.
And if they couldn't get there fast enough—
"Maou," Konrad yelled. "Can't you reach out, too? Nobody's answering me."
"No. All I'm getting is noise," the former Demon Lord claimed. "Did we miss an incursion?"
Right. It could have been that.
The women must have been already out to fight, but since they were here, drinking—
Ugh. Now he felt bad.
"And I take it, it's always Lily who takes you all into battle," Konrad gritted out.
The old-young wizard nodded.
Yeah. That's why he didn't want to use magic in running that steam engine either. The moment they got too dependent on someone, something like this could happen.
Even if they ran after that dead crow, it would have been too slow.
Besides. Following a dark bird at night? It was already a miracle Welf spotted it, but—
It must have helped that the crow flew straight into him.
Could Stella get more information out of this undead thing?
But then, she was still in Haiten, scheduled to return tomorrow morning. Ugh. As much as Konrad had tried reaching out with his mind, he couldn't find either Gabrielle, Lily, or—
Hold on a second.
There was something familiar.
Maple? But she was long gone, and the signals were smaller.
Vague, but still recognisable, and yes, there were more than one.
Six, to be exact, and—
"The Wyverns," Konrad yelled, trying to connect.
"Those couldn't cause this much havoc," Welf grunted, but he shook his head.
"No. I mean, I can reach them. Paula," he muttered, "can you bring them here?"
'You've the strangest allies, Konrad Halstadt,' the parallel brain noted. But a moment later, she established the connection. 'There. They were, in fact, friendly, so they're all yours now.'
That'd do for a transport.
And if nothing else, they could follow the rotting crow by smell alone.
"All right," he grunted, his brain still in overdrive. "Maou, Zoltan, Welf, Roach, and Soap," he barked. "You'll take the Wyverns with me and follow the crow. Dmitry and Bor—"
"Got it," his friend said before he could even finish. "We'll bring the army over."
Yes. They still had no idea what they faced, but they had to act fast.
Bring everything they had.
"Up the mountains," he said. "Set out towards the Halaima Pass, and—"
"North, north," the crow croaked, taking to the air again.
"You heard it," Konrad said. "ETA thirty seconds until the Wyverns arrive."
"Oh boy," Roach mumbled. "I actually have to ride on one of those things? I still couldn't get used to the monsters of this world, let alone use one as my mount."
"I can fly you into battle using telekinesis, if you want," Soap offered, rubbing his palms.
They were no longer drunk. Nor did they complain.
Everyone was ready to fight, even before they knew what they were facing.
Though things had turned out like this tonight—
Konrad still didn't regret celebrating these friendships.
Bor and Dmitry ran off, the others waiting for the winged beasts, and—
"There," Maou Midori pointed forward. "That was one hell of a fireball up in the mountains."
He almost missed it, but could still feel the earth rumbling beneath his feet.
"Take me with you as well," Nimrod demanded, too, but—
Whoops, did he forget about him again when assigning a wyvern to each one of his friends?
"I can fit on the same beast with Soap," the former Demon Lord offered, eyes closed. "But if we don't get there in time, and people die—I don't want to be the next one to burn in a fireball."
"Was that Lily?" Konrad asked, hopeful.
"Can't confirm," Midori-kun grunted. "But who else can cast magic on that scale?"
Fair.
So whether they fought the Church, some invaders, or monsters, his wife was already there.
And lying low or not? It was high time Konrad had joined her in battle.