Before me appeared a girl with generous breasts, a slender waist, long graceful legs, and silver hair also tied into a braid that reached almost to her calves. She was wrapped in a bathrobe. This time there were no ornaments in her hair, but her figure alone, with breasts one could drown in, was more than enough.
"Anna. Nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you," she said with a gentle yet confident smile and gave me a firm handshake.
"Likewise," I said.
"And this little devil is Capelia," she added, handing her a bathrobe and sitting down on the couch opposite us. "What's your first impression of her?" she asked confidently, resting her arms along the sides of the couch.
"Very open and cheerful. I like her," I said.
"Me too," she said with a friendly glance at her companion. "She's a wonderful girl. Though I do think showing up naked in front of a stranger is a bit much."
"Yes, most likely," I said.
"Thank you for coming. Did your mother tell you anything about us?" she asked.
"Yes," I said. "That you're knights of the Order of Jehovah, and that you need help with a certain difficult corruption. That's the same one the academy is sending some of my group to for practice, isn't it?"
"Exactly," Anna said. "Only your classmates will be working on another matter. I suggest we first bring you up to speed and explain the situation. Then we'll just chat a little to get to know each other better. After all that, you'll give us your answer whether you'll help. Agreed?"
"Sounds like a great plan. I'm listening," I said.
"I want to make a statement!" Capelia chimed, now dressed in a robe, raising her hand high like a schoolgirl eager to answer in class.
"Yes," Anna said with a good-natured, calm smile.
"I noticed that Nestor has already looked at your breasts three times and at your legs twice," Capelia said. "I'd like to state that this is unfair to girls like me, who don't have such shamelessly lush curves."
"Really?" Anna asked with the gaze of a curious cat, utterly serious and shameless, without the slightest aggression, only interested in the truth.
"Yes. But it was automatic," I said with a calm smile.
"What a strange company." - I thought to myself.
"Sorry, Capelia. I can't change my own body," Anna said with what seemed like genuine sympathy. "But I'm sure Nestor liked you too. Isn't that right?"
"Yes, of course," I said.
"See? Everything's fine. But…" she turned back to me. "You didn't blush at all just now. Why?" she asked, eyeing me with a calm, catlike look, completely indifferent to what others might think of her. She even tilted her head slightly to the side.
"Because I see no reason to be embarrassed," I said.
"Usually guys blush during such conversations. Especially in front of beauties like us. Why don't you?" she said, crossing one leg over the other and leaning her elbow on her knee to look at me more closely.
Seeing Anna's posture, Capelia also placed her hands on her knees and fixed her eyes on me, grinning widely.
I don't know how such strange girls fell onto my head, but they're fun. So I suppose it's useful to talk with them.
"I see no point in being ashamed of what you do. Or in being afraid or angry. Any emotions, especially negative ones, cloud the mind — which can be fatal," I explained calmly.
"I agree. Your parents raised you well," Anna said, watching me with her catlike eyes as if trying to understand.
It wasn't my parents — neither the current nor the former ones — but the cruel world I lived in. Still, let it be.
"I think that's a wonderful answer. I give it six out of ten! What do you say, Anna?" Capelia said.
"I agree," Anna lied with a smile, eager to move on to business. "Now let's get dressed and meet in that hall. First door down the corridor. It's improper to discuss such important matters in a bathhouse," she said calmly and warmly.
"Alright," I said and rose from the couch.
"Great, we won't be long, promise," Anna said.
"Don't miss me too much, Nestor!" Capelia said, waving her hand at me.
I smiled, said nothing, and went to the indicated hall, where a long table stood and windows looked out over a spacious green courtyard, which I studied while waiting for the ladies.
---
"Sorry for keeping you waiting," Anna said, now dressed in uniform.
"No problem, it's a beautiful estate," I said.
Anna invited me to the table, and we both sat down.
"The troops around Ashtaron report that an army of skeletons is approaching the city," Anna said. "The necromancer is holed up east of it. He controls several thousand skeletons that are already drawing near. The mission is dangerous, but we need all the help we can get. Will you come with us?"
"Yes," I said. "I'll help you, but only if I receive proper payment."
Anna was slightly surprised at my words.
"Of course," she said. "Our representatives from Azure will settle with you after the battle."
"Excellent. Who's in command of the operation, and what's the plan?" I asked.
---
"Right here!" Ariel said.
"Where exactly?" Arthur asked.
"In this gorge we're in now," Ariel said. "This is the main passage into Ashtaron from the east. His army will come through here."
"Why don't they go around?" Haruto asked.
"To the north are mountains, to the south swamps," Ariel said. "I think he wants to save time and go straight through. Anna and Capelia said most of the skeletons were prowling here, so most likely they'll come this way."
Ariel glanced around. She was with Arthur, Haruto, and Daria. Their task was to hold this gorge as long as they could and await further orders from the second, vanguard team: Anna, Capelia, and (though she didn't yet know it) Nestor.
---
We stood on a steep slope a hundred meters high. The sun was blazing. The landscape around us had almost no trees, only dry plains we were gazing at. To the north stretched a mountain range, to the south lay swamps, and right below us was the gorge defended by Ariel and the others.
We were standing on the east side of the canyon. To our west, along the next three hundred meters, this canyon led through several gorges toward the city. Ariel's team stood about thirty meters from the eastern entrance of the gorge that cut through the canyon and led west. Anna would stand directly at the gorge entrance, Capelia in support, while I would try to infiltrate the enemy ranks and kill the necromancer. For now, the three of us were right above the gorge entrance on the slope that climbed nearly a hundred meters high. In front of us to the east, on the plain, the enemy army was already visible.
On that plain rattled, screamed, and howled the horde of undead — an army of skeletons clad in the remnants of armor. From this height it looked even more imposing than if you faced it head-on. Small, barely visible silhouettes of bone and iron shimmered in the eyes like waves under the sun.
"And this is supposed to be an army? It's only a few thousand," I said, estimating their numbers.
---
"A few thousand is more than enough for an army. Focus, we need to stop them here. Once we kill the necromancer, they'll scatter," Anna said.
We all spoke via audio link through the microphones on our wrists. Since this world's technology didn't work on electricity, they didn't read vibrations in the air but instead detected the mana-trace of a person when they spoke. By the same principle, by the way, all the cameras worked — they captured the mana-trace and then transmitted it back through the screen.
"Don't worry. There won't be any problems with them," I said.
"Are you sure?" Anna asked.
Yesterday I had gone over the plan with Anna in detail, and after a certain demonstration of my powers — which I won't describe — she agreed to entrust me with the task of destroying the necromancer.
"Of course. A few minutes will be enough for me to kill him. After that, we'll cut down the rest of the skeletons," I said.
"I'm glad for your calmness, but I also need you to be serious," Anna said.
"I am serious," I replied, savoring the epic moment before the battle.
Anna smiled.
"If you really handle this so quickly, I'll sing your praises throughout the entire Order," she said with a confident smile. "Capelia and I are counting on you."
"Would you mind if, after the battle, we discuss the question: 'Are a few thousand enough to be called an army?'" Capelia said, her eyes shining, apparently not losing her cheer even now. "I think it's a very interesting topic."
Anna laughed, and I smiled.
"Of course! Now — forward. Today is a day of glory!" she declared with a battle-ready smile. In her hands was a large spear — a rare magical artifact she had claimed herself from a corruption.
All artifacts are obtained from corruptions. If an artifact breaks or is destroyed, it cannot be restored. Humanity cannot, at least for now, reverse-engineer them or learn to create them on its own.
Anna began descending into the gorge, confidently leaping between rocks and sometimes using blink to ease her path.
"Finally, finally, finally! Don't forget to call me, Nestor!" Capelia shouted, and with a joyful grin, she jumped down from the slope.
Gravity seized her, pulling her into a fall. But Capelia began blinking from side to side, negating the pull and descending in several quick steps. Thanks to blink, she both slowed her fall and closed the distance toward the enemy. Once on the ground, she sprinted forward, occasionally blinking again in the direction of the skeleton army.
I, on the other hand, immediately rose into the air with the spell Avi and flew after Capelia, keeping an altitude of about thirty meters.
Avi — a third spell of the higher style, granting the ability to levitate and fly through the air. I knew this spell; Anna did not. Capelia could fly, but only short distances and for a limited time.
Capelia closed in on the massive horde of skeletons, stopping about fifty meters short.
"There are a lot of them here," she noted — for the first time in a long while not quite as uncompromisingly cheerful as usual. And yet, her words and demeanor still glowed with her natural liveliness. "Gentlemen, follow me!" she cried, hurling a massive fireball into the enemy ranks, shattering several skeletons to pieces.
Hundreds of blue sparks of mana, glowing in place of their eyes, turned furiously toward her. A clattering noise rang out, and the horde of skeletons lurched forward, then charged straight at Capelia.
From above, I watched it all. Very quickly the skeletons spotted me as well. Among them were some carrying bows and arrows. They began firing at me with uncanny precision. You'd think skeletons would be clumsy and weak, but these loosed arrows faster than most living archers could.
I activated a barrier around myself and watched as arrows slammed into it, ricocheting off or shattering.
"Good luck, Nestor!" came Capelia's voice from below, as she lured the skeleton army after her, occasionally blinking to keep her distance.
I focused on the terrain around me, gathering mana within. I didn't want to waste time — this had to be done in one strike. Clasping my hands together, I unleashed the spell Aita to scan the mana field nearby. Amid the hundreds of skeletons I sensed one concentration of mana far greater than the rest. That was him.
I pivoted and rushed straight toward that source, slamming into the ground where it should have been and blowing everything around me apart with an explosion.
From afar, Anna saw a hundred bones scatter in all directions from the site of my blast.
"Did you see that?" Ariel asked, watching the battlefield through cameras transmitting the situation to her team. Though they were only thirty meters from the eastern gorge entrance, they couldn't see everything happening on the plain. The gorge was about ten meters in width, flanked by tall red cliffs on either side.
"That was… Nestor?" Arthur asked.
"Yes," Ariel said brightly.
"Not bad, not bad," Anna thought to herself.
She looked ahead and saw Capelia, arms spread wide, running with the skeleton army in tow, occasionally blasting explosions behind her. She fired them instantly, skillfully twisting around to cast before blinking forward again without much effort or focus. Ariel could never have cast spells that fast, let alone different ones each time. Anna readied herself, channeling mana into her spear.
"Three, two, one!" Capelia shouted, bending her knees and leaping high into the air, clinging to the left cliff so she could attack the skeletons from above as they neared Anna. Anna, standing lower at the gorge entrance, prepared herself.
Concentrating mana into her arm and transmitting it into her spear, she swung it from her shoulder toward the enemy. A huge cleave of energy shot out. The spell Ara sliced a dozen skeletons in half, their bodies collapsing to the ground in streams of blue mana.
Clinging to the cliff with body-strengthening magic, Capelia used her free hand to launch streams of fire into the skeletons, scattering them in all directions. When some got close to Anna, she struck them with fire or with cleaving blows.
The spear's specialty was that it expanded the area of effect of her offensive spells. Every artifact consumed extra energy for its activity. This spear consumed about five percent more mana than Anna normally spent on such a spell. If she were fighting a single opponent, she would have discarded it at once. But in a battle against many weaker enemies, the wider range of destruction was far more valuable.