Riley now found himself in a room with seven others around the table. Three new faces and four familiar ones.
"We are back, my lord. We have collected information on the layout of their fortress and other logistical weaknesses that we can exploit."
The tallest of the three spoke up. A girl with tainted pink hair, her cheeks were hollowed out slightly, likely due to the lack of food inside of the fortress. Riley motioned for someone to bring them a bite to eat in fear that his comrades might simply keel over and perish.
"We may discuss it later, for now let us set up what I have dubbed to be, the all out fake strategy."
Lydia clapped, while the others cringed at the terrible name. In particular Baltamor couldn't hold back his sour expression. He was torn between speaking up and obeying his knightly instinct.
"So what might this strategy entail, my liege?"
The slightly tubby man who had been in the artillery tent took the initiative to shift the conversation.
"The archers will climb onto the smaller peaks and peer down onto the fortress. After relaying their real-time information, the cannoneers can take shots with a higher degree of accuracy."
Baltamor raised his hand and scratched his cheek.
"And what of our knights? This seems to be a ranged battle, and my men have no knowledge of projectiles."
Riley pointed at the crudely drawn picture of the drawbridge. The wood hadn't seemed in any way enchanted, so piercing it with a massive iron cannon ball would be child's play.
"You and your men must prepare to pierce their defensive lines when the chains holding the door up are released. Around that time, the soldiers would retreat into the courtyard and be picked off by our archers."
Lydia nodded in agreement to the plan, but everyone else just took it as a concubine trying to win browny points with her lover. And Riley was not particularly keen on growing closer to the seductress.
Minutes of chatter turned into hours of planning and eventually a solid plan blossomed where every part of their army meshed together perfectly.
But there was one more important thing Riley had to take care of. He ushered out Baltamor, the chubby cannoneer, the drunken archer and his concubine. Now left with the three fresh faces, each equally trembling before their lord.
"Lucy? Yara? Dari? That is you, isn't it?"
Their faces lit up with joy, jumping at their commander and hugging him tightly. For a second he struggled to maintain his balance and they all toppled onto the floor.
"We missed you! Do you know how dark it is there?!" Lucy complained while summoning her spear.
Yara was hugging Dari tightly, basking in his warmth. Rejoicing in the fact that they were now where the sun could shine.
"What do you mean dark? Isn't there light in there when the sun is up?"
Lucy shook her head, pointing at the mountain sitting behind the small castle.
"The shadow cast by this peak plunges the courtyard in a deep shadow. We struggled to walk around without bumping into a guard! And worst of all… the creepy whispering that weaved itself into the silence at night."
Not even the confident Lucy could stop her shivering.
'Weaving itself huh. That doesn't sound particularly pleasant. Surely this has nothing to do with that cursed demon.'
Riley cursed his life for having to orbit the demon of fate. Under normal circumstances, being [Fateless] would mean there would be no opportunity for weaver's plan to mingle with his own. But being Ariel's heir practically injected him into the great weave. Still though, he was not a nexus, and no threads connected to him. He was an anomaly, and Riley wondered just how long until the tapestry would treat him like a virus.
Thinking about it only hurt his head more. He was not Sunny to challenge fate, and he could not even reach Cassie's level of tweaking and twisting fabrics delicately to alter fate to her desired outcome. As twisted as her goals were…
"Sorry, please continue with your findings."
Yara walked forward this time, a small hand drawn map found itself on the table.
"I overheard their lord speaking of a tunnel. The entrance isn't something I managed to find, but the exit is somewhere above the peak that shadowed the fortress."
'So it wouldn't be feasible to launch an attack from inside. Reaching the top through hiking was both time consuming and dangerous.'
Riley sunk into his seat. He took a moment to just embrace the emptiness of his mind. For once, it was truly empty. And the quiet was comforting. But even comfort had to end.
"What I managed to uncover was the prison below the castle. There are countless creatures dwelling the decrepit chambers, some far more powerful than us. Even entering those corridors puts me at risk of falling under a mind hex."
Yara pulled Dari close and patted his head as if calming down a baby. Riley felt a little jealous, but the thought of Lydia touching him sent a wave of bile up his throat.
'It's not really that she is unattracive…she is anything but. I simply don't like dominant women.'
"You have a pervy look on your face Riley."
"You are imagining it, Lucy."
Riley rubbed his face and turned back to the map. With the new information, there was a possibility for a new strategy to speed up the fall of their base.
'Yes, this will definitely work. It has to.'
"I want you three to return under cover, and feed small, actually useful pieces of information to their infantry. Raise their morale to think they could win if they engage in a skirmish."
Riley moved a large beastly pawn forward from the enemy's castle.
"And I will go and unleash the kraken."