After they had settled the finer details and left, Gordon's officer raised his concerns. "Pardon me, but are you sure that we can leave everything up to Ten Dawn Tengon and Ten Dawn Nassandra? Normally, an aerial squadron consists of even number of soldiers and Arcanists to share the burden on the Arcanists. However, we are leaving up to twenty people to two people… Not to mention, they are expected to do a round-trip within a day. Isn't that a bit too unrealistic?"
"Oh?" Gordon mused. "Then how do you propose to do it?"
"Send three of our best aerial squadrons to deploy from Fortress Fallinard. If the Xingyuu Empire has really developed this island as their base of operations, then a single small squadron won't be enough. At least with three, there is security in numbers, while also maintaining mobility and covertness."
"In normal cases, that would be true," the general nodded. "But we are on a tight schedule. The army is expected to return to the capital for its next orders. A round-trip to Fortress Fallinard would take at minimum a week. However, we have to leave Nightwin in the next few days."
"This…" The officer searched for another excuse.
"You don't trust the Ten Dawns, do you?" Gordon deduced.
Having his feelings exposed stunned him. He angrily spewed out, "Of course! They are Arcanists! We shouldn't be leaving the command up to them!"
The general raised his hand and shushed his officer instantly. "Appearances aside, their strength is the real deal. You shouldn't underestimate them because they're young." The officer wanted to protest more, but the general remained unmovable.
The morning came and Elizabeth was hanging around the base of Nightwin's Sky Tower. If the military headquarters was the largest building in Nightwin, then the Sky Tower was the tallest. The Sky Tower was a simple thin structure that had a simple purpose: to deploy aerial squadrons. To help, Arcanists were posted at the top that could create a wind tunnel, sending them higher and further than normal. The usefulness of this could not be overstated. Sky Towers were prevalent in every major city across the known world. Even the Royal Algard Warship, Excellica, boasted one. However, since Nightwin was far from the closest battlefront, this one was currently unmanned and empty. Therefore, Elizabeth was waiting quietly by her lonesome.
She was fidgety as her mind wandered to dangerous thoughts. Finally, she would return to New Havens, but she could not help but think. If the worst came to pass, how would she handle it? No! I cannot think like that! I must stay optimistic! She tried to urge those thoughts away, but a small part of her still feared it. Those feelings tore at her and she felt sick to her stomach. Her heart and mind raced like a bull, clashing constantly. She wanted to vomit yet nothing would come out. It was a horrible sensation.
"Are you alright?" a girl asked.
Elizabeth looked up to see a petite girl, much like Elizabeth's younger sister, Aisa. She was wearing a long deep blue robe with golden outlines. Complex patterns were embroidered on the cloth, and the robe was fastened by a golden accessory consisting of sapphires. Her hair was neatly tied up and pinned in place by a blue sapphire hairpin. On a glance, it was clear that this girl had a special background, but Elizabeth was more preoccupied about another thing.
To her, the girl was overwhelmingly cute! Her robe was a bit too large for her size, so it cutely wrapped the girl like a bun. Elizabeth felt her mood lighten. Without caring about the consequences, Elizabeth went to hug the little girl. She could feel her tension leave with this therapeutic experience. Meanwhile, the girl in question was shocked by the events! With her identity, people typically chose to steer clear of her. People even feared her. After all, the unknown was often scary, especially with an Arcanist like herself. The only person who ever treated her normally was her older brother…
"Nassandra, you're awfully early," a man said as he sauntered over. But after seeing this scene, his eyebrows twitched in disbelief.
At the same time, Elizabeth's heart skipped a beat as she returned to her senses. Unknowingly, she saw Aisa in the girl and acted without thinking. However, when she processed the words spoken aloud just now, she was petrified. This girl shared the same name as one of the Ten Dawns, Ten Dawn Nassandra Adnire! She remembered what Christina told her after the meeting with General Gordon. The Ten Dawns were widely regarded as the ten strongest Arcanists in the Zino Kingdom, serving as the Celestial Council of Magic's hands and feet. They worked in pairs and possessed frightening knowledge of Arcania that allowed them to turn a battlefield in their favor. For this reason, Elizabeth had assumed all the Ten Dawns were old experienced warriors, like General Gordon. How could she rationalize that the little girl before her was considered one of the trump cards of the military? She seriously wondered if she heard wrong.
"Are you Ten Dawn Nassandra?" Elizabeth slowly questioned.
"Yes, that is me. Did you not know? I am wearing the official uniform and the Ten Dawn's insignia is on it," she said, showing the back of her robe.
Elizabeth laughed mockingly to herself. How could I know? I haven't met a single person from the Zino Kingdom yet! "I'm very sorry for hugging you earlier. You reminded me of my younger sister."
"No, it's fine. You surprised me is all."
"That won't do, Nassandra. We're representatives of the Zino Kingdom. We shouldn't let people approach us carelessly," Tengon lectured. "You must be Elizabeth. I'm Ten Dawn Tengon Vensire, leader of this operation."
"Pleased to meet you," she reciprocated. Inwardly, she lamented that someone as young as Nassandra was a soldier. Her opinion of the Zino Kingdom soured slightly. "I've been meaning to ask… Do you two see a fog or something when you look at magic too?"
Tengon frowned and cocked his head. "Do you?" Elizabeth agreed. "Nassandra, do you have any idea what she's talking about?"
"Magical Perception?" Nassandra replied curtly.
"I've never heard it described in such a way before. If you have Magical Perception, then you must be an Arcanist, right? To not recognize our own kingdom's insignia…"
"I'm not an Arcanist and I've never heard of Magical Perception before."
"Huh?" Both Tengon and Nassandra said in unison.
"Are you joking with us?" Tengon asked. "Only Arcanists should have Magical Perception. Furthermore, you should be quite proficient with it, if you can sense magic as easily as yourself. You should be at the High Gaseous Fog Core Level, right? At the very least, Medium Gaseous Fog?"
Elizabeth felt like crying. "I really don't know what you're talking about." Why did she feel that this type of conversation was becoming more common?
Tengon silently gazed at Elizabeth's face. On the side, Nassandra nudged at her partner, "Are you using Magical Perception?"
"Using Magical Perception on someone without permission is like peeping on them to me. I wouldn't do that to a girl, no."
Nassandra was sad. She had used her own Magical Perception to investigate Elizabeth's Core and discovered something very surprising… But now that Tengon said that, she felt awkward and said nothing.
The three continued talking while waiting for the knights to show up. In this time, Elizabeth learned about various topics, such as Cores and energy. There were two types of energies in the world, World Energy and Magical Energy. World Energy was a pure energy that resided in all things in creation. Many people had theories about its true nature, but most were unverified. However, it was common knowledge that to create magic, one had to disturb the nature of World Energy using Magical Energy. Magical Energy was a special refined type of energy that an Arcanist had. Magical Perception helped to perceive it and the Core was the container of an individual's energies, so to speak. When Tengon referred to a Core Level, it helped define the quantity and quality of an Arcanist's energy reserves. It was one of the many ways that the Zino Kingdom helped grade the proficiency of an Arcanist.