For a while, silence shrouded the entire room, feeling as if the gravity had elevated to the point that no one could even open their mouths. This continued until multiple servants appeared, looking just as rushed as the one on the floor. Yet, even then, as they addressed Queenie, urging her, she remained quiet with a seemingly blank expression covering her face.
Finally, she felt a hand on her shoulder and trembled violently for a second before realizing it was Ran who had tapped her. For a moment there, she thought some squirrels had come to kill her!
Breathing heavily for a second, she gestured to the servants to take her to a special place within the palace:
The communications room.
…
The communications room is a relatively queer place. Upon entering, dozens of cables lined both the walls and the floor, to the point of creating an unsafe work environment. They were made of a thin, rust-resistant, metal which were coiled using a wooden rod; this gave it its cable-like appearance.
The cables were all connected to a mainframe of sorts, all of which were engraved with runes. Currently, only one of the cables glowed.
The mainframe itself is a giant bluish-white quartz over two meters tall, almost touching the ceiling.
"What in the…"
When they entered the room, the group was more confused than surprised. What kind of contraption was this?
Queenie, of course, was less surprised, though she grew more anxious as she saw the crystal glowing.
"This is the mother of our communication crystals."
"Mother?"
"Yes, the mother receives all signals from its daughters, allowing us to communicate with others over large distances. Actually, the assignment of mother and daughter doesn't mean anything since they're exactly the same. it just so happens that this one was the biggest crystal of the batch, which allows us to connect many tethers at once."
While she was explaining, a servant who had been communicating with the crystal saw Queenie and rushed up to her, almost tripping on a cable in the process.
"Young Mistress, one of the guards from our northern gate wishes to inform you on the current situation…" said the servant, passing onto her a hand-sized crystal.
The crystal, with a cable stuck to its bottom, resembled a mic. This was further reinforced when Queenie fed it a few wisps of soul juice, causing the crystal and its cable to light up.
"You may speak."
"Young Mistress, multiple scouts have informed us of an impending invasion by those vicious Snow Wood squirrels! They are still a ways north, but it wouldn't be any longer than thirty minutes before they reach us."
The guard was a middle-aged man and while he sounded quite fearful, he was resolute in defending his home.
"Young Mistress uh… how is the Lord?"
Of course, ideally, Lordsley would be the one to control the situation, but now…
And who else knew this better than Queenie herself? Thus, she was hesitant because her answer would have obvious implications; in other words, if Lordsley couldn't assume control, then she would have to.
"The Lord… is still recovering," Queenie said hesitantly. While hesitant, she wouldn't shirk her responsibility. She wouldn't do it to herself, and more importantly, not to her father.
The guard on the other hand felt his will begin to faltered. He swallowed what felt like a hard lump of saliva before continuing to speak.
"Well, uh… I hate to say this, young Mistress, but our scouts estimated the enemy army to be anywhere from two to three hundred thousand."
He tried to not stutter, opting to take a deep breath before finishing. After speaking, the guard did not hear a response. The total silence on the other end was deafening, but before he could break it, he was interrupted.
"Are you sure," Queenie asked. Her breath had turned ragged; perhaps her will also began to falter.
One had to know that the current army of the RBR is no more than a hundred thousand. Interestingly enough, the ratio of soldiers by rank is pretty astonishing relative to the ratio in the lower-layer.
A whopping seventy percent or so of the soldiers were rank-5! A soldier of that caliber in the lower-layer was not only rare, but also expensive as only rank-5 soul cores were effective on them.
Yet, there were basically only two reasons why there was such a big discrepancy:
One; the middle-layer has a larger population which leads to more fighting and two; the current phenomenon of leaving the lower-layer for the middle-layer.
…
Hanging up on the guard, Queenie gave the crystal back to the servant. Her pale face was currently a little flushed as she thought about the oncoming battle as well as the condition of her father. Worse yet, with her strength, she felt as if she was worthless, and could do nothing except watch as everything unfolded.
She grew more and more worried as she spiraled into her own thoughts and past memories; after all, this wasn't the only time she experienced a horde. A major event had happened a decade ago, yet the memory was more vivid than ever, as if she was experiencing it all over again.
She turned around, preparing to leave and observe the arising situation when she noticed the group in front of her. She was so in her own world she forgot about everyone else.
She found it strange, however, how everyone in the group had their eyes sparkling. What could they be possibly thinking? Fortunately, this seemed to stall her potentially destructive thoughts.
"You guys… can't possibly be thinking about joining this horde, right? That would be incredibly stupid."
In response to Queenie's dismissal, their eyes seemed to burn even brighter.
Who doesn't know what kind of opportunity a horde represents? Apart from the constant fighting which can possibly unleash one's inner potential, just the soul cores alone would make it worth it. This is especially the case the higher the rank you are.
"You don't have to worry about us, we know how to take care of ourselves," Ran said, even taking a pose to show how confident he was. "Right, Ann, Fluffy?"
He looked towards his right and left, hoping his companions would agree with him.
"Don't forget about me, brother."
"Uh, Bob, are you sure you want to come?"
At that moment, Ran actually was hesitant. After all, being the weakest, merely being rank-7, it was many times more dangerous for Bob than for practically anyone else.
However, Bob didn't seem offended by Rans question.
"Brother, don't forget, I'm also the greatest support role," Bob exclaimed pridefully, lighting up Ran's proverbial light bulb.
"Ah, brother Bob, why didn't you say so earlier!" Ran slapped Bob's shoulder, playfully blaming him for his own forgetfulness.
Everyone else too was shocked by Bob's apparent fearlessness. Then again, considering his background, what was a little horde like this? Everyday, the threat of death loomed over him and his family in the deep dark place they had called home.
Now, seeing the will to fight within the group, Queenie was further surprised and even envious of their willingness to pursue their goals and increase their strength.
Yet, what were her goals?
To protect the city?
To help the people fighting?
To… protect her comatose father?
And no matter how weak she was, there had to be a way she could help, right?
Soon, while on their way back to make preparations, Queenie too would have sparkles in her eyes.