Prince Aarone enter the meeting and everyone in the tent kneel down except for Sarah who just sigh in front of the prince
Prince Aarone laugh and said, "As usual, Sarah-sensei never pay respect to me"
Sarah replied with an annoyed face, "Why would I? You are just an immature rich kid who learn how to hold a sword"
Prince Aarone pay no mind at Sarah's comment and asked everyone, "please stand-up everyone, I am here as a warrior not as a prince"
Standing up Hiroko then said, "I didn't know Prince Aarone's teacher was the guild master, I thought it was Sir Richard"
"Since Richard is busy with his little brother Rellin, I was assign to reach him the sword" Sarah replied
"And the lessons was tough, but I am grateful" Prince Aarone added
Prince Aarone sat down and the rest follow along and Sarah started the meeting
"We manage to take down 15% of the enemy forces, and 10% of it is thanks to Sir Kitsune who found one of the Necromancer, so we can safely say that each Necromancer holds a 10% of the army" Sarah reported
Prince Aarone raised his hand and asked, "How can you say that Sir Kitsune defeated 10% of the enemy's army Sarah-sensei?"
Hiroko answered the Prince question, "we actually recover the bodies of the undead and count them, although some of them are in separate piece, some of the undead body still has an intact mana crystal inside them, that means that the one that was controlling them is dead, after counting we put them all in a pile and burn them as to pay respects and to not get their bodies be controlled again"
"So that's that, also according to Hiroko's report, before Sir Kitsune exit the battle, he said that the necromancer are dressing up as an undead to blend within the army, so tomorrow we need to look for them closely, don't hesitate if you feel someone is looking towards you" Sarah Added
"That is a clever tactic, instead of hiding somewhere in the forsaken forest, they choose to blend within the army" Richard said
Hiroko asked a question, "But, I think the math is off, the earlier reports says that there was 12 necromancers, 1 is currently dead, if one Necromancer control 10% of the army doesn't that mean 2 of the Necromancer has no army to control?"
"That is a good question, but it is just a hypothesis that each Necromancer controls 10% of the army, some of them might split it off, but if each necromancer controls 10% of the army, it just means that the enemy has a card that they haven't show yet" Sarah replied
Prince Aarone then said, "So, we need to be ready for a surprise huh? Is this why you suggested to let that crazy Shino person to use 6000 bottles of Holy water? Just to have a possibility that they will draw their secret card"
"If Shino's plan is successful we might force them to draw their secret card, After all we literally draw our secret card already, and that was sending Sir Kitsune out" Sarah replied
"Eh?! Guild master, you know Sir Kirsune will join the battle?" Natalia asked
Everyone was looking at Sarah and she became nervous and just replied, "Well… I know him… that is why he help us right? ahaha"
With a serious face Prince Aarone said, "Sarah-sensei, can you ask Sir Kitsune to join the battle tomorrow again? I just miss his battle today, but I really want to see him fighting"
"Sir Kitsune is a powerful ally we can have, we might be able to win this battle if he fight with us" Richard added
"Guild Master! I also agree at asking him to join tomorrow's battle, I also want to have contact with him" Hiroko added excitedly
Feeling the pressure Sarah just agreed and continue into the planning
"Anyway let discuss about how many people we lost and tomorrows plan" Sarah shouted
The meeting continue for more than an hour and was dismiss later on, completely exhausted Sarah approach Natalia and said, "Natalia-san, I'll hand over Kuro at Shino, I need to tell him about the holy water"
Natalia agreed and hand over the necklace before leaving the tent, Sarah wear the necklace and Kuro came out the necklace
"That was a tough one huh, Sarah-san?" Kuro said worrying about Sarah
"Kuro help me convince Shino to go to the battle as Kitsune" Sarah beg at Kuro
"I can't really help you Sarah-san, Master need to work on his plan and being absent tomorrow since he is in disguise will just raise question" Kuro replied
Sarah grab Kuro tightly and shook Kuro while begging to help him
"YES! Yes! I'll help, but I can't say we can convince him" Kuro replied while trying to escape at Sarah's grip
Approaching Shino who are resting after healing dozen people, Sarah and Kuro explained the situation
"Yeah, No…" Shino replied
"Why?!?!" Sarah asked with a teary eye
"I have thing to do tomorrow and being absent while being Kitsune will just raise suspicion" Shino replied
Sarah completely stressed and crying, "Then, I'll just spread that you are Kitsune"
Shino stand up and shouted, "Yah we have a deal! I won't make you anymore Ice cream you know"
Sarah is completely sad and teary looking at Shino, He just sigh and said, "I'll go, 6000 bottles is a lot so transferring them can take at least a day or two"
Sarah suddenly turned his frown into complete happiness with a star eye, "Yeah, transferring that many bottles can take at least a day or two right?!"
"Yah! Is this what stress can do to a girl?" Shino whispered to Kuro
"A girls emotion is complicated master, so it is better to be in the dark" Kuro replied
◊
After the discussion with the guild master about tomorrows plan, Shino lay down beside the second wall and yawn, looking at the night sky
Hiroko approach him and said, "Yo! Shino-san, did you receive the plans for tomorrow?"
"Yeah… The transferring will take quite some time so let's hold out until the transferring is complete" Shino replied
Hiroko sat down beside him and said, "What is this your plan anyway? I keep thinking about it but I cannot really think a way for this to work"
Shino just smile at him and lay down covering his face with a towel, "Every single thing around you has their own inner workings, and you just need to understand it, beside you just haven't think hard enough"
Hiroko laugh and said, "ahaha, I cannot agree with you on that, I always think hard on the things I want to accomplish and I work hard on it"
"Eehhh~~ is that true?" Shino asked
Hiroko replied enthusiastically, "Of course it is Shino-san, if you work hard on something you will eventually get it"
Shino get up, and open his ˹Storage Box˼ pulling out a single egg and said, "Okay then how about this, you are familiar with this right?"
"Yeah, it's an egg of the Morning Tail Bird" Hiroko replied
Shino challenge Hiroko and said, "Okay, then here is a challenge, made this egg stand from its tip without using magic"
Hiroko agreed and the two went to the nearest table, trying to make this egg stand from its tip
Hiroko is struggling to keep it balanced on its tip and kept trying and later on stop and said, "Is this even possible Shino-san?"
"Yes it is, I already did it multiple times before, why you asked? Are you going to give up?" Shino asked
Hiroko continue and is completely focused in making this egg stand, replied, "I'll take your word and do this, if you can do it then I'm sure I can too"
Shino giggles and said, "You are quite enthusiastic"
Hours has pass and Shino is sleepy since it is already late at night
"You really are working hard for it huh?" Shino said while yawning
Finally Hiroko made the egg stand up from its tip for 5 seconds before falling again, and Shino clap for Hiroko and congratulated him
"I told you I can do it, as long as I work hard I can do it" Hiroko proudly said
"You are that happy spending hours just to make an egg stand up on its tip for five second" Shino asked
"Of course, you are probably amazed that I did it so fast huh?" Hiroko proudly said
"Nah… not really…" Shino replied with a sleepy tone and a smile
Shino grab the egg and bash it to the table, breaking its tip and making it stand with no sign of falling down
"Eh?!" Hiroko asked confusedly
"This is cheating! You break its tip!" Hiroko added
Shino stand up from the table and replied, "No, the challenge is to make it stand from its tip and I only said that you can't use magic, so breaking its tip is not cheating"
Completely baffled, Shino just smile and added, "Working Hard, is not a bad idea to accomplish something, but by working hard sometimes you forget that there is an easier way to accomplish it. We have a saying that goes like this…. Work smarter not harder"
Awed by the knowledge Shino just gave, Hiroko was left speechless and before leaving Shino said, "I guess you are not thinking as hard as you think you are huh? Good night Hiroko-san, we have a long day tomorrow so take a rest"
At the next morning Sarah went pass the table Shino and Hiroko use and saw the egg there and asked, "Eh? Did a Morning Tail drop an egg here?"