Amon, General Most, and the rest of his soldiers are now walking down a path towards a door.
"Where are we going?" General Most asked.
"We are going to the first department."
The first department is the one under Leon; it is specialized in gathering information and planning. Shortly, the brain of the guild walked closer towards a wooded door, and above the door was the symbol of a crystal incised.
Amon opened the door in a sudden motion, and everybody who was in the room was visible. General Most and his men spotted the following people:
Roxanne, Personia, Leon, and a few maids
"This man will fight with us for a short time; he can have all the information." Amon pointed with two fingers at General Most and his men. It was a code and meant that they should only get the information they needed to know for short and nothing more than that. The code was a special thing between the two of them. Only Amon and Leon knew what it meant. They had a whole grammar system to make sure that the information the other one got was correct and could not be misunderstood. The code was so hard to see through that it became a little mission among the twelve coats of arms to get behind this code, and especially Roxanne wanted to know that. She asked Personia often for help, but that was useless. The problem was that it was hard to figure out when they talked in the code. They were completely normal things that you could do at any time. Right now, it was odd for her that they talked in code, but she knew that it could be things such as emphasizing a word or adopting a certain posture. Or just looking in a certain direction. But now wasn't the time to think about such things; she needed to concentrate.
"Good, then I will start; come over here." Leon pointed at a desk, where a map lay on top of it.
"They send a few troops and wait with their full army around 10 minutes away from the forest if they would use magic to transport themselves."
"Wait, why are they only attacking in small groups? If it were me, I would use all my traps and attack in the night."
General Most was sure that it was the only way to attack a strong guild. Facing them head-on would be stupid. It was not a secret that a powerful guild often had more power than the army of a kingdom, especially this guild.
"There are these following things that hold them back." Leon looked into Most's eyes and said the following things:
"The first one is that they are afraid of us. Better said, afraid. From the twelve coats of arms, I made sure that the information about how strong we are was hidden, and that makes them nervous. Not knowing how powerful the enemy is can be the first reason for a loss."
"The second is that they don't know the terrain. The forest is our home; we know exactly where we should go and where not."
"The third and most important one is Amon. His strength is irregularity, and the information they have from the new year's event is less. They originally thought that he was weak, and once they got past the guild members, they could kill him with ease. But that changed, and now they are afraid." Most had an idea what was behind that. The king of Verdan was known to be a scaredy cat. If he wasn't sure about something, he would flip out and make rash decisions, and that was now the problem here. A surprise attack in the night was the best strategy they could have, but because of the king, everything is now going down, and this is the result.
Meanwhile, in the forest,
"Heahh!"
Dorothea swung her huge hammer towards her enemies and smashed the heads of everyone she hit.
"Hey Vlad, could you help me with the rest?" Dorothea said it with a seductive smile.
"Pay attention to what happens, you ugly slut." A solier shouted while juming towards her with his sword.
"Uargh!!"
But before it could hit, A spear flowed toward him and scratched his shoulder.
The wound was not deep, but the second he got hit, he died, and as soon as that happened, a man walked out of a few bushes.
The man was 190 cm tall, wore a black suit, had black hair, and had black eyes. He was all in black. The left side of his face was covered by a mask, but the other side that was visible looked handsome.
"Thank you, Vlad. The sweat kills me." Said Dorothea, she said, wiping away the beads of sweat that had formed on her forehead while walking towards a rock. The rock had the perfect height for her to sit down.
She slammed her hammer into the ground next to her so that it could stand on its own, and she rested her head in her palm.
Vlad walked towards a tree and leaned against it with his arms crossed. Vlad closed his eyes and looked at Dorothea.
"And are you hurt anywhere?" Vlad couldn't say if the blood that was spreading all around her body was now hers or one of their enemies. Even though he was sure that she was alright, everything else would have surprised him. But he still wanted to make sure.
"No, I am fine. What do you think will happen now? You know this because of this war and the guild. I know that it won't happen, but what if we lose or if something unexplained happens?"
Dorothea was a huge woman at 190 cm; she had muscles bigger than any male bodybuilder could have ever achieved. But right now, Vlad felt as if he were seeing a little girl who was afraid.
He felt the same way. Just like Amon, they had no home in a kingdom they belonged to or were proud of. For them, this guild was their kingdom, and Amon was their king. They saw him as a friend but, at the same time, as a king.
"I don't know. We have so many problems. Bruna, the refugees taking shelter in the guild, the fact that we are on the front line—I don't know what will happen. But I know one thing: I will protect this place even if it means bathing in blood."
Vlad was determined that he would defend this place no matter what.
"And after all, nothing can happen as long as Amon is our leader. He's the type of guy who delivers when it's needed, and you know how he is when he is angry. As soon as he's angry. They lost the war." Vlad grins from one ear to another. He was not a battle maniac like Cedric, but he somehow looked forward to seeing Amon in his rage mode. The last time he saw that Amon wiped out everything that stood in his way without even asking,"
"You are right; we just have to trust the young master, and everything will be alright."
Dorothea was not fired up and in a good mood again. She stood up, grabbed her hammer, and walked away.
---
"Ahh, this is fucking annoying." Niles stood on a watchtower and observed the plain in front of the great forest that separated them between the front line and the guild base. It was the perfect vantage point. No one could sneak up on an open flat like this.
"I think I should make a move myself." Niles looked to his left and spotted a little group of soldiers that had gotten near the forest. He drew his bow with seven arrows, one for each of them. He aimed high in the air and let go of the bowstring. The darts flew high in the air and hit their target. Seven shots straight to the brain, it was so precise that it even hit their brainstems.
"I won't make the same mistake twice."