THAT DAY I BECAME A STAR

After the light greeting with the soldier, everything returns to its natural quiet state. The soldiers are watching the fire with calm but thoughtful faces. So is Willhem who is once again making a sculpture out of a piece of wood.

"I never saw a result of your wood carving, Willhem."

"Because I always burn them when they are finished."

"Why? Are they not good?"

"I don't know.. Nobody has ever seen them so. There is only one I ever left unburned."

"Why is that then?"

"Because the person I made it for betrayed me." Ah, that story about the girl he loved.

"You have any idea of how she is doing?"

"She was thrown out by that noble sometime after so surely, she must be living her pitiful life somewhere. And I hope that…Wait, who said I was a she?"

"The chatterbox."

"Sigh…That fucker. Maybe I should make one for him as well."

"He is dead anyway, there is no point."

"Yeah, true that. We should go to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be harder."

"Okay." We stand up then the soldier who greeted me lightly nods his head, surely as a sign of saying goodnight.

The next morning, we are called into Frankher's tent and this time, this is a man with a big beard sitting with him. Another one is standing before them and we stop at his level to greet Frankher.

"Good morning, Sir."

"Good morning, gentlemen. Allow me to present you Sir Diocin Valkor. One of the newly appointed commanders of the eternal and the leader of this whole operation."

"It's an honor to meet two popular named warriors on the same day."

The guy actually bows his head to us. For real? I look at Frankher but he remains expressionless. Willhem doesn't seem to care though.

"And the man next to you is the captain of the third squad: Stephan Turner."

"A pleasure to meet you." The guy also slightly bows his head. That's weird.

"Since you guys lost your team, I was first thinking of assigning you to sir Turner's squad…" Frankher looks at the new commander who follows with a clear voice.

"But judging by your performance and skills, this would hinder you. This is why you will be like a special force supporting the third squad. They are tasked with destroying the different domes that hinder our progress and so, they will be pushing way deeper into the Longinus lines. That's why we-"

"Alert!!! Longinus have broken through the lines!! Alert!!"

The sudden voice of a soldier outside breaks the peaceful faces of Frankher and the commander. Now, it is time to fight.

We all run outside and there are a lot of soldiers running everywhere. Some of them are already dressed and run towards the source of the scream we heard. Others are running in the opposite direction, surely to get dressed.

"Star of Mercuria, fly above the camp and see the current situation we are in. Mandragora's tongue, we will follow him from the ground and reorganize the unprepared troops."

Instantly, Frankher has decided on the plan and we execute it without asking anything else. Why did he call us by our warriors' names though?

***

"Three dalls incomings from the west!"

"Roger!"

There are a lot more Longinus who went past the soldiers than I thought. Although considering that their group is mostly composed of dalls and prators, I am not surprised.

Most of the soldiers have reacted rapidly and are already fighting with the Longinus without any indications. There really isn't any need for me to stay up like that and indicate where they are coming from, I think.

Willhem and K'nor are dealing with the group of three dalls that I just signaled. Since the others groups are also facing soldiers, let's try to do the same thing as Cissa.

"So first is the fireball, right?" I create a fireball and right after launching it, I send a bullet as well.

Down on the ground, one of the three dalls sees my fireball coming and tries to block it with his tail.

"Kriek!!"

Although the fireball does some damage to his tail, it's the bullet that cuts it off. So this really works then. But I should watch for my timing. My bullet was a little late compared to what Willhem said.

"Cissa, thank you."

"Hey!! Don't start attacking my preys!!"

"Sorry." You are one stingy bastard, Willhem.

In the end, we take care of the Longinus without any real visible damage. I land near Frankher who is watching the soldiers around but seeing as he doesn't say anything, I leave him and walk to Willhem and K'nor.

"We should get ready for the fight."

"Yeah, I know."

"Guys, my squad will move on ahead. Please join us as soon as you are ready." Stephan arrives from behind us, already wearing his armor and holding a flail in his right hand. His left hand can't be seen anymore thanks to the enormous shield he is holding.

"Okay, we will."

While he leaves, a lot of soldiers follow him. There must be around thirty people behind him when he exits the camp.

We go to our tent and rapidly get dressed. As always, putting K'nor's armor on him takes the most time, even with Willhem's help.

When we leave the tent, Keltia, and her group pass right in front of us. And right after that, a horn resounds.

"It is time, let's go, guys!!" Without greeting us, she commands her group and they storm ahead.

Willhem looks at me with a smile. Yeah, I know. She is provoking us.

We also leave the camp then get past them and continue forward. The third squad should be the one that is further ahead so we will start there.

There are groups of ten soldiers fighting just like before everywhere.

"Star of Mercuria, the captain is further ahead. Don't worry about us and proceed forward."

A man who I was about to help informs me while dealing with a rather annoying sloin.

"Understood."

We continue and reach the first dome. Stephan and nine men are fighting while being encircled by Longinus from all sides. The only place where there aren't Longinus is the dome which is behind them. Why did they go so far ahead?