The next morning.
The moment Roger stepped out of his tent, he noticed that the atmosphere was different from usual.
The patrolling sentries had doubled, and soldiers gathered in small groups, whispering among themselves.
Baron Raymond's tent had been tightly closed since early morning, and the messengers entering and leaving all wore solemn expressions.
Roger found Irene and asked what had happened. Her response was simple:
Count Nigel's chief mage, Magnus, had been assassinated.
Hearing this, Roger raised an eyebrow.
Although he had never seen the mage in person, the man had left an incredibly deep impression on him.
This was the mage who had blown open the walls of Fort Morris with fireballs and turned the forest harboring hordes of goblins into scorched earth. No one else in the entire coalition could match that level of fire support.
Now that he was dead, it was as if the coalition had lost an arm in terms of siege capability.
What concerned Roger even more was another aspect: if the strongest and most heavily guarded extraordinary in the coalition could be assassinated, what about everyone else?
There were certainly no fully armed guards standing watch outside his own tent.
“Have they found out who did it?” he asked.
“They say it was assassins sent by the goblins,” Irene replied.
Roger was thoroughly impressed. These goblins had already figured out how to send assassins to target high-value assets. What was next? Setting up some legendary tactical maze at the entrance of the Cliffside Mountains?
Even as he grumbled inwardly, Roger felt that something was off.
From the few rabble wielding wooden sticks outside Salard Village, to the elite warriors wielding massive dragon-slaying cleavers at Fort Morris, and then to the beasts covered in dark-magic runes in the forest, they were indeed getting harder to deal with. But to go from that to assassinating a Rank Five, almost Rank Six mage? Wasn't the leap in difficulty a bit too massive?
Irene paused for a moment before adding, “It wasn't just the mage. His guards were all killed, and even the passersby, whether soldiers or camp followers, were not spared. So no one actually saw what the killer looked like.”
“...Was that an assassin or a berserker?” Roger couldn't help but complain.
After grumbling, Roger continued, “If no one saw the killer, why are they so sure it was the goblins? Just based on a few bodies?”
He still remembered that there was a traitor within the coalition. Perhaps the goblins were just a distraction, and the one who actually carried out the assassination was the mole.
“Because they found over a dozen goblin corpses around the camp. That was enough for them to make up their minds,” Irene's reply was almost word-for-word what he had expected.
Hearing this, Roger kept his face expressionless, but he put a massive question mark over this conclusion in his mind. He said nothing more, stood up, and prepared to leave.
Just then, one of Knight Stine's armed retainers quickly walked up to them. “Lord Roger, Lady Irene, Lord Stine requests your presence.”
The two followed the retainer through several rows of tents and met Stine in front of his quarters.
But Stine did not take them into his own tent. Instead, he led them straight toward Baron Raymond's tent.
As they lifted the tent flap, Roger saw that the other personal guard knights were already inside, seated on both sides of a long conference table. None of them looked at ease.
Baron Raymond sat at the head of the table. Seeing that everyone had arrived, he motioned for Roger and Irene to take their seats before getting straight to the point of why he had gathered them:
“Lord Nigel believes the assassinations will not stop here. He has ordered all lords to heighten security during our encampment to prevent any assassins from finding another opportunity to strike... At the same time, he specifically emphasized the need to protect the mages under our command.”
Afterward, Baron Raymond and the knights began discussing the specific details of their defenses. The discussion lasted for over half an hour. Once all matters were settled, the Baron dismissed the meeting.
The knights and mercenaries stood up and left one by one.
As Irene walked out of the tent, she glanced sideways at Roger, seeming as if she wanted to say something, but ultimately withdrew her gaze and lifted the flap to step outside.
After the last knight had left, Baron Raymond remained seated alone at the head of the table, looking down at a piece of parchment, seemingly mulling over some decision from the meeting.
Sometime later, Count Nigel's messenger rode into the camp. The sound of hooves stopped outside the tent, and the visitor delivered a brief verbal command: the Count requested all lords to immediately head to the main camp for an emergency military council.
Baron Raymond sighed helplessly, gathered the scattered parchment sheets on the table, stood up to adjust his collar, and set off on horseback with two guards.
The atmosphere of the council was more solemn than ever before. The core issue was: continue the fight, or retreat?
Those who advocated continuing the fight had strong arguments. Although the army's only siege mage had been assassinated, the main force of the coalition remained intact, and they still held an absolute numerical advantage over the goblins.
They had been marching for nearly a month now, drawing closer and closer to the goblins' main nest. If they retreated now, the time, provisions, and troops sacrificed over the past month would all go to waste.
More importantly, if they did not seize this opportunity to completely root out the goblins, given their growth rate over the past few months, any future attempts to eliminate them would require far more than just a single county's forces.
Those advocating retreat pointed out that Magnus was the core of the coalition's siege capability. Without him, they would be missing their most vital weapon when attacking the goblins' main nest.
The mountainous terrain was easy to defend but hard to attack. The goblins held every geographical advantage, and every mountain path was a natural ambush corridor where catapults and siege engines could not be pushed through.
Launching a direct assault would be using the lives of the conscripts to fill a bottomless pit. If they switched to siege tactics, their dispersed forces could easily be picked off one by one if the goblins concentrated their superior numbers, risking a total collapse of the coalition front.
After arguing back and forth for a long time, the opinions remained split right down the middle.
Baron Raymond remained neutral. After all, while the opinions and attitudes of the vassals could influence the lord's decision, it was still up to the lord to make the final call.
No matter what decision Count Nigel ultimately made, Raymond's highest priority was to minimize his own forces' losses and preserve his strength.
The debate raged on for nearly an hour, leaving both sides with dry throats, yet neither could convince the other.
Finally, everyone's eyes converged on Count Nigel.
“Once you return, draw up a list of all the mages under your command and hand it to me.” After saying this, Count Nigel stood up and declared the meeting adjourned.
He did not explicitly state whether they would fight or retreat.
But as Baron Raymond left the main camp, he already had a good idea. Since the Count was asking for a list, his mind was likely leaning toward continuing the campaign.
If he truly intended to retreat, he could have made his stance clear right then, ordering everyone to pack their baggage and dismantle their camps. There would be no need to go through the extra trouble of compiling a list of mages.
As for whose name should go on the list, Raymond's first thought was Roger.
When Stine had first brought this young mercenary back, Raymond had assumed he was merely an ordinary extraordinary warrior who had naturally awakened his Life Energy not long ago and possessed a talent for archery.
But later, not only did he demonstrate healing magic, but he also cast Fireball and several other types of spells within a matter of weeks. This was no longer something that could be explained away as an “accidental awakening.”
No matter how one looked at it, his background was not as simple as he had originally claimed.
Magic was a talent, but it was also a skill that required systematic study to master. On this land, mages had always been a resource monopolized by the nobility.
Even if a commoner was born with the talent to cast spells, without a teacher, access to spellbooks, and casting materials, it was impossible for them to ever walk the path of magic.
Stine had tried to pry into Roger's lineage a few days ago, but Roger had completely shut down all inquiries with a simple, “My master forbade me from revealing his name.”
Yet, this excuse itself served as a form of indirect confirmation.
Having a master meant he indeed had a solid background.
Upon returning to his camp, Raymond issued an order: all sentries were to be doubled during their stay, the frequency of patrols was to be doubled, and anyone leaving the camp at night required his personal written order... especially Roger.
For now, he set aside the Count's request for the list of mages.
Roger's current demonstrated strength was estimated to be no higher than Rank Three. Even if his name was submitted, he would be nothing more than an insignificant minor character to the Count.
But to Raymond himself, an all-rounder extraordinary who could heal, deal damage, and perform alchemy to craft potions was an irreplaceable and precious asset, even if he was only Rank Two.
In this increasingly endless and messy war, keeping Roger firmly by his side was the most realistic and practical choice.
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