\”What do you think?\” Lucien wanted to know what the girls think about the situation. They already knew everything he saw and heard because he had reported it all mentally.
Lucien knew about Cornelius and Red Lady because Maggie was a Gold-Rank mercenary and had a lot of information. Astrid also told him about Glen and Klaus, so Lucien was already making plans with Lust and just needed the girls’ opinion to proceed.
Astrid couldn’t deny that she considered Olivia as a friend. After all, the mysterious Guild leader helped her when she was in trouble… But Astrid’s goal was always to get information about the Guild and Ivan in order to help Cassidy.
But after discovering that Olivia tried to attack Lucien without proof that he and Rose were hostile against the city, Astrid didn’t think so well of Olivia anymore… She just cared about her husband and Cassidy, so she didn’t mind if Lucien killed everyone there.
\”I agree with what you think is best… Olivia is not a bad person, but like the mercenaries, she is not on our side.\” Astrid approached Lucien with a confident smile on her face, and he couldn’t help but kiss her while he waited for the other girls to respond.
Maggie never felt like the mercenaries were her people. They always treated her rudely, and she didn’t care at all about them or the Guild. \”I fully agree with you.\”
Rose ran to Lucien’s side faster than Maggie and held his arm while smiling excitedly. \”To hell with our enemies! Let’s wet the floor with their blood, hubby.\”
Lucien found Rose’s reaction a little excessive. Still, he can’t help but agree with her… Lucien, like his sisters, were taught simple and straightforward things with the first rule of their training being: Kill your enemies, kill all of the Kingdom’s enemies.
The Evil King, raised his children to be weapons, and now Lucien saw everyone as enemies that he would quickly kill if it were useful to him. Of course, not all deaths would be useful, and he was learning about feelings with his women…
Lucien concluded while listening to the conflict between mercenaries and adventurers, so he made it clear to the girls.
\”Our primary objective is to rescue Lena, but we cannot miss this opportunity, so we will have to be quick. I know they are strong, but we can use the fact that they are fighting each other and have a significant advantage… How confident are you in fighting?\”
\”More than ready!\” The three women responded together. They were still absorbing demonic energy, but they already felt stronger than ever… And they couldn’t deny that they wanted to test that power in combat.
Oya also roared, making her approval clear. Lucien was confident in his stronger and faster body, plus the fact that the girls were more powerful now… Even though they were in a small number, they had many advantages to cause severe damage to the two large groups, or to flee if necessary.
Lucien could hear that the fight had already started, and the two groups were attacking each other with full force. But he continued to explain his whole plan calmly.
\”They’re already killing themselves, so let’s just make sure their bodies won’t leave this forest… But three people must not die…\”
\”If we kill their leaders here, it will only make other leaders raise in the city. Although chaos makes it easier for us to recover the crown, I think that letting Olivia and Red Lady live will be more useful because I’m pretty sure they can’t be allies…\”
Astrid wasn’t sure about that. \”So do you let them go back to the city after this conflict and start other disputes? That sounds very good… But what if they become allies to fight us?\”
Lucien was sure that Olivia and Red Lady would not become allies for several reasons, but mainly for something specific he saw…
\”In addition to the fact that the mercenaries are trying to kill Olivia now, she also saw the same as me… The mercenaries are wearing shields with a sun, identical to the soldiers of the Light Empire I faced in the mine…\”
\”Does that mean?\” Astrid and Maggie asked together. Everyone knew that the Light Empire was the enemy of almost everyone, so it didn’t make sense for someone in Portgreen to team up with them.
Lucien understood that too but… \”They could have looted the shields… But I don’t think that’s the case because the shields are without any scratches. I could see well and also heard some mercenaries saying something suspicious… The chance that Red Lady is working with Light Empire is high.\”
\”It is more reason for us to kill her here with the others.\” Astrid came from the Alliance, like most demi-humans. They didn’t want to be in a country at war but still hated the Light Empire, and she couldn’t help but be angry at the Red Lady.
Lucien could only speculate as he had no solid evidence, but his plan was not to kill Red Lady… Not because Lust is talking in his mind about how a \”good woman\” she is, but for her other uses…
\”Think about it, both the mercenaries and the Guild are huge groups, so killing Red Lady would let Olivia and the other Guild leader bring everyone together with the same objective. Then it will be much more difficult for us…\”
\”If we let Olivia and Red Lady live now, they will hate each other even more. With her suspicious about the mercenaries working with the Light Empire, Olivia will go to war against Red Lady.\”
Before the girls could respond, Lucien continued. \”That way, we also can manipulate the two groups and intensify their conflict until they are completely vulnerable, giving us time to create an attack plan in Bluewind.\”
Astrid was not a good strategist. She had simple thoughts like defeating her enemies, but Lucien’s ideas made sense.
Maggie was a former member of an assassin squad, so she knew how to recognize a good plan and totally agreed with Lucien.
Rose couldn’t help but squeeze Lucien’s arm while jumping like a happy kid. \”Hubby, you’re so smart! You will kill only part of them so that they finish killing themselves later… That is incredible.\”
Lucien could only smile as Rose acted excessively again. \”Actually, we won’t even need to kill many of them as they are already killing themselves… We will only prevent Olivia and Red Lady from dying… Also-\”
The girls were paying close attention to Lucien’s words, and they remembered that he said \”three people.\” Rose and Maggie thought it as about Cornelius, the other leader of the mercenaries, but Astrid had a presentiment, and couldn’t help but comment.
\”Why do I think the third person is also a woman?\” After Astrid spoke, the three girls looked at Lucien with a questioning look.
\”What do you mean?\” Lucien felt a little sarcasm in Astrid’s tone and wanted to slap her on the ass.
Astrid agreed with Lucien’s plan. Still, she wanted to provoke him jokingly. \”Cornelius is the leader of the Magic Band, so I thought it would be better to let him live instead of the Red Lady… But I bet you have other plans for those ears… Right?\”
*Pah*
The sound of the slap Lucien gave Astrid on the butt echoed through the forest, but it was not far enough to be heard by the two groups that were very focused on the brutal combat.
Of course, Lucien didn’t hurt Astrid but made it clear that she was being \”punished\” to act like a bad girl. \”Don’t be sarcastic with me… If you think Cornelius will be more influential, we can let Red Lady die. I am satisfied with your beautiful cute ears.\”
Astrid wasn’t sure if she liked the slap or the compliment on her ears more… Anyway, Lucien always made her feel good even when he \”punished\” her…
\”Sorry, Hubby… You’re right. Red Lady is much more influential than Cornelius… So who’s the third person?\”
Lucien didn’t slap Astrid on the ass because of what she said… In fact, he knew she liked it and did it to ease the anger she would feel when he talked about the third person.
He released Rose and started kissing Astrid while stroking her ass where he had hit, making the sexy manticore-woman moan softly, before he speaks a name she hated to hear. \”Jeanne.\”
\”What?!?! WHY?!\” Astrid loved Lucien’s caresses, but hearing that they would be saving the woman who made trouble for her for a year made her very confused.
Lucien heard Jeanne and her nephew, Mason, along with the group of adventurers. He was paying attention to her movements all the time because Lust insisted that she has great \”latent talent.\” He wouldn’t be with a woman only for power, but he didn’t hate Jeanne, and he would be willing to get to know her better as a possible partner.
Olivia brought together the best adventurers in town, so Jeanne and Masons would clearly be included. Lucien still remembered that she promised a date with him, and he would use that opportunity to decide if she would be a good sister to his women.
Lucien didn’t want to lie to his women, so he made his intentions very clear even if it only made Astrid look more upset.
\”I just want to use Olivia and Red Lady to make it easier for us to re-conquer Portgreen, but Jeanne… I’m still not sure, but yes, she could join us. That does not mean it has to be a problem for you… Or am I not taking good care of my sweet Ravenous?\”
Astrid still wanted to claim that she didn’t want Jeanne to join their family, but Lucien started squeezing her ass while kissing her neck, making her go relaxed in his arms… It was difficult for her to argue when he could easily make her so docile, and Astrid just made a sound of \”Mm\” as she started to soft moan again.
After everyone understood his plan, Lucien described Olivia, Red Lady, and Jeanne to the girls. Then they split into two groups and headed for the fight. Lucien and Oya went one direction while the trio went on the other.
Being able to communicate mentally made everything easier, and Lucien guided the girls, always reporting everything he heard and saw, allowing the group to stay hidden while waiting for his orders.
Lucien wanted to take the opportunity to eliminate many powerful people from both forces while protecting the three women. He prepared his golden bow to make the combat, which was already a mess, come to an end faster.
He would only use his girls if it was really needed to protect some of the targets or to finish the group when they were almost done, but he was fine in shooting some arrows while still in stealth.
————————-
Two minutes ago.
Olivia was surprised when she heard Red Lady’s voice. She didn’t think her arch-enemy would personally come after her. It was definitely a bold move and was equivalent to declaring war against the Guild.
She was confident in her powerful group of adventurers, but without Ivan, defeating Red Lady and Cornelius with a smaller group would be very difficult… Still, she had no choice but to fight.
Olivia paid no attention to Red Lady’s taunts and began to order her group while they still had protection from the magic barrier.
The wizards began channeling powerful spells while Glen commanded the archers to shoot all the mercenaries nearby… But the guys carrying the shining shields were blocking almost every attack they made.
Most adventurers couldn’t do much from inside the dome, but Olivia wanted to take advantage of the barrier to launch as many ranged attacks as they could.
Glen was using high-quality arrows, but he realized that it would not affect the magic shields, so he started using his best crystal arrows.
Red Lady and Cornelius were ordering their mages to fire at the barrier while others channeled an anti-barrier spell again.
The two groups continued their ranged attacks, but the effect on the barrier was minimal while a few mercenaries in the front died from Glen’s crystal arrows…
What nobody noticed was that the mercenaries further behind the group were dying too. Some of them mysteriously disappeared while others fell with an arrow hole in the head.
Almost two minutes later, the mercenary mages finished their anti-barrier spell, and a white light passed over the mercenaries with shields, hitting the dome.
*Crack*
The adventurers’ magic barrier was very tough. Still, after suffering several attacks, the anti-barrier spell caused severe damage to it, making a loud sound indicate the last seconds of the barrier and the start of the close combat.
