My eyes were closed, my focus fully on fastening my armour. It had taken me a while to get the hang of it, but with the occasional use of telekinesis, I managed well enough.

  Once it was on, I stretched just to refresh the range of motion in my mind. It would have been more prudent to train in it more before leaving, but alas, there had not been time. I’d have to familiarise myself with it properly on the march.

  Satisfied, I grabbed the staff, now with a giant, spherical piece of quartz mounted on top. The quartz itself was useless, though I had put a simple enchantment on it that’d allow me to make it glow. Foci of this size were not unheard of, though the higher quality materials tended to be rarer and thus usually only available in small sizes, like the black diamond that Tissaia had gifted me.

  Of course, quantity could make up for a lack of quality, which is generally why mages used staves. You couldn’t exactly wear a sphere the size of your hand as a necklace.

  Eventually, I’d like to secure something like that for myself, but it the armour had exhausted much of my available resources. Once this entire fortress business was done with, I'd have to look into investing. For now, it’d remain a simple distraction, something visible for my enemy to focus on.

  I put the helmet into the crook of my arm before leaving the tower.

  I did not make it more than a few steps outside before a haggard-looking Haxo accosted me, “Lady von Degurechaff,” he paused to take his breath, taking in my outfit, “The Queen wants to speak to you. Now.”

  I blinked, “Lead the way, then.”

  We moved briskly through the castle’s corridors, quickly arriving in front of the Queen’s study. After knocking and receiving an affirmation from the inside, I entered.

  The room itself was not particularly remarkable or luxurious. The walls were adorned by weapons, none decorative, while the Queen sat behind a thick wooden desk. No one else was inside.

  “Degurechaff,” Calanthé eyed me, staring at my armour for a good few seconds, before shaking her head.

  “Your Majesty,” I bowed.

  “Ebbing has been annexed by the Nilfgaardian Empire,” she began without preamble.

  I nodded. The Kingdom was not particularly strong, if large, and had been in the middle of a succession crisis. That Nilfgaard managed to conquer it in a scant few months was not that surprising.

  “And so has Metinna,” she finished.

  My eyes widened, “How is that possible?”

  Calanthé grimaced, “It seems that after the conquest of Ebbing, the Nilfgaardians did not stop their march.”

  “Metinna is comprised mostly of plains,” I muttered. Geography very well suited to blitzkriegs, but how could a medieval army possess the logistics to do this, especially when their supply train would have to go through the just-conquered Ebbing?

  “They weren’t ready?” I questioned.

  “Metinna’s nobility was occupied by some sort of a scandal in their capital, but I do not know if they had any defensive arrangements. By the time they managed to muster armies, Nilfgaard was already sieging the city with most of the nobles in it. They did not last long,” Calanthé explained.

  “No matter their appetite for conquest, they’ll have to consolidate now. That gives us time,” I said.

  Calanthé stared, before sighing, “It seems you were correct about Nilfgaard.”

  I suppressed a frown. Weren’t we already in agreement about that?

  She tapped her fingers on the desk, “Baron Dalibor of Ortagor and Baron Eylembert of Tigg will both send two hundred and fifty cavalrymen. An additional three hundred longbowmen will join your bodyguards from the royal army.”

  My eyes widened. That was a substantial force.

  “Rework the logistics with Vissegerd,” she continued, before pausing and looking me in the eye, “Lastly… You have my permission to do what is necessary to get that fortress built. Even against our own nobility.”

  I stared for a few seconds.

  “Your Majesty, do you suspect treachery?” I asked.

  Calanthé tilted her head, “You could say that. Now off with you, witch.”

  I bowed and left, my mind in turmoil.

  The Queen let a grimace break out on her face after Degurechaff had left.

  Were the gods punishing her?

  She groaned audibly.

  Just when she had thought she could properly show the wench her place, this happens.

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  What did Degurechaff even think, suggesting a fortress in Marnadal? Of course the nobles wouldn’t stand for that. Baldemar of Attre was practically foaming at the mouth when Calanthé had told him.

  Obviously, a fortress there would be good. Excellent even.

  But saying that such a construction would be a difficult undertaking was an extreme understatement. It was very much possible that Nazair would be cowed by one of the Brotherhood’s own, but Cintra’s own nobles? Most of them would rather go to war than allow the Crown to take their money.

  Only careful manoeuvring had allowed Calanthé to push it through. That, and making sure everyone understood the architect behind the project and the influence they wielded over the Crown.

  It had taken barely a few days for an assassin to try to kill Degurechaff, though her very public handling of that matter seemed to serve as a good enough deterrence for now.

  Not that she had expected the fortress to ever be built, of course. Even if Degurechaff survived, she’d learn quickly why projects of that scale did not happen in Cintra.

  Yet now, Cintra’s very future could very possibly hinge on Marnadal’s defence.

  Truly, the universe had a twisted sense of humour.

  I moved through the castle, towards my next meeting. The talk with the Queen did not take long, so hopefully, I’d be on time.

  Sigi’s note had been rather insistent and I was quite eager to hear of his findings, but the room he wanted to meet in was rather out of the way, in one of the seldom-used parts of the castle.

  Halfway through, I got annoyed by carrying the helmet and put it on. The castle guards would probably recognise me by the armour by now. Sigi might get a scare, but I might as well get back at him for making me walk to some forgotten corner of the castle.

  A few minutes later, I made it to the room. I greeted the two guards outside with a nod.

  They did a double take but did not stop me as I opened the door.

  I had a fraction of a second to take the armoured man inside the room in, before a crossbow bolt slammed into my shoulder while another whizzed by my ear.

  I hissed in pain, my hand instinctively grabbing the bolt. It penetrated through the plate, but not fully.

  I stared incredulously at the four men inside the room. They were dressed just like Cintran Royal Guards, with two crossbowmen hiding behind two men equipped with swords and shields.

  “Vaeltha,” the hexagonal shield shimmered into being in front of me.

  “Charge!” One of the men shouted, before promptly hiding behind his shield as another chucked something spherical towards me, notably not charging.

  It took me a split second to recognise it as some sort of a makeshift grenade.

  Instead of reacting, I cast my reflex enhancement, confident in my shield to withstand the grenade. After all, the soldiers were confident enough in their own entirely mundane shields.

  The bomb went off and the explosion was fairly small.

  I blinked as shrapnel embedded itself into my armour, passing straight through my shield. Suddenly, my draw of Power screeched to a halt, the shards slowing my efforts to a trickle.

  ‘Why did everyone and their mothers have dimeritium?! Wasn’t it supposed to be rare?’

  Luckily, my foci was completely filled. Still, I’d have to take care not to waste the Power carelessly.

  The sound of an armoured foot stomping on the ground behind me made me swivel my head around, just in time to see the two door guards rushing in, halberds first.

  I felt relieved for about a second before the halberds swung towards me.

  The enhanced reflexes of Adda Invaerne allowed me to block the strikes with my staff.

  A rapid chant of Gloir Gláeddyv made a mage blade grow out of the top of my staff, turning it into a glaive. I smiled at the opportunity to test the spell. I had been trying to get the mage blade to work in this world for a long time, but it was only with the insights I had gleaned from Alzur’s work that allowed me to finally create the spell here.

  My smile grew as the blade sliced through the shaft of a halberd before going halfway through one of the soldiers as well.

  A chantless Eveagh Aard threw the remaining halberdier to the back, letting me turn around towards the original assailants. The swordsmen had stayed in position, but the crossbowmen had unfortunately managed to reload.

  I did not have enough time to either dodge or chant. The confrontation with the halberdiers took too long. The swordsmen charged the moment the bolts flew.

  The first bolt hit me in the side, but did not punch through. The impact forced me back but did not distract me from backhanding the second bolt out of the air with my gauntlet.

  Reflex enhancement coming in handy.

  “Dhu-” I began, but the swordsmen did not give me time, forcing me to dodge a slash aimed at my neck.

  I managed to seize control of the unravelling spell, quickly altering it and preventing the worst-case scenario of the Power going rampant. Darkness erupted from my position, quickly covering the entire room and obscuring my vision.

  A weak slash hit my midsection right after, doing nothing to my armour. I ignored it easily.

  I navigated to the side of the room by memory alone as quickly and quietly as I could, putting the wall behind my back.

  “Aespar aedd gynvael,” I whispered, summoning shards of ice, before sending them all over the room.

  Grunts and shouts of pain rewarded me for my efforts.

  Shutting my eyes, I cast another spell, “Aine.”

  A flash of light dispelled the remaining darkness, letting me see my stunned enemies. The crossbowmen were both crumpled on the ground, while the halberdier I had thrown at the wall lay crumpled below it, unmoving.

  The two with shields were mostly unharmed.

  It didn’t really matter. They were too far away to do anything now.

  Not wanting to waste the power in my foci, I endeavoured to use some of my more conservative spells. I broke the stone beneath their feet with an incanted “Nolla”, before enhancing my strength with a muttered “Treise.”

  Then I tested the mage blade some more.