It takes a second to sink in, but as soon as it does I send my mana out to scan around. I quickly find several hundred troops ahead of us, they are hiding about where we would stop for the night. I tell Lizzy to stop the caravan and then head back to Amn’s carriage since Mavel and Gremshow are with him.

  Emperor Amn says “Ash, what’s wrong? Why are we stopping?”

  “Because there are several hundred troops ahead of us. It looks like they plan to ambush us. Since this is Mavel’s kingdom, I figured I should ask her before killing them.”

  Queen Mavel says “There shouldn’t be more than fifty of my people in any given area. We are not close enough to the border to see larger units. What colors are they wearing?”

  “None. They are dressed like bandits, but they are too clean and well fed to be real bandits.”

  Queen Mavel says “Can you show them to me?”

  I think for a second and then create an eye made of mana to send to look at the troops. Then I create a floating pool of water and link it to the eye so that the others can see what it sees. I move the eye around so that they can see all of the troops, then I focus on the leaders.

  Queen Mavel says “I was afraid of this. I recognize the leader, he serves one of my nobles. To see them dressed as bandits means that my daughter is likely their target.”

  “Your daughter? Not you?”

  Queen Mavel says “Yes, Mavabel. He has been absolutely obsessed with her since she was a teenager. In fact, he is the main reason that we created the fake marriage for Mavabel.”

  King Gremshow says “Who cares why they are here?! They outnumber our guards at least four to one! We should avoid this entire area!”

  “Relax, they are no threat, I just needed to make sure they were enemies. So, who is this noble? Where is his manor? Do you want me to take care of him too?”

  King Gremshow says “What do you mean no threat?! That is basically an army!!”

  Emperor Amn says “What Ash means is that he can deal with them easily, so take a deep breath and try to remember that you are a king!”

  Queen Mavel says “His name is Marquis Lyle Monteroy. His manor is a few miles north of here, we are already on his lands. I should really deal with this myself, this is my problem.”

  “Do you have forces in the area that you could summon to handle them?”

  Queen Mavel says “No. The closest forces that could deal with many enemies are stations on the border. Even if I got word to them now, it would still take at least a day for them to arrive.”

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  “That’s way too long. We have an hour, maybe two, before they realize that we aren’t coming and move to catch us. That is only if they are stupid and don’t have scouts out. They could even be watching us right now.”

  King Gremshow says “With the carriages, we can outrun them, right?”

  Queen Mavel says “This is my kingdom, I am not going to run away!”

  “Your choices are either let me deal with this, or we run away. You need to decide right now.”

  Queen Mavel says “Fine! Deal with them, but I want to handle Lyle myself!”

  “Alright, I can work with that.”

  I quickly head back to my carriage and ask Koko and Myria to join me outside where Lizzy can hear us. First, I turn to look at Koko.

  “If I remember right, you made a deal with Krenocia, right?”

  Koko says “Yes?”

  “Since you are a ninja, I am guessing she used you as an assassin. She probably had you clean out her and her sister’s churches, so you should be able to see auras, right?”

  Koko says “Yes.”

  “Good, I have a mission for you should you choose to accept it. I want you to go around camp and between here and the enemies. Deal with any scouts you find, but ignore the main forces. Instead, there is a manor to the north of here, that is your target. I want you to wipe out anyone with dark auras and then bring the noble back alive. You can get a description of him from Mavel or her people. What do you say?”

  Koko chuckles and says “Easy.” then she vanishes.

  Myria says “I take it that means you will deal with the main forces?”

  “Nope. Actually, I plan to let you and Lizzy deal with them. Leylisha, you can join them if you want, or you can stay here.”

  Leylisha says “I would be honored to fight with Lizzy!”

  Myria says “Really? Just like that? I was expecting to have to fight you to take me with you. You are really going to sit the fight out? Are you feeling alright?”

  “I am feeling fine. A few hundred humans is no challenge and I would feel like I was bullying them. You and Lizzy won’t have any problems with them, but you will still get experience from them.”

  Myria says “You would still get exp as well, wouldn’t you?”

  “Yes, but the amount I need to level up is in the millions. The humans aren’t worth it to me. Now, are you going or not? If you don’t want to, I am sure Lizzy can handle it without you.”

  Myria says “No, I am going. I just can’t get over my surprise.”

  “Well, Lizzy is about to leave, so you had better move. If you aren’t in the saddle when she starts moving, everything will be dead before you can even get there.”

  Myria looks like she wants to argue with me, but then she notices that Lizzy is really about to leave. She lets out a cute little yelp and then quickly jumps into the saddle behind Leylisha. Lizzy barely waits for her to sit down before she is off light a bolt of lightning.

  Myria lets out a scream as they take off which has me chuckling as I walk back to Amn’s carriage. Mavabel and Shiro have joined the rulers, but everyone gives me a strange look when I walk up.

  King Gremshow says “What are you doing? Aren’t you going to deal with the enemy troops?”

  “Nope. My wife will handle it. Only a few hundred soldiers are not enough of a threat for me to need to take action personally.”

  King Gremshow says “Aren’t you bragging a little too much?!”

  Emperor Amn says “He isn’t bragging. Ash could flatten your entire kingdom on his own and nothing you could do would stop him.”

  Queen Mavel says “Ash, just what would it take for you to consider it a real threat?”

  “It would take several thousand soldiers and they would all need to be equipped with magical weapons.”

  Mavabel says “Why magical weapons? That would be hugely expensive! I don’t think our kingdom could even afford that!”

  Queen Mavel says “No, we couldn’t.”

  “Because normal weapons can’t even scratch me. Without magical weapons they wouldn’t be any threat.”