It had been minutes, or maybe even hours, since we had started scouting deeper into the mine. So far, there was nothing useful.

  I wasn't a fan of darkness, to be sure. The only thing lighting our way were artifact torches we had found at the outpost, which were just flashlights but wooden handles with glowing tips. Apparently, the Imperials stationed there had known about the cave but never reported it to their superiors.

  When I asked why, their answer was: "Because we thought about mining it ourselves and getting rich..."

  So at least we had a map and torches. But even those had limits as we were nearing the furthest point the Imperials had ever mapped.

  "I think we should turn back," I murmured, earning nods from the others. They were getting anxious too since they stayed too long cramped in the dark. After all, my purpose was to scout or sabotage any Imperials we encountered, not explore an abandoned underground mine for fun.

  Just as I was about to give the order, we heard it. A low rumbling sound. I slapped my hand over my face.

  Of course. Like every novel ever told, the Imperials had appeared at the worst possible moment. It wasn't that I was scared, I just... I wanted to relax. We had been trudging through this tunnel for decades.

  "What should we do, ma'am?" a soldier whispered, tension tight in his voice. The others stayed silent, waiting for orders.

  I sighed. "I'll go check it out. Two of you, with me." I pointed at the man who had spoken to me and a woman standing near the middle. "The rest of you, stay here. Stay quiet."

  The two soldiers nodded, and we moved forward silently. We dimmed the artifact torches as soon as we reached a massive opening with a thick rope dangling down the center.

  When we peered over the edge, I caught my breath. This was not what I had expected.

  It was a deep open-pit mine, but instead of widening at the top, it was narrow. And far below, I could see hundreds of Imperial soldiers marching through, moving from tunnel to tunnel in a constant stream.

  "We found them," the woman beside me whispered, staring down at the scene. "And there are so many..."

  "Yep. They mentioned about 50,000 of them." I murmured, then glanced at my companions. "You don't suppose we have any firepower to blow up this cave?"

  "Of course not, ma'am," the older soldier said. He had graying hair at his temples. "Even if we did, it would only collapse part of the cave."

  "So we do have some?"

  "I bet if we search the mine, we could find some explosives left behind." He scratched his chin thoughtfully. "But I'd advise against it. It would blow our cover, and worse, let the Imperials find the exit we came through."

  "Then we blow the exit too." I grinned as an idea formed. "Tell the troops to search for explosives, anything left in the mine. Then load them into mine carts."

  I was planning to take mine carts filled with explosives and send them hurtling down into those Imperials below. Judging from the vibrations I could feel if I focused hard enough, the march wasn't going to end anytime soon.

  "But it would only cause limited damage," the woman said as the graying soldier headed back to deliver the orders. She was younger, sharper-eyed, the type who thought things through. "The pit's too narrow. Only about a hundred troops can pass through at a time down there."

  "Then we focus on their elites." I started taking mental notes of our surroundings. "Mages will be our primary target. And don't forget, order some explosives placed near our exit so we can't be followed."

  "...Yes, ma'am." She hesitated, clearly seeing how insane this plan was.

  One wrong move and we would doom ourselves. Even with my strength, I had no confidence about fighting 50,000 soldiers, narrow cave or not. The only chance we had was using every trick up my sleeve.

  I smiled like a proper villain as the plan formed in my mind. Oh yes, this was going to be—

  "Ma'am? It might take some time to gather the explosives."

  Or maybe later.

  The next few minutes were a blur as we searched the mines, doing our best to stay silent.

  It didn't take long to load all the explosives into mine carts and position them at the edge of the opening. One good shove and they would plummet straight down onto the Imperials below.

  There were 15 mine carts in total. 30 soldiers stood ready, each holding one of the artifact torches we had been using. They are strapping the torch to the carts before pushing. And surprisingly, these artifacts had built-in timers that could ignite on delay.

  I had to wonder, with all these advanced artifacts, how was the Shiena Kingdom losing so badly? I had barely seen the Emavia Empire use a single artifact in combat.

  As I pondered this, the movement below caught my eye. Different uniforms, robes, actually, began appearing from the tunnels in the pit. Each figure carried a staff.

  Mages.

  "Ready..." I raised my hand. The soldiers tensed, hands on the carts, eyes locked on me.

  I waited. The mages moved into formation, gathering near the center of the pit where the space was tightest. Perfect.

  "NOW!"

  14 mine carts in total started their descent as it picked up speed. One got stuck at the last second, damn thing, but the rest hurtled over the edge and plummeted down toward the Imperial mages below.

  One of the mages glanced up. "Hmmm?"

  Then the first cart smashed into them.

  Screams erupted as bodies were crushed under the weight. More carts followed, crashing down in rapid succession. Mages scrambled to dodge, but the pit was too narrow, and there was nowhere to go.

  "Barriers! Shields! Cast any magic you can!" someone screamed from below.

  Just as I had predicted, protective magical spells were chanted as they were flickered to life. Glowing shields materialized overhead as the mages huddled together, layering their spells for maximum protection.

  But it was a mistake. The torch timers hit zero and the explosives detonated.

  "AHHHHHHHHH!"

  "MEDIC! MEDIC!"

  "What's happening?! FIRE! FIRE!"

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  Contrary to my expectations, the explosion had ignited something, and fire was spreading through the pit like a wildfire. The mages who had managed to survive the initial blast were now either burning alive or choking to death on the thick black smoke pouring through the tunnels.

  "Now we run," I said.

  The soldiers nodded, barely hiding their grins at the chaos below.

  We turned and bolted back the way we had come. Behind us, screams echoed through the mine as Imperial soldiers burned and choked and scrambled desperately for air that wasn't there.

  And of course, we detonated our exit, making sure the Imperials can’t follow us.

  [(0)]

  "Are you joking with me?" Major General Remnell spat out his coffee and slammed the cup down. "We're under attack?"

  "Yes, sir!" The messenger's face was pale. "104 mages killed, 56 injured, and 112 soldiers wounded!"

  If Remnell had been alone, he would have flipped his table and wept. But he couldn't, not with various officers present. And certainly not with Major General Caelen standing right there, face turning red.

  "Are you kidding me?" Caelen grabbed the poor messenger and shook him. "Are you telling me we lost half our mages?!"

  They had 300 mages total, 150 from each division. But just as Caelen said, a third of them were dead. And it was questionable whether the injured would heal fast enough to be combat-ready again.

  "Y-yes, sir!" The messenger managed to answer. Remnell had to respect the man's bravery. "We've confirmed it was the Royal Army!"

  "And you didn't kill a single one of them!" Caelen's grip tightened around the messenger's collar. "Are you telling me we got slaughtered by the Royal Army and didn't even fight back?!"

  "Please calm down, sir." Caelen's aide, Colonel Alysia, stepped forward. "We need to think about our strategy moving forward."

  "Don't talk back to me, you little princess bitch!" Caelen whirled on Alysia, glaring murderously. "You follow everything I say!"

  Alysia fell silent, her expression carefully blank. Remnell couldn't help but feel bad for her.

  He had heard about Alysia's story. She was the princess of the most recent nation the Empire had conquered. Once known as the Princess Knight, she had been forced into an arranged marriage with the Fifth Prince after her kingdom fell.

  The Fifth Prince, a man who enjoyed gambling and games, had made her a bet: if she rose to the rank of Major General, he would grant her nation its freedom. No one had expected her to rise so quickly, however, despite all the bullying and unfairness she faced. Rumor had it the Fifth Prince was currently shaking in his bedroom, terrified she might actually succeed.

  "Pardon me, Major General Caelen." Brigadier General Varian glanced at Alysia before raising his hands in a placating gesture. "Like Colonel Alysia said, we need to think this through properly. I would advise we send scouts ahead before advancing any further."

  "YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT?!" Caelen slammed his fists down, shattering the entire table. "WHO DO YOU THINK I AM?! SOME DUMB-HEADED FOOL?!"

  Yes. Every officer present, some even from Caelen's own division, thought it in unison. But wisely, they kept their mouths shut.

  "I AM THE STRONGEST HERE! I HAVE WILD MAGIC!"

  Remnell watched the whole scene unfold with quiet disbelief. Here was one of the generals in the Empire, throwing a tantrum like a child.

  Though perhaps it made sense. Despite having Wild Magic, one of the rarest and most powerful gifts, Caelen had almost nothing to show for it. He had no major victories, achievements or credits. His biggest achievement to date was killing a single Colonel.

  Pathetic, really, considering he had the power to kill thousands.

  "It will be slow," Remnell said, somewhat ignoring Caelen now. "But we need to be cautious. Or we'll lose before the battle even starts."

  Caelen and Remnell locked eyes, neither backing down as they glared at each other. The other officers watched with barely concealed tension as the air in the tent grew thick.

  Finally, Caelen looked away and stormed off.

  "Do whatever you want," he grumbled. Alysia followed closely behind, bowing in apology as she hurried after him.

  Everyone in the tent sighed in relief.

  "We have no time to waste," Remnell said, and the other officers nodded. "If the royal army attacked us, it means our location has been compromised. We need to take a different route."

  Thankfully, they had managed to contact one of their spies, a man who had to walk through the mines to reach them. He had brought a map, too, so now they could actually navigate their way out.

  "The enemy will expect us to take the shortest route possible," Varian said as soldiers replaced the broken table and spread out a new map. "Which means we take the longer one."

  Varian pointed to a route with a completely different exit which would make them zigzag through the tunnels.

  "The enemy will likely be waiting for us at the Plain of Imoras," he continued. "It's the only place where an army our size can move freely."

  "Is there another route to Fort Estonal?" Remnell scanned the map. He wanted to link up with the forces left at the fort for a decisive victory.

  "Unfortunately, no." Varian shook his head. "We received word that Major General Ayas plans to stay in the fort rather than support us at the Plain of Imoras."

  "I see." Remnell sighed, then his eyes sharpened. "Tell the scouts to map our routes thoroughly. And tell the soldiers to ration carefully. We will be ready when we face the royal army, the 9th Corps."

  "Yes, sir!" the officers shouted in unison.

  [(0)]

  "I apologize," Colonel Devon said, bowing his head to General Cedric, who wore a troubled expression. "I was the one who gave the troops freedom to act on their own once they'd completed their objectives."

  "It's fine." Cedric sighed, rubbing his temple. "Nobody could have expected First Lieutenant Aria to find a mine entrance, of all things."

  Several officers in the tent nodded, but none of them criticized Aria, at least not out loud. She was, after all, their savior and the main reason Operation Iron Thrust had succeeded. But their expressions betrayed their dissatisfaction.

  The meeting had been called after a second Wind Bird arrived, reporting that Aria had blown up a section of cave and killed dozens of Imperial mages in the process. Normally, this would be excellent news, mages were one of the most valuable resources in any army.

  But not now. Not when they had had a plan.

  Their strategy had been to ambush the Imperials at the mine's main entrance. They had predicted the enemy would take the shortest route to Fort Estonal, and if they didn't, the 9th Corps could simply march to the Plain of Imoras and set up defensive formations there while the Imperials took the long route.

  They positioned forces there and even prepared explosives to collapse the tunnel behind the enemy, creating chaos and confusion. But because of Aria's attack, the Imperials would now be on high alert. They would choose a different route, and the 9th Corps had no idea which one.

  "It would be wise to go to the Plain of Imoras," Colonel Cameron said. The bear-like officer crossed his arms. "We can't stretch our forces too thin, and we don't have enough explosives to cover all the entrances."

  "I agree." Brigadier General Lily, her sharp one eye scanning the map, nodded. "While it's... pity we can't follow our original plan, it's best to adapt."

  The other officers murmured their agreement. Positioning forces at the mine entrance was too risky now. The Imperials would be ready for them: delaying their march to confuse them, preparing countermeasures against explosions, or worse, exiting through a tunnel the 9th Corps didn't even know existed.

  "I see." Cedric sighed and made his decision. "Tell the troops to redirect to the Plain of Imoras. And recall the ten Independent Cavalry Regiments."

  "Yes, my lord." Devon bowed and exited the tent to send the orders.

  The moment he stepped outside, however, a vein bulged on his forehead. He struggled to contain his anger, forcing a cold smile instead, his lip twitching in the most humorless way imaginable.

  The soldiers nearby, who had been goofing around moments before, immediately snapped to attention. Cold sweat ran down their backs as they recognized that expression on Devon's face. But he didn't even spare a single glance at them as he strode past.

  "First Lieutenant Aria..." Devon muttered under his breath, ready to curse her, but instead, he simply sighed.

  After all, everyone makes mistakes. But in war, those mistakes cost thousands of lives. Devon sighed again, reminding himself that Aria would face consequences for this.

  [(0)]

  "Is somebody talking about me?" I scratched my ear, feeling like someone was calling my name.

  "What do you mean, ma'am?" Warrant Officer Elion asked. He was shirtless, having just come back from the water.

  "Nothing." I sighed and went back to watching the soldiers play in the river, splashing and having fun like kids. But I couldn't shake the chill running down my spine.

  "I swear somebody's cursing me..." I murmured.

  Then my makeshift fishing pole jerked violently. I yanked it up and a big, fat juicy fish thrashed on the end of the line.

  "Tonight's dinner!" I cried out happily.