Emily’s eyes take a moment to adjust to the sudden darkness, rapidly blinking her eyes in an attempt to see the interior faster. She half-expected to see the place full of fancy furniture and luxuries beyond what she could imagine, but finds that it’s actually quite sparsely decorated, mostly being filled with makeshift tables laden with maps, papers, and tiny little red wooden figures scattered about the place. It looked more like a tornado blew through an administrative building than a place where someone sleeps. In fact…

  Emily sweeps her vision across the tent, until she finally finds what she’s looking for. Pressed up against the corner of the tent in an attempt to take as little space as possible, is a single cot with crisp, neatly folded sheets on top of them.

  To be fair, now that she thinks about it a bit more, Emily isn’t sure exactly why she expected there to be any luxuries here in the first place. All of these supplies were clearly carried in by the troops, piece by piece… Why would someone waste valuable manpower carrying anything but the essentials?

  “Do you like what I’ve done with the place? I was trying to go for a more… Minimalist look.”

  Emily turns around with a start, finding the Commander standing still near one of the tables. He smiles at her as he steps towards her, his previous cheerful expression back on his face.

  “Well, uh… You certainly pulled it off.”

  The Commander stays silent as he continues his slow walk towards Emily, letting the silence hang in the air until it’s squeezing up against her uncomfortably. Step after step he takes, his arms crossed casually behind his back and his every step falling in rhythm.

  He finally stops in front of the table in the center of the room and turns to Emily, staring down at her with his smile still plastered on his face. The silence becomes deafening for Emily, and she can feel her hands start to clam up and her throat become parched.

  “Um –”

  “Go ahead and have a seat, Archmage.” he interrupts, as he gestures to a crate behind Emily. He leans back against the table behind him, crossing his arms over his chest.

  Emily sits down, reminded of her school days when her teacher would lecture her for using magic in class. She takes a deep breath, calming herself as the Commander stares her down.

  Remember, Emily. You’re an Archmage. You’re someone important… You’re a cocky noble who came here to… To, uh… Help out in the war effort? Elevate my house? Rebel against my family?! Arrgh!! What would a noble do in this situation?!

  “When the King personally assigned me to lead this operation, he deigned to give me command over all of those who followed.”

  He turns back to look at the table behind him, his smile falling as he shifts a page to lie parallel to the edge.

  “He gave me this power not because I was born for it, or because my lineage allowed for it. No.”

  He turns back to look at Emily, an unimpressed look on his face.

  “He elevated me to this position because I provide the King results. Do you know how I ensure that I keep providing results, Archmage?”

  Emily feels her heart speed up, but before she could clam up, she decides to play along. Letting out a huff, she rolls her eyes, crossing her legs in a nonchalant pose that she does not feel at all.

  “I don’t know. Probably by not wasting your time lecturing people for no good reason?”

  The Commander lets out a small chuckle, the corners of his lips turning up for a moment before they drop back down again.

  “By ensuring that there are rules in place to keep us in line. To keep us ordered. So that our weapons are sharp, our scouts are informed, and the enemy remains unaware. And rule number one to keeping that order: No funny business while you’re under my orders. No matter who you are.”

  Emily stays quiet, pretending to find all of this uninteresting. The silence lingers as neither side says a word.

  “On the topic of who you are, I believe I have no record of any Archmage joining us on this expedition.”

  Emily’s blood runs cold, as she desperately tries to keep her nervousness off of her face. She resists the urge to fidget or look around, instead looking directly at the Commander in what she hopes is an uncaring way.

  “In fact, I don’t believe I’ve ever even heard of you amongst the ranks of young Archmages. And it’s not a long list, at all.”

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  He stands up and takes a step closer to Emily, looking down at her as his eyes scan every inch of her expression. Emily refuses to break eye contact, hiding her hands in her sleeves as she feels them begin to sweat.

  “So, that begs the question. Who exactly are you, ‘Archmage’? And why do I have no information whatsoever on you, even though you wear our uniform?”

  Emily digs deep within herself, drawing on every scrap of experience she earned through fibbing to her mom about the sweets, or doing her chores, or not riding the pigs again. She glares up at the Commander, impatient and frustrated.

  “I don’t believe you need to know that, Captain. In fact, you should be thanking me for taking the time to help out with this rinky-dink operation.”

  The Commander stares at her for a moment, his eyes not once wavering from hers.

  “I’ll feel honored the moment you prove that you’re not a threat to my men and my operation. After your little… Fiasco, I feel like a bit of caution is warranted.”

  Emily doesn’t even need to pretend this time, a feeling of protectiveness taking over her at the mention of Blue. “He was scared and panicked. Nobody even got hurt!”

  “‘He’ was out of control and dangerous. If it wasn’t for that Squire, he’d have been put down and used for tonight’s stew.” the Commander replies without a pause, causing Emily’s blood to boil. “But the… Ostrich is a smaller issue. The real danger is you. And until I determine what to do with you, we’re not going anywhere.”

  Emily lets out a huff, already sick and tired of this man’s attitude. How dare he threaten to turn Blue into stew? Blue’s an angel! When he isn’t hunting. Or trying to tear out her organs… Or when he’s not looking at her fingers like they’re little snacks…

  Anyways, what can she say to at least get him off of her back a bit?

  Emily racks her brain for a bit, coming up with the outline of a plan and hoping it’ll work. She looks down at her feet, hoping to hide her nervousness.

  “When I heard about the operation from my… Brother, I decided I couldn’t just sit in our home, wasting the potential help I could give… So, I stole his uniform and raced over here by myself.”

  She lets out a sigh of relief, glad that she managed to get through that without stumbling over her words. She glances up at the Commander, his face stony and unreadable.

  “And who, exactly, was your brother? This was to be a secret operation. Its members were selected on purpose.”

  Emily feels her heart seize for a moment. This is the moment that could make or break it all. It relies on so many factors going right, that it’s basically a hail Mary… She contemplates preparing her mana for the 90% chance that it goes wrong, but decides that that’d take away any chance of her idea working.

  “My name is Emily Stanners, and… I took my brother’s spot without him knowing. I was supposed to be used as the future head of house, in order to elevate our standing… But I wanted to use my magic for good. To help the Kingdom. And I wanted to keep my brother safe, and go in his place instead.”

  The Commander lets out a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose.

  “Of course you’re a Stanners… Of course. That’s why he hasn’t arrived yet.”

  Huh? That actually worked?

  Emily feels her back straighten a bit. Of course it worked! It was a genius plan, after all!

  He lets out a groan, running a hand through his hair. “Now you’ve left me in a bit of a conundrum… Legally, you shouldn’t even know about this operation. I should have you dragged back to your manor and your brother court-martialled for leaking sensitive information.”

  Emily lets out a gulp, deciding that the second option would be much more preferable, no matter what it was.

  “On the other hand… I can’t deny how useful having an Archmage would be.”

  He taps his foot, thinking to himself.

  “I should call the Knights and have this put up to a vote. This doesn’t just affect me, after all –”

  Suddenly, a scout comes running into the tent, his chest heaving and a panicked look on his face. The Commander turns to look at him, annoyed, but before he could say anything, the scout spots him and points towards the exit of the tent.

  “Commander! Commander, something has happened to the horses!”

  The Commander shakes his head, letting out a sigh. “Great. Great. What now? Can’t it wait?”

  The scout looks about nervously, before shaking his head. “You… You really should take a look at this yourself, sir.”

  The Commander stares at the scout for a moment, before nodding his head.

  “Very well.”

  He turns to the table behind him, picking up two pieces of paper. He stares at them for a moment, before stepping up to Emily, handing her one of them.

  “Here’s your first assignment, Archmage. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how important it is that you succeed, for our… Continued good relations. All that you need to know about it is in here, as well as which party you’ll be joining temporarily in order to complete it.”

  Emily takes it and nods to the Commander. “You’ve got it.”

  The Commander turns to the Scout and hands the second paper to him, staring down at the man with a serious expression.

  “Find this party and alert them that they have a new assignment.”

  The Scout salutes the Captain, clutching the paper to their chest with care.

  The Commander walks up to the tent’s entrance, clicking his neck as he does so. His signature smile appears once again on his face, and he turns to look at the Scout and Emily.

  “Well, it looks like I need to talk to a man about a horse. Go on then, you two. Dismissed.”