The very next morning, Arata is shaken awake by Leon, “Hey man! It's almost time to go.”

  Making his way outside, seeing the camp, the soldiers are not very lined up, while some retain the formality, their willpower seems to be on a slow decay. Damn… the situation here looks pretty rough, somehow even worse than yesterday.

  General Matt shouts, “Attention! Our backup has arrived, alongside Sir Morgan comes the second hero, Arata! The man whom the Alraune fear!”

  “I should probably introduce myself. I'm Matteus, the soldiers here call me General Matt. If Captain Morgan didn't claim ya, I'd have made you my assistant, a real shame.” The man reaches out to shake Arata's hand with a grip that could rip a bear apart.

  Second… really, all eyes on me. Arata panics when Morgan pulls him to the side to quickly explain, “The troops need you for morale, the Alriune feed off of fear and paranoia… the other hero was deployed here since they can counter the Alriune. We’ll need you to sell a lie for the troop’s sake.”

  But… It's not a lie? I have the tools to deal with one? Arata decides to make a quick prayer. “Say, Ravenna… can I trust you to tell apart the Alraune?”

  Ravenna responds, “Yeah, since we got the script, they’re easy to identify.”

  Arata begins his speech, “Men! Our enemies have embarked upon the foolish endeavor of breaking our spirits! The brave men of this fort, while forced to bend, are yet to break regardless of a hero’s presence! My noble God believes in the strength of humanity and that those who believe with him shall be rewarded with strength tenfold!” Arata pumps his fist into the air as the soldiers begin to cheer, chanting his name.

  Morgan and Ravenna both clap, saying in sync, although Morgan does not even know of Ravenna, “Wow, Arata, you're sometimes impressive at bullshitting, keep up the good work.”

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  Arata grabs Morgan's shoulders, staring into their eyes. “I don't care about sleep, wake me up early to tell me these things sooner. I want to be at the strategy meetings.”

  They'd better never make me do that again.

  Quaint way of telling me what the plan is… acting 9/10. Arata picks himself up as the soldiers begin to file their way out of camp into the forest. They needed to push back the fae from their base.

  Arata decides to say something to Morgan, “Hey… between the two of us, we’ve got enough influence, there’s no real good reason to hold this position beyond distraction… I propose that we join up with the hero’s party.”

  Alexander suddenly enters the scene, “I thought so too, during the one month, you weren't the only person investigating the baker, Arata. With that I noticed one common theme with this base, talking to the men. They're all soldiers from the capital, it’s real messed up when you think about it. The baker is in charge of the fighting force. I want you to look at something.”

  Before Arata, he sets out a note sent out to the capital from the baker, “To secretary: in absence of the guard force, please dissolve immigration, more resources need to be sent to hero camp, weapons, tents, oil, gunpowder and armor. Do not send more supplies to decoy camp once Morgan's party arrives.”

  Arata's eyes widen, the Baker had no intention to even win the war, rather he wanted to eliminate those who were not aligned with his cause. But why the men sent from the capital? Why was that important?

  Alexander continues, “The Baker wants a coup, the king’s soldiers were sent here as to weaken him.”

  “Hey, Alexander, if you knew, why are we doing all of this? Also this doesn’t make sense? Wouldn’t the demons prove to be an even bigger threat to him currently? Is he really that confident that he can win when sending an entire army to die?”

  Morgan intervenes, addressing Arata, “Because I want to save them, I am not a fan of the king but don’t trust the Baker either. The baker, without doubt, has some secret to use against the Erlking. I just doubt he’d be willing to spend it unless the demons personally threatened his life, considering how selfish he is.”

  Arata's eyes widen at the proclamation. This is war, for me maybe it's possible, I got second chances but she's surprisingly confident for someone who doesn't have the same means as I.

  “Very well… Morgan, if you will be patient with my strategies, it may just be possible.”