Layn walked out of his house roughly half an hour after the information about the attack reached his ears. Yet, despite so much time passing, there were no signs of panic or disorganization throughout the camp.

"Hey, you!

" Layn shouted, pointing his hand at the nearest passerby.

"Where is everyone?

" he asked, not willing to waste his precious energy at running around the camp to find where the battle was taking place.

"Sir!

" the man instantly froze when asked out only to stand at attention in the next moment.

"They are at the southern rampart!

" the man reported before glancing quickly at his own leg.

"Huh?

" Layn noticed the look and followed it, only to see a huge bandage covering half of the man's calf.

"Sir, I was sent on patrol duty because of my injury,

" the man said while hoping that averting his eyes would be enough to hide the blush of shame in the darkness of the night. Sadly for him, with everything that Layn went through, his eyes were more than capable of seeing through even the deepest darkness.

"A patrol duty?

" Layn still asked, slightly puzzled by the unexpected report..

"Are they worried that we will be sneakily attacked from a different direction?

" he asked, looking in the direction where the fight was supposedly raging on.

"No, sir, no. It was a direct order of Sir Markus to inform anyone who happened to wake up about the battle,

" the man explained.

"Having random people walk into the formations, be it out of sleepiness, curiosity, or any other reason, could prove to be dangerous for the formation integrity!

" the man explained his mission on a single breath as if scared of being judged by the archmage.

"Thanks for the explanation,

" Layn said, gracing the man with a small smile that Markus' mercenary was likely to pass unnoticed because of the total lack of light.

"You are free to resume your duty. And one more thing,

" Layn said, taking a step closer to the man only to pat him on the shoulder,

"do not feel ashamed for what you are doing. I know it might feel shameful to not participate in the battle, but it's not like Markus just gave you the order to keep you occupied,

" Layn said, moving his hand from the man's shoulder only to place it on his head and rustle his hair a little.

"Having random people walk right into the battle is nothing unusual and something that all the generals in the entire world always had to be wary of. What you are doing right now is really helping Markus out,

" Layn said, adding some overexaggerated details to the actual story.

"Thank you, sir!

" The man replied, his spirits slightly lifted.

While Layn never had the ability to read the souls of the people around him, he didn't really need to invoke a massive spell just to read the man's expression. From how he straightened his back and raised the chin of his head, it was clear that newfound self-confidence started to bud in his soul.

'There is nothing worse than a demoralized soldier,' Layn thought, recalling one of the few battles he actually took place in.

"Dang,

" he cursed under his breath.

"That actually brings some unpleasant memories,

" he muttered before walking off towards the battle.

What he said earlier about random people interrupting the ongoing battle wasn't just a random story Layn came up with. It was something that not only happened a lot of times, but also something that Layn saw happens with his very own eyes.

It happened before he met with Markus and the rest of their team, yet a few months after, he finished the basic course at the magic academy. As a citizen of the kingdom that financed his scholarship, he had an obligation to participate in his civilian duties for as long as the scholarship lasted.

It happened right at the border between his home country and the rivaling nation that bordered it. As the conflict never escalated to a fully-fledged war, rather than a proper battle, it was a skirmish between two highly specialized groups.

As a fight that happened mostly on the magical plane with only several knights of the royal order guarding the border against any potential invasion, hardly anyone could notice the ongoing fight. As such, when a group of refugees entered the scene and somehow walked right between the two parties, Layn had the displeasure of watching how nearly half of them got massacred by the silent magic before both sides managed to realize what was going on.

'Now that I think back, their involuntary sacrifice could be the reason why the conflict never escalated,' Layn thought, trying to figure out all the small reasons and details of that conflict.

'Well, I will think about it later,' he decided a measly minute later when the noises of the ongoing fight finally reached his ears. Layn raised his eyes in that direction, only to see a single silhouette standing behind the lines of the camp's soldiers.

"Markus?

" Layn asked, almost certain who the outline of the figure belonged to.

"Hey,

" the man replied, turning around and revealing his face.

"How did it go?

" Markus asked, gracing Layn with a small, meaningful smile.

"Better than I could imagine,

" Layn replied, returning the smile.

"For some reason, she constantly struggled to notice her own worth, making her susceptible to all sorts of doubts regarding our relationship,

" Layn said, not holding any secrets from his longest and dearest friend in this world and time.

'Now that I think about it, we know each other for way longer than the current civilization exists,' Layn thought before biting his lips to stop a chuckle from coming out of his mouth. 'That is if we ignore how the number of years we know each other for would be in negatives,' he thought, holding back his laughter.

After all, with their people fighting with their lives on their lines, it would be unbecoming for any leaders to show their amusement openly.

"How is it going?

" Layn asked, changing the topic as he pointed his hand at the men in front of them.

"The fight seems to be easy,

" Markus replied, moving his eyes towards the battlefield only to squint them in suspicion.

"But for some reason, I have a bad feeling about it,

" he added in a slightly lower voice.

"Why?

" Layn asked, genuinely curious. As he was a practitioner of strictly pragmatic magic, he could never understand half of what Markus could do. Yet, instead of refusing to acknowledge him, Layn simply forwent all of his attempts at understanding just how Markus' mind worked. After everything the two of them went through, the archmage simply learned to trust in his friend's capabilities.

"It's too damn easy,

" Markus replied, clenching his teeth.

"After what those bastards showed us the last time, I expected a real fight,

" he said, not daring to move his eyes away from the nearby battlefield.

Following his friend's example, Layn looked towards the fight. For several moments, the two of them just watched how their subordinates made a quick work of the attacking monsters.

"Isn't this just...

" Layn said, only to cut his sentence short. He then shook his head only to say what he wanted again.

"This looks like a scouting mission,

" he said, biting on his lip.

"You mean they are testing our strenght?

" Markus asked, finally snapping his eyes away from the battle.

"Yeah,

" Layn said, nodding his head only to raise his hand and point at a distant hill.

"There are a few of relatively stronger monsters sitting atop that hill,

" he said, not bothering to hide that he noticed the onlookers.

"That means this is only the beginning,

" Markus muttered in a low voice, moving his sight back at members of the Gener clan slaughtering what was left of the invading force.

"So it is,

" Layn mirrored his words, staring right into the eyes of the monster in the distance.