Rebirth of the Phoenix God

"I will be going then."

Only after ensuring that all his men were properly settled in the inn and everyone knew their potential escape route did Fen even dared to think about moving with the next step of his current plan.

"Don't worry sir. We will be okay. After all, they won't be able to deal with us all before you come back."

Adding the honorific only for the sake of seeing the annoyed reaction on the young mercenary's face, Fen's colleague smiled. With how each and every single man in the young arcanist's unit was a battle-hardened veteran, Fen's way of treating them like some fragile children was as funny as it was sometimes annoying.

After all, no one liked to lack the trust of their commander.

Nodding his head to the subordinate that saw him off for the one last time, Fen quickly climbed the small distance from the Inn's balcony to the foothold of the wall. While there some guards here and there, there was no way to approach this city without alerting the local outpost, so there was no point in keeping a huge force on the lookout. 

And this was exactly what Fen was hoping for. 

Materialising his catalyst, the young phoenixian made sure to keep it chilly so that it wouldn't produce much light. With the many lanterns used by the owners of the still open business behind the young man's back, there was no way a guard would be able to notice anything. 

Moving through the shadows for a few moments, Fen quickly found a spot fitting his desires. Looking slowly to both of his sides, he made sure that no guard was looking directly towards him…

And then he dived.

With how weak the flames of his catalyst were, the young man wings barely provided him with any lift. Only thanks to jumping from a considerable height did Fen manage to level his flight up before the momentum he managed to gain carried him back into the skies. 

As soon as the city hid in the darkness of the night, Fen increased the intensity of his flames, quickly accelerating the pace at which he was speeding up. Soon enough, with enough height above the ground secured, Fen crossed the point where his flames would simply burn the air away. 

Allowing his wings to consume the air as fuel, the young man once again felt an enormous pull on his spine, as if someone attempted to tear his wings away from his body. Thankfully, before long, this feeling subsidized, replaced by the insane freedom of bursting through the skies with a protective barrier of flames surrounding him. 

Sadly, as great of a feeling it was, the speed at which Fen consumed the distance behind him was simply too great. Forced to stall his flight just a few seconds after entering this euphoric world, Fen quickly located several orientation points before confirming his guess with the position of the stars. After calculating the more direct path towards his destination, the young man shook his wings a few more times, slightly angling the path of his travel when compared to his initial route.

Crash.

Soon enough, the leaves and small sticks alike cracked under his feet as Fen descended down to the ground. With the last three days spent nearly entirely in the saddle, the young arcanist momentarily regretted that he dealt with this journey so quickly.

'I guess I only need to return before dawn…'

With the idea of spending all the remaining time in the skies, Fen quickly sat on the bench that just happened to be outside a small village that he landed beside. Sadly, from this point on, it was all up to his friends to hurry up and show up.

Orsha was the first one to arrive. With the hurried step of her horse alerting the young man, he could see how the girl jumped from the horse before running the last few steps only to fall into the young man's hug right after.

"It's been a while."

After making sure that they were both physically okay, Fen wanted to say something definitely not related to their ongoing scheme, but the late appearance of Victor forced those plans down the gutter.

"I'm sorry for being late. Got hold-up on the border for a bit."

Given how he had to arrive here all the way up from the land already controlled by their forces, it was no wonder that Fen's old commander took his time to do so. After all, if he were to depart early enough to be on time, he would lose the knowledge about how far their preparations went through yet another day.

"It's not a problem. But before we begin, a small suggestion."

Reaching out to his pouch, Fen pulled three small pieces of paper before passing them to his friends.

"Before we discuss what we learned and what happened, I would suggest writing down what ideas we have for the future. Basing only on what each of us already knows."

This wasn't something that Fen pulled out from his bottom. In fact, this method of comparing the results given the observation from different points of views was something that Fen learned from his senior both in the academy and now in the mercenary group.

Instead of wasting the time on talking, each of the trio took o small piece of charcoal that the young arcanist thoughtfully prepared beforehand before they quickly noted a few words on the given papers. 

"Okay, I'm ready."

Surprisingly enough, it was Orsha to take the honours of finishing first. Putting her papers on the table, she waited for a few moments for her friends to finish as well.

"Okay, now before we look inside, let's explain each other's findings. Starting with me…"

What Fen made wasn't a dramatic pause aimed to increase the tension, but an opportunity to get some air before actually explaining what he wanted.

"... after passing by Tlinra, we spent the night at Astyrran, where we were surprisingly welcomed. The governor of that place clearly implied that he sees the future of his lands closer to us instead of the fickle king."

That was the very first thing that allowed Fen to realise that they actually had a shot at dismantling an entire country with just two groups of mercenaries. Ever since then, the young man managed to prepare a short report from every situation that occurred just for the sake of presenting it today.

"For Ofmase, we decided to avoid it only to later learn that the local power was really against us. Well, given that city position in our plans, it's only natural that the Duke of the province feels threatened. But surprisingly, when we reached that ancient city… Iou? Lou? You? Iyuethei? Yeah, I think I got it right the last time. When we reached that place, hoping to spend the night, we learned that the king himself paid a visit to the city. All in all, I have a slight delay because the audience was set for tomorrow's afternoon."

With his part of the job over, Fen picked up the notes left by his friends. 

"Okay, now it's my turn."

Stepping up, Victor pulled a small map from seemingly out of nowhere before placing it on the table.

"As planned, I'm mustering the troops at the southern part of the border. From what I learned from my scouts, the effectiveness of spreading rumours is more than satisfactory as everyone already is on the lookout for us."

This was the only way in which an ant like them could topple an elephant that the Kinzar Heptarchy was. Instead of relying on a huge force to just win the battles and conquer the land, those three friends attempted to just guide the events in a way that would be most beneficial for them. And given how one's gain is the other one loss, Heptarchy would fall not because of its great defeat at the hands of Fen and other mercenaries, but under the strain that the young man's new regime could impose upon their major economy asset - the imperial road. 

"On our side, everything is looking great. While we managed to contain most of the information, several spies managed to slip past us. So we helped to spread out an overexaggerated version of what happened to a certain group before covertly helping them to move further. That might also be a reason why you guys weren't welcomed in Ofmase."

Orsha's play, as effective as it could turn out to be soon, ended up being the reason behind the plight of a certain messenger. But it also allowed the young man to portray one thing - how their actions were already influencing the entire country at large. In fact, it wouldn't be that much surprising if the King's visit to that city with an unspeakable name was just a side-effect of some of Fen's ploys!

"So the picture is rather obvious. We go through with it."

As much as Fen managed to learn from this quick meeting, its result would most likely end up with no changes to the plan. So far, the only price of their small misscoordination ended up in a slight inconvenience. Everything else was going right according to the plans. What would be the reason behind backing off right now?

Seeing the two of his friends nodding, Fen noticed something else in their eyes.

It was exhaustion. 

Ever since the moment that Fen introduced the idea of taking lands as a payment, their lives turned hectic. From conquering the place, through organising it and now right back into the game, this time with even bigger player stacked against them. 

Was it the road itself that they followed that forced them to constantly escalate their efforts and stakes on the altar or just staying afloat? But this thesis could be ignored with just a single look. Casting his gaze on the faces of his friends just as the two of them nodded to confirm Fen's earlier guess, the young man couldn't help but notice one thing.

'Is it the road… or is it the bloodlust I can see in their eyes?'