Heimarian Odyssey

Chapter 356: Arrival of the Expendables

Porscher was fully aware of Ashar’s exact condition. How could he not when they’d worked on slaying the Botanian city lord over the last two days? It was clear that she was far from her peak. A thought clicked. Was Ashar delaying her recovery deliberately for the two returning youngsters? Porscher glanced over to the shadowmancer questioningly. He’d heard that Locke and Ashar were on very good terms and while he hadn’t considered other immoral possibilities, Porscher merely assumed that she was impressed by the knight’s ability.

“Pabollo, bring the others on a check of our current loss and capture the remaining Botanians in the city. Don’t forget to submit your report as well.” Parlina interrupted the Lehrlings’ discussion.

“Understood, Grandmeisterin Parlina,” responded Pabollo, who seemed to be their leader. The other quasi-Magisters quickly stood and did a standard caster’s bow. They promptly left to work. Those used to be Locke’s chore, which was left to the quasi-Magisters in his absence.

“Bella, our new slaves should arrive soon. Go see through their arrival with the coordinate crystal.” Parlina swiftly instructed another female Lehrlings.

“Understood, Grandmeisterin.” Bella went forward to receive the proffered crystal and followed the earlier group out of the tent.

“Daenie, show Bella to her chores.” Parlina finally said to Daenie, who was at the tail end of the group.

“Alright, Grandmeisterin Parlina.”

Once the Lehrlings were sent off, there was a brief silence in the tent. Parlina cast a soundproof barrier around the remaining Magisters. “How are Reiner’s injuries faring?”

Porscher, who had been in a good mood earlier, fell solemn. “Things aren’t looking great. He may not be able to continue unless there is a level-two Botanian nucleus core available.”

Parlina sighed wearily at that. Planar wars were far from child’s play. As the stronger invading party, there was a need to keep their losses below those of the Botanians. Yet, the current statistics had proven to be more difficult to stomach for the Three Western Isles. The Sanctum and Hall of Knights had yet to provide a conclusive number of Ritter and Magister deaths till this point, or perhaps they’d already seen the exact numbers and refused to publicise it. Everyone was made aware that a total of six level-three Himmelritters and Magisters had succumbed to battle. Yet, the losses and damages of their lower combat forces remained a mystery.

While Parlina knew nothing about the other contingents, she was certain that the battle six months ago had impacted her contingent adversely. Reiner’s serious injuries were something that even Lehrlings were aware of. However, they didn’t know that the stronger level-one Magister Ashar too had suffered considerable injuries from that battle.

Apart from the shadowmancer, Carla too had sustained damage during then. Fortunately, she was a photomancer and healing herself was only a matter of time. The downside to this was that she could no longer join the frontlines like the other three Magisters.josei

“We can at least breathe easy once the new batch of slaves arrives,” said Porscher with a forced smile.

The Three Western Isles had been plagued with an overall lack of slaves for a while hence they hadn’t filed for any slave replenishments. Their Magisters had been focused on ensuring the Lehrlings’ survival in battle while reducing slave deaths to a minimum, stretching them to their limits.

“That reminds me, how many slaves will we receive this time?” Porscher asked Parlina.

“Four hundred.” As one of the more competent contingents, Magister Jella had given Battlezone 17 a significant allocation.

“Awesome!” It had been a long time since they replenished their slaves and there were only five hundred remaining. The fresh addition would return the scale of their enslaved army to its initial state.

However, Parlina seemed to have something else to say. Porscher picked up on her hesitation dilemma. “What’s wrong?”

“The person in charge contacted me earlier to mention that our new slaves were a little extraordinary.”

“Huh? What does that mean?” Porscher scrunched his brows.

“I’m not sure but we’re due to find out soon. Let’s go check on them and welcome my mentee back.”

“After you, Parlina.” Porscher quickly tailed beside her.

Ashar, who had been hushed throughout, quietly followed them towards the floating vessel’s landing patch.

Meanwhile, on the deck...

“I said it before and I’ll say it again. Just ignore them! What else are they going to try anyway? Blatantly rob us?!” Locke fumed in his armour. There was a cape draping off his shoulders.

Angelina clasped his palm tightly in an attempt to soothe his fury. Battlezone 7 had been bustling with insane traffic of slaves and while the presence of a group of transcendent rank and base-rank major monsters without restraints was not a peculiar sight here, the couple had been met with other issues.

Many were alarmed to learn that a Knecht that was barely level-one had been the one leading around this overwhelming bunch of monsters. The young lady that followed him around was only as strong as a high-rank Lehrling! The couple was easily overlooked in a sea of elites. If the monsters they paraded around with were two level-one or a few monsters below level-one, the level-two and three Magisters and Ritters would’ve largely ignored their presence. Level-one lifeforms wouldn’t have spared them the slightest attention either since there were just too many slaves around. A total of one million new slaves was enough numbers to replenish every single contingent involved in the war.

While Locke’s quasi-Ritter status was still plenty intimidating to high-rank Knechts and Lehrlings, it didn’t stop them from conjuring ulterior motives. This had angered Locke greatly as having a more advanced rank didn't help when he was outnumbered.