Chapter 60 - The Path To The War - Extra

Athena woke up in the middle of the silent winter night. Ever since she threw the "Orphanage" into her [Dimensional Bag], Athena had been having nightmares.

Moving slowly, so as not to wake Mifa, Athena got out of bed, pulled on a coat over her nightgown, and walked to the door in silence.

Athena opened the door and the guards Serien had insisted on placing at the door stiffened in place and saluting the queen as slammed their right fist into the chest, making the metallic sound of the armor echo around the room.

"Tsk!" Athena glared at the soldiers and put a finger to her mouth.

Athena walked barefoot through the cold corridors of the palace. The cold on her feet made her feel alive and the comfortable silence of that place eased Athena's tired mind.

In the garden, Athena was sitting on the stone bench she had heated with {Ray of Fire} and in front of her, buried in the frozen earth, "Orphanage" glowed a tenevrous purple as it emanated its disgusting mana.

"Those damn screams... If you know how to scream, why don't you tell me how they got put in there?" Athena spoke to the sword.

The cross-handled silver sword, without all that suffering ingrained in it, would have been a beautiful sword, but this was a cage where fifty children were locked.

That degenerate beauty reminded Athena of the sword that was made from Arladele's divine spear. Athena took the sword out of the [Dimensional Bag] and looked at that luxurious scabbard.

The exposed hilt had a guard that curved up like olive branches, its white color emanated a faint aura. When Athena pulled her sword from its scabbard, its white blade illuminated the place with a golden light.

(This thing turned out better than I expected.) Athena thought and looked at the "Orphanage". "Hm? Are you afraid of that?"

In the light of the divine sword, all the purple mana that covered "Orphanage" flickered away from the golden light as if fleeing.

"I wonder how Serien convinced the dwarves to make this sword for a queen of a kingdom that isn't even allied with Qartur." Athena rose and swung her sword, cutting the air, trying out the balance of the longsword.

"If you're afraid of that, then I believe this would be a way to get you out of there."

As the howl of the blade echoed through the garden, a satisfied smile spread across Athena's face. Athena swung her new sword hard and then the "Orphanage" cried a hollow noise as it split into two parts.

Athena frowned as she watched the sword's energy pulse and then explode with dozens of souls trying to escape and die in a white mist of mana, leaving a bitterness in Athena's mouth.

Athena sat down on the bench again, sheathed her sword and with a bitter expression she began to think about the things she didn't know about this world.

The existence of gods, races, classes and weapons. She wondered what else she didn't know. What else would be a surprise and a problem for her? And so she finally accepted the fact that she didn't really know anything.

(Ignorance is a weakness.) Athena took a deep breath and returned to her room with a new purpose.

***

The next day, Athena was behind of piles of books about diverse subjects. From skill development theory to monster catalogue.

She decided to see the world through the books, as she couldn't travel until the end of the war that hadn't even started yet.

(Anemus is especially missed at times like this...) Athena thought as she read a whole page of an alchemy book and didn't understand anything.

"How's your... research going?" Mifa said as she entered the room with a tray with a set of tea and biscuits.

"Well..." Athena said as she looked at Mifa and then buried her face in the yellowed pages of the book. "Bad..."

Mifa laughed and placed the tray on a less crowded table. "Then come eat some cookies with me and cool off."

"What about your training?" Athena asked as she got up.

Mifa had been training with the soldiers since Athena had started an absurd training schedule for all active and reserve soldiers in the kingdom.

The men and women would wake up at five, do stretches to warm up and run for fifty kilometers, then have breakfast and then sword practice for the rest of the day.

Others who had a high amount of mana would split the day between sword training and magic practice.

Athena's goal was to create an army of magical knights, a class she had thought of when she used her last class scroll and became a knight.

Knights were born swordsmen, but if they started using magic instead of skill, they would not only be able to fight a melee combat, but they would also be able to defend themselves against magic and arrows.

In the game, those who tried to follow the path of the unofficial class "Magic Swordsman" were always at a disadvantage because of the imbalance that the pseudo-class had, but this imbalance disappeared when with Athena, who used magic and swordplay at the same time.

For Athena's idea to work, soldiers would have to develop both magical power and martial energy. There were no rules that said a person couldn't have both, but it had never been tested before.

Anyway, Mifa would wake up early and run along with Basilian's soldiers, then take a shower and come back to have breakfast with Athena, after that, she would train on her own.

Basilian had no bare-handed martial artist for her to train with, so training alone was her only option.

"It's going well." Mifa said while pouring brown tea into the cup for Athena. "I even managed to develop a new skill related to my new class. Speaking of which..." Mifa hugged Athena from behind and kissed her neck. "Thanks for the assassin class scroll."

Athena cringed at the shiver on the back of her neck and smiled, happy that Mifa liked the gift. "Are you going to grow your nails now?" Athena asked while holding Mifa's hand in front of her eyes.

"That's what I'm talking about." Mifa said and then her nails suddenly grew. "Now I can make them grow and shrink. And depending on how much martial energy I use, they can be flexible like a thread or hard like metal."

"This is interesting."

"Hm?"

"No. It's nothing important." Athena said and kissed the girl's hand. "I just thought about the combination of race and class."

"Speaking of which, when will Lobana and the girls be back?"

"I think in another three months if she does what I say and as I say."

"??"

"I asked them to buy all the class scrolls from the market and I confiscated all that were for sale here in the kingdom." Athena said and took a sip of tea. Athena then smiled at the sweet fragrance and taste. "Fumph... Very good."

"I thought you wouldn't like sweet so much." Mifa said as she sat down facing Athena. "You told me you didn't like sweets very much. I only made it sweet because sugar helps relieve stress."

Athena looked at her tea and thought about the changes that had been taking place in her personality, tastes and way of acting. She was having more mood swings, her tastes were changing little by little and she was more cautious. Or at least she thought she was.

"Someone once told me that people are in a constant metamorphosis." Athena said and smiled an almost amused smile. (That day was so happy for us...) The person who told her this was Luana.

Athena wondered if she didn't hate the traitor anymore, but that wasn't the answer. She was tired of hating someone she couldn't even touch. Besides, the memories with Luana were also part of her.

Athena looked at Mifa with a content smile and continued. "Anyway, I want to make those who don't become knights become other classes." Athena made an anxious expression. "A real war... It will be fun."

***

Three months after the massacre of the imperial knight, Athena was training with Mifa when a guard came to call her.

"My queen, the princess wishes to see you."

"What is the subject?" Athena asked while defending an attack from Mifa.

"The prince of the empire." The guard said, making Athena lose her concentration.

Just then another kick hit Athena's head, sending her flying into a bush that was beginning to show the colors of spring.

"Athena!!!" Mifa ran to Athena who got up while massaged where she was hit. "Sorry, I couldn't stop."

Athena laughed contentedly and hugged Mifa. "You are so much stronger!"

"Aren't you mad?"

"Of course not! I'm really glad you managed to hurt me, even a little." Athena said with a wide smile and Mifa made a twisted expression.

"Eh? What weird fetish is that?" Mifa stood on tiptoe, reaching for Athena's ear and whispered. "Do you want to test this later?"

Athena looked at Mifa and bit her lip thirstily. "I don't know what you're talking about, but I want to."

Athena regretted those words overnight.

***

"I found out that the imperial prince was in our hands this whole time." Serien said as soon as Athena entered the throne room.

"Huh? Isn't he dead?"

"It was all a farce." Serien told Athena everything she had heard from Den.

The boy's life in the imperial palace, the mysterious death of the empress, the investigation that led to Veta, and the boy's escape.

Athena listened to every word Serien said and when she finished, the queen wore an expression of utter disinterest. "AND?"

"Huh?"

"So what if we have the prince?"

"If we negotiate with the emperor, we can avoid war and regain our captured territories." Serien said with eyes full of hope.

"No." Athena replied dryly.

Athena started this plan for two reasons. Regaining Basilica's territory and pride, that's because she had come to like the idea of ​​being queen and didn't want her kingdom to have the stigma of being a loser forever. But there was the most important reason, Athena needed power and killing as many people as possible was the fastest way to get that power.

After fighting the demon, Athena realized the strength in the world and if she almost lost to a simple demon, other saints like Gion, Nimo and Veta or the demon lords would be much more difficult opponents to deal with.

Of course, Athena did not intend to fight Nimo and Gion. She wanted to be prepared for opponents of the same or greater caliber as them. For example the gods. Athena didn't want to fight gods, but she doubted that if she were to release Uran, the other gods would be quiet.

"We will fight the war and win at all costs. We will recover what was taken from us the same way they did."

"But what about the deaths that happened?" Serien asked with concern.

"It's a war, Serien, deaths will happen. And we have you to reduce the number of our dead." Athena rose from the throne and walked past Serien. "But if you want to take a path with so little pride, go ahead. I'll leave the throne vacant the day after that."

Serien stiffened in place as she heard Athena say that and leave leaving only the echo of the heavy door slamming. The next day, Den was locked in isolation from the other prisoners and forgotten there.

***

Six more months passed and during that time the empire sent other emissaries who never returned, spies and assassins who never completed their missions.

This prompted the emperor to move his army, but that was two months too late.

Athena had already raised her army of 100,000 troops. An army made up of mercenaries, soldiers, barbarians and monsters.

It was like looking at a demon king's army. The races were the most diverse. There was humans, beastmans, trolls, orcs, ogres, half elves and so on.

All soldier, of any race, who lived in the territory of Basilica, were summoned and convinced. Even some fog elves.

A multiracial army, where even monsters were found, this army was already marching on the plains of the Empire.

They crossed the Sigma desert in record time and what was found along the way was decimated.

Without letting anyone escape to warn the empire, Athena advanced with her army.

The emperor raised his army of just over two million troops, but the war had already started without his knowledge and now the small Basilica's army knocked at the gates of Tarna without any resistance.