Chapter 330 - Scouting

"Now, don't forget about me, Cecil!" Someone called out to them.

Cecil turned around to find his brother, Matheus, walking towards them. He seemed to be a little out of breath, however.

"Oh, Matty, I almost forgot that you're coming along..."

"Jeez... I know that you didn't want to go through with that boring meeting, but the least you could do is exit the place normally! It took me a while to even find you!" Matheus exclaimed in tired exasperation.

"Ahaha, I'm sorry about that!"

"Ah, brother-in-law, I apologize for my husband's stupid behavior," Lucia bowed in apology.

"Don't worry about it, Lucia. I'm used to it already," Matheus replied. After he took a moment to catch his breath, he immediately asked, "Are we going now, Cecil? Or are we waiting for anyone else?"

"We'll be departing immediately. I already had Quinn prepare the Wanderer," Cecil said before turning around. He grabbed Lucia's hand and walked in the direction of the city's gate where he sensed that Quinn was already waiting on standby with the Wanderer.

Matheus couldn't help but look at the couple walking intimately in front of him in envy.

"Ahhh, you're so lucky, Cecil!" He suddenly said with a groan.

"Hm? What's up, big bro?" Cecil turned his head and asked in confusion.

"You're already married and you have such a beautiful lady accompanying you!"

"Heh, you mean two beautiful ladies. Don't forget about Serilla," Cecil smirked triumphantly at his brother.

Seeing the triumphant look on his brother's face, Matheus immediately rushed forward and placed his brother in a headlock.

"Why you, don't act so smug! I'm already envious that you have one beautiful wife, but now you just had to remind me that you had two?! You're just boasting and rubbing salt on my wound, aren't you?!"

"Ahahahaha!!! Don't worry bro, you're time will come soon...hopefully...pfffttt..."

"How dare you laugh at your brother's plight!"

"I-I didn't mean to! But you are a little pitiful, big brother!"

"Oi!!!"

Lucia smiled gently at the playful banter the two brothers were having. She was gratified that there were no altercations among Cecil's siblings and was happy that everyone could get along so amiably.

The three continued on their way to the city gates and quickly found Quinn waiting for them with the Wanderer at the ready. Silver and Yuna were also there waiting but they weren't going to come with them.

"Hey, Master, are you sure you won't need us?" Silver asked once he noticed that Cecil had finally arrived.

"It won't be necessary, Silv. We're only going out there to scout. I need you two to stay behind and monitor the situation here and keep an eye on our family."

"Okay~ roger that boss!"

"...When did you start calling me boss?"

"Well, it started becoming awkward now that we're back with the family. Look, big brother Matty is giving me a weird look!" Silver said as he pointed at Matheus.

"I still can't believe that our Silv is now a human. Also, him calling you Master is weird, Cecil. It's not like he's your servant or anything..."

Cecil felt that it was understandable. On Alterna, master meant many different things, but he did feel awkward when Ren started calling him master the first time he took him under his wing so he decided that Ren would only call him Teacher instead of master.

Silver was a part of the Silvaria family so it was understandable that the rest of the family would feel that it was a bit awkward for a family member to be calling another family member, Master. Moreover, these two could practically be called brothers now.

"I guess you're right. Well, Silv, you can call me whatever you want!"

"Heh, then I'm calling you, boss!"

"Suit yourself."

Quinn walked out from behind the Wanderer and respectfully asked his Master.

"Master, are we going now?"

"Is everything ready, Quinn?"

"Yes, Master. We can head out anytime. Sleipnir has already gotten enough rest."

"We'll set out now. The quicker we scout the remaining cities, the faster we can end this war."

Quinn quickly got onto the driver seat while Cecil, Lucia, and Matheus entered the Wanderer.

"Silv, it'll take a few days before we come back, make sure you keep an eye on things here! Listen to father, Yuna, and Ima while I'm gone!"

"I'm not a child, boss!"

"To me you are!"

"Whatever, get going already!"

"We'll see you later then."

The Wanderer quickly exited the city through the broken down gate. The repairs were still in progress, but Cecil hoped that things would quickly speed up. It'd be bad if Merkruz had somehow gotten wind of their attack and had sent their army towards this city.

They had made sure that all of the city's inhabitants were round up together and not one person had escaped in order to suppress the word that the city had fallen and the nation was under attack. It could at least buy them some time to prepare for their attacks on the other cities before they marched boldly through the Merkruz Principality's territory.

Silver and Yuna jumped up onto the city's walls and saw the wagon off. After they saw the wagon disappear into the distance, the two made their way down the wall and were about to head out to help around the city but they suddenly bumped into two little imps.

"Hey, careful Angel, you might bump into something!" Silver said as he caught Angelia before she fell due to having bumped into him.

"Oh, it's Silv! Hey, did you see Lulu and my brother?" Angelia immediately asked.

"Yeah, Silver. Did you see Teacher anywhere?" Ren also quipped up.

"They just left."

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Boss and the others just left earlier. They're out on a scouting mission!"

"N-No way...that stupid brother, he left me!" Angelia whined in complaint.

���Ahh...Teacher left? Oh well, it was only a scouting mission anyway. Angel, let's go back to help out with the city's repairs," Ren said as he tugged on Angelia's sleeve.

"Oh...alright..."

"What perfect timing! Come with us, you two, we were just about to go and help out as well!" Yuna said.

The two immediately agreed and the group went around helping the people with the city's repairs. Yuna looked like a mother who was walking around and helping the people with her 3 'children'.

Being viewed as a child, Silver was disgruntled by it. Yuna was his woman but he was treated as if he was her kid. Angelia and Ren obviously didn't mind.

Seeing a mother and her 'children' walk around to help the city despite them being enemies attracted a lot of the citizens' approval and it made more of them compliant with the Silvaria Army's request for help in repairing the city.

******

A few days later, Cecil and his group quickly arrived in the next city over. They posed as adventurers and were able to quickly enter into the city. Once again, Cecil couldn't help but scoff at how flawed the Alterna identification and permit system was.

Just by being a merchant, mercenary, or adventurer, one could easily enter a city that had either one of those guilds within them. Of course, not just any adventurer, merchant, or mercenary company could have free access, but this didn't apply to those with high credibility and ranking within the guilds.

Cecil and Lucia's identity as Platinum-ranked Adventurers aided in the group's ease of access into any sort of city. Only Platinum-ranked Adventurers had this special privilege since they were treated similarly to nobles with a court rank of Counts.

Gold-ranked and below didn't have this special privilege. They'd be granted only limited access to the city, just the periphery area where the city's guild branches were located.

Once Cecil and everyone check into the city's inn, Quinn and Matheus quickly split from the group. Scouting out the city's layout was Cecil's job and it was really easy. All he had to do was spread his Mana Sense throughout the city.

After he captured the entire city's layout inside his mind, he quickly began drawing it out on paper. Lucia was lying down on his lap and hugging his waist.

"Lulu, can you wait until I'm done?"

"..."

"Lulu?"

"Hey...don't you think I'm old enough already?"

"Uh? F-for what?"

"Ufufu, you know exactly what I mean~" Lucia eyed Cecil meaningfully before she saddled herself on him.

"L-Lulu..."

"Cel~ come on~"

"Hmmm... it's not that I don't want to...but we're doing something important here..."

"I know."

"How about after this war is over and we get back to the kingdom, okay?"

"Hmmm... but I want something right now~"

"..."

Cecil quickly set aside the half-drawn map of the city and carried Lucia over to the bed.

*****

Cecil was able to finish the map of the city's layout before the day ended. Lucia was a really hard woman to please and he had to do a lot to please her without actually performing the deed.

He really just wanted to eat her up right now, but the circ.u.mstances and situation were a little inappropriate for that. They were currently out on a mission so it wasn't appropriate at all to do such a thing. It was also an important event for both Lucia and him. Cecil wanted to be respectful of that.

Quinn and Matheus came back later in the evening. They both went out to gather some information. The two were able to find out that neither the city nor the Merkruz Principality was alerted of the Silvaria Kingdom's attack and everyone was still oblivious at the fact that one of their nation's cities were taken down and that an army was already preparing for the next attack.

This was very good news, but everyone knew that the news couldn't be repressed for long. Once the other cities found out that their contact with the city that Silvaria had taken over had been cut, they'd eventually grow suspicious and send out someone to investigate.

That was why Kaiser and Fatima wanted to quickly take down the rest of the cities before they were alerted. The element of surprise was still on their side and they needed to capitalize on that fact.

"The map's finished, we have to quickly head out and go to the port city. We should make haste and quickly get back to father and the others. This situation is in favor of us since the Merkruz Principality still has no idea that we're attacking so we should quickly deal with the border cities before they find out," Matheus said.

"I agree with you, big brother, but for now, we should rest up. It won't be too late if we head out tomorrow," Cecil replied.

"Alright...by the way, where's your wife?"

"She's already asleep."

The 3 were currently sitting around the inn's lounge and eating supper. Lucia had already eaten before she went to sleep. Cecil was waiting for the 2 others so that's why he hadn't eaten yet.

"He~h, what were you two doing when we were gone?" Matheus asked with a sly grin.

"Tsk, a v.i.r.g.i.n like you wouldn't know about that!"

"What was that?!"

"I'm going to sleep, good night!" Cecil said before he used Blink to get away from his brother.

"Tch, that brat, just because he's gotten ahead of his brother he's acting all smug now!"

"I'm sure you will eventually find your significant other, Young Master Matheus..." Quinn spoke up from the side.

"Heh, you should find one for yourself as well, Quinn! You're not getting any younger y'know! Alright, I'll head up now."

"Yes, Young Master."

Back inside Cecil's room, he quickly got into bed and a pair of arms immediately wrapped themselves around his waist.

"Lulu, you weren't asleep yet?"

"Hmm..."

"..."

"Stupid Cel..."

Cecil chuckled lightly and pulled her closer to him. Feeling Lucia's warmth, he felt relaxed and sleepy when he listened to her calm breathing and the occasional cute hum or mumble she'd let out.

'Hrmm... Lulu's chest is larger than Seri's...'

He thought before falling asleep.