Chapter 299: If it looks like a trap, smells like a trap and seems like a trap...

"The trench work is moving smoothly, my princess!"

"We've gathered all the ascenders with body reinforcement magic!"

"Second paralegion requests more projectiles!"

"The seventh field hospital is emptied out! The medics are moving over to the eight!"

One by one, reports flooded Etaria's tent, making it hard for the princess to focus her thoughts on anything else.

But such was the reality she was forced to endure. And with all things considered, the current moment was one of the few Etaria could use to actually get some rest.

"How far did we go with those ditches?" the princess asked. Opening her eyes, she looked up from the simple map displayed all over the massive table inside of her tent.

This precious map, a masterpiece straight out of the royal cartographic office, was currently covered in all sorts of ugly marks. Some of them were placed intentionally, back when Etaria still planned a grand advance into the forest.

But all of those old marks were now bleached out, the colors of the markings about to grow so faint no one would be able to see them in a few more hours. A courtesy of the imperial magical ink that all the officers from a tactician all the way to the legion's commanders used to limit the amount of information the enemy would get in the unfortunate case of the empire losing a battle.

It was just one of the elements of the imperial warfare that gave Etaria's lineage an edge her ancestors needed to rapidly expand and her father exploited to bring the grand conquest to a successful end.

Now, though, rather than keeping the enemy from deducing imperial tactics and stratagems by studying the markings of the map, the imperial ink allowed for a fresh coat of marks and orders to appear on the map without cluttering the entire thing.

"We managed to dig quite far..."

This time, it wasn't one of the messengers who ran around to keep Etaria's makeshift formations at least more or less in order. This time, it was one of the two of her direct subordinates who survived the slaughter in the forest.

"But how far we dug and how far we need to get... Yeah, I get it," Etaria commented back only to shake her head before resting her hands on the table's edge and leaning forward.

With every passing second, the burden of all of the exhaustion from the day continued to increase. Her desperate escape from the rain of projectiles created by that flying monster took a much greater toll on her endurance than the princess expected, even when she was aware her endurance was never one of her strong points.

'To think this would be the war that would force me to realize those limits...' the princess thought, clenching her fingers on the table's edge to the point its wood started to creak.

For a supreme like her, human concepts like strength, endurance, or even technique no longer apply. The absolute rule she could enforce within her domain just by managing her mana made it so that the very idea of exhaustion grew into a foreign concept since the day she advanced to her current rank.

But now, everything changed. Not only was her domain sealed, not only she had to face the fury of a monster this world had never seen before... But she also had to face an army of invaders with wondrous weapons, impeccable command, and...

And all she had to use for that purpose, were the scattered survivors from the battle at the plain.

"We've lost nearly half of our total headcount back in that forest," Etaria pointed out in a faint, weak voice.

A voice her pride would disallow her from use merely a few hours ago. For it was a voice that fully revealed the extent of her exhaustion, desperation... and lack of faith in her chances at winning the coming battle.

"My princess! They are finally coming out!"

The only reason why she still was determined to try her best, was because she recognized the significance of this foreign army appearing. The influence the weapons they brought would have upon the world. The significance of their wishes and desires and how it would affect the empire's fate...

Upon taking all of those things into consideration, Etaria gave up on intentionally culling the armies of her supposed allies and changed her main goal to stopping those people here for long enough to give the empire time to prepare. As for how the emperor would prepare for the invasion of such a powerful and unknown army...

That was no longer of Etaria's concern.

"Wait, what?"

Etaria's fate in her new mission shook a bit when she saw another flying monster emerge from the gap the enemy used to move its massive monsters through the trees. Her heart sank when a third one appeared.

And when one group of men after the other swiftly poured out from between the trees and quickly fell down to the ground in the gaps between the metal monsters... Etaria couldn't even be bothered to do anything more than just sigh.

"I guess that's it," taking a deep breath, the princess resolved herself to her fate and grasped at the handle of her sword.

Her mighty partner that she failed to unleash upon those flying monsters even freaking once!

'I'm going to cut one of them down, even if it kills...'

Taking a step forward, Etaria readied herself to give the first of the few orders she made her troops prepare for in advance...

Only for the young man who was likely responsible for the appearance of those monsters and the whole army with them... To take her by surprise once again.

"Is he seriously..."

Watching how a small group of men moved ahead and brought forth several chairs and even some sort of a light table with them, carrying it quite a distance ahead of the forest's edge, Etaira lost her ability to speak.

Right now, time was of the essence. Every second her men could prepare meant one more minute they would be able to hold once this monstrous army would advance to decide everyone's fate. And that meant one more minute for the empire to rally its forces and try to find a way of dealing with those things.

'They must know it too...' Etaria thought, gritting her teeth as she failed over and over in her attempts at figuring out the trick. No matter how hard she tried... the obvious invitation to the negotiating table continued to be the best possible way for things could develop!

'If he really comes out...' With her priorities switched, Etaria's entire outlook on everything that happened and that could happen from now on shifted too. 'Isn't this a perfect chance to kill him? Maybe that will be enough to close whatever portal he is using to bring those warriors and monsters over? But what if he's the only one who can close it?'

Unable to tell anything for sure, Etaria only managed to tighten her hands into fists. Soon after, upon watching how the enemy warriors set up an entire resting area right between the two armies... And how the young man refused to appear himself, the question of his importance suddenly lost its meaning.

For, in the end, the young man didn't appear. Only half of the enemy soldiers that came to put the negotiating table out turned back once the task was completed, leaving the other half waiting on the spot.

"My princess!" One of the officers ran out of Etaria's forest and took a short look at the situation before rushing the last few steps and falling down on his knee. "My princess! You can!" he screamed out, perfectly reading into what was going on in Etaria's head. "This looks like a trap, smells like a trap, and seems like a trap! And that means..."

"And that means, it's most likely a trap," Etaria summed up her subbordinate's words before shaking her head...

And jumping over the edge of the small hill she stood up on as she started to make her way over.

"But with how things are..." Etaria paused her steps for a second as she raised her eyes to the clear, blue sky of the day. "I fail to see how falling for their trap could make anything any worse than it is now."