The next morning, I woke up feeling more relaxed and refreshed than I had since increasing my ascension level. As I lay in my tent, enjoying this strange contentment, I reached an important understanding.
Just because you can survive under adverse conditions doesn’t mean you have to keep enduring those conditions.
You can do something about it.
I wasn’t even aware of how worn out I was until the threat of the other recruits fell away. I no longer had to watch my back, or stress over someone stealing into my tent in the dead of night. I didn’t have to sacrifice my sleep to ensure Mia got enough rest either.
The solution to my problem was simple. I had offered the other recruits something they desperately wanted: instruction in the body strengthening mana technique. In return, I asked for an oath that would bind all of them to good behavior until the invasion was over.
Oh, I was a lot more careful with the wording, and getting them all bound by the oath took some finagling. But magic was wonderful in the sense that it wasn’t a completely rigid science. And Clariette’s memories came in quite helpful as well.
The various groups elected leaders, and then we took a vote backed by mana. Since the vote passed, the leaders could then make the oaths in the name of their groups. Meaning, I didn’t need to shake countless hands and perform the oath again and again until I passed out from mana exhaustion. I just had to make the deal twelve separate times to cover all the recruits.
As a result, we could finally camp in a proper formation, with real guard shifts running. I could also be sure that no one would try to shank me on the orders of our lovely commanding officer.
Said officer wasn’t too happy about that.
He had stomped out of his house while the voting was in progress, but he did glare at me venomously before returning to his hole. That, at least, confirmed another of my suspicions. My gambit from the day before had proved that Mercutio was not at liberty to rob us. Now I also knew he couldn’t just murder us to get his way.
This was in direct contrast to the attitude I had witnessed in demons from my own troop back at the beginning. The memory of a human dying for merely hitting on a demoness was still fresh in my mind. So, either this restraint was unique to Mercutio, or something had changed about demonic-mortal relations in the legion.
Whatever the reason, I was not going to complain.
I stretched luxuriously in my tent, smiling at the sensation of being comfortable for the first time in days.
The wonderful advantages of being a mage, I thought idly.
Sitting up, I reached for my soul bag. Then I hesitated.
On paper, I had the perfect environment to continue my training. Doubly so since the oath included a stipulation freeing Mia and me from all guard duties. Still, did I dare pull out my mana crystals in the middle of camp?
As I stared at my ratty pack, I decided yes. Yes, I dared. Moving into a cross-legged position, I drew out my first mana crystal of the day.
Over an hour later, a smile spread across my face as a shudder rocked my body.
Another advancement, even if I had to use almost ten greater mana crystals to get it.
It was the easiest cantrip in the book, but I loved it to bits. The effects were invaluable for personal morale. It was also my first attempt at external magic, and I managed to get it down in merely twenty minutes.
Not even the daily brand-torture from Mercutio could ruin my good mood. He absolutely noticed this, just like he noticed my new grimoire, attached to my waist by a fancy cord. Maybe I would pay for that bit of vanity eventually, but I felt such a gleeful need to gloat for the special occasion that I couldn’t help myself.
Three days later, I was still riding high off the emotions. So high, in fact, that I not-so-sneakily shared a couple of my mana crystals with Mia. The woman said nothing upon receiving them, but the determined nod she gave me and the gleam in her eyes spoke volumes on their own.
The rest of the little army Mercutio had stolen for himself was not in similarly high spirits.
In addition to the endless marching, Mercutio directed us to another city, and it was a disappointing repeat of the first. The defenders were few, demoralized, and easily dispatched. In spite of that, I went into combat cautiously and with Mia by my side.
For once, I made the right decision.
Two more soldiers with uncanny abilities attacked me. The first attack happened as soon as I set foot in the city. One moment, a terrified local was running away from me. The next, he was running at me, grinning as he tried to open my throat with skills he absolutely had not possessed a few seconds earlier. The other attempt happened towards the end of combat, when a would-be assassin went after me from inside a half-ruined home.
Thankfully, my physical abilities, along with Mia’s first hints of mastery over her mana technique, meant we could close out both encounters with no injuries. Mia actually hamstrung the second assassin from behind, allowing me to claim his head. Both men were unnaturally focused on me, ignoring Mia to the detriment of their health.
Still, the city wasn’t necessarily a great experience. The general mood got worse when Mercutio once again confiscated the few souls we did manage to earn, all in the name of his ’task.’
Mercutio himself was in a foul temper. He didn’t direct us towards a city again. Maybe he was losing hope in his ability to kill me through puppets, if those really were his doing. Maybe it was because of the increasingly gloomy countenance of his soldiers. Instead, he pushed us from dawn to dusk towards our ultimate destination.
It was on the evening of the second day that we caught our first glimpse of Glarind’s Spine.
If I had to be honest, I was a bit disappointed. The way Clarinette’s memories and grimoire entries described the place, I expected towering mountain peaks that pierced the sky. Instead, the mountain range was... middling. Sure, it dominated the horizon, but that wasn’t difficult when most of the kingdom seemed to be insultingly flat. In fact, less than a day’s march after that first glimpse, we were already drawing close to the foothills. That’s how short ’Glarind’s Spine’ was.
The one thing that didn’t disappoint was the level of ambient mana in the area.
With every step, I felt the concentration of the mystical substance increase in the air all around me. It was a cinch to maintain all my techniques. I was even able to marginally improve my core’s capacity, just off the ambient mana alone.
I could understand why the local mages valued the place so much. With a lack of other resources to speed up their training, living near this mountain range would have been a massive boon.
Even Mercutio was more focused that evening. When he came strolling out to order us to stop, the demon’s face was fixed in a dignified expression. His eyes shone with an inner light that made us all freeze when they swept past us. He was so serious, he didn’t even seem inclined to give me any special menacing attention.
"The purpose of my division is to discover and catalog new and useful resources in every world the legion visits," he announced. "We treat this task as our utmost duty and honor. The area we will be visiting tomorrow is one of the few on this world likely to yield such treasures. You will act as I order you to, and only as I order you to."
He paused, sweeping the whole troop with his signature burning, cold gaze.
"Fail to comply with my demands, and I will execute each and every one of you. You are dismissed for today. We start early tomorrow."
Then he flounced back into his home, leaving me with a vague sick feeling in my stomach.