Chapter : 47

  Finy crossed his giant arms over his chest. "Excellent work. Where is Vane hiding?"

  "He is not in the slums anymore," Naomi answered, stepping forward with a proud smile. "He operates out of an abandoned industrial sector not too far from the train yards. We have the exact warehouse number. He thinks he is safe, but we can hit him before noon."

  Princess Iris let out a deep breath of relief. "Thank you. All of you. You did incredibly well."

  "Mostly me, obviously," Ken mumbled from the back of the group, raising his hand slightly. "I was the main detective. I found all the clues using my highly advanced brain. And also, I took a nap behind some trash. It was very heroic. You should definitely give me a bonus."

  Laxmi rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. "Sure, Ken. I bet you cried the entire time."

  "I did not cry!" Ken protested, pointing a finger at her. "I yelled. There is a very big difference in the tone of voice."

  Finy cleared his throat loudly. The booming sound instantly shut down the jokes. "Enough. The time for games is over. We have a confirmed target. We are dealing with a master of Curse magic. This is a B-rank mission, and the penalty for failure is twenty points. We will move out as one single unit and strike with full force."

  The six girls—Sayma, Naomi, Laxmi, Zinia, Ira, and Luna—all stood up perfectly straight. They saluted the Grandmaster, their faces completely serious. They were elite warriors, and they were ready for war.

  Ken, however, did not salute. He was too busy looking around the courtyard.

  He looked at Naomi. He looked at Sayma. He looked at Zinia, Laxmi, Ira, and Luna. He looked at Princess Iris, and finally, he looked at Grandmaster Finy. He tilted his head to the side. His sleepy eyes blinked once. Then they blinked again.

  Ken slowly pulled his hands out of his pockets. He held up his right hand and started pointing his index finger at the people in the courtyard.

  "One," Ken said out loud, pointing at Sayma. "Two," he pointed at Naomi. "Three, four, five, six." He pointed at the rest of the girls. Then he pointed his thumb at his own chest. "Seven."

  Naomi gred at him. "What are you doing, farm boy? Are you losing your mind?"

  "Hold on, I am doing complex mathematics," Ken replied, entirely serious. He pointed his finger at Princess Iris. "Eight." He moved his finger to Grandmaster Finy. "Nine."

  Ken lowered his hand and scratched the back of his messy bck hair. A deep frown formed on his face. Something was seriously wrong here.

  "Excuse me," Ken said, raising his hand high in the air like a student in a cssroom. "Mr. Giant Silver Man? I have a very important question regarding our battle pn."

  Finy looked down at Ken. The Grandmaster looked like he was staring at a very annoying bug. "What is it, Eliot? Make it quick."

  Ken slouched his shoulders and pointed at Finy’s massive, shining armor. "So, when we get to this train yard, where exactly are you going to stand? Are you going to be in the front, smashing through the doors with your giant sword? Or are you going to be in the middle, acting like a giant metal shield? Because personally, I vote for the shield option. I would very much like to stand directly behind you."

  Finy’s expression did not change. His thick gray beard twitched slightly. "I will not be standing anywhere in the train yard, Eliot."

  Ken froze. His goofy smile melted away completely. "Wait. What?"

  Sayma pushed her gsses up her nose and turned to look at Ken. "Ken, Grandmaster Finy is not coming with us on the combat mission."

  "Not coming?!" Ken shouted, his voice cracking in fake panic. He threw his hands up and grabbed his own head. "What do you mean he is not coming?! He is the biggest guy here! He has a sword the size of a door! He is practically a walking tank! Why is the tank staying home?!"

  "Because it is against the rules of the Succession War," Sayma expined patiently, as if she were talking to a very confused child. "Grandmaster Finy is the Unit Commander and the Official Advisor to the 13th Princess. According to the strict ws set by the Emperor, Advisors are completely forbidden from directly participating in point-gathering combat missions."

  Ken let his jaw drop. He stared at Finy in absolute horror. "Are you kidding me? You are just going to sit here and drink tea while we go fight a crazy guy with dark magic? You have all those muscles for nothing?!"

  Finy narrowed his eyes, his deep voice rumbling like thunder. "My duty is to guide the Princess and train the unit. If I were allowed to fight, I would clear this mission by myself in five minutes. But this war is not a test of my strength, Eliot. It is a test of your strength. The Servants must fight."

  "But I don't want to fight!" Ken whined loudly, stomping his foot on the stone pavement like a toddler throwing a tantrum. "I want to be heavily guarded by giant men in armor! This is a terrible system! Who designed these rules? I want to speak to the manager of the Empire!"

  Naomi smacked him hard on the back of his shoulder. "Stop acting like a baby! We don't need the Grandmaster to hold our hands. We are elite warriors. We can handle a few thugs in a train yard by ourselves."

  "You can handle them!" Ken argued, pointing at her. "I am just a guy who likes potatoes! If I get cursed by dark magic, who is going to carry me home? Not the giant metal man, apparently!"

  While Ken was putting on his dramatic dispy of cowardice, his internal mind—the sharp, cold mind of the Sovereign—was completely unfazed by the news. He already knew Finy wasn't going to fight. He had read the rulebook of the Succession War perfectly. He was just compining because pying the loud, annoying scker was the best way to make sure nobody expected anything out of him.

  But as Ken continued his fake panic, a real realization suddenly hit him. He stopped waving his arms. He looked back at the group of girls. He looked at his own fingers again.

  If Grandmaster Finy wasn't coming, the math was even worse than he originally thought. And that meant his zy, quiet life was about to become a lot more complicated.

  ----

  Ken slowly lowered his hands. The fake panic on his face shifted into a look of genuine, confusing mathematics. He started counting on his fingers all over again, mumbling out loud so everyone in the courtyard could hear him.

  "Okay, let me get this straight," Ken muttered, tapping his fingers. "Sayma is one. Naomi is two. Zinia, Laxmi, Ira, Luna... that makes six. Plus me, the incredibly handsome farm boy. That makes seven."

  Ken stopped and looked directly at Princess Iris. He pointed a finger at her. "Wait a second. Does the Princess fight with us? Does she count as number eight?"