Chapter 416 Nova's Chance?
The next day, Vicente and Layla hadn't met, but they had communicated via a short-range communication device they had.
She warned him about the things Newton had told her to pass on to him and informed him about the two things she had in her possession that she was supposed to deliver.
Vicente wasn't surprised by Newton's approach or that such a man would soon be going to Saltstar City, a city much further away from Millfall than Ironcrest.
So he understood why Newton hadn't accepted his request right away.
What was that request? He wanted Newton to consider becoming Nina's master.
But it would be complicated for that to happen in the short term since the master and student needed to be close to each other, at least at the beginning of the student's journey. At the same time, Vicente wouldn't allow Nina to live so far away from him.
He put that aside for the moment and went back to observing the enemy outposts, having already surveyed two of the three places Sarah had pointed out.
He hadn't decided to act yet, but he was gradually getting a better understanding of the enemies while formulating his plans of action.
...
While Vicente was investigating his enemies, the situation in Millfall became more tense.
After the arrival of the group of emissaries from The Faceless Ones faction, there had been no fighting for the time being, but the army had made some remarkable discoveries about The Vile Altar incident.
Not only had the army discovered disturbing things about the incident, but the Congregation of Revelation was beginning to understand the deaths of three of their Mages in the area.
As a result, the soldiers from the capital who were in Millfall to set things right, to investigate this incident, to find the culprits and bring them to justice, were now very focused on keeping the army away from what had happened there!
The envoys from the capital were so stressed after their recent discoveries that they had put aside the investigation into Christopher Hogan's death to focus on solving The Vile Altar incident!
Meanwhile, The Faceless Ones had become their primary target, the scapegoat, the punching bag chosen to take the blame for everything that had happened in such a place.
The members of this group, who had recently arrived in Millfall, had already realized this and were also putting aside some of their old plans to deal with this situation.
Amid this, the Mazzanti family was still under strain, but less so than two days ago!
...
At the army headquarters in Millfall...
Nova stood at the Post Commander's office door, waiting for the order to go in and find out why she had been called.
After reporting everything that had happened during her temporary command, she left her temporary position and returned to her post as Captain.
Even though she had moved up a stage, she still had to change her status within the army. Until that happens, her duties will be the same as when Christopher was still at that post.
As such, she had been working on maintaining local security without getting too involved in investigating the emissaries from the capital.
Therefore, she didn't know why she had been called in this morning.
"Captain, you may proceed. Commander Derek will see you now." A Captain, secretary to the Commander of the Millfall Battalion, told her companion.
Nova walked into the office, taking no time for a military greeting.
Derek looked into Nova's blue eyes and got right to the point. "Captain Bain, you've done an excellent job handling the city's situation in a difficult time. What's more, your record is impeccable, and all of your teachers at the military academy have praised you.
Now that you've reached the 3rd stage, it's time to receive the promotion you deserve." As he spoke, Nova found it harder and harder not to smile, very happy to hear all this.
"In three days, your superiors from Saltstar City will arrive in Millfall. You must join their group for evaluation. The first part of your test will be to hunt for your next pentagram in the Wolfbane Forest. You will then be evaluated at the headquarters in Saltstar City. Your position will be determined based on your results."
"I'll do my best, Commander!" She said enthusiastically.
"Given your background, I believe you'll be a Commander soon. So, let me tell you, you will most likely be assigned to one of Saltstar City's battalions.
The Red Troop, one of Saltstar City's battalions, used to be commanded by Arthur Hogan. That is one of the best positions for you, so it's likely that you'll be appointed to it." Derek said, helping Nova prepare for the future.
The royal army assigned its soldiers to positions based on need but also based on the soldier's potential and their performance in the test to rise through the ranks.
This test was usually done in groups, which meant there was competition between newly promoted soldiers.
The better you did in these tests, the better your assignment.
New battalions weren't formed unless other groups were disbanded, so new Commanders usually took over vacancies left by soldiers who had changed ranks or died.
If there were no such vacancies, these soldiers were sent to the capital to serve in other ways, sometimes as part of groups led by monarchs or even as special bodyguards for royalty. There were several possibilities, depending on the time, place, and the person advancing in rank.
But with the recent deaths of 3 Commanders within the Scott Province and Nova being one of the 4 soldiers who had recently advanced to the 3rd stage in the entire province, it was very likely that she would take the position of one of the 3 Commanders killed by Vicente.
Derek knew how talented Nova was and expected her to take the best position, the one in Saltstar City.
Nova clenched her fists as she listened to Derek but didn't say anything.
Derek sighed. "Anyway, before you go, I wanted to update you on the local situation since you've been behind this post for several weeks.
I don't know if we will follow your lead on Cesar Mazzanti. We may get something in the future and use that to deal with him. But right now, we're more concerned about the people at the Awakening Temple in Saltstar City.
Arthur, Alex, and Peter apparently died at The Vile Altar fighting members of the Ironcrest Awakening Temple... We can't let the army get involved in this, so we'll let it be known that these three betrayed the royal forces and were expelled from the army before their deaths.
They betrayed us for offers from The Faceless Ones, so we won't investigate them further, nor will we seek justice for their deaths.
Christopher was Arthur's brother, so he was most likely involved. Let's consider his death as an action of The Faceless Ones to eliminate the witnesses of their crime!"
Nova opened her eyes and mouth wide as she realized that the army would cover up everything that had happened, change reality, and blame those four soldiers and The Faceless Ones.
As for the real culprit, this one wouldn't have to suffer any consequences for their actions!
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