Chapter 364 Search (8)
"In any case, I am going ahead," Icarus said. "I know that I am asking a lot of you and that you have already helped Galatea followers a lot in the last few months. Still, we need to do a bit more to at least decrease the forces of the summoner."
Just, as usual, Icarus left like he was a lightning bolt. Still, he was just fast enough, so normal people couldn't even see his shadow. He didn't leave any traces on the ground with his current speed either. Billy thought of how useful it would be to be that fast...
"Papa! Fast!" Christina said.
"No, papa isn't that fast… Still, how did you understand that he left while running?" Billy asked.
The question was too long and complex for Christina to understand or try to think of an answer. In any case, Billy decided to follow his schedule and let his kids see their mothers working. While he did that, Billy didn't pay much attention to the training of the recruits. He was only thinking of what Icarus said. There was no point in delaying the inevitable…
While Billy was making his preparations in secret, one week passed, and then he received some letters from Svan, Rosalie, and even Aura. Both of them wrote the same things, they were facing problems dealing with the invasion of monsters, and thus, they were requesting help. Riormi and the new Toles state only shared a small part of their borders with the Tersaris state. However, still, they were suffering some casualties. As if he had received the same letters, Jean showed up at Billy's house showing a troubled expression, his friends also appeared… It was too much of a coincidence.
"It seems they sent letters to you all…" Billy said and then sighed. "They must be truly desperate."
"Svan is a good man, and while he is famous, he can't mobilize too many barbarians," Jean said. "Still, if he is asking for help and he can't use too many of his people, then he must have a reason."
"Such as?" Kate asked.
"Such as he can see something that his friends can't," Jean said. "Like a danger to all nearby states. However, most of his people can't see that threat since they aren't being targeted yet."
"Rosalie and Aura mentioned that they are losing a lot of soldiers near the borders only fighting monsters…" Natalie said. "The enemy this time might be plotting to weaken them as much as possible before going all out and defeating them on a single swoop."
"I have sent some soldiers to help both of them, but since the threat still isn't that big, we couldn't mobilize our forces properly, or even have a council with all the members of the alliance," Jean said. "For obvious reasons, we can't send the recruits that are being trained or the graduated ones. It will take too much time and it is hard to raise morale to help strangers."
That made sense. Not only the massive distance that they would travel was an important factor, but they were going to join a war in which wouldn't benefit their state directly with lands or with the safety of their people… it was hard to imagine that a small group could make such a difference in a large scale battle, but things changed when the individuals involved were Billy and his friends, and most of the opponents were monsters.
"What do you think we should do Billy?" Kate asked. "You are our leader, if you think that it isn't a good idea to move now, then we will follow you."
"What happened to help strangers because you were helped as well?" Billy asked. "Besides, some of our friends are there, requesting help."
"Well, it isn't like I don't want to help, I hate tyrants and those who start wars out of greed," Kate replied. "However, we need to consider the well-being of Christina and Hector. They are our main concern now."
Kate was absolutely right, then again… Because those two were their main concern, they couldn't just live their lives ignoring the current problem. If things escalate, things will become troublesome and will affect their kids as well. In the end, everything Billy does is for his family, and that wouldn't change.
"... Let's call Gerald and Gustav to come with us, knowing Marie, she is probably already fighting there," Billy said. "We will need some specialists to deal with such a situation that involves monsters."
"Talking with them directly will make things happen faster, I am going with you," Jean said.
"While I am happy that we are going to move, what will we do regarding the kids?" Natalie asked.
"We will take them with us, who knows for how long this situation will last, we can take turns looking after them in a safe place," Billy replied.
Billy didn't like the idea of bringing his kids to a place that was at war. Still, he knew many ways to make sure that they would be safe at all times. Since they will be many specialists in dealing with monsters there, it will be fine if one or two of them take a day off to look after the kids.
"I guess we will bring Lara too," Alexander said. "From what I had heard, Tersaris state is pretty peaceful and they even have some institutions that look after orphans, so it shouldn't be a bad place for kids to be."
Billy didn't hear that, but he wasn't the only one that could do his research. In any case, while his friends went to pack their things, Billy and Jean went to talk with the guild masters. Their job had been pretty boring as of late, and since the last war, they didn't do much aside from some paperwork, so they welcomed the invitation with open arms. Billy was almost jealous of their attitude… he wished that he could feel that bored for a year…
