Vandal simply encouraged them.
About the plan? The Grain Leaders will tell them about it on their way. They will not engage in battle immediately. They will thoroughly examine the place around the headquarters of the Red Matter. It's better to be safe as it will avoid unnecessary casualties.
They didn't want that. They didn't want the warriors to die in vain.
Six Grains will participate in this mission. The top forces will be the first three Grains which consisted of Shackled Realm experts. Only people at Shackled Realm can join the First, Second, and Third Grain.
They will be the main force of the Third Set.
The people from the Second Set will be the support.
Carmel gathered the warriors of Tenth Grain.
"Tenth Grain, we'll not join the main force. We've already confirmed that the Headquarters of the Red Matter Association is in Mirror Lake. Our task is to survey the kingdom around it with other Grains. Of course, the warriors from Second Set will help us too."
Mirror Lake. It was a place far away from Champion's Den. Normally, it would take them two and a half weeks to go there if they were going to walk. Even if they flew it would at least take them several days.
Also, the only person who can go there within a day was Vandal.
That's why Vandal requested help from the higher-ups. The Mirror Lake was close to the territory of one of the gods of Olympus. The higher-ups of Athen's Champion contacted that certain legion.
The other side agreed on helping them.
So they set up a portal to receive them on the other side. Setting up a portal consumed a huge amount of resources and the Athen's Champion paid for it.
It was different from the teleportation that Eilish set up. Eilish only set up teleportation for non-living things. Yet, this one could transport living beings.
The other side was going to receive and even give them a helping hand in fighting the Red Matter Association. So the chances of winning this battle were high.
Red Matter must have received help from other organizations so the warriors of Athena receiving help was better than nothing. They accepted it with open arms.
"I'll explain the rest after we've arrived there."
Carmel said before he turned around.
Souta and the other squadron leaders nodded. This operation must succeed. They already failed before so it shouldn't happen once again.
Souta watched the process of setting up a portal. More than ten mages were working together in completing this. There were even craftsmen around to help build the foundation of portal which was made of mana essence and mana stone.
After building the foundation on both sides, enchanters stepped forward and started to encrypt runes on the two foundations.
It took five minutes to set up runes that will strengthen the foundations. Then, mages started to do their jobs.
A vortex of energy formed in the center. It swirled around before it slowly expanded and connected to the pillar on each side.
"It's stabilizing! Connect it to the other side!"
They began to connect this passage to the other side.
"It's complete."
The portal was completed before their eyes in just a few minutes. Several high-level mages, craftsmen, and enchanters worked together so things like this weren't a problem.
Vandal stood before the portal and said a few words before he entered. The First Grain followed him and then the Second Grain.
There were people that will be left here to guard the portal. And the people that stayed here were banned from taking a mission, they will be on standby waiting for further orders.
Also, the people who will return after completing missions will be put on standby.
All of them were reserves.
In case an emergency occurred, they will be dispatched to the other side.
"It's our turn."
Carmel said as he walked forward.
Souta and the other leaders of Squadron followed their Grain Leader.
They entered the portal.
Ohm!
Souta stepped out of the portal. He squinted his eyes as the sun was shining brightly in the sky. He looked down and found that they were on a plateau.
"We're here."
Souta turned his head and saw the Blue Cross Squad beside him. Just like him, they were observing the surrounding area.
They found Vandal talking to some unknown people. Those people must be from the god's legion of this area.
Hmm... They were called Sky Earth? Right, that's right. They were number twenty-two in the legion's ranking.
After Vandal talked to the people from Sky Earth, he called the Grain Leaders for a meeting. He explained the plan.
This place was at the edge of a god's territory. It was called Sky God Avenue just like how Athena had the Land of Eternal Spring and Hairin for Dionysus.
The Mirror Lake was close to this place. It will take them at least three days if they traveled on foot. It was their plan from the beginning to travel on foot.
There's a chance that they will get discovered if they flew at high speed. They will not only alert the nearby kingdoms but also alert their target, the Red Matter Association.
So for now, they will travel on foot and avoid any problems before they proceed with their plan.
With that, the group traveled on foot. They avoided the territories of monsters in the surrounding. Even if they could defeat those monsters, they avoided them. It would do them no good if they could problem in this area.
"We'll enter the Fone Kingdom..." Carmel said.
Souta didn't have any recollection of this kingdom.
"Originally, the Seventh Grain will be the one to take it but a member of Blue Cross said that place is her home," Carmel said as he glanced in the direction of Blue Cross.
Souta glanced at them before he turned to Leilus.
Leilus smiled as he shrugged his shoulder. Then, he pointed at the tall woman behind him.
"Not me, it's her."
Souta nodded as he observed the woman named Sakme. He wondered why she didn't join the Sky Earth as it was close to her hometown. Instead, she chose to join Athen's Champion which was far away from Fone Kingdom.
Carmel continued, "She belongs to one of the noble families there. With her help, we will be able to enter the Fone Kingdom easily. Remember to hide our emblem and the moment they asked us, we're just a normal mercenary group."
Only Blue Cross, Souta, and Carmel will enter the kingdom as mercenaries. The other squadrons of Tenth Grain will sneak inside the kingdom. They were capable warriors so sneaking inside a small kingdom like this was easy.
"Fone Kingdom... Our reason for going there is to find out if the Red Matter Association already grasps the surrounding kingdoms and dukedoms around the Mirror Lake."
Several hours later, the group decided to set up a camp. Although they could still continue, it's still better to rest and relax their mind before the battle. If they were mentally tired before the battle then it would cause unnecessary casualties on their side.
Souta and Blue Cross were sitting around a bonfire. Leilus, the leader, was roasting meat from the low-level monster that they hunted.
Souta glanced at Sakme. He asked, "What's the noble title of your family?"
"Count," Sakme answered without looking at him.
"Hmm... It's pretty high." Souta nodded and asked another question. "Did they know that you're a warrior from Athen's Champion?"
Drami, a young petite girl, was the one that answered his question. "No, Sakme told us that she run away from her family several years ago. She became a mercenary in Sky God Avenue before she wandered around further."
"I see..." Souta nodded. Just from those words, he had a vague idea of how these people met each other.
"What about you? You're a monster, right? Why didn't you join the legions of those monster lords?" Drami asked in a small voice. She looked at him curiously.
Souta raised his eyebrows as he glanced at her. He looked down and saw that she was holding the hand of the man beside her. It seems that this girl called Drami and Marcus was a couple.
"Well, I don't know... I just felt that comfortable outside the wilderness. I wanted to explore the world. I forgot to tell you, I grow up with humans." Souta slowly told them a story.
The others simply listened to him. They were curious as Souta was different from them. He wasn't a human nor a demi, he was a monster.
"So that's why you're not afraid of humans and demis..." Drami muttered.
"I want to ask if some hunter attacked you in the middle of a city?" Paolo, the mage, suddenly asked.
"Oh..." Souta rubbed his chin. He then shook his head. "I don't think so. Most of the people that attack me were my enemies. They didn't attack me because I'm a monster. No, in fact, they didn't even know that I'm a monster."
The Blue Cross continued to ask questions about Souta. They were curious about the story of a monster. It was pretty interesting for them.
