Preparations for departure

"Ah, welcome back Tom. I didn't expect you back so soon."

With a hint of surprise on her otherwise blooming face, Elizabeth welcomed Tom back with a large smile on her face, but she soon sensed there was something going on.

"Neither did I, but I was just given an assignment by the goddess of war of all things."

"... The Warren family offers its full support, anything you need is yours just ask."

Seeing that Tom was serious, Elizabeth's smile hardened as she straightened her back, ready to offer whatever Tom or the others needed in assistance.

"Perfect, I knew I could count on you Elizabeth. Aura, Dan, go with Elizabeth into town and get some armour, you already know my measurements. Also please inform the house staff that the church will arrive later tonight with [catalyst]'s as I need to pick out a new one pronto."

Doing his way back from the church, Tom had told Dan and Aura everything he had learned from talking with the goddess of war. As both Aura and Dan saw the seriousness of the situation, they had both offered Tom their support.

Although Aura had worded it a bit differently than unconditional support, more along the lines of 'I'll be there to watch over you so you don't do something inordinately stupendous again'.

(... I don't think I'll ever get used to how Aura shows that she cares. It's not just that she has a foul mouth, she's outright cruel while also being somewhat considerate.)

"Right away, I'll dispatch servants in advance to tell them to prepare their best stock, we'll take the same carriage again."

As Elizabeth turned to leave with Dan and Aura, Tom stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Is the Warren head in? I need to talk with him."

"Yes, farther is in the study, the maid over there will lead you to him."

Tom was in no way planning on being idle while Aura, Elizabeth and Dan fetched armour for the trip ahead, so he immediately sought the Warren head's advice as he was an expert on the terrain surrounding Melby as it was his own personal domain.

-

"Master, the [saint] is here to see you."

First knocking on the door 3 times, then bowing down, the maid introduced herself and remained bowed until a voice responded from behind the sturdy door.

"Enter."

Following her master's order, the maid opened the sturdy door before entering as she bowed again. The office was packed to the brim with documents and books arranged halfheartedly on solid bookshelves which were almost buckling under the weight, those books and documents also flowed out over the floor and onto whatever surface was available to store them in piles which could only possibly make sense to the master of the room and no one else.

"Ah, Tom, we finally met. Come take a seat, I'll be with you in a second."

"Thank you for the-"

"Just drop the formalities, I already consider you a part of the family, just call me John."

Shutting down Tom's (poor) attempt at remembering his etiquette, John Warren offered Tom a friendly smile.

The head of the Warren family was not the type of person Tom had expected him to be, although his exterior was that of a veteran swordsman with still buckling muscles and a scarred face with sharp blue eyes and a magnificent white beard, he acted like a gentle older patron of a smalltime local pub with a massive smile on his face as he greeted Tom while putting aside a stack of documents he had been reading and signing.

"What can I do for you this evening? You already have my approval for marrying Elizabeth so this must be something else."

As the Warren head sat down on the couch opposed to Tom, a maid wordlessly served him a glass of liquor before retreating to the corner of the room and closing her eyes. With how much respect the maid treated the Warren head and his own disarming attitude, Tom's first impression of the Warren head was very positive, miles away from how his own dad had treated him.

"Sadly this isn't a social call, I've just received a worrying oracle from the goddess of war."

Getting to the point straight away, Tom explained what he had been told at the church, as he did, the Warren head's smile gradually lessened as his eyes turned cold the same way as Lizzy's did when she turned serious.

"Liss, please fetch me a map showing the southern part of this domain."

"At once master."

With the maid making her way to a nearby archive, Tom and the Warren head was left alone in the office.

"Any idea what this 'anchor' thing is?"

"No, not at all. But I feel it's something I'll know when I see it…"

Closing his eyes to process the information he had just received, the Warren head nodded in agreement with Tom's prediction.

"In any case, I'll offer all the support you need to deal with this 'anchor', but what I can offer is fairly limited as I'm still dealing with the fallout from the massacre at the academy and the sudden increase in monster activity all over the domain."

While John wanted nothing more than to dispatch his own private forces along with a considerable hired group of adventurers, current events had his hands tied so he could only offer limited support. As the maid returned with a large map, John quickly spread it out on the table and browsed over the added notes and renditions which had been added and removed over the years.

"Hmmm, with the only guide being two days to the south on foot that broadens the scope a bit with nothing else to go on, but I suggest we're looking for heightened monster activity… In that case, there are 2 areas which stand out."

Pointing on the map in front of him, John highlighted two area's which had been marked within the last few months.

"The closest one to here is the dungeon just outside of the village of Denor, records show that it has been a low-intensity monster area for the last 10 years, recent reports indicate that has changed, but..."

Showing a difficult expression to read, Tom quickly realized what he was hinting at.

"That could just be because of the recent trend, so it might be the new normal…"

"Yeah, while reports slightly predate the massacre at the academy, monster activity levels tend to fluctuate. The second area of interest is this."

Pointing to a road two villages over without any markings, John showed a slight frown.

"There has been a steady stream of reports going back about 3 weeks indicating a significant amount of merchants disappearing in this area, while it might be down to bandits I have a hunch it might be something else."

(So a smaller dungeon which has recently bloomed in activity and a stretch of road with a bunch of disappearing traders…)

While John's insight was helpful, the area's he had pointed out were going to take time to search through.

"Both of them are going to be a pain to search."

"Agreed, I'll prepare a carriage for your group to leave right away, time is not on our side."

Returning to his office table, John quickly drafted documents that would allow Tom and his group to replace their horses at the local garrisons, the entire Warren estate came alive with activity to prepare supplies for the journey.

While all the preparations were going on, a delegation from the church arrived at the Warren estate, but instead of carrying a verratiry of [catalysts] they only had a single one.

"Is this for me?"

"It is, dear and esteemed [saint]. Although the church stockpiles a vast amount of different [catalysts], this is the only one we've deemed worthy for someone as g-"

"Thanks, I'll return it when I'm done with this matter."

Forcefully cutting off the priest which seemed like he could go on forever, Tom took the [catalyst] offered to him. Examining it in detail, Tom found his new weapon was a [catalyst] about the size of his last with a slightly blue sheen wrapped in a white string that Tom quickly fastened around his wrist.

"Please think nothing of it, dearest [saint]-"

"No I'll return it after I'm done with this, I don't like owing the church any favours, we're not friends:"

Clearly distancing himself from the church, Tom was about to be further accosted by the priest's strong intent to form a connection when someone unexpected cut between them.

"Hey, why are you all thinking of leaving without me?"

Wearing a loose tank top over her torso which was still wrapped in bandages, it was clear that Lizzy had just woken up to find Tom, Aura and Dan were leaving and was not happy she was the only one staying behind.

"That's because we are leaving without you, but don't worry, we're coming back in a few days."

"Yeah no, I've already figured out what's going on. John told me everything."

(Well shit.)

With the hope of Lizzy still remaining in the dark utterly obliterated by the Warren head of all people, Tom quickly switched tactics.

"You're still healing."

"No I'm not and you know it, I'm just a bit sore that's all."

"Have you even adjusted to your new balance?"

"Perfectly, don't underestimate me kiddo."

Breathing a deep sigh as he realized he was getting nowhere with Lizzy the way he was going, Tom switched his tactics yet again.

"We're- I am not going to just up and leave you behind after everything you've done for me, Lizzy."

"... Really? Because it looks like that's what you're doing right now kiddo."

Feeling he was making headway, Tom pressed on without any mercy, just how Lizzy had taught him.

"Besides, the goddess of war told me I only get one more person to [bless] so leaving you behind would be detrimental. So get used to your newly improved [skills] and attributes."

"Wait, you've blessed Lizzy? When did that happen?"

With new information coming to light that she simply couldn't afford to ignore, Aura broke into the conversation between student and instructor.

"Just before we dealt with that monster, I figured it would improve our chances at least a little. Sorry for not warning you about it first Lizzy."

"Ah, that's fine. If anything I'm itching to see what I can do now that I have way more mana and my mana control [skill] has broken past level 10."

Of all the blessings so far, the one Lizzy had received was magnitudes more absurd than the previous ones, but that was also partly due to her new title: Chosen of War, the same Tom had received after beating the monster with everyone else. Still, Lizzy's blessing itself broke the 10 level limit on her mana control [skill] and increased its level to 12 with the new cap being 25 and she had received a new passive [skill] called Berserker.

"All the more reason you need to get used to your new [status], rest up fully and we'll go kill the local dungeon when we get back."

As the final nail in the coffin, Tom offered Lizzy something tantalizing enough that she couldn't refuse.

"Fiiiine, I'll stay here with John and your little girly."

Caving to the pressure, Lizzy offered her little disciples' good luck in a way only she could pull off.

"Get injured out there and I'll shove an ice claw up somewhere unpleasant you hear?"

"""Yes ma'am!"""

"Good, off you go then."

-

With just under 70 hours until the first anchor finally materialized, the group occupying a quiet stretch of forest in the middle of nowhere were done sleeping, from now until then they would be on full alert. Not a single soul would be permitted to leave the area alive if they stumbled onto it.

"Don't even think of taking prisoners! If anyone comes close, kill them immediately! Show no mercy, our glorious purpose is within reach!"

Rousing the slaves and troops for these final days before all their effort would bear fruit, the general was met with thunderous applause.

While the construction of the first anchor had already taken a decade of utmost, these final days were the critical ones. With the local node almost taken over and the breach of the immaterial iminent, the local administrators were bound to have noticed what was going on by now.