"They are attacking from the East." Bronwynn told everyone at the table.

Keith's thoughts raced; immediately moving armies in his mind's eye. "From Servalt?" He asked, frowning. "The King and I have a treaty."

Bronwynn shrugged, "One of their merchant guilds smuggled a hundred Drendil soldiers on ships they sailed up the coast. Soldiers all with [Assassin] class Skills. They have already entered the forest, since the automata were thin along the border crossing, I'm sure they've managed to get many through. They're waiting for General Havork to give the signal." She glanced at Henrietta. "They'll be launching a pincer attack as early as tomorrow, after the regular army marches here from the south."

"I guess there's no time for a manicure then?" Ria joked.

"How do you know this?" Chloe demanded. She stood up and placed one hand on Julia's shoulder for support. "How do we know you're not here to deceive us?"

Before Bronwynn could say anything, Rufus cut in, "Minstrel Bronwynn is speaking the truth."

Nobody argued that. Rufus had an incredibly useful Skill that allowed him to discern lies; another reason why he was Keith's right hand General.

"Does it really matter?" Keith added. "Any one of us could crush the assassins or the army."

"He has a point, love." Julia reached up and squeezed Chloe's hand. "Drendil had General Havork and the Heroine of Justice as their Level 60 Adventurers - and now Henrietta is on our side."

"We were letting the Dark Army fight because they really wanted to, and we were hoping to keep down the bloodshed with strategic battle plans allowing Drendil time to retrieve the fallen." Ria piped up beside Keith. "Though I'm not sure that'll be possible with a group of assassins."

"The assasins scattered when they crossed the border. I only came here to check if the rumors were true," Bronwynn shot a look between Ria and Keith, then she sat back down. "and I'm happy I did."

Keith's voice was low when he said, "Thank you Minstrel Bronwynn, for letting us know."

Chloe let out a huff, but since she was the only one left standing she promptly sat down as well. She crossed her arms and pouted. "If it is as Minstrel Bronwynn reports, then one of us will have to head out to defend the eastern wood."

"Why not The General of the East?" Ria asked. "I thought there were Generals for each part of the forest, and Rufus guarding the castle?"

Her question was met with an awkward silence.

"I guess we could let Knolith know…" Keith mumbled, though he knew it wasn't really a viable option.

"I wouldn't." Chloe said. "He'd never let us hear the end of it."

Rufus tapped the table with his claw. He explained to the princess, "Knolith is almost finished closed door cultivation of the [Ten Thousand Star Arts] after finally finding the [Heavenly Purple Grade Frost Grass]-"

"Whatever that means." Chloe grumbled.

"- and expressly requested that he be left alone until the Summer Equinox." Rufus finished. "The Lizardkin General is very hot-tempered and would probably freeze the Drendil Army into statues and shatter those statues into a pile of shaved ice. They would be very difficult to put back together again…"

"I mentioned him because an [Assassin] might wake him up as they come through the Eastern forests, and the only thing worse than me disturbing him would be Drendil disturbing him…" Keith rubbed the bridge of his nose, exhausted at the idea of the amount of paperwork that would cause.

"Want me to deal with them?" Henrietta put up her hand. "I bet I know them… which reminds me, don't you still have some assassins locked up?"

Keith shook his head. He didn't think it was a good idea and tried to dissuade her with what logic. "One, are you sure you want to face off against a bunch of [Assassin] class fighters in a part of the forest you've never been to?"

"That… is a good question." Ria had faced off against the griffin egg thieves in the east, but that wasn't exactly a full tour of the Dark Enchanted Forest's eastern wood. And the class came with a lot of annoying Skills.

"And two," Keith continued, "the assassins I captured aren't from Drendil."

"What?"

Keith shrugged, "I don't know where they are from yet, but it's not Drendil."

The room turned as one to Minstrel Bronwynn, who was happily sampling a spoonful of mushroom broth. It was her turn to say, "What? I just boated up with everyone since the border was closed - do you think I know everything."

"But do you?" Ria asked.

Bronwynn gave her a playfully violent grin, "I know there are 108 people of various races with [Assassin] based classes from [Rogue] to [Bloodmage]. They mostly did not work together but I'd guess they were all Guild members - I'm thinking maybe they are Jill's? From Peldeep. That woman loves to find ways around places like the Dark Enchanted Forest. I wouldn't be surprised if she had an entire collection of Assassins leveled up special for each kingdom."

Bronwynn spooned another spoonful of soup and made appreciative noises.

Chloe shot a look at Rufus and he shrugged, "she's still telling the truth. Or what she believes to be the truth."

"That's a handy Skill." Bronwynn admired the beastman and his tail started wagging gently before Rufus got it under control.

"So then. Who is going to head off the army traveling up the eastern side?" Chloe demanded.

"I have an idea." Ria put up her hand again. She turned to Keith. "You know, we never got a chance to finish our date…"

Keith thought it over and couldn't help himself. His lips twitched into a half smile. "A hundred specialized assassins from around the Continent does sound like an interesting evening."

"You're both crazy." Chloe glared at us. "Come on Julia, let's go back to b– upstairs. I need a relaxing evening if I'm going to be out Resurrecting everyone tomorrow."

Julia excused herself and trailed after her riled up Fiancée. Ria said goodnight to Keith and Rufus and dragged Minstrel Bronwynn up to her rooms.

Keith was left listening to Rufus freak out about how amazing Minstrel Bronwynn was, but he was too busy thinking about his date with Henrietta to mind.

He'd have to stay up late to catch up on paperwork and the projects he was tinkering with…