"What's going on with you, Lana? Ever since you came back from Sarus, you seem to constantly have something on your mind," Mistress Faye said as she turned to Lana with an intrigued expression.

"I think you're just imagining things, Teacher," Lana said with a fawning smile.

"I've been single for most of my life, but that doesn't mean I don't know anything about love," Mistress Faye said in a calm voice. "I didn't go to watch the Pillow Sword Tournament, but I've heard about some of the things that happened during the tournament."

Mistress Faye turned to Lana with a meaningful look in her eyes as she spoke, but Lana seemed to be intent on playing dumb and remained silent with a faint smile on her face.

"Are you really not going to tell me about that son of Count Friars?" Mistress Faye asked with a smile, laying her cards onto the table so there was no way that Lana could keep playing dumb.

"Why would you mention him, Teacher?" Lana groaned with a wry smile.

"Aren't you curious about his magic?" Mistress Faye asked as she took a glance at Lana.

"I am a little curious," Lana replied in a truthful manner.

"Were you so curious that you had to kiss him?" Mistress Faye asked with a teasing look in her eyes.

Lana was extremely embarrassed to hear this, and a deep blush immediately appeared on her face as she swung Mistress Faye's arm from side to side like a petulant little girl. "Teacher! How could you say that?"

"Alright, let's be serious here," Mistress Faye said as she patted the back of Lana's hand. "I'm sure you've already noticed that Count Friar's son isn't using normal magic, right?"

"I think I recall hearing about it from him before. It was something to do with stopping time," Lana replied as a reminiscent look appeared in her eyes.

"That settles it then. He's definitely practicing time and space magic," Mistress Faye said with a convinced nod. "Come to think of it, his mother, who was Count Friar's wife, was an old acquaintance of mine. His mother was also very enraptured by the secrets of space and time back when I knew her."

"You know his mother?" Lana was very intrigued to hear this. "I've never heard you mention that before."

"Back in Teedus Academy, we were in the same year level. At the time, she convinced me to study time and space magic with her as well, but my progress was always very slow, so I gave up in the end. Perhaps I just didn't have the talent for it," Mistress Faye said with a wry smile as she recalled back to those days in her past.

"You didn't have the talent for it? Surely that's not the reason," Lana exclaimed with a shocked expression. Mistress Faye was close to 20 years younger than Master Piro, yet she was widely considered to be a magician of the same caliber. How could someone like her possibly be lacking in talent?

"How do I explain this? When it comes to studying the concepts of time and space, it can be an extremely frustrating and inefficient endeavor, and the vast majority of the time, it's far less practical than focusing on improving your magic power. Sometimes, when you reach a bottleneck, you could strive your entire life without being able to break through it," Mistress Faye explained. "On top of that, at the time, very few people were able to put the theoretical concepts into practice, and there was very little that was applicable to practical battle. Thus, I quickly became disillusioned with it and decided not to waste my time on something so vague and unreliable."

"Then what happened with Erwin's mother?"

"She's most likely the only one who was able to apply the secrets of space and time to magic. In all my years in this world, she is the only person I know of who can be truly referred to as a space-time magician." It was clear from the way that she was talking about her that Mistress Faye held a great deal of respect and admiration for her old friend.

"What happened between you two after that?"

"After that, we slowly grew apart for no particular reason, and then she got married. I heard that during childbirth, she suffered some complications. In the end, the child was delivered safely, but she..." Mistress Faye's voice trailed off here as she heaved a forlorn sigh, and it was clear what the ending to that story was.

Lana was also feeling a little melancholy upon hearing this, and a hint of sympathy toward Erwin welled up in her heart.

Mistress Faye could see that her student had fallen into deep thought again. She smiled as she suddenly asked, "Did he ever talk to you about some of the finer details of time and space magic?"

"That bastard is extremely secretive when it comes to his time and space magic. Whenever I ask any questions, he becomes really nervous and defensive," Lana complained with a displeased pout, but her heart had already drifted to the coast of the Joffan Sea. Back in Prince Lazaar's manor in Burmen, she had told Jeff that she wasn't interested in hearing about Erwin and his mercenary legion, but in the end, she was unable to resist her own curiosity, and she snuck over to Jeff's desk while he was away to check the report on the Four Winds mercenary legion. Upon learning that the Four Winds mercenary legion had chosen to go south, she had been extremely relieved.

Meanwhile, Mistress Faye was looking at Lana with a hint of benevolence and pity in her eyes. She could tell that her student's heart had already wandered elsewhere.

The horse-drawn carriage continued onward, and all of a sudden, Lana noticed that there were already pristine white flower buds growing in the branches of the daynight pear trees.

At the mayor's manor of Xeto.

"Your Highness, we've just received word from our scouts that there has been no further activity from Skycourt Kingdom's mercenaries. It seems that they've truly been intimidated after last night's battle," Francis said with a smile.

"Thank you for your efforts last time, Mayor," Onean said in an indifferent voice.

"You're far too kind, Your Highness. I should be apologizing for my own incompetence. If I had reacted sooner and led our troops out of the city earlier, you wouldn’t have been placed in so much peril," Francis said in an embarrassed manner.

"No one is to blame here. Who could've anticipated that the Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries would be willing to make such a huge investment by using nightwalker potions on their entire army?" Larwood consoled.

"It's very strange that they haven't launched an all-out attack now that they're aware of Her Highness's identity," Erwin said.

"Could it be that they're too afraid to attack after yesterday?" Chase speculated.

"I took a rough glance from the airship this morning, and it looks like there are still over 20,000 Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries at the foot of the mountain," Larwood said. "I don't think they'll give up so easily."

"Looks like we still have to be on our guard," Onean said in a solemn voice.

Right at this moment, a soldier rushed in from outside. "Report! We've received urgent news that the Skycourt Kingdom's mercenaries are on the move again!"

"What's happening? Tell me the specifics," Francis hurriedly urged.

"The Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries at the foot of the mountain are currently locked in battle with another army. Judging from the flags, they seem to be His Majesty's royal cavaliers," the soldier hurriedly replied.

Francis cast his gaze toward Onean, and she immediately rose to her feet before quickly departing from the room, leaving everyone else behind.

"Let's go take a look as well." Francis immediately followed along behind her.

Onean made her way out of the manor, then quickly rose up into the air. Before everyone else had even made it out of the room, she was already flying through the air, passing over the city walls of Xeto before flying directly toward the foot of the mountain.

Francis was worried that harm would befall the princess, so he immediately made his way onto the rooftop of his manor, then sprang from the roof of one civilian house to the next in order to pursue Onean.

"You go after Her Highness, we'll launch the airship," Larwood said as he turned his gaze toward Erwin.

Erwin nodded in response, then unleashed a levitation spell followed by a space split technique, and in the blink of an eye, he was already far away.

...

Initially, the Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries at the foot of the mountain were planning to rest and recuperate in the morning, then launch another attack on Xeto in the afternoon. After learning that the outrageously powerful female magician was none other than Princess Onean of the Effer Kingdom, morale among the dejected camp was instantly elevated to unprecedented heights, and all of the dejected mercenaries were filled with renewed vigor. All of the mercenary legion commanders began to discuss how to extort the Effer Kingdom for ransom after capturing the princess, as well as how they were going to split the ransom after securing it. It was a classic case of counting one's chickens before they hatched, and one couldn't help but admire the Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries' greed and optimism.

However, before the clock had even struck noon, the sound of thundering hooves rang out from the provincial road connecting Xeto and Newen. The Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries emerged from their tents to take a look, upon which they were horrified by what they saw, which was an army consisting of the Effer Kingdom's royal cavaliers. This made them even more convinced that the female magician they were dealing with was definitely the princess.

Upon closer inspection, they discovered that there were only 10,000 royal cavaliers from the Effer Kingdom. With that realization, they were filled with confidence again. Thus, they decided not to passively defend their encampment. Instead, they chose to openly engage the Effer Kingdom's reinforcements in battle on the wide provincial road.

Thus, the two sides were facing off against one another, and a battle was about to begin.

"Brother Nandoon, it looks like these Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries are very disorganized," Duke Shreesan remarked as he cast his gaze toward the Skycourt Kingdom's forces in the distance.

"If they're not just a disorganized, ragtag bunch, then they would've taken down the 5,000 soldiers guarding Xeto a long time ago with their massive numbers advantage," Duke Nandoon said with a derisive smile. "They're all mercenaries, there's no way they can face a well-trained and disciplined regular army."

"That's true." Shreesan nodded in response.

A hint of killing intent flashed through Duke Nandoon's eyes as he yelled, "Soldiers of the Effer Kingdom, it's time to make these Skycourt Kingdom vermin pay for invading our home!"

Even though they had already been marching for a day and a night, the royal cavaliers weren't displaying any signs of weariness. Their war cries were as loud as ever, and the 10,000 spears that they were wielding were desperately yearning to soak in the blood of the enemy.

"Charge!" Duke Nandoon roared, then led the way as he charged on ahead, followed closely by Duke Shreesan. Even though these two old dukes were both already over 50 years of age, they were charging at the forefront of the army with unrivaled courage and vigor.

The morale of the royal cavaliers was elevated even further at the sight of this display of courage from their generals, while the Skycourt Kingdom's forces were feeling very intimidated by the oncoming cavaliers, so much so that some were already considering retreat.

However, they had no choice but to face their formidable enemies head-on as they rode into battle.

As soon as the two armies clashed, the 5,000 or so Skycourt Kingdom cavaliers were instantly crushed, with their formation torn apart down the middle by the enemy cavaliers. The Skycourt Kingdom foot soldiers behind the cavaliers were also subsequently overwhelmed. Even though they had already adopted a solid formation and were all wielding heavy shields, the opposing Zam warhorses had already built up far too much momentum to be stopped, and the entire formation of the Skycourt Kingdom's forces were instantly destroyed.