Anna helping was… unexpected.
The Mercenaries of Mayhem had seen her do many things—read through a hundred-year-old grimoires in a day, roast an entire goat with one exhale, punch a man out of a window for complimenting her—but voluntarily offering help?
That was new.
And unsettling.
"Wait, you're actually going to help us?" Marcus asked, wide-eyed.
Anna didn't answer.
She stood at the base of the mansion's staircase, arms folded, gaze distant, like she was already regretting her life choices.
"I'm not helping you," she said flatly. "I'm helping me. Because if this town burns, I lose my library."
"…She makes a good point," Bam muttered.
"You're doing it anonymously, right?" Bob asked.
"Obviously," Anna replied. "If anyone asks, tell them a passing genius sorceress stopped by and dropped off several war-winning spells and left."
"I already like this story," Marcus grinned.
All across Border Town, the air pulsed with tension.
City guards and mercenaries ran through the streets, posting warnings, closing market stalls, evacuating the outer ring. Soldiers from the local garrison fortified walls and rooftops, dragging crates of arrows, enchantment stones, and boiling oil to the parapets.
Magic wards were hastily drawn around the gates, most of them likely to explode if touched incorrectly. Bob offered to "improve" them. The guards told him, very kindly, to please go away.
The townspeople were split.
Some packed up and fled before things got worse. Others stayed—either too stubborn to leave or too convinced the Mercenaries would somehow bungle their way into a solution.
"Are we really going to war over a shiny eyeball?" a butcher muttered as he locked up his shop.
"Against the Holy Empire, no less," his wife replied. "May as well just throw our shoes at them and hope for mercy."
"Sir Derek will solo them all," said a little boy near the bakery.
His father pulled him away instantly. "Shut the fuck up!"
As the sun dipped low behind the hills, the golden light bathed the city walls in orange fire.
And right on time, the thunder of hooves echoed once more.
Captain Volgas returned—flanked by a full column of clerics and knights, his silver armor glowing with enchantments.
From atop the gate, Mayor Joff stood flanked by guards and the Mercenaries, looking more exhausted than he'd ever been in his life.
Volgas called up without emotion.
"The time is past. Present the Arcane Eye. Now."
Derek stepped forward. "We don't have it."
Volgas didn't blink. "Then you will fall."
But before he could give the signal, Joff stepped forward, voice steady for once.
"Invading a city under the kingdom's flag over an unproven claim to a single artifact will be considered an act of war."
Volgas said nothing.
Joff's voice rose. "This won't end with us. You'll drag Athenea into a war it can't pray its way out of. The Kingdom of Utopia will retaliate. And there will be blood."
A heavy silence.
For a moment—just a moment—it looked like Volgas might reconsider.
Then he drew his blade.
"Faith does not bend to fear."
He raised it to the sky.
And the first light of magic ignited the night.
Fireballs streaked from the enemy mages.
Holy shields shimmered into place.
Catapults flung radiant stones that exploded on impact with thunderous force.
Border Town screamed to life as the siege began.
The Mercenaries of Mayhem launched into motion—Bob at the front with his massive shield, Derek right behind, sword in hand, Marcus on the roof loading a prototype crossbow that he wasn't entirely sure wouldn't explode.
And Bam?
Bam lit the sky with his first perfectly aimed inferno, grinning like a man reborn.
The Holy Empire had come expecting heretics and cowards.
What they got was a team of misfits, monsters, and maniacs.
The Siege of Border Town had begun.