Chapter 612: Too Naïve

"Our enemy this time is quite impressive," Killian mused.

Hearing the nonchalant tone he was speaking in, both Charlotte and Christina were a bit frustrated with how this old man was acting in the face of such a massive threat to the kingdom, and that irritation was beginning to show on their faces despite their best efforts to hide it.

Noticing this, Killian just laughed, "Oh you two, you’re still far too naïve."

"And what’s that supposed to mean," Charlotte snarled.

Licking a bit of sauce from his fingers, Killian shrugged, "Don’t tell me you two still haven’t figured out why so few people have been involved in the planning of this operation? Why, despite barely being an adult, Christina was sent here to help coordinate the upcoming assault? Why we haven’t taken any further actions against this enemy over the past 2 months despite knowing the locations several of them are operating out of?"

Even having it laid out so plainly, it took the two younger women a moment to understand what Killian was talking about, a genuine look of shock appearing on their faces as Christina muttered, "You suspect there are traitors helping the enemy operate and stay hidden in the country?"

"And they can’t just be low-level officials or minor nobles," Charlotte scowled, "Only people with real power would be able to pull something like this off."

"En," Killian nodded, "You understand now, right? We’re not just fighting external enemies; we’re fighting internal ones as well."

"No wonder..." Christina muttered as a number of things she had been wondering about suddenly made sense.

After the Sabre Point incident, Celestina and Allina had clearly been working on something, giving out orders to move equipment and personnel without any kind of explanation.

Lucas had also been called away by their Master a lot more frequently than he had during the first half of the year. The excuse had always been that they were checking out the progress of the various projects he was working on, but that never quite seemed right to Christina.

If all Celestina wanted was an update, Lucas could have delivered that to her during their training sessions, in the comfort of her office, or when she came over for meals, there was no need for them to specifically go to the different shops, factories, and research facilities that had been set up in and around Misty City.

Now, it seemed obvious that this was all an elaborate kind of cover, one that let them work on and coordinate this operation in secret.

Christina suddenly felt a bit frustrated learning this. She knew that despite being involved in this anti-terrorism operation from the beginning, some things were still being kept from her, but she never imagined the scope of information being withheld was still this large.

Charlotte was feeling even more upset right now, not just because she was being kept mostly in the dark, but also because she knew several other Commanders in the Piercing Sword Legion were totally unaware that this operation was still ongoing, which could only mean one thing.

"Are members of our Family also being suspected of treason, Sir?" Charlotte asked pointedly.

"Isn’t that obvious?" Christina scoffed.

"Are you trying to imply something, Princess?" Charlotte snapped back.

"Alright alright, enough you two," Killian cut in before a fight could break out, "It’s not just our family, it’s everyone."

Turning his eyes to Christina, the old man followed up, "Even members of the Royal House are being watched right now, am I right?"

Pursing her lips, Christina reluctantly nodded.

She may not know which of her relatives was under suspicion, but she knew there were at least some as her Mother Marianne had gone out of her way to emphasize she was not to discuss this with anyone who wasn’t authorized, not even her aunts, uncles, or older siblings.

There was a rot growing in the Rockwell Kingdom, one that had remained under the surface, carefully avoiding detection for many years, so it was impossible to easily determine just who was friend and who was foe.

"We have to make sure we get all of these bastards this time," Charlotte growled, anger apparent in her voice.

"That’s unlikely," Killian shook his head, "The enemy is too well dug in. A couple of raids, no matter how wide-spread, aren’t going to be enough to dislodge them or make them give up."

"Does that mean we’re going to have to keep doing this? Forever?" Christina voiced her frustration.

Tilting his head slightly, the old General asked back, "What makes you think this kind of battle in the shadows ever ends? Even if we deal with this threat, there will always be another waiting to take its place."

Seeing the pair of stunned looks before him, Killian was also confused for a moment before recalling a simple fact, "Right, you two wouldn’t remember what it was like in the lead up to the last war."

For all her character flaws, Killian would have to admit that Charlotte was excellent at her job. She may have been a bit easily offended and a bit quick to judge, but when it came to keeping the Piercing Sword Legion’s resources and equipment in order, she had always performed admirably.

On the battlefield, Charlotte had also shown commendable bravery and sound strategic judgement; it was really only when it came to minor matters that were of little consequence that she tended to make mistakes.

In other words, she was both capable and professional when it came to work, but a bit of a mess in private.

As for Christina, Killian had been repeatedly impressed with her performance these past few days, both in terms of her dedication to her duties and to the flexibility of her thinking.

She may have been mischievous, even a bit irreverent at times, but she was, overall, an amazing young woman and officer.

But, the outstanding abilities of these two had made Killian forget for a moment that they were still quite young. Charlotte, for example, was just 101, which would make her and old woman if she were a mortal, but as a Spirit Initiate who would likely live over 300 years, it barely made her an adult.

These two also hadn’t experienced the true horrors of war and the utter depravity and madness that came with conflict on that kind of scale.

Killian, on the other hand, was a veteran of several such conflagrations, but even with all the experience and wisdom of nearly 400 years of life, there were still some memories he had of those wars that caused him to shudder and recoil in fear.

Compared to those nightmare-inducing moments from the past, the current situation didn’t really seem that bad to him.

That was the real difference between him and his two dinner partners, and why despite there being so much friction and tension between the Roth and Balfour Families, when it really came down to it, they would still cooperate seamlessly to push back against threats to the kingdom.

Several minutes passed like that, with Killian casually eating while Charlotte and Christina recovered; eventually, however, the young princess declared solemnly, "If there are that many targets we need to deal with, our current plan won’t work."

"As much as it pains me to do so, I have to agree with Captain Christina here," Charlotte nodded reluctantly, "There’s no way we can hit that many targets on our own without a substantial buildup of troops."

"En, that’s what we’ll be discussing over the coming days," Killian nodded, "We have to find some way to do a massive, coordinate strike on over 1,000 targets across the entire kingdom without tipping-off an enemy that is already on high alert after the last set of raids we conducted."

"And, how do we do that?" Christina asked, though she already knew what her uncle was going to say.

Sure enough, Killian just shrugged while ordering another steak, "I have no idea."