Gate: Thus, the Kovenant Empire fought there.

To the Saderan capital

Conrad stood alongside Lieutenant Skrosamzy as the 87th Corps made ready to proceed with the plan. They had been engaging in talks with the JSDF for some time already and though they have never officially agreed, the JSDF command has made it clear that they won't be doing anything unless they get express orders from the Japanese government, this was good, while it wasn't an outright confirmation of the Japanese agreeing to the Kovenant's proposals, it was a pretty good indicator as to the behavior of the JSDF. They are a passive force, one that will not act without orders from the top. It is an armed force that will not risk unnecessary escalation of tensions beyond what is deemed necessary by the state and given the display of power the Kovenant had put up with their tech, as well as beating back Saderan forces, it is obvious to the JSDF that these are not people to be crossed.

Skrosamzy turned to his men.
"Right, 3rd Platoon, get ready for action, we'll be making a rush for the Saderan capital."

Conrad walked up to him.
"Are we going to go ahead with the plan?"

"Ja, Conrad." Skrosamzy checked his rifle one last time and looked at the sky, then back to the Platoon.
"High command has just authorized a general push towards the Saderan capital, the 87th corp is to be the main body of the forces taking part in the operation, our objective is to get the Saderan government scared, destroy a few pre-determined enemy positions along the way and cut off the capital from the rest of the Empire, with the end goal of getting Emperor Molt to abdicate."

Luna scratched her cat ears.
"To let Princess Piña take the throne I assume, I hear the guys back home have cut some kind of deal with her."

"Ah!" Jonas exclaimed, snapping his fingers.
"So, regime change?"

"Ja seems like it, bro." Dian said. She lit up another cigar, the first of many for this day.
"So how are we gonna do this, Lieutenant? Armored rush into the city streets? Occupy as many towns as possible?"

Skrosamzy cleared his throat. "Not necessarily all of them, merely the ones that directly precede the Saderan capital, that way we can cut the entire city off and use drones to cover any potential blind spots. If we wanted to we could make a rush for Rondel as well, however given the goal of our operation, we're going to bypass the city of magic and learning... Capturing Rondel or any other Saderan city confers no strategic advantage to our goal of regime change, the senate and the Saderan government are all in one place."

Bruno walked forward, standing alongside Conrad and the lieutenant.
"Lieutenant, General Engel has given us a very special task."

"What is it?" Skrosamzy asked.

Bruno rubbed his chin, as though composing a good set of words.
"General Engel wants us to take Lelei with us to go ahead of the formation, she's sending entire companies ahead to secure key roads and bridges, but we have a special task, General Engel wants us to investigate an area very close to the eastern side of the Saderan capital, she says there's an energy spike there that she wants us to investigate before the rest of the force gets there, with any luck its an anomaly, if it turns out to be a person, we have Lelei to serve as a mediator."

The squad heard footsteps coming from behind them, they saw that it was Lelei, still in the same clothes as always, she had a calm expression on her as she took in a deep breath.
"Greetings Sir Skrosamzy, it is an honor to see you again, do you still remember me? I am Lelei, a student of magic and I was told that you needed me as a local guide."

"Ah, good morning Lelei, dont worry we all remember you from our first encounter, but since you aren't one of my soldiers you can simply call me Skrosamzy, I don't want to treat you as another one of my soldiers."

Lelei gave a nod, clutching her staff tighter. She then pointed over in the general direction of the Saderan capital and said.
"As I understand it we're supposed to conduct some kind of special investigation, correct? In that case, I recommend that we take an alternate route, there's a less well-known road that is covered by thick forests, it'll be enough to mask the movement of a few hundred troops at the very least."