Suikoden VII

Chapter Five: Part Eight

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Chapter Five: Part Eight

David sent out the summons for an emergency meeting. Astraea and Dawa arrived first to war room, followed by Sigrun, Denzel, Vahan, Ferdinand, Musashi, Kerime, Richard, Viktor, Regulus, Lambert, and Zerase. Everyone wore grim expressions as David made the announcement. "The Magic Guild is moving against us."

Murmurs of shock broke out across the war room. Sigrun stepped forward. "Is it the entire Guild?"

"Yes," Richard confirmed, his tone grim as he held up a letter. "I still have contacts in Honigmilch and they sent me a warning. Lady Norma has commanded all 700 members of the Magic Guild to advance upon us and attack."

"The Magic Guild," Regulus said thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "Your Magic Guild has an impeccable reputation. We've tried to replicate it in the Alliance but it doesn't match the scale or might of Zelant's Guild."

"This will be problematic," Vahan said, looking around the war room. "The Magic Guild's war units will naturally have an emphasis on magic and rune archery. Most of our units are calvary or infantry focusing on physical might. Calvary units are naturally weak to magic units."

"This is most likely why King Franz has sent them against us," David said. "This is also most likely a test of Lady Norma's loyalty, if from what I heard what happened in Potsfurt to be true."

Astraea quickly glanced at Dawa, but her expression was unreadable. "Pray, what happened in Potsfurt?" Regulus said, looking amused.

"That—" Astraea began.

"Brendan arrested one of the mages of the Guild and Lady Norma personally intervened to take custody of her," Vahan supplied.

"Yes, and now that same mage is leading the vanguard," Richard said, examining the letter.

"What?!" Astraea exclaimed.

David took the letter from Richard and examined it. It was clear he had already read it but seemed to be looking for anything he may have missed. "Ah...yes. They confirmed that the mage leading the vanguard unit is someone named "Primrose"."

Astraea looked at Dawa, and the color had drained from her assist's face. "That will be a problem," Sigrun said, though she was giving a sideways glance to Dawa. "Primrose is one of the elite mages of the Magic Guild. I've heard she wields a Mother Earth Rune and a Magic Absorb Rune."

"Correct," Dawa said, her tone dark.

"Anything else?" Astraea said, struggling to keep her tone neutral.

"Amongst the unit leaders is another mage named Flissa," David said, looking up. "Does anyone know her skill set?"

"The name sounds familiar," Viktor said, frowning.

"I think she wields a Flowing Rune," Dawa said.

"We're going to need to be careful with our strategy," Astraea said, looking around the room. "I have the True Wind Rune and I'm Commander of the Reformation Army, so I will lead the vanguard into battle against them. We cannot let them reach the Old Capital under any circumstance."