The two of them spent several hours alone, underground whilst the four servants guarded all four sides of the ziggurat.

Though they were silent, cold, and stoic from the outside, they were in deep discussion mentally, excited like children at the prospect of having a new sister joining their ranks.

'What do you guys think the newest sister would be like? Is she still human? Or maybe she evolved to something else? Will she be a monster?' Thuk exclaimed, instantly firing a series of questions.

Amongst Aiden's official minions or 'Servants', as he referred to them, he was the newest, having basically zero knowledge about Aiden's family. Though the rest of the group also had limited interaction or knowledge, he hasn't even met Lily, his only experience came from his brothers.

Even his interaction with Galina was very limited and was mostly before he evolved, and then they were standing at two different sides. historical

To be honest, in Thuk's mind, Galina wasn't a servant like them, but more like the Young Masters that accompanied his Lord on his travels in the other, ugly world. He felt inferior to her and to them.

A loud, boisterous guffaw filled their shared mental channel as a direct response to his questions. The rough, guttural voice of Roas echoed in all of their minds.

'[Orc] Ahahaha, Little Thuk, I always forget that you are still rather new and clueless on most matters related to the Master.'

'[Goblin] Brother Roas is right, even if he is rather a blunt.' Glohn joined into the discussion, hitting a stricter tone with Roas before his tone eased, warmed up as he responded to the little lizard. 'You see, the one down there with Master is his teacher and the one he often thinks of as his 'Mother' figure.'

'But..' Thuk asked with the same enthusiasm and excitement in his voice as before. 'What do you guys think she looks like? How is she? Kind or Cold? Gentle or Rigid? Good or Bad?'

At first, none of the three could provide a satisfactory answer to the little lizard. Truth be told, neither of them knew the old Number 3 that much. At most, Master talked about her a few times. They hadn't got any real experience with the woman, everything they knew was superficial and they were keenly aware of that.

After some awkward silence, Roas's voice came eventually.

'[Orc] Well.. To tell you the truth, we don't know either. What we know about her is that the Master values her, treasures her just as the same as he thinks, and cares about the Young Mistress Lily. She is just as important as the half-elven girl.'

'[Goblin] However, unlike the Young Mistress, our young master always referred to her as 'Master'. She was-' Glohn added, but before he could finish, Gob's voice came, interrupting his explanation.

'[Goblin] She IS, not was, Teacher!'

'[Goblin] Yes, sorry for that little Gob.' Glohn corrected himself with a light chuckle. 'She IS our Young Lord's teacher, but at the same time, she is also something much, much more. She is somewhat of a parent, an elder figure to him. Just for that matter alone, neither of us knows how to handle, or treat her when she joins.'

'[Orc] To be honest, it just doesn't feel right to treat her as a simple sister.. She is the Young Master's elder, who was forced to join because there was no other way to save her life.' Roas added with a frowning tone. Though he liked to refer to himself as the first, the Eldest of them all, in truth they all treated each other equally, he was just the one with the most knowledge, quickly followed by Glohn in most matters.

Yet, with the newest addition, he or for that matter, they all felt confused and slightly bothered even. How should they treat the new lady when she comes back? Would she be the new leader, the new boss? Or rather, would she be a loner-type? Someone that would seclude herself and refused to interact with them?

'[Goblin] We are also clueless about what she would actually become. As you know, she was actually a human before the Young Master fused an empty core into her body. That feat alone was something that was never done before, not to mention that it actually turned active and directly pushed her body towards evolving! That normally should be impossible.'

'[Orc] Yes, we have no idea what she would actually become? Would the origin of the core affect her development? Turn her into somewhat closer to the origin beast? Or would she turn into something else?'

'[Goblin] Don't forget the Young Master! His power could also influence his path, just like it did with all of us!' Gob added, reminding his brothers about this almost forgotten fact.

'So.. She could turn out to be anything?' Thuk asked, ending up with even more questions than before. Turning towards the direction of where his Master and the newest life force could be felt, he sighed. 'At least, she didn't turn out to be hostile.. yet. Also.. her power is very similar to Masters..'

'[Goblin] That is true..' Glohn commented, joining and sighing as well before returning his attention to the assigned task at hand.

—

In the vast expanse of the barren wastelands stretching all around the Empire's perimeter, a city of tents could be seen dotting the landscape only a couple of hundred miles away from Higrove.

A literal sea of dark red tents with white stripes covered a large landmass. An endless mass of human soldiers could be seen guarding the perimeters, sitting around the tents, resting, and just lazing around.

Then again, a bit deeper as if another section of the tent city, a cordoned sub-section of much more grandiose tents could be seen. Even the guards that stood guard were much more disciplined, they seemed much more fierce, radiating the coldness that matched those of hardened through decades of killing.

In the tent, that stood at the very center of this subsection of the tent city, 6 older-looking figures could be seen surrounding a small map sprawled out on a table.

There was a tense silence inside the yurt, all 6 of these elderly officers, commanders of this army focused on the map, trying to analyze the information they have received over the past couple of days.

The map they were so focused on, was actually a detailed top-down display of the city of Higrove! The map was incredibly detailed including crucial information about the various entrances with Guard shifts and patrol routes.

The map even had several 'unofficial' entrances marked as well, with detailed information about the potential risks, and chances of being spotted by any of the nearby patrols.

"This is pointless Dorian!" One of the officers, a bald man with a light brown stub of a mustache adorning his face, spoke up with an annoyed tone, breaking the lingering silence. Him being the tallest and from a first glance, the strongest in terms of muscle mass held quite the intimidating presence amongst the rest of his peers.

He pointed his large index finger on the closest, eastern gate as she vented. "Why are we so scared anyway? They are nothing but a bunch of weaklings, with no real army to defend them! Why are we even debating such intricate plans?! We should just go and overwhelm them with our numbers!" He shouted.

---

AN: Hey there Readers!

Just a friendly reminder, that from wherever you are reading , you can reach out to me using any of the below methods!

For you, sailors of the seventh sea (non-WN readers), be a bro/gal and throw me a cup of joe, show your appreciation!

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/shaele