It was finally the day of the Grand Order meeting.

For that occasion, the Grand Order assembled in Fuera’s castle where a spacious conference room was reserved for them. There, every seat at the round table was taken aside one.

The atmosphere was stern and grim as the seated Grand Order members remained silent whereas another person stood behind each one of them. Among those people were Sara, Ren and Ophelia. Those three each stood behind the one who assigned them as their candidates for their positions.

Of the present six Grand Order members, two members were new faces as they had replaced the previous wind and earth mage of the group.

Lereon got up.

"Thank you all for coming today. I will take the initiative and start the conference as our captain would have most likely ordered me to do so otherwise." he stated.

"It’s been a while since we have all gathered at one place and I assume that some of you have the urge to catch up with the others, however, please refrain from unnecessary chitchat during the conference." he added.

No one in the room changed their expression.

"Good. I will now continue with explaining today’s topics. We will start with the official introduction of our new wind and earth mages. After that, we will give reports, in case, we have noticed something strange and noteworthy, and discuss necessary steps. If we’re done with that, it’s time for the main reason for today’s gathering..."

Some of the standing people tensed up.

"...The introduction of our hand-picked successors." Lereon concluded.

He fixed the posture of his glasses.

"But before we begin, there’s something to be pointed out. And it’s not just me who noticed it."

"..."

Olivia glanced at Lereon indifferently who, in turn, directed his gaze at the empty seat.

"Where is Ms. Waret?" he asked sternly.

"She died."

"?!"

Lereon and Zhen, who was silent all the time, widened their eyes extremely upon Elsa’s words.

"I’ll give a detailed explanation later." Elsa stated.

Elsa was calmer than they expected. After all, they knew about the connection between Elsa and Dura.

"Lereon, please continue." Olivia said.

"Y-yes..." he replied, still taken aback by the sudden news.

He nervously looked at the two new members who then, stood up.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Loram Laft, the new wind mage. I was mainly active in Stakew."

The first to make an introduction was the well-mannered Loram, a tall man with unruly and unkempt black hair. His eyes were sharp and had deep and dark eye bags under them. His body was lean, which was stressed by his tight black pants and his white shirt that he did not button up at the top.

"I am Eliza Bodeth, the earth mage, and I also came from Stakew. It’s nice to meet you."

Following him, Eliza made a short introduction while smiling politely. She had the height of a child but her long beige hair was already touching the ground. She wore a blue frilly dress, making her appear like a doll.

"Those two both possess a respectable and great reputation in their nation. They also possess the qualifying strength to earn themselves a spot here." Lereon explained calmly.

"I see."

Olivia smiled at them.

"I look forward to working with you." she said.

"Yes!" the two said firmly and simultaneously.

Lereon cleared his throat.

"Well, then. Let’s continue with the next agenda."

His gaze wandered to Elsa this time as he sat down like the others.

"I understand. I will proceed with my report first." Elsa announced sternly.

Thus, she began to tell the others about her encounter with Leviathan who killed Dura and Sylvia, who was initially appointed as Elsa’s candidate.

"U-unbelievable..." Lereon stuttered in disbelief.

"What a tragedy...!" Zhen mourned bitterly as he gritted his teeth.

"Leviathan...?" Loram muttered shocked.

"..."

Eliza could only look dumbfoundedly.

"Thank you for the report, Elsa." Olivia stated sternly.

She looked at her comrades.

"I suggest to take a small break from-"

"Let’s continue with the conference."

"..."

Olivia glanced over to Elsa who cut her off.

"Are you sure?"

She initially suggested a break with Elsa in mind.

"We, as members of the Grand Order, face opponents that other people could not hope to beat, meaning that our enemies are strong. Strong enough to kill us. In this case, Ms. Waret was killed by Leviathan, a stronger enemy."

"Deaths are unfortunately nothing surprising in our line of work so we cannot let our work get affected every time by someone’s death." Elsa added.

However, she was aching the most from everyone here.

"Understood."

What Elsa was indirectly trying to say was that they could mourn her death after the conference was over.

"Lereon?"

"Yes..."

He was still somewhat affected by the news but he tried to regain his composure for the meeting.

"Then, I will talk about the incident involving the Great Jungle and the mysterious deaths of villag-"

"We can skip that."

"?"

Lereon confusedly looked over to Olivia.

"Wh-what do you mean, captain...?"

"I will personally handle that matter so discussing it here would be a waste of time." she stated.

"..."

Agape, he stared at her.

"Leave her be, Lereon. Once she sets her mind on something, there’s nothing that could stop her." Zhen chimed in with a fierce glance.

Lereon sighed quietly.

"Does anyone else have something to say...?"

No one replied.

"Alright. Captain?"

He passed the word to Olivia.

"Based on everything that happened, there are only three matters we have to take care of as the Grand Order. First, Leviathan. Secondly, the Great Jungle incident. And thirdly, the village incidents." Olivia began.

"As I said, I will handle the Great Jungle and village incidents personally, leaving us with the Leviathan matter."

Everyone was tense.

"Leviathan is a fearsome opponent, whom Dura could not even scratch with the help of other strong mages. Therefore, we will hold a vote. Will we subjugate Leviathan or not?"

"If we do a vote, what will happen if it’s a tie?" Zhen wondered.

"My vote counts for two." Olivia responded without hesitation."

"Understood." Zhen accepted it immediately because she was their leader.

History showed them that Leviathan was still roaming in the sea even after teams consisting of multiple Grand Order members were dispatched.

That was why Olivia could not just bluntly ordered them to go and defeat it. After all, she did not know its ceiling.

She did not want to send her comrades to their graves against their wills.

"Who wants to subjugate Leviathan?"

Thus, the voting began.

"..."

Three people raised their hands.

"Lereon, Zhen and Loram." Olivia said.

"Ms. Sunoma... Don’t you want to take revenge...?" Lereon asked.

He was sure that she would raise her hand, too, due to her personality and personal history with Leviathan.

"You can’t understand if you hadn’t faced it in person...!" Elsa muttered.

Just thinking about the event again made her shiver.

"I will be honest with you all... Even if we were to combine our entire strength, we would still all die." she said anxiously as she broke into a cold sweat.

"I apologize but I can’t believe that we could fail. There’s no way for a creature to exist that is unbeatable." Lereon disagreed.

Although he was surprised that Elsa, the number two, said something like that, he could not help but talk back.

"And even if our strength is apparently not enough, what if we include our candidates? They aren’t candidates just for show. Each one of them possesses the strength or the potential to stand on equal footing with us."

In other words, it was as if the Grand Order doubled its members.

"!"

Many flinched once Elsa punched the table.

"Lereon... Didn’t you hear me...?"

Her gaze turned sharper and more threatening.

At that moment, Olivia also got up.

"Elsa-"

However, the tension in the room dispersed when someone knocked on the door.

"Zack? Wendy? Did you knock on the door?"

Olivia previously assigned those two to guard the room during the conference. Furthermore, Olivia thought that she told them not to disturb them unless there was a major emergency.

The door creaked when it was opened.

"Why are you all wasting your time discussing an enemy, whom you can’t beat, instead of an enemy, who’s beatable...?"

Everyone at the table narrowed their gazes to the person, who was about to enter the room. Even the candidates, who did not introduce themselves yet, readied themselves.

"Even now, you’re aiming your hostility at the wrong person. Have you all gotten your priorities wrong?"

Some of the Grand Order members and candidates widened their eyes. Especially, the Rostanta siblings.

"What are you doing here...?" Olivia asked flabbergastedly.

Standing there, was a young man, whose white shirt was stained with blood. On his face and hands were also blood which, however, turned dry and was not washed off yet.

His gaze was piercing and his tone cold.

"Weren’t you the one to invite me to this?" he remarked with a small sigh.

The person took one step forward but then stopped.

"Everyone, stop!" Olivia commanded.

"..."

He remained unfazed despite having weapons and magic pointed at his face by the candidates and the new members.

"Who are y-"

"Stand back!"

Olivia raised her voice.

"C-captain...?"

Loram sheepishly turned around to her.

"He’s..."

Her palm was covering a part of her tired face.

"He’s Mika Elbar. One of my candidates."