Mid-December, by the Red River.
Several Feilie Army patrolmen carefully made their way along the riverbank.
Across the river were Rogues from the Queen's Army.
The two sides silently observed each other for a while, then turned and left.
Several miles behind them, cooking smoke curled above the town as soldiers began setting up pots to prepare breakfast.
A gray eagle flew overhead, the scenery below reflected in its pale golden eyes.
In a town more than a hundred miles to the rear, a Battle Mage in Middle Tier Mage Robe held a crystal ball between his hovering hands, enveloping it in magic to decipher the images recorded through a Scrying Eye.
As the gray eagle moved, the forests, river valleys, and military camps ahead came into full view.
Meanwhile, inside the Mage Tower's spacious conference room...
Numerous Elite Apprentices used spells to transcribe reports or observed and analyzed them, each carrying out their assigned tasks in an orderly fashion.
On the second tier of seats, Roland, Rosa, Lie Yi, Blaise, and Anquis, who had spent several months working overtime to establish new fields of study, had all gathered to closely follow this crucial battle that would shape the Kingdom's future.
"Atrelin's magical technology really is incredible!"
At the back of the seating area, Bona, the Kingdom's Prime Minister, occupied the lowest-ranking seat. Holding a thick stack of documents, he occasionally looked up at the conference room's large screen and voiced his heartfelt admiration.
Through the efforts of the Staff Headquarters' Elite Apprentices, the displayed images changed. Dense clusters of flag markers began appearing on the map, with red and blue representing the movements of enemy and friendly forces on the actual battlefield.
The troops were divided by affiliation into detachments ranging from a dozen or twenty men to scores