Chapter 1643 - 229 - Reaching the Limit (4)
I went back to the company after everything that had happened, expecting things to be busy as usual, but the moment I stepped inside, I quickly realized that the place was operating at an entirely different level of chaos compared to before.
Leonamon Company had always been busy, especially since the company had expanded into several different fields, but this time around, it felt like absolutely everyone had something that needed to be done immediately.
People were constantly moving through the halls, carrying documents, discussing plans, delivering supplies, checking reports, and occasionally rushing past me so quickly that I wondered whether they even knew where they were going.
It was a rather unusual sight for me, although I couldn’t exactly blame them for acting this way.
We were preparing for a war.
That alone was enough to explain why everyone seemed more anxious and overworked than usual, because when an actual war was approaching, there was very little room for people to sit around and pretend that everything would somehow work itself out.
Supplies needed to be prepared, information had to be gathered, weapons and equipment needed to be distributed, and countless other things had to be handled before the fighting actually began.
It was basically organized chaos, which was still chaos at the end of the day.
Dorothea had come with me as well, since I had specifically asked her to accompany me because there was something I wanted to discuss with her.
The reason I had asked her to work with me was because I wanted to make use of her position as the current leader of the witches.
Since Dorothea was currently the person standing at the top of the witches’ association, I wanted her to make use of whatever influence she had among the witches and convince them to contribute to the three countries during the coming war.
The idea itself was fairly simple.
Witches weren’t exactly the same as ordinary magicians, since their specialties generally revolved around forms of dark magic that had been forbidden by the Church.
Because of that, most witches were either wanted by the Church or forced to keep their abilities hidden from the public.
Their numbers were relatively small as well, especially compared to ordinary magicians, but the witches who possessed particularly powerful abilities were often associated with specific colors.
Those witches were considerably more dangerous than the average witch, and having even one of them on our side could make a noticeable difference.
Dorothea being their current leader made her position especially useful in this situation.
If she could convince the witches to cooperate with us, then we could potentially gain another source of powerful allies for the war.
The problem was that witches weren’t exactly famous for being cooperative.
The ones associated with colors were particularly difficult to deal with, since they tended to have their own personalities, ambitions, and ways of doing things.
Getting several powerful witches to agree on anything was probably harder than getting a group of stubborn nobles to stop arguing over money.
The ordinary witches were somewhat different, however, since most of them still followed the current leader.
That meant Dorothea at least had some influence over them, which gave us a reasonable chance of getting their assistance.
"I’ll try contacting the Red Witch," Dorothea said while looking thoughtful. "I think she’d make a very good addition to our forces."
"That would definitely help us," I replied.
Honestly, I’d be more than happy if she managed to convince another witch associated with a color to join our side.
Having another powerful witch participate in the coming war could only benefit us, especially since we’d potentially be fighting both the Empire and the Republic.
The more powerful allies we could gather before the fighting started, the better our chances would be.
After finishing my conversation with Dorothea, I continued walking through the company until I was approached by someone I hadn’t expected to see there.
"Leon," she called out.
I turned around after hearing the familiar voice, and my eyes immediately landed on someone I hadn’t expected to encounter at the company.
It was Martha.
I honestly hadn’t expected her to come here at all.
"It’s been a while," she said with a small smile.
It genuinely had been quite some time since I’d last seen her, and I hadn’t expected our next meeting to happen in the middle of everything that was currently going on.
I certainly hadn’t expected to see her again this soon.
"It really has," I told her while looking at her.
To be honest, I didn’t really want to see her yet.
That probably sounded strange, especially considering that I had no particular reason to dislike seeing her, but I wanted to meet Martha again after the war was over.
I wanted to see her when things had finally settled down and I could return to something resembling normal life.
She was one of the few people who could actually make me feel normal again, even when everything around me had become completely ridiculous.
Martha had always reminded me of my sister from my previous life.
They didn’t look alike at all, and there wasn’t really anything about their appearances that would make someone immediately compare them.
Their personalities, however, were eerily similar.
Sometimes the resemblance between them was so strong that I couldn’t help wondering whether Martha could somehow be the reincarnation of my sister from my previous life.
It wasn’t exactly an impossible idea, either.
After all, I was a reincarnated person myself.
If I could somehow die in one world and end up living in another, then I couldn’t exactly dismiss the possibility that my sister had experienced something similar.
Still, I was only somewhat convinced by the idea.
I didn’t have any actual proof that Martha was my sister reincarnated, and relying entirely on a feeling would have been pretty stupid.
If I convinced myself that she really was my sister and later discovered that I had been completely wrong, I knew I’d probably end up being more disappointed than I wanted to admit.
So for now, I kept the thought to myself.
"You haven’t been visiting our place anymore, so I was wondering what you’ve been up to," Martha said. "B-But it’s not like I’ve been particularly worried about you or anything."
She quickly looked away after saying that.
"It’s more that I thought I should come and see what you’ve been doing, since I heard that you’ve been preparing for the upcoming war."
She hesitated for a moment before asking, "Isn’t that right?"
"Well, yes," I answered.
The war had practically become common knowledge by now.
Even so, I hadn’t expected the news to reach Martha at all.
Then again, considering how enormous the situation was, I probably shouldn’t have been surprised.
When major powers were preparing for a war, information was bound to spread sooner or later.
People talked.
Rumors traveled faster than they probably should have.
Eventually, even people who weren’t directly involved would hear about what was happening.
That was simply how things worked.
"Well, I know this probably isn’t going to help much," Martha said, "but I prepared something for you."
She held out what looked like a small gift.
I looked at it for a moment before taking it from her.
"What is this?" I asked while examining the small package in my hand.
"Open it," she said, watching me with an oddly expectant expression.
I opened the package without hesitating, and what I found inside was something I hadn’t expected at all.
"A pendant?"
It was a rather simple-looking pendant, nothing particularly extravagant or expensive from what I could tell.
"It’s supposed to be blessed with good luck," she explained. "Although, I have a feeling it’s probably something you don’t really need."