At the same time, high above the clouds over the battlefield, a peculiar group was chilling on a massive flying island while sipping tea in a lounging room inside the singular building atop the island.

Melroy was the only one who did not have a cup of tea in his hands.

Instead, he had a trio of maids standing around him beside a table on the side, massaging his back, legs, and arms while he groaned in satisfaction as their hands roamed over his ripped frame.

"Ahhh..." he sighed deeply. "That’s the spot."

It was certainly odd.

A figure of his power definitely did not need such things to loosen his muscles or anything of the sort. His physique had quite literally reached the peak of what existence in this world could realistically achieve, which meant he was only doing all this for the sake of it.

This point was only proven by Miss Fenrir’s exasperated sigh as she put her empty teacup down.

A servant quickly refilled it, and she picked it up again, taking her time to enjoy the sweet scent of the fragrant moonflower tea leaves, which cost hundreds of gold coins per leaf.

"I will never understand some of the things this insufferable human does sometimes," she said as she looked at Melroy, taking a small sip of her tea.

"I can’t understand you lot’s obsession with tea either," Melroy countered without opening his eyes.

Noctis and Xavier, who were also sitting individually on the other plush couches, chose to remain silent and stay out of the banter.

After a brief exchange that ended with no clear winner, Fenrir redirected the conversation elsewhere.

She looked out across the length of the floating island through the glass panels that gave them a generous view of the outside.

"You really have to give credit where it is due. Taegen and that old drunk Ursas really outdid themselves with this one. A flying island? Really?" She couldn’t seem to be able to believe her own eyes as her gaze took in the view.

Xavier nodded his head in approval.

"Indeed. Ursas, in particular. His skills never cease to amaze."

Taegen, the elven monarch’s voice, suddenly came from a panel on the side. "I did more work than that bastard, you know. All he did was draw up the design, then leave most of the actual creation to me."

The group of four inside the lounge all burst into laughter.

"The old bat put you through the wringer, huh?" Noctis smiled. "That does sound like something he would do."

"And then he up and decides to leave the fighting to us," Fenrir added lightly.

"Well," Noctis continued, "he did say he is working on finding ways to make the island bigger and autonomous, so that our friend Taegen doesn’t have to be stuck in the cockpit all the time like now."

Melroy shook his head in defeat at that.

"I bet my lucky stars that he is drinking his ass off right now."

Taegen grunted in annoyance through the communication device all the way from the cockpit.

"You know," Noctis began, "if Ursas does succeed, which he probably will, perhaps we should move the academy for the young ones onto the island."

"What a lovely idea!" Fenrir exclaimed. "And maybe build a city around it too."

Xavier nodded.

"The young ones would very much like that."

Noctis nodded as well.

"My boy is still indignant with me since I told him he was too young to fight in the war a few years ago. Perhaps this would appease him somewhat if we moved their academy onto such a fantastical island."

Melroy nodded.

"And I have been wanting to suggest opening the academy to the common people instead of keeping our tradition of an elitist academy. There are many diamonds in the rough that we pass on every few decades."

Xavier’s eyes narrowed, "Are you sure, my king?"

Melroy shrugged as he excused the trio of maids and stood to his feet.

"I don’t see why not."

"Won’t that dilute the quality of our education system?" Xavier asked.

Noctis chimed in.

"That is not the point, Xavier. Though that may be true to an extent, talents will always shine through, regardless of how those around them may turn out. And this will also be a nice challenge for them."

He paused slightly.

"If anything, this war is a good indication of where this so-called education system of ours stands. Most of our average warriors and mages are just that... average, because they never received proper instruction. You can clearly see the difference between them and our noble academy graduates. The disparity is far too obvious. If not for that, perhaps we would have won this war years ago."

During this time, the academy was an elite institution located on a small patch of land along the elven, human, and beastmen’s shared border near the centre of the world. It was only for noble children, and they were enrolled there from a young age.

In Elion’s time, the age of entry had been adjusted to make room for the growing number of enrollments each year. Eventually, the overload had reduced a bit after a couple more academies were established, that, and the few ones that had already existed before, but the rule was never changed again.

A brief silence settled over the room as they all fell into thought. That was, until Melroy finished putting on his coat and broke the silence.

"In any case, it seems most of us are in agreement over changes for the future. But first, we have a war to win."

He grinned.

"It seems everything is in place. Alexander and Elion have started moving, so we should take our positions as well."

The others nodded.

"But we have a bit of a problem," Melroy added. "We may have traitors among our ranks."

"The reports from the past week, you mean?" Noctis asked.

"Yes."

"And yet you decide not to change our plan?" Fenrir complained.

"Well, my son and our dear hero suggested that we play along, so why not do just that? I doubt a traitor will change anything at this point in time. As long as we do everything right, we should be fine, and it’s not like the demons are the only ones with insider information."

Noctis scoffed.

"You trust that young prince of yours far too much."

Melroy laughed deeply.

"And that is why your son resents you for keeping him out of this war while others of his generation fight for their people."

Noctis’ expression soured. He grit his teeth slightly.

"I didn’t want to do that either, but you know my clan and bloodline is in a difficult situation. I can’t risk his life for a war he can’t contribute much to. He only just became a novice mage, and back then, he was only an apprentice mage. He wasn’t even in his teenage years."

Melroy nodded.

"I am only teasing you, dear friend. I would never question the good intentions and plans you have for your own child. And Alexander is older than Lucius by quite a few years, so he is far more prepared to take part, if only a little."

He waved the matter aside.

"Depressing matters aside, Taegen, I believe you have the coordinates for our next stop. We shall head there immediately."

His grin sharpened.

"I assume that bastard demon sensed our presence the moment we entered his territory. Let’s have him give chase for a few days before we finally confront him in battle."

"Aye aye..."

Taegen’s voice came through the communication panel once again as the island slowly began moving outside.

A moment later, it zoomed across the sky at an impossible speed. It was a great wonder how a monstrous rock of that size could fly so fast, completely unimpeded.