They finally reached their destination, something that the Conquistador was so glad for. The trip had been so annoying to deal with, especially with the crying woman in his cabin. As tempted as he was to get her to stop by using his divine blessing, he chose to be merciful and not to do so. After all, she was a woman, one who was most likely so caught up with her worries that she failed to realize that the cook had only gotten a better chance at life.

In any case, it was about time to get out. He groaned as he opened the door and got off the wagon onto the silver grass that covered the area. With him came along all of his soldiers, all of them dressed up in their ramshackle armor and their different weapons, each of them moving with his command. He couldn’t help but stretch his body out, the armor that he had on was something that was somewhat uncomfortable. However, having something was better than having nothing at all, which was why he allowed to have such horrendous equipment on his body.

This would need to change once he had taken over this settlement, and the first thing he noticed was one of genuine interest. The walls weren’t giant like the walled village he attempted to take over previously, but there was far more work put into these defenses. For one, these were constructed with bricks and mortar, something that he had to give kudos for. Another was the creation of arrow slits as well as a giant gate that led inwards.

All of those bonuses were thrown out the window when he noticed that there were no warriors guarding the top of this structure. Right now, he could not see anyone with ranged weapons. Thus, he would need to mark points off. While this was something that was rather useful for him, it still was rather annoying that he couldn’t get anyone to open the gate.

He gave a little hum as he looked over the entire area. No, he couldn’t see anyone at all that he could use his divine blessing on. Well, time to figure something out.

He went back and opened the door to his wagon, looking at the woman that was shivering and tearing up still. A groan escaped him as he figured out something to say to get her to calm down, but ultimately he gave up on that. He simply did not have time for all of this, as speed was of the essence.

“You. Do you know a way to open the gate?”

She kept on crying, but she at least shook her head, giving clear indication that she was acknowledging his existence. Well, that was annoying. He certainly hoped for an easy solution to all of this, now was the time to figure something out.

He went back and looked at all of his troops, trying to figure out how to get up on top. While he could try to lay siege, that meant nothing when he would have to wait even more, again. Something he was absolutely not too keen on having under these circumstances.

Ladders would work. However, there were a few issues with that: the time to take to make a single one and the fact that they would then have to, again, set up camp. Tools would need to be unloaded, people would have to head out to obtain limber, and last but not least, they’d need to secure a food supply to have the workers fed for their due diligence. No, that would not be the way to go.

However… a human ladder…

He looked at all the warriors that he had. Come to think of it, some of them were rather tall, weren’t they? In fact, weren’t some of these made in a way that he could allow them to simply climb up?

Well, no other way to go about it. He looked over at all of them, before sending out a command.

“Begin grouping up into small teams. Some of you need to climb up the wall and release the gate controls to allow us in. Understand?”

He didn’t know if these monsters did, but the fact they all followed the first order was good enough. Some were doing so in groups of eight, ten, and twelve. Then there were the few outliers that simply set up with five in a squadron, at least until not a single one of his soldiers were standing by themselves.

Well. At least they had grouped up. He shook his head, before looking over all of them.

“Alright. You two groups,” he said as he jabbed his fingers at two random groups, “Start climbing the wall. If you are unable to, come back to this line. If you can, then start searching for the gate mechanism and pull open the door to let the caravan through.”

His fingers landed on a group of five and twelve respectively. The first one comprised a squadron of tall monsters, each of them with freakishly long and sharp claws with misshapen teeth. The other one was a mixture of different shapes, some of them being short and stubby, while others were hulking beasts with a good bit of muscle. Either way, he didn’t have that much faith in any of them succeeding, all of this was merely a test for further testing.

With that, they rushed towards the stone wall and began attempting to climb. To his pleasant surprise, some were actually successful, while others were completely pathetic. The first group were doing the climbing all without any problem at all, seemingly built exactly for this task. The others on the second half were mixed, with the hulking beasts achieving the task while the short and stubby ones failing to do anything at all.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Well, he did have to admit, the small ones failing wasn’t exactly a surprise. However, the rest achieving their goal was rather nice to know. If he ever needed to siege another town with defenses, he knew what kind of monsters to keep an eye out for.

In any case, they reached the top with ease. They started to split up, all of them searching for the gate mechanism he had alerted them of beforehand. The short and stubby ones stayed at the bottom of the walls, unable to assist in any way or form.

Oh, well. At least they did try.

“Get back information.” He informed everyone on the ground, “We may have to go onwards again.”

At his command, each of the monsters started to get back to the wagon, re-orientating themselves onto the carriages to get ready to move once more. The draft beasts got back in front to push forward, while the guards all went back into the cabins to keep an eye on the subjects.

As for the Conquistador? Well, he didn’t want to go back in with that crying woman at this time. He honestly had enough of that crying. In any case, he had to move the cook and her out of the wagon. He turned towards the short and stubby monsters from earlier. They were on the way back to the wagons, but that didn’t matter.

They still had a purpose to at this time.

“You lot.” At his words, the short and stubby ones froze, before looking back at him. He gave them a grin before gesturing towards his personal wagon.

“Move the people in there to another carriage. I wish to ride alone.”

They nodded at his words, before moving onwards. He could hear movement coming from the wagon, with the woman crying out even louder than before as the monsters dragged her out. They started to hoist her away towards another wagon, all while she fought against them. She kicked, she screamed, she pranced around. Yet, none of her movements changed the fact that she was being taken to another wagon.

The cook was carried out, though he did not fight at all. That was understandable, seeing as how his divine blessing had changed the man for the better. With all the miscreants taken out of his little wagon, he went ahead and got back in, before taking a deep breath and sighing in relief.

Finally. Some peace and quiet for once. The best part about all of this was the fact that the gates had opened at this point in time and with that, the caravan began to push forward deeper into this settlement.

What he found was rather impressive. Despite the earlier words on how this place was meant to be a rest stop for soldiers, he couldn’t help but wonder how that could be the case when there was so much work put in to make the area so appealing.

Every building was designed wonderfully and with care and focus. The bricks that made up each structure differed in color and shape. Some were even done to create different flowers and murals, something that spoke deep to his artistic soul.

Truly, these people were far better than the ones he had made into his subjects. If this was a mere example of what they could achieve with their hands, then imagine what they could do when given all sorts of metal. Armor so exquisite that any lord in España would burn in jealousy! Weapons so fine and powerful that they could cut down any monster with a single swipe!

Yes, this place could be the answer to his problems. In fact, he was sure of one thing: the woman and the cook did not lie. This settlement was everything he asked for and even more.

Yet, there was one thing that made him rather worried. Where were all the enemy soldiers that he was warned about? Where were the monsters that should have rushed the caravan, the beasts that did not think? Were there even any dangers remaining in this settlement.

Well, that was no matter to him. What was important was that they needed to find a place to set up a stronghold. A place to set up as a temporary base, a means to have a command structure to strategize and determine the best way to conquer this settlement for future endeavors.

So far, every building seemed like a possible choice. Though, while they were grand, they simply weren’t large enough to fit all of his men and the villagers, as well as the materials they had gathered. In any case, the caravan wasn’t being attacked, so there weren’t any worries at all.

That was his thought process for several minutes, at least until he spotted something that made him whistle and stop the caravan. Wordlessly, he opened the door of his wagon and got out, his eyes wide with joy and hope.

A giant building, just like he wanted. However, there was one thing that separated this structure from the rest: glass windows. Yes, this thing was a towering behemoth amongst its lesser, one that seemed to be tall and wide. There was plenty of space to set up shop and the brickwork wasn’t bad. While there wasn’t much artistic inspiration to this, the fact that they had stained-glass windows meant one thing: this place had style. It had class.

And it was his now.

With a wave of his hand, all of his soldiers started to exit the wagons, holding the villagers in their grip. Slowly, he started to walk up to the wide gated entrance, before opening the doors wide.

They all groaned and swung to reveal the inner chambers. He found himself staring at an empty room, one with a staircase that led up to the upper levels and a door that led further in to the complex. The light shining from the windows brought down a beautiful myriad of colors, something that made the whole sight seem nearly ephemeral.

Not to mention the way the interior was made! Madre de Dios, did they use marble? Whatever these craftsmen did, they managed to polish and shine every single last corner!

He couldn’t help but grin wide, before giving another whistle. With that, each of his troops began to move in a flurry of activity. They began unloading the wagons of the villagers and the materials, while a few others followed right behind him.

He grinned. With that, they headed towards the two different doorways.

It was time to explore their new temporary home.