THE LAGAIAN XII'S SOLDIERS RESUMED their patrol after the heavy rain. Vitus and Aurelius were in the legion's camp when they received a message from a crow that came not too long ago when a recon soldier hastily came in.

“Sir Vitus! Sir Aurelius!” the recon saluted.

“At ease. What’s going on?” asked Aurelius.

“The people of Traeux XII are evacuating here! They said they are being raided by hundreds of barbarians!”

Aurelius and Vitus came out of the camp and saw hundreds of Traeuxian villagers.

“Who's in charge here?!” asked Vitus.

“Optio!” A Traeuxian soldier stepped forward and saluted.

“What happened, soldier?”

“The barbarians came fast that we had no choice but to flee. As of this moment, the village is probably completely pillaged now.”

“Where’s your village leaders? Faustus? Emilia?”

“They stayed behind, Sir. With Julius and Quintus. Even the century that came from the Capital was no match.”

“Aurelius, we have to go there now.”

Aurelius analyzed the situation. If the words of the soldier just now were true, then they must mobilize as many soldiers as they could spare.

“Vitus, call the centurions of Cohorts VIII, IX, and X. We will send three cohorts to deal with the barbarians,” ordered Aurelius.

“What about the remaining cohorts?”

“I’ll leave you in charge of them. The message from the crow says that all Lagaian legions must patrol the exterior of the Capital and must not let anyone out. So call every remaining cohort and patrol the said area rather than the usual patrol zone. I also must go to the Capital as the emperor is requesting my presence.”

“Aurelius. I-I don’t know if I can lead these many men,” said Vitus.

“This is your chance now, Vitus. Cohort I need a proper centurion. I cannot be the legatus and centurion at the same time forever. Prove yourself and show that you can lead.”

Aurelius left immediately and entrusted Lagaian XII and Traeux XII in Vitus’s hands.

* * * * *

“I cannot believe we’ve just let the barbarians escape and destroy the whole Traeux XII just to help Raijin and the elves,” whispered Faustus who was hiding in a wagon.

“The villagers agreed anyway. Besides, everybody hates living on the border. Also, they get to live here in Lagaian XII for the meantime,” whispered Emilia.

“Let's just hope this is all worth it, Emilia,” whispered Julius.

“Hey, you guys agreed to my plan! And we’ll be leaving this empire anyway.”

The soldier who reported to Vitus and Aurelius came close to the wagon where the four leaders were hiding. “Sir Faustus. They're sending three cohorts back to the village. And the rest are patrolling the exterior of the Capital.”

“Okay. You guys stay here in Lagaian XII. We’re sorry for our selfishness. We even had to destroy the village.”

“Don’t worry, Sir Faustus. Sooner or later, we would have abandoned that village anyway. No one likes to be on the border. Those nobles and royalties have always treated us commoners like expendables. The first line of defense? More like first people to die until they could run and hide.”

Faustus looked at Emilia.

“N-no offense, Ms. Emilia,” immediately said the soldier. “You are one of the best royalty we have ever known. The late emperor Vitellius would be proud of you.”

“Thank you, soldier,” said Emilia. “We will be going now. Come on, guys.”

“May the great Aquillus guide you!”

Faustus, Emilia, Julius, and Quintus went out of the wagon and discreetly reached the Eagle Tower.

“Wait for my signal,” said Emilia.

As soon as the soldiers patrolling the tower entrance left, they rushed towards the tower.

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Emilia took out a key that was shaped like an eagle. Three turns and it opened the iron doors of the tower.

“Inside. Quickly,” she whispered.

As soon as everyone got inside, the tower's doors shut just in time before a guard came around.

“Woah...so this is what the towers look like inside,” said Quintus in awe.

“What are those levitating, glowing spheres?” asked Julius.

“Those are mana crystals. It will power the tower when activated.”

“What will happen then?”

“It'll activate a more powerful version of Testudo Lux that will engulf and protect the whole Lagaian XII. But we’re here for the eagles.”

The four of them began spiraling up the tower until they reached the roof deck where they saw the giant eagle statue up close. Near the statue was some kind of a horn.

“Oh, no,” said Faustus.

“What?” Emilia looked at where Faustus was looking. “Oh, no.”

“Legatus Aurelius. W-What are you doing here?” asked Julius nervously.

“I could ask the four of you the same thing,” said Aurelius.

Quintus gulped. “We’re...ah…going to the Capital.”

“That’s a lot of eagle riders out there,” said Faustus as he saw eagle riders encircling the sky near the Capital.

“Seems like there are certain people wreaking havoc at the Capital,” Aurelius looked at Emilia.

Emilia nodded.

Aurelius sighed. “You four do realize that once you all do what you are trying to accomplish, there's no going back, right?”

“Daisuke and his friends are innocent. We need to help them escape from this empire. And once that's done, we're dealing with my brother,” said Emilia with confidence.

Aurelius can sense the determination in Emilia's words. After all, she has been open with Aurelius ever since the day her brother Caesar was murdered. “We are not prepared for this, Emilia. For years, our military prowess has been all about numbers. Our strength declined to the point that one barbarian six months ago caused so much trouble.”

Emilia looked like she was disappointed. She seemed afraid that Aurelius would reject her objective.

”But perhaps change is really needed,” Aurelius continued, making Emilia smile and sigh in relief. ”We've expanded more than what our people needed. And most of our military are inside the Capital, only protecting the rich. It's time we change all that. Starting by freeing your friends.”

Quintus looked around. “What's going on?”

“We can do this, Aurelius. There is no better leader than you are. Yes, we need change, and you are the one that could make it happen.”

Aurelius smiled affectionately and let Emilia do what she thought was right. “Very well. I swore to protect you with all my life. And I will follow you more than anyone. Sound the horn, Emilia.”

Emilia brightly smiled. “Here goes nothing.”

* * * * *

The emperor went to the arena as fast as his golden eagle could take him. There he saw countless soldiers being defeated only by two men. A protective barrier set up by the Colossan magic users could not even stop the rage of Siegfried and Daisuke.

There were trees everywhere, beautiful cherry blossoms that Daisuke created to block the trap doors of the Colossan tigers.

“Nice thinking, Daisuke. I’m not fond of killing beautiful beasts,” said Siegfried as he hacked and slashed multiple soldiers at once.

Daisuke charged his right arm and let a tree grow horizontally towards a group of soldiers in testudo formation. “This is fun! Greatest military my ass!”

The people outside—commoners and nobles— slowly outnumbered the soldiers that were guarding the arena. They forced their way in and spectated on what was happening. Even the eagle riders got curious and watched the ensuing battle instead of looking for the escapees.

Soon, the arena was filled with an audience, cheering for the elf and barbarian. Even the emperor’s podium has been filled with senators, betting large amounts of money and property on who would win.

Daisuke soon noticed the audience. “When did it even start to get so loud and crowded up there?”

“That’s Colossans to you; so eager to watch people get their ass kicked. And stabbed. And beheaded!” Siegfried commented as he deflected arrows coming from the sagittarii, the Colossan archers.

Tons of soldiers poured in again from either side of the arena. But Siegfried and Daisuke dealt with them quickly.

Siegfried ran towards the soldiers near his side. With his blinding speed, he bursts towards the newcomers and quickly incapacitated them. His attack continued towards where the Colossan archers were, taking them out in the process.

The audience cheered and shouted Siegfried’s name.

Daisuke went to one of the cherry blossom trees he created and forced its roots to grow. The roots and ground went to the soldiers like a tidal wave and were sent up to the sky. The wave of root destroyed another side of the arena, taking out more archers.

The emperor was astonished. His military was no match to one power-user elf, and one barbarian with just two swords. From the crowd of senators, a legatus came to report the number of defeated legionnaires.

“My Lord, they have defeated one of the six legions of the Capital.”

The senators gasped and reacted. Some were in awe while others were in fear. Some smiled but tried to suppress it. Others cried and panicked and fainted.

The emperor looked blankly on the legatus. “W-Where are Aurelius and Commodus?!”

“They’ve just arrived, My Lord. They will be out shortly.”

“Shortly?! W-What are they waiting for?!”

“Umm, the announcement, My Lord.”

“Annou—unbelievable. I need wine.”

* * * * *

A few minutes earlier, Riku, Jack, Raijin, and Brunnhilde were still navigating the smelly sewers. Jack and Riku activated their power and magic, respectively, to illuminate the sewer with their glowing skin patterns.

“Hey, Raijin! We’re lost, aren’t we?” Riku complained.

“Should we go back? Maybe we missed the ladder,” said Brunnhilde.

“I think we took the wrong turn. The skinny guy said right, then left, right?” asked Jack.

“No. He said left, then right then pointed to the left,” said Riku.

“But that’s what we did! We went left then right then left. Still no ladder!”

“I think we should go back,” Brunnhilde suggested.

“Okay. Then should we go left first then right?” asked Riku.

“No. I think we went left just now, so we go right, right?” said Jack.

Raijin stopped walking. He then turned around and faced Riku, Jack, and Brunnhilde. “Yep. We’re lost.”