From a camp on a hill, a group of humans watched as two seas of armored warriors collided with one another. Their jaws were clenched, their brows furrowed. The man at the front and center of the group slammed his fist on the table before him, scattering plans and writing utensils far and wide.
“Damn!” The man said, furthering the chaos of his table by swiping the surface clean with his arms. “Damn them! Subhuman garbage! Disgusting freaks! Swine!” His curses rained out in hordes as he pounded, kicked and threw nearly everything in his sight.
“Your Imperial Majesty, hope isn’t lost. Although the attempt to surround the demihumans was unsuccessful, our superiority in tactics and swordsmanship should be more than enough to push them from the territory.” A calm woman’s voice called out, and the man spun to face her.
“But the amount of men we will lose is astronomically larger, Lady Solvenya” His voice was much lower, much calmer. In fact, it was eerily calm in comparison to his visibly trembling body, and the veins which protruded from his head and neck like small and winding snakes.
“We may lose the men, yes, but the amount of territory gained will be more than worth it. All of that grassland that these foolish demihumans have squandered with their uncivilized and nomadic lifestyle.
“Your Imperial Majesty, you will have new land to till and grow crop, more mineral to excavate, more forest to raze. The decades of prosperity the Empire shall gain from the sacrifice of a few thousand men… It is a more than adequate exchange. This day will be remembered by mankind until the end of time. This battle will change history.”
The man’s shaking stopped as Lady Solvenya's soothing voice spoke more and more. His gnashing of teeth turned to a prideful grin as he reveled in self-satisfaction from her praise. He took a few deep breaths and then gestured at the scattered papers, inkwells, and quills, and immediately servants flocked to tidy the mess.
“Ah, but what a shame that so many good men shall die, that so many wives will be widowed and children orphaned.” The Emperor spoke, his voice rolling lazily, his face still uplifted with self-absorption. “For the good of the rest of the Empire’s population, we’ll simply have to press on, as painful as it may be.”
The Lady bowed slightly behind the Emperor. “Your Imperial Majesty’s magnanimity is truly praiseworthy. We are unworthy of such kindness from an Emperor of such importance as Your Imperial Majesty.”
The others in the camp joined her in lavishing empty praise and sweetened words, not to be outdone. Eventually, the Emperor was satisfied with their conduct and raised his hand. “That is enough. Send my command through the ranks, the last push is to begin. I want to see these mongrels out of my new territory by noon.” He commanded his servants and guards to attend him, and he began to retreat to the nearby fort.
After he left, many people exhaled, slouching slightly. Some of them even wiped sweat from their brow with a nervous chuckle. Others, like Lady Solvenya, were unfazed.
…
After another hour, the battle was still raging on. The demihuman warriors were significantly fewer in number, and those that remained standing were either wounded or exhausted. On the other hand, the remaining humans of the Empire were still fighting strong, and although they too had suffered losses, they outnumbered the demihumans by a large margin.
“It seems that this battle will be over soon, and with our victory, we will claim a massive territory for our Emperor.” A bearded and grizzly man said, his hardened eyes focused on the battle.
“Yes, yes, you are right, General.” A short and scrawny man said, in a voice soft and feminine, and slightly nasally. “The success here will be most beneficial to the Empire’s economy for the foreseeable future. Congratulations, Lady Solvenya. The Emperor surely will reward you greatly, for your helpful advice.”
Lady Solvenya laughed. “Thank you, Peter, you’re far too kind. Today’s victory will be one of His Imperial Majesty’s greatest accomplishments thus far.” She smiled brightly as she watched more and more demihumans fall. “They are all but doomed, now. There is nothing that can change the course of this battle at this point.”
Their conversation and even the battle itself was interrupted when an all-too-familiar dialogue box appeared in the vision of every single individual on the battlefield. It was a dark red, and the contents of it sent shivers down the spine.
Warning! A dangerous entity is approaching. Challenge Rating: Calamity. Warning!
The red dialogue box disappeared not long after it appeared, only for a new dialogue box to appear in its place. Unlike the first, however, was the fact that the content was different for some individuals. The humans all received the same dialogue box:
World Event “A Mother’s Rage” has begun. Main Objective: Defeat Yrlett or appease her anger. Challenge rating: Calamity
Meanwhile, the demihumans received a different version:
World Event “A Mother’s Rage” has begun. Main Objective: Appease Yrlett's anger. Challenge rating: Calamity
“Where is my child?! Who has taken my child from me?!” A distant voice roared. The roar was deep, grainy, and filled with rage as it echoed across the grasslands.
“Oh Gods, what was that?!” Cried Peter as he fell to his knees.
The general frowned, his bushy eyebrows furrowing as he stared off into the distance, watching the horizon. On that very horizon, in the direction that the Emperor had left from, a silhouette appeared. His eyes grew wide as he spotted it.
The stunned humans and demihumans watched in horror as it quickly grew larger and larger, until eventually the silhouette became clear. However, each of them had long since known what exactly was flying at them. Now, however, they could clearly make out the beautiful and menacing image of the enraged dragon that flew towards them. Its beautiful white scales glowed in the light of the setting sun, looking radiant and pure.
“Give me my child!” The dragon roared once more. The woman on the hill stepped towards the dragon, who now was hovering over the army, gusts of wind from its wings nearly toppling the warriors and soldiers. Imbuing her voice with mana, she called out to the dragon in an attempt to appease its anger.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Honorable and powerful Dragon, please spare us humble and feeble humans! We have no knowledge of your child, and we beg for your mercy.” She knelt, with her head lowered, and her clasped hands raised above her head. “We are but mere warriors, fighting in our trivial and foolish mortal war. We beg for your leniency.”
The dragon landed near the hill that the human elites were camped upon, causing the entire ground to shake. With a great roar, the dragon spoke again, “Humans?! You damned creatures are nothing but thieves and liars! This horde of foolish mortals are the only creatures both close enough and stupid enough to steal my child! Where have you taken them?! Return him to me!”
The woman began to tremble. “I beg of you, we know naught of your child. Please, mercy! The child is not here, and we don’t know where they are!” Her voice was ragged as tears fell from her face, her lip trembling.
“You think I cannot tell if my own child is here?!” the dragon roared, causing the woman to prostrate herself even more.
“Please, forgive my offense! I am a fool, a feeble-minded mortal!” she cried, burying her face in the dirt.
“Repulsive human, find my child, or I will burn your lands and kingdoms to the ground!” The dragon swiveled its head towards the demihumans and roared at them as well. “Lesser beastmen, if I find that one of you has stolen my child from me, I will extinguish your entire tribe before your very eyes!”
The demihuman elites were stunned, entirely silent as they trembled before the dragon’s wrath. A very old demihuman stepped forward and bowed while speaking with the same technique the human woman used, “Respected Matriarch, we demihumans will assist you in your search. Rest assured, we will spare no effort.”
The dragon huffed angrily and flew off once more, in its desperate search for its only son, leaving behind clouds of dust, and collapsed humans and demihumans alike, as well as a new dialogue box.
You have left the zone for World Event “A Mother’s Rage”. Please return before continuing Event Objectives.
After a short while, the commanders of both sides regained their facilities and called for a retreat.
“We need to find that dragon’s child immediately,” said Lady Solvenya, frowning. “The Empire’s very livelihood may be at risk.”
“Do you… Do you think the dragon will really hold us accountable even if we aren’t the ones who stole the child?” Peter was nearly whispering, as he rose from his knees in a puddle of piss. “Do you?”
Nobody answered Peter. They didn’t want to say yes, because they all wanted to believe otherwise, and to tell him no would make them little more than a naive fool or a liar. And so, nobody spoke. They merely gave the signal for a full retreat and waited till the army was prepared to march.
…
At the demihuman camp, the chaos had just subsided, but they were still fearful, incredibly so. In a large tent, the leaders of the various tribes were gathered.
“I say we round up the lot of them and search them all! If even a single idiot has stolen the Matriarch’s child, an entire tribe will be gone!” roared one of the tribe leaders. He was the least human-like of the group, with a lion’s mane around his head and his facial features more lion than human, claws and a tail. In comparison, the others were more human, their bestial facial features were not as prevalent as his.
“That is unnecessary, Garian. The Matriarch said Herself that the Holy Child is not here. If we are to do anything, we should return to our own respective tribes and search there,” said a woman of the Panther Tribe. The Lion Tribe leader simply scoffed in response as he looked away.
A wolf-like man opened his mouth and began to talk, “In actuality, there should be no need to search at all. It is clearly the humans who stole the Holy Child. We should band together and finish them off now while they flee!”
“Finish them off? Haven’t our tribes suffered enough loss and defeat on this day as is? Will you only be content when our warriors have been killed off entirely, and our tribes are left defenseless?”
The man from the Wolf Tribe frowned. “If we are careful with our tactics, we won’t suffer many losses. The humans are busy retreating, they won’t put up a full defense.”
“Lucius, that’s enough. We’ve lost too many as it is. The humans are retreating back to their Empire, they won’t return here as long as the Holy Child is missing. Perhaps the Matriarch will truly end up razing their lands,” the eldest of the group, an old and wizened male demihuman with wolf-like features, finally spoke up. In response, the other tribe leaders shut up. Lucius lowered his head shamefully, his tail lowering unconsciously with it.
“Those who are in favor of returning to their tribes, raise your hands,” the elderly demihuman called. A large number of hands went up. “And those in favor of assaulting the humans while they retreat?” The number of hands that were raised was significantly fewer, much to the pleasure of the Panther woman. “That settles it. We’ll be returning to search individually. Any suicidal fools who feel the urge to throw themselves at the Empire, feel free to do so on your own.”
Lucius crossed his arms and grunted, alongside Garian. Although both of them wanted to get back at the human Empire and were both hot-blooded and hard-headed, neither wanted to uselessly throw away the lives of their tribesmen.
…
A little child, perhaps five or six years old, sat happily in the back of a cart full of various flowers. He took in the sweet and floral scent that filled the air, something he hadn’t experienced before. The man driving the cart, who had no idea the boy had snuck into the cart, was humming happily as he rode along. The boy in the back swayed his head and shoulders to the tune with a smile plastered on his face.
Every time the cart hit a bump, the boy would giggle quietly as he was tossed into the air. The giggling was just barely quiet enough for it to go unnoticed by the driver, mostly thanks to the sound of the horse’s hooves.
After hours of this, the man finally saw a town surrounded by a wooden and stone fence in the distance. With a great sigh of relief, he urged the horse to go faster with his reins. Eventually, the man came close enough to see the System’s dialogue box.
Now leaving Wilderness. Now entering Kossuch Village.
The man smiled, relieved at the sense of safety he felt from being out of the wilderness. He came to a stop before the gate, greeting the men who stood guard there, “Hey there, Charles, James. See you two pulled the short stick today, eh?” he said with a chuckle and a smile.
The two men, who were already displeased before the man arrived, scowled. One of them walked up to the front of the cart to chat with the driver, while the other went around the back. “Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, old man. You got anything in there we should know about?”
The man shook his head. “Just some herbs for medicine and some flowers for the festival. No weapons or metals this time.”
The guard who went out back returned, confusion plainly evident on his face. He came to the driver and gave him a strange look, hesitating for a moment. “Since when have you got a kid, old man?”
“Hm? Kid? The hell you talking about, James?” the driver asked with furrowed brows. “I don’t have any kids.”
Charles glanced at James before going out around back, the driver joining him as he did so. They moved the sheet out of the way, peering into the dimly lit cart. Between the open crates of herbs and flowers was a young boy, dressed in very beautiful white silk clothing. He was fast asleep, dried drool on his cheek with a happy smile on his face.
The two guards looked at the driver, who was one part shocked and two parts confused. “You recognize him from anywhere, old man?” Charles asked. After a while, the driver snapped out of his daze.
“Where the hell…” He thought back to his previous stop, but failed to identify any point in time where he saw any children at all, let alone this one specifically.
James shook his head with a sigh. “Damn, old man. For your sake, I hope his parents aren’t anyone too important. They’re probably going crazy right about now. Fuck’s sake, just look at his clothing. Must cost a fortune."