Demon continent Alsace in the year 291 in the month Asmodum on the 23rd day after the shattering of the empire

In the course of the day or tomorrow at the latest, they should reach Kirra provided there were no more attacks like the momentary one.

He had everything insight from a place under the ceiling of the wagon and watched the fight. He had come to his elevated position thanks to Lerna, the snake who had been living with them in the wagon for several months.

She was clearly friendly to him, but she did not talk to him or communicate with him in any other way. The only thing he knew was that she would protect him and that she did not want to harm him, Sia, or Sappho.

While this was going through his mind, he was watching the fight that was going on outside.

The scouts of the group had found traces of wandering undead a few days ago. A danger that was increasing day by day the closer they got to the front.

A conflict, which he had not yet fully understood, which was due to a lack of explanation. Like the problem that he could not simply ask highly political questions and discuss them together with Sia and Sappho.

An undead demon bumped against the carriage, he looked with his senses to see if anyone would notice if he put this one undead out of his misery, no one could see this one undead. As an Arcane user of the mind, his only weapon against the undead was telekinesis. Now would come the moment of truth, was his core only as big as his possible level ten core, or was it something more. After another quick check, he crushed the undead's head, making it look as if a club had finished it off. At the same moment, he could see through his mental map that the undead lost its undead life and released the arcane energy stored in it. The undead slumped against the side of the cart.

Well, it hadn't been a high-level undead, just an animated corpse, but even that could mean trouble for a level one user of whatever Arcane Energy. He concluded that he had already made up for the use of arcane energy. Which was good, because there was already a lot more undead coming towards the wagon with him in it and no demon far and wide as well as no trace of Sia or Sappho.

He would have to help himself, the good thing was, he was in the wagon and in this also still under the cover. Which should make it sufficiently difficult for the undead to reach him, of course, they could sense him, as they can sense all life. That was the nature of the undead, but the same was true for the living. Places of the undead provide a natural reaction of rejection and falseness. Since they were in the eyes of Yasamaq an insult against him, with which they are considered by all races as a mortal enemy.

Which is all quite useful when fighting the undead, as well as knowing their weaknesses. Unfortunately, not all undead or only those of a certain degree have a mind, which you could confuse or read actions from. With the few that did have one, it was better not to listen, or you might be infected by their death and simply die.

This is why he refrained from doing such a thing and took them all out stealthily, leaving the remains of the undead to disappear into the forest. Into which he transported them with a little telekinesis.

But they must have driven into a large herd of the undead because for the next few hours the undead siege continued. Which ensured that he intervened more and more to save the lives of isolated demons. A lucky blow here a stray arrow there, another part of the undead he tried to finish already out of sight of demons.

More and more undead were attracted by the noise of the battle, which prompted Panos and Nima to give the order to move on, they wanted to break out of the undead encirclement. The wagons of the Cirkati took up protective positions next to the wagons of the merchants and then, with a lot of magic, a swath was cut through the undead.

The animals ran away from the undead on their own, without having to be urged on much, and they did so as quickly as possible. This is why all the fighting men could rest, at least for the moment.

Sia and Sappho had jumped into the wagon and didn't even have to spur Neilos and Nia on, already the two animals trotted off before going into a full gallop.

Those in the group who could cast ranged attacks continued with them to thin out the herd of undead. Which was a good thing, as more and more undead broke out of the undergrowth and took up pursuit of the group.

This created a problem, they couldn't just go to Kirra or the undead would overrun the town in a mass. At least there was a possibility that this could happen. This is why the group arrived at Kirra via detours, and in an exhausted and rampaged state, such as had not yet arisen from any monster attack.

Kirra was a slightly larger city than Dikili Tash, but far more fortified than the latter. Which went in the form of a star once around the whole city, with an angled wall. Which were of imposing size. It was built entirely of stone and, apart from Vanadium, was one of the few cities with paved streets.

It was the first time that no stalls were opened or that Sia and Sappho set up the theater.

The next day Panos and Nima went to talk to the military commanders since Kirra was under military command.

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Nothing was set up that day either and everyone seemed to be relaxing and making preparations. It was not until the evening that Panos and Nima returned.

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"We talked with General Georgios the current commander of Kirra and the army responsible for this front area. We were able to negotiate a treaty of right to stay with him, which admittedly puts us under his orders. -" Some minor interjections. - "Nevertheless, we will not fight with the army, but will take care of the undead problem and take on other tasks for which the army is overburdened at the moment." With which they both retired to their tent and listened to everyone's complaints, but only in private.

Demon Continent Alsace in the year 292 in the month of Inium on the 14th day after the shattering of the Empire.

They had been traveling from fortification to fortification for half a year, protecting military transports, as well as fighting undead on behalf of the military, which had cost the lives of a handful of demons of the Hand of Alsac. Among the dead had not yet been a parent of one of the children, yet it had hit the group hard.

Sia and Sappho had explained it to him when he had asked as innocently as possible why they were now working for the military. He had asked the question as simply as possible because he had to fight with a fear that could come out, that he could remember his old life, which he did not want to risk anything. That he simply would not be perceived as a normal demon child. How was he ever going to explain these circumstances to anyone? He still asked himself and would hopefully come to an answer in the future. But information is an important key to success and he wanted to know as much as he could. So that he would be as prepared as possible for possible dangers. The mission that the Hand of Alsac had accepted was about a certain guarantee of security for all of them as Cirkati so that they would be protected from and by the state through the military. That was at least what he took from Sia's and Sappho's explanation. However, if someone were to attack them, as they had done before reaching Dikili Tash, or if a representative of the state were to treat them unjustly, it would be an act of hostility against the military, the only state institution that recognized Cirkati.

She had spent most of that half-year in each of the fortresses where they were housed, while the adults took care of the undead or other monsters. The front between the areas still loyal to Vanadium and the renegades, as they are called on their side, and the colonies of the other races that settled on the coasts in those areas behaved like any front he knew from his old lives. Where there were many corpses, there were also many undead, many corpses attract at the same time a large number of predators, animals, and monsters. As well as predators of other kinds, which try to profit from the dead, as long as they are not yet resurrected. Sometimes it was the robbers of the dead who created the undead by stealing something valuable from the dead, which enraged them and made them hunt them down. Some undead remained beyond this hunt as undead on Arcane.

For his one and a half years, he could already walk quite well, even if he still landed on his butt from time to time. Still, he set about exploring each new camp they built in each new fortress. If he ever did get bored of this, which happened faster than he would have liked, he would try to explore the fortress. What was usually prevented by an adult demon, which should watch over the children. But if he was lucky, he was taken along by some of the older demon children, when they explored the fortress. Which could lead like now also sometimes to trouble. Which had just become more, since Sia and Sappho had appeared behind the guard.

If he had interpreted their facial features correctly, they were angry, but their gaze was not directed at him, but at Agenor. He was sure that he would escape any punishment. Just not to be left by the other children in the camp, he could not leave them hanging, but he must help them. Children were immensely clever and had a childlike instinct that let them figure out every lie, eventually at least. He was almost sure that Agenor and his clique of friends didn't think he was just a little one-and-a-half-year-old demon girl. At least not a normal one, otherwise why would they take him.

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He exhaled in relief when he saw Sia and Sappho, they were certainly here for their little princess. His eyes fell on the knee-high Cali beside him. Where other children her age would have hidden behind him, she stood beside him. As he found in a posture similar to the soldiers and an all grasping look.

He had noticed a few months ago that she had started to explore the camp and had mostly stood at the edge of the camp after exploring it, until one day she ran after them.

At first, he and his friends hadn't noticed her at all, only when someone had pulled him by the tail of his shirt had he noticed her. However, before he could say anything, he saw her put a finger in front of her mouth, in this situation created by astonishment, the approach of soldiers had caught their attention and they were able to hide in time. Something like this happened every other trip to one of the fortresses, where she took the lead more and more and led them to the more exciting places. It seemed to him and his friends that she always knew where something exciting was happening or could be found. And should they ever get caught, Sia and Sappho would get them out, if they were in the fortress. Which, fortunately for them, they were. They would not tell his parents and the other parents would not know either. He didn't have to worry about Cali, Sia and Sappho looked after their little Cali like two mother hens. Like them, he and his friends had begun to talk to Cali as if she were their age, which had led them to even more exciting places, so it was the right decision, he thought.

He did not listen to the guard for quite a while but concentrated only on when Sia and Sappho were there. Which just appeared behind the guard on either side.

"Thank you, soldier, we'll take it from here." The latter only grunted and moved on with the other soldiers who had caught them. Both women watched them for a while until they disappeared around the next bend. Then they both let out a sigh and just shook their heads.

"What are you doing here, we told you - " Sia pointed her finger at all of them. - "often enough not to sneak around the fortress." Another sigh from Sia. "Children nothing but trouble. Come on let's get going before your parents catch on to where you've been again."

"I thought we explained you weren't allowed to explore the fortress? Do we need to explain that to you again?" Sappho asked Cali as she picked her up and carried her back to camp. Cali shook her head and gave Sappho an innocent smile. Sappho then ruffled Cali's hair. "What are we going to do with you."