“Deek.” Alysia warned.

As I stood there breathing hard, the ashes that were once the demon lord floating away, we were still standing between two armies. I raised my sword to the army of the Ost Republic.

“You need to decide who your enemies are!” I yelled out to them. “Aberis is my country, and you’re threatening my borders! If you want to pass, you’ll need to go through me!”

The soldiers standing there, having just helplessly watched their greatest champion and their king destroyed, began to mutter to themselves. I worried that I had gone too far. This would be a grievous insult to a country, and may even lead to war. However, if the army wanted to charge me, I planned to stand my ground. I had sufficient dungeon points now that when it came to wiping out an army, I could do so. That thought left a complicated feeling in my heart.

A very large Osterian man stepped out. He would be about ten feet tall, definitely the largest I had seen. He was bald except for a topknot on the back of his hair. He wasn’t wearing armor or even a shirt. He had rippling muscles and a large Warhammer on his back. I readied myself. It looked like they weren’t done sending opponents my way. I hoped they didn’t continue to send one at a time. That would wear me down if that was the case.

The man walked out halfway to me. My body tensed as I prepared for the battle to come. Alysia must have felt my hand sweating.

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“Master, you don’t need to worry.”

“Huh?”

The man pulled out his war hammer. It really looked like I did need to worry. That’s when he plopped it down on the ground with a thud. He then kneeled, lowering his head.

“King Deekson!” He called out. “Lord of Osteria.”

“Huh?”

The Osterians in the army began to kneel one at a time. Soon, half the army was lowering their heads to me. These mostly were the Osterians. As for the humans, they looked around lost, some looking like they were a moment from running away from the battle.

“Alysia?” I called her for clarification.

“Osterians value strength above all else. That strength isn’t always pure ability. It can mean being clever, or it can mean bravery. This is why they were willing to follow a demon lord, even back then. That same value transfers to you. You have shown your strength, and you have pulled the sword. The Osterians are recognizing you as the lord of Osteria.”

I wasn’t going to let such a title go to my head. After all, there was no Osteria. I was the lord of a country that no longer existed. The Ost Republic was a combination of humans and Osterians, and the human councils likely wouldn’t be so willing to bow to a foreign king, just based on what I knew about human nature.

“My, oh my, you were quite handsome and daring. You’ve definitely moved my heart.” A voice sounded from behind me.

I stiffened at the too feminine sounding voice of General Tibult. I turned back to see the four members of the Tibult family as well as Prince Edward. They had ridden out and were now behind me.

“Deek Deekson.” Prince Edward spoke in a formal voice.

“It looks like Aberis is victorious.” I responded with a nod.

“Today is your day, Lord Deekson.” He responded. “This victory is yours, and everyone here knows it.”