While Zaran and the guild were busy building a city near the Ergan mountain, the four major cities of the Liberiu kingdom were bustling with activity. A high amount of rations, troops, beasts, weapon and armour were transported to the military city Deneg from the capital Librus, the trading city Lemu and the religious city Karu.
Long processions of caravans filled to the brim with goods or troops were escorted towards Deneg. Many a player was surprised by seeing this and it wasn't long until everyone knew what was happening. The Tarra kingdom had launched attacks a few weeks prior on the Liberiu controlled cities in the border region and they had slain every inhabitant they could find, which is why it took over a week for the Liberiu kingdom to find out in the first place.
Still, they had eventually found out and decided that they could not wait to deploy troops. They could not sit idle while their fellow countrymen were slain like animals and thus they started to hastily deploy the vast majority of their military force. Over two hundred thousand troops were shipped off to Deneg, along with nearly one hundred thousand beasts, most under the control of the various beast masters, that although shunned, still existed within the empire. A small minority of these beasts were caged hellbeasts, that were without a master.
In Virul a regiment of one hundred soldiers searched the city for Henry, one of the last known hellbeast masters. The Liberiu kingdom needed to do everything in their power to increase their chances of winning even a little bit. If it really came to war, unless the Celun, Zenora and Barat kingdoms quickly mobilized their troops and aided them, the chance that they would win was nearly nonexistent. The Tarra kingdom was many times bigger than the Liberiu kingdom after all and had existed for far longer. It was only normal that they had a bigger and military force, one which the various generals of Liberiu, estimated to be a million men strong.
The regiment of soldiers quickly found out that Henry no longer lived in Virul and had instead moved to the nearby winery, taking up permanent residence there as he cared for the various beasts and hellbeasts both he and the owner of the mansion possessed.
With this knowledge at hand, the captain of the regiment quickly marched his men to the nearby winery and ordered the guards to bring out Henry. Only a mere minute passed before Henry exited the gate, but the captain of the regiment was already unable to wait any longer and quickly said. "Henry, the king once more needs your abilities as a hellbeast master!"
"No. I have told him the last time, never again!" Henry angrily yelled. "You can drag me off if you want but I am NOT doing that again! NEVER!"
"THIS IS A COMMAND OF THE KING! YOU DARE DISOBEY?" The captain yelled angrily, his hand already reaching for his sword.
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Henry scoffed. "Kill me for treachery if you want, but you will not have me as a hellbeast master. I can not and will not see so many beasts suffer due to war! Moreover I am far too old to command such a vast army of beasts. My heart and mind will not be able to endure. Your king knows this!"
"But we need a hellbeast master!" The captain angrily said. "The king commanded me to bring a hellbeast master and you are the only one we know of."
Deeply sighing, Henry realized who they had really come for. "Ugh. I can't keep anything hidden from the king can I?" Henry left out another deep sigh and said. "I have a disciple that knows how to handle hellbeasts. However he is extremely new to hellbeasts, he won't be able to command that many in a war."
"Then you will need to come along and train him while we prepare for war and make sure that he can command as many as possible. Now where is this disciple of yours?"
"Not here. He's not been here for more than a week. I heard he and his guild are building a city in the Ergan area though." Henry honestly said. There wasn't much he could do, the captain was hellbent on getting a him and Zaran shipped of to the war. Henry could probably find a way out by relying on his relation with the king, but he would not be able to do that if they were here for Zaran. Which they were, so Henry had no other option than go along with the king's plan.
"Great, grab your stuff Henry, we are heading out to the Ergan area as soon as you are done packing your essentials!" The captain muttered.
"I'm pretty much packed. I got everything I need in my storage ring and one of the guards has already learned how to feed the various beasts we have here so we're good in that aspect as well. Also we kind-off have a teleporter in the backyard so we could easily go to the Ergan mountain from there, that would at least save us a long trip."
"Thank you for telling us, that does save us a substantial amount of time." The captain said. His troops quickly gathered in the backyard and one by one they teleported to the Ergan area.
With nearly a hundred soldiers appearing within a specific area in such a short amount of time, it was only logical that the guild and the nayeran noticed. They quickly dropped their tools and grabbed their weapons, preparing themselves to fight off new invaders.
The captain noticed that the guild and the nayeran were preparing for battle and he yelled Henry to the front. Henry quietly walked out from among the soldiers and seeing the approaching troops, cowered next to the captain.
Zaran was leading the nayeran and guild and when they finally got close enough to see the attackers clearly, Zaran told them to halt. "Henry, what's up why have you brought these soldiers here?" He asked.
Before he could speak up, the captain put his hand before Henry and said. "We are here to look for Henry's apprentice. I assume it is you we are searching for?"
"Why are you searching for me?" Zaran asked.
"The king requires a hellbeast master. Henry is not willing to work for the king, so we came here to get you." The captain said.
Zaran cocked his head and looked at Henry. "Master, why're you unwilling to work for the king?"
"The king wants to make me command a squad of hellbeasts for the war against the Tarra kingdom. However my old body cannot take that strain anymore. I'm sorry Zaran." Henry quietly said, barely loud enough for Zaran to hear.
"It's okay. I'll come along." Zaran said. It wasn't like he had a choice and he was actually looking for something to do for the coming two months, so joining the war didn't sound like that bad of a deal.
"Good choice. I'll give you an hour to settle your business." The captain replied.
An hour later, Zaran had settled all his business and he had left Mubar under Nekorath and Nuvahn's teaching for the time being. The both of them had more than enough experience with greatswords to teach the basics to Mubar after all.
"I'm ready to go captain." Zaran confidently said.
The captain nodded and ordered his troops along with Henry and Zaran to march towards the front lines of war.