CHAPTER 21
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Parker POV
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The battle finally began. The troops started to march and just like Steven planned the rams quickly moved when both troops are getting near. When the first ram crashed into the barrier, the barrier hold out and the enemy infantry started to engage and destroyed the cart. This keeps happening until after the fifth ramming attack the barrier finally broke
“Instead of making many smaller rams, shouldn't we build one or two big ones instead?” Stella asked
“Well, we should do it next time. But in the case of the big ones, they required gladiator mages for the barriers and several class-A body talent humans to push them. Basically, if we create big ones, it will be difficult to protect the ram. After all, they can be disabled not only with magic but small bumps on their wheel path might disturb the path they traveled or destroy the wheel outright! With many smaller ones, the wheel can be made from wood instead of magical steel. It would be fine if several of them were to be disabled by enemies.“ Steven replied.
Hart and I charged at the opening made by the rams and succeeded in destroying the formation. Even without any sword skills or training, we managed to kick more than several hundred of our enemies with our axes and swords. The gladiator killer group we see last time is nowhere in sight and we also didn’t get surrounded. This is an excellent battle.
Several hours passed and we finally reached the gate. The rest of the rams and several bombardments from catapults destroyed the gates and went inside the wall. And thus, Randell fell and the enemy fled desperately to the opposite gate.
“That went on smoother than expected!” I muttered
“Yo! We won!! “ Hart greet me while cheering as we freed the city.
The cheers erupted from the city of Randell as the enemy fled. When the dust settles, I can see several thousands of prisoners that were enslaved in the city, some small children-sized adults called dwarves and a lot of half-humans.
“Excellent work everyone. I am very proud of you! Because of you, this city will now become ours!" Steven’s butt-kissing skills were in full force as he continue to exhibit praise after praise.
“What are we going to do about the others?” Stella asked
“Who? Do you mean the dwarves and halves? Well, of course, they are welcomed in the city as laborers. We do not discriminate against them.”
“Really? That is quite surprising.” Nana said looking surprised
“What do you mean no discrimination!“ The dwarves that we freed shouted. “ We pay higher taxes! And we also live in the street!!” He and several half-human also nodded their heads toward Steven. At once the entire team including me looked towards Steven with disdain.
“Well, that is an exaggeration. But we do admit that foreigners aren’t allowed to have any land in this country. Your country also has similar rules to ours right? And for higher taxes, it is also the same thing! We charged them 30% taxes higher than locals. All of the other nations do the same towards foreigners.” Steven replied. The half-humans or halves and dwarves looked away at Steven's answer.
“But, you know. In this time of crisis…” Nana muttered
“Precisely because it is this time such rules were even more enforced. If we disregard them, the citizens are going to be enraged, and the nations are also in dire need of money!” Steven answered with a passionate speech, unlike the previous butt-kissing praise. It seemed there was a political faction about this law. One is in favor of foreigners and one is not. And by guessing from his attitude, Steven seems to be in the former.
“All right! Ladies and gentlemen, we should not dwell on such a boring and unimportant matter! For all of us, it is a good thing that this city is freed. Even if you compared your life before the occupation and after the occupation, it is still better before the occupation, right? So all of your lives are going to improve right? We should rejoice and be happy!” Steven said while he arranged for some drinks and cheered to himself trying to lift up the mood. The dwarves and the halves also reluctantly took the glass and cheered although their voice was obviously not as cheerful as the other soldiers.
The next day, after the party was done. Steven quickly regrouped and distributed the soldiers and posted them in various places within Randell. Randell looked quite rustic. The color of this city seemed faded like sands or clay of earthen mud. There are various colors here and there but due to the wasteland in the west, the colors got easily faded.
“ To the west is the home country of the dwarves.”
“Why are the dwarves and the halves living here?” Stella asked. I probably wanted to ask the same questions since if their home is right next door, why are they migrating here?
“The dwarves are now currently being forced to live underground and they have a very limited supply of food there. Besides, it is going to be very difficult for these people to travel there with how many monsters around.”
“I see. This is a tough world.” I replied while sighing
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Yeah. You know. Unlike your assumption, we were never in a bad relationship with them. We were relying on their craftsmanship after all, and we were also never in a bad relationship with the elves either! We rely on their harvest produce too. In fact, we often get called as a mediator between elves and dwarves. Since they hate each other.” Steven replied proudly.
“While I can boast even further about my love for my country and the people of the human nation, sadly, I have a more urgent matter to adjust the position of scouts in the neighboring area. If possible, there are several small farm villages around, and hopefully, we can capture that too. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Steven smiled while leaving the room.
“Well, he is certainly very enthusiastic!” Nana commented. “So, Parker, what are you going to do now?”
“Well, just like in Alpas, we are just organizing the files and trying to learn something. If possible, I want to know more about the other species that are in our alliance. “
“Okay. Bye-bye” Stella said while leaving.
“Okay, we can take a rest for today. And if you need any money just ask the clerk.” I replied. I also need a breather. Maybe some nice hotel or cafe will do. Is there any entertainment here? Like maybe some drama or games?
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Stella POV
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As I sit on the chair in some random cafeteria in the southern district, drowsiness came to me. It was weird that this tired feeling came so suddenly. It feels like the magical power in the environment is making me sluggish and trying to drug me into sleep. I felt a black mass entangling me
Walking around I see a dwarf loitering around the streets walking to a pub. He seemed depressed. I tried to walk into him but as he walk into me, he passed through me. What a surreal sight! It seems that I am incorporeal now and nobody can see me or they can hear me. If I am not mistaken, this is somewhere in the western part of Randell. I jumped quite a lot of distance.
“Yo! What's up?” the dwarf went towards his half-human friends.
“Hello, want to grab something?”
“Yeah, the cheapest on the menu!” he replied.
“count me in! Make that two please!” the halves also ordered the same thing inside the pubs
“Have money now?” the waiter asked
“Well, jobs are going to come in, maybe. The heroes are definitely in need of helping hands right? Now that they freed this city. They need to rebuild it and fixed the gate that they destroyed!” the dwarves replied uncertainly
“Well, I will put it in your tab as always.” The waiter sighed.
“Thanks a lot! You also helped us during the occupation.”
“I wonder if there are any benefits in hero freeing this city? Aren’t the fate of us lower people the same whoever is on top?”
“No!” the halves shouted.” Those not from the light alliance are definitely bad news. I swear I see some of them eating us!”
“Well, true to that.” the dwarves sighed
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“You know. Some of those monsters are capable of intellect. So in some ways, they behave just like us. But remember, they see us as livestock!” the waiter delivered the menu consisting of only potato and salad to the dwarves and halves.
“Well, those monsters hired us too you know. A single day of no pay is deadly for us. If by tomorrow those heroes are still dragging their ass hiring us, we are going to be in big trouble!” the dwarves added
“Well, you are right. Hey waiter, you are human right? Is there a law that punishes us when working for those monsters from the dark alliance? I mean, could we get into trouble?”
“Yeah, actually, All of us can get into trouble. Helping another country when we were at war counts as treason but you know, we don’t have a choice if we don’t follow their order, we are going to get killed.” The waiter shrugged his shoulder
“Damn, you are lucky you are locals, but what about us? Are we going to get charged?”
“If we found one of those heroes, we should beg for a job or at least leniency. They should understand since technically they are also foreigners like us. “
“Hah… here I live like a beggar. I wish I could go home to Rheta. I am not good at begging like that.” the dwarves sighed. And the halves also nodded.
Then another black mass entangled me and I was shown a wasteland in front of a huge mountain. This time, unlike a clear image, the image was blurred with a black haze that it was difficult to know the detail.
“Come…” a whisper out of nowhere enters my ear.
“Who are you?” I replied looking around me but nothing happened and then my vision went pure black
“Stella!!” Nana screamed. “You finally awake!.”
I was currently in a princess carry by Nana. As we rushed to a hospital nearby. Nana and Hart were pale as they carry me to some healers.
“There doesn’t seem to be any problem. We have cast healing magic and everything is good. She is now awake and nothing is wrong. “ the healers replied bluntly. “She is probably just tired. She is a hero and thus must carry a lot of stress and work than others. She just needed some rest.”
“Stella! Are you okay?” Nana hugged me.
“I am fine.”
“Oh my god! You almost gave me a heart attack when you sleep inside the cafe but never woke when Nana shook and yelled at you. Are you okay?” Hart asked worriedly.
“Maybe…” I replied uncertainly.
“Please have a good rest. You seemed more fragile than the rest of us.” Nana said exasperated
“Okay. I will go sleep…” as I tried to stand up, the black mass tried to engulf me once again and this time I was brought to Parker. He is currently sitting on the chair at the main HQ and was now speaking to some other non-human.
“I believe we need to free our neighboring country and cities first before we take FirstHell in the north. “ Parker said
“Yes.” Steven nodded.
“So, we should recruit every dwarves and halves in this city under our banner and free those neighboring cities first right? This village Rheta seemed to be a good starting place.”
“Yes, Mr. Hero. Once we freed Rheta we can go to the city of Stoneiron. If we can free that city we might have access to Onlymountain which is the capital of the dwarves!!”
“So, what is the compensation for us if we free Stoneiron?” Steven asked. At once the room turned silent. Parker also silently put his palm onto his face in exasperation
“Ehm… we will recognize you as our ally!” The dwarves stammered.
“We need a substantial amount of work if we are to recapture the city. And it being so close to the dwarves' capital means that we are also going to clash with the main army of those goblins and orcs that are currently stationed outside of the dwarves' capital in the Onlymountains right?”
“Well…”
“So, how about after we captured Rheta we skipped Stoneiron and went to the forest city and freed drakeforest instead?” The halves gave some suggestion
“Denied. It is quite far and that city doesn’t have anything beneficial to the army except some meat and fish.” Steven replied. The halves quickly withdraw his suggestion. I guess he was just trying to free his homeland but this situation is not very good. How will Parker fix this uncooperative attitude?
“Hah… if you do it like this, you are going to get very little help from us halves. Well, we are still going to help if you pay, so just give us the job description. I don’t want to risk my life for someone else’s country okay.”
“Parker! Steven! Stella collapsed in the hospital! This is the second time!” Hart ran into the room panicked
“What? Why? Someone poisoned her?” Steven who was usually calm panicked. He immediately summon his soldiers and asked for a specialized doctor. His face was deathly pale as he rushed to meet me.
Now, how do I return to my body? What kind of power is this anyway. None of the magic books has ever mentioned this kind of ability where you can essentially be in different locations in ghost form. Should I walk back to my body and try to sleep in it? Ah, there goes the black mass again. Is it going to teleport me somewhere?
“Stella!”
“Yes?” I answered back. I returned to my body right on time.
“Stella? Are you okay?” Parker said cautiously
“Yes. I think I am fine.”
“You are not fine at all!” Nana shouted
“Stella. What happened?” Parker asked
“I was in the office. In the dream. You were talking with the dwarves and halves about retaking Stoneiron and Rheta.” I replied. As soon as I said that the whole room went silent.
“I see. That is certainly not a dream. And I didn’t see you there.” Parker answered
“Huh?” The rest of the hero team has question marks all over their face
“Whoa! You can do astral projection? So cool! Teach me how to do it!!” Hart shouted. He was so excited.
“Sorry. I don’t know how nor can I control this power…” I answered. The rest just breathes a sigh of relief that nothing detrimental seemed to happen to me. Parker finally believed that my dream is the source of my information while Steven praised my abilities with a fake smile
The days in Randell were peaceful. We were supposed to get back to Alpas in a week after resting but a sudden messenger came in from Alpas bearing grave news