Trees are chopped and fall by the dozen, enlarging an already big field for the many tents to be raised as watchtowers are erected and a steady supply line is constantly coming and going.

The banners of the Luath Kingdom move with the wind, the golden background with a white crown and three stars above it. But there are also other banners, of smaller size and not waving at the same height as the prominent banner of the kingdom; The banner of the Duchy of Flontarot, its blue background, and snake-trampling horse. The banner of the Duchy of Escantor, it's black background with purple, thorny roses. The Duchy of Wonterbi, its white background with two swords and an open book, and lastly, the Duchy of Astayolk, its background a dirty yellow with a bow and arrow.

Many other much smaller banners waved beneath each one of the Duchy banners, holding the shields of important houses and vassal counties in their respective poles. The soldiers were busy building and assisting in the setting up of the encampment, not too far from the border but not too close. Hundreds of tents sprawled and occupied the view.

Behind this large war camp, the young squires trained with each other, Deidre overseeing their movements and correcting them when it was needed.

"Well now, that doesn't look too bad, don't you think?" Liam says as he stands up, resting his hands on his hips as Gotz raises his artificial iron hand.

He is in front of the teen, who sits atop a wooden bed, they are inside one of the many tents, this one having two beds and is larger than that of a common soldier. Decorated with a few boxes, a table, some chairs, and a hanging lamp.

"...thank you?" Gotz says halfheartedly, followed by a tired sigh.

"Thank you? I could have bought a dozen intelligent gnomes with the money that trinket cost me, kiss my feet or something" Liam chuckles, but he is the only one to do so "You can't lash out like that again, Gotz. If an incident like that happens again you may lose your leg or outright get your head cut off"

"What do you care? I'm just your experiment"

"What? Pardon me, but don't spill bullshit my way like that, I'm your Guardian!" Liam pulls his ear making Gotz yelp and shoved his arm away. Liam laughs cheerily for a moment, before putting on a more serious expression " Look, I already had to demand payment of favors to make you a squire a year earlier than allowed, as well as having to ask for new ones to even get you in because of your peasant blood and to get you out of that Furry ambush that was the matter with the spoiled kid...I can't ensure your safety if you provoke the nobles again"

"...I'm sorry," Gotz says between his teeth after a moment of silence, but finally raising his eyes off the ground and looking at him.

"And I'm broke, now move that ass because I'm going to sell your virginity to the fattest, most sullied merchant in all the border territories" Liam messes Gotz's hair managing to force the smallest of smiles on his face.

"Fine, but I'm shoving this metallic hand up his asshole first"

"Perfect! You will get paid double!" As they chuckle, Liam steps back and lets Gotz stand up "Now go join the rest of the squires, you have missed enough training already"

Gotz nods and rushes out of the tent, and as he does a soldier stands in front of the entrance, slamming the end of his spear on the ground before addressing Liam, who puts him at ease with a gesture of his hand.

"The lords demand your presence, Champion" The soldier leaves as Liam nods.

He steps out with the helmet in his hands, getting a view of the camp as the sound of wagons, sharpening weapons, orders being barked, and the occasional laugh or shout invaded his ears. There was a smell of raw leather and moist wood, the grass still wet from the constant rain and the skies still somewhat darkened.

There were humans all around, but also the occasional centaur. While either flying above the camp or on the ground being outfitted with laminar steel armor, dragging caparisons decorated with the respective symbol of the duchies they belonged to; The Unhuayoj. Birdlike chimeras that are bigger than horses and with the body of wolfs from the hips down, while that of a crow from the hips up; Their wings are large with two claws at the bend of their wings, their necks long with a large, deformed human face hidden beneath ostensibly decorated helmets that resemble bird beaks made out of bronze.

Liam walks from one end of the camp to the other, where there is the biggest amount of soldiers marching or keeping guard of the still numerous woods. A large three-pointed tent with golden stripes rests alone in front of the entire encampment, centaur guards standing still with their lances and shields in hand. Several Unhuayoj lay on the ground with their saddles on.

Something glimmers in the distance, something that only his trained eye could catch. He snaps his neck to the woods and surveys them, it could be one of the axes, or saws, reflecting the few rays of light puncturing the clouds...but being at war, he can't help but think of the worse.

However, after looking around for a bit he sees no nothing unusual. And carries on. As soon as Liam reaches the entrance the centaurs guarding the entrance move their lances away.

"...I'm just saying we should approach this situation with caution. The orcs have not given us any demand, we do not know why they decided to attack us so suddenly" A man says, wearing heavy steel armor, its design sharp yet stylish, Escantor's banner on the cape hanging from his right shoulder "They wouldn't suddenly invade us without at least making a proper demand...this feels more personal than a simple desire to extend their land" The lord says taking a sip from a chalice of wine. His hair was wavy and oily, black and reaching down his shoulders, with pale skin and dark brown eyes, he had a horrible scar on the right part of his face, blinded from that side as well.

Liam bows slightly once the lords lay their eyes on him and quickly walks behind Alfred, where a pair of other champions stand still. Accidentally shoving a gnome carrying papers. The small deformed humanoid dressed nicely but wearing a bronze mask to hide the most unsightly of his deformities struggles to get all the papers in his arms before rushing out of the tent.

Ludica is standing behind him, together with a few other priests and priestesses.

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"It doesn't matter why they are here, Lorcan. We should go on the offensive and cull every last city, get rid of 'em for good!" A lord wearing bulky, thicker armor with bronze gauntlets exclaimed slamming his fist on the circular table with maps and documents on it. He was shorter than most men present, with unruly brown hair and a thick, messy beard. His eyes were a vivid green and he had a nose slightly crooked to the side, broken at some point in his life; Astayolk's banner was carefully made on his leather skirt reaching below his ankles "And you know the king, I doubt we would even need to ask him to go on the offensive!"

"Shortsighted, Garmon. Winter is coming, and we would need to either go through Dante's castle which would force us to go through The Vast, or we would have to go through the Valley of Uj, where they surely have made their encampment, surrounded by hills and mountains, with fresh water and a direct path from their kingdom" A lord unlike the others, wearing more ceremonial clothes and capes in multiple colors, he would look like a priest if his attire wasn't as colorful and oozing personality. Wonterbi's banner printed on the first cape going around his shoulders made out of leather "The mother's embrace is a blessing so long as we stay within its blessed and pure lands" The man makes a religious gesture with his hands, going from his chest to his left eye and then his right ear. His entire head is hidden beneath a red silk that only shows his unnatural white eyes.

"Etenor is right. Look, it doesn't matter why are they here. We can't march out of the mother mountains without the entire support of the army and at least until summer comes" Alfred adds, leaning on the table as he looks at each one of the lords "We clean the surrounding woods to get a good view of them together with the scouting of the Sky riders we can endure any attack"

"Says the guy that lost squires to a fucking goblin" Garmon scoffs, earning a spiteful look from Alfred "I can't believe the king named you commander"

Alfred is about to protest when the horns of alarm are blown and everyone pours out of the tent. The lords stand in a line as from the woods the army of orcs begins to spread and kill the closest of slaves and workers. Most are on foot, but some ride large horse-like creatures with horns in their heads and muscular bodies.

"Allow us, lords" Liam shouts as he digs his hand into the ground, kneeling before Alfred together with all the other champions.

"Fine, go ahead first!" Alfred says as his centaur friend gallops nearby, he jumps and sits on top, riding back to gather the men as the rest of the lords each reach for their respective mount.

Liam grins as he whistles and one of the Unhuayoj screeches in response, dragging itself closer as Ludica grabs its reins and sits on the saddle first. While Liam sits behind her. The creature screeches again and takes to the sky with its large black wings.

They fly soon joined by the rest of the champions and their respective priests. Each champion wears steel armor, with the cape of the Knighthood of Gold on their backs or shoulders. However, they each have a different weapon, be it an axe, a bow, a spear, or a mace. They fly up to the increasingly sizeable orc army and all champions jump down from their rides as their priests summon a magic wall of fire that pushes the orcs away.

Liam falls to the ground with his sword in hand and begins slashing at the disoriented orcs. Soon the other champions begin to butcher the numbers of their enemies with inhuman strength and precision. If the orcs crowd too much around them or try to isolate the champions, the priests atop the Unhuayoj cast a ward to protect their champions or push them away with another wall of fire.

Soon Alfred pierces into the brawl with a deadly cavalry charge, spearheaded by himself, and with a unit of the mighty centaur, the orcs are crushed and killed like bugs. Followed by another charge of riders atop horses to deal with any survivor and push the orcish army further back and apart.

However, the orc's numbers increase and soon the sky is filled with arrows, the Unhuayoj begin to fall to the ground heavily wounded or outright killed as Orcish Shamans throw blue fire spears at them. Liam starts to get hit, cut, and pushed back by the orcs, and as he looks around he catches glimpses of the champions retreating from the vanguard behind the common soldiers.

But he isn't just a champion. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. He needs to prove his worth, that he is worthy of being named Hero.

"LUDICA! BLESS ME!" He screams at the top of his lungs and charges head-on.

Ludica forces her wounded creature to fly close to Liam, and as the veins around her white eyes grow and steam starts to emanate from them, she takes a scroll out of her bag and it burns away into a cloud of embers, multiplying and going to Liam, surrounding him as if a thousand glowing cinders constantly surrounded him.

He feels his strength grow and possessed by the righteous fury of the Virtue Demons he screams as he opens his now white eyes like Ludica's. Moving with an incredible speed he cuts the bodies of the orcs in half, no matter their armor, even crushing the war hammers into tiny bits of steel as he becomes a harbinger of death.

Two dozen orcs are cut in half and decapitated by him before they begin to run away from him. Liam prepares to charge again when suddenly, a wall of blue fire rises right in front of him. The wall is ten meters tall and extends all around the field, after a few seconds the fire changes form, turning into one hundred swords that strike at the orcs exploding in a grizzly storm of uncontrollable fire that harms foe and ally alike.

The orcs begin to scream words none of the humans understand as they point above at the sky, running away back into the woods. Liam turns around and sees the large leathery wings first as the figure gracefully reaches the ground a couple of meters away from him. His sword begins to vibrate as ancient carvings suddenly appear and glow along its blade.

This means, a demon? No. Liam lowers his sword and stands straight, for the creature in front of him is no demon, but something worse, a warlock.

"Scarlett The Betrayer" Liam says out loud, with every bit of disdain he can.

"In the flesh" Scarlett replies glancing back, a sly smile on her face, her black eyes squinting at the human, and for the briefest of moments, at his sword.

The army cheers as the orcs are shot by the crossbowmen from atop the towers and from among the men on the ground. Alfred approaches the warlock and jumps down from his centaur. Walking up to the large woman with steady feet and a neutral expression, the two begin to talk and walk back to camp behind Liam, who has turned around and returned to the camp, not wishing to even breathe the same air that a creature like her breathes.

Soon the men are carried to be treated for their wounds, and the dead are starting to be piled up to be burned. Liam looks at the crowd of squires looking from afar and he waves at them taking his helmet off. The young girls giggle, and the teens cheer. He looks at Gotz and smiles proudly, knowing the kid saw him fight.

But then he focuses on Deidre, who is holding her arm up, supporting the weight of a Kon, the bird creatures with human faces, except the ones used to carry messages are no bigger than a large eagle. The kon whispers to her ear whatever message had to be given, and her expression which was one of anger suddenly becomes that of shock, and she looks at Liam.

He has a bad feeling, and quickly makes his way to her, growing more concerned as the kon rests on her shoulder and she hurries to meet him.

"What happened?" Liam asks as soon as they are close to each other.

"One of my villages, Ynnerglass, has been raided," Deidre says, anger flashing through her eyes briefly before that worried expression returns.

"But- That is far from the border! We need to warn the commander-"

"No, it wasn't the orcs. The survivors said it was a small party of hobgoblins...apparently lead by a goblin"

Liam looks at her in shock, for more than the revelation. It is a mixture of anger and pain as the memories of her loved one come to mind. Scarlett glances at them, hearing everything they say even if she stands several meters away.

"Liam...I also got a message for you" Deidre tone changes, it is soft and unsure "The temple close to Alden wants to know if you will ever go pay your respects to...well, your father"

"My father? He...did he die?"

"...You don't know?" Deidre takes a step forth, resting her hand on his shoulder.

"Well, he is-was, old and...I-"

"Liam...Alden was torched"