Flying in the sky with his wings out and a brand new sword hanging on his back, Heirloom and Erma had been breezing through the skies for the past couple of hours. With the defeat of the Hydra, they had nothing more to fear but the failure of the plan.

Heirloom could still sense Vijan's aura hundreds of miles away, but also the power of the North-Eastern Paladin that nearly overpowers it. He started to worry for Vijan, but hearing Erma's voice helped him regain confidence. She asked if he was alright, and he nodded. Though several other things were running through his mind, he needed to focus on the task at hand.

Erma: [The next city should be close by.]

With a groan,

Heirloom: [Why does Penn have to be so spread apart?]

Erma couldn't help but laugh at his dismay.

Erma: [We've already recruited a couple hundred for the army, but that won't be even close to enough to take out Leviere.]

Heirloom: [If only the people of Penn cared about their ruler. We could've had several thousand by now.]

Erma: [It is your fault for taking out the main city.]

Heirloom sighed and flew a bit faster forward. Erma quickly caught up to him and remained silent by his side. The sound of the wind blowing past their ears soothed him but made him cautious.

Heirloom: [Have you noticed that the security in the last couple of cities has been quite dull?]

Confused, Erma tilted her head.

Heirloom: [After having your main city destroyed, shouldn't the security around the other cities be expanded on? It feels like they had no insurance policy for the other cities.]

Erma: [You're right.]

She looked down at a city just ahead of them.

Erma: [Let's check out this city and see if it's going through the same security shortage.]

The two of them dived down to the outskirts of the city and disbanded their wings once they landed. Opening his inventory, Heirloom equipped a black helmet that completely hid his identity with several runes scattered across the top. There were fangs in the way of the visor, but none of them really blocked his vision and existed as decoration of some kind.

Heirloom: [You ready?]

Erma nodded with a smile and the two walked towards the tiny city.

There was no wall around the city, making it super easy for Heirloom and Erma to walk in without worry. The city was like a small farm village. There were large crop sections and animals wandering around the place like they lived there. Several cows, chickens, dogs, and other lively animals could be seen, but dangerous creatures like the slime, Montogeese (6-legged geese-like creatures), wolves, and even orcs roamed freely. The people of the city were mostly human, with a small population of demis (people of mixed races, ex: Dog-man, cat-girl, dragon-man, etc) that were mostly classed as slaves.

Heirloom: [This place has gone to shit.]

Erma: [You can say that again–]

Little boy: [Excuse me!]

The cry of a little boy coming towards the two surprised them. He was short and flimsy, with black wavy hair and hazel brown eyes. He looked like he could pass as a rich boy, but was living in this dump.

Little boy: [Are you a part of the Penn army?!]

Heirloom got down to his knees and stared at the boy through his double-sided mirror visor. He could see the boy, but the boy couldn't see his eyes.

Heirloom: [Yes, is there a problem?]

The boy smiled with joy and hopped up and down. Thinking it was cute, Erma giggled to herself.

Little boy: [Finally! Have you come to restore the balance?! Has the North-Eastern Alliance finally come to save us?!]

Heirloom: [Save you? What exactly happened here?]

The boy stopped jumping and stared at Heirloom with confusion.

Little boy: [The Penn army... they're going to do something about all this, right?]

Erma: [Yes, the North-Eastern Alliance is looking into the problem and should come up with a solution soon.]

The boy looked at Erma and smiled once he saw her bright smile.

Erma: [We're here as scouts for the North-Eastern alliance, looking for people to join our newly formed army and fight back against the people that took us down!]

Heirloom stood up and looked at Erma's smile, which made him chuckle. She's surprisingly good with kids.

Little boy: [My father! My father will join!]

Heirloom: [Will he now? Can you take us to him?]

The little boy nodded eccentrically and ran towards a barn house. The two followed him and walked through a door with squeaky floorboards.

The building was well taken care of, but the atmosphere reeked of illness and dread. Even with his mask filtering the air, Heirloom couldn't help but feel sick walking around.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Little boy: [He's really sick right now, but he's getting better.]

The boy led the two to a room up a set of rusty stairs and through a door covered by a cotton sheet. Erma whispered into Heirloom's ear, covering her mouth.

Erma: [If he's sick, how will he be of much use?]

Heirloom: [I honestly wasn't expecting them to be in such poor conditions. The other cities were doing fine on their own. If this man deems too problematic, we'll end his suffering for him.]

Through the door was a man lying down on a bed with a younger woman sleeping near a window set. The boy walked to the man and shook him until he woke up. Rather than the man waking up, the woman woke up and looked at Heirloom standing tall with his armor covering him from head to toe.

Woman: [Oh dear!]

The boy was shocked to hear his mom speak.

Woman: [Who have you brought with you, Leento?]

Leento (Little boy): [It's a soldier from Penn City! He's here to talk to Father.]

The woman's smile changed into a frown as she sat up and coughed. She stared at Heirloom with a frown.

Woman: [Don't you dare hurt my husband, you piece of shit!]

Surprised, Heirloom looked at Erma, who was quick to react.

Erma: [Don't worry, ma'am. We aren't here to harm any of you.]

The woman changed her focus to Erma.

Erma: [We came to this city to–,]

Woman: [Shut up!]

She interrupted Erma.

Woman: [I don't care what you demis have to say.]

She stood up and walked towards Heirloom.

Woman: [You ruined my family's life! Because your army is so weak, we lost our Queen and the main city has gone to shit!]

Erma: [Ma'am, please! Listen to me–!]

Woman: [Unless your people can solve everything, I will always have a problem with you!]

Heirloom: [DON'T YELL AT HER.]

Surprised, Erma looked Heirloom's way.

Heirloom: [We came here to recruit soldiers and mages to fight back against those that ruined your society. Your son told us your husband would be more than happy to help with the cause, but I guess that isn't the case.]

The woman stepped back and looked at the man sleeping on the bed.

Leento: [Mama?]

Heirloom turned around and grabbed Erma's hand with force.

Heirloom: [If you don't want us here, we'll gladly leave. Just don't expect us to treat you well when all this is over.]

The two made it to the door before the woman grabbed their attention with a sob and tumbled to the ground.

Woman: [My husband has wanted to join the imperial army since he was a young boy.]

Heirloom sighed.

Woman: [When he applied, Paladin Lek turned him down the second he saw his form. He said if he didn't have magic or strength, he was useless to them.]

Heirloom turned back around and walked to the woman and got down to his knees. Staring her right in the eyes, he continued to listen to her story. She went on and talked about how he moved out of the main city and into the country to try and gain more strength doing chores and helping others the best way he could.

Woman: [He recently came across an illness when he went to the main city to deliver some milk. Since we live so far away, we didn't really notice that the main city was... obliterated.]

Heirloom: [Do you know who did it?]

Woman: [We heard that it was Hydra, but they are still unsure about everything. Leviere is keeping a lot to themselves.]

Erma: [If mas– we healed your husband, are you sure he would want to help us restore our kingdom?]

The woman bursted into tears upon hearing Erma's question. The sheer thought of seeing her husband back on his feet seemed impossible

Woman: [He would be happier than he ever has been!]

Heirloom put his hand over her shoulder.

Heirloom: [I can heal your husband, but it comes at a cost.]

The woman looked at Heirloom with tears all around her eyes.

Heirloom: [I can transfer your life force into his. It will heal the disease and increase his lifespan. Are you willing–]

Woman: [YES! DO IT!]

Heirloom's hand started glowing yellow as he took a bit of the woman's life from her. He listened to her cry before standing up and walking towards the man sleeping on the bed. He placed his glowing hand on the man's forehead and watched as he groaned and opened his eyes. Surprised and in tears, the woman ran towards her husband and hugged the life out of him. Heirloom stepped back to Erma and they both watched as the family hugged with smiles.

Erma looked at Heirloom with a grin before giggling to herself.

Erma: [Master, you're a good guy, yet you have terrible intentions.]

Heirloom: [I do what I have to do to get the job done. This man, since he was someone people could rely on, there's no doubt he has hundreds of networks that could help him return the favor of saving his life.]

Erma: [You were going to leave before the story?]

With a head nod, Heirloom returned back to the bed and went down to his knees to look the man in the face. He turned to him with a gentle smile.

Heirloom: [How are you feeling?]

Man: [Better than ever! Thank you.]

His voice was coarse and weak, but he was more than happy to be able to speak. As he coughed, Heirloom, put his armored hands over the man's stomach.

Heirloom: [You shouldn't push yourself too hard. A full recovery will take a couple of hours.]

-

Several hours passed as the man recovered. Heirloom and Erma headed out to the city and went around recruiting hundreds of people that could be of some use to them, women and men respectively.

Heirloom: [For a terrible city, the people here are more than capable enough to register for the imperial army. To be honest, I'm surprised that they aren't.]

Erma: [Maybe it has something to do with their financial status. The people here are farmers.]

Heirloom: [Maybe. Or it has something to do with Penn's poor recruitment system. If they were as smart making an army as they are forming relations, maybe they wouldn't be in this position. You never know.]

They came across another capable person and persuaded him into joining. Without a second thought, he accepted. Heirloom gave him the badge he could use to teleport people to his position. It was so that he didn't have thousands following him around the world on foot.

The same little boy ran from a corner and shouted,

Leento: [I found them!]

Surprised, Heirloom and Erma turned around and saw the boy standing in front of a large crowd of people Heirloom hasn't seen before. Standing next to the boy was his father and mother with wide smiles.

Heirloom: [What did I tell you? Get the badges ready.]

He walked towards the crowd with open arms. Erma came running after with a pile of badges taller than her.

Man: [Is this enough for you, my savior?]

Heirloom nodded,

Heirloom: [This is perfect, thank you.]

The man and the others behind him all got down to their knees, bowing down to Heirloom as if he was their master.

Man: [My name is Kurt Alysuim. I gathered with me the most suitable warriors, mages, and healers for battle. They owe me their lives, and I owe you mine.]

Heirloom smiled softly, but on the inside, he was grinning maniacally. Everything was going according to his plan.

A war is blooming.