The civilians of Begus Dekus, many in ragged clothing, all silently lined the side of the main street and watched Duke Begus Dekus walking ahead of Akira who was pointing his sword at the duke's back.
Walking on Akira's left was Orud Mun and Red and on his right was Balue.
Behind them was the rest of the ragtag army as it silently marched down the main street toward the center of the conquered city.
The center market square had been converted into temporary barracks for the influx of temporary soldiers and the various groups of demigods who had occupied the city.
Only a short time ago the market square had been hastily cleared and a large wooden platform erected.
Now the market was already packed with civilians who had gathered to watch what would happen to the captured Duke.
A dozen or so werewolves walked into the crowd of civilians and started to clear a path for Begus Dekus, Akira, Balue, and the other leaders to walk to the wooden platform.
In the fading golden light of the winter day, Akira climbed up onto the platform and looked down at the quivering Begus Dekus who was looking at the ground.
“Yap!” said Fluffball as he used his head to push the hesitating Begus Dekus up the steps and onto the platform.
With the allied forces now standing on the ground protecting the stage, the civilians moved as close as they dared and continued to silently stare at the shivering Duke.
“Duke Begus Dekus, you have been caught red-handed colluding with Demigods aiding them with their nefarious plans to harm Kodria. You have also been accused of serial murder, mass kidnapping, as well as blackmail. How do you plead?” asked Akira.
The duke was silent for several seconds as he tried to scan the crowd for a friendly face to save him but he only found blank faces staring back at him.
“...you have to understand. I had to do it! I ...” Akira stopped him from talking further by holding up a clawed hand.
“Witnesses step forward and state your case,” said Akira.
Both Orud Mun and Red stepped forward and gave similar statements while pointing directly at Begus Dekus.
The civilians hearing everything that the two had to say, were shocked. They had no idea that so much was going on in the background. They had all been in the dark about everything.
“Duke Begus Dekus, do you have any evidence that these statements are false?”
The Duke's mind was racing at 110% as he tried to think of something to counter their statements but he was drawing a blank. After several minutes of silence, he gave a deep sigh of defeat and said, “No, but...”
Akira did not allow him to blabber out an excuse as It was useless. He looked out over the crowd causing the civilians to shiver as his sharp wolf eyes stared at them, “Is there anyone else that has grievances with the duke and wish to have them tried?”
The crowd was silent for some time before a young man stepped forward. “The duke had my father killed for not following in lockstep with his plans.”
Duke Begus Dekus only stared at the darkening sky. All hope of keeping his position as the leader of the dukedom was gone.
He no longer spoke when Akira talked to him and ignored the several dozen accusers that came forward. He could do nothing to defend against the accusations as he had done so much just to get where he was that he had forgotten many of the people that had been stepped on or taken out when they would not bow to his or the demigods' will.
“Would anyone like to vouch for the Duke's innocence?” asked Akira.
A low murmur rose as the crowd chatted with those next to them and looked around to see if anyone would step forward.
Duke Begus Dekus' last bit of hope was shattered as he watched silently. No one was willing to step forward.
“During this time of war, you have knowingly and willingly colluded with the demigods to cause massive harm to others as well as your own citizens. As Duke of Kodria and commander of its wartime Armies, I Akira, find you guilty of crimes against humanity and the demon race.”
Begus Dekus's body started to shake and grow worse as he heard each word.
“The hundreds if not thousands of lives you have ruined can not be brought back to life. Only justice can give relief to those suffering.”
Akira stepped forward and before Begus Dekus could do anything, swiped his sharp claw across his soft neck nearly severing it in one attack. With a second swipe, the head was completely removed. The headless body fell to the ground spurting out blood everywhere.
In peacetime, such a war trial would be heavily criticized by different factions, but now was not a time of peace and to keep control of the situation, one had to put a foot down and handle the unpleasant business if someone crossed the line.
The crowd cried out in shock as they saw this. Many of them had faces distorted from the shock and horror of the beheading while those who had suffered were calmly staring at the dead duke's headless body.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
Ding!
The main city of Begus Dekus Dukedom has been conquered!
Enemy forces will be unable to spawn in the conquered territory.
Do you wish to combine this Dukedom with Kodria or Rename it and install a puppet government?
Akira was not sure what to do right now. Although it would be nice to add such a large city and territory to Kodria's dukedom the distance was too far away for the current power of Kodria to effectively rule it. So he decided to ignore the message for now until the rest of Kodria's army and the army from Jerora arrived.
“Citizens of the Begus Dekus dukedom. We do not intend to rule over you as a conquered people. In the coming days, we will have a meeting to decide on how to restructure this dukedom and what form of government it will have. If you want your voices heard please nominate ten elders to represent you within the next day or two.”
The crowd slowly lost interest in the dead body on the platform and started to chatter with those next to them about what they should do or who they should nominate.
Akira descended the steps of the platform and stopped up to a young city guard that had been relieved of all his weapons.
“Lead the way to the families being held captive.”
The young soldier vigorously nodded his head not wanting to anger the fierce-looking Akira who was still giving off a bloody aura.
With the young guard leading the way, the human and Ogre soldiers whose families had been kidnapped, followed behind Akira and were happy that everything was now cleared up and they would soon be reunited with their family.
When they arrived at the large stone doors of the prison, the guards of the prison did not stop them and instead opened the door and stepped aside.
Akira began walking down the well-lit set of stone stairs that led underground. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he was quite interested in the large natural cave that he found himself standing in.
In the sides of the walls, several large crude rooms had been carved out and had bars placed at the entrance to block the occupants from exiting.
Seeing this place gave him an idea but he would have to get to that later since there were other pressing issues.
With a wave of his hand, the guards that were standing guard hurriedly used their keys to open the several dozen occupied cavern rooms.
The restless human and ogre soldiers rushed forward into the rooms calling out for their family members.
As the captive family members and villagers exited the room many of them were so skinny and weak that they had to be carried or helped out by the soldiers.
It was an unpleasant view especially when looking at the large Ogre bodies. It was hard to recognize them as Ogres compared to the healthy warriors who were helping them out of the jail room. They had been starved to the point that their large muscled bodies were just as skinny as the humans.
Akira's expression hardened seeing this, it was far worse than what Begus Dekus had admitted to. Although he had doubts before, he now had no regret for his verdict.
***
While Akira waited for the reinforcements and delegates to arrive, the city's walls and defenses were repaired and rearranged to better suit the purposes of defense against attackers, mainly the demigods.
As a punishment and a way to weed out the bad seeds in the city guards and the army, they were forced to do most of the manual labor as a way to reform them. Those that tried to rebel or escape from their duties were captured and put on hard labor duty where they were watched every second of the day.
One of the major projects given to them was tearing out the bars from the jail cells below the city as well as expanding the cavernous rooms and pathways underneath to allow for it to be used as a safe haven for the civilians.
It was a large change from being a place of terror and dread to being a place of safety for the coming times of trouble.
The cavern was really a gold mine as even rich trade posts did not have such a convenient place for their citizens to hide. They, along with the other villages in the area, had to just hide in their dirt basement cellars and hope their homes did not collapse on top of them in the fighting.
***
In the throne room of the Begus Dekus castle, a large table had been placed down with several chairs lining each side.
Several delegates from Kodria, Jerora, Begus Dekus, the Ogres, and various other local villages sat around discussing the current events.
“...then do we all agree on this decision?” asked an Ogre.
“Although it pains me to once again abandon our village after so much work to rebuild it. The current situation is once again not safe for lone villages to survive in the wilderness.”
“It is as you say, we are too widespread and are easy to pick off by the demigods,” said another village leader. The other leaders all nodded silently as well.
“Jerora is committed to accepting immigrants up to a point that we can support with our resources. For the rest we can help with the transportation and setting up new villages near Jerora,” said Jab the delegate for Jerora.
“We elders of the Begus Dekus dukedom agree with this idea and will follow your lead. Those that wish to may relocate here.”
“We of the Ogre tribes agree to relocate our villages so that we can be closer to this city for mutual defense.”
The moving of tribes and villages was nothing new for them as they were largely nomadic. Only Begus Dekus and Jerora were the more permanent cities.
“Then, if everyone agrees, I hereby declare the creation of the Tri-pact dukedom,” said Akira.
The Tri-pact was made up of the free nomadic villages of both human and demon races, Begus Dekus, and Jerora.
Ding!
The Begus Dekus Dukedom has joined the Jerora Dukedom!
The Dukedom has been renamed to the Tri-pact Dukedom!
When Akira read through the information on the new dukedom, he was able to see that it was not the third largest dukedom only behind Kodria and the largest demigod dukedom in the north.
“With Begus Dekus no longer alive. I suggest that you come up with a new name for the city,” said Akira as he looked at the elected elders of the Begus Dekus city.
“We have already thought of this problem and have been discussing it with the rest of the citizens. We are still unsure what to name it as this has all happened so suddenly.”
Akira nodded his head, this was understandable.
“With this finished, we can look to the future conflicts against the demigods. We have bought ourselves some time as they can no longer appear from thin air in our territory unless they capture a city or village once again. Don't expect this to be the last we hear from those demigods. I am sure that many more deaths will pile up in the future as we are forced to cut down the plague that is the demigod guilds.”