I stood in the meadow, noticing that Callicarpa and Blair, who were behind Lavender, had knelt, waiting in nervous anticipation. The younger Dryad held her fiance with a trembling hand, making me realise how important this was for the Dryads. Blair’s gaze almost begged me to accept this priceless gift. Finally, I looked at Lavender, the proud Queen of Dryads, and I softly smiled as I gently wiped the tears from her cheeks with my free hand. She rested her head on my hand, avoiding my gaze once again.
"There is no need for your tears, Lady Lavender May. A smile looks so much better on your noble face." I retracted my hand, and she whimpered softly but smiled.
I knelt in front of her, and effortlessly, I dug a small hole with my bare hand where I placed the supposedly dead seed.
"Making a powder from this seed and spreading it over the fields of Avalon would allow them to heal..." she tried to explain, but I raised my hand with a smile.
"These fields could be replaced and rebuilt. A gift so dear from the Dryads is nothing I could just destroy. May it rest in the gardens of Avalon." I stood up to see her blushing and noticed a smirk on Amber's face, which I ignored completely.
"In that case, King Theon, allow me to stay in Avalon!" she asked with passion in her eyes. "I want to use my powers to aid you, my King!"
"But who will govern the western province if you stay here?" Amber asked, surprising me a bit.
"My sister and her soon-to-be husband," Lavender replied with a bow. "As one who has lived a very long life, I tried and failed to be a governor who could meet your expectations. I must apologise, Your Highness, for regrettably, I can't fulfil the promise I gave you. But Callicarpa and Dastra are capable of doing what I failed. Still... I want to serve you and Eriar to the best of my abilities."
Amber just nodded with a hard-to-read facial expression, leaving me with a decision that should be easy, but in reality, it could have long-lasting consequences. As the sun cast its last rays around us, it illuminated with gold the faces of my wives, who were now silently standing behind the Dryad Queen. Their approving, warm smiles made me sigh, a little bit defeated.
"Thank you, Lady Lavender May. I won't decline your gracious offer." I bowed to her with a smile as we all returned to the Palace. "Please, allow me to express my gratitude..."
•••
The Legions of Avalon were moving restlessly, taking control over entire baronies and sometimes even counties all at once. The minor resistance forces usually consisted of a few hundred to a couple of thousand soldiers who tried to mount a desperate defence. The Third Legion had finally met the Mead Hallow Dungeon and, after fending off the small contingent of the Cridian soldiers that protected it, swiftly attacked the Dungeon itself. The monsters inside were nowhere near enough to seriously fend off the Legion. The Nightmare Hornets, Worker Bees and Honey Bears threw themselves forward in a desperate attempt to stop the Legionnaires, but it was a vain attempt. The dungeon itself was very small and offered just a few herbalism nodes as well as honey produced by the Bees. Truth be told, this was barely a place for even one century to fight. Surprisingly, the stubborn little dungeon refused to surrender and because of that, a scion had to be dispatched.
Funnily enough, that stalled the progress of Infernus Ignis far more successfully than any previous opposition they had faced. One day later, Lance, my Nightmare Hornet scion, arrived and destroyed his previous master. In return, I received mana and a brand-new resource node. This time, it was a wild boar hunting node. I also received three new herbalism nodes; one uncommon medical herbs and two other herbs that could be used as additives to potions to enhance their potency. This gave me the idea that I was not necessarily taking over the unique assets of the subjugated dungeons but a randomised loot instead. There were a lot of things I still had to learn...
•••
"Sir! They are here!" The shout found Baron Trelta half-asleep as the doors to his office popped open.
"Prepare for battle!" The obese man yelled at the messenger and stood up wobbly. "I will show you..."
No one was able to learn what exactly the Cridian Noble wanted to show and to whom as the sound of the warhorns of Avalon rolled over the city. The panicked man ran out of his office in a hurry towards the mansion entrance. The city of Fravia, for the second time, witnessed the might of Avalon's Legion, but this time, it was two Legions that approached the city. With less than nine hundred soldiers available for defence, Baron Trelta had managed to arm every single person able to wield a weapon, bolstering the numbers to an impressive seven thousand. However, most of these forces consisted of the elderly and children, too weak or too scared to be a serious threat to the besieging armies. The city was called to surrender and promised that everyone would be spared, even the insignificant local nobles would only face stripping of their title.
The reason for such lenient treatment at the hands of the enemy quickly became clear. The envoy explained that The Fifth Legion, which had previously asked for free passage through the city, was not only given it, but the city garrison had acted honourably by not ambushing them as they passed. Unfortunately, the current city guard captain was a shortsighted man, loyal only to the Baron, who had sentenced the previous captain and his family to enslavement for the very same reason. The people loyal to the Baron quickly started shooting their arrows at the envoy and all the others inside the city were dragged into a pointless battle. However, the baron, who was supposed to lead the defences personally, was nowhere to be found, as well as his sedan chair and the slaves that usually carried their obese master around the city.
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A loud buzzing sound, followed by a crash that shook the city horrified its defenders. The southern city gates were dented and barely held themselves upright. The next buzzing sounds heralded the complete destruction of the city gates, after which the city plunged into disarray and chaos as most of its unwilling defenders tried to flee their posts. Through the ruin that once was the city gate, the first ranks of Legions entered, amplifying the panic of those still willing to fight.
•••
"Captain Harker?"
"I am no longer captain," the Nekomi begrudgingly replied to the person sitting on the opposite side of a table in the room he had been led into. He started laughing soon after, as he recognised the colours of the officer's uniform. "Haha... Hahahaha! I see! I see... How long did it take you? One or two hours to subjugate the entire city?"
"Half an hour." The officer in front smirked and Harker paled after he recognized the unmistakable vampire fangs. "We have an offer for you, Captain."
The Vampire snapped his fingers and the doors to the room opened, letting in his wife, who wore an expensive-looking dress, and his son, fully healed. The last time he had seen them, his wife and son were badly beaten, and the slave traders were taking them away towards the Cridian capital. They rushed towards him and hugged him tightly as his wife cried tears of joy.
"I thought I would never see you again, Murn." Harker felt the tears forming in his eyes but he didn’t respond. Instead, he focused his gaze on the Vampire, becoming extremely wary of whatever he wanted.
"I wouldn't take much of your time, I promise," the Vampire smiled coldly. "Mainly because we are in a hurry, but you are fairly familiar with the way the things are to the North, after all... So let me be brief. Pledge your loyalty to King Theon Avalon, Captain Harker."
"That's it?" Harker relaxed, but seeing an amused gleam in the Vampire's eyes, he cursed himself for his recklessness.
"Oh, no. That is just the beginning. Once you pledge yourself to my King, you will be tasked with governing this city as its new city Lord." The Vampire shrugged as the Nekomi felt an overwhelming power around him and saw a question floating right in front of him. After taking a deep breath, he accepted the request and felt the incredible power flow within him. As he tried to look back at the Vampire, he found him already standing near the doors. "My Lord expects you to be a good mayor, Baron Harker."
The doors closed, and he was left alone with his family in the room he finally recognized as the office of the previous Lord’s mansion. He found a set of clothes that looked as if they were made especially for him, and as he clad himself in a black cuirass, he noticed a few letters addressed to him on the desk. He hastily opened them and started chuckling menacingly.
"What's going on, Murn?" His wife's voice was full of concern, but he just hugged her.
"Everything will be alright, my Kitty..." She just silently nodded as she hugged him. Harker looked at his son, who was already wearing Avalon Guardsmen armour, and smiled. "Prepare a report on the soldiers that we still have. I will join you after dealing with some trash that was thrown into prison..."
•••
The Cridian soldiers ambushed the forces of Avalon in the dense forest near the ruins of Kûdzun. Abruptly, the path their enemies were moving across disappeared under a barrage of hewn trees that trapped them without cover. The rain of arrows that followed before the dust could settle hit the soldiers in black. The Cridian soldiers engaged Avalon's warriors while raising their battle cries. Their sheer numbers, along with the advantage of surprise, allowed them to score a few hits on the enemies, engaging them in battle before they managed to recover from the trap. The warriors of Avalon were fierce and formidable beyond the expectations of Viscount Y'kull's soldiers' expectations. The combat was swift, and while the Cridians managed to kill all their opponents, their happiness from the victory was spoiled by the abrupt alarms that urged them to return to the fortress at once. With heavy hearts, the Cridians left not only the spoils of battle, but also their fallen comrades as they rushed towards the nearby fortress.
Once they arrived, they were met with strange gazes from its remaining defenders. One of the guards at the gates urged the regiment commander to immediately report to the Viscount. The fort was an old outpost maintained with a minimal budget, but it seemed like it had been living its second life. From every corner of the ageing fortification, the sound of repair could be heard as the even rhythm of the carpenter's saws and hammers created an overwhelming cacophony of rushed construction. The Major smiled, seeing the servants nervously inventorying food supplies and crates full of materials and equipment. He entered the keep and climbed the stairs, still catching odd gazes from the people inside which were gradually harder to dismiss. He stopped in front of Viscount's office and tried to make himself more presentable, a task he ultimately failed, but he had tried.
"You wanted to see me, my Lord?" He knelt down on his right knee in front of the middle-aged man with a big scar across his left cheek.
"Where the fuck have you been?!" the noble yelled at him.
"I was fulfilling your orders, my Lord! As you ordered, I set a trap and killed the Avalon soldiers that were coming from the southwest!" he replied in shock, not knowing why the viscount was so angry.
"What?! How many?"
"We managed to kill at least two... No, three hundred!" He wasn't so sure about the number, but it was better to exaggerate than downplay his achievements right now.
"Two or three hundred..." The Lord nodded slowly and sighed. "Great job, Major. Whatever you fought there had to be nothing but their scouts... We lost the garrisons of Tellar and Rosanti."
"But... There were more than seven thousand soldiers in defensive positions. What's going on, sir?!"
"I think we made a mistake. We shouldn't have underestimated the enemy..."
•••
"So their hidden fortress is somewhere deep in the forest..." the Fourth Legion commander mused to himself as he looked at the map after losing contact with the scouting party. "Little mice can't hide forever..."
He stood up, and with a fluent motion, he mounted his warhorse. He laughed as he realised he finally found what he had been looking for the past week. The rest of his legion moved in unison. Yes... The mice were able to bite a few hundred of his light forces. But now, the rest of the Legion would dig them out from their hiding spot, finally allowing them to move forward.