While Lucifer studied in silence the sound of thunderous hoof-beats reverberated above ground. There were several hundred riders swiftly moving towards the entrance of the dungeon. The man leading them was a stout 40-year-old man that had a fierce aura, the large swaths of scar tissue telling of many life or death battles that forged the man seen today. Wearing light chainmail armor graying with prolonged use, axes hung on his back the blades a dull sheen from constant use and resharpening. The smell of blood never seemed to wash off this man, not all of it was human.
The leader rode ahead of the group following a map in his mind he memorized in the adventurers guild, being an efficient guide is but one of the many skills he picked up after his years as an adventurer. He then saw some distinct standing stones from his memory and lifts a hand and every horse slows to a controlled stop showing the strict discipline of the riders. Then he scans the area finding a suitable area to camp and suitable places to find materials and begins giving his orders to his closest subordinates. A few hours later the scene looks vastly different, now full of tents and bustling activity, the several hundred men have dismounted and set up their base and begun gathering construction materials for defense and more permanent residences. It is becoming clear that these men are getting ready to stay in the area for an extended period of time, even taking the time to dig latrine pits and temporary stables for the horses.
Meanwhile, in the dungeon, Lucifer was busily making traps and modifying his creations to ever increasing deadliness only limited by his imagination and mana reserves. Suddenly he felt his domain vibrate ever so slightly in an almost imperceptible manner and he began to send his consciousness to the surface to see what was going on. Just before arriving at the highest point in his dungeon before the entrance he was stopped from going any higher due to the restriction of his domain, dissatisfied about being stuck where he can't see anything he funnels mana into the air above the entrance in hope that making some sort of mana geyser would allow him to let his consciousnesses to climb the mana ridge to get a better view of his surroundings.
To his surprise he found that the more mana he put in the air the larger his domain became even going up into the air was possible intrigued he pushed half his mana reserve vertically out the dungeon entrance, the domain rapidly rose dozens of meters high. He then quickly shot his consciousness up high, upon seeing the scene of at least two hundred horsemen galloping towards the entrance of his dungeon he began to feel the sweat run down his nonexistent spine.
He quickly flew towards Selena’s room and ordered her to go above ground and scout out the force above, then he flew back to his high perch to observe the situation. Feeling relief from observing the group set up camps rather than charge straight to the depths of his dungeon giving no time for him to prepare. Lucifer watched the men set up their camps with practiced efficiency and looked on with confusion when he saw them taking down trees and taking them towards his entrance. By now Selena had finished her reconnaissance and was returning to the dungeon entrance, once inside Lucifer floated beside her and asked “who are they and what are they doing here they look a rather hostile bunch”
Selenia looked in Lucifer's direction and calmly replied “they are the punitive force tasked with guarding the entrance before the lord of this land can arrange guards who can properly secure the area around the dungeon”
Lucifer said “so soon... but the last group didn’t even come back to report if the rumors of my existence were true or not”
Selenia frowned “The last group were no pushovers the very fact that they did not return is what gives enough credibility to send a punitive force”
“They don’t look like any adventurers to me they look more like bandits or something” Lucifer replied
Startled momentarily they Lucifer knew what bandits where Selena said “you are right that they are not adventurers in the strictest terms they are more like mercenaries under the guise of adventurers”
“you said mercenaries don’t mercenaries work for money how do they differ from adventurers”
Selena snapped back “they are not the same, Adventures work for the adventurer’s guild and mercenaries work for themselves first and the highest bidder second and are just plain bandits whenever they can get away with it.”
Surprised Lucifer asked “if they are bandits sometimes why don't they get wiped out by the nobles controlling the land they must know that trade becomes stagnant when you have wolves circling the flock”
Ignoring Lucifer's weird sayings she replied “they are hunted in some countries and territories depending on the local lord but they are smart enough to latch themselves onto the shady nobles in the areas they operate by giving a fraction of their “earnings” to the nobles, this is what allows them to operate with impunity to the laws of the kingdom. Worse yet when they enter a territory where they are deemed bandits they joyfully take the title like it's an honor and proclaim that they are in enemy territory, to justify the raiding on villages and caravans, which is something they are fond of doing when they don’t have many contracts at the time or when they plan to cut ties with their “friends”.”
After contemplating for a moment Lucifer then said “why doesn't the king get involved and declare these groups as enemy's of the state and try to get the people joining mercenary bands to instead join the military”
to which Selenia coldly replied “the king would if he could but he is pressured by the nobles to let the mercenaries do as they please because they use them for their shady business, If they need a village withholding taxes to be made an example of, the soldiers patrolling the roads are conveniently absent when a group of raiders suddenly appears out of nowhere and burns the village down or when the nobles want to trade slaves but can’t they use these mercenaries or any other vile thing you can think of”
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
“the nobles can’t trade slaves? I thought that the slave trade would be going strong” asked Lucifer
Selenia said “while the slave trade was banished nearly a hundred years ago that doesn't stop slavery from happening in other forms, it only stopped people from using magic to forcefully enslave peoples wills. But the nobles are especially restricted from any form of slavery because that was how they originally got rid of widespread slavery, the king made it illegal for nobles to own or profit from slavery because it was impossible to outlaw it everywhere with how common it was, which was genius because the nobles in their foolish envy stopped everyone in their lands from having slaves on their own volition because if they couldn't have something they didn't want anyone else having it either” Selena sneered
Curious Lucifer asked, “if the former king could stop slavery then why can't this one-stop some mercenaries now?”
Selena sighed looking dejected “the old king was wise and personally powerful, his word was iron law and nobody would dare go against his wishes. He was strong enough to destroy almost half the noble factions by himself with his heaven-sent physique and even frightened kingdoms on the other side of the continent, that along with his fierce intelligence he was able to make strong supporters in the nobility making his rule unquestionable. But time ravages humans much quicker than us elves and after nearly three hundred years of living the king's body deteriorated regardless of any
But time ravages humans much quicker than us elves and after nearly three hundred years of living the king's body deteriorated, regardless of any potion or magical elixirs he consumed. Once this happened the previously suppressed nobles came out in force against the king's faction who were lax on their guard against those from within and quickly started to lose power. All wouldn’t have been lost if there was a competent successor to pass the throne to but the king's only son was a wastrel piece of garbage that spent his whole youth on women and carnal pleasures, he was not someone ready to take on a shaky throne. Instead, the nobles started to form their own factions around who they thought should be the next ruler of each group proposing their own sons. The
The king's useless son got caught up in the nobles schemes and allied himself with the nobles faction after he became fed up with the king trying to get him to calm his desires and become an able ruler. After losing the trust of his only son the king's health further deteriorated and he could barely leave the castle anymore, Seeing this the nobles gathered their armies to force the king to abdicate the throne to his own son who was now a puppet for the nobles. The king
The king would have gladly given the throne to his son years before if he just showed some initiative to become a good ruler but, now his son was twisted into something he didn't even recognize as his son anymore, he was constantly surrounded by beautiful woman, he killed anyone who disagreed with him on anything without reason, then granting titles to those who licked his shoes the best. With no chance of return for either him or his people the King grew enraged and donned his armor once used in his glorious past, then took large amounts of magical elixirs to boost his body's vitality without care, he then charged into battle in a mad drug filled frenzy with his most loyal followers at his back and carved his way into the traitors, killing large swaths of enemy's until his old body finally gave out, but only after he managed to slay the main instigators of the rebellion. Now with their leadership dead the traitors soon found they couldn't control the kingdom with the wise king dead and turned onto each-other. Each noble carving a piece of land for themselves to rule over as kings and whatever absurd titles they proclaimed themselves. The battles during this time were fierce and the elves only survived because there was no force large enough or cohesive enough anymore to take us on while we were in the Forrest. The situation didn't last long before a bastard child from the old wise king emerged in the north, using his god given body he like his father to cut his way through all his enemy's reaching nearly halfway down the continent until he was gravely injured in battle and had to maintain the land he managed to take back and heal his injuries. After stabilizing his kingdom he began to find out some of the promises he made to his brothers in battle catching up to him strangling his hold onto the throne until he could not accomplish anything except keep the kingdom together and barely keep off the attacking nations. That's why the king cant get rid of the mercenaries. Because he gave the nobles too much power when he was reclaiming the kingdoms land no his hands are bound and his body is not what it used to be any more so he can’t force the issue either”
Now with their leadership dead the traitors soon found they couldn't control the kingdom with the wise king dead and turned onto each-other. Each noble carving a piece of land for themselves to rule over as kings and whatever absurd titles they proclaimed themselves. The battles during this time were fierce and the elves only survived because there was no force large enough or cohesive enough anymore to take us on while we were in the Forrest. The situation didn't last long before a bastard child from the old wise king emerged in the north, using his God-given body he like his father to cut his way through all his enemy's reaching nearly halfway down the continent until he was gravely injured in battle and had to maintain the land he managed to take back and heal his injuries. After stabilizing his kingdom he began to find out some of the promises he made to his brothers in battle catching up to him strangling his hold onto the throne until he could not accomplish anything except keep the kingdom together and barely keep off the attacking nations. That's why the king can't get rid of the mercenaries. Because he gave the nobles too much power when he was reclaiming the kingdom's lands so his hands are bound and his body is not what it used to be any more so he can’t force the issue either”
With no chance of return for either him or his people the King grew enraged and donned his battle armor he once used in his glorious past, then took large amounts of magical elixirs to boost his body's vitality without care he then charged into battle in a mad drug filled frenzy with his most loyal followers at his back and carved his way into the traitors killing large swaths of enemy's until his old body finally gave out only after he managed to slay the main instigators of the rebellion. Now with their leadership dead the traitors soon found they couldn't control the kingdom with the wise king dead and turned onto each-other. Each noble carving a piece of land for themselves to rule over as kings and whatever absurd titles they proclaimed themselves. The battles during this time were fierce and the elves only survived because there was no force large enough or cohesive enough anymore to take us on while we were in the Forrest. The situation didn't last long before a bastard child from the old wise king emerged in the north, using his God-given body he like his father to cut his way through all his enemy's reaching nearly halfway down the continent until he was gravely injured in battle and had to maintain the land he managed to take back and heal his injuries. After stabilizing his kingdom he began to find out some of the promises he made to his brothers in battle catching up to him strangling his hold onto the throne until he could not accomplish anything except keep the kingdom together and barely keep off the attacking nations. That's why the king can't get rid of the mercenaries. Because he gave the nobles too much power when he was reclaiming the kingdom's lands so his hands are bound and his body is not what it used to be any more so he can’t force the issue either”
Lucifer calmly replied, “I didn’t ask for a history lesson” leaving Selenia speechless.