Percius V, the son of Percius IV, took up his position in the throne of the Emperor. He wore the red tunic which represented the Emperor's status, and the crown made of leaves.
On his right was Longitudinas, the Minister of the Capital of the Empire, Turak. On his left stood Brutus, the Senator of the Capital. While the senator's duty was to act as the public figure who ruled over a particular city, the minister's duty was instead to manage and present solutions to the problems within the city. However, the capital was slightly different from other cities, as the Emperor resided in the capital. This created a system where there were 3 figures within a single city which held great political power, however the Emperor would always have the last say in any matter.
Around the grand halls, which were filled with statues and paintings, stood many legionnaires at arms. Percius V sat in a relaxed position as he looked down upon the group of three men bowing to him.
The first was the commander of the second legion, Darius. On his right and left were two colonels underneath his command. All of them had removed their helmets while bowing before the young Emperor, and Darius spoke up.
"Your grace, it has been 1 day since the departure of your father. I received a report that he has arrived safely within the capital of the Ruthobold kingdom as of last night, guarded by both his own personal unit and escorted by the son of the king himself. There appear to have been no issues so far, however from what I know the negotiations are due to happen today. Your father said he would be gone for around a week, however it is possible that he might arrive even earlier at this rate."
Percius V looked somewhat disturbed and disappointed, before waving off the soldier in front of him.
'It seems he really doesn't want me to hold any power for too long if he is commencing the negotiations and rushing back so quickly... and I barely even had time to take this seat...'
"Is there anything else? If not, I would like you all to return to your posts and continue to be vigilant."
"There is nothing else, your grace.
"Then get out of my sight."
Darius bowed his head further before quickly shuffling out of the room with his two soldiers by his side.
As they were walking through the hallway, the man on his left spoke up.
"How unbecoming of that child. He doesn't understand his position as the Emperor."
Darius, a man with dark brown hair that was well kept and made a complete loop around his head with sideburns connecting to his beard, nodded in agreement while striking his chin.
"He lacks the same tact that his father did. You can tell that he is nothing more than a child flailing around his authority as the son of the Emperor, and he has no respect for his subjects or his people. Given his father's great personality, it is a wonder that the two are related."
Darius had great respect for Percius IV and his new policies, which was why he pledged to serve under him with absolute loyalty. Darius was the type of man who would only serve under someone who's principles he respected, and he saw that Percius IV was a man who truly cared for his people.
Darius was the first one to accept magicians into his legion as soon as Percius implemented the policy banning their persecution. To this date, a sixth of his entire legion of 10,000 men consisted of magicians who could use support, healing, and attack magic, and a third consisted of archers- while the rest consisted of warriors.
Darius was the type of commander who would use any wide variety of tactics available in order to defeat an opponent on the battlefield, and having a force composed of members who had different skillsets were crucial to this style.
Caspus could be considered the opposite of Darius in this manner. Caspus, who had ties with Senator Brutus and was rumored to be loyal to the Senator as opposed to the Emperor, refused to accept any magicians into his unit. Even archers were rarely found in this unit, which was composed almost completely of infantry and cavalry.
He was the type of man who believed that one could simply brute force their way through a campaign, and was excessively willing to make sacrifices in order to achieve a goal. He often would order a given unit of soldiers to act as bait- and to give their very lives while leading the enemy into a trap. This was of course, a legitimate strategy in the battlefield, but one which Darius preferred not to use.
"If one only considers what is necessary for a one way trip, and throws out the idea of returning safely, then they will be able to accomplish much more."
Those were the words Caspus told to Darius when speaking of how he would often send soldiers deep into enemy territory to slay a commander, while completely ignoring any route of escape.
These tactics would usually result in an overall victory, however the ones who deserved the most recognition would be caught surrounded by enemies after having completed their objective, and they would die heroes.
However, one does not realize how futile it is to die a death as a hero until they find themselves in this inescapable situation.
Hero or villain, chivalrous knight, or drunken bum. It doesn't matter if one dies in the end anyways. One cannot reap the glory of being remembered as a hero when they are dead. Even the aspect of 'being remembered' is useless, as you won't be around to see people remembering you.
The other Colonel then spoke up, asking a question to Darius.
"Why do you think the Emperor selected Caspus to lead the campaign in the monster realm anyways? Do you think after all that he was trying to get rid of him?"
Darius shot a glare at the man who asked this.
"Do you think that the Emperor would do such a thing?"
The man looked down in shame, understanding that he had asked an inappropriate question.
"No, forgive me. You are right. The Emperor would never do something like that."
"Perhaps it is because he feared what would happen if someone power hungry like Caspus was present in the Empire at the same time his son was ruling. After all, Tirius is stuck at the wall, and we are the closest unit to the capital if you take Caspus out of the picture... I think this is the Emperor's way of entrusting a responsibility to us that we look over the young Emperor and ensure he doesn't make any rash decisions."
"Ah, I see! However, what of the commanders of the 4th and 5th legions?"
"It would take more time to get into contact with them and order them around than what has been allocated for the stay in the Ruthobold Kingdom. The Emperor likely took this into account, and is trying to return as quickly as possible to take up the position... but still, it is considering that he has absolutely no control over his son, if his son were to take the throne now, it would be nothing less than a disaster."
"As you say, Legion Commander."
"Even so, I am sure he has said something to keep his son in check for now at least, as he didn't order us to do anything rash this time around."
The men nodded in agreement, as they all exited the palace.
"Depending on how these conversations with the rulers of other countries go, things could certainly become chaotic. If we really are able to gather up the heroes, we too will likely be headed off to the monster realm.", Darius noted.
"The monster realm... that certainly is quite the concerning deployment... but if the heroes are at our head, then we should have nothing to fear even of those powerful demons and monster kings, right?"
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Darius had a concerned look on his face.
"I can only hope so."
----
Lance, Melody, Charlotte, and Pierre had all set out from the resistance hideout in order to return to Githard where they would then take part in the upcoming war, in order that they may earn funds from the large reward which was offered by the Emperor.
"Lance... what do you think? Should we even stay with that resistance? It seems like because of those... things... that the resistance is going to become something completely different than what their leader intended for it to be.", Charlotte muttered softly.
"I... I don't know. Do we stay? Do we leave? Pierre, what do you think?"
"Either way, we are going to be leaving on this campaign, so we have plenty of time to decide, right? For now, we should just focus on surviving and making as much money as we can. If we decide to bail on the resistance, then we will have enough to live out our lives in relative peace."
"But I would like to fight for our country... for our people... I want to get stronger for that purpose...", Charlotte said.
She couldn't help but recall their strength.
Even if they had used it for something so evil, so terrible...
It was still captivating, no matter how she looked at it.
She was still impressed with how those two were able to look the rapists in the eyes without fear.
She was still impressed with how concerned the two males were for their own comrades, and even if she understood now that they were monsters... there was something completely human and yet completely inhuman about them.
"Do you all... do you all think that they are really evil?"
"What do you mean, Charlotte?", Lance asked, with his hands in his coat pockets. "They were monsters, and ones who held an intelligence far greater than anything I've ever seen... no wait..."
Lance shuddered as an idea popped into his head.
"Could it be.... is it possible that they are the antiheroes?"
The group froze in their footsteps as Lance said this. Melody was the only one who didn't seem completely surprised by this, but even she seemed to be thinking hard about it.
"That.... that is possible, isn't it? I heard a rumor that the Indeterminant has been summoned in the Kingdom.... do you think it's true?"
"That goblin also called them 'their excellencies'... and they have already said that they are the rulers of a nation within the monster realm... and they are a group of demons... all the pieces are coming together...", Pierre noted.
"Wait wait wait... you can't be serious... no matter how powerful they were, there's no way that they were THE antiheroes of the legends right!? Even if all the evidence points to that... it can't be, right? How could they be the antiheroes?! Wouldn't they be out in the monster realm, taking over the monster kings in order to become the new demon lords or something?! Why would they be in the human realm!?!", Charlotte shouted.
Melody then spoke up.
"It's possible that they have already united the entire monster realm, defeated the current monster kings, and when they were referring to their domain, they meant the entire monster realm."
The jaws of the other three dropped at this possibility.
"There's... no way that could have happened without anyone hearing about it, right?", Charlotte questioned.
"The people who are out on boarder patrol would surely have some sort of report of strange activity within the monster realm if such a large event had occurred.", Lance stated.
"But... if it was those monsters with that crazy power...", Pierre remarked. "Then it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that anyone who found out was eliminated, right... or perhaps even brainwashed... it isn't an unprecedented occurrence for a group of soldiers to make their way into the monster realm and never come back after all... and they certainly have the power to do it..."
"You're right..."
The four continued walking town the path to Githard shuddering as they thought about those four monsters- who's true identities were now even more of a mystery than before.
"But still... weren't they a little too human to be monsters? We even had dinner with them... we laughed with them and had fun with them... even if they did those horrible things to the people of the resistance... do you think that they were really doing it just because they were evil? Even if they were monsters... was it really all just an act?"
Lance seemed to be biting his lip as Charlotte brought this up.
He too had great hopes for the group which they had met, and those hopes were crushed when they revealed their monstrous forms before them.
Lance couldn't forget the short time they had spent together, and the conversations they had about themselves.
"I... I said I don't know!! I don't want to think about them anymore!! They were monsters, and we will probably never see them again! Even if we do, it will probably be as enemies!! They are trying to take over the Empire for goodness sakes!! What if they succeed?!"
Lance became very emotional, and was unsure about what he was saying.
He wanted it to be true that the four monsters were not actually their enemies, however that couldn't be true.
So he frustratingly accepted the truth, and denied any other possibility.
Pierre was considering things.
"You... I think you're right, Lance. We can't look at them as people. Even if they spent that time with us, even if we looked up to them... even if we saw them as human, they were probably laughing inside and mocking us for being such fools and playing right into their hands."
Melody then spoke up.
"I don't think they were any worse than humans. As a matter of fact, I think we should wait and see... we should watch what they do from here on out, and then decide for ourselves if they are really monsters."
Charlotte and Lance smiled when they heard Melody say this.
"Y-yeah! We should wait and see!! Maybe... maybe they have some sort of big plan... maybe they will actually help the members of the resistance in removing the corruption from this country... who knows? Maybe if they manage to take over they will rule peacefully, just like the Emperor Percius has done!"
Charlotte and Lance nodded at each other smiling, while Melody kept a mostly serious face, but she lightly smiled at the two. She knew this wasn't the case, but didn't say anything to shatter their naive perceptions of hope.
Pierre was still scared and suspicious, but he reluctantly agreed.
"Alright. We'll wait and see. Either way, we need to get over to Githard for now. If we keep walking at this pace we won't make it before the campaign."
----
Caspus had arrived at Githard with his entire legion. There were already a number of soldiers stationed here beforehand, and they would proceed to merge into his unit as part of the attack force.
The soldiers stormed the town and began to collect supplies and food from the docks, and spent their time loading them onto the ships.
The fleet was massive, with over 200 galleons and a number more smaller boats. There was enough room for 100 soldiers on each galleon, and so the total capacity for this raid would have been about 30,000 people if the smaller boats were counted, or 3 legions.
Because only a single legion was going to be attacking, along with an estimated 3000 mercenaries, there was no need to go this far, however the option was available to take more ships if he wanted to crowd them less. As such, Caspus intended to take 150 galleons, which could support the room and supplies for 15,000 men.
There was no room for error in this campaign, as a success here meant that he would likely make his name as the first ever legion commander to successfully take land from the monster realm.
His name would spread far and wide, not only across the Empire but even throughout the lands.
And all he had to do was sacrifice a few mercenaries. As a matter of fact, the estimated number of mercenaries were greater than the amount of fishmen who in theory inhabited the village. The information was obtained from a black market trader who had apparently been obtaining salt from the fishmen for cheap.
After realizing that this would no longer be profitable once the Empire attacked the fishmen, he instead decided to sell the information about the fishmen village to Caspus in exchange for pardon of working with monsters.
Caspus of course, would have none of that.
Before the man left his quarters that night when Caspus received the information, he had the man killed off in silence for the grave sin of treason to the Empire and collaboration with monsters.
Disgusting.
Even so, Caspus had learned a great deal from this man. He learned that there were two villages within the fishmen village- an outer and an inner village. The outer village was used primarily for this production of salt, and not many lived there, however it was easily accessible if one simply arrived by sea.
The inner village was not so easily attacked. It was where most of the fishmen resided, and the entrance was apparently an underwater cave.
It would be impossible for legionnaires with their heavy armor and weapons to invade such a location, so siege tactics would have to be relied upon.
However, perhaps they could offer the mercenaries a greater reward if they were to ditch their heavy armor and swim underneath the cave in order to attack the city.
Caspus would of course use this tactic to his advantage, however the main plan otherwise would be to simply cut off the entrance and eliminate anyone who came out. Eventually the fishmen would starve inside that cave.
'Or will they? They are monsters who are used to living in the wild, so a siege might not be effective. Perhaps I should have my soldiers try to find another way in... maybe we should prepare a set of excavation tools just in case...'
There wasn't enough information right now for Caspus to form a competent plan, however he didn't want to simply send his own soldiers in without armor. Even though Caspus was perfectly fine with sending his soldiers off to die, that was only if they would achieve something in doing so.
What good could an armorless soldier do against the massive fishmen, who held all sorts of unique fighting abilities? It was said that the fishmen were of the 5th tier of strength- which implied that it would take somewhere around 25 average trained and armed men to take down a single fishman. This was merely speculation, however it was a risk Caspus couldn't take.
It would only lead to a slaughter unless they completely outnumbered the fishmen, however such a bottleneck would prevent them from doing so.
'Yes, even if we sacrifice the mercenaries, there would likely be no point in doing so... hm... this is a more difficult problem than I had initially imagined... we will absolutely have to find a way around... I will adapt to the situation depending on the conditions at the site. For now, I need to continue monitoring the preparations here until we leave, and then I will make a little speech to inspire morale into the troops.'