When he was about to kill one of them to show that, Aion realized that he was going a bit too far… Besides, that might enrage the prisoners and make them even more eager to keep their mouths shut. So, he decided to do something more shocking but less gory. He made Caelis approach and reveal his face. It looked the same as usual, so the prisoners looked completely astonished. Still, he looked far too calm and expressionless.
"Even one of your famous fighters ended up becoming my soldier after being defeated. I guess you will have to become my minions as well… prepare yourselves to become puppets without free will."
Aion recalled that Caelis could defeat others and make them become mad with his shadow, but he still could use that. Still, Aion forbade it in order not to reveal his identity. When they saw the shadow taking the form of a spear, they got even more nervous. For them, who valued strength more than a little bit, losing their self of self was worse than death.
"Our commanders are master Lerg and Master Ugren!" One of the prisoners shouted. "Our king decided to attack in order to recover our territory and pay the debt when he heard that the borders would be less guarded! I did what you wanted! Now just kill us and be done with it."
Lerg and Ugren probably were the names of the archer and swordsman… come to think of it, Aion wondered why such a place would have a king. They valued strength more than anything, and it didn't seem like their king was from a lineage of powerful warriors. In any case, it was hard to imagine that Aion would get any more valuable information from random soldiers. Regardless, he couldn't let them go, so he did what they asked him and offered a quick and painless death.
After that, Aion considered what the enemies would do… if they had enough soldiers, they might send more of them to attack the northern part of the border. Still, it didn't seem like a good idea… if Aion were their leader, he would send their best warriors to kill him together. Now, he just had to wait to see if their leader had a brain.
"They are supposed to be pretty prideful, but since they are smarter than Caelis, they might really attack together… I need to prepare for this," Aion nodded to himself.
Aion returned home and looked with his mother at the reports that the other lords sent, they didn't mention the archer and the swordsman, so it was hard to tell how much they were truly struggling.
"What do you know about the king and the history of that kingdom, mom?" Aion asked.
"Not much. They aren't the type to write books about their present and past, after all," Artemisia replied. "They live in the present, and they follow the strong. Without seeing things from their perspective, I can only say a few things written from the perspective of civilians. What I found was that they have a royal family that has been rolling over the Rosberg kingdom for many generations, and people believe it is due to their immense charisma."
That certainly sounded weird. No wonder Artemisia looked so unsure about that. Regardless, considering how quick they are to attack the borders and how much they value and respect people like Caelis, it was hard to imagine that just being charismatic would be enough to rule a nation of muscle heads. The royal family probably knows more, thanks to the spies, but they didn't make their information public even once.
"I will write some letters to see if we can get some information, but it might take days to get anything without your father's help," Artemisia said.
"It is fine, and it is better than nothing," Aion said. "I am confident that we can repel most attacks until their commanders show up."
"Right, to make things fairer, I will be ready to act if they attack together," Artemisia said. "I am a bit rusty, but I will be of some help."
Aion truly didn't want to rely on his mother's help but forcing her to stay at home when she wanted to do something wouldn't be much different than what the king forced her to do… To stay in prison for many years. Helping in the war might improve her image among the people of the territory. Still, since the soldiers and guards were starting to fear him more and more, that might be unnecessary.
"Let's focus on avoiding that kind of problem for the time being," Aion said.
In any case, nothing happened in Aion's territory in the next few days. They received more letters to help the neighbors, but they didn't have enough hands to help. Besides, Aion didn't want to help those assholes. They received some information over the next few days, but nothing really valuable. More than anything, they received reports about the war that was happening on the other side of the kingdom…
"I hope that they will be fine…" Aion said while thinking about his brothers.
While they had skills and power way above their age, wars were different than duels. People gang up on the strong in order to save their own lives. It wasn't a matter of being honorable or not, and it was only a matter of how much you valued your own life.
When they finally received a message from the capital about the commanders of the enemy's army, they said that the archer and the swordsman were on the move and heading to the border. Still, at some point, they lost sight of them. That was really troublesome… Aion wanted to think that he was ready to face them. Still, if they took over the towns in the south, he would have to do something, and attacking a walled city or a town was a lot more troublesome than an ordinary fight…
Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter