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Chapter Fifty-Three: King Aurelius Part Two
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2024-10-29 19:42:56While looking for a place to sit and eat, I noticed something odd about this camp. This place was large enough to accommodate hundreds of people here. The Blood Eagles were supposed to be over ten times the number; that included the mercenary guilds and the raiders they press-ganged. Also, there was supposed to be a fleet of seventy-two landships. Only a single one parked next to the hill-fort. Where were the rest of them?
I headed toward the landship to investigate. It looked the same as the first one I saw months ago. However, after a closer look, I was bewildered to see damages on its walls, especially the diagonal slash that stretched the entire front of its keep. They were like battle scars. Something must’ve happened to this guild when they went to Everlasting End.
“Hey, hoodie!”
My nerves froze. I was the only person around who was wearing a hoodie coat. Did the Blood Eagles find out about me?
“Hey, hoodie! Over here!”
That sounded like
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As Cara explained, a few weeks after the Sack of Ashpile, ten mercenary guilds arrived with their landships. The loot that the Blood Eagles acquired was able to hire them all. Together with thousands of raiders press-ganged to their guild, they began their journey to Everlasting End. After passing through the Equator, they faced erratic weather, giant monstrous worms, dragons, and beyond. To my surprise, no one got recalled when they reached Everlasting End. “What’s it like?” I asked. “I don’t know,” Cara answered. “We could see a huge land at our horizon, but none of us got to step foot on it.” The pupils of her eyes started to contract. “We were only halfway until they came out of nowhere.” “What happened?” I asked again. “Is it the G8?” “I-I don’t know.” She trembled when a horrible memory of that ill-fated battle resurfaced. “W-we lost so many. We didn’t even know who attacked us. We managed to get away with only one landship left.”
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My throat was sore. It had been hours telling Aurelius everything I knew back on Earth: current news, trends, history, technologies, military; the last two had him interested the most. He was like a little boy listening to storytime, with his eyes sparkled in awe. It was weird to see him like this. Aurelius was a ruthless king and a brilliant strategist from my perspective earlier. Nevertheless, I kept myself polite, especially when I couldn’t answer most of the questions about modern devices. That was beyond the knowledge of any normal kid like me to understand how they were made. Upon finishing, he ordered me to tidy up the room for the upcoming meeting with his commanders. I couldn’t complain that he treated me like one of his own servants due to my current dilemma. While he was waiting on his chair, I was dusting the bookshelves, using my handkerchief. Since he was royalty and also an enemy, asking him for cleaning tools might be my death sentence. I kept glancin
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I froze halfway. If I remembered correctly, Aurelius did say the Storm Brothers had information about Rockflower. They must’ve learned about my friends and the elites defending the town. Masaru might’ve recognized me from the time we liberated Hammerhorn. I need to confront him, or else my cover would be blown. Slowly turning to face him, though avoiding his gaze again, I pretended to be a medieval peasant who shrunk himself before an intimidating overlord. “I-I’m just a newcomer, sire.” “I said who, not what!” Masaru growled, which I quivered. “Answer the damn question, and don’t lie to me.” I gulped. Just like that Asian warrior said earlier, “Don’t lie.” If they had the ability to know if a person told the truth or not, I must be careful with my words. “S-Samson, sire.” “Sam Son?” Masaru made it sound like a Chinese name. “Enough, Lord Masaru,” Aurelius growled. “We have important things that need to be discussed.
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After crossing the bridge, the Blood Eagles lit their torches as we entered the forest to guide our way, but they weren’t bright enough to get a clear view of the wagon’s contents. As time passed, my companions were almost on their last legs from pushing. I had to increase my speed to keep up the pace. “Are we there yet?” I inquired. “Keep moving,” a Blood Eagle member exclaimed. “We’re almost there.” “Good, my back’s killing me,” one of the pushers said with relief. Several minutes later, we stumbled upon a mound with a large cave similar to Andorra’s Vein. After reaching the light at the end of the tunnel, we found ourselves in a dome-shaped cavern, bustling in all manners of activities and working hands. It was much bigger than the two mines of Andorra’s Vein combined. Maybe the size of a football stadium. However, there were fissures, rubble, and cracks everywhere. Of course, they were Mount Fort’s handiwork. At the center of this place, t
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Sir Chandos was standing before me, alive and well, though his armor was battered and had leg cuffs chained to an iron ball. Nevertheless, he was beaming at me with a smile. “Sir Roche, it’s good to see you —” Sir Chandos dropped his smile and turned away when the foreman shifted his attention toward us. The Grendel Knight squatted on the ground, facing the warheads on the left. Then he buried his mouth under his folding arms. “No slacking off,” the foreman snarled after noticing that I stopped working. I went back on filling up another crack, though keeping a close distance with Sir Chandos. “Don’t turn around,” Sir Chandos’ voice whispered. “Keep working, and keep your voice down.” “Alright,” I said in a hushed tone. “What happened? Sinchi said that you were recalled.” “So Sinchi managed to escape.” he sounded surprised yet relieved. “I’m glad he warned you and everyone in town.” I hung my head down. “The Blood Eagles used Sinchi and
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I failed! I failed! I was so close… I was about to pass out from the blood loss. My eyes were getting heavy. Once they shut, that would be my end. “I got you! I got you!” Commodus bragged. “Didn’t I tell you that you’re nothing but a bug?” His loud, boastful voice was ringing my ears, which kept me from losing consciousness. I took a glance at him. My fist was still hovering near his face. That gave me one last idea as I quickly grabbed his hand that was holding the spear, grasping tightly so that he wouldn’t escape. “I got you,” I said with a weak voice, concentrating all my super-strength toward my fist. “What do you mean…?” Commodus was no longer bemused when my fist near him shook. He then realized my intent once my thumb released the full force from my bent index finger. “No, no, NO…!” Bam! A flick on his forehead and Commodus was sent zooming down the ground, along with his spear. My scream thundered throughout the sky in excruci
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