Chapter 301: A cruel place
"My Lord, are you confident that the invited Lords will submit when they see the grandeur of Goldenveil?" Doran asked, hands clasped behind his back, his gaze sweeping across the barracks’ courtyard, now empty.
"Some will. Some won’t even deserve to submit," Ethan replied, letting out a sigh. "Many of the elves and dwarves will be willing to surrender, as will a good portion of the humans."
"But not all of their settlements will be preserved. Many sit in poor locations and will have to be relocated to Goldenveil.
In that case, their lords wouldn’t even become vassals. They’d lose all their authority and would have to settle for being ordinary citizens.
Even if I preserve some noble titles for them, and I’ll have to, it’ll still be difficult to convince them to give up their own power."
Ethan paused briefly before continuing.
"Elves and dwarves are more likely to accept Goldenveil’s rule because of Arwen, the Tree of Life, and the divine forge I plan to build soon. But most humans won’t come around without a fight."
"They’ll band together, try to use the greenskins against us, and do everything in their power to stop us."
Doran nodded heavily.
A coalition of ten or even fifteen thousand human, dwarf, and elven soldiers refusing to surrender was something Goldenveil could handle with the right strategy.
But... what if they decided to turn the greenskins against Goldenveil? Third-stage orcs, in particular, did not lacked the intelligence to recognize the true magnitude of the danger Goldenveil posed to everyone in the region.
Even if a formal alliance between the other races and green skins were impossible, those who refused to surrender could still try to manipulate the orcs into attacking Goldenveil.
Diplomacy with those creatures was not an option, but they were as greedy as they were violent by nature, and they wouldn’t pass up the chance to lay siege to Goldenveil if offered the right rewards.
"Let’s be patient," Ethan said, patting Doran lightly on the back. "Many will still choose to surrender, and from among them I want to recruit another 1,500 soldiers.
A thousand will complete the first legion here in Goldenveil, and the other five hundred will begin forming the second legion while guarding Windmere."
"We still need a Legatus," Doran remarked, scratching his carefully trimmed beard, fingers sliding thoughtfully through the strands.
Thalion, currently the army’s second-in-command, would be a good choice, but for him it would be more of a demotion than a promotion.
The best option would be to pick a man from among the many officers in Goldenveil... but who?
Leading five thousand men was no easy task.
There were several highly loyal men, and four Tribunes who each commanded a thousand soldiers.
Doran wanted a little more time to study those four and determine which of them might, in the future, be capable of assuming that position.
"Ah... for now, just observe and point out any promising candidates," Ethan said, drawing a nod from Doran.
They spent a few more minutes talking, and soon after, Ethan set out through the streets of Goldenveil, a subtle smile playing on his face.
The city’s population growth would soon explode once again, but he was confident he could control it, because he had found a great solution.
Housing complexes.
One thing he had learned was that, depending on the situation, the system interpreted multiple structures forming a single whole as one entity.
His own palace, for example, included not only the main building but several other facilities, and even a diplomatic housing complex.
What excited him most was that by creating structures like these housing complexes, he could control them with great precision, just as he did with the walls and streets.
He could decide whether the complex would have walls, how dense they’d be, the architecture of the houses built within, and even the level of integration of those houses with magical arrays.
Overall, it was a simply marvelous ability for dealing with the explosive population growth on the horizon.
Of course, he didn’t want to make Goldenveil a city entirely dependent on this ability.
He needed engineers, array masters, architects, strategists, diplomats—people capable of keeping everything running and sustaining Goldenveil’s expansion on their own.
Once the population was large enough and the borders had stabilized, he also wanted to establish a great academy, but that was something for later.
With a soft sigh, he quickened his pace.
***
While Ethan walked through the streets of Goldenveil, through a nearby forest trudged someone Ethan had met only briefly in the past, but who had left a very strong impression on him.
"Ah... I should have gotten here much faster... if it weren’t for all those bastards who I once called brothers..."
A pained groan echoed through the dense eternal forest.
The owner of that voice was Theron, former commander of the military forces of the City of Howling Fire, betrayed by his own master.
He didn’t know how long he’d been fleeing from his former lord’s pursuers. Maybe two weeks? Three?
He was confused.
His head spun incessantly, and his stomach twisted with hunger, letting out faint, pitiful growls.
During the battle, he had forced himself to advance to the fourth stage.
The breakthrough had filled his body with the power needed to escape, but it had also left severe injuries in its wake.
His aura heart was at its limit, and most of his organs had collapsed.
He paused for a moment, leaning against the rough trunk of a tree.
For a few heartbeats he simply stood there.
He was already fifty years old.
His father had died in a mysterious accident shortly before beginning preparations for his own breakthrough to the fourth stage. His mother had been poisoned. Even his grandparents hadn’t lasted long.
He was the only one left, and now, seeing the situation he found himself in, he could only smile bitterly.
The world was a cruel place, wasn’t it?
He had given himself completely to his Lord.
His talent, his honour, his strength.
After his son’s death, there was nothing left to give.
And that was the reward he received.
Betrayal.
He was certain the same fate had befallen his father, his mother, and even his grandparents.
They had all been killed the moment they showed enough talent to become a threat.
In the end, Theron could only force himself back to his feet.
He needed to reach Goldenveil quickly, or all of this would have been for nothing.
