"So, what should we do?" The officers asked.
"We moved East. There should be cities on that way that are still loyal to my mother. We will rebuild our force in one of them," Aldryth answered.
"Why east?" Dytess asked.
"It's where the reinforcement from Themisphere will come from," Jeanny answered.
"Themisphere?" Dytess loathed the fact that they needed help from another country, but their situation was indeed bad. She had also seen Jeanny and her guild members' chivalry during this battle, so she won't dismiss their opinion as she would have normally.
She looked to Aldryth. "My queen, is that what you wish?" She asked.
Aldryth was dazed for a while from the words. She was not ready to be called a queen. The title also brought sadness to her as it reminded her that her mother had passed. Yet, she knew it was her responsibility to step up.
Aldryth nodded with determination. "Lord dominator, command the troops to move East. We depart immediately."
"We follow your command, my queen," Dytess replied. She then issued the marching command to the rest of the army.
Eoranth took to the sky and disappeared behind the clouds. He was no longer officially this country's guardian, so he had no obligation to protect this army. Still, he felt a little guilt for failing to protect Queen Frorryntiar. So, he figured he should at least make sure her daughter was safe.
No one knew the dragon's thoughts, though. Some thought that this was probably the last time they saw Eoranth. Aldryth had the same thought. She wasn't the official sovereign of this kingdom. She didn't possess a queen badge, so she had no means to call Eoranth even if she wanted to.
As they started marching, the night gave way to dawn. The soldiers looked back and saw the ruined capital they had so valiantly defended. They couldn't hide their sadness for having to leave. The first light of the sun shone on Messephyria which was getting smaller as they moved away. They swore they would retake the capital in the future and erase this stain of defeat.
---------------
"The capital fell in just one night…?"
The army of Themisphere had just crossed through the border territory and entered Hydrurond this morning, but what greeted them was the news of their ally's defeat. Messephyria was still close to two weeks marching from where they were. With Jack's runestone of marching, he could probably shorten the time to one week, but that was all pointless now.
"Yeah, it also surprises me," John said. He then asked Peniel who was floating beside Jack, "Jeanny said about a book that can raise the dead natives, you know anything about that?"
"Yes. That is Necronomicon, a legendary artifact," Peniel answered. She said to Jack, "Remember the Book of the Damned you gave to Horatio? The Necronomicon is an artifact of the same power level. The difference is the Book of the Damned is catered to the Warlock class, while the Necronomicon is to the Summoner class. Or more precisely, to the necromancer special class."
"That artifact in the hand of a sovereign truly tips the playing field. They can preserve their army count or even increase it without needing to wait for the time to recruit and train new soldiers," John said. "This completely changes the situation. I thought we can just continue and attack even if Hydrurond lost. But this option is out now, the enemy still has a sufficient force even after the war. We will need to mobilize more army if we want to attack."
"It will take too much time to mobilize another army. Let's go and rendezvous with Princess Aldryth first. They are heading our way."
"You should address her as a queen now," John said.
"Yeah. Thank goodness Master wasn't aware of the succession rule of the monarch system. Otherwise, he would have gotten more soldiers for his expansion."
"When he and Mistress took the thrones, both Liguritudum and Aurebor's sovereigns at the time had no heir. So, it made sense that he was not aware."
"How come the Aurebor's queen had no heir? I thought elves live a very long life. Didn't she ever have any relationship in all her long years?" Jack asked.
"Queen Ashala was a very prideful and arrogant woman," Duchess Isabelle who rode beside them said. "She is too proud to have any man standing beside her as an equal, so she was never married. Nor did she ever sire an offspring as she believed she won't be able to cope with a child who can't meet her standards."
"That's sad," Jack remarked.
"Is this relevant? Let's discuss more important subjects," John said. "You need to know that I've given the go-ahead to construct a large-sized fort facing the border of Hydrurond."
"Isn't a large-sized fort expensive and takes a long time to build?"
"Yes. But it will give us a good spot to prepare our army when we want to mobilize against Hydrurond. Not to mention, it also provides a good defensive advantage in case the enemy came invading from Hydrurond. Now that we learn that Master is in control of Hydrurond, that fort will become crucial."
"When did you start building that fort?" Jack asked.
"When you first leave for Hydrurond to convince Queen Frorryntiar that we are allies," John answered.
"The heck?! Then why do you only tell me now? Wait… Are you telling me about the fort because it is now necessary under the current situation? Do you still have any other things you did without telling me?"
"Uh… I did a lot of things without telling you," John said.
Jack didn't know if he should be mad. He decided to just not bother about it. He instead asked, "Have you thought of a way to deal with the enemy army chasing after the princess' force?"
"Queen's!" John corrected.
"Yes, yes. You know bloody well whom I meant."
"I'm still working on it. But first thing first, we need to stock up our supplies."
"How?" Jack asked.
"Buying them from our allies like we have planned, of course," John answered
"But isn't this country already fallen to Master's hand?" Jack asked again.
"Under the situation where an heir is still around, some settlements might choose to not submit to the new sovereign," Peniel informed.
"How do we know which settlement is still friend and which has turned to foe?"
"Only one way to find out," John said. When Jack gave him an inquisitive gaze, John said, "Knock on the gates and see if they open the gates or send arrows at us."
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