Arthur then turned around, and said no more. He really was racing against time, and this old man sensed the great vibe out of him, so he hurriedly said, trying to buy his favor:
"We have already packed and prepared to leave. Your fame and reputation wildly exceeded your steps, my lord."
Arthur didn't stop walking back to his party, as he muttered:
"Then hurry up and join the rest."
"I have a piece of news that might interest you, my lord, it's about the time difference between here and your world."
The words of this old man managed to pique Arthur's interest, as he turned to glance at the old man, gesturing to him to speak.
"The time here is much faster than the time in your world, so five days here would equal one day only passing through your world."
The words of this old man were really a game changer to Arthur! He was familiar with the time dilemma of any pocket world, as many would have time moving very fast, and others would have it running so slow.
For him this meant his stay here for one month had turned to five months! Despite the duration being longer, he was really ecstatic right now about this.
"What's your name old man?" he asked.
"Omendy, my lord."
"Good, I like the news you presented, so your village will be a direct subject of mine, not a slave like others. Hurry up and follow me."
Arthur then returned to Lily and others, before changing the route to the direction of the next village. Lily had heard everything that old man had said, and she was quite upset from that!
However, strangely for her, she noticed the change of Arthur's mood to the better! That was quite inexplicable for her, but she remained silent and didn't ask.
The journey took a couple of hours before they saw the next village. this village was on the edge of the forest, so that recent monster tide had already devastated it!
All its walls were destroyed, and the interior of the village showed many signs of damage.
Arthur sighed, inwardly, as it seemed that monster tide made quite a devastation for many. however it was a must, and he never regretted doing it.
As the last village, this one also presented the older people of it, as they instantly surrendered to Arthur, joining all their entire people with his march.
Lily was speechless, as she already heard about the great refusal of everyone to the peaceful offer he made. She didn't understand that the first brutal fight, and subduing this big town, had demonstrated clearly how strong and violent he was.
So, for these smaller villages, they had no hope in resisting him. as for the other towns, the story was quite different.
The next two stops were at villages as well, and they both surrendered to him. The third stop was at an empty village, as there was no one there!
Arthur stood silently in front of this village, while holding up the map in his hands, closely examining it.
It was supposed to be a ring of five villages here surrounding two towns, one inside and one outside this large ring. These seven villages and towns lied all inside the forest, but being supported and surrounded with some low hills, they were slightly protected from the monster tide.
The overall vanish of everyone indicated only one thing, there was one town amassing all the forces in the area to resist him!
That didn't bother him at all, as he knew he was enough to deal with all of them, however the issue here was which town of the two made this bold move?
"Lily, you take everyone and head towards the city," Arthur suddenly said, as he folded the map and hid it into his ring, "the distance from here to the city will take around four hours on foot, just at the right time before the night."
Lily was skeptical about it, as this empty village had given her bad impression and odd omen. She wanted to argue with him, but his direct stare at her made her nod, and swallow any arguments she wanted to say.
After all she wasn't here to help him in the fight, and she was sure he was more than capable to fight anyone without the worry of his life.
Arthur then stood in his place, motionless, as he watched the great population he gained moving towards his city. their number was now exceeding one hundred thousand, making him quite happy with his gains.
As they left, he turned his full attention towards the sneaky enemy he had right here.
The perfect choice for the town to amass those villages would be the one in the centre, as it definitely had the most relations with these villages.
However, he knew this town would be a trap, nothing more than a delicious bait for him to fall into, before the combined armies of all these seven villages and towns would attack him.
He smiled, evilly, as this simple move had already saved a lot of effort for him. he then turned towards his queen and rhinoceros as he said:
"I have a very fat meal for you two."
The rhinoceros wasn't the type to enjoy fighting, but it would do anything Arthur would order. As for the queen, she was really interested in his words, so she lowered her tails, indicating her readiness to move and kill anyone.
"There is an army hidden in the dark forest a couple of miles to the west. I want you to go there, and attack them."
The queen just heard the words, and then started to run forward, disappearing in the trees. As for the rhinoceros, it just followed her footsteps, while Arthur stood behind watching the two leave.
He knew for any trap to be effective, you had to block any retreat route.. So, the army waiting for him wasn't only one, but two.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l