Aion and his mother arrived in their town around noon and noticed that things were pretty tense there. People were moving around, and the guards were working to put all kinds of things on the walls. Oil, arrows, rocks… They were preparing for a siege. While that was the best idea in that situation, Aion didn't want to defend only, he would stop the enemies even before they could cause any damage. That was probably the best option, the problem was how?
"Welcome back, my lord," Jairo said. "It seems you were on your way back already when you received the message."
"Where are all the guards and adventurers?" Aion asked.
"They are already back to the town and waiting for the attack," Jairo said. "Your monsters refused to come, so they were forced to be left behind…"
That is because they had more balls and loyalty than all of you together… That was what Aion thought when he glared at Jairo. To abandon the dungeon and the port so easily… Aion had to confirm their condition by checking the port by himself. That was expensive to build, after all.
"Have you already received a message about the location of the enemies?" Aion asked.
"The territories at the south are already engaging with the enemy, but the ones targeting us and the next coast territory are two days away," Jairo said.
They retreated… without fighting even once… Aion couldn't recall the last time he let out such a long sigh. He knew that the guards and adventurers of the town were close to useless, but even while Aion had no expectations of them, they still disappointed him.
"I am going to check the port, mother. You should stay in the house and check for the messages that might come," Aion said and then looked at Jairo. "You take half of the adventurers and guards to protect the dungeon."
"Sir, I must advise that giving up on the terrain advantage isn't a good idea," Jairo said.
"Giving up on the dungeon will prevent this territory from growing, and that would be a really bad idea," Aion said. "If we don't do anything, they will build something near the dungeon to defend it, and then they will call that the new border. If we give up on the port, we will have to pay taxes for the lord of the nearest territory in order to use their port. Considering all that, we will stop growing, and the enemy will get stronger. Eventually, this town will be taken as well."
"... at least wait a bit until reinforcements come," Jairo said.
"Reinforcements won't come. The whole kingdom is already on the move, and time is of the essence," Aion said. "You received your orders. I don't have any more time to waste."
Aion didn't have time to waste on keeping some secrets as well, so he left the city while flying on an earth platform insanely fast. The people around opened their eyes widely when they saw that… by himself, Aion could reach the port that was sixty kilometers away in one hour. The distance between the dungeon and the town was about that as well. So he could move around according to the movements of the enemy. The only issue was mana. He also needed one hour to recover all his mana.
"I need to confirm those two places before talking with the lord of the northern territory, he needs to send his armies to the port and then make them fight with the death knights," Aion thought. "Then I will be able to focus on the dungeon."
Aion found the scarlet tigers still guarding the port. Occasionally, they would get to the warehouse and get some of the meat he left for them beforehand, but they guarded the place day and night… The idea of having an army of monsters seemed a lot more interesting now.
"You guys did a good job," Aion said and then summoned his death knights. "Work together to defend this place."
Aion flew high to check the surroundings, and he actually found a camp thirty or so kilometers away. They can cross that distance in a single day as a whole. It was mid-afternoon, so they wouldn't advance anymore. With that in mind, Aion headed South toward the dungeon.
After using that a few times, Aion realized that his Meditation didn't have the effects of the improvement points. Unless the mage class was equipped, only the raw effects of the skill could be obtained… It was enough for the time being, but Aion wanted to improve that. After another hour, Aion reached the dungeon, but only now Jairo and the other morons had left the place…
After flying high, Aion noticed that the enemies also had another camp thirty kilometers away. That was too much to be a coincidence… Aion thought that all the people of that state were hotblooded madmen, but it seemed that they had a few well-informed guys there.
They attacked the southern territories first because they knew that Aion's territory would be easy to conquer without him there. They didn't consider his flying speed. Rather, they didn't know about it… so they thought that they should stop the other territories from sending reinforcements… Maybe there were other factors, but those were probably the main ones.
"Even with all my mana, I can't make a fortress here… perhaps I can If I stay awake until tomorrow, but we don't have enough manpower to man it," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully while looking around. "Note to self, buy monsters the next time whenever I have money for it. They are a lot more useful in this kind of battle than those guys…"
Creating a useful fortress might be too much, but Aion had other ideas in a battle of numbers where he didn't have the upper hand. He could only rely on tricks in order to save his mana and tricks and traps he would use.
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