General Alaric of the Empire opened his mouth, torn between anger and helplessness as he looked at Fogen's annoyingly handsome face. In the end, Alaric spoke his conditions.
"First, you must treat our Imperial soldiers as you would your own."
"If they can prove their loyalty and combat effectiveness, I will," Fogen agreed with a nod.
"And the second..." Alaric began to say more, but Fogen interrupted him bluntly, "That's two conditions, not one."
"I don't need you to agree to this one yet. Just hear me out," Alaric insisted, continuing, "If any soldiers wish to return to the Empire, you must not stop them."
"I won't stop them, but I won't provide ships, supplies, or guarantees of safety either," Fogen responded.
"...In that case, I will order the Imperial army to surrender to you. Remember, we are surrendering to you and your Ash Legion, not to the lizardmen!" Alaric hesitated but eventually handed over his sword.
"Agreed." Fogen accepted the condition, taking the sword from Alaric's hand. He then turned away from the Imperial general. With the command given, the Imperial troops began surrendering in batches to the soldiers of the Ash Legion.
"You should all go and accept the surrender. Let me have a moment alone," Alaric said when he noticed that the others hadn't left. Fogen's Phoenix Guard hesitated, but the golden mage, whose face was pale yet calm, nodded, indicating his understanding. "Alright, we'll leave you alone for a while."
Karim, the golden mage, held a high position within the Ash Legion. Not only was he trusted by Fogen, but he was also a vital high-level wizard for the Legion. As a Saint-level elemental mage, Karim's presence filled a critical gap in the Legion's lack of magical power, earning him respect even from the Phoenix Guard. Since Karim had spoken, the others didn't argue and left the tent one by one. Karim glanced at Alaric before also exiting the tent.
Finally, Fogen completed the process of accepting the remaining three thousand Imperial troops, along with their supplies, including well-trained soldiers, limited rations, the remaining hundred muskets, and a portion of plundered wealth. After confirming the complete collapse of the Imperial forces, the lizardmen withdrew under the leadership of a skink priest, with Fogen sending them several crates of pork as a gesture of thanks.
After spending some time breaking up the Imperial troops and integrating them into his own forces, Fogen sighed lightly, "Felix?"
"Yes." The winged hussar general stepped forward.
"Go with Fernando and cremate General Alaric's body. Make sure that when we trade with the Old World, his ashes are sent back to the Empire and interred in the Garden of Morr."
"Understood!" When Fernando Pirazzo and Felix Edmonovich entered the tent, they found that General Alaric had already been dead for some time, having taken poison. He left behind a letter addressed to Emperor Karl Franz, along with a small bag of gold and jewels, requesting that Fogen send it to his family in the Old World, along with a contact address.
"Legion Commander, what should we do with this?" Fernando asked, holding Alaric's belongings as he found Fogen.
"That small bag of gold and jewels should be given to the Hadrian Trading Company to send where it needs to go. As for the letter..." Fogen unhesitatingly broke the wax seal on the letter and quickly skimmed through its contents.
The letter was brief and hastily written, subtly suggesting that Lustria was far more dangerous and far less rewarding than expected. It advised the Emperor to reconsider the expedition and not send any more troops to the New World.
Fogen understood why the Imperial general had left this letter. He gave Karim a knowing look, and the golden mage immediately caught on.
The contents of the letter were "slightly" altered and then resealed with a new wax seal. The letter would be placed in a large chest filled with gold and silver treasures and sent to Emperor Karl Franz's court as the final "loyalty" of a "fallen" Imperial general, delivered by the trustworthy and reliable Fogen, commander of the Ash Legion.
"Clean up the camp quickly. Don't leave any troops here, but keep the camp intact. We won't be away for long," Fogen ordered. "At most, two weeks. It's time we dealt with another problem."
"The Vampire Coast pirate king of Lustria's east, Luthor Harkon."
...
Two weeks later, on Lustria's Plunderer Coast, in the stables of Plunderer Port.
Julius was diligently shoveling manure left by the purebred elven warhorses. The horses were temperamental and loved to roam, leaving their droppings everywhere. Julius had to spend his days following them around, cleaning up.
Aside from shoveling manure, Ryan's brother-in-law had to find ways to feed the horses, clean the stables, haul buckets of water to wash the stalls, and manage the horses' breeding needs. He even had to sleep in the straw piles within the stables, as the elven warhorses were demanding and needed to be walked whenever they felt like it.
At first, Julius was full of complaints. He was a proud and legendary knight, the legitimate son of a Bretonnian duke, and the first in line to inherit the title. Yet here he was, reduced to being a stable hand. How could he not feel humiliated and frustrated?
However, despite being stern, rigid, and stubborn, Julius never shied away from challenges and hardships. After an initial period of discomfort, the expedition knight quickly adapted to his role as a stable hand, viewing it as just another trial in his quest for the Grail. By the third day, when he recalled the Lady of the Lake's guidance, Julius began to understand the true meaning behind his current task.
Time passed quickly as Julius worked hard, and within two weeks, he successfully facilitated the breeding of the two purebred elven warhorses. His upbringing around these horses and the knowledge of breeding he had acquired from noble courts served him well. The task was so demanding that Julius often found himself drenched in sweat. Each stage—breeding, recovery, conditioning, and preparation—required different feeding and exercise regimens. Ensuring that the temperamental and proud elven warhorses behaved without developing bad habits or suffering aftereffects took all of Julius's effort.
After much hard work, Julius finally succeeded in getting the two elven warhorses to breed.
One early morning, Julius, as usual, woke up early. He donned a set of durable, dirt-resistant linen clothes and carried two large buckets of river water back to the stable. After lighting a fire to cook breakfast, which consisted of milk, bread, and bacon for himself, he prepared the stallion's meal: a mix of soybeans, peas, grass, corn, and carrots, with a touch of honey.
For the pregnant mare, he added more carrots and carefully included extra salt and tropical fruits, stewing the feed into a semi-mushy consistency before serving it.
By the time he had finished, the sun was fully up. Julius finally had a moment to rest. He pulled up a chair and sat in the stable, watching the two elven warhorses eat heartily, their tails hanging low, nostrils relaxed, and mouths slightly open in a smile. Judging by their contented expressions, Julius concluded that they enjoyed the food. He sighed in relief and took a sip of water.
"Well done." Fogen's voice came from outside the stable. Fogen peered in, a slight smile on his face as he looked at Julius. "I didn't expect you to have such a talent for being a stable hand."
"I won't betray the Lady's expectations," Julius replied, his expression hardening as he saw Fogen. "You asked me to breed your warhorses, and I have completed my task."
"Indeed, you have, and you did well," Fogen continued, still elegant in his movements. There was a rare hint of admiration in his eyes. "Excellent. As my subordinate, this is the standard you must meet. Either don't do it, or do it to the best of your ability. This is the quality expected of those who wish to be my opponents or serve under me."
"So, what do you want?" Julius asked, his face turning grim. As a knight, was Fogen going to keep him as a stable hand forever?
"Clean yourself up and put on your armor. I don't want the smell of the stables lingering in my hall," Fogen instructed with a slight nod. "Once you're ready, come to the hall. We need to prepare for the next battle."
"...Understood."
Julius spent half an hour using the last of the bucketed water to bathe, then donned his armor and weapons, which had been repaired and polished by the Ash Legion's dwarf craftsmen. He made his way to the lord's hall, where everyone was already gathered, each holding a cup of hot cocoa or coffee, clearly waiting for someone.
When Julius entered, Fogen nodded. "Good, let's begin. Karim?"
"Yes!" The golden mage Karim stood up and moved to the center of the hall, hanging a scroll of a portrait on a large whiteboard. "Our next target is Luthor Harkon, the infamous vampire pirate king."
Julius frowned as he closely examined the figure in the portrait. It depicted a vampire who appeared to be in his forties, with grayish, straw-like hair parted in the middle, wearing a captain's hat and a black-and-red robe. The vampire had
a hooked nose, an eyepatch, and deep-set eyes with blood-red pupils full of madness.
"Luthor Harkon was originally an officer in the Kingdom of Lahmia within the Nehekhara Desert. It's said that he once served under Abhorash, the Blood Dragon patriarch, as a harbor guard and bodyguard. However, during the series of upheavals and the Nagash uprising, he became a vampire. What happened after that is unknown," Karim explained, pointing to the figure on the scroll. "This is him, a vampire pirate."
"The second time Luthor Harkon was discovered, he was in a coffin aboard a human cargo ship. A group of Chaos-worshiping marauders, the Skoggi tribe, who we've since wiped out, plundered the ship. The marauders foolishly opened Harkon's coffin, awakening him. Harkon then revived all the corpses aboard and killed the marauders, taking the cargo ship as his first pirate vessel. From there, he made his way to Lustria, where he awakened corpses from the sea and shipwrecks to build his undead fleet."
"Over centuries, his undead fleet grew larger and his army swelled in size. Luthor gathered zombie armies made from the corpses of pirates and sailors from all over the world, who were skilled in ship handling. His greed eventually led him to focus on the lizardmen temples in the jungle, seeking the wealth, secrets, and power left behind by the Old Ones."
"Naturally, the Slann Mage-Priests would not sit idly by. One of them cursed Luthor Harkon, severely damaging his mind. His personality split into several pieces, each constantly battling for control of his body. Despite this, he still forced his way into a lizardman temple, risking death to steal a tablet inscribed with the prophecy of the Old Ones."
"So, our goal is to retrieve that tablet?" Felix asked, raising his hand.
"Not just that," Fogen stood up, continuing from Karim. "Kroq-Gar's intention is that we not only retrieve the Old Ones' tablet but also eliminate the threat of Luthor Harkon once and for all."
"And the reward?" The halfling Hobbit perked up with excitement.
"One hundred sets of full plate armor and weapons blessed by the lizardmen gods, as well as all the treasures we capture from Luthor Harkon, which the lizardmen have promised to purify for us," Fogen extended one finger. "But we can only succeed; failure is not an option."
The atmosphere in the hall grew heated. Julius thought carefully for a moment before speaking up. "Where will we confront Luthor Harkon? And how can we ensure that this vampire pirate king will agree to a battle?"
"That's indeed a concern," Fogen nodded. "But the lizardmen will assist us."
"Assist us?"
"Yes, as we know, Luthor Harkon was cursed by a Slann Mage-Priest, and when he invaded the lizardman temple, he was cursed again. His mind and soul are in constant torment, always searching for a way to break the curse. He firmly believes that there is a Slann artifact that can help him lift the curse, so..." Fogen took out a gold-plated baton made from tropical hardwood and pointed to the beaches of the Vampire Coast in eastern Lustria. "We can bury the treasure provided by the lizardmen under the sand. This treasure will resonate with the Old Ones' tablet. We have every reason to believe that Luthor Harkon will appear with his undead fleet. We'll only have one chance."
"Understood," Julius had no more questions. "I will also participate in this war."
"If you want to join, remember to follow my orders," Fogen said calmly. "At critical moments, swear to obey me in the name of your Lady."
Julius hesitated for a moment, considering that the opponent was a vampire pirate and that there was no need to adhere to chivalry. He gritted his teeth. "I swear! But I will not do anything that violates the code of chivalry toward my fellow humans!"
"Very well." Fogen had no more to say and immediately issued his orders. "Then, let's proceed as planned!"
"The Ash Legion will meet this vampire pirate king on the Vampire Coast!"
"Yes!"
_________________________
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