A king's Journey.

After leaving the castle not too long ago it didn't take much time for the king's army to encounter face to face with a group of beasts forcing the army to quickly stop on its tracks to deal with the threat that only grew more fierce as they approached the dark forest and the closer they got to the forest the more dangerous the beasts became, wolves that could jump on the air and fly, boars with skin as strong as plate mail and giant monsters as tall as the trees around them, casualties were piling up as the soldiers marched west towards Blackrock city and after months of the voyage they were finally nearing the city but the forest was dense and the roads were overgrown with strange weeds, grey trees, and animals with iron teeth and skin...

"Well be camping here and do our last push towards the city in the morning!" the general screamed and the soldiers obliged expertly making camp and setting cauldrons to make food, barrels of water and bags of grain were unloaded from the carriages that were in the middle of the formation, and in the midst of all of that there was a single person wearing all black and leather...

"Hey Scout, the general is asking for you!" A scream was heard and the black figure turned to his colleague.

"the general what he wants with someone like me?"

"No idea bu better go fast or you will be punished." The black figure with the nickname scout was a simple soldier at the beginning but after constant fighting, he became one of the blessed after selecting a strange symbol he had power from god! moving in between the tents soon he was in front of the general's tent.

"Scout reporting in!" He made a salute to the old man sitting in the tent, beside him stood the king with closed eyes not bothering to acknowledge the peasant's existence.

"so you are our best scout?" The general spoke unimpressed and I could only nod my head but keep my head down.

"Good, then I want you to scout ahead, see how's the city situation."

"A-Alone sir?"

"Yes alone, is there a problem with that?" The general asked me and I was only able to nod my head.

"No problem sir."

"good, then get out I want the information till morning." I left the tent with a heavy heart, this bastard doesn't care for the life of a single soldier in his army... but that speaking out loud was suicide, the last time someone spoke aloud... well his head and body were now in different places...

Quickly running back towards my tent I picked up my equipment, bow arrows, and my dagger, my colleagues were nowhere to be found probably near the area designed for cooking, let's just be done with this so that I can come back to the camp's safety...

Leaving the camp, the forest was dark but surprisingly enough there were no monsters in the area, I could see marks on the tree trunks that were recent, it was a wide X the standard used to mark trees not to be cut, most of the trees were like this marked, and soon enough I was able to see the city walls that looked brand new? I could see some charred parts on the ground and ruined houses surrounding the walls shouldn't those be inside the wall unless this was a new one? climbing up a tree for a better point of view I gulped down seeing the scene a beautiful woman wearing armor was talking to a group of weird soldiers, they were all wearing the same armor, carved with strange symbols on it and holding different weapons some had war hammers, ax's and others had swords even a whip I couldn't hear what the woman was saying but that wasn't important because atop of the wall there was a group of people hanging, tied to the wall, as a scout it was necessary to know the faces of most of the nobles and their people and those hanging on the walls were all Wellington man's... was the city captured by Haltar in the midst of the chaos?

I looked at the woman speaking to the soldiers, I was about 150 meters from me so I could probably take her out with a good arrow? pulling from my back my new bow, made from steel and wood, I knocked an arrow and pulled the string until the bow looked like a full moon.

*Woosh * The arrow flew in an arch towards her, hidden by the darkness of the night I was sure to hit as she was stationary but something incredible happened when the arrow was close to her she turned around fast catching the arrow in the air with her hands her cold eyes looking in my direction a shiver run down my spine and something inside me screamed for me to run I watched as the woman pulled a huge poleaxe from her back pointing it towards me what is she trying to do? it was kinda dumb for me to see her swing nothing in front of her but I was terrified by what happened next, a blue light shined and flew towards me, the ground freezing as it hovered above it, it was too fast for me to avoid, closing my eyes a sudden feeling covered me and I was a couple of meters away from the tree I ignored the exhausting feeling from using my ability as my eyes widened, the blue light hit the tree splitting it in two and kept going cutting three more trees behind the one I was standing on, a monster that woman is a monster! I ran as my life depended on it! I needed to warn them all of them but I froze in place, feeling a presence behind me I tried to move but I could barely breathe feeling the suppressive feeling.

"Well if it isn't a little rat..." Her voice was terrifyingly beautiful that made me shudder I was too scared to even turn around when I felt a cold enveloping me in a panic I looked down only to see my legs frozen in ice, there was no pain but that only made me feel more Scared.

"P-Please don't kill me..." I was able to utter in a low voice while trembling.

"Oh don't worry I won't kill you yet if you answer my questions."

"R-Really?" I asked as hope filled my heart.

"Who are you and why are you here, keep in mind that I will know if you lie." I gulped down I couldn't say that I was the scout of your majesty army...

"I-I'm travel... AHRG!" I screamed as her ax swung down and my arm fell on the ground with a clean-cut unable to contain my screams but I was forced to stop when I heard a voice near my ear.

"I told you I will know when you are lying..." Like a devil I bit my lips, there was no blood coming out of the wound as it was frozen solid.

"Now let's try this again, you have four limbs after all..." Cold sweat poured down my face, either I told her everything and died in the army for treason or died in her hands, no maybe if I desert I will be able to survive while they were sieging the city!

"I-I'm a scout from your majesty army that is encamped downhill, tasked with assessing the city's situation..."

"So that bastard is already here? I thought it would take some more time but his son did die around here after all... how many soldiers?"

I heard her whisper and could only say.

"W-We got out of the capital with 10.000 there were a lot of deaths to the beasts so the number should be lower."

"Only that much... the royal army must be really divided right now... well those were all the questions for you."

"C-Can I go now?" I asked her.

"Yes, have a safe trip, hell's a really dangerous place after all..."

"H-Hell!?" I asked confusedly as the world around me turned dark was I dying?

[...] (Amelia POV)

I looked at the dead body on the ground with cold eyes, so that bastard was already here... pushing aside the successful hunt notification I went back towards the city the new wall was just completed yesterday and surprisingly enough, Alfred achieved Advanced level blacksmithing too, not only that one of the engineers of the project achieved advanced level architecture which led to the completion of the wall much sooner than expected and more, the wall integrity was absurdly high after carving the special runes on the walls they were resistant to elemental energies and physical impact, basalt is a surprisingly good material to conduct magic energy.

I looked at my soldiers that were the current city garrison, our numbers were nowhere near 10.000 but with the level of the individual strength of each one of us we would be able to easily fend them off, there were around 4.345 people in the city after registering everyone of those 700 were part of the army, 300 elite troops equipped with fully enchanted armor and weapons, 100 Wolfriders and 300 newbies who decided to join the army in the last couple of days and were in the middle of training, for now, the steel gate wasn't repaired yet so we had a wooden one using the grey trees on the forest that were as hard as iron, Ballista arrows we had a lot, normal arrows too so, and we had a lot of food in the amazons, having the ability to create ice whenever you want really helps in preserving everything.

"Rodrik prepare the troops for siege warfare! we have till morning!"

"Yess princess!" He spoke with a salute and ran into the newly built town towards the barracks looking towards the east where the army of my uncle was camping at I shook my head, it looks like well meet a lot sooner than expected... Soon enough we were now sitting in a conference room that was built in the wall tower.

"What is your command princess?" I looked around the table, my disciples and commanders all had solemn expressions on their faces.

"They have around 10.000 soldiers, our objective is simple as we have a wall to defend well use that advantage, I want our best archers on the walls, Elaine I want your Wolf Riders on the forest hidden, I thrust you will know when its the best time to attack them." I looked towards her and she nodded her head, putting on the winged helmet she liked and went outside to rally her troops, I looked towards my disciples.

"We are the main force of this battle so I want you five with me.

"So we'll be like royal guards?" I smiled at Camille's comment.

"I guess, but this royalty will be in the front lines so be prepared to shed blood."

"Don't worry we're not that naive anymore." She said and got up closing in on me I lifted an eyebrow as she sat on my lab ignoring the stares of the people around the table.

"What are you guys still sitting here for?" I asked them and they quickly got up to make preparations, I looked at the small girl sitting on my lap, embracing her tightly.

"Are you worried?" I asked her.

"Not at all."

"Why?" I asked her looking at her face, the shy girl that I once met was nowhere to be seen anymore.

"That's because we are all strong, so there's no way we'll lose."

"confidence is good but overconfidence will only lead us to our demises, never underestimate an enemy."

"I know you already taught us that but I'm aware of our strength"

"I guess you're right on that." I closed my eyes for a second before getting up still holding the now asleep Camille in my arms I moved towards the castle, it was late at night already and tomorrow would be a very full day, the city around was so different if compared to last month, the houses were all interconnected made from ironwood and basalt bricks, creating a very monotone but also incredibly beautiful environment like a city made of metal, even in the midst of the night like this I was able to see people working with candles lit and smiles, there was not a single person that hadn't work in the city and in consequence, nobody was hungry even tough the farms were not up and running yet, the currently political restructuring was in pause, as we didn't have any candidates for the ministry positions but the amount of food we get from hunting the mutated animals is absurdly high a single boar man is enough food for the whole city for 2 days and their numbers only grow by the day in the forest.

the castle was under renovation, there were too many mistakes that could be fixed with its designs and with the new architects we have the entire castle will become an undefeatable stronghold even if the enemy brings a bombard cannon or dynamite, entering my room I put Camille in the bed and after stripping to my underwear I quickly laid by her side, the heat from her body comforting me from the cold of the night...

Morning came and it was time, putting on my newly forged armor and holding my mask in hands I moved towards the wall, preparations have been ongoing through the night by the non-fighters while the soldiers rested to be in perfect condition for the fight in case ut occurs but knowing my uncle he will definitely try and siege the city the moment he sees my face...

"Why are you smiling?" I looked at Camille who was fully armored now and shook my head.

"Nothing, let's go to the wall, they should be arriving soon... looking at the area around the new wall was a little strange as a lot of ruined buildings still stood there, charred ground but slowly the forest was encroaching the burned land and in the distance, the overgrown road a group of thousands of soldiers marched our way, carriages following in the middle and chivalry in the back, and in the front of the cavalry stood a man that I was both familiar and unfamiliar with, using a golden armor and with a crown on his head, the current king of Malav, Maxuel Drake...