44 ALL HAIL TO THE HERO

Echelian warships joined Hissoria's flotilla as soon as they entered the region known as Neameia, the core of the Echelian naval routes.

The impressive view of Neameia Area left Glax literally gaping. Even the most stunning and beautiful CGs of games and films he had ever seen did not compare with the somewhat gloomy grandeur of the port of the echelian capital, Echelion.

They arrived at the walled port of Echelion with the first stars in the sky.

The Twin Victory Bay had a narrow entrance, surrounded by steep rocky hills. A gigantic fortress, which merged with the rocks and the landscape like a maze of buildings, completely took the surrounding area. At the same time, there was order.

Two winged statues symbolizing victory surmounted the two colossal towers that lined the entrance to Twin Victory Bay. Under their feet, a suspension bridge connected one side to the other. In the middle of the bridge was a lighthouse, or at least Glax and Rasmus agreed it must be a lighthouse. But it wasn't lit tonight.

In fact, the entire port was dark.

When the Hissorian ship, adorned with flowers, entered the bay, they saw that small dots of light began to light up. First little by little, then like waves dotting the edge of the bay.

"And it is now that the incendiary arrows fly towards us..." he heard Rasmus speaking beside him, and looked at his friend, astonished.

"What?!"

"Oops, nothing. I was just talking the shit out of my head. They are candles, aren't they? The people of Echelion came to the port to honor Lady Chriseis' arrival. It's beautiful. Cool as hell."

Glax swallowed.

"Are you going to tell them that her soul has escaped somewhere?" Rasmus asked his friend.

"Do you think I should be the one to speak? The clan's sorcerers must have noticed it right away, don't they?"

"Perhaps your wife's soul will return to say goodbye to the family. I guess you're right. The sorcerers must understand this more than we do. Do you want me to ask Jolla?"

"Erm… Not for now, Ras. We better not create panic. The matter may spread and get out of hand."

"Jolla is a respected priestess, not a loudmouth," his big friend sulked.

Glax tapped his friend on the shoulder, "Then she must already know."

The ship finally landed on the main pier. The bier was prepared to descend, and Glax took a deep breath. Unfortunately, he was part of the entire procession.

Drums and trumpets echoed in the night. A torchlight procession advanced through the upper part of the city, under the imposing temple at the top. And an impressive chorus began a chant that raised all the hairs of Glax's body.

He saw when Jolla and an older woman approached, as well as a man and his assistant. They were the official representatives of the temple of the Ascended Gods in the capital.

The formality of the moment prevented him from asking anything, so he just concentrated on looking very focused and contrite, although proud.

'She really did come home next to the man she chose as her husband, shrouded in glory and fame,' he thought. 'With an emphasis on 'shrouded''.

After the bier with Chriseis' body was taken all the way to the acropolis of Echelion, it was placed on a platform where a stone torch burned. Glax knew he was losing the symbolism present in the ritual, but he couldn't do anything about it at the moment.

Then he saw an imposing figure, surrounded by no less imposing figures, standing just in front of the grand temple.

An elite, accompanied by a group of elders and warriors. Proctius was there now, though not too far from the center and nowhere near his wife, Megara.

Arguably, the man in the center, was the leader of the Echelians, he guessed. As Glax already imagined, he was bald, as big as Rasmus, and with a chest that could hold at least two pairs of lungs. Taking out his full, pale beard, Glax was surprised, as his face was familiar. In fact, Glax found out there that Chriseis must be much closer to Archigeos than her attitude suggested.

Glax was pondering this when his attention was drawn to the arrival of more people near him and the platform where Chriseis was.

The second person was obscured by General Nikandros' arrival.

He was a slightly older version of Archigeos, with long, gray hair and a full, trimmed beard. He also wore armor, from the torso upwards.

Because only that was possible.

He had no legs, but wheels. The lower part of his body was irremediably coupled with a bizarre invention - a prosthesis that transformed him into a kind of steampunk wheeled cyborg. Like Chriseis, the prosthesis was controlled only by his muscles and mind.

Although the vehicle looked perfectly utilitarian and heavily reinforced, Glax couldn't stop thinking about how it got there, and at what cost.

"Don't stand there with your mouth open, you imbecile. Move off, I want to see her," Chriseis's father grunted to Glax, who obeyed without batting an eye. The haughty general approached the bier and looked at Chriseis for a moment, touching the face of his dead daughter with an expression of deep pain.

Only later did a dark woman and younger man approach Nikandros, placing a hand on his shoulder as a consolation for his loss.

All Glax wished was that it would end soon, but the ceremony dragged on. There was a military demonstration, poetry, oratory, and more military demonstrations.

Finally, Chriseis' body was taken into the temple, and the priests would carry out the consecration ceremony, without the family's meddling. Only later would they return the body to be finally buried, as was the custom of the echelian clans.

'Ah, that went beyond the point of being cool. My legs just don't cramp because I'm a mountain man. ' At least Glax was amused by his own joke, as he had never come close to the mountains of Valosia.

As soon as it was over, Nikandros looked sideways, coming out ahead,

"So this is Glax of Valosia, Champion of the Armoric Games. Son of Lady Kalanthe. Pff, did Proctius lose to you? What is his problem?"

"Ah… Hi. ​​I'm sorry for your loss, General. I have never met a woman as formidable as your daughter." Glax followed his father-in-law, ignoring the older man's foul mood.

Glax wanted to see the machine up close, knowing instinctively as always that it was a divine engine - a wonder.

Rushing to get closer, Glax realized that the machine with which the second 'cyborg' he saw in Stygia worked in symbiosis with the human organism. But it had a small ichor battery - much smaller than Armorion's mechanical crab, for example.

He couldn't ask to look under his father-in-law, could he?

They went to the archigeos, and Nikandros was embraced by the leader of the clan. Glax concluded they were brothers, because they looked and behaved like that.

"Demophon," said Nikandros, after the hug. "Chriseis brought the champion of the Armoric Games to the Kroton - Glax of Valosia. I was informed that this warrior is Lady Kalanthe's only son. He got 26 tokens in that tournament. Twenty-six. Damn. Tokens!"

'Wait, the old man was throwing shade on me just a second ago…!' Glax wondered if that was not risky. After all, the clan chief's daughter married second place - which, in fact, had been a tie between two warriors. What did Nikandros want by remembering that his daughter usurped Megara's place in the queue for the top bachelor?

The clan leader looked Glax up and down with curiosity.

"HMMMM ..." the puzzled expression came out in a kind of long lowing of his mouth, while he made a typically thoughtful expression. But he did not reveal his thoughts. He just nodded, acknowledging Glax.

General Megara, who was haughty up there with her father, turned to Glax with a deadly smile.

"Wouldn't it have been better if they had accepted our help? My cousin wouldn't have had to sacrifice herself if she hadn't been so proud."

'Oh, okay, she still wants to throw shade at Chriseis. I am surprised that she's jealous of all the attention received by Chriseis ... at her funeral. Can you be more petty than that?' Glax shrugged,

"General, when I suggested that, you said yourself that you didn't want to take the lead out of General Chriseis. But we never said you couldn't join us if you wanted to. I remember well how the general suggested Chriseis should do something. She did. Many sacrificed themselves to defeat that monster… Should their memory be judged by everyone who wasn't there?"

It was bigger than him. Apparently he was going to spend a lot of time being tried and pressured. But he wasn't willing to let her shade Chriseis on a whim.

The general's lips trembled slightly, and she huffed,

"I knew Chriseis very well to know how much to insist. The merit is all hers. She beat the monster with a small crew of warriors... And you. In fact, I admire your enviable physical endurance."

The backhanded attempt to scorn him didn't take him by surprise. Glax already knew they were going to nitpick at him because he had only minor injuries.

"Thanks. My mountain diet has contributed to my health so far."

The archigeos looked at Glax, after watching with half-closed eyes the exchange of words between the general and the new Kroton.

"I want the details. Come."