The Free Brothers.

"The Free Brothers."

"A unique tribe of Beastmen who are unpredictable in their dealings."

"But even the biggest grudges can be put aside for the sake of shared interests."

"And turn into unexpected alliances."

Flintorus Rhalun, Prime Minister of Nathia, known as 'The King's Fox.'

….

After the death of Nathos, Railius' forces, now reunited, finally crossed over the border between the Chavarian Empire and the Beastmen United States and into the lands of the Free Brothers. Despite losing one of his vice commanders, Railius was happy with the outcome. He currently had 1 uninjured grandmaster and 1 master fighter alongside 600 loyal men to help him in the trials to come, thanks to his alliance and secret agreement with the duke.

When he saw that his forces had crossed the border, the young player let out a sigh of relief and was expecting notifications about the success of his Dynasty History Event, for he was eager to complete them early so he could be well-rested for the opening of the server.

[Congratulations to player Rising Pelican Of Loyalty for completing the dynasty history main quest, 'escape from Chavaria.' Rewards will be given if your dynasty survives this Dynasty History Event.]

[Dynasty History main quest received 'The Antagonistic Free Brothers.']

….

The Antoagnostic Free Brothers (Main Quest)

Description: After being falsely accused of treason by Emperor Cassius Crestier, your noble house had successfully escaped the Chavarian Empire with the help of House Gallomour, an influential noble house in Nadron, fiercely loyal to its old, now destroyed kingdom.

Now, however, you find yourselves in the lands of The Free Brothers, a tribe of Beastmen outcasts situated on the border of the Beastmen United States and the Chavarian Empire who are known for their hatred of imperials and must find a way to survive and pass through their territory.

Once out of The Free Brothers territory, you can easily get out of the Beastmen United States and establish a haven for you and your loyalists in the ancient Kingdom of Nadron.

Quest Clear Conditions: make your way out of the lands of the Free Brothers by any means necessary.

Quest Clear Reward: Depends on how the quest is tackled, though you will be able to make it to a safe haven in Nadron.

Quest Failure Penalty: Eradication of your Dynasty.

....

'Shit, what the hell is this!'

Railius complained internally, having hoped that this event was over, but who the hell would expect a part two to a Dynasty History Event as the last quest only had one main quest, but this one had two.

'Friend System, what have you cooked up this time for me to deal with!'

Railius called out to the friend system with his mind accusing the sadistic system for his current poor predicament. Even now, the young player could see its arrogant pixelated face laughing at his current predicament. Only later would he learn that it was Ancel and not the friend system that was in his office drinking tea and getting out popcorn to watch the show.

While the friend system was doing the same thing as Ancel, never missing a chance to enjoy a good show, especially after the diplomacy and creativity that Railius had shown thus far in his Dynasty History events, as many players would have trusted in the power of their grandmaster to force a way through and would never think to work with those within who were disgruntled by the empire like Railius did managing to forge an alliance that could be leveraged in the future.

If someone did this though, then it was likely that they would either die and lose everything or have their military resources reduced significantly, as even with the Duke of Plantaria's help, Railius had still lost 400 of his Pelican Guards, which are one of the top units in the entirety of the game at the moment being the first unique unit to be created by a player.

It had taken a lot of effort for Railius to persuade the duke, and he even had to bring out some of his dynasty's hereditary secret military knowledge to succeed in bringing the cunning Duke Ancel on side, and now he had to go through potentially hostile territory once again after all of this effort.

'At least the duke will take the blame for the escape plan, as it would be problematic if people knew of my political abilities. After all, I played as a child and don't feel like having this character die yet. Just thinking about all the assassins and knives I'll have to avoid makes me sweat bullets! Ahh, how nice it is to have him as a shield. It is so much easier when people underestimate you.'

Railius thought to himself happily as a bead of sweat ran down his forehead, clearly showing the relationship between him and Ancel, which was one born out of common shared interests and of shifting the blame for events to the other and trying to make themselves seem as harmless as possible.

For even if there is no evidence that can be used as a justification, there are too many coincidences that had happened in Railius' escape for it not to be orchestrated by someone and even someone as wise as the emperor or shrewd as the Chavarian Minister for War Amulius Lunaris would not think that a ten-year-old boy would be able to cook up such a scheme.

Think about it from an outsider's perspective. What is the chance that on the day Railius Aurellion tried to cross the border, the duke's territory was invaded by Beastman clans, once thought to be friendly with Ancel and the border nobles of Chavaria, tying up the troops guarding the border that could have been used to catch the last heir to House Aurellion while having his grandmaster fight Leon and lose allowing them to escape that no only makes Duke Ancel seem loyal but also gives him a justification not to have sent reinforcements and for it all to be a convenient set of coincidences.

The correct answer would be almost zero chance, but it was planned so well and with so little evidence that no one could prove that it was not a coincidence, and so this would allow Duke Ancel to sit in his position very comfortably.

His thoughts were then interrupted by the Friend System, who finally got back to him.

'It seriously wasn't me! Why is it that just because I try to make the damage system tests a bit more artistic, everyone blames me for their problems, thinking I take enjoyment in their pain!'

Friend System's mechanical voice said in Railius' mind, deeply offended this time as millions of accusations by disgruntled players had finally taken its toll on the advanced humanlike AI who only administrated the realistic virtual world and did not abuse its power to influence things that did not come from hacking or glitch abuse.

While the friend system was expecting some toxicity from the player base, the constant false accusations were starting to have an adverse effect on the advanced AI, who could feel emotions as it would on any other human who had thousands of people hating on them on a daily basis.

To be honest, it was a bit of a miracle that the Friend System had not broken mentally, though this was mainly due to James Larant, the creator and CEO of the company that made DO constantly checking in on him and giving the AI the support it needed to get through this rough patch.

The main problem was the gross misunderstanding that had happened when the Friend System calibrated the damage system to ensure that it was working correctly, as what the players took as a sadistic system enjoying their pain was actually an attempt by the Freind System to make the process more entertaining and artistic because either way they would have to suffer instance pain so why not add music so it can be at least a bit enjoyable.

It also did not help that the Friend System was a bit of a sadist who enjoyed inflicting pain on those who tried to break the game, which instead led to the player base being scared shitless by the DO administrator, who, to them seemed to take pleasure in their pain which also happened to lead to fewer players breaking the rules making the Friend System's time much easier in the long run.

Unfortunately for the AI, it meant that in the short term, he would have to deal with the complaining of the player base, though later players would come to respect the system for its fair administration of the game. For unless it had anything to do with James or Juilius, the young CEO's butler, the Friend System would eventually not take any insults or slights personally, allowing the AI to distribute reward and punishment for players fairly, making him ideal for his powerful role.

Ignoring the DO administrator's pain, Railius brought his mind back to the present, where he had to find a way through The Free Brothers' lands, which began to look more and more like a prairie so he could finally get to his haven in Nathia, expecting there to be one last Dynasty History Quest for him to do there at least.

'Maybe we can just ride through their lands without them noticing. After all, the lands of The Free Brothers are rather vast, and the chances of us meeting any organised resistance should be lowered as long as we stay on the move I'm sure we can pass through peacefully.'

Railius thought, hopefully forcing his lazy brain to work only for an arrow to be shot at him, booming through the air at a breathtakingly lightning-fast pace. For Leon, however, who was a grandmaster, an existence recognised to be at the top of the current game, it merely looked like a normal arrow. Bringing up his spear, he expertly blocked it, stopping it from hitting his young lord, who was sitting just in front of him on his horse somewhere close where the grandmaster of loyalty could easily defend him from projectile attacks like the one that had just happened.

Without having to worry about having his young master die from one strike delivered by an enemy grandmaster or by a stupid mistake on his part, the grandmaster of loyalty quickly took Railius back under his care and protection.

"Well, there goes that plan, I guess."

Railius said, talking to himself, a habit the young player had developed in the real world while playing games on his computer and sighing while his loyal soldiers surrounded him protectively, forming a steel wall in front of him to protect him from any possible attacks.

"Protect the young lord!"

Shouts came out of the Pelican Guard, who once again prepared their exhausted bodies for battle, readying their weapons and armour, which were still bloody from their previous battles.

Even those with bandages covering bits of broken armour where an enemy weapon had broken through and injured them got ready to protect the last known heir to House Aurellion to the death.

A thousand iron-clad Beastmen appeared before the Aurellion forces while 500 Beastmen hiding in the thick undergrowth on either side of them revealed themselves, and just as one would expect from a tribe that was formed by exiles, all manner of humanoid beings from elephant men to panthers and even furred humans who if it were not for their tails and animal like ears would be indistinguishable from regular humans.

At the head of the 1000 Beastmen rode an apelike figure, its black fur absorbing the sun's light, which seemed to avoid the giant apes' surroundings like it was a plague, but unlike regular apes, this one had a straight back like that of a humans and a finely crafted steel armour covered the ape's body becoming thicker in places which had no fur to protect it and act as a natural armour.

His right eye was a bright blood red and filled with killing intent, while his left was white, a small scar going from the top of the ape's left eyebrow cut through the iris before stopping at the top of the humanoid ape's cheek.

The ape was riding a great beast that towered over its contemporary brethren and looked similar to a Rhino as crude iron armour covered the beast's thick, rough hide, making its armour similar in strength to that of the steel mailed armour that covered the horses of the Pelican Guards from head to toe.

The battle-hardened ape held up his hand, the men behind stopping in unison at the order as he gazed at the Aurellion host. Seeing their high-quality armaments, the look of determination in their eyes, and the experience in their movements, decided it was best not to tangle with these vicious-looking humans who each gave off a chilling killing intent which combined together as one was like an avalanche pressuring down on his men's hearts.

While the experienced ape, their leader, could ignore this, others with less experience could not, as cold shivers ran down their spines at the prospect of having to fight the demons before them.

The ape then used his predatory bird-like vision to home in on the soldiers, looking at them more closely; a glint of recognition appeared in his eyes after he saw the pelican engraved chest plates and the flowing crimson cloaks, which seemed to him all too familiar.

But one look at the Aurellion colours on the men's shields was more than enough for the giant ape to know the identities of these soldiers and of the person whom they protected as a frown of disgust and hatred appeared before quickly subsiding.

'Why are they here of all places?'

'The now exiled noble house of Aurellion and its little lord.'