A royal point of view

„Whaaaat?"

There was a shout reverberating through the royal palace.

The king of the human empire was clearly enraged. Its armies were doing fine but now one of the royal family's private hunter groups were found to be annihilated.

The reconnaissance force which they had sent to the forbidden forest had recently returned although they were previously not very willing to venture there. The journey did in fact cause some fatalities.

What caused the king of the human empire to become angry was that it was now confirmed that the tale of the night serpent was true. There were not only bite and claw marks on the corpses of the hunters that were stripped of all their possessions but also very precise stab wounds that may look like fang marks but the experienced eyes of the royal scouting unit weren't betrayed by this.

The king of the human empire hated everything that wasn't human and for him it was a disgrace that there was a human who would fight alongside creatures and even win against one of the royal units.

It wasn't one of his strongest units but every defeat of his subordinates felt like a defeat for himself and this man wasn't a very good loser.

„call the court wizard!!!" he shouted at his subordinates. The court wizard was the greatest scholar under his majesty's Hand and since he was fully subsidized by him he would lend a hand in many of the empire's dealings. He wasn't a battle wizard but he had other skills, skills that even the king himself felt impressive although he was quite aware when facing anything supernatural.

„The court wizard is currently traveling across the sea." answered the servant who was quite fearful for he knew that the king had a short temper. He had even killed a messenger once for bringing bad news.

„Shall I call for his apprentices? One of them is even adept in special magic and might be able to track down the culprit who is known as the night serpent."

„Yes." the king answered „we have to chop off this snake's head as fast as we can. From the spies among the commoners I heard that there are rebel groups forming after having heard of the story that one of our units was defeated. My generals have massacred most of them but there are still two left that are a real headache to me."

The king contemplated what their names were. They were insignificant for him because there were many people who hated his xenophobic reign.

„Ah, I know!" he exclaimed. There were two groups. One focuses on the fact that the night serpent as this person is called could slay the hunters using assassination strategies instead of direct combat. This is a group of amateur assassins and they call themselves the night's fangs. They are very aggressive and have killed many of my soldiers and even one general in their sleep.

The other group wasn't as aggressive but it was way more threatening. The empire earned lots of gold from slave trade and hunting of creatures. This group was not very willing to resort to violence. The utilizes strength in numbers and simply robbed merchants without killing them except when they had a royal escort unit with them. This was the second principle of the night serpent. Not to kill if not necessary. This was the freedom army of mercy. It was founded by only one member. But his preaching reached the broken hearts of many people that lost their belongings their friends and family due to the tyrant who called himself the king of the human empire and soon this ‚army' had become the greatest possible threat that originated in the empire since it was founded. Many people who were formerly serving in the empire's empire joined the freedom army after witnessing all the cruelties and misdeeds the royal soldiers committed. The total population of the human empire was around a million and the royal army's numbers were around 100.000 but the freedom army had already gained 50.000 soldiers during the ten months after it was founded by Mercy.

Unfortunately for the king the numbers of his army were decreasing and with every day the freedom army gained new members. Many of them were even trained soldiers. The king really started fearing that once the freedom army of Mercy had more members than the royal army they might quit their peacekeeping attitude and start a civil war to overthrow the king.

„Call for the council" the king shouted towards his servants. „It is urgent. Hurry up"

The king was a tyrant indeed but he still had a few subordinates who had something to say in matters that would change the fate of the empire.

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Two days later the council met. There were 9 lords and the high priest of the all human church.

The king sat on his throne while the other ten were sat in a half circle opposite him.

„I take it all of you already know of the peril of an impending revolution. I have requested the council of the empire to meet to request aid from all armies to annihilate the freedom army of Mercy before they acknowledged that mercy won't work.

If this day comes when they no longer only take our money but our lives as well a civil war that could destroy the defences of the empire will unleash. Therefore I request the nine lords to allow me to take full control of their parts of the royal army to wipe out this army before they can do the same to us and furthermore I request the all human church to sanctify this military action. If the high priest agrees then this shall be the second crusade with the goal to exterminate the evil within our glorious empire.

The current high priest of the all human church stood up and proclaimed: „The first high priest of the all human church sanctified the first crusade to force the inhuman creatures beyond our borders. I, the twentyfirst high priest shall now continue this calling. Those who stand opposing our sacred cause shall be slain."

With these words the nine lords stood up from their seats, unsheathed their swords and shouted as one „The lords of the human empire swear their allegiance to this noble cause. Exterminate all creatures of darkness. Exterminate all sinners who join them."

For the duration of the last sentence the king couldn't suppress an evil grin creeping up on his face.

And inwardly he laughed from the bottom of his heart: Mercy? Haha! You shall beg for mercy when my army is done with you.