“Don’t mention it. I’m counting on you to keep an eye on things around here. If any emergencies come up, don’t hesitate to send word to Enma.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied sarcastically with a wave as I left the library behind. With that finished, my work here was done. It was time to gather up Layla and Liliana so I could make my way back.
Layla’s scales glittered white under the beautiful midday sky. It was the middle of summer, but it was quite cool at this altitude. Below us, the people of the autonomous zone were energetically living out their lives.
I always thought about using Anthromorphy to sneak in and live among them just to see how things were going for myself, but unfortunately I was something of a demon prince. There were always denizens of the dark with their eyes on me, and my grasp of Anthromorphy was still a secret to the kingdom at large.
“It’s really too bad,” Layla said, gliding a few circles over Evaloti so I could enjoy the view.
Yeah...it would be nice to walk the streets with Layla sometime. But, even if I could ever pull that off, I got the feeling it would be a rather melancholic experience.
“Looks like old Seb and the rest are doing well. I can rest easy knowing that.”
I remembered Barbara’s words. She and Hessel were training in Fort Aurora at the moment. I had taken those two to Evaloti a few times in small bone vessels. There were a surprising number of members of the old da Rosa barony still around, so I wanted to give Barbara a chance to see how they were doing. Hessel was also delighted to see so many of his old friends still kicking.
But...that was it. Though the two Swordmasters could take on human form again, who knew what would happen if they were unleashed on the city? Never mind the people of the autonomous zone, I hadn’t even told Claire and my closest night elves about their existence. I couldn’t let them reunite with the people they knew in life until after the demonic kingdom fell. But by the time that happened, everyone they knew would probably have succumbed to old age.
Though those two were excited to visit Evaloti the first time around, they grew less and less eager each time, eventually opting to instead throw themselves into even more hellacious training rather than keep accompanying me. As if to bring down the demonic kingdom even one day sooner.
I understood exactly how they felt, but I was the one responsible for dragging them back to the world of the living in the first place. It wasn’t my right to say anything about the whole situation, nor was there anything I could do for them.
Layla finished circling, turning us west. The cityscape of the autonomous zone disappeared behind us as we passed over the walls in an instant. Then there were the fields, and then the frontline base which had been established just recently. Out in the fields, I could see people around the base working on something or other. Some of them noticed us too, stopping to point up. I considered waving down at them, but figured it wouldn’t be very princely.
Man, what I wouldn’t have given to change into my human form and work right alongside them, just like the old days... But hey, there was no use moping. I had to keep moving forward.
Despite those bitter feelings, things were moving forward quite smoothly. Managing the autonomous zone was going well, resistance from within the kingdom was a lot less than I had expected, and farming was starting to kick off in the area around Evaloti Castle.
“Oh. Alex, there’s a big one.”
Things were going well for us too. Layla pointed out a large fiend that was wandering around the edge of the tree line, some distance from Evaloti proper. It was like a huge tiger with large, daggerlike canines. At the moment, it looked like it was chasing after some deer.
Okay, do it.
“Here I go.”
Layla dropped in altitude, then opened her mouth wide. She roared, a beam of silver white light charring the fiend to a crisp. Having so narrowly escaped their own fate, the deer looked up at Layla flying overhead with unbridled terror, stumbling forward before dashing off into the trees.
We, or I suppose more accurately Layla, had been seeking out dangerous fiends every time we traveled to and from the castle, culling as many as we could. It was a pain in the ass cleaning up after the little stunt those Izanis assholes pulled, but enough dirt could make a mountain, or whatever. Basically, the number of fiends we had managed to take down was piling up.
Yes, things were going well. As long as you ignored Daiagias leading the charge in the Gigamunt family’s effort to carve away even more of the Alliance’s land.
Things were so peaceful. I could only pray that my next deployment would come sooner rather than later. Soon. Even one second sooner. All so I could turn the Alliance’s suffering against the demonic kingdom itself.
†††
Somewhere in the Evaloti Autonomous Zone, a massive creature lurked deep in the forest. It had a large, fluffy mane, and a tail like a headless snake. This creature was the manticore, ruler of the deep forest. It was a fiend that had once been chased out of its territory by the Izanis family, driven to this far-off place. Looking up to see the bright daytime sky through the gaps in the trees, the monarch growled with dissatisfaction.
It was hungry.
The fiend had established itself firmly in this new territory, reclaiming some measure of its lost dignity, but hunting had taken a turn for the worse as of late. When it had first arrived, there had been an abundance of worthy prey to fill its stomach. But fiends like the warbear were becoming a rarer sight by the day. It was almost as if someone were intentionally exterminating them.
A manticore was capable of surviving for extended periods of time without sustenance, but that didn’t stave off its sense of hunger. While soundlessly stepping between the trees, it spotted a deer. It was tiny, barely a fraction of the manticore’s size. The fiend spread its wings wide and leaped forward, devouring the deer in little more than a mouthful.
But it wasn’t enough. Even as blood and guts dripped from the corners of its mouth, the ruler of the wilds swept its gaze over its domain. This place was no longer sufficient. It needed new territory.
A faint trail of smoke rose from a cooking fire into the bright orange sky. A tiny little fortress sat bathed in the glow of sunset.
Raian Village. It was the first village to be established in the autonomous zone. “Raian” was the name of one of the soldiers who had lost their life in the warbear encounter. As the autonomous zone grew and more villages were established, all of the fallen would be memorialized in the same way.
“Okay, shut the gates! No one’s still outside, right? Didn’t think so!” a human soldier, Gusinus, shouted. His joking got hearty laughs from the other soldiers. A few began working their mechanisms, closing the drawbridge-style gate in short order. It lined up perfectly with a set of mud walls, almost four meters from their top to the bottom of the trench outside them, enough to keep the vast majority of fiends from bothering them. Raian Village had been built on the remains of an older village, and was proving to be an excellent base.
“This place cleans up kinda nicely, huh?” Gusinus smiled as he climbed up to the watchpost and looked out over the sunset-lit fields. He was the kind of man who often wore a cynical smile. His unruly shock of black hair and pointed nose gave him something of the appearance of a crow.
We’ve gotta keep this one safe... If a large fiend appeared, handling it with only the men they had on hand would be a challenge. Whatever. Being the first to volunteer just means more time to relax, he thought with a snicker.
As Gusinus was on the watchpost, the others looked up at him and rolled their eyes. “There he goes again with that same old awful look on his face,” they laughed quietly to each other.
“Everyone! Dinner! Food’s ready!” a young beastfolk wearing a soldier’s uniform shouted as he ran about the village. He was still young enough to be a child. At least he looked just like one to the humans with his big, cute eyes. He had only joined the City Guard a few days prior. As baby-faced as he was, he had demonstrated a toughness that put him on par with his adult peers. He had dedicated himself to becoming a Fistmaster, and everyone around him was optimistic about his future prospects.
“All right! Everyone’s worked hard today, so let’s get stuffed!”
“For Raian Village’s grand opening, right?!”
“You idiot, we already did that!” Gusinus retorted, jumping down from the watchpost and ruffling the young beastfolk’s hair.
They didn’t currently have anything like a fancy dining hall, so they just gathered around a huge cauldron placed in a clearing in the middle of the village. One by one, they each got their share of the hodgepodge soup. They were still transporting supplies from the city to the village, so there was no need to skimp on the meals.