The Battle for Leyta

The journey to Ytrea - 2

As Dromer left Orphein, the evening had become night and he could barely see where to go. He travelled back on the route he and Regia went to the town, so he could get back to the river. As soon as he arrived, he set up a tent, lit a campfire and ate some dried meat he had left from a week ago. After he ate, he went into the tent to sleep.

The next morning, he continued going east. Since the river flowed in the same direction, he decided to follow it until the next settlement - Gyera, where he could get some more food, medicines and other essentials.

Since Dromer had just left Orphein, which was further to the west, the trip to Gyera, took him three and a half days.

As Dromer arrived at the village, he saw that there was no guard, no fence, only buildings and a tall tower with a cross on the tip of it.

'Weird, but not surprising. Looks like their faith is so strong, they don't want to build a fence around their village. Explains the high church tower.'

As he entered the village, he went up to the first local he could find.

"Excuse me, sir? Could you point me in the direction of the shop or the marketplace?"

The man looked at Dromer and said:

"Ah, a traveller! Welcome to Gyera! Yes, the shop is right around the corner to the right there."

"And what can you usually find in that shop?"

The man paused for a bit and then said:

"Oh, you know. The most important things. Some crucifixes, food, herbs, clothing and so on, so forth."

'Ah. so it's a general store,' Dromer thought to himself.

"Thank you, kind sir. Here, compensation for me taking up your time with unnecessary questions."

Dromer pulled out two gold pieces and handed them to the man.

"Oh, no, it was no trouble at all, traveller. But, I'll accept your gift. Thank you." The man said and took the gold.

Dromer then went to the general store. When he entered, a woman behind the counter greeted him.

"Welcome to Fiora's general store!" then, Fiora looked more closely at Dromer and saw that he was new in Gyera "Haven't seen your face here before, where are you from? Are you planning to move to this village?"

"Uhhh, no... I'm just passing through. I'm on my way to the capital - Ytrea. Stopped by to fill up on supplies for the road." Dromer replied.

"Ah, understood. What kind of supplies are you looking for?"

"Just some food, a pillow if you sell those here, a blanket, clothing and, if possible, then I also need some items like potions and herbs."

"Hmm... Alright, I can get you all of that right away. What kind of clothing are you looking for? Trousers, shirts, sweaters, shorts, hats, socks or gloves?"

"I'd be happy to get a pair of warm trousers, but that's about all I need from clothing."

"Alright, clothing items, pillows and blankets are in the back, I'll bring them out here. In the meantime, pick up anything else you need and wait at the register, alright?"

Dromer nodded and went to check what he needs.

'Hmm... Gonna need some eggs, some vegetables... Meat... Oh, they have spices here as well! Alright, that would be all for food... Now... Items... Healing potion, mana potion... A trinket, rope...'

Dromer went all around the store and picked up everything he needed. As soon as he got back to the register, Fiora returned with a pair of trousers, a blanket and a pillow.

"Alright, would that be all you need, sir?" Fiora asked.

"Yes, thank you, miss."

"Okay, all of that will come out to fifteen silvers and three coppers."

Dromer took out his money pouch and put down ten gold pieces.

"Keep the change. Seems like you kinda need it. The village is kinda desolate."

"Thanks. Well, true. After the church was built, we all have had to pay a tax of one gold piece every week. The financial situation is very unstable right now, so every bit helps," Fiora explained.

'Wait... The CHURCH created tax? This is not good...' Dromer thought to himself

"Miss, do you need me to deal with the church tax issue or are you guys okay with this?"

"No one can oppose the church! The priests are powerful! They can kill a dragon in a matter of minutes!"

Dromer chuckled and said:

"Then I guess I don't need to worry about their power. I'll take care of this bullshit. Might even destroy that church as well."

Fiora seemed a bit confused and shocked:

"You mean to tell me you can kill a dragon faster than three priests? That's impossible!"

"I'm known as Dorian of the Sacred Sword. I'm an S-rank adventurer out of the adventurer's guild Chronicle that's based in the capital city of the Great Empire, Brondel. So, I think I'm able to kill a dragon faster than a bunch of dumb priests who don't know anything about them."

Fiora became even more confused but didn't want to ask any more questions.

"Well, from what I hear, Chronicle is allied with the church. They even have a branch office inside the domain of the church."

Dromer looked at Fiora and said:

"I don't give two shits about who's allied with who. I only care about the people of this world and myself. All those in power who literally drain their citizens are my enemies. That is all."

Then, Dromer turned around and was about to exit the shop when Fiora said:

"Be careful. The church is quite strong. I don't know how many priests they have right now."

Dromer waved goodbye and exited the shop.

'Now... Time to go to that goddamn church and destroy it. This isn't something that I can let keep existing.'

In half an hour, Dromer was at the church. When he entered, two priests, at the altar, greeted him:

"Welcome, my child. I am known as priest Kolhar."

"And I am priest Etrihar. Do you seek to pray to the Gods, or do you seek to ask forgiveness for your sins?"

Dromer looked at the two priests with disgust and replied:

"Neither. I have come here to abolish the rule of the church. Your tyranny towards your subjects will come to an end today! This cannot stand any longer! Your church has created a tax that common people can't pay off! Then, you make them into f*****g slaves, and then you tell the people that those new slaves have committed treason against the church and have sided with the Devil! YOU are the f*****g heretics here!"

The two priests looked at Dromer and then Kolhar simply replied:

"This is how the world works, my child. Now please, leave or we'll be forced to enslave you."

Dromer laughed and lunged at the two priests. Etrihar's head was already rolling on the floor when Dromer appeared right in front of Kolhar.

"This is a message from Verdactius. Don't toy with the will of the Gods!" and then he cut Kolhar right in half. At that moment, five more priests appeared and started to attack Dromer with holy magic.

Since Dromer was an angel, those attacks did nothing to him.

One of the five priests said:

"What?! That's impossible!!!"

Then, a flash of white light filled the whole church and burst through the windows, lighting the whole village.

That was Dromer's spell called "God's Grace" which he normally uses when he feels he's outmatched. This time around though, he used to mark the destruction of the church.

After the light dissipated, the clothes of the priests were covered in their blood. Then, Dromer heard that the church was starting to collapse. Dromer quickly left and right as he got outside, the church collapsed.

The people of Gyera gathered around the collapsed church and saw Dromer, standing there with his back turned to the church and his sword in hand.

"People of the village of Gyera!" Dromer spoke to the villagers, "I am Dorian of the Sacred Sword, an adventurer from the Great Empire! The rule of the church has been abolished within this village! You are free from their tyranny! I shall remain here to help you build a wooden wall around your village so you can be safe from the creatures outside! After the wall is built, I'll help you create a government that doesn't drain you of money with taxes way beyond reason! After the government is established, I shall train some of you in combat, then, the most skilful people will be able to train others thus, we shall create an army that can stand against the church if they ever dare to lay even ONE step towards your home! I know this will be challenging, but it doesn't mean it's impossible! So steel yourselves, for this will take a long time, but together, WE SHALL SUCCEED!"

After the speech, the villagers all cheered for "Dorian", the hero of Gyera.

In three months, the situation in Gyera stabilized and the village became self-sufficient, without the need for external profit, though they still kept importing and exporting goods. The army was now one hundred and thirty strong due to the influx of villagers from other places. In the eyes of the church, Gyera was still a small village, but in reality, Gyera now had influence over seventy different villages and thus, the former village of Gyera was about to become not only a city but also the capital city of an entirely new country.

Within those three months, Dromer had contacted Trey.

"Dromer!" Trey exclaimed with audible happiness in his voice, "Good to know you're still alive! I'm hearing people talking about some mysterious person known as "Dorian of the Sacred Sword" that took part in huge battles and came out unscathed every time. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

Dromer stammered a bit:

"U-Uhhh... N-No, don't know what you mean, haha... Yeah, alright, that's me... But, just so you know, I was with other people."

"And why am I not surprised? Oh well, no matter. I managed to contact Vert. He's been killing demons left and right, over the course of this month."

Dromer let out a long sigh and said:

"What a f*****g dumbass... When Perfentius and Revirius break the barrier Verdactius made, he'll be their first target... Why is he so f*****g stubborn?"

"Well, you know who trained him... The ever-arrogant God of War Linit... That dude needs to learn some restraint... Either way, it doesn't matter right now. Every God is now dead, except for the piece of s**t Revirius..." Trey said with anger in his voice.

Dromer tried to calm him down:

"Don't worry, my friend. After we destroy the demon army here, we'll go to Demnia, kill all the demons there, as payback, and then go to Reftia to kill Revirius and Perfentius. Since we know the weakness of Revirius, he'll be no problem to kill."

"But what about Perfentius? We know nothing about him!"

"Oh, but we don't have to worry about that. I've got a special little spell that I created about a week after we arrived in Leyta. It's called "Nova Heridith". It's a wide-range attack spell that completely dissolves any demon that's of lower rank than an archdemon, lethally injures archdemons, and might severely injure Perfentius."

Trey, worried, asked: "What if it does nothing to Perfentius?"

"Ha ha ha, then we just beat the living s**t out of him until only a puddle of blood is left from him."

"Good plan, I like it."

Dromer then said: "Alright Trey. I have to cut off the communication. I've got some things to do right now."

"Understood. Have a good one! Contact me again in a month, okay?"

"That will be impossible. I'll have my hands full for the next two months."

"Okay. Then I'll talk to you when you contact me. Goodbye."

Dromer severed the communication connection and went back to his duties.