The Battle for Leyta

Road to the Kingdom of Frugr

"Then gather your equipment, refill your supplies, and head for the Kingdom of Frugr! I'll be able to protect Brondel on my own."

Goswald ordered.

Dromer stood up, bowed, and left the throne room. At the entrance of the palace, a guardsman was waiting for him with a large pouch and was giving it to him.

"What's this?" Dromer asked.

"It's the reward from the Emperor for your help at defending Brondel. Two hundred gold pieces," the guardsman explained.

"Understood, thanks."

Dromer took the pouch and left the palace. On the way out of Brondel, he bought water, food, and a map of the world that was available.

'Huh... It seems I'm gonna have to go South-southwest from Brondel if I want to make it to the Kingdom of Frugr and the closest city to its border - Lonimm... Looks like I'll have to pass over the mountains that are dividing the borders of both countries.'

After finding the quickest route, Dromer set off on his journey.

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After a week, Dromer stumbled upon a village in the distance. He checked the map and calculated that he might be about 16 kilometres away from the village.

'Now then... It's been a bit over a week ever since we parted ways. I'll try to contact them and figure out what they're doing'

Dromer attempted to contact Vert first. The contact attempt succeeded and Vert responded.

"Is that you, Dromer? What happened, why did you contact me?"

"Yes, Vert, it's me, Dromer. Nothing has happened apart from the fact that about a week ago I destroyed an army of demons with the help of the Emperor of the Great Empire at its capital city, Brondel."

Vert sounded shocked:

"What?! Why with the help of a human?! I've destroyed many armies of dem----"

Suddenly, the connection was severed. Dromer, fearing the worst, used his version of the "All-Seeing Eye" to find out where Vert is located. He used his "Universal Search" skill to determine Verts' location, but he found nothing.

'Hmm... Either he's dead, or he's in hiding... In any case, I have to contact Trey.'

As soon as Trey responded, Dromer asked him:

"How many demon armies have you destroyed?"

Trey replied, confused:

"Around five, I think, but I was with adventurers, so I don't think I rose any suspicion... Why do you ask?"

Dromer let out a sigh of relief and then replied:

"Vert was mad that I annihilated an army of the Demon King with the help of a human and said that he singlehandedly destroyed many demon army's, at least, that's what I think he tried to tell me before the connection was abruptly severed. I used my "Universal Search" skill to try and find his location, but... Nothing came up... Not even the location of his corpse... If he were underground or in a cave, I still would've found him, but there was nothing..."

Trey paused for a few seconds and then said:

"Well, that's Vert for you... I'm thinking Vert might've gone behind a cover to not raise suspicion. Or, he got killed. Let's hope he's hiding."

"I was thinking the same thing. Anyways, time to speed up the clean-up process. I'll contact you in a month. Then, you'll tell me everything that has transpired over that period of time. Bye."

Dromer severed the connection and continued on his journey.

In two days, Dromer had travelled half the distance he calculated before. He stopped by a small river to refill his water pouch.

As Dromer was refilling his water pouch, he heard a quiet whistling noise coming closer and closer by the second. He turned around and looked up. It was an arrow!

Dromer quickly dodged the arrow and looked for whoever shot at him. He saw a group of thieves walking towards him. Dromer, knowing what's about to happen, started to move in their direction.

The group's leader spoke up first:

"Hey there, fella! I suggest you give us everything you have if you don't want to get hurt!"

Dromer didn't respond and continued walking towards them.

"Hey, I'm f*****g talking to you, are you deaf or some s**t?!"

As Dromer came closer to the group, one of the thieves, afraid, said:

"Boss, let's run... This guy's much stronger than you."

*SMACK*

The group's leader smacked the one who just spoke and said:

"Shut yer mouth, ya p***y!"

Dromer, seeing that, started to speak:

"Hello there, men. My name is Dorian of the Sacred Sword. If you don't want to die, I suggest you stop in your tracks, turn around and get out of here."

The group's leader, amused by Dromers' words, said:

"Stop right here, boys. I'll take care of this dumbass."

Dromer, seeing the group's leader continue to walk towards him, pulled out his sword.

"The name's Chris. I'm the leader of a group called "Devil's Scythe". Ever heard of us?"

Dromer shook his head

"No, never heard of you, and it seems like you haven't heard of me either, otherwise, you'd be running away."

Chris laughed and pulled out his two short swords and started running towards Dromer.

At that moment, Dromer disappeared from Chris' sight and appeared behind him with his sword on Chris' nape.

Chris, now scared, said:

"Hey, man, I-I didn't m-mean no harm t-to you, aight? J-just let me and m-my men leave and w-we won't bother y-you again."

Dromer scoffed and, in a cold voice, replied:

"If you attack me, you better be ready to die, understood? And since you came at me with such speed, I guess you ARE ready to die, so, goodbye."

Dromer pushed his sword into Chris' nape and slashed upwards, splitting his head in two. Blood poured out of Chris' head like a fountain and coloured the ground around him and Dromer in red.

The two thieves who saw the whole thing ran away, but Dromer, fearing he could be found, quickly dashed at them and slashed them both in two.

That skill was developed by Dromer himself, so no one knows about its existence, not even Verdactius knew about it. The skill is called "s***h of the Divine". It's a holy element attack which makes it extremely effective against all demons.

After cleaning up the murder scene, Dromer continued on his journey.

In three days, Dromer reached the village called "Telaria". The village itself was surrounded by a wooden wall and had two guards outside its gate. As he approached the entrance to Telaria, the two guards stopped him.

"Halt! The entrance fee to all who enter Telaria is 5 silver pieces."

Dromer raised an eyebrow and asked:

"Really? By "all who enter" do you mean the residents of this village as well?"

One of the two guards replied:

"Of course! How else would these miserable creatures enter Telaria, the domain of the Viscount's son?"

Dromer, angered by what he heard, asked:

"Hmmm, I don't know... MAYBE FOR f*****g FREE?!"

The other guard unsheathed his sword, pointed it at Dromer, and issued a warning:

"INSOLENCE! You shall retract your words or you'll be decapitated on the spot!"

Dromer raised his voice in anger so much, that it was heard through the village:

"You dare charge the RESIDENTS of this poor village as you would EVERYONE even though you know PERFECTLY what kind of state the village is! And now you dare to point YOUR sword at ME and call ME INSOLENT?! KNOW YOUR PLACE, YOU DOG!!"

After finishing the last sentence, Dromer grabbed the guard with the sword in hand and slammed him into the ground face first. The other guard stood in place completely unfazed by what just happened.

Dromer took out five silver pieces, threw them at the feet of the soldier whose face didn't get smashed in by the ground, and entered the village.

What he saw inside was way worse than he could've imagined. Most of the houses were about to collapse, others, closer to the centre, were sturdier than that. In the middle of the village stood a mansion made of marble.

'I see what the f**k is going on... The Viscount's son has raised taxes way above normal, to the point the people don't have the money or resources to keep the buildings intact, and he's using that money to keep his mansion in top-notch condition.'

Dromer, after feeding the children of the village, barged into the mansion and rushed to the office of the Viscount's son. Some guards tried to stop him but were killed instantly.

As he reached the doors of the office, he kicked them with full force only to find the Viscount's son casually laying in bed covered with money.

As Dromer entered the room, the Viscount's son Leon, jumped out of bed and took his sword up ready for a battle. Dromer and Leon locked eyes and Leon asked:

"Who are you? How did you get past my guards?"

Dromer, with anger in his eyes and voice replied:

"I am Dorian of the Sacred Sword and I've come to get rid of your rule. I've gotten reports that someone's been overtaxing the citizens. I wish to ask you one thing and one thing alone. DO YOU WANT TO DIE?!"

Leon was taken aback by Dromers' words and dashed towards Dromer sword in hand, but Dromer stopped Leon's sword with his pinky and grabbed Leon by the head. Then, he went to the closest pillar and started hitting Leon's head against it until he stopped screaming.

*CRACK, BAM, CRACK*

With each hit against the pillar, Leon screamed:

"ARGH, IT HURTS, PLEASE, STOP IT, NO, YOU'LL KILL ME, AHHHHH, PLEASE, I'M BEGGING YOU, SPARE MY LIFE!"

Leon started to lose consciousness. Dromer paused for a moment to say:

"This is NOTHING, compared to the suffering your people are going through right now... I'll kill you way slower now so you can have enough time to think about your actions in the past."

Dromer grabbed Leon by his neck, pinned him to the ground, and slowly started to cut off fingers one by one. He'd immediately stop the bleeding once a finger was severed so Leon wouldn't die to extreme blood loss.

Then, Dromer moved on to the legs. First, Dromer slowly cut off Leon's feet, then slowly went up his legs to the kneecaps where he stopped. The lower part of the leg was now sliced into thin pieces, but there was no blood flowing because Dromer was stopping the bleeding immediately.

Leon's mind broke because of the pain, and Leon started hitting his head against the stone floor, even though it hurt like hell. The brain entered the defensive state.

Leon was dead. The report about Leon's death was brought to the Viscount.

Viscount, after reading the report, wasn't surprised, mad, or sad. He just sat at his desk, lit a candle, and burned the report.

"Assistant, tell me. Who killed my son?"

The Viscount asked.

"Umm... If I remember correctly, the killer's name was Dorian of the Sacred Sword, my Lord."

The Viscount, after hearing it, issued an order

"Find this Dorian, and bring him to me. I need to reward him for getting rid of such a miserable creature. This world has plenty of those already."

"Reward him? B-but your Lordship, that commoner killed your ONLY child! How can you give a reward to that person?"

Viscount, with a bit of anger in his voice, said:

"Assistant! My order is final, do you understand?! It was my fault my son was the way he was and now, he has paid for it with his life, even though it should've been me. I won't repeat it. Bring. Dorian. To. Me."

"As you command, my Liege!"

After killing Leon, Dromer walked around the village, feeding people who were in dire need of sustenance. Then, he asked one of the older villagers to tell the story of it.

"Well, the story isn't as interesting as you'd think... We were first a village that sustained itself by selling grain to other settlements. Then, one day the Viscount's son came to our village, proclaimed that he is now the ruler of this village, destroyed our fields, banned any kind of trade with other settlements, and raised taxes so high, that some of us can't even pay the man. Those who can't pay are arrested, some are executed and the most fortunate ones get exiled."

Dromer after hearing the story asked:

"Is there an inn anywhere?"

"Yes, there is. Go straight on this road and look for a sign that says "Trömm Inn"

Dromer thanked the man and went on his way. After he entered the inn, he was greeted by a young girl.

"Welcome, valued customer, to Trömm Inn!"

Then, the innkeeper came out and told the little girl to go clean up two rooms that were vacated this morning.

After the little girl left, the innkeeper sighed and said:

"I apologize for my daughter's behaviour. Welcome. Would you like to rent a room for the night?"

Dromer chuckled and said:

"Don't worry about it, innkeeper. Yes, I'd like to rent a room for the night."

"That will be five copper pieces, sir."

"Oh, don't worry about being polite with me. I'm a simple traveller and adventurer from the north. I'm on my way to the Kingdom of Frugr on a quest."

Dromer gave the copper pieces he owed and introduced himself properly.

"My name is Dorian of the Sacred Sword. I'm a member of the Chronicle Guild based in Brondel, but please. Call me Dorian."

The receptionists' face got flushed red and she seemed nervous.

"U-understood s-sir, I mean D-Dorian. My name is H-Helen."

Dromer seeing Helens' flushed face decided to not make her more embarrassed, thanked her, and asked where his room was located.

"O-Oh, sorry about that. Your room is on the second floor right to around the corner to the left."

Dromer thanked Helen again and walked up to his room. As soon as he entered it, he laid down on the bed and fell asleep.

The next day, he decided that he'd stay in the village for a couple of days longer to clear some monsters around it. Then, on the second day, soldiers of the Viscounts' army came to the inn and asked for him.

Dromer came downstairs, and as soon as he saw the soldiers, he pulled out his sword.

"Leave, right now! This inn has no more money to spare for you fuckers!"

The captain of the soldiers raised his hands in an attempt to calm Dromer and said:

"Whoa there, my friend. We're of the Viscounts' army. We came here to bring a message to you. Viscount Olhar is requesting your presence."

Dromer put his sword away and in a more relaxed voice said:

"Alright, I'll come with you, but if you hurt any of these villagers, I'll kill all of you and then head for the Viscount himself, understood?"

The captain of the army nodded and went outside. The two soldiers with him followed right behind.

As Dromer went outside he saw a long line of villagers waiting for food, water, and other necessities.

'Huh... The Viscount is much kinder than I thought...'

As they entered the carriage and sat down, Dromer said to the captain:

"I must apologize. It seems I jumped to conclusions before knowing anything about the Viscount."

The captain replied:

"You don't need to apologize for anything. It's a common thing to hear around these parts."

Dromer nodded and the carriage left the village.

It took three days to get to the Viscounts' manor.

As the carriage stopped, Dromer stepped out and saw the manor, he was shocked.

'What? The manor's made of wood? How is that possible?'

When Dromer went inside the manor to meet with the Viscount Olhar, he was greeted by the butler and lead to his office.

As Dromer entered the office, he saw Viscount standing in front of the window looking outside.

"Welcome, Dorian of the Sacred Sword, to my manor. Please, sit down, I want to talk to you."

"About what, Lord Olhar?" Dromer asked.

"About the fact that you killed Leon, my son, and the one set as head of the village, Telaria, you were staying at."

Dromer immediately put his hand on his sword and was about to pull it out, when Olhar spoke again.

"Don't worry, I didn't summon you here to get revenge or anything like that. I called you here to reward you as thanks for keeping the world clean of corruption."

Dromer was shocked.

"A reward for killing YOUR son? Viscount Olhar, are you sure you haven't lost your mind?"

"Hahaha, no, my friend. I'm completely sane. My sons' greed was the direct result of my incompetence as a father. Now. Corry! Bring Dorian his reward please!"

Then, the butler from before entered the office with a small chest, a large pouch, and a scroll on a silver plate.

"What's this?" Dorian asked, pointing at the chest.

"Open it and see for yourself," Olhar egged him on.

Dromer opened the chest and inside was an expensive-looking ring, with very distinct engravings and a light blue stone in it.

Dromer out the ring on his middle left finger and immediately felt a surge of mana going into his body.

"What is this ring?" Dromer asked.

"Well, Dorian, it's a mana ring. It supplies its wearer with an infinite amount of mana for an hour at a time. The interval between the supplies of mana is 4 hours."

'Wow... I've never heard of such a ring... I know that there are mana stones, but none of them can supply its users with infinite mana... How pure can this stone be?'

"Well, thanks for the gift. But what's with the pouch and scroll?"

"The pouch has five hundred gold pieces in it and the scroll is a gift from me to you, that grants you the rule of Telaria," Olhar said.

"What??? No, I can't accept this! It's way too much work for me. I've got a quest I have to complete, and I won't do anything else until I complete that quest. Neither will I end my mission, that I received from the God of Crea-" Dromer stopped immediately as he understood what he was about to disclose to the Viscount.

The Viscount turned around and asked:

"What mission are you talking about? Also, which God gave you this mission?"

Dromer, knowing he's blown his cover, got up, put his hand on his sword, and said:

"Viscount Olhar. I'd greatly appreciate it if you forgot what I just said. Either way, I won't be accepting the village of Telaria as part of my reward for reasons I cannot disclose to you due to personal reasons. Now, if you'll excuse me."

Dromer took the pouch of money, put it in his pocket, and was about to leave the room when Olhar spoke to him.

"Alright, Dorian of the Sacred Sword... I'll forget all about it."

Dromer bowed and left the manor. He was much closer to the mountains now and that meant, he was closer to the border of the Kingdom of Frugr and the village of Lonimm.

It only took him two more days to reach the mountains that divide the Kingdom of Frugr from the Great Empire. Dromer thought he'd need another week to pass over the mountains, but what he didn't expect is that there was a tunnel that went completely through to the other side.

'Ehhh... And here I thought I'd get to walk over the mountains... Oh well, through the tunnel it is then,' Dromer sighed in disappointment.

It took him half a day to get through to the other side and arrive at a checkpoint to the Kingdom of Frugr.