The next morning, Caesar was still leisurely jogging through the misty and cold forest. He was in no rush to reach the large lake, where nearly half of his army should be located. He hoped that Akari had already reached the lake and told the others of their endeavor, to raise the armies morale a tad bit further.
Thinking to here, he couldn"t help but imagine how furious the troll king should be right about now. Just the thought, caused a s.a.d.i.s.tic smile to appear on Caesar"s face. Although he didn"t let his s.a.d.i.s.tic side out very often, he loved to put those that were arrogant in their rightful seat.
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As Caesar was jogging through the forest, the troll stronghold had just swapped guards atop the gates. The new guards had just awoken and were relatively alert, as such, the strange shadows just a dozen meters away from the front of the gates caught their eye.
With their great sense of smell, they could vaguely perceive blood, feces, and sweat from down below. The noxious smell a.s.saulted their nose and they, without hesitation, went to go report to their higher-ups, as none of them were brave enough to go and investigate themselves.
They treaded atop the walls until they reached a medium-sized guard tower. They pushed open the thick, wooden door and walked inside, where a middle-aged human male awaited them. The man had blonde hair and blue eyes, a scraggly beard, and looked overly kind. Books were messily laid over his table and he abruptly stood up in response to the trolls entrance.
He wiped his gla.s.ses with some sort of cloth and smiled welcomingly at the trolls, "do you require my a.s.sistance?" he asked with a heavy British-like accent.
The trolls, as if the current interaction was the most normal thing in the world, quickly explained what they had seen at the walls. None of them had any doubts about whether or not the man in front of them could solve the problem.
And as expected, after hearing their words, the middle-aged man smiled rea.s.suringly, "well, let"s go and investigate, shall we? There will be no danger when the lord is watching upon all of us" he said lightly and led the way out of the guard tower. He appeared to a captain-like figure of some sort.
In response, the trolls followed behind the blonde man. They walked atop the large walls and stairs, turned a few corners, until finally, they arrived at the gates. The blond man waved to the guards and they pulled a lever in response, lifting the metal gates.
Such a contraption would surely shock the fox-kin and possibly even the humans at Rahvin kingdom, however, the middle-aged man, and the trolls, seemed to be used to such complex mechanisms.
The blonde human walked to where the trolls spoke of, however, as he got closer, he couldn"t help but scrunch up his nose. The morbid scent traveled through the air, affecting him even when he was a few meters away.
Soon, they could finally see what was causing the smell. The sight caused the middle-aged man to puke up his breakfast while the trolls covered their mouths in fear. The troll prince squirmed slightly, tears streaked down his face and it was clear that he had urinated and defecated himself.
The older troll, who had a frail body, was even worse off. Because his body was so frail, he had already pa.s.sed away last night, however, some of his bodily fluids still leaked out.
"B-By the pope…" the middle-aged man stammered for words and took a few steps back. Many different emotions flashed across his face, disgust, shock, sadness, and even determination. It took him a few seconds to get ahold of himself and order the trolls who were standing to the right of him..
"Go and inform the king… Immediately!" he shouted, to which the trolls bowed down and scurried away. After they were gone, the middle-aged man stood up from the ground and wiped his mouth with a piece of cloth.
"to think that I"d have to see such a gruesome sight in this life… I should inform the pope immediately, the dark continent is not as simple as we had initially thought. The evil presence is extraordinary" The middle-aged man whispered under his breath and took out a rectangular box from his pocket.
He then proceeded to open the box and take out a cigarette extremely similar in appearance to the ones Caesar took from the a.s.sa.s.sin girls belongings. The man lit the cigarette with some sort of magic and took a few puffs to calm his nerves.
As he was smoking, he noticed a few droplets of blood dripping from the prince"s shirt. Confused, the blonde man gulped audibly and ripped the shirt.
The cigarette in his mouth dropped to the ground and he almost puked once again. On the troll"s chest was quite a few engravings, presumed to be made with a dagger of some sort. Even though the deep cuts were dripping with blood, it was still legible.
"M-My G.o.d… the people of the dark continent are truly savages" he whispered after reading the note that read…
"You, who idiotically ordered your son to death, still safely awaits on your grand throne, waiting for the perfect moment. However, that moment will have to wait until you, your family, subjects, and even friends all rest on a pole… perhaps, you and your son will manage to have something in common in the afterlife"
After reading the note, the middle-aged man wanted to erase it before the troll king laid his eyes on it, however, since it inscribed on the prince"s skin, he wasn"t capable of doing so. Thus, he simply walked away with a quick pace. He didn"t want to stay next to such a morbid sight and smell for very long, and he most certainly didn"t want to be around when the king arrived.
As such, the man returned to his quarters and started writing a letter to the pope. He was a mere paladin within the church, someone near the bottom of the totem pole. However, his power was not to be underestimated as he still held connections to the church.
The man started scribbling down on a piece of parchment whilst dabbing his pen in ink. He looked like a scholar and his earlier easy-going personality seemed to have vanished, only leaving solemnity.
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Caesar, who was still jogging through the forest, had no idea that slight alterations to the big picture had been made. His face was calm as he finally exited the forest, and a gigantic, sparkling lake entered into his vision.
"I suppose it"s finally time to start" Caesar whispered under his breath, followed by deep m.u.f.fled laughter after his sight landed on the army, standing at attention in front of him. It would appear that instead of sleeping, they waited for him to arrive.
"We greet the clan leader…" they saluted and rested on one knee in unison when Caesar arrived.