ELECTUS

He came towards them empty handed. He wasn"t armed.

Plus he turned his back on them as they followed him, completely letting his Guard down to practical strangers.

But King Michael wasn"t lying what he spoke about. Entering Gaster Kingdom they first found Guards standing on the walls, walls who weren"t too stable. With arrows pulled back and aiming at them, plus many Guards standing in front of the door with weapons pulled out, and a lot were waiting for an order behind the walls as well.

A lot of them were Ignites and a lot were ill.u.s.tratios all working together.

Just that alone proved a point but they of course could be slaves.

"Weapons down. Literally.

Everyone bring down your weapons to show that we mean peace. These are not our enemies. The Electus and his allies have blessed us with a visit."

"The Electus?"

"Could it be?"

"How did he survive the ma.s.sacres?"

"Electus?"

"He will save us from starvation!"

Cheers were to be heard right after by the 100 Guards that the walls themselves shook. Which was probably not the best idea. The walls aren"t so stable after all. But luckily no disaster followed.

Everyone proceeded to drop their weapons and considering expenses, a line was formed for the bows to be pa.s.sed down outside of the comforts of the walls.

They couldn"t throw the bows from the wall because they could quite possibly break them.

"a.s.sign 3 of the Calidum Lutum to Guard the weaponry. Tell them to terminate anyone who tries to grab a weapon. The rest of us will enter the Kingdom."

"Yes. My King!"

"You managed to recruit Calidum Lutum Soldiers? But they are supposed to be extinct!"

"Yes they were supposed too. Just like Gaster Kingdom used to be wealthy!

If this goes well, your Guards will be as good as them when it comes to Combat.

My father is a Grand Master in the ways of the Sword."

"Astonis.h.i.+ng. Even with weapons we couldn"t oppose all of you.

May we enter the Kingdom now?"

Said King Michael in a friendly tone.

"We may. We may!"

As they made their way in, Mogranius turned to the Guards and said

"Don"t bother the Giants over there. They haven"t had a good meal for days and eating any of you wouldn"t be considered Cannibalism for them."

With that sentence said, at least a dozen Guards swallowed their spit out of fear and nervousness.

Following King Michael, they witnessed what the Kingdom has to offer after a long walk.

The entire Kingdom had around 300 houses and 200 of them were abandoned.

If this town was well developed, those 300 houses can offer a profit of 9000 Gold Coins per month even if the tax was as low as 30 Gold coins per house. Not to mention any higher tax.

"This place looks so abandoned. Do you have any income at all?"

Asked Woldemir. This scene is very depressing. It"s a miracle how these people survived this long.

"No. No profit at all for now. We practically pay Guards with fish."

Claimed King Michael.

"You said "for now". Do you have any plans?"

Asked Eric who is carefully a.n.a.lyzing his words.

"A bargainer from Pameres Kingdom just left a few days ago. The King himself wants to use our port. He offered 10% of the profits when it comes to selling weapons.

The profit for now is not certain but i was told that the King has plans for expansion and he is constantly recruiting.

This could be a life changing investment for all my 400 Subjects."

Said King Michael in enthusiasm. He looks less stressed now as well compared to a few days ago.

The deal Alama brought was groundbreaking.

His people don"t even need to lend a hand in work, it was all covered by Zar"s people.

"Why would an ill.u.s.tratio make deals with such a poor place to begin with when they can use many other ports throughout the main river or it"s branches?"

Continued Eric with a question. He is doing everything he can to squeeze out any lie from Michael.

"I suppose you didn"t hear the news yet.

Zar, the King of Pameres Kingdom, has broken alliance with the ill.u.s.tratian alliance and he has banned any Xakro ill.u.s.tratio l Wors.h.i.+pper. Basically the illas."

"Why would the King break such alliances when the financial benefits would be great if he kept the alliance."

Continued Eric with yet another question. This all seems to insane for him.

"He claims that he has had enough with Xakro"s ways of life and he wants equality for all races. Be it Ignite, ill.u.s.tratio or any other."

"Michael. I trust in your words more now. But i can not determine if you are lying or not.

You have shown great trust and kindness towards us and i feel you have a good heart with kind intention.

I need to stay here with my troops to see more of the truth. I have considered the risks as well and I feel my troops can handle them if danger is to approach towards them.

War is out of question but i still do not trust all of this."

Claimed Eric in a calmer tone.

"Please join me to my Castle!"