Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

Ignis and Amalia, with their damaged armour, lead the valkyries into four groups. Verana, Helliana and Valerie helped the warriors and knights of Utgard craft and set up the siege towers, catapults and battering rams, created using the materials that they collected and brought with them.

Mu Xue helped prepare the medical and residential tents with the help of Vela, who let the soldiers of Silvara forage and prepare their encampments.

While everyone was busy, Xavida flew around the mountains area to scout for monsters and enemy movements and collect boulders for the catapults to fire.

Minutes later, she had filled one cart with huge, roughly spherical boulders and transported it back to the siege camps.

The mages then focused their attention on creating an artificial barrier. To protect the camp just outside of vision from the capital. After destroying two watchtowers and outposts, they should have alerted them by now.

A capital city, with its rear protected by a vast mountain range that spans hundreds of miles, while the front walls form four sets of stone walls.

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Xavida continued her search while leaving the camp once again.

"Lorem, how is the situation looking?" Vela stood in her beautiful silver armour with a white dress attached. This was something her mother insisted she wore, with seven variations packed into her item ring. "The troops from Silvara are training before dinner."

"Not good." Lorem was currently checking on the progress of the enemy and their reactions. She wore a unique set of scarlet armour with the silhouette of a red phoenix engraved on the chest area. "They seem prepared and likely from the moment we left.

Not long ago, they sealed their walls and gates while archers and crossbowmen patrolled the walls constantly all day, in a rotating shift to avoid an ambush."

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"It'll take some time for us to break through," Verana commented while glancing at the capital in the distance. "We have yet to receive news from Asura or Maria. Hopefully, their forces can reinforce us without encountering any troubles."

Lorem nodded. "I hope so as well, but things could never be simple, and we would need to always be on our guard."

"Now that everything is in place, should we let the soldiers rest after dinner? We will be engaging in the first part of the siege battle tomorrow morning." Ignis stepped out of her tent, having just finished donning her silver-coloured armour.

She wore the royal symbol of the Valkyrie on the right shoulder pad, with the full armour comprising a breastplate, a helmet, greaves, and gauntlets. "I don't know how the battle will go, and there is a foreboding magic aura coming from the capital. The spies and people we sent in secret have died, but the last message only stated something cryptic."

Lorem shook her head, her crimson hair cascading over her shoulder, now tied in a high ponytail like normal for combat. Her eyes gazed towards the city that, even during the night, didn't seem to use any lights, which in itself felt quite eerie and worrying. "Whatever happens, we need to be ready for anything."

Amalia and Mu Xue were helping bleach and decontaminate bandages and other items for the medical team because they both knew each other well. Their changing roles became a little awkward, with Mu Xue becoming her brother's lover and fiancée instead of his maid. In contrast, Amalia made clear her intentions to marry him.

"I never expected that you would end up chasing Asura, Amalia." Mu Xue sat close to Amalia as the two dried bandages. They used wind magic to make the process faster. "And to think that he would accept your desire. I am glad but also a little worried."

"You know it's been my goal since we were kids." Amalia's silver hair, tied in two separate braids, hung behind her ears. She smiled softly at Mu Xue, "However, I was devastated when you suddenly became lovers at first. It made me angry, and I wanted to punish him for looking at other women.."

"Heh." Mu Xue looked at her and snickered at those memories. "That was quite an experience and not something I will ever forget, although we still have not officially married yet. I am sure he will not leave you behind in the end."

"Mu Xue, I appreciate you trying to cheer me up, but it feels like you're bragging and gloating about it." Amalia grinned and slapped Mu Xue on the shoulders, causing them to rock side to side slightly. "At least I will have my turn with him once this war is over. He promised me a date, hehe."

"Such a simpleton." Mu Xue smiled gently at the lovely girl beside her. "You are so cute, but don't stop dipping those cloth bandages."

"Yeah, yeah~ I won't."

While they prepared for war, the boats carrying Alan, Maria and Grom with all the orcs finally came back to shore at Westrin. The beautiful city was almost fully repaired, with a mixture of solid stone walls and tough wooden walls for the outer defence.

Grom'Vak, the Assault leader of Grom'Gaius, jumped off the boat. Followed by fifty male orcs, who all carried massive boxes and marched to the centre of the city. Close to the storehouse and other important buildings and loaded them into the storehouse.

Alan and Grom came together and made a great policy. The orcs would trade in the city if they provided them with food, water, lodgings, and a safe and secure environment.

Alan ordered the orcs to unload the barrels of various base ingredients that Westrin used to import, that Grom prepared during the journey from their homeland to the capital.

The high-grade ingredients needed the right skills to make useful food and other items. Thanks to Grom's wife being so intelligent, they spent five days stripping as much of the goods as they could before leaving.

In the future, Alan's men and Grom's orcs will return and engage in training while gathering additional materials and ingredients. As a result, the orcs will pay a reduced price once they complete the goods.

"So, now that we are all ready, should we head to the capital and see the situation there?" Maria leaned against the outer wall of the storage building while dressed in her battle armour.

"How about I take the wolves and ride out with some of my men, then you catch up in a few days and bring the supplies?"

"No, I am coming as well. There are many things that we can do once we have enough men in Westrin," Alan said. "How about this? We can take five hundred of the orc warriors and then leave Grom'Vak in charge of Westrin. Then, after a few days, Maria will accompany the knights while some of them will remain in Westrin to ensure everything goes smoothly."

"Sounds good." Maria agreed.

"Hmmm. A good plan," Grom commented. "Then we can make it faster with a few horses, and it will give us a chance to train riding them. With the blood of the orcs, they should have no trouble running to the capital without exhaustion."

"Good, let's start preparations then. I will ask Asura's contact here to send a message to their army that we are coming to join the fight."

"Sure! Let's move fast."

Alan immediately brought five hundred orc warriors while the remaining ones began setting up their encampment and doing their tasks. Tonight, they would rest and depart in the early hours of the morning.

The orcs and the knights cheered as they heard the words.

Because the humans helped the orcs save their beloved women, even allocating them homes in the city and the forest, which were now protected by their walls, it made the unity of humans and orcs, at least in Westrin, solid.

With no rush, Alan enjoyed the feast, with Grom beside him and Maria on the opposite.

"Alan, would you have ever thought we might reach this point in a few months?" Grom enjoyed being fed by his lovely wives, who helped bake the meat, teaching the humans a style of orcish cooking while also adding some parts of the Western style to enhance the flavour even more.

"Never," Alan said with a smile. "But, with all the unexpected things in life, we must adapt. Let's move forward and build our new home with our united families."

Grom smiled and drank a big gulp of ale and beer together, his two favourite drinks. "You've changed a lot since that time. I remember you were ready for death, haha."

"True, I thought everyone dead and that you might not be as noble as you seemed. I am glad you are an orc because a human might not be so trustworthy! Haha!" With a splash, the two men hit their mugs together, spilling iced beer across the table, while a huge gathering of humans and orcs enjoyed the late-night meal together, a loud but wholesome feast.

***

The next morning, Alan mounted his horse while Grom and his orcs mounted their wolf mounts. They rode swiftly through the plains and headed towards the capital while having enough provisions to last a month or two before they found an encampment.

During their journey, Grom's orcs trained with the horses, getting used to their swiftness and rigid style. While the knights also tried to master the wolves, although there were a few accidents, the training seemed to be effective for most of the troops.

Thanks to the entire army of Alan and Grom being mounted, they reached the same path as Lorem's forces within two days, and the message that gave details about the first assault would reach them while nearing the exit of the silent mountain path filled with ashes.

"Grom, we should take a night's rest here, then head to support them with our best efforts, although only the initial siege, we shouldn't take too long," Alan whispered while Grom just responded with the loudest voice, not concerned with the troops' morale.

"Hahaha, it seems our sisters are itching for battle and will attack tomorrow! We should rest well and aid them tomorrow."