The Guardians' Throne - The First Magic Swordsman

The atmosphere was weird, and while Zaos was wounded, he could fight for as long as needed, but instead of that, the inhabitants fell on their knees, and the mercenaries did the same. However, with only their left knee. That was the stance when the king declares someone as a proper knight. While offering their weapons toward Zaos, they presented their lives and services to him.

A few hours later, Aleni, Nakin, and the others headed toward the town once they saw the whole armies raising their camps around it. Naturally, the town couldn't fit fifteen thousand mercenaries, so ten thousand of them would camp outside the city while they waited for further orders.

In the end, Zaos by himself killed eighteen hundred mercenaries. While two thousand escaped the area, the rest decided to stay and see what would happen after Zaos completely defeated them. While even Zaos didn't have enough stamina to deal with fifteen thousand soldiers, no one was brave enough to keep fighting while waiting for him to run out of juice.

Nevertheless, considering that at noon the place was completely ready to annihilate Zaos, four hours later, the mercenaries were as calm as they could be. It seemed like an act, but Aleni and the others couldn't sense any ill intentions coming from them… Zaos subjugated them through and through. Aleni found Zaos tending his wounds after he had cleaned himself in the tower that Elkim used as his home and base of operations. At first, she frowned when she saw the destruction caused by him, but then she heard of what happened and confirmed that he indeed had fought demons.

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"What happened here?" Aleni asked.

"Well, it is kind of hard to explain…" Zaos said while forcing a smile. "At some point, I decided that I would become the ruler of this country and then once the battle was over, the inhabitants and the mercenaries bend their knee… probably out of fear instead of respect, but I guess it is fine."

"At least you recognized that," Aleni said and then began to help Zaos clean his wounds. "I suppose that is not a bad idea… from what I heard, some people saw you fighting the demons and protecting the town from them, so the level of respect that you will gain from now on will only increase and we will need an army very soon."

Zaos agreed with that, but the ordinary mercenary couldn't face a demon head-on… not to mention, Zaos had no idea of the size of the demon god's army. Until now, he acted while thinking that he could deal with Milliendra's power, but now he could no longer keep that mindset. He has been trying for eight years to find a solution, and even though many considered him the best magician of the current era, that hadn't been enough… thanks to his failures, Milliendra probably was suffering a lot, wishing for the company of Zaos and Aleni, and soon she will find out that they aren't her real parents… that was too much information for a nine-year-old girl.

Now that they had gained some power and influence, Zaos was planning to use it to find Milliendra. However, being sneaky wouldn't work since Drannor probably had some spies in the town and in the region. On that same day, Zaos wrote letters and sent them to all the leaders in the area. They had two options, become his subordinates or fight him. While Zaos was expecting to face some troublemakers, their numbers should be low… to make sure that it would be the case. Zaos sent those who watched his fights against the demons to pass the messages. They were bound to be pretty persuasive.

Although he had many more mercenaries under his command, Zaos wasn't planning to travel with all of them. The vast majority would keep doing the same as usual, training and receiving jobs from others. They will also deal with those who refuse to bend the knee… there was no time to waste with stupid people.

Nevertheless, before leaving, Zaos had to find someone to take his place and command the towns. The best option would be Kat, but it was hard to imagine if she would accept that after the recent rumors that Elkim, Perkis, and Helen spread… she wouldn't mistreat the subordinates that he sent to her. But work together… It was hard to imagine. While he was waiting for her reply, Zaos gave the order to Nakin and the others to spy on the cities of the Sairus kingdom for any Intel regarding Milliendra. Almost one month has passed since she was captured, so she arrived either in Vezar or on the east coast of the Sairus kingdom. Finding should be as easy as finding Drannor, so he probably is traveling incognito for a while.

While Zaos was wondering what to do, Kat finally appeared in the town and then headed toward his tower. She seemed pretty quiet as she traveled across the town with her own mercenaries and Zaos'. Once she entered the room, she crossed her arms and then studied Zaos and Aleni for a while with a serious expression.

"Got you," Kat said and then laughed a little. "Do you think I would be against you after everything I heard?" 

"Everything you heard is probably true," Zaos said.

"While I don't know why you killed Milliendra's mother and kidnapped her, I can imagine that you have your reasons, I know how worried you can be when she is part of the equation," Kat said and then watched the town through the window of the tower. "You never mistreated her and you treated mercenaries young and old alike, you didn't threaten badly the citizens that lived in your territory as well, so I know that you aren't a bad guy… still, you are hiding too many secrets. If you keep doing that, how many wars will this world have to face in the next few years?"