Morin and his group of 4 other soldiers made their way once more through the fishmen village, heading back to the encampment.
'I was able to convince the fishmen to surrender... I have to report this news immediately to the Legion Commander so that he can decide what to do from here out, but this is good news! If they surrender, then we can occupy the city with our army, and even if there is a trap laid out for us, they won't be able to attack an army of 10,000 without suffering very significant losses. If we can manage to get our army in the city, we've essentially checkmated them.'
Morin looked around the city as he walked through.
He saw a young child crying, asking his mother to buy something for him.
"Please!!!! Please!!!! I'll never ask for anything again if you get me one!!!"
"You said that last time. If I buy it for you, then as soon as a new one comes out you'll be asking me for that one, and you'll completely forget that I ever bought you this one."
"No! I mean it this time!! This is the last last last time I will ever ask for something!!"
"And I said no. Now come on. We have things to do."
Morin didn't have any children, but him and his wife wanted to have a child. Seeing this interaction between a mother and son somewhat warmed his heart.
'These fishmen really aren't that different from us... I am glad that I was able to convince them to surrender. Now, if we occupy the village we shouldn't have any reason to kill them off. If they didn't surrender, then we would have no choice but to raid the village...'
Morin was a Captain of a military unit, but he was the type who hated those soldiers who would raze cities and kill civilians, with their sole reason being that 'we are at war' and 'that's just the way things are'.
There was never a reason to slaughter civilians.
Even if they were members of another country.
Even if they were monsters. Even if they glared at you with hatred and resented you for the rest of your lives, it was a soldiers duty to fight in order to protect the civilians. Not to kill them.
Morin firmly believed this, and had led his soldiers to follow such principles. It was for this reason that he worked up the courage to negotiate with the fishmen leaders, even when it very well could have meant his demise.
For the sake of his enemy, he was willing to sacrifice his own life.
This is what it meant to be a true hero.
However, his selflessness was not recognized by other high ranked soldiers in the Empire.
Morin was hated by many others for his ideals,
'But, this is a chance to prove that my ideals are correct. It was exactly my own ideals that got me to this point, and if I can show the Legion Commander that the fishmen surrendered without a fight, due to my own commitment to my ideals, then perhaps others will take notice and begin thinking similarly.'
"Captain, we did it! We have singlehandedly just won us this war!", one of the soldiers next to him exclaimed with a joyful look on his face.
"That's right soldier. We've done it."
----
Caspus sat in his tent, continuously receiving more and more reports.
After the initial two reports send by Captain Morin, two more had been received.
The first was a man sent from the platoon led by Colonel Fernop.
"Legion Commander Caspus! Mining supplies from the ships have been retrieved and a unit has been deployed within the underground cave system to begin the excavation of a new route into the city. Excavation is already well underway, as the entire unit of 1000 men are hard at work. We expect to break through in less than half an hour, with a tunnel large enough to fit 30 men at a time."
Caspus smiled beneath his helmet, and folded his hands together.
"Excellent. Tell the Colonel that I give him my approval, and to continue as he is."
"Will do, Sir!"
The soldier saluted before marching off, and soon after another report was received.
"Legion Commander Caspus, I have come from the unit of Captain Morin. After scouting the fishmen village, it has been determined that there is likely no trap set, as we would have been attacked by now had that been the case. However, Captain Morin himself along with a unit of 5 men proceeded in order to attempt negotiations with the leaders of the village."
"Is that so? I'm not quite sure why he would try to negotiate with those monsters. He will likely die as a result of this decision. Did you all not try to stop him? Not that it particularly matters, he can be easily replaced, but as his soldiers, do you not have any loyalty to him?"
The soldier was frozen at this question.
"I... am not sure how to answer that. Only that we trust in our Captain, and his decisions."
"I see. Then, return to your unit."
Caspus sat back in his seat, and let his eyes droop for a moment.
'Things are proceeding nicely, however I don't understand why Morin would do such a thing. Well, I will simply write him off as dead. For now, we continue the excavation, and we enter the city as soon as it has completed.'
Caspus felt his eyes closing on him.
'What's this... am I tired? I suppose I was up a large portion of the night last night after hearing all the screams, and the crackling of the fires.'
However, the sudden drowsiness which overcame Caspus was soon interrupted by another report, 20 minutes later.
"Legion Commander Caspus! This is Captain Morin, and I have returned with a report from the scouting unit!"
Caspus jolted awake from the inside of his tent. He had almost fallen asleep, but was in a state where he was half awake- and now he was fully awake.
"Come in, soldier."
Captain Morin lifted the flap of the tent to see Caspus sitting in a comfortable seat, and Morin saluted with his fist.
After giving a full report on the geography and layout of the city, the notable structures, and presenting a roughly made map of the city, Morin informed Caspus of his discussion with the elders.
"Legion Commander Caspus, I personally went to the palace of the fishmen village, and have determined that their leader was a part of the unit which was destroyed by the natural disaster. I spoke with the ones who remained in charge, and I was able to negotiate a full surrender of the fishmen to our legion."
Caspus sat up straight at hearing this.
"A full surrender you said? Just how did.... no, never mind. This is wonderful news. The mining team is currently working on a tunnel, which should be completed any minute now, so as soon as that is finished we will occupy the city with our forces, and I will personally speak with the leaders of the village. You may return to the unit of Colonel Keras for now. Good work soldier."
"I am delighted by your praise. I understand that the decision I made was one which was off script, and that I may suffer punishment from doing such a thing. If you wish, please assign me a punishment."
"Oh, no. In this 1st legion, the only thing that we care about are results. If your strange methods were able to achieve these results, then I have no issues. Return to your unit, and follow orders from there."
Morin saluted once more, this time pounding his chest hard, and hoping that his decision had payed off.
"Yes, Sir!"
And with this, Morin returned.
Soon enough, the excavation was completed, and Caspus received another report, at which he sent out an order for all the Colonels to gather once more.
"It is time to finish things up."
----
All the Colonels now lined up in front of Caspus' tent, and Caspus proudly paced back and forth in front of the line of men.
"Keras, your subordinate has done us a great favor in deceiving the fishmen into surrender.", Caspus beamed.
"Deceiving the fishmen into surrender, Legion Commander?", Keras questioned. "What do you mean?"
Caspus stood proudly and smiled, though it was hidden by his lowered welders mask.
"Captain Morin successfully negotiated with the elders of the fishmen village for their surrender. Now that the excavations have completed, we are to occupy the city as quickly and smoothly as possible."
Many of the Colonels smiled with delight on hearing these words.
The battle was essentially won. All that was left was to clean up.
"I will head to the palace, where the fishmen elders are located, and with my personal unit of elites, we will take out the elders. On my signal, when I exit the palace, after we have thoroughly occupied the city, we will take the remaining fishmen by surprise, and eliminate them all in one fell swoop."
'Monsters cannot be trusted. If we don't eliminate them here and now, then they may soon have their daggers on our backs.'
The Colonels all saluted, grinning sinisterly. They were all excited to pull off such a simple mission.
All they had to do was take the remaining fishmen by surprise. They would enter the village, pretend like they are occupying the area, and then turn their blades on the people who allowed them in.
"We will be awaiting your signal, Legion Commander Caspus.", one said before they simultaneously saluted, genuflected, and then marched off in unison towards their respective platoons.
'What a convenient series of events... everything that could go right in this campaign has gone right. It is time for the final act.'
----
As many men as could fit in the excavated tunnel flowed through. The tunnel exited right at the same location as the underwater tunnel exited, near the initial gate of the fishmen village.
The gates were wide open, and soldiers flowed through them into the village, hundreds at a time.
The women and children of the fishmen village, who were still in their homes or wandering about the streets, looked around in confusion at first as thousands of soldiers marched right into their city.
'What is going on now? Why are so many humans entering the village?'
'We've had so many visitors recently, but this is just insane....'
The soldiers, then started barging into the homes of the fishmen on their own.
There were approximately 600 women and children remaining within the city, after all the men had gone off to fight, yet the entire legion of 10,000 flowed into the village. The women and children were not trained as warriors, and so they had no thoughts of fighting back.
However, the soldiers began getting rowdy within each home.
Doors were burst down, and groups of 10 or 20 soldiers would enter a home, and begin ordering the fishwomen around.
"Oi, fix us something to eat!!"
"We're going to be staying in this home. If you have any complaints, take it up with your elders, who surrendered to our legion."
"For the glory of the Empire! If you monsters have any use, then you better show it to us right now, and start begging for your lives!"
The fishwomen tried to hide their children away while adhering to the demands of the invaders.
"W-What would you like to eat?"
"Doesn't matter, just make sure it doesn't taste like garbage!"
"What is this!?! Fish food!?! If you don't have anything better, then get out!"
It was complete chaos across the landscape.
"Shh... hide in here until the bad men are gone... don't make a peep, my son..."
"I'm scared..."
"Shh... I know you're scared, but you have to be brave. Mama's gonna be right back."
The Legion Commander himself appeared at the back end of the army of soldiers, with his set of elite warriors- 50 of them.
He strolled through the village, witnessing the chaos yet not blinking an eye to it. The soldiers were getting quite abusive at this point, however this was war, and even if this was supposed to be the 'occupation' of a nation of surrendered fishmen, he was soon going to turn that around into a full attack anyways, so there was no need to control the soldiers.
"Hey, this one is actually kinda cute. Do you think we should..."
"Are you insane!?! With a monster!?! That's disgusting!!"
"I'll give it a go. You only live once!"
"You two are gonna make me throw up..."
Soon enough, Caspus had made his way through the city, and was at the twisting stairway which Morin had informed him about.
"Up this way, men. We go to the palace to speak with the leaders!"
"Yes, Sir!"
After climbing up, the men burst into the palace, with no respect for the current occupants, and stormed through the halls. Caspus entered the throne room, to see the four elders sitting patiently with concerned looks on their faces.
"Are you the leader of the human invaders?", the manatee asked calmly.
Caspus smiled, and undid his welders helm.
"Yes, I am. I am Caspus, the Legion Commander of the first legion of the Vythguard Empire, under his grace, Percius IV, the greatest Emperor in the history of the Empire."
As Caspus spoke, his soldiers were quickly occupying the area, and ten men surrounded each of the elders, while the remaining ones stood behind Caspus.
"Do you plan on taking us in, so that you may occupy this palace for yourself?", the manatee asked patiently, unphased at the fact that he had been surrounded.
The other elders were looking back and forth at the soldiers, clearly concerned.
"Is that what this looks like?", Caspus asked. "We indeed to plan on taking over this palace for ourselves, however we have no intentions of taking you in."
Caspus then made a chopping motion with his hand, and at that moment, ten spears pierced into the backs of each elder. These men didn't have hard scales to protect them like the regular fishmen, nor were they skilled fighters, as they were all well past their time, and so they were unable to react.
"For the Emperor!!", Caspus shouted while pumping a fist, as the four elders gave Caspus dirty stares, while spitting up blood.
The manatee managed to get out one last set of words before his head flopped forward on the table, and he died.
"Antiheroes.... forgive us for our treatment of you.... save our village...."
The dolphin died with a look of rage on his face, as if he knew this would happen from the moment the manatee accepted the terms of the humans. He too managed to slip out one final statement.
"Kota was right... we cannot trust these evil humans.... we were wrong to doubt him..."
The other two died in silence, with looks of shock and fear on their faces.
Caspus waved for the soldiers to follow him out to relay the signal, and he stood atop the plateau, looking down on the city.
Below him was chaos, as many soldiers did as they pleased, but it was now time for Caspus to unite them all with his call.
His helmet still lifted so that his face was shown for all to see, Caspus shouted out down this cliff, so that all the people in the city would hear him.
"Now is the time!!! Rid the world of these monstrosities!!!!!"
At this, the soldiers began to furiously attack any and all fishmen around them.
They would surround them, 10 or 15 soldiers taking on a single woman or child.
Many fishmen were killed quickly, and only a few of them were able to fight back and defeat even a few humans. None of the people left were warriors, but the fishmen still held greater strength than the average man- however, when taken by surprise, there was not much they could do.
The clanging of swords and scales could be heard for miles, and the screams of women and children composed a score of death.
----
Brotta, an older fishwoman- a blobfish, found herself in the middle of 10 soldiers, who all were wielding either swords or spears around her.
She wasn't very smart, but she knew one thing.
'These people bad... these people trying to kill Brotta...'
As many spears were thrusted at her simultaneously, they stuck into her flesh like needles in a pincushion, however she didn't flinch.
Instead, the soldiers around her who couldn't seem to get their spears out looked at her in fear.
"What is this thing!?!?"
"Why did we have to get this one!?!"
"We need to call backup over here!! Hey, you guys who just killed that child!! Help us out!!"
Brotta reeled back her fists, and started spinning around with her arms out like a top, punching and knocking out all the soldiers who had surrounded her.
"Brotta is very smart! No soldiers will outsmart Brotta! She has to find son, and make him dinner!!"
Brotta then turned to her next group of targets, however after seeing her take on so many soldiers, they ran off in the direction of another weaker group of fishmen to take care of.
"Nobody will fight Brotta!?!? All you humans are babies!!! You fight the weak, and run away from the strong!!! Nobody dare to challenge the great Brotta!!! Brotta's son is even more powerful!!! He will return, and take care of all you humans!!!!", Brotta yelled as many more soldiers seemed to be getting as much distance as possible between them and her.
"Brotta will go cook for Brot... when Brot returns, he will be hungry..."
Brotta returned to her home, and started cooking a meal for her son, who she expected to return quite soon. No soldiers dared to go near her home, leaving her as a problem for someone else to take care of.
----
Caspus felt himself smiling as he looked down on this scene. Many fishmen were being overwhelmed by his vast amount of soldiers, aside from a few fishmen in particular, who seemed to be stronger than the typical civilians.
'Yes... we will rid these monsters of their privileges to living...'
However, in that instant, Caspus heard a loud voice, ringing inside his head.
[A mere mortal like you, dares to damage our property?]