Author Note: Just so those who read the beginning chapters I changed the MC name from Carmine to Axel for one reason. One being well Carmine is my internet persona outside of this website and it makes me feel pretty weird imo. It was Carmine because I never planned on this becoming "popular" enough to care but as I kept writing the more I cared xD.
Returning to the story:
Taking a look at his stats one final time he noticed that his Landowner Skill was locked.
" Landowner (1) - Unlockable must return home to proceed. "
Thinking to himself Axel decided the best course to figure out the new skill would be to return home. Taking a moment to ponder the change he got up and walked over to the Prince.
"Prince Henry if we wish to keep moving forward we will need to return to IronHide and make some plans. I have a feeling that we will need to gather our forces and proceed with some caution. My spidey senses are off the charts."
"Good, I was also thinking our forces although powerful are still not strong enough to face the might of a Kingdom. Also, pardon me but what do you mean by spider senses?"
"Nothing, I was just saying I was having a feeling of a possible trap if we were to keep moving forward right now."
Of course Axel was using this all as an excuse to return back home. He was far more curious about his upgrade than the well-being of the Princes Kingdom. He could always find another stepping stone.
"With that being said then. Prince Henry, we must make some agreements before proceeding."
"Agreements? Explain."
"Yes, simply I would not like to bring you to our home because that would be giving you our location. But, because we are planning on helping you. We will use our place as a staging area for taking back your Kingdom. Short version is you will promise that your kingdom will not hinder our growth or our people in any way. Two our location is to be kept secret as it is within your borders. I realize because of our location that it will be impossible for it to be hidden forever as we are near the border. For now though it's to be hidden. Third, your kingdom cannot in any form have any right to take literally anything from our land. Basically you're giving up your rights of the forest to us."
"Expansion, Hidden, Freedom? Wouldn't expanding mean you'd be taking land from my kingdom? Let alone be free? You're basically asking as long as you settle elsewhere in my land you can have it for free."
"Let me rephrase it then other than the forest as it's basically the in-between between yours and the other one. The plan would be expanding through them." Axel just looks at the prince and smiles innocently.
The prince stares at Axel, slowly registering what he's saying before returning his smiles back at him. "If you can return my kingdom to me, not only will I accept your demands we will help you crave out your land. It'll be like killing two birds with one stone."
Back in the Kingdom of Creekside, 1 week later
"It seems our forces have failed to return from capturing the Prince. They were found dead with the same holes in them. The apprentice mages were completely wiped out. No matter what, they were real mages anyways." -Mysterious Man 1
"Don't look down upon the apprentice mages, they would be the man source and soldiers of our new kingdom. If anything we need to honor their sacrifice to bring more to our side." -Mysterious Man 2
"I know you're right, I just don't like the fact that they are fake mages is all. As for the Prince though?" -Mysterious Man1
"He is outside the detection range, so he is no longer close enough to the Capital anymore. According to the last report he was heading towards Brittleback." -Mysterious Man 2
"What is in that direction that would make him head that way?" -Mysterious Man 1
"Nothing other than more enemies for him to face. Unless that's where the group of people came from. Does the Brittleback have a unit like that?" -Head Mysterious Man
"No." -Mysterious Man 2
"This group of people are slowly becoming a problem, as far as we can tell they have no origins."
Back at IronHide Home
Slowly the wooden walls of Ironhide appear in the view of Axel and the rest of the party. As the group came into view the normal people who took the place of Green Squad in their short absence were excited to see Axel and his group return. The gates slowly opened and one man stepped out walking towards Axel until he was in front of himself. He took it upon himself to kneel.
"Commander Axel you've returned, although your absence was short you were heavily missed. After Green Squad left we accepted roughly 100 refugees from villages across the borders. It seems the hostilities between Creekside and Brittleback are heating up again. Allowing bandits to roam free and attack villages along the border."
"Ah, that must be why. Excellent work, how is there situation right now?"
"Because of our rebuilding process, it extended the work because we were forced to build a few more homes. The only thing lacking is food at the moment. In your absence I took the time and asked the Refugees if they knew the location of any of the Bandit hideouts and luckily one of them did."
"Oh? You've been busy. And?"
"Surprisingly it's actually not to far from here and slightly further in the forest on Brittleback side. Roughly a day's trip."
"What is your name?" Axel's face broke out in a full evil smile making the Prince and the knights break out in a cold sweat. However, the man below didn't even flinch; he looked at the Commander awaiting his orders. Only to be slightly surprised when he was asked for his name.
"I'm no one of importance, but the name I go by is Drifter." Still kneeling in front, not even hesitating in belittling himself. Drifter kneeled firm.
"Drifter from now on you're promoted from whatever you were to a Major. You will undergo training and will be in charge with affairs within this base. You will now be in charge of the defenses while we are gone. Congratulations. Let's move." Everyone following Axel except for the Prince kept an emotionless face. While the Prince was completely stunned just like that an apparent nobody gained an immense amount of power. How could that be. Was he not scared of being betrayed?
Meanwhile, everyone walked through the gate while the man kneeling stayed kneeling until everyone passed. As he walked in he was stopped by Kairi of Red Squad, Axel's right hand.
"Orders from Axel that you are to be trained, training starts now. From now on your Major Drifter and a part of IronHide officially. Training starts tomorrow and 800 hours." With that being said Kairi turns and walks away.
"What is 800?" Realizing that this could be crucial he chases after her.
P.O.V. Axel and Prince Henry
Axel and Prince Henry walk into the command room and sit down across from each other. The Soldiers of Ironhide mainly Black Squad took the Knights and began showing them around the small base.
"How could you promote someone like that without knowing anything." The Prince leaned forward expecting a strong answer.
"The answer is simple, loyalty and excellence should be rewarded no matter who you are. This develops the faith the people have in you. With Faith you develop pride. With pride people work to strive for things. So on and so forth. When people see they have a chance at bettering themselves they will push to improve themselves. In the end it will only strengthen our people. Anyways, enough about that it's time we discuss our plans.