"The General is back!"
One of the Troops said. The gate opened and three of them entered. They look tired and weary. They changed their clothes first and one of the soldiers invited them to eat.
It was late afternoon. Three of them slept, tired of their travel. But Finn is still awake updating the situation.
He tells his scouts about their status. And nothing happened so far. An hour passed by, Aedric and Karl are now awake. Aedric gave a request to gathered his high officers for a meeting. After a few minutes, everyone is in the General tent.
"Good afternoon, first of all, I would like to thank all of you for doing your part. Before I deliver any news I would like to know the status in this camp when we were not here." Aedric said.
Then one of the captains moved forward to give his report. He is Captain Floyd, 6'7 tall, Lean man, square shape body, Black hair, and brown eyes. Around 30 years old, a handsome man like Finn.
He saluted to the general.
"Sir! General! We still had enough food and water. There are no threats yet. One of our scouts report that there is a castle 8km from our location, Southeast, there is also a village 10km away from our location.
"Good, thank you, captain," Aedric replied.
Then Captain Floyd got back to his position.
"I have good news and bad news. The good news is, the king gives us a castle and a village." Aedric announced.
All of the officers are glad about what they heard.
"The bad news is.... We will join the Syndian empire on their war on orcs. I will choose 5 troops only for this battle, I will call them, The First 5." Aedric said
"Orcs?!" Asked everyone in a high-toned.
"Yes orcs, that was our expression too when he heard about it for the first time," Aedric answered.
"Who is your first 5, General?" Karl asked.
Aedric looks at Finn.
"Finn and his elite troops," Aedric answered.
All of them are shocked by what they heard.
"But... We need to establish our permanent base first. We're not prepared yet. We move overmorrow. Dismissed" Aedric added.
Fast forward. 2 days later.
It was morning. The troop is now ready to leave. They got all their things. Only Aedric, Karl, and Finn rode a horse, the rest walked. They started to leave. The base is now empty. Only the fence and sandbags left there.
The sky is blue, the sun shined bright, the grass and trees danced from the wind, the troops are amazed at their surroundings.
After a few hours, they are now 5 kilometers away, at the top of a hill, they saw a shrine, inside of it is a statue of a lady, it has a phrase in the bottom saying,
"Pray for the Land."
Suddenly, they saw their scout in the distance, approaching.
"Sir! We can see the castle from up here." One of the scouts said.
It was noon. Aedric used his binocular and he saw the castle, 3 kilometers away from their location. A minute passed by, they are now in front of a stone large great castle. The castle wall is massive and well built.
The guards saw them and shocked at what they saw.
"So the rumors are true?" Said one of the guards.
All the guards ran through the walls and readied their bows and arrows, around 3000 of them.
The gate opened. And one of the lords of the Syndia Empire came outside silently. His face looked expressionless. He wore a lord knight armor. It is better than General Kurnia's armor. It has a logo of the syndian empire in the chest that verified his lordship.
He walked towards Aedric. Karl gave the diplomacy letter to Aedric then gave it to one of the lords. He read it, then he squeezed his hand. He had nothing to do with it, the letter had the sign of the king. He closed his eyes and all of his soldiers marched towards the exit. He left silently without knowing his name.
Then Finn suddenly appeared at Aedric's back.
"That was the most silent man I've ever seen," Finn whispered.
"Woah! What the heck! Finn!" Aedric surprised.
Finn walked back slowly, smiling.
Karl looked at Finn angrily,
"Creepy as hell."
It was afternoon. They now walked inside the castle. They got amazed by its surrounding. The castle is well built and beautiful. It's wide and luxurious. They explored some areas in the castle, the castle square-shaped are huge, the castle parts are complete. It has arrow slits, lords' hall, barbican, battlements, dungeon, gatehouse, keep, machicolations, portcullis, towers, barracks, turrets, and watchtowers.
Aedric gathered his officers in the hall. The lords' hall has a throne, 5 rooms, and a terrace. He wished to say something to his officers.
"This is our permanent place now. We will soon develop our technology, but first, we need to search for food, gather some resources, and get legal tender money." Aedric announced.
"There is a village nearby, I should go there to negotiate. That village is entitled to me by the king. We could get some food there and ask some questions about this world." He added.
"What about us joining in battle?" Major Luke asked. He is one of the finest in the military. He, wore eyeglasses Medium-sized, 6'1 tall, black hair, and brown eyes.
"As I said, We should develop first our castle to find some resources," Aedric answered.
"We will assist them in their fight but that is their war, they will be the one to end it. We will protect this land since we are also human, but we will never wipe out the orcs." Aedric added.
Everyone understood what the General said that left them with no questions. In fact his still young he has great leadership.
"You, Captain Floyd are coming with me." Aedric declared.
"Sir! Yes! Sir!" Said Floyd with a proper salute.
"We will leave tomorrow morning. Dismissed." Aedric added.
The officers left the hall. Some of the troops prepared their dinner for tonight.
In was now a pleasant evening, some of the troops assigned to scout the area, some are assigned to patrol the battlements, and some are assigned to stay in watchtowers. Floyd does some heavy exercise. He pushed up, jogged, and air punching. He is preparing for tomorrow.
They on the lights that use batteries that produce electricity through sunlight called solar energy. Imagine an electric light for a castle, it's like a modern castle.
The troops ate in the barracks together with the officers. They saw the general came inside and everyone stood up, saluted.
He sat beside Karl, Finn, and Floyd and the rest of the officer's table. Then all of them sat at the same time together with Aedric. They're chatting, laughing, and enjoying the food.
A minute passed by, Aedric left the barracks together with the officers to rest. Aedric came to his hall and moved to one of his rooms, the other rooms are for Karl, Finn, Luke, and Floyd, they bid each other goodnight and slept.
It was a lovely morning, the sun rises in the east. Aedric woke up and left the room.
He saw Floyd suit up ready to go.