Under the midday sun, legionaries hurried to clean up the bodies and clean away the blood running down the streets.
Under a heavy atmosphere, everyone in the room saluted as four Royal Guardians carried the recovering King into the city hall on his wooden throne. The King was carried in still, with a bandage covering half his face and a stoic expression on the visible half. They placed the throne where the High Chieftain throne used to be on a slightly raised platform between torches.
Looking around at the messy room, the King laughed before saying, "Damn, these barbarians are slobs, look at this room goblets and food are left everywhere. How uncivilized."
Laughing rang out through the room as the King's comment lightened the melancholy mood in the room.
"Your Majesty, as you can see, we have successfully conquered the city and captured their High Chieftain. Next, we have a choice to make, Your Majesty, which is where do we go from here." Replied a chuckling Marshal-General Helvius.
"Okay, it's time to get serious. Firstly, I plan to send a messenger up north to their remaining cities and Chieftains, explaining what has happened and that we demand their surrender, or the same will happen to their cities. Secondly, the Marshal-General and I shall return to the capital, Romus, with the High Chieftain to parade him through the streets, celebrating our triumph with our citizens. During this time, the Legates will fully control their areas, ensuring the barbarians stay in line. I personally believe that the High Chieftain family won't take this insult lying down and will try to rebel, so to preempt this, I want Legate Droniu to lead a strike force to capture his family as quickly as possible.
After celebrating our triumph, my royal court and I shall decide what to do with this falling kingdom. Unfortunately, we don't possess enough legions and legionaries to hold onto this kingdom successfully. Our legionaries would be too spread out, allowing the chance of a rebellion to brew in cities where we can't station legionaries." The King said in a consequential tone, thinking of the future.
"I agree, your Majesty. We are needed back in the capital to lead through these uncertain times. Considering that taking this Kingdom will also lead us to have a border with the Brisania Empire, and we will border both Empires." Answered Marshal-General Helvius.
"You're right. They are currently engaged in a bitter war, so we have time to prepare for the inevitable; as both empires want full control of the continent, we must be prepared to protect ourselves. Also, interrogate the High Chieftain. It still doesn't make much sense why they would attack us. Yes, we were vulnerable, but we had a good relationship before their sudden strike.
Onto happier topics, what are our spoils of war?" Asked the King with a half smile.
Smiling, legate Rascius passed a ledger to the Marshal-General before Helvius started to list what they had won in the war.
"Your Majesty, we have quite frankly had a bountiful war with these spoils helping us greatly in improving the Kingdom and recruiting new legionaries to replace our fallen. Within the few cities we have captured, we have found 10,000 gold coins, 130,000 silver coins, and 200,000 bronze coins. Also seized was the vast wealth of the tribes, including jewelry, weapons, and a few pieces of foreign armor believed to be from the empires.
Regarding agriculture, we have seized nearly triple what was stolen from us, and we believe we have the location of our captured citizens. Surprisingly, we believe they are all in the High Chieftain's house in the capital, Galea, serving his family."
"This is good news. This war was worth it, Legate Droniu. In your mission, if possible, also save our citizens that were captured. Our sacrifices weren't in vain with this influx of funds into our coffers; we can rebuild the legions and possibly recruit more to be stationed in this territory and continue to enhance our kingdom, propelling us toward a golden age," the king said in a happy voice while trying to hide the pain he was in.
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One week later, in the dead of night, Legate Droniu was overlooking Galea in the distance, sparkling in the night with all the torch-lit streets. Looking around, Legate Droniu saw that his cohort, consisting of twenty Royal Guardians and five Royal mages, was ready; clearly, this setup showed how much importance the King placed on this mission.
Calling the twenty-five Royal legionaries around him, Droniu squatted down and took out a map before the briefing, "Right, guys. Let's review the plan one last time before we move forward and secure our target. Firstly, we will scale the walls using ropes at the right angle between the southern and eastern gates.
After we have scaled the walls, if we come across any guards, slit their throats and hide the bodies. Following this, we will sneak toward the barbarian's idea of a palace and enter through the balcony above the servant's quarters, avoiding the torchlight and capturing the High Chieftain family while they sleep. Before sneaking back out and retreating the way we came in. To allow absolute stealth, the Mages will put the family into a deep sleep to stop them from struggling against us. Oh, and also, try not to gag while holding one of their family members. After all, they do absolutely stink."
This last comment elicited a chuckle from the Royal legionaries breaking the serious atmosphere for a minute. Before returning to serious matters, they prepared to scale the walls, waiting for the guards to move on so they wouldn't be spotted. Using their strength, the Guardians threw the ropes up and latched them onto the top of the walls.
Five minutes later, the Royal soldiers reached the top of the walls just as one axeman guard walked past. Seeing his opportunity, a Royal Guardian jumped over the wall and slit his throat before throwing his body over the wall sending a barbarian to an untimely death. Afterward, checking the coast was clear. He called his fellow legionaries to join him before they stealthily climbed down the steps on the home stretch to their mission destination.
Hiding within the shadows, the royal legionaries gradually sneaked toward the city palace, arriving within five minutes before quickly propelling themselves onto the balcony and through the door, immediately setting sight on one of their targets.