Elio ordered the cleaning of King Kard's golden armor, wore it, replaced most of the Crescent army with his save for the 4 generals who would help him enter Crescent City without bloodshed, then left Stardret City.
Clearly, King Kard hadn't planned for any battle because he only came with just a hundred men, well trained and formidable warriors of course, but still a few in numbers... the very reason it was easy for Elio's men to capture them right after King Kard entered Elio's chambers.
Now they were prisoners of a war that never happened, held as a leverage should the Crescent Dwellers decide to rebel against Elio's occupation.
Elio had left Stardret Kingdom in the hands of General Kosanh, with Laura close by to watch his every move.
To be honest, putting her in charge was a bit of an excuse to be alone throughout the journey because he wanted to experiment more about the system.
This was why he had taken a bath alone in the first place... though nothing he tried while in the bathroom gave him any clue about the system.
The results were the same even here in the carriage that he decided to give up and order his men to bring him food; he had been focused on figuring out more information about the system that he had ignored hunger.
Did he imagine the system or something? He might have hallucinated about getting it because he knew anyone who transmigrates gets one.
'There's no way I imagined that,' he thought as he bit a huge chunk off a drumstick and threw it on the table. 'Are these even chickens? They're so delicious and spicy-like.'
"Pour me more uruagua!"
The maids who were holding the table to keep it steady because the carriage was moving at full speed looked relieved that he was done eating.
They poured him uruagua, the wine Elio wasn't sure what it was made of, but sure that if ever appeared on Earth it would become a phenomenon.
He took a sip, staring at the maids whose boobs were exposed. Both the 4 beautiful maids were half-naked, with only necklaces and other ornaments on their upper bodies. Why would someone want to be served by naked girls?
Elio considered this a weird tradition, but his mind said otherwise whenever his eyes landed on those magical mounds.
"Wear something!" he said, and the girls only bowed their heads and exchanged glances, clearly unsure of what to do. Were they not to his taste? The panic on their faces seemed to pose that question.
"Your Grace, forgive us! Have mercy on our families! We'll jump off the carriage right now."
The girl who spoke had amethyst hair, just like Laura, and apparently, just like any other maid. When Elio first saw Laura's hair he had assumed it was something natural since this was clearly another world. Turns out, it was mandatory for every maid to dye her hair amethyst as a symbol that they belong to the King.
The girl turned to the others and said, "You've embarrassed yourselves. Jump!"
Before Elio could say anything, she turned to him and said, "Your Grace, I'll jump too after I bring you replacements from another carriage!"
"Whoa! What are you talking about?" he asked, waving his hands to prevent the girls who were already standing up from doing anything stupid.
"I told you to wear something because it's cold. Do you plan to spend a 3 hour journey naked in this weather, inside a moving carriage?"
His question was of course irrelevant since the girls were not in any position to plan anything. Spending time with the King naked was a tradition, and they were just obeying it.
"You'all are so beautiful. You deserve better than just being my play things. Plus, I wouldn't want to play with an angry toy. I'm not that kind of King anymore."
The girls couldn't contain their joy. They burst into tears, constantly bowing to him and thanking him.
"Now, can you wear something? If you're hungry, eat."
After this move, the carriage became lively. He even established a conversation with the girls and asked them about the challenges the small folk in his kingdom were facing, the rumours about the Crescent kingdom and its Queen and everything that could facilitate his rule.
"We've entered the City, Your Grace!"
They didn't need to inform him because he could already hear the crowd outside the carriage. They were cheering, celebrating the return of their king.
They even went more wild when they spotted carts and carts of food supplies that Elio had ordered his men to bring.
The food blinded them too much to even notice that some of the faces were different. Plus, not everyone knew the entire King's Guard faces so it was understandable.
"The food is yours!"
The crowd went crazy.
Elio's plan was going according to plan. Dump carts of food in the middle of the city and invite the hungry masses to take as much as they wanted to cause chaos.
With this, the huge carriage continued its journey uninterrupted, King Kard's generals leading the way. They knew what would happen to their men held in Stardret City if they tried anything stupid, not to mention that a hundred of Elio's men would wreak havoc into Crescent City before going down.
Soon, the carriage came to a halt.
The generals opened the doors and escorted Elio into King Kard's quarters.
No one was inside.
"We spotted Queen Liza coming from the gardens," informed one of King Kard's generals, a tall guy with chiseled features and black hair. He looked like a Greek god. "She will be here soon."
Elio had come with his 8 finest knights. 5 of them were inside the huge room with him, outnumbering 3 of King Kard's generals whereas the remaining 3 had remained outside to prevent the general outside from snitching to the Queen.
If she spotted those 3, she would surely think they were new recruits her husband acquired after claiming Stardret Kingdom.
Elio nodded his head and walked toward the bed, attracted by the portraits on the wall behind it. On Earth, writing was his best talent, but drawing lurked nearby and was always his go to hobby.
He was looking at the one with a huge blue grotesque humanoid creature with red eyes when a woman's voice spoke from behind.
"Oh! Dear Niemoth! Seems like Stardret Dwellers really craved your occupation. How generous of them! It's like they knew I would hate to spend the night alone if they rebelled and forced you to spend more days there. Sweetheart, now the entire island is ours. What should I reward..."
"Mine, not ours!" said Elio, turning around to face her.
Her mouth remained open, her eyes out of their sockets when she saw who it was.
She was halfway toward him, and she had already untied her dress and exposed her upper body; she struggled to cover herself again.
Elio let out a chuckle.
"You don't need to cover yourself. Don't you think I also need that reward?"
Her eyes darted to King Kard's general as if to ask for help, only to earn a furious stare. She clearly wasn't on good terms with them.
"You are his now! Don't try anything stupid!" said the Greek god.
Her eyes darted back to Elio.
"You heard your men," he said, a grin stretching across his face. "You're mine now. The Crescent kingdom is mine. You better let that dress slide onto the ground."
Just then, Elio's ultimate puzzle was solved. The system.
[Congratulations! First Queen, acquired. First Quest, accomplished.]
[Congratulations! Level 2, unlocked. Now you can access the system panel.]
A/N: 10 power stones for a mass release tomorrow.