Year 0002, The Imperium
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The bloody war has finally ended; the allied soldiers, militias, and volunteers who were sent as additional manpower and managed to survive have all been sent back to their respective territories.
Except for those who were gravely injured, they had to recuperate in the newly conquered 'Bastille City.'.
And one of those who survived is Mr. Jonathan Ross, Gel's father.
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The volunteers and militia were front and center of the formation; they were the first to charge and soak up the opposite forces arrows and charges.
They were the meat shields so that the Elms Empire's main forces would remain in full strength when they finally clashed with the enemy's main force.
It took him a lot more time to get back home because he was treated for a life-threatening wound, as he was riddled with arrows.
But luckily he managed to hold on to his life with grit, willpower to survive, and the motivation to get back to his wife and daughter.
The journey back home took longer than expected; it took him and the other people who were still recuperating a lot of time.
The main party waited for those who are heading in the same general direction as them, as there was strength in numbers.
---
When they finally entered the war and during their journey home, it spanned almost an entire year of being absent from their families lives.
And although the war ended within the 6 months that they fought, through fall and winter.
He had to recover for 2 months during the good part of spring the next year.
---
When he finally recovered from his wounds, he and the others received their well-earned reward, and they were also allowed to return to their respective homes.
He and those other people who survived from Kirka, the neighboring villages, towns, and mostly people from the Principality of Ogind County, began their long and arduous journey back home.
The Counts party was the leading force of their group.
They began traveling during the later half of spring and during the height of the summer season.
So they had to make camp somewhere during the day and could only move by night, and they were halfway home already.
But due to the sweltering heat that was upon them, it became too unbearable to travel during the day.
And during the night trek, they have been lost—off track for the better part of it, relying only on torches during the treacherous night trek.
They also had to fight monsters along the way, so they had additional losses and injuries that slowed them down even more; their advance came to a crawl, and they had to stop for a few weeks in some villages.
---
When they finally reached the borders of the Principality.
The Counts party has split off from their vassals, as they needed to return to the City of Germory and report to the Lord of their Grand Victory.
And the few who survived in Kirka Village also have to return to their own homes, along with the dead and injured people who suffered during the monster's attack.
When they got back, the trees had just started to lose the luster of their leaves; as soon as they would need to shrug it off and prepare for the winter season, it was now the first week of Fall.
When they got back to Kirka Village, the people there were caught by surprise, as there was no word of their return, and they could not prepare a welcome for them, the brave Heroes of Kirka.
---
When Jonathan came at the doorsteps of their home, he expected to be received by his wife with a tearful eye, a warm long hug, and a chaste kiss, along with his daughter's gleeful spirit.
A good couple of minutes have passed by while he stood there for the door to open.
To his surprise, no one greeted him; he began looking around their place, even peeking at their window, but it was dark inside.
He had just noticed it; the place looks dusty and abandoned from the outside.
And knowing how much of a clean freak his wife is.
His heart started beating fast and was beginning to be gripped by fear.
*Bang!
He slammed his body through the door; it broke wide open, and he rushed inside.
---
The wind had finally entered the living room and stirred the stagnant smell of dust.
The living room that greeted him has lots of scattered things that were left behind, most seemingly with a hurried pace; it was the only thing that was left of their home.
His emotions began to swell, anger, anguish, and grief, and finally his tears rolled quietly down his cheek.
Did his wife leave him, or did something else happen when he wasn't here?
A lot of questions ran through his mind, but none were answered.
He remained standing there at the doorway, unmoving for a couple of minutes.
He had to swallow in his newfound reality; his family was no longer there.
A while later, after regaining a good bit of composure, he began looking around the house, looking for clues.
There was no sign of struggle, only a seemingly hurried pace of getting the essential clothing.
He could only sit down for a moment to gather his thoughts, so he went out of the house and sat on the stairs of their porch.
---
* Haah ... Haaah... haah
A man was running around the village looking for a familiar face.
When he got the news of the arrival of their brethren, he dropped what he was doing and left running.
He had to find Jonathan and .... He paused in that thought; he gritted his teeth, seemingly blaming himself for what happened with the remaining Rosses.
His friend Jonathan left them with his care after he was not selected to volunteer in the war effort because of his prior injury that month, which made him bedridden.
Now he was rushing around at the survivors gathering only to find out that he was no longer there.
He asked around, and Red Peerce finally got an answer from one of Jonathan's companions.
"Jonathan? Well, he took off early and went home, I guess. He had been pretty homesick and was talking a lot about wanting to go back home.
Maybe he is back home already? "
"Thanks!"
Red left the man alone and hurriedly ran in a certain direction.
"Please be there."
He whispered under his bated breath.
---
When Red finally arrived, he saw Jonathan outside sitting on the stairs of the porch.
He looked confused, troubled, and disheartened.
"Jonathan!"
He called for his friend.
Jonathan looked up to him as he heard a familiar voice.
"Red?"
He stood up from his seat when he saw Red walking towards him gasping for air; does this fool know what happened to my family?
When he was finally near him, he immediately grabbed the collar of his clothes, and he growled.
"Where are they?! I left them in your care.
So where are they???
This place looks like it had been empty for a while now?!? "
Red couldn't blame him for reacting that way; he would too if he came back and his family was no longer there.
His friends must have been pretty devastated.
He must calm him down first.
"Calm down. I'm not your enemy here. Let us go back to my place and talk there."
He looked around to see if the chief's men were around.
Jonathan calmed down; he didn't notice Red's reaction as he grabbed his gear and went along with him.
He could finally get a clue to his family's whereabouts, he thought.
---
After a few minutes of silently walking towards Red's home, his wife was there hanging out clothes to dry in the sun; she flinched when she saw who was with Red.
"Jonathan, you're back."
Theressa Peerce had a somber tone and mood when she spoke to him.
See, they have known the Rosses for a long time; their families have been friends ever since, even when they were kids.
So something really did happen, is what Jonathan thought of her reaction.
---
"We are here now, speak…"
"Alright, alright, but promise me not to do anything stupid.
After I tell you what I know, don't do anything that you might regret.
Do you understand me, Jon? "
"It depends, Red.
I'm really not in the mood to make empty promises right now."
He was visibly annoyed, but his tone seems more amicable.
"Okay, we need a cup of something warm; it's going to be a long story."
Jonathan lightly nodded.
"Dear, can you spare us a moment of your time and brew us something warm to drink? Thank you."
The woman obliged while she left the friends to talk outside.
---
A good couple of hours have passed, and he heard what he wanted to hear.
Deep inside he was seething with rage, ready to kill the acting chief of the village, the previous lord's adopted son, Rommel.
He was trembling in anger while he listened...
Apparently when Red woke up, he heard a commotion during the morning the following day.
The Rosses were seen leaving out of the village in the middle of the night, and the snowstorm was pretty heavy, seemingly being escorted out by the guards out of their home.
That time the acting chief decided to host his Grand Feast and invited some of his friends into the village.
He did this kind of event every year after Lord Kirka left the village in his care.
After the festivities, a couple of neighbors saw two village guards approach their house.
They banged on the door for a couple of seconds, and they saw his wife greet their midnight visitors, and after a good couple of seconds, she dropped on the floor and sobbed.
They didn't know what was spoken as the storm was pretty heavy.
But after a few minutes, the Rosses were escorted out of the village.
And that was the last they saw of them; they could only assume that the acting chief did something stupid while he was drunk.
That was what he could gather after he hurriedly interviewed the witnesses.
---
A week or so later, the Lord came to visit their house; he was in a better mood with flowers in hand.
But when he got in and went out later, he was in a foul mood.
He was even berating the head guard and commanded him to look for them.
Red saw that encounter because, according to him, he was about to check the house as he did for the previous days to see if the inhabitants had returned.
That is why when Red heard the news that the head guard and his party were going to look for the Rosses, he volunteered to go.
They were out for weeks and only returned when they ran out of supplies, and they did that until spring; they only halted when summer season came.
They had no news, no clue of any signs from the people they were looking for.
The winter had erased their tracks.
Red feared that they were all already gone.
But people who have a deep and profound connection with their loved ones could telepathically tell when they lost that connection.
And Jonathan could sense that feeling; he felt his heart being tugged in a certain direction.
But the chief brought flowers for his wife?
That disgusting bastard dared to hit on his wife while he sent him away to war?
It began to dawn on him, like a couple of pieces starting to fit together.
He rose from his seat in his realization, and he declared an angry vow.
"That bastard fucking dared to kill me in the war and tried to slip himself on my wife's dress!
I'm going to kill that man! "
Red could only shake his head; he knew this was bound to happen.
He knew that the chief was hitting on his friend's wife, especially a couple of months in when he was gone.
That bastard felt sure that he was dead, but Odessa denied his every advance.
"Wait... is that ... no, it couldn't be right...?"
"What, what is it?!? Speak, man!"
"Maybe it's just me, but ... could it be the reason why your wife was banished ... was because she kept denying his disgusting advances towards her?"
"That fucking BASTARD! I'm going to gut him!!!!"