"Damn You! Damn you, savages!

How dare you put a stain on my reputation?

You better think things through now, or else the people behind me and my God, the great Adonis, won't let you off!" Ratum bellowed while being chained up with thick dungeon cuffs around his wrists and ankles.

And just to further complicate and strengthen it all, they bundled a few of the chains together and locked them with over 8 overly thick Baymardian locks.

~Tchack! Tchack! Tchack!~

Ratum was in full disbelief, as he had never been in this sort of situation before.

Not only was the enemy not phased by any of his threats, but they even dated to bind and throw him away in this dungeon cell without a care in the world.

Ratum's face swelled with rage as he felt insulted beyond belief.

How dare they?

His breathing grew hoarse as he quickly envisioned himself strangling them all to death.

But soon, another thought popped into his head that brought about a blooming smile to his face.

He looked at the guards patrolling the cells and sneered in disdain.

'Heh. I'd like to see just how arrogant you all can be in a few months. I assure you... You bastards will pay!'

With that, Ratum, several surviving Holy generals and others had been locked up within the dungeons.

But unlike the gloomy state of the prisons, the entire city was beaming with joy as well.

.

"Hooray! Hooray! 

They did it! The city is saved!

Hooray!!!!"

"Yes! Yes! They did it! Now, I have to send word to my sister who left for the nearest town earlier on. Hahahahaha! She should still be on the road now, after all... It wasn't long before I sent her away for safety. But now that it's all over, it's time for them to come back home."

"Yeah! Me too! I have to get my wife back and my children."

"Tsk! Those city bells are truly a blessing in disguise. They had just been installed last September. And at first, I didn't understand why Monarch Michael wanted to place several giant cells in almost all cities and towns. But now, think about it. Unlike Baymard that has phones, we don't. So this is our one way of passing along messages can't. And today, just look at how it prepared and saved us from surprise attacks and the hassle? Damn. When my 4-year-old son comes back, I must teach him what each ringing pattern presents. It could save his life one day!"

"Hahahahaha! I'm just glad that nothing has been destroyed. It's almost like there was no battle at all. Look! We haven't even seen a single one of them since the warning bells rang. And like that, the victory bells rang, and we still haven't seen them. Tsk! I heard that they didn't even make it past the 2nd slope."

"Of course! With our men who train in Baymard regularly and even train here diligently too, how can their efforts not yield great fruit? That is... Victory was a sure deal!"

"Hooray! They did it! Our city is saved!"

(^0^)

....

The people cheered and now went about their busy day, carrying buckets of water, chopping wood on their open backyards with their neighbors and just laughing and coming about the matter as if it were nothing.

Heh. What else could they do?

They were saved! And they also had a hunch that in future, more and more victories would come their way too.

Firstly, their empire wasn't alone anymore.

With the U.N and the whole treaty thing, they could trust their other brothers to assist them if need be.

Of course, that was only the last and worst-case scenario that could take place because over time, they had seen just how much effort and training the Teriquen soldiers had made.

Well, the training estates here weren't that big.

So every morning, as early as 6, one could see the soldiers judging around several parts of the city for long periods.

More still, they did resistance training around the docks too, doing push-ups on the shallow parts of the water shores.

In fact, some had seen how much they had sweated, and the heavens rewarded those who worked hard.

So, they felt more confident in the changes of their once lazy guards.

That's right.

Before, the guards could sometimes lay around, talk, chat and might not even do a great job patrolling well.

But now, no one could even hear them speak when on duty.

Of course, some still disobeyed the rules and didn't want to do their jobs right. But once caught, the punishment was heavy!

And they heard that once a year, a surprise exam from the Teriquen Association in Baymard would commence.

.

One should know that yearly, several Baymardian military instructors would head on to the different towns and regions to test them out and determine their ranks.

And with this surprise examination, one could get promoted or told to stay back again.

But that wasn't the only test in a year. You see. Apart from the Baymardians, the renowned Teriquen soldiers would also do their own testing and checks too. 

So those who slacked off would be caught off guard too.

The profession called 'Knightly Soldiers' or just 'K. Soldiers' for short, had quickly taken over.

And their very actions made everyone look up to them and respect them.

Young boys, girls and several people now wanted to join this firm and elite group.

For sure, today's victory would be passed on and might even get exaggerated.

But one thing was for sure.

The new and improved group of Teriquen K. Soldiers were far better than they were before.

Yes! With several changes in the city alone from patrol officers, waste management/ trash collector workers, and so on... The city was cleaner, self-sufficient and safer than before.

.

Like so, the people carried on their everyday activities merrily as if the battle today didn't happen.

But for the T.K. Soldiers, their work was indeed far from over.