Fayde and Shar were led into the town by a member of the Adventurer’s Guild and were met with an unexpected scene.

The town was packed with refugees everywhere. They weren’t expecting that so many had fled their homes, but it looked like all of the people from the surrounding areas had fled here.

Hastily constructed shanties dotted the entire landscape of the town. Most of the refugees were living in squalor and had fearful looks. It seemed that this was not a recent occurrence but something which had been taking place for weeks now.

“What could have happened to cause this?” Fayde muttered to himself.

Fayde hadn’t seen much of the world of Aergan. All of his time had been spent either living in Enrain and visiting some of the local areas around it, or within the Plains of Sorrow. Considering there wasn’t much civilization on the Plains of Sorrow, Enrain had really been his only experience of civilization in this world.

Most of the knowledge he learned about Aergan he gained through conversation, and even those whom he spoke with didn’t have much knowledge themselves.

Most people would know about the place of their birth, some might know about the local regions, but only a few others might know a bit of what was going on within the entirety of the kingdom.

Forget about knowledge of other kingdoms, only the nobility would have this information and none of them would have associated with an unknown adventurer.

“The importance of information can’t be understated. I will have to eventually develop my own information network. Being in the dark is not a pleasant experience.” Fayde couldn’t help mulling about this.

There was much he felt he needed to do, but he worried whether he truly had the ability necessary to achieve his goals. It was too late to go back, all he could do was continue to move forward. He was shouldering the responsibility of an entire species and he could only shudder at the weight of it.

Shar silently observed Fayde from the side as they moved through the town. He had come to understand Fayde’s personality well over the past few months he had been a prisoner and they had even become friends.

Fayde had assured him that they would do their utmost not to harm the people. Shar trusted that he would keep his word, but was still concerned. There were many unknowns in war, and Fayde was still inexperienced. He had led the Demihumans in battles against monsters and had even fought a battle against soldiers of the kingdom, but a large scale invasion was very different.

“I’ll just have to put my faith in him.” Shar thought positively.

It didn’t take long to arrive towards the center of the town where the market and Adventurer’s Guild was situated. After the death of Lord Marbell, Orban had become the temporary leader of the town until a new lord could be enfeoffed.

Due to the preparations for war and subsequent invasion of the Kingdom of Jaspel, the town had gone lordless for quite some time. Orban had successfully kept the town together and ensured the safety of its inhabitants. Fortuitously, the town hadn’t come under any serious danger, otherwise it would most likely had been razed and its inhabitants scattered.

Fayde and Shar were led into the Adventurer’s Guild and asked to remain within a meeting room situated in the building. They waited for several minutes before the door to the room opened and Orban walked in with a solemn face.

His appearance hadn’t changed much, but he looked like he had aged quite a bit since Fayde last saw him.

“Fayde! I can’t believe it’s you. I thought you might be dead!” Orban’s booming voice brought a smile to Fayde’s face.

It hadn’t been that long since he had seen him last, just several months, but he was happy to see that Orban didn’t change too much.

“I’m still alive.. Somehow, haha.” Fayde stood and walked over to Orban in order to shake his hand in greeting, but Orban grabbed him and gave him an overbearing hug.

“You don’t know how relieved I am to see you still alive. After I heard that the kingdom was sending soldiers to attack the Foxkin, I was exceedingly worried! When the soldiers never returned, I didn’t know what to think! Looks like you are fine though, where is Reia?” Orban wouldn’t let Fayde get in any words as he rapidly spoke one word after another.

He finally noticed Shar who was still seated and his eyes went wide, “Shar!? Is that you!? I thought you were dead!”

Shar chuckled and shrugged, “Not dead yet, although I might as well be.”

Orban excitedly rushed over to Shar and shook his hand. After he calmed down, they all sat and Fayde did he best to explain what happened directly after the kingdom attacked and how they had fled into the Plains of Sorrow, but he didn’t explain further than that while letting Orban digest the information.

“I still can’t believe the kingdom would attack the Foxkin… the former king must be rolling in his grave. The Foxkin saved his life…” Orban shook his head and grunted in anger. “So where is Reia?”

Fayde took a deep breath before continuing, “Alright, this is the difficult part.”

“What’s that boy?”

“Ah, nothing. Listen, Orban, I don’t know how to put this.”

“Just spit it out, you don’t have to keep anything from me.” Orban said, prepared to hear the worst.

“It’s not what you think, Reia is fine. She should be here soon actually. Before we get to that, I need to know what is going on. I see refugees everywhere and there are hardly any guards protecting the town. Can you tell me what the situation of the kingdom is?”

Orban explained that the King of Jaspel had married the daughter of the King of Quijon and this marriage unified their two Kingdoms in a short period of time.

Along with several mercenary bands that were hired, both kingdoms combined their armies and launched the largest invasion that the North had seen in a very long time.

This caught the Kingdom of La’gun by surprise and they lost several battles before finally being forced to retreat to the capital. The capital of the kingdom was currently under siege and all available soldiers and adventurers had already been gathered to defend the city.

The rest of the kingdom was almost entirely defenseless. If these circumstances weren’t already bad enough, the Empire also sent a force of Temple Knights north to attack the kingdom. They razed the port of Rii’kin and pillaged the surrounding countryside. This was the reason for the many refugees within the town.

“Luckily, they didn’t come here and instead headed towards the capital to join the siege. Truthfully, I don’t know what can possibly be done now. There is only a small garrison left here and I don’t think there are any soldiers left anywhere else in the kingdom. The fortress guarding the southern pass was even gutted of men. This really is the last stand for the kingdom.” Orban could only sigh dejectedly after explaining the dire circumstances.

Even though he felt slightly guilty, Fayde couldn’t help feeling fortunate at the kingdom’s precarious situation. This would only make things easier for his own conquest and the more he thought about what Orban had told me, the deeper a strategy formed in his mind.

He had not been expecting such a situation, but how could he pass this opportunity up? Fayde wouldn’t just swallow one country, instead he would swallow all three that were now on his plate.

“It really does sound like it is the end for the kingdom. Orban... umm I know this might be hard to hear, but there is something important I need to tell you and there is something I need you to do.”

“No need to be hesitant, just spit it out! If it’s something I can do then of course I will help you out. You helped the Foxkin and Reia, I definitely owe you a favor for it.”

“Hehe… uh..” Fayde rubbed the back of his head while thinking about how he was going to inform Orban that a massive army of Demihumans was about to invade the kingdom.

“Try not to overreact okay? Just let me explain the circumstances and I think you will see this as a good thing in the long term.”

“I don’t have all day Fayde, just say it.” Orban replied.

Fayde looked at Shar for encouragement, but he only chuckled while shrugging.

“Alright. There is a vanguard force of three thousand Demihumans on there way here right now, they should be here within a couple of hours.” Fayde finally said calmly, not quite matching the severity of the situation.

“What!? What did you say!?” Orban jumped out of his seat while yelling.

“Orban, just sit, calm down. There is more.” Fayde waited until Orban calmed down and returned to his seat before continuing. He was clearly nervous but waited for Fayde to continue.

“This is just the vanguard, there are another thirty thousand warriors crossing over into the kingdom from the Plains of Sorrow and an additional eighty thousand or so Demihumans on top of that. They will be here in a matter of days.”

At this point Orban was a nervous wreck, but Fayde waited until he calmed down before continuing.

“We’re finished…. I can’t believe this, what are we going to do now? Forget the Kingdom of Jaspel! There is no way we could fight off an army of that size without the united forces of a few kingdoms, perhaps even all of the kingdoms of the north. Wait, Fayde, how do you know all of this? Shar, is this true?”

Shar nodded slowly without saying a word, instead giving him a look of resignation.

“This might be hard to believe Orban, but you need to surrender. There is no way the town can hold out against the Demihuman army. If you promise to surrender then they won’t hurt anyone within the city, you have my word.”

“Fayde, what are you saying? Are you saying you are helping them? Did they send you here to negotiate? What is going on?” Orban asked suspiciously.

“Eh, it’s kind of a long story. How do I say this…” Fayde scratched his head before continuing, “Well... It’s not that I am helping the Demihumans. You see... I somehow one way or another became their Great Khan.” Fayde let his words sink in for a minute while he shyly chuckled.

When it finally hit him, Orban stared at Fayde with his mouth open and then looked at Shar as if he didn’t believe what he heard. After looking at Fayde one more time, he started to laugh uproariously as if he had heard a great joke.

“Stop joking with me Fayde, I almost believed you there for a second.”

Orban’s big hand slapped Fayde on the shoulder as he continued to laugh. He only stopped when he realized that both Fayde and Shar were staring at him with serious looks.

“You’re not joking.. Are you?” He finally whispered with a resigned sigh.

“It’s true. I am the Great Khan, leader of all the Demihuman tribes. I came here to ask you to surrender. I promise that none will be harmed if you open the gates peacefully. You only have a handful of defenders, they can’t hold the walls. The town would fall in a very short time either way. This way, no one has to be hurt. Not only that, but we brought plenty of food and supplies. We can feed the helpless refugees and restore order to the town. This is a win-win for you. I know you might feel like it is betraying your country, but either way this country is finished. At least with me, can trust my word that I won’t harm anyone who surrenders peacefully. I also promise to restore order to the surrounding areas so we can have refugees begin returning to their villages and farms.”

Orban listened quietly with a defeated look. It didn’t take him long at that point to make his decision. There really was no hope for their current situation. Even if he wanted to fight, it wasn’t as if he could and there would be no help. It wouldn’t be long till the kingdom fell anyway.

“You really haven’t left me much of a choice have you?” He said while smiling bitterly. “Do I have your word that no harm will come to the people?”

“Of course, I promise. I have no intention of harming innocent people and not only that, but I have nothing but the best intentions. I know that things aren’t going to be easy, especially with such a large number of Demihumans coming here, but keep in mind that they had to live as outcasts on the Plains of Sorrow. Humans have pushed them to the brink of extinction and continue to cause untold suffering for their people. I don’t expect Humans and Demihumans to get along immediately, it will take time. I don’t want to lie to you though, if any Humans try to get in my way or harm any of my people, then I will not hesitate to end their lives.”

Orban was relieved by Fayde’s words and finally took a deep breath, “Of course. I wouldn’t expect it any other way. I will have to take care of this myself…”