The Emperor sat in his room wearing a nightgown as he worked at his desk. It was late at night, and he was currently stressed and strained with the weight that a ruler held in his heart when he fretted over his people and their well being.

Percius had recently been informed that the Indeterminant had appeared in the Ruthobold Kingdom.

To Percius, this meant everything.

The appearance of the Indeterminant- the man who would find and give the heroes their power, marked the beginning of a new era.

It was the era of legendary battles. The era where the heroes would lead humanity to beat back the monsters, and take over the world.

Humans would no longer have to live in fear of that which lie beyond the borders.

This of course, was particularly important to the Emperor, as the ruler of the Empire- the ones who had the monster realm as their backyard. For the people of the kingdom who were not under the threat of the monsters, the hero appearing perhaps meant a boost to their military power, however to the Empire it meant that they would finally be able to remove the threat lurking behind them.

The Emperor saw the leader of the Kingdom as a fool. He only saw what was right in front of him, and only did things for immediate profit without considering the long term.

'There could be issues arising from a hero being assigned to each country... I don't know what the Sultan will do, however the King will likely want to keep his hero within his own borders... will we be able to actually launch an offensive with only one hero? It would depend on how strong the hero is, and how strong the enemies are... Ah! I know what should be done. I should send a preliminary force to determine the strength of the monsters beyond the border. Yes... I will send the fleet of the first legion to a remote area in the monster realm...'

Percius began checking through the maps while sitting at his desk, looking for a map of the monster realm that was produced after many expeditions of the boarder patrol.

'Right here.... the fishmen village... a group of mutated fish who stand on two legs like men...', he whispered while placing his finger on a starred location that was along the northern shore of the right bulb of the hourglass. It was located right in the middle of the bulb, far past where the boarder patrol would usually explore, however it would likely serve as a good test as to the strength of the monsters farther away from the capital.

He didn't dare attack the western edges of the world where the demons and dragons resided, especially without a hero to support him, however he wanted to know the relative strength of the mid ranked monsters. If his own fleet was able to match them in strength, or at least be able to defeat them through a numerical advantage, then taking over the monster realm with the help of the heroes would no longer be a pipe dream.

It could become a reality.

What if his armies were not even able to take over a mid ranked town? What if the monsters beyond the border regions were beyond anything he had ever faced? Percius was not a man who would send his soldiers to their deaths even with the backing of the heroes. He had to confirm that this was a battle that could be won, and information was a critical component to a battle.

The Empire's military was split into the official military which was split into 5 legions of 10,000 men which were further split into 10 platoons of 1000 men each. Each legion was led by a Legion Commander, and each platoon was led by a Colonel.

Mercenaries were also a large component of the military, however as a result of the decreasing monster attacks mercenaries had taken on more domestic roles recently such as capturing criminals within the city walls or doing other paid jobs for those who requested hired arms such as guarding caravans from bandits or the like.

Percius would have the first legion sent to capture and take over the village of the fishmen by sea. If he was able to successfully do so, he would have a critical port which would allow further stationing of troops and grant them a foothold in the monster realm to start a long term campaign from.

'I'm sure Darius of the second legion would like to take on this role, but I need to keep him by my side at these times. I will send Caspus.'

From the fishmen village, the heroes could be transferred by sea and further expand the human territory into the monster realm if this campaign was successful.

For now, there were three things Percius needed to do.

The first was to inform the legion commander of the first platoon of this plan.

The second was to put out a paid request for mercenaries to take part in this endeavor.

The third was to plan for a visit to the Ruthobold kingdom. Percius V did not trust Ruthobold XVI to look out for his fellow humans on his own- to assist the country which shielded his own people from the attacks of the monsters. He would have to go himself. If the Emperor himself showed up to discuss matters, they would have no choice but to be reasonable. Or would they? Even if the King insisted on being stubborn, Percius had a trump card prepared which would all but guarantee that he could manage somehow.

There were a lot of preparations that would need to go into this visit, however. A diplomatic visit from the leader of another country was something that rarely ever happened, and it was a very large matter.

Percius called for one of the soldiers stationed outside his quarters and relayed two orders to the soldier.

The first was to send a message to the minister to schedule a meeting so that he would be able to submit a request to the mercenary guild leader. The second was to send a message to the Legion Commander of the first legion so that he could discuss the next grand military endeavor with him.

The times were about to shift greatly.

'I must ensure that humanity... and not those demons beyond the walls... come out on top...'

----

The antiheroes left the tent of Legion Commander Tirius, successfully having attained the ranking of mercenaries.

They had been able to impress him, and as a result were starting off at a corporal ranking equivalent. This was an excellent start, and Trevor was very pleased. The soldiers of the Empire looked up to their superiors like that of a well trained military force, and obeyed them without question based on what Trevor had seen.

They could use that.

If they were to become higher ranked as mercenaries, then they too would likely gain the respect of the soldiers of the Empire.

'However, it is possible that mercenaries are treated differently from the traditional military leaders.'

They would need to build up this new elven persona they had taken on in order to truly be able to explore the human realm freely and gain information for the long term.

The antiheroes were essentially in the middle of a battle right now. A battle for information that had already started.

Some day, they would take over all countries of the world, and so there was no time to be leisurely strolling about without aim.

Ironically though, it was exactly this need for information that had them leisurely strolling about incase they came upon anything.

After heading out of the command area, they soon saw many soldiers walking about in small units led by corporals and other commanders.

Trevor stopped a young lone soldier to test his reaction.

'Soldier. Do you have a second?'

"Hm? What is it. I have to be getting back to my unit, Make it quick."

'Interesting... despite the fact that we are openly displaying these badges which are fitting of a corporal ranking, this soldier treats us as equals... no, perhaps even less than equals. His attitude is not professional. It is as if a manager was bothered by a worker asking for help.'

"Ah, I was just wondering if you could point us to where we would be able to find a map of the area. We have just arrived as mercenaries and are searching for where we should be headed to next."

"A map? You won't find anything so luxurious around here. Maybe the Legion Commander himself has one, but it took hundreds of expeditions to accurately map out even the areas just beyond the border."

"I see. As you were."

Trevor pumped his fist to his heart- the salute he was taught by Listernos.

The soldier left hurriedly without any form of salute, ignoring Trevor's existence.

Trevor was not irritated, but he merely wondered as to why this soldier did not acknowledge him properly as a superior. Were mercenaries looked down upon as inferior even when ranking came into play? He would have to confirm this with Samantha later, based on the thoughts of that soldier.

No matter.

If they wished to build up their reputations, ranking was merely a gateway.

They would speak through their actions.

Through their endeavors.

How far should they go exactly though?

At what point would they be trusted enough to at least be given the same level of information as the members of the standard military?

Trevor was considering these things as they decided simply to head west, out into the farmlands. They followed a dirt road and eventually had exited the area of the encampment completely.

[The path of darkness and slaughter is all that awaits you in this land. Insanity and chaos will find its way into your lives, and you will no longer be able to turn back.]

The system seemed to be making some sort of comment on them. Was this a warning to go back?

Garett merely smirked as he saw this.

"We have been walking in darkness from the moment we entered this world. There is no need to turn back."