Bazaar, Ciara Citadel City, Eisenhiem Kingdom

The shopkeeper was confused for a moment, as he couldn’t grasp what was going on with him. The guard was pushing him continuously, forcing him to move towards the South gate guard’s headquarters.

“At least let me close my shop! Otherwise someone might steal something from it.” The shopkeeper yelled as he passed by his shop.

“Ok… I’ll have a guard close up the shop and send your goods and money to the merchant’s guild. Flare” The guard replied as he raised his arm and casted a spell. An orange bolt of light shot up towards the sky emitting a blinding light even in the evening!

“Soon the men will come…” the guard murmured.

*CLACK**CLACK**CLACK**CLACK*

*HUFF**HUFF**HUFF*

Three guards swiftly approached the guard, who was standing quietly besides a man.

“What happened here? Ouch!” A newbie guard got bumped on his head by another guard, as he tried to enquire about the reason for the orange flare!

“Excuse him sir! He is a newbie here…” another guard apologized to the guard who was holding the convict’s right arm.

“Sorry sir, I was too excited because it was my first day of job… so I didn’t recognize you…” the newbie apologized.

“It’s ok, that doesn’t bothers me…you two, close that shop and you contact the merchant’s guild, I’ll carry him to the headquarters. The guard ordered the other guards as he walked away with the convict that he had apprehended.

“Oh, and tell the merchants guild to send one of their officers to the south gate guard’s head quarters to meet me tomorrow…”

The guards nodded in affirmation and started performing their given tasks.

“Excuse me Mr. Raymond… who was that guy?” the newbie asked his superior.

“He is commander Reve… he commands the south wall!” the superior replied.

“But why was he dressed in a normal guard’s uniform?” the newbie asked with a confused face.

“Well, he’s been the same since the time I joined the city guards… he is a simple, honest and chivalrous man…” the guard replied.

“Also, he is quiet admired by ladies…” the other guard jumped in between the private conversation between the superior and subordinate.

“Hey, why are you still standing here… didn’t he gave you a task to go to the merchant’s guild!” the guard yelled loudly.

“Oh! Yeah... Ha ha ha, it seems like I forgot it!” the man laughed while scratching his head.

The guard looked coldly at him and pointed his fingers at the direction where the merchant’s guild was located, the other guard instantly got the clue that he had to leave right now; or else things would get bad for him.

“I’ll take my leave…” he replied with a smile as he ran away towards the merchant’s guild.

Watching the other guard leave the subordinate repeated his earlier question.

“But why the normal guard uniform?”

“Apparently that uniform is not his, but his friend’s… according to the rumors I’ve heard… but no one exactly knows the reason about why does he wear a normal guard’s uniform, even though he is the commander of the south gate…’ the superior replied.

“That’s enough questions for today… get to work…” the superior snapped instantly after he gave his answer to the question.

“Ok sir…” the subordinate guard replied with a pout on his face.

Meanwhile, the cat was enjoying his meal on top of a roof... he was feeling very satisfied, this was his first steal after all; and he had executed it perfectly… he somehow already knew about his strength and also that he could carry that huge tuna… soon, all of the tuna was finished and there remained nothing of it but the bones!

“Prr…” the cat purred after eating up his fill… but it felt a little bit strange to him, as he never had eaten something as big as this fish before and the thing that puzzled him the most was a faint feeling of hunger. He was still feeling a bit hungry, even though he had eaten such a huge fish that he would never even dare to approach.

He looked at his tummy which was just as same as before… it didn’t bulge even a tiny bit!

“Maw!” the cat thought what happened to the fish he ate… he clearly ate it, but he didn’t felt like all of it went into his tummy.

“Maw! (Screw it!)” The cat meowed and jumped away.

*SWISH**SWISH*

*SWISH*

*SWISH**SWISH*

*SWOOSH*

The cat jumped leisurely from one roof to another, until he reached the last house, which was closest towards the south gate…

The south gate was far away, but it could be clearly seen from here; as there was nothing except barren fields that lay between the walls and the bazaar, there were few buildings scattered here and there in those barren grounds, one of them was the south gate guard’s garrison building or simply put the south gate guard’s headquarters.

The cat could clearly see the shopkeeper from the roof of the house, he walking towards a building and was being accompanied by another man who was walking behind him.

“Meaaaw! (That serves him right!) The cat meowed, as he jumped down from the roof and ran towards the direction of the farm.

Suddenly out of nowhere, the sounds of drums and trumpets started coming from the south gate accompanied by the sounds of mechanisms that indicated opening of the gate.

*BOOM**BOOM**BOOM*

*TRUMPETS*

*BOOM**BOOM**BOOM*

*TRUMPETS**TRUMPETS*

*CLANG**CLANG**CLANG**CLANG*

The commander and the convict both looked towards the south gate, as the sound came from there.

“What the hell! How is the army here!” the commander in guard’s uniform exclaimed as he saw all of the commotion at the south gate.

“Seems like I’ve got to go there…” he continued as he pushed the shopkeeper and told him to increase his pace.

“Hey you! Come over here and take him into custody.” He yelled to a guard who was standing at the entrance of the south gate guard’s HQ.

“Yes sir!” the guard yelled as he ran towards him and took the shopkeeper into his custody.

The commander immediately ran towards his office which was located on the second floor of the building. He flung open the door and walked towards his wardrobe and took out his commander’s uniform; he immediately stripped himself and threw his guard uniform into the wardrobe in a hurry. He then started wearing his commander’s uniform.

After getting dressed, he reached for his saber that was kept inside his wardrobe. He equipped it hastily and ran downstairs towards the stable where his mount was standing.

“Time to go Icarus!” he spoke to his mount who was a Pegasus.

The Pegasus nodded his head as the commander untied him and took him out from the stable; he then got mounted on it. He then pulled the reins of his Pegasus and flew towards the south gate.

The south gate was buzzing with commotion as the army was returning with full pomp and glamour; indicating that it had achieved victory against the demon forces.

*BOOM**BOOM**BOOM*

*TRUMPETS*

*BOOM**BOOM**BOOM*

*MARCH**MARCH**MARCH*

The guards who stood on the walls were yelling loudly, screaming *LONG LIVE THE KING**LONG LIVE ALLIED ARMED FORCES!*, they were celebrating the first major victory against the demons forces.

The whole allied armed forces was being led by its commander; King Nobius himself who was riding on a white griffin. All the guards and officers had lined up in front of the gate.

Following them were four soldiers in silver armor wearing red tabards marked with royal crest, they were carrying a big transparent case that contained a large chunk of dark crimson colored flesh along with a big piece of black colored armor.

Everybody was standing in attention while saluting the army procession as it entered inside the citadel city. The king was waiving his hands and was smiling merrily; he was accompanied by the head mage who was riding on a griffin. Following him were the other notable people of high status riding on their respective mounts. The rest of the army was marching behind them.

First amongst the soldiers were the soldiers of elite air cavalry, all of them were riding on Pegasus leaded by their commander who was wearing a royal blue armor; and was riding on a Pegasus who was emitting a sky blue colored aura.

Following them were the mages, who were levitating on different objects such as brooms, carpets, swords there were even some mages who were flying on a cooking pot! They were making the procession look a little bit weird.

Then came the soldiers of the imperial heavy cavalry, they were riding on their big armored Taurus*.

After them were the soldiers and machines of imperial artillery division, following them were the archers and crossbowmen from the imperial archer division who were walking on foot quietly.

Next were the soldiers of elite infantry, who were marching on the beat of the drummers, who were marching with them side by side, they were followed by the crusaders from the Order of Saint Rose.

Following them were the armies from the other allied countries sporting different looks. After them came the soldiers of 1st division cavalry and infantry, then came the 2nd division infantry and cavalry followed by the conscripted militia.