The Frozenblood and BenDover guild's battle for the abandoned territory was only a small skirmish compared to the many other settlements that were under constant leadership changes.

If it was not one of the Big 4 guilds of the Foradverold continent fighting for the territory, then it was dozens of smaller new guilds that popped up as new small parties arrived to participate in the event.

Togower was one of these small northern human villages that had less than 1000 residents. Their village was nothing special, the only thing to boast about was the small river that passed by and the plentiful farmland.

The inside of the town's only tavern was filled with gaunt and haggard village people who were nursing their cheap beer as if it was the best brand that would be offered to a king. It was the first batch that had been produced in well over a year and they sorely needed it after all the hardships they had gone through.

The atmosphere inside the tavern was dark as their thoughts, which were filled with the village's current predicament. Although they had survived the Molten Onyx plague and had returned to their village... their troubles were far from over.

In one of the tavern corners, a trio of young men sat quietly discussing the newest information they had managed to hear from the latest occupiers.

“...they are all the same. We thought the first group was bad because they killed the village chief but...,” grumbled Whan.

“Shhh...those guys might be listening and reporting us to the demigods,” said Tou, taking a side glance at a few of the known betrayers that sucked up to the demigods to gain benefits.

“I heard in the other villages the same thing happens just like here. They kill the leader of the town or village and then take over,” said Dree.

“I doubt they have had as many different demigod groups fighting to take over a village like ours. What are we on, the 4th different group?” asked Whan.

“These demigods are too ruthless. They treat the strong like kings, while the weak are treated less than dirt,” said Tou.

“Right, we have already lost nearly 100 villagers to the constant fighting, and now some of the demigods' way of thinking is sinking into our generation,” said Dree.

“I guess it's not all bad, with the three of us awakening our...” said Whan.

“Shhh...” Tou again shushed them to be quiet on the topic.

“How much longer can we last?” asked Dree.

“I hope the villages and towns that have managed to hold off the demigods continue to stay strong.”

***

“...do you think they are okay?” asked Mileena.

“Stop worrying. The whole point of this trip was to let you relax and have some time away from the stress of taking care of Wyt and Silvy. Your sister and Azura will be able to handle taking care of them for the short time, we are gone. The security has been toughened up since the last attack. With Pii'per there to help keep an eye on things there should be no problem,” said Akira.

The two were riding inside a new spacious armored carriage that Delgar had finished recently. On one side of the inner carriage was a cushioned couch that Akira and Mileena were sitting on and on the other side was a small bed that could just barely hold two people if they lay on their sides.

Now, instead of having to travel out in the open on mounts or sleds, they could travel both quickly and in comfort.

“Yap,” said Fluffball, as he lazed on the carriage's cramped floor space between the couch, bed, and Akira and Mileena's feet.

“We're lucky that Delgar built this with reinforced leaf springs to handle all of your weight,” said Akira reaching down to rub Fluffball's head that was resting on Akira's feet.

Ding!

New urgent mission!

Kodria's new settlement danger:

The new settlements have just been raided by bandits! This will continue until the threat is taken care of.

Save the settlement from its impending doom!

(Failure will mean the loss of the settlement and several negative effects will be added to the dukedom of Kodria.)

Akira's calm smiling face turned stern as he read the message.

Seeing his face go through such a sudden change a worried Mileena placed her hand on his shoulder and asked, “What's wrong?”

With a sigh, Akira said, “Our trip won't be as peaceful as I hoped, it seems some bandits have been harassing the settlement.”

Mileena did not ask how he came across the new information and just said, “That's fine. I need to let off some steam. What's better than smacking around some bandits!”

“It may not be so simple,” said Akira before sticking his head out of the window of the carriage door. “Grarr, pick up the speed! We need to get to the destination as fast as you can pull us.”

Hearing this, Grarr who was in the lead along with the other Gargs that were pulling the carriage, picked up the running speed. The other escorting guards riding their own Garg mounts also picked up speed to provide a protection screen for the carriage.

With the Gargs running at such a fast pace, the occupants of the carriage could feel all the bumps and dips of the roughly built dirt road that had been recently cleared to connect the new settlement and Kodria.

Although it was crude, it made their land travel far faster than if they were to just travel through the wilderness which had many obstacles that would force them to make many detours.

With the burst of speed, they managed to arrive at the settlement two days earlier than they had expected.

Akira looked out the window at the new settlement and could see several lines of a dozen or so orcs pulling on sturdy ropes that were part of a pulley system. At the other end of the rope was a large stone used for walls of towns or forts.

Atop the nearly finished town wall were hundreds of Goblins that chattered out gibberish commands as they slapped on some gray binding agents to the stones and guided the large stones lifted by the orcs, into their proper place.

Aside from these workers, there were a few small groups of orcs and goblins fully armored with weapons in their hands as they patrolled the outer territory in front of the settlement. The rear of the settlement was secure enough due to it being built on the bend of the rushing river.

One of the patrolling groups that was made up of mainly Orc's spotted the carriage and the escorting Garg cavalry on the new road. They immediately changed their marching direction and headed towards the road to welcome the new guests.

“Akira! Welcome to the Bent-Gii settlement. You're here earlier than I expected,” shouted Varbu as he ran up to the door of the carriage that had slowed down to a crawl.

Akira hopped out of the carriage along with Fluffball while Mileena stayed inside.

“The building of the town walls looks to be going up all according to plan,” said Akira scanning the entire town wall.

“We would be farther along if it were not for the interruption every day,” said Vabu with an irritated look on his face.

“I heard about the bandit problem. Have you managed to figure out who they are or where they are based?” asked Akira.

“No,” said Varbu, shaking his head. “The only thing we know so far is that they are probably human. They only show up at random times during the day and come from different directions each time. They shoot a few arrows at us before escaping. So far we have been unable to chase them down. That's part of the reason I have been leading one of the patrols to try and ward off the attacks and if possible to try and capture one of their groups.”

“How many attackers do you think there are? How many people have you lost?”

“I haven't been able to count them all or see if they are the same people attacking, but if I had to guess... it is at least 2 dozen. A combined total of 9 orcs and goblins have died from the attacks but at least 50 more have been injured and are still recovering from various wounds.”

Buruuuu!

A war horn held by a patrolling goblin unit rang out interrupting their discussion as it constantly rang out a warning of an enemy attacking force.

“Speaking of the devil,” said Varbu with a sour look on his face while looking towards the area where the bandits had shown up.

Akira ran over to Grarr and unhitched him to the carriage and hopped on his back as he transformed into his werewolf form.

“YAP!” said Fluffball as he excitedly followed Akira.

“Awoooo!” with his howl the escorting cavalry formed up on Akira. He drew his sword out of its sheath and pointed it toward the bandits that were rushing forward to launch a quick attack.

The swift Gargs bolted forward and reached the bandits before any of the other patrolling groups could. The Garg Calvary curved around the bandits and cut off all their paths of retreat before tightening the noose and surrounding the 20 or so poorly equipped human bandits.

The sudden change in what was supposed to be a quick raid, just like the several dozen they had performed before, caught them all off guard. Their wild charge came to a complete stop as they stared at the large growling Gargs that now surrounded them.

Thunk!

Akira raised his shield to block a cross bolt that had been fired by a young teen with an itchy trigger finger. The faces of several of the bandits showed horror at seeing this.

“Roar!” Fluffball let out an angry challenge to Itchy trigger causing him to stumble back into another person behind him.

“Who is the leader of your group,” asked Akira with a gravelly growl.

“There is no one leading our group!” said Itchy trigger.

Akira turned his gaze to Itchy and urged Grarr to walk up to him. Grarr let out a low growl that caused all the bandits near itchy to step back.

“Then who are you guys and why are you attacking the Bent-Gii settlement?”

“What's it to you? You aren't a Goblin or an Orc.”

“This settlement belongs to Kodria. Which means you are attacking my territory,” said Akira pointing his sword towards Itchy's chest.

“H... hey...I'm a demigod! If you touch me I will kill you!”

Akira pulled his sword back to itchy relief... for a second.

The sword shot forward, stopping after only piercing the cheap leather armor and poking the man's chest, drawing a small amount of blood.

“HEEEEE!” the startled Itchy cried out and fell on his but as he tried to dodge the attack far too late.

“I am not some country bumpkin that has never seen a demigod. I will give you all one chance to tell me everything you know or you die pretending to be something you are not.”

“Big brother! We are sorry for offending you!” shouted Itchy who saw the error of his ways and had a change of heart. He immediately got on his knees and slammed his head into the dirt.

The rest of the bandit group did not hesitate and followed his lead and shouted.

“Big brother please forgive us!”

“We will tell you everything!”

Akira was puzzled by their sudden change of heart. He was ready to get even more physical if necessary but they had caved so quickly.