Chapter 457 Eastern base
Zaos created the perfect blueprints to make the magic crossbows the next day, and once he found with the help of Kat, some skilled individuals, they began to make them… while they were being produced, they still needed magic stones to work. Zaos wondered if he shouldn't modify them for people to use their own mana, but only a few people have enough mana to use one more than a few times.
Once that was done, Zaos summoned all the town's people and told them about the demon god. Only a few thousand of them had seen the fight. Still, they had been persuasive enough to convince others after seeing demons flying and Zaos defeating thousands of men by himself. He also told them that the demon god wanted to use the princess of the Sairus kingdom to return to life and that he had been trying to prevent that… in the end, he hid some things because he felt that Drannor should hear them first. If he was going to believe it or not, that was another issue…
Zaos said that he would leave the country and leave everything in Kat's hands. At the same time, it was a bit too much to leave the place where he more or less had become a king, not yet unified. That wasn't something he was doing for himself or only for Milliendra. He was doing for the world as well. He had to make sure that Milliendra wouldn't be influenced by the demon god and that the other countries would hear about the demon's return. He made some things in the past that will make the negotiations difficult, but that wasn't an excuse for him not to try.
After selecting the strongest and more experienced mercenaries of his group, Zaos and Aleni left the town. They began their trip toward East… toward the eastern base of the Sairus kingdom. Everything will start there. While Zaos was crossing the town's gates, he wondered if he had forgotten to say anything to his subordinates and Kat. They had to focus on doing their usual jobs, then forge magic crossbows, cultivate the poisonous plant that drained mana… deal with those that didn't want to follow Zaos' lead, and prepare supplies for the war since no one had any idea for how long it would last.
"Do you think this many people with us will be enough?" Aleni asked.
"We aren't going anywhere to fight and it is easier to move in a small group," Zaos said. "By the way, I made this for you to use just in case."
Zaos passed Aleni a light and very simple breastplate that had a sphere hole in the center. Aleni didn't like armor since it hindered her movements. Still, that one was basically weightless and too small to cause problems. Zaos also passed her a bag with magic stones, and when one of the magic stones, the armor increased in size while it was being covered in ice. When Aleni took the magic stone, the ice disappeared. It was really practical, and the defensive power was even on a higher level than Zaos' black armor.
"Thank you," Aleni said. "Still, I felt like we need something more to prevent ourselves from wasting time dealing with some problematic situations."
Zaos could think of a few, meeting a large army on his path that wants to kill him for deserting, killing Ameria, or kidnapping her daughter or was the options above. Even if some armies might not try their chances against him, they will try their best to make Zaos stay away. Considering the numerous tricks that Drannor used to keep his mind busy before and not to realize that he was working with Elkim and the others, he was bound to find those. Zaos could always invade at night with Aleni alone by using their skills and then talking with the places' leaders, but would that be enough to convince them?
"I guess we need to get the books and registers that Nyana and the others found," Zaos said. "Considering Drannor's behavior, he either didn't find the books or he found it, but the hatred didn't let him believe in that. However…"
"Once he sees Milliendra without the gloves, he will start to believe," Aleni added.
That was probably the easiest way to make him realize who the true enemy was but would Drannor and Milliendra recover from that? Some soldiers of the Sairus kingdom might have some doubts in there after the times he attacked but didn't kill anyone. Still, it was hard to be sure if that truly would make them give the chance to listen to him.
"Maybe we don't have to make everyone believe us, but we must tell them that it might happen," Zaos said. "By doing that, at least they won't get confused when the time comes and will be able to fight back whatever is thrown at them."
That certainly was better than nothing. Nevertheless, Aleni was cautious enough to think that perhaps not even that will be enough if the people of the world keep doing things with their own interests in mind.
Regardless, after traveling for a few more days, Zaos and Aleni received the visit of one of the former spies that told them that the soldiers in the western base of the Sairus kingdom were on high alert. As expected, they had already received word that the three heads of the mercenaries' country had been dealt with by Zaos. Still, it didn't look like they had heard the whole story. Zaos recalled that the commander ten years ago of the place was Brien. While they parted on good terms, Zaos couldn't imagine the commander greeting him with open arms… if he still were the commander of the place.
A few days later, Zaos found an army of five thousand men waiting for him in front of the western base of the kingdom. He sighed when he saw that since he had sent some messages to the commander of the place. While his spy tried to discover who the actual commander was, he didn't get that information. In the end, Zaos decided to leave his weapons and his companions behind because he had just come to talk. Still, even though they saw him unarmed, the soldiers prepared their weapons and pointed their bows toward him. Zaos had been operating with the idea of killing everyone who thought of doing the same to him. Still, if he wanted to be listened to, he couldn't do that anymore… and that was so annoying.
