***
Located at the very boundary of the territory of humanity and Demi-humans, a vast plain valley surrounded by towering mountains dividing the two greatest forces of the world.
In the middle of the enormous grassland was a great army taking their rest after days of continuous travel. 100,000 warriors clad with their white armors and swords on their waist were gathered and resting on the grassy land beneath the light of the descending sun, at the same time, some of them were working on building their fabric tents to spend the night in.
Each of the knights possessed great pride in their own abilities that no other kingdoms of humanity could even compete with. Known as the strongest military force of humanity and the one sitting at the top of the power hierarchy. The army of the Holy land of Amarantha.
In the middle of the formation, could be found a white carriage clad with high-quality steel for walls and tires that were hard enough not to be destroyed by simple attacks. While the 5 white horses pulling them were at rest. From the location of the carriage, a messenger hawk flew out and traveled towards the location where it came from… from the direction of the kingdom of Erela.
“What did the letter from Melanie say, Commander Liam?” Standing with both valiance and elegance while wearing his full body armor, The hero Karsus inquired with such an authoritative but soothing voice. His helmeted head was pointing in the direction of the messenger hawk flying in the sky.
Commander Liam put down the paper and shifted his gaze towards Karsus. He slowly shook his head. “Melanie said that there are already 10 kingdoms that have arrived at the location we are designated to meet. However, due to our absence and due to the idea that the kingdom of Erela has finally lost its barrier…” He slowly exhaled. “The army of the 10 kingdoms that arrived first agreed to attack the kingdom of Erela on their own. Their assault will start sooner than we intended and without us to lead it.”
For a few seconds, both of them remained silent while gazing at the descending sun in the sky.
“Humanity, what a stubborn race,” Karsus said in such a calm manner.
“Should we increase our movement to catch up on them, Sir Karsus?” Commander Liam raised both of his hands while waiting for Karsus’s response.
“No. Our current pace is just fine. There is no reason for us to hurry, we will proceed as planned.” He turned his back to Commander Liam and walked towards the white carriage.
However, before Karsus could even reach the carriage, the door of the carriage opened and an elegant image came out and walked out of the door. A young lady wearing a white robe with a red lining on her waists and around her knee-length skirt and a white waist cape. Both of her arms were covered in white fabric gloves while wearing white thigh highs socks on her feet, greatly complementing her snow-white skin. Her white boots traveled through the grassy land while walking with such grace in her every movement.
The gentle wind blew and her straight black hair swayed including her bangs. She closed her eyes as she felt the touch of the wind, she stopped a meter away from Karsus and expressed a gentle smile on her seemingly delicate and extremely attractive face. “Is there a problem, Karsus?” She said with a voice filled with tenderness as she stared at his helmeted head.
Immediately, Liam who’s standing behind Karsus bowed his head at her. “Priestess.”
The priestess smiled. “Haven’t I told you so many times now, Liam? You don’t need to act like that when there are only three of us. Moreover, besides the fact that we are friends, you are a commander, you have a much higher rank than I have.”
A gentle smile emerged on Liam’s face as he raised his head. “I am indeed a commander, but you are the hero’s right hand. Moreover, there’s not only three of us here, there are more people around, Priestess.” He gently waved his hand pointing to the knights scattered around them.
“Now, if you put it that way, I can’t argue with that.” The priestess just shook her head and pointed her smiling face towards Karsus who was just listening to them. “You are awfully silent, is there a problem, Karsus? Tell me.”
Karsus just shook his head. “There is no problem. As of now, everything has been proceeding according to my plan.” He assured using a voice without even a hint of authority and was more gentle than earlier when he was talking to Commander Liam. “I thought you were still sleeping? What woke you up?”
The priestess shook her head and walked a step towards Karsus, she veered her beautiful pair of jet-black eyes to the slowly descending sun. She put her hand over her eyes while expressing a cheerful smile. “This is a nice view, isn’t it?”
Even though his face was hidden in his helmet, his gentle voice was audible as he laughed. “You have been saying that phrase in every place we stopped by.”
“Am I? Maybe I am. But you can’t blame me though, I have been stuck in the church for years since I was proclaimed as a priestess. All those times, all I could see were the walls of the church. To think that back when I wasn’t yet proclaimed as one, I was free and I could do everything and go everywhere I wanted to. Now, I am stuck in that uneventful place while living an uneventful life.”
“Priestess, that’s not how a priestess should talk. Everyone could hear you.” Commander Liam said in a teasing manner while smiling.
“It’s fine, Commander Liam,” Karsus said.
Commander Liam just shrugged. “If the hero himself said it’s fine, then it’s fine.”
The priestess chuckled. She stared in the direction of their destination. “Karsus, You told me that the tree of Erela was so massive I could see it from afar. I still can’t see it. Does that mean we’re still very far from it?”
“Yes, we are. And we still have a long journey to go through before we arrive at that place. However, just don’t think too much about it and just enjoy our journey… I will assure you, before you know it we’re already there.” He turned his gaze towards the descending sun. “Although, we won’t stay at that place for long. Because we are going to accomplish our mission very quickly.”
The priestess nodded. “Good. Though, I already missed Melanie. I hope she’s doing fine there even though she’s alone in her mission.”
“Don’t worry, she’s doing more than fine,” Karsus replied.
