As Akira and the Army marched the dukedom map continued to update the surrounding area that they passed through. The traveling merchants hugged the rear of the army making sure not to stray too far away from their protection as the army went further off the main dirt roads.
There were very few permanent towns close to Kodria and even those that existed were a good distance away. On their travels, they saw signs of many different old campsites of people that stayed there for some time but were now gone.
“Ah!” a group of demon race travelers were surprised and jumped out of the way upon seeing the flag of Kodria flying out in the deep wilderness along with the large army that started passing by them.
The Kodria army paid them no attention as they had run into a few others with the same reaction, but these encounters were few and far between as most people were too busy with the warm month tasks they had to get done before the long winter arrived once again.
“According to the scouts from earlier, we should be coming up on a nomadic warm month settlement,” said Klyn as he raised his hand to block the summer sun’s glare.
“We’ll just do a quick checkup to see if they are doing OK and see if there are any bandits in the area. Who knows they could be bandits themselves,” said Akira. He shuffled a bit in the saddle on Grarr’s back trying to get comfortable and allow blood to circulate and wake up his rump that had fallen asleep.
“Since it is a temporary settlement there are bound to be many tasks that they need help with. By helping them with any task that they need such as clearing out local monsters or shoring up their defenses, some of them might decide to relocate or at least view us more favorably,” said Klyn.
“Remind me later to bring up the idea with the grand elders about allocating some gold and mined stone for creating new roads leading out from Kodria,” said Akira as he looked at the small dirt trail that was not a road but a very old path created and used by animals and monsters.
“They already have funds set aside for the new road to the settlement that will be starting soon as well as the road to the north. I’m sure we can figure out some way to get what we need for a few more roads,” said Klyn while he looked at a few notes and began scribbling more tight miniature words.
“Awooo!” a scout ahead of the main force let out a howl alerting the rest that they had found the settlement.
As they continued forward the shabby temporary settlement they had been expecting was nowhere to be seen. In front of them was a small town with a dirt wall at least ten feet high with a wooden wall supporting it from behind.
Akira raised his armored hand to command the entire force to halt.
“You don’t think that….” asked Klyn, his voice trailing off not completing his thought.
“That the demigods got to them and took it over? I don’t know,” said Akira as he looked at the Dukedom map and back at the settlement in front of them.
There was no information saying it was controlled by a group of demigods but the large change in the nomad settlement’s security was unexpected.
Akira turned to Bo who was sitting behind him on another Garg mount along with Tanner who held Kodria’s flag high.
Bo silently nodded his head to Akira and became motionless as his familiar launched itself from his shoulder and flew high into the air to get an aerial view of the settlement in front of them.
Akira watched as the bird became a small dot far out of the reach of normal arrows and demigods’ ranged skills only then did it begin to fly over the settlement.
The army nervously gripped their weapons, their bodies tense and ready for the order to attack if it was an enemy that was occupying the settlement.
The raven swooped down and landed back on Bo’s shoulder and he once again opened his eyes.
“Looks to be a settlement of the nomadic Elkmen. There are at least 30 houses inside the walls. I was unable to see any human or other demon race inside the settlement,” said Bo in a quiet voice.
Akira nodded his head and looked to tanner who held the flagpole in one hand and his war horn in the other.
“Send the orders to move forward and continue to sound the war horn to let the settlement know we are coming.”
Buuurrruuu!
The warhorns were repeatedly sounded throughout the army as they moved forward making it impossible for the settlement to not notice them.
As Akira had hopped, the top of the earth walls started to have several dozen antlered heads appear to see what was going on. Seeing such a large army approaching them, they too started to use the settlement’s alarms to notify everyone that something was going on.
Akira sent Tanner forward with 5 other guards to announce their presence. Kodria’s flag fluttered in the light wind as they rode forward. Those on the wall all tensed up as they saw the approaching flag and guards. Some even pointed to it realizing who the army belonged to.
Only a short while later the main army joined Tanner and the guards who had been conversing with the Elkmen guards.
Akira moved forward a few paces so that they could see who was in charge.
“Duke Akira my apologies, if I Erk Mahn, had known you were coming we would have prepared a welcome party for you,” shouted Erk Mahn, a burly Elkman who stood nearly 6 ft tall.
His entire body that was not covered by his leather armor was covered in a light tan soft fur that could blend in with the trees of the local woods and forests. On top of his head was a large set of horns that branched out and were well-taken care of. His fur was one of several colors that the wandering tribe had, some had white fur that blended in with the winter snow and gray fur that blended with the rocky terrain of the southern mountains.
“This was a last-minute decision I made after an unpleasant meeting with a group of demigods. We are not here to bother you. We only came to see if you were having any troubles that we could help clear up for you. Bandits, monsters, defenses.”
“We are grateful that such a strong dukedom as Kodria took the time to come out here to offer help. But as you can see, we are not lacking in much of anything since another helpful group passed by some time ago and took care of everything for us.”
“Who?” asked a startled Akira, unsure of who could be going around lending help to temporary settlements.
“They didn’t say who they were. All I know is their leader was named Big Sis Teresa. From what I observed while they were here helping us they definitely weren’t human… or even from a demon race.”
“Demigods!?” asked Klyn.
“Most likely. I don’t know why but they helped us and they were nothing like what I had heard about demigods before. I am sorry that you came all this way for nothing,” said Erk Mahn.
“No this information you have told us is very important and well worth coming here. Ah, that’s right we have some traveling merchants with us. Do you need any supplies or want to trade?” asked Akira.
“I’m sorry we don’t have much gold left as we spent most of our remaining gold with the demigods, and we don’t have anything worth much to trade right now. Our crops are still growing and there is still some time before we can harvest them and sell the surplus. But they are welcome to come inside and show their wares off and see if anyone wants or needs what they have to offer,” said Erk Mahn sheepishly.
Akira looked to the idiot brothers and they turned to the other merchants.
“You heard him! Let’s go show them our best items! We should make it quick so we don’t make Duke Akira wait too long for us.”
“I can smell a big story here! I better catch up with some old friends while we’re here,” said Erkia.
As the merchants and Erkia went into the city with their guards to show off their wares, Akira and the rest of the officers gathered to discuss the new information.
“This doesn’t sound right. Demigods helping people?” said Klyn.
“They have all gone rabid and are lusting after any type of settlement no matter how shabby it is so what is going on?” asked Zundar.
“They definitely are planning something. If we run into this group we’ll have to have a long chat with them,” said Akira.
A few hours passed before the merchants finished the few trades that could and exited the settlement. Many were sad at having sold or traded nothing. Erkia was one of the few people happy as she had gained a lot of new information.
The army and merchants once again marched off in search of bandits, settlements, aggressive demigods, and now this questionable group of demigods.
The next two nomadic settlements they passed had similar stories to the Elkmen. A group of unknown demigods had helped them greatly with all their needs.
As the army was clearing a path through the grassy wilderness towards a new settlement that they had been told about from the last place they had visited, the sound of battle ahead of them alerted Akira.
Akira looked to Bo who had immediately gone into action to scout the area ahead. The wait lasted only a short time as Bo opened his eyes once again.
He looked at Akira and said only one word.
“Demigods.”
