The rooze

After some months, the emperor arrived at the ruins of Melba. His massive army and its generals, the children in purple, were gathered and brought by a gigantic imperial gravity ship navy. Some of them were brought by regular ships through the Cerea ocean.

The imperial forces moved their forces to the nation of Sparv. The countryside was burned, and all unlucky enough to get in the army's way were imprisoned and forced into labor. Samanilde was the one who was at the vanguard and was the first to arrive at the city of Preg, the capital city of Sparv.

Later the emperor arrived along with Berig, riding magnificent horses. Samanilde rode to meet her father.

"Has the enemy army barricaded themselves in the city?" the emperor asked.

"No, my emperor. The garrison at the capital city is tiny as well. Our scouts have not yet gotten information about where the allied army is," Samanilde replied.

"We neither have countered any resistance during our march here. Almost all the villages and towns were abandoned, and all the nobles have evacuated well in advance," Berig said.

"They knew we were coming months ahead. This is no surprise that they want to try and choose the correct time and place to face us. Double the scouts and guards. I do not want us to get trapped between multiple armies," Ala commanded

The emperor rode into the frontline of the siege. He summoned a giant blaze of flames, sent it at the gates of Preg, and absolutely obliterated them open.

"Samanilde, take this city as fast as possible and continue to move forward. We need to find the enemy army. The Sooner, the better," Ala explained.

Gadaric appeared in front of the emperor on one knee.

"Emperor Ala, my soul watchers, have found the allied army," he explained.

"Good. Where is the enemy army?" Berig said enthusiastically.

Gadaric hesitated for a moment.

"Gadaric, tell me where they are," the emperor said.

"The allied enemy army has gone around our forces and landed on Smyrna's despotate. Right at the doorsteps of our heartland. They have taken the city of Sardos. They are now marching toward our important harbor city of Asciador," Gadaric said.

Samanilde and Berig were in complete shock. The emperor grabbed the reigns of his horse tightly.

"How did they manage to arrive on our soil so fast?" Berig asked.

"They moved their Fairfax, Aurelian, and Saracen soldiers with merchant gravity ships acquired by king Ritter. The other half is sailing along with the Haraldrar and Guiscard through the Medelin sea."

"Well, isn't this good? We can now completely take their lands without resistance," Smanilde noted.

"You idiot!" Berig yelled

Samanilde looked confused.

"We need our peoples' trust, so we have our soldiers' trust. They are the ones who garrison the lands we have conquered. The soldiers of Sparv and Fairfax knew what we would do, which is why they moved their citizens away into hiding, and we did not. Now basically, our enemy is using our soldiers' wives and daughters, their families, as hostages," the emperor explained.

"So what are we to do?" Samanilde asked.

"We head back. We will defeat the allied force on our land. They will die, and they just have chosen a new time and place for it," emperor Ala said.

~~

Sardos, the largest city of the despotate of Smyrna, was occupied by the allied army. The Saracens were amazed at the great city, as it was one of the empire's largest cities and the entire Aesis world. The green solo moon world wasn't known for its large and magnificent cities, other than Kairouan, so this was utterly new to them.

Rufus was walking with Edward through the streets, with the Ghersengs as guards for any possible assassins. They saw vast quantities of treasure being looted and sacked by the Saracen warriors as they dragged precious jewelry and artifacts from the despot's palace.

"Kinda feels weird to be an invader for a change," Edward said.

Edward saw that Rufus wasn't affected by the looting and sacking of the city.

"You okay, dude?" Edward asked Rufus.

"Huh, yeah yeah. I am. I just was deep in my thoughts."

They walked past Doreen, who was commanding soldiers in moving a pure gold statue of an ox into a gravity ship.

"Why are we looting these cities? By doing this, we don't achieve anything since we can only win this war if we defeat the emperor," Edward asked.

"We are not now hurting the emperor, but his people and nobility. When they hear that their palaces and fields have been sacked and looted, even they are bound to talk back to their emperor. Regardless of how dangerous and powerful he is," Rufus said.

"By doing that, we force the emperor to move against us here, and we can also weaken their supplies and dictate where the battle will occur. The empire's lands are also extremely fertile and bountiful, and we can live off the land better than in our own countries. We are not in a rush, but the emperor is," Doreen explained.

~~

Rufus flew to a gravity ship where the queen and her witches resided. It was her galley with a tent at the end where the queen lays down under many pillows.

"It seems you are comfortable here," Rufus said.

"It is important to rest when you can," the queen said and took a sip from her wine, stolen from the despotates palace.

Rufus stared at the Saracens warriors moving expensive artifacts onto their gravity ships.

"Your soldiers are really optimistic. It seems they have no idea what we are up against as we haven't yet faced any stiff resistance," Rufus said.

"They will learn eventually. For now, making their spirits high seemed like a good idea. Where is, by the way, that Ritter king? He seemed like one of the more reasonable kings of the main world."

"He stayed behind at Aurelia and is more of a statesman and diplomat. Maxim, instead, is here with us with the greyhound knights."

Queen Satifa jumped off the ship, her locusts carried her in the air, and Rufus flew right next to her.

"What are your plans after the war?" she asked.

"You think planning a what-if scenario where we have already won is wise?"

"Why not. There is no downside in optimism if it doesn't blind you."

Rufus thought for a moment.

"Don't know. I am a king of a kingdom, so I guess I have to continue doing that," Rufus muttered.

"Well, I will not stay on Aesis or the green solo moon world for long. I have a debt to someone I must pay back."

"Are you talking about Bouzid?"

"Now that I am no longer needed to guard against the demons on the bookshelf, I can leave those duties behind. I plan on traveling the universe to find the demon that possessed Bouzid and bring her back. I owe that much, at least to her. I asked because I would like you to accompany me in search of Bouzid," the queen offered.

Rufus didn't know what to answer.

"You are not worried about your people? What might happen to them when you are not with them," Rufus asked.

"I have for a long time served and protected them. I have not failed them many times, but I failed Bouzid too many. I owe her more than what I owe to the Saracens."