Fell swoop

The man with long crimson hair cleared his throat. Silence engulfed the encampment. Slaves that had been screaming and crying for freedom instantly stopped. Raiders that had been talking amongst themselves closed their mouths. The atmosphere itself seemed to turn utterly silent. All because this imposing crimson haired commander had willed it to be so, the pressure he exerted was absurd.

Nash felt a shiver run down his spine again. He had stood in this pressure before, but right now it felt even more harrowing than when he had first felt it. This time he did not intend to knock anyone out, he exerted pressure just to command respect. It was like it was less malicious but more imposing now, as if he stood there purely to dominate the whole encampment. He really was the leader, the infallible commander of this troop of raiders.

With that he finally opened his mouth and began addressing all who now looked at him. "My fellow raiders, our fight was harsh but now we have finally emerged victorious. We have liberated the entirety of Conia up until the Fraxis forest. We have fought and we have won. All the villages in the north of the mountain range have been captured and laid to waste, it is now our territory to rule."

The crimson haired man pumped his fist into the air and the rest of the raiders wearing the red robes quickly followed his example. Cries of victory resounded all throughout the encampment all of them were ecstatic. Meanwhile the slaves looked down in sadness. No one dared to cry or scream, all of them were too scared of the crimson haired man that stood there addressing the crowd.

The crimson haired man continued. "But we are not finished yet, for we are raiders, we are conquerors, soon our name will be renowned throughout the world, engraved into history. People will undoubtedly fight back, but no matter who comes for us we will fight, and we will emerge victorious." 

The crimson haired leader pumped his fist into the air once more, another wave of cries resounding through the encampment. "For now we will return north, satisfied with our spoils, done with our conquest. And we will return victorious, we have won, hold your head up high as we return. We lost many on this conquest but we will never forget them, our success was built upon their shoulders, their efforts, and their sacrifice. We will grieve their deaths by celebrating our victory not by shedding our tears as this is what they would have wanted."

He pumped his fist into the air one last time as the encampment now fully exploded in cheers and cries of elation. While the slaves, chained and locked away, had the opposite expressions on their faces.

Nash meanwhile wore a look of surprise on his face. 'Even though I suspected it might be the case these really are slaves from other villages. They did not just raid our village but they actually managed to raid the whole of Conia mountain range all the way up until the forest in one fell swoop. If he is telling the truth he is not being arrogant in saying they will engrave their names into history soon.'

Even though Nash knew little about the world he still realized this was a huge accomplishment. He had seen a map once before and knew how big the territory they had claimed to conquer was, it would no doubt be talked about for generations.

And here Nash was, on the losing side of that great accomplishment. He could not even imagine how many lives the conquest had cost both sides. The group of raiders must have been immensely bigger before, and tons of villagers must have died in the process of the raids. 

But Nash also realized his worldview was still quite narrow, he knew little about the world. He did not know how much combat power other villages possessed. He could not even make an estimation because he did not know how his own village compared to others.

'Kes would probably know.' Was the first thought that popped into Nash's mind.

Kes had always been obsessed with the outside world and big cities, he might also know a thing or two about the strength of other villages. He had also always been more knowledgeable in general than Nash. 

He felt himself turning melancholic at the thought of his best friend. 'No use thinking about it now.' Nash shook his head and tried his hardest to block out the noise of the loud victory celebration that was happening around him.

…

Nash's thoughts returned to the present as he witnessed more and more of his fellow slaves wake up. Some seemed to have it much harder than Nash despite having slept longer. Cries of children still resounded through the camp sometimes but they had greatly diminished day by day, most people had grown hollow and numb. They walked like true slaves not uttering a word nor struggling despite the fact that many of the captured were children or young adults.

Over the last couple of days Nash had completely abandoned the idea of escaping, it was impossible. He had seen multiple attempts at it, none of the attempted escapees had rid themselves of their chains but they had made a break for it. They had simply been caught by the guards and killed as an example. A handful of seemingly strong individuals had tried to escape, it would surely hurt them to kill the valuable slaves, but they had killed them without hesitation. And after these escape attempts no one else had tried their luck, as slaves they could still survive, no one wanted to needlessly get killed.

That did not mean Nash had been sitting still the whole time, he had participated in some information gathering. He learned the strongest person present was indeed the man with the long crimson hair, his name was Romun. There were plenty of other people who gave off an impressive amount of Flow, but none managed to scare Nash quite like the crimson clad commander Romun.

From the amount of Flow many of the raiders possessed, and because of the whole conquest through the Conia mountain range, Nash suspected that many of the raiders had formed their innate element. Even against the people that did not stand at the top Nash was not confident. So all in all there was no chance to escape.

Nash had also looked into the woman that had dragged Ade's cold corpse right in front of his eyes, he would certainly never forget her. Surprisingly almost no one knew who she was, she was not renowned or anything. But her Flow gave Nash some sort of eerie feeling, he suspected she was hiding a lot of strength for some reason. It was probably just his instinct telling to not get into trouble with her.

Despite the impressive size and strength of the group of raiders it would be nothing without Romun. His leadership qualities were impeccable and everyone listened to him without question. Most of the raiders did not seem to necessarily be connected to him, though. He was more like a figurehead whose orders were unquestionable, he did not seem to have close contact with any of the raiders. 

Nash suspected he must have some confidant within the group of raiders somewhere, he just wondered who it could be. 

But he could not get close to the infallible crimson leader. Romun was always by himself far outside the sight of the slaves. He acted as a sort of last insurance, his implied presence was already enough to dissuade the slaves from making any funny moves. But he had not needed to make a single move yet. 

Nash thought he was likely there just in case another enemy attacked from the outside. Even if the slaves mounted a resistance they could not accomplish that much by themselves, they would be suppressed by the other raiders within minutes. 

'For sure with these chains that bind us.' Nash sighed as he got ready to start his usual morning workout. The chains made it a lot more difficult to move, but Nash just bit through the pain.

'If I can't handle this much I will never get stronger.'

Nash really wished for some kind of a sparring partner right now, his thoughts immediately moved to Cher but she would more than likely reject him. She had been playing meek for a while now, if she showed her strength in front of everyone her restrictions would probably be harsher. And even though the slaves had an, to Nash, unprecedented level of freedom they could still not do whatever they liked. If Nash decided to spar someone it was quite likely some guard would brutally beat him and his sparring partner because of it.

But Nash desperately wanted to get stronger, it was all his mind could currently think about. All the time he did not spend trekking through the mountains he would spend training. Even his trekking through the mountains could be considered training.

'All of this is just training in harsher circumstances.' Nash thought with a composed look on his face.

Nash had decided to hone his body to the maximum to face his future trails.