The Guardians' Throne - The First Magic Swordsman

                                                    Tyra couldn't help but frown. Zaos talked about that as if it was a small matter. In any case, she had heard a few rumors about the issue as well, but she didn't want to bring it to that conversation since it would be unpleasant for Zaos.

                                                    In the end, Zaos stayed for a couple of hours and even had dinner with Tyra and her family. Her husband was a nice guy, a bit too plain, but very happy-go-lucky since he married one of the most beautiful women in the town. Still, after the dinner, he decided to leave, even though it was night. He had things to do and things to think through, and he didn't want to impose in someone else's marriage life.

                                                    While Zaos was heading to the base, he couldn't help but wonder about what Tyra said. He treated Ameria like a kid pretty much whenever possible, so why some people were making misunderstandings? Was it because he was too dense to notice anything weird, or someone was manipulating information again.

                                                    Zaos doubted that any of those were true. Putting himself aside, the king wasn't crazy enough to antagonize Zaos even further and risk having him rebelling or something, just for the sake of making Drannor and Ameria look better for each other.

"Well, whatever… I have better things to do," Zaos shrugged.

                                                    Although Zaos said that, once he returned to the base, he didn't anything from some light training. He couldn't try too hard because he will need to be in tip-top shape if something happens. After waiting for two weeks, Vitalar finally called Zaos again. It seemed a bit too soon to exchange the soldiers, but Zaos hurried up to the camp. This time, Vitalar wasn't showing his unpleasant expression when he showed up. However, Cohnal, Melisse, and Nyana seemed a bit troubled.

"Did something happen?" Zaos asked.

"Well…" Cohnal looked away.

"We attacked another village, but they failed in protecting three of my soldiers," Vitalar said. "You didn't fail before, so you will do that job from now on."

"I don't mind, but… I can't imagine those three failing at something that I succeed," Zaos said. "Did something happen when you attacked another village?"

"No, Captain," Cohnal replied. "We blocked the magic attacks, but only for a while."

"The heat of their attacks made us flinch, so we failed in blocking some of the attacks," Melisse added.

                                                    That was weird. Conal's sword also could be used like Zaos's. Still, now that he thought about it, everyone said that the followers of the demon god got stronger. Still, Zaos didn't notice that when he blocked their attacks previously. Was it because of the difference in the enemies? Perhaps they were unlucky… Or perhaps Zaos's Magic Resistance was at a crazy level since he trained hard to level it up in the last twenty or so months. He also went as far as buying some non-deadly poisons to increase his resistance. His soldiers frowned when Zaos asked for that, but they obeyed and bought it.

"I am sorry, Captain," Nyana said with her head down.

"Don't worry about it. Just train hard during the next weeks, and I am sure you will be fine once you return," Zaos said.

                                                    Although he tried to encourage his lieutenants, they didn't seem much better after hearing that. It probably wasn't a matter of training… and that made Zaos think, how come Vitalar and his men managed not to lose any of them before if the followers of the demon god got so stronger?

                                                    Regardless, Zaos now will have more chances to find out what they were doing with the prisoners, and he couldn't ask for more. After exchanging the previous soldiers with the new ones, Zaos returned to the camp. Meanwhile, his lieutenants and the other soldiers returned to the base. They had already made that trip before, so they didn't need Zaos's guidance again. 

"Come to my tent. We need to discuss a few things," Vitalar said.

                                                    Zaos thought that a few things would change, but he didn't imagine Vitalar would go as far as tell his future plans with him. It was already pretty weird that he wasn't unpleasant anymore. Still, Zaos could understand why he was acting like that… it was because he had the skills to face several of the followers of the demon god by himself. After picking up a map and opening it on the table of his tent, Vitalar showed three red points in the map and other blue points.

"The red points are the villages we attacked and the blue ones are the villages we know where they can be found but haven't been attacked yet," Vitalar said. "As you can see, they are pretty far away, but they are just a small number. I am sure that there were dozens of times more villages in this vast region. We captured some when they tried to rescue their allies, but we will waste too much time at this rate. You don't want to stay here for a year or two, right?"

"So, you are planning to search for other villages and settlements?" Zaos asked.

"Yes, this is the only the places the scouts of the base had managed to find in the last ten years," Vitalar said. "That is why I will need your help to find other bigger villages."

"Why do you need so many prisoners?" Zaos asked.

"That information is confidential," Vitalar replied. "However, if you do your job no matter what, you will prove to your family and to the king that you are loyal to the kingdom, and they won't have any reason to keep that information hidden from you."

                                                    Zaos couldn't care less about what those two think of him. Still, for him to learn more, he will have to keep working on that mission. No matter what happens… capturing those who didn't fight back made Zaos feel a bad taste in his mouth, but it wasn't like they were completely innocent. If they didn't agree with the others, they would live farther away from them. 

"All right, I will help you," Zaos said.

                                                    Zaos decided to sacrifice some of his conscience to obtain some answers. Still, he couldn't help but wonder if all that would be worth it in the end.