“How did you know about the abyss creatures?” Tobiah leaned forward.
“Our scouts discovered your town some months ago, but beyond that, they also discovered a camp of abyss creatures. 10,000 strong about to lay siege to your town.”
Hiss!
Everyone took deep breaths as fear overtook them.
Seeing their reaction, Asher looked at Sapphira and saw a bit of helplessness. It seems like she was hiding the truth from them.
They must have thought they faced a small number.
“Lies!”
“His words hold no credit!”
“Provide evidence!”
When one elder said that Asher hit his chains together so they would know he was in chains.
How does a man in chains provide evidence?
Nevertheless, they were caught up in trying to denounce what he said to curb their fears but Sapphira finally rose to her feet when she had enough.
“It’s the truth.”
Some collapsed to their seats.
Tobiah blinked several times. “Priestess…”
Sapphira closed her eyes. She has protected this town, and they have flourished under her protection for several decades!
All their enemies had been brought down by her knights but this time, their enemies were bigger than her.
How could her 200 gold-ranked knights fight against 10,000 warrior orcs and win?
Amongst these orcs were Strong Orcs; these were orcs strong enough to crush the bones of a gold-ranked knight in one strike!
She had been thinking of how to deal with this situation in secret, with only the knights having knowledge about it, but Asher suddenly brought it to the public.
And she couldn’t be angry at him because it was high time they knew.
“There are 10,000 orcs camped 10 kilometers away. The land has been dying due to their presence but I have stopped it from damaging our land. This is the reason none of you knew of their true number.”
“We need to leave this place!” An elder proposed with urgency.
“How do we move 5000 people whose lineage has been here for centuries?”
“Silence!” Sapphira lifted up her right hand and everyone kept silent.
“Can you help us?” She said to Asher.
“I can only if this town submits to me.”
“You want this town to submit to you? What a joke!” Tobiah’s eyes blazed.
Creases formed on Sapphira’s forehead and she supported her chin with her arm, took tea from a temple maid and sipped it.
Asher chuckled.
“I think I should introduce myself now.”
“Release Count Asher Ashbourne, lord of the stronghold of Nineveh and ruler of the soil beneath your feet, or we shall bring down these walls!”
A sonorous voice reverberated throughout the city with great intensity.
Everyone in the hall was stunned. Tobiah rushed to the window and looked. Since the town hall was upon the mountain, he had a better view and could see beyond the town walls.
Beyond the town walls were hundreds of armored soldiers on terrifying war mounts. The man who bellowed looked even more terrifying. His red cloak, black armor, red javelins, and lance were a dreadful sight to behold.
But all these soldiers looked like nothing before the gigantic wolf that was growling. He knew the wall was nothing before that wolf, and neither were his men.
At this moment, Asher smiled.
“I’m Asher.”
…………
Nimrim’s gates opened, and Asher’s men marched in with unwavering discipline. The earth shook as they moved.
“Your troops are impressive.” Sapphira said as she looked at the troops from the mountain stairs.
Right beside her was Asher. Both of them were to handle the situation that was like a judgment sword hovering above them.
After confirming that Asher wasn’t some commoner but a lord who had sworn allegiance to the great imperial family and that the forces out there would strike should their lord be found missing, Tobiah swiftly ordered his men to remove the chains from Asher.
Sapphira looked at the massive wolf that was looking right at them and her brows furrowed.
“How did you groom such a powerful mythical beast?”
“By sending it to the battlefield. I, my soldiers, and my beast have all been forged by war. We are not like the citizens of Nimrim whom you have protected under your wings for as long as you have been their priestess.”
Sapphira exhaled.
“It is my duty.”
Asher turned toward her. “You will fight for them till your last breath.”
“I will.”
“But you’re a royal fairy. You were born so your mother or perhaps your father must be alive. Deep within the depths of Bashan lie ruins and remnants of the old races, including people of the same race as you.”
Sapphira chuckled.
“You want me to believe that beyond the mountains lies some great land where the old races are hidden.”
“I do not want you to believe me. I want you to know that the old races are not truly extinct. I have seen beastmen with my own eyes, have you?”
Sapphira was taken aback. No one had seen beastmen since the racial war and from Asher’s expression, he wasn’t even trying to lie.
“Why are you telling me this?”
Asher chuckled. As he walked upwards, toward the temple at the mountaintop, his voice slithered into her ears.
“Because I believe your race and your family might be in there and if you want a chance of meeting them, join me. I am in need of a priestess.”
Sapphira thought about it.
Before she could speak, Asher spoke first: “The abyss creatures are resurrecting in the depths and will first sweep through Bashan. You don’t have all the time in the world. I need you, a talented priestess, to govern an elite group of priests and priestesses while you need my powerful troops to find your race.”
Sapphira snorted but she couldn’t deny that Asher had lit up the flame of longing inside of her.
Were her parents truly alive?
Were they more of her kind beyond the mountains?
“We shall discuss this after Nimrim is safe.”
She ended the conversation and walked past him toward the temple.
When they reached the top, Asher gazed at the beautiful temple with a slight surprise. A row of temple knights was before the temple’s doors, and some manned strategic positions like the edge of the mountain.
As the doors opened, maids, clad in white and red, could be seen here and there tending to one thing or the order.
They attended to plants the most.
Asher saw all kinds of elemental crystals, which Sapphira kept collectives. He even saw the horn of an Inferno Mountain Ox.
This horn could be used as a great horn, one that great kingdoms positioned in their city walls to warn the city during an impending crisis.
“How do you propose we handle the orcs?” Sapphira asked as they walked into a garden inside the temple. She sat beside a pool with her fair legs inside the sparkling water while he sat on a polished stone bench.
“We make them come to us.”
Her brows rose up.
“You want them to come here?!”