“Is he the one to lead the hundred?” A woman draped in dark blue fur asked the man standing beside her. Together, they watched Asher riding out of the stronghold with Moses and Cynthia.
“He is,” Anderson replied with a soft smile playing on his lips.
The woman frowned. “Is it safe to send such a man to lead our men? He might influence them—he is a count, after all.”
Anderson chuckled softly and looked at the woman. “A count? Indeed, he was a lord but now… he’s just a soldier. He no longer gives orders; he receives orders from the council.”
Laughing, Anderson turned and walked away, leaving the woman alone, her gaze fixed on Asher as he galloped into the distance. She muttered under her breath, “A lord is a lord. It’s not a title that can be ripped away from those who are born to it.”
The woman’s brows furrowed as a thought crossed her mind. ‘He’s a threat.’
She made a whistling sound and from the shadows emerged a man, clad in neat black attire. Dropping to one knee, he addressed her, “Lady Naomi.”
Naomi was another member of the council and took the seat of the magician. She rarely attended its meetings because most of her time was consumed by her constant research.
Also, being blessed by I Am, she had lived for over a century, delving into mysteries that few could fathom. Yet, in all her years of living, Asher was the first that made her feel so apprehensive.
He wasn’t a dog that could be tamed. He was a wolf—a wild and ferocious wolf!
“Inform the one in charge of the food rations for this man and his hundred to reduce their supplies by 30 percent…” she commanded. “After all, unfed men don’t win battles.”
“As you wish, Lady Naomi,” the man replied before vanishing as swiftly as he had appeared.
Naomi’s gaze lingered on Asher until he disappeared over the horizon. For some reason, a name came to her mind just as Asher vanished from her line of sight.
‘Kryos…’
Her pupils shook. “That’s impossible!”
_____
An hour later, Asher reached a cleared space surrounded by thick bushes and towering trees. As he rode in with Moses, Cynthia and the escort sent to guide them into the camp, several eyes turned his way. All those gazes belonged to men whose physiques barely reached the standards of a recruit.
They were all recruits who must have been taught how to wield a spear and shield for a week or two without experiencing an actual battle.
When Asher came to this conclusion, his eyes flickered coldly. ‘They told me these men can wield a spear and shield just fine. I never thought they literally meant each word!’
Feeling outsmarted and deceived, Asher couldn’t help but clench his jaw. Even when he first took over as the lord of Ash Town, the army he led was composed of hardened veterans, warriors tempered by combat and war.
They had been fighting beasts each winter!
After seizing him up, the hundred returned to their various activities—some chatting amongst themselves, some drinking or resting on their coats. A few merely wandered mindlessly.
But one man approached Asher.
“My Lord.” the man said, bowing his head.
It was Simon.
Asher looked at him and revealed a tiny smile that couldn’t be traced to his eyes. “You were sent to fight with me?”
He posed a question to get some information.
“No, my lord,” he admitted. “I volunteered to fight by your side. Actually, Lord Winter went to the main army to ask for those willing to join you and fight the Edomites, but no one was as willing to step out. Even I suspect we’re just a bait—fodder for the Edomites to vent their anger on and spare the stronghold for the moment in the process.”
Moses frowned. “What?”
“For the moment, that’s what we are. So why did these ones come?”
Simon followed Asher’s line of sight to the hundred unorganized men garbed in thick fur cloaks with no armor.
“These men are not what you think they are,” Simon said, his voice heavy with sorrow. “All of them were once soldiers—knights of remarkable strength—until they lost a limb or suffered critical injuries, leading to the degradation of their knight bodies. And now all of them are no longer able to fight at my level.”
“What?!” Asher gasped.
Moses’ pupils shook. “You mean these men were once diamond-ranked knights!”
Simon nodded grimly. “Yes. Every one of them has ties to the temple or chapel. Whatever you want to call it. As believers of I Am, they stood valiantly to fight against those rats a decade ago even when it seemed like we were inevitably going to be annihilated. Our population dropped from over a hundred thousand to barely over twenty thousand. Those men… they are fallen heroes.”
Asher breathed sharply. “Fallen heroes? They’re not dead.”
Simon turned to him, his gaze weighed with meaning. “It’s not that. They might not be dead but the stronghold considers them so. Lord Winter sacrificed a decade’s worth of his lifespan to regenerate their lost body parts.”
Asher dismounted from his house, scanning the group of broken men. “These men haven’t wielded weapons nor donned armor in a decade and most of them just gained back their body parts, meaning they lack complete control over their bodies now. Their bodies have also degraded because of the burdens of their minds adjusting to a life they never wanted…”
His voice grew colder.
“…These men are worse than recruits.”
“But they’re believers of I Am,” Simon argued, his voice rising.
Asher’s sharp gaze turned to Simon. “So what? What difference does that make?!”
The moment Asher said that Simon lowered his head. “You might have never seen or heard of a God before, but I Am… He is a God.”
Asher squinted his expression hardening. Naturally, since his soul came from the earth and since he wasn’t a believer in any of the supernatural, he carried skepticism. Even after he arrived here, his distaste for deities still stood.
He could swallow it but not allow it as an excuse for burdening him with men who were clearly unfit for providing any help.
The sound of footsteps interrupted his thoughts.
Tapk! Tapk!
A towering figure walked up to them. “You are the noble soldier from Ashkelon?”
Asher breathed out, meeting the man’s gaze. “I am.”
“I am Levi,” the man said, his large frame casting a shadow over Simon. He stretched his hand toward Asher.
Asher shook it firmly. “I am Asher.”
Levi smiled finally. “Well, I heard you are our new leader. You look young, but age doesn’t determine who will be a leader…”
He paused, his smile turning sharp.
“… strength does.”
A sharp gleam flashed past Asher’s eyes. “Are you challenging my right as the leader?”