Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

"It what?" Zethis growled at the messenger who delivered him terrible news.

"The shipment of enchanted weaponry…it has been lost." The messenger whimpered.

They were an impish looking individual and when compared to the massive frame of the king of Alorek, Zethis, they looked even smaller. Zethis stared at the impish looking creature like a wolf would to a baby.

"Cage him with the minotaur…no better, the Sand Wyrms. If he survives the night, he can live." Zethis ordered.

The messenger screamed and begged for his life as a pair of guards dragged him away by his arms. No amount of kicking and screaming could break him free from their clutches. Not only were they much stronger, but the guards knew they would be the ones locked away with the terrifying beasts known as Sand Wyrms.

Sand Wyrms were relatives of dragons. They did not have any wings and instead would burrow under ground to rest as well as ambush prey. They did not have large teeth, but instead hundreds upon hundreds of tiny, razer-like teeth meant for ripping.

They could only eat food in small chunks, so it was in their nature to tear prey apart with a combination of teeth and claws. They were also C-Rank beasts like the Minotaur, except they were slightly easier to control due to a lower level of intelligence when compared to the bull-type monster.

"Anyone care to tell me why our shipment from Aedrider was lost? What does it mean to be lost?" Zethis roared. His yell echoed through the almost cavernous throne room.

All of his retainers cowered momentarily as an automatic reaction to his fury. He was not known to be a patient man, and his patience had already been worn out by the messenger. Knowing this, one of the retainers stepped up to speak so that way none of them would end up in a cage with one of his pets.

"We do not have a lot of detail on what happened. But it appears the caravan was attacked by an unknown group of elves. Aedrider feels it may have been perpetrated by a pro-human faction of rebels." The retainer managed to choke out.

"A pro-human faction? Interesting…I did not know they struggled with such a thing." He responded. Zethis knew very well that Aedrider was an equipment manufacturer through and through. They held no allegiances to other nations and freely sold and traded during war time and peace on a first come, first serve basis.

"Yes, apparently some among their younger generation as well as a fringe faction of their elders are part of a pro-human faction. Though the name suggests they wish to ally themselves with the Union, it would be more accurate to say they oppose Alorek's aggression more than anything."

"This has that bitch's scent all over it." Zethis growled. His eyes began to glow fiercely and the arm of his chair began to groan from the pressure his hand was exerting on it.

"Your majesty?"

"Lady al Famyn from the Wisteria Concord. I would bet my left nut on her hand being involved in this mess."

"Your majesty, shall we mobilize ahead of schedule then? Retaliate for Wisteria's hand in this theft of our property?" the retainer asked carefully. His tone was measured so as not to offend Zethis.

"No. We are not ready to strike. My insiders say that their kingdom is participating in a series of dungeon raids across their kingdoms. I want to wait until those begin. That is when we will strike." He commanded.

"Sire, I read those reports as well, but are the particpants not just simple adventurers and Marked Ones? How will waiting for that…"

The retainer stopped talking because his words were interrupted by a hearty and terrifying laughter from Zethis. "That is true…however, I have some people planning on providing some…assistance when those dungeon raids begin.

Even if they do not have any of their own resources sunk into them, the Adventurer's Guild will have its hands full trying to clean up the mess that they will not be able to devote resources into managing monster quests, which in turn will require the human kingdoms to devote more personal resources into protecting their own towns inside their borders."

Once again, he let out a great laugh. The retainers nervously began to chuckle alongside him, but no one got carried away.

"As you command, your majesty."

Zethis gave the retainer a curt nod of acknowledgement. "By the way…" He began before pausing to look at the others in the throne room. Seeing that the necessary people were all still present, he continued, "How goes our shadow enforcement of our border with Eroa?"

"Sir, the cities and towns near the Eroan border are nearly completely replaced with plainclothes fighters. The citizenry of those towns have also been relocated further into our borders. So far there have been no reported issues with their integration and resettlement."

Zethis nodded with a happy smile. Many of the former leaders of Alorek believed that strength was all that was needed to take command of the nation. And while they were correct, it was not what was necessary to keep that command. A truly powerful leader needed strength and cunning.

He long had a plan to quietly displace the populations of the cities near the Eroan border to make it seem like the actual garrison was simply a threat to stay put, rather than an actual invading force. It would temporarily keep Eroa from making moves against him when he begins the invasion of the human territories.

With that pause, he would launch a surprise attack with forces that suddenly tripled or quadrupled in size out of nowhere.

Eroa had reinforced its own borders to compensate for the amount of troops they knew about, but it would not be enough to fight off the actual size of the army that was hidden in reserve. He could not contain his glee and began to chuckle once more at his own cleverness.

"We will not have time to replace that shipment from Aedrider before the war begins, but its loss, while great, does not mean much in the long run. Continue pouring a minor amount of resources into the search. If Wisteria is behind this, we want them to think we care.

If we act like it was not important to begin with, then it will tip our enemies into realizing we have other contingencies that we view as more important." He commanded.

""Yes, your majesty!"' the entire room erupted in a singular affirmation of his orders.

Once again, he smiled. Alorek's greatness will rise again and it would be because of him. His name will go down in history as the greatest Warrior King to lead this great nation. He will be the one who brings the lands of Eroa back under their control, and they will be the ones to subjugate the lands of the humans, once and for all.

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