wardenraime

Chapter 283 - Under Triumph

Creating a knight in the Bull Kingdom was surprisingly regulated; to knight someone was a privilege reserved for those of a certain level of importance. When he was a Tribune, Leon was high-ranking enough to hold that honor, but now that Trajan had stripped him of that rank in punishment for his recklessness, it was an honor he’d lost.

Consequently, knighting Alix wasn’t something he could just do on the spot, he had to wait until Trajan gave him Royal permission.

And so, when t...

Chapter 282 - August's Offer

“Uughh,” Justin Isynos sighed in displeasure as he sank into his armchair. He closed his sapphire-blue eyes in fatigue and his body stretched out until he almost slid off the chair.

“Well, don’t you just look chipper,” said one of the other three mages in the room, a youthful-seeming man with a stout frame and a shaved head.

“I hate dealing with these fucking people,” Justin replied with uncharacteristic venom in his voice.

The Princes had been at his palace ...

Chapter 281 - Calabria

The city of Calabria was much like Florentia, to Leon’s eyes. Most of the residential buildings were on the eastern side of the Naga River, while the commercial buildings were on the western side, and a number of tall bridges connected both halves without interfering with the ships traveling up and down the river.

Their destination was in the eastern districts; specifically, it was the palace built on the tallest hill in the vicinity. Like most palatial buildings in the Bull Kingdom, i...

Chapter 280 - Departure from the Horns

When it came time for Trajan and August to depart from Ariminium, they were accompanied by only nine thousand knights and men-at-arms—seven thousand from the Paladin’s own retinues, and two thousand from Trajan’s. The two Legions that accompanied August to Ariminium left at the same time, but the two Princes quickly outpaced them. The forty thousand Legion soldiers could travel quite quickly, up to thirty-five miles per day, but August was eager to return to the capital and so left them be...

Chapter 279 - Preparing to Leave the Horns

Picked up a couple shiny new 0.5 star ratings on Royal Road recently, soooo if you haven't left a rating or review yet, I would be extremely appreciative if you could take a few seconds and do so =)

---

“Well, that was certainly one of the more… interesting negotiations I’ve been a part of,” Aquillius said as he and Trajan watched Andraste’s group fly away on their griffins...

Chapter 278 - Negotiation

Andraste followed through with her statement to begin negotiations as soon as possible. She only took an hour to settle into the chambers at the top of the Diplomatic building before arranging for the negotiations to begin.

The room selected for these proceedings was a simple conference room in the Diplomatic building rather than the keep, for the sake of convenience and presentation; the negotiations would get off to a rocky start if the Queen felt like she was being insulted if she wa...

Chapter 277 - The Queen of Talfar

“… and I just felt it, you know? I just felt strong, and like the warriors I was fighting against were suddenly no match,” Henry narrated. “It took a few moments for me to register what was happening to me in the heat of battle, but I realized I was ascending to the third-tier!”

“And you got cocky because of it,” Alain said with a half-smile.

“Well, I mean, I was feeling good, you know?” Henry said as he sat back on the bench in the restaurant b...

Chapter 276 - Trajan's Price

Ariminium and both Horns were lit up in celebration of a swift and relatively decisive victory over the Talfar invaders. The city’s citizens partied in the streets and many of the off-duty soldiers joined them. Even those Legion soldiers who were on duty were brought food and allowed to grow a bit lax in their discipline.

But one place where the cries of revelry did not reach was Trajan’s dimly lit office. He was completely alone; not even Minerva was there with him. Despite the end t...

Chapter 275 - Aftermath of the War

“My subordinates in Pretani have finally made contact with the Elder Council, their offer of peace was genuine. Or at least, it is now,” Fonteius stated. He, and most of the others in the meeting room, had heavy doubts about whether Gwen’s offer was legitimate, but in the wake of Owain’s surrender and the retreat of the tattered remnants of his army, Talfar’s Elder Council finally made time for Fonteius’ subordinates and assured them of their peaceful intent.

“That’s good to hea...

Chapter 274 - Surrender

For two days, Owain had lain in a field hospital unconscious. After Arthwyn’s disastrous second assault, the Talfar army was in such disarray that it took that long for a healer to actually examine the Prince’s injuries and determine that he no longer needed to be sedated—and, in fact, never needed to be in the first place.

As the Talfar Prince slowly regained consciousness, a quarter of the two dozen remaining Warrior-Chiefs were huddled around his bed, waiting on the only leader th...

Chapter 273 - August and Trajan

Leon fought against the instinct to charge at Roland with all the power he had available and attack the Paladin. Roland was vulnerable, surprised and unprepared, Leon knew that with his speed, he could get in one or two good hits before Roland could react.

But he resisted this temptation. His sword hand twitched and his power momentarily spiked as he automatically began to summon his sword from his soul realm, but he calmed himself before he could make any mistakes. After a moment or tw...

Chapter 272 - An Interesting Name

“August, let me introduce you to someone…” Trajan said as he gestured to Leon to step forward.

Leon, for his part, wanted nothing less than to be introduced to Prince August after the latter’s reveal of his acquaintance with Roland. But Trajan called him out, and there was no helping it; Leon took a few hesitant steps forward and genuflected for Prince August.

“… This is Sir Leon Ursus,” Trajan said as Leon and August made eye contact.

August was almost struck speechl...

Chapter 271 - Strength of the Paladins

Two short blasts followed by one long blast; the horn signal for Legion reinforcements. Seven thousand Legion cavalrymen barreled down the Gold Road toward the Bull’s Horns. In the lead were four men: August, Roland, and the Bronze and Brimstone Paladins.

“Get to the gate!” August shouted at the other three as he peeled off toward the Southern Horn. He wasn’t much of a fighter, but that was what the three Paladins were for.

“Yes, Your Highness!” Roland shouted.

“Under...

Chapter 269 - The Second Assault Begins

Xaphan sat in the center of a raging maelstrom of power. The Mists of Chaos that surrounded the island in Leon’s soul realm swirled around him in great clouds, while the enchantment he created siphoned off a few wisps, purified the magical power, and channeled it into the demon’s body where it would nourish his withered core.

This process lasted for several hours until one of the four sapphires broke with a loud crack, causing the entire enchantment to fail and the cloud of mist above...

Chapter 270 - Second Assault

The earth shook beneath the feet of the Talfar battle formations as they marched out of the camp and toward the walls of the Horns, miles away. The formations of the infantry were perfect, the cataphract armor glittered in the afternoon sun, and the charioteers looked heroic as they drove behind the siege engines.

However, there was a palpable sense of uncertainty; the army didn’t move nearly as fast as they did when they last assaulted the walls, and Arthwyn could feel the stares of t...

Chapter 268 - Treason

As with last month, with ten chapters released all at once, I didn't have the time to go through them as thoroughly as I would've liked. So, if you see any mistakes like spelling errors, missing words, canon errors, etc... please don't hesitate to let me know in the comments! I hope you enjoy these chapters =)

---

The general mood in the Talfar camp was extremely low. The retreat during the first assault, the casualties sustained during said assault and in previous engagements, th...

Chapter 267 - Xaphan's Gems

Leon, Alix, and an ecstatic Anzu returned to their room and immediately began preparations to train. Or at least, Leon and Alix did, Anzu just followed Leon around so closely that Leon almost tripped over him several times. Alix changed into loose clothes and grabbed a training sword while Leon moved the metal pieces of his armor out to the edge of the sandpit so that he could clean them up while watching his squire’s training—his Skyflax padding was put into the same enchanted box as his c...

Chapter 266 - Heart-to-Heart

The morning after Leon returned to the Horns, he and Elise woke up in each other’s arms just as the sun was beginning to rise over the horizon, still dressed in their clothes from the previous night. They were intimately entwined with each other, with their legs tangled, Leon’s arms snugly wrapped around Elise’s waist, and Elise almost holding Leon’s face to her neck and chest with hers.

And yet, as their eyes opened and they slowly awoke, they silently separated. Without a word, th...

Chapter 265 - Killing the Mood

Leon led Elise back to his and Alix’s barracks room, though it wasn’t entirely necessary as Elise had been there before to drop off Leon’s diamond and sapphires. The main room was fairly dark, but it must not have been that long since Alix went to bed, as she immediately came out into the main room fully clothed and with her sword drawn.

“Leon!” she said in surprise. She quickly composed herself and drily quipped, “I thought you would’ve been back sooner.”

“Things got… c...

Rewards Increasing on June 1st

As announced last month, the rewards for just about all the patron tiers are increasing again 7 days from now to bring them all up to the standard of $1 = 2 chapters. This increase won't be quite as big as last time for most of the tiers, but that was just because I front loaded a lot of the increases so that the lower tiered patrons wouldn't have to wait for their reward increases. Just for the sake of clarity, though, I'll now list them all out, so everybody knows exactly what they're going...

Chapter 264 - Punishment and a Pleasant Surprise

Leon hauled himself out of the Tyrrhenian River with some difficulty; he was extremely tired from the running and fighting he’d done over the past week—and this day in particular. It was nearly midnight, and he’d been going strong for more than six hours, and this was after a day spent hunting the Talfar warriors that had been hunting him.

The Legion soldiers at the other end of the pier did nothing to help him out of the water. They still weren’t certain who he was, and until they ...

Chapter 263 - Running for the River

Leon made it back to the southern side of the chasm, but he wasn’t particularly subtle about it. The remaining warriors guarding the bridge saw him, and as he vanished into the forest, he heard the rumble of a horn as the warriors alerted the camp to his presence. Unfortunately for them, the fifteen warriors or so back in the camp were far more concerned with the burning camp than anything else, and none of the other twenty-two warriors at the bridge were strong or fast enough to pursue Leon...

Chapter 262 - The Bull's Ghost II

Visiting Royal Road and leaving a rating or review would be fantastic if you haven't already =)

---

Four days had passed since the bridge was completed, and Emrys had nearly all of his two-thousand strong force searching the dozens of square miles of forest on the northern side of the chasm. Well, to be more accurate, his seventeen or eighteen hundred strong force. Over the past few days...

Chapter 261 - The Bull's Ghost I

Leon gasped for air as he surfaced in a small pond in the middle of a forest on the north side of the chasm. Naiad giggled beside him as he pulled himself out of the water and onto dry ground. There had been no places for him to breathe between the lake and the exit pond, a distance that took Leon almost fifteen minutes to swim, so he was more than a little out of breath.

When Leon’s breathing steadied, he turned around and locked eyes with Naiad, who was still watching him. Once she’...

Chapter 260 - Naiad

From his Magmic Steel cuirass down to his Skyflax padding, all of Leon’s armor was carefully removed by the nymph, and she took her time, obviously savoring the removal of every piece.

For his part, Leon desperately tried to think of a way out of this, but he couldn’t even move, let alone fight. He was powerless to stop the nymph from taking off his shirt and running her hands over all of him in her reach.

[It’s true what my mother told me about human males,] she whispered, and...

Chapter 259 - Captured

The nymph hadn’t left, of that Leon was certain. He could still feel her killing intent letting him know that she was still there, probably just waiting for a chance to eat him.

Leon flooded his body with as much magic as he could pull from his soul realm and readied himself for a brutal fight. He was in her territory, surrounded by water that she could use as her weapon. He’d have drawn his sword as well, but he wouldn’t be able to swing it with enough force in the river, so he left...

Chapter 258 - Hunting a Rat

It was a chilly day, with an overcast sky and light rain, and the Talfar warriors who were sweeping through the forest that Leon had disappeared into were not happy. They had suffered a defeat when they assaulted the Bull’s Horns, and now they were stuck wandering through a mountain forest searching for Leon and failing; their morale was not the greatest, to say the least.

Emrys, Lorcan, and more than one hundred other Talfar warriors were waiting at the narrowest point of the chasm th...

Chapter 257 - Assessing Losses

“Still no sign of Leon?” Trajan asked.

“No, Your Highness,” Minerva replied.

The two were in one of Trajan’s small sitting rooms that had a good view of the east. The Talfar army had pulled out and the Legion was tallying the dead and reinforcing their position. The Talfar warriors had managed to seize most of the first wall, but then suddenly abandoned their assault. In the process of retreating, they lost two more of their siege towers, leaving them with a paltry three left...

Chapter 256 - Pursuing the Fleeing Rat

Leon hit the tree line and kept on running as fast as his lightning-enhanced legs could carry him. With what he assumed was a sixth-tier mage hot on his heels and his invisibility ring not holding magic as it should, panic slithered into his mind and muddied his thoughts.

However, as the tall grass of the plain gave way to trees and the underbrush of the forest that was just a few miles north-west of the Talfar camp, his mind began to clear, and he felt himself relax a bit. The forest w...

Chapter 255 - Talfar Blinks First

Arthwyn stared at the walls with an ugly expression. Half of his siege towers were destroyed, but his forces had managed to seize about half of the towers on the first wall. Still, they were taking heavy casualties, and the Talfar army wasn’t advancing as fast as he would’ve liked. But progress was progress, and his remaining trebuchets were hammering the Bull’s Horns as fast as they could.

It was a bloody, grinding affair, but if things kept going at the rate they were, he’d be abl...