“Set up camp, I am going to get some mules in order to carry everything back” Jule told his commanders and dismounted his horse, wanting to stretch his legs a bit.

A few soldiers offered to escort Jule but he refused, no simple farmer could even scratch a rank 2 body refiner. It would be shameful to be escorted by people who were weaker than him either way.

Jule took a few deep breaths of fresh air, he knew that after he returned to Gican City, it was more seclusion and an ever harsher training regime, he couldn’t accept the fact that he was weaker than an elementally charged monster. Jule knew that he was only able to defeat the beast thanks to the white scrolls…

Moreover, Parn’s fight gave him a peek into the heights a human could reach… He could still feel the warmth covering his whole body from his attacks.

Seeing the distance he still had to travel discouraged him at first… Even so, his heart couldn’t stop beating, and he realized that what he felt was ambition, he wanted to reach those heights, he wanted that power, he wanted to be strong.

He would fight in order to reach that point, and when he did, he would be able to look down on those below him. That, Jule realized, is the order of the world.

…

Jule had almost reached the farm at this point, but he felt it weird that he could not see an indication of activity. It was still morning, so the farmers should be taking care of the crops and the livestock…

Yet not a single sound could be heard.

Jule’s face morphed into a frown, a tingly feeling taking place in his chest. When he finally reached the farm, it was completely empty, void of any animals or people.

“What is going on?...” Jule muttered under his breath and looked towards the Main Farmhouse in the distance, perhaps the people knew what was happening.

It had been a few days since he left for his subjugation, any number of things could have happened. Perhaps a plague had killed the crops and the livestock, or maybe the farmers had simply moved.

After walking through the eerily deserted farmland, Jule finally reached the Main Farmhouse. From the windows, he could see that the house was completely dark, and not a single sign of movement could be heard.

Jule’s frown deepened.

He walked towards the door and knocked a few times, waiting some seconds before knocking again. After the cycle of knocking and waiting had passed the ten minute mark, Jule decided to take a more drastic approach.

Even if, for some unholy reason, they were still asleep, it was their fault for not answering the door. Jule was not the slightest bit remorseful, they were but a bunch of paltry farmers.

He gathered some ma at his right arm and punched the door, blasting it apart into pieces.

“Sorry for the intrus…” Jule was about to kindly remind them to pay more attention to their door, but he was halted by the scene before him.

The house was absolutely empty, even after he blasted the door apart. If the farmers were not at the fields nor at their houses…

Just where were they?

….

Jule turned on his heels, not caring much about the whereabouts of the farmers, they could have just left for the town for some reason.

However, just as he was about to leave, his enhanced senses got a whiff of an extremely queer smell, nothing Jule had ever gotten before, that was for sure.

He followed the smell, which went further inside the house.

When he reached a sort of kitchen, he noticed that many of the kitchen utensils were missing… Did they cook something and forget to bring it with them?.

He once again continued following the scent, which turned stronger as he got closer to its source.

Jule stopped when he reached a closed door, according to his senses, whatever was its origin stood behind that door. Jule stretched his hand out towards the handle, but a shiver stopped him in his tracks.

Something inside his mind began shouting at him, warning him not to open that door, giving him a deep foreboding that he would surely regret it.

Jule pushed aside this feeling, he could not just back away.

He pulled the door open and took in what stood behind the door.

...

“Aaaahhh…” Jule’s broken voice came out, his mind not able to comprehend what he was witnessing.

Inside the living room of the farmhouse, a pile of grossly mutilated bodies was stacked up high, it was a bloodbath.

Men, women, children, they were all indiscriminately thrown into the pile.

Jule’s hands clenched together, his knuckles turning white.

“What is…” He could barely speak before the putrid stench of the room overpowered his senses, bile rising up from his throat.

His legs became weak and he collapsed to the ground, his legs and hands making a squelching sound as they touched the overflowing blood that formed a puddle. His heart was beating like a drum, it was the first time in his life he had seen such a gruesome thing.

His vomit mixed with the blood on the ground, and he continued trembling like a newborn deer.

His state forced him to stare a few more seconds at the tower, his wide eyes not obeying his orders to close. Thankfully, he could not distinguish the taste of the vomit, as he was clenching his jaws so hard that his gums began to bleed, filling his mouth with a coppery taste.

A few more seconds passed before Jule could barely regain his composure and staggered back to the group, leaving a trail of blood where he walked.

When the soldiers saw his state, they immediately sounded the alarm and rushed towards Jule.

Even Parn, the ever lazy knight, rushed out of his makeshift tent.

His eyes stared at Jule’s pale visage for a while, rushing towards the farmhouse, no questions asked.

Jule could barely stand, he felt sick to his core. The soldiers insisted on taking Jule towards his tent, to let him rest and recover for a while, but Jule refused them all…

He needed to know just what the hell that was…

Parn returned a few minutes later, his face covered in sweat and his breathing ragged.

“We need to rush back to the Capital” Parn tried his best to say in a calm voice, but his state clearly betrayed what he was feeling.

The tents were immediately taken down and packed, the few soldiers who grievously needed a rest groaned for a second but followed the orders, they were trained professionals after all. The march back took an even more somber tone after the events at the farmhouse, although neither Parn nor Jule revealed what they had seen inside, their mood spread to the soldiers.

...

Jule was riding his horse, having recovered a bit of his strength while the soldiers tore down their campsite, but he was in no mood for anything. His eyes were dull, and images of what he had seen sometimes rose from his subconscious making him want to shout.

He knew that he had to be strong, he was the Heir to the Redshield Dukedom…

But the state of the bodies had been imprinted into his mind, the rotten smell in the air, the slightly decomposed bodies…

Why had the Capital neglected this massacre?

The bodies had clearly been left to rot for more than a while. Surely the Capital must have noticed by now, why had the bodies not been cleaned up?

Many thoughts occupied Jule’s mind, even overtaking his interest in commanding the troops. The expedition could only maintain cohesiveness thanks to the orders of Parn, who had left his clown act with the dead bodies.

Instead of cracking jokes, Parn routinely bit his nails, muttering some incomprehensible words.

…

As they neared the Capital, the number of farmhouses rose, but they too held the same scene inside, a massacre.

Even though Jule had slowly calmed himself down and even got slightly used to the sight, he still trembled when he saw the bodies.

The sheer brutality, and the acrid smell of blood and rot mixed together, sent his mind to another place, he could never get completely used to such a sight. Even the demi-human dungeons were not even close.

A few hours later, they had finally reached Gican City, with heavy hearts and bodies, they all climbed the hill that hid the city from view. They all hoped their fears were unfounded, that they would have a heroes welcome and a well-deserved rest.

The pillars of smoke, visible from atop the hill, crushed all their hopes.

……………………….

Once they passed over the hill, they could see the scene of their ravaged city. Hundreds of fires covered the buildings in the residential districts.

Jule felt blood rising to his head, his mind being taken over by dark thoughts. He sensed that he was too late, that he had let down his father by taking so long, that…

He dropped his baggage and rushed towards the city, where he had been born and where he had grown up…

Where his father lived…

His actions caused a wave effect on some of the soldiers.

Each for their own reasons, allowed hatred to overtake them, dropping their baggage and following Jule’s rush towards the city, like mad beasts, they only hungered for the blood of those who had caused this.

How dare they invade the city without them present to defend it.

Even though Jule, as the commander, had to calm down everyone and regain order, his mind was too occupied with his bloodlust…

Even if they were all trained soldiers, the fear for your family, for your home, for what you had built over decades, was able to completely overwrite any sort of ingrained teaching.

“STOP!!!” A massive wall of fire came into being before the rushing soldiers, the blasts of heated air throwing everyone off their feet and killing their momentum.

“I will now assume command!” Parn growled and sheathed the sword he had swung to create the fire, his eyes glaring at Jule.

The chill the glare generates inside Jule’s body was enough to cool him down, giving him his rationality back. After Jule realized the mistake he had just committed, he lowered his head and avoided Parn’s eyes.

He shouldn’t have lost his cool.

After noticing that Jule was avoiding him, Parn snorted and turned away, not interested in humoring his childish attitude.

“Everyone gather together, we will march into town, stay alert!” Parn shouted some orders and began walking, taking the role of vanguard.

No one doubted Parn’s orders or his usurping of Jule’s authority. They were soldiers and had trained and fought under Parn for a long time, now that he had taken control and led the soldiers with order, they realized the difference to Jule’s lackluster leadership.

The leader represented the thoughts of the whole team -if he was nervous, they were nervous, if he was calm, they were calm- .

Things being as they were, Parn could no longer let Jule lead the troops.

The soldiers who had followed Jule felt deeply ashamed too, they had let their emotions be influenced by another person, a sin to a soldier.

Jule took place behind Parn in the vanguard, hoping to make amends for the mistake he had committed.

Parn no longer paid attention to Jule at all, not a single snarky remark or roll of the eyes. This abrupt shift in their dynamic left Jule feeling a bit out of place… As if his blunder wasn’t making him feel awkward enough.

In between his internal sighs, Jule prayed that his father was safe and sound. Jule knew not a single thing of those who had attacked the city, but he believed that they had made a grave mistake provoking the Shield of Dresden.