“Highness, I dislike this. The demon beasts are getting too intelligent for my tastes.” Tarin said as he retracted his weapon to his core. “They were clearly going for as assassination of the leadership of this army.”

 

“The barbarians swearing fealty is starting to look more and more like a winning proposition for both sides, eh.” Aureus said while giving a half grin.

 

Tarin’s lips pressed together. Aureus went on “Tarin, I understand your reservations. I will be counting on you to manage the grapevine of the army here.”

 

“Highness, you give out the simplest tasks as a peasant would give out sweet potatoes.” Tarin replied in an exasperated tone.

 

Aureus chuckled at the comparison and stated that at least the potatoes given by out by the farmer is sweet. As Aureus’s face took on a more serious cast, he simply stated that he is counting on Tarin.

 

Tarin saluted with hand over heart as he made his way off.

 

—

 

“Tiff, what do you think of these beasts acting in such a purposeful manner?” Caine asked as the various retainers made their way back to their respective quarters.

 

“It would appear that taking on the role of being the seventh prince’s retainers come with far more dangers than we anticipated.” Tiffany said in a glum manner. As she kicked a vigorous kick to a pebble, Tiffany was going on about how the available forecasts in the Eastern Coalition were predicting that the demon beast hordes would only remain at a certain danger level. The demon beasts being led by entities with human like intelligence has increased the danger of the hordes significantly.

 

Caine argued that the gains as well as potential gains they may gain while under the employ of a person such as Aureus, far outweigh the disadvantages.

 

Tiffany paused and summoned an incinerating blast of flame to help a clean up crew who were disposing of the demon beast corpses.

 

“True, under Aureus’s command, we do get to see a great deal more interesting things.” Tiffany said as her lips curved.

 

—

 

The camp was full of bustle even before the sun began it’s climb over the horizon.

 

Many cookfires emitted savory smells as the embers glowed red and orange under the various black iron pots.

 

In the training yards, Aureus and Edward were going through the sword forms of the Empire together while Johan whetted his battered looking blade.

 

The guards were occasionally drawn to Aureus performing the sword forms especially when he demonstrated the basic forms. While this did not go unnoticed by any of the three in the yard, none commented.

 

In comparison, Edward’s demonstration of the forms drew no glances.

 

As the practice winded down, Aureus and Edward headed to Johan who was applying the finishing touches to his blade maintenance with a cotton cloth.

 

One attending guard immediately hurried up to Aureus with pitchers of waters and a basic cloth towel.

 

“Highness, your sword forms today were a little lacking in grace, What troubles you? The upcoming meeting with the barbarians?” Johan asked as Aureus took a deep draught.

 

Aureus replied in the affirmative. Aureus expanded that it was more about what the act portended- a prince of the Empire accepting allegiances from the barbarian tribes. Such a move was unlikely to generate any goodwill back in the Core realm.

 

Johan laughed and admitted that he was glad such issues was beyond him. Aureus’s lips curled as he stated that he has hopes that such a situation will not remain in a permanent state. Johan gave a hacking cough that sounded halfway between a cough and laugh.

 

—

 

Grey clouds gathered overhead as Aureus headed to the barbarians forts. The retinue that he was leading was decidedly sombre as they entered the barbarian forts.

 

Boulder appeared to have pick up on the mood and appeared somewhat confused at the signals he was receiving from the Empire party as Aureus was nothing but courteous to him but his retinue were stony-faced.

 

Nevertheless, as they headed to the inner part of the chieftain’s building, the conversation was all about the swearing of fealty of the barbarian tribes and the military forces they would be able to provide to the outer realm Empire forces.

 

While it is true that Aureus and his army caught the barbarian tribes at their wits end and struggling against the demon hordes, the barbarians still possessed a pride and honor all of their own. Aureus did not seek to dictate any harsh terms such as the handing over of material resources they have hoarded over the years.

 

However, Aureus was unbending when it came to the terms that the barbarian tribes will need to pick up arms to defend the Empire’s holdings even in the event that the opposing forces consist of other barbarian tribes.

 

This condition obviously caused no end of consternation to the tribe leaders and the various elders.

 

Aureus had them in his death-grip and both Boulder and Ranar knew it. It just had not sunk into the various tribe elders as yet.

 

Aureus signaled his retinue to bring forth a large chest bearing spheres and the cut of spoils that was harvested off the demon beasts the day prior.

 

The tension is the air seemingly wiped away as the tribe elders eyed the chest filled with spheres. Technology has always been the weak point of the barbarians. By offering them modern equipment , Aureus was effectively increasing their overall strength while increasing their value as allies.

 

All these calculations did not appear to go unnoticed by the elders. Aureus personally thought the tribe leadership in particular had integrity to them. When faced with such a strong enticement such as the one Aureus provided, they were actually able to maintain reason and did not immediately bow over to Aureus’s demands.

 

Boulder requested for two hours for the tribal leadership to complete going through all the terms before they entered into a tribal pact. Aureus nodded as if he expected everything and simply state that he will wait in the interim. Whatever that can be said about the barbarians, word breakers they were not. Entering a tribal pact was akin to staking the honor and dignity of the entire tribe. It was not something entered likely by the barbarian tribes. Aureus mused that the situation was simply that dire.

 

As expected, the tribe leaders returned with an affirmative as the two hour mark closed in. As Aureus prepared to accept their fealty by conducting a simple ceremony with Tarin as the ceremonial officer, horns blared across the fort.

 

“Three notes, a demon beast horde of high density…” Boulder appeared unsettled as he translated what the sounds meant.

 

Imperial scouts rushed into the tent to report to Aureus that various beast hordes could be seen closing in on the fort and have already encircled the position.

 

“Officers, this is not a trap. There is no way the beasts would have been able to guarantee that we would have stopped to aid the tribes. This is simply an encircling action done by the beasts to eliminate their enemies.” Aureus’s voice resounded throughout the room.

 

Aureus conferred briefly with Boulder for a few moments before giving out orders for the Aureus army to head to the eastern and western walls to defend the fort. The Aureus army would not mix their forces for with the barbarian tribes for the time being. However, Aureus did not hide the fact that he will embed observers into the other walls the barbarians are defending.

 

As Aureus assigned Johan and Edward to the western wall , Tarin approached Aureus with a frown.

 

“Yes, it does appear that the beast horde leader is intelligent enough to be opportunistic. However, I intend to carve this demon beast horde into ribbons for daring to approach our army in a defensive position. Unless we are severely outnumbered, our army will not lose.” Aureus said before Tarin could even speak.

 

As Aureus headed to the eastern walls of the fort, the storm above threatened to break by rumbling across the heavens. Aureus did not pay much heed to it as he went revised his battle plan after consideration of the terrain and the defensive strength of the walls as well as his current troop strength.

 

As Aureus reached the top, he focused in on the companies that have already sortied to meet the beasts in battle. After Aureus gauged how long it took for the average soldier to slay a beast, he had an absolute assurance in holding the eastern wall. During the entire duration, Aureus watched over the eastern wall battlefield like a hawk and his orders were always never too early or too late as the troops supported each other in taking the battle to the beast hordes. Several barbarian observers had an awed expression on their face towards the end as they looked at Aureus conducting battle.