Chapter 1616 1616. Transferring Sovereignty
Because Aldryth didn't march with a large force, she could move faster. She arrived in Messephyria in one day. She had sent scouts to search out her split forces and told them to gather in Messephyria. Arthur also sent messages to the player's community who had fought with them, telling them to come to Messephyria if they were still willing to help.
Jack welcomed Aldryth upon her arrival. She was with Arthur, Zoikod, and a small team of draconian soldiers. When Jack brought her riding past the capital's street, the draconian civilians who laid eyes on her came and asked if she had finally returned to them. She was a popular princess who was close to the people before the country fell, so her sighting drew many draconians' attention. She assured each of them that she vowed to restore this country to its glory.
More and more civilians appeared after hearing news of Aldryth's return. They came from all over the capital. This caused their journey toward the palace to become time-consuming. Jack didn't rush her.
Once they arrived in the palace, Jack took her to the throne room. A wooden plank had been laid out to cover the big hole in the floor.
"Uh… That's on me. Sorry," Jack said.
Aldryth didn't mind about the hole. There was so much to repair in this capital, the throne room was the last thing she planned to renovate.
Jack accessed the monarch system. As a captured country, there was an option to appoint a puppet sovereign or transfer the sovereignty to a draconian. Jack chose the transfer option. The system then scanned the room and asked which draconian Jack wished to transfer the sovereignty to. Jack chose Aldryth.
A system notification sounded inside the head of every Hydrurond's citizens. Whether they were natives or outworlders, they now knew it was Aldryth who was on the throne.
The native citizens celebrated the news.
Aldryth followed up by sending transmissions to every combatant citizen to come to Messephyria. The ones who had joined her in Delphoia were just a small portion of the untouched settlements. They were those who had high levels and were more confident with their abilities. Most of the low-level ones still cowered inside their settlements and hoped that Master didn't come.
Now that Aldryth was the legitimate queen, she hoped she could give these draconians the courage to come forward. Even if they were low levels, they would still be valuable. At this moment, she needed every help she could get.
Jack also brought Guzrim before Aldryth. He was captured yesterday before he managed to leave the palace. He was bound and appeared to resign to his fate. Jack left the decision to Aldryth. Aldryth ordered Guzrim to be put back in jail. His fate would be decided once they chased the invaders out of the country.
Within the next two days, Aldryth's splintered forces slowly arrived. Everyone readied themselves for the coming conflict. Jack also sent a mental message to Broidrireg for him to get ready. He was sure he would need the old dragon in the coming conflict.
Master arrived on the third day after Jack seized the throne from Gridhacker. If he immediately marched to Messephyria after the battle with Aldryth's force, he needed only two days, but he had been busy resurrecting the dead. He was not in a hurry.
The sight of his army made everyone who watched from the defensive walls lose their words. They were like a carpet of ants that covered the entire land.
*
Master watched Messephyria in silence as his massive army stopped a certain distance from the capital.
"He truly stays…," Linda muttered.
"You two have failed to predict his action several times already. Why act surprised this time?" Spring Crown said.
"You sound happy about this," Linda returned.
"Oh, I'm always happy when you two know-it-alls lose your composure."
"This simply proves that his stupidity is way out of expectation," Master spoke. "Staying is just letting us crush his army. Our wish to defeat their force one by one is made possible by his action. We will not waste this. We will crush them with this capital. But make sure everyone knows, that the Themisphere King is not to be killed. He should be apprehended."
"Dude, killing him is already like scaling the heaven. You have to prepare for a huge loss to take him alive," Spring Crown said.
"Any loss is worth it," Master responded.
"For you, perhaps," Spring Crown said.
Master turned to Spring Crown and uttered, "Do you have something you want to say to me?"
"Nothing, boss. All's good," Spring Crown replied.
Master continued staring at Spring Crown for a few more seconds before returning his attention to the capital ahead.
"We don't have siege weapons. We are going to lose a lot of force if we have to force our way into that capital," Linda said. All their siege weapons had been destroyed during the war in Palgrost. The ones that were constructed recently were still inside Liguritudum. There was not enough time to transport the siege weapons here.
"Maybe we should just alienate them?" Linda proposed. "We keep their force here while half of us go for the Sangrod army and Themisphere's second army that is en route. We will only have a problem if we have to deal with all of them together. If separately, we should be able to defeat them easily."
"No. All that matters is the last divine treasure," Master answered. "This business with conquering other countries is just a means for that. Now that the last divine treasure is right before me, we can't get distracted. We will focus on this army and the Themisphere King inside the capital!"
"As you wish, My Lord," Linda said. She instructed some soldiers to bring the war table. Once the table was laid in front of her, she started operating it.
While Linda could move the ethereal troops efficiently using the war table, it had no hold over Master's zombie army. The zombie army only showed up as allies in the projection, she couldn't send commands to them via the war table. The one who could command the zombie army was Master and those Master gave authority to, and that was also done manually by spoken orders.
Hence, it was not possible to maneuver the zombie army effectively.
They didn't need to. With such a massive army, there was no need for a strategy. Master sent the command to his zombie army and all of them swarmed toward the capital.