The Guardians' Throne - The First Magic Swordsman

After sending a message using the crystal for Drannor and the others to watch out for vicious animals, Zaos, Aleny, and the bloody knights began to march again. However, soon they came to realize that marching with almost three thousand soldiers would be hard in these lands… even though half of them stayed behind, those numbers couldn't keep the same pace in that area. Thanks to that, some soldiers were getting behind… even without looking behind, Zaos could feel it with his magic tracking. 

"I don't have time to worry about them, but it might cause trouble for me later if I let some get lost," Zaos thought.

In the end, Zaos told to Cohnal, Melisse, and Nyana to divide her soldiers into groups of one hundred. Once that was done, he divided the groups into three lines and spread them across the area to create a two-kilometer-long formation. That should keep some soldiers from falling behind… as long as Zaos decrease their marching speed. While that seemed counterproductive, Zaos increased their range to compensate for that. With that, they will be able to find any traces of enemies with more ease, instead of just relying on Zaos' eyes and senses.

The plan to work out much sooner than Zaos had expected since he began to hear reports of signs of animals like rabbits and boars in the area. While they had some supplies, they wouldn't last more than one week, and they were basically rations. So, the soldiers were asking for permission to turn them into food.

"It can't be helped, Zaos," Aleni said upon noticing Zaos' hesitation. "We don't know when we will find Millie, so we will need to prepare for all possible outcomes. Losing a few hours by hunting now will probably give us more room to keep searching later."

That made sense… while Zaos recognized that possibility, he didn't want to believe that it might take more than one week to find Milliendra. While they didn't have to follow Zaos' decision, his former lieutenants decided to wait for him… in the end, Zaos decided to act considering the whole group's needs, Instead of his own. That was necessary to keep the group united to achieve the same goal, something that he did many times in the past.

After walking around for a couple of hours, the sun began to set, and the whole army was forced to come to a stop. Marching at night in a group that big was Absolutely madness. Besides, everyone needed to rest as much as possible.

While the soldiers were resting and eating, Zaos walked around the area wondering what he could do to make things easier for the army and thus increase their exploration speed. While the amount of wood around was pretty high, and he could use magic to speed the process of crafting things with magic, there were no horses around to make carriages or wagons. The options were extremely limited… perhaps if Zaos could learn the elemental Manipulation that Milliendra showed before, then perhaps… still, Zaos have been trying to use it since he had read it in the scrolls, but he didn't make any progress.

"Don't frown all the time, or you will get wrinkles, Brother," Nyana said after she approached. "Sorry for forcing you to accompany us."

"Don't worry about that. It is the best option, after all," Zaos said. "The real problem is the fact that I got used to doing things on my own or with Aleni only."

"I see… I know that you are the type that doesn't talk much, but you shouldn't do the same as her," Nyana said. "I have the feeling that she is even more uneasy than you."

Zaos smiled and patted Nyana, she was too old to be head patted, but he felt like doing so since he was kind of being lectured by his little sister. Considering that Nyana didn't hate Zaos for leaving everyone behind, even her, without telling a single thing, he felt like one-day things could go back to normal, but somehow, he also had a feeling that things would change for good once he deals with the demon god…

Zaos followed Nyana's advice, and even though it wasn't the best of ideas to do that while they were leading an army, he held Aleni's hands tightly as they walked the next day. They felt a little better thanks to that. It was like another sign that they were on that together, no matter what happened. Nevertheless, the next day, Zaos noticed that the crystal Edea gave to him began to shine, and then he found some words there.

"We found a group of followers of the demon god heading northwest. We killed them, and we are heading in that direction."

Zaos rubbed his chin thoughtfully while he was considering what they should do. Keep following their original direction or try to find the place the followers of the demon god were heading? It might be a trap, or that group was only heading toward their village… in any case, Zaos also began to wonder if keeping killing the followers of the demon god every single time was the best option… they only wanted justice for what happened in the past, and even though they were a risk to the rest of the world, the annihilation of the descendants of a tribe like theirs couldn't be the best option. Even more so when considering that everyone could be turned into a demon… Zaos wondered if the situation could be conveniently solved by dealing with the demon god for good. The hatred and the wish for revenge of that tribe will disappear, so they might lose the powers granted them by the demon god… once that happens, the other humans won't feel so inclined to hunt them indiscriminately… if things keep going like that, the circle of hatred will never end, and even without the influence of the demon god, both sides will have reasons to hate and fear each other.