Chapter 18 - Fortification and Recruitment

Early the next morning

A cacophony of sounds caused Ethan to stir from him sleep

Making his way out of the room and into the living area he discovered that the source of all the noise was a very busy Amira as she moved about rapidly cleaning, organizing, and taking a general stock of supplies left behind by the former chief.

"Good Morning." Ethan said from behind

"Oh, good morning." she replied with a smile as beads of sweat rolled down her forehead

"Need any help?" he asked

"No thanks, I'm pretty much done already."

"Then-"

Shouting could suddenly be heard coming from outside which irritated Ethan this early in the morning

"I'll be back." He told Amira as he went to investigate the disturbance

Once Ethan was outside, what he witnessed filled him with confusion.

A group of soldiers, the same ones who had escorted the bandits from Lorik, had returned ahead of schedule. Ethan knew from Virgil that it should have taken them 4 days to return to the village. Now not only were they back, but they had even brought the bandits with them.

Magistrate Virgil was interrogating the captain when Ethan approached

"Is the message true? Could it be some kind of hoax?"

"No sir, the eagle that delivered it bore the emblem of house Derrean. I doubt your father would abide by such a deception." replied the captain

"I understand. Thank you for hastening your return Captain Dinnin."

Listening to their conversation, Ethan understood that something major was happening

"What's going on?" He asked determined to find out

Virgil was startled by his sudden arrival and nearly leapt out of his skin

"Ah! oh, Sir Ethan it's you." he said exhaling in relief. After steadying himself "Let's take a walk, there is much to discuss."

Ethan nodded his head and a feeling of dread swelled within him

"We have a problem on our hands, a big one." Virgil explained

He told Ethan everything that had been written in the message the captain had received. Apparently, the attack by the bandits the other night had been one part of a larger plan orchestrated by the Embershroud Empire to correspond with a surprise invasion. As things stood, the Empire was making quick work of the Syrena Kingdom defenses.

Ethan was at a loss by what he heard

"Fortunately for us, Lorik is considerably far from the capital, about a week by horse. An army would take much longer. So if the Kingdom manages to resist, this village wouldn't face any threat." Virgil continued

"And if the Kingdom fails to stop them?" Ethan asked seriously

"Then...there is nothing we can do. We have neither the numbers or defenses to resist." He stated solemnly

Defense? They didn't have the defenses to resist?

"What if we did? What if we had the ability to resist?" Ethan asked after realizing something

"But there is no way-"

"I have a Blessing. One that can help us prepare if the worst case happens."

The revelation made Virgil take a step back

"You have a blessing? Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"It wasn't relevant until now. Or should I have been bragging about my most important secret to anyone that would listen?" Ethan said with a frown.

"N-no, of course not." Virgil said with some apprehension. He couldn't help but feel pressured by this young mans aura.

"Good. Then follow me."

Ethan lead Virgil back to the group of captured bandits

"Are these men still under your control?" he asked

"Yes, why do ask?" Virgil questioned

"Bring them with us. All of them. And send the captain and his men to fetch axes. As many as they can find." Ethan ordered.

Virgil did as he was asked and sent his men to scour the village for axes while he and Ethan went out the south gate to the edge of the forest, followed by the enslaved bandits.

A short while later Captain Dinnin and his men arrived

"How many did you find?" Ethan asked

"We located about two dozen, Sir." Captain Dinnin replied while taking a glance at Virgil who was standing behind Ethan

"Good. Pass them out to the bandits."

"Sir? Why would we do that?" the captain asked

Ethan released a sigh "Because we're putting these useless trash to work. Unless you and your men want to be busy felling trees all day?"

Finally understanding, the captain ordered his men to distribute the axes and they put the prisoners to work cutting down trees.

After a short while Captain Dinnin reported that a dozen trees had already been felled

"Okay, have the men without axes drag the trees inside the village and pile them near the gate. Repeat the process until there's a dozen logs at each gate." Ethan instructed before heading back to Lorik with Virgil in tow

About half an hour passed before all the logs finally arrived

Virgil, who was silent up to this point, finally couldn't contain his curiosity any longer

"What's all this about?" He asked

"Just watch." was Ethans simple reply

'System Construction'

[Welcome to the Construction Tab!

You have two available blueprints that can be used

what would you like to build?]

'Defensive Tower'

[Acknowledged!

A single tower requires six large logs to complete.

Enough materials detected to build two towers. Would you like to proceed?]

'Yes. build one each on the right and left sides of the gate.'

[Acknowledged!

Beginning construction now.

Time to completion 30 seconds.]

As soon as the system carried out the order the dozen logs disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"My Gods! Where did they go?!" Virgil cried in shock.

"Don't panic. This is because of my Blessing. Though you'll have to wait a few seconds to see the results." Ethan explained

"What do you-"

Virgil couldn't even finish speaking before his eyes widened

As if by a miracle, two towers spawned out of thin air fully formed. They stood 20 feet high and were placed on either side of the southern gate. Aside from several small slits used for arrow fire they were completely enclosed.

"This...is amazing." Virgil muttered mostly to himself

"What do you think, can we put up a fight with this?" Ethan Asked

"Certainly it will help, But even if we have towers like these at every gate, there still aren't enough men to defend Lorik against and army."

"True, we do lack manpower. However, I may have a plan to deal with that." Ethan said with a sly grin

"Let's go find that bandit leader. I have a few words for him."

"You can't mean...?" Virgil asked incredulously

"Come on. This is going to be a good show." Ethan replied as he walked off briskly

Virgil quickly chased after him, anxious to see what else this bizzare kid would pull out of his sleeve

After arriving back at the location where the logging was taking place, Ethan tracked down his target.

"You there! What's your name?!" He shouted with a tone of authority

The bandit leader looked to see who it was that had shouted at him, but when he saw that it was the young man responsible for his capture, he chose to ignore him.

Seeing that he was ignored, Virgil was going to order the man to respond but didn't get the chance.

"Oh? Still have some backbone, eh? Then since you won't give me your name, I'll just give you one. How about...Shithead. Do you like your new name, Shithead?" Ethan said with an evil smile

A rage swelled up in the Leader unlike any he had ever experienced before

"How dare you! You may have beaten me but I'm still a man! Don't expect me to-"

"But you're not a man though. You're a slave now, right Shithead?" Ethan continued angering the bandit further

"Grr, It's Frans." the bandit finally said, grinding his teeth

"So you do have a name. Since you've told me yours, I'll tell you mine. My name is Ethan, and I'm the chief of this village you attacked." He introduced himself

"What do you want from me Chief Ethan?" Frans asked aggressively

"Firstly, I'd like to know what the Empire offered you to get you to turn on your own people."

"Ha! Coin obviously! They promised us 6 Silver to raid the villages in this area!"

"Only 6 Silver? How sad." Ethan sneered

"Haha, sad? I bet you've never even seen a Silver Coin!" Frans said mockingly

However his face turned ghastly pale when he saw Ethan's hand disappear, and then reappear with a Gold Coin in his grasp.

"You were saying?" Ethan said with a wide grin

"I-i-impossible! How does someone like you have that in this backwater?!"

"Who knows? My next question is, if I give you this, are you and your men willing to serve Lorik Village? Not as Slaves, but as guards."

Frans was struck dumb by Ethans question, but he quickly recovered

"What's to stop us all from running away as soon as you pay us and set us free?" He asked

"Obviously I'm not dumb enough to pay you right away. Even if we release the seals on you and your men now, you'll still have to earn your reward. However, if you prove yourselves capable, I'll even give you the 6 Silver the Empire promised you as a bonus." Ethan stated plainly

"How can I possibly trust you? You could be lying." Frans said

"I guess you'll just need to trust me, Same as I'm trusting you. But if that's not enough...Ahem...I, Ethan Romulus Specter, Do swear to uphold my word of bond with Frans lest the Heavens strike me down!" He shouted to the sky.

A rumbling of thunder echoed in the distance, a seemingly foreboding warning.