The Guardians' Throne - The First Magic Swordsman

As they headed toward the North, the temperature began to decrease, and Zaos recognized the weather; he spent several years of his life enduring such a climate, after all. Nevertheless, they received more guests on the ship along the way, and people like Edea and even Halamar showed up. It seemed that she had transferred to the North over the years to study the behavior of the followers of the demon god, and Halamar had become the personal blacksmith of the bloody knights. It seemed that Zaos' actions caused them a lot of trouble, but they decided not to complain too much about it once they heard the truth.

"I bought a map of the regions of the north that we mapped over the last ten years," Edea said. "I never imagined that, but the northern part of the continent is a lot larger than I had imagined. While there isn't much room to grow crops there, the followers of the demon god never left the area… they only attacked the northern base and some villages now and then to weaken us."

"Why?" Drannor asked.

"Because the demon god was defeated there… I read it in one of the scrolls last month," Dalyor said. "Given that the demons took Milliendra there, the place has some value to them, and they don't want to leave it unguarded."

"It is probably the place where his powers are stronger… the demon god might be able to talk or even control Millie there," Zaos said while rubbing his chin.

"What will they do there?" Nyana asked.

"The followers of the demon god can't do much, but maybe the demon god will show Milliendra something that will fill her heart with dark emotions," Zaos said. "That will make her a good vessel for any demon, and then the demon can use her powers to summon the demon god."

Everyone more or less could imagine what would happen… the demon god would use his powers to tell Milliendra that Zaos and Alen weren't her birth parents, and then he would try to convince her that her birth mother died because of her. For the first time in a while, Zaos trembled in rage. The ones around could almost see a dark aura surrounding him… it would be the worst thing if he were to be possessed by one of the demons, so Zaos quickly cooled his head.

It was hard to know for how long Milliendra would be able to resist that, but they could only hope that Milliendra was strong enough to last until the group found whatever they were in the northern part of the continent. While they read that the final battle took place there, the one who wrote the scroll never mentioned the precise location.

"The goal is to find Milliendra as soon as possible, given that the best way to do that would be by splitting up to cover more ground," Laiex said. "However, in enemy territory, that isn't the best thing to do. Still, we will have to do it and hope that they won't regroup fast enough to crush us with their massive numbers."

"Aleni and I can move faster than most, so we will go toward the North," Zaos said. "We have experience fighting demons, so we will be fine on our own."

"While that seems reasonable, the golden spears and the bloody knights don't have that experience," Cohnal said. "I think it would be better if we decided into two groups and you and captain Drannor to guide us and show that they can be beaten."

"You complained a lot and seemed like you held a grudge against me when we talked six months ago," Zaos said. "Imagine how the bloody knights will feel after following me."

"They will follow their orders, no matter what," Cohnal said. "They might have their reservations toward you, but they know and will realize even more that this next battle isn't one where they should let their anger control them."

Zaos wanted to say no, but in the end, the battle won't end until all demons are dead. Defeating the demon god first and then rescuing Milliendra was his goal, but then things could repeat themselves if other demons were left behind. Not to mention, Zaos had yet to find a way to defeat the demon god for good and make sure that he wouldn't try to come back…

"Well, if you say," Zaos shrugged.

"We have some supply of magic stones now, so to avoid losing soldiers due to the weather conditions or even demons, we will need you to craft copies of the magic ring you gave to His Majesty," Drian said.

That seemed like a pain, and it would take too much time to craft thousands of those, but in the end, that would increase the chances of them succeeding. Besides, few people could use healing magic, and Zaos didn't want to waste it healing people on the battlefield. Maybe his dissatisfaction was due to the fact that he and Aleni have been calling the shots of everything they were related to in the last ten years… those days of freedom were hard but also pretty sweet. Zaos didn't know if he should take Milliendra with him and return to the mercenaries' country, but ruling the place and forgetting about paying for his crimes was also an option. However, he will lose the chance of seeing Milliendra often…

Without wasting any time, Zaos began to work on the magical rings. He will have some time as well to craft them while they explore the lands of the followers of the demon god, but only those near him would be able to receive them…

"In case either of us finds any traces of the large concentrations of demons, we can use these to communicate," Edea said and then passed a magic crystal to Zaos and Drannor. "Hold them tight, and then think strongly about what you want to appear inside, and the same thing will appear on the other. It will be better if you think only of a single word at a time, though."