The Sage of Einar

When the ram forcibly opened the gate to the burning city, a wave of heat could be felt coming out of that hole.

The soldiers who were controlling the ram could not bear the heat, so they had to move away, leaving the weapon under siege.

Ludovico and his daughter, who were in the front line, could also feel the heatwave, so they did not want to approach it because they had to wait for the fire to subside.

But despite this, they could see the hell that was developing in the city, and at that moment they understood that they would not see new enemies.

Ludovico at seeing what he had provoked could only laugh with pride and pointing to the door shouted enthusiastically.

"All of you soldiers who are here watching this can be sure that this is the fate that lies in store for all the damned traitors who dare to fight against me or against the empire.

Well, I am the emperor and I am the greatest representative in the empire, therefore any attack on me is an attack on the safety of all of us.

Do not feel sorry for any of them since I am sure they died suffering and in the flames that the fire burned their souls because that is the punishment they deserve for being traitors.

Now, my soldiers to celebrate this glorious victory, I want you to sacrifice all the animals you have got from the nearby villages.

All of you have earned that meat because with today's actions we have killed one enemy of the empire.

But remember that once the fire is extinguished in that city, I want you to enter and destroy the remains of the houses and buildings that may exist.

However, the most important thing is that all corpses must be hung from the walls, it does not matter if they are children or adults; it does not matter they must be hung and displayed as a warning sign.

As for any survivor that I could see, I want them to assassinate them immediately, just remember that there is one person who they should not assassinate, and that is Bishop Prisco.

Well, that bastard I'm going to kill myself, so be careful when you checked the corpses and in case you find the corpse of that bastard.

I want them to bring him in front of me because even dead he will not receive a burial worthy of a Bishop.

Since what he did was a sacrilege for the empire and for the other wounded followers who follow the rules that we have imposed.

So drink and eat because today is a holiday, soldiers, you have heard me! "

All the soldiers who were extremely grateful for the words of the emperor raised their weapons and shouted

"Hail Emperor Ludovico!

Hail Emperor Ludovico! "

After this, all the troops that had prepared to die followed the orders of the emperor and began a real slaughter of animals that had belonged to the nearby villages.

Cows, Chickens, Sheep, and any other animal that had meat was slaughtered and immediately to be cooked without wasting a single piece of meat.

Hundreds of bonfires were lit on the outskirts of that city of flames, causing the fire inside to be relegated to second place.

In addition, all this covered the aroma of the barbecue that came from all the people who had died in that city.

Ludovico, who had a lamb's leg in his hand, took a big bite and with the help of his daughter, he lived with a large mug of beer.

"Adelaide, you don't think this view of that city is too beautiful, I don't even believe that perhaps this method of extermination is bad.

We do not risk the soldiers and let them completely incinerate anything within defensive walls.

It may seem like an extreme method, but I don't think it will be very complicated to do, although we could also throw corpses and wait for the disease to spread through the malignant miasma they release.

But on second thought that would be a very bad idea because our troops would have to enter the city and at that moment we could be victims of that damn miasma. "

Adelaide only smiled at her father's words, "I think the method you are using is perfect since with fire you end up burning your enemies.

All we have to do is wait for the fire to calm down so we can see if we have exterminated all the enemies. "

Ludovico smiled and continued enjoying the lamb meat he had in his hand, as each bite he took made him enjoy the taste of cooked meat.

That with the aroma of burnt meat in the environment made him enjoy one more of the flavor.

After a while Ludovico could see that the fire in the city was beginning to decrease, so he ordered his guards and soldiers to start making a human chain to transport snow to pay for what was left of the fires in the city.

To do this, they would have to place giant snowballs in the onagers, which would be thrown over the city because the heat that kept coming out of that door was still too much.

All the soldiers and guards following the orders of the emperor began to fill buckets with snow, which were quickly carried towards the onagers.

Once it reached the siege engines, the engineers placed them in the ammunition receiver where they began to form large snow spheres and when they were already the correct size.

They were thrown towards the city where they ended up falling in random parts causing the large fires that were still in the city to slowly begin to extinguish.

After throwing big snowballs for about 3 hours and with the light of sunset, Ludovico and the troops were able to enter the walled city.

The first thing they could see was numerous corpses that were near the door, but due to the fire, they could not even get close.

It was then that a group of soldiers following the orders that Emperor Lodovico had given on the corpses approached them and they could see that they were scorched and with quite strange postures.

But in spite of that, and containing their desire to vomit, the soldiers took them and using ropes tied them around the necks or around the waist in the case of children.

To later climb the city walls and start hanging them on the stones, in just a few minutes hundreds of corpses began to be hung.

Creating a rather creepy image that caused the soldiers to shudder at what the emperor had done.

Well, although they were traitors, they were also Christians like them, so at least they deserved a sacred burial.

Although absolutely no one dared to question the emperor's orders, because if they did, they could only end up hanging perhaps on that wall along with the rest of the corpses of women, men, and children.

Ludovico for his part began to walk towards the local church was destroyed, he realized that some stones managed to hit the bell tower of the church, and therefore the front part had collapsed.

But the other damage came from the fire which had burned the pillars that supported the roof of the church.

"It is a shame that such a beautiful church had to be destroyed because of those damned traitors, but in return, I will build five even more splendid Churches to safeguard that God does not get angry for having destroyed one of their temples.

Soldiers enter the ruins of the church and look for the corpse of that cursed traitor of Prisco who finds it will receive five gold coins. "

At the end of saying those words, the soldiers who are accompanying the emperor will begin to run frantically towards the ruins of the church, looking for the corpse of the former bishop of that city.

In the search in those ruins, the soldiers found many corpses of children who seemed to have taken refuge in the church trying to find relief from the chaos outside, but unfortunately, the fire and the roof that had fallen on them simply ended up killing them.

Many soldiers simply knew that the corpse belonged to a child by the size they were, as opposed to the size of a corpse of an older person.

One of the soldiers he was looking for was surprised when he found a small altar which seemed to be intact as there was no trace of fire, although on closer inspection he felt a chill when he could see that there was a skeleton that seemed to have horns.

Swallowing, he began to say one of the prayers he knew. After finding nothing of value, the soldier quickly reported his discovery to his sergeant who in turn informed the emperor about what they had found.

Ludovico, when he saw the skull, could only form a smile on his face, and giving his daughter a pat on the shoulder he looked at her with joy

"You should inform Gautier to send a letter to Rome and to the rest of the nobles because it seems that Bishop Prisco was doing something illegal in his church.

As for the skull, I think it would be better to take it to Rome as it would be an excellent gift for the holy pontiff, alarm I don't want to have anything to do with that skull because even though it looks human, I'm not sure what it belongs to. "