I started to regain consciousness again; my head was throbbing in pain from yet another experience of fainting. I need to remind myself to stop doing or at the very least make the recovery from it because it was never a good feeling. Though knowing myself there’s a good chance of it happening regardless.

  First things first, I need to figure out my current predicament. Considering I’m still able to even think of figuring things out I should conclude that at the least I survived so that’s a good start. I noticed immediately that I wasn’t able to move, probably because of how much I exhausted my body earlier. I would have to be really lucky to be able to move any part of my body at all after that.

  Though…. this lack of ability to move doesn’t feel like exhaustion alone, in fact…. this feels rather familiar…. Oh right…. That’s because it is…

  As if to prove my point I felt a few droplets fall on the top of my head as I began to hear the sounds of crying loud enough to rupture my ears!

  “I’m so glad you’re alive Vladdy!!!!”

  I heard the loud cries of Damian who, as I suspected while hugging me tightly, felt less like the usual affection but one of worry and relief. Considering the state I was in; I couldn’t really blame him. Guess I can’t complain about the hug now….

  Still, I need to get an update on how the conquest is going. I doubt I could get much information from Damian while he’s like this, instead I decided to just call the rest of my henchmen.

  “Mordred, Zeph, how are things in your end?”

  It was only a few seconds before I started to hear Zephyrus’ voice. “All the civilians are safe and accounted for Vlad.”

  From Mordred’s end well…. “Rarggh!! HAHAHA Come at me!!!”

  …it seems like he’s pretty occupied at the moment. Hopefully he remembers not to kill them. I probably should go check on my minions as well since I left them to their own devices up on the walls. But since I can’t move right now, I’ll need to get some help.

  “Zeph, I need you to take to the skies and inform me on how things are doing both outside the gates as well as my minions who should still be on top of the walls.”

  “Roger that bossman.” The vulture Beastman responded, soon enough I could see him up in the sky. Circling around and observing everything below. “Hmm, seems your muscle-bound guard is going at it, taking down a swarm of the soldiers on mass. I can’t really be sure from this distance, but it doesn’t look like they’re dead at least”

  That’s good to hear, the more of them alive the more I can recruit them to my growing army. How I’m going to convince them will be something for me to deal with later in the meantime Zeph continued with his report.

  “As for the minions you left at the walls… huh seems they’re holding on their own just fine. The orc they had with them is handling the bulk of the enemies while the rest of them are picking off the rest. Though…. They all look pretty beat up. Want me to give them some support?”

  Thinking about it, it doesn’t hurt to give them some extra help. I’d go myself if I wasn’t too beat up myself. “Yeah, go ahead.”

  “Understood Bossman, I’ll just let Alex takeover on keeping the civilians safe. They’d probably be a lot more comfortable with him over me or the kobolds you lent me. I’ll let you know how it went once we’re done, wish me luck”

  Right, I nearly forgotten I teamed him up with the three stooges. Hopefully they didn’t slow him down too much. Right now, I still have some work to do. Luckily it seemed Damian calmed down a bit.

  “You ok now?”

  He slowly nodded as he started to snuggle on top of my head. I swear he’s more like a giant teddy bear than his moniker ‘The Quiet Black Beast’. I need him to focus for now though. “Hey, we’re still not done here. Where are the minions I assigned with you?”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  The bear silently pointed at a certain direction and sure enough my group of minions were standing nearby with a certain…. expression on their faces. There was a mix of shock and relief in them, though it seemed more because of my own exhausted body rather than the hug fest Damian was giving me. Guess they were more worried for me rather than weirded out by the current affection given.

  “Alright so I need you to tell me how it went in breaking down the walls.” I ordered.

  Damian calmed himself down as he started to recap things from his end. “…. Things went smoothly for us, managed to break through without problem…. but we had a few small groups of soldiers who probably were sent to investigate the incident…. We took care of them.”

  Glad things worked out for his group, now on to the next step. “Good, now I need you to help Mordred by attacking the enemy from behind. We’re going to surprise them with a pincer attack!”

  Damian nodded and got up, though he didn’t let go of me. Since I still couldn’t move at the time, I had no choice but to let him carry me…… how embarrassing… well at least he’s carrying me on his back rather than on his arms… I made sure to get him to grab some stuff for me for later.

  We began the move; with the Knight Commander dead the rest of the conquest should be easy. But just as I was thinking this Damian started to speak, his tone serious. “…. Did you kill him?”

  … It was pretty easy to tell just by looking at him, I’m betting the rest of his group noticed it as well but none of them wanted to bring it up. Guess Damian decided to break the ice instead. Still how should I answer him? Damian had originally followed me because I let act more like himself and that he thinks I’m ‘cute’. Would his opinion on me change, well guess it wouldn’t matter. He probably already has an idea so best to just get it over with and answer him.

  “…Yeah, he’s too dangerous to keep alive.”

  We continued to move but his body didn’t show any sign of a reaction as he continued. “…. But that isn’t the only reason….is it?”

  …. Can’t exactly deny that. It’s true, just thinking about that man reminds me of the ritual with my fellow kobold. I stayed silent as a response and the bear Beastman noticed so he made a simple statement.

  “… I won’t ask for details …. Just know I still support you Vladdy.”

  Heh, guess I had nothing to worry about. Maybe I’ll properly tell the others later after we’re done here. For now, it’s time we finished this conquest. We continued our movement through the kingdom, indeed there didn’t seem to be any citizens wandering through this mess. I’ll have to thank Zeph properly for his assistance.

  It didn’t take long before we reached the entrance of the gate, all hell broke loose as sounds of fighting could be heard outside. There were several soldiers who were panicking as they tried to take control of the situation. Many of them were scared out of their mind, yelling stuff like “We’re doomed!!” and “This is madness!!”

  Now was the time to strike! Unfortunately, I’m still too tapped out from my earlier fight to properly help so instead I gave everyone their instructions. “Alright everyone, time for a surprise attack!!”

  My minions roared in response as they began to rush through to the gates, surprising the soldiers as they frantically pulled their weapons. But we were faster, the small minions provided back up with arrows and opportunity attacks. While the one orc with us had already started to swing his own weapon around and was mowing them down easily. Their armor being the only thing keeping them alive. Reminder that I’ll have to have a talk with him later about holding back. As if sensing my glare, my orc stopped and nervously chuckled.

  Compared to that Mordred at the very least seems to be keeping his strength in check, even if that manic laughter and the look of pure bloodthirsty enjoyment said otherwise.

  “RRRAAGGGHHH COME AT ME!! I’LL SHOW YOU THE FULL MIGHT AS MY BOSS’ WEAPON!!” My minotaur proudly proclaimed.

  He continued to take down the surrounding soldiers ganging up on him and, unlike my orc earlier managed to only knock each of them down. Even better, he seems only mildly harmed. It seemed they could hardly make a dent through his sheer durability.

  He kept at it with little signs of stopping until he noticed us. “Oh hey bos-…. wait Damian? Why is he riding on your back?!”

  Whoops, better handle this before he gets too distracted. “Damian quick, throw me towards Mordred!”

  “…. huh?” The bear Beastman could only look behind me in puzzlement. Indeed, I’m asking him something weird, but we don’t have time right now.

  “Just do it!” I ordered him.

  Damian silently nodded as he picked me up from behind him, noticeably quite gently too. Then with little effort threw me in the air and aimed straight for Mordred. Seeing this, my minotaur panicked as he quickly used his hands to grab me before he started to berate Damian for his reckless actions.

  “Hey, what was that for you damn bear?! Why did you throw the boss?!”

  It took me a second to recover from being tossed, shaking my head before I tapped on his shoulder to get his attention. All the while the soldiers around us looked at us dumbfounded, forgetting that they had a good opportunity to attack while Mordred was distracted.

  “You wanted me to ride on your shoulder, didn’t you? I told him to throw me to you so you wouldn’t get distracted over something silly. Now worry about that nonsense later and get back to the fight!” I ordered him as I got on my usual comfy seat, my body feeling slightly more recovered.

  “Heh, you got it boss!!” He readied his stance, weapon in hand. His bloodthirsty look of joy drastically increased with me on his side.

  Finally, it was time to conclude this conquest of the Mivtic Kingdom!