章 6: Aftermath of the Dwarven Kingdom
And so the dwarven kingdom of Naphelia was now a part of the empire. The dwarven women and children were kept hidden away during the battle, but they were easily found after a week. They were put to work in the mines. I was thrilled that they could become a part of the Queen's Empire.
The kingdom was run by the dwarven king's heir, but only as a puppet to the Queen. He was very much a coward. We found him hiding in a corner while his men died in battle. At least, the dwarven soldiers were honorable in following a cause, albeit the wrong one.
The blueprints for the bronze giants, electric crossbows, and other machines were found and studied by the Queen's greatest minds. They were mass produced using the machines that the dwarves had. Soon, using electric crossbows were standard. Every roach was equipped with a sword and electric crossbow. Our engineers even improved their design by making them far more accurate.
Bronze giants replaced the need for trolls which were easily decimated during the siege. Trolls were kept as either extra manual labor or food for the soldiers. Troll meat actually tasted pretty good, and lasted longer than usual. Troll meat and bread was the usual meal for roaches.
As for me, I surprisingly became something of an icon. When they saw me and the other two drag the dwarven king out, they thought that we instilled the fear of the Queen in him. Although, I never really felt that way. I just felt like an ordinary roach like any other. I was convinced that anybody else would have done the same as me. And I'd rather believe that the king was afraid of the Queen's full might rather than just myself and two others.
I was sent out to join a squad of roaches. I felt a bond between the other roaches. I began to see them all as brothers and sisters in battle. I made a couple of friends with some of the roaches who remained with me.
The first two I had already met during the siege of Naphelia. The spear roach and lady roach.
However, like Brother, they also gave themselves names.
The roach that carried a spear called himself Doc since he was also adept at medicine. Doc was the one who named the others.
Hornet was the name of the lady roach. She carried two crossbows by her hips. One was the outdated version that used arrows. The other was the new electric crossbow. She also carried a small sword on her back, but barely used it. She preferred to stay back. But I have learned that it wasn't because she was a coward. She was very good at killing creatures from a distance, but when it comes to fighting in front, she was quite weak.
I also met up with some others. There was Viking who was large and bulky. He carried around a giant axe. I remembered him fighting against that many-armed, bronze creature that stood guard outside of the dwarven throne room. He was kind and quiet. However, once battle started, his entire personality changed. He quickly became angry and his destructive power got him far.
Lastly, there was Cutter. He was always brooding and quiet. He was faster than any one of us. He could run in circles around us. He liked to use knives. He rarely threw them unless it was necessary. He felt a passion for getting close up to people and stabbing them in battle.
And while we were all on the same team, Doc tried to come up with a name for me, too. He reminded me a lot like Brother. And just like Brother, Doc was insistent. He came up with names such as Bravery or Honor, considering I was the one who didn't take any steps back from the spider. He also suggested Average, since I wasn't particularly excellent in any one thing. One time, he called me Humble after I told another roach that I wasn't anybody special for capturing the king, alive. In the end, I didn't like any of those kind of names.
When Doc was about to give up, he said, "Fine. I can't really think of anything else. I'll just call you a roach."
"Roach?" I said, "That could work actually. Roach."
And so, I was given my name. Just plain Roach. Nothing special about it, but it defined exactly who I was. A single roach among trillions for the Queen's army.
As for leadership in our battalion, we simply followed the Queen's orders.
Every battle after the siege was quite boring in comparison. We were sent out to maintain the peace. Occasionally we had to put down a revolt or two. We marched carrying our electric crossbows rather than our blades. It was much easier and deadlier than the blade. All they needed was a little pack of lava to run. We carried some strapped to our sides.
For example, during one of the revolts, the peasant took up arms with old swords. The moment we arrived, we just started shooting lightning at them as they charged at us. Those cries for revolution turned to screams. I didn't understand why these creatures would try to go against the Queen. They were alive and given purpose. They provided much needed supplies for the empire. Everybody had a purpose. Nobody was left out. It was paradise inside the empire. And chaos outside.
However, our squad would soon be sent out to join a battalion to fight against another outside faction.
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