บท 59: A small yet heavy word

The cries of vulture's filled the atmosphere as they feasted on a dead soldier's body. Silence reigned supreme while the neigh of a horse walking was the only thing to be heard. No breath of life, no movement nothing. Rivers of blood streaked through the ground passing the anguished faces of the fallen. Some had looks of rage, some had ones of despair.

War, a small yet heavy word.

Amadeus overlooked the aftermath of the battle with a complex look. It was one sided, completely, no one had expected Amadeus to suddenly arrive at the western front. Sleipnir's eight legs gently carried his owner over the battlefield and to the refugee camp. Thousands had needed aid and supplies arrived in haste after the battle had transpired.

Amadeus kept having a nagging feeling in his heart, that something wasn't right. However, no matter what he thought of, he couldn't think of a reason. Passing the camp, Amadeus slowly had Sleipnir slowly trot to where the core of the opposing army was and found the Marquis in chains on the ground. He had lost an arm and the light in his eyes had passed, leaving a mere husk of a man.

As for his personal troops, some of the surviving soldiers were stripped of their armour and kept in chains while some of them were kept to the side. These were the ones that had put their arms down and rebelled when needed as they were against the Marquis' actions. The former were ones that were loyal to none other than the Marquis.

The Marquis kneeled in the middle as Amadeus got off the horse and walked towards the downtrodden man. The Blades surrounded him while Milo came next to him. His armour was bloodied but his vigour remained sky high. Amadeus nodded and a commotion was heard. A woman with a baby in her hands along with a child around Amadeus' age was pushed out. Like the man, the woman had lost all hope in her eyes as she had been caught.

Her grip tightened as she held the baby and led the other child behind her, her protective motherly instincts appearing. With them being pushed out, Milo had frowned in confusion, but Amadeus' eyes remained the same as Irene moved up to the Marquis.

"Michael Evans, do you have any words in response to the crimes you have committed?"

The ex-marquis never answered as all the hope in his eyes were lost. No answers would be heard from the man.

Amadeus opened his mouth before Irene could continue.

"Michael Evans…"

The man finally moved as he looked at Amadeus.

"As you have served my father, I'll allow you to be executed with your family and your loyal troops."

As soon as he said that various screams were heard but Amadeus was unresponsive. The women started to silently sob and a look of realisation appeared on the young boy's face. With a nod the baby in the hands of the mother was taken away and she was pushed to kneel next to her husband with her eldest son. Along with the baby, a few key personnel were also shackled and taken away. The child had tears in his eyes but Amadeus' hand went up and with one swift motion swiped down. No hesitation was seen as the executors swung their blades.

Milo stood there in shock, but Amadeus turned to Irene.

"Spread the news, Marquis Evans along with his family and his loyal soldiers have been executed. It should push down the other groups morale."

Looking at Milo, he passed him as he patted his shoulder. Milo wasn't shocked at the death of the soldiers he was surprised by the lack of hesitance in Amadeus' actions. Although they were dragons, they weren't unemotional.

Once Amadeus was done, he had Milo recapture the lost cities and take down the Marquis' estate. After having captured the previous Marquis, only a bit of resistance was present, but that was also pushed down.

According to Amadeus' thoughts, the morale of the other army was indeed rather low.

With Celer pushing them back, and the spies doing their jobs creating dissent. People leaving were the least of their worries. Marquis Karzox ended up taking poison while Glend fiercely resisted. Yet when the soldiers started whittling down, he ended up waving the white flag.

As Celer was returning with the prisoners he had found a magic circle in Glend's head. Suddenly the magic became erratic and Celer shouted,

"BRACE FOR COVER!"

With an explosion Glend and any important personnel had their heads burst like watermelons. Getting back up, Celer had a grim look on his face as any answers he wanted had been buried. Sending his report to Amadeus, the latter frowned as no such circle was found on his side.

However, it seemed that bad news came in pairs as another grave news ended up reaching his ears. The teleportation circles that allowed armies to move from the capital and the four main cities had been sabotaged.

While the attention of the empire was here, someone had decided to sabotage one of the Empire's key strategic points. No such news was heard from the capital so that was a sigh of relief, but it bodes ill that something like this has happened.

Amadeus didn't know what it was, but it seemed that he was still complacent with certain things. Narrowing his eyes, Sleipnir and the Blades met up with the army they left with and returned home to cheers. Amadeus could see the smiles of citizens along with worried looks, looking for people in the returning army. Some held hope and smiled while some kept looking. Once more, Amadeus was able to see horrors of war.

The next day a memorial was held for the fallen soldiers and a holiday was announced for the next two days. The families of the lost were compensated while aid was sent to the cities that were ravaged by the war. Especially the west, where Marquis Evans and his soldiers had run rampant.

While the news of the emperor's actions spread, the imperial guard got to work. Unlike the Blades, that were focused on protecting the Emperor, Empress and the Crown Prince, the imperial guard was divided into many divisions. The first guard protected the palace, and the second guard protected any other imperial members. The third guard had a special status, they were also known as the royal police.

Unlike the normal police form that looked at crimes in general, the royal police were the sword of Damascus atop the official's heads and oversaw the crimes where the police didn't have enough authority to cover. With the help of his maids that controlled the forces in the shadows, the royal police ended up paying a visit to the houses of many officials.

With the authority to kill before questioning, many officials didn't put up an ounce of resistance as links to the coup were slowly unearthed. Many heads rolled as even the smallest conspirer was unearthed and their families were also captured. Despite some falling through the net, most of them were caught.

With the reports coming in one by one and having people sent to repair the transportation gates, his grandmother's teaching came to pass,

"Pride and fear nourish the seed of greed…"

With the current cleansing, Drakonis had lost many talents, with the workload of the Duke's and the Prime Minister increasing. Still, Amadeus was able to get rid of a cancerous tumour that would have negatively affected the empire down the line. Although the peace treaty was still in effect, the Dragon Army reinforced the border.

Within his study, the light snoring of the little wind dragon called Eurus resounded throughout the room. They weren't particularly loud but they could be heard. She got bored waiting for Amadeus to finish work and ended up falling asleep. She had grasped the plushie dragon with strength and drool left her mouth. A light giggle would be added into the snoring, letting Amadeus know that she was having a pleasant dream. While a blanket was placed over her, she had long kicked it off.

Currently, there were many things that he had to take care of. His workload had also increased, he needed to take part in the reward ceremonies, giving credit where it was due. Many talents had weaved their way towards the capital and after a massive screening, he himself would need to do a final one with the most exceptional individuals and look at the recent graduates of Drakonis that were able to attend Nature Academy.

With the new recruitment of officials also taking place, he would need to go to the country's royal academy to also look at the talent and graduates there. While all the light work would be handed down to their relevant people, the core issues would need to be handled by him.

Amadeus finished the last of his paperwork and leant back, rubbing his face. While his eyes were closed, the face of the marquis' child despairing appeared. It had left as soon as it came, killing people with a sword and killing people with a wave of hand were two entirely different feelings.

Getting up, he picked up Eurus and laid her head on his shoulder before he started walking to her room. The sun had started to set but the training grounds was livelier than norm.

Arius was constantly sparring with the knights as he seemed to not give up.

"Your highness, we can take the young princess."

His maids wanted to take her off, but Amadeus shook his head. Looking at the training grounds it wasn't long until Arius collapsed due to exhaustion as many people rushed to his aid. Irene came next to him and whispered in his ear.

They had found the culprits.

Amadeus, changed his plans from greeting his younger brother and immediately went to put Eurus to bed before heading to the meeting chambers. Arius saw his brother's maids from the corner of his eyes, but they disappeared round the corner.

Putting the girl to sleep, Amadeus immediately left and quickly moved through the palace. It wasn't long until he reached the palace's emergency meeting room.

"We greet the sun of the empire!"

Five projections bowed as Amadeus sat at the head of the table.

"Let's get straight to the point. Celer."

"Yes, your highness."

Celer pushed his glasses up a bit before continuing,

"After the weird death of the enemy forces, I realised that the magic circle in their heads seemed very familiar."

"Look at this."

A projection of the document appeared in the middle of the meeting room. Notes written in the continents common language, but what stood out the most was,

"Draconic Runes written backwards…"

"Indeed, Milos."

Amadeus interrupted them,

"Celer what are you saying, that thing is supposed to be dead, my grandfather personally separated its head from its body."

"I understand your misgiving your highness, but although the being is dead, the ideals may live on."

Amadeus fell into contemplation as he started processing the information. Celer continued,

"We have also received this."

This time the projection of the video disappeared and what replaced it was a letter. All that it said,

– This is not the end –

With a black foot below. Henrik, the current prime minister spoke out,

"It's the black foot?"

Another projection started speaking,

"Although, they have been around for some time, their fangs never reached into the empire…"

Celer listened to the projections as Veronica started speaking,

"There's evidence that the black foot have had a play in the rebellion that took place in the Mirista kingdom."

Amadeus remained in thought as the projections started debating, well apart from one, as projection of two young girls. As the debate died down, Amadeus spoke up

"This changes things, if it's found that the Black Foot have any sort of relation with that being then they are not allowed to exist."

Turning to the bat demi-human,

"Henrik."

"Yes, your highness."

"The meeting with the talents, push it ahead. We are short in hands, we can put their abilities to this situation."

"As you wish, your highness."

With that Henrik's projection disappeared.

"Milos strengthen the guard at the border."

Amadeus then looked at Veronica

"Veronica you can take charge of the investigation, I'll send the recruits to work under you. Give help in any way you can but your priority would be to only overlook this investigation. Only get involved if lives are at stake. The secret corps will lend a hand."

"Celer continue researching the rune, although we have ways to counter them, we need to trace it back to its source."

He then turned his head towards the twins.

"Chandra and Selene, the both of you will be in charge making sure nothing escapes."

"You are all dismissed."

"Yes, your highness!"

(Author's note has a quick refresher on the characters mentioned in the chapter, I think that's all of them.)