Chapter 826 Derene City On the most normal mount used by the army troops, a red-eyed horse that added +65 points of Agility to its rider but had no combat capability worth of mentioning, Bai Zemin looked at the great city walls in front of him.
Perfectly white walls, free of cracks as if they had never experienced any kind of enemy attack and as if time itself could not weaken their defenses. However, after having been in this world for almost an entire month, Bai Zemin learned that the appearances of structures were often misleading.
A silver-scaled lizard emerged from among the army troops. Riding the Second Order mutant beast, King Felix Di Dazia stopped next to Bai Zemin's mount with his eyes gazing at the city in the distance.
After a few seconds of silence, the king of Dazia introduced, "This is Derene City, the last city that probably has about 50,000 soldiers of the Maiston Kingdom and around 2,000,000 citizens, maybe more, but definitely not by too much."
A new mount approached the duo, this time a simple red-eyed horse. However, no one dared to look down on the horse's rider as she was the Second Princess of Gales.
"I remember reading regarding Derene City in the past while studying the geography of the Maiston Kingdom. It was built over 9800 years ago and is considered one of the first human cities raised by the ancestors during the beginning of our world's evolution. Many tried to overthrow Derene City over the years, from humans and mutant beasts to demons and wild plants or wandering orcs, however, they all failed not only because of the robustness of its walls but also because of the bravery of the soldiers who always fight to the death to protect its boundaries."
Bai Zemin kept his eyes fixed in the distance as Seraphina's sweet, youthful voice entered his ears.
"It is said that beneath Derene City lies a secret passageway leading to a shrine that only the king of each generation affiliated to the Maiston Kingdom is allowed to access. Apparently, a great defensive treasure that turns the city walls into an indestructible fortress is hidden there."
Bai Zemin nodded silently as he thought of what to do at the same time as the events that occurred during the past four days became clearer in his memory.
Leaving a total of 500,000 soul evolvers behind, the territory of the Maiston Kingdom finally fell into the hands of the Gales Kingdom with four of its five major cities completely occupied with the only remnant being this Derene City before him. Although there was still a lot of political work to be done, that was not Bai Zemin's business as it would not be easy to get the citizens of Maiston to fully agree about joining Gales; at least, not in this generation, and Bai Zemin did not have time to play simcity in this world.
His goal was to keep his word, to give King Philip the opportunity to rule over the humanity of Eventide World. As for what would happen after that, Bai Zemin was unable to decide since he would be returning to Earth when his mission was complete.
Bai Zemin nimbly climbed down from his mount and as he walked off drew his signature weapon as slowly approached the doors of the apparently impenetrable city.
Seraphina climbed down from her mount and quickly followed close behind. Seeing him looking at her in confusion, she snorted, "You only know how to settle everything with your fists but this princess is more civilized and can convince people with reasonable words. Don't tell me you already forgot what happened two days ago in Anclas City?"
Remembering how two days ago he almost destroyed a city to make the soldiers inside come out to surrender but Seraphina managed to make the troops of the Maiston Kingdom surrender after several minutes, Bai Zemin wisely shut his mouth and continued to move towards the city before them.
Surprisingly, however, not only did Bai Zemin not have to raise his greatsword to cut through the walls but Seraphina did not even have to open her mouth to say anything.
Rumble... The ground trembled slightly as under the watchful eyes of the army in the distance the large double doors of Derene City began to move backwards.
Bai Zemin narrowed his eyes and subconsciously used his body to protect the little princess behind him as mages were defensively weaker by nature. At the same time, his eyes moved along the towers located on top of the walls and he noticed that each of them seemed to have two peculiar-looking cannons on the sides.
Soon, a couple consisting of a man and a woman emerged from inside the city.
There were no soldiers or powerful guards protecting this couple even though both were clearly people of great status in the city and thus in the defeated Maiston Kingdom. The woman was beautiful and the man handsome, both walked with elegance and wore expensive silk clothing.
"Kind warriors of Gales, please don't attack!" the man shouted as he tried to raise higher the white flag tied to a wooden pole.
'It seems that raising the white flag is considered a symbol of surrender or peace everywhere regardless of kingdom or world.' Bai Zemin shook his head secretly not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
* * * The army led by Bai Zemin entered Derene City without difficulty or hindrance once the doors were opened wide.
The citizens of the Maiston Kingdom watched in fear and apprehension from the sides of the main road as the large army of soul evolvers and mutant beasts entered the city. These soldiers had experienced real wars and many of them still had wounds to heal or stains of enemy blood that had dried on their armor.
Seeing the fear in the eyes of the adults and older ones, Bai Zemin could not help but frown.
"Lord Bai, is there something bothering you?" Noticing the frown on Bai Zemin's face, the young man asked while riding a red-eyed horse that a soldier had passed to him.
"... It's nothing." Bai Zemin shook his head before casually ordering, "Organize the citizens to gather in the vicinity of the central city square first, Princess Seraphina will give a speech when the sun begins to descend."
Despite being confused, the young man nodded and quickly rode off on the horse to make preparations as he had been instructed. As for the beautiful woman, she was in charge of leading Bai Zemin, Seraphina, and the king of Dazia to the most luxurious mansion in Derene City which from now on would be the place where they would be staying.
Before leaving, Bai Zemin called General Lazas and ordered in a deep voice: "General, send scouts to the north, only a small number of men will do. Also, be sure to move our trusted men to assure the key places in the city; especially the towers on the walls. Let the soldiers take short rotations to allow them to recover the energy lost during the last few days."
General Lazas nodded without hesitation and after a typical Eventide World military salute took the troops with him to set up a camp just north of Derene City, only 100 meters from the north entrance.
Approximately 40 minutes later, Bai Zemin was with his eyes closed and his body almost completely submerged in a large pool of warm water inside a giant bath that could easily become a large house on its own if the proper divisions were made.
The walls were covered with a strange silver paper or cloth that was immune to moisture but slightly glossy, large thick round columns over 5 meters high connected the white marble floor to the roof.
The bathroom was practically completely covered with steam, making the temperature feel hot but pleasant. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of water falling into the pool from the large waterfall cascading down from both sides walls.
"Phew... Even though my body was clean thanks to the impurities being flushed out by my own system because of the purity of my soul, not taking a shower for 2 days really doesn't feel nice."
Bai Zemin's voice sounded lazily within the four wide walls.
Because the army did not even stop to sleep for the past two days in order to quickly reach the north of the Maiston Kingdom, neither Bai Zemin nor anyone else had the opportunity to take a proper bath or rest. That was precisely why he had ordered General Lazas to have the soldiers take short turns so that they could rest.
What Bai Zemin did not know was that while he was taking a shower, Seraphina was being led to the same bath he was in by the beautiful woman who had opened the city doors to prevent the troops stationed in Derene City from having to face off against the seemingly unstoppable troops of Gales.
"Princess Seraphina, I am sure you must be feeling both physically and mentally exhausted after traveling for long days alongside the army." Said the woman whose name was Ruth, daughter of the mayor of Derene City.
Seraphina sighed and nodded subconsciously, "I think I understand the difficulties of the army a little better now. Hopefully and this foolish war will be over soon."
"Her Majesty Seraphina's kindness and gentleness have become widely known by the army of Gales, even the troops of our defeated Maiston Kingdom were heard saying good words about you. Such a young princess joining the army for the sake of being together with her beloved even in times of war will definitely become a story that will be narrated for years to come." Ruth's eyes glistened slightly as she paused in front of the huge bathroom door.
"Beloved?" Seraphina frowned slightly feeling that something was wrong.
Unfortunately, the young woman named Ruth didn't give her too much time to think.
"Come in, I'm sure you'll be able to relax in here." said as she opened the doors wide.

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