Slimes & Magic

35. A declaration of war

In the capital city of the empire, Grothur, the emperors palace has become quite the noisy place. Soromon, the Emperor, had received word that a city was being built in the jungle forest on the borders of the empire. What made him even more infuriated is that there were non-humans living there, in the jungle that Soromon considered to be a part of his empire. What's more, rumours coming from the nearest town said that the one who was in charge of this new city was none other than a weak slime monster. Infuriated by it all the emperor immediately called for his chief of military and declared on the spot that they would gather their army and march on this city immediately. He wants to see the city razed to the ground within a month. Soromon then sends a messenger to the guild, so they can relay a message to the new city, saying three single words; Surrender or die.

---

Everyone who heard her declaration immediately swarmed them at the table, voicing concerns and demanding clarification. Obviously, a declaration of war is not something that can be taken lightly, especially from the empire. Hearing the commotion the Lizardman captain of the guard Lando shows up and takes a handle of the situation, urging the citizens to go back to their work. Meanwhile Alex called together every important member of staff together to discuss their brand new problem.
"*Alright everyone, thanks for showing up on such short notice, but it seems that we have ourselves an emergency. Iris, if you could elaborate a bit please.*" Alex starts them off, 'handing the microphone' over to Iris.
"*Well I just received a declaration of war through the guild in the capital of the empire, saying; Surrender or die.*" she explains, practically shaking the table out of fear. All around the table everyone shivers as she said this, those who know the history of the empire seem to go ghostly white.
"*That is quite worrying. Neither myself nor the jungle villagers are familiar with the history of the empire, what exactly makes you guys so scared?*" Alex asks, looking at their adventurer friends.
"*Well, the last time that the empire waged war it really was for two main reasons, first to expand, and second to get rid of those who the emperor considers pests.*" May speaks up carefully
"*Pests?*"
"*Yes, that would be all non-human species...*" Iris says quietly, seemingly traumatized by something, being a harpy herself. Apparently, Her ancestors had to flee from their home town in the small mountain range to the east of the jungle. Around 150 years ago the empires forces marched on their town and ended up slaughtering most of the citizens, only the lucky few ended up escaping. It seems that the same applied to all other demi-human settlements that lay in the territory that is now the empire. Iris didn't experience this herself, but was told by her grandparents, as well as having learned about it all during her time with the guild. As the guild spreads over the entire continent they made all the staff learn the history, which led to Iris having to read reports and accounts of the survivors. It seemed that the emperor had been made aware of Alex rebuilding Zonia, and considered it to fall within his empires borders, hence the declaration of war.
"*Wait wait, doesn't that make the emperor more than 150 years old now? isn't he human?*" Alex asks as they all consider what Iris just told them.
"*Rumour around the capital was that he's using some form of dark and evil magic to increase his lifespan.*" Elvan informs everyone.
"*Yeah, no one in the empire is able to remember the events of the war anyways so there really isn't any real hostility towards non-humans in the general population.*" Carl adds
"*Mostly those in the army are most affected by the emperors ideals.*" An adventurer from the empire speaks up.
"*Alright, so considering that the army will show up, what's our time-frame? and what kind of force can we expect?*" Lando asks, asking the question Alex is most interested in.
"*Looking at history, I think we can assume that the emperor will move as fast as he can. My guess is that he'll gather what men he has in the capital and start moving immediately, picking up more soldiers along the way.*" Gerald explains
"*That would put his time of arrival in around a month from now*" Iris adds after a quick mental calculation.
"*And the size of his force then?*" Alex prompts them.
"*The emperors strategy generally revolves around steamrolling his enemies with numbers, probably a force of 5000 or more, likely including some of his elites from the capital.*" Iris explains
"*That's assuming he doesn't know how much stronger ancient magic is with our new techniques. While we'd be outnumbered, I'm fairly confident each one of our adventurers here can take on several imperial troops.*" Carl assesses the situation quite confidently.
"*We'll have to increase our training then, also focusing on battles against large numbers.*" Lando comments, already thinking ahead.
"*Yeah, makin yall weapons gona be important too. There's a lot of things that need to be done.*" Liz adds on, sighing and leaning her chin on her hands.
"*Yeah you're right, this is way outside of what we were expecting.*" Alex finally adds, marking the start of their conversation on what has to be done in order to defend from the empire.