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Chapter 195: Travelling a thousand kilometers

Finally, on Tuesday, three days from when Eldrian\'s parents came over, Old Sword and all the other leaders of the army returned. For something as big as how the army would go to war, Eldrian expected a speech from Old Sword. This did not happen, though an announcement had been sent down through the ladder of command.

Eldrian naturally skipped this ladder as he actually had no real place in the army. He was a drifter, not part of any squad or in fact really even part of the army. Luckily he was close to both Old Sword and Vivian, which allowed him to stay this way. Else he would likely be sent back to the division where the other players were, as they were placed into a company of their own.

"So, what took so long?" Eldrian asked as soon as he managed to find Vivian, alone. Not wishing to disturb her while she had been talking with the captains, whom she seemed to be fitting in well with.

She did not directly answer, instead first joking around as she hugged Eldrian. "Shouldn\'t you say hi first?" Eldrian embarrassedly and shocked by the hug, replied with a shy high-pitched \'hi\', causing her to giggle and tease him a bit. After which she got down to the details she had learned.

"Each division will be sent to a different city, the cities in the North of the kingdom will take no divisions though, as they are relatively safe. It is actually quite funny..." Vivian paused as she hoped to build suspense, "Taurus actually has a much smaller population than Phallos, most nonhuman kingdoms and empires are like this. Despite this, Taurus is far larger than Phallos and safer than most other human kingdoms."

"We are actually quite lucky to have Taurus between us and the Chaos lands, we would probably have ended up like many other struggling kingdoms if not for this. The wolf beasts that had entered the kingdom were most likely from the Barren lands, and not the Chaos lands."

"Oh, and when I said that the kingdom is larger, I mean far larger. Like, insanely large. Probably even larger than the empire of Floria. Though this comes at a cost as it is surrounded by barren lands. It also does not have a Tier 5 kingdom between it and the chaos lands, hence they directly share a border with the land where the devils normally stay. They are far more used to fighting them, and naturally other beasts and monsters too."

"They had reacted right away to the invasion, not needing any time to actually gather their forces as they are always on standby. All of their armies are also mounted, if a soldier is not a centaur that is. Hence they are able to travel really fast and use hit and run tactics extremely well. They have managed to mostly defend their kingdom, not having lost one city. Though a few villages had been razed."

"In the end, we will only be guarding their cities. We won\'t really be sent out to fight, as we lack the mobility to cover these fast lands. And while they are going to supply us with horses, we are not used to fighting on them. We would rather only use them as a way to travel, to not hurt ourselves."

"Then what are we going to do when there are no enemies?" Eldrian asked, fearing that a routine of training and more training awaited him. Though this fear quickly disappeared as he realized how much safer it would be for the NPCs, Vivian in particular. However, it is certainly true that this would be far less entertaining for players.

"Not too sure... It seems like the first few days we will be shown around the city we are going to defend. After that, I believe we can spend our time as we like. Until a threat is spotted, naturally."

"That doesn\'t sound so bad." Eldrian actually felt this was for the best when thinking of things a bit more. It would give him time to improve, while also allowing him to not leave Vivian for some quest. He quite enjoyed spending time with her, the past few days having far less fun with her gone.

While they were talking, the Generals and Captains had gone and explained the situation to those under them. They would be setting out tomorrow, as soon as the over a hundred thousand horses arrive. With a few magical horses included for the carriages, which will help to stop them from slowing down their march.

Eldrian continued to ask Vivian questions on how the city looked like and what else was discussed. Himself not considering the farmlands they were in as part of the city. He felt it was more only the outer edge, and only because it had a wall surrounding it.

Naturally, they did not just talk, even though they did a lot of it. They also sparred against each other, this time with skills forbidden and Vivian controlling her strength. Allowing Eldrian to not be beaten black and blue. He even managed to enjoy it, especially seeing her frown of disappointment and irritancy when he actually managed to win a match. He would tease her especially hard when he managed to win twice in a row.

Quickly the day passed and the next came, along with the horses. Eldrian did not get a new one though, as he already had a horse. Something which was not common in the army. With only around five thousand people in the army having been mounted before.

It gave quite a different feeling when over a hundred thousand horses started galloping as they left the city. Though they quickly calmed down to a trot which was the speed they actually traveled at. The division was in far less order as most soldiers simply tried to not be thrown off. For many, it was their first time riding a horse.

The horses were surprisingly strong and resilient, able to actually keep at it for four hours with fully armored soldiers riding them. After the four hours of riding, the army would break to feed and water both themselves and the horses.

Eldrian took full advantage of his inventory, and the barrels and baskets he had stored inside to easily feed his and Vivian\'s horses. Having almost filled his inventory now with essentials for living in the wild, along with a month\'s supply of food for four. Leaving only a measly square meter for loot, half of which was already full of weak weapons and random claws.

He, along with most in the division, needed to stretch for quite some time after climbing off their horse each day. Their asses numb from the ride, it was close to torture as they had to climb back on and endure another four hours.

Most of the journey has been peaceful, only small groups of under fifty beasts ever having come into their path. Their path was also not straight as they often needed to go around impassable terrain, be it river or mountain.

Even so, they made good time, most of the time. Their pace constant, traversing close to a hundred kilometers each day. It took them eight days to reach the city where they would be stationed. The distance leaving Eldrian shocked as it would actually have taken an entire day with a car.

The shocking thing though, was that he did not know how much of the kingdom this represented. It could indeed be a considerable part, but it could also be only a fraction. Thinking of this, Eldrian was reminded of the map he had gotten from Boran when he had set out.

Calling up his map, his mouth hung agape as he saw focused on zooming out for a long time. The map he had gotten actually only had a part of Taurus, seemingly focused on the area around the capital of the kingdom, Taur.

On his map, Eldrian could see this city, along with seven others. Three surrounding the capital in a circular pattern, while the other four seemed to spread North, South, East, and West. Eldrian found this interesting and zoomed in, shocked to find that there seemed to be a line connecting these four cities. He assumed it was a wall, which left him astonished as the distance it covered was simply astronomical. The same was present with the other three cities.

Zooming back out, Eldrian searched for where he was. Finding that the distance they had covered seemed to only include the distance from the capital to the three cities inside the square-like formation.

How large is this kingdom? At least ten thousand kilometers. Eldrian mumbled to himself, finding the distance mindboggling and unable as he failed to put this into perspective. Reinforcing into him the fact that this world was ridiculously large.

Turning his attention back to the city in front of him, Eldrian looked at the elevated hill upon which the same ten-meter-high walls stood. Dotted with gatehouses every kilometer, with the extra-large ones every five kilometers stretching into the distance.

So they really do even make the hill!Was the only thing Eldrian thought of as the division was quickly led into the city.