"Please do visit my store when you are in Emilio, esteemed sir~! My Ember's Song will always welcome you~!" Louise yelled while she waved energetically with a smile on her face as her wagons creaked away down the western fork of the road junction, the broken wheel of her second carriage now replaced with a new one that Xin created with magic from the remnants of the original broken wheel at Zarba's request to help the merchant out.
Zarba saw the female merchant's exaggerated bow to him one last time on the wagon and nearly toppled her turban to the ground, but she caught it with practiced ease before she shot Zarba a silly wink that made Xin, who was beside Zarba, huff with a slightly displeased look. If Xin weren't such a magnanimous woman, she would have cursed Louise with a severe bowel movement curse spell already.
Zarba's group watched as Louise finally left with her hired guards on the wagons heading towards the town of Emilio before Zarba's group also resumed travel again with their carriage wheels kicking up dust as they moved northeast along with the Zar-Bros escorting them on the road where wild grasses were growing freely, which reached high up to the obsidian skeleton horse's non-existent belly.
Their destination is the great bridge of Parramatta, where they will cross over the Little Root River, a grand river that has quite a misleading name despite being the largest river that divides the western and eastern sides of the continent in the middle.
It's also where they are most likely going to encounter another trouble that is probably waiting for them there...
Zarba could only hope that those nobles of Zenobia province were not going to involve themselves in this mess, as that would complicate things a lot.
'Heh, who am I kidding? They definitely would, those greedy sons of a bitch...' Zarba scoffed at his hopeful thought while he leaned back on the backrest of the soft red embroidered seat inside the carriage.
'But that is also good if they are actually involved, as I can just murder and confiscate their wealth lawfully...' He couldn't help but smirk. 'Hmph, if they think they will not face a consequence of trying to kill me, then big mistake...!'
Seeing Zarba has settled down on the seat while thinking about something with a roughish look, Xin immediately scooted over to his side as she hugged his arm in between her modest chest, getting his attention smoothly like a cat.
"Well, well, I wonder if my husband is becoming too enthusiastic in expanding his harem lately," Xin said with a mock sadness, her lavender-shaded fingernail poking on Zarba's cheek before inquiring about what he is currently thinking. "And what depraved things you might be thinking with such a face, hmm?"
The sudden pressure of her nail and question made Zarba give her a helpless glance, as he knows that the half-elf just probably wanted to bother him so he would spoil her with the pretext of being jealous.
'Well, if you want to play, then I'll play with you.' Zarba thought as he decided to give Xin more than just his attention...
"You know there's no such thing," Zarba said smoothly with a smirk as he moved his arm over Xin's head before he guided her head down to his lap with his hand in a practiced motion that made her huff with a blush as she realized what he was planning. "Maybe a proof of 'my sincere' will convince you more~?"
"What kind of 'proof of sincere' is this, I wonder..." Xin looked up at her husband with a pouty look as he derailed her script while his fingers brushed the underside of her pointed ear, making Xin shudder slightly against him before she rolled her eyes as she could see that he was looking at her with an obvious expectation in his gaze.
"Hmph, this is not how you are supposed to pacify your jealous wife, my husband," Xin muttered, but she didn't reject Zarba's "sincerity" and expectation; this might not be what she wants exactly, but she also doesn't mind, as her fingers are already fiddling with his belt and start unbuckling it. "At least you should be the one who is supposed to be doing this to me, don't you think~?"
"Tsk..." Seeing the two of them start flirting again made Mormon click her tongue as she looked away to find something else to do so she didn't have to see them flirt, while Nadia, who was riding outside, glanced inside the carriage at Xin and Zarba flirting through the window with pursed lips. She has a weird urge to interrupt them but can't act on it, as the half-elf might punish her with a perverted action like a couple of nights ago.
'I still remember that thing's taste...' Nadia's brown cheeks flushed as she still feels embarrassed recalling her first oral experience. She never imagined that one day she would have to do such a perverted thing in her life...
Nadia then violently shook her head to clear the image out of her mind before she pretending not to notice what was going on inside the carriage, and Mormon, on the other hand, was busy with the alchemy equipment she just bought in the corner as she was cleaning it piece by piece and grumbling about the two horny and shameless brats.
Back to the duo, thing has progressed quite far ahead, as Xin's fingers work their magic on him, eliciting a hot, satisfied sigh from Zarba.
"Hehehe..." The half-elf giggles playfully as she licks her full lavender-shaded lips when she feels him twitch in her palm. Then she descended, her black raven hair falling over his thighs like a curtain, hiding whatever was going on behind it as Xin's head bobbed.
The sudden feeling on his loins made Zarba's breath heavy as he looked outside the window and saw Nadia also glancing at him before she quickly averted her gaze.
"So shameless..." She muttered with a blush as they continued to travel like this for a while...
÷×÷×÷
While Zarba is showing his sincerity to his slave-wife, at the same time, far, far away from the northern border of the Great Golden Empire, deep into the neighboring land under the cloudy sky of the Holy Ark Empire, a massive army of a hundred thousand strong is currently marching south toward the Golden Empire's northern border.
A long column of magic enchanted steel-clad holy knights with two white vertical stripes patterned on their crimson cloaks riding on large armored warhorses and minimally equipped levy footmen advanced slowly under the Holy Ark Empire's crimson field with white cross banners.
At the front of the army rode a towering figure in full bulky plate armor, his crimson cloak fluttering in the cold wind amidst the grayish landscape of the cold northern land as he led the vanguard ahead.
He is the High Inquisitor Valtheran Da Hallfren, the Great Warrior, and the finest general of the Holy Ark Empire.
While marching south on the ancient imperial road, Valtheran's big gauntleted fist tightened around his warhorse reins as his gaze swept across the vast horizon, where their destination, the Great Golden Empire's border, was still far away, his mind occupied with the thought of war, conquest, and the mission to free their empire citizens from slavery.
"Report," he demanded with a powerful voice without turning as a scout scrambled forward from the entourage behind him on foot, his breath foggy from the cold air. "Your Eminence, our spies confirm the savages are poorly organized, and their condition is even worse than the last decade we saw them. By now our agents are within the Golden Empire's northern garrisons and stand ready to carry out the order at any time."
Valtheran's full-face helmet creaked as he tilted his head slightly. He'd seen the intelligence reports before and knew that the Great Golden Empire is currently on the verge of collapsing from the sheer inaction of the mad emperor and the corruption of the nobles that had deteriorated the ancient empire into its lowest point in history.
Right now peasant revolts, bandits, monster hordes, and civil war were rampaging in the Great Golden Empire's heartlands, creating perfect conditions for the Holy Ark Empire to launch a righteous crusade to destroy the decadent and evil empire from this world once and for all.
"Praise the Holy Land above," he muttered, the words filled with the gratitude and devotion of a religious man, while behind him, the hundred thousand boots shook the earth as siege engines rolled on creaking wheels from behind them, their iron-shod frames leaving faint trails in the road.
It's inevitable that the war will come to the weakened empire as the Holy Ark Empire's imperial army, fueled by religious fervor and strategic opportunism, advances toward the Great Golden Empire's northern border with determination to put an end to the ancient empire.
But the Golden Empire, despite its hopeless internal problems, isn't going to obediently roll up and die without a fight...
÷×÷×÷
Within the imperial war camp at what's left of the Baraba Fort, which is now reduced to just a pile of rubble, the mad emperor lounges lazily in a throne-like chair in his tent while he swirls red wine in a golden goblet idly.
In front of Zarking there are a couple of maps sprawled across the table with pins marking various positions of interest, small miniature figurines, and most importantly, the last known location of a certain runaway prince that was reported.
"Your Majesty," a general who was hurrying inside the tent begins as he lowers his head, with his armor creaking as he kneels before the emperor. "The northern border scouts report concerning movement—"
"Did you EAT?? Are YOU HUNGRY?!" The mad emperor interrupted, tilting his goblet toward the general with an unsettling grin. His brown eyes flickered with manic amusement as the general froze mid-sentence, sweat beading on his temple as he started to hyperventilate.
This is the worst-case scenario possible for anyone who serves the mad emperor, as when Zarking randomly asks you something very specific, your fate now depends entirely on the randomness of the madman in front of you no matter what your answer is.
It's worse than even a coin flip, as the odd has a 25% chance that he's just going to talk nonsense and that's it, but for the whopping 75% chance, he's definitely going to do something insane to you or, fortune smile upon you, to someone else...
"M-My emperor..." The general gulps dryly as he looks around for some help, but no one is currently present in the tent, and the two slave warriors outside are not even looking inside, as they are pretending to find the sky interesting, totally ignoring whatever is going on inside with Zarking and the unfortunate general...