Deep in the Kingdom of Steinguard, a messenger grabbed a letter, delivered by raven, and sprinted through the large Castle.
As he arrived at the Emperor's door, he took two deep breaths to calm himself.
"Please don't execute the messenger," he thought.
He gave two large knocks on the Emperor's massive bedroom corridor doors, and one of his servants answered the door.
"Ah, hello messenger. What was your name again and state your purpose," the servant asked.
"I'm Gio, one of the three humble messengers to the honorable Emperor Hanzo Yen. I've traveled here quickly after receiving this letter from King Charles."
"Do you know what this letter pertains to?"
"No, sir. I'd never open an officially stamped letter to the noble Emperor."
"Good, be on your way. We will call for you if a response is necessary. Let the raven rest with the other messenger birds," the servant said while escorting Gio out.
Hanzo Yen walked out with his wife Rina, after hearing the commotion.
Hanzo stood 6'5, with long black hair tied up in a ponytail, sporting a mustache. He's well built, very muscular and his confidence exuberates from his perfectly chiseled face and body.
Rina stood 5'7, with curly, golden blonde hair, a curvy figure and a pretty face. She also carried confidence that would unnerve most regular men.
"Wallace, who was that and what did they bring for me?"
"Just a messenger sir, he brought you this letter from King Charles."
Hanzo took a few moments to read the letter and simply laughed, discarded the letter and scoffed, "useless."
"What would you like me to do, my liege?" Wallace asked.
"I shall send them a response. They shall take back MeadowSong from the elves with aid from the nearby Kingdom of Prosperity. We shall send 100,000 men and squash all hope the elves have remaining."
"As you wish, my liege," Wallace said with a bow.
The emperor wrote two letters, one to King Lance of Prosperity and one to King Charles of 'Vigilance' [SilverCrest]. King Lance's Kingdom would send 60,000 men to aid the 40,000 men of Vigilance and King Charles would lead the 100,000 into battle at MeadowSong. He closed them both with his personal seal, which included his head, hair and facial features, in a red color.
"Isn't that a bit overboard? What if the elves somehow win? Vigilance will be lost," Rina stated.
"If they lose, they don't deserve to run a Kingdom in my empire," Hanzo said with a smug smile.
After Wallace called for Gio, he gave him the two letters with instructions.
The letters reached Prosperity in 3 hours and King Lance couldn't believe he had to send 60,000 of his men.
"That's nearly 70% of my military! For someone else's mistakes. Ugh, gather the men and have General Levi lead them to Vigilance. They should be there by morning," King Lance stated, clearly irritated.
He sent his letter of approval back via the raven that came to him and went to clear his mind.
Meanwhile, King Charles, ready to give orders for Igor and 20,000 me to move out, received the letter and scoffed.
"This is blasphemy. 100,000 humans, that I have to lead, because Igor couldn't defend one attack. I suppose we will attack in two days. That will allow the military from Prosperity time to rest before heading out.
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Mina, Sora, Xavier and Stefania arrived back at MeadowSong. Sora and Mina enjoyed the ride above ground, taking in the scenery and the beauty of the forests, rivers and lakes.
"We never saw beauty like this in the year 1900," Sora told the group.
"'It's sad to see how much damage the demons did to Earth after seeing how beautiful this land truly is," Mina said.
"I'm sure after you defeated the demons, the Earth regenerated and you created a peaceful, beautiful world for others to live in," Xavier said.
"If you two weren't here to fight off the humans, I fear maybe our lands would suffer the same fate. The humans don't replant trees they cut down for materials. They build with no respect for the land," Stefania said, with a somber look on her face.
Jax, Eva and Eric greeted the four when they arrived in MeadowSong.
"I see you've selected a brilliant and beautiful horse Sora, what's his name?" Eric asked.
"Thank you, I rode 10 horses and this guy was the one. He's not as playful as Blaze and has a temperament more like Ace, but he's fast, strong and has loads of endurance. I named him Justice, for that is what we all strive for elves. Justice and equality!"
"I'm glad you were able to find a replacement. He's beautiful," Eva said.
"The name suits him and I like your thinking! Do you think the four of you would join Eric, Eva and I downstairs for a discussion?" Jax asked.
Because they still had the underground rooms, Xavier cast a spell to open the flooring in the Kingdom, leaving a dirt slope. They trotted down and into the living quarters. They now left this open during the day and closed it at the end of the day, when the last elf went inside.
"We need to close the area we built up to SilverCrest. One of our scouts noticed humans in the caverns and they've located the temporary housing stations," Jax said.
"What if we close the area about five miles in? Then the humans will use the caverns, thinking we will be down there, and we can hide spies in the walls, with air holes through the top. We could use this to our advantage and bury them alive," Sora suggested.
"We should also build traps, use tripwires, and use the Earth to our advantage. We can dig deep holes, cover them, just with enough dirt and grass to look normal. Humans will walk to their demise as the ground collapses beneath their feet," Mina said.
"You two are cunning and well versed in battle. It makes me not want to use the Barrier of Justice," Xavier said.
"I understand where you're coming from brother, but if we don't use it and they send a large army from multiple kingdoms, we will lose too many lives and surrender our second base back," Stefania said.
"I agree with Stefania. That barrier gives us three months of ultimate protection and they may think we own more. This will cause them to be cautious with their next move," Eva said.
"It's decided then, I'll lead the remaining Magic masters to various areas across the land to MeadowSong and set up traps along the way," Eric said with a large smile.