Ning stood beside Shara who seed concerned. "What did you guys talk about?" she asked.
"About you becoming the Empress," Ning said in a whisper.
Shara jerked her head toward him, surprised that they were talking about her all this ti. "Why talk about ? What does any of this have to do with ?"
"Do you rember what the number one reason why your chances of becoming an Empress are low?" Ning asked.
Shara nodded. "Because I'm a nobody," she said. "I might have the bloodline, but there is no army behind that will help beco the Empress."
Ning nodded. "That is what I'm trying to get you right now."
Shara looked puzzled for a mont, then looked toward the cave. "You want the legion to fight for ?" she asked.
"Yes. And only Romus can accept that," Ning said. "So I talked to them about it."
Shara took a bit to think about it all. "What if he doesn't accept?" she asked.
Ning shrugged. He truly didn't know what else he could do about it. "If he doesn't accept, those soldiers will then be sent to fight against everyone else. The war won't end so soon, and you won't get to beco the empress for a long, long ti."
Shara looked toward the two talking in the distance, not wording a single one of her thoughts for a while. "Is there anything we can do to persuade them?" she finally asked.
"Nothing I can think of," Ning said. "You could maybe threaten them to destroy all of those corpses inside the cave by stealing away their power."
"No," Shara said. "I need them to beco an empress. If I can't be an empress, then I'm not going to be petty enough to destroy what I can't have. Isn't that what you taught ? A good leader knows when to take the loss if it can better others?"
Ning smiled and rubbed her head. "Then I guess we will have to wait and see," he said.
After waiting for a while, Matthew and Romus finally returned.
"We have made the decision," Matthew said.
"Go on." Ning waited.
"I'm sorry. We cannot do what you said. When we beca a soldier, we made an oath to do whatever we could for the sake of our people. We must fight this war for their safety, even if it is a futile war."
Ning looked at the two for a bit. "So you made this choice, huh?" he said. "Honestly, I can't say I'm surprised. Do what you must then."
"I'm sorry," Romus said again. "I was really looking forward to making Shara the Empress, but when we have a better chance of defeating our enemies, I will take that chance."
Ning nodded. "I understand. You don't have to explain. Go gather all of the soldiers so we can plan on what to do next."
Ning and Shara returned to the carriage where they remained while the soldiers got to work. They began digging out the land to open a large enough hole for people to walk out of.
Romus called the one undead he had converted to help them and from there it beca easy.
The civilians that had co with them were waiting on the other side of the river for them to co to them after taking care of the bandits. So they were sent away, now that the bandits had been dealt with.
Ning waited by the side of the carriage, waiting for the corpses that ca out. One by one, they began to appear in the place, which shocked the soldiers there.
These soldiers had been told that there were hundreds of corpses in there. That was because that was all Matthew and Romus could see from the end of the cave.
They couldn't see with their eyes what Ning could sense with his Life Sense. There were thousands of corpses underneath the hill, both far beneath them, stacked right up to the surface of the massive cavern inside.
As the corpses walked out, they began counting the number. It was nearly late afternoon when they managed to figure out the total count.
7,829.
There were nearly 8 thousand corpses within that cavern, stacked to the very roof. When the corpses were pulled out, all that remained within the cavern was rotting leather. Corroding armor, and tons and tons of skeletons of either the undead or the living that were caught inside there.
Ning and the rest moved to the other side of the river, past the large bridge that was perfectly sturdy and wouldn't give out any ti soon. They needed to get away from all the odor that ca with the corpses.
Unless they were thoroughly cleaned, they were more of a hazard than they were help to anyone. So for the ti being, they left the corpses on the other side.
Since it was late, they began preparing the food for the ti being, and then Matthew ca to talk to them a while later.
"You look stressed," Ning said, walking into the carriage where he sat alone. Mari and Shara walked in behind him.
"I suppose I am," Matthew said. "I have been thinking about sothing for a while now and I need you guys' opinion on it."
"Opinion on what?" Mari asked.
"I don't want to go through the Fool's pass anymore," Matthew said.
"Huh?" Mari was surprised.
Ning wasn't. "You want to go directly to the war?" he asked.
"Yes," Matthew said. "Is that too stupid of ?"
"I don't think so," Ning said. "As long as you are sure you won't get attacked or sothing."
"I don't think we will, but that's not the only reason," Matthew said. "Walking west with these many undead, we will be caught before we reach the Fool's pass. Not to ntion, these undead aren't limber enough to make their way through the narrow ridges we would have to cross when making our way through Fool's Pass. On top of that, there are still 2 more months before the Fool's pass can be used. So, that leaves us with only one option. We move south, and as quickly as we can."
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