World Conquest Online

Dom spent the rest of the day touring the defences that had been build. He had started by inspecting the wall and being shown around it by the different Centurions at their areas. Xun You had asked him to, as it would increase the Morale of the men to see that their King was interested in what they were doing. Dom had seen many familiar faces, including men he had fought alongside since the beginning of his time in Riverside, through to the Battles at Nakbe and even the southern shore.

There was a clear mix of Centuries across the Wall, with the more experienced Roman ones being placed between the newly formed ones. Centurions like Octavian, Pullo, Septimius and Percennius were all there, with Septimius’s Praetorians being in the centre where Dom would place himself the following day. He also noticed Macro, Flavius and Titus, some of the others that he had seen at other local Battles. There seemed to be some fun rivalry happening between the different Centuries, amongst the Legionaries themselves, as well as the Hoplite that were around them. Dom could see that some were trying to build defence’s quicker, whilst others were having small wrestling matches whilst they rested from their current work.

The Hoplite would be mainly holding their short swords and round shields, their long Dory spears placed neatly and ready to be grabbed if they were needed in formation to meet the charging enemies. There had been conversations on if they should meet the enemy outside of the walls first and then retreat if needed to behind them. But the amount of traps built made them agree that if the wall fell, then they would fall back to the space between itself and Eruthros, which only covered a couple hundred metres. Dom didn’t think the wall would fall though, with the Artillery and Archers being enough to defend at least against one enemy legion, unless they came with armour and shields that could block Arrow, Bolts, Stones and Rocks. Some of the Balearic Slingers had also been requisitioned to the Battle and would also support the Archers with their defence lines.

A lot of the Hoplite Centurions were new faces to Dom, but their new Generals seemed to be managing them well as the older Lazarus Warriors tried to include the new Centuries in the internal competitions. Dom could understand some of their frustrations though, as they had suddenly arrived in a new home and were sent to battle within weeks of fighting at Plataea. Alexander and Phillip were their with their own men though. Alexander seemed even more determined than usual now that his wife and son were in Riverside, where as Phillip had his usual grin on his face when Dom walked past, no doubt pushing his Theban Hoplite to be better than the rest.

Dom finally met some of the Plataean Centurions he had heard about though, and was extremely impressed with those Megara who had integrated the quickest since arrival. Iason, one of their Centurions had bowed when he was introduced to Dom, explaining that his Century would make their the Kingdom proud and their Town which was now situated in the North East of the Lazarus Kingdom. The other Centuries that Dom was impressed by, other than the Spartans and Plataeans, was those from Oeum, the former Skiritaen capital. Centurion Strabo had placed his men at the far left of the wall, the border between the Red Hare Valley and the Wall itself. Most of his men were amongst the Forest of the Valley itself, supporting the Wu Dang Archers. Centurion Pullo and his Legionaries were nearest to them, and even he had commented on how impressed he was with the elite Hoplite unit.

Gan Ning had already crossed the River by lunch, he and over two hundred Batavi Cavalry heading deep in to the unexplored forest on the North shore to make camp and find a crossing point when the Battle Began. Ling Tong had also departed, a small fleet of disguised ships ready to scout and hopefully cause trouble of their own in the coming day when Dom was offline.

Zhao Yun and his men would leave when the sun set, in case their were enemy scouts watching, which Subutai highly doubted as the Horse Archers were screening any scouting attempts, but they would head south regardless for their ambush and make camp the once they arrived. Word had also been sent to the newly founded Vindicta for some of the San Warriors to join the Cavalry, their role to defend the Red Hare Valley. Most of the forces of the Lazarus Kingdom were now placed at Eurthros, with a small number at Vindicta, Noctus and Renatus.

The blockade fleet under Xanthippus was an intimidating sight when he returned to the Fort part of the wall later in the afternoon. There were some smaller outlets on the northern shore where Mengchong and Doujian had been placed to ambush any potential enemy ships that may exist. The giant towering Louchuan had been placed in the middle of the River with some smaller ships surrounding it, their Crossbow and Ballistae all facing towards the southern shore. Both in front and behind the Louchuan were the Trireme that had been sent, their crews ready to block any potential approaches, or be used as arrow platforms for the crews on them.

The day quickly passed and after confirming final arrangements with Xun You and Xun Yu, Dom logged out in the bed of the Command Tent, knowing that when he logged back in, the Lazarus Kingdom would be about to have it’s first official Battle since founding, less than five days in.

...

Dom awoke in his bed, the niggling in his shoulder still there, but having faded a lot since the previous day. He quickly bathed and went to head downstairs for breakfast, however he paused as he grasped the door handle. He turned and headed back towards his wardrobe, before grabbing the file of potential future wives. He carried it with him as he headed downstairs where Andrew and Kai were waiting.

"Oh Mighty King, you have blessed us peasants with your presence for breakfast." Andrew joked as Kai grinned at Dom, who shook his head with a smile in response.

"You should feel honoured, for I am a King and you are but a servant." Dom replied, as Andrew nodded in agreement as he stood and bowed towards Dom.

"You are right, your majesty. I have prepared you a bowl of the finest of flakes from the finest of wheats, with a dash of milk from the finest of the black and white herbivore." Andrew stated as he bowed, with Kai letting loose a laugh he was trying to hold in.

"I wouldn’t say it looks the finest to be honest Andrew. But I will forgive you this once, however the next time it will be off with your head." Dom replied as he sat down, taking a bite out of the very boring breakfast that Andrew had prepared for him. He passed the file and passed it to Kai. "Here it is, seeing as my Aunt had assigned you the task, I thought you should have it."

"I really think you should make the choice yourself, but I have a short list in mind already. I’ll cross check and give you five names, you choose the three." Kai replied seriously, before he shook his head. "I thought coming here was going to be three years of fun, but it all feels very serious."

"The Lazarus Kingdom is definitely a bigger pressure than I expected. I really can’t afford to die in game now." Andrew agreed as he checked the time. "Tomyris is looking after me though, she feels very real doesn’t she. She’s an imposing woman, and her unit are extremely loyal to her."

"What is Noctus like?" Kai asked him, having not seen it himself yet.

"A Subterranean City in a giant lit underground cavern. There are some ancient buildings that have been reused and then the Military Base that Tomyris has built around it. It’s probably the most fantasy like element of the game so far that I have seen." Andrew explained as he paused, "But I have seen the bodies of the Type 3’s and I can say that with the level of realism, I am not looking to fighting against them."

"How are the other Players fitting in?" Dom asked him as he took another bite and began opening up Golden Sun’s Blog.

"Very well, they seem happy with their levels of responsibility and we moved forwards before logging out to a forward base that has been built. There seems to be quite a lot of excitement, it’s a different adventure from the ships." Andrew replied as Dom scanned through the Blog.

There was no mention of the Lazarus Kingdom founding, which meant that no one within his Kingdom had informed Golden Sun, whilst Kai and Andrew said they should wait until the new Rankings are released first. Most of the Blog covered some of the updates that had happened and some of the new Cities that some of the Players had come across. There was one section that Dom read though, which covered someone’s town being invaded by Ancient Egyptian forces in the south west of the map. Dom suspected this could be Rameses, but based on the size of the world map, he could be thousands of miles away.

"We need to increase the hiring of Civil Servants." Kai explained, interrupting Dom’s reading. "The education systems that are being put in place will obviously work in the long term, but we are talking months, not weeks. The Kingdom is huge and there just isn’t enough coverage."

"I am told on a regular basis, I need some more Elite Villager Cubes probably for higher level ones." Dom replied as he took another bite of his boring breakfast.

"Or we could just invade a Kingdom full of educated people?" Andrew put forwards, which in Dom’s opinion wasn’t actually a bad idea.

"It is a shame that we didn’t get Athens or Sparta as Cities, as they would have had a high level of educated people from their different versions of government. However, Shang Yang has asked me to go to Plataea, Megara and then Kos on my next log in to see if there are any interesting people there that we can repurpose." Kai continued, with a nod of a head from Dom.

"Did he say next log in?" Andrew asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"No, I was using my own words, but he said, upon my return." Kai explained as Dom tried to read more of the blog, but was distracted by their conversation.

After finishing what he could of the blog, the three of them headed towards the Main Halls of the University for their first class, which happened to be History. Their Teacher was Dean Pellistri, and whilst there were hundreds of students, it seemed that they had been put in a smaller class with other more prestigious students. Normally, Andrew and Dom wouldn’t be in this group, but his Aunt or the Chancellor had clearly made some movements.