( General Zest’s POV )

” Hahahaha, this boy, reminds me of my youth!

He is something special, undoubtedly! He will definitely go far.

Thankyou, Vampire god’s for letting me meet with this boy, he has helped me refind my dead passion to serve my people ” Zest said as he read Max’s battle report.

” Are you sure sir you wish to decline the banquet invitation? It’s a red velvet event, probably the only one in this decade ” A subordinate of Zest said as he was stunned by the general’s decision to not attend the banquet but instead return to active battle.

” I’m an old sod now, but I’m still capable of going toe to toe with that bastard Erasmus. The kids’ miracle has opened 3 new battlefronts for us. If we capitalise on this momentum we can win Maralago in the next 6 months.

Erasmus will defend the place with everything he has got, so I need to go down there myself and try!

This fire that’s been ignited inside of me, I need to quench that first.

For too long has our kind suffered against the barbarians, it’s time to end this shit.

I’m going down to Maralago, I’m going back to the frontlines.

The banquets are for the winners, I’ll take part in one when I’ve contributed to my people like the kid has “. Zest said as his old eyes shined with conviction.

************

( Erasmus’s POV)

” 11 tier 4 defenders for that fort, 11!, 18,000 troops in that area, walls strong enough to handle hundreds of cannon shots

Yet the Southern fortress is rubble overnight, destroyed by one man, who is not even tier4 as per our reports.

If a weakling vampire is so capable then we might as well quit living, our race is clearly much inferior ” Erasmus said as he slammed his table with anger.

He had received the damage report for the battlefield extremely late, as by the time he responded the vampires had already encroached on 7 small towns and 15 villages.

Lands held by barbarians for over 2 generations, lost in a short flurry of 2 days, as the border got pushed back by hundreds of kilometres.

” 3 fucking battlefronts they have opened, 3, things were not this bad when I became a soldier all those years ago.

We had sacrificed over a million barbarians all those years ago to secure these lands and build that fort.

But everything is ruined now, we are on the backfoot and the enemy are breathing down our necks!

That manaless maniac Zest is returning to the battlefield, none of you greenhorns are his match, so it’ll be only me who can stop him, but there are other tier 5 vampire generals as well, and we don’t have enough manpower to properly send reinforcements to all 3 battlefronts.

Call Fendamir, we need to infiltrate their military, without inside information on troop movements we will be fucked when they storm a battlefront” Erasmus said in panic as he ordered his underling.

*********

( Meanwhile the commoners )

‘ Mom, mom, I don’t want to listen about the vampire king, I want to listen about the hero Ravan, I heard he defeated 100,000 men alone! ‘

‘ Okay son, I’ll tell you about how Captain Ravan turned the tides of war at Maralago’

‘ Man those barbarians deserve this, I hope we continue this momentum and win’

‘ This is definitely a new hero rising, I’ve never seen someone make such waves since Regus Aurelius overthrew Rumi Titus ‘

‘ Is this guy single? I wanna date a war hero! ‘

‘ I’ve heard he has handsome red eyes like sweet blood, Oh boy do I want some of that eye candy ‘

‘ I’ve heard that the patriarch Vega Titus and the King Regus Aurelius are gonna reward the hound big time, he definitely deserves it ‘

‘ I’ve heard that patriarch Vega is throwing the hero a big banquet, it’s there that he will ask the hound what he wants as present, Many believe it’ll be a military promotion, he definitely wants to kick more barbarian ass ‘

‘ You’re out of your mind, I have inside news that he’s going to ask for the Titus clan Patriarchs daughter’s hand in marriage ‘

‘ Damn, now that’s a fine woman to catch. I heard her rear is very curvy and bouncy’.

‘ I heard he already has a girlfriend, a girl from the Caesar clan, and that he wants to marry her ‘

***************

( Meanwhile Regus Aurelius )

” A red velvet invitation for an award banquet, Vega is sure pressing on my nerves ” Regus said as he burnt the invite in his hand to ashes

” My king, the public sentiment regarding this victory is quite spectacular, Vega has spared no expenses in trying to propagate the news fast.

Paid off everyone working in the communication industry, you can’t find one entertainment channel that’s not talking about this win.

He has also very sneakily planted the seed of doubt as to how do you plan to honour your frontline heroes, if we don’t show up at the banquet it’ll cause a small backlash from the lower ranked clans

They will think that we don’t respect the rules or care about their efforts on the frontlines “. Regus’s advisor said

” I’m irked by the boy who achieved this, he’s the same one responsible for the downfall of Marcus.

If it were upto me I’d have him executed, but I thought I would wait, let the hype around him die, but he became a behemoth in the meanwhile.

I can’t touch him without good reason now even if I want to, and now I have to pretend to even praise and award him.

Spectacular advice counsellor, this is precisely why I became a tier 8 monarch, to play to the whims of Vega Titus and his punk hero ” Regus said sarcastically with a lot of underlying anger

” I strongly advise you to go, my King, but of course the final decision is yours “. The counsellor eventually said as he decided to concede to Regus’s anger.

” Fine, I’ll go, I’ll meet this kid in person, but if he so much so as smile funny, I’ll kill him ” Regus said as he made a mature decision against his personal will.

/// Chapter 4 as promised, completed by me at 4 am in the morning, enjoy! ///