[Chapter Size: 3400 Words.]

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  Thrid Person POV

  Yi-Ti, 296 AC.

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  To the north of Yin, a horse tinued galloping along the narrow roads as its rider spent the few days traveliward, until finally spotting the area he sought: a mountain range dividing the try's eastern provinces from the tral aern provinces of the empire.

  As he approached the mountains, he followed the slope between two peaks, where a narrow trail could be found, just wide enough for a man and his horse to pass. Despite being manageable, the path held its own dangers.

  It was along this trail that the man, holding the letter taken from a pigeon he had shot down, entered a group of Basilisks dev a rge bear in the middle of the forest road. He mao skirt around them while they remained more focused on their meal than the man on horseback. Even so, they growled at him as he fled as quickly as he could.

  The man took three days to navigate around them, sleeping wherever he could find shelter. Many men like him did not survive such missions, but still, it was his duty, and he had to succeed—or die trying.

  In the end, he prevailed, finally reag an open area oher side—a deforested and scorched expanse used to host thousands of tents. It was the Mongol army, established in this part of Yi-Ti, though uo cross the mountains as the man had, sihe roads were impassable for such a force, and Basilisks could swarm in the hundreds if their territory was threatened.

  The man spoke a few words in his native tongue and advaoward the camp as sentinels began appearing in the area. They let him pass with a nod, aowledging the brooch he wore, a symbol of his role in the army's intelligence division.

  He tinued riding until reag the camp's tral area, where the as were located, heading for one bearing the same insignia as his brooch. He dismounted and approached the tent, shouting something in his nguage as he entered.

  A man, responsible for the Mongol army's intelligend superior to the oering, looked up upon hearing the otion. The spy from the tral province hurried in, holding a letter, exg that it was urgent in the Mongol nguage.

  The intelligence leader quickly approached. The messenger, croug respectfully, handed over the letter.

  "I retrieved it in the tral provier intercepting a carrier pigeon flying to the capital," expihe man, while the intelligence leader said nothing. He simply took the letter, ope, and read. His eyes widened slightly as he absorbed its tents.

  He looked at the man and uood the urgency. "Good work. You will be rewarded for this." That was all he said, without even dismissing the man. Instead, he hurried out of the tent, brushing past the spy, and made his way to the main a, where the army's leadership was situated.

  There, he found the army's supervisor, responsible fanizing troops and direg them to the front lines as they prepared to marorth.

  The intelligence leader entered without issue, handed over the letter, and expihe situation. The supervisor, too, was surprised by the information, but he was not the invasion's ander. His role was to lead the army to the front lines and secure more provinces; above him erior officer in Yi-Ti—the one anding the invasion.

  The supervisor quickly began issuing orders. He assigned a trusted messeo deliver the letter to his superior, as only he could decide on the course of a.

  The messenger was summoned immediately a off eastward, despite ongoing uprisings in the region. Due to the message's importahe messenger was apanied by a guard of 20 men. It took several days, with some resistance along the way, but they finally reached Kaneda Castle, which served as the invasion's main base of operations si had been seized in the province.

  Ihe spacious and luxurious room, once used for noble samurai dinners—sino one owhis castle; it was only used when needed and now taken over by the Mongols—a man sat at the head of a long table, eating and drinking calmly. He was a rge man with a naturally fierce gaze, looking at those present with a mix of amusement and threat.

  In the room, surrounded by guards, were two men uheir watch, who were clearly prisoners. They sat at the table with empty ptes in their hands, keeping their eyes downcast, trying not to show disfort as the man at the head ate. But he quickly broke into a slight smile, looking at them.

  "Why aren't you eating? Surely you must be tired of that cold cell and that horrible food. This is your ce to eat somethi and drink." He spoke in a voice with an ironie, closer to mockery than a genuine invitation.

  her of the two prisoners respohey were in the presence of Khotun Khan, the ander of the invasion. Khotun Khan is described as a cousin and a trusted general of the Great Khan, the supreme leader of the Mongol Empire.

  The prisoners were also promi figures. One was Lord Shimura, samurai leader of the eastern province where they were. The other was her than the heir prince of the Yi-Ti empire, Kozuki Momonosuke. Both had been captured. Shimura had been taken prisoner when his territory was seized. Momonosuke had led a force directly from the capital to try to recim the territory, but his troop was intercepted due to a ck of precise information about the number of invaders.

  Khotun Khan looked at them again, seeing that her of them spoke, and his smile widened even more, wanting to provoke his guests. "e on, you do better than that. Won't you even open your mouths to talk to me?"

  "..." The prisoners remained silent, seeming firm in their determination not to yield to the enemy.

  Khotun Khan gave a dry ugh. "Is this how the people of Yi-Ti are? So rude?" He tio provoke, while the prisoners raised their faces and finally looked at him, without showing any immediate rea, but the young prince was the first to speak.

  "You invade our nds, kill our men, steal our women and our food, and you call us rude?" The young man couldn't tain himself and spat the words with anger.

  "He is not someone you should waste your breath on, Prinonosuke," said Shimura in a severe but trolled tone.

  "Hahaha." Khotun Khan began to ugh at that moment. "You don't o be so agitated. I'm just trying to learn more about you. 't I want to know more about your people?" He provoked, while Shimura stared at him with a stern look.

  "Do you really want us to believe those words? Spare us yames! You do not have my respect. Besides being an invader, you fight without honor. It's obvious you're trying to buy us," retorted Shimura with a tone as severe as his gaze.

  "We don't hat. We just want your leader to kneel, just like you. After all, it's only a matter of time before we quer all of Yi-Ti," Khotun replied calmly.

  "hose words are an insult, you sdrel! This is not your nd!" shouted the young prince, exploding with rage and ign Lord Shimura's sel. He stood up from the table with a brusque movement as if about to lu the man mog him, but was quickly pushed down by the guards behind him. They subdued him with brutality, f him bato the chair as spear shafts struck his bad shoulder to ensure he remained immobile.

  "!" The prince of Yi-Ti had to groan a bit due to the pain caused, as he returo the chair.

  "Do not speak like that, prince," said Khotun, his smile widening at the young man's outburst e. "I am trying to save more of your people's lives. After all, as the war expands, more of the Yi-Ti Empire's people will die. Our quest is iable. We are subjugating you without even advang into the tral aern regions. Yi-Ti will already suffer because we have seized the harvests here, which supplied half the empire's food. We are also dominating the seas with the help of pirates who have bee our allies. It is only a matter of time before Yi-Ti begins to suffer, and your own people cry out for surrender..." His tone grew darker and more authoritative as he locked eyes with the prince.

  "That won't happen," murmured the young man softly, unwilling to hear these words.

  "Well, you already know the terms," Khotun tinued. "We end this quickly. My lord, the Great Khan, demands that you kneel and bee part of the empire. In addition, bring your sister, Princess Hiyori, to join his harem as a e. We ot be menerous than that. Otherwise, we will start the war across the entire try and witness even more of your people's corpses. Perhaps we will even hand over the ma of these nds to those who betrayed you." He smirked maliciously.

  Shimura tried to restrain the young prince, who growled in anger, particurly at the st statement. Momonosuke now uood that there was a traitor among his father's men but did not knoas responsible for this betrayal. That betrayal was why they had been intercepted and he had been captured—someone had leaked his movements and route.

  "What do you think of this, Lord Shimura? Don't you believe saving your people is more important than holding onto your pride?" Khotun turned his gaze to the elderly samurai, looking directly at him.

  "Do you think you step onto these nds and assume you rule them easily? No matter how much the people bleed, we samurai will fight and protect our nd! And the people of Yi-Ti will not yield," Shimura said calmly, his tone wise and unfling as he met Khotun's eyes without hesitation.

  There was a moment of sileer the response, but Khotun did not reply. Instead, he merely smiled at Shimura, as if dismissing his words as fantasies. He then resumed eating, showing no further for his stubbuests, who refused to touch the food before them.

  Two mier, the door suddenly burst open. Khotun frowned, visibly displeased. "What is this?" he asked irritably.

  One of the men overseeing the castle entered quickly and approached with a serious expression, moving cautiously. "Lord Khan, this has arrived from a messe the front lines," the maed, handing over a letter.

  Khotun took the message, intrigued, examining it briefly before opening it. As he began to read, his expression grew increasingly grim.

  "What is this?" he finally murmured to himself in disbelief.

  The letter detailed the arrival of a strange group off the southern coast of the Sea of Yin, with an enormous fleet of 450 ships. They were requesting to iate food with the empire. Moreover, it hat the group sisted of over 22,000 armed men from the western nds, known as the Lands of the Setting Sun. There were eves of giants—men over four meters tall in full armor—something Khotun found hard to believe.

  Khotun furrowed his brow for a moment in front of his guests, while the man who delivered the letter stepped back to the door to await further orders.

  Khotun rocessing the information. 'Who were these people? And what were they doing here, at such a critical moment in his invasion, something he was trying to deprive Yi-Ti of? Could they really be just merts?' These questions rapidly raced through his mind as he tried to make sense of the situation.

  "Tell me something," he finally said, rising to his feet and staring at the two prisoners at the table. His eyes were fixed on the young prind the older samurai. "Do you know of a group called the Artis of Artica?"

  Both prisoners exged gnces for a moment, their expressions filled with doubt upon hearing that name. For Khotun, they didn't o say anything—the silence was enough of a response, as they wouldn't have spoken regardless.

  "I see." Khotun sighed aured to the guards. "Take the prisoners back to their cells," he ordered.

  The guards immediately began removing the two from the table, pushing them along as they went, still puzzled by the sudden ge of events. The dark, cold cells awaited them once again, along with the usual meager food that paled in parison to what had been in front of them moments earlier.

  Khotun Khan, for his part, left his meal unfinished and quickly headed to the room where he anized his strategies. He asked to be left alone for the time being, pced the letter oable, and began refleg on it.

  He pondered how he should hahis information. Twenty-two thousand men and 450 ships carrying food were too signifit to ignore. Yet, he wasn't even sure if the group truly existed. At the same time, he doubted it was a trap orchestrated by Lord Kin'emon, as samurai did not operate in such a manner—despite the absurd cims about giants iter.

  He was ed because 22,000 men could make a signifit difference. Yi-Ti, parable in size to one of the Seven Kingdoms—such as the Reach, Dorne, Rivernds, or the Vale of Arryn—had a total army of 40,000 men with a few hundred samurai. The Mongols had 80,000 men and trolled the provihey had already eliminated 10,000 Yi-Ti soldiers, losing only 5,000 of their own. These 22,000 Artis would greatly bolster Yi-Ti's defense as the Mongols attempted to advance westward.

  "I 't let this happen. This trade will seriously disrupt our invasion, and I ot allow these people to ally with the Emperor of Yi-Ti," Khotun murmured to himself. He didn't even know if such a group existed, but he already accepted their reality and began pnning to deal with them.

  With that, he summoned a trusted subordinate, roached immediately. Khotun began writing instrus on a piece of paper and ha to the man. "Take these orders to one of the anders in the south. Waste no time," he anded.

  The man nodded a immediately, delivering the message to a messeatio the castle. The messenger departed on horseback with a substantial escort, traveling along roads devastated by the Mongol forces. Along the way, vilges y in ruins, and starving people turned into beggars.

  Meanwhile, in the tral region of the try, another messenger bearing the symbol of Lord Kin'emon's house was making his way into the capital after traveling for a week from the south. He ehe capital gates, where guards reized the house symbol and allowed him through after verifying the urgency of his message.

  The messenger navigated the bustling streets of Yin, which bore a more somber atmosphere, deeply affected by the war. It was evident that the empire's tral city was suffering uhe flict's weight.

  He made his way through the streets until finally reag the capital's imposing castle, far rger than Lord Kin'emon's. At the gate, the messenger was stopped by the guards. He quickly produced a sealed letter, asserting that it was an urgent message. After iing the seal, the guards allowed him entry and alerted the castle's administration to notify the Emperor—or his daughter, who had tely been handling many of the empire's affairs.

  The Emperor had just finished another exhaustiing, where no one could devise a solution to rescue his son. He was heading to his study when he found his daughter, Hiyori, anizing the numerous letters that arrived daily. She was s through the correspondence, determining what was important and what was not, as the Emperor received messages from all over the empire and had no time to address them all. Additionally, Hiyori was eager for news of her brother, as was her father.

  However, he noticed something unusual in the room—his daughter wore an expression of surprise as she looked at one of the letters retly delivered by the guards from the south.

  "Is something wrong, Hiyori?" the emperor asked, noting his daughter's peculiar demeanor.

  "Father, look at this," she replied with urgen her voice, handing the letter to him. He immediately took it and began to read.

  "A strange group has appeared in the Jade Sea, ing from the west, defeating all the pirates and carving a path to the city of Yin. Not only that, they are iating food with Lord Kin'emon. They've offered supplies for the entire try, and Lord Kin'emon is asking if you're ied in doing business with them, father..." Hiyori expined as she watched her father read the tents carefully. "Isn't this an opportunity to address the growing hunger in the try?" she added, seeking his opinion and her perspective.

  The emperor studied the letter, his expression showing evident surprise. "How is this possible?" Oden murmured, still trying to process the information. "This is truly uling... but we trust them?" he wondered aloud.

  "We're running out of options, father... It wouldn't hurt to hear their proposal," she suggested.

  "..." Oden remained silent for a while, appearing to reread the letter several times.

  "What will you do, father?" Hiyori asked, breaking the silence more, watg as he stroked his in thought.

  "I don't know yet. I'll certainly o inform the others, as this decision isn't mine aloo make. For now, please summon the man whht this letter. He must have more details," he requested.

  "All right, I'll notify the guards," Hiyori responded, standing quickly and leaving to carry out the task.

  The guards fetched the man from Yin, who had been waiting, assuming it might take days before the emperor summoned him. To his surprise, he was called almost immediately. Without dey, he was escorted into the castle, climbing to one of its uppermost floors.

  Wheered the sor where the emperor often pondered his strategies, he found both the emperor and the princess present. Without hesitation, he k respectfully before them.

  "Rise, and please tell me about this group. I want to know every detail," the emperor ordered.

  "Of course, Emperor Oden!" the man responded promptly, beginning to ret all he khough he had not witnessed Jon fighting, his ats were limited to what he had observed up to the day he left Yin—the same day Kin'emon had sent the letter.

  heless, he provided as maails as he could: giants, perfectly structed ships, men wearing armor unlike anything used in Yi-Ti but native to their own nds, and the young king who ahe entire fleet of 450 ships and 22,000 armed men. His words left both the emperor and the princess astonished.

  After an hour of versation, the man nervously finished his at, omitting ails. The emperor pted every word he heard while his daughter, Hiyori, observed him closely. He then instructed the man to wait in the corridor with the guards.

  "Do you think they're trustworthy, father? This seems almost too good, sidering the dire situation we're in now," Hiyori asked.

  "Yes, daughter," the emperor replied thoughtfully. "But they've already beguiations with Kin'emon in his city. What's more ing, however, is the letter that should have arrived by pigeon but hasn't." He frowned.

  The emperor stroked his , visibly worried. The man had mentiohat Lord Kin'emon had first sent a letter by pigeon, followed by the messenger. It appeared the letter had been intercepted.

  After p for a moment, the emperor made his decision. "Very well. I'll call for a meeting with all the other provincial leaders. I want to hear their opinions on this matter," he decred, despite the fact they had only retly cluded a meeting.

  Leaving his daughter behind, he gestured for the guards and the man from Yin to apany him. Soon, the emperor made his way to the cil chamber, escorted by his guards. The other provincial leaders and samurai were being summoned once again to discuss what a to take regarding the mysterious group that had arrived in the southern port city.

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