Chapter 59 - Downfall of Gaster Kingdom

"We got Xakro's army on a shortage. It will take him a while to repair the damages Eric caused and not to mention to get more Soldiers.

Xakro will be to deep in repairing his town's damages, to lend a hand in economies who just pay tax. Not to mention those who don't pay tax at all."

Added Commander Alia.

"Meaning this is the perfect time to strike. It's now or never. We can't wait for his army to get stronger."

…

Guard Commander Chan after being on the road to reach Pameres Kingdom for over a week, he is barely halfway there.

His close friend Aaron's estimation of the time it takes to reach Pameres Kingdom wasn't entirely correct.

Well he isn't to blame, neither are the horses.

They faced several steep hills already and the rain wasn't stopping at all these past 3 days.

If the rain wasn't stopping at all for over 2 hours straight, for the horses and guards safety, they had to stop in an inn to get warm and wait for the rain to stop.

Chan however, used the opportunity to read the books he was threatened to read before he started this journey.

It mostly contained of ill.u.s.tratian history.

Explaining the history of the Giant ill.u.s.tratio. Well more like theories about him. No one was ever that close to him and lived to tell the story.

A book also explained the ill.u.s.tratain Revolution towards the "evil Ignites, was to be found."

Mostly lies and propaganda forged by Xakro ill.u.s.tratio l. History is how the ones in charge tell it to be written.

But one of the books tells of the rise to power of Pameres Kingdom.

Pameres Kingdom started being built 16 years after Xakro ill.u.s.tratio l killed Akareas and took her powers.

Gaster Kingdom used to be one of the few Kingdom on the so called "Clear Lands" and it also hosted several mines which were rich in mineral. But where is mineral, there is ill.u.s.tratians.

"Occidentis Ignis" which of course is the Country Eric himself is living at, has a forest which covers over 60% of the Countries territory. So clear land is obviously more valued for farming in a big scale.

The land around Gaster Kingdom isn't farmable. It would be if work was put in the lands but they never considered it as they could afford imported food easily at first.

Crutal Kingdom itself is surrounded by a forest, with a river slithering near it.

That river slithers through 5 borders which makes traveling difficult even though it would make the road or "sail" to Pameres Kingdom closer. So they had to go through a rough poorly build road through a branch of the big  forest for 3 days in order to make it into the "Clear Lands".

Getting to the point, the ill.u.s.tratio favoured such land and mineral l.u.s.t so after a very long battle that actually lasted 16 years, the ill.u.s.tratios actually managed to invade the most wealthy Kingdom in Occidentis Ignis.

The Ignites there sure put up a fight.

Their soldiers were of elite groups, their weaponry was of good quality and they managed to recruit small groups of Ignites one by one and form an army of 5000 Ignites.

They stood a chance against Xakro's army in numbers but their downfall was the lack of houses.

They had housing for roughly 1000 but there were 5000 soldiers.

People slept on the street, a huge part of the economy was spent in construction which backfired greatly.

Clan Conflicts between famous Ignite last names occurred because of a food shortage.

The natives wanted upper advantages in the food situation just simply because they were permanent residents to Gaster Kingdom.

The imported Soldiers started a revolution towards the natives whose ego was taller than their height.

Hundreds of soldiers were lost even though the King there tried tremendously to stop such conflict.

Xakro ill.u.s.tratio l used that to his advantage.

He promised the Imported Soldiers Permanent Residence if they helped him invade Gaster Kingdom.

With the hatred towards the native Gaster Ignites the imported soldiers had, they made a mistake to partner with the enemy.

The deal at first sounded fine.

The imported Soldiers would run Gaster Kingdom, establishing their own community and becoming neutral with the ill.u.s.tratio.

With just a 35% monthly tax to pay to Xakro ill.u.s.tratio l.

But Xakro didn't keep his word. The Natives were slaughtered by the ill.u.s.tratios and the imported ignites, then the Ignites were enslaved to work on the mines and the ill.u.s.tratio established a community there.

After that long war, all the mines were at top efficiency. Hundreds of soldiers were put in to use in the mines, and the rest weren't set free.

To avoid an Ignite Revolution, they beheaded Hundreds of Ignites and tossed them on the ocean a mile away from the Kingdom.

Using the very wealthy economy, they started building Pameres Kingdom.

Xakro didn't even tax the economy to boost the construction of Pameres Kingdom, he still isn't. Because there isn't anything to tax now in Gaster Kingdom. The mines are depleted, the road from Pameres to Gaster Kingdom is too far away to do constant business.

And Gaster Kingdom doesn't have any resources to offer anymore.

The people there, including the ill.u.s.tratio are struggling to survive.

From being a town that had Over 5000 people to becoming a town of 400 people with half of the houses abandoned, survival is only done by teamwork at Gaster Kingdom.

The ill.u.s.tratio tolerate the Ignites a whole lot more there.

The prices are almost equal, there is a small tax of 30 gold coins each month for every ill.u.s.tratio and Ignite. And there are no slaves.

Earning a profit is hard there, but some are willing to travel for days just to earn that profit.

You would think that the ill.u.s.tratios there would get in trouble for not enslaving Ignites and for treating them almost equally.

But Gaster Kingdom is different.

Being a Kingdom too poor to tax, Gaster Kingdom isn't under Xakro's support. Meaning, Xakro's Rules don't apply there.

"Commander Chan. The sky has cleared, we should be on our way as we are already late."