Rise of the Inquisition (Arc 4-6)

Chapter 143: Crimson Kingdom

Paladin, Archer, and Alexon were walking side by side together as they were being escorted towards the Crimson Kingdom, with the soldiers who were under the command of the Crimson King. When they exited the forest filled with tall pine trees, the three Inquisitors found themselves being escorted into an area next to one of the large mountains, and on the ground near one of the large mountains they saw the tall stone brick walls of the Crimson Kingdom. In the center of the walls was a large gate made of metal, with tall towers made of stone bricks on both sides of the gate. Alexon, looking at the walls and the towers shook his head.

"None of this was here previously, relatively speaking these walls must have been made after the Fall of House Odin."

"Out of curiosity Alexon," Paladin said, as he turned his head to look over at Alexon. "It is safe to assume that these humans arrived after the Fall of House Odin, but is it plausible to assume that they were former members of House Odin? You mentioned before that only select members of House Odin knew about the island, so I wonder if somebody accidentally spoke."

"I doubt it, considering that nobody from House Odin outside of the main seven knew where this island was. At the time, Paladin, when you were Cesar, you kept it under wraps and didn't want many people knowing where the island was. You didn't want to have to deal with the problems that could occur, as it would've been likely that Hunters would've came after both of the races. Hunters that proved problematic on the mainland," Alexon replied.

"Ah, I see, I see how that makes sense then," Paladin said.

When the group were escorted into the inside of the walls of the Crimson Kingdom, they were able to see the living conditions of everyone inside for themselves. Buildings, some of them two stories some of them one story, made entirely of stone bricks were spread out over the area. All of the stone buildings were separated from each other, completely unorganized. There was a dirt pathway, mostly cleared of snow that acted as the road that moved around the inside of the Kingdom. Various bonfires were spread out near the dirt road, and soldiers wearing the exact same armor of the soldiers who found them kneeling before the bonfires could be seen. Paladin looked around, and as he looked around soldiers around them started to stand up and look at the Inquisitors. Paladin squinted his eyes, and he noticed that every single person he looked at was a human male. Archer, with a keen eye looked around and examined the soldiers. He then noticed something that Paladin nor Alexon noticed.

"Hey, have you guys noticed that there isn't any civilians around here? Not a single person here isn't wearing armor," Archer asked.

"Now that you speak of it Archer, I'm not seeing any civilians around here either. Not only that, but I've noticed that every single person here is a Male," Paladin replied.

"If they were being hunted down by the Wolves or the Demons on the island, then I wonder if they became a full militarized society and conscripted everyone into their military? Not only that, but maybe they keep their women elsewhere? Logically speaking, I feel as if that would make a lot of sense," Archer said.

Alexon, listening to the two Inquisitors nodded his head, agreeing with what the two of them were saying.

"Archer, the assumption you made could very well turn out to be true. I can't think of many other reasons why an entire society would be made of armored soldiers. I mean, you don't become this militarized because of wild animals or some shit. Clearly, they must've have trouble with the two other races on the island," Alexon replied.

One of the Crimson soldiers, overhearing the three Inquisitors speaking amongst themselves about their society slowed down his marching, until he was marching close to them.

"The reason why the society is like this is because of a few reasons. The main reason being because of the Demons, who we constantly find ourselves in conflict with. The second reason being, because the women of our society left long ago and joined the Demons. They left the male children behind, and only took the female children with them," the soldier said.