I mean Emberford was the weakest kingdom. We’re less “the empire everyone was tired of” and more “a weak player they may as well take off the map while the iron is hot.”
Main mystery is why Emberford was such a necessity to eliminate that two stronger kingdoms that hate each other would team up to finish it off. You’d think Vlorora would prefer Grafast not get all that new territory.
Definitely agree! Emberford is like the underdog no one expected to be a target. Makes you wonder what’s really going on behind the scenes like, are there hidden agendas at play? 
I mean, you’d think Vlorora would want Grafast to take the hit instead. What do you guys think is the real reason they teamed up to take Emberford down?
Lol at a guess because of the fact the kingdom had the core and the MC and the others like them were a threat. Besides the fact of simple greed for more.
I mean, even with the core we were the weakest kingdom, and they weren’t trying to kill us, just torch the capital.
It’s POSSIBLE they were betting on us not having any reason to fight afterwards and just fucking off to parts I know if they did this. Maybe Vadis said so? But I feel like there’s more to it.
If that IS the reason, they’re about to get a crash course in how my mc thinks.
We’ve just hit 40,000 views on CoG Demos! Thank you all so much for the incredible support—it truly means a lot to me. Seeing people enjoying the story, sharing their thoughts, and coming up with theories is the most motivating thing in the world. It’s still surreal to me that it’s reached this many views in such a short time!
Since the sea people can’t breathe on land, I gotta wonder how awkward it is to trade with Laphis or attack ships. Just a vendor selling fish and desperately holding their breath until they’ve either sold out need to dive again. Or just have a giant barrel of water to man the stall in.
Someone takes the time to spread the good word and the vendor is just dying.
Once we discover the lost Aurelian technology of the diving suit, they’ll be able to go knocking on their doors and hand them stone tablets with the good word of Azgor inscribed in water proof form.
It’s called love man
It’s just that great
They can stay out of the water for about 30 minutes to an hour at most. That’s why their attacks on ships are usually quick and brutal—they leap aboard out of nowhere, quickly dispatch the unprepared crew, grab whatever they want, and disappear back into the sea. If the crew manages to put up a solid defense, the raiders usually retreat and move on to an easier target.
Their relationship with Laphis and the way they trade will be explored once the MC arrives there. There’s a lot I want to dive into when it comes to Laphis—I just need to find the right balance so it doesn’t end up feeling too drawn out.
Kinda reminds me of a reverse whale. Fish who can hold their breath on land for large amounts of time.
Gonna be super awkward if we get attacked first lol.
I know the prognosis for Arael’s mother isn’t great but considering she wanted to restore the Aurelian Empire, I do like the idea of, after being jailed for over a century, she gets busted out by a bunch of soldiers who introduce themselves as imperial legionaries.
Well, it’s been over 200 years since she and Arael were separated—who knows what became of her in all that time? Maybe the MC will uncover more about her fate when they reach Vlorora…
I also gotta wonder, Azgor said that he could win the war with Grafast single-handedly in like, a day or a week (can’t remember). Is he right or a bit overconfident? I have no doubt we could take on the armies ourselves and cripple their strategic assets, but to do that on a nation-wide scale, we’re gonna have to cover a fair bit of ground. Could we actually fly all around Grafast leveling every fort in sight and torching enough of their armies to cripple their war effort in such a short timeframe?
I ask because the time it takes to decimate their defensive positions and eliminate key assets would be a key factor in our ability to carry the war effort on our shoulders. I assume Azgor wasn’t factoring in occupying the territory and asserting our rule, we’ll need soldiers for that, but could we like, win the whole war for Ecbert right now if we joined him or would it take too long to finish off the whole army before we no longer had any troops? Could we do it quickly enough to stop the capital of Grafast from being retaken from Ecbert’s forces (we’d definitely be able to take it unless those Aurelians are there)?
Also wondering what the plan is to get to any of the three locations for our chosen path. How was Zaria planning to reconnect with the rest of the army, for example? I assume by avoiding most enemy troops on the way. We know he needed us to get to Theresa. Regardless of either path we take, I’m wondering if our merry band of super powerful magical warriors would make it more prudent to just level any significant targets we encounter to make a clearer path and improve our odds later on, however slightly.
It also occurs to me just now that if we don’t get to Laphis, they could be in trouble. The flying ships are immune to most of the natural defenses they have against invaders, and the sea people can’t raid them either. We’ve probably got time before Vlorora makes them a priority but it’s a reason to try and get there just in case, or alternatively just win the war very quickly.
Azgor is definitely overconfident. He’s been trapped inside his core for 300 years, and now his only knowledge of the world comes from what the Warden sees or hears. He has no real understanding of how these nations have changed, what weapons they’ve developed, or what kind of resistance they could pose. That’s not to say he couldn’t wipe them out—just that he’s making that judgment without knowing what he’s truly up against. In his mind, it’s all beneath him. And he definitely wasn’t talking about conquest and occupation—he was talking about completely destroying them.
But could he actually do it? In his original form, absolutely. Grafast’s people might survive for a while by retreating underground, but their cities, forts, and infrastructure would be obliterated with ease. They wouldn’t have any weapons capable of seriously harming him. The only reason most civilizations—aside from the Aurelians—weren’t wiped out 300 years ago is because Azgor chose not to destroy them. Whether that was out of laziness, boredom or something else, no one really knows. He would every once in a while kill a bunch of people or burn something down, but never actually try to erradicate anyone. Maybe the MC should ask him about that someday.
But things are different now. Trapped inside the Warden’s body, his power is limited. Even if the MC accepted his offer at the end of Chapter 1 and began taking on a more draconic form, they’re still nowhere near Azgor’s former strength, and a week wouldnt even be enough to travel to all the castles and cities under Grafast, much less destroy them.
In their full dragon form, the Warden is very powerfull and could undoubtedly cause serious damage, but in humanoid form, they could be overwhelmed by the sheer size of Grafast’s legions. Remember, Walls warned that Grafast possessed weapons capable of piercing his scales.
That said, the MC still knows very little about Grafast’s true military power. What they faced at Emberford were standard soldiers with common weapons—not their elite forces. But let’s say a fleet of flying ships like the ones that leveled Emberford (minus the two Aurelians) were to attack Laphis while the Warden was there. In full draconic form, they could likely intercept and destroy the fleet before it reached the city. If the Warden refused Azgor’s offer and remained mostly human, it would be more difficult—but with Cassiel and Arael’s help, and with smart planning and early detection, they could probably still defend the city with minimal damage.
However, launching a direct assault on Grafast might not be the best idea—at least not yet. The Warden has no idea what kind of weapons Grafast is hiding, and even in their draconic form, it could be dangerous. Add to that the uncertainty about the Aurelians’ involvement in the attack—whether they acted independently or were allied with Grafast or Vlorora—and things become even murkier.
In short, there are still too many unknowns about Grafast to say for certain how much the Warden could achieve alone in a war against them—but one thing is clear: they can’t conquer it single-handedly. Even if they were powerful enough to take a city, they’d still need soldiers and allies to hold it. The Warden can’t be everywhere at once, so they’d have to trust that what they’ve already claimed won’t fall back into enemy hands the moment they move on.
As for Zatus, he was in a difficult position: marching to Ecbert with his 500 soldiers and wagons full of supplies would have made them a prime target for orc raids—or worse, Grafast might have sent a battalion to wipe them out. But heading to Theresa was risky too. She’s supposedly in Lyfadel, deep within the Great Forest. They might be able to reach Akastin, since much of Emberford’s former territory is still in transition and many of the vassals remain reluctant to serve Grafast. But beyond that, they wouldn’t make it far unless an elf was willing to guide them through the enchanted forest.
As for the possibility of Laphis being attacked—that’s a valid concern. But the battle at Emberford showed Vlorora that their airships aren’t as invincible as they once believed. They might hesitate to send them into a region full of dragons, at least not without making improvements first.
I HAD been wondering about that. Considering the destruction of the imperial core wasn’t exactly his idea I was wondering what his ultimate intentions actually were.
That’s fair. Only three people were capable of even touching them and just one of them ate half their fleet for lunch. They need to make something out of a higher melting point than stone to turn this from a duck hunt into an actual fight.
I love the physical affection from Arael. So often is that almost entirely absent from a story, treating it as a reward for the end of a romance route (and not even just for sex, but like simply hugging and such gets treated like this too) instead of just another way of showing affection. I like it a lot, really appreciate having it here 
I’m glad you liked it! It’s something I’ve decided from the start to include with every RO, each in their own unique way. I feel like these smaller moments of affection—even if they aren’t essential to the plot—go a long way in making the romance feel more genuine and natural, at least in my eyes.
It’s something I don’t see many authors do, unfortunately, but hopefully I can strike the right balance here.
Yeah a lot of authors do like to wait quite some time before the romance is even made official, let alone physically affectionate. Fortunately a far few newer WIPs I’ve been following (like this one) have decided to move things along a bit quicker. There’s a sort of Goldilocks zone to hit with how quick a relationship should move and unfortunately where it is depends on a work’s pacing so it’s different every time.