The entire day was spent cleaning up the mess in Ironhold Kingdom. King Rodric was seen throughout the kingdom in chains, locked up by the knights of Lioncrest.
Thankfully, there was no resistance that occurred. Aside from a few Ironhold Nobles who had the gall to point fingers at one another, taking the rare opportunity to remove old rivals and thorns in their side.
Henry didn't humor them of course. Though that doesn't mean he'd leave them alone. When Rodric spilled who his contact was in the Black Market, it turned out to be someone who was recommended to him by one of the Ironhold nobility in exchange for favors.
If one of them got contacts in the black market, what's stopping the few other ones? Lioncrest had been trying for years to establish contact and a foothold in the black market, but was unable to do so, all because they were the ones responsible for uprooting those on the surface.
So it's only natural for people of the black market to vehemently avoid Lioncrest Kingdom in fear of causing the demise of their well-kept illegal market.
Meanwhile, the scouts finally brought back the Queen and her children. As soon as they learned that had happened, Queen Arya quickly demanded that her husband be released despite the evidence already piled up in front of her face.
Henry ignored them for now. He had plans for them, more specifically the eldest child, Vickor. After all, he would need someone competent to sit on the throne and the eldest fits that criteria.
While Henry was already here, he decided to implement one of his long-term plans of building his Empire.
Embassies.
In order to fully establish Lioncrest as the main and number one Kingdom—soon to be Empire—throughout the entire continent, they would need to have a very influential foothold in each Kingdom.
With the Embassy, they would be able to keep all Kingdoms under their banner in check. It is also through this that they'd be able to exert their influence over the Kingdoms in case some matters concerning Lioncrest were to occur.
He hasn't decided who to assign as their Ambassador for the Ironhold Kingdom but he assigned one of General Liam's high-ranking subordinates to serve as temporary Ambassador.
Of course, they're still unaware of what that means so Henry disguised it as watching over the Ironhold Kingdom as a Lioncrest representative.
Putting all those aside, there's another thing that needed Henry's attention. The remaining Vikings.
Out of 10,000 Vikings, only 500 remained alive. And it's not what it looks like. After interrogating nearly half of them with the help of his Truth-Seeking Blessing—the name he came up with—he discovered that half of their original 10,000 army were actually separated into two. The other one discreetly marched to the other Kingdom, Cinder Kingdom.
But unlike Ironhold Kingdom whose ruler was blackmailed into accepting the Vikings into their midst, Cinder Kingdom seemed to be the opposite.
They weren't forced nor were they blackmailed. They actually initiated an alliance with the Vikings.
"Your Majesty, please send me to besiege them this time. There's no need to trouble you with this. Besides, their army was halved, that makes their number equal to ours."
Inside Ironhold Castle's war room, Henry sat with crossed arms with General Liam standing in front of him.
Hearing his words, Henry tapped his finger on the table's surface several times. As much as he wanted to go there and settle it himself, the disadvantages are simply too big compared to the advantages.
The advantage of doing it himself is simple. There would be no casualties on their side. That's it.
As for the opposite, it has many. First of all, General Liam was the newest, and second General Knights aside from General Darius back in Lioncrest. Unlike General Darius whose merits are known throughout the continent as the most capable General with several successful war skirmishes under his belt during the last Great War, even earning an exclusive title due to his war efforts, known as the Western Nightmare—basically because he's the reason why the Umber Kingdom lost several times in succession against Lioncrest.
General Liam on the other hand doesn't have any notable achievement he could flaunt around yet.
And having none would be bad for someone of his stature. General Liam needs to prove himself before fully be accepted as a General Knight standing on the same level as the Western Nemesis himself.
"Alright fine. But I'll deploy you tomorrow morning. For now, give me your sword and have someone deliver your armor to this room." Henry reached his hand out.
Albeit confused, General Liam didn't bother to ask questions and simply handed his sword to him and left with a salute.
As for the reason Henry asked for them. It's simple, now that he had already mastered Enchanting, he wanted to ensure that General Liam would live long enough to grow old and watch his children grow up and have children of their own.
Just consider this as his payment to Liam for never giving up in finding and bringing him back home when he got lost in Arendelle.
"I've really come far, aren't I?" Henry couldn't help but sigh in melancholy as he recalled everything that had transpired these past few months.
He went from someone who dreamed of going on an adventure and meeting his favorite Disney characters to leading an entire Kingdom to war while banging all those Disney princesses he used to watch as a child.
But of course, his life is not all happy and merry. There will always be one point in your life where you will face a devastating tragedy, not just him but everyone will always have that point in their lives.
———
Outside the Ironhold castle, every single knight, be it those from Ironhold or Lioncrest, was moving all around the place.
In the meantime, General Liam made his way to the Ironhold barracks where most of the Lioncrest Knights used as a temporary base.
During the walk, he couldn't help but shake in excitement. This is his moment now, to prove himself capable.
Initially, he was disappointed when he learned that Henry went ahead of him and took care of the problem. However, when he learned the situation, that disappointment turned into gratitude.
If he continued with the original plan, to besiege a Kingdom that was actually being held hostage by the Vikings, it wouldn't just tarnish his name and reputation, but also King Henry's.
He could imagine what it would look like for a King who just sat on his throne, and then engaged in a war during the first week, all while accidentally besieging an innocent Kingdom.
"I need to be cautious next time. I'll send scouts ahead to spy on Cinder Kingdom and see what their situation is up to." Liam murmured to himself.
———
While the Ironhold Kingdom situation was finally taken care of, something else was happening in a place far away to the west.
"Okay, Elsa. You can do this." Elsa murmured under her breath, staring at the distant sea around her as she stood atop an ice tower she recently created.
Below her, Ariel was waiting for her signal, "Are you ready yet sis?" Elsa honestly has no idea why she started calling him that, but she doesn't mind.
"Just…Just a second. I'll start with the spirits now." Elsa replied, taking a deep breath before cupping her hands together, making a little space between them.
As she focused, her eyes glared at the center of the cupped hands. Slowly but surely, there was a flash of blue light that started small before increasing in size until it filled the rest of the space on her hands.
Seconds passed, the light died down, and resting on her palms was the ice spirit that resembled her appearance minus the color.
Even though her ice spirit doesn't speak, they are still capable of understanding commands through nothing but thought.
"You know what to do little one." Elsa smiled and watched as the ice spirit flew away to her left.
She then proceeded to repeat the same process several times until she had created more than 20 ice spirits, all scattered to her left and right sides.
Meanwhile, Ariel once again asked for the umpteenth time, "Are we doing this or what?"
"I'm ready now, let's do this."
"Finally!"
Down below, Ariel, who was holding her Ember, twirled it around her fingers. Even though she was just being a bit showy, at least she was getting the job done as the ocean waters all around her churned to life, walls upon walls of water rose from the previously calm surface.
Elsa took that as a cue and spread both of her hands sideways, her icy powers quickly sprayed the tall columns of water, instantly freezing them into place, and with her precise control, shaped them according to what a proper wall looks like instead of letting it look like a jumbled mess.
The wall stood at an enormous height of 60 meters. Now even some birds would have a hard time crossing above.
"Hahaha! This is so fun!" Ariel laughed heartily, she continued to raise more walls of water, each grander than the previous ones.
She could almost feel her water powers growing just by doing this. Her initial shaky control was no longer to be seen; instead, she was now moving like her father does when manipulating the ocean.
Together with Elsa and her ice spirits, they managed to cover tens to hundreds of miles in length. For every hundred miles, Elsa would shape a tower-like structure complete with a roof and windows, this would serve as the temporary home base of the Arendellian soldiers who would guard the wall.
Eventually, they stopped when they reached the thousand-mile mark, in the middle of the thousand-mile-long wall was a small gap where a single small to middle sized ships could pass through, Elsa decided to leave two ice golems to guard the passage in the meantime.
On the other hand, both Elsa and Ariel breathed heavily while the ice spirits dispersed the moment they'd exhausted their energy reserves.
"I didn't think we'd actually cover a thousand miles…I thought we would have to spend three days and nights to reach that threshold." Elsa couldn't help but stare at their feat in disbelief.
"I know right! Everything just clicked for me when we started, it's like I instantly understood what I'm truly capable of!"
Elsa allowed herself to form a smile on her face, "We should go back and tell Henry the good news!"
Ariel bobbed her head up and down, sharing the same energy of excitement as Elsa. She could already imagine the praises she would receive and perhaps, finally get that long-awaited kiss now that Elsa finally relented and approved of the relationship.
"Wait. Now that I think about it. Isn't it only proper that we give this beauty a name? Surely we can't leave this masterpiece without a name that will surely strike fear into those westerners!" Ariel's suggestion stopped Elsa in her tracks.
"A name?" She pondered heavily. She recalled Henry murmuring to himself about the great wall that will change the course of the continent.
She slammed her fist on her palm with a gleam in her eyes, "The Great Wall of Lioncrest!"