Being a prisoner-of-war was something new to Aziz, but like Marie, he had heard the stories. The training he had undergone as a scout was outdated, and to be honest, his time as a commanding officer had made him soft. The past few years were full of paperwork and nothing else, which was not conducive to his willpower.

He stewed in those dark thoughts for a while.

“Why did you guys have to come today?” the Exemplar asked. “This convoy was supposed to enter the Wildlands tomorrow, right? If you had been on schedule, you lot wouldn’t have been caught up in it.”

Aziz didn’t quite know how to react to those words.

“You’re the enemy, but you’re sympathising with us?” Marie asked.

The Exemplar looked up. “It’s not like you guys wanted to invade us of your own free will. It’s the same deal with us. None of us actually wanted to attack the Five Lands, but we were forced to do so. You guys have your own rulers to obey too.”

“That’s…”

“A reply you didn’t quite expect, I guess.” The Exemplar chuckled. “But we have no desire to kill. For one, our Lord has forbidden us from killing where possible. Second, we…sympathise. And…well, there are a lot of very powerful reasons that justify our current actions.”

The demon before him was completely different from the demons he had faced in the battle for the Five Lands’ survival. If they went by what the Exemplar before him said, the only reason why the demons had even attacked was because the Demon God willed it.

“Whatever those reasons are, one can’t deny that not killing was an inspired move,” Aziz muttered. “Everyone’s depressed, demoralised, defanged and other words that start with ‘de’.”

“We didn’t want to do this, but your governments have shown no sign of acknowledging our mercy,” said the Exemplar. “Therefore, we had to resort to something drastic like this.”

“We’re hostages?”

“Or valuable citizens,” said the Exemplar. “Your deserters have made their own home somewhere deeper into the Wildlands. You are free to join them if you so wish. We don’t expect anything from anyone who joins; they’re free people.”

That sounded nice, but Aziz didn’t want to take his words at face value. It was possible that he was lying or something…even if there wasn’t much of a point in an Exemplar lying to a Knight. After all, the latter could turn the former into meat paste with a swat of his hand or something. However, his words did have a very strong pacifying effect on the First Aerial; the burgeoning air of fear had dissipated some time ago.

The convoy, now led by the Exemplar, trudged on the dusty trail, a trail that had been created over the past two weeks. It was the same sight, the same rocks and soil, but the circumstances were different now.

“What does your commander intend to do next?” Aziz asked.

“Send people back to the Five Lands and ask for a negotiation,” the Exemplar replied. “Given the enormous scale of our Operation Enduring Peace, however, the Five Lands are likely to retaliate first. We can convey our intentions at that point…although we’ll probably need to beat some sense into them.”

Given the sheer number of Demigods the Wildlands had, this probably wasn’t going to be too hard. Aziz, however, didn’t include the familiar spirits that belonged to the other great gods, but there was probably a reason why none of them had shown up in this invasion so far.

Did they see no need to continue the invasion? That was plausible — with the Demon God killed and the Demon Sovereign missing, there was no threat to the great gods anymore. The possibility of them viewing the ongoing war as a mortal one was subsequently very high.

Or were they unwilling to invest their Demigods in what very well could be a bottomless swamp? Aziz didn’t know all that much about the great gods and their familiar spirits, but the latter definitely couldn’t be mass produced easily.

“You sound confident in winning,” Marie noted.

“Well, no one said it was going to be a one-on-one battle,” the Exemplar replied. “We’ll surround them and beat them down! Probably.”

“That’s—”

“You guys have artefacts and neat things like E-engines,” the Exemplar replied. “That’s unfair to us, if we want to be very exacting about this whole war thing. In fact, we’re already being very nice. If we wanted to lay waste to the Five Lands, no one could have stopped us if we dispersed our numbers.”

He shook his head. “Never mind. The war’s about to end, one way or another. We cannot keep taking beatings passively. Us demons are content to stay in the Wildlands, but we won’t say no to expanding our home either. Push us far enough, and we’ll…”

The Exemplar’s voice trailed off.

It was, however, more than enough for Aziz to understand the position they were in. The demons were maintaining a very precarious balance, one created by their delicate actions. Aziz had thought that such a situation would last for quite some time, but just like every other expectation he had held about this Great War, it had been subverted.

Whether that was a good thing or not remained to be seen, however.

“Speed up, people,” said the Exemplar. “The faster we get there, the quicker we can arrange for your accommodations…or at least, accommodations that are not a bunch of fenced-in rocks.”

“I wonder whose fault was that,” Marie muttered.

“We did that, yes, but it was infinitely preferable to killing off your entire army with a few swipes,” said the Exemplar. “I am quite certain that there are people on your side who would prefer that, though. It would be a good pretext to whip up even more enmity on your side.”

Aziz couldn’t help but think about what Minister Pauline had hoped for.

Just how did the Wildlands know about it?

The amount of intelligence they had on the Five Lands was somewhat disturbing.

“Where are we going?” Marie asked.

“To one of the many small towns we made for deserters,” the Exemplar replied. “Be grateful, I guess. Your camps are nothing compared to the little accommodations we’re preparing for you prisoners.”

“Again, whose fault is that?”

“Well, at least you guys really have no intention to kill us or anything,” Aziz muttered. “That’s a plus.”

“Exactly my point,” he replied. “Right, we should also get the registration done. We don’t want to see the Five Lands accusing us of hiding people or anything when we release you lot.”

“We’re already talking about the release bit?” Aziz retorted.

“It’s good to think positive, right? If we’re releasing everyone, that can only mean that the war’s over,” the Exemplar replied. “Anyway, get me a list of everyone here, so that the post-treaty process doesn’t become an issue.”

“Post-treaty…” Aziz rubbed his nose. “Well, I guess we should do that, but I’m just so off-balance right now that I can’t think straight.”

“Me too,” said Marie. “Sorry, can we have a moment?”

The Exemplar blinked. “Sure, go wild.”

Marie dragged Aziz away, around ten metres from the amused Exemplar. “This is really getting to me, no matter how I look at it. We’re prisoners of war, but we aren’t restrained or anything, other than putting our weapons away. Our solitary captor is speaking freely to us, without any fear. Isn’t the whole process messed up?”

“Tell me about it,” Aziz replied. “But he’s so sincere that I’m beginning to think that demons are far more civilised when it comes to handling wars and things.”

“I’m feeling some shame too,” Marie conceded. “Wait, that’s beside the point. Um. Anyway, the whole thing feels wrong, I guess.”

The two stared at each other for a while.

“You two done?” the Exemplar called out. “Your soldiers look both hungry and tired. We have beds and hot food, so the faster we get there the better.”

“Beds and hot food…”

These four words continued to echo throughout the crowd, and the First Aerial sped up. They were moving at a speed that Aziz only saw when everyone was returning to base. Everyone was heading to their prison, but somehow, they didn’t mind it.

What did that prove?

Aziz didn’t know what to think. Nor did he want to think about what the ramifications of such an action were. It was better to just look forward to the Exemplar’s promise of hot food and beds.

If they were getting such treatment, it could only mean that the others at the main camps and the forward camps were also experiencing the same things. The troops of the Five Lands had been rendered powerless, only to be met with treatment that was far better than their own camps.

After taking a second to stew on these issues, the two returned to the head of the trundling convoy, drawing more amused glances from the Exemplar.

“Come on.” The Exemplar looked up into the skies. “Our movements will have been captured by the others. I cannot guarantee that the enemy won’t strike in retaliation, and I am very sure that they won’t hold back. Everyone here would be caught in the battle, and that would be it.”

“Even though you’re functionally immortal…”

“Stupid, I know.” The Exemplar held his head. “It would be a problem if their goal was to kill off you guys themselves, so we’re not going to give them the chance.”

“Yeah, there are definitely some nations that would definitely want to do that,” Marie muttered. “Like the Southern Assembly. If the First Aerial was wiped out by some heedless big shot, they would definitely be the first to send condolences and then throw a seemingly-unrelated party afterwards.”

“I can definitely see that too,” Aziz mumbled.

The Exemplar chuckled, as if he wanted to make a point. “That’s why we should hurry up.”

In silence, the entire group bustled along. No one wanted to speak about their feelings, but Aziz knew that everyone was probably feeling conflicted about rushing to imprison themselves in some place built by the enemy. Without putting up a fight, for that matter.

After a few hours of frantic walking, they passed by the Republic’ main camp. Other than some fences and rocks, there was nothing else there. Aziz stared at the sight quietly as they went past it, something that everyone else also did at one point or another.

Fortunately, there were no signs of battle at all. It would seem that the entirety of the Republic’s forces stationed here surrendered the moment their captors arrived.

“Looks like they gave up without a fight too,” Aziz muttered.

“We definitely aren’t alone in this regard,” Marie noted wryly.

The deserted camp grew smaller and smaller behind them as the First Aerial trudged past it, vanishing beyond the horizon as they drew up to one of the Republic’s forward camps. They were smaller…in the sense that the fences that surrounded those rocks enclosed a smaller area.

“It’s empty too…”

“No signs of violence either.”

The others also murmured similar things, but it was a good sign for the absent troops. When would the Five Lands realise that all their troops sent here was gone? Or did they already know, and were putting together a counterattack?

Aziz didn’t know, but as the Exemplar pointed at the city everyone was going to be living in, he had a feeling that they were going to find out.