Imperator: Resurrection of an Empire

Julius' convoy continued its journey south, leaving behind the once-devastated lands of Ramie, now reborn under Romanus' rule.

The air grew warmer, the scent of sea salt mingling with the breeze as they entered the more fertile and undisturbed regions that lay beyond the scars of war.

Unlike the battle-ravaged north, southern Ramie had remained largely untouched by direct conflict.

These lands had only been attacked by the Parthian Romanus legionaires who broke off from the Carthaginian liberation army to harrass the southern lands and prevent the sending of reinforcements to the north, their rulers either switching allegiances or fleeing before the legions arrived after the fall of the capital, and the death of their king.

While their people had once feared the banners of Romanus, now they watched from the roadsides with quiet curiosity—and, in many cases, open admiration.

It was in these lands that Julius found his next great task: integration.

~

Everywhere the convoy passed, Julius made improvements.

Farmers found their irrigation systems suddenly restored, their fields ready to support new life as the System quietly rewrote reality.

Towns with crumbling roads awoke to pristine, paved streets as Roman engineering seemingly had always been in place.

Marketplaces flourished overnight, merchants waking to find new stalls and storage spaces, their businesses unknowingly enhanced.

It was the same formula he had used elsewhere—conquer, stabilize, improve—but here, it was far more subtle.

These people had not suffered the direct wrath of war like the northern cities.

They did not need to be rebuilt from the ashes but rather elevated beyond what they had ever been before.

Julius ensured that they would not see Romanus as an invader but as a force of progress.

The system confirmed his success:

Every new town added to his network of controlled territories.

Every new village brought more people under his banner.

And with that came soldiers.

~

It was not lost on Julius that many young men and women in these lands, once hesitant to fight, were now stepping forward to enlist in the Romanus Legions.

Perhaps it was the stability he had brought.

Perhaps it was the wealth that followed his rule.

Or perhaps it was simply the realization that their old world was never coming back, and the desire to stand as the new guardians of the province that had once been their own country.

Julius watched as his officers oversaw the newest recruits at an outpost along the River Zantar, a key trade artery that once fed into Ramie's old capital.

Here, hundreds of new recruits trained under Roman veterans, learning the ways of Romanus warfare.

They were not yet legionnaires—not truly.

They lacked the discipline, the training, the sheer unbreakable will that separated the Romanus armies from all others.

But they would learn.

Taking up the Romanus blade was to consign oneself to a spartan training style that would help quickly mould volunteers into a professional fighting force one that could be ready to march with the legion proper within six months and be granted the rank of a milite or initiate, one who had completed basic training and could count themselves as a starting member of one of the kingdoms armed legions.

~

Days passed as Julius' Imperial Convoy traveled further south, the roads improving as they neared the borders of Carthage.

Unlike Ramie, Carthage had already embraced the banners of Romanus, but not yet as rulers instead as saviors and partners.

Their queen, Serena, had made sure of that.

Julius knew that, even now, she was preparing for his arrival.

And so was her Liberation Army.

Ready for his arrival, her bending of the knee and handing over of her home nation to his control and elevation of his status from a king to that of an emperor presiding over kingdoms.

And to seal this deal would be his engagement to Queen Serena however an actual wedding would be postponed until after they had recovered her...

~

As the convoy crested the last rolling hill before the Carthaginian frontier, Julius saw them.

Two armies, waiting side by side.

On one side, 5,000 Romanus Legionnaires stood in disciplined ranks, their crimson and gold banners fluttering in the ocean wind.

On the other, 5,000 Carthaginian warriors—men and women who had fought to reclaim their homeland—stood proudly, their dark blue banners lined with the golden lion of Carthage.

At their head stood General Hannor, one of Serena's most trusted commanders, and beside him, a regal carriage draped in the Carthaginian royal crest.

Serena was here.

Julius dismounted from his carriage, flanked by his Praetorian Guard, and strode forward as Hannor stepped out to greet him.

"Your Majesty,"

Hannor saluted, his dark eyes filled with something between respect and uncertainty.

"Queen Serena requests the honor of escorting you to the capital personally."

Julius smirked.

"Of course she does."

Having no reason to refuse Julius waiting after agreeing for the Queen to disembark her own royal carriage, and then hand in hand walking back to his own, before helping the lady to step up and into his own personal carriage.

~

As the two armies turned southward, Romanus and Carthage marched together.

It was a sight that had never before been seen in history—once bitter enemies, now standing as one.

As they jointly escorted two different nations monarchs together within the same carriage.

This journey was slowed due to the pace of the marching men, but even still it gave further evidence to the Carthaginians that they were outmatched when compared to their Romanus allies, while they lay exhausted upoin the ground, the Romanus legion would be setting up camp for the day, going out to hunt or forage for food, even having some go off running to perform scouting or even scout training for the newer less experienced members.

The distance they marched per day was not even half the distance the Romanus legions were trained to march, and at a much slower pace than normal as well.

For the men they took this to be like a vacation.

When they travelled the Crowned pair recounted one another on the tales of their separate conquests, and the new challenges that lay ahead for them.

And when they reached the gates of the Reclaimed Capital of Carthage, it would be more than just a political meeting.

It would be the final act of unification.

Julius would claim Serena's crown.

And, perhaps, something far greater than that.

Before then settling the existing issues the re-emergent nation was dealing with specifically from the neighboring Principality.