The Citadel's Weakness
Here's the first sponsored chapter of the week thanks to Jeremy S. from the USA. Enjoy the read!
After 5 days, the Second Highness once again visited the campsite of the convoy and he brought more than 40 old and worn fishing boats and tens of small fishing nets for Lorist.
"Apologies, Brother locke, this is already all the fishing boats and nets we have within a 50 kilometer radius of this area. Perhaps we might be shipping more here in a few more days. However, that shipment will definitely be lesser than what we have now because there aren't any lakes or rivers nearby the vicinity of Egret Lake," said the Second Highness apologetically.
"It's alright, Your Highness Aulo. We're already very grateful that you were able to help us out on this. We just started fishing this afternoon, why don't you go over there to take a look while we bring the boats and nets there?" Lorist said thankfully.
It didn't take more than 30 minutes before they reached the lake and many people working away at the banks could be seen from the distance.
Tens of meters from the lake bank was an empty space where a thick reed mat was laid on which tons of fish from the lake could be seen. More than ten women in their forties could be seen picking out the fish. They placed the larger fish into a basket which would be carried away when it was filled up for others to start processing the fish by removing their scales and innards and washing them before they would be laid on a wooden rack for to be dried.
As the smell of fish was rather pungent, the Second Highness pinched his nose and sneezed.
Charade came over excitedly with his face flushing red before he said, "Locke... Oh, milord, I bet you wouldn't be able to guess how much we got... The first fishing excursion netted us thousands of kilograms and there have already only been three excursions so far. We have already caught up to 10000 kilograms of fish in total. At this rate, we would have up to 50000 kilograms by today."
Currently, only a company of reorganized heavy-armored troops who were chosen for their swimming capabilities fishing within the lake. As they stood half-naked on their 30 plus boats, they flung a huge net deep into the lake.
The boats they were using were nicknamed 'Locke Fishing Boats' after Lorist who had designed them. It was basically a wooden box with a sharp point at the front that was supported in the middle by an intersecting piece of wood. The inner side of each boat was also coated with a thick layer of green clay to waterproof the boats and when the green clay dried, a makeshift deck was nailed over the middle supporting wood. To prevent the boats from flipping over, Lorist had someone install a vertical one-meter-long wooden fin beneath each boat to better balance them.
However, those boats caused a number of experienced boat makers among the work smiths to sigh in disappointment because while the boats were able to be constructed quickly, they definitely didn't last long enough and would fall apart after only one or 2 months of use. It took at least 2 months to construct a proper small fishing boat and good wood for boats like those were hard to come by. Those boats were far superior to the makeshift boats Lorist designed.
However, Lorist insisted on the idea and instructed the 2000 plus work smiths to make 200 of those boats within only 10 days. Hence, the boats were termed Locke Fishing Boats by the work smiths. Even so, nobody knew whether it was a sincere compliment and recognition of Lorist's ingenuity or whether they were merely being sarcastic.
At that moment, Charade noticed that the Second Highness had brought over the boats and nets. He clicked his tongue before he said, "Hmm... These nets are too small and I've already had some people make bigger ones. I've noticed that the more area of the lake we cover with those nets, the more fish we can get."
"You can always stitch these nets together. That way, you can shorten the time required to make those nets. Just make sure to check if they are stitched together tightly enough," Lorist said.
Charade clapped his hands as he said, "I see, that's a fine idea," before he turned and left in a hurry after asking someone to bring the fishing boats and nets away.
At that moment, the soldiers within the lake were starting to pull back the nets that they've cast and judging by the difficulty they had when pulling the net up, the harvest this time around must've been quite substantial.
The Second Highness said in admiration, "I really didn't expect that the Egret Lake would have so much fish. I recall that there was a kind of fish within the lake called the Longtail Whitefish which is quite thin and fine-scaled with less bones and quite a lot of meat. It also tasted rather good and was a staple dish within the imperial capital. However, the price of that fish was really expensive because the supply was rather scarce. Ever since the civil war broke out within the empire, lesser and lesser fishermen fished at Egret Lake as they had either been drafted into armies or have been oppressed by dominion lords into becoming vagabonds.
"And after the formation of the Madras Duchy, this lake was chosen to serve as a border between our two nations, so fishing here was naturally prohibited, resulting in these fishing boats being used at other rivers nearby. It really surprised me quite a bit that this lake would end up becoming the very thing that could save the vagabonds from the fate of starvation and death... Hahaha..."
"Well, we can pick out a few of those fish you mentioned for a meal later tonight," Lorist said as he laughed.
"Alright, but don't take too many. Personally, I prefer eating seawater fish because freshwater fish like those in these lakes have relatively more bones that prick my tongue rather easily when I eat them. Just have your men pick the bigger fish, especially those that aren't too bony," said the Second Highness.
After that, the Second Highness turned to his back and saw the newly-constructed makeshift fishing boats that were being laid in the sun for the green clay to dry before he asked, "How many boats did you order to be made?"
Lorist replied, "Around 200 of them."
"Why would you need so many?"
"So many? Your Highness, the Egret Lake is quite immense. We can't only fish at one spot, right? If we don't have enough boats, we won't be able to venture far into the lake. We can only gain the most haul if we fish at multiple places at once," Lorist said.
The Second Highness gave it some thought before he nodded and said, "I see, you truly are thorough with your plans. Personally, I'm not too knowledgeable about matters on fishing."
...
That night, Lorist accompanied the Second Highness for dinner and the main dish was a Longtail Whitefish.
The Second Highness agilely used his fork to get hold of another large piece of meat and placed it within his mouth with his silver spoon with his eyes narrowing in satisfaction. "This truly is good stuff. I wonder how many years has it been since I last tasted this fish..."
"This time, we got quite a huge haul. I've already had a few other fish like these placed in a water bucket for you to bring back. Make sure to let my cousin sister Glacia have a taste of these fish. It's a shame she didn't come here with you today," Lorist said.
"How thoughtful of you, Locke. Thank you. Glacia was training the newly-recruited soldiers, so it wasn't convenient for her to come over today. That's right, didn't you also draft new soldiers from the ranks of the vagabonds?" asked the Second Highness.
Lorist nodded and said, "I recruited around 20000 people. Since I plan to head up north after the lake freezes up, the convoy would need a substantial force to be able to fend off threats during our passage through the Madras Duchy. These 20000 soldiers were formed so that they could maintain order of the convoy during the journey and they will be disbanded after we arrive. Given the resource-starved state of the Northlands, there's no way I can afford to feed so many soldiers. If they don't work their share, they won't get any food either."
The Second Highness sighed and said, "Darn, that Duke Madras mobilized his Ironguard Legion to defend the Lichtana Citadel, forcing our Andinaq Kingdom to have to station some soldiers at Nadegas City to watch out for them. Now that the Welbassia Province has once again returned to the hands of the royal family, it's up to us to ensure its safety from the invasion of the Ironguard Legion. Had it not been for some good news I received just now, I would have had to trouble myself over filling the void of military strength left after the departure of your convoy."
"Oh, what news did you receive?" Lorist asked.
"It's about the Fiercegale Legion. They've assisted Duke Melein in mowing down the Iblia Kingdom's forces at the southern part of the Ienord Province, which is divided into three commanderies by the Second Prince. Their forces have already arrived at the royal capital, Windbury City, forcing the Second Prince to request his father-in-law, Duke Fisablen, to send out reinforcements to defend the city. The two sides have battled for a number of times and victory still seems undecided. Given that winter is approaching, Duke Melein decided to pull his soldiers back to his duchy and the Fiercegale Legion will also return," said the Second Highness.
Lorist raised his silver cup and said, "A toast for you, Your Highness. I believe that the Second Prince has been taught a harsh lesson by Duke Melein this time around and will have to rest and recuperate his forces for a few years. That way, there won't be able conflict between them and your kingdom so you can start building up your own forces."
The Second Highness furrowed his brow before he shook his head and said, "Originally, I was prepared to station the Fiercegale Legion at Nadegas City to defend against any attempts by the Ironguard Legion to invade. However, I received another piece of information that the Four Allied Duchies which used to attack the First Prince's Redlis Kingdom recently have signed a peace treaty with the First Prince. Even though the First Prince lost some land to them, he didn't lose too many of his forces and is still a force to be reckoned with. That is one of the larger factors that prompted him to agree with the peace talks.
"What I'm worried about is that the First Prince and the Four Allied Duchies would turn their sights on my kingdom after they cease hostilities. Before this, my kingdom was rather unstable and the First Prince was not interested with us and chose to attack the Four Allied Duchies instead because there was more for him to gain by doing that. That's also the reason my kingdom didn't prioritize the defense of the border near the Redlis Kingdom and it's also why my elder brother refused to take over the Benz Citadel back then: mainly, we didn't have any extra soldiers nor did we see a need for defending the place.
"Currently, the citadels around the border there are manned by only a few garrison forces. If the First Prince stops all conflict with the Four Allied Duchies, then I wIll have to send more men to defend that place as well. When the Fiercegale Legion returns, they can at most keep only the First Prince at bay. That way, Nadegas City will have a shortage of soldiers and we'll need to start yet another recruitment drive and that in turn requires more food supply as well. How troubling..."
Lorist smiled and said, "If you require some food, then our convoy can leave the nets behind before we leave and you can catch some fish within the lake to use for yourself."
The Second Highness toasted Lorist to thank him for the kind gesture.
"However, in the long term, I believe that if Your Highness can occupy Lichtana Citadel, you will be able to hold the initiative to act against the Madras Duchy. As long as you modify it a little bit, this citadel can be a source of worry for Duke Madras and you might even get the chance to take the whole of Yungechandler Province for yourself and add it to the kingdom," Lorist said as he looked at the Second Highness optimistically.
The Second Highness made a bitter laugh before he sighed and said, "You're right about that. However, even if I'd like for that to happen, I do not have the ability to carry it out. Even if we ignore the fact that the terrain around Lichtana Citadel makes it hard to besiege but easy to defend, the presence of the Ironguard Legion itself will be troublesome enough. Without more than 10 times their numbers and a long period of besieging, I think it will be hard for me to take the castle."
"How about this... If you can lend me 20000 soldiers, I might be able to help you conquer Lichtana Citadel and hand it straight too you," Lorist suggested during the pause after the Second Highness expressed his worries.
"What did you say? You have a way to occupy Lichtana Citadel?" said the Second Highness wide-eyed with surprise. He didn't even notice that he had dropped his silver cup onto the table unconsciously.
Lorist nodded and said, "I discovered a weak point of the citadel and I have a plan that I think will work. However, I don't have enough soldiers myself. If you can lend me 20000 men, I am rather confident that I'll be able to conquer the citadel."
"I'll lend you 30000! If you can conquer it for me, it doesn't matter even if you have to sacrifice all 30000 of them!" said the Second Highness emotionally as he started pacing around excitedly.
Lorist laughed out before he said, "The casualties won't be so bad either. I estimate that we will lose 6 thousand in the worst case."
"That's impossible. The ones defending the citadel are the Ironguard Legion. They are famed for being the best at defending against sieges! How will you be able to attack the citadel and succeed by only losing 6000 men?" asked the Second Highness as he looked at Lorist with doubt.
"Your Highness, I won't be attacking the citadel. In fact, I'll have them come out to attack me. We will be on the defending side," Lorist said.
"Wait, what do you mean by that? The Ironguard Legion will attack while we defend? Where would we defend? Unless they've gone insane, they wouldn't abandon the castle to come and attack us..." said the Second Highness. He believed that Lorist was merely bullshitting as he thought that if he put himself into the shoes of the commander of the Ironguard Legion, he definitely wouldn't send his men out to attack Lorist's forces at the cost of leaving the citadel unguarded.
"Hehe..." Lorist started to laugh out loud before he said, "Reidy, bring the fortification blueprints of Lichtana Citadel out here."
Reidy quickly retrieved the blueprints Lorist bought from the bookstore of Vanades City and laid them on the table.
"Your Highness, come here to take a look. This is the situation of the internals of the citadel."
The Second Highness was quite surprised that Lorist was able to obtain documents like that, but Lorist didn't tell him that he got them for one imperial silver coin a piece and thought, I better just let him imagine how I got these without telling him...
After studying those blueprints, the Second Highness was still unable to figure out how to attack the citadel and felt that the least amount of soldiers they would need was 10 times that of the Ironguard Legion that was stationed there.
Lorist pointed at the small pond within the citadel's map and said, "Your Highness, don't you have any thoughts on this pond over here?"
The Second Highness shook his head and said, "While this pond is a little on the small side, it's still enough to sustain the water needs of the soldiers within the citadel and can even be used to extinguish any fires within. I believe that this spot wouldn't be the weakness that you just mentioned."
"Your Highness, look here. The Lichtana Citadel is constructed upon a steep slope and the pond's water is sourced by rerouting a waterfall nearby the mountain peak through the swamp. That's why the water within the pond can last them indefinitely and can even fill up the moat around the citadel. If we can find the rerouted waterway within the swamp and dam it up, we will be able to make sure that the citadel would use up all their water within ten days. Do you think the soldiers there can continue to defend it at that time?"
Initially, Lorist's words made the Second Highness feel a tinge of excitement, but after looking at the map once more, he shook his head and said, "We won't be able to reach the waterfall from our side and must first pass through the citadel and hike the mountain from there. Now that there is also another blockade between the Bread Hills and Lichtana Citadel, we will still have to lose quite a bit of people to be able to break our way through."
Lorist said, "You don't need to worry about that and our convoy will eliminate the forces at the Bread Hills. As long as the Bread Hills fall into our hands, we will be able to dig out a trench to build mud walls just outside the firing range of the ballistas at the citadel to surround it. When we cut off their water source, it will be their turn to attack us. That's what I meant when I said that we would be defending against their attacks instead. I wonder how potent they are at attacking..."
"Alright, Locke. Your plan sounds reasonable and viable. What do you need me to do?" said the Second Highness as he agreed.
"It's simple. Your Highness only has to send your troops to the citadel and station them outside it to attract the attention of the soldiers within. When I occupy the Bread Hills, your troops will only have to dig out a trench. After that, I will leave the defense against the Ironguard Legion's attacks to you. Does that sound fine?" Lorist asked.
"Yes, of course it does. I also want to see the Ironguard Legion's offensive capabilities for myself," said the Second Highness as he knocked onto the map with his fist. "Ten days, Locke. I only need ten days to bring our Royal Local Defense Guard over here. Since the Ironguard Legion shot to fame from battling them, I will use the guards to defeat the Ironguard Legion this time around..."
Kill During the Darkness of the Night
Hey beloved readers, this is the second sponsored chapter of the week thanks to Sebastian S. from Germany. We're having some action this time around!
The clouds once again obscured the Silvermoon, causing the realm to be completely blanketed in darkness. The once sparkling surface of the lake returned to its former dimness and the view of the opposite bank could no longer be seen.
'Kill during the darkness of the night, burn when the winds are strong.'[1] Lorist wondered why he suddenly recalled that saying and felt that it described their current situation a little too well.
Currently, he was standing at the bank of the lake. A breeze from the lake could be felt blowing in his direction and causing the cape he wore around his armor to flap around in the air.
Standing behind him was Patt and Reidy who were both holding two horses each. Three of the horses were mounts for them while the extra one served as a reserve. To the sides of those horses hung quivers of javelins that shook from the blowing wind.
Behind the three were rows and rows of soldiers assembled neatly in their formations. They were all equipped with the same purple and brown armor which had a silver-colored insignia of a white lion on the left of the breastplate. In their right hands were long pikes of similar length and their left hands held the reins of their respective war horses. The soldiers all donned the same purple and brown cape with similarly-colored riding shields strapped to their left arm while a sword sporting the similar color scheme could be seen hanging to the left of their waists just beside the tassets near their thighs. They were also equipped with riding boots which were mounted with stirrups.
This was the elite force of the Norton Family which served as the main escort for the convoy: the heavy-armored cavalry. After switching to using the gear of the Whitelion Legion, they looked even more imposing than before.
Every soldier stood disciplined and silent as if they were nothing but iron sculptures. Their silence was only broken by a few occasional horse neighs.
A whiff of killing intent could be sensed emanating from the companies of soldiers that would send a chill down one's spine, especially so if coupled with the cold breeze of the lake.
The Silvermoon once again revealed its face, shedding a gentle moonlight that once again covered the land.
While the lake started sparkling again from the moonlight, the distant bank of the lake was still covered by a dense layer of fog which blocked the view of the opposite side.
The Locke Fishing Boats were placed within the lake one meter apart from each other, with each connected by a two-meter-broad wooden board which effectively made them into a path that stretched indefinitely into the fog amidst the lake.
Further away, two silhouettes could be seen, one running faster than the other, causing the pontoon bridge to shake slightly from their quick steps.
The two were Ruhr and Mort who stopped in front of Lorist while breathing ragged breaths. "Milord, the pontoon bridge has already connected to the opposite bank. Sir Els had us come here to report that it's already time to cross."
"You did well," Lorist said while he nodded, before he stepped onto the bridge. Ruhr and Mort helped take the mounts from Patt and Reidy before they followed behind Lorist onto the bridge.
The soldiers on the bank started to make their move as well. One soldier after another got into a line with their mounts and started boarding the bridge.
Lorist had walked for more than ten minutes on the bridge that was 400 plus meters long and he could feel it shaking slightly behind him and the resulting vibration caused waves to form in the lake beneath it.
Within moments, one heavy-armored cavalryman after another arrived at the opposite bank and gathered at a spot under the guidance of the guards. Soon, they got into their two respective companies and were all mounted.
Lode Wales got off the bridge and came to Lorist before he said, "Milord, should we depart now?"
Lorist said in a soft voice, "Yes, let's go."
The whole group proceeded to travel through a dark forest path. On the way, they would occasionally make markings on the trees that shone under the illumination of the moonlight with limestone chalks.
All the hooves of the horses were also fitted with thick leather coverings to muffle the sound, causing low and heavy thumps to ring out as they traveled.
After one hour and a half, three hoots like that of a night owl could be heard in the distance. Els who was at the very front of the group stopped his horse and caused the rest to follow suit.
Three figures emerged from the trees of the forest and the foremost figure said something to Els before he brought his two comrades back into the forest.
"Milord, the enemy camp is around 1 kilometer from here. I believe we should ride the rest of our way there. Even though we've muffled the horse hooves, the slight vibrations we are causing might alert the enemy anyway. We must be able to catch them by surprise before they can react," Els told Lorist.
To ensure the success of the surprise attack, Els had led half of the elite guards of the main camp of the convoy to secretly cross the lake and eliminate the sentries over there and successfully locked down the path from the camp to the base in the hills.
"Pass my order down. Everyone dismount and put on the bridles on the horses. Lead your horses along with the reins as you walk and make sure to not make any sound," Lorist instructed Patt.
After an hour of traveling, outside the enemy camp, some guards could be seen leaning on the walls while taking a nap with the sentries on the two tower outposts also seated and relaxing. Perhaps due to the soldiers not being stationed at the frontlines, the security of the camp was surprisingly lax.
"Milord, I will bring some men to take care of the sentries on the watchtowers and open the gates," Els said, before he disappeared into the darkness.
"Everyone, stand ready and follow the plan." After Lorist finished giving his order, he kneeled down and untied the leather cloth covering the hooves on his horse.
Within but a quick moment, a few figures suddenly reappeared near the camp gates and slain the four napping guards within a flash, causing them to slump down against the wall powerlessly and entering their eternal slumber.
One of the figures nimbly climbed up one of the watchtowers like a tiger and quickly descended from it before he climbed the other one...
As a result, the gates of the camp quietly opened...
Raising his pike in his hand, Lorist shouted, "Kill!"
The sound of the running horses broke the former silence and tranquility of the night and the mounted troops traversed the 100 plus meters of distance towards the camp gates within seconds. Lorist was riding at the forefront of the troops and began slaughtering away at the still dormant soldiers within the camp.
Countless heavy-armored cavalrymen squeezed their way into the camp and before long, sounds of conflict, pain and despair intermingled.
One tent after another within the camp was set on fire. As the mounted cavalrymen rushed out of the smoke towards the half-awake and unarmed enemy soldiers within the camp, they began their slaughter without a shred of mercy. The metal hooves of the cavalrymen's mounts hammered onto the ground, leaving behind their wake, flames, corpses and flowing fresh blood.
Lorist on the other hand rode straight towards the largest tent within the camp. According to the Second Highness, the Madras Duchy had one Blademaster and seven Gold ranked knights. Naturally, the Blademaster served the duke by his side while four of the Gold ranked knights held posts within the Seamountain Legion. The Ironguard Legion was instead managed by three Gold ranked knights.
Lorist believed that there definitely would be at least one Gold ranked knight stationed at the Bread Hills given that there were over 10000 soldiers here. As long as he could take out the Gold ranked knight, the surprise attack would have been a complete success.
With a harsh swing of the pike, Lorist broke the central pillar of the main tent into two, causing the tent to collapse flat on the ground. Apart from the tens of guards within the tent who had died by Lorist's hand, the Gold ranked knight was nowhere to be seen.
Just as Lorist was going to ride around the tent and stab his pike downwards to check for any people who were playing dead beneath the tent, a loud clang could be heard from a distance, which was accompanied by a bright burst of golden light. Lorist turned his head only to see the mounted Lode Wales swinging his riding lance with a golden blade of light at the tip against the longsword that sported the same golden glow of a figure standing on the ground. The clang from before had resulted from a clash between the two weapons.
"Oh, so the Gold ranked knight is over there. No wonder I couldn't find him within the tent... Good thing Loze picked up what I missed," muttered Lorist, before he rode towards the site of battle at a leisurely pace while he reached to his back and held a javelin in his hand. After that, he paid attention to the battle between Lode Wales and the Gold ranked knight just in case he would be required to give Loze a hand.
Lode Wales danced like a rampaging tiger across the battlefield, using his mounted superiority to slash down at the enemy with his riding lance, trailing a sole line of gold within the air as the blade rushed towards the Gold ranked knight.
The knight didn't hesitate either and he continually used his glowing sword to parry one strike after another. However, as he was unmounted and using a weapon with relatively short reach, he was at a disadvantage and every parry he made caused him to move a step back.
Roaring out loud, Lode Wales struck out so harshly that the enemy knight was forced a couple of more steps back.
Repositioning his horse, Lode Wales pushed his stirrup against the abdomen of his horse and caused it to neigh loudly as it rushed forward, with him shouting out, "Kill!" at the loudest volume possible as he raised and slashed his riding lance downward.
The knight had just regained his posture when he saw Lode Wales approaching and grunted as he quickly got into a stance. He quickly raised his longsword in preparation to parry the incoming blow.
The riding lance slashed downwards with lightning speed, and just as it was about to clash with the sword, it suddenly twirled slightly into a semicircular arc that went around the longsword and its motion turned from that of a slash into a stab. The golden blade of light on the riding lance shone even brighter...
The knight hadn't expected that his opponent would suddenly switch the attacking motion like that. He suddenly detected something fishy after his sword didn't receive any feedback from the parrying motion, but it was already too late and he couldn't retrace his moves. His expression changed all of a sudden from surprise to despair before the distinct sound of blade cutting flesh resounded as the blade of the lance pierced into his chest.
"Just die," Lode Wales said as he raised the corpse of the knight into the air with his lance and flung it to the roadside, causing blood to drip down slowly from the lance.
"Well done!" Lorist praised loudly. "You're fierce as a tiger and witty and agile at the same time, allowing you to kill your enemy by landing only one strike. You shall be called Fiercetiger Loze henceforth."
Lode Wales snickered before he said, "Thank you for praising me, milord. I shall be known as Fiercetiger Loze in the future."
"That's so unfair. I've also contributed quite a bit myself, you know. Locke, give me a moniker as well," said a voice from behind Lorist.
Lorist turned his head only to see Els appear out of nowhere beside him.
"Alright, your moniker will be... Darkshadow Els," Lorist said.
"Darkshadow Els? Not bad, I like it," Els said happily, apparently quite satisfied with his new sobriquet.
"Oh, that's right. I came here for something else. Milord, look up there," Els said as he pointed his finger upward.
Lorist raised his head to look and saw that the Ironguard Legion troops defending the base at Bread Hills have been alerted by the attack at the camp below and were grouping up and heading down the mountains as was seen from the moving torches. They have already descended halfway down the slope.
"Judging by the number of torches, there should be more than 1000 people. Our guards only have tens of people sealing off the pass nearby... I'm worried they won't be able to resist," Els reported.
"They're merely seeking their deaths. I thought that they would surrender after we surround their base for two or three days. Now that they've come out, we might as well slaughter our way up to the stronghold at the hills and occupy it," Lorist said as he looked at the torches at the distant hills.
"Blow the horn and notify the Second Highness on the opposite side to launch a diversionary attack. Loze, the aftermath of this camp over here will be left to you. Rally a regiment of soldiers to dismount and follow me up the mountains for a fight on foot. Els, let's go," Lorist said as he rode his horse to the back of the army camp followed by Els who quickly grabbed a horse and rode towards Lorist.
Loud blares of horn signals proceeded to echo through the air...
The Second Highness who was pacing around incessantly at the army base stopped and listened intently before he said, "Did you hear that signal, Glacia?"
The blonde female knight replied excitedly, "Yes! It's definitely the horn signal!"
"Locke and the others succeeded!" exclaimed the Second Highness. "Men, blow the horn to send a reply. Get ready and head towards the border..."
Not too far from the barricades of the Madras Duchy at the border, countless torches were lit like the countless stars in the sky. The soldiers all shouted their war cries and the loud sound shook even the large expanse of land.
Torches around the Lichtana Citadel were also being lit by the moment, causing most of the citadel to be illuminated brightly. One leather-armored soldier after another appeared before the walls of the citadel and stared nervously towards the countless torches in the distance and thought, as long as they cross the wooden barricades, we will fire at them with our ballistas...
The route downward from the Bread Hills passed through a sparse forest. Roughly 50 meters from the soldier camp near the forest were a few tower outposts, but they had been taken care of by Els and his guards when they secured the area.
The mountain route was not wide with a breadth of only 2 meters at most. Lorist could tell that the reinforcements from the base up at the hills were about to arrive as he could already hear their curses and chattering when he neared the area.
Given that the downward route was curved in an 'S' shape, Lorist still wasn't able to get a view on the enemy forces. However, he rushed up the route with his sword drawn without saying anything else and encountered into the torch-holding Ironguard Legion soldiers at the first corner. Upon seeing Lorist, they thought that he was a messenger of their own and one of them even asked, "Stop! What happened there at the camp below?"
Lorist didn't make a sound and as he approached, he cried out "Kill!" all of a sudden.
As he swooped into the group of soldiers, he swung his longsword in quick flashes, causing one enemy after another to fall and roll down the slope.
Lorist's killing spree continued against the flow of people uphill...
Not long after, the enemies further uphill shouted, "It's the enemy! It's an enemy attack!"
At that moment, the soldiers at the lower section of the slope had broken down into a complete mess. They had to watch their feet for any fallen comrades as well as be on guard for the attacks of their enemy and were unable to pose any meaningful resistance to Lorist's assaults. In fact, their futile attempt to resist only served to further expose them to Lorist's assaults.
The enemy at the upper section of the slope quickly began their retreat while those below couldn't even if they wanted to. Lorist's moved at a quick pace and he was already halfway up the slope within moments. With nothing but enemy soldiers filling his line of sight, he killed to his heart's content.
Those Ironguard Legion soldiers were completely outclassed by Lorist alone. Their inability to work as a unit opened up even more opportunities for him to mow their numbers down one strike after another. The most depressing part was that the mess of soldiers he left in his wake still had to deal with the attack of Els, Reidy, Patt and the rest, causing some of them to even toss the bodies of their fallen comrades off the slope in desperation so that they could get some proper foothold.
As he fought his way through his foes uphill, Lorist prioritized acting against those who held torches. Without any illumination, the Ironguard Legion soldiers weren't aware of how many enemies there were and could only run all over the place in a fit of panic. Occasionally, screams of some unlucky few could be heard as they stumbled their way off the edge of the hill.
The clouds once again blocked off the light of the Silvermoon, causing the hills to once again be shrouded by the former darkness.
A little bit later, a familiar voice rang out from behind Lorist. "Milord, milord... Where are you?"
Following that, a few torches were lit at the slope and Patt and the rest could be seen ascending the hills.
Just as Lorist was going to reply, he suddenly felt an ominous, bone-chilling sensation, which caused him to lie flat on the ground instantly as he shouted, "Careful! Get on the ground right now!"
[1] Words of a Chinese poet Ouyang Xiu of the Song Dynasty. It roughly means: make your move during the best opportunity.
Burn When the Winds Are Strong
Didn't have much time last week, hence the lesser amount of chapters. Will try to get my game up this week though! This is the first regular chapter of the week.
Whoosh!
Six loud thunderous twangs ran out simultaneously as numerous razor sharp bolts whooshed past Lorist's body, causing a few cries of pain to ring out nearby him.
The Silvermoon once again revealed her face from beyond the clouds.
Lorist's mind was thrown into turmoil: he didn't know who behind him had gotten hit. Using the dim moonlight, he saw that roughly 20 meters away was a stone gap about 3 meters wide on the ground beyond which rows of tents were placed. Ironguard Legion troops crouching behind sandbags and rocks near the tents could be seen. Further away at the foot of the hills were countless torch fires gathered together: those were probably the men of the Second Highness who had come to aid them after receiving the signal.
Beyond the gap, a row of torches were lit and the illumination allowed Lorist to see the six sentry ballistas that were operated by a few nervous soldiers. Lorist could also see that one bow-wielding enemy soldier after another approached the gap with some orders being shouted out for the bowmen to engage in suppression fire against the soldiers of the convoy to prevent them from advancing.
"Gaaargh!" With a loud roar, Lorist leaped up from the ground and covered the distance of 20 or so meters within a blink of an eye, crossing the gap and slaughtering away at the bowmen.
Among the chaotic crowd or people, Lorist bathed in blood from head to toe as his longsword culled one enemy after another like a knife cutting through butter all around him, causing the surviving bowmen to run away in all directions with their tails behind their legs.
"Die!" A flash of silver light emanated from a pike that was thrust towards Lorist's back like a vile and devious snake. However, it was almost as if Lorist had eyes behind his back as he moved his left leg slightly and turned backward, parrying the strike with his longsword. Following that, he jumped into the air and slashed his longsword downward as he fell.
The pike-wielding Silver ranked knight didn't space out either. With but a flick of his hand, he moved his pike to intercept Lorist's strike.
As the sword collided with the pike, a loud clang rang out before the pike broke into two. With a lightning-fast slash, the sword streaked across the knight's body from his left shoulder to his right.
As if the knight had gotten struck by lightning, he slumped to the ground immediately with his body split into two before blood spurted out everywhere.
"Kill... Kill this demon... Demon..." said a stuttering voice from behind Lorist.
At that moment, blood that was not his dripped all over from Lorist's body. He currently seemed like a demonic god of slaughter that had walked out of a sea of blood in the eyes of the enemy.
Blade glows manifested on two pikes as two other Silver ranked knights rushed at Lorist at once from both of his flanks with the pikes aimed towards Lorist's two hands.
"Let's... Let's attack together... Kill him..." As the stuttering soldier said that, a blade glow manifested on his longsword before he raised it up high and rushed towards Lorist, making a vertical downward slash when he closed the distance...
Just as all that was happening, a silhouette appeared by Lorist's side holding a sword with a silver blade glow and thrusting it towards Lorist's heart.
Even though it was four men on one, Lorist didn't feel anxious at all. From his point of view with his dynamic vision, he could see the attacks and predict the trajectory of each and every one even though they were really fast in actuality. The slightest opening during those attacks revealed a huge opportunity for him to strike back at his foes.
The first attack that was about to connect was the pike headed for his left arm. Lorist stepped back slightly and angled his body from the waist up backward slightly as if he hadn't moved at all, causing the pike to miss his body by a hair's breadth. Subsequently, Lorist grabbed onto the handle of the pike and pulled it towards the other pike coming from his right, intercepting the incoming attack.
As the two pikes collided, Lorist pushed the pike in his hand upward, causing it to knock the other pike upward as well, forming a cross-shaped guard that blocked the incoming sword strike from the top with a loud clang.
Having released the pike in his hand, he jumped forward and flicked the longsword in his right hand, knocking the glowing sword of the silhouette beside him, and with another twist of his hand, the longsword headed towards the chest of Lorist's sneaky assailant.
The silhouette had jumped forward with all the force he could muster and had intended to strike when Lorist was occupied with the two other attackers. However, he didn't expect that Lorist would start retaliating by targeting him first. With his sword knocked away, his chest was exposed completely.
The silhouette attempted to stop only to find that his momentum continued to propel him forward as he cried out, "Ahh... No, don't! Ugh!"
Not much had to be said; Lorist's longsword pierced straight through the chest of the assailant and emerged from his back.
Within a short moment of two eye blinks, Lorist had already killed one of his attackers.
The other three Silver ranked knights still had their weapons entangled together and were frantically trying to pull themselves apart. To save time, Lorist didn't pull his sword out from the body of the first one he killed and merely swung it with full force, causing the sword to rip apart the former assailant's body and travel towards the other longsword user.
The sword-wielding Silver ranked knight hurriedly pulled his sword away and positioned himself to intercept Lorist's strike. However, Lorist suddenly changed his slash into a thrust, causing the knight to react by swaying his sword around in a panicked attempt to knock Lorist's sword away. Just before the two swords crossed, Lorist's longsword stopped just ever so slightly, causing the Silver ranked knight's sword to not hit anything, creating an opening for Lorist to push the longsword into his foe's throat.
"Agghhh!" As the Silver ranked knight was dying from the blood flowing out of him, the blade of a pike suddenly emerged from his body and headed towards Lorist. It was the first pike-wielding Silver ranked knight that had pierced his pike through his comrade's body without any regard the moment he saw him dying from the wound at his throat in an attempt to catch Lorist off-guard.
Naturally, an attack like that didn't pose a significant threat to Lorist. However, he was shocked that the Silver ranked knight would be so cruel as to use his fallen comrade's body as a shield. In a fit of rage, Lorist's body jerked and avoided the blade of the lance before he drew his longsword with his right hand and swung it forward. The blade of his sword flashed like lightning as it decapitated the pike-wielding knight with one blow.
The other pike wielding knight was already shivering non stop. Even though it had only been a short while, he noticed that the rest of his comrades had died off the moment he awoke from his stupor.
Seeing the knight holding the pike with shaky hands, Lorist said in a deep voice, "Discard your weapon and kneel if you want to be spared!"
That Silver ranked knight crumbled mentally completely before he tossed the pike at Lorist and ran off immediately.
Lorist's body swerved to avoid the airborne pike and he grabbed onto its handle before throwing it back in the direction it came from.
That escaping Silver ranked knight's body shook as the pike pierced his body and emerged on the other side before he landed flat on his face on the ground and let out his final breath.
After the soldiers nearby witnessed the deaths of the four Silver ranked knights, they ran towards the barricaded area frantically while letting out panicked cries. In their haste, they had cast away their helmets, armor and even their torches, pikes and shields.
"Milord! Milord!" Patt's shouting voice could be heard coming from behind.
Lorist was glad that Patt hadn't been hurt. He called out, "I'm here. Watch out for the gap on the ground."
After taking a few steps, he picked up a still-lit torch that was on the ground.
A huge group of people followed behind Patt as he jumped over the stone gap. The next person to do so after Patt was Reidy.
"Are you guys alright?" Lorist asked excitedly, before he turned and pointed to the enemies that were running away behind him and said, "Patt, bring some men with you and don't let them get into formation to resist."
Patt waved his hand and called out, "Kill them! Go!"
The group of people rushed forward and headed towards the area of the tents before they cursed out loudly. It seemed that there was yet another stone gap over there and the first few heavy-armored pikemen didn't notice it and fell into it. It was fortunate that the gap wasn't too deep and the soldiers who fell were merely injured but managed to retain their lives.
"Reidy, go and light up the tents over there, both to illuminate the area and to signal for the Second Highness's reinforcements. We will take this base with a pincer attack!" Lorist instructed Reidy before he called out to the guards nearby and said, "Hey, turn the sentry ballistas around and push them over there..."
One tent after another was set aflame, sending thick waves of smoke up into the air. The fire burned ever more brightly with the strong winds, sending out a wave of light that dispelled the darkness around Bread Hills.
Reidy didn't set all the tents on fire as Lorist had instructed but instead asked some men to dismantle the other tents and toss them into the fires that were already burning. Without delay, ten bonfires could be seen at the Bread Hills.
"There's a wooden bridge here!" With the illumination of the burning fires, some soldiers discovered that a few wooden planks were placed over the gaping stone gap on the ground. They quickly crossed it and resumed their pursuit towards the enemy who were trying their best to assemble in a fit of panic.
It was only now that Lorist was able to get a clear view of the Bread Hills. The terrain was truly true to its name: there was not a single tree nor grass on the hills and the whole hill area seemed like a round, long bun that was placed on the ground. It was estimated to be around the size of two soccer stadiums and its most striking feature was the two large stone gaps that made the hills look like scored buns.
At that moment, Lorist was standing near one of the largest bonfires. That spot was the tallest part of the Bread Hills and the Ironguard Legion had probably set up their base there where rainwater didn't gather up.
At a barricade not far away, there was still an estimated 1000 soldiers, around 800 of which whom were getting into a line formation and preparing to intercept the incoming heavy-armored pikemen. So far, less than 200 of the pikeman had crossed the stone gap with the wooden bridges and they were assembling into a square formation under the orders of their commanding officers to march towards the enemy. However, as more soldiers crossed the bridge, the square formation eventually turned into a line formation. The distance between the two groups of soldiers was around 60 meters now and they would clash within the first moments of a charge.
Some soldiers at the enemy lines could be seen moving the tens of sentry ballistas from their original positions. However, it took much effort and time for them to do so and just as they were halfway done, they noticed more soldiers coming from the bottom of the hills when a horn tune was blown for them to begin their charge uphill, causing the Ironguard Legion soldiers who were moving the ballistas to argue on whether they should put the ballistas back where they were to fend off the enemies coming from below the hill or continue to move it forward to aim it against Lorist's troops who were about to begin their charge at any moment.
Lorist saw Patt step out from the formation in an attempt to give the enemy a final ultimatum as the soldiers behind him cried out, "Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Gradually, the soldiers standing at the front of the Ironguard Legion's formation dropped their weapons, causing the rest to follow suit. In the end, all of the enemy soldiers cast away their weapons and surrendered completely.
The heavy-armored pikemen let out booming cheers as Patt led them forward to apprehend the enemy soldiers, thus occupying the main base area.
"Well done!" Lorist exclaimed. He continued to give an order, "Blow the horn to indicate that we've conquered the Bread Hills and hang the Raging Bear Flag of our family up at the base."
The tune of victory blasted throughout the night sky as the flag of the Raging Bear flapped proudly at the base, illuminated brightly by the burning fires.
A blonde female knight quickly rushed up the slope and dismounted before she sprinted towards the barricade that was constructed from stacked up rocks and vaulted over it, landing beside a ballista nearby. Just as she drew her sword and readied herself for battle, she was greeted only with the sight of the heavy-armored pikemen who wore the equipment of the Whitelion Legion.
Seeing the blonde-haired knight arrive, Lorist stepped forward and greeted her. "Cousin Glacia, why have you come?"
Glacia, noticing the blood all over Lorist's body, cried out in surprise. "Why do you look so bloody? Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Hehe, I'm fine. This blood is not mine. I'm not hurt in the slightest," Lorist said, before he noticed a crestfallen Reidy walking towards him.
"What's wrong, Reidy? Did something happen?" Lorist asked.
"Milord... Just now, when we reached the peak of the hills, Brother Els fell off it..." Reidy reported the shocking news to Lorist.
"What did you say? What happened to Els?" Lorist said as he started in surprise. At that moment, he recalled the ballista bolts that whooshed past him back at the first stone gap...
"When we first arrived at the peak and were calling out to you, we heard your warning and Patt and I got on the ground right away. However, the rest that followed behind us didn't manage to react in time and many got knocked off the peak by the ballista bolts. Ruhr also got hit by one bolt and as he was sent flying back, he banged into Brother Els and the both of them fell down from the peak. At that time, Patt and I were so shocked from the ballista bolts that came flying that we were unable to get up. However, we managed to get ourselves together after we thought of your safety and didn't yet know that Els had fallen off the hill. We only got to know this after two guards that followed behind Els before he fell told us about it when we were setting the tents on fire," said Reidy with an almost crying expression.
"Send a search party out immediately! If he's alive, we have to find him! Even if he's dead, we must find his corpse! If anything happens to Els... I will definitely bury the Ironguard Legion alongside him!" Lorist shouted his orders with a solemn face. At that moment, his mind was only fraught with worry for Els's well being and he no longer felt any of the joy from conquering the base.
"Yes, milord," Reidy said before he gathered some men to begin his search, only to stop when he heard sounds of battle and a horn blowing the tune of charge.
"What's going on over there?" Glacia asked as she looked towards the distant, dark army camp.
One torch after another in the distant valley lit up and allowed the rest on the Bread Hills to observe the situation. From Lorist's vantage point, Terman could be seen leading his knight brigade in a charge straight up the slope of the other mountain valley with no one being able to obstruct them whatsoever.
The Silver ranked knights at the front of the charge manifested their silver blade glows on their riding lances and cut through their enemy relentlessly. Within moments, the enemies that gathered at the middle of that valley got completely smashed apart as cries of pain and despair resounded throughout the battlefield.
"The enemy is finished," Lorist said without much emotion.
Seeing Glacia's confused expression, Lorist explained, "We have already made arrangements for an ambush at the valley over there for the reinforcements of the troops from Lichtana Citadel. First, we had our mounted archers release some volleys of arrows to thin down their numbers before we had the knight brigade charge in and break their formation with the mounted archers securing the other side of the valley. That's why, cousin, you don't have to worry about any of the reinforcement troops escaping."
"Locke, I really didn't think that you would be able to form a knight brigade like this... Can you..." Glacia said as she stared at Lorist with a pleading look.
"Cousin, if there is a request that will leave the both of us with hard feelings, please refrain yourself from bringing it up. I formed this knight brigade through the best of my efforts with the benefits of the family in mind. In the future, I would even expand it into a Silver ranked knight brigade. However, if you are willing to leave the Second Highness and return to the family, I will let you lead and command this knight brigade," Lorist said, diminishing the hopes of Glacia.
"Stingy fellow..." Glacia mused before she stopped saying anything else.
Within an hour, another horn tune could be heard coming from the valley.
"The enemy has been eradicated," Lorist said as he released a breath of relief. "The sky is already brightening up. Cousin, you can have your men start to form a defense line right now. I'll leave the sentry ballistas to you. Aim them in the direction of the citadel so that we have something to fall back on just in case. I need to go now."
Worriless Journey North
Here's the second regular chapter for this week. Look forward for the rest of the releases in the coming days!
Lorist felt really worn out as he had firstly killed his way up to the base on the hill and eliminated the Ironguard Legion soldiers who were guarding the base with ballistas. In the end, he even eliminated five Silver ranked knights and he was completely drained after that. That's why he later ordered Patt to lead the heavy-armored pikemen who had just arrived to help out in the efforts of conquering the base.
But even so, Lorist had no choice but to wait within the main tent as he still had some matters to settle, especially given that Els had fallen off the hill and was yet to be found, causing Lorist immense worry.
Lorist's whole body was still covered in blood that was half-dried up from the mountain breeze, resulting in an itchy and sticky mess which caused him much discomfort. The moment he returned to the newly erected main tent at the army camp at the foot of the hills, Lorist stripped his bloodstained clothes off and donned only a loose robe as he waited for the news.
At that moment, Yuriy, Terman and Potterfang walked into the tent.
"Milord, the enemy's 5000 troops were eliminated and we managed to catch up to 3000 of them alive. Potterfang already killed the Gold ranked knight commander," Yuriy reported.
"Good work, Pog," Lorist praised.
Potterfang said as he smiled and shook his head, "Well, it wasn't completely due to me. Had the Gold ranked knight not suffered three arrow shots already, I'm afraid I might get tangled up with him much longer."
Lorist nodded and asked, "How are the casualties?"
Terman stepped forward and said, "We lost 7 Silver ranked knights and hundreds of other soldiers."
A shroud of silence descended onto the tent after that report.
After some time, Lorist sighed and said, "Collect their bodies and cremate them so that we can bring them back to give them a proper burial at the Martyrs' Graveyard back at the dominion. That place is where brave warriors who have sacrificed themselves for the sake of the family are enshrined."
"Yes, milord," Terman replied solemnly.
Yuriy then asked hesitantly, "Milord, I heard Els is..."
"He fell down from the hill and I've sent a search party to look for him. It's already nearing dawn and I believe we should be receiving word of it now. Well, the Bread Hills isn't that high up compared to other mountains... Don't worry, I'm sure Els will be fine," Lorist said in an attempt to console both Yuriy and himself.
"And Yuriy, your role in the next battle is an important one. Head to the route towards Vanades City and make sure to seal off the entire road. We must not let news of this incident tonight spread out. Remember what I said before: we must make the enemy blind and deaf to all that is happening. We'll have to depend on the performance of your light cavalry scouts this time around," Lorist said as he patted on Yuriy's shoulder. "Don't worry, I will definitely tell you all the moment I receive any news about Els. Trust me, he'll be fine."
"I understand, milord. Please be assured that my light cavalry scouts will definitely carry out the mission properly," Yuriy replied in a serious tone as he stood straight up.
"Pog, the next phase of the plan will be up to you. I'd like you to try to impersonate the men of the Ironguard Legion to attack Vanades City. If we are successful and manage to occupy it, seal off the city and head towards Xith Castle immediately. As long as we can take that castle, we will be able to keep the Seamountain Legion of the Madras Duchy within the Sidgler Province. That way, our convoy won't have to worry about being obstructed by them when we cross the duchy.
"If it fails..." Lorist paused as he furrowed his brow before continuing, "We must at least keep Vanades City within our control. That way, we can prevent our convoy and the vagabonds from being stranded at the Yungechandler Province. Yuriy and his light cavalry scouts will surround the Vanades City and Pog, you shall lead the heavy-armored cavalrymen and the mounted archers to engage in stalling warfare. When the heavy-armored infantry and the carroballista unit arrive, we can attack it with full force to conquer it.
"If surprise attacking Vanades City doesn't work, Loze will have to bring his two regiments of heavy-armored cavalrymen to face off against the castle. I believe that even if the Seamountain Legion comes, they wouldn't dare to engage in an all out battle with us. If it's the contrary, I'd like to see how their soldiers perform against our heavy-armored cavalry..."
In Lorist's original plan, after taking the base at Bread Hills, he would have his men to attack Vanades City and Xith Castle immediately to ensure that the convoy would have nothing to worry about during the rest of the journey.
The first group to depart was Yuriy's light cavalry scouts, Pete's mounted archer company and Lode Wales's three regiment of heavy-armored cavalrymen with Potterfang as the chief commander of all those units. As for Potterfang's newly-formed heavy-armored infantry army, they would leave with Dulles's carroballista unit.
Hence, Lorist would only have Terman's knight brigade and the main camp's guards by his side. He still had to stay behind to assist the Second Highness with cutting off the water source of the Lichtana Citadel and Charade would be busy leading the convoy's members and the vagabonds to the space beneath the Bread Hills with the aid of Freiyar and Malek's garrison legion to prepare for the continuation of the northbound journey.
"That's what we'll do. Be careful and godspeed to you," Lorist said.
"Thank you, milord," said Potterfang and Yuriy before they saluted and left to prepare for departure.
"Let's go and check out on any news of Els. Why haven't they reported anything yet?" Lorist told Terman in a worrying tone.
After exiting the tent and walking for a while, Lorist saw a guard rushing over hurriedly. "Milord, we found him... Sir Els is still alive..."
Ruhr however was dead. There was still a huge ballista bolt sticking out of his body.
Els was quite fortunate that he wasn't struck by a bolt and was instead knocked off the hill by Ruhr. At that time, he still wasn't aware of the danger and just as he was two steps away from arriving at the top, Ruhr suddenly flew backwards towards him. He even tried to catch Ruhr but was instead knocked flying along with him. As he was falling from the height of around 50 meters, he hurriedly circulated his Battle Force to shield his body and fell towards a huge tree branch that broke his fall before he landed to the ground. He was severely injured with many of his organs injured by the fall, but he still managed to cling onto his life and would require no less than four months to recover.
When Lorist met Els, he was still conscious. With a pale face, Els made a bitter laugh and said, "Why am I so unlucky... I had only recovered from resting three months after the battle at Green Plains... Now I'll have to sit tight for four more months... Sigh..."
Letting out a relieved breath, Lorist smiled and said, "Maybe it's just your fate to be injured greatly during every large scale battle. Hehe, alright, you better go get some proper rest. Don't worry about the rest of the stuff here, I'll handle it."
Els's main injuries stemmed from his damaged organs, so he had to rest and was forbidden to ride on a carriage nor a horse. Lorist had no choice and could only have someone carry Els back to Nadegas City where he would live within a rented house to recover. He also instructed some guards to stay back there to watch over Els and bring him to the Northlands when he's better.
After settling the matter of Els, Lorist returned to the camp and instructed Reidy to get him some bath water with which he could wash off the dried up blood on his hair and body.
After that, Lorist fell asleep half-leaning on the bath tub.
He slept soundly and only awakened noon on the next day.
Noticing that he was currently in bed, he believed that Reidy must have moved him there during his sleep. After stretching and yawning, Reidy entered the tent and said, "Milord, you're awake. The Second Highness visited during the afternoon yesterday and waited until the night. After seeing that you were still asleep, he left without wanting to bother you. I believe he'll be coming back later today."
Just as Lorist was having his meal a little while later, the Second Highness did in fact come. Seeing Lorist awake and well, he was incredibly happy. However, he declined the offer to dine with Lorist and settled with a cup of wine and waited patiently for Lorist to finish his meal.
In actuality, the Second Highness didn't have anything important to say during his visit to Lorist. He came over mainly because he heard about how Lorist rushed into the base of the enemy alone and started slaughtering away at the troops, something which, even the Second Highness himself, a Two Star Gold fighter, felt that it was an impressive feat. Given his Battle Force prowess, the Second Highness could feel that Lorist only radiated an aura of an Iron rank and he originally thought that Lorist was only good for his strategizing and planning and didn't take note of Lorist's Battle Force ability at all.
Even though he was quite envious of Lorist's many Gold and Silver ranked subordinates, he believed that Lorist had won them over only with his charisma and understanding of the human heart alone. Now that he reconfirmed that Lorist's Battle Force was really at the Iron rank, he thought that it was indeed possible for Lorist to have led his men at the very front but refused to accept that Lorist had personally went up there before the rest of his men arrived and thought that the rumor was possibly fabricated so that Lorist, the new family leader of the Norton Family, would have a legendary and heroic image.
After finishing his breakfast, Lorist went up to the Bread Hills again with the Second Highness and witnessed the busy scene below. Countless noncombatants were currently digging out trenches outside the firing range of the ballistas at Lichtana Citadel to build a mud wall that would circle and surround the citadel.
"Tomorrow... Tomorrow, we will cut off their water source up at the mountains," said the Second Highness excitedly.
"Didn't the Ironguard Legion send out anyone to harass the crowd down there?" Lorist asked.
"They did once yesterday but they were driven off by our ballista and longbow fire and even lost 300 of their men. Seeing that we were prepared, they also decided to begin their preparations for a siege. I'll see how they react when they notice their water supply has been cut off," said the Second Highness as he laughed.
When the night came, Lorist received Potterfang's report that Vanades City had already been occupied and sealed off by them. Entry was allowed into the city but nobody was permitted to leave. Right now, he was about to bring his men to launch a surprise attack on Xith Castle and was making preparations to disguise themselves as a merchant convoy to take the castle gates. Potterfang believed that the company of garrison troops at Xith Castle wouldn't be able to resist the fearsome assault of two regiments of heavy-armored cavalrymen.
After asking around, Lorist discovered that the heavy-armored infantry and the carroballista unit had departed during the afternoon hours ago and had headed towards Vanades City. They were estimated to arrive at the city by tomorrow evening and after helping Potterfang's forces take the castle, there was no longer anything to worry about for the journey back to the Northlands for the convoy and the vagabonds.
Afternoon the next day, the Second Highness brought two Gold ranked knights and tens of other Silver ranked knights as well as a company of longbowmen up to the Liden Mountains. After circling around it, the waterfall that served as the main source of water for the Lichtana Citadel could be seen near a slope halfway up the mountain. With a Battle Force enveloped sword, the Second Highness easily made an opening at the pool of the waterfall to redirect the water. He also found a hidden pipe under the water and blocked it up before he left the mountain with only one Gold ranked knight, leaving the rest of his men camped there to deal with the citadel soldiers that would no doubt come up to investigate the cause of their exhausted water supply.
On the third day, Charade led the convoy's people and the vagabonds towards the border to begin the journey towards the Northlands. When the soldiers at Lichtana Citadel saw all the people using the route along Bread Hills to head to the main route to Vanades City, they noticed that their plans to keep them out of the border had failed. But they still didn't realize the true magnitude of their predicament.
On the fourth day, the soldiers at Lichtana Citadel finally noticed that their water supply was cut off and when they sent someone up to the mountains to investigate the cause, their men were fended off by the attacks of the longbowmen stationed uphill. It was at that moment when they knew that their backup plan had failed completely and there was no way for them to defend the citadel in the long term.
On the fifth day, the Ironguard Legion soldiers at Lichtana Citadel sent out two regiments of 5000 plus people to launch three test attacks against the mud wall defense lines that surrounded the citadel only to be beaten back into hiding by the Andinaq Kingdom's Royal Defense Guard.
Afternoon that day, Lorist once again received a report from Potterfang that stated that the Xith Castle had been successfully conquered and the three regiments of heavy-armored cavalrymen and the mounted archers had entered the castle, hence sealing off the route to Sidgler Province completely.
Lorist was extremely delighted as he thought, now, we finally have nothing to worry about on the journey north...
At night during the sixth day, Lichtana Citadel mobilized all its forces and launched a night assault. Their main focus was attacking the northern part of the defense lines and hopefully being able to break through it.
The ones that manned the defense lines were two regiments of the Second Highness's newly-formed Royal Defense Guard. They didn't expect that the Ironguard Legion would go all out and engage in a near-suicidal attack. With the Ironguard Legion frantically attacking without regard to casualties, the two regiments of the Royal Defense Guard also fended horribly. With every squad leader and company leader of the Royal Defense Guard units there dead, their soldiers quickly crumbled and the Ironguard Legion's forces managed to find an opening outwards.
Just when the Ironguard Legion soldiers thought that they had hope of escaping, Terman, who had just been instructed by Lorist to come over, brought his knight brigade along and gave the Ironguard Legion's forces a full-frontal attack. With them being on flat terrain without any cover nor ranged weapons whatsoever, the Ironguard Legion soldiers stood no chance against the mounted knights. It was basically a massacre and only less than 3000 of the original 10000 plus soldiers from the citadel managed to retreat inside again with more than half of them injured in some way.
On the seventh day of the encirclement of Lichtana Citadel, the citadel had a desolate and dark atmosphere. Apart from that, Lorist and the Second Highness were busy cleaning up the battlefield and helping to rescue the wounded. During the era of cold arms, night assaults like that were extremely cruel and terrifying. Of the 10000 Ironguard Legion soldiers that left the citadel to attack, more than 5000 of them turned into corpses with hundreds more so badly injured that they weren't able to return to the citadel.
Only less than 1000 out of the 5000 Royal Defense Guard soldiers survived with all of the military officers dead, some of whom were the former students of the Dawn Academy. Terman was the one who cried the most as two of the students were the elite members of the Swordsmanship Society of the academy and used to be his close friends and subordinates.
On the eighth day, the remaining 3000 plus soldiers within the Lichtana Citadel opened the gates wide and sent a messenger out who held and waved a white flag. That messenger stood before the Second Highness as he shivered and said, "Water... water..." with his dried out mouth.
The Second Highness's men proceeded to occupy the Lichtana Citadel without any resistance. However, the funny part was that the men that went to occupy the citadel arrived with wooden buckets filled with water from the Egret Lake instead of weapons in their hands.
...
On the 24th day of the 10th month of Year 1767 of the Grindian Calendar, the Ironguard Legion that was known to be the strongest in terms of defensive capability raised the white flag to surrender to the Second Highness of the Andinaq Kingdom, Auguslo. The battle for Lichtana Citadel ended within ten short days with the decimation of the Ironguard Legion with the citadel ending up in the control of the Second Highness.
Even though it was one of the shortest battles to ever happen which concluded within only 12 or so days in total, the casualties on both sides were huge with the defending side being almost entirely wiped out. The casualties of the attackers that numbered fewer than 5000 men caused many other nations much shock and awe, rocketing the reputation of the Second Highness to fame overnight as a rising star on Grindia in terms of military exploits.
The battle began as a result of a convoy belonging to one of the nobles subordinate to the Second Highness that was refused passage through the Madras Duchy on their journey back to their homeland. The blockade created by Duke Madras using the Ironguard Legion to restrict access to the people of the convoy and the vagabonds spurred the Second Highness to mobilize his troops to eliminate the Ironguard Legion to remove the obstacle faced by the convoy and the vagabonds.
Here is a recounting of the events with respect to their chronological order: The Second Highness first stationed the 30000 men of his Royal Defense Guard at the Lichtana Citadel while secretly constructing a bridge at the Egret Lake with the newly-formed Whitelion Legion. The soldiers of the Whitelion Legion then proceeded to attack the army camp at the Bread Hills, allowing the Royal Defense Guard to set up a defense line around Lichtana Citadel. The Second Highness then cut off the water supply of the citadel and forced the Ironguard Legion to emerge from the citadel to try to penetrate the defense line in a desperate attempt, which ended ultimately in their defeat.
At the same time, the Second Highness also ordered the Whitelion Legion to continue their advance and attack Vanades City and Xith Castle, causing the Seamountain Legion of Duke Madras to be sealed within Sidgler Province, establishing the foundation which the Andinaq Kingdom used to absorb the Yungechandler Province of the Madras Duchy.
The various military chroniclers and historians of the continent called this battle 'The Miracle of Egret Lake'.
Author's note: Due to Lorist's forces using the equipment of the Whitelion Legion, his men were seen as the soldiers of the Whitelion Legion by the chroniclers and historians. That's why the historical records of the continent described them as the newly-formed Whitelion Legion.
Assault During a Snowy Night
Here's the first sponsored chapter of the week brought to you by Sebastian S. from Germany. Vielen Dank!
On a side note, the chapters are getting long again ><.
By the time the snowflakes started falling to the ground, Lorist suddenly recalled that he had forgotten something really important, that was, the arrival of winter.
It was the 11th day of the 11th month. In his previous life, that day was celebrated as Singles' Day in his country. However, on Grindia, it was just another normal day like any other. For him, it was also the day the last batches of vagabonds arrived at Vanades City.
Lorist's face was incredibly glum as the coming of winter foiled his plans for the convoy to continue its journey back to the family dominion. His current priority was to secure a safe place for the convoy and the vagabonds for them to weather through the winter season for now.
"We took 25 whole days to get to here from the border... A short distance of 70 plus kilometers took us so long to travel... How much longer would it take us to reach the dominion? One year? Or two? How much food would we consume within a single day with more than 100000 people? I'm sure that after you make some calculations, you'll find that it's something that we can't afford to bear..." Lorist said with a stern look.
"It's all the fault of the vagabonds for slowing our journey down. If we traveled with only our convoy, we can travel up to 30 kilometers each day," Yuriy complained. As the leader of the light cavalry scouts who could travel more than 100 kilometers in a day, he was the one who couldn't bear the slow speed of the convoy the most.
"Look here, there is still around 500 kilometers of distance from Vanades City to Metropoulos River and at our rate, it will take us another 200 plus days to arrive and that definitely won't do. A round of snow has already fallen. Eve though Vanades City is the largest trading city of the Madras Duchy and we have obtained a bunch of food and supplies after occupying it, it's still rather tough for us to be able to sustain 100000 people comfortably through the winter. Thus, we must take certain measures to travel to Kobo City before the snow blocks off the road completely!"
Lorist pointed at Kobo City on the map and said, "This city is under the control of Duke Madras himself and it is the largest food storage location within the Delamock Province where most of the duke's produce is stored. We can see from the administrative documents we got in Vanades City that the food trade that goes on here is fully supplied by Kobo City, and last year, the duke even lent the Second Prince 40 million kilograms of food which was shipped over from Kobo City.
"Another document here that shouldn't have been announced officially yet states the estimated amount of food the duke currently owns as well as another agreement between him and the Second Prince to lend him 75 million kilograms of food with the condition that the Second Prince first pay back what he owed him. It seems that the Second Prince is pretty drained as well," Lorist said as he tossed a stack of beastskin documents on the table.
"We've got a huge burden of 100000 vagabonds on ourselves and winter is already at our doorstep. However, we're still unable to procure the necessary clothes, food and shelter for them to survive through the winter. It's already the 11th day of the 11 month and we must occupy Kobo City before the 12th month when the snowfall begins to intensify. After that, we will be able to move all the people of the convoy and the vagabonds over to spend winter there," Lorist said.
"Milord, taking Kobo City will be rather difficult. Back then, the Third Prince led 60000 plus soldiers of the Royal Defense Guard to attack that place but still had to return due to their complete defeat at the hands of the Ironguard Legion. The news of our occupation of Vanades City and Xith Castle must've spread all over Delamock Province by now and I'm sure the soldiers there must've began to make their preparations. We will no longer be able to rely on the element of surprise and a long term attack on the city might wear down the numbers of our convoy even faster," Potterfang expressed his worries.
"To allow the 100000 plus people to survive, we have no choice but to occupy Kobo City. That was then and this is now. We are not the Third Prince's Royal Defense Guard, and neither are the ones who are currently defending Kobo City the Ironguard Legion. According to the captive officers, there is only one regiment of garrison troops defending Kobo City right now, and that's why I'm confident that we'll be able to take it without problems. However, I'm still worried that even if we manage to conquer Kobo City, the 100000 vagabonds will travel too slowly to arrive there. We must find a way to transport them there as soon as possible and not let them delay us any further," Lorist said worryingly as he tapped onto the table with his fingertip repeatedly.
"I believe we can use military discipline to manage the vagabonds like the family members of our soldiers who are now within the garrison legion. We can also give them the same treatment as the relatives of our convoy's forces and allocate some carriages for them. That way, at least 60000 of them will be able to travel at the same speed as our convoy," suggested Freiyar as he stood up. As the new commander of the garrison legion of the convoy, he was well aware that his men were quite envious of the treatment received by the relatives of the formal soldiers of the convoy escort.
"That's a pretty decent idea," Lorist said as he nodded.
"But milord, we don't have enough carriages for that. We only found around 2000 carriages within Vanades City itself," Charade said with a troubled tone.
"How about this... Charade, do your best to gather vehicles within the city but leave the things of the merchants untouched. We can't afford to be transporting any supplies here and there because our priority now is to travel as quick as we can. During the expedition to conquer Kobo City, I'll leave you in charge over here. Make sure to instruct the work smiths to construct as many carriages as they can and if we don't have enough horses, use one horse for one carriage. I don't expect the vagabonds to be able to travel 30 kilometers per day like the convoy, but they must at least be able to cover 15 kilometers of distance a day."
Lorist understood Charade's behavior rather well. He noticed that the moment Charade arrived at Vanades City, his old ways began to surface and he was prepared to expropriate one third of the goods of the merchants at Vanades City to bring it back to the dominion. That's why Lorist warned him sternly to not neglect the convoy and the vagabonds for the sake of acquiring those resources.
"Pog, has the Second Highness's Royal Defense Guard been stationed at Xith Castle yet?" Lorist asked.
Potterfang replied, "They've already arrived, around 10000 of them. After I completed my mission, I handed the castle to him and returned. Loze left a little bit later with our heavy-armored cavalry regiment and mounted archers and will be arriving here by tomorrow afternoon."
"Weird, Duke Madras's reaction to this seems a little slow. Hasn't he noticed that we've stopped all traffic outward from Sidgler Province?" thought Lorist as he stroked his chin.
Potterfang laughed and said, "Milord, Duke Madras must have long known about the Xith Castle's occupation because when the light cavalry scouts entered Sidgler Province to do some probing, they noticed that the bastides there were more fortified that usual. I believe that the duke is merely unclear on whether we would attack the province or only defend the Xith Castle for the moment. That's why he didn't send out the Seamountain Legion to attack us, fearing that we will take the whole province by surprise if he leaves it undefended."
"That sounds about right," Lorist said as he nodded. "Well, since the Xith Castle is already under the Second Highness's control, we would have to hand Vanades City to him as well. That way, he can reconstruct this place into a citadel city as a main base for him to swallow up the Yungechandler Province. Right now, the Second Highness only lacks an excuse for us to give this place to him earlier. I believe that all he is wishing for right now is for us to get out of the way as soon as possible before we suck this place dry, resulting in him being unable to benefit from any resources or recruit any manpower from here.
"I want to move us to the Kobo City mainly because there is a huge stockpile of food there and it is much closer to the Northlands than Vanades City. That way, we can return to the dominion quickly when spring time comes next year. Also, I don't wish to stay over here for long because this place would no doubt become a battlefield when spring comes. I'm worried that we will be involved in the battles if we stay here for too long."
"Then, when should we depart to attack Kobo City?" Potterfang asked.
"Tomorrow morning. We will leave with Yuriy's light cavalry scouts and Terman will bring the knight brigade and follow us from behind. Loze shall also lead the three regiments of heavy-armored cavalrymen towards Kobo City. We must move quick as the time we have is limited. We will gather again when we arrive," Lorist said.
...
Six days later, Lorist was riding on a carriage with ten plus guards and arrived at a castle at the heart of Kobo City. The carriage he was in was flying the flag of the Tebri Family.
The one who received Lorist was a white-haired officer in his sixties.
"Lord Viscount, I am Chief Officer Bloom. I truly apologize because even though Kobo City is under the direct control of Duke Madras, it is both a military base as well as a warehouse area and usually doesn't allow guests within it. Lord Viscount, if you'd like to find a place of residence, you will have to travel around 5 kilometers from here where Count Kelock's bastide is located. The count is a friendly man who's extremely welcoming towards guests and I'm sure, Lord Viscount, you, will receive the best hospitality and treatment over there. As for your request to purchase some food, I'm sorry to say that I can't make the decision to approve or deny it. Usually, we are not allowed to provide any food without the authorization of the duke," said the officer as he respectfully declined Lorist's request.
"Oh, I see. It's my fault for not knowing better of the situation. Chief Officer Bloom, I also have to apologize for making such a request as this is my first visit to the duchy. I only heard that Kobo City was the central area for food trade within the duchy so I thought that it would be like the other mercantile cities where trade is usually carried out on the spot," Lorist said sadly, fully putting on an act of a disappointed noble who had traveled all the way for nothing.
"It truly pains us as well for your wasted trip. In actuality, we usually conduct our trade at Vanades City. We would only ship the required amount of food according to the orders made there. However, I've heard that the city is occupied by vagabonds now, so we can only allow the purchase if the duke himself permits it," said the old officer as he bowed down deeply.
"Oh. Then I have no other choice but to find a way to meet with the duke or wait for a little longer until the situation changes. I really thank you for your guidance, Chief Officer Bloom. I shall take my leave now," Lorist said as he nodded to the officer before he reboarded his carriage and left Kobo City.
As he looked at Lorist's carriage depart, the old officer muttered curiously, "Why would a noble from the Redlis Kingdom come all the way here to buy food? Would he be able to transport it back even if he was allowed to buy some? The Second Prince will definitely expropriate more than half of it anyway when he returns... It'll be fortunate if he's even left with a third of it..."
Lorist's carriage continued towards the east and left the range of Kobo City's security force. Within 30 minutes, they arrived at a thick, lush forest. Past the forest was a huge army outpost.
Lorist entered the tent with a gloomy face. Potterfang, who was looking at some maps, asked curiously, "Milord, why are you back here?"
"The plan didn't work. I was prepared to get a residence there so our main force can have a conspirator within the city before the attack, but I didn't expect that they didn't allow visitors to stay, even if they're nobles," Lorist said with a deep voice.
Taking a blank beastskin and an ink pen, Lorist started drawing while he talked. "Kobo City has two walls. The first one is as described according to the intelligence we gathered. It's around 10 meters high while the second wall is roughly 20 meters from the first wall and standing at a height of 12 meters. There are a few sentry towers on the two walls, but I didn't see any defensive machines of any kind. Those are probably protected within the towers. At the middle of the city is a 5-storey castle too. Even if the walls outside were breached, the soldiers can still retreat into the castle to put up resistance. As expected of Kobo City, the City of Forged Iron! What a befitting name!"
Potterfang shook his head as he watched Lorist draw the layouts of the defenses as he couldn't think of a good way to attack the place either. He turned his attention towards the outside of the tent and exclaimed, "Milord, look! It's snowing again. This is the second snowfall of the year. If we don't have a way to attack Kobo City, we'll have to move our troops back to Vanades City..."
The snow fell from the darkened skies ever so gently, before wetting the ground outside the tent.
Lorist's eyes suddenly gleamed with excitement as he thumped onto the map and said, "Gather all the Silver ranks among our troops! I will bring them on a night assault against Kobo City!"
Lorist's plan was simple: during snowfall at night, the moon wouldn't be visible in the sky and the darkness made it difficult for one to even see one meter ahead of oneself. The defending troops at Kobo City would also be more laid back than usual given the weather, as, in Grindian history, battles conducted during snowing nights was without precedent.
Having gathered the Silver ranked soldiers, they rushed to Kobo City while the skies were still dark and Lorist himself scaled the walls before he let down a rope ladder, which allowed the rest of his men to climb up the walls. After they took control of the four sentry towers, they were able to open the gates of the city and lower the drawbridge to let the rest of the troops into the city.
The second inner wall was also taken over rather quickly. As a group of men were opening up the main gates of the inner wall, the other group began their assault on the castle within the middle of the city. As long as they were able to control both of the gates, by the time dawn arrived, the regiment of soldiers would have ample time to take care of the rest of the defending enemy troops on the walls and the sentry towers who were still unaware of the situation.
Even so, attacking during the night was not without its difficulties. Mainly, one couldn't see one's own five fingers clearly as the snowfall limited the visibility of each individual to only one meter ahead. Secondly, Kobo City had a 6-meter-broad moat. How would they be able to cross it? It wasn't like they could just get a 10-meter-long wooden plank out of nowhere. It was doubtful that a board of that length even existed anyway. However, they were still able to utilize the long siege ladders, but that would increase the risk of some soldiers missing their foothold and falling through the holes of the ladder, shaking off the rest who were also on the same ladder.
Lorist's solution to that was relatively simple: the soldiers would use ropes to tie them up together like a daisy chain. Even though they would move slower as a result, it wasn't much of a problem as the enemy troops weren't able to see them either. Using that method, they managed to to reach the walls of Kobo City without any soldiers losing their way in the darkness.
"As for crossing the moat, we'll use goat skin rafts; the rafts are used by the local fishing folk to cross the river. Given their relatively light weight, they're easy to transport and there are quite a number of them within the bastide we had conquered yesterday which were used as makeshift roofs by the residents. We only need one of those rafts for this operation. After ferrying the first group of people to the opposite bank of the moat, we'll use a rope to pull the raft back from the other side for the next batch of people to cross. We'll be able to move our men across the moat quickly that way.
"When our night assault troops take the two gates and let down the drawbridges, they will blow the horn two times long and one time short. That's the cue for the regiment to light their torches and advance towards Kobo City.
"And, we're done!" Lorist said as he concluded the briefing confidently. "This is a risk that we have to take. Everyone, go make your preparations!"
Before he left, Lorist thought of Els, who was currently resting up for his injuries to heal at Vanades City. That guy has extremely good night vision and he's actually the best pick for operations like these. It's a shame that he was hurt and won't be able to join us on this operation...
Chief Officer Bloom, who was residing within Kobo City, wasn't able to sleep well given his old age; he only slept for three hours during the night before he woke up and couldn't go back to sleep no matter what. That's why he decided to wake up and light a candle to read a book to pass time until dawn. Seeing the snowflakes falling down from the dark sky above through his window, the old officer muttered to himself, "Yet another year passed just like that..."
At that time, he thought he heard three horn blaring sounds. "Those patrolling soldiers must be drunk and fooling around again... They'll be in for a beating tomorrow morning."
After that, sounds of thunder rang out repeatedly without pause.
The old officer was quite surprised that there would be thunder during a snowing night. A storm might be brewing for tomorrow... I better go to check the warehouses and see if there are any leaks that need to be fixed... Sigh...
Hearing some ruckus going on at the floor below his room, the old officer was quite mad and thought, what's going on tonight? Why is it so noisy? If the servants aren't sleeping right now, how would they work effectively tomorrow?
The old officer then put on his robe and prepared himself to head downstairs to give his servants a stern scolding. However, just as he opened the door, he saw three to four people rush up from beyond the castle walls with a ladder. They appeared before him not long after.
With the light of the candle, the old officer could see that one of them was the young noble 'Viscount Tebri' from the Redlis Kingdom that had visited just yesterday. However, that man was covered in mud and blood and he even seemed quite oblivious about it. The young man revealed his two rows of teeth and let out a standard noble's smile before he said, "I'm really glad I got to meet you again, Chief Officer Bloom..."