Chapter 22 - Declaration Of War
A/N: We're having a time skip, you may ask, why? Well it's because I've wanted to get to this point for a while now, and now seems like a good time.
It was around 8am in the morning, my head felt like it was going to tear apart. I just had... a nightmare. No, it'd be far more fitting to call it a flashback. Back in my old world, I was subjected to pain, so much pain that I should've gone insane. I'm not sure how I managed to get through all of that with my mind intact. But seriously, I wish that such memories were simply forgotten. I don't want to remember that stuff. I got out of bed and went about my day as I usually would.
***
Days went by, then weeks went by, and soon a few months went by. I had now been in this world for 8 months. It was now November, and I had just been told some interesting news. Apparently, friction with a neighbouring country had been increasing for a while now. And we had reached a point where war could begin at any point. I wasn't too worried though, if the original Valier could survive this war. Then I should be able to thrive. I'm better than the original in every conceivable way. So it stands to reason that I'll survive.
I went downstairs, Cecillia, Irene and Iris were all sat down there. On the way downstairs the servants bowed down to me, before they wouldn't do this without me prompting them to do so. Why do they respect me now? Well it's simple really, I threatened to murder one of them a few months back and they more or less shit themselves, and so now there's some interesting rumours flowing through our estate. After the constant nightmares I've had, my old self has slowly but surely been resurfacing. My demeanor has changed completely, it's been a rather gradual change so no one's made too much of a fuss about it.
It wasn't as if I became cold or anything like that, I simply had more confidence in my walk. I would make sure I voiced any complaints I had, and I made sure to praise them if they did well. I suppose the change wasn't big, but it was enough to tell them that I too was someone whom they served.
I sat down beside Irene, Iris and Cecillia were sat opposite us. I was now far more comfortable with getting involved with them, I had decided that the best way to protect myself from any potential ploys from Cecillia was to become her 'child' in a way. I disliked this method, but it's worked pretty well. Cecillia got me a new teacher for Dark Magic, this teacher seems far more qualified. But I've not learnt too much from them, once I was taught the basics of Mana manipulation I realised that everything else was more theoretical and related to battle strategy. My tutors weren't supposed to teach me anything too advanced, and I can't tell if that's a minor ploy from Cecillia or if it's just because I'll learn of the nitty gritty of Mana manipulation at the academy.
Breaking me out of my thoughts, Irene stretched her fist out towards me. I brought my fist towards hers, and they collided. This was a 'fist bump' or something like that, I wasn't sure what it was for. But she was fond of it so I didn't see any harm in indulging her.
"Irene, Valier enough of that. I've got some news, as of today, the country has officially declared that we are in a state of war. Because of this, I will be very busy, and I likely won't be in the territory most of the time. I'll be handling affairs that would ordinarily been handled by the Archduke. So, for the most part you guys will be alone. The situation isn't too disturbing as of now, we've only had some small skirmishes on our borders, and we've only lost regular foot soldiers according to our reports."
I nodded my head at her words, from what I was being told. The contact we were having with the enemy was minimal, from the sounds of it, they hadn't even deployed any mages yet. This meant that they were saving their soldiers. This kind of strategy was rather commonplace, when attacking a country, sending in expendable troupes to gauge the defences at the borders was a good move.
"They're probably trying to find the best place to send in their real troops. These foot soldiers are just there to check the place out, and to report back to their superiors on where to strike."
I spoke my mind, although I was hiding my strength, it wasn't like I was going to pretend to be bad at everything. The academy didn't take in just everyone, I'd have to be decent at something to get in. I has decided that strategy would be my 'forté' from now on, even though back in my old world. I wasn't too good with them, but hey, I'm sure I can think of strategies that are impressive for kids my age.
"Once they've gauged where our defence is the weakest, they'll probably send in troops there. That much is obvious, but, if I were them. I would try to turn the noble of that segment of land over to my side. And the land at our borders isn't the most fertile nor are those lands very populous. So the nobles stationed their will probably take the bait. Or they'll be killed and their land will be taken over."
Cecillia nodded her head in agreement.
"That's a possible plan that they'll use, but we've not had any major battles with them yet. So we don't know about their battle strategies or anything, all that we know is that their country is a militaristic one. Their people live to fight, and fight to live."
'So their battle whores?'
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