Chapter 442 - 380 - 385

100 Thousand Barbarian Cavalry

Seeing the smoke signal from the distance, Duke Fisablen waved his horsewhip around.

"Send someone to survey the location. Prevent the Northlands lookouts from observing our activities," ordered he.

"By your command, Your Grace," responded a guard, nodding.

He turned to inform the others of the orders. A few moments later they set out.

The duke tugged on his horse's reins. The horde of grassland barbarian cavalry stopped their mounts as well. The mass of men and horses stretched beyond what the eye could see. Poles grew out of the sea of heads. On them, banners of different designs rustled in the wind.

He took out a telescope -- it was part of the spoils he got from defeating House Norton's Jaeger Legion -- and inspected Pedro, where the alarm bell rang.

On both ends of the city cliffs approximately ten meters high cut off any route around the settlement. Right in the middle between them ran a steep slope, about one and a half kilometers from cliff to cliff. On the horizon above the slope, towering over the city walls, stood a huge stone castle. It marked the crossing point of Pisper; Pedro, part city, part citadel.

Pisper lay between Winston and the northeastern grasslands, a natural border. A wall thousands of meters tall and about as wide. There was, however, a large gap in the mountain range that allowed the opposite sides to be connected. If one stood on top of the mountain, perched on the peak of the slope, one should be able to see the grassy plains beyond.

It was precisely because of this hole in the wall that Count Pedro decided, all those years ago, to erect a fort at the slope's peak. He hoped it would stop the grassland barbarians' raids into Winston. The citadel that peaked into the duke's vision, however, had changed its appearance greatly. It was far more than just a frontier fort, it was a full-fledged man-made mountain, complete with extensive defensive fortifications.

"It's only been six months! House Norton is very reckless with its spending. They actually managed to completely reform Pedro's fort into a full-fledged citadel. That kid really thought this through. His moves are firm and leave no gaps for me to exploit," the duke mumbled to himself as he lowered the telescope with a slight tinge of regret, "I should've ignored the squabbles of the grassland barbarian chiefs and forced them to go south and attack Pedro after defeating Jaeger three days ago. At least, I would've been able to capitalize on the element of surprise. Now three days have passed... Pedro must be prepared for me. I guess there's no choice. We have to force our way in."

"Well, I don't really mind since the troops to die aren't from my house," he sighed after a moment's thought, "It's about time those arrogant barbarians were taught a lesson. They all think they're at the top of the world. Did they think they could really conquer the realm with only 100 thousand cavalrymen? The more idiots perish, the better it'll be."

When he had left Boblige two months ago to return to his dominion, he gave the conscription order to the various tribes across the northeastern plains. However, he didn't employ force. Instead, he presented himself as the one who would help and guide them across the realm of civilized man. They would raid together and profit together as partners to satisfy their respective needs.

He managed to gather 150 thousand cavalrymen quickly. After spending a month to instill the smallest amount of discipline required in them and filling Fourth Frontier's ranks again, he set his sights on House Norton's Jaeger which had swept across Wild Husbandry. After a series of schemes and plots, he successfully ambushed the legion and inflicted great damage on it, eliminating a large part of its forces. Only a small number managed to escape to The Northlands.

However, he realized there were many situations beyond his control during the attack that ultimately cut him short of eliminating the legion completely. The main factor was his soldiers' insubordination. All the barbarian chieftains wanted their tribe stationed in the rear for fear of suffering heavy casualties. The chieftains' lack of confidence filtered through to their men, many of whom broke rank and tried to preserve their own lives when the situation looked unfavorable.

There was nothing he could do about it. He was no different, he, too, had tried to preserve Fourth Frontier. The casualty count after the battle was like a wake-up call for the chieftains, though. While Jaeger lost close to 30 thousand men, the barbarian cavalry incurred more than 60 thousand, 30 thousand of which were dead, with the pained cries of the other 20 thousand injured resonating across the battlefield.

After sending more than ten thousand barbarians, injured beyond saving, back to War God Singwa's embrace, the duke fulfilled his end of the promise and treated the lightly injured. The chieftains were engaged in an intense argument over the battle's spoils. They had delayed everything for three whole days, foiling the duke's plan to head south and take Pedro by surprise. He had no choice but to find a way to mediate between them, lest the chieftains break into a full-on conflict for the sake of spoils.

The spoils they were referring to were the armor, weapons, and warhorse equipment of the dead Jaeger soldiers. There were also the steel ballistae left behind by the carroballista brigade as well as the thousand plus soldiers and five thousand lightly injured personnel that were taken captive. The heavily injured ones had already been beheaded. There were approximately 16 thousand complete sets of equipment stripped from the captive and dead soldiers as well as near four hundred undamaged steel ballistae. Those were the main cause of the chieftains' arguments. Even the spoiled equipment or ballistae were not spared as metal was most scarce on the plains.

Duke Fisablen made the magnanimous sacrifice and gave up his right to distribute the goods and only demanded the captives and lightly injured personnel as well as two hundred undamaged carroballistae. His self-sacrificing move won the barbarians' praise. The duke suggested another idea. Half of the spoils would be divided according to the respective casualties incurred by each tribe. Naturally, the tribes that were too impatient and ended up losing most of their members were ignored since it was only a matter of time before they were assimilated into other tribes. The other half would be distributed evenly to all of the barbarians. In other words, while the strong would get most of the reward, the weak would also have something left.

The tribes were finally placated. The plentiful spoils attracted even more barbarians and their numbers soon rose back to 100 thousand. The chieftains quickly forgot about the heavy casualties they had previously incurred. When the duke got to know from the captives that only a brigade of three thousand defended Pedro, the barbarian chiefs were already clamoring to go south.

To the naïve chieftains, Jaeger was the most impressive enemy they had to face. Given that they had already paid such a huge price to defeat such a great enemy, they believed what remained were merely weaklings to be picked off, nothing worth mentioning. In their minds, 100 thousand barbarian cavalrymen were enough to sweep the whole of Winston. Perhaps, they would even restore the honor of their ancestors and get to water their horses at Egret Lake.

"Lord Duke, my dearest lion, why did you stop in your tracks?" asked an eerie-sounding voice as a few majestic warhorses galloped towards the duke.

The guards beside Duke Fisablen wore looks of rage. Some of them had their hands by the hilts of their swords, while others gripped their spears and lances so tightly their veins popped to the surface. With one word, they would not hesitate to storm the northeastern plains. Even though all the chieftains addressed Duke Fisablen as Regal Lion Duke or Your Leonine Grace, the person that just showed up called the duke 'my dearest lion' in a way he would his pet. It was a huge slight on his honor and the young hot-blooded guards glared at the approaching group with anger and hostility.

Duke Fisablen raised his horsewhip without the slightest change in expression to stop his subordinates from doing anything rash. At the same time, he greeted the riders as they arrived.

"My brother, Beloved Chieftain Korinubi, we've arrived. Do you see that castle atop that slope? That's the city of Pedro. I think we should set up camp here and discuss how we will attack after settling down."

Korinubi was a great grassland barbarian tribe that had a population of approximately 100 thousand. They were able to call on 30 thousand battle-ready cavalrymen and were not among the tribes that had submitted to the duke. Instead, Korinubi had always maintained a trade relationship. This time around, Duke Fisablen prepared a lot of gifts to convince the whole of the tribe to head south together, with raiding Winston their goal.

The chieftain was a short, thin man of forty or fifty years. He looked rather martially challenged, but no one doubted his cunning. Duke Fisablen always felt really tired after dealing with Korinubi's chieftain. He wondered how such an oddity managed to surface in the great plains where martial prowess was paramount. All Korinubi chieftains were named after the tribe. It was part of their tradition. After inheriting the position, they would cast away their former name and be addressed only with the name of the tribe.

Chieftain Korinubi completed his mission during their attack on Jaeger perfectly with his 30 thousand cavalry. Their mission was to harass the enemy at range and not engage in close quarters combat at the frontlines. In spite of their relatively removed role, they managed to obtain most of the spoils. In the southward march that followed, the tribe also absorbed four smaller tribes and expanded their numbers to 40 thousand.

Perhaps because of the increase in the men under his command, Chieftain Korinubi relaxed his attitude towards the duke. The duke had only brought ten thousand men on the march. After all, he was only there to guide the way. The main force was the 100 thousand barbarians. There was no need for him to bring along a lot of men. He would also get the least spoils this way and everyone was happy with the arrangement.

"Setting up camp?" Chieftain Korinubi looked at the sky and smiled rather exaggeratedly.

"It's still early. Why don't we just rush straight at Pedro and attack? We won't have to set up camp that way. We can celebrate our victory in the city itself."

"My dear Chieftain, if we can have 100 thousand soldiers encircle Pedro immediately, I don't doubt it will fall in half an hour," Duke Fisablen said as he pointed at the city with his horsewhip, "But please take a look. That's the only way through Pisper and it's rather small. Those cliffs resemble a horn; it gets narrower the higher it goes. Pedro also occupies most of the space in between. We can only have about three thousand men effectively deployed at a time. There's no way we can attack all at once. The city has already made its preparations. I believe it's best we discuss our approach beforehand."

Chieftain Korinubi shielded his eyes from the sun as he leered at the city in the distance, Without a telescope, he wasn't able to see how prepared it was. After giving it a good look, he turned back to the duke.

"Leonine Duke, are you sure we can really only deploy three thousand men at a time like the captives said?"

Duke Fisablen laughed as he shook his head.

"There's no way to confirm the claim. Before we launch our attack, I won't be able to grasp the state of their defenses. After all, three days have passed. Perhaps lots of reinforcements have already arrived. We've truly delayed for far too long."

Korinubi fell deep into thought before he made his decision.

"I will have my men probe their defenses. If they only have three thousand men defending the city, we will take Pedro in no time. What do you think?"

The duke knew the chieftain had made his decision out of greed. When they were traveling southward, it was established that the tribe that conquered a town or city would be given control of it. They could keep whatever they pilfered from it. Nobody would be allowed to violate their rights to the spoils under oath to their gods.

The moment he heard there were only three thousand soldiers defending the city, Korinubi became anxious Even if it took him three men to kill one of the defenders, it was still more than worth it if he could take Pedro for himself. He could even use the place to recover while the other barbarian tribes tested the waters in Winston. If things went south, they would be able to retreat to the northeastern great plains easily. If a lot was made through raiding and pillaging, the returning barbarian tribes would have to submit to him before they returned to the great plains because he controlled the passageway. Perhaps, he might even manage to swallow a few more smaller tribes.

"Why not?" the duke said as he nodded warmly, "The mighty Korinubi tribe has the strength to emerge victorious. The city's guard pales in comparison to your tribe."

Korinubi smiled, elated.

"Thank you for your praise, Leonine Duke. I believe it as well. I'm very confident in the tribe's warriors."

He instructed the barbarian guards next to him.

"Have Halikai, Lunigigi, and Morimod attack the city! Tell them the one who breaches the city will be greatly rewarded. I'll behead the one who doesn't contribute!"

Darn, no wonder the fellow was willing to take in the smaller tribes on the way. He wanted to use them as fodder, cursed the duke.

The three names were the smaller tribes Korinubi had absorbed along the way here. They were each less than a thousand. Originally, they wanted to get the scraps of what was left by coming along but they became Korinubi's targets and were forcefully absorbed.

The low-pitched blare of a horn spread out over the grasslands as the horde called out.

'Korinubi! Korinubi! Korinubi! Korinubi!'

The barbarians considered being the first to enter battle a sign of bravery and honor. However, the thousands of cavalrymen called to participate didn't look too willing. They were escorted by a thousand more from the Korinubi tribe and divided into three units quite messily after a good while. The three units were sent towards the slope on which Pedro stood.

On the 11th day of the 11th month of Year 1778, at around ten in the morning, the 100 thousand barbarian cavalrymen surrounded Pedro. The bloody siege battle had begun.

The Bloody Battle of Pedro (1)

Here's the third release of the week! Sorry for the delay! It completely slipped my mind!

People and horses rolled down the slope. The first wave of attacking barbarians, around two thousand riders, were crushed before they even scaled half of the slope. Of the riders flung off their mounts, the fortunate ones were still not beyond salvation, while those less fortunate broke their necks and suffocated to death. The second and third waves of barbarian riders following tightly behind them stopped their mounts immediately and began to rescue the rest. After a lot of effort, they turned tail and ran. The cheering barbarians all seemed to have been given a face slap and no longer uttered a sound. They made no further movements on the city.

Chieftain Korinubi's expression was rather sour. He felt like he lost a lot of face for stopping his attack halfway.

"Go, get Halikai, Lunigigi, and Morimod here. I want to hear their explanation for stopping their attack."

The barbarian guards soon returned with the two of the three.

"Revered Chief Korinubi, your humble servants Halikai and Morimod greet you."

"Where is Lunigigi?" hmphed the chief.

"Revered Chief Korinubi, Lunigigi has returned to the embrace of the wolf god," replied Morimod, the elder of the two, respectfully.

"What did you say?!" the chief exclaimed, stunned, "He's dead? Nonsense. How could he die? He drank a large jar of my milk wine yesterday and one of my roast goats! Wasn't he looking well when he was sent out?"

"It's true, Revered Chief Korinubi. Your humble servant dares not lie to you. The brave Lunigigi rode at the front as per your instructions. However, the cowardly flatlanders dug lots of horse pit traps on the slope. His steed stepped into one of them and broke its right front leg. Lunigigi was flung off forward. He broke his neck and returned to the wolf god's embrace," described Morimod in detail.

"What? The slope was fraught with pit traps?"

"Yes, Revered Chief. Your humble servant doesn't lie. Of the two thousand riders Lunigigi took with him, more than 1300 lost their horses to the pits. More than a thousand are injured. Over a hundred returned to the wolf god's embrace just like Lunigigi. Not only did the flatlanders dig pit traps, they also dug a lot of other ditches and traps with wooden stakes inside. There was no way we could rush up the slope with our horses. We decided to retreat first," explained Morimod hurriedly.

He wanted to make it clear it wasn't that they didn't want to fight. They simply had no way to.

"Hmm, I hope you speak the truth," said Korinubi as he swept Halikai and Morimod with his gaze.

Seeing the two of them stand there like the most natural thing in the world, he reasoned that they couldn't have been lying, so he turned to Duke Fisablen.

"Haha, no problem, my friend."

As Duke Fisablen also heard the conversation, he took the initiative to speak first.

"I will leave the shield carts we brought with you. I'm sure you know better than anyone how to use them. With the shield carts, you can fill up the ditches quickly enough while protecting your riders as they approach the city walls. I think it's obvious from the number of traps and ditches they don't have nearly enough troops to defend the castle. They had no choice but to use such underhanded tactics to delay our brave warriors' attack."

Even though Korinubi had hoped the duke would send Frontier to use the shield carts and protect his men as they made their approach, the duke had spoken out first and stated his intentions.

You can have all the shield carts you want but don't even think of laying your hands on my men.

Hatefully cursing the old fox under his breath, Korinubi nodded and thanked him. He instructed Morimod and Halikai to collect the shield carts. He also had some of the barbarian riders dismount and grab some tools to fill the traps, ditches, and holes up and down the slope.

Duke Fisablen gave the order to set up camp and Korinubi didn't bother to stop him. As pushing the shield carts up the slope would take who knew how long, and filling up the traps and ditches would require lots of manpower and time, there was no way they'd let the 100 thousand barbarian cavalrymen wait like idiots on their mounts. Korinubi postponed the attack by a day and stuck with establishing a method for the attack for what's left of the current day.

At four in the morning, they'd managed to push the shield carts 300 meters up the slope. As the people in Pedro didn't seem to respond at all, the tool-wielding barbarians dropped their guard and focused their attention on filling up the traps and ditches. Korinubi had given the order for one route of attack to be established by the end of the day. As not one of the barbarian soldiers wanted to be punished, they only thought of completing their work as soon as possible so they could rest when they returned.

Without anyone noticing, the 23rd local defense brigade, led by Eidelwoke, formed an assault unit around a thousand strong. It left through the rear gate and circled the moat, approaching where the barbarians were. When they were less than ten meters away, they leaped and rushed into the crowd of busy soldiers.

It was a complete massacre. The four thousand or so barbarian soldiers filling up the ditches were caught completely off guard and met tragic ends. When their enemy showed up, they panicked and forgot where they put their weapons. The tools in their hands were broken by a single slash before they felt a cold glint and lost consciousness, seeing nothing but darkness.

The 100 thousand soldiers who'd settled down in the camp stared wide-eyed at the massacre atop the slope. All of the working barbarians were slaughtered easily like chickens. Only a fortunate few managed to run down the slope, crying for their parents. However, they were not so lucky in the sense of having left the shield carts behind. Due to the inactivity of Pedro's defenders, they didn't feel the need to push the heavy shield carts up the slope, so they proceeded without them.

Currently, the carts were obstacles to their escape. The groups weren't able to squeeze between them as the barbarians behind began to let out pained cries. The local defense brigade soldiers that caught up were able to pierce three enemies' chests with only one thrust of their spears.

The barbarians in the camp finally snapped out of their stupor and reacted. They let out beastly cries and got onto their mounts without caring about anything else. They rode for the slope. At that time, the city's bell rang out once more. The local defense brigade soldiers that came out to launch a surprise attack didn't pursue their enemy. Instead, they took out the leather sacks slung on their sides and splashed the fuel contained within on those huge, wooden shield carts before they ignited them. More than 50 bonfires were lit on the slope. Following that, the local defense soldiers stayed to loot the dead barbarians before returning to Pedro.

Only around seven hundred of the original four thousand barbarians managed to make it back. They left approximately three thousand corpses on the slope along with the 50 shield carts that were all set alight. That was a huge and harsh slap to the faces of all the grassland barbarians.

The riders rode to reinforce their comrade with fervent anger. They had just received the other seven hundred plus who managed to escape and stared red-eyed at the corpses of their fellow tribesmen that littered the slope. The mocking laughter and cheers from Pedro sounded ever so ear-piercing. One of the grassland barbarians cried loudly in a crazed manner and rode speedily upwards the slope. Countless other riders joined him in his endeavor with similarly pained cries and launched their attack on Pedro.

The riders' skill seemed to improve thanks to their anger. They rode speedily up the slope, almost seeming like they were flying up the uneven terrain as they passed the burning shield carts and avoided the corpses of their tribesmen, approaching the walls at breakneck speed. But they ran into some trouble when they were less than three hundred meters from the walls. The ditches and pit traps began to slow them down. Some riders would fall from time to them from the traps or ended up in ditches because of riding too quickly. However, those whose heads were filled with wrath and felt no fear. Those able to get back up after their mounts collapsed continued running at the city while waving their weapons around as they called out loudly to plead for the protection of the wolf god.

"Fire!" Seeing the grassland barbarian troops appearing within two hundred meters of the walls, Eidelwoke finally gave the order.

Following the subsequent twangs, the first volley of the two hundred plus steel ballistae mounted on the walls blanketed the battlefield, skewering the approaching barbarians, mounted or otherwise. Many of them were nailed to the ground by the bolts along with their mounts. Cries of pain and agony reverberated throughout the slope.

While the two hundred or so bolts gave the grassland barbarians quite a harsh blow, even more barbarian cavalrymen took their place. They ignored the skewered bodies in front of them as well as the incoming ballistae attacks as they rode onwards towards Pedro, shouting to raise their morale and courage while they were at it.

"Steel ballistae, fire at will! Longbowmen, standby! Fire when the enemy is a hundred meters away! There's no need to wait for further orders!" instructed Eidelwoke once more.

House Norton's local defense brigades comprised two regiments of sword-and-shield infantrymen, approximately a thousand of them, one regiment of five hundred heavy-armored pikemen, one regiment of five hundred longbowmen, one regiment of five hundred ballistae soldiers armed with a hundred ballistae, as well as a logistics regiment of five hundred men. If they were tasked with defending a location, they would be assigned another hundred steel ballistae to be manned by the regiment of sword-and-shield soldiers. The 23rd local defense brigade was stationed in Pedro and assigned two hundred steel ballistae in total, which were all installed on the front wall by Eidelwoke and were engaged in a different type of massacre against the barbarian riders.

The first surprise attack by the local defense brigade soldiers gathered by Eidelwoke was conducted with close combat. But now, the soldiers manning the steel ballistae were engaging in ranged combat with the approaching cavalry. As soon as one of them evaded the traps and leaped over the ditch, the ballistae bolts that followed would put an end to their anger and effort in an instant. From time to time, soldiers would be sent flying by the bolts and fall into the ditches or onto the ground. Not one got to within a hundred meters of the walls thanks to the storm of ballistae bolts.

Korinubi and many other chieftains were calling out loudly to motivate their men.

"Rush up there! Kill them all! Massacre the whole city!"

In the end, Duke Fisablen was no longer able to resist and reminded, "I think it's best we retreat for now. If we want to mount an attack, we can use the shield carts left. Rushing up there right now would make you nothing but targets and sacrifice the lives of our brave warriors."

Korinubi snapped out of his blinding rage.

"That's right! Blow the horn and have our warriors retreat for now!"

The loud blaring of the horn covered the whole plains and the attacking barbarian riders finally regained their sanity. They retreated from the slope like a receding wave, leaving behind a fresh trail of blood and corpses.

Then they had all made it back to camp, the chieftains conducted a head count. They were all deeply enraged. Before they even launched a proper attack, more than six thousand had died on the slopes. Korinubi himself was incredibly regretful as his tribe had already lost around four thousand men from the first attempt at filling up the holes and ditches and the second retaliatory attack which he personally encouraged.

Duke Fisablen advised, "Even though it didn't start off well, we managed to get an understanding of Pedro's defenses. Taking a loss due to carelessness isn't much. Let's rest for a night and attack the city tomorrow."

Korinubi refused Duke Fisablen's advise coldly with bloodshot eyes.

"No, we will press our attack through the night. I will not allow them to rest well for even one more night. A debt of blood must be repaid in blood. We have 100 thousand men, and from now on, I won't give them even a moment of rest. We will continue to attack until we conquer the city. Great Lion Duke, please leave the remaining shield carts with us. We will organize our men into different units and have them take turns attacking."

"Naturally. We are allies and should stand together. I will have all the shield carts I have left sent to you. At the same time, I pray for your success in conquering the city and avenging the brave warriors lost so far," agreed Duke Fisablen with a smile.

The horn rang out once more and three square formations of barbarian soldiers gathered at the foot of the slope. Each of the formations contained five thousand men. In front were roughly thirty wooden shield carts. These barbarians had dismounted and were split into three waves that would push the shield carts up the slope towards the city. The orders received by the first wave were simple: collect their comrades' corpses as they close in on the city. The second wave would use longbows to suppress the enemy and defend the other barbarian soldiers who would fill up the holes and ditches. Naturally, they would also have to pay attention so any surprise attack like the last one wouldn't be repeated.

The third wave was the attack's main force. Apart from bringing shield carts, they also carried many wooden ladders. After the second wave opened a path towards Pedro, they would approach the walls. They would then scale them with the ladders as the longbowmen protected them and slaughter away at the enemy when they made it to the top. They would take control of the area so their comrades could continue to flood into the city and obtain victory.

That was the traditional siege tactic used by the barbarians against flatlander towns for the past few centuries. That was the reason the third wave of barbarian soldiers comprised only the most famous warriors and strongmen across all the tribes. Currently, they were drinking the milk wine from their water skins nonchalantly as they packed up their armor and waved the weapons in their hands around, laughing and talking loudly as the other barbarian soldiers looked at them respectfully.

The skies soon darkened and the shield carts that laid across the near-one-kilometer slope burned even brighter. The horn blared once more. The only difference was the steadily thudding drums that accompanied it. The booming drums echoed across the wide expanses of the plains and brought with them a feeling of cold dread.

The barbarians at the foot of the slope all let out a chilling war cry.

"Hujorah!"

That was the name of the celestial wolf god that all the grassland barbarians across the great northeastern plains worshipped. Calling out the name symbolized a single-minded determination on marching forward to victory or to death. The first wave of the barbarians marched up the slope, pushing the shield carts as they advanced. The siege on Pedro had begun.

The Bloody Battle of Pedro (2)

Fourth release of the week coming up! There'll be another release tomorrow to make up for yesterday!

The cheers in Pedro resounded through the pass and across the lower lands on both sides of the mountain range. Both attempts by the barbarians to take the walls had failed, with their corpses littered all over the slope. There was an estimated five or six thousand. The casualties sustained by the defending side, on the other hand, was negligible. The first attack only caused ten casualties while a few fools hurt themselves with their own carelessness during the second. They were mostly skin-deep wounds, though. It gave the conscripted soldiers a great boost to their confidence. They thought the barbarians were nothing much and their numbers weren't a cause for concern.

Eidelwoke wasn't too optimistic about the situation, in contrast. In fact, he was fraught with incessant worry. When the soul-chilling horns and drums were played on the plains as the barbarians cried out 'Hujorah', he knew the thing he was most worried about was about to happen. The enemy had already been enraged by their two failed attempts and were going to press the attack through the night. For the soldiers defending the city, the most difficult hurdle was now here

The first wave pushed the shield carts near the walls in short order. Thanks to the light from the burning carts, the guards on the walls could easily see the barbarians were collecting the corpses of their comrades.

"Sir, they' collecting their corpses. Do you think they'll attack again tonight?" asked one of the guards, hope written on his forehead.

"Maybe. I am not too sure about their plans either. They're still far away, we shouldn't fire now. If they're only here to collect the corpses, we'll spare them. But they might be doing so to have an easier time attacking later. We should be careful," said Eidelwoke solemnly.

The skies soon darkened completely and the shield carts looked like silhouettes in the dark connected next to each other. Some of the flaming carts were extinguished. What they were doing behind them was no longer visible. Not only did the shield carts arranged next to each other obscure much of the light, it also blocked the defenders' vision.

"Longbowmen, fire a few fire arrows[1]. Let's see what they're up to," instructed Eidelwoke.

Tens of lights arced across the night sky in a beautiful parabola before they planted themselves in the ground behind the carts. The defenders intended to see what their enemy were up to by relying on the faint illumination the arrows provided.

"They are filling the ditches!" called out a voice.

"The barbarians are going to attack tonight!" Eidelwoke's heart sunk.

With the cover of night, the enemy was much harder to deal with. It definitely wouldn't be as easy as it was during daytime.

"Steel ballistae one through ten, get some oil jars over there. Tie them at the front of the bolts and fire at the shield carts[2]! Longbowmen, loose your fire arrows at the shield carts as well!"

Eidelwoke gave two consecutive orders. Without delay, ten jars filled with flammable oil were tied at the head of bolts before they were fired at the shield carts. While they didn't harm anyone, the jars shattered against their targets and covered them in fuel. The fire arrows soon descended from the skies onto the shield carts and set them alight one after another.

"Very well," Eidelwoke said with satisfaction for his impromptu idea, "Steel ballistae one to ten, continue tying jars to the bolts and firing them at the carts. The rest will fire at the burning carts as illumination. Your targets are the enemies trying to fill the ditches. Longbowmen, continue to rain arrows down on them!"

The soldiers toiling away below had already noticed the fires on their shield carts. As the ones that hurried to put the fires out were taken out, the rest pushed the burning carts away from the ones not yet set alight. The others ignored the rain of arrows by raising their shields over their heads after each volley was fired and continued to fill up the ditches in the intervals at an even greater speed. They were less than a hundred meters from the walls at the moment, but they'd run out of options. All the remaining carts that protected them were burning. The ground below the walls was bright as day with all the fires.

Less than two hours after the first wave retreated, however, another closed in. Each soldier had a sack of mud on his back. Under the carts' protection, they emptied their sacks into the ditches and soon established a way through which they could pass.

All the longbowmen changed from firing arced shots to firing directly at their targets. The ballistae also fired non-stop. However, there were far too many enemies on the slope. In the darkness, the shots weren't that accurate either. No matter how many casualties the barbarians suffered, they kept swarming forward. They filled the ditches and fired back at the men on the walls from the safety of their carts. The guards' casualties started piling up.

"Ah!"

One of the ballista operators cried in pain and collapsed, his hand clasping an arrow sticking out of his right eye. After his hands and legs twitched, he stopped moving altogether. The soldier reloading the ballista shouted 'Brother!' before he hatefully pulled the trigger with the ballista aimed at the man responsible for his friend's death.

The walls hissed and clinked as hundreds of arrows bounced off them. Ten laborers busy rescuing the injured were caught in the middle of the volley and collapsed after taking tens of arrows each. Unlike the local defense soldiers who were equipped with good armor, they suffered huge casualties.

"Over there!"

One of the soldiers quickly noticed where the barbarian longbowmen were gathered. They were standing behind a flaming shield cart. A dozen ballistae fired in that direction.

"Hujorah!"

Yet another group of barbarians pushed more than ten shield carts up the slope swiftly.

"Have the ballistae and longbowmen pay attention to the barbarian archers. Suppress them!" Eidelwoke just gave an order that he would soon come to regret deeply.

Pedro's walls were six meters tall and their gate was reinforced with a layer of iron, with another huge portcullis behind. What could the barbarians do even if they managed to reach the entrance? It would take them far longer to breach the gates with the weapons they wielded, so Eidelwoke decided to target the barbarian archers instead as they were the only ones who posed a threat at the moment.

He didn't expect that the barbarians who rushed over to be so agile and swift. They rushed to the foot of the walls and drew out many long ladders from behind their carts and laid them against the walls. Some of them even used grappling hooks to ascend the walls by flinging them between the crenels of the wall. Others thrust battleforce-infused spears into the walls to use as makeshift ladders.

"The barbarians have scaled the walls!"

Eidelwoke was startled by the cry. When he turned back, he saw a number of barbarians on the walls flinging their weapons against the defenders as they roared unintelligibly.

Not far away, another barbarian made it onto the wall. With but the cold glint of a blade, the ballista operator who was taking aim had his head lopped off. His neck fountained blood as he collapsed. Before the three soldiers next to him could react, they were taken out as well.

Filled with rage, Eidelwoke drew his sword and rushed forward. The moment the barbarian saw Eidelwoke's blade which didn't have a blade glow, he let his guard down and thought the man a mere guard. He swung his shortsword up to parry as he thrust the dagger in his right at Eidelwoke's throat.

Before he could react, Eidelwoke's longsword shimmered the moment it clashed with the barbarian's sword. The man could only look at the shimmer as it cut through his sword, his shoulder, and the rest of his body on its way to his abdomen.

Kicking away the bisected corpse, Eidelwoke followed up with a strike that sent another barbarian just about to scale the walls back down.

He got some jars and smashed them against a nearby ladder. He held a torch against the two legs. His breathing only resumed once he saw the flames chase the other barbarians down the ladder.

"Have the close combat forces come to the walls immediately. Have the reserves armed with pikes and stand by as well."

It was too bad the order was given too late. More and more barbarians made their way up the walls with every passing moment. The five-man ballista teams couldn't deal with the savage assault. Many ballistae stopped firing and the number of barbarians beneath the walls increased as well.

Eidelwoke realized his mistake. He had allocated most of the space on the two-meter-wide walls to the steel ballistae, longbowmen, and laborers to supply more ammunition. So, he wasn't able to station any close combat forces on the walls. He had thought the enemy couldn't get up the walls in the first place, so he allowed the pikemen and other foot soldiers to rest in their barracks. Who knew the barbarians would actually scale the walls so quickly?

"Retreat! Retreat to the towers and shut the gates. We'll keep firing at them from there!" yelled he when he noticed the number of barbarians on the walls increasing.

After Pedro was renovated into a defensive citadel, its structure was thus: the towers extended outwards from the city's walls and were two meters taller. On both sides of the central tower, walls about a hundred meters long stood. Both ends were fitted with towers again which served two functions: to go up and down the walls and to keep situations like the current one from becoming worse. Even if they lost the walls, they could still hold the towers so the city behind the walls wouldn't be compromised.

Eidelwoke grabbed a soldier nearby.

"Cinque, go assemble 50 steel ballistae on the second wall! Fire at the enemies on this wall, quick!"

The second inner wall was two meters higher than the outer and was roughly 50 meters away. It was the final line of defense for the citadel, besides the keep. The citadel would only truly fall if the second wall and the keep were conquered.

Cinque knew how urgent the situation was and left hastily without hesitation.

"You guys should follow," ordered Eidelwoke the longbowmen on the top of the towers.

They had already tried their best; none had fired less than 40 arrows. But the enemy was far too numerous. They attacked before the longbowmen were even allowed to rest and recuperate. During the time the steel ballistae suppressed the barbarian archers, some of the barbarians scaled the walls and they lost up to a hundred men.

Currently, the part where the battle was most heated was at the four towers on the walls. Each tower only had six openings for arrows facing the city walls, so only six arrows could be fired at a time and that was not the least problematic for the barbarians, who were filled with frenzy and excitement for conquering the outer walls. They ignored the projectiles fired from the towers completely and attempted to use the shields and weapons in their hands to bash down at the towers' metal doors. Under the constant abuse, a large hole had been made in the metal door at the foot of the tower. Quickly, four to five pikes poked out from the hole with lightning speed, piercing the barbarians in the chest.

Within the tower, the dozen heavy-armored pikemen stood in a semicircle with their pikes pointed at the entrance, thrusting and taking their enemies' lives when they caught sight of them. But from time to time, the dying barbarians would unleash their final attack and cause the pikemen great harm. The injured would soon be replaced by the other pikemen behind, though.

Corpses soon piled up at the towers' entrances, almost sealing it completely. However, the number of barbarians that made it up to the wall only increased. They pushed their dead tribesmen off the walls and rushed into the tower when the opening was widened before they turned into corpses themselves that were similarly flung off the walls.

There could never be enough soldiers to go about. Each heavy-armored pikeman regiment only numbered five hundred, so each of the four towers were only stationed with a little more than a hundred. As more and more pikemen were injured or killed, they were soon replaced by the sword-and-shield soldiers. However, they suffered even heavier casualties. Though they managed to hold on for a little longer, they were quickly pushed to their limits. Eidelwoke had no choice but to order the reserve soldiers into the fray.

Even the reserve soldiers were mostly laborers, they didn't receive even an ounce of training, nor were they properly armed. The most they could do was to push back at the enemy with their pikes. Their numbers diminished even faster than the two units before; approximately five or six of them died before one barbarian soldier could be killed. This time around, the corpses that piled up once more were those of the reserve soldiers.

When the dead or injured were dragged away to be replaced, some of the reserve soldiers crumbled and ran all over the place in panic after discarding their weapons. Eidelwoke could do naught but form an enforcement unit with the 60-odd remaining sword-and-shield soldiers to get rid of near a hundred deserters on the spot. Only after their heads were lopped off and mounted on the pikes was the situation back under control.

Just as the reserve soldiers were being sent to the meat grinder that was the four towers, the steel ballistae and longbowmen were finally in position at the second wall. They soon dealt a huge blow to the barbarians who thought that the city was finally within their grasp. There were no shield carts to protect them on the outer walls of the city, and the skewered barbarians soon fell from the walls like leaves from a tree.

The walls were filled with so many corpses that there was almost no space left for walking around. The amount of blood gathered there pooled up to one's ankles. Ballista bolts and feathered arrows decorated the corpses all over. From a distance, it looked like there was a small neat forest growing on the walls. The depressing horn tune of retreat could be heard as the barbarians at the slope began their retreat. The drums that seemed to have rumbled throughout the night had already quieted down and the bloodshot-eyed Eidelwoke who was covered in blood stood up with much difficulty by holding onto the railings of the walls. He looked down at the slope and only saw the silhouettes of a few retreating grassland barbarians who carried longbows.

The enemy finally retreated and Eidelwoke finally let out a breath of relief for having defended Pedro. However, the pain from his injury made him moan uncontrollably. He had got that when he was fighting off a dozen of barbarian warriors with ten-odd other local defense soldiers. The casualties they suffered were intense and Eidelwoke himself got hurt by three sword strikes and one axe strike. Fortunately, those hits weren't fatal and he was still able to command the troops to defend the castle after wrapping his wounds up.

"Sir, reinforcements! Reinforcements are here!" cried Cinque who was in command of the second wall. He rushed to the wall and held onto the wobbling Eidelwoke and said, "They're flying Lord Freiyar's banner! The legion commander has finally made it!"

Eidelwoke suddenly felt the urge to laugh when he recalled a joke that was passed around in the household forces about how reinforcements only ever arrived after the battle was over. But before he could say anything, he blacked out and lost consciousness.

[1]EDITOR'S NOTE 1: Fire arrows? Yeah, those are completely bogus. They'd be extinguished the moment they were loosed, and if you made them big enough to actually stay lit, they'd be too heavy for bows to fire at anything even resembling a range. Also, even if the small ones work, the arrows would be so front-heavy, they'd be completely unstable and fly all over the place, and likely just plonk down on the ground long before they get even near their target.

[2]EDITOR'S NOTE 2: Similar thing with the fuel jars on the bolts. The bolts would be so front heavy they'd just plonk down on the ground. Also, considering the strength and integrity of the kinds of jars likely to be used here given the time period, the bolts would likely just rip the neck off when they're shot and the rest of the jar, containing the liquid, would just fall down from the walls.

The Eccentric Queen

And here's the final release of the week! We will back after a one-day break.

During the 11th day of the 11th month of Year 1778, 100 thousand barbarian cavalrymen attacked Pedro. The battle lasted until dawn. Corpses piled up like mountains and blood flowed in rivers. During the intense battle, the barbarians managed to take over the outermost wall for a time. However, the 23rd brigade of Fifth Local managed to successfully resist and keep the city from falling with only three thousand soldiers and ten thousand laborers. When dawn broke, the barbarians finally retreated, having suffering huge casualties.

Both sides had been bled, but 23rd Local's steadfastness allowed the four houses to eliminate Iblia. Winston and Southern were successfully annexed. It also enabled the four houses to gain the advantage over the War God of the Plains, Duke Fisablen. From that moment on, House Norton firmly suppressed the house and turned a new page in the chapter of the Ragebear dynasty.

Extract from Grindian Chronicles: Records of the Bear's Rise -- The Crimson Battle of Pedro

'The 23rd brigade has 1728 men left. Most are injured and at least half of their gear and equipment have been worn out or ruined. The reserves formed from the laborers suffered four thousand casualties. The barbarians left more than twelve thousand corpses behind; their losses are estimated to be around 20 thousand. I've instructed the 22nd brigade and the first to fourth security brigades to move to Pedro. At the same time, Viscount Eidis will lead noble's private armies, totaling around six thousand, to Winston. The name list is as follows...'

Thus was the message sent by Freiyar. Lorist breathed a sigh of relief after he read it. Now that Pedro had successfully been defended, the strategy to eliminate Iblia had succeeded halfway. As long as he could conquer Boblige and chase House Fisablen's forces out of Southern, he could finish up perfectly. It would then be Duke Kenmays's turn to leverage their economic and trade power to suppress House Fisablen so they would submit. He wasn't the least bit interested in humoring the old fox and fighting him in the open on the great northeastern plains.

Following the bloody battle, the 23rd brigade managed to hold Pedro despite losing over half of their number. Freiyar was full of praise for Eidelwoke, the one in charge of their side during the battle. Lorist really didn't think his illegitimate brother would have the ability and was truly happy for his sake. For the current House Norton, as long as the blood of the Nortons flowed in their descendants' veins, even in those of illegitimate children, it would be a great help if they were talented.

Now, Freiyar had arrived at Pedro and took over the defenses. With him there, Lorist no longer had to worry about Pedro's security. However, the battle reminded him that his strategy had almost gone completely wrong because of his own carelessness. Such an important place was under-defended; it had just a brigade three thousand strong. At the very least, there should have been three brigades.

Also, one brigade wasn't enough to defend strategic locations such as large cities. For instance, the 21st local defense brigade stationed at Windbury was in charge of both maintaining security and securing the city gates. If the enemy really attacked it, there was no way it could defend all four gates. Maybe a reorganization of the local defense legion was due. The 75 thousand troops were quite a force and splitting them over three provinces made commanding them a little difficult.

Just when Lorist was considering how he should split his forces, Howard walked into the tent.

"Your Grace, Baron Camorra sent a letter from Windbury; the queen is throwing another tantrum at Rose Palace. She claimed she would fast in protest of our impolite treatment and humiliation. Baron Camorra hopes you will deal with the queen soon so she doesn't continue to cause trouble for everyone."

Lorist couldn't help but admit the queen was truly a weird one. Not only didn't she care about the kingdom's survival, she also didn't bother with her title. All she wanted was to participate in parties, balls, and banquets, to indulge in nothing but pleasure. Even after Windbury was conquered, she wasn't moved and didn't even bother finding out about her father, Duke Fisablen, who had been clashing with the four houses in Southern. She only demanded she be treated in a manner fitting of her status as queen. She even tried to seduce Camorra and Freiyar.

While she was a beauty, she was already nearing her fifties. The two were naturally not interested, perhaps out of concern for Lorist's reputation. Having been refused by the Northlands' nobles and officials, the queen, with the help of her maidservants, actually brought the soldiers standing guard at the palace gates into her chambers. The next morning, they emerged with large bags under their eyes and pale faces. They wobbled out of the castle on unsteady legs. The queen infuriated Camorra so much he even considered beheading her and being done with the whole business.

Naturally, he didn't act on the thought. Killing a queen would cause lots of trouble from the peerage. Nobody was willing to be known as a queen slayer. Apart from being indecent and unruly, the queen wasn't a threat to anyone, neither was her demand to be treated in a manner fitting her status, unfounded. Even if she was a captive, her father was still a consideration. Nobody was willing to cross a rank 3 blademaster hailed as the War God of the Plains.

Lorist was unwilling as well. Though he was arch enemies with the duke at the moment, he didn't want to vent his frustration on his daughter. Apart from being a famously loose woman, she hadn't committed any particular wrong. While she was Iblia's queen, her marriage was a purely political one and her bad relationship with the second prince was an open secret. But since Camorra had made a number of complaints regarding the issue already, Lorist felt it was about time he dealt with it.

"Howard, write the baron a letter. Have him pick a few Fisablen household knights and a hundred of their soldiers. We will release them, arm them, and let them escort the queen back to their dominion. Also, tell him to not touch the queen's personal belongings. If she thinks she doesn't have enough things, give her some money to cover her expenses. That way, we will be rid of our troubles," instructed he.

It was the best way to deal with the situation. By sending her away with a generous gift, nobody would be in debt. As for what kinds of waves the queen would make after she was sent back to her house, it wasn't Lorist's problem. This way, the other nobles would also praise him for his benevolence.

"Yes, Your Grace. I'll write the letter right away," said Howard.

"Oh, Howard, is there still no word from Els, Reidy, and the others?" Lorist felt something was off.

A few days ago, he had given Els and Reidy orders to capture a few Fisablen soldiers from Boblige alive and question them about some basic information such as the mountain ranges terrain, the number of men Duke Fisablen left behind, and so on. However, they hadn't returned since they departed, not a single word.

Howard shook his head.

"Your Grace, I'm not sure what happened either. Nothing's been heard of them since Els and Senior Brother Reidy left. They didn't take any messenger eagles with them either. I've instructed the scouts to pay attention to any trail they left during their patrols, but they haven't found anything yet."

"Weird... Where could they have gone?" pondered Lorist as he stroked his chin.

"Are they in trouble, Your Grace?" asked Howard worriedly.

Lorist chortled.

"No way. Given Reidy's strength and Els's hardiness, even Duke Fisablen wouldn't be able to hold them back. At least one would make it back. Also, they took ten guards. They could scatter and at least a few would return. I believe they've only encountered some kind of delay. Perhaps, they'll return in a few more days."

At that moment, Lorist thought of Morbinghan's golden eagle. It was too bad Tarkel's project would take two to three years. Otherwise, Jaeger wouldn't have ended up in such bad shape. They would've realized Duke Fisablen's grassland cavalrymen were lying in ambush and could've avoided it.

Thinking about how it would take the eagle program six years to show results, it was understandable that training eagles to track enemies would take a substantial amount of time. Lorist had already promised Morbinghan many things as long as he could train a batch of similar eagles. At the very least, he would be rewarded with a hereditary barony. Lorist believed Morbinghan would do his best. As the saying went, 'suspect not those you use, use not those you suspect'. Since he'd left the matter to them, he would trust their ability to carry it out.

But if he still hadn't received any word from Reidy and Els, he would have to trouble Morbinghan to use his gold eagle to track them down.

"Your Grace, I know we managed to defend Pedro, but what about the mountain barbarians trying to attack the dominion?" asked Howard as he recalled the matter.

"Relax, we'll be fine," Lorist said with a smile, "The mountain barbarians would never descend from their mountains to raid in the winter. Currently, they are busy gathering resources to survive the winter. Every winter season is a trial for them. Unlike our household forces, armed and trained properly for winter and able to travel as they please with skis no matter how cold the weather, the barbarians are trapped. The soonest they'll invade in spring. By then, we'll be back in the dominion and will've made our preparations. It's due time we refreshed their memory."

"Okay," said Howard as he nodded before returning to his task.

Ten days later, there was still no word on the two. Just as Lorist was about to write a letter to request Morbinghan's help, Freiyar's report arrived. It stated that the grassland-barbarian army finally retreated from Pedro.

The barbarians had launched a number of attacks since Freiyar took charge of the city's defenses. None of their attempts were successful and they only lost more men. None of the battles were nearly as brutal as their first two encounters. In the last few attempts, they seemed to quit after a few men from their first wave died. All they did was shout and intimidate outside the steel ballistae' range before retreating after hearing the horns.

Freiyar described one incident in his report. The night before they retreated, chaos broke out in their camp. Fires burned, people cried, and fierce fighting erupted. It was as if a large battle had broken out. He'd wanted to gather the forces he had to attack their main camp, but he worried that it was a trap and didn't mobilize. He only realized a real battle had broken out in the morning. The main camp had been ruined and there were at least 30 to 40 thousand bodies. As for the surviving barbarians, they were nowhere to be seen.

Even though Lorist was curious about what had led to the incident, he knew his men had no role in it. The good news was that Pedro was safe and the enemy had been forced to retreat. It was already a huge victory.

Along with news of the victory came word of Camorra's escort. They were the 100-carriage convoy that escorted the queen and they had just arrived at the main camp. Camorra wasn't present but he had written Lorist a letter. In it, he explained that to send the queen back to the dominion, he had no choice but to agree to a few of her requests. For example, she was to be allowed to bring back all the furniture in her palace; hence the huge convoy. Not even the toilet bowls weren't left alone.

There were the three hundred plus maidservants. Camorra felt it was kind of a shame as they were just as loose as the queen. He had intended to open a brothel for the household forces, but after considering the fact that many of the maidservants were former members of fallen noble houses, he worried it would cause a lot of trouble for the house. So, he allowed the queen to take them all.

He also mentioned that he had to give her 100 thousand gold Fordes, she believed she was due the money, before she was finally willing to leave. She also brought with her lots of other resources, so there was a chance the cohort of ten silver-ranked Fisablen knights and 100 Fisablen soldiers wouldn't be able to protect the whole convoy. They had no choice but to dedicate some of their forces to escort the convoy to Lorist's camp.

Lorist had no choice but to hurriedly prepare to receive her. After all, he was a noble and throwing a banquet for an occasion like this was unavoidable. While he was an enemy of House Fisablen as well as the sole cause of Iblia's demise, having captured the second prince and handing him to the second highness, nobles were supposed to keep their bearing at all times. Even if the queen was the house's captive, she still had to be treated properly.

The queen didn't treat him as she would an archenemy during the banquet. In fact, she was thankful to him for capturing the second prince and allowing her to spend a few years in peace and luxury. Lorist finally realized how eccentric and indifferent she was. It didn't change how troublesome she was, though. While she didn't mind the kingdom's downfall, she lamented the loss of her annual allowance that went with it and cried and begged for Lorist to make it up to her.

He reminded her tactfully of the 100 thousand gold Fordes Camorra had given her, but the queen said her yearly allowance was 20 thousand gold Fordes. A hundred thousand would only last five years. Since she was young and not yet forty (despite the fact that he real age was 46), she could live on for at least 20 or 30 years.

"How will I live in five years?!" cried she out loud.

Lorist had just met the real deal. He promised he would do his best to provide her another 100 thousand gold Fordes just to get her to shut up and stop crying. However, perhaps because she felt Lorist was too easy to push around, she demanded another 200 thousand after pocketing his initial offer. Angered, Lorist refused her, and the queen stayed at the camp and refused to leave.

He would soon regret his decision. Though Camorra didn't form a brothel unit from the queen's maidservants, the queen started running a prostitution service in the camp. It cost one gold Forde to sleep with one maidservant for a night. If anyone was willing to pay ten gold Fordes, the queen would join the fray herself. While she was a little aged, her looks were still rather fine. That aside, she held the title of queen. To normal soldiers, spending ten gold Fordes to have a go with a queen was something they could brag about for the rest of their life. They were even willing to borrow money to not miss out on the opportunity. Soon, the queen's business boomed. Customers came her way nonstop.

Lorist paled. They were at the frontlines in the middle of a war. Having wobbly legs after doing the deed was unacceptable. Intent on going to the army camp to enforce military discipline, he was surprised to find that the soldiers and knights that spent time with the queen didn't violate any military regulation. They only paid a visit to the queen's when they were off duty and didn't leave the camp. There was nothing to punish.

Lorist didn't dare visit the queen's quarters, lest he be assaulted by a couple of naked maidservants. It had been happening to Potterfang whenever he was nearby.

Since he'd treated the queen rather well, there was no way he could flip out on her out of nowhere. While it did sound weird for a queen to be prostituting herself in an army camp, it wasn't causing any trouble. In fact, the soldiers' mood improved considerably and it didn't seem to be a bad thing at all.

In the end, Lorist acknowledged his misfortune and wanted to encourage the queen to be on her way by taking another 200 thousand gold Fordes out of his pocket. House Fisablen's forces in Boblige had already been waiting to receive the queen outside their camp for almost ten days.

She was really reluctant to leave and said that if she was allowed to stay in the camp until spring, she wouldn't need the 200 thousand gold Fordes.

"It's best if you leave earlier. If you stay here until spring, the men's salary will end up in your coffers..." Lorist responded.

Darn, this queen is far more capable than Duke Fisablen. At least the duke didn't manage to sneak 300 thousand gold Fordes from me, thought he as he watched the convoy depart.

Scheme

Here's the first release of the week! Enjoy the read!

It started to snow two days after the eccentric queen was sent away. The weather was rather cold. Camorra, at Windbury, responded logistically by sending lots of resources to the frontlines. All of the four houses' soldiers wore thick fur and cold-resistant clothing. They were still fully combat-capable.

The only thing that troubled Lorist was the large delays in the construction of the provinces' defenses thanks to the cold weather. It was especially severe when it snowed; everything had to be halted. However, given the current situation, it seemed the House Fisablen's forces in Boblige would fare even worse. Even though they still stationed themselves on the cliffs to monitor Lorist's camps, there were only half as many as before. Their attacks also stopped completely.

Just when Lorist was about to call for Potterfang, Malek, and the other knights to discuss how they should launch a surprise attack, Howard rushed into the tent.

"Your Grace... Els and Reidy are finally back..."

"Oh?" Lorist raised his head and smiled.

He was glad he no longer had to worry about them. He had originally planned to seek them out in a few days, having asked Tarkel and Morbinghan with his gold eagle to come to the frontlines. They would arrive in another five or six days, but the two missing individuals returned before they arrived.

"Where did they go? Why were they gone for so long?"

Els and Reidy entered the tent clad in dirty furs. Long hours of riding against the cold winds had drained the color from their faces. It seemed they were chilled rather badly.

"Y-y-your Grace... W-we're back," stuttered Els as he rubbed his hands together.

"Where have the two of you been? Do you have any idea how worried I was? Was capturing two enemies alive that hard? I thought the area near Boblige was heavily guarded. Shouldn't it have been easy to locate two guards?" asked Lorist, trying his best to appear angry.

"No, Your Grace. We didn't capture anyone. It would've startled the rest too easily. Instead, we traveled into the mountains," explained Els.

"What? Into the mountains? But how?"

Everyone in the tent was stunned. Did they manage to find a way into the mountains without alerting the guards?

"No, Your Grace, we only circled around the mountains and entered from the entrance Eastwild entrance," replied Els.

Els proceeded to explain and Reidy helped fill in the details the former missed. It didn't take long to explain how they entered Boblige. Lorist had ordered them to capture two soldiers alive to understand what was happening, but the two didn't believe the patrolling soldiers would know much. So, they went all the way to Eastwild and bumped into some 50 Fisablen soldiers led by two Fisablen knights transporting two carriages filled with medicine into Boblige. The two ambushed the caravan during the night. After interrogating the troops, they killed them all and buried them before entering Boblige by disguising themselves as the squad in charge of delivering medicine.

"Wow, you guys are really courageous. Did you even consider the consequences if you were recognized? Don't laugh, Reidy. I was talking about you. Els trains in the dark attribute battleforce technique passed down in his family. Also, his looks don't attract much attention, so it's no surprise people wouldn't take note of him."

"Hey, my wife says I'm the best!" objected Els.

Lorist continued unphased.

"But you, Reidy, you got first place in the swordsmanship competition. Too many people can recognize you. If the duke left a few guards in the mountain range, there would've been no way you'd have not been caught."

"Your Grace, we asked the knights escorting the squad and they said only Third Frontier was left in the mountains. Duke Fisablen had disbanded and redrafted Fifth Frontier. They were absorbed into Third Frontier to fill their ranks. Two years ago, Third Frontier had been led by the duke on an expedition against the Melein duchy and have been stationed in Southern ever since. Given that Fifth Frontier was formed in Eastwild, I doubt anyone from there would recognize me. Also, I wore a fake mustache so it was even harder for others to recognize me," explained Reidy as he took out a fake mustache from his pocket and pasted it on his face.

It made him look much older and people who were not familiar with him would have a hard time recognizing him.

"Your Grace, the two knights have also been stationed at Crouchtiger Castle in Eastwild. They were originally citizens of the Melein duchy moved to Eastwild. They were just recently promoted to become household knights. They don't recognize the people from Third Frontier. When the duke went back to Crouchtiger Castle, he casually picked the two and had them transport the medicine into Boblige. It was practically tailored for us, so we decided to take the risk and enter the mountains," Els added.

"Look, Your Grace. This is the map we drew."

Reidy took out a beastskin from his robes. Howard received it and spread it on the table. Boblige mountain range covered a really large area. From the top, it looked a little like the cracked shells of a chicken egg. However, the shells were in fact cliffs and beyond them were lush forests, lakes, and streams. It was large enough to be a viscounty.

"Your Grace, two of the three routes into the range have been sealed. Only the one in the middle is still usable. Attacking through the other two routes isn't possible. As for the route in the middle, it's severely booby-trapped. For example, the latter half is just next to a valley. The moment we arrive, the enemy just has to gather at the cliffs and roll boulders down at us. We won't be able to run. That trap is truly horrendous.

"Just 46 thousand men from Third Frontier are there now. Duke Fisablen took his personal guard and the grassland barbarians back to Crouchtiger Castle. Third Frontier's commander is Three-star Gold-ranked Knight Galini Beloput. It's said he used to be the duke's playmate and childhood friend. He's someone the duke trusts greatly because of his reliable and resolute personality. The duke trusted him enough to leave the defenses of Boblige to him..."

"Duke Fisablen didn't return to Crouchtiger Castle,"Lorist interjected, "He gathered the 100 thousand barbarians and defeated Jaeger in Wild Husbandry. They suffered severe casualties. He's since moved on to Pedro. Luckily 23rd Local managed to hold out until reinforcements arrived. Ten-odd days ago, the duke lost his last hope of taking the city and withdrew."

"Ja-jaeger Legion suffered huge casualties?!" exclaimed Els.

"That's right. Both Josk and Yuriy are heavily injured, and Pete died. The two of you will take over Jaeger once this whole business is dealt with. Get them back up to full strength. Before we deal with the matter here, we won't be able to return to the dominion. Anyway, continue with your report."

Els nodded. He had an idea of what was going on.

Pointing at the map with his finger, he continued, "Third Frontier is stationed at four locations in Boblige. One division each is stationed at the left and right flanks. Their job is to pay attention to the two routes they sealed off, to patrol, and to maintain security. It takes at least 15 minutes to travel from the foot of the mountain to the cliff, and each of the peaks there has watchtowers. Their shifts change eight times a day. Each shift is about three hours. The defenses are really tight; it'll be incredibly difficult to enter the mountain range there. They've been modifying the towers to be more resistant to the cold.

"Third Frontier's main camp is in the middle. There are two divisions stationed there. As the junction in the middle is the only way in and out right now, they've focused most of their resources there. The number of watchtowers and patrols decrease beyond the main camp. Also, they've long built some caverns in the mountains as shelter against the weather. Most of the patrol squads are there. If there is an alarm, they'll arrive at their posts within ten minutes. I feel that it's incredibly difficult to launch an attack."

Els pointed at the rear half of Boblige.

"Third Frontier's supply camp is here, half a day's travel away from the main camp. Not only is it their main resource storage area, it's also the central area of defense against anything coming from Eastwild. Just like the three main routes on the other side, the Fisablen forces sealed two of the three on this side and left only the central one free for transporting resources. However, I discovered the soldiers of Third Frontier are rather lax on security. They send only one patrol along the cliffs twice a day and there are also no watchtowers. Perhaps they feel there's no need to put up such a defense in the direction of the dominion."

"I suggest we circle around to Eastwild and attack from there. We stand a much better chance that way," Reidy said, continuing Els's thought, before he recalled something, "Oh, right. Your Grace, when we left, the fat logistics supervisor complained that there is a huge shortage of resources even though it's getting colder. He hoped we'd encourage the duke to send more supplies. If we don't bring more furs, the soldiers will have no choice but to hide in the camps and huddle around fires. There'd be no way for them to patrol."

Lorist nodded.

"You did well. If we manage to take Boblige, it'll be thanks to your efforts. You guys heard Els's report. Any thoughts?"

Potterfang laughed.

"Your Grace, Els and Reidy truly made a great contribution. Just as they said, we can take a detour around the mountains. As long as we don't get discovered by Fisablen's scouts, we can attack Boblige from the rear. Given that the area is so large and the rear and main camps are so far apart, even if we're discovered, we can still conquer the rear support camp before reinforcements arrive. As long as the support camp falls, Third Frontier will be ants in a bowl. They'll have nowhere to run."

Malek gave it some thought.

"Your Grace, while Potterfang's plan is no doubt good, I believe it's best we wait for a little longer."

"Why?" asked Lorist.

"If we attack now, it'll take too long to circle around the mountain. Traveling there on horseback and carriage causes too much commotion and it'll be spotted by the scouts easily. We should wait a little longer for the snow to cover the plains before we depart using skis and sleds. The scouts won't want to come out on patrol in that kind of weather either. Third Frontier's defenses will be more relaxed as well."

Lorist laughed.

"You're right. It sounds incredibly appropriate, save one part: we will have to deceive our enemy."

"Deceive? How so?" asked Potterfang curiously.

"Huh...?"

Lorist was so surprised at Potterfang's query he looked at him oddly.

"Think about it. Given that our camp is facing Boblige directly, any movement will be detected immediately. There's no way we can stay here until the snow falls before taking the detour. Even if the enemy can't see where we're heading, they'll be alerted by our movements and perhaps even strengthen their defenses where we want to attack. Since their commander is reliable and competent, we shouldn't let our movements rouse his suspicion.

"From tomorrow onwards, we'll transfer House Kenmays's heavy-armored division over to guard the camp while Firmrock packs up and retreats to the rear. We'll make it look like they're going to wait out winter in the back so the enemy don't suspect anything. When we move out, you should go to Loze's camp first and go to the rear of the mountain range from there and exterminate Third Frontier!"

"But, Your Grace," Els said as he stood up, "There's a whole legion in Boblige, Third Frontier no less. Isn't it a little careless to leave just one heavy-armored division here? Maybe Third Frontier will notice the decrease in manpower and attack. If that happens, we'll suffer huge losses."

"It won't happen. I will have Count Felim send two Pegasus divisions over to hold onto the main camp with House Kenmays's troops. Given the cold weather, it should start to snow soon. Galini will also consider whether Firmrock Legion's retreat is a ploy to draw them out of the mountain range. He should know that snowfall impedes light cavalry. If he really attacks, he'll find it incredibly hard to retreat. I don't think he'll make the decision to attack that lightly."

Lorist stood up.

"It's decided. Howard, take a squad of guards and head to Loze. Have Suleimos move his heavy-armored division here and tell Loze to expand the camp. In a few days, we'll move Firmrock over a division at a time. Make sure he's prepared."

"Yes, Your Grace."

Galini Beloput

Enjoy the 2nd chapter of the week! Had a rather rough day, but I'm holding on!

The fine snowflakes floated daintily to the ground. The sky was dark and gloomy and the chilling winter moaned past the ridges and peak, making many shiver and sneeze. Those out in the cold's feet went numb. Galini Beloput stood atop one of the cliffs, looking at the messy camp of the Nortons' Firmrock in the distance.

From time to time, soldiers left the campsite, undid their pants, and relieved themselves. From time to time, the wind brought the soldier's cries to the cliffs.

"Idiots! We're gonna go rest for winter! Enjoy the breeze up there! Hahahaha!"

A few officers got out of the camp and gave the men a few kicks, probably getting them to go pack up. After another hour, the first batch of three thousand departed. They marched neatly towards the southwestern part of Southern, flags and banners raised. Their marching songs fought through the wind and snow and echoed faintly into Beloput's ears. From time to time, some cruder folk songs and cheers came through as well.

It seems they're really going to bed for winter. I doubt they'd be so relaxed and joyous otherwise.

Beloput clutched his leather cloak tightly. He was rather moody and gloomy.

When we were marching back after eliminating Melein, Third Frontier's soldiers sang in the same fashion. Though we did incur rather substantial losses, we were all experienced veterans who trusted our lives to fate. The spoils were quite voluminous as well. Spirits were naturally high.

But now? The enemy marches home to rest for winter right in front of us while we have to suffer the cold in a mountain range surrounded by enemies. I can't blame the men for having low spirits, especially not with the snow. I can't even give everyone a fur to hold the bite of the cold at bay... Lord Duke's letter said the house has already done its best. 'We were attacked out of nowhere so we had no time to gather the necessary supplies' indeed. Even with the four central duchies' aid, we don't have what we need for winter. They just sent over stuff civilians use...

Beloput didn't blame the duke for the current situation. He'd grown up together with him so he understood how frustrated he must have been when he wrote the letter. The duke had been a proud person as long as he'd known him, even going as far back as his early years. The duke looked down on the former empire's corrupt nobles. He didn't consider them much different from the plains' barbarians. While he was called the Wargod of the Plains for expanding the empire's territory and his many other achievements and contributions, he'd always been suppressed by the empire's nobility. He only managed to throw off his shackles and take full control of Eastwild and Wild Husbandry with the civil war.

It was truly a shame. His plan would've taken shape if it had been given another year. If they'd had just one more year, he could've rightfully taken the position of hegemon in the northeastern area. He might even have been able to form his own kingdom. It would've marked the house's rise to prominence. No one expected the four houses to shatter the dream out of nowhere. Their ambitions had joined the winter's snowflakes.

"Sir, is Firmrock really going to bed for the winter?" asked a household knight.

"It would appear so, given what we're seeing," answered Beloput.

One heavy-armored division, bearing House Kenmays's banner, had arrived at the camp a few days ago. Beloput had even put his troops on high alert in case this warned of an impending attack. But he soon realized the enemy was just changing shifts. Firmrock would withdraw for the winter while House Kenmays's division was there to stand guard.

"Sir, after Firmrock leaves, there'll only be one division there. Their numbers are small. Should we attack? It's a good opportunity," suggested the knight.

Beloput kept silent for a moment. He shook his head.

"Let's not push ourselves too far. The weather's getting worse by the day, it's even begun to snow. How many people do you think we can afford to mobilize? More than half our men still haven't received winter clothing. They'll freeze if they go outdoors. We received near 20 thousand of Fifth Frontier's men. Most are domesticated barbarians still unused to Third Frontier's regulations. Not taking action is the best choice under these circumstances. It'd be a disaster if we get entangled with the enemy!"

He patted the young knight's chest and swept the snow off his shoulders.

"Seirya, you're a young lion, a courageous knight, but victory in war isn't always decided by exterminating the enemy. Our main goal is to hold Boblige. That's the duke's directive. No matter how many times we defeat or exterminate the enemy, if we lose our hold on the mountain range we'd have failed.

"Before the duke left, he told me why we can keep the initiative if we hold Boblige. The four houses will have to keep a good portion of their forces here to keep us in check. They'll end up spending way more resources than we will. We can advance or retreat as we please, but they have to hold their positions no matter what. The war's scale is great and it might stretch on even longer. We're not aiming for outright victory, instead, we want to force them to sign a peace treaty. We don't need to exterminate them to achieve that, we just need to make it too expensive for them to keep on fighting. It's the only way the house can rise up again."

"Is there no chance to win?" asked Seirya stubbornly.

Beloput smiled as he shook his head.

"Nobody wants to lose, but we've lost our chance of victory. The four houses' timed their invasion too perfectly. They struck us when we were completely unprepared. First Frontier was completely destroyed and Windbury taken. Even our joint assault with the four duchies failed. The reserve legion's loss might not be particularly bad, but Windury and Southern's loss? That's an entirely different story.

"You should know why. The reserve legion is like a knife. If we lose it, we can easily replace it, but First Frontier was our true backbone. Losing it has greatly destabilized us. Not even disbanding Fifth Frontier can compare. Our Lord is focused on keeping Second, Third, and Fourth Frontier as intact as possible. They're the core of the house and our last hope to rise again. We can't risk Third Frontier.

"Do you know why the duke wanted to return to the dominion?"

Seirya shook his head.

"He's not there to salvage the situation in Wild Husbandry. Even if he did heavily wound House Norton's Jaeger, it still won't change the overall situation much. He has two aims. First, he'd like to see whether he can conquer Pedro and cause even more chaos in this war by pitting the grassland barbarians against the four houses. If he doesn't manage that, the house will have to suffer through several tough years. He plans to wipe the barbarian tribes out so they won't be a threat."

Beloput looked at Seirya's shock and disbelief, and sighed.

"Seirya, Fisablen blood runs in your veins. You are the new generation's elite and both the Lord and I have high hopes for you. That's why I told you about this. Fighting with courage is only good for a moment; planning with the future in mind is good for life. Failure isn't scary; not learning from your mistakes and failures is. This time around, our loss is inevitable. We can only hope to minimize or losses, or maybe force a draw of sorts."

Seirya nodded gratitudenously.

"Thank you, Uncle Galini. I understand now."

Beloput patted his shoulder.

"Alright, I brought it up casually to give you a rough idea. Let's get down from the mountain. When you're not on duty, make sure to train in your hereditary battleforce technique. Your talent is pretty good. I hope you can become like Her Highness, Princess Sylvia, and make it to the gold rank soon. Make the house proud."

"I will do my best, Uncle."

"Oh, and Seirya, there's something with which I have to trouble you. Can you go to the support camp for a bit and tell Uncle Woryo I, as the commander of Third Frontier, hope he won't act too excessively. His actions when the queen passed through made the soldiers incredibly angry. Also, I hope you can get him to do his duty properly and not half-arse the defenses there. I'm just one of the house's servants, I don't have the status to order him around, but I'm also the legion's commander, so I hope he doesn't force me to impose military discipline."

Seirya blushed, speechless. What a horrible shame. The kingdom's queen and the logistics supervisor of Third Frontier, one of them his aunt and the other his uncle, had become the house's most shameless members!

As the duke's daughter and queen, his aunt had actually started a brothel in the camp. The next day, she complained rather vocally about how the soldiers were all poor bastards and couldn't even pay a single gold Forde for pleasure.

"It's no wonder the Nortons beat them so easily," she'd said.

She also mentioned that the Nortons were far better off. They could pay a gold Forde without issue, some even took out ten.

Seirya was so embarrassed by the comment he wanted to hide in the nearest hole. Not even in his wildest dreams had he thought his aunt would be so shameless and not care about the house's reputation. That was why the commander had ordered her out of the camp as soon as possible.

In the end, the queen's carriage was stopped by Seirya's uncle. As the logistic camp's supervisor, he cooperated with the queen and allowed her to open a brother with her maidservants. She even launched a huge discount promotion: any soldier could spend a night of pleasure with one of the queen's maidservants for a single large silver. The logistics supervisor could also lend money to soldiers who couldn't afford it, but they had to exchange something for the loan. Anything would do, even their rations and supplies.

The crooked pair caused the whole atmosphere of the logistics camp to go sour. That even affected the four divisions at the main camp. After three days of enduring, Beloput could no longer tolerate it and sent his own guards to chase the queen away from the camp and forcefully escort her back to the dominion. When the guards who were sent on the escort returned, they said that the queen cursed the commander all the way for stopping her from earning money.

Because of that, Beloput also offended Woryo, who was a member of the house and the nephew of the duke himself. Beloput's father, on the other hand, was but a normal servant and it was only because Beloput had gotten to know the duke in his youth and they got along that he managed to reach his current position. Even though he was both a gold-ranked knight and commander of Third Frontier, not many descendants of the house thought highly of him, some even called him 'servant-spawn' in private.

Before, Beloput would ignore Woryo's actions of sneaking away more resources than he ought to have. As long as the logistics unit could support the legion well enough, it was best to maintain a cordial relationship with him. But now, Woryo had gone too far and hoarded the resources that were due to be sent to the main camp in retaliation, using lack of manpower as an excuse, causing the soldiers of the main camp to complain nonstop to vent their frustration. That severely impacted the morale of the troops.

Beloput was also incredibly mad at that. Even though this was a crucial time for House Fisablen, a descendant of the house like Woryo still ignored the needs of the house to prioritize his own little gains. He even used the opportunity to delay the resources to get back at Beloput in a complete act of idiocy. However, Beloput couldn't just flip out against a person from the Fisablen house lest he offends the rest of them. So, he had Seirya warn Woryo to tone it down a bit.

...

"Your Grace, it's already the third snowfall and the snow on the ground is almost half a foot thick. I think it's time we departed."

"You're right, it is time for us to give Third Frontier Legion the final blow."

"Your Grace, it's fine if you want to come along, but I refuse to let you be in the vanguard. We'd rather die than let you do that."

"Hehe, Pog, you dare threaten me?"

"Your Grace, I insist you not rush to the front if you come with us. Everyone else holds the same opinion. The house is only stable with you around. It's fine if we're gone, but the house can never do without you, Your Grace."

"Alright, I'll stay at the back like you wish."

On the 23rd day of the 12th month of Year 1778, House Norton's Firmrock Legion traveled through the stormy, snowy weather to launch a surprise attack on the rear side of Boblige. In one go, they conquered the completely unprepared logistics camp of Third Frontier Legion and forced the four other divisions at the main camp to surrender. The commander of Third Frontier, Galini Beloput, publicly committed suicide after surrendering. His last words were: 'I have failed the Lord and shall atone for my sins with death!'