The attacks continued. The ballistas were slowly damaging city walls and were lowering the enemy morale.
The enemy soldiers had probably figured that if they let continue Max attack the city the morale of the city may break before the city walls. Thus, the only way they could see to defeat Max was more night raids.
The enemy had adopted the kamikaze method, meaning they were willing to die rather than retreat. The soldiers attacked Max's camp every night and despite Alexander best efforts to keep to fight the enemy, the raids were starting to take their tolls, the soldiers were severely sleep-deprived and were not fighting at their best.
Meanwhile, Max was facing another issue, a lack of food. This was because of his neglect in upgrading the barn, the current barn capacity was a merely 1,000 units, till now Max had thought that it was more than enough for any emergency but now he starting to see how wrong he was, the daily food need of his kingdom was about 200 units of food, and the farming had barely begun they were nowhere close to providing any relief, and the soldiers were now fighting here and could not gather resources from the training map, this had forced him to buy food from the shops in the virtual town, but after selling him every 100 units their prize would double.
Max barely managed to buy 400 units of food, but if he bought anymore his funds for the colony would be short. Meanwhile, the city was also facing problems, although they had enough food, they now lacked a soldiers, doing suicide attacks every night had taken a toll on their army, after removing the soldiers that manned the walls, they only had 10 or so soldiers left. Now they had two choices, they could either recruit citizen militia, or propose surrender to Max. The first was highly unlikely since now even the citizens had started to doubt any possibility of a win and were advocating surrender.
The situation was truly the same since even Max was considering offering them generous terms if they surrendered since he calculated that they would only have food for 3-4 more days. Both of them had maintained the position of stalemate and were now waiting for the other to take the first step.
While all this was going on, the raider units that Max had been deployed had managed to finally fix an area where the soldiers were coming from, the soldiers had set up a barricade and a trap in the area, despite that the enemy had managed to sneak off somehow, this was an embarrassment to them and they were severely reprimanded by Alexander. Tonight they had devoted every resource they had at their disposal in setting up the trap.
The woods were silent, even the animals did not make noises may be afraid of the war that had engulfed the region. In the middle of the woods, a door was opened and 8 soldiers came out of the hole, the damage on the soldier's amour could tell the battles they ha been in recent days, they had evaded capture last night and most of them didn't want to come out today but they knew that this was the only option they had, their commander had told them the reasoning behind their attack, their sole aim was to weaken the enemy a little bit more so the ruler could ask for better conditions upon surrender.
They knew that today's attack would probably be their last but there was nothing they could do about it. They climbed out of the hole and began to get ready for their attack, as the commander was telling the soldiers tonight's battle plan a volley of arrow came on them. The commander quickly rolled to dodge the arrow but most of the soldiers were not so lucky, about seven soldiers now lay dead, with so many arrows stuck in them that they looked like a porcupine.
The commander and another soldier who was left alive saw that their only chance was to escape. Both of them started running in different directions. But sadly they were both way outnumbered, the soldier was pursued by the raiders and was soon captured, meanwhile, Alexander himself pursued the commander, he tried to run for a while but las, he managed to injure the commander on the leg and finally caught him.
The commander was sent to the medic to be healed, at first he tried to struggle but was knocked out and then tied. Then the soldiers finally prepared for entering the city, Alexander interrogated the soldier and after some torture he soon gave all the information regarding the city.
They now knew that there were barely any soldiers in the city, Alexander snuck in the city with the passageway and started destroying the city. He killed the soldiers that were guarding the walls and opened the city gates. Max saw the city gates open and rushed in along with the army.
The army started taking over the city, they rounded up all the citizens and searched all the houses for any soldiers still hiding. After they cleared the city, they finally entered the castle, the ruler of the city had already given up and did try to put up a fight.
Today all the soldiers were both very tired and very angry, after all during this siege they had lost 5 infantry, the largest casualty to date. Max knew that the soldiers were currently on edge and some of them might try to release their anger at the citizens, so he announced a victory feast for the soldiers, the soldiers locked all the citizens and then soon began partying and drinking.
While Max started interrogating the ruler, the ruler informed him that the cities name was Andor, the city was primarily agricultural and had quite fertile lands, this is the reason that the city had a population of about 100 citizens, the ruler also told him that this was their first battle since they had been getting by providing food to some other kingdoms at low prices and thus were never attacked by any kingdom.
Max was surprised by this, after they had almost forced Max to give up, this was quite impressive given that this was their first battle. He then told the ruler to tell him more since the situation intrigued him quite a bit.
On Max's request, the ruler started telling him all about the city's history, the current city had faced a very deadly siege many years age and barely managed to defeat the attacking forces, t was then that the current family came into power, the head of the family at that time decided that his armies had been devastated and there was no way they could fend of the other cities that were eying them and therefore the only way they could secure themselves was to make themselves crucial for the survival of other kingdoms. The ruler first entered into all sorts of disadvantageous treaties with the neighboring kingdoms and after buying some time he implemented a diabolical plan.
His plan was rather simple, using the very fertile land of their kingdom, he ramed up the food production to the extreme and then started selling the food at huge losses to the neighboring kingdom, then he drove the farmers of those kingdoms to bankruptcy and became the sole supplier of food to these kingdoms, at first the kingdoms didn't bother with this since they were getting the food much cheaply but later when some smart advisors started raising concerns they found out that it was already too late, by this time they had become completely dependent on Andor for food, thus they could not do anything but continue depending on it.
After this, the ruler of Andor had established a council that would make most decisions to reduce the power of the ruler and he decided to reduce the military budget of the city significantly to focus on city development, this is why the citizens of Andor were well educated and lead good lives. But the problem soon started appearing after the ruler passed away and his son took over. The was a very weak ruler compared to his father and the council took advantage of this and started growing their power. They began increasing the food to other kingdoms to increase their power, even transferring doos from the city for sale.
They cut the military budget to the point that now there were only recruits left and they cut the benefits that the citizens were given, meanwhile they grew rich. After he passed away, the current ruler which was him, took over the city. He told Max, by the time he took over the city the power of the ruler was merely for show and the council was ruling the city. And as much as he tried he was now a complete failure.
The council had also managed to get his son, he had become a complete wastrel and was now a good for nothing, currently living in the city of Blackmoor. The city of Blackmoor was their largest trading partner. He told Max that they traded with three kingdoms and they accounted for 98% of trade with Andor. Meaning that if the food shipment stopped they would be facing an extreme shortage of food and would likely be coming to him for solutions.
Max processed all the information, the main point he could get from this was that the previous ruler of the city was an absolute genius but alas he was also faced with the same problem that 99% of great people face even today, which was absolutely, useless children. After all there is a reason they say "The first generation builds, the seconds destroys and by the third nothing survives".
He then asked the ruler about the commander of his army that he was so impressed with. The ruler told him that the commander was her daughter, Max was a little surprised at first since this was still a very sexist era and no woman would have been allowed to become a commander even if they were the lord's daughter.
Seeing the surprised look on Max's face the ruler told him how she came to be the commander. She had an interest in the military arts since she was young, but despite her talents she was not allowed to assume command by the council, she finally got the opportunity to become a commander after Max had started the assault on the city. At first, the son of one of the council members was in charge but he was a very bad general and they suffered many casualties following his orders, ten his daughter suddenly came and started telling them to follow her orders, some soldiers disagreed but some given their situation decided to follow them anyways.
The casualties started to decrease and the soldiers started following her, at first the council still refused to make her a commander but she killed some of the council members after which they agreed. After that what happened Max knew. Max listened to the ruler, after he finished he stood up, he had written off the ruler as useless and it seemed even the ruler regarded himself as such with no will to live.
After this Max went to the medic chamber where the commander's leg was being treated currently, as he arrived he saw that she had given up struggling and was now quietly receiving treatment.
Max approached her and sat down putting a chair beside her.
As she saw Max putting down the chair she took an upright position on the bed with her back against her wall.
"Would you please remove your headgear, I like to look people in their eye when I talk to them?" said Max
The commander removed her headgear and put it by her side on the bed. The hair that had piled up inside the headgear fell out and she shook her head to get them back into place.
As he saw her face Max was stunned, she looked like another famous actress from earth (Charlize Theron), Max was completely stunned, he had a very big crush on her on earth and now she was right in front of him. Max was a little startled and a little unnerved, he calmed himself down by telling her that this was not her and someone who just looked like her, he took deep breaths and continued.
"I believe you may know me, I am the king of the kingdom of Lockheart, Max Lockheart," said Max
"My name is Sara, and I am the former commander of the defeated city of Andor," said Sara
"I justed had a conversation with your father and now I want to have a conversation with you," said Max
"I believe my father would have told you all the information you wanted, I don't think I have anything more than him to offer," said Sara
"Well, he told me all about the city and the history but I am interested in you. Don't misunderstand, both me and my general were very impressed with the ability you showed out there and let me tell you something his approval is not something even the bravest of warrior have ben abv to earn" said Max
"Well I will consider it a privilege then, and as far my abilities go they are fairly common, after all even the council rejected me serving as a commander until I killed a few of them," said Sara
"Well I believe that had more to do with politics than your ability but lets put it aside, I don't care about them I want you to serve under me," said Max
"Well before I answer you I have something to ask you what are your plans for the city?" said Sara
"Well my plans are fairly simple, I have my kingdom to run and I intend to make this city the food producer for the entire kingdom, therefore I need this city under my control fully, I intend to kill the all the council members and the city will be ruled by me alone, and as for your father is concerned I am willing to negotiate his fate against you," said Max
"Given your plans for the city, you should already know that the other kingdoms will not be pleased by that and they will surely launch an attack against you. Especially my brother who will be pissed after hearing the news," said Sara
"I have preparations for that, if anybody comes they will not leave alive let me assure you," said Max
"Then about my father, are you willing to let him go for me, you should know that he was the ruler, he could get the citizens to rebel against you," said Sara
"Your father may have been the ruler but we both know that it was the council who ruled, and he neither possesses the charm nor the charisma to rile up anybody. At this point, he is not at all useful to me, and you are certainly worth more than a useless old man" said Max
"Ok, then I seem to have no choice since you seem to intend on recruiting me, I agree and do as you will with the old man," said Sara
Max was a little bit surprised by this, he did not expect her to this much apathetic. Normally he would have let this go but given the attraction he felt towards her he asked
"Well forgive me miss, but your response caught me by a little bit of a surprise, normally any daughter would not find freeing her father especially if it does not cost her anything, therefore you must understand that my surprise. May I ask an explanation for this" asked Max
"You not, but given your position, if you insist then I must," said Sara
"Well, then I insist," said Max
"Then let tell you somethings about my father, ever since I was born he showed indifference to him, he never came to talk to me, and given that my mother was a commoner, he did not defend me when I was bullied. But this all changed one day, one night my brother showed up in my chambers, this was not uncommon after all ever since he was little he made passes at me, but that day he was quite insistent on having his way towards me, he brought two soldiers with him, hey tied me up and despite my many protests, my brother raped me"
Max saw a little bit of tear forming in Sara's eyes
She continued
"That day my life changed forever, the next day when my father found out he was very angry towards my father but except yelling at him there was nothing that I could do. That day I realize what kind of a man my father was, he was a weak man, a very weak man. I was then locked up in my room to see if I was pregnant. I was locked for 30 days, I was completely alone at that time, no one to talk to. So, I started talking to myself, after 30 days I emerged changed completely, I realized that only I could protect myself, there was nobody that I could depend on, and as for my father, I did not consider him anybody from that onward he was just a stranger who paid for my food and housing."
"Fortunately I was not pregnant, but despite my father warnings my brother tried to have sex with me a few times after that, but soon I started my training and developed bruises on my arms and many cuts on my body and did not look as pretty as before, so he got bored, after which he soon went to Blackmoor. I continued my training and did not have any interactions with anybody after that," said Sara
Max had gotten a little angry, but he controlled his anger and discarded the plan he had made regarding Blackmoor. It seemed that he had been far too merciful.
"Well then your actions are justified. Then he shall be killed along with the council members. And miss Sara I have also something to say with you. You should go to my capital and spend a little bit of time there, you can see how I plan to govern from there. By then the work in Andor will be completed" said Max
"As you say," said Sara
Max left the castle and went back to Reinhardt.
As he entered the castle, the maids came running towards him and hugged him, they had not seen him for several days and had missed him. Max had also missed them and hugged them back. They had grown very close during the past few weeks.
After this Max, they eat dinner and Max went to his bedroom. Max called Maya into his bedroom.
He had a simple reason behind it, today he had realized that he had made a mistake in not having sex with the maids, after all, today he had barely managed to control himself when he saw Sara, and he was lucky that it was not her personality to seduce her if it had been a woman who was willing to seduce Max, he would have been in a deep disadvantage.
The solution for this that Max came up with was not restraining his urges after all sex was like any bodily need after it has been satisfied, it can be controlled, like hunger for example- If you offer a hungry man a plate of food he would be willing to do anything for it, but if the same man had a full stomach it would not after how tasty of a dish you put in front of him he would not want to eat that.
So he had decided on using the maids to satiate his urges after they had literally begged him to, but after he had heard Sara's story, he was now in a dilemma. He felt that if he made the maids have sex with him then he would be no different from Sara's brother, after all, they were not agreeing out of their free will, they had been brainwashed.
The only solution he could think of was to just tell the maids what he thought, and ask them their opinions, after he couldn't find anyways to undo their brainwashing after all and did need someone to fuck.
So, he told the maids all about the story and asked Maya what she thought
Maya told him that she was disgusted by that man and felt very bad for Sara. Then he asked her that would she feel the same way that he raped her if he had sex with her.
Maya instantly refused Max, she said that in Sara's case she was forced, Maya wanted to serve Max and was willing to do whatever he wanted.
But Max tried to explain to her that she had been brainwashed since she was little and therefore did not know what she wanted.
Maya refused this and said that even if she did not know what she wanted, Max treated her very well and she knew that she loved her, therefore she will always be ready to do what Max wanted.
Max got very frustrated by this but ultimately he saw no solution, there was no answer, he would be the bad guy, in any case, so he decided to use them and in exchange decided to treat them like a very close loved one no matter what.
Therefore he hugged Maya and started kissing her, after he kissed her for a little while, she called both Sarena and Nicole also. He kissed both of them also.
He then told all of them to give him a blowjob. Today he stopped at that, the maids were very happy, they soon drew a bath and took it together. Then Max was feeling very tired so he decided to go to sleep. He told the maids that from now they could sleep with him if they wanted. Soon all of them went to sleep on the bed.
Notes-
Date- 20th January
Day- 80
City- (Reinhardt Capital), (Anatolia Colony 1), (Andor Colony 2)
Resources-:
Food- 400 units
Wood- 15,000 units
Gold- 20,000 coins
Daily Maintenance- 780 gold coins (180 Military units, 100 Lord's Staff, 500 Research Budget)
Citizens-180 (30 Reinhardt, 50 Anatolia, 100 Andor)
Troops- 26(3 Infantry, 7 Archer,3Raiders,2 Ballista,10 Cavalry and 1 General)