All persons of mature age, whether proscribed, oppressed, and enslaved citizens, or of the proscribed and oppressed races of the United States, who shall agree to sustain and enforce the Provisional Constitution and Ordinances of this organization, together with all minor children of such persons, shall be held to be fully entitled to protection under the same.
- Article 1 of the Provisional Constitution and Ordinances (1858), prepared by John Brown.
Another month passed until the First Constitutional Convention of Fahre.
During this interim period the trial of the garrison soldiers and the petty nobles of the town took place in the newly established Court of Fahre; previously the mayor of the town and the Baron were the ones responsible for crime and punishment. A jury of respected freemen were elected for the trials.
Most of the garrison members, who mostly consisted of poor young men who had taken up the job for the salary, were declared to be not guilty and freed except for the ones who had been found to mistreat slaves in the past who were either put into hard labor in public works projects. Those who had owned slaves themselves were hanged and their property confiscated.
The trials of the petty nobles went a whole let less well for them; almost all of them except for the pettiest ones owned slaves. Their properties were confiscated and they themselves were hanged for their crimes. There was virtually no nobility left in the town after the trials.
It was becoming clear that the institution of slavery was incontrovertibly connected to that of nobility and aristocracy. The social order of Gemeinplatz would have to be upended if the people were to be truly free.
After the trials were over the focus was set on turning the ragtag organization of anti-slavers into a functional government. A month of debates and preparation culminated in the constitutional convention, where the citizens gathered in the former Baron's manor to decide on the new order.
The people of this world knew of democracy despite Gemeinplatz being ruled by an Emperor. Towns usually had mayors that were elected and there were independent city states ruled by elected officials, though voting was usually restricted to those holding wealth or land like the US two centuries prior. For the first time in Gemeinplatz universal suffrage was established, all adults of Fahre would vote for their mayor. All adults currently protected under the League of Gileadites (the town of Fahre, rural settlements surrounding Fahre, and the town of Liberty Cave) would vote for a provisional president along with electing representatives for a provisional congress that'd be convene in the Baron's manor of Fahre.
The former slaves of the town had observed in the trials that the main driving force behind slavery were the nobility and aristocracy of Gemeinplatz; all noble titles were officially rejected and abolished in the new constitution, there were no nobles left who could object to this change. Everyone would be an equal citizen who'd have equal vote and equal say in this new government.
The rest of the convention continued with the more minute details, establishing ministries, deciding on punishments for various crimes, deciding state borders, etcetera. The last detail to be decided was the name of the new state that'd be established, which by majority vote was decided to be the Federal Republic of Gemeinplatz. The first states to be admitted to this new republic were the State of Fahre and the State of Liberty Cave.
The League of Gileadites would continue to function as the army of this newly established republic and the Anti-Adventurer's League would continue its existence as something akin to a political party.
After the ratification of the First Constitution of Gemeinplatz came the elections. Brown refused to run – he was a man of action, not one of talk and politics. Plus, he thought it'd better if the people of Gemeinplatz ruled themselves instead of him consolidating power as a de-facto dictator.
For her actions during the Siege of Fahre, Miss Ene, who had been the leader of the Anti-Adventurer's League and gave them the order to burn the port down, had gained great respect from the freemen of in and outside of town. She was elected as the first president of the young republic. Brown was appointed as, or more accurately continued to be, the commander-in-chief of the League of Gileadites which had now increased to a formidable force of a thousand troops.
Now that things had settled down, it was time for reconstruction. Burnt estates left ash behind, what was needed was to let something better rise from the ashes. Harper's ferry had contained many valuables that were seized and sold, not to mention property seized from the petty lords of the town, all that wealth needed to be redistributed properly. The new congress elected to allow land in the rural areas to be worked by those who volunteered along with setting aside a budget to help with equipping and educating them. Freed slaves banded together to travel to the rural areas and jointly work together to create communal farms. Many of those freed slaves had been separated from their families; these new rural communities granted them the support network they needed to survive as freemen.
Budget was also set aside to repair and work on public works projects in and outside of town, such as roads, bridges, housing, defensive walls, and everything that would help further the prosperity of the citizens. Fahre's walls were strengthened and a wall of stone was built in Liberty Cave to protect it from ambitious adventurers.
Brown had taken one of the quarters in the Baron's manor as his office. The room was quite plain and utilitarian, only containing a desk, chair, writing implements and drawers to store documents. He was with the officers of the League of Gileadites, along with other crucial staff, finalizing the plans for a grand campaign to liberate the neighboring cities. Reports of unrest were already coming from those areas; the raids conducted by the League had made the economy of the duchy come to a grinding halt. Some of the estate owners had even emancipated their slaves fearing that they'd be next.
The grand plans of the general staff were interrupted when Captain Ayomide, who had been tasked with raiding and keeping watch of the border, entered the room. "Mr. Brown," calling the commander-in-chief as just "Mister" would have been improper in a normal military, but Brown didn't care much, "my men report an army of two-thousand lead by the duke marching towards Fahre!"
This caused quite a stir in the room, understandably as there was a force double their size marching towards them. Two thousand was quite a big number for a pre-industrial army, even the thousand men of the League were hard to maintain; it was maintained thanks to competent, centralized administration, high amounts of volunteers and acquiring supplies by raiding estates. Even then, members of the League had to be given constant leave while not in active campaign to tend to their farms and businesses so that this over-conscription would not cause economic problems and famine.
"I was wondering when their vile slaving bands would appear." said Brown as he began analyzing the situation. "Thankfully they have arrived here slowly, loudly, and inefficiently. Such a number of men must be hard to maintain for them considering what we've already done to them. What do you say we should do in response?"
Brown had already hatched a plan, he had anticipated such an attack for a long time, but he wanted to consult the others first.
One of the newly promoted officers, who had shown valor and competency during the siege, spoke up. "I say, as we have done with the siege of the city, we should not sit here and instead meet the enemy. They would not expect us to be the ones on the offense!"
Another one of the newly promoted officers spoke up. "If we sit here, then I think the army of the duke would do great damage to the rural areas in retaliation to our raids. It's best we take the risk so that we can protect the people instead of huddling behind the walls."
The last one to speak was Ayomide. "What was it again – quickly, quietly, efficiently? We should quickly march to meet them, take positions hidden in the forest, and make sure they are eliminated before they can cause further damage."
It seemed that the officers were no less bold than Captain Brown himself. "Good, then I don't need to spend time convincing the fine people of this quarter."
The rest of the day was spent discussing and preparing for the counterattack. The staff office never went quite for the whole day.
Duke Robert and his vassals had labored hard the last month gathering their retinues, recruiting adventurers and calling levies. It was an army put together by the desire to protect the status quo of the realm – a most righteous cause in the eyes of the lords.
Osato Watanabe, a great hero who saw himself as a gentleman, was one of those who joined this great army. He had heard about the various malevolent acts of the thugs that had rebelled, of their disregard for tradition and custom, of how they had barbarically burnt down estates and threw into jeopardy the livelihood of many. Some even had named the leader of these rebels as the "King of Demons" due to his actions.
Killing a "Demon King"? This seemed just like the thing for a protagonistly hero like Osato. Followed by his harem, comprised of slaves dressed in maid outfits as no sane woman would ever follow someone like him, he had taken rank right next to the duke.
To their of the entire army, the path was suddenly blocked by makeshift barricades. Sandbags, chevaux de frise, wagons, and wooden stakes. The fortification was manned by two companies (totaling five-hundred men) of the League lead by Captain Brown. They had quickly, quietly and efficiently set them up while their enemy was camping at night.
"Did the scouts miss this?"
"No sir, we didn't see any of this last night…"
"Get the pyromancers, burn it down!"
Seeing that their opponent was outmatched, Duke Robert commanded them to burn the makeshift fort down. The peasant levies went first, soaking the brunt of the damage, while the retinues of the lords and the adventurers followed behind them. Frantic magic spells were exchanged: magic missiles, lightning, fireballs, the adventurers cast whatever they could. Osato assisted by using his neat cheat skill, [Leader Assist] that greatly increased the power of the magic spells cast by his party.
Yet, the men at the fort stood steadily. They had cast their own spells to protect themselves, chiefly [Shield] and [Dispel]. When their MP ran out, they maintained close formation, protecting themselves and each other with their shields. While the men of the League were not overpowered like the adventurers, or equipped exquisitely like the retinues, but they had the advantage in terms of discipline, morale and training. In the initial barrage a hundred brave men fell, normally enough to make other armies to rout. Their comrades quickly stepped forward as to not break formation.
The duke's army had exhausted their MP, and MP was one of the most important things for an army in this world. Physical projectiles could hardly break through shields, and getting into melee was risky as the fortifications proved hard to walk across without finding oneself dead.
Then, a sound most dreadful for the duke's troops was heard. From the surrounding forest came out a hundred cavalrymen, they had been able to steal steeds from nearby estates. and four-hundred infantry lead by Captain Ayomide. Her men had outflanked the duke's troops, the cavalry had already reached them before they could reorganize to meet the assault from behind. The men of the duke were left in a state of confusion and chaos; they had to resort to conventional weapons as they had no MP left. The untrained peasant levies that compromised a majority of the army quickly routed out of fear when surrounded from both sides.
In the conventional battle between cold weapons, the professional soldiers of the League excelled in supporting their comrades in formation, creating a force multiplier which could not be beaten just by cheat skills and expensive armor.
Captain Brown's men in the fort began their charge as well. Finding themselves sandwiched, the first one to break were the adventurers followed by the retainers and lords. The cavalry of Ayomide chased after the routing enemies, slaughtering and capturing them as they did so.
In the Battle of Fahre Field many overpowered adventurers such as Osato were slain and their slave harems freed. The Adventurer's Guild in the duchy took a huge blow, some branches were even forced to close due to a lack of members.
Duke Robert was captured when he took an arrow to the knee and fell from his horse. Many lords met a similar fate as well. Many lordships were left vacant, the economy and military power of surviving ones destroyed due to the failed war effort.
Today would be known as one of the most important days in the history of Gemeinplatz.