The war lasted for 5 Years. In these five years a lot of orphans appeared on our doorstep. By the time Hilda returned I was 12 and had the physical appearance of a 15 years old.
Hilda told me a lot about the war.
The war started because the Huntsman King invaded the Hesmaton Kingdom at the north gate. After the first few skirmishes that had been in favor of the Huntsman kingdom, the first wave of reinforcements arrived.
The reinforcements balanced the scale for a while. Unfortunately the Huntsman Kingdom managed to conquer Fortress Bachero, the most important border fortress and key structure to secure the north gate, before the main army of the Hesmaton Kingdom reached the Frontline.
This was the start of the real war. The north gate, also known as the cut, is rich in both agriculture and mining. Behind the Fortress Bachero is the castle Ring. These 4 castles are responsible for the protection of the farms and mines inside the valley. The mines are even more important than the farms because some ores that they produce are crucial for the Kingdom, such as the gold and silver mines.
Naturally the Huntsman Kingdom started to raid the mines as soon as they could. The raids were conducted on such a grand scale that the Hesmaton Army was forced to spread thin or prioritize certain locations.
Only after the arrival of the main army and major reinforcements from every combat capable organization was the Hesmaton Kingdom able to push back the Huntsman Kingdom's army.
By the time the Hesmaton Kingdom was able to siege the Fortress Bachero, the Evil witch Lilith had taken over the command of the Fortress. With her commanding the fortress it became a battle of mages. The magicless soldiers and knights were reduced to spectators.
The Battle of Bachero took 2.5 years. It took the united Mage force of the Hesmaton Kingdom to take back the fortress. Unfortunately the aftermath of such an intense battle transformed the once steadfast fortress into a ruin. of 70% of the mages at the frontline died. All the years the Hesmaton Kingdom invested into the nurturing of their magic future paid off. Unfortunately the Hesmaton forces were unable to take down the evil witch Lilith, she managed to escape back into the Huntsman Kingdom.
It isn't much of a surprise that they were unable to take down Lilith. After all she was already a S-Class mage by the time I was born. I think it is awesome that we were able to push back the Huntsman kingdom at all.
After the Fortress Bachero had been re-conquered the Hesmaton Kingdom hunted down the remains of the huntsman army. To ensure that the Huntsman Kingdom stayed out of the Hesmaton Kingdoms territory the two towers were created.
The Tower of Freedom and the Tower of Independence.
The intricate and interweaving formations that the combined effort of the Hesmaton kingdom mages created, prevented the Huntsman Kingdom or anyone else from invading the Hesmaton Kingdom as long as the formation was closed. The formation can only be operated with a Royal Seal.
Every following attack from the side of the Huntsman kingdom was futile, and ended in devastating defeats. In addition the Hesmaton kingdom Army set out to raid the Huntsman Kingdom's border towns. The Hesmaton Kingdom even managed to recover the goods that the Huntsman Kingdom took from the north gate. Of course the Hesmaton kingdom also made profit.
After realizing that they had lost the Huntsman kingdom came to write peace, after 5 years of bloodshed that they started. The exact cost is unknown but it was surely not a small sum of money.
As already mentioned I was 12 years old, and currently in my combat training. After hearing Hilda recounting the war, fed the fire inside me even more. It was at that time that the lightning brothers joined the training.
Getting outperformed by 12 year olds kindled their fighting spirit and they powered through getting better and better. As war veterans in their mid twenties and at the prime of their existence they quickly reached new highs.
Both Hilda and Jasmine were not in favor of this situation, but because of their relationships they weren't able to intervene and were forced to see them getting stronger and stronger and a lot more physically attractive.
In the downtime where I was forced to let my body rest, I coached my faction and whipped them into shape as well.
That reminds me that I haven't mentioned the growth of my faction at all. So from the initial 40 boys we grew into a formidable force of 680 boys and 320 girls. To be honest only around 140 in total had the grit to power through my training, 80 boys and 60 girls.
From those 140 children only 40 had a magic affinity. 10 boys and 30 girls. Most of the ones blessed with magic were unable to power through the easy training I subjected them to. What astonished me the most is that so many girls made it.
I mulled long hours over the fact that only so few were able to reach a standard I would have liked to impose as passable. After I was unable to come to a conclusion I talked to Mick and Rocky about that.
They asked me if I had lost my mind, just because I was a monster in human skin did not make every boy my age superhuman. They told me that the weakest among my followers was physically on the level of a B-class adventure. And that my successes reach the level of A-Class already.
To put that into perspective a B-Class adventurer is set for life. The amount of money they can make is enough to buy a great mansion in the capital and have a leisure life. they only have to work every once in a while if their savings run low. Obviously that only counts if you have no ambition or B-Class is your limit.
Reluctantly I set the level of my weakest member at 14 as the entrance level to join my faction at the age of 18. I only realized what kind of monsters I had created after we collectively entered the Academy.
The dream visions of Jeremy became more intense as the years progressed. Also the feeling changed. I wasn't looking at the information from afar anymore. I felt what happened. First It began As I relived the physical exercises in that manner, it helped me correct the mistakes I was making. The next step had been the weapon training and then the fights, the injuries, I felt every nuance of his pain. It was creepy at first but I managed to get used to it.
I saw how he traveled his world, how the people behaved, how they fought and so on and so forth. In the 14 years I lived in the new world I lived 5 years of Jeremys life. It wasn't an easy one. He was a lone wolf that fought only for himself. He hunted Monsters but he had not even a shred of mana in his body. He was a knight through and through. I saw it and I felt it.
Now there's a person that I need to introduce at this point. My mother and her best friend arranged a marriage for me. Jasmine came back to the Nature Tower a few weeks after Hilda because she had been visiting her Family. Jasmine's official title is the Spirit Guardian of the Nature Tower.
The Silvertons were an ancient family. They were currently holding the rank of Duke. Their territory was at the south coast. Jasmine had visited her Family regularly while she attended the Academy. Obviously she didn't have the time to visit her family while she was fighting the war.
The Silverton Family had casualties to mourn. Jasmine had 5 Siblings at the beginning of the war, 3 brothers and 2 sisters. Her brothers were Gravidon who was 2 years younger than Jasmine, Seran who was 3 years younger and Butco who was 5 years younger. Her sisters were Sabrina who was 4 years younger and Esmeralda who was 13 years younger than her.
Both Seran and Butco hadn't survived the war. Both had been magicless but that didn't console Jasmine in her sadness. Both were her siblings and she had loved them both.
Esmeralda was the youngest of them and the only one that hadn't participated in the war. Jasmine brought her back to the Nature Tower to have a little more time with her. She had grown up with the others but Esmeralda was only just born when she left to attend the academy.
With her 25 years of age she was old enough to have her own children. If not for the war and her high status she would have been most likely married already. She had been engaged but fortunately her "insufferable fiance" , her words not mine, had not been able to survive the siege of Fortress Bachero.