- '' We have lost 297 soldiers in the last battle, my lord '' The Samurai speaks, looking at the child standing calmly by the window of the room looking outside with respectful eyes.
- '' How about the enemies? '' The child asks.
- '' They lose more than 600 men, and another 200 have become our prisoners. Captain Minoru is escorting them to our place. They will reach this fortress in no more than 3 days. '' The Samurai continues his report.
The child slowly walks into the place with brighter light. We notice the figure of a tired 10-year-old child holding a crutch.
- '' That's enough for tonight. You're dismissed. '' Akira Takahiro signs. The Samurai bows and go out of the room. Not like a year ago when Takahiro came into this place when the Samurais show clear discontent about being led by children, now he is well-known and respected by every Icelander living in Western Iceland, as since his army occupies the Western Ice Fort, no Grasslander have managed to raid the lands.
Looking out the window, Takahiro watch the stone walls being built and dozens of workers sleeping in their working places as they've been working hard in order to finish the walls in time. Changing his gaze to the sky, Takahiro spends some time thinking about what he's achieved so far during the last year.
With 1000 men, he started to install fortifications around the fort, designed specially to counter Calvary. Then, he visits local landlords and provides them with advanced methods of farming or iron-forging in return for manpower and supports to rebuild the fort. The Akira Clan also shocks the Shogunate with their technology of producing high-quality paper. From the day the paper factories went active, gold coins have been gone into the treasury of the Akira Clan. With their wealth, Akira Kenji improves the weapons of his army, and upgrades the infrastructure of Neverwinter, attracting more traders to his land, and generating thousands of gold coins for the Icelanders.
Takahiro knows deeply that if fighting an army consisting of 5 or more Grasslander tribes, even with the whole military of Iceland behind his back, there is no chance he could achieve victory. Thus, he begins a series of guerilla warfare, attacking regional Grasslander villages and baiting their army into areas that Calvary cannot fight effectively.
While the threat from the West is temporarily removed, the true threat to our main character now comes from inside his own kinsman. Although the technology of producing paper is still only known before the Takahiro, Lord Kenji, and his closest advisors, Akira Yuu's faction also gains benefits as they have more trade influence; Thus, cooperating with them is necessary.
There has been an internal war right inside Akira Clan for the last year and every day the tension increases, threatening a civil war. However, both Akira Kenji and Akira Yuu are trying to prevent this, as they deeply know that a civil war means Iceland will be ravaged and the political opposition clans in the Shogunate can take that as a chance to seize the power of the Akira Clan out of Iceland.
To compete with each other, the two politicians and governors fight each other on the battlefield of military might. While Akira Kenji's military power mostly comes from the Samurais and well-trained ashigarus, Akira Yuu's military power mostly comes from the forces of Ronins, the masterless warriors who fight for the highest bidder.
Iceland has five major regions: East, West, North, South, and Central. The nobles in the West, North, and Central mostly support Akira Takahiro as the true heir of Iceland while the South and East support Akira Yuu's son, Akira Arata, who's proven his abilities as a Samurai through time.
Akira Takahiro signs as he thinks of the future. He has possessed much knowledge from another world; however, he cannot still think of a way to end the conflict between his father and the " Old Fox of Iceland'' without bloodshed. The first thing he thinks of is making gunpowder and using them in battles; however, there is no place where there is a large amount of sulfur.
'' Haizz,'' The child signs and stands up. We can see a small amount of strange energy wrapping around his legs. '' I don't know what I can do to make sure the future will be in my favor, but I know that I can have a nice rest for now. ''
Takahiro blows the candles off and goes to sleep, as tomorrow's challenges await.
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The Grassland,
There are five Khans in total leading the tribes in Grassland. There are rumors that the Grasslanders come from a faraway western land, descendants of the steppe empire of which their horses' steps have trembled the world.
Khan Obirus is the Khan that's responsible for leading the northern tribes of the Grasslands. He is known to be the subtleness among the Khan and prefer to win over his enemies through tactics and strategies instead of military might. His tribe, the Hyena Clan; however, is known for their wild fighting life style and kill every one standing on their way on the battlefield, including their own allies.
Khan Obirus is a middle-aged man with a large body. He is wearing a full-plate armor of which weight is rumors to nearly 100 pounds. Surrounding him are the chieftains under his command. 5 men and a woman, each of them wears different clothes and weapons representing the tribe they belong to. Their subordinates in the room all look abnormal and releases a dangerous aura.
- '' Ulf is dead, his body is found on a rock. Disfigured by wild wolves and ravens. '' Gara, the only chiefess in the room speaks. '' My riders are the best tracker in the north; however, we could not locate their hidden armies even though we've searched every grass and turn every rock over. ''
Angry appears on the faces of other chieftain, the death of Ulf is a serious news for them as the Raven Clan would not follow them into battle until they manage to elect a new one, which could take over a year or more.
- '' We need to assemble the army and attack the Fortress again, my Khan. I've razed it into the ground once, I can do that again. '' Tiberius, chieftain of the Tiger Tribe speaks. The Moon Riders of his tribe are beasts who wear heavy armors and bear heavy arms. They are often the vanguard in Khan's Obirus's army, delivering heavy shock in the beginnings of battle.
The chieftains keep arguing about attacking the Western Ice Fort and how their tribe would gain the first reward and which ones of them should be the vanguard. Meanwhile, Khan Obirus just sits silently and looks at the map of the regions surrounding Western Ice Fort. After a while, he slowly raises his hand into the air when the chieftains are arguing the heaviest. Everyone in the room immediately goes silent to the point that the sounds of the horses running outside can be heard clearly.
- '' Our scouts state that the Fort is now fortified better than before and there are at least 1500 men stationing in the Fort. As far as I know, Akira Takahiro, the formal heir to the Akira Clan is now inside that Fort, and he has gained trust and support of all over the noblemen in the region. Even with 10000 men, we cannot win the siege if they receive continuous reinforcements and supplies. ''
- '' They have been killing thousands of our kinsman. We cannot let this pass. '' A voice of disagreement is shouted toward the Khan from a chieftain.
- '' Who gave you the permission to shout at me, Torax of the Black Bull? '' With a gaze from the Khan, the chieftain's face emotion turns from angry into fear immediately.
-'' I am not talking about letting this pass. '' The Khan continues to speak with a much softer and calmer voice. Then, a smile appears on his face as he speaks: '' I have connected with an influential with me in Iceland. Luckily, like us, he shares our enemy: Akira Takahiro. '' Picking up a dagger and throw it into the air, which landed perfectly on the territory of Iceland on the map. A wild laugh comes out from the Khan:
- '' We will not only burn the Western Ice Fort to the ground again, but take our Iceland and enslave every Icelanders we find.''