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Italica city was founded two hundred years ago by gathering merchants in the region to construct a fortress town. Politically speaking, this place was the crossroad of the Dressia and Appian highways and developed as a border town between the nations. But with the expansion of the Empire's borders, its political importance had declined significantly, and it was just a mid-sized local market now. It doesn't have any local specialties, but the crops, livestock, and handmade products such as cloth would be sent to the capital, so it served as a collection base.
Right now, this was the territory of the Empire's noble family, the clan of Count Formal. Colt, the head of the clan Formal had three daughters, Elle, Loui, and Myui. Aside from the youngest Myui, the other two had been married off to other clans. Colt was planning to find someone to marry into the clan after his youngest grew up to take over the family estate.
Myui was still single, and after Colt and his wife died because of an accident, misfortune started to befall the city. The eldest daughter Elle and the second daughter Loui married into the Count Roen clan and the Count Missna clan respectively, so Myui had the right of succession over them. This was the law of the Empire, and there were no grounds for them to dispute. However, the youngest Myui was only eleven, so whoever became her guardian… would become the de facto leader. And so, the power struggle began.
The talks between the two elder sisters started as a calm discussion and quickly turned into ugly quarrels, pulling the others' hair in scuffles, and even went so far as involving their husbands. The soldiers of Count Roen and Count Missna fought a small-scale war as a result. But their struggle did not escalate further. They had limited forces after all, and the husbands weren't blind with rage like their wives were.
The security within the territory was maintained by the vassals of Count Formal and the soldiers of Count Roen and Count Missna, so there wasn't any threat to the livelihood of the merchants and residents. The value of Italica lay with its trade; there would be nothing to gain if it was laid to waste.
And so, the situation became a stalemate. The dispute of the sisters shifted into the courts of the capital, and Maui's guardian would soon be decided by the deliberation of the Emperor.
However, the situation worsened after the empire campaigned against the other world. The heads of the Roen and Missna clans died in battle at the Gate. With their husbands dead, Elle and Louise couldn't spare the effort to take care of the Formal territory anymore and withdrew their forces, leaving Myui with the vassals of Count Formal.
The young Myui couldn't control her vassals, and the running of the territory became ineffective from neglect. There weren't many loyal vassals left, but there were plenty who had ulterior motives. Before she realized it, corruption and injustice were running rampant. The citizens were wary, and security deteriorated. Loose bands of soldiers turned to banditry and started attacking caravans, grinding trade to a halt, and stagnating the movement of resources.
Bandits and trolls formed a group together and numbered in the hundreds. Finally, Italica city itself was attacked. Standing at the city gate, Pina let loose a few arrows at the retreating bandits and took a deep breath. She took a moment to look at the battlefield. Wounded soldiers staggered around or collapsed from blood loss. Arrows were shot into the stone walls, and the surrounding area was a mess. She spotted several citizens holding farm tools and sticks with a glance. Outside the wall, the corpses of bandits and carcasses of horses were scattered all over the ground.
"Norma! Hamilton! Are you alright?"
Inside the broken gate, Norma was defending a barricade. He supported his body by putting his weight on a sword, his shoulders rising and down as he panted. He lifted a hand to signal that he was well, but his armor was covered with arrows and signs of being hit by a sword. His surroundings showed evidence of an intense battle, with bodies from the attacking bandits and defending soldiers everywhere.
As for Hamilton, she was already sitting on the ground.
Her legs were straightened with her palms supporting her body, barely keeping herself from keeling over. Her grip on her sword was loose.
"I am, hah hah, alive."
"What about me, princess? How cold!" An older soldier joked.
"Grey! Of course, you will be all right, that's why I didn't ask."
"Should I be happy? Or sad?"
Grey, a man who looked about forty with a stout build, showed no hint of fatigue as he rested his sword on his shoulders.
There wasn't any blood on him. If there wasn't any blood on his sword, he had probably been hiding somewhere, which would explain why he still looked so energetic. He was the Knight Grey Co Aldo, a veteran of the battlefield who rose through the ranks. In Pina's knight order, most of the knights were nobles. Since the knight order didn't have any real battle experience, such veterans were the real core of the unit. The path to knighthood was narrow for soldiers. However, they would be treated like ordinary officers after they made it through.
Hamilton said with a complaining tone, "Princess, why are we fighting with the marauders here?" It was a bit rude, but she had to say it out loud.
"It can't be helped! I thought the army from the other world would attack Italica! Don't you all agree?" Piña exclaimed.
After completing her investigation of the areas around Arnus, Pina heard some news as she was planning to infiltrate Arnus Hill. She came to this decision because she had more information from the enemy who resides in Arnus hill. Arnus Hill was a lot closer to the capital than the Romalia Mountains. She heard that many scout groups were sent to the Romalia Mountains. But none of them came back. She realized that there must have been a trap set so that no scout group could return.
So, she decided. To concentrate one enemy at once. She can't rip herself two after all.
That's when she heard the news, "A large armed group appeared in Count Formal's territory and is planning to attack Italica.'
After hearing this, Pina thought the army from the other world had finally started their invasion. 'Are they sending out forces to suppress the surrounding territories before laying siege to the Imperial capital?', she thought.
She had to take countermeasures then. For Pina, instead of meaningless reconnaissance, an elegant battle suited her better. She pulled out of Arnus, ordered her knights to head for Italica, while she and her group rushed there in advance. No matter what kind of battle it was, not knowing the scale and battle potential of the enemy would be useless. If the enemy forces were limited, she would defend Italica and attack with a pincer attack with her knights that would arrive later. However, she soon realized the ones are attacking Italica were a marauding band. Most of the members were remnants of the former Coalition Army. In contrast, the head of the clan Formal in charge of the city's defenses was just eleven. She couldn't command in battle, and morale was at its lowest.
Pina was disheartened, but she couldn't stand idle and watch the bandits ravage the city. So, she revealed her identity to the clan and forcefully took over command of the Countess' soldiers in defense of Italica.
"If we can hold for three days, my knights will be here," Pina said.
To be honest, they might arrive even later than that. But the citizens and the countess' troops believed in Pina and fought with all they had. The enemy might be the remnants of a defeated army, but they were former soldiers and proficient in attacking fortresses.
The city didn't fall, but the gate that was supposed to be solid was destroyed, granting the enemy entry. With the help of the citizens and militia fighting with their farm tools, they survived the first day, but it felt like a defeat.
They had lost too much. The small number of troops decreased, and the courageous ones of the militia fell in battle. What remained were casualties and exhausted soldiers. Just one day was enough to plummet the morale of the soldiers and citizens to rock bottom. Pina couldn't think of anything to raise their spirits. That was how her first battle ended.