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21st day, Fourth month, 44th year, Age of the 23rd Calamity
Close to the border with the Nation of Kastal stood the fort Braunborg. It was manned with nearly two thousand knights of the Elainish Kingdom. One of them was Duke Gerak, who was in command. He stood on a high wall and looked over his troops with a smile. "I can't believe this base is finally fully manned.", he said to his aid.
"Yes, sir. It is quite the view compared to the three hundred soldiers this fine fort held not even a few days ago.", answered his aid. Both of them felt a great pride in seeing their men shuffling around in an orderly fashion. Captains shouted orders with their loud but calm voices. Archers and mages filled the ranks on the wall. And the spearman and the cavalry positioned themselves in front of the heavy metallic gate.
The aid fished a pipe out of his with iron plates covered tunic. With the mouthpiece, he pointed over the closed wall. "I bet twenty Krones they will flee as soon as the first arrows hit the first row." Garek threw a pitiful glance to a marching army in the distance. His scouts counted around four thousand men. Way too few.
"Count me in.", laughed Gerak. "But who will pay us the debt, Lauros?"
"The enemy of course!", grinned Lauros while using his finger empowered with fire mana to light his pipe.
A slight frown painted itself over the duke. "But somehow you can't help but feel sorry for those poor guys, as a fellow knight. Coming from only the front in a bulk, when they could have easily pincered us."
"Well, sir, the mind of an imbecile is not great. This does not change with an army of imbeciles I'm afraid."
"If they could at least go a little faster. What are they doing anyway? They started marching this morning and it’s late afternoon. Wish we could just go out and meet them halfway." A long and tired sigh escaped Gerak’s mouth. Lauros chuckled as an answer.
But then he raised a brow. "Are they... stopping? They are still more than five kilometers away. I can barely make out their flags." Puzzled Garek scratched his smooth chin.
"They don't plan to besiege us now, do they?", murmured he. As perplexed as he was his aid uttered;
"No way. For what reason would they come so close in formation. The scouts didn't see any engineers or material either."
”How much supplies do we have?", asked Gerak with a frown. "The last time I counted was for more than- what was that?" A loud screaming noise interrupted Lauros. The sound was similar to two heavy objects crashing into each other, just way, way louder. A few seconds later a whistle could be heard. First silent then growing louder and louder until it was a terrifying shrill screech. Everyone on the wall looked in confusion around them, not realizing from where the sound originated from. Then without a warning, the ground a few meters away from the wall busted with an ear-splitting explosion. Dirt and dust shoot in the air, hitting with loud bangs the outer wall, leaving a huge crater in the ground.
All the blood drained out of the Duke's face. His fingertips began to feel cold and his voice shook. "What the fuck was that?" Before his aid could answer him another loud bam emerged from the enemy army. Not processing what was happening he just stood there in disbelief.
The next moment he laid on the ground his ears and lungs screaming in pain. A high pitched noise in his ears was all he could hear. Confused why he lay on the ground he raised his head. The only thought that filled his head was 'impossible'. A few meters to his left, the wall was missing including all the men that were placed there. Where the wall started again were a pair of feet missing everything from the ankles up. Next to it was a man who missed half of its side and his inners quelled outside. A lone arm still holding to its crossbow. And there was Lauros, who seemed to be untouched except for the dripping blood out of his ears, eyes, nose, and mouth. His eyes were lifeless.
Garek saw another explosion filled in deep red on the grounds of the fort. Two more hit the wall and shattered stones flew through the air tearing everyone apart who was in the way. Then more than six bursts of blood and mud emerged on the grounds. His men ran in a panic, hiding under anything they could find. Hundreds of mutilated corpses were littered everywhere. And more of those outbursts of death tore the earth, walls, and men into obliteration. It was as if his ford had traveled back in time and had landed right into the comet rain from the 12th hero.
"How... what... o gods why?", cried Gerak, but he couldn't even hear himself. Before he realized, he was flying through the air. His legs were missing and hundreds of small and big stone fragments tore through his body. He never felt the heavy impact with the earth.
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24th day, Forth month, 44th year, Age of the 23rd Calamity
"Pah" Lutz gave a disgusted voice from him and spat on the ground. I stared at him in disbelief. We were in the guild hall and ate our breakfast.
"Can yous believe this shit? De fuck'n 'illbillies 'ave raised Braunborg ter de ground and de westin army fled in shame."
He crumbled his newspaper and threw it on the ground. His face was red with anger and his eyes almost popped out of his head.
"Wait really? I thought those were pushovers. How can they defeat our army?", exclaimed Dirk in shock and stared at his master. I tossed another potato into my mouth.
"Not defeated, fled! Ay tell yous why! Dat fuck'n knights juss fondled their cockweights fer sixty years and noding more. Ay tell yous if we would go down dere, dat fuck'n 'illbillies would run as fast dee could. Never 'eard o' a lazy hunter, did yous?"
'I have, right here!' You understood that?. 'Yeah sure. You are a lazy hunter, aren't you?' I frowned over the voice in my head. Unfortunately, Lutz saw this as an answer to his speech.
"Won't believe me, won't yous? Ay tell yous wad, ay and dirk ‘ere could easily clean all o' kastal single handedly."
"Yeah, I believe you. The food just had a weird taste.", I excused myself.
"You will have the chance to prove your words, Lutz." A man threw himself on the bank next to us and slumped on the table. It was the man whose brother went to the border.
"Albrecht, wad do yous mean?"
"Didn't you read the paper? They are marching straight in our direction. Won't take them a month before they reach the town." His voice was empty and he stared at the table.
"Pah. Dee won't come dat far. Because we wul stop dem ourselves." And with these words, Lutz stood up. He went to the counter where already a small group had assembled. It seemed like a lot of other Hunters had similar talks and decided to do something.
Well not that it had anything to do with me. The only thing I was concerned about was the food on my table and that came for free.
'Ever thought that they could stop giving you something because of your impertinence, you scrounger.'
Well, it's not like I planned to let them feed me until old age, but a few days don't hurt. 'It has been over a month!' I'm sure they tell me when they had enough and then is enough time for work.
"Dirk, we are go'n ter de knights 'all." Lutz had returned.
"So are we will really going to go kick those hillbillies out?", Dirk asked with a smile on his face. Lutz gave a grunt as an answer and moved to the entrance. Dozens of people left the hall in groups loud chatting and laughing.
"Then see you guys later.", grinned Dirk and he went after his master leaving me and Albrecht behind.
"You're not going?", he asked, still with his empty voice.
"No, I hadn't planned that."
"Not a patriot, eh?" He glared at me.
"You are not going yourself." I didn't like how he was staring at me. Why should I go? That's what the Knights were for after all.
"I already enlisted. I am not a little shit who leaves his country alone."
'What the fuck?' What the fuck? 'That sucker is just pissed because his brother got himself probably killed.' Blood stormed to my head and pulsed hot. 'That fucker is trying to vent his frustration on you. What a failure as a human being.' My hands started to shake and I formed them into fists. 'You should just smash that ugly visage with full force on the fucking shit table!'
"Bullshit!", I snap at him. My whole body trembled in rage. He sneered at me. 'That motherfucker! Kill that shit!' A low growl escapes my mouth.
"You fucking piece of shit. If you want revenge then that's your deal. So wash that ugly smile off your disgusting face or you won't survive this day!" His face turned into a grimace and jumped from the bench. His hand reached for my face. Within a fraction of a second, I created Ice mana and froze him. Now I jumped from the bank and created a fireball. With it in my hand, I flew over the table and shot my arm forward. His eyes became small in surprise and fear.
I stopped.
'What are you doing?' The fireball in my hand vanished and became mana again. 'That sucker had it coming. You have to pay him a lesson!' I already did. 'I will not forgive him.' Neither will I. But I didn't want to hurt someone just because of something like that. 'You should!' I breathed slower to soothe myself but it didn't work. The people around us were all looking at me in wonder.
"Try to get yourself out of the frost, fucker" I turn my back to the terrified Albrecht and leave the guild hall. There were some hunters stretching their necks to get a better look at what was happening. Some who saw what happened gave me a stern look, but I couldn't care less. 'Yeah, every one of those fuckers who judge you should go to hell!'
Finally outside I felt a slight warm spring wind on my face. But I still couldn't manage to calm down. I made my way through the crowded marketplace almost ramming everyone who wasn't fast enough to get out of my way.
"What the?"
A confused man fell on the road. He stared at me with big eyes. 'Nothing to see here sucker!' I didn't need to touch anyone. I just used wind magic to push everyone away when they came too close. So not even an adult in armor could stand in my way. Muttering an apologie I went further to my destination. The Temple.
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After I climbed the stairs, I hushed through the first hall ignoring all the gates. I went straight into the smaller hall of the god of crops and livestock. The sweet singing of the prayers reached my ears. At last, I relaxed. I searched a free spot in the middle and closed my eyes. For the rest of the day, I stayed there and listened. As I came back to the guild I took some food from the counter and went to my room. I didn't want to see that man again. I couldn't say what I would do if he picked at me again. 'Just crush his fucking head.' It took me quite a while to find sleep that night.
The next morning I sat together again with Lutz and Dirk. "ey, ay wish ya 'ad stayed a little longer. Would'ave paid fer dat show yous gave yesterday.", laughed Lutz. Dirk nodded fast.
"Oh man. They said you had frozen him in an instant. And at the same time, you had a fireball ready. I'm so jealous of your talent, Natalie." Both of them laughed and praised me. I was glad. They didn't tell me off or lectured me. 'Well obviously. It was that fucking piece of shit’s fault anyway, now wasn't it' Yeah, but still. They were good friends.
"'e 'ad it com'n. 'eard 'e pissed en others juss because dey wouldn’t go und enlist demselves. Not a Hunters job ter kick de 'illbillies back ter de sticks. And furthermore, yer juss an apprentice."
"That's completely right. Anyway, we are more than enough to kick them in their balls.", agreed Dirk.
"How many Hunters did enlist themselves now?, I asked.
"Ay don’ know. But it wuz fuck'n crowded in de knights hall and it took dem de oole day to git dun. And we went dere in de morn'n. Dee are still at it right now. Wasn't only hunters dat wuz dere, mind yous."
"Huh, really?" I looked at him surprised.
"Yeah, ordinary townsfolk waz dere too. Argued wi' dem why dee couldn't enlist when de soldiers waz too useless anyway. Said dee can't send untrained people onna battlefield."
He frowned as he remembered. "But suddenly dee waz allowed. Ay guess some o' de knights fuck’d up again and de King takes everyth'n 'e gets now."
As if this was a clue some knights entered the hall. Their metallic shoes clacked loud and echoed at the walls back. Everyone in the guild became silent as they watched the men moving to the middle of the room. There one of them stretched a scroll he had in his hands apart and said in a loud and clear voice.
"By the decree of the King. All Hunters are to enlist immediately regardless of your stand or gender."
"Wait, what?", escaped my mouth.
"Wa' bullcrap is dat?", Lutz yelled. 'Don't worry they wont send apprentices.'
The hall erupted in chatter and yells. Not everyone was so keen to go and kick the Kastals back where they came from and more were against the idea to force it. The knight cleared his throat. The hall became quiet again.
"It's not in the papers yet but,", he paused for a short moment. "Garia and Naratesch declared war on us." This time the hall exploded in shouts and chatter.
"Dose fuck'n 'illbillies are all de same. Noding we can't 'andle!", roared Lutz. The knight needed a few minutes this time to get the hall to quiet down.
"They have the same weapons the Kastal army had. We are losing the complete south-west end of the kingdom. We need every man, woman and-,", he paused again. The pause began to get longer and longer. Finally, with a darkened voice, he gave his answer. But everyone knew already what he wanted to say. They all stared at the knight with open mouths and blank faces. "-every child." I expected that the hall would now explode for real but nobody said a word. The knight used that silence.
"It is known that the Kastalish army slaughters every one that they encounter. Citizens, woman, and children. And worse."
I pulled an eyebrow up. What could be worse than death? 'Torture?' Oh right. But, could it really? You wouldn't be tortured forever so you could still live. 'If they don't kill you after that, couldn't they?' That makes sense.
"The people of Kastal don't want land nor does their king want to increase his subjects. Their only desire is to exterminate the great Kingdom of Elaina and all of its proud people. That is the reason why our King, no the people of Elaina," he smashed his fist on a table. "Need everyone who can fight.”, he swung his hand from one side of the room to the other.
"The backbone of our nation, need to rise up for us, for this nation, for these people. They won't exist without your intervention. So brave Hunters of the magnificent people of Elaina I ask you: Do you save this country from its doom like the Hero saved this world from the Demon Lord?" This time Natalie felt like the hall exploded.
Loud cheers arose. Men were slamming their wooden mugs on the tables and everybody shouted in agreement. Even Lutz and Dirk. Even myself. 'Sure as hell we are with them. Can't let those fuckers do what they want, now can we?' Of course, we can't.
The other knights had seized a table while the one was speaking and a bunch of papers and quills were scattered on it. A long queue had formed in front of it before I realized it. I stood up and Dirk smiled at me with a nod under the still cheering hunters. I nodded back smiling and made my way to enlist. It took a long time until it was finally my turn, so long in fact that the hall was except for some drunken cheers silent. The knight who was scribbling down everyone's names looked at me with tired eyes.
"Name?", he asked.
"Natalie." He stared at me for a while. I wondered if something was wrong but then he said exasperatedly.
"And your surname?"
"Don't have one." He raised his eyebrow and then sighed.
"What was the surname of your parents?"
"I, I don't know." I never called them with that so how should I know. 'Right? But couldn't you use mine?' Ah, you mean Berrets.
"Can I use my late master's name?"
"Sure whatever."
"Then I am Natalie Simmler."
"Simmler?", he asked, a bit more awake.
"Yes, that's right." He stared a little longer but then he shrugged his shoulders.
"Birthday?"
"That was 36, sixth month, sixth day. I'm almost nine." I smiled from ear to ear at him. He noted the date down. Then he shook his head and wished over his eyes. He must have been really tired. But no wonder he had to write and read the whole day. Glad that wasn't my job. After a short while, he asked again.
"Birthplace?"
"A village." He sighed and wrote down Erial. After a few more questions I was finished. "The King holds a speech tomorrow at nine on his balcony. After that, you will be marching out." He waved his hand at me to show that I could go and the next person in line stepped forward. But I blinked confusedly.
"At Nine? Where is that?" The knight sighted again.
"Look." He pointed at a round object over the counter. "That is a clock. It shows you what time it is. When the little rod points at the nine and the big one at twelve it is nine."
"Oh. I wondered what that thing was. So it shows time. Neat." This meant you didn't need to stare at the sun and guess. Well, but under normal circumstances, you wouldn't need to be this precise. I thank the knight and went away.
As I made my way to the counter to get something for lunch Albrecht stepped in front of me. His eyes were fire red and his whole posture was slumped together.
"I'm terribly sorry about yesterday.", he said in a haste but without much voice. "I'm not myself right now and I pushed my frustration on you, a small child. I am terribly, terribly sorry. I had earned that fireball, I know that." 'HA! Even he knows that you shouldn't have stopped.'
"No, I went overboard too. You lost someone important. I know that feeling. I accept your apology", I gave back. 'But do you really mean what you say?' Of course not. I did not rage on innocent people as my beloved family members died. And he is an adult. 'And it is questionable if he is honest about his apology or just because you enlisted.' That too.
Albrecht's face had a little smile. "Thank you."
"Then I'm pretty hungry. If you excuse me.", I beamed at him.
"Ah right. Enjoy your meal." He wavered away. My face froze and grew slowly into a grimace. 'If sorry's where worth a damn we could forgive him.' But they aren’t. I sighed. You are a goddamn bad influence on me. 'Or you are on me.' No, definitely you on me. I never had a grudge against someone. 'But that was when you were happy.' A light chuckle left my mouth. I am happy here. The voice didn't answer.
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25th day, Forth month, 44th year, Age of the 23rd Calamity
Soni Seches awed over the crowd that had gathered in front of the castle. There wasn't a single spot that wasn't filled with people. They all had arrived here as early as dawn to get a good spot to listen to the King. And more were still coming. He saw a lot of adult men in their prime, but also women, children and old folks.
He himself was sick. Or rather sick again. Since the day before yesterday, he felt like his stomach was in rebellion.
The King, the Marshal, and the King’s advisors were all gathered in the throne hall. They were discussing what they could do about the invading kingdoms when they got a message from the knight hall. Hundreds of citizens stormed it to enlist themselves to fight the Kastal Kingdom, but since they were neither nobles nor proficient like the veteran Hunters they got declined.
But the marshal grinned and said: "The people want to die for our King so we should let them. There is no harm in doing so."
"No harm?", Soni said appalled. "Our citizens would die without changing anything."
"As long as they distract the enemy long enough for the Knights to do their work, it is fine by me."
"You can't be serious.", yelled another adviser. The King raised his hand. A sign for everybody to calm down.
Then he said: "I think Marshal Hess has a good point here. As you know Kastal has approached us already with peace terms. They want all of their old provinces back." He slammed the table with his fist and his chalice full of wine fell over. "I will not accept that. I will not give a single millimeter to those barbaric pests. And not to mention what the other shitstains will demand of us. No never!" Soni's face became pale.
"I haven't heard of these peace terms yet."
"It doesn't matter.", threw Hess at him. "They may have this new fancy weapon but they will crumble under our sheer manpower. I propose we should force all the hunters to fight as well."
"But they are already enlisting. Why would you force them now?"
"Not everybody is." A disgusting smile emerged on the marshals face.
"No!", declared the other adviser. "We need hunters for the monsters too."
"Tsh, bullshit. They run over the enemy in a week and can then go back to their little games." Soni starred at that man with wide eyes. Did he really just say that the control and decimation of monsters is a game? He had already opened his mouth but the King raised his hand again.
"The marshal is right. Those Kastals had just the element of surprise on their side. Now that we know what we are dealing with it is nothing more than a mere joke. So every hunter is required to fight."
"Every veteran Hunter? That is what you mean?", asked the other adviser with a rigid face.
"I said every. Single. One!", screamed the King. "They can fight so they should do it. It is an honor to die for me and that doesn't change, no matter who you are. Understood?"
There was a short silence. The marshal smiled. "They won't accept this.", Soni broke the silence.
"Then make them accept it. Tell them that the Kastal army kills babies or something, I don't care. Just get them to march against these abominations and get them out of my lands!"
"As you wish my lord.", licked Hess. And with that rumors were spread, the newspapers fed with lies, and the hate against the people of Kastal and her allies stirred up. Soni was sick. Because of what his beloved king did. Because he wasn't brave enough to argue with the King. Because he did send children to die.
The crowd started to loudly cheer and it sounded like one of those factories from the dwarven nation. The king had stepped out onto the balcony. He raised both of his arms, smiled broadly and made a thankful gestic. Soni knew that that was nothing but a farce. But the people didn't. His stomach became even worse.
"My beloved citizens of Elaina. I am proud to see you all heeded my call. This is not a call to fight for your King. It is a call to fight for your nation. It is a call to fight against demons in human form. It is a call to fight for survival. As you know the criminal horde of the west has ambushed our proud and god loving people in the worst manner. They slouched over our border that the hero and the gods had blessed us without any notice. No declaration of war was sent to us.
Not then. Not now. They don't dare to fight us head on. They evade our forces and kill our fellow Elainian. To enslave them. To rob us of our humanity. This is not a war. This is a battle against a not legitimated attack. A battle against monsters. A battle against the pure evil. We are the light that defends the world against these disgusting abominations. Like the legendary Red Dodo, we stand between the darkness and the light." He raised his hand to the elaine Flag. A Red Dodo, the symbol of the fourth hero, stood in a blue triangle. It was holding a sword in one of his claws piercing the black on the left while protecting the gold of the gods to his right.
"We always stood between the darkness of evil and the light of good and we always prevailed. Proud people of Elaina I don't ask of you to die for your King. I ask for you to destroy the evil that threatens this entire earth." The last words were shouted and the King raised a fist. The cheering of the crowd was ear-splitting. Way louder than before. Soni felt that there was never something louder in existence, ever.
"Now citizens of Elaina go forth and strike the hammer of justice to those that dare to threaten us. Go forth and bring the world to peace once again."
The crowd started to move, still cheering. A parade of people in their daily clothes, without weapons or protection, marching to the gates.
"This will be the future of this Kingdom.", declared the marshal next to Soni in a good mood.
"Yes.", Soni agreed. "There goes the future."
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