"In death, We shall have no remorse"
Orcish warcry was first spoken by High Warlord Horus in the final battle against the sea elves.
In the Month of the Deep, the equivalent of July on Earth, the people of the north had an ancient tradition of giving a single item dear to them to the Abyss, a place deep into the sunless seas in the far north of the continent. William stood by the docks where the ship hauling the items was being loaded, many had come and many more would in the rest of the day.
He took a piece of his diary, a page with his name his true name in English, and placed it there. The symbolism wasn't missed by Lucrezia who had at this point learned both English and Spanish from William's memories. She had asked why and he replied that it made him feel as there was a piece of him in the world, strange as that sounded. Lucrezia hummed in thought but didn't ask more.
The Spirits had given him a final deadline on Winter's End. In the fifth of the Month of Algorius, it would arrive in the duchy. He relayed the news to his people and the efforts had redoubled in speed. The south district had gotten more workers from the underground city as that was nearly done and in three weeks it would be fully restored and up to muster when the storm hits.
William in the meantime kept his army training schedule, Erwin had him play wargames with most of his Captains and other Senior members of the Knighthood. Wilson also joined in and even Idun and Veronica came over to give William their own pointers. Veronica in particular was keen on having Emilya learn a thing or two when it came to warfare so the princess was always there which made these wargaming sessions become impromptu Magi-Tech teaching classes as well.
"I must confess Duchess, the fact the first prince will be deploying a veritable army of mercenaries is troubling... The last war we had with your folk was just the Knights and Champions fighting against us. Sorry, I can't give you more pointers" William wondered why the Magenta's leader was helping him so much and asked Emilya the reason to which the elven princess replied.
"Because you "got me" into getting my feet wet with the timeless art of war my dear" she sighed as she finished eating the second pizza on the table, Emilya was a fan of spiced toppings and the chef was more than happy to indulge her. "She had the stones to eat unlike your northerner folk," he said when asked by a staffer.
"I'll admit it's not being horrible like back home since we are among friends and Idun is there most of the time. Plus watching how you use the new weapons is fascinating to watch in all honesty. Here we have something that will shake the face of warfare even after the mages get to balance the odds and it is like you had years upon years of knowledge on when to ambush and when to charge, how to deal with the more unique Knights from the different families that are allied with the First Prince..." she paused to clean her hands "It's been fun, don't let Veronica know otherwise mom and dad will never let me live it down"
William smiled and promised the Princess he wouldn't tell Veronica.
Another part of the training was commanding people in the field, Erwin decided to start big and William was mostly "fighting" against him and Sigrún usually with men-at-arms and musketeers while his opponents were Knights. Sometimes Idun would send his men to train as well and once several Dragonkin joined the training. William later had learned Kallista had asked Erwin to train them in the ways of the Duchy in case the ones migrating to the city got the urge to fight in the upcoming battle.
The fight against the Magi-Tech Vanguard was by far the worst one William had, they were almost immune to musket fire due to their new armor made by Idun and his forgers and their spears and maces had mana crystals embedded into them, arcs of lighting and force bolts weren't that hard to dodge when one or two were fired at you but a full 20 men pike wall? William had to personally fight them more than once and it was in those fights his battle lust nearly drove him to the edge.
"One of the better ways to control the Lust variant is knowing how to predict your triggers" Sidrún said after the first few battles " From what I and Erwin saw yours are; being against bad to unwinnable odds. leading the charge and going for melee attacks like grabs and chokeholds... Which means no more throwing your ax like it's a Javelin you hear me? I'll have Idun tell his people to build something for you so you stop this foolishness, you are no sword saint from the shogunate Lady Lucrezia. No Ki to pull the weapon back like they do"
William said nothing, just hanged his head in shame. It was too much fun throwing that bloody thing and he loved the skill in the game that let him dunk on mobs so it would be hard to lose that particular part of his muscle memory. The battles against the Dragonkin were standard skirmishes against Magi-Folk, heavily dependent on their own magic and ambush tactics. According to the Knight Commander William had engaged with them with glowing passing marks.
"My Lady had you be the second or even third born I would send you to the Capital just so the High Priest could bless you. all the makings of a fine general I gotta say" Erwin said in an almost dad-like manner to him, something Sigrún had already told William about as the man saw him as a Daughter.
After a warm but somewhat awkward pat on the head, William gave his thanks to everyone and went back to the castle, As Saa'ryu had sent a message to him asking for his council on dire matters.
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The very air inside the castle warped and weaved as pulses of divine energy invisible to all but William emanated from the room where the people who came to speak with William stayed. Flashes of intense pleasure burned into his mind before it all stopped, like a tap being closed. Leaving William and Lucrezia shaken.
"Damnation!" Lucrezia exploded in his mind. William could feel the reason why.
She wanted more, and a part of him he was fighting every day to keep it bottled wanted it as well.
"Focus Lucrezia, Focus otherwise we won't be able to control it" He spoke to her and all he got was a grunt of confirmation, the young woman knew better than him what happened to those who lost themselves to the Blessing of Saal'Xhir after all. It was quite common with both low and high nobility in Vermilion and other countries. One case, in particular, came to mind.
"Leon D'Vaultan" William whispered to himself in his bath. thanks to his training and focused mind he could finally enjoy a decent bath without feeling horrible about himself and Lucrezia. Something she thanked every god she knew which was quite funny.
"Son of the Baron D'vaultan you mean? what's with him?" Lucrezia asked.
"He gets a Greater Blessing by our favorite Goddess and turns the training grounds his family has into sacred grounds for Saal'Xhir. His father and Grandfather in the game were this close to remove him from the family but he had a political marriage or something of the sort that gave him enough protection to dodge them. I can't recall the nitty-gritty details but the quest involving the man has you either turning him into a High Priest of Saal'Xhir or working as a mercenary for his father and well..." William didn't continue, Lucrezia got the message.
"The D'Vaultans were Knights you know? before moving to Nobility the whole family fought as early as the wars against the remnants of the sea elven empire. It's no wonder they would put a hit on their own blood for besmirching their honor" Lucrezia said in a somber mood "What sort of person is he?" she asked.
William rested his head in the very fancy pillow the bath had and said "He had few lines, but from what I remember he was genuine in his faith. Doing the other path to the quest always felt bad for me" He responded.
"Time to meet the High Priestess then, faster we get this done the faster we can back to not twist in agony" Lucrezia said with a bit of humor to her tone.
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High Priestess Sabrina Larazar was enjoying the second Pizza that a very serious maid had delivered to her. It didn't take a miracle to notice whoever was running security for the newly minted Duchess had deployed people with enough protection to bar her Greater Succubi charms to entice them to get some good information, not that she was going to do that mind you. It would be terribly rude and unbecoming.
Especially to someone, her lady wanted more than anything lately.
The council had gotten the revelation a day later after the news that the north had broken from Uumaries dictatorship masquerading as faith and what had to be the stuff of fantasy books chosen Velkarius as their new patron. That bird fucker and her peasant-loving ally Friede had both made their moves and Uumaries lost a strong city to Friede's fiery revenge.
Said bird fucker was also at times allies with her lady Saal'Xhir and this was THE opportunity the church needed to establish themselves outside of the central region of Vermilion, their grand cathedral was good and all, but they needed to penetrate deeper into the country and the north was prime real estate for it.
Then the revelations told them about the curse, Uumaries horrible theft of their lady's grand Blessing. But the bad news ended there, for the 18th birthday of the new Duchess was in the month spears and thus the curse would blossom into a Greater Blessing!
A high noble, the last heir of the Ancient house of Wulfgrem who founded the kingdom? this was a noble the rest of polite society couldn't bully into obscurity as they did with the poor kid from that baron feller who was nothing but a meathead still, Sabrina was a bit weary since the north had a strong influence from that prude Goddess and she couldn't be certain the populace wouldn't drive her away.
Something that didn't happen at all, she was welcomed but stern but weary-looking soldiers with the new weapons she had heard about. as soon as she got off the Highway they processed her and it only took mentioning she was sent by her church for a carriage to pick her up and deliver to the palace.
"Guess it wasn't just my Lady she is courting favors huh?" Sabrina said inside the carriage.
And her guess was right in the money, before whoever was in charge of the maid staff deployed the stern-looking maids she had caught whispers and gossip about numerous gods and goddesses sending their people.
The young Duchess was trying to fast track her lands into something more it seemed, uncommon but it happened from time to time.
"Lady Lucrezia will see you know, please follow me" Sabrina felt something strange about this maid, from the shogunate by her face and the way she moved without making a sound. Like every step was calculated and ready for a fight.
The woman opened the doors to the throne room and in there sat a beautiful young woman with striking azure eyes and blonde hair that was almost ashen gray, her face told a myriad of tales but the body told Sabrina more. the High Priestess let out a small gasp. Saal'Xhir above that was Fleshwarping! she also felt the lock on top of the curse, barring it from taking full effect in Lucrezia's mind and body. made by Velkarius.
One that wouldn't last either. made to run out a day before the Blessing ceremony, smart Sabrina thought. that won't be seen as a direct attack on her Lady's blessing by the bird fucker and they get to have an important asset in the material world.
But the sheer lust the young woman held inside made Sabrina sweat, something more was keeping her in line and she was afraid to find out.
The young woman sighed and said "I'm sure you can see the ritual on the top of the curse, I want to assure you and your Goddess that this is not an attack on her but a stopgap measure so I can run my lands and people without having...Embarrassing incidents. I'm not a prude nor A follower of Uumaries as I'm sure you and your church know" Sabrina could feel Lucrezia's sincerity and in part related to her.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
You can't run a duchy if you are having orgies every day of the week after all.
"I'm sure Lady Saal'Xhir understands Your Highness" Sabrina said with a smile.
"So Priestess Sabrina, I have a favor to ask to you and your church" Lucrezia said to her.
Sabrina tensed up, something told her this was going to be huge.
"I need a way to control crime in my lands, now that the situation is dire thanks to the Storm the criminal elements have yet to take root but later they will and I want to be on top of it. Now I understand that your church runs brothels and drug dens yes? and your priesthood can keep the Fallen who bless petty thieves and drug lords away so much in fact the biggest reason Uumaries and her people haven't throw your folk from the capital is due to that yes?"
Sabrina was somewhat impressed, not only Lucrezia saw her and her people in a good light but she had also done her homework on them! she knew what the Duchess was gonna ask and by the Gods, the answer would be a resounding yes.
"Build your temples here, preach the word and weed out any would-be ruffian from my lands and my Duchy will ally itself with your church and Goddess. The only demand I have is that you must screen everyone that goes in. This was Uumaries country so you will be breaking more than a few marriages that Goddess blessed even if they are toxic and should be unmade, there's so much I can control when it comes to civil unrest" Lucrezia took a deep breath "And I will need support from the main Cathedral when I make my way to the Capital for the Academy"
Sabrina kneeled and praised her Goddess, for this was nothing short of a miracle!
"Thank you Lady Lucrezia!" she said in earnest. "The council will be more than happy to meet your demands! Goddess be praised I couldn't hope for better news" and she really couldn't, at best she hoped for a room in the palace for their missionaries but Brothels and Dens? that was nothing short of winning big in the gambling tables at the main cathedral!
Sabrina felt chills running down her spine as Lucrezia laughed softly and spoke "Now come, let me show you where the church will be built"
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It felt strange to William seeing someone from the game after so long. Sabrina was the first High Priestess the player had access to and served as a bridge for much of the high-level content at the start of the late game. This Sabrina wasn't the battle-hardened Paladin he knew though, Someone who had lost friends and loved ones to a small but bloody series of conflicts Uumaries would wage upon Saal'Xhir's people.
It dawned on William that without support from the north's enthralled leadership, Uumaries lacked the means to launch the said assault, and William had saved countless small churches and regular folk. People who had nothing to do with the Divine game of power but were killed all the same by Uumaries's faithful.
It was a grim realization, the amount of blood he and Lucrezia had spilled and would in the future had saved lives, real tangible lives who wouldn't be cut down due to unnecessary warfare. And yet it felt like the price was too big, was this his old-world morality clashing with his new reality? all the killing he and Lucrezia had done haunted him in nightmares. Not every day mind you but every once in a while William would remind himself of the faces of the people he cut down, the sheer horror in their faces.
And the filling of bliss and rightfulness he felt while doing so.
Lucrezia had assured him she would keep him tethered, that he wouldn't slip further into this sorry state but he had doubts, especially knowing that she was taking a much bigger interest in his memories beyond the game stuff.
Sabrina had assured him that the blessing would ease up after Lucrezia's birthday. the High Priestess was more than happy when William showed her the grounds for the church and dens, both in the city and underground and she had already drafted a letter to send more of her people to the duchy.
It was a necessary distraction from the honestly depressing shit he kept ruminating whenever he had free time in his hands, Lucrezia and the rest of his friends noticed this surge in activity as he refused to stop even for a second as the days went by. From Magi-Tech classes with Idun and Emilya to harder training exercises with Erwin and the Dragonkin. in this rush to drown out the negative thoughts that plagued William he started to personally help with the pipe laying across the city under the excuse of mastering his Magnetism and taking Magical classes with Wilson to "not his Ice Magic fall to the wayside" culminating with more than half to the city having its heat pipes ready and him being able to do higher-level magicks.
"An Ice and Iron halo Lady Lucrezia? Fancy and more importantly stable framework for your spell shaping and casting. If you keep at it I'm sure the Arch-Mage himself will visit you haha" Wilson said after William reached the "peak" of what was possible with his mana reserves, he could also throw high-velocity high penetration Ice Lances now, a mid-tier spell and favorite of his from the game since it was versatile against several enemy types.
"With the number of Blessings we will get I wager anything short of a battalion of Arcane Knights and Knight-Spectres will be able to take us down" William told Lucrezia who was appalled at the thought of having Knight-Spectres being deployed against her, those were bad news after all and were only used when shit was dire.
"It's not just that, Knight-Spectres are a highly classified unit only High Nobility and the Royals can even know about! the fact your game just tells people they are a thing is just...I don't know how to even say it" Lucrezia told him.
"Weird?" William said.
"Yeah, we can go with weird" Lucrezia replied.
And that was that when it came to the secret police that watched over the many Knight orders of Vermillion. William couldn't help but be wary of them after all they were gonna whack the first prince and that's a good reason as any to deploy those spooks.
It was with that reasoning he called Saa'ryu to his room in the dead of the night.
The woman was tired William could tell, her usually cheery face was downcast and heavy eyebags were in full display.
"Yes Lu? how can I help you?" she asked straight to the point.
"I need you to contact the Owl and hire a few of your people to patrol the Duchy. Yes, I understand that it's been years since you contacted him but this isn't a request. It's an order as your Duchess"
Saa'ryu stood quiet for a few seconds before nodding "Well then I have good news for you Lu, It's already done" she gave a small chuckle.
"What you mean it's already done? it takes a good deal of coin to hire his assassins and...Oh, he heard about us due to the uprising and sent scouts heh" William smiled, out of all the NPCs who could train the game's protagonist the Owl was his favorite, his stealth playthrough of the game was a great mixture of fun and challenging gameplay.
"That's a relief then, tell whoever he sent I'll prepare a bottle of his favorite booze from the shogunate when I move to the capital, I believe it's still the Dragonspring's sake yes?" William asked as he got up to drink some water only to hear Saa'ryu gasp.
Oops.
"William...what did I tell you about spilling shit you weren't supposed to know like that?!" Lucrezia roared in his head.
"I'll...I'll tell him that Lu, now if you excuse me I really need to sleep" Saa'ryu quickly removed herself from the room and left him to wonder if he had just fucked up big.
"An issue to future Lucrezia to deal with it" he spoke out loud and went back to bed.
"That's not funny!"
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Hraax of the Diamond Reefs had just finished talking in length with her mother the Queen about many matters concerning the land walkers and their young ruler, the Queen was impressed with the mettle and convictions of Lucrezia. To kill her own Kin in the name of the people and the land was no small feat but it marked her as a true ruler who would bring prosperity to her and her allies.
Hraax knew the old Queen lacked the many sensibilities of the land walkers, after all the culture deep in the oceans was always in favor of the strong. Of the ones who strike first and strike hard.
But Hraax could feel that Lucrezia harbored great unrest inside of herself. She had witnessed the many times the Duchess would go dead silent as she was communing with the many spirits and ghosts around her. According to the court's Necromancer, they would haunt the woman for weeks before letting go of their grudges but weeks had already gone by and still, Lucrezia would have these episodes.
Still, she had found in the human an unlikely friend. It was like she had all the answers for Hraax's questions even in matters regarding the reef's unique culture and its denizens. From knowing the proper forms and greetings to even playing the modified wargame with Hraax's bodyguards and one time herself. Who in honesty lacked the makings of a General. Something her mother agreed when later told about it.
She engaged with them like they were old friends, but there was an air of separation in these interactions very few picked. Hraax was blessed with an increased perception according to her father and she seldom used it outside of patrols or mock fights, but in building the new port and interacting with Lucrezia she couldn't help herself and analyzed the woman every time and she came to a profound and sad conclusion.
Lucrezia was severely depressed.
The land walkers called it the Silent's Curse as a reference to the Silent Soldier from the Imperium. He was one of the first War Gods who tried to help his followers who suffered mental degradation due to the many centuries of warfare the Imperium waged. Of course, the word was more towards soldiers and people in the theater of war, and the Reef physicians called that shell shocked.
Alas, the proper terminology was harder to spread due to the Gods. But the fact was that Lucrezia was in a one-way lane to severe depression and shell shock and Hraax was desperately looking for council to help her new friend. Sadly her people were ill-equipped to deal with human anatomy and neurology and short of hiring a human Mind Mage which was off the table Hraax was out of options.
It was in the middle of this vortex of worry that she got a ping from one of the outposts of the reefs that led to open sea, she quickly made her way to the teleportation chamber in the castle and warped to the tower. Crab mermen saluted her with their swords and spears as the commander of the tower outpost came to talk with her.
"My Lady just now we spotted Imperial warships in the distance, five of them in fact and that's not it. News of outpost Rhyz just arrived that three more longships of Imperium making are also on the way" he saluted her "These ships are not part of their navy and spot this coat of arms in their sails" he pulled a crystal that showed the image of twin axes and a sea dragon body.
"By the deep! it's the Northern raiders!"
Hraax had to control herself to not panic, what in all hells those madmen were doing so far from their isles!? "Commander! send wave riders to greet both of them, these are Diamond Reef and Wulfgrem waters and I will be damned if I let some Imperium or Raider scum get past us without a fight!"
The soldiers at the fort cheered their princess as the commander blew a mighty coral horn. Giant manta rays showed up and spoke in unison "Sir!"
"Unit Copher you are to intercept and parley with Imperium and Raider ships in these coordinates" he pulled a crystal that bloomed into light, a map of the region around them forming from the light show. "May the deep protect you all" the manta rays exploded forward with incredible speed as Hraax gave them a small prayer of protection.
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A roaring boom followed by five more echoed in the test range at the Magi-Tech underground fortress, Lucrezia was sweating as Idun carried his limp body to a bench near them.
"Fuck me It worked holy shit it fucking worked" Idun heard the one his god had anointed as savior and most likely leader of the church curse like she was a dwarven sailor. A rarely seen side of the young Duchess he found while teaching her the fine workings of Magi-Tech. She loved to swear, getting angry, and complain loudly as some sort of release mechanism she explained to him once.
While he and his people would pray to clear their minds she had a far more Human reaction Idun smiled a little.
"I wouldn't say it's actually ready for field use Lady Lucrezia" Idun pointed to the many parts where the design was flawed, where they took shortcuts and such "It will take months to fine-tune it to that original vision we had back in the meeting"
This new weapon Lady Lucrezia and he had brought to life was nothing short of amazing, the Magi-Tech Cannon prototype took weeks of constant work but at last, they had it.
Still, Idun felt a bit fearful, he and Lucrezia knew that had she waited for her Blessing, making the weapon would be far easier and stable. But the young ruler was getting anxious about the Storm and decided to rush the project with various rituals she learned from her library. These rituals enabled Idun to tap way deeper into his faith and manifest stronger miracles that would take thousands of followers to achieve.
The cost was severe, for days the dwarf felt like pure death together with Lucrezia's whose fair skin was almost translucent but through thick and thin they managed to finally build the weapons. In these fever days, Idun was bombarded with flashes of other Magi-Tech items, cannons that could hit a target from up to 50 kilometers, man-portable shell spilling tubes capable of laying localized charges.
He also saw muskets able to fire continuously, great metal birds flying high and spitting fire and steel below them, and huge warships laying wastes to beaches and the enemies hidden there. Pure distilled warfare was so strong and so raw it felt like the only thing that matter was the pursuit of knowledge to better kill one another. An eternal machine of war and death perfect across centuries of bloody combat.
Fear gripped him, a fear primal that spoke against these visions. As if his very being was anathema to whatever reality conjured those grim flashes. And on the last day, he saw a great sun above the land. it flattened buildings and turned people into dust, their shadows burned into the ground as some sort of evil display of power, maddening power that kept asking for more and more blood and violence.
Idun wasn't stupid or blind enough to not understand what this meant. Whatever knowledge Lucrezia had of warfare was drawing from that cursed river of blood and there would be heavy consequences if they went all the way in. Back home he heard in hushed whispers about the scientists and folk of learning who tapped into these taboo ways. It was said that in the days leading to the final battle against the Grannarius's hordes the Queen of Vermilion allowed them to unleash some of those forbidden weapons.
Where usually these people would be branded Heretics and hunted down by inquisitors now they worked together with the Knight Army of Vermillion and the devastation they wrought gave enough momentum to the Queen to personally attack the Elven capital and end the war.
He watched Lucrezia as a maddening glint in her eyes took hold of her. no doubt she had seen the same visions but unlike him, she wasn't quaking in fear or praying for absolution, no she was smiling in sadistic glee and bloodlust.
Idun gave his god a silent prayer. He knew the second he joined Lucrezia he would not become someone who would go down in the history books as some sort of paragon of virtue. He had aided the woman in the kin slaying and a coup for All-Father's sake! and now that the punitive force of the first prince was hot on their heels he would suffer the same fate of whoever helped her.
Death.
And he wouldn't go down quietly and cry, no. He and his people would go down as survivors and fighters, clawing and kicking even at their last breath left their bodies. First Prince Galius and his army could count on that.