“Are you okay?”
These were the words Lily heard when she was lying next to a collapsed wall.
That moment, a reddish gloved hand was given out to her. That hand was injured from pulling the crossbow string repeatedly without any training, without proper protection, scratched and was dripping blood.
The owner of that hand manifested a painful expression while giving his hand to her. But the important thing is, he reached out to help her.
**
In Latila, there is a specific building in the city dedicated to house ambassadors coming from the Empire of Elestovakia. The employees serve there with the purpose of delivering messages from Latila to Elestovakia, resolving potential conflicts between the two countries, managing Elestovakians living in Latila and providing a broad service for diplomatic missions. In other words, this is the Elestovakian Embassy in Latila, the first and currently the only one in the known world.
“Take a seat.”
Having arrived at the Latila Palace, the Elestovakian ambassadors from the embassy, led by an expert negotiator named Narsieh, were welcomed by Justinius with an order for them to sit down.
“That is unnecessary Your Majesty, please answer-”
“I said sit down.”
Justinius says it with a calm voice, de facto flat, emotionless.
“Fine”-a man in the diplomatic corp quietly sits down on the bench, following suit by his colleagues.
Currently they are in a state of confusion and chaos as this morning. When they were just woken up, a letter was sent to the embassy saying that all Elestovakians, following an order from the House of Latila and King Justinius, were expelled from Latila, as if they were going to be at war. Narsieh, responsible for all Elestovakian problems in Latila, whether he likes it or not, takes off to meet Justinius anyway to know why he did that.
“You might’ve known why I called the Elestovakian diplomatic corp, all of you here.”-The kings speaks
“No we don’t”-Narsieh replies, smashing his right hand onto Justinius’s table-”First, you must explain why Latila is expelling Elestovakians from their domains in Latila. This act severely violated the 1453 Treaty of Nova Voiaiologos (New Voyage). We the Elestovakians need an explanation for this barbaric act of your country.”
“Speak calmly sir Narsieh.”-Justinius clears his throat, his eyes glares down upon the men-”And it was always Voiaiologos, there is no need for an extra “Nova”. As for your question, may I say that I am providing them safety.”
“Safety what?”
“Because once we are at war against your nation, it will be hard to restrain our people from harming innocent Elestovakians.”
“What? At war-”
The Latilian king claps his hand twice. Simultaneously, the marine guards standing behind them raise up their muskets and halberds and point them at the Elestovakians. The diplomatic corp was caught in total surprise, they jumped from the bench and stepped back, still confused:
“What do you mean!? What is the meaning of this!?”
“Here.”
With a swift move, Justinius gently places a scroll of paper onto Narsieh’s palm:
“This is the Latilian War Declaration against the Empire of Elestovakia. I have prepared a ship for you and your men to depart from the city and deliver this message for those who are in Levantia and especially, your Emperor Kaval. From this moment, our two nations are officially at war.”
**
“Loyal to God, you said….”
A few weeks after Kassem’s death.
From a distance, Khaliz on horseback is watching mortimers bury his friend into his grave. The prophet was buried far from Khaliz’s castle and his hometown, as far as in the furthest point in the south of the County of Rashid. This was done following his death wish, to be buried directly eastward of the Montgilsard Cathedral. Fortunately for Kassem, that was a thing Count Khaliz can grant him, in honor of their friendship and for Kassem for helping him many times in his lifetime as a prophet.
“You never predicted anything wrong”
Khaliz whispers in the afternoon breeze.
”That is a concerning thing”-he continues-”If you made just one wrong prophecy then it would’ve been much easier for me to decide, knowing that you might be wrong this time as well…but you didn’t.”
The Count of Rashid stops talking for a moment, thinking about Kassem’s last words for him before his death.
Kassem mentioned something about a conqueror of a reborn kingdom who shall conquer the empire, and he, Khaliz ibn al-Walidis, must submit to that conqueror.
And by doing so, Khaliz will have to betray the emperor.
“You know, betraying Kaval and his empire was and will never be a good idea…”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Betraying Kaval, meaning betraying Elestovakia, a grand superpower unrivaled in ground fight by any nation in the known world, a superpower once decimated the entire continental army and forced them to submit under their feet. Maybe they were not the bright stars when it come to naval warfare, but on land, they were the total dominators.
Khaliz once fought for the Elestovakians, he fully understands what the empire is capable of, and the consequences for resisting or betraying Elestovakia.
Besides, seeing the might of the Imperial Army, he cannot make himself not waver. That army is literally camping just a distance from where he is standing at this moment, waiting for their supply lines to catch up with them.
The land where they’ve encamped bright in a bright yellowish light like a whole city. That army is, frankly said, a war machine built by Kaval for his dream of unifying the continent, one that could wipe out any force daring to oppose it. Khaliz knows that, and he fears that. He asks himself a question: what force did Kassem mentioned could wipe out such a magnificent army?
“The Latilians.”
The Vlennians are preparing for a defensive war, only the Kingdom of Latila left as a possibility. Still, as he recalled it, the Latilians cannot pay their own annual tribune, much less funding an army to go to war against Elestovakia. Simply impossible, unless…the Latilians, his old friend Justinius was planning something. To be honest, this king has been known for being a clever ruler.
“I should rally my army, just in case.”
The count says, then hurry his horse back home.
**
Ethanolin, capital of the Kingdom of Milishila.
Being located right ashore of the Ganeo-Latila-Belkut-Ethanolin quadrilateral trade hub, center of the colony network of the Kingdom, connecting Milishilian inland territories with their island-based counterparts, this capital of the Milishilians is without any doubt one of the most privileged regions in the known world, and homeland of multiple great seafarers, rivaling even the Maritimers on their own sea. In fact, before the Milishilian-Elestovakian War, this only city in the Kingdom alone and the Federation were economical nemesis, and usually encountered in various wars indirectly against each other’s benefits. It wasn’t until the war against the Elestovakians they teamed up and finally resolved their conflict. With the two powerhouses being allies, Ethanolin and many Milishilian metropolitan areas became much more prosperous than they used to be, benefitted from the flow of supplies from the Maritimers.
However, after 4 years of flourishing, the economy of Milishila is now again under threat of destabilization. Around one week ago, a Milishilian warship patrolling close to Elestovakian sea territory reported having witnessed fifty vessels of the Imperial Fleet sailing north, toward Vlenna. This action of the Elestovakians was mailed to the Milishilian monarch, with the King being the leader of, obviously.
King Edmund IV, the thirty-years old king of the Milishilians, upon hearing of this development, immediately called for a consultation among many elite members of the feudalism system and ambassadors from the Maritime Federation, and now they are arriving in the meeting room where he is waiting.
“Settle down, ladies and gentlemen.”
After the order, everyone in the room sat down, except for the guards standing by the door.
“As you might’ve acknowledged from my letter.”-The king takes an envelope and holds it in his hand-”The Elestovakians are making their initial move by targeting the city of Vlenna, do you have any comment?”
“That would be an uncomfortable problem”-speaks the Minister of International Trade while he stands up-”Vlenna is a vital point situated between Latila and Belkut. If the Elestovakians dare to blockade the city…the route from Latila and Belkut would be unusable-”
“I am not talking about that”-The king flaps his hand to order the man to sit down-”I was talking about the risk of supporting Vlenna, and furthermore, Latila. Should we help them by sending a fleet, the Elestovakians might be antagonized. That is a thing I want to discuss with you, about whether or not supporting our two little allies that way.”
After the king finished his words, the room turned dead silent. It seemed like even the wisest minds of the nation needed time to think.
Finally, the Minister of Foreign Affair raises his voice-”As you might know, the relationship between us and the Elestovakian monarch couldn’t go any lower, and yet their traders cannot obey their government and continue making deals with our merchants because working with us is too beneficial. So I don’t see this as a problem.”
“I can see your point. The navy, what about you?”
“Our fleet is ready for foreign deployment”-the Milishilian Grand Admiral says-”Though I recommend you, Your Majesty, do not use them to support the Vlennians. Helping them might risk another war, the previous war was costly enough.”
“I’d say the difference.”-The War Institution speaks otherwise-”Even if we risk another war against the Elestovakians, that would be less costly than fighting them AFTER they’ve conquered Vlenna or Latila. These two nations will provide a stable beachhead for our force to land in the continent-”
“Sorry sir, but you are missing the key factor, we are not here to go to war with them, we are here to drag them down as deep as possible.”
Yes, this is the true reason why the Milishilians and the Maritimers helped Latila and Vlenna in the first place, to keep their power status topped all in the known world. By weakening the Elestovakian Empire, Milishila would ensure her influence in the Atlasia continent as a trade powerhouse. Conveniently for them, Latila and Vlenna were great pawns for them to exploit. And conveniently for Latila and Vlenna, they are interested in helping them. However, there are limitations to consider:
“We don’t want another war, we help Latila and Vlenna barely enough to weaken the Empire, we are not willing to go to war to help them.”
“Remember, the decisive idea is we do not go to war.”
“No war? I have a plan. How about sailing to Vlenna and surrounding the city with our ships? That might stop their fleet from having a clear field to fire upon Vlenna without risking hitting our ships. We no shoot, they no shoot, and no war either.”
“Even if we start moving now, by the time our fleet arrives, the Elestovakians must’ve established not only the blockade, but also a harbor near Vlenna to dock their vessels. The only way to surround the city by then would be destroying a couple of Elestovakian ships to create a hole for our ships to enter, but again…no.”
“That’s right, financial support is enough, they must figure it out on their own how to protect their nation. The Empire won’t declare war against us for just aiding Latila, that is where the line draws.”
“I agree, their determination and our aid will surely make them fight until their last breaths. They will definitely decimate a portion of the Empire’s might, exactly what we are interested in. Just pour more money, don’t pour the navy in.”
“A total war against Elestovakia equals the loss of 60% of our customers, so no, we are not interested in another war.”
Those arguments make sense, by supporting Latila and Vlenna with their budget alone, all Milishila wants on their checklist would be already fulfilled, and is the most cost-efficient and the least diplomatic-risk option out of all. Besides, maintaining a fleet in foreign land ain’t cheap at the slightest, might even surpass the cost of financial aids by multiple times.
King Edmund has had his decision, so he smashes down onto the table to retain order:
“Take twenty million denarii from the National Treasure and send them to Latila.”-Edmund commands-”We will keep aiding the Latilians and Vlennians for their defense to maintain pressure onto the Empire, but we will not interfere with forces. That will be our policy for this war, at least it will be so until the next major development.”
Unknown to them, the Latilians are about to pull the most ambitious plan ever.