Amidst the high towers of Levan castle, the Emperor looks down upon his army with pride. This is the army which he had founded twelve years ago, the army which had fought along his side, the same army that had conquered Nosfetura, Aeropostale, Carthagia, Vlenna and Latila ten years prior, the army by the name of “The Expedition Imperial Army”.
“Ave, imperator Kaval”
Behind the emperor, the door opens, and a man steps into his room.
“Good day, Sir Khaliz, may you take a look at our army.”
“I can see that, I was on the street just a minute ago. As people said, we might not be the brightest star on the sea, but on land we rule.”
The count sits down on a chair near the emperor:
“But that is not why I am here today. I’ve returned from Latila with the tribune. Let me get this quick: they only gave us tribune for two months, and demanded that I and you extend the period to a few more months.”
“Quite an arrogant request, I dare say. I believe that they rejected joining the empire as well, otherwise they wouldn’t pay the tribune.”
“Your excellency is formidable, Your Majesty. They’ve turned down our offer. It seemed like Justinius wanted to lengthen his time for something.”
Khaliz says to the emperor, his eyes meanwhile looking at the army assembling down the street. There are at least 70 thousand men down there, all in high moral before marching into the fight:
“I get it”
Emperor Kaval stands up and walks out of the room. His legs were weakened by time, being an old man and ruling a vast nation had worn down a wise emperor like that. But still, he will not rest until his duty is completed, to unify this continent under the banner of Elestovakia.
”Let us call the man in charge. The Latilians are definitely preparing an army”-He said to Khaliz-”Respond by doubling our troop number. After defeating Vlenna they will immediately march to Latila. I want to take that city before I rest.”
**
“I’ve been sailing a boat, but a long trip like this…is not what I’ve been trained for.”
Two weeks have passed since the beginning of the project.
Usually, this time should be the busiest time in the entire work, having done all of the easy parts, and now placing the first bricks for the real challenge. However, with things being settled in Latila, plus this time of the year is full of trading ships arriving at the port due to the last harvest season, which is not a nice time for testing new weapons, Aurora is now heading to Vlenna, a strategic ally of Latila, to provide them aids and help fortifying the city before the war. Following her is Belisari, as usual, Lily is somewhat considered the Minister of Defense of Latila, so her going along is completely understandable. In addition, the granddaughter of Gerald, the one who is said to be around Aurora’s age, is also said to be living in this city.
The ship had been sailing for three days, along the coastline of the continent, but very far for the Elestovakians ships nor their navy to see them from the shore. According to the Maritimer navigator and star patterns, they were just hours away from the city. They’ve met some vessels on their way, so that information should be correct. Nonetheless, Aurora is getting a hell of seasick, she is lying somewhere underneath the deck, like a dead corpse.
Right now, Belisari is the pilot of the ship. Having the best spyglass in the entire known world given by Aurora, the prince can see a dozen of miles ahead, compared to just a few miles from the best sea navigator the Federation could offer.
“I see sails…. A lot of them…Blue-white stripes…red angel…yeah it is Vlenna. We are very close.”
The port of Vlenna is within a short distance.
**
“Thank god it is dryland.”
Immediately after being towed ashore by two sailors, Aurora quickly returned to being lively, as nothing had ever happened. She takes a brief gaze around the city harbor. Vlenna harbor is the fifth largest harbor in the known world, only being surpassed by the harbor of Latila and a few Maritimer ports in Ganeo, Sacili and Vineci. In fact, in this continent, Latila and Vlenna own two largest strategic warm water ports, there is no wonder why the Elestovakians are desperately preparing to take them both. Vlenna is going into the fight first, then Latila the second:
“It has been quite a long time since my last visit here with Lily.”-Belisari suddenly says-”Must’ve been five years, isn’t it?”
“Six actually, and it was on a diplomatic trip.”
That diplomatic mission was a step toward the Vlennian-Latilian alliance. Belisari, who had just turned 18 that year, was sent along with the Archduchess of Voyage to the city to meet the king of Vlenna and establish a mutual defense pact. Upon their arrival, the Vlennian king had welcomed them with open arms and befriended Belisari as soon as they met. Vlenna, a human-majority nation once a colony of the Vampire Nofeturan Empire, has had its first ally like that.
“It brought back many memories. The Vlennians couldn't afford the budget for our trip back then, so Latila had to pay for themselves. I remember having been given just enough money for food and rent.”-Lily reminds Belisari-”Saying food, but if I included the rent it was barely enough for bread.”
“Yeah, but I shared with you my room and the cost of meals instead, so you could use your money to treat yourself…with Vlennian cigarettes. You seemed to be happy when returning to Latila at least.”
“That is correct, and I really appreciate that you made the trip much more like a vacation to me.”
Lily’s face blooms with a light smile, whispering to Aurora-”His Highness is really a nice guy.. Although it does not look like that, he is kind and is a very reliable person to depend on, if you managed to get close to his side obviously.”
(They seem to trust each other a lot…)
Aurora thinks so in her mind, then she finds a way to submerge somewhere else.
“This time however, hehe…”-the archduchess giggles loudly, back to Belisari, shoving her hands into pockets full of silver coins-”Budget unrestricted, I will treat you this time, Your Highness. And we should buy something for Arlin and Klein too.”
“I agree.”
“Really~”
“Yeah”-Belisari looks around-”…wait…where are you Aurora?”
“I am over here Belisarius.”
Aurora is now on the pole of the ship, it is not clear when, or how did she climb up that fast, what is known is she is using her spyglass to have a sight of the city’s wall.
Vlenna’s defense line, unlike the one in Latila, is much more well-engineered. The wall also has two layers, but instead of a straight line hugging tight to the city border, a design that was outdated for a long time ago, this wall has characteristics of a star-shaped fortress, allowing cannons and trebuchets to focus their firepower on the enemies when they are being funneled into some marked area. Trenches and shallow ground works filled with water are also another excellent feature, helping the defenders to go outside attacking the attackers while still retaining their defense, as well as slowing down the enemies. Whoever built this was a capable engineer, if not quite excellent.
Nonetheless, there is room for renovation, this city should be able to hold off an army twice the size of its population at least, and Aurora is here for it.
“There should be more obstacles in front of the wall to slow them down to be honest, and materials, and gun distribution,...too.”
“Glad that you get to work immediately, but we should meet the king first.”-the Latilian prince was about to say that, but then he hears a voice behind him and Lily:
“Welcome to Vlenna, it has been so long, Belisari, Lily”
The one who spoke is Leopol VI, a handsome man, the young King of Vlenna and former Grand Duke of Lower Granisus. After the death of his father, Leopol V in the Elestovakian War, Leopol Charles Lorrine, by that time just thirteen years old, had become the new king of this nation, and he has been ruling it for the last ten years.
The king of Vlenna is said to be very busy, having to manage Elestovakian raiders and pirates (Vlenna is on the highway of maritime trade), to negotiate with the empire, diplomatic work with the Kingdom of Milishila, attempting to communicate with the vampire community in the Alpsles Mountains Range, and rebuilding their army. However, when he received a letter from his ally in the north saying that the prince of Latila would come to this city, Leopol, without any hesitation, abandoned his office work to the parliament to come here greeting Belisari:
“Glad to see you are fine. I heard that you were married, how is your wife?”
Despite them being on the same age, with Belisari is even slightly older, he has no affair, but his Vlennian friend does:
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“She is fine, and please by the next time you are here let me say that line too.”
Leopol says to Belisari, but his eyes sometimes move to somewhere behind his friend. Belisari did not notice that, he tells the king:
“It's not like I am going to get married anytime soon, at least let me enjoy my life first…Wait, we are not here for that.”
“I can tell, and…that is “Aurora Borealis ", the person you mentioned in the letter, if I recall.”
“Yep”-Belisari turns around.
Aurora is running everywhere around the port, like a child discovering a newly built playground near her house and getting overly excited with it, looking at everyone with eyes of curiosity and touching everything she has never seen before. She must be corrected, if Klein was there he would say so, fortunately he is in Latila.
“Get back here, His Majesty and His Highness is waiting for you”
Lily screams out loud, hoping her voice could reach the girl that is touching a Maritimer ship, and it did. Aurora after hearing the voice immediately rushed back to her team:
“I am sorry Your Vlennian Majesty, I was too excited, this is my first time here.”
“I can see that. Welcome to my country, Aurora Borealis. Come with me, we have more things to discuss, let’s go back to my palace first.”
**
“So, this is what you’ve got from selling resources?”
In this voyage to Vlenna, the Latilians decided to bring some financial aid to their ally.
On the roundtable, which is surrounded by important figures from both countries, Lily Sobieski, the Latilian archduchess, puts down two massive barrels of gold coins, each worth roughly fifteen million denarii. At first, the Latilian monarch was unsure how much they should share their wealth to the Vlennians, or should they at all. The more money in Latila, the better armed the coalition’s overall army would be, since Latila knows how to produce advanced weaponries, while Vlenna still has to rely on the usual matchlocks, crossbows and swords. However, if Vlenna is ill equipped and unprepared, they might fall before the Latilian army could arrive, so not aiding them is also not an option.
After a careful discussion between Lily, Belisari, Justinius, Aurelian, Klein, Arlin and Aurora, they’ve come to a decision of sending around a sixth of their fortune to their southern ally. The coins were sealed in barrels, and were towed onto the ship. At this moment, they are being given to the Vlennians:
“No, that is just a portion of it, we cannot give you everything, obviously.”
“I understand, if I were you I would’ve prioritized my country over yours as well. Nonetheless, we really appreciate your help, at this point every coin is essential to this city’s defense line. We now have more money for mercenaries and cannons.”
The Vlennian king orders his subordinates to carry the barrels away.
“Again, thank you for your help. Your Highness”
“No problem Your Majesty, helping an ally is one way to strengthen our survivability.”
“I suppose it would be like that.”
Leopol and Belisari say to the other with respect. They understand each other well, no wonder how the two could be friends so easily.
With the financial aid settled, it’s time to move to other important matters. The renovation plan of the Vlennian’ walls:
“I am back.”
Aurora pushes the doors to enter. Leopol VI had earlier ordered his men to help find blueprints about the construction of the walls, measure everything and give Aurora a horse ride to the outside of the wall. In less than two hours of waiting, the immigrant Latilian engineer had returned with a fresh reconstruction concept in her hands:
“I am not an architect, therefore it is impossible for me to actually design one, my time here is short too, so this is very brief of what has to be done to protect Vlenna. The real plan must be executed with help from Milishilian engineers.”
“I get it, just please tell us what to do.”
“Okay.”
Taking a deep breath, Aurora spread the blueprint of the new wall onto the table, with the city on the side of Leopol VI, and the wall facing Belisari. Her finger shifted, drawing along the outer line of the city border:
“First and foremost, we have to mobilize some cannons to protect the open water. I’ve read about the previous siege of Vlenna, the city has a shallow wall surrounding the city from all sides, with a steel chain watergate allowing ships to pass, and raise up when the city is threatened from the sea. That design was also used by the Latilians, is that correct, Your Highness?”
The girl glances at Belisari, who nodding to her words:
“Correct, this is not an uncommon design, as the Ganeoese had popularized them in the past hundred years, both Latilia and Vlenna protect their port that way.”
The Ganeo Republic, one of four republics of the Maritime Federation. With most of their cities laid by the shore, this method was cleverly invented to protect their harbors from foreign invaders and pirates.
“Yes, that is what I wanted to confirm. Your Majesty”-Aurora turns back to Leopol-”When the Elestovakian fleet attacked, your father had ordered the chain to be raised to prevent their ships from entering the port of Vlenna, protecting the city from all sides.”
“True, that side was impregnable because there was no method to go through the chain from the outside once it was raised, no in or out, and the wall was too slippery for their men to climb up. So placing cannons there was unnecessary, having guards patrolling around is enough.”
Vlenna, having walls so thick that ship cannons cannot penetrate, and chain that could sink any ship that dares to go over it, is invulnerable by sea once the city turns on its defensive mode. That is what the Vlennians had away been proud about, that is until:
“That siege ended up with half of the city starving to death”
Hearing that, the Vlennian king freezes.
“The chain is fully shut for the entire duration of the siege, which prevented the Elestovakians from attacking via sea route, but it also stopped Milishilian ships from supplying the city when the grain stock dried out.”
“Yes, that is the greatest problem…
Leopol’s eyes turn into a grim look.
In the siege of Vlenna ten years ago, Leopol V, the previous king of Vlenna had accumulated grain in the city behind the wall to last for at least three months. However, when the city was attacked, an Elestovakian ship-based catapult had struck a hit on the grain warehouses complex, which resulted in a massive fire that rampaging around the street of Vlenna for four days
The fire only claimed half a thousand deaths, but 80% of the food was gone, and the city had faced the largest hunger from its entire history of seven hundred years, including the time under rule of the vampire.
Leopol VI had seen it, he was there when it happened, when he was thirteen, he saw from his palace children his age then eat rats and birds just to survive another day. Most of them did not make it through the week. Vlenna, from a city populated by 150 thousand people back then, after a month this number dropped down to just 70 thousand, and the population hasn’t yet to be recovered, not in another 50 years:
“...that is the cruelest thing once the war breaks out”-the king continues his sentence with a bitter voice-”And I am finding a way to prevent it from happening ever again, otherwise this city will be populated by only rats and living corpses. Say, what is your idea?”
Aurora answers, smiling:
“No worry Your Majesty, we, the Latilians, had dedicated several warships to deliver weapons and grains to the city this time. Our fleet will help supply the city during the siege, but in order to do so we need the Vlennians to open their watergate. You now probably understand why we need cannons there.”
“A plan to supply the city? I can see, when we open the gate, Elestovakian warships could also seize that opportunity to attack and slip in. We have to prevent that from ever happening.”
“Glad that you figured that out so quickly.”-Aurora claps her hands together-”Let me move to another thing: material for the wall.”
“What material?”
“Wood, the outside wall should be covered in layers of logs, as many as possible.”
“No need for logs, we can do that with stone-”
“No Your Majesty, the Elestovakian cannonballs cannot be halted with stone nor wood. I was talking about what will happen after they’ve penetrated the wall. Stone, while they are durable, when being broken apart, creates a nice road for men to walk over, wood, on the other hand, creates splinters and wattles, they are much harder to move men over…”
“...Hence they are the best material, if you expect your wall to be fired upon in the first place.”
Leopol draws out the conclusion gathered from Aurora’s explanation. That way of thinking did surprise him. Normally, people would prioritize making the walls as durable as possible, and defaulting that they cannot be taken down. However, this plan did included an extra protection for the walls, saying if the Elestovakian cannons cannot be stopped:
“That is…a clever assumption to be honest, I’ve never thought of that. And they are easy to set up as well, you’ve really put your mind into this, thank you.”
“I am grateful for your compliment, your Majesty.(Thank God I’ve read the Battle of Vienna enough for this) Let us continue.”
For the rest of the day, Aurora points out every part on the wall that needs to be fixed, troop deployment, blindspots around the wall, etc, to the Vlennian king.
By her side, a young assistant is noting down everything he heard, this would later be passed down to the Vlennian and Milishilian builders, then the project can begin.
“Once the Elestovakians have arrived, send a flier to inform us, we will take action and come for relief as soon as possible.”-Belisari prompted his friend, before the Latilians departed from the palace. The prince and his companions would stay in an accommodation near the port and the open market instead for a few days, waiting for the direction of the wind to turn for them to sail back to Latila.
**
“Hey Your Highness.”
Lily says, while she is carrying a box of Vlennian apples on the way to her and Belisari’s abode. The prince claims that he bought those fruits for Klein and Arlin, but obviously he would eat them all before arriving home.
“What?”
Belisari is also busy taking cigarette boxes with him. They were Lily’s, and for her. The only difference is that the archduchess does not try to hide it with any logical reason, she just straight up admitted that it wasn’t for anyone but her.
“I heard that Aurora is calling you Belisarius.”
“Well…yes, as soon as I allow her to speak with me without any hierarchy law.”
“You really let her be as childish as she wanted.”
“She is not childish, she is in fact a child.”
Belisari takes a long sigh of worryness, the girl would be lectured by Klein if he ever knew about it. But then he hears Lily tells him:
“Doesn’t matter, you allowed her to be childish. If that is the case, may I be childish and call you so as well? Belisarius?”
“You want to?”
“Yeah, if I let you call me Liliya then you should allow me to call you Belisarius. That is a fair deal.”
“That is what the word “childish” really mean”-the prince takes another sigh. If it can’t be helped-“I guess it’s fine.”
Belisari chuckled, then Lily as well:
“Just don’t let Klein find out.”