“There was a dream, a dream called a greater Latila…”
“Fire!”
In the White square, the largest open space in the city of Latila, a column of trebuchets and catapults are working tirelessly, firing burning stones after another to the outer wall and enemy naval warships. Cooperating with them is the Flier Reconnaissance Corp, with the task of measuring the distance to the targets, then report back to the operators working below:
“Vitta 1 to headquarter Latila, reporting enemy cannons in the north east, the Ganeoses holding the line are in struggle. Request fire support immediately.”
Words from a flier notify about an incoming attack. Seeing that, the Latilian defenders quickly get to work.
“Headquarter Latila got it. Withdraw Vitta 1, incoming projectiles.”
Two people from each gear throw a large stone covered in oil onto the sling of each war gear and set them afire. Then, the controllers fire them into the night sky by moving the level and letting gravity swing the swing arms to launch projectiles onward and release them from their launchers. The stones covered in burning oil lighting up the paths on their way to the enemies. It is very hard to score a hit with that ballistic trajectory of the weapon, but that is the only way they could use these trebuchets now.
BAM!*
A large explosion followed as the ammunition hit the ground, shattering into thousands of burning debris. If it hits, it would cause great damage to the invaders, if not…then they’ve wasted another bucket of oil for nothing. Better let a flier to go there to check:
“How is it, Vitta 1.”
“I am coming closer…No…Emergency situation! the Ganeoses are abandoning their position! I repeat…”
“What?”
For whatever reason, the crossbowmen mercenaries they bought from Ganeo are running from their position on the wall. Amerius Luscusius, called Vitta 1, the commander of the 2nd Fliers corp flies closer for a clear look:
“They are fleeing, still maintaining their weapons…where is their commander- oh God. Vitta 1 to headquarters Justiniana is dead. This wall needs to be reinforced as fast as possible. Vitta 1 to headquarters, Flier Melee Centuria XII and Flier Aerial Centuria XI will hold them, but we will need more than that.”
At that moment, a few projectiles from the ground come, almost shoot down Amerius if it wasn’t for her to dodge them in advance:
“They have anti-air ballistas to deal with us too, we the Fliers cannot hold them off for too long.”
“I got it. Keep firing into that general direction, I will go to support the Maritime mercenaries.”
“No your Highness!”
Among the operators that were working at the White square that day, Belisari, the fourteen years old crown prince of Latila was the only monarch member. Taking a crossbow from the stock left by the army, with a Ganeoese mercenary uniform, the young prince jumps from his position and rushes across the street, searching for a way to arrive at the wall as soon as he can.
The city is full of people with their belongings packed to leave the city, they are leaving his country. Fine, as their prince, Belisari must help these people, by buying them more time to leave.
**
“Here.”
Lily, returning after a trip to the nearest firm of the Maritime traders, throws a chest full of gold coins onto the table.
Aurora, the receiver of the money, was in total shock. Although it is unclear how much this would be in dollars or rubles, this is without a doubt the largest amount of fortune she has ever seen in her life, came from just selling the smallest out of the large pieces of diamond she used to donate to the Latilians.
And she is not the only one either. Belisari, Aurelian and pretty much everyone there, aside from Lily because she was already shocked a moment ago, opened their mouths widely. They don’t know how the Maritimers gathered the money so quickly, nor how much the diamond was valued to them. They just know that they now had a lot of money that needed to be exchanged.
“Twenty million Denarii, they said”-Lily places on the table a note-”This is more than enough to pay salaries for our army for five months, including the mercenaries. And this is…just one. How many pieces do you get there, Aurora?”
“Fifteen, minus one, fourteen. Assuming they would buy with the same price in the worst case, we would have two hundred eighty million. That is…amazing…”
All of a sudden, Aurora stands up. With sparks glowing crazily in her gray eyes and a large smirk on her face, she opens her arms wide:
“Your Majesty”-she says-”I will keep one of these gems for myself, the rest can be exchanged and expropriated into Latilians warchest. Ahaha, be grateful to receive my charity.”
Aurora starts laughing like a maniac in front of everyone, she entirely forgot that she is meeting the monarch. However, neither Justinius, Belisari, Aurelian nor anyone here could care less about that, their attention is entirely on the amount of fortune being shown in front of their eyes.
“This…this is incredible-”
“Hey”
The door suddenly opened, stepping in Klein Voyage and Arlin Voyage, the two people who followed the team just a moment before the chariot left, they opened this door because of the weird noise coming out of the room. Seeing Aurora in a weird pose while everyone else are sitting, Klein walks toward her and raises his fist:
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
*Bonk!*
“Ouch!”
“Aurora Borealis”-he says, while cleaning his hand with a towel after using it to knock on Aurora’s head-”You might be His Highness’s guest, but you cannot do so in front of him nor His Majesty-”
“Hey hey what is over there-”
Arlin, the other Voyage at the door points at the chest on the table, a second before him joining the rest of the Latilians here stunning because of that amount of treasure:
“Klein”-Justinius stands up from behind the table-”Don’t harm Aurora. She gave us that money- no, she gave us more than that. She deserved being treated as an aristocrat, no, more than that.”
Said done, the king walks from his place to Aurora, she has calmed down a bit, though still hurt from the knock:
“The Kingdom of Latila thank you for your generosity.”-the king places his palms on her shoulders-”This nation owns you and the donation you gave us, we will repay you someday. I promise I will support you with everything I could if it is within my possibility. You may leave.”
**
“Just who are you exactly?”
The Voyages, Aurora and Gerald decided to stay in Belisari’s domain for tonight.
It is just the middle of the day, the sun has not even reached its highest place, almost, but not yet. Though there are still ponds left after the heavy rain yesterday, it is basically sunny now, an opportunity to go around the city. However, as much as Aurora wants to do it, she has to sit here, on the highest tower of the Latila Palace, being questioned by Belisari, the person who dragged her here:
“I am an expeditioner.”-she said, gazing beyond the window-”Is there any wanderer who does not bring some money with them when they go somewhere?”
“That does not explain the amount of treasure you brought along with yourself. You are richer than any person in this country- no, in the entire known world. I knew there is something in that backpack”-Belisari points at the thing hanging on the back of Aurora:
”In the grace of God, you are no more fit for the role of being an ordinary engineer who was hired by me any more. Your action broke that role, why?”
“Ehehe…”
Aurora points her fingers against each other. She seems to be regret, although there is not much of it:
“Sorry about that. But I guess they don’t care about it, they just see me as a generous donor. That would also keep them busy for a while finding people to purchase these gems.”
Klein and Arlin were tasked with finding customers to exchange the diamonds into coins. They took more time than they should have, considering that not many individuals could spend that much money just to buy these valuable stones. Meanwhile, the King himself had just contacted the Milishilians, in seeking for a deal with them:
“It would be at least a week before we could gather sixty million Denariis, I’ve predicted.”-Aurora elaborates, trying to switch the topic to something else-”Most of the money will come from the Maritime merchants, a small portion from the Milishilians, the rest from the neighboring region in the Elestovakian Empire.”
“The Elestovakians…Why?”-Belisari asks.
“What, aren’t they the enemies? Lily told me so.”
Aurora tilts her head a bit, she does not understand why Belisari switches his tone when speaking about dealing with the Elestovakians:
“They are enemies, you know that, why do you still trade with them?”
“Huh? Isn’t that good? By draining their funds in the neighboring regions with these gems, their army bordering Latila will shrink in number, without Latila losing any men.”
“Wait-”
“And we have money from them to build our strength. That was a fine strategy to say the least.”
“That was all of your plan?”
“Yes.”
Diamonds, they are extremely valuable according to the market, Aurora fully aware of that. However, she also knows that they are not suitable to be used to pay salaries for troops, or purchase weaponry, gold coins are much better in that role. By trading these carbon-based stones for coins, Aurora has got money she can use, and binding her customers a fortune in which they can hardly use for exchange, nor can be smelt into weapons.
Or course, whatever happens to these diamonds is unknown, the Elestovakians might pass them over with higher prices, which would make the money draining plan go spoiled. But that is a gamble worth to play, and:
“Is that nation maintaining nobility ranks, if that is the case, we are lucky.”
With a nobility system like the Holy Roman Empire, the local army will be drained, since they are entirely dependent on financial support of the local lords, the targets in Aurora’s plan:
“Ah…I see the mind behind this. Their lords will purchase these gems and to have the money, cut the militia’s fund. They cannot call for imperial nor foreign support either without paying them.”
That was how the Battle of Vienna would’ve worked out if not thanks for donation from the Roman Catholic church. History can be applied from one world to another, Aurora thought so. Hence the plan was drawn out to avoid mistake of the Ottomans:
“Exactly, I’ve researched carefully before my expedition.”
The girl takes a look beyond the border of the city, outside of the wall.
An Elestovakian village is there, so close, it was a Latilian village just ten years ago. Stones and missile remains are still left in the field, never being cleaned up or harvested. The place where the Fliers Centuria XII made their last stand now emerged a lavender field. The Elestovakian War was a devastating blow to the Latilians, and now in hard time they have to use gems to scam resource from their once righteous territory:
“It is not necessary we have to target the Elestovakians, but it is worth a try. Do you think so?”
Belisari, taking a long sigh, agreed:
“I guess so.”
The two do not say anything for a while, they just silently look beyond the window, at the Latila port, at the walls, at the abandoned Flemton fortress, and think about many months ahead, what change may occur…
*Stomach growling noise*
…maybe later, it is time for lunch. Medieval foods tend to not carry so many nutrients to make a person full for a long time.
“I will make some food”-said Aurora, as she stood up from her seat-”Do you want some as well?|
“You will?”
“Yeah, I…can’t rely on other people when it comes to cooking.”
She lied, Aurora cooks not exactly good, but compared to anything she had eaten from yesterday, it is better to make herself a meal, and Belisari and Lily as well. Maybe that would change the overall eating habits of this country, if she could….
**
“It’s good! So good!”
Both Belisari and Lily say after having just a spoon of soup which Aurora cooked. Compared to what they’ve eaten this morning, this is like a feast of the angels. The two aristocrats, after experiencing such a high quality dish, cannot go back to their old way of eating. That is exactly the Russian girl expected and hoped for:
“You are a really great chef, Aurora.”-Lily wiped her mouth with a towel-”Are you willing to teach our chefs how to cook like you?”
“Of course, with my pleasure”
Aurora smirks a little. The main key for a good modern dish is some spice.