The guild wars… A spectator sport where children literally play war in hopes of garnering fame, wealth, and honor. It also serves as what is essentially a placement test for the actual education system. When they started, I could feel my heartbeat pounding in my chest. Every fiber of my being was simultaneously itching for a game of strategy… And terrified of a mass battle where I could die…
“Isy… Raise the flag.”
There were only four of us, and we were given a castle all to ourselves. Not only that but it was right in the middle of the war field. In other words, we would be considered the easiest to beat, and in a strategically valuable location… If that was all there was to it I’d say we were screwed, but considering how I set up beforehand, I didn’t see there being any issues.
The drums rang out across the plains and the castles each raised their flags, marking the beginning of the war.
“So… What’s the plan Little Lizard.”
“Hold on a second. I’m waiting…” I focused my eyes and slowly watched the other flags go up one by one. In total, there are 36 guilds… And 40 or so castles. Even trying to just place one person per castle occupying them wasn’t an option. Because of that, being in the center wasn’t ideal… But if we lost a castle before first taking another one we would be out… Of course, I still had a plan… Of sorts, but it would have to be well coordinated. “There it is.”
My eyes finally found it, locking onto my brother's flag as it rose high into the air nearly a mile away on the outskirts of the battlegrounds. ‘Alright… I’ve never actually tested this thing range… There's no way to tell how much weight I’m actually pulling on this bow… But, let’s see shall we.’ I increased the draw weight to its maximum and attached a note to my arrow, carefully calculating the wind and zooming with my eyes to give me what was quite literally inhuman accuracy. When I let go I heard the air crack like a whip and a gust of wind fluttered my hair. Tracking the arrow with my eyes… It almost killed Kai… ‘Well… I’m in range… Turns out, accuracy is a bit tricky… When shooting so far away…’
I slowly looked around again to take in the whole battlefield and it was like I could see in all four directions at once, the entire map was within reach. To the northwest was my brother, to the west was Dragons Talon, and to the southeast was the Mafia. As the positions became clear the plan slowly began to piece itself together in my mind. We would spread the full chaos of war, and in the midst of it, no one would even figure out that my guild… Was really four guilds in one…
“The message was delivered to my brother. For now, we hold this position. We can’t afford to let anyone else occupy the castle and lower our flag, and it’s too risky to try and take another before we lose it.”
“Why is that, wouldn’t it be easier to sneak in and take a castle of a weak guild on the outer rim?”
“It’s simple really…” I walked to the opposite side and stared across the planes. “They’re already coming for us…”
“They?” Bear asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Those guys we beat in the last round, there pissed you stole their weapons… Well, I guess that’s just conjecture.”
He stepped up beside me. “So what’s the plan…” He grumbled, asking again.
‘Does he want me to just say we kill them all or something? Plans aren’t that easy to explain!’
“First we beat them down, then we tie them up and hang them from the walls. They were hard to be in straightforward combat, but this time will be easy. The bigger issue is that.” I pointed over to the army approaching us in mass, rather than just four members, it was at least a dozen. Although, they were all on foot.
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“And how do we deal with that… Who even are they? More from the tournament?”
“No… In all likelihood, they are a little pissed I dismantled their guild and took all their marks… Long story… Mo?” I turned back to her.
“It’s done. Tipwires, smoke bombs, rock traps. I liked your idea of a big rock rolling down the narrow staircase, so I did that too.”
“Good. And… They are… None lethal… Right?”
She shrugged. “Probably.”
‘I really hope we don’t accidentally kill someone… But these guys are pretty inhuman so they should be fine right?’ “To answer your question, Bear. I’m going to go out on horseback and obliterate the captain of the group of four and bring him back as a hostage. All of you will wait here and–” I suddenly shoved Bear out of the way, helping him dodge an arrow that was larger than I was. Rather than a note tied to it, the message was carved into the shaft… “Good luck.” ‘This message wasn’t worth sending… Bear could have died!’ I slowly looked up at him, his face slightly more pale than before.
“Thanks.” He said softly.
“Right… Isy, feel free to get some target practice in with your new bow, but none of you should leave the castle rooftop, or you might set off Mo’s traps, got it?” With that I took off, scaling down the castle wall as though I were rock climbing and meeting Fritz at the bottom. “You ready girl?” ‘It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to ride her.’
She took off like mad and in less than a few minutes we had ridden out and immobilized the enemy commander, returning before the others even knew what had happened. Then we used a rope to tie him to the castle wall and I scaled it again. ‘I should have known after watching her take out a pack of dire wolves on her own… But my horse is scary… This didn’t even have anything to do with me.’
“Your back… Now what…”
“That depends… They are still chasing right?”
“Right…”
“Isy, test out your aim on those three down there.”
She nervously took her bow and started shooting, adding pressure to their advance while they continued to blindly charge toward us. I honestly wasn’t expecting her to hit anyone… But her arrows were so big she tripped up one of the horses… And judging by the spectacular crash, I was pretty sure we only had to worry about two of them at that point.
“Nice shot,” I muttered, slightly dumbfounded. ‘Maybe her real strength is just her luck…’ “I feel bad for the horse though… Do you think it’s ok?”
They all blankly stared at me.
‘Was it something I said?’
Bear shook his head with a grin, anxiously cracking his knuckles and shaking out his arms. “I’m sure THE HORSE is fine… Are a few traps really enough to take out over a dozen men…”
‘Are they really more worried about the rider? Horses are more fragile though no? It could’ve broken its legs. Well, I’ll worry about it later…’ “Probably… But it’s not like that’s all we’re fighting.” I pointed to the southwest where another group of 7 knights marched toward us in full battle armor.
“How did you piss them off!” He growled.
I crossed my arms with a wry smile “Oh them? I… Wait, actually, I don’t recognize them at all… they might just be marching here for the strategic advantage of the location our castle happens to hold. There wearing armor though too… So… Are they nobles? Rich commoners?”
He growled again grabbing my shoulders and yanking me close to him until we were right up against each other, another massive arrow from my brother landing right behind me. For the record, I did notice it… And it would have missed, all be it barely… “The most northern province in the nation still wears armor out of tradition. You haven’t heard of the Larisa region? I thought you were a noble.”
“I-isuh-ju-well– You can… Let go of me now…”
He let out another growl, stepping back and I turned to read the message from my brother, quickly grabbing the arrow and tracing the text with my finger. “Airhead,” it said plainly.
“REALY! NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR THIS!”
“Is there another force approaching?” Mo asked, jumping to her feet.
“N-no… It’s… It’s nothing…” ‘Did he seriously just fire that message to make me flustered? No… He would do something like that, but not in a situation where I need to stay levelheaded…’ I looked closer at the other side to find the real message. “Did you piss off Blood Lotus too? No one is advancing toward us at the moment, so I’m sending Kai and another knight to help you out there. The moment you’re done with those first three skirmishes advance on the castle next to mine with the giant diamond turtle on the flag.”
“What is this… Like the tutorial… Where someone else tells you what moves you should make…” I felt my brow start to twitch. ‘He’s acting like he’s the one in charge…’
“Siya?”
I took a deep breath and sighed, throwing the arrow to the ground. “The plan stays the same for now… We are expecting two allies, Kai and one other, don’t shoot them.” ‘Thinking ahead is nice… But let’s just make it through the first act…’