Ewald thought that the Fenchel army was heading toward Dido. He thought so; he assumed so because that was the only logical destination in his mind. Apparently, that wasn’t the case. After restocking their supplies at Vedo and then at Lyatan, they were heading straight toward Fort Dido.
How come?!
He shouted in his head. They had a clear plan, and it looked to be a complex one. They foresaw the rebellion and acted accordingly. Now, they were moving onto the next step. It was clear to him, at this point, that the Fenchel was not going to help the Flissing. Their goal was elsewhere.
As if confirming his suspicion, when they arrived at Fort Dido, there was the royal army led personally by Karsten Egra. The royal army of 8,000 men were already stationed at the fort, looking down fiercely at the Fenchel army that had just arrived; they were not letting their guard down even when a clearly friendly unit approached them. Their presence at the fort confirmed that they were purposely leaving Dido alone.
A man in a robe with short silvery hair greeted Edmund at the gate, flanked by several guards in full plate.
“Lord Fenchel, I’ve heard the news. I did not expect the Mesurii to join the rebellion. My apologies.” His tone was apologetic.
“It is fine. Everything went as planned regardless,” Edmund replied nonchalantly.
“What of Benjamin Strobel?” The man probed carefully.
“Dead,” He replied curtly.
“I see. Perhaps, that’s for the better.”
“Sir Knell, I would like an audience with the king.”
The man with silver hair was Isaac Knell, the king’s close advisor.
“Of course, he has been waiting for you.”
Only Edmund was allowed to enter. The Fenchel army was ordered to set up a camp right outside. The fort was at full capacity, they were told. Ewald was doubtful that he was told the truth. Either way, they were told to stay outside, and outside they were staying.
He surveyed the fort. The walls were very tall, almost twice taller than the walls of Lux. It was also very well maintained. The fort had a very dark hue due to the stones being dark-colored.
“We are pretty far up North,” Raem remarked.
“Oh, yeah.”
The village of Bronn was pretty far up North as well. It got pretty chilly at night which he expected the same to occur at this location.
On this occasion, Flora was right behind him, flanked by Avina. She looked up at the fort with bemused eyes. She never thought she’d be back here. In fact, her hometown, Dido, was just several days away to the East.
“This is pretty close to your hometown, isn’t it?” he told her.
“Yes, and this is the first time I’ve seen the fort.”
A noblewoman would never travel outside their manor unless she had a specific reason to do so. Add to the fact that the Flissing was constantly threatened by the Siwen for abductions and assassinations, she had absolutely no reason to travel this far to just see the fort.
Ewald considered the distance between Dido and here.
“How many days are we away from Dido?” He asked around.
“It’s probably about 3 to 4 days by a carriage,” Flora responded after giving it a momentary consideration.
The distance was close enough to reach by levitation in one attempt.
“I would like to visit Dido,” he declared, which surprised those around him.
“I beg your pardon?” Flora said with a bemused face.
He explained, “I am a wind mage. I can reach there via levitation. But I will only go if Lord Fenchel allows.”
He was pretty certain that Edmund would not allow him to fly to Dido.
Edmund emerged from the depth of the fort soon; the audience with the king didn’t last long apparently. He had a sealed letter in his hand when Ewald informed him of his desire.
“I will allow it,” he replied, “We actually need to send a letter to the Flissing.”
Normally, seal wax on letters were dark red, almost the color of blood. This apparent royal letter had a seal that was vividly crimson in color.
Flora, upon hearing the approval, told him to wait and dashed back to her tent to grab something to write on. It was a rare opportunity to send a letter to her family. Not having a proper letter to write on, she wrote hastily on a blank book she was carrying and ripped the page off the book, then folded it.
“I pray you don’t read it,” she said, looking embarrassed as she handed the folded piece of paper to him. Under normal circumstances, she could have sealed it with wax.
“Fear not, I won’t.”
“The letter must be delivered safely,” Edmund said, “If unable to, you must destroy it.” Having said so, he handed over a small fire crystal. This was an exploding fire crystal which Cezary apparently invented. “It explodes in violent flames upon an impact. Use it if must,” he explained.
He had no intention to get caught. Of course, one would never know what was going on in Dido. If the city had already fallen, he would destroy the letter.
Nodding firmly after taking two letters and an exploding fire crystal, Ewald simply levitated at once and ascended rapidly, flying at a high speed.
Edmund looked bemused and whispered, “Chantless magic?”
Wind elementals, make me fly faster!
Ewald was flying at fast speed. He felt that he was flying faster than what a normal spell of levitation would. Evidently, he could no longer keep his eyes open facing forward. He had to angle down slightly. The two letters were tucked inside of his shirt to keep them safe from blowing away.
Faster, faster!
Everytime he asked to fly faster, he felt like he was flying slightly faster. He wondered whether there was a limit. As much as he wanted to test it out, he was carrying a very important letter. The last thing he wanted was an accident and failing to do the one job he was tasked to do.
My eyes are burning. Should I slow down?
As a result of his eyes becoming drier, his eyes felt like they were on fire. He was forced to slow down just so that he could keep his eyes open.
Is there any way to protect my eyes during flight?
While glass existed in this world, its only usage was for glass bottles and wine glasses. It wasn’t even used for windows, and glasses weren’t even a thing. Therefore, there was no easy way to protect eyes against high wind. The technological advancement of this world was very slow and somewhat imbalanced due to the presence of magic and the risks of traveling.
The convenience of magic prevented creations of inventions that would have kicked-started further chain reactions. Additionally, migration being almost impossible for common folks prevented spread of whatever was newly developed and potentially posed a risk of being forgotten after a certain amount of time.
But the upside was unity among people; communities knew that they had to stick together, else it was death. As a direct consequence, the crime rate was relatively low, and bandits were almost non-existent.
He lost track of time and was pretty much mindlessly flying forward. At one point, he was starting to see what looked like smoke afar. There was a black dot and smoke arising from it.
“Dido?”
As he approached the spot, it was clear that he was looking at a fortress instead of a city. In his mind, he assumed that Dido was a city like Lux, with rather low walls. In reality, the city looked more like the Fort Dido he just came from. The only difference was the lack of a keep and that it was much larger in scale in order to accumulate its populace.
The smoke was actually coming from …
“Corpse? Literal hills of dead bodies…”
Countless bodies were at the base of the walls. The whole city was under a very intensive siege from all directions. Ladders were laid down against walls, and enemy soldiers were attempting to climb onto walls. At the first glance, it looked as if the walls were about to be breached. However, as he approached closer, he realized that it was the enemies who were badly struggling. The hills of bodies were entirely enemy soldiers.
The one thing he immediately noticed was the width of the walls. In Lux, on top of city walls, perhaps two soldiers would walk by simultaneously. In contrast, the wall of Dido was wide enough for perhaps four soldiers to walk simultaneously. This wider width allowed soldiers to work in two layers. There were archers in the back and spearmen on the front. The spearmen were thrusting their spears against the invading soldiers who were climbing ladders while archers were raining down fire arrows from above. The smoke was from burning bodies down below. There were barely any downed soldiers on the walls, indicating virtually zero casualties from the Flissing.
So, Edmund had no reason to be concerned at all. The Flissing is … strong.
He had goosebumps all over his body. The Fenchel and the Flissing were simply too strong. He reminded himself that the Flissing was against 45,000 men. Yes, they were in a defensive position. But would anyone in their right mind if they were against such odds?
He looked around, the whole area was full of the Siwen soldiers. It was literally packed to the brim. There were also badly burnt battering rams in front of all available gates around the city. It was apparent that the invading army failed to get through the gates and ran out of the rams.
How long have they been under siege?
From the amount of corpses at the base of the walls, he assumed that they had been besieged daily from the day one of the invasion, probably non-stop except for nights.
As he approached the city, the archers fired at him immediately. They were good shots; he dodged shots barely. If he didn’t have the advantage of flight and the distance, he would have been hit.
“I am friendly!” he shouted while circling around, “I am friendly!”
“Who are you?!” A soldier who seemed to be in charge of the section shouted back.
“My name is Ewald Fenchel. I brought a letter from the king!”
The soldier gestured to the archers to stop firing, and Ewald landed gracefully on top of a wall. The spearmen immediately pointed their weapons at him.
Digging through his shirt, he brought two letters out and held them in the air.
“One is from the king! The other is from Lady Flissing!” He announced. Then he placed both letters on the ground and took several steps back with arms in the air. A spearman grabbed both and handed them over to the soldier in charge. Recognizing the crimson seal at once, he rushed out of the scene, leaving Ewald in sort of limbo.
It was taking a while and the spearmen couldn’t just keep their weapons at Ewald because they were under siege. Soon enough, feeling that he was harmless, they ignored him and went straight to killing invaders as they climbed up the ladders.
He carefully lowered his arms and kept a safe distance from the edge of the wall where the ladders were. It looked like they were purposely leaving the ladders there for invaders to climb up so that they could kill them.
“My son in law!” A loud voice was heard from afar. It was Baptiste Flissing who donned half-plate armor. He looked to be in fine spirits.
“Lord Flissing.” Ewald responded with a light bow with a palm on his chest.
“No need for formalities in times like this!” He welcomed him with open arms. “Is my daughter pregnant yet?”
Dude…, I am only TEN!
“Not yet,” He replied curtly in spite of his internal rage.
And, as if he read his mind, he quickly elaborated, “I do realize you are rather young, but she is not. I give you my full permission to go ahead.”
I don’t need your permission to begin with!
Barking internally, he put on a fake smile and nodded along. Looking around, he remarked.
“It seems you are holding well.”
Baptiste laughed pleasantly. “The art of defense is our forte. We have over a million arrows in stock, and our food will last us over a year. The Siwen can come to us whenever they want. We won’t crack.”
He elaborated further that the water system within Dido was isolated as well in case of water poison attack.
Looking down, he found off-duty soldiers who were eating hearty meals. Some were even sleeping on the ground. They were basically rotating soldiers on the wall.
“Do they attack at night as well?”
“Sometimes. They did attack last night, hence you are seeing those on night duty sleeping down there.”
He wasn’t seeing anyone wounded which he found it hard to believe, given the scale of the siege. Looking further away, he saw common folks going about their daily lives. None of them seemed to be under duress. They were clearly used to this. Scary, he thought.
“Farmers can’t farm of course. Their fields are ruined. They are instead working for various jobs related to the defense,” Baptiste explained,” For example, farmers’ wives are cooking and farmers themselves are transporting supplies around the city.”
A year's food stock for the whole populace, isolated water system, more than enough arrows, soldiers rotating shifts on the spot: They were really, truly, prepared for this siege. This, of course, raised a bigger question: Why? They were pretty much ignored here, and it was clear that Baptiste did not mind that at all.
“Do you need to write a reply to the letter?”
“Hah! No, there is no need. Just tell them that I’ve received it.”
Having exhausted anything more to talk about, the man and the boy remained silent for a bit until a young boy’s voice shattered the silence. It was Daniel Flissing.
“I was told that a young man from the Fenchel arrived. I figured it was you!” He dashed toward them with excitement. There was absolutely no concern whatsoever on his face in spite of the current situation.
Ewald showed respect with a light bow and a palm on his chest which startled Daniel who did the same right after.
Sighing subtly, Baptiste scolded his son, “Daniel, you need to follow his example. How many times do I need to tell you? Always show respect first, lad.”
“Y, yes, father,” The boy answered timidly with sagged shoulders.
“Daniel!” Baptiste barked. “We are outside!”
As if realizing what he meant, the boy quickly corrected, “Y, yes, Lord Flissing!”
… Like Flora, this kid ain’t having an easy time, either, huh…
He recalled her claiming how she wasn’t having a moment of peace back in her own house. He thought she was half-joking when she said so. Apparently, her claim looked to be true. He could never imagine feeling uncomfortable in his own house. Interestingly, Edmund left Ewald pretty much alone. It was a complete hand-off approach he took. That was because his education was Elias’ job, and he felt Ewald didn’t need any. Anything he taught to him, he mastered it pretty much instantly. Thus, there was no need for further instructions. The same couldn’t be said for Daniel who seemed to be forgetting the basic etiquette as a noble.
Ignoring the uneasy boy, Baptiste suggested, “Let us go inside, or will you be leaving now?”
He could only cast the elemental version of levitation once in a day only. Thus, he would need to rest for some time before being able to cast another without passing out.
“I can cast levitation only once in a day. Therefore, I shall accept your hospitality, Lord Flissing.”
Beaming a bright smile, Baptiste replied as he turned around and started walking down stairs, heading down the wall.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Good, very good! Follow me, good ser.” And he walked past Daniel, completely ignoring him who looked dejected. As Ewald passed him by, he gave a discreet gentle pat on his back.
“Come on,” He whispered to him.
“Y, yeah,” He whispered back, snapping out.
The Flissing manor wasn’t as grandeur as the Fenchel’s. But it was still nothing to scoff at. It was perhaps about one third smaller in overall size, and its architectural philosophy slightly differed. The Fenchel manor was strictly a medieval European building painted in white. The Flissing manor had exposed wooden texture, similar to that of nordic structures.
Once inside, in the main lobby, a lady in an exquisite beige dress, flanked by two maids, was waiting for them. Right away, Ewald could see that she was Flora’s biological mother because she looked exactly like an older version of Flora. The resemblance was pretty uncanny. She featured the exact blonde hair and blue eyes. Her hair style was also identical to Flora’s pre-cut style. He was actually pleased that Flora would probably grow into such a beauty.
“Greetings, Lady Flissing,” He said as he made a light bow with a palm on his chest. There was a gentle smile on his face as he made his greeting. “I am honored to be graced with your presence. I am called Ewald Fenchel, the heir to the Fenchel house. Please excuse my intrusion.”
He didn’t mean to be this formal, but her natural beauty compelled him to act.
Lady Flissing looked initially shocked to be greeted like so but she soon put on a smile. To everyone’s surprise in the scene, she curtsied. A lady of her stature would generally not curtsy to a ten year old boy, noble or not. She wouldn’t even curtsy to a young prince.
“You flatter me, Lord Fenchel,” She replied with a Goddess-tier smile. She reminded him of Greta so much. On a site note, Baptiste seemed also extra pleased to have seen such formality toward his wife.
“See, Lena? What did I tell you?” He said while laughing pleasantly. Lady Flissing, apparently Lena, made her reply in a silent smile. He clicked his fingers to summon a butler.
“Show this young man the best room we have for a guest,” He told him.
Nodding, the butler led him to a room that was eerily similar to his own back in Lux. He assumed that this room wasn’t for a guest because it was as large as his own. As soon as the butler introduced him to the room, a trio of maids entered right after with one of them bringing in a food cart.
“Please make yourself home,” said the butler after which he took his leave.
The served dishes were literally identical to the ones he had been having back in Lux. Interestingly, there was a bottle of wine present on the cart.
“Is that for me?” He pointed at the bottle.
“Yes, Milord,” A maid replied.
“I am only ten however.”
“Traditionally, at the age of ten, we, the Flissing, allow boys to drink two cups of wine.”
Oh, that’s interesting.
“And girls?”
“They would not be allowed to drink until she is married and is given consent by her husband.”
“I see.”
Popping the cork gently, the maid poured wine into a cup. The sweet alcoholic scent quickly traveled to his nose. He had ale and beer before as Tom. Wine was strictly off limits for him in his former life. However, he had been taught how to handle wine glasses just in case by Elias. He held the glass gracefully, by having its stem between his middle and ring finger and then holding the bottom of its bowl. This was the traditional way for the kingdom, for men. He even swirled it around near his face for its scent.
The maids looked impressed because it didn’t look like it was his first time handling wine.
“It smells sweet,” He remarked with his eyes closed. When he took a sip, it tasted indeed sweet. The sweetness concealed the taste of alcohol. He wasn’t sure it was better than beer however. In his mind, nothing beat a roasted rabbit leg and a mug of beer after coming back from hard work.
“Very nice,” He showered a positive comment regardless. He certainly did not act like it was the first time drinking. The maids observed him closely as he had his dinner and wine. And, just as they claimed, at two glasses, they put the cork back into the bottle. He was starting to feel tipsy at this point which made him happy in fact.
I missed drinks.
He wanted to savor this moment. Alas, two unexpected guests entered soon after maids withdrew with the food cart. They were Lady Flissing and Daniel.
Can’t they leave me alone, jeez.
He stood up at once and showed his respect.
“Please let us relax a little,” Lady Flissing said. Daniel looked to be just happy to see a kid of his own age.
“I am afraid not.”
The gap between them in the social ladder was too big to just ignore formalities. He could certainly get on informally with Daniel if he came alone however.
“I’ve read the letter,” She said, “I have a question to inquire.”
“Certainly.”
“Why do I get an impression that the letter was written in haste? It was just a folded piece of paper.”
“Ah, that.”
She must have been concerned that her daughter might be under some precarious situation. He went on to explain that Flora tagged along with the army.
“She is here? I mean at Fort Dido?” She raised her voice in shock.
“Yes, she is here. She didn’t have the equipment to create a sealed letter. My apologies.”
Lady Flissing would gaze afar through a window vacantly, her eyes full of longing.
Do you miss her?
He wanted to ask but did not. Meantime, he was glad to see a noble’s daughter being loved. Considering the fate of Icilia, Esther, Noelle, and others, he was really glad to see a daughter being appreciated for once. It had been irking him for a while that women were treated like pieces of shit in the noble society. He saw Fionara as his wife and his equal; he planned to do the same to Flora in the future.
After a short session of chit chat, Lady Flissing and Daniel left the room, leaving him finally, at last, alone. Taking off his boots and killing candles, he groaned as he laid down on the bed. It looked like the sun had gone down a while ago.
Being tipsy as well as being moody, he lamented his current situation. At the moment, he was unable to do anything. What made him depressed was that the situation wouldn’t change much even when he inherited the Fenchel house. The Flissing was strong, and so was the royal army most definitely. Rebellion? It was a laughable idea at this point. A fool’s errand so to speak.
He sighed deeply.
Fio…, I may not be able to avenge you.
As much as he wanted vengeance, he wasn’t blinded enough to blatantly ignore lives around him in the present time especially when their only sin was following him. Such thoughts had been stressing him out, and he was becoming pent up. He needed a way to vent his anger. His maturity and rationality had been holding him back, but the restraint had been loosened with alcohol.
Jumping up from the bed, he walked toward a window and looked up at a wall. There didn’t appear to be a night attack this evening.
Putting his boots back on, he walked out of the room and out of the manor. Security within the manor was almost non-existent at the moment, and he was able to slip out easily. As he walked toward the wall, he encountered several soldiers who paid no attention to him. His presence was already announced by the Flissing, and nobody dared stopping him.
Standing on top of the city wall, he glared at something afar. He could probably see it only because it was midnight; There was an object that was illuminated better than anything else on the night field. It looked to be a large tent where their leadership members were staying, presumably.
Fucking bullshit. Why is everything so fucking hard?!
Grunting miserably, tears filled his eyes. Did he not deserve his right to exact revenge? If sacrificing his own god damn soul wasn’t enough, what was enough?!
As such thoughts swirled in his head, he felt strong resentment. What did he do wrong to deserve this fate? He was just a hunter. All he did as Tom was hunt to support his wife and kids.
He took a deep breath. It was at this point that he started hearing murmurs around him.
What now?
Completely clueless, he looked around to find soldiers on the wall looking at him with bemused eyes.
What?
He would soon find out why. Translucent green butterflies were flying around him.
Elementals…, you can hear my thoughts, can’t you?
His raw emotions were attracting elementals.
You hear my cry, do you not? Then help me… FUCKING HELP ME!
“ELEMENTALS OF WIND, HEAR MY CRY!”
The soldiers nearby startled at his sudden shout. Ewald took out his bow from his back and aimed at the tent afar. It was so far away that it was a mere bright dot from where he was. Ordinarily, nothing would be able to reach there, certainly not arrows.
The translucent green butterflies shone brightly for a moment, indicating that they were indeed hearing his voice. Taking a deep breath, he began his incantation. He didn’t have to but he wanted the world to hear what he was about to say.
“Elementals of wind, please heed my cry. Please feel my heart. Please feel the burning rage!”
A brightly shining green arrow appeared out of thin air and slotted itself into the bow. The soldiers were loudly talking to each other at this point, awed by the literal magical moment. Not many of them had seen magic previously. It was a surreal moment for most of them.
“Embrace my rage!” He bellowed with a single drop of tear flowing down through his cheek.
The green shining arrow was beginning to be enveloped by equally shining green strings like a whirlwind itself was forming around it. The strings were very animated as if trying to mimic a whirlwind.
“MORE!” He demanded. “MORE!”
The arrow and the strings began to shine ever so brightly, so much so that Ewald’s own figure was enveloped fully in green light at this point. This commotion had apparently been reported; Baptiste and Daniel were running out of the manor and rushing toward the scene.
“HURRICANE -”
Bullshit! Fuck this world!
He wanted to vent. His anger had been bottled up for about five years at this point. He racked his brain to seek a way to exact his revenge. He thought he had found a way only to be faced with reality, which was that he’d likely fail with everyone around him being executed. Upon realization, it wasn’t about exacting revenge anymore. He had to think about survival first and foremost. He wasn’t alone anymore. Raem looked up to him for his future. Flora’s life was literally hanging on his well-being. The girl -
She have no fucking place to return to! If I die, so will she! Fuck, fuck, FUUUUCCCCK!
“ARROW -!”
The moment he uttered the final word, the magical arrow had become a giant green blob of ever-bright energy bolt; it propelled itself forward at a speed people could barely keep track of. It was there for one moment and it was gone a second later. There was also a very loud bang, like thunder, when it began to bullet forward. At the same time, Ewald was flown back violently, bouncing a few times on several roofs and then crashing into a house all the way down into the basement from a roof.
“Uuugggghhh.”
Moaning with pain from all over his body, he was about to pass out in a debris file. Perhaps, he was hallucinating but he felt like he saw Fio looking down on him among the gathering people who looked down to see what just happened. She was translucent and had a sort of green hue.
“Fio…”
I am sorry…
His eyelids felt extremely heavy, and his vision was being shrouded in darkness progressively. He experienced this before; he was going to pass out soon. Conjuring the last bits of his energy, he whispered to no one.
“I thank you…, elementals.”
For helping me with my selfish desires…
Just before he lost his consciousness, he felt as if a single green butterfly was floating right in front of his eyes.
………………………..
…………………..
……………
……….
When he opened his eyes, a maid was looking down on him. Her brown eyes opened widely and she dashed out.
“H, he is awake! He’s awake!” She screamed while on her way out.
I must have been out for a while…
When he was about to make out of the bed he was on, several people rushed in; there was Lord Flissing, Daniel, and a middle-aged man who couldn’t recognize. They had one thing in common; they all kneeled down.
“Lord Fenchel!” They shouted in unison.
“... Yes?”
“We inform you that General Goss is dead! Our arch nemesis is dead!” The man he couldn’t recognize exclaimed with tears in his eyes and repeated, “General Goss is dead! He is dead!”
General Goss was considered an arch nemesis for the Flissing because he was known to be a leading figure behind kidnapping and assassinations. He had always planned for the downfall of Egra and was very active in war efforts to invade. Overall, the Flissing saw him as the man to kill.
Now, according to spies within the Siwen army, the tent he was staying in was literally obliterated, leaving only a small crater. All they found was his arm holding a roasted chicken leg and one of his legs. As awkward as they were, it was proof enough that Goss had in fact perished.
“Siege has paused for now,” Lord Flissing added, standing up. “We, the Flissing, owe you a great debt.” The others stood up as well.
With their supreme commander absurdly killed, their chain of command had broken down. They were apparently trying to elect a new leader and were going through infighting.
“What was the magic?” Daniel questioned with very animated hands trying to recreate what he saw. “You were covered in green magic and boom!”
“It’s called a magic arrow, a form of wind magic.”
“We’ve never even heard of a magic arrow from wind magic,'' a man behind Lord Flissing responded. He was wearing a robe, thus possibly a scholar of some kind. Ewald explained briefly how it worked and was about to show an example only to realize that his bow was gone.
Probably destroyed like before…
Then he came to a realization.
Do I even need a bow to begin with? Elementals, grant me a bow.
A green translucent bow appeared in his hand.
“Chantless magic!” The man in a robe uttered. “I believe it’s possible for a mage with an affinity level of 7 and above.”
He shook his head. “Mine is only 5.”
“Then how is that possible?”
He knew the answer at this point. It was possible because he was able to communicate with elementals. But he wasn’t going to reveal the fact. Thus, he ignored his question and moved on. This time, he chanted properly.
“Elementals of wind, hear my call. Grant me a magic arrow.”
As soon as his incantation ended, a green translucent arrow slotted itself into the magical bow.
“Wow!” Daniel uttered with excitement.
“Interesting. I didn’t know wind magic could be used this way,” Baptiste remarked.
“It’s something to ponder about, Milord,” the man in a robe responded.
“Anyway…, I should take my leave. How many days have I been out?”
“You’ve been out for two days, and you shouldn’t leave now,” Baptiste replied with an ominous smile. “The show is about to begin,” He added.
“The show?”
“Have something to eat and take a bath. When done, find us at the wall.”
The trio of maids entered right after they left. They provided a bath first. In the bath, he recalled what exactly occurred on the night. He was only tipsy, thus he was fully aware of what he was doing.
I feel better. I feel as if a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
The whole situation didn’t change, but he felt better anyway. He did vent his pent up stress after all. He was thinking more clearly now.
I will just have to wait and see how it goes. Killing the king is easier said than done. That is for sure.
Dunking his head into bath water, he recalled how he orchestrated elementals to provide him with more power. It was much more powerful than the one he fired at the royal party.
I shouldn’t use the hurricane arrow too often … If people associate that spell with me, I won’t be able to use it to kill the king…
Though he felt it was already a bit late for that. After the bath, it was meal time. It was a hearty meal. Given he hadn’t eaten anything for two days, it was warranted.
“Would you like wine?” A maid asked.
He instinctively looked at a window. It was morning.
Alcohol in the morning? No thanks.
“I am good, thank you.”
He assumed that Baptiste was known to drink even in the morning. Otherwise, the maids wouldn’t even ask. Common sense and all that.
When Ewald walked up to a wall, he found Baptiste with several men. Daniel was also present who noticed him first and approached him.
“Lord Fenchel, we’ve been waiting for you.”
“Is something going to happen?”
Looking afar, the invading army seemed to be taking a break.
“..........”
No, he was wrong. The invading army was facing another army. It looked to be far smaller however.
“Is the smaller army one of us?”
“Yes,” Daniel replied.
Baptiste added, “Our reinforcement has arrived.”
They clearly weren’t either the Fenchel nor the royal army. It was probably the combined army of the other houses.
“Do we know how big the reinforcement is?”
“It’s about 8k,” Baptiste said.
The Siwen army wouldn’t be 45k at the moment, given the amount of casualties from the siege. Still, the reinforcement was vastly outnumbered regardless.
“Shouldn’t we do something? They will be crushed if they face the Siwen like that.”
Both armies were on a very open plain. If a battle occurred, there was absolutely no way that the reinforcement would come out victorious unless the reinforcement was as strong as the Fenchel and the Flissing. Even then, he had doubts. The very fact that they were about to duke out on an open field felt like a huge mistake.
“Oh, we will help them out, just not now,” Baptiste said with another ominous smile.
Soon enough, the reinforcement clashed with the Siwen army head on. The Siwen army, vastly superior in number, began to encircle the reinforcement slowly, and the reinforcement wasn’t doing too well.
Baptiste jeered, “Did they even train their soldiers? What is this?”
Ewald recalled how quickly the rebellion was crushed. Their soldiers were very much untrained also. He was starting to see a pattern here. The nobles of the East, the Flissing, the Egra, and the Fenchel, were strong whereas the nobles of the West were weak.
Lord Flissing must have known that the reinforcement was going to be useless. Then, what is he planning?
As he watched the battle unfold before his eyes, he noticed two small groups of troops were approaching from two opposing sides. Each group was probably about only twenty people or so.
“Who are those people? Do you see them? Two small groups are approaching the battlefield.”
Baptiste didn’t reply. Instead, he smiled ominously. The distance was too far to make out any of their identities, but he felt like he was seeing Greta among a group.
Once they were close enough, the Siwen army had already encircled the reinforcement and was literally butchering what was left of them. The reinforcement army began to surrender, but the Siwen wasn’t accepting them and simply chopped them down. It was at this point where the two groups acted. Magical light of red, blue, green, and yellow was beginning to sparkle from the two groups who were close enough but had a safe distance.
“They are mages?!” He uttered.
“Indeed,” Baptiste replied with a confident grin.
Fireballs, fire storms, fire rains, whirlwinds, Seiche, and earthquakes were being cast upon the battlefield. The soldiers on the battlefield were being burnt to crisp, being flown high in the air, having their flesh ripped apart from Seiche, and falling right into cracks on the ground due to earthquake spells. It was pure chaos.
So, this is what their plan was!
Initially, he felt like it was a very good idea but quickly realized that everyone was getting killed, friends and foes. Literally everyone was being killed indiscriminately.
So, this was why the royal army and the Fenchel weren’t joining up…
The puzzle was starting to make sense now. They gathered up a “reinforcement” from the nobles of the West and had them spar with the Siwen army to draw attention. And then, amid the chaos, they were utilizing mages to literally butcher them up in one giant pot that was a battlefield. The mage groups hit them before they knew what came at them. Ironically, the whole battlefield was full of pretty colors of magic.
The two mage groups withdrew swiftly once they cast whatever they could before their stamina would completely run out. By time the pretty colors faded, the battlefield was nothing more than just a field of corpses. Only those in outer boundaries were standing. Ewald calculated roughly that over 80% were brutally killed with no one surviving from the reinforcement army since they were encircled in the middle where the spells hit the hardest.
Massacre…
This massacre reminded him very much of the Bronn massacre where the villagers were murdered for just being there. The reinforcement, their ally, were killed for just being there as well.
So, it was the king after all… This is the second massacre he has committed. It cannot be a coincidence. It was his idea before, and this was his idea now.
It was clear to him that it was the king. Until this moment, he had no concrete proof and he wasn’t sure. But he was now absolutely certain that Karsten Egra was behind the Bronn massacre.
Was there really no other way? He wasn’t trying to be a righteous person. Perhaps, this was the best plan they could come up with. Did they really need to kill their own though? 8,000 of their own were killed outright for a war tactic. Was there really no other way? In his mind, there would have been other ways. It was clear to him that Karsten saw no value in life other than his own.
Either way, with the main Siwen invasion army utterly broken, he wondered what the next objective would be.
Counter invasion, huh…
The Egra may have lost 8,000 men but they wouldn’t have been useful anyway. The real force of the Kingdom was at its full strength and were right at the border.
“Men, we go out and clean up the field!” Baptiste roared with his fist in the air. The spearmen dropped their weapons at once and went down. By the time they were pouring out of a city gate, they had a sword and a shield in their hands. The Flissing army swiftly swept across the battlefield. The Siwen soldiers, at this point, had lost the will to fight back and some of Siwen soldiers surrendered, but likewise they accepted no surrenders and mercilessly cut enemies down.
“Victory!”
“Victory!”
Soon, their cries of victory were heard. The siege of Dido was over with the Siwen main invasion force literally gone.
He saw enough and cast levitation; His body began to float.
“Sir Daniel, I shall take my leave. I must head back to Fort Dido.”
Daniel, who was looking down on the field, looked behind and up. Nodding affirmatively, he bid a good-bye.
It was now time to invade the Siwen dynasty.