As soon as Ewald made his return to Fort Dido and informed Edmund about the outcome of the siege, everything he had expected had happened. The royal army made a swift advance toward Gonne while the Fenchel army made their own advance toward Ediva. The Flissing, meanwhile, advanced toward Tonga. The flood gate opened, and counter-invasion had begun. This had been the moment they had been waiting for.

image [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/7335/JOSSIP.png]

Because of the fact that it would take some time for the Siwen to realize that their main army had literally been obliterated, the counter-invasion took the Siwen by complete, utter, surprise. They were confident that it was only a matter of time before Dido would fall, and they weren’t prepared at all for a counter invasion. The mere thought was impossible for them.

Ediva was a city with about 25,000 people. It was built on a plain, like Lux and Dido. As one of the frontier cities, it was decently walled. And, also as a frontier city, this was one of smaller settlements and it was as large as Lux in population.

“Ediva is the smallest settlement in the Siwen,” Elias said, “And its population is as large as Lux.”

Elias, Greta, Theo, and other mages had joined up the army soon after the siege at Dido was over. Their job was apparently over.

“Indeed,” Edmund replied, “We cannot handle too much of them at once.”

While they shared the same language, their cultures were somewhat different. Integration was something they had to consider. Do they let them be? Or do they force them to be Egrians? Cultural assimilation was the hardest part of any job. Do it wrong, you entice rebellion. Don’t do it, you never integrate the land you acquire. Do a half-job, you are just wasting time and money.

When the Fenchel army approached, the gate guards had no idea who they were facing. Noah Harder approached them at once and declared aloud.

“We are the Fenchel of the Kingdom of Egra! Lower your weapons and surrender!”

The pair of guards, who were donning fur coats, opened their eyes widely while looking at each other. Soon, they immediately dropped their weapons and got down to their knees. They probably did not recognize the noble house Fenchel. All they knew was that they were their enemies and that they couldn’t fight back due to being vastly outnumbered. They had barely a hundred troops at the time and, thus, didn’t have enough men to withstand a siege. Besides, they didn’t even bother closing the gates. Ediva's mayor was soon informed of the news, and he rushed out alone. He was a stocky bald man.

Surveying the army with his eyes widened, he uttered.

“I, I don’t believe it! But our army…”

“Gone. None will be coming back,” Noah replied back.

“You lie!”

“Do you think we’d be here if we were lying?”

The mayor exclaimed in denial, “Our army is 45,000 strong! They cannot just be ‘gone’!”

True, he had a point. An army that large wouldn’t just disappear. Even if defeated, soldiers would scatter, and the defeated army can be assembled back. The rebellion army was a typical example where only 900 out of 6,000 were killed. Even though defeated technically, if the Strobel remained intact, they may have had a chance to reassemble their army of 5,000 back. Of course, their morale would be low and may need to be equipped again, but the army would be back in some shape and form.

If Ewald did not see the massacre, if he did not see almost all of them being killed outright right before his eyes, he would have a very hard time trusting a stranger’s claim of an army, 45,000 strong, defeated and just “gone”.

But, gone, they were. They were really gone. He felt that, if lucky, a thousand soldiers might make it back home. That would make around 2% survival rate.

In the end, the mayor had little choices. It was either submission or death. He chose the former, which was an understandable choice. He was clearly reluctant to believe them however.

Camping outside for the night after brief restocking of their supplies, Ewald and Raem were preparing their tents. They were not staying inside the city for mostly security. Whether submitted or not, they were more less still enemies. It’d take time for them to realize what really happened and accept their defeat. By keeping a distance, they were mostly safe from ambushes.

“Oh, man, it’s getting pretty chilly,” Raem remarked while rubbing his hands for a little bit of warmth. “And what’s this white smoke coming out of my mouth?”

He, too, was seeing white smoke coming out of his mouth. He had never seen this phenomenon before. Then he recalled Cezary’s statements regarding how cold it could get in the Siwen.

“I will be right back.”

Having told Raem, he dashed toward Edmund’s tent. A pair of guards let him in without a fuss. He was discussing something with Elias at the moment.

“We need fur coats,” Ewald declared as soon as he entered the tent.

Edmund and Elias froze for a moment upon hearing him. Their counter invasion had just begun. They would need to travel further North. The soldiers may be able to withstand the cold for the time being, but the weather would be harsher. Something needed to be done before it was too late.

“Well, we were talking about that just now,” Elias said.

“We do have a bit of a problem however,” Edmund added.

The problem was supply. They could not source 4,000 fur coats on such a short notice. The most they could source within a day was about a hundred which obviously wasn’t going to be enough.

“Can we not stay here for a while and obtain what we need?” Ewald suggested to which Edmund quickly rejected.

“We must move quickly. Right now, the royal army is supposed to march up North and conquer as many settlements as possible before a peace negotiation begins.”

Elias added, “The Kingdom of Atra has made their move also. The Siwen will want to negotiate for peace soon, and we need to conquer as many settlements as possible before that begins.”

Ewald raised his eyebrows. “The Kingdom of Atra is invading the Siwen? Was it part of the plan?”

“Yes,” Edmund replied curtly.

“And we do need Maiava. Out of all four settlements we plan to acquire, that city is the top priority,” Elias explained.

“I don’t expect the city to simply surrender,” Edmund said. He added further that it was a city he’d love to be granted the governorship of.

“Easy to defend due to half of the city being surrounded by a mountain and a good source of iron.”

The Kingdom of Egra did have a few iron mines in Alrez and Vikku with the latter having so little that the city didn’t even bother setting up a mine for it. They learned to recycle iron scraps as a direct result. Still, raw iron was required regardless, and they had been importing it from Estana mostly. Acquiring Maiava was seen as the top priority. The Siwen dynasty had two more major iron mines within their territory, thus it was within realms of possibility that they’d be willing to cede the city without much fuss if pressed hard enough.

“Are we not going to tackle the forts?”

There was Fort Tonga north of Tonga, and there was Fort Edimaia south of Ediva and Maiava.

“If we are to annex the territories by force, we’d need to conquer those forts. But we are not going that route,” Edmund explained. “Once we conquer enough cities, we will enter a negotiation. We will return some of the conquered cities. Our priority is the four settlements, Tonga, Gonne, Ediva and Maiava. Anything else we conquer is expected to be returned.”

Should the Kingdom of Egra earn those four cities, the two forts would automatically be theirs. Forts without a supply source was useless after all.

“Will it be that easy? Ceding those four cities will be like losing a limb for them.”

Edmund laughed pleasantly. “They will be forced to and in fact will be glad to sever their limb. It’s either that or total destruction.”

He had to admit that their plan so far had been nothing other than brilliant. Yes, there were details that made him grimace, but the result had been indisputable. If the Kingdom of Egra did manage to acquire those four cities, the Siwen wouldn’t be able to invade them like the past anymore.

Having the Kingdom of Atra declaring war on the Siwen was basically a checkmate move. They had spies watching the siege at Dido. If the city had fallen, they would have discarded the proposal which the Kingdom of Egra had sent. After witnessing the victory, they were going ahead with their invasion.

At the very moment, the Siwen royal court was fanatically trying to contact their invasion army led by General Goss. Yes, they weren’t aware of the fact that he was killed by a ten year-old boy. No, they didn't even know who killed him. None of the lords, other than General Goss, was killed in the massacre at Dido, and they were fleeing to their own territories without sending any message to Staidone, their capital where the Siwen royal court resided. To put it simply, the Siwen dynasty was very deep in troubles at the moment. Their level of incompetence was costing them dearly.

Edmund remarked with a crooked grin. “I will be surprised if the Siwen stands intact after their wars.” He was thoroughly enjoying what the Siwen dynasty was going through.

Ewald recalled the world map. The adjacent nations of the Siwen were the Kingdom of Atra, the Egra, and Estana. If Estana invaded, there was a conflict of interest between them and the Egra because they’d be after the same cities. The Atra, on the other hand, could take the Western territories.

image [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/2095/9t5GZC.png]

He had to face-palm at this point when he placed himself in their opponent’s shoes. Their 45,000 men army was gone, and they were being invaded by two nations from the West and the South. He was getting a headache by just thinking about the whole situation, and it wasn’t even his own problem.

If they do manage to survive this war…, they will probably wish that they hadn’t.

The likely scenario was that more than half of their territories would be lost. What was worse would be their future. They would be prayed upon instead of praying on others.

Well, you reap what you sow.

Indeed, they didn’t have to invade the Kingdom of Egra. They didn’t have to underestimate them so much. In his own eyes, the only advantage the Siwen had was numbers, which would have been probably enough under normal circumstances.

At this point, Emily and another maid entered the tent, carrying bowls of warm stew on plates.

“We will likely receive Maiava,” Elias said while taking a bowl and a spoon off a plate. They were already taking the city for granted.

“You think so?” Edmund replied nonchalantly while also taking a bowl and a spoon.

“Your wonderful son has killed General Goss. That achievement cannot and will not be ignored. On top of everything we’ve done and will do, our score will top the chart.”

Apparently, they were keeping some sort of scores, and it looked like whoever topped the chart was going to receive Maiava as a reward.

“Is that city that desirable?” Ewald asked. He also took a bowl and a spoon.

“Our kingdom has lacked a decent iron mine. It has been a critical weakness for us,” Elias said while warming his hands with the bowl. It was getting pretty chilly as darkness descended. Compared to the weather in Dido, it was clearly colder in spite of having a similar altitude. Maiava was days up North. It was going to get colder. Fur coats were going to be needed if not absolutely necessary.

The royal army… has gone up North. They are going to have it worse. I hope that they are prepared for the cold.

A soldier requested an audience at this point and announced.

“Milord, the mayor requests an audience.”

Edmund and Elias glanced at each other.

“Let him in. Ewald, stand beside me.”

Edmund, flanked by Ewald and Elias, saw the mayor enter timidly. He was afraid to meet their eyes and kept his eyes downcast as he stood before them.

“We, ehm, have a few survivors from the army returned,” He announced weakly. He was slightly pale.

Ewald was surprised that someone actually survived the hell. Yes, he made an assumption of about 1,000 surviving before, but it was just an assumption. He didn’t actually believe anyone survived, until now.

“How many are we talking about here?” Edmund asked.

With a bit of hesitation, he replied, “T, two…”

Ediva was a city of 25,000 people. If it was anything similar to Lux, they would have sent 4,000 to 5,000 troops. Out of all those people, only two returned. Perhaps more survivors might return later, but it was clear that barely anyone survived.

A mayor was basically a governor without the authority to command troops. He didn’t need to be a noble, and frequently a trustworthy merchant was appointed. This man, standing before Edmund and his company, was a mayor. Given his timidness in front of nobles, he was very likely a merchant.

“So, you believe our words that your army is gone?”

Taking a deep breath, the mayor sagged his shoulders as he made his reply.

“Yes.”

Satisfied, Edmund changed the subject. “What is the purpose of your visit?”

“The… fur coats you asked for … I am going to gather craftsmen tonight and work overnight to make as many as we humanly can…”

The mayor looked to be wanting something as he glanced at Edmund repeatedly with scared eyes.

“The cost, I assume.” Having said that, he pulled out a small leather pouch and placed a gold coin on his makeshift desk. The mayor’s face brightened up at once.

“Make as many as you can,” Edmund pressed while dragging the coin with his index finger toward the edge of his table, closer to the mayor.

With eyes downcast, afraid to look at Edmund, the mayor grabbed the coin and bowed repeatedly.

“O, of course, ser. As many as we can.”

Then he dashed out of the tent.

“No matter how many he manages to get us, it won’t still be enough, will it,” Ewald said.

“No, it won’t. We will just have to make do with whatever we have and hope that the weather won’t be that bad when we reach Maiava,” Elias replied.

Once the meeting was over, Ewald returned to his tent adjacent to Raem’s. Entering his tent, he tried to get some sleep, but it was pretty darn chilly. None of them was carrying a blanket because they didn’t need one. It was a bit chilly but bearable at Fort Dido, but it was clearly worse here.

“Raem, is it just me or it’s cold here?”

“I can’t sleep,” he replied right away.

He searched his belt for coin pouches. He did spend 60 iron coins back in Fadin. It was pretty much all he had.

“Raem, how much do you have?”

“I didn’t bring any.”

Bummer.

Getting up and leaving the tent, he visited Flora’s tent where Lara was standing guard as vigilantly as before although she was shivering.

This is going to be a problem.

She stepped aside as soon as she saw him approach. Standing in front of the tent but not entering, he asked.

“Flora, are you awake?”

“Yes.”

“I know this is an awkward question, but do you have money?”

Avina exited the tent promptly. “What is this about? Why are you asking my lady for money?” She looked angry.

He explained the situation. Apparently, neither Flora and Avina were feeling cold due to the fact that they were sharing the same tent. Their body heat was warming the tent just enough not to feel uncomfortable. Her face soon eased upon hearing Ewald’s reasoning. She entered the tent briefly and came back out with a small leather pouch.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“It’s exactly 100 iron coins in here,” She said as she handed it over to him. “I don’t know how many blankets you could get with this but get as many as you can.”

Thanking her, he went back to grab Raem to enter the city only to find that all market stalls were closed. It turned out that the city had been notified of the outcome of their recent war as soon as the mayor realized that the defeat was real. Therefore, merchants who dreaded uncertainty shut their shops and kept their goods away from being looted. Perhaps, it was the right call. Regardless, it was bad for them.

“What now?” Raem asked.

“Perhaps, I could source some from a tavern.”

It was dark and it wasn’t easy to tell, but the buildings looked relatively different. In Lux, houses were mostly painted wooden structures with the Fenchel manor being one of a few exceptions where bricks were used. In Ediva, nothing was painted, and bare wooden texture was seen from houses. He also noticed that straws were used for roofs. As far as he was aware, thatched houses were seen in Laufeld, a farming community. He didn’t expect it to be seen in a large city like this.

Perhaps, it’s not large by their definition.

He recalled how Elias said this was the smallest city in the Siwen. He couldn’t imagine how big their capital might be.

Anyway, locating a local tavern was easy. All he had to do was follow the traffic, and soon enough he spotted a brightly lit cottage. It was a fairly large building with a lot of people coming in and out. He had seen a tavern in Lux before, but the atmosphere was completely different although this was the first time for him to visit a tavern at night. It was a three story wooden building. The windows on the first floor were all open while windows on second and third floors were shut. In spite of the chilly temperature, he could sense smoldering heat radiating from inside from a distance away. People were very busy inside; most were drinking. Some men had women in their arms; they seemed to be having a great time overall.

They do know that their nation has lost war, right?

Perhaps they didn’t. Perhaps they didn’t care. Indeed, as long as they surrendered, barely any harm would be upon them. Of course, the villagers of Bronn thought the same.

Now, because Raem was properly dressed in armor, he stood out a bit. Ewald himself was dressed in leather armor but, unless one looked at him closely, he looked as if he was wearing just casual attire. Thus, he told Raem to stay outside and went in alone.

Oh, shit, this is HOT in here.

It was really hot, uncomfortably hot. He could see why the windows were all open. Every patron was so occupied with either drinking and chatting that nobody was paying any attention to a child walking through the floor.

Approaching a brute behind a counter, he casually inquired.

“Mister, have you got any blankets for sale?”

The brute looked initially lost because he couldn’t see who was talking to him. It took him several seconds to notice a set of eyes just barely popping out of the counter.

“Kid! You are too young to be here!” He barked.

Ignoring his banter, he repeated, “Mister, have you got any blankets for sale?”

“Blankets?” We’ve got plenty of blankets!”

“Sell me some.”

“I can give you one!”

He continued to shout. Perhaps he was hard of hearing.

“I need more than one. Do you have 4,000?” The question was a half-joke.

“Four what? Four blankets? Ya got 13 iron coins for that?”

Ewald gestured four with fingers and added a big O with another hand.

“Forty?” It took him a moment to actually progress what he was just told. “FORTY?!” He repeated. Looking around, he called for a waitress. “Hey, hey! Come over here!”

A young waitress in a very skimpy dress darted over. Ewald could see her lower thighs. He swore her skirt was shorter than what he saw back in Lux. Sadly, he was feeling nothing in his groin.

Come on, man. I am ten now. How many more years do I need to wait?

“Yeah?” She replied casually.

Pointing at him, the brute exclaimed, “This kid wants forty blankets. Don’t know what’s going on in the lad’s head. Check him out.”

“Forty blankets?” With eyes wide, she looked down on Ewald. “You serious? What for?”

He wasn’t going to tell her that he was a part of the invading army to make everyone hostile toward him. Thus, he lied naturally as he breathed.

“Relatives coming over,” He lied, “Lotta of them. Mom wants blankets, lots of them. I’ve got the coins.”

She tilted her head with doubt and confusion. She soon looked at the brute and asked, “How much for 40 blankets anyway?”

He shook his head cluelessly. “How the heck should I know? Never sold blankets. This is a tavern, not a tailor.”

“How much for one?” He asked.

“Ehm…, 4 coins?” The brute wondered aloud.

“Yeah, 4 sounds about right,” The waitress agreed.

“So, he wants 40…” The brute began to use his fingers to count. Of course, having only ten fingers was hindering him from getting a result.

Naturally, it should have come to 160 iron coins, or a silver 60 iron coins. He knew he didn’t have that many coins.

“It’s 100 coins, mister,” He claimed.

The brute was stuck at his tenth finger and was dumbfounded as to what to do next.

“100, you say? Yeah?” He looked over at the waitress who had already given up counting.

Shaking her head, she was looking for a way out of the affair. “I don’t know. I am busy. Can I go?”

“No, you can’t. Go grab whatever blankets we have.” Then he looked at Ewald. “Kid, it’s a silver. Hand it over.”

He merrily placed the leather pouch on the counter. It made a metal clanking sound as he placed it down. The brute didn’t bother counting it. Instead, he weighed it in his hand.

“Feels heavy enough. Good.”

The waitress made several trips to bring “whatever” they had in hand which turned out to be way more than 40 blankets. It wasn’t her fault though. She was told to bring whatever they had in stock after all. He began to count how many in his head.

69 blankets, nice…

Grabbing as many as he could, which was about just ten, he handed them over to Raem who was waiting right by the door. Going back, he grabbed another ten. It took a few trips, but they did manage to bring 70 blankets to the army. After circulating the blankets and handing one over personally to Avina and thanking her in addition, he went back to his tent and covered himself with a blanket.

So much better.

Still, the ground was chilly as well, so he rolled himself over to cover the floor also. At last, he could sleep and he did.

The next morning, the mayor managed to deliver 250 fur coats. Normally, he’d be proud of himself for exceeding expectations. On this occasion, however, he had a bitter expression as he handed over a wagon full of fur coats. At the moment, the Fenchel army was dismantling their tents and were ready to depart.

“What is going to happen to me?” The mayor asked the daunting question that had been lingering in his mind.

“You’ve done good,” Edmund replied on his horse while gesturing to the men to take the wagon. “I will put my words for you. Other than that, there isn’t much I can do.”

It was very likely that he’d be replaced. Now, if he governed fairly, he didn’t have much to be concerned about. If he made enemies, however, that was a different story. A mayor was generally never dismissed. It was pretty much a job for life, meaning that they had a tendency to be drunk in power.

“I see…” The mayor trailed off. He was probably thinking of a way out before he was officially dismissed.

Turning his horse around, Edmund paid no further attention to the mayor. They’d never see each other again probably.

“Men, move out!”

The army headed North for about four days during which it was progressively getting colder. The 250 fur coats as well as 70 blankets helped a bit, but the cold climate was starting to take a toll on the army morale. Elias suggested having two men sharing the same tent for warmth for the time being. This did create an issue of its own where some soldiers began to fight because they couldn’t stand each other. Nevertheless, the army held on because everyone knew that the end of their journey was near. Maiava would be their destination. They would go no further.

image [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/3030/dIlsUe.png]

The mining city of Maiava, it was a city of 50,000 people, twice larger than Ediva and larger than any cities in the Kingdom of Egra. Because of its high population, they had a sizable militia and had prepared to withstand the siege. They let their intention be known by firing arrows as the Fenchel army approached.

“It’s not going to be easy to crack their defense,” Edmund remarked while analyzing their defense from afar. The walls were manned scarcely. If they had ladders, they could easily swarm and overpower the defense. It would come at some casualties however. Storming walls was never a clean affair. High casualties were given.

The city was built around a slope of a mountain. While its walls weren’t as tall as that of a fortress, its North and East sides were a mountain. Basically, half of its city was defended by nature, making siege harder and making defending easier because the defenders didn’t need to cover North and East. Basically, if a city needed a thousand men to properly defend, this city would need only half to be just as effective.

“We don’t have any siege weapons,” Ewald remarked. This had been bothering him for a while. The Fenchel army never bothered to carry any siege weapons. He felt that they had been lucky so far. Vedo didn’t put up any resistance, and neither did Ediva. Maiava was different; they were preparing to be sieged.

“We are intentionally not dragging along siege weapons for a reason,” Elias replied and went on to explain why.

The king, Karsten Egra, was the one who suggested the mage corps. Until then, mages were seldom used in a battlefield. It was not to say that they were not utilized at all, but they were deployed among regular soldiers. Because magic spells did not distinguish friend and foe, mages rarely cast area effect spells on a battlefield.

Likewise, he was also the one who suggested omitting siege weapons entirely because the equipment slowed armies down greatly. Carrying siege weapons also limited what kind of terrain they could traverse. For example, dragging a battering ram across a muddy plain was asking for trouble.

Therefore, instead, he suggested using mages, earth mages in particular since there was a spell called boulder; it was literally a spell that threw a giant rock. This spell was deemed useless by most since the rock throw was slow, and any mobile targets could easily dodge. Against a stationary target like a wall however? It didn’t take a genius to realize the potential. Why no one had thought of it was a mystery on its own. It did have one drawback. The range was short; 10 meters maximum, meaning the mage casting it would easily be shot down by arrows unless protected heavily by someone else.

“Fire magic is pretty much useless against stone walls,” Elias added, “So was wind magic until you came along.”

“Me?” Ewald pointed at himself.

“Hurricane arrow, wasn’t it? The powerful arrow that killed General Goss.”

He did immediately see Elias’ point.

“Judging from the report I received from the Flissing, it shouldn’t be hard to literally whack a section of that wall we see over there.”

Again, he did not wish to be associated with the spell. Therefore, he was hesitant to give an answer.

“I will pass out,” he retorted with an excuse. “Besides, are we not even going to bother talking to them?”

“Time is of essence,” Edmund replied, “Once peace negotiation starts, seize aggression will be in place.”

They were so certain that the royal army would do the job. He wasn’t so certain, however, because he was told that the king’s army would attempt to reach their capital, Staidone. Considering how cold it had gotten by just traveling North for a few days, he considered the goal to be impossible without fur coats and thicker tents. He wasn’t going to tell them that of course.

“We can certainly ignore and continue to attack, but that will only hinder the negotiation,” Elias added.

They weren’t really giving him a lot of room to maneuver.

“Fine, but perhaps Lady Harder should cast it in my place? She is a better wind mage than me.”

If someone else cast the hurricane arrow other than him, it was better. He planned to use the spell to kill the king at one point. He could not afford making the spell his signature spell.

Additionally, on paper, her affinity was seven, which made her probably the best wind mage in the Kingdom.

“You do have a point,” Elias agreed and called a soldier to patch Greta.

“Lady Harder, it’s been a while!” It was always good to see a pretty woman like her. Beaming a smile, he bowed lightly with his palm on his chest.

“It has indeed been a while,” she replied with a smile. “I wasn’t told what I was called for.”

Ewald explained that he had discovered a far more powerful version of magic arrow.

“It’s nothing like the puny magic arrow we tried back in Laufeld. It’s so powerful that I am always blown backwards.”

It was likely that she would be blown back as well and get hurt, which made him pause for a moment.

Greta… getting hurt?

He gulped. It was not something he wanted to see, ever.

I’d rather get hurt than see her get hurt.

He recalled how violently he was blown away back at Dido. He bounced off roofs two times before plunging into a house, breaking two floors into the basement. Thinking back, he was really lucky that no bone was broken. Being out for two straight days probably played a part in not feeling much aftereffects.

Sighing, he told her, “Nevermind, Lady Harder. I will do it.”

She tilted her head in confusion cutely.

Never change, Greta. Never change.

Facing Maiava from afar, he inhaled deeply.

I guess I will have to man up. Well, I am a man after all.

“Elementals of wind, hear my request! Grant me a bow!”

A translucent green bow appeared in his right hand. He posed to draw the magic bow, and then -

“Elementals! Feel my anger, sorrow, and regret! Grant me an outlet!”

A translucent green arrow slotted itself into the magical bow. At this point, Edmund dismounted from his horse, and Elias did the same, both of their eyes fixed at what could only be described as a magical moment.

The magic arrow soon started to shine brightly while equally translucent threads began to wrap around the arrow. This version looked different from the one he fired back at Dido, mainly in its intensity.

I am not tipsy after all. My emotions are in check as well. Besides, I am not as pissed.

He had come to terms with reality that it wasn’t going to be easy and that he may not be able to avenge Fionara. It wasn’t about how much he loved her. He was actually unable to comprehend the concept of love. He married her because their circumstances dictated so. They were both singles and were around the same age. And she wanted to settle down. Thus, they got together. It was never about love. They grew to trust each other and like each other, but love was probably never on their minds. They were very comfortable together and that was probably the best way to describe their relationship.

…………….

Such thoughts ignited something dark inside him once again, akin to the one he felt on top of the wall at Dido. He wished to avenge her, not because he loved her, but because he felt she deserved it.

“Hurricane -”

This time, the green light that was the arrow itself started to flicker as if a beacon was pulsing.

“Arrow!!!”

He could feel the violent feedback he was receiving; his whole body was about to be blown away. While he did try to resist, the issue was that his stamina was spent; he basically had no strength left to resist anything. In the end, he was flown back and violently rolled around God knows how many times. His consciousness blanked out soon after.

………………….

……………

……….

When he opened his eyes, the first thing or a person he saw was Flora.

“You are awake!” She exclaimed.

“F, Fio?”

“Fio?” She mused aloud.

For a brief moment, he felt like he saw Fionara’s face.

“Flora, I mean,” He said, “How many days … and what happened?”

According to Flora, soon after Ewald destroyed a section of a wall, the Fenchel army stormed in. While Maiava managed to gather nearly a thousand volunteers, they were not trained at all and, thus, no match for the Fenchel army. The city was ruled by the Nefen who maintained a manor. They were placed under house arrest for the time being.

“You’ve been out for two days,” She said while reaching out for a cup of water for him to drink.

“Where are we?”

“We are currently occupying an inn.”

After drinking the water, he surveyed the room. It was modest at the best but something caught his attention; there was a fireplace and it was lit. He found that strange. Then his eyes were fixed at a window which was half open. Everything looked white outside. He didn’t recall buildings painted in white.

Noticing his attention, she told him, “It’s called snow.”

“Snow?”

“It’s very cold outside right now. When it’s cold enough, rain becomes snow.”

He carefully stood up from the bed and opened the window to find everything covered in snow. There was some snow on the window as well which he touched. Some of it turned to water as soon as he touched it.

“It’s very cold to touch and it’s turning to water?”

So, Cezary wasn’t making things up.

Turning around to face Flora, he asked, “Were you nursing me the whole time?”

“Well, not exactly. I, Avina, and Emily took turns. I just happened to be there when you woke up.”

It was good that the siege ended relatively quickly. If they were forced to besiege the city for a longer period, the cold weather would have posed issues, which made him worry about the royal army once more.

He was summoned by Edmund soon after. He, too, was in a very similar room with a makeshift desk in front of him. He sure loved his desk.

“Thanks to your efforts, the city fell relatively easily,” was the first thing he told his son.

Ewald was standing a meter away from the desk with both of his hands on back.

“Do we have any news on the royal army?”

“Yes, actually, a wind mage messenger arrived today, stating that Elsos as well as Suvi fell. Additionally, Atra has pretty much taken the entire Western territory.”

image [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/5995/oUocEK.png]

“So, the war is pretty much over then.”

“Indeed, we are waiting on a messenger for peace. We are going to surrender Suvi and Elsos.”

“I am surprised that the royal army didn’t take Puras.”

Edmund grimaced upon hearing that. “They couldn’t,” He curtly replied.

“Couldn’t?”

“The messenger wouldn’t specify but he sounded like the royal army took heavy casualties.”

Heavy resistance or weather? Both?

He continued, “We’d have taken some casualties as well if it weren’t you.”

“You flatter me.”

“It was indeed quite a sight. I’ve never seen a mage casting magic like you do. You don’t seem to follow the general rules of magic casting.”

Mages followed certain phrases. Some might add a tiny bit of personal flavor into spell incantations, but in his case, he didn’t give a hoot about it.

“I’ve found that it doesn’t matter what you say. What matters is what you have in your mind.”

“I assume that’s how chantless magic works?”

Ewald nodded.

“We are going to have some discussion about magic later with Elias once we get back to Lux. For now, rest up. We’ve done what we are supposed to do. Dismissed.”

Raem was waiting right outside.

“Yo,” He casually greeted him.

“Sir.”

“Saw snow?”

“I have. The weirdest thing I’ve seen in my life.”

They returned to his room to find Emily inside who seemed to be looking for him. She had apparently brought a bowl of stew and something he had never seen before.

“Thank you, Emily, and what’s this?”

There was something roasted on a stick. It looked to be some kind of creature.

“It’s a local dish. A popular one. They call it a lizard-on-a-stick.”

According to her, apparently these “lizards” were found in mines. It seemed that the local populace captured these and cooked it over fire after cutting its head and limbs off.

“I’ve tried it. It’s okay. It’s meat most importantly.”

When he tried it, it did taste like meat although chewing its skin did require some getting-used-to.

“Have you been outside, Emily?”

“I have, yes.”

“How is this place? Is it different?”

She gave some thoughts before speaking.

“Well, the weather is completely different for sure. I’ve never seen this snow thingy. People wear coats here regularly also.” She grimaced while rubbing her back.

“Is something wrong?”

“Well, ehhh, I slipped on ice. It kind of hurts.”

“Ice?!” He raised his voice. “You saw ice?” He recalled what Cezary told him about ice.

“Yes, the roads are covered with snow and ice. Walking on ice is like … walking drunk.”

I’ve got to see this ice. Wait…

“Have you ever had drinks, Emily?”

He was under the impression that maids didn’t touch alcohol.

“It’s actually a part of our training. They test whether you have some alcohol tolerance.”

Man, what do they do over there? I should dive into their rabbithole at one point.

After finishing his stew and the lizard-on-a-stick, Emily carried the plate out of the room. At the moment, Raem was standing by the door.

“The war is almost over, Raem.”

“I don’t think I did anything notable…,” Raem replied weakly. Being Ewald’s guard knight meant he didn’t really partake in battles and had no chance to earn prestige. On a flipside, it was a relatively safe job.

Ewald wasn’t sure what to tell him to comfort him. Tell him to wait for the next chance? The next war? War was never easy to deal with, not to mention the risk of being killed. Thankfully, in this war, the Kingdom of Egra was immensely superior, thus casualties had been minimal. He also had to admit that Karsten Egra, the king, was exceptional in his tactics. Without his controversial ideas, this war wouldn’t have been this easy. He noted mentally that it was the same man who he was trying to kill. What would happen if he was removed? An unstable nation was invaded sooner or later.

The next war…

The Siwen dynasty was pretty much over. He was certain that it would survive for the time being, but losing about half of their territory meant that it wouldn't survive for long. Either Atra or Egra would surely finish it off in due time.

And then what? Would it be Atra versus. Egra? What about Estana? Would they sit back idly while two nations are getting stronger?

Perhaps, the most idle outcome may have been settling for peace once the invasion army was destroyed. Maintaining the status quo may have been the best. With the Siwen on a sharp decline, a vacuum in the power scale was created. It was a recipe for further conflicts.

In his mind, the era of relative peace was over.