With the Kingdom of Egra facing three war fronts, everyone had their share of jobs. The Southern front was a defensive one, led by Noah Harga. The Northern front was also a defensive one, led by Baptiste Flissing. The Eastern front was a different story. Karsten intended to launch a counter invasion into Estana through the Eastern front. However, Estana proved to be a lot tougher than they expected. In fact, Karsten’s forces were being played.
He and Isaac stood atop of a wall of Fortress Edimaia. His army had once arrived here to rescue the fortress which was successful. Since then, they had hit a wall, figuratively speaking. Karsten originally wanted to push further into their territory and take Konika, an Estana city bordering deserts, but there had been a critical oversight in his plan. His army, the royal army, was a heavy infantry force. Every soldier in the army wore reinforced half-plates, which were costly and heavy. They were highly effective against lesser armored infantry, as long as they could fight their enemies.
He growled, looking ahead to a scene a few groups of soldiers were duking out. Isaac was standing not far behind him. His group of soldiers, about 20, were fighting against about an equal number of enemy soldiers. His royal soldiers stood their ground and slashed their swords widely which the enemy soldiers evaded with relative ease. The enemy soldiers wore simple cloth, thus they were running around in circles. The royal soldiers were rarely hitting their targets. In contrast, Estana soldiers were hitting their targets, but their strikes weren’t quite effective due to the heavy armors which the royal soldiers were wearing. They were essentially in a stalemate with Estana soldiers having a slight edge due to the fact that they were hitting their targets. A lucky hit was all that was required to take someone down.
“It’s not looking good, sire,” Isaac said.
There had been a lot of skirmishes. Estana soldiers were extremely mobile and were mostly armor-less. Their seemingly disdain for armor made some sense in their perspective. Speed was key whenever they crossed the deserts. However, this seemingly minor detail had put a huge dent on Karsten’s plan because his heavy infantry wasn’t ideal in pursuing mobile targets. Estana forces, whenever things went awry for them, retreated at once, leaving his men to chase them. A heavily armored man chasing a man without any armor at all - It was a forgone conclusion. Essentially, on paper, his men were winning without actually winning. Fighting without armor wasn’t an option for Karsten’s men, either, because it required specific training to do so effectively. Additionally, different kinds of soldiers were required. Instead of strong men, they’d need agile men. The end result was that he was slowly losing men due to ambushes and whatnot, set up by Estana. At this moment, he had withdrawn most of his men into the fortress to stop the losses and had been letting out small groups of better trained soldiers to counter, which hadn’t been quite effective.
“What do you suggest?” Karsten asked, heaving a sigh.
“We are more or less in a stalemate. May I suggest suing for peace?”
On paper, strictly speaking, neither side took any significant losses. That was true. Karsten had lost only about a hundred men so far. Estana, likewise, had lost some men, but neither side suffered any major defeats and losses. Regardless, he growled out of sheer dissatisfaction upon hearing Isaac’s suggestion.
“Sire,” Isaac pressed on. “I don’t feel our outlook is going to be positive at this rate. We should sue for peace while we have some advantage on our side. The Southern front is too fragile, and I feel our enemy hasn’t been giving all they’ve got.”
The Southern front was believed to be in a stalemate due to the night raid performed by Kamil. If that front had collapsed, it would have become quite dire since Karsten would need to divert his army. Isaac did have a point that they needed to take advantage of the current situation: They weren’t losing at this point, and he foresaw that they weren’t going to win, either. Essentially, at this point, it became a war of attrition. Unlike Estana that had decades of peace, therefore plenty of resources to burn, the Kingdom of Egra had no such luxury. More importantly, they had a bigger issue to deal with, the Northern front.
Karsten folded his arms and grunted. They had dealt with the Siwen mostly, an enemy who always chose a direct approach. Estana posed a different challenge; They were tricky and were clearly more competent. The latter was something they hadn’t confronted for a long time.
“If we sue for peace now, it will be white peace. We won’t gain anything,” he argued.
In fact, they might need to make concessions.
“Sire, if we press on, we will likely lose. We will lose far more. We should focus on the Northern front. We can gain something from there.”
Isaac didn’t dare saying it out loud but he felt that this conflict was entirely on Karsten. He shouldn’t have blatantly ignored communications from Estana when they approached. Just because a nation had been at peace for decades, it didn’t mean they were toothless.
“What do you think they will demand?”
Folding arms, Isaac placed his hand on his chin. “They wanted the airship schematic. But I suppose that alone is not enough now.”
They were unaware of the fact that Kamil had already given it to them. That and the night raid had literally saved the Southern front. If Fort Reen had fallen, they wouldn’t be standing here idly. It would have been a bitter conflict. Still, Karsten couldn’t quite make up his mind because he wanted something to gain from this conflict. If he sued for peace now, he would very likely lose something albeit minor. However, his reluctance met a sharp turn when words arrived that the Siwen army was defeated by the Fenchel army which could certainly pave a way to push up North. Still, he hesitated to make a decision to sue for peace until further words arrived that the Siwen fell.
“What?” Looking dumbfounded, he uttered. They were atop of a wall again, surveying outside as usual. It had become his routine as of late due to the unpredictability of Estana armies. They’d show up in one place and then would appear in completely another place as if they had split up their army into numerous smaller parties. Their primary job appeared to be to annoy the hell out of him on the surface where, in truth, they were basically “training” as per Cezary’s words.
“The Siwen has fallen!” Isaac exclaimed, his voice full of excitement. “The word I’ve heard is that Lord Fenchel is chasing the Atra army to the North.” Then he lowered his upper body ever slightly to show respect. “My liege, it IS time for peace. We need to head over to the North, right now. We can afford to lose some during the peace negotiation.”
Karsten gulped visibly. He had longed for the fall of the Siwen and he fully expected it to be destroyed by his own hands. Instead, anticlimactically, it collapsed on its own weight of corruption and misdeeds.
“The Siwen…” He spoke slowly as if he was learning new words while looking dumbfounded. “Has fallen?”
“Yes, sire! Opportunity awaits!”
Soon his expression stiffened. “Sue for peace,” He declared firmly, realizing that there was no time for any hesitation. They had to move on quickly.
A meeting was swiftly arranged within a few days. Because of the need for speed, Isaac used his own airship to send the message for peace. Quite unexpectedly, Estana sent their own airship to reply back. Both men were shocked to see a foreign airship arriving to deliver the reply.
“They have the airship? How?” Isaac wondered aloud while quickly coming to his own conclusion that they either purchased the schematic from Kamil or somehow engineered their own after observing them. He doubted that it’d be the latter.
“He must have handed it over to them,” Karsten said. “Perhaps to stop them from breaking the Southern front.”
Isaac felt that he made sense. At the same time, if that was true, then the invasion wasn’t likely Estana’s goal. The reply letter said that they’d set up a tent not far from their fortress, and two “high ranking” councilors would arrive to strike a peace deal.
And the next day, a large and luxurious tent was indeed set up with just a pair of guards standing by its entrance. It was within a visible distance from the fortress. Karsten was very skeptical that it might be a trap and was reluctant to go. Therefore, only Isaac went there with just a pair of personal guards. The Estana guards at the tent entrance gave him a weak nod as he approached and lifted the cloth door for him but stopped his guards which Isaac accepted. Inside, there were four chairs positioned in a circle. Two were already occupied by a man and a woman. Both were wearing robes. The man had horseshoe baldness, and the woman had her dark red hair tied up.
“My name is Pataki Imre, a senior councilor,” The man introduced himself with a broad smile in a language Isaac could understand; He was speaking the Egrian language. He looked to be middle-aged and had a soft complexion. The man probably never performed any physical labor in his life.
“My name is Kerekes Izabella, a junior counselor,” said the woman with jade eyes, also speaking the Egrian language. She looked fairly young; She was certainly under 30.
“My name is Isaac Knell, the king’s advisor and the lord of Rokk.”
Pataki and Kerekes exchanged quick glances.
“Are you alone? Your king is not here?” She asked softly.
“He… has taken a little illness,” Isaac lied, and they didn’t look convinced, either. He fired back, “Well, your king is not here, either.”
There were four chairs; They clearly expected Karsten to be here.
“We are not an absolute monarchy,” Pataki said. “Yours is, though. The council holds the powers to overrule our king if required.”
Just as the air in the tent became tense, Kerekes attempted to break the ice.
“Well, let’s get this over with, shall we?” She proposed. “Lord Knell, you do have the authority to make the deal, yes?”
“If it is within our expectations, then yes. If not, no.”
The two glanced at each other again with Pataki shrugging.
“Very well, let’s do this then,” he said, sounding clearly disappointed in the complete lack of trust displayed by Karsten. Either way, they sat down, and Isaac was the first to speak.
“The Kingdom of Egra would like to sue for peace. Our term is simple. Estana will withdraw their armies, and we will withdraw ours.”
In other words, nobody was going to gain anything: White peace.
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Pataki responded promptly, “Surely you do realize that we are not going to accept such a sterile term.”
Isaac didn’t respond but knew that much. Pataki continued.
“We demand Laufeld and will sign for 20 years of non-aggression pact.”
“Laufeld?”
In the bigger picture, Laufeld was a tiny town. It was hardly worth anything. Still, it was one of their settlements. Conceding would mean redrawing the border. The non-aggression pact was a double-edge sword as well. It would mean they wouldn’t be able to take back for two decades by which the town would be fully integrated into Estana, making it harder if not impossible to take it back.
“We reject,” Isaac declared. And, as if the rejection was within their expectation, Pataki’s expression remained unmoved. “I maintain the first proposal. Both sides shall withdraw and let us end it at that point.”
“That won’t do,” Kerekes shook her head weakly. “If you are unwilling to give up on Laufeld, then we shall demand whoever is in charge of the town.”
“Are you implying that you want us to hand over the governor of the town?” Isaac felt dumbfounded that they were demanding such. He quickly realized that Kamil was their goal. Otherwise, they wouldn’t even bother making such a demand. In fact, the only time a foreign nation demanded a noble was when the noble in question had committed a grave crime, which was not the case here unless he was missing something.
“I realize this is off topic, but how did you acquire the airship?”
“Lord Fenchel sold the schematic to us,” Pataki replied indifferently.
“Is that why you withdrew from the Southern front?”
“Partially, yes,” Kerekes replied, and Isaac folded his arms, donning a serious expression on his face in doing so. “He was not authorized to make the sale.”
Pataki said with a faint grin, “You should be grateful for him instead. He made a quick and wise decision. He de-escalated the situation.”
Kerekes added, “We could have easily overwhelmed the Southern front if we really wanted, Lord Knell. I am sure that you realize that.”
Isaac wanted to ask them what the purpose of this conflict was but couldn’t dare ask them ever so directly.
“We will not surrender Laufeld nor are we going to hand you over Lord Fenchel,” he declared eventually.
Again, as if that was within their expectation, neither showed any notable reactions which made him a bit agitated. He was feeling being played. Then Kerekes proposed something completely unexpected.
“Let us meet halfway then. We would like to designate a city for free trade.”
“I beg your pardon?” Isaac replied, his eyebrows furrowed.
“Our nations used to have healthy and active trades. We want to re-establish the trade routes.”
That was an easy request which even Karsten would approve if it was the price of white peace.
“I don’t see why not-”
However, Pataki interjected, “My apologies, but Lady Izabella wasn’t clear on details. The settlement we wish to designate for trade must become neutral.”
Isaac did not like where it was going. “I am not sure whether I understand what you are trying to say, Lord Imre.”
“We wish to designate Laufeld as a free city. The settlement will break off from the Kingdom of Egra -”
At this point, Isaac stood up from his chair at once with a grave expression on his face. Pataki continued nevertheless.
“Laufeld will remain neutral. It won’t join us and it won’t be a part of your kingdom, either. A true free city for unrestricted trade.”
“Nonsense!” he exclaimed angrily.
“This is a fair proposal, Lord Knell,” Kerekes said softly, looking up at him. “Please sit down.”
“It was the Kingdom of Egra who stopped trading without any warning,” Pataki explained. “We are within our rights to ensure that it won’t happen again. You may lose Laufeld on paper but aren’t exactly losing it. We are not gaining Laufeld, either. We simply want a center of trade that will be unaffected by external conflicts.”
Kerekes added, “Historically, such free cities existed. Such places were called ‘dukedom’.”
Isaac sat down slowly, the shock still clear on his face.
“This is beyond my authority. I cannot give an answer here,” he said eventually.
Pataki responded, “I would assume so. You are free to leave the tent when you are ready. This is our final line. We won’t back down on this unless you are willing to cede Laufeld to us.”
Estana did want to designate a free city for trades. Initially, they were going to suggest Tantan as the free city since they were already actively trading with them. Of course, after the encounter with Kamil, they changed their mind. They were already aware that they would never cede any land because Karsten would never allow such. Based on his past history, they understood that expansion was his aim in any conflicts he started. Asking such a man to cede any land wasn’t likely going to work unless he was heavily losing. They were prepared to go that far if pushed. In their mind, anyone who could foresee a bit into the future would accept their proposal because, otherwise, ruins would await.
Isaac left the tent to report back to Karsten who, as he expected, was livid when he was informed of what went down at the peace talk. Isaac, too, was equally livid when the demand was thrown at him. As he cooled down, however, he started to see reason and accepted it because it was better than losing the war. Perhaps they might not lose, but it would definitely be very, very, costly. With the Northern front pretty much taken care of, they would be able to divert Edmund’s army to the South and have him join up with Noah’s at Fort Reen, increasing the Southern army to over 10,000 men, which was still not enough to mount any offensive. The Flissing would still need to stay at Fort Tonga just to keep eyes on Atra’s movements. The Southern front would remain a defensive one. Unless the Estana army brought more than 50,000 men, the fortress would unlikely fall. However, it was certainly possible to go around the fortress in which case they might need to come out of their fortress and stop them. That’s how Noah lost the first clash.
“Sire, I do understand your anger, but at this point I am inclined to accept the proposal.”
Karsten fired a fierce glance at him while auditably grunting.
“This isn’t white peace! If we accept this, it will be written in history that we lost the war!” He exclaimed angrily. He was overreacting a bit but wasn’t wrong, either. This wasn’t going to be written down as white peace no matter what angle historians would look at although Isaac wasn’t sure why he was obsessed with history at the moment. Was he trying to save his face? It didn’t make much sense to him. What he did know was that Karsten rarely heeded his advice when angry, thus he didn’t even bother attempting to persuade him. He would need to calm down before seeing reason. Stomping his feet, he would walk around, occasionally throwing obscenities. It took a while, like half an hour, before he was finally calming down enough to see reason.
“What exactly is going to happen to Laufeld and the Fenchel if this goes through?” he wondered aloud. His questions were valid ones. In the entire history of the Kingdom, such as “dukedom” never existed in spite of Estana claiming otherwise.
“In my limited knowledge on the matter, I believe it basically means a free state that is relatively small and has no power to protect on its own. It will depend on both, Egra and Estana, to provide protection,” Isaac replied. “It won’t partake in politics either and its policy will be entirely focused on providing trades.”
“So, the Fenchel won’t join in the annual royal party?”
“I am … unsure. He won’t be your vassal anymore. Perhaps, this can be arranged. Again, I am unsure.”
A part of the royal party was trade arrangements. If Laufeld was to become “a free city” for trades, its lord would have his own interest in joining one. At the same time, only the vassals of the Kingdom participated in the royal party.
“God damn it, motherfuckers!” Karsten cursed while scratching his head in frustration. “They got us good here. Only if he married my daughter…”
In that case, he would have been more than welcome to let Laufeld become a free state. The Egra family would have a claim in Laufeld which could be used to take back the city in the future. As things stood, they were going to lose the town.
“Sire, we should meet up with the two councilors again. Now that we know what they want, we can ask more and adjust minor details.”
Karsten heaved a long sigh. “Very well, send a message. I shall meet them as soon as able.”
At this point, he more or less accepted that it was happening because the alternative outcome was going to be much worse no matter what kind of positive spin he applied.
The very next day, Isaac led Karsten to the same tent he had been to a day before, and the same two people were present, Pataki Imre and Kerekes Izabella.
“A woman?” Karsten blurted unexpectedly. Women had no place in high politics in his kingdom.
“We do allow women to be a part of the government,” Pataki, donning a broad smile as usual, explained. “My name is Pataki Imre, a senior councilor.”
“My name is Kerekes Izabella, a junior counselor. Please have a seat.”
Once they sat down, Kerekes was the first one to speak.
“I am sure you have questions. Ask away.”
“I demand your motive behind your proposal,” Karsten asked right away, hitting the topic straightaway. He had little intention to prolong this meeting. The Northern front awaited him.
“We explained our motive to your advisor, did we not?” Pataki gazed over at Isaac but soon turned his attention to Karsten. “We simply wish to establish a safe trading place.”
“It could easily be accomplished without taking a settlement away from my kingdom,” He argued.
“No, it cannot be. History has repeatedly taught us that only a truly neutral place can act as a safe haven for trades. Hence the term ‘Dukedom’ was born.”
“I don’t quite understand what a dukedom really is. What is it? Is it an independent nation? Or is it a vassal?”
“It answers to no one but to profits,” Pataki replied. “It will protect merchants and will do everything in its power to provide a better environment for merchants to thrive. Those who rule a dukedom are called a duke. The dukedom is not tied to the person who rules it. The title is tied to the land itself, meaning the title does not leave its place.”
“Then who inherits the title? In what order? Let’s say the Fenchel who currently rules Laufeld dies childless. Who will inherit the title?”
“Should he die childless, then we will gather together and discuss a candidate. Otherwise, his child will inherit normally. It will be agnatic-cognatic.”
Agnatic-cognatic meant male heirs would have preference. Women could inherit but only if there was no male heir available. Both nations had the same gender law when it came to inheritance although nobles of Egra had a strong tendency to avoid female rulers if possible. They’d adopt a male from a distant relative if they had to. Edmund did exactly that; He adopted Kamil from his own sister to make him his heir instead of his own daughter. They had their reasons for strongly favoring a male heir over a female one. Firstly, a male could partake in wars where he could earn prestige. Secondly, procreation was much easier for a male where he could have up to three women, a first wife and two mistresses which vastly increased chances for a male heir. If a female ruler had fertility issues, there was no way around.
There was a sparkle in Karsten’s eyes. He saw an opportunity for a loophole. If Kamil was assassinated before he had a child or his children were killed off, the discussion for the town’s successor would be debated at which point he could aggressively push to make it his, even if it meant war. He was sure he’d be ready to confront them on an equal ground by then. He also knew their tactics now. He’d be prepared better. He wasn’t going to let Laufeld continue to exist as “a free city” forever. For the time being though, he decided to comply with their demand while swearing for vengeance in his mind.
“We have an annual meeting where my vassals gather. It is political in nature but does have trade arrangements. Is Lord Fenchel allowed to join such a party?”
Pataki and Kerekes exchanged a glance with the former nodding. They were already aware of Egra’s royal party. Estana had no such a thing since reaching their capital was an ordeal itself. There was absolutely no reason to risk one’s life just to attend a party of nobles, for them at least. They did discuss whether to allow Lord Fenchel to attend the party prior to this meeting. While they didn’t like the prospect of allowing it, disallowing it would mean completely isolating him from the outside world which might result in him conducting businesses in shadow.
“We don’t see why not. I will make sure to add a clause about it,” Kerekes said.
Karsten nodded in a satisfactory manner and said, “Very well, I shall accept.”
Pataki and she exchanged a glance, and she replied, “We will send over an official letter within a day or two.”
They would exchange the letter a few times to make minor corrections before signing it. Kamil had no say in this, at least not at this stage. He would have no voice at all until everything was finalized.
While Karsten swore to retaliate in the future, Estana weren’t fools, either. This whole idea was from the king of Estana. Paraphrasing him, if they couldn’t get him to join their ranks, Karsten shouldn’t get him, either. Thus, they worked on a deal to make Laufeld neutral, therefore paving a path for him to make a choice in the future. They fully expected to enter another conflict over Laufeld at some point, at which point Kamil would be able to make an informed choice. Of course, they weren’t just going to sit back and watch, either. Laufeld was going to be very busy in the near future although the town was busy enough already.