AN: I am back boiz! I still got Covid, but the worst of it is over. I am no longer getting high on flu meds, now I am still getting a little high cough meds. I will be uploading more Of Arms and Arcane this week, I will only resume uploading Unto the Ages next week.
When I woke up from my nap, I noticed that on top of my weakened state, I was currently constricted by a cute holstaur girl with her head buried in my neck. Ever since I woke up yesterday, Emma has been especially clingy with me.
She would insist on bringing my meals, helping me drink, and clumsily trying to feed me. It even got to the point where she tried to help me go to the toilet, that was when I had to put my foot down and either try to shove her out of the toilet or wait for her to go out of the room to do something before I hobble my ass slowly to the toilet to relief myself.
I wanted to ask Emma to tone it down a bit and tell her that I was completely capable of taking care of myself, no matter how slow it took me to do so, but after seeing the worried and determined look on her face, I could not bring myself to do so.
When I expressed my displeasure of my situation, Grandpa burst out laughing while Mum and Grandma hid their mirth about my situation behind their hands, but the look in their eyes said it all.
They even teased me about it, “Oh my, if this is the level of care she is showing Luke now, she would make a wonderful daughter-in-law in the future.” Mum said in a mock conversation with Grandma.
“Indeed, Indeed. I cannot wait to become a great-grandmother, they would have such cute children.” Grandma said with a more serious look in her eyes like she was giving me a silent command to make it happen, or else.
The only thing I could do was let out a defeated whine “Moomm…”
Grandpa reigned in his laughter and petted my head while saying, “It’s ok Luke, at your age, girls are weird and icky to you, but you will understand when you grow up. For now, Emma is worried about you and this is her way of showing it, and as a man, you need to show appreciation and thank her for her care.”
I wanted to say that I know that girls are not weird and icky and that I already understand because I am all grown up on the inside but I am just a kid, and so is Emma, especially Emma. His last point though, made me feel like an asshole for not appreciating what Emma is doing for me. In the end, I told them I would stop my bitching and suck it up.
The 3 of them left with smug knowing looks on their faces.
***
As time passed, I got better and was now able to carry out my daily activities. I was no longer as strong as I was when my aura was passively on and burning low, but that meant that I no longer needed to eat big man-sized portions of food to keep myself from withering to skin and bones.
The other thing that changed after the assassinations was the Valorhelm Dominion escalating the war. During this period, we started getting news updates from Dad about the ongoing war with the Valorhelm Dominion.
Within a couple of days of the assassination and sabotage attempts, the Valorhelm Dominion’s main army attacked and sieged Fort Trim, which was next to Frot Eldric where Dad was stationed. It was reported that the assassinations of Fort Trim’s commander, alchemist, and a good chunk of their mages were successful but worse than that, the water was poisoned and food supplies were destroyed, so even if the lower-rank commanding officers managed to put up a good defense, the fort would soon succumb to starvation and dehydration.
It was possible for the mages to generate enough cold to condense water from the atmosphere, but that could only go so far for a limited number of people. They had already sent for help and all they could do was hold out until help arrived.
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Ahh… if only the conjured water was actually drinkable and not just a concept or aspect of water, life would be so much easier. That reminds me, water is a good element to practice next for my molecular magic.
As for the help that Fort Trim was supposed to receive, that seemed to be an issue for the nearby forts like Dad’s to provide. At the same time Fort Trim was getting sieged, Fort Eldric and a few other forts near Fort Trim had enemies show up on their front lawn.
The Valorhelm Dominion sent a few nobles with their retinues, along with some Knights and Men-at-Arms to these other forts. The forces sent to the other forts were not big enough to siege the forts, but they were big enough to pose a threat in case the forts wanted to send reinforcements to Fort Trim.
Without any commander in charge to coordinate the defense and with the reduced number of mages to cast spells, in a matter of 2 days, Fort Trim fell into enemy hands and they used it as a staging ground and beachhead for their invasion of the Argus Kingdom.
The moment the beachhead opened, the Valorhelm Dominion sieged Fort Trim’s neighboring forts for real, one of which happened to be Fort Eldric.
From there, the Valorhelm Dominion raided further into the Argus Kingdom to sack nearby villages and towns. The bigger cities managed to hold due to their high walls until reinforcements arrived from the surrounding territories.
The surrounding nobles mustered their house forces, raised levies, and coordinated with their neighboring nobles to hold or push back the Valorhelm Dominion until the Royal Army arrived.
When word of the Valorhelm Dominion’s invasion spread far and wide, villagers that were close enough formed militia forces under the instruction of retired knights or soldiers, this was followed by towns and cities doing the same thing even though the local noble of the town or city had their own forces guarding it.
That was not to say this was the first time this was happening, when one has a neighbor like the Valorhelm Dominion, for those near the border, it had become a necessity for the past few generations.
Eventually, the Royal Army showed up in force and started pushing the Valorhelm Dominion forces back. From the news we got from Grandpa’s military contacts, quite a few of the enemy commanders were glory-hungry and set off to do their own conquering to rack up merit.
But in doing so, they spread themselves too thin and the Valorhelm Dominion was pushed all the way back to Fort Trim, where it was the Valorhelm Dominion’s turn to get sieged. And apparently after seeing the numbers of the Royal Army coming down on Fort Trim, the enemy commander decided wasting their own blood defending a siege was not worth it and retreated back to their borders and reinforced their own forts.
But not before burning down Fort Trim on their way out as a last “Fuck You” to the kingdom.
After that, hearing the reports, King Argus IV who was on the front line was livid, he invaded the Valorhelm Dominion and surrounded 3 forts the Dominion’s invading force retreated into and instructed his generals to not even bother capturing the enemy forts, and upon his instruction, barrels of oil were catapulted at the enemy forts, both on the walls and inside the walls.
This was quickly followed by groups of war mages group-casting siege-tier fire spells and archers firing flaming arrows at the forts, naturally, the oil that was splattered all over the forts caught fire and the Dominion’s forts turned into an inferno. Any who tried to escape or surrender, be they peasant or noble were put to the sword.
The Royal Army only retreated after the bulk of the Dominion’s army came to defend their border.
All in all, the whole conflict from the assassinations till now took around 7 months, and the only reason a cease-fire was called was because winter was coming. And nobody except the barbarians up north were crazy enough to fight in winter.
The moment the cease-fire was called, Dad and his men were cycled out for fresh troops to man the fort, and he came home to his loving family. When he showed up at the door, Dad sported some serious bags under his eyes and had a few new scars added to his body which he proudly showed off to the family as he regaled us of his battles to hold the fort.
Apparently, the new scars were doing something for Mum because she kept on touching them and giving Dad intense looks when her parents were not around and when she thought me and my sister were not looking.
With the predatory look Mum is giving Dad, I think I may have a new sibling soon.