AN: Surprise surprise, I'm not dead! Yeah, turns out I haven't gotten better with uploading but I am still working on it. I want to talk about Lucina's skill with a bow here cuz it's actually an interesting story.
While she does have the ability to class change into Archer in the game that sort of thing is never really plot relevant and rarely touched on outside of FE Awakening itself. Lucina's marksmanship is another story though. It shows up two other times, both noncanonical. The first is in FE Warriors, for the Switch. One of the special attacks she uses in the game has her conjuring a bow of light and firing it a few times blasting any enemies in a cone in front of her. (Yeah it doesn't make much sense but warrior games never do.) The second is in Code Name STEAM for the 3DS if anyone remembers that game, she's a unit you can access through Amiibo and while she wields Flachion from melee distance her ranged weapon is actually a bow. The funny part is I only discovered she could class change to archer while writing this AN, I thought this bow thing was some noncanon shit I was extrapolating.
One more thing for this AN, I have two other stories I plan to start soon. I find increasingly that having multiple stories to work on gets me more interested in writing than simply burning myself out pushing one out. Also that having other stories to move to when I'm having issues with one means I can update other things and that I have more time to think over plot related decisions for stories rather than having to hurry up my planning for each arc so I can post it. So I have two stories that I'm thinking about posting on this site, one you can expect to the first chapter of today if you go looking for it. It's a Fate SAO crossover, and no it's not a rewrite of Servants of Aincrad or a replacement for it. Though for the three people who like that story you'll probably like this. The second is a Fate story, my first non-crossover actually. It's an OC story, not self insert I don't have confidence I could do that well or even decently.
Alright, that's all this time. I'm gonna keep working on AtB and I hope to have the next chapter out MUCH faster than this one, especially since I'm leaving you all on a bit of a cliffhanger here. So now I give you, Chapter 14 of Awakening to Battle.
I drew my hands away from the blade I had been working on, rapidly blinking my eyes. I wasn't sure when it had started but I hadn't shut my eyes in while, too focused I suppose.
In between rubbing my eyes I glanced at the weapon that sat on the table in front of me, It wasn't truly done yet, I still needed to activate the enchantments, but that was the easy part. All the difficult work, forging the blade and writing the runes mainly, was already done.
The sword itself was a standard length for a hand and a half blade, ninety two centimeters from point to hilt, however the handle only had room for one hand, and lacked any sort of hand guard or pommel. The blade itself was flat and thin, almost a hand's width across but no thicker than my finger at its deepest. That made the blade fragile but also cheap to produce in terms of metal while also giving me plenty of room for enchantments.
And I had used every bit of that room, both flats of the blade covered in small runes, with just enough space between the various enchantments to make sure they didn't interfere with one another.
I grabbed the blade by the handle holding it up so that I could turn it around and look at it from multiple angles. I didn't need to do this to 'see' the blade since its blueprints were recorded in my Reality Marble, but it felt more natural to be holding the sword as I appraised it.
Honestly, despite making it myself I knew the blade was useless to just about anyone. It wasn't balanced properly, the grip didn't have enough room for a proper hold on the blade, it was far too thin to have any real durability, any swordsman would look at it and call it useless on a battlefield, and not even the enchantments would save it there. However it wasn't meant to be used by a swordsman, but an archer.
I shook my head and placed the blade on the edge of the desk before standing up and turning around. "David, how are the spears going?" I looked to the boy as I addressed him, he sat on the floor of the smithy, with a small pile of spears on one side and two piles of spear tips and shafts each on his other. We had forged the tips while we waited for the sword to cool enough to be worked on and David had been assembling them while I had written the enchantments.
"Good, I'm almost done with them, I might need to sand down some of the shafts more but I'm pretty sure they're good." I looked at the pile of assembled weapons David had finished, mentally pulling up their blueprints even as I looked at them.
"You'll only need to sand a few of them, overall they're pretty good on that end. If we have time though we should forge some caps for their butts. It'll make them better balanced and make striking with the end more effective. How many spears do you need to give to Robert?" Despite Rommel's plan we still needed to make good on the already agreed delivery.
"Sixteen, I've got twelve already in the store and we've got eight more here."
"And the arrows?"
"Eighty, there's seventy in the store and twenty back here though, not counting the magic ones you made."
"Good, then we can focus on making Marth's bow next." I had an enchantment for it already planned out too. It'd probably take a few attempts to make it work right but wood was cheaper than steel so I didn't really have to worry about it too much.
"So you finished the sword?" David stood up and looked at the blade that I'd left on the table, confusion evident on his eyes.
"I still don't get how you're supposed to use that thing." The boy quickly realized that what he said could be offensive since I had made the sword afterall. "I-I mean, it's just so, different, from anything I've learned about making swords and-" I gave him a small smile as he fumbled his way around his words.
"It's not actually meant to be used as a sword, the only thing that makes it viable as it is are the enchantments on it, and even with that I'm probably the only person who could use it."
"O-okay. So if the sword is done then we still need to make misses Marth's bow, and enchant the extra spears right?"
"Oh, we're not done making swords. I want to make at least two more like that one, and if we really get the time I'd like at least five copies of it." Even as I spoke I picked up various limbs of wood and pieces of string for the bow, a thicker limb would mean more space for enchantments but I can't risk going overboard. Hmm, I wonder if it'd be possible to put runes on the string?
"Wa-wa-wait? You wanna make five swords just like that?"
"Hm, well yeah, only if we really get the time for it though. Marth's bow comes first, and then we need to make at least. Oh twenty to thirty enchanted spears? Something around there, but I'd like at least three swords and five if we can really push it." I blinked and looked around for a clock before remembering those weren't common in this era. "Any idea what time it is?"
"Er, the sun went down, uh, maybe four or five hours ago?" David seemed pretty flat footed by the random question but I ignored that for now. It was early summer right now, so four or five hours made it... midnight at the earliest, probably closer to one in the morning.
"It's getting late, you go turn in I'm gonna get started on this bow before I'm done for the night."
I didn't look at the bow as I spoke, focused on the materials in front of me. If I used a thicker string would I be able to write on the string with paint?
"I can stay up late, I wanna keep helping and I'm not gonna miss the chance to learn more." I could hear the determination in his voice, which only solidified my decision to send him to bed.
"I'm gonna be working on the bow now, you don't know any woodworking so you can't really help and there's also nothing for you to learn about blacksmithing." The boy seemed a little surprised by the logic of my denial, probably expecting me to just order him to bed or something instead of reasoning with him. But that wasn't enough to change his mind.
"Th-then I'll just work on the spears, I can do it on my own and that way you'll have more to enchant later!" I smirked at his determination, it was a little charming, and would have been impressive if he had actually been thinking this through.
"So you just wanna make more work for me now?" My words were heavy with sarcasm, enough that even David could understand it, though that didn't mean the question didn't give him pause regardless.
"You're exhausted. If you don't get some sleep you're more likely to make a mistake and waste both of our work than actually be productive." I turned to look at him rubbing his head with my off hand as I spoke. "Get some rest there'll be more work to do in the morning." He seemed to have an internal conflict over my words.
Opening and closing his mouth as if he had something to say before giving a sigh and a slow nod. I gave him a nod and a smile in return as he walked out of the smithy and back to the store slash home.
I looked back to the pieces of wood I had been perusing and the various lengths of animal guts to be used as string that Lucina had bought earlier today.
Making a bow wouldn't be too hard, it was inherently simpler and less exhaustive than forging a blade, though the process would be much less instinctive to me than making a blade, and that was without accounting for the enchantments. I knew exactly what enchantment I wanted to use, and I had a fairly good idea about how to create it, the only problem was that I would be making a new enchantment from scratch rather than copying an existing one.
All the enchantments I had made before were simply copied from weapons within my Reality Marble. Even when forging my newest sword that sat on the table behind me I had used enchantments from many differents weapons and simply made sure they wouldn't interfere with each other.
Now I'd have to make entirely new enchantments from scratch. Well not really from scratch, I did have literally thousands of enchanted weapons to use as examples of how enchant weapons properly.
I grabbed a particularly good piece of wood and some strong cured guts from a bull, cracking my back as I stretched. It was a good thing I had all night to do this because I'm fairly certain I wasn't going to be getting this on the first try.
My head snapped up fast enough that I could swear I heard my neck cracking as I heard the door to the smithy open up. I blinked bleary eyed as the light of dawn filtered through the open door frame, silhouetting my commanders figure as she walked into the forge.
"Shirou." she seemed to pause to take the sight of me all at once, sitting cross legged on the floor, a light brown wooden bow, about one and a half meters long short for a long bow, in my lap with covered in runes a pale shade of green, the paint still drying in places. "How long have you been awake?"
"Ha-ha, er about that." I laughed lightly as I moved my left arm from cradling the weapon in my lap to scratch the back of my head, feeling the way the bones creaked as they did. "Somewhere around, twenty four hours, give or take?"
"Twenty four hours?" I could feel the exasperation in her voice.
"Give or take." I reiterated my earlier point, as if it would change anything.
"So you've been up all night working on that bow?" She looked to the weapon in my lap as she spoke probably taking her first good look at it.
"Well, not this particular one." I looked over to a pile of shattered chunks of wood in the corner of the room.
This was my fifth attempt, the first one had exploded in my hands when the reinforcing runes had interfered with the more complex enchantments. The second had gone off when I was trying to add an enchantment to make the wood on the bow more water resistant, the third when I had been stringing it, apparently it hadn't been able to take the stress of bending and the enchantments to keep it durable and flexible had reacted to one another.
The fourth attempt had gotten far enough that I'd been able to draw an arrow before the enchantment reacted to the steel in the tip and then everything went wrong. I hadn't considered how fae runes might react to iron forged by human hands.
I heard a deep sigh and I looked back to Lucina as she turned away from the pile of splinters. "You didn't get hurt did you?"
"Avalon took care of it." A few chunks of wood in my hands wasn't much to the ancient sheath.
"That's not what I asked." She shook her head, rubbing her forehead as she spoke. "Does it work?" she pointed to the bow in my lap with her other hand
"Er, hopefully?" I shrugged as I held up the bow. I had gotten it strung and even managed to draw it without issue but I couldn't be sure that nothing would go wrong until it was fired, and I didn't want to do that in here.
"Alright, let's go and try it out, if it doesn't work then you'll just have to make something simpler, you can't spend all this time on a secondary weapon for me to use, there are better ways to gain an advantage in the siege." She was right about that, and I'd give the point if it weren't for the fact that I was considering far more than the siege.
"Yes, but after this siege you'll need it for the next. Or you'll want to use it to pick off bandits from a range, or to lure risen into a trap. Having a good bow will greatly expand your range of options in battle so for the sake of the battle after this and the battle after that and the one after that I want to ensure that you're as well armed as possible." There was a reason I used that massive black bow almost as much as Kanshou and Bakuya themselves.
My commander paused as she considered my words. "I'm surprised that you of all people thought that far ahead." Ugh, that stung. The fact that she already knew well enough to realize that I was awful at planning for more than the immediate future was pretty surprising though. Was she that good at reading people or was I just that simple?
"Regardless Gangrel may attack any day now, and we cannot afford you to be exhausted from staying up all night, and what time you do have would be better spent on other projects. Hopefully this bow works but if it doesn't you'll have to give up and make something simpler for me to use for time being."
"Alright commander, if you say so." I only gave in because I was pretty sure that this one would work fine. There were only so many things that could go wrong right?
"Anyway you shouldn't be too worried about me getting tired, I've pulled plenty of all nighters before battle before, if I get some coffee into me I'll be fine." I hadn't drunk much of the stuff back in Japan, but after moving to London and fighting along enforcers I had gotten used to drinking the stuff. It was a good way to help you stay alert on long missions and carrying around a thermos of the stuff with my supplies wasn't hard. It'd only been destroyed a few dozen times too.
"Hmm, coffee? What's that?" I locked eyes with Lucina as I was halfway through standing up and came to a halt as I realized something. They didn't have coffee here. Shit.
I stood over the stove in the kitchen, doing my best to wake up as I whisked some eggs in a large bowl. Lucina and I had tested out the bow, firing it at a shield I had traced in the small area in between the smithy and Chelsea and David's home. The bow seemed to work just fine, we had fired off several shots each before deciding to stop when one of the arrows pierced the shield I had traced. While that wouldn't have been impressive with a leather or wooden shield the one I had traced was made of heavy steel and was a few centimeters thick in places.
I poured the eggs into a pan on the stove noting the thickness of the mixture. Lucina and I had been invited last night to stay with Chelsea and David, we had intended to get a room at an inn, but had agreed to stay when Rommel pointed out that most rooms would be occupied by the fleeing villagers and merchants.
"You do realize that I could cook instead?" I didn't react as I heard Chelsea speak up from the doorway to the kitchen behind me. I had heard her door open, her footsteps as she approached the kitchen and even her breathing as she stood behind me watching me.
"I know, but I enjoy cooking so I'm happy to do it. Plus it's a good way to show thanks for letting me and Marth stay here." Using my commanders fake name in public was surprisingly easy to remember. I wasn't sure whether it was habits as a magus or the fact that Marth was a wielder of her blade as well.
"Well I wish you'd let me do it, I need to thank you somehow for teaching my son. If you weren't helping him I don't know what we'd do." She walked up beside me as I spoke, pulling a clay pot out of one of the cupboards.
"Don't worry about it. Honestly it's a huge help just to have access to a forge, and having David work with me on my own projects is great too." I pushed around the egg mixture in the pan a bit before letting it sit for a moment to cook, turning I glanced at Chelsea as she pulled premade dough out of the clay pot, breaking it into chunks and placing them on a large flat stone.
"What is it that you're making?" I looked up at the woman's eyes as she spoke, away from the work she was doing with her hands.
"Omelettes." I gave the answer without thinking.
"Really? They look different than the ones I'm familiar with."
"Well, the recipe is from my home, quite far away from here, so I'd be more surprised if it was something you were familiar with." I folded over the egg in the pan as I spoke, taking note of how the fluffy dish jiggled. Giving a nod in satisfaction I put the food on a plate before pouring more of the mixture into the pan.
"You?" I looked back to the dough the woman had been working with. She had finished separating it into chunks and had grabbed a cloth bag off a shelf, one I knew was filled with salt from my own exploration of the kitchen.
"Just some rolls." She spoke as she took a handful of salt out of the bag and tossed a bit on top of each pile of dough. "I figure they might be good to go with breakfast, or at least good as something to eat for lunch if you and David get too busy in the forge. I know how James could get sometimes."
"We might be, we got a lot done last night but there's still so much left to do. Honestly we could work for weeks and there'd still be more ways to prepare for the battle, so the question is more of what to prioritize and how much we will get done than when we will finish everything." I folded the egg again and slid it off the pan onto the same plate before pouring the last of the mixture into the pan.
"I guess that's just how wars work isn't it? No one is ever completely prepared for them and we can try to put them off as long as possible but they still happen." I watched her place the stone slab and the rolls on it in a large oven, surprise evident on my face from her words. Was this woman really so familiar with the nature of war? No, I shook my head. It wasn't this woman but this world, one where war was a constant in people's lives, I knew from Lucina's blade that this era would be exceptional in terms of warfare, but that it also wouldn't be unusual. Falchion's history was long, and it was wielded in war against man more often that it was against any kind of monster or dragon.
I looked back to Chelsea, confused as to why she was just standing there before I realized she was still waiting on a reply. "Ha," I gave a halfhearted sigh, "I guess so." I looked back to the frying pan, shaking it a bit to test the consistency of the eggs. Nodding I once again folded and tossed the omelette onto a plate. Before putting out the small flame I had been cooking on and setting the pan back down. Chelsea seemed to notice that I was done. "I'll go get Marth and David, you can pull out those rolls in ten minutes." The woman gave a small laugh as she left the room and I could barely hear her as the door closed. "After dinner last night I can't wait to taste his omelettes." I smiled as her voice faded. It seemed I had a reputation to uphold already.
I looked up from the spear in my hands as the door to the smithy opened. It was midmorning already and David and I had been working in since breakfast. I was getting good at enchanting the spears, the enchantments were simpler and weaker than Lucina's bow so there weren't any violent reactions if there was an error but I hadn't made even any minor mistakes in the last four. "Shirou, he's here." I looked at Lucina, making out her frame as she was lit from behind by the sunlight before standing.
"David, keep working on the spears, I'll handle this." I spoke to the boy as he made to stand and follow me.
"O-okay." For once the boy stuttered out of surprise instead of nerves. I suppose he should come, since it was his business deal that I'd be completing, but he had work to do and I didn't want him slipping up and giving something away or granting the man I was about to meet leverage. This was about to be a battle, one of wits and words instead of strength and steel, one type of battle that, though I utterly loathed, I was at least skilled at due to my time with Rin. I would never be as skilled with words as her, but spending five years around her I was bound to learn something.
I walked from the smithy into the house, before making my way to the storefront. It was a less than thirty second second walk yet I could see the impatience on the man's face as I stepped into the room. Not that I could blame him, with the upcoming battle I knew any soldier in Ylisse's army would be busy. Behind stood two other men, wearing similar uniforms to the officer though theirs lacked the cloth badges that the higher ranked man possessed. "Robert, glad to see you could make it."
"Yes, well while I was busy I couldn't very well miss a pickup for weapons. These two are helping me today and they'll put the weapons in the carriage outside once our business is concluded." He opened his mouth to continue before stopping as he seemed to realize something. "I never told you my name yesterday." I made no efforts to conceal my smirk as his eyes narrowed.
"I have my own contacts in the Ylissean army. Finding out your name wasn't difficult." Not technically a lie since I never said that my 'contacts' had told me Roberts name, just that I had them. And it wasn't hard to discover his name, just by seeing his sword I had known it instinctually. Well, in for a penny in for a pound as they say in Britain. "Jackson, Steve." I gave each of the men accompanying Robert a polite nod as I said their names, taking note of the blades at their hips. Hmm, Steve's blades was in bad need of some maintenance, and the smith that made Jackson's put too much coal into the steel mix. "Well, the weapons are over here, one barrel of sixteen spears and one barrel of eighty arrows. You can either pay for the barrels and keep them or return them by the end of the week. There will be a markup if you decide to keep them though."
"Yes, yes, I know how this works. I'll be paying the markup, here is the money. You two, grab the weapons." I took great pleasure in the way Robert's eye twitched as I moved on from the soldiers behind him, making seemingly nothing of the fact that I knew not only his name but the name of the men behind him.
While it was only a little impressive to discover the name of a random captain in just one night it was down right impossible to learn the names of two random soldiers, not to mention Robert had probably just randomly picked two guys to accompany him rather than planning it out in advance. Which meant Robert believed that I had either found out who they were while they were on their way here or that I knew every soldier that Robert had under his command.
I took the small pouch of gold coins that Robert held out and made a show of checking the bags contents, a little bit of structural analysis had told me it was the right amount but I didn't want Robert to think that I was trusting him too much. I made no move to stop the men as they grabbed the barrels instead setting the pouch on the counter, I'd hand it over to David or Chelsea later.
"Now, about the magic weapons." I looked back to Robert as the soldier spoke, forcing my smirk to transform into a friendly and apologetic smile, one that I used to have on my face often during my time as the Brownie of Homurahara and because of that I was very good at faking.
"Ah, yes. I'm sorry to say that I won't be able to make any magic weapons for you. After discussing it with my commander last night it was deemed impossible. I'm just going to be too busy in the time leading up to the siege." Robert, for his credit seemed to take my statement well.
"How about making weapons after that then? The war will not be over with one battle." My false smile didn't wane a bit, though it did grow more apologetic.
"Unfortunately I won't be able to then either." I used one hand to scratch the back of my head as I spoke, what was normally an unconscious tick of mine being imitated for the sake of acting.
"I'm sure you can make room, or cancel some of your other business. You're not the only one who talked to your superiors last night, Commander Davis was very interested in your weapons. I'm sure you don't want to disappoint a commander of the Ylissean army."
"Of course not." I acted ignorant of the threatening tone that the non question was posed in, taking my hand off the back of my head before letting it drop along with my facade.
"Which is why I will be keeping my contract with Commander Rommel rather than entering a new one." I stared the captain dead in the eyes watching him flinch back at my words.
Davis was the Commander of the Second Ylissean Army, and while he held the same rank as Rommel he didn't have nearly as much influence. First of all Davis was only a count while Rommel was apparently a Duke. Second was that though Davis and Rommel had both served in the previous war Davis had been a proponent for the war while Rommel desired peace, and since Emmeryn's military policy bordered pacifism that meant Rommel held more power now than Davis, and it didn't help that despite his dislike of the war Rommel had performed excellently.
Of course I hadn't known any of this until after Lucina had lectured me on it all, even if it was more than two decades before she'd taken the throne this was the nation she'd ruled, it was no surprise she'd know the politics.
"What?" The shock was evident in his voice. "No, there's no way you've managed to get a deal with Rommel, he's only been in Ylisstol for a day and he should've been far too busy to hunt down rumors of magic weapons."
"Well, you're right about how busy the General was." I gave a dismissive wave of my hand as I spoke, all part of the theatrics. "So it helped that we were already acquainted and that I had planned to fight alongside him in the upcoming siege anyway. Setting up a purchase of enchanted weapons was just a matter of ironing out a few details and arranging for pickup."
It was at that moment that a knock sounded on the door and I looked over to it. "Oh, speaking of that must be one of Rommel's captains now." I brushed past the stunned soldier and pulled open the door, already aware of who exactly would be on the other side. "Captain William, it's good to see you." I gave the man a friendly smile as I moved aside to let him through.
The man's temporary post as one of his commander's captains had ended up becoming permanent after the battle, and so now he was the perfect individual for Rommel to send to get the weapons from me. Trusted enough to not try to skim money off of payments or steal weapons, already acquainted with me and since he was so new to his role he wasn't able to do as much to prepare for the battle ahead as the other captains.
"Shirou, it's nice to you too." He seemed to fumble with his posture a bit, trying to decide whether or not to salute me before thinking better of it. "How are the weapons doing?"
"Good, we've got one dozen spears and three dozen arrows already enchanted. We can get them packed up and I'll give you some papers detailing the enchantments for Rommel. The arrows are pretty simple, more piercing power and they catch flame automatically, they have to be one use only otherwise the enemy would start shooting them back. The lances on the other hand will keep working unless you break them or damage the runes too much. " I start chatting avidly with William about the weapon enchantments while ignoring Robert, partly because I had been enjoying the creation of my own weapons, partly because he actually needed to know this, and partly just to push Robert a little more.
"First you invite me here to discuss business then you go behind my back to deal with another, and now you're just going to ignore me!?" Robert was clenching his hand in front of him, fist trembling. "Fine then, I'll take my leave but you can be sure this won't be the end of this!" With that the soldier took a sharp turn on his heel before walking out the door.
"Well that went well." I gave a short derogatory laugh as I thought about how it had all gone to plan.
"Are you sure this is okay?" I looked over to William as he spoke. The man was far less sure, both about our plan and its success.
"Yeah, if Rommel is right about how valuable a magic sword smith is than no one is gonna risk offending me or making me leave just for one captain's wounded pride. Even if he gets his commander involved the worst they'll do is pull out of their contracts with David. And with the deals with your commander those contracts are more of a bother than a good source of business."
I walked around to the back of the counter as I spoke, pulling out a journal, pen, and inkwell and beginning to fill out entries on a ledger. James and David had kept flawless records of business and I wasn't going to let that change because of me.
"Well, I guess you two would know better than me." The man gave a small shrug as he spoke before perking up as he remembered something. "Oh, so where are the weapons exactly?"
"Still in the smithy, they're all done but we didn't want to have them out here while Robert was here." I doubted that he'd try to seize them or anything but no need to risk it. "You've got the money." It wasn't a question, I trusted Rommel enough to know that he wouldn't flake on payment, even if the money had to come out of his own pockets.
"Yeah, er, can we just go grab em or does someone have to watch the shop?" I was about to answer him when someone else cut me off as the bell on the door rang again.
"I can do it, I don't mind."
"Ah, Marth. Thanks for telling me when to head in." William was the first to respond to Lucina as she entered.
"It was no issue. As Shirou said, the whole thing was an act, so someone had to give the actors their cue." I nodded at her words, finding myself agreeing to the sentiment.
William hadn't just randomly shown up while Robert was here, no, after Lucina told me that he had arrived she went out the back to go get William from where he was waiting nearby. I was glad she was so willing to cooperate but I didn't actually need anything more from her
"Don't bother with the store. There's nothing left to sell and we won't be taking anymore orders so there's no need to be open. Just lock it up. C'mon William, we'll get the weapons packed up so you can go back to see Rommel."
"Hm, very well. If that is the case I'll accompany William then. There's nothing for me to do here and I'm sure that Rommel could use an extra pair of hands." There was a relieved look on Williams face when he heard the offer for help.
"That'd be a big deal, thanks." I didn't comment on their conversation, instead grabbing the bag of coins from Robert off the counter and leading the way through the back door towards the smithy.
"Any idea when we can expect Gangrel to arrive?" I started to question William as we walked, I'd expect the Plegians would be approaching Ylisstol now. If he used the mages in his army combined with raw labor force of an army it couldn't take longer than one afternoon to extract his men, meaning he should have been ready to march his full force, as opposed to the smaller groups that had pursued Rommel and myself yesterday, by dawn this morning.
"They should be getting close, scouts stopped heading out since we started seeing wyverns from the walls. Can't send a foot party without risking getting attacked from the air and you can't send an air party without fearing archers." The soldier gave a small shrug as he spoke.
"Hmmm, and how long would it take to for Gangrel to prepare for an assault?" In my own world besieging armies would have to construct tools to aid them in their siege. Ladders would take a few hours, catapults a full day at least, and if they wanted siege towers they might remain camped outside an enemies walls for over a week. But in a world where magecraft and phantasmal beasts like wyverns and pegasi are common place in an army things may be different.
Lucina seemed to realize that there might be differences between siege warfare here and in my own world, for she answered before William could. "A smart general would spend a few days on reconnaissance and building ladders and weapons for the siege, before attacking. In general the longer a siege goes on the better for the attackers, however in this case we can expect reinforcements from Ferox after a week or two at most."
A scowl appeared on my commander's face as she continued on. "With Gangrel though, he'll probably recklessly assault on arrival, relying on his wyverns and mages to get through the walls." I nodded as she finished, while that was what I'd been expecting it was also the worst case scenario for Ylisse and more so Lucina and I, we wanted the siege to stretch on so that we could continue to work on more weapons for ourselves and Rommel.
"At the border fort Gangrel just threw conscripts at us until we started to run out of arrows and get tired." I turned my head to look at the captain as he man had just experienced the Plegians tactic first hand afterall, he was the closest you could get to an expert without being a tactician. "I don't know if he's still got enough men for that, after taking so many losses at the border. But he might use foot soldiers as cover for his wyvern riders and mages."
"Ah, thanks for the info." A thought crossed my mind as I addressed the man. "But are you sure you should be telling us all that? I'm pretty sure we're technically just civilians." What the recently promoted captain was telling us could qualify as military secrets after all, even if low level.
"Actually Shirou." Lucina chimed in to correct my false assumption. "We're mercenaries under the employ of Rommel for the time being." I turned to Lucina the questioning look on my face obvious enough that I didn't have to ask.
"I set it all up yesterday while you were working in the smithy. It's a daily contract for a below market price. That way we aren't draining Rommel's pockets while also keeping it official and saving enough money in case we do need it. Our current duties are 'To remain on standby in case of an attack and assist in weapons collection.'" I blinked a few times before a wry smile split my visage.
"So we sit around ready to fight and keep working on the contracts David has with Rommel." I paused as a thought occurred to me. "Does that mean I'm getting paid as a smith to forge weapons for Rommel and as a deliveryman to get them to him?"
"Not actually, since you aren't taking payment from David beyond board and the chance to use the forge for personal projects, and while I am accepting payment from Rommel you aren't seeing any of the gold, not in the form of a cut or in wages." I knew that already if course, but for the sake of drama I gave an exaggerated sigh and placed one hand on my head.
"Oh, such misfortune. I was always told someone would take advantage of my good nature one day, now here I am working two demanding jobs and seeing not a single coin in pay." My tone was as sincere as my words and I didn't even try to hide my grin.
I heard William snort and knew that Lucina would have a familiar grin. I pushed open the door to the smithy with the two following me noting that David had been watching the door when I came in.
"Here catch." I tossed the bag of gold at the boy seeing his wide eyes as he fumbled with it a bit before securing it in his hands. "You can give him the money captain." I looked to the soldier behind me as I moved to a corner of the smithy and dragged a barrel of spears and arrows away from the wall.
"Right," William walked over to David, handing him the gold rather than tossing it like me. "Payment for thirty-six enchanted arrows and twelve enchanted spears." The bag was notably bigger then the one I had tossed and if David's reaction was any indication much more than what he was expecting.
"This, this is way too much!" The boy glanced between the bag and William, only taking a moment to glance at the bags contents.
"Fella, that's honestly not enough. Magic weapons can be trump cards on a battlefield. One guy that knows what he's doing can be a hero or a monster with that kinda weapon. Give a dozen guys that kinda thing and, well, let's just say I'd hate to be a plegian soldier right now." David took in the man's words and glanced from him, to Lucina, then to me before opening his mouth. I cut him off before he could say anything though.
"No, I'm not taking any. I'm fine with being able to use your forge and materials to make weapons for myself and Marth. And it's not like I need money anyway. And even if I do end up needing some in the future Rommel is paying Marth and I as mercenaries under his employ right now. By the time the contract ends we'll have a good nest egg built up." I saw the boy falter, trying to think of an argument, I was ready to give the final blow but my commander beat me to it.
"Take the money David. You may not need it now but you might in the future. Use it to take care of your mother, to take care of yourself." David's head hung a little lower but the blush on his face wasn't shame but simple embarrassment.
"Alright, I got it." The boy gave a small nod as he gave in, taking a moment to place both bags on the work table.
"Right then, Shirou, I'll be back later. Come William, your commander will want to see these weapons with his own eyes." William nodded at Lucina's words and turned towards me. I hefted the barrel I had moved up and handed it to the man before he turned to leave.
Lucina herself opened the door for William before pausing a moment and grabbing her bow. "Right, let's go." She pushed the door open, pausing to hold it for the encumbered officer.
"I'll come over this evening with whatever weapons we complete for you. I'm not sure how much we'll get done since there's other things to work on but it'll be something." William gave me a small nod and a smile.
"Thanks." He turned and left, following behind Lucina as they exited the smithy and began making their way to Romell and his forces. I took a moment to roll my shoulders before turning to David.
"Alright, let's get to work."
I walked with a bit of skip in my step as I moved towards the barracks where Rommel's men were stationed. We had gotten a lot more done than I had anticipated, another fourteen arrows and nine spears enchanted, five total enchanted flat blades, and a full quiver of thirty magicless arrows for Lucina. I didn't have time to test how magical arrows interacted with the enchantments on her bow and I didn't want to risk something going wrong, again.
The sun was just setting and the view of it beyond the city walls was beautiful as it painted the town orange. The image of it would have been peaceful if not for the huddled families of displaced villagers and armed soldiers running from one place to another.
Regardless I had business to attend to, the entrance to the barracks wasn't guarded, probably due to being underhanded and while that made it easier to get into the barracks it also meant I didn't know where I was going.
I wandered for a while, trying to stop the random soldiers who went one way or another in the halls. It was busier than I expected, and only about half the soldiers I called out to responded and it wasn't until the eighth man I managed to stop that someone seemed to know where Rommel was.
That took me to a different wing of the barracks, one of several drawing rooms within the military complex I was told. This one however was guarded.
"Halt. What is your business here?" Two women guarded the door donned in full but thin plate armor the visors on their helms down and blocking my view of their faces. Their posture and tone spoke volumes about their personal discipline and experience.
A glance at their hip told me they were royal guards, a worrying prospect as that told me that one of the royal family was here, and since Chrom and Lissa should still be en route to Ferox so that meant that Emmeryn herself was here.
I shifted the barrel in my grip, moving it so that the women could see my face better. "I've got a weapons delivery for Commander Rommel from smiths David and Shirou and I was told he was here."
"The Commander is here however the meeting will not be interrupted for a mere delivery. Take the arms to one of his captains and get your payment from them." The women dismissed me casually and moved to look back to the wall behind me, a signal that she was trying to end the conversation, not that I could let her.
"The weapons are meant to go straight to Rommel, and I have business with him besides." No response, I'd have to step it up. "The weapons are enchanted and I need to discuss my personal assignment under the Commander." That drew their attention.
"Magic weapons?" They both looked again giving both me and the barrel another glance.
"There was rumor that Commander Rommel had a new source of magic weapons." The woman paused a moment before questioning the other. "Why do I recognize the name David?"
"I believe that James has a son named David. We've given the man a few jobs in the past, mainly when the royal smith was busy or away." The woman gave me a look that even through the helm I could tell was appraising. "And neither he nor his son should be capable of crafting enchanted weapons. Which begs the question of who this Shirou is."
"I'm Shirou, and while David can't manage enchantments yet he is more than capable of making arrows and spears to be enchanted." The two women shared a look before one stepped forwards and reached for the barrel, paused for a moment and gave me a look. I lowered the barrel in my hands, setting it on the ground for a moment and stepping back to allow the guard access. "Feel free."
The woman hovered her hand over the barrel for a moment before grabbing an arrow and pulling it, twisting and turning it in examination. "So?" The other spoke out only a little impatient.
"I'm no expert but it seems legitimate. There are strange markings all over the shaft and while I'm no mage it does feel different. But I've held a Levin Sword before, this is little compared to that."
"Rommel didn't need a personal weapon for himself or one for his elites, he required weapons with simple enchantments that could be mass produced for relatively little cost and be used to bolster his forces after the battle at the border." I paused to ensure that the women were listening and that they took in what I said.
"That combined with the short timescale meant it'd be pointless to give him weapons with powerful or flashy effects, weapons that would require time and practice to use properly. Instead subtle effects that would increase performance and could be used the same as a normal arrow or spear were preferable."
The two glanced at each other before the one holding the arrow slid it back into the barrel and pulled out a spear this time instead. She took only a few seconds to analyze it before replacing it and nodding to her companion. She stepped into the room and I moved back to the barrel of weapons, taking a moment to gesture to it. There was a pause as the royal guard discerned my meaning before taking a step back and placing herself next to the door. I lifted the barrel again and waited. It was seconds later that the other guard stepper back out, followed by a familiar face.
"Shirou! Nice to see you boy. Glad you made it to the party but you're a little late." He glanced to one of the women before looking back to me. "Leave the barrel with the girls I'll have someone pick it up." He turned back into the room for a moment and as he did I placed the barrel next to one of the women. Hesitating for a moment before reaching in and grabbing a wicker basket.
"Tell Captain William that he's to come here and pick up the weapons before distributing them amoung the men. Then get ten thousand gold out of my treasury, here's a note for it, and bring it to David at James' Smithy, if you need directions get them from William." I turned back to see Rommel giving orders to a younger boy, he couldn't be any older than David, probably a messenger of some sort. I ignored the number because despite how large it seemed I was still learning about this world's economy and odds were it was a fair enough price, possibly too fair.
Rommel looked back to me and saw the basket raising an eyebrow at what I was carrying. "What's with the basket?"
"Food." I said simply.
"Hahaha! You're a man after my own heart! C'mon, can't fight on an empty stomach and I'm sure none of those old dogs will whine too much if I eat in the meeting." While his words were lighthearted there was one part of what Rommel said that I latched on to.
"Fight? There's going to be battle already?" It wasn't beyond our predictions, but I had hoped the siege wouldn't begin until at least tomorrow or the day after.
"Yeah, bout a quarter hour ago Plegian troops were sighted from the walls. They're getting into formation now and prepping some ladders. We've got five hours tops, three if we aren't so lucky."