I am truly sorry for the delay I hope that next chapter won't take as much time
xXXXx
*Slam* "Not accepting!" Montmorency banged on the desk "Why can't you!?"
The old glasses waring man was taken aback the rage, raised his hands in defense. "I don't know what to tell you. We've haven't been able to handle any patents since the beginning of the Albionese civil war."
"What does some peasant revolt have to do my patent getting accepted!" She leaned in a little closer as her voice grew louder.
"The Gallian Convention for the Protection of Ideas which came into effect just after the defeat of Germania, outlines that all parties involved that being Albion Gallia and Tristian would share a common patent system thus allowing inventers to sell their products in those nations without fear of someone copying them." The man explained, much to the dismay of the water mage.
Crossing her arms, "So I'm just supposed to halt my research while I wait for this war to end?"
"Yes." The man spat. "Now get out of my office."
Gritting her teeth, Montmorency, turned and began to leave the office, stopping as she reached the door. "I hope you know that you just lost a customer."
A single chuckle left the man's mouth. "I wish you luck finding another person to handle this patent request considering I'm the only licensed notary in the country."
*Tch* Gritting her teeth, she threw the door open a stepped out into the loud, busy post office slamming behind her with as much force as she could muster.
Why did it all have to come crumbling down at this moment.
Bringing an open palm to her forehead she attempted to massage the start of a migraine away. What was she to do now?
"How did it go."
"Just perfect." She sarcastically remarked. Looking over her shoulder to her fiancee, she took a deep breath, "I'm sorry, let's just find a place to rest, I'm too tired to think and I need to figure out what happens next." Although.
Her gaze drifted to the near empty coin pouch and then to the bag on her back that held a rather expensive bottle of wine, why did she think it would be so easy.
"Well I have some news." Guiche started holding up a letter.
"Good or bad?"
"My uncle stated that he is unable to help us at this moment as he is currently aiding a man in his search for oil on the Germanian border."
"Doubt they'll find anything, that already hasn't already been discovered." She dismissed with a huff.
"He did however point us to a steel mill near the border of the grand duchy of Guldenhorf. Apparently, the owner of the mill owes my uncle a favor."
The blonde girl let out a chuckle, "So I guess it is a three-day trip to some steel mill in some back-water town on the edge of possible the most self-centered and zealous families in all of Tristian!"
Guiche let out a sigh. "I don't know what you want me to say, but it's your best bet. But on the bright side from what one of the workers here has told me, there has been roving bands of orcs in the Ardennes region, perhaps it's time to test your inventions on live targets?"
With a purse of her lips, Montmorency mulled over, as she did her stern look began to relax. 'If we killed the orcs with my invention this would give weight to the possibilities of the powder.' A small smile began to form. 'Not only that but it would most certainly give us a consumer once my powder goes into full production.'
Without a second thought she marched over and threw open the door to the outside world, "Come on Guiche, we must head back to the academy to gather our things."
xXXXx
The sight of her breath, the chill in the air, the crunch of snow breath her boots, the howl of wind between the trees.
Winter had arrived.
It was a time she liked, the time after the first snowfall, but before the temperature turned dreadfully cold.
As she walked through the woods under the light of the moons, she was reminded of the few times she had spent with her father. It was strange looking back on it, how he was so afraid of the roads he insisted on walking everywhere.
Compared to how the nobles of other nations lived, they could have easily confused with rich peasants.
Only this time, she was alone, enjoying the solitude that came with it.
If she was honest with herself, it had just gotten too hectic at home; the manor had been turned into a fortress, soldiers manning every room, every hall, and every entrance. Even sneaking away was an issue in and of itself with cannons and sentries placed along the external walls.
However, upon "borrowing" a uniform of one of the men from the wash, she was allowed out without so much as a warning.
Rubbing her hands to keep warm, she continued through the woods towards the closest town. Or she should have been, but time flowed by, and nothing changed. It seemed as if the forest was never going to end; however, after several more minutes of pointless, a new sound could be heard faintly over her own voice.
It was a constant shriek of the damned that sent a chill down her spine that only grew louder as time passed her by.
Blood running cold, she turned and ran through the woods as fast as her legs could carry her.
Yet it did nothing, no matter how fast she ran, no matter how hard she tried to block it, the shrieking only grew louder and louder until it was the only thing in the world she could here.
"Stop it!" She cried. "Stop I-" Her foot catching something hidden beneath the snow; she tumbled forward. Pain coursed through her body originating from the same ankle she had just tripped over, making it apparent that she must have twisted, if not broken it.
Suddenly remembering what she had been running from, she began to crawl as best she could with a lame foot.
Each hand gripped a handful of snow pulling as best she good until she came to two boots that stood in her way.
Fear gripping her, she followed the legs up until she came to the face she instantly recognized. "Louise?" She questioned.
"Don't Louise me, it's time to get up Kirche, we've arrived."
Slowly coming out of the land of the dreams, Kirche let out a yawn, attempting to stretch only for her hands to meet the cold metal of the turret.
In a sudden recoil, the fire mage began to shiver. "F-F-Founder, where are w-w-we?" She sputtered only now noticing that she could see her breath
Louise, unamused by the reaction, grabbed the hatch's handle and, with a quick pull, opened the top of the armoured car. Almost immediately, snow slowly descended into the tank illuminated by the duel moons peaking in through a hole in the clouds.
Raising a hand, she caught the small white snowflake. "S-S-Snow?" She muttered through chattering teeth. Standing up, her eyes grew even wider as she took in her surroundings. "F-F-Founder." It was as if she had been transported to the far east of Germania.
All the land she could see atop this hill was covered in snow and by the looks of it a thick layer of the white powder.
"To answer your question were just outside of Newcastle," Louise said, standing up and pointing behind her.
Turning around, Kirche found her staring at a city many parts of alight by fire, no doubt by the dragons that circled around the city.
Further away were the ships. Dozens of them all sat in wait for an opportunity to crush the final garrison of royalists.
As her gaze fell to the shores of the river, that separated the island of royalists from their aggressors. She felt her breath pulled away by the sight of a mass of tents that looked as though it could house a small city of soldiers.
As she scanned the camp, the true scale of this siege hit her. Dragons could be seen being fed, an endless stream of wagon trains and? "L-L-Louise are those... m-m-mages?" She asked, pointing to a glowing ball of blue on the other bank of the river.
"It's what Wardes thinks... And that would explain the snow."
That only confused the Germanian more. "A-a-a-are they trying to f-f-freeze the river?"
"Seems so."
"A-a-and why are you so c-c-calm!?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" Louise calmly questioned. "That army is comprised of nothing but commoners. If they believe themselves strong enough to face a Valliere, then they may try."
"Pervitin," Tabitha muttered from her place.
"W-W-What?"
"A small lozenge that lessens one's response to fear increases aggression."
"I k-k-know what it is, but why is L-L-Louise on it? How did she even get it?"
Louise looked to the redhead with a scowl. "Does it matter how I got it, it opened my eyes. I'm not scared anymore, and I can carry out my duty."
Clenching her jaw, Kirche relented, she had seen more than her fair share of officers under her father's employ who abused that substance when it came to dealing with rowdy peasants. And more often than not, it ended poorly, but to think even Louise would be on it.
"W-W-Well, then if you're so capable, how are we s-s-supposed to get past the army and the r-r-river that blocks our path."
The pink-haired girl sat in silence, a look of annoyance growing more and more intense as she seemingly thought on the idea. She began tapping her foot and bit her lip. "Wardes is working on it."
"Y-Y-You don't know, do you?"
"look, he said he was going to find a way through, and he will so just shut it."
Gritting her teeth, Kirche relented, going back to watching the camp.
It wasn't long after silence had taken root that Wardes and the prince returned carrying three thick uniforms of varying sizes.
Wardes was the first to speak. "I do hope you had a restful nap, miss Zerbst, the next few hours are going to require all the energy we can muster."
The realization slowly dawned on her. "W-W-We're... walking t-t-t-through that?"
"We don't have many other options, and from what we've been able to see, the camp is rather lax, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem," Wales explained as he and Wardes tossed the uniforms up onto the turret of the car.
The two girls eyed each other.
Placing a hand on one of the uniforms, Louise smiled smugly, saying. "I guess you should get out Kirche as there isn't enough room for both of us to change."
Clenching her jaw, Kirche mumbled a German curse and climbed out of the turret as Louise slammed it shut. "Tabitha." silenced returned for a moment before the door at the bottom of the car swung open. Tabitha Crawled out on her hands, grabbing her staff and uniform before the pair walked out into the woods.
As they walked further and further away from the rest of their party, it reminded Kirche of last winter when she went back to Germania to check up on her family and see the new noble from some far east province that was looking to wed her.
Just when she was about to leave, Tabitha showed up and thrusted a suitcase into the carriage that she was taking back home and announced that she was coming with her.
It was apparent that she was concerned for her, but for her to join her without so much as announcing it a day beforehand? Did she not have any duties of her own to fulfill, and why was she so keen to protect her.
"Out of sight." The monotone girl mumbled. Bringing Kirche's focus back to the present.
Without another word, the smaller girl tapped the ground. The snow in the area around them was blown away, letting the Germanian see the grass once again.
Not a second later Tabitha, began to undress, sending the taller girl's mind spinning. 'How isn't she affected by the cold?'
Maybe it has something to do with her specialty being ice magic.
Walking over to a tree, she pulled out a wand. With a single incantation, several sticks were torn from the tree, forming a neat pile by her feet. "Ignus," the pile of timber suddenly burst into flames.
As warmth began to travel up her body, the shivering stopped.
With the warmth from the fire, she quickly changed into the Reconquistan uniform, embracing the warmth that came with the long coat the covered nearly every inch of her body.
With the pair now in disguise, they headed back to the group finding the car on fire, and the rest of her party were now looking over these strange poles with diamond shape heads on the end of it.
"What's going on?" Kirche questioned, walking over to the group as she looked around.
"We've denied the enemy our equipment, but as of right now, we're trying to figure out this weapon." Wardes shrugged, tapping the box at his feet with his boot. "Louise called it a panzerfaust, but I'm not sure where she got that name."
Handed one by the knight captain, Kirche began to look it over, feeling its weight in her hands. "How are we supposed to use it."
With a smile, Wardes reached down and plucked a small leaflet from the box handing it to her. "It's a good thing we have a Germanian,"
Kirche sat in shock for a moment; it was clear from the moment she had taken the paper that it was instructions of some kind but the fact they were in German? Was this made in her homeland? She didn't know of any places that produced a weapon like this.
That idea quickly evaporated as she scanned more of the paper. The way it was written, it was as if her nation was at war, not only that, but it implied that tanks were common.
Backblast.
Reward for return.
Hollow charge.
"Where did you find this?" Kirche asked.
"I picked it up from a trader in Germania who deals in these sorts of things," Wardes explained.
Biting the inside of her cheek, she read the instructions out loud for everyone to hear.
"So, I was right," Louise yelled from the back visibly frustrated.
"Seems you were, Louise," Wardes replied with the same calm smile. "Now," He started grabbing everyone's attention with this sudden shift in demeanour "Were going to be walking through an enemy camp so I want to make it clear what you will answer if were questioned. First of all, we were transferred from the Earl of Essex's army to assist with the siege of Newcastle. If they ask about the weapons, say we found them while foraging. It should be made clear that until we're through the camp, you are to no engage with no one. I don't want to hear a single word from any of you."
After several moments of silence, the warm-hearted smile returned to his face. "Then let's go."
xXXXx
To say that Amethyst was concerned would be an understatement. Ever since she had joined Karina, all the jobs that she had given her had always been extremely well thought out with planning sometimes going on for a month before she or her sister went out to accomplished said goal.
But today.
Today was different.
Not six hours ago, the duke's familiar showed up making informing her that Karina was going to show up and to gather the appropriate equipment so that she could infiltrate the city and that she needed it within the next eight hours.
It was a far cry to her current mission, which was just to observe the war, what was the cause for the sudden change in tactics.
"Do you have it."
Startled by the voice, Amethyst nearly jumped out of her skin. "Karina. You shouldn't sneak up on me."
As the Duchess walked into the moonlight, Amethyst was able to realize at what speed she rushed here as she hadn't even taken off the water-filled pouches tied to the bottom of her legs.
"Forgive me; I thought vampires were masters of their domain." Karina jabbed
"We are, but you just caught, me in thought," Amethyst replied
"About the sudden shift in plans?"
Amethyst took a moment to process her situation before replying. "Yes. So I need to ask why the sudden change?"
Karina paused for a moment. "Did you get what I need?"
"You're dodging the question."
Karina turned to face the town. "Louise is in Newcastle."
Amethyst blinked, waiting for her friend to mutter something about it being a joke, but it never came. "Oh, gods above, that girl is always getting into trouble, isn't she," letting out a sigh, Amethyst reached to a bag she had leaned up against a tree and grabbed it. "Well, I guess its good I got you into the airborne infantry."
Karina looked to her that told the vampire to continue.
"They're planning on having dragons drop off elite infantry into the city to capture the main anti-dragon batteries, and various other choke points ahead of the main assault. So, you'll be first into the city."
"So, they're using the tactics I developed fighting Germania?"
A soft smile formed on the vampire's face. "That seems to be the case; the only difference is that the makeup of the squads is almost uniformly commoners compared to mages."
"They're sending commoners behind the lines?"
"Yep." The vampire handed her the bag. "In fact, you yourself are a commoner, Miss Grey." Karina ignoring the vampire, began to fish out items from the bag. "Your husband was killed in the line of duty, so you yourself joined to avenge your husband, and now you stand ready to fight the last ba-"
"What is this?" Karina asked, holding up the strange gun that the vampire had stole, which had a crude shoddy look to it.
"They call it a sten. It's a strange repeating musket that most of the airborne troops use." The vampire explained.
"They're using artifacts then." Karina hummed. Dropping the bag to the ground, she raised it to her shoulder and taking aim and scanning the environment.
"You seem like you already know what you're doing," Amethyst asked.
"It's not the first time I've come across a weapon like this." Lowering the weapon, she placed it next to her, fishing out the next item. An odd-looking pistol that favoured straight angles over the curved grip that most pistols had. "What do they call this one?" Karina asked as she looked it over.
"They call that a colt." Without warning, the ammo box fell out the bottom of the gun, thankfully caught by some unseen wind magic just before it could hit the ground.
The box floated up to Karina's face giving her a good look at how it worked. "So it uses brass cartridges and a spring system to feed it."
"Right. I should show you how they use them." Amethyst said cutting the Duchess off
Quickly going over how she had seen them used. Karina quickly got the hang of how they worked, and soon after, she changed into the Reconquista uniform and strapping on the holster and tightening the sling that the repeating rifle was tied to until it rested comfortably at her side.
"Did you take into consideration my hair?"
The vampire smiled and tossed her a helmet cap, which the Duchess caught with ease and without question began putting it on. "It might be a tight fit, but I'm sure it will work."
With a final pull of the strap, the cap was secured, and her eye-catching pink hair was safely hidden. "Is there anything else I need?"
The smile on the vampire's face faltered. Reaching to another piece of kit she had yet to give her, she walked over to the Duchess and placed atop her head the metal helmet that resembled a kettle hat. "Do you want me to shadow you?" Amethyst asked as she pulled the helmet's strap tight.
"No, I want you to go to Manchester, and figure out if they're producing these guns or they're pulling them from the various stockpiles."
Stepping back, Amethyst took one last look at her friend. "Stay safe, Karina.
"You too, Amethyst."
Without another word, the pair parted, each of them facing a daunting task in front of them.
xXXXx
Again i am truly sorry about the delay and I'm sorry that this chapter isn't that long but i hope that my motivation continues and i can hammer out the next chapter in the next week or so.
Please let me know what you think, and i do hope that you all stay safe and healthy in these trying times
