IN SOME VILLAGE, 3 KILOMETERS AWAY FROM CODA VILLAGE, SADERAN EMPIRE, FALMART; IMPERIAL CALENDAR, 601
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Dusts and smoke enveloped the whole village as German Sd half-tracks troop carriers moved in the village, soldiers poured from the vehicles, raising and pointing their weapons to whomever stood in their way.
Men, women, and children got dragged out from their homes and were huddled up outside, anyone who tried to resist were only met by a buttstock on the face, it doesn't matter if it's a child or an elderly, all of them now belonged to the new Reich.
Houses were ransacked as soldiers took anything they could ever find, whether it may be food or clothes, anything worth using were all taken.
Sappers and engineers immediately worked in setting up antennas and building a new radio tower.
Barbed wires and sandbags were placed in the hundreds, trenches were dug, and machine-gun nests were built.
The plan on converting a village to an outpost were going smoothly.
"Load them in the trucks, New Berlin has been complaining about the lack of manpower, let's just do our job and get on with it." an officer ordered as he and his men slowly led the villagers in the trucks.
The soldiers then began to proceed to tie the hands of the villagers and placed bags on each and every one's head so as to prevent them from seeing 'more' things.
"Where are you taking us?!" a woman panickily asked, frantically shaking her dead despite the bag on her head.
"Camp, work." was the only response she got from the soldiers before the truck came to life, and had started to make it's way towards New Berlin.
Soldiers and officers alike watched the trucks carrying the would-be workers making it's way towards their camp.
"I feel bad for them." one of the grenadiers muttered.
"From what I've heard, this empire is no different from us." a sergeant said, puffing a cigarette, before continuing, "They are much worse, they use slaves, and slaves are to be slaves for life, but those villagers we took would be compensated after the work is done." the sergeant explained.
"Compensated?" the grenadier rose his brow in confusion.
"Yeah, they would not suffer for the rest of their lives like the slaves in this world did, after their work, we'd be putting them out of their misery." the sergeant stated, puffing another cigarette.
"What?" the grenadier asked in disbelief.
"We are the saviors, and we would save this world from suffering." the sergeant did one last puff before flicking the cigar away.
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ALNUS HILL/NEW BERLIN, FORMER SADERAN EMPIRE TERRITORY, FALMART; IMPERIAL CALENDAR, 601
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It has been a few days since 'workers' from the surrounding villages were sent to New Berlin to work and help improve the settlement.
Better concentration camps and tall watchtowers were built.
Canals and water lines were currently being constructed for better water usage.
Native and otherworlder's workers alike were seen working around the camp, may it be repairing stuffs or constructing new structures.
Horse-drawn wagons carrying materials made it's way inside the settlement, then people began to unload the materials after the carriage reached it's destination, the materials which would be used to become the foundation of a new palace.
Yes, palace, not only would it become the New Reich's leader residence, it would also serve as the national office and parliament for the future empire.
It is located just where the gate of Alnus Hill once stood, since the gate no longer exist, a palace was instead built in it's place.
Labors and dozers worked in clearing the hard and rocky ground below in creating construction trenches, while mounted-cranes also worked in placing and building the very first foundation of the palace.
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Meanwhile...
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"Now then, did the subjugation turned out well?" General Steiner asked as he carefully eyed William.
"Yes, all fourteen villages now belonged to us now, not to mention the food reserves they had that we seized could grant us another many months worth of food supplies" William proudly announced.
"Casualties?" Steiner asked again.
"Nein, we also had gained extra manpower to be used as labor from the fourteen surrounding villages." William explained happily.
"How many?" Steiner raised his eyebrows in curiosity.
"Six-thousand" William muttered.
"Well, our food's goi-" but before Steiner could finish, William interrupted him.
"Don't worry about the increase of food consumption, they have already been included in the months worth of food." William reassured him.
Steiner then took a deep sigh, before speaking.
"Anyway, we have to prepare, we can't just rely on our current food supplies right now." Steiner said, which also got William's brow perked up.
"General, then what should we do?" Steiner smiled at William's question.
"You already heard about the information we got from both the captives and our native 'workers' right?" Steiner asked.
"Yes, I know about that too." William responded.
"Italica" Steiner smiled.
"What?" William muttered out, confused.
"Italica, as what the locals called it, is a major trade hub for food in the whole empire, hell, maybe in the whole continent!" Steiner explained.
"Then, you are thinking 'that'." William guessed.
"Yes, with Italica under our governance, we would have a steady and constant flow of food supplies, which is enough to keep us going for the years to come." Steiner paused, before continuing, "That is, without taking into account the upcoming winter or a possible attack from the empire which could possibly damaged our food production, not to mention, possible plague or famines because of wars and battles constantly and daily occuring here." Steiner stated as he slowly laid out Falmart's continental map, and pointed to a particular area, with the name 'Italica' labeled below the area.
"You're right, if we even ever capture Italica, fortifying the territory we currently occupy would be easier said than done, with those so-called rogue mages running rampant in nearby areas, it would be difficult in taking care of that problem." William added.
"Yes, also about the recent incident regarding one of our squads that got nearby wiped out by these 'mages'." Steiner explained, scratching his head.
"But it was worth it since they were able to gauge out one of the enemy's weaknesses." William smiled.
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OUTSKIRTS OF ITALICA, SADERAN EMPIRE, FALMART; IMPERIAL CALENDAR, 601
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"So that's Italica, huh?" a soldier dressed in camo muttered as he held his binoculars between his eyes, staring and observing towards the distance city hundreds of meters away from them.
"Seems like it..." another soldier behind his back responded.
"Hey, radio dude, you passed the message?" the previous soldier asked towards the third soldier, presumably their radioman.
"Ja" the radio man responded, tapping the backpack radio on his back.
"Good job, now let's go before anyone sees us." the leader ordered, which got him a few nods from his men.
But before they could take a few steps, a rustle could be heard from the bushes and trees on their left.
Turning towards the direction of the sound, they were met by a small girl, wearing a gothic-like dress.
But what really caught the men's attention was the giant halberd the girl was carrying, probably twice her size.
"What in the name of Jesus-" a soldier tried to speak, only to get his upper half separated from his body by a quick swing from the girl's halberd.
"What the..." the leader yelled as he and the remaining men pointed their weapons at the girl.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" the leader warned in his German tongue, still aiming his Karabiner towards the approaching girl.
"Hoh, I've expected much more from all of you, I'm really disappointed." the girl spoke in her Saderan tongue, licking her lower tongue in a seductive way.
"OPEN FIRE!" the leader ordered as they rained lead towards the girl.
The girl immediately jumped from her position and went for a backflip, but not without taking a few bullets from her legs and feet.
"WE GOT HER-" one of the soldier couldn't finish his sentence as he stared the at girl's legs started to push out the bullets planted inside.
"Damn you" the leader of the soldiers went for a headshot only for his bullet to be blocked by the girl's halberd.
"WHO THE HELL IS SHE!" a soldier tried sneaking up behind the girl and aimed his Mp40 at point blank range towards the girl's head, only for the girl to quickly duck before the soldier could pull the trigger and immediately plunged her halberd towards the soldier's stomach.
"HANS!" the leader called out towards a nearby soldier.
Then, the soldier now known as Hans turned towards his leader and gave him a raised brow.
"Get the flammenwerfer!" the leader called out.
Hans immediately obeyed as he went towards a nearby crate and opened it.
Seeing the flamethrower, he immediately picked it up and aimed it towards the demon dressed in a little girl's body.
With the girl still distracted fighting the others, Hans immediately unleashed inferno towards the girl.
Immediately, Rory turned towards the approaching flame, and for the first time in her long years, she sweated.
"DIE!" Hans shouted as the fire mercilessly engulfed Rory in flames, a screeching scream can then be heard inside the flames, turning towards the sound, they saw a half burnt Rory trying to run away, her halberd on the ground.
"Oh no you don't!" the leader said as he immediately smacked Rory with a shovel.
She then dropped on the ground unconscious.
"Alright, burn it." the leader ordered.
Seeing no response after a few seconds, he turned towards Hans as to find the reason why it was taking so long, only to be met by a smiling Hans staring towards the naked half burnt Rory, which was slowly recovering but unnoticed by everyone's eyes, except for the leader.
"You bastard, burn it!" the leader's yell quickly got Hans attention.
"Ah y-yes." Hans shakily stuttered before burning the half-burnt unconscious Rory with flames.
After a few minutes of burning, only bones and skull remained, but what shocked all of them was that even with the charred remains of bones, small tissues and veins can be seen sprouting and growing inside the skull.
"Ah Scheisse, a fucking monster!" the leader paused, before continuing, "Hurry, dig a hole 'cuz we burying Satan's angel right now!" The leader sternly ordered.
"Y-yes, but do we tell this to our superio-" a soldier tried to object but was suddenly cut off by their leader.
"NO! we can't burden them with another problem, they got too much to handle right now." the leader snapped back, Observing Hans who kept burning the skeleton to keep it from growing until they can properly dig a hole large enough to bury the devil below.
"And you there!" the leader pointed towards a soldier standing guard nearby.
"S-Sir?" the soldier stuttered.
"Gather some stone and rocks, let's not just bury this abomination with dirt alone." The leader ordered.
After the soldier ran off to do his duty, the leader then went back in observing the girl's skeleton which was being kept by Hans from growing by burning it every thirty seconds.
'Just what kind of foes will we meet soon?' he thought to himself, staring towards the sky above.
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ITALICA, SADERAN EMPIRE, FALMART; IMPERIAL CALENDAR, 601
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"You heard those?" a sentry asked his partner, pointing towards the nearby forest in the distance.
Apparently, the two of them were doing Sentry duty on the orders of Legate Julios , and here they are now currently overlooking the vast plain fields on the top of Italica's walls.
"Is it the men-in-gray?" his partner asked.
"Probably, I was there on the battle of Alnus Hill, Shit, what a fucking mess." the other sentry stated.
"I heard about that too, all of our enemies are mages also, I hear." the sentry's partner said.
"Just what the hell our empire's thinking right now?" the sentry muttered in disappointment.
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'Meanwhile...'
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"Legate" a man cladded in armor spoke softly as he knocked on the door in front of him.
"What is it?" Legate Julios voice sounded out on the other side.
"Reinforcements" the man paused, before continuing, "Mutu has came down to greet the new legions commanders, he needs you down there." the man said.
There was a pause.
"It's over..." Julios suddenly spoke.
"Pardon?" the man asked in confusion.
"You've been there right? battle at Alnus hill?" Julios asked in a somberly manner.
"N-No, sir." the man stuttered.
"Then you don't understand." Julios responded.
"B-But si-" Julios immediately cuts him off.
"GET OUT! TELL THEM I'M ILL AND THUS UNABLE TO MEET THEM IN PERSON!" Julios ordered harshly, even making the man behind the door flinch in fear.
"As you command, sir." the man finally gave up and bowed, leaving Julios in his room alone.
"..."
"Shit, they're all going to get slaughtered." Julios muttered, his eyes darting around the room.
That was until an idea suddenly popped up in his head.
"There's a possible chance of us getting spared by the enemy." he smiled, and after that, he quickly made his way towards the door, and ran, he passed by a few rooms and corridors until he arrived at his destination, Italica's palace main hall.
A knight standing guard nearby went to greet him.
"Legate Julios" the knight bowed, before continuing, "Mutu, along with the new head of formal clan and the other commanders are currently in the meeting room right now." the knight explained.
"Yes, please guide me to them." Legate Julios ordered, which got him a small bow from the knight in return.
And thus, both of them proceeded to make their way towards the meeting room.
As they walked in the hall leading towards their destination, Julios noticed a few of those 'normal' demihuman palace maids standing guard in front of the meeting room's door.
After arriving, one of the maids stepped forward, Julios recognized this one as 'Delilah' whom he had met days ago after his army seeked refuge in this city.
"Greetings Legate Julios, we meet again." Delilah bowed, before continuing, "Everyone awaits you inside the room." Delilah stated, her smile never fading.
"Good, off we go." Julios spoke, before the maids finally opened the door leading to the meeting room.
Walking inside along with the knight accompanying him, he was met by a group of people surrounding a large table, a whole map of their territory on top of it.
Among those people inside the room, he recognized, Mutu, his second-in-command, Myui, the new and current countess of Formal clan after his father's death during the expedition on the other side, and lastly Kaine, the head maid of Italica's palace, at first glance, she may just look like an ordinary old woman working as a maid in some fancy noble's villa.
But of course Julios is also aware about who she really is, there is more to her than just her plain old looks.
As a matter of fact, she handles the day-to-day court's intrigues for her clan, and would do anything just to ensure the safety of the family and the whole city, may it be espionage, assasination, and bribing, she has done all of it.
Julios made a short eye contact with her, before moving his gaze towards Mutu and Myui.
"Julios!, I knew that knight was crazy, babbling about how you have given up and had thrown a tantrum earlier, don't worry, I'll make sure he gets punished for making up such lies." Mutu suddenly spoked up, patting Julios shoulders, all the while laughing.
"I see" Julios muttered softly, before looking up towards the new countess.
"Greetings m'lady, I hope we are not too much of a burden to you." Julios gave a smile to the new countess of Formal clan.
"I-It's okay legate, we are very thankful you are here to protect us!" Myui stuttered, at the same time, sweating nervously.
"Good, let's get straight to the point now." Julios then faced towards the other people in the room.
"As you all know, we've lost a devastating defeat from the otherworlders from the other side." Julios started, "Not only that, our otherworldly enemies possessed weapons with capabilities far beyond what we can imagine, right Mutu?" Julios stated, looking towards his friend, Mutu.
"Y-yes, what about it?" Mutu responded.
"What are you trying to say here, legate?" one of the reinforcements commander asked.
After taking a deep breath, Julios opened his mouth to speak.
"How many soldiers do we have right now if we combine all of them?" Julios suddenly asked.
"Large enough to crush the invaders, I heard the gate closed and all of them are trapped here now." Mutu responded with a smile.
"How many?" Julios still asked.
"Ah, forty thousand infantries, ten-thousand archers, five-thousand fresh cavalries, and finally a few dozen wyverns." One of the commanders in the room responded.
"No-egh" Julios quietly muttered.
"Legate?" Mutu asked, curious.
"It's not enough!" Julios spat towards everyone.
"W-What are you trying to say?" Mutu rose his brows in confusion.
'Y-Yes, legate, tell us what's the matter?" Myui asked, trying her best to involve herself in the meeting.
"Even the expeditionary army that had more numbers stood no chance against the invaders!" Julios explained to everyone, sweat dripping on his forehead.
"What?!" Mutu yelled.
"They just got lucky, right Mutu? the expeditionary army was wholly unprepared and was dishonorably ambushed by those otherworldy mages whom liked to hide behind their stupid contraptions, or so I heard!" one of the commanders stated out.
"Y-Yes, you're right!" Mutu patted the commander, "But right now, we have the advantage in terms of supplies and morale!" Mutu said, staring towards everyone in the room.
"Bullshit, Mutu you were there! you saw how they fought!" Julios yelled.
"What happened to 'Let's live to fight for another day'?! that's what you told me during the battle!" Mutu yelled back.
"IT'S A LIE! I DID IT TO SAVE YOUR MISERABLE AND STUBBORN ASS!" Julios snapped, immediately silencing the whole room.
"Y-You... w-what the..." Mutu stuttered, clenching his fists in frustration.
"Look here everyone, if we want to survive, let's just pledge our allegiance to the invaders!" Julios announced, shocking everyone in the room.
"W-What are you talking about, legate?" Myui asked in confusion, "Don't you know what awaits you if you rebel against the empire?!" she shook her head in disapproval.
"And so are going against the invaders!" Julios argued back.
Mutu can only watch, frozen and humiliated, as everyone in the room starts to argue towards each other.
'I was about to die in an honorable death, but that bastard kept me alive just to humiliate me, this is fucking worse than death!' Mutu thought to himself, his eyes burning in both shame and anger.
But his thoughts were suddenly interrupted as a knight suddenly bursts inside the room.
"I bring good news!" the knight bowed to everyone.
"S-Speak up!" Julios ordered.
"Y-yes legate, apparently a couple of mages has surprisingly managed to wipe out a squad of invaders in a nearby village!" the knight explained.
"WHAT?!" Julios stood up, shaking.
"I told you!" Mutu yelled at Julios, "We do have a chance at beating the invaders back!" he smiled happily.
"Is this true? If I found out that you're lying..." Julios glared at the knight.
"I-I swear this is true! they even tried reaching to us and told us what happened!" the knight explained.
Tears were now starting to form at both of Julios eyes.
'Perhaps we do have a hope, after all.' Julios thought to himself, a smile slowly forming on his face.
"That's great!" Myui said happily.
"Yes, countess, it seems the legate's words were all wrong!" Mutu said.
"Y-You..." Julios stuttered in embarrasment.
"Alright, let's not fight amongst ourselves, we all knew the legate was only trying his best to save us, after all, it is one of the great factors to being a great leader." one of the commanders tried defending Julios.
"Y-Yes ~ahem, anyway, where is these mages currently located now?" Julios suddenly asked the knight.
"L-Legate, after our men's brief encounter with them, they returned with the following messages." the knight gulped, before finally speaking, "They said that the mages had gathered a handful of small survivors from nearby villages and is currently waging guerrilla warfare against the invaders, and as for your question legate, they are currently hiding in here." the knight explained, pointing his finger towards the map on the table, specifically on the hilly areas south of Alnus hill.
"Oh, then we should get our men ready to help them." Julios spoke suddenly, slightly making Mutu happy because of his slowly changing opinion.
"Not only that, it seems they also forged an alliance with the high elves of Koan forest." the knight unexpectedly said.
"WHAT?!" everyone dropped their jaws in surprise.
"I thought these high elves were so arrogant that they didn't want to meddle in human's affairs." Mutu spoke.
"Well, considering the threat of the otherworlders, it's no surprise." Julios countered, paused, then continued, "Well, I take back what I said earlier, the hell are you waiting for? let's go help them out now!" Julios ordered.
"Understood!" everyone simultaneously responded.
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CHAPTER END!