Lacedaemonie.

A city without luxury or great monuments throughout the place, the houses were made of stone and the roofs were made of clay tiles, the only thing with some luxury in that city was the royal palace, which could not be compared with the extravagance of the neighboring palaces or much less a Saderan palace. The city had no city wall to defend it from attack.

Anyone unfamiliar with the region would think that this city is quite poor compared to the other surrounding polis, It seemed that the city was actually the union of four nearby villages that grew up close to each other. with a fairly high population of at least 250 million inhabitants counting citizens, non-citizens and slaves, and with that rustic style gives the impression that the city is going through a time of austerity due to some economic problem. Nevertheless it was one of the most powerful cities of all the Hellenic polis. With more than 40,000 Lacedaemonian soldiers trained from childhood to be unstoppable killing machines, they formed the spine of the army of the league of Morea.

In the city square several people had gathered, today it was a combat training where the conscript children faced each other and many people wanted to see the fights. one of the people gathered in the square, including an attractive woman with brown hair and amber eyes, She wore a white peplum with a skirt with slits that exposed her thighs and the only thing that said that this woman belonged to an aristocratic elite were her golden bracelets and crystal earrings.

The training was brutal, the children fought barehanded with each other until the other fell unconscious.

"Let's go! What are those blows? Your little brother hits harder than you, finish him off at once!" shouted the mother to encourage her son, a 12 year old boy who was facing a 13 year old boy.

The boy received a blow that caused one of his teeth to fly out, but instead of being paralyzed by the pain the boy spat out the blood to rush at his adversary, tackling him to get on top of him and begin to hit him repeatedly in the head with a rock he had picked up from the ground.

"That's it! Show them how to fight!"

Before long the trainer stopped the fight when he saw that the other was unconscious, declaring the 12-year-old the winner.

The mother was proudly celebrating her son's victory, looking with a trilling smile at another of the mothers who had come to watch the training. The other mother looked upset, she pulled out a small purse of coins to throw at her.

"I'm sure your son will do better next time~" She looked at the gold coins won through a bet.

The boy was panting heavily, exhausted from the battle. His hands were dripping with the blood of his rival, the fierce taste of his own blood flooded his mouth making him spit on the floor.

"Eurytus! With this you became the best recruit of the unit! I'm so proud of you" The mother congratulated the kid.

"Yes, but I wish father had been present..."

"Don't get picky you already sound like your sister, he left so we could defeat those Anatian dogs once and for all!"

"I know, I know, how is she doing? I heard she failed in her javelin throwing." The boy spoke in a polite and well-mannered manner, the result of the harsh discipline to which he was subjected.

That's right, she also came in last in running and riding. If she goes on like this she won't be fit to get a suitable husband." She was worried about her youngest daughter .

"Maybe in Anat where they marry them off at 14, she still has time until 18 to get fit and have someone to match."

"True, but I think that's why she's neglecting her fitness. But when she least realizes it the only ones interested in her will be the weak ones, having weak children."

"Send my regards to my brothers, I must get back to the barracks."

"All right, I'll see you next time."

Both go their separate ways, boys are separated from their mothers from the age of 7 to begin their military life.


Anat.

A bustling city of half a million inhabitants, commercial center of all Hellas protected by walls of 15 meters that surrounded the great city. In the port there were two giant statues of more than 30 meters representing the twin gods Elange and Ral: Gods of knowledge and learning.

The wide streets were full of merchandise, including slaves, and merchants from all over Falmartcame to do business there, even in times of war.

Vibrant colors adorned the clothes of the citizens, the monuments and the houses. Luxury and eccentricity were in every detail.

"for another republican victory!"

People celebrated in the streets when they heard that a polis belonging to the Morean league had surrendered.

"Anat's fleet is unstoppable!"

"We will defeat those cucks ruled by women!"

"For the Republic! For the Polis!"

Among those there was an inventor named Heron. He had only come to drink and get drunk when he learned that a group of Morean guerrillas had infiltrated his land and burned all his produce, leaving him virtually ruined.

"Those fools who think that taking a small unimportant city out of the war makes us winning... The guerrillas of the Morea league entered our territory and are burning the fields and every time we meet the Lacemodian army they tear us apart..."

He checked his purse, he had a few last coins, although it was a decent amount it was the only thing he had left, the sweet taste of wine was advancing down his throat while he contemplated the money he had left.

"Maybe I need to get a job? I can't stand here listening to these morons."

Rising, the thirty-something red-haired man headed towards Flare's temple to check the information bulletins that were usually posted on the doors.

He walked through the stone streets, watching the animated people without knowing the situation behind those walls.

"Lucky we have that alchemist with us. I can't imagine having to board a ship with those Lacedaemonian beasts on board." Commented a group of young people in the street.

The alchemist one day came out of nowhere to the Boulé and presented them all with a weapon so powerful that it makes the Lacedemonians tremble, a highly flammable liquid in contact with air, which stays lit even on sea water.

Heron clenched his fists in anger, it was thanks to that weapon that the Boule decided to go to war with Lacedemonia and that he had lost everything.

As he stood outside the temple, the scent of incense reached his nostrils, giving him a sense of calm and relaxation that soothed his sorrows.

Arriving at the entrance he could see one of his inventions at the side of the door, a water vending machine, a milk vending machine and a wine vending machine. Taking a glass and put it under the vending machine, he placed a copper coin in the slot and it fell on a lever, by gravity the lever went down by the weight of the coin so that a valve opened letting out fresh water, then, by the same gravity, the coin slipped from the lever to close the valve, making the time it remains open is for the glass to fill.

"It was a mistake to sell the patent, I could have opened a workshop as anyone else would do and monopolize the sale of these machines." He said to himself as he drank the water.

He walked towards the doors of the temple, they opened as he passed without anyone pulling on them, something that amazed many of those who visited the temple but not Heron. He had invented the mechanism of these doors, he knew that when the air is heated it expands, so he designed a system in which, when lighting the great ceremonial fire, the air in a tank that was under it and with which it was connected was heated. In this reservoir there was also water, which, pushed by the expanding air, circulated through a siphon to a container that was lowered by the weight and set in motion a system of pulleys and ropes that opened the doors. When the fire was extinguished, the result was the opposite and the doors closed as if by magic, as if the gods themselves were in charge of doing it.

Making his way through the temple, where a large crowd of people were, the religious rites had not yet begun so people were simply talking to each other about various matters, such as business. Before they began, an official from the city of Anat asked to speak. This was a common occurrence as the temples were very crowded places and it made it easier for the authorities to communicate the decisions of the Boulé.

"Attention, Anatian citizens, the Archonate has decided to call upon the sages and inventors of this city to work under the command of the armed forces in their fight against the Lacedemonian tyranny! If you think you have what it takes to serve the Polis then we await you tomorrow at the agora when the sun rises!"

This was good news for Heron, if he got to be funded by his city then he wouldn't have to worry.


Lacedemonia.

Away from the modest and austere city that was the polis of Lacedemonia, there was an estate as large and more luxurious than the royal palace, adorned with exotic trees and red and white flowers.

An emissary of the polis was walking along the stone path that led to the entrance of that mansion, when the emissary turned his eyes to the side of the road he could see large tracts of arable land being worked by the ilotas, these were conquered slaves who worked on everything while the citizens trained for war. They made up the majority of the population.

The extent of this landowner's territories extended beyond sight, some 400,000 hectares if the records were correct.

Once the magistrate arrived, he was guided to the waiting room by some ilotas who served him food and drink.

"Yes, you always arrive at the most inopportune time" said a beautiful woman who entered the room putting on a white robe, she had come out of the pool and her body, still wet, made her "robe" become translucent, although the magistrate, who like all citizens had the corpulence of an elite soldier, did not look interested. "Let's get this over with, I went to visit my son in the square to see his training and I'm exhausted from the trip."

"The affairs of war are never inopportune, the king needs-"

"Let me guess, the king's army went too deep into enemy territories and the ilots, mules and horses were killed and stolen making it so there is no one to carry all the baggage. Or the herd of pigs fell into a ravine when they tried to cross the mountains that give access to Anat and now they have nothing to make sacrifices to Emroy with? Or the supply line was overextended and the enemy guerrillas are being especially annoying. Whatever it is the king needs, again, to use MY resources." She spoke in an annoyed tone.

"It is your duty as a Lacedemonian citizen to contribute to the war effort."

"Sure, sure. How much is the crown's debt to us? This is definitely going to be counted as another loan."

"Your husband is currently fighting the Republicans while you're here in your luxurious estate, and you're demanding that they be loans?" the man was approaching her, his tone menacing and imposing.

"If it weren't for my help the army would have starved to death long ago. It is my contacts with the other cities, it is my mules and horses, it is my ilotas and it is my smuggling networks that are the only reason why we have been able to change the balance in our favor. So tell King Menelaus and King Basil that if they don't give me back what I have contributed then... Well, you know what happened to your predecessors." He said in an openly hostile and defiant tone, looking the man in the eye.

"Tsk, what they say about you is true, you're hard to intimidate." He said turning to start walking away. "You're lucky that the Gerusia is on your side."

"And so are the ephors, and it's not luck. My mother and grandmother have worked very hard to get to this place. If you're going to bully any woman into giving all her resources to the king then go after the lesser landowners."

"Ha! And when they are ruined you buy all their land from them at a low price? We are not idiots, we will apply for the loans as you want. "

Hearing that she smiles, feeling victorious. "I'll be nice and put the interest at 12%, after all I can't let those child lovers defeat us either."

"As much as I hate those dogs I must admit they were right about the women, we should never have allowed you to have inheritance."

"The result was going to be the same, only instead of a beautiful woman like me you would have had an old curmudgeon demanding this, probably demanding more by invoking his veteran war status."


Silver fields

The Lacedemonian King Basil, a man of six feet tall, black hair and a bushy beard was marching with his army, he had been chasing the Republican army and had managed to intercept them when they were trying to cross a river that crossed the field, the lily flowers that grew in that field, the morning dew made the flowers shine like silver and that river was used to transport the silver extracted from the mines gave them the name of Silver fields.

In front of him stretched the republican army who were desperately trying to get in order to cross the river or form up for battle, it was estimated that there were at least 120,000 enemy soldiers who had not yet crossed the river.

"Soldiers! It's time to tear those treacherous dogs apart! Once we wipe their armies out of existence we will destroy their palaces and their walls where those cravens hide!"

His entire army gave a euphoric war cry, not only did 20,000 Lacedaemonians accompany him but they also had a force of 70,000 soldiers from the rest of the polis belonging to the league.

Behind the king were two elders, who wrote on a papyrus everything that the king did or said without them opening their mouths. These elders were part of the ephors, a group elected by lot that kept the king in line and made sure he fulfilled his duties.

"The king has begun the battle without seeking the approval of the gods, that fire set by the enemy in our camp has caused there to be enough pigs to sacrifice as an offering to Emroy. I fear that the god will turn his back on us being so close to the final victory." They wrote.

Through the fields advanced the phalanxes of the league of Morea, these were sent first to test the strength of the enemy. The soldiers advanced slowly but surely in an orderly manner, their great shields were painted with the faces of horrifying monsters so that, from the enemy's point of view, it seemed that bloodthirsty beasts were approaching them to tear them to pieces. But the line of Republican phalanxes stood firm, waiting for the inevitable clash between two walls of shields and spears.

The Lacedaemonian king watched the battle unfold in front of him.

"It seems they sent a quarter of their forces to stop the advance while the rest try to evacuate... pathetic, if their line falls now they will have no way to form up and fight." Commented the king expecting the enemy to collapse at any moment.

However the republican wall did not collapse, no matter how much the Morea forces tried to break through the enemy lines they did not break through, it was as if a bird had crashed through a window.

"Your majesty, it seems that those who are defending the evacuation are the Anatian elite."

"That seems to be the case." The king could see that the center of the enemy formation was where he was giving the allied soldiers the most trouble. "I want 5,000 men to come with me to attack the center, I want 4,000 to go to each flank to help. The rest I want in reserve in case they try to attack us from behind with cavalry."

And so the Lacedaemonian soldiers went to battle, the king putting on his golden helmet to advance with his men through the center of the formation.

Unlike the other hoplites, the shields of the Lacedaemonians were not adorned with drawings to look more threatening, simply the cold steel so shiny that the enemy could see his own reflection in it, this meant that the enemy could see in detail his own death.

With full steel armor and underneath it a chain mail of the highest quality made these heavy hoplites look as if they were automatons or unstoppable steel golems.

This armored advantage was only possible because it was the polis that supplied the armament. In the case of the other cities, including Anat, the recruits had to buy their own equipment so the quality of the equipment varied, sometimes even going into battle with incomplete armor. In any case, it was very difficult for someone without much training to bear the full weight of Lacedaemonian armor in combat for so long.

"Wizards! Shields!" Commanded the king, soon a rain of fireballs fell on them, which were blocked by the shield.

The tactic of the mages was simple, heat the shield to such an extent as to force the enemy to drop them due to the burns the arm would suffer from the heat. however the back of the shield, which comes in contact with the arm, was reinforced with wood to counteract this tactic, making the shield heavier but protecting the user from the heat thanks to the fact that wood is not a thermal conductor.

"These mages are pathetic, they are nothing compared to those in Rondel, the most mediocre apprentice in that city is much stronger."

Basil regretted not being able to face a Rondel wizard, but fortunately or unfortunately the city was neutral and its citizens did not get involved in the conflicts of the world, even the Empire would rather leave them alone than antagonize them. Maybe some Rondel wizard would join a war for some reason, but the city would never get involved.

When Basil's forces came to be in short distance with Anat's, an approximate 20 meters, the Lacedaemonians took the Republicans by surprise by rushing out to them, breaking their own phalanx formation. They were advancing at an impressive speed.

What the Anatians saw was as if a line of heavily armored carriages was advancing directly towards them, and it was indeed that. They tried to aim their spears at them but due to the speed and power of the hoplites caused the spears to split when in contact with the shields. Soon Basil and his soldiers broke through the Republican ranks tackling everything that was in their way, they were an unstoppable force like a heavy cavalry charge.

Soon chaos seized the Anatian center, to fight at such close range the Lacedaemonians immediately drew their short swords. The king held the head of an enemy soldier and placed his face on his shield that was still red from the fire launched by the magicians.

The screams of pain of the soldier horrified the already surprised Anatians, but the worst was the smell of burning meat in that metal piece, a sickly smell that entered through the nose caused nausea, more than one could not help vomiting when the Lacedaemonian king removed the soldier's face and there were still pieces of melted skin on the shield.

Anatian Army.

"The center of the formation has been broken!"A messenger shouted in despair.

"Fuck! fucking Lacedaemonians!"General NIcias was on the verge of despair seeing how the war that his police started was leading them to disaster.

"that idiot Clinias proposed this war believing that the navy would be more than enough to force the Morean league to dissolve!But now that they have counterattacked, they send me, who didn't even agree with this war, to face those fucking monsters!"

The situation was complicated for the Anatian army, it had been ordered to strengthen the naval force as possible in recent years, which meant that they took resources from the army and diverted it to the navy, among them the most modern ballistas were snatched to put them on ships as well as the best archers.

"We started to invade the territory with half a million soldiers among the entire league but that asshole managed to lose more than 300 thousand men! If we lose this army we will have nothing to defend ourselves until more soldiers are finished training. Besides, did HE just have to go to the oracle of Flare?"It was said while observing a young man, he was calm despite the situation, that alchemist wore a rather long robe, even his sleeves were longer than his arms, so it made him look younger than he really was. "That is the young alchemist who gave us the Hellenic Fire... If he's captured we're completely screwed."

"They're not going to capture me."Said the young alchemist approaching the general, he could not see his face completely, but his voice and features were somewhat androgynous. "My work is not finished yet"

Making a small pit, the young man placed his hand inside it, soon some horrible and disgusting worms that would cause more than a scare if someone came to see one like this in his room began to come out of the alchemist's hand.

"W-what is this?!"The general asked disgustedly.

"Victory, that's what it is~" he said with a laughing expression.

The worms began to dig in the earth, with each second they came out more and more from the hand of that young man.

Before long, the front was beginning to be chaos. It all started when something grabbed the heel of a Lacemodian soldier, as he turned that soldier realized that it was his partner who thought he had died.

"Argos is still alive! Quick, we have to get him to the me-" However, a sword cutting his tendon interrupted him, falling to the ground very sore. His companion was trying to get on top of him with the sword that had cut him.

Completely confused, the soldier could not avoid thethe stab that went to his eye.

"Traitor!"Another soldier who had seen what had happened quickly thrust his spear into Argos's chest, but he didn't even flinch and with one movement he plunges his sword into the openings of the armor.

"This can't be happening..."King Basil saw how this situation was replicated in all the places of the front. The dead were rising up to fight them.

"Emroy, why have you abandoned us?..."That's what Basil whispered. If they were fighting with the dead, that means they had angered Emroy, god of death, and this was his punishment.

"Retreat!"Shouted the king. "The more we fight the more we will make the gods angry, retreat!"

And that was the first time in its history that the Lacedaemonian army withdrew from a battle. The Anatians were also stunned and trembling over the resurrected dead who did not pursue the retreating Morean league.

When the army of the Morean League left, the undead fell back to the ground and never got up again. Everyone in Anat began to fear the necromancer alchemist.

"Was that really necromancy?" The general was visiting the battlefield to organize the funeral rites. When one of those worms fell from a body. "No... this is something worse than necromancy."


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