Guys peacekeeper is back again with another chapter, this time it is much more longer than the last one I presume so. Well, my beta reader or so you can say a good friend from Eng dept was unable to rectify my grammatical mistakes in this chapter. Reason well my midterms are starting next week along with his so bear with me for a while. Also, I won't be posting for a while for my exams, do not I repeat do not presume the story is dead if I had not posted for a while in near future.( It is a month long exam, with lots of breaks in between ).
Special thanks to Mr. another guest for your Idea and also to my other reviewers.
Note: Many readers from the story had suggested me to have a Family member from Saito's family in the special Region. Well, he is here just you have to spot him among the members of the UN military.
CH- 5 The Imperial decree & Third Recon.
Germania, Vindobona, Imperial Palace ( next day )
Imperial War Room.
Emperor Albert seated on his throne surrounded by his most trusted advisors and Generals including Gen. Gotfried of the capital defense army and Gen. Gramont of the Tristanian contingent. His generals and advisors argued among themselves about what the next course of action would halt the outworlders advance deeper into Germanian territory while emperor sat on his throne listening to their arguments while he rubbed his forehead still thinking about the loss his army faced during the battle of Alnus hill.
" How many regular soldiers do we have left in the eastern provinces. ? " emperor asked.
" You Majesty " Gotfried said " all the remaining regular infantry we have left are garrison units in different forts and provincial capitals all over the east, none of them has any offensive capabilities right now, we also have a large number of militia units but they all lack in proper equipment and training. In short, your majesty the large bulk of troops prepared for any offensive actions against the outworlders are stationed in the Imperial capital right now, but sending them to battle will also leave the capital-wide open for an attack. "
Emperor looks down at the table with the map of the eastern part of the empire, after thinking for some time he spoke " General what about the Rose order of knights they are a bunch of skilled warriors we have in the capital, can't we send them. "
" Sire I don't recommend on sending them to battle, they might be skilled but they have no real combat experience. " Gotfried replied.
" What about sending the Imperial Fists? " Another noble asked.
" Absolutely not they are the best of the best empire can have and we need them here in the capital for its defence if the outworlders make their move." Gen. Gotfried replied.
" What we need now is the further analysis on our enemies true capabilities, we cannot afford another Arnus hill right now. We must send some of our units on reconnaissance mission if we want to know whom and what we truly are facing. " another noble said.
Emperor turns towards Gramont " General as you have seen our dilemma right now unable to muster sufficient forces to conduct recon operations due to our severe losses, I ask you to deploy your contingent on a recon expedition in and around the Formar territory. "
Gramont replies " as you command your majesty " with signs of pride clearly visible on his face, for at last Tristainian contingent being able to properly contribute to this ongoing conflict.
" General I heard that yesterday you have received a letter directly from her highness ordering you to return back to Tristain with your army. " Gotfried said looking directly into the eyes of Gramont.
" General as much as Germania is in danger right now so is the Kingdom of Tristain. The border of Tristain is directed towards the south of the Arnus hill, It will take a week and a half to reach the border and cross into Tristain. We also do not abandon our allies that helped in fighting against the Reconquista during our combined invasion of Albion. Another thing I want to point out that Her Highness didn't order but asked me if the situation in Germanian is stabilized than only I am to return back to Tristain. After the defeat you faced at Arnus hill I am now convinced we are needed here the most rather than back in Tristain. " Gramont explained.
" But General your Economy is falling with your extension of your deployment it might lead to the fall our your kingdom is it not general," an advisor said in a sarcastic one.
" I have full knowledge about that sir, but we can still manage of our own some time more, but if Germania falls to those invaders there is no one left to stop them from spreading all over Halkeginia, and we cannot ignore that fact right now." Gramont countered.
" You don't have to care about your armies rations and supplies anymore General Gramont," Emperor said with a smile on his face. " I have decided to fund your campaign from now on.
This revelation stunned Gramont and also the Germanian generals, advisor s and nobles present in the room.
" Your Highness I am very grateful for your kindness and help you have shown to us. " Gramont replied with his own smile.
" Don't be, you have already shown your determination as a true noble and a trustworthy ally by standing beside us in time of our peril. "
" Another thing General, I am giving you the command of Rose order of Knights," Emperor said.
Gramont looked towards the emperor, little stunned by the sudden addition of Imperial troops not just commoner infantry but an elite knight order in his ranks.
He tried to counter " Your majesty I do not think I will be needing them, I have enough men for this operation."
Gramont didn't want to command Imperial forces at all, by the years of experience in the military he knew the kind of pride these Germanians take in their military might, even their commoner soldiers or Legionaries were better trained and well equipped than any other kingdom all over Halkeginia, , Like their Nobles who tend to look down upon him and his noble officers, their commoner soldiers also look down upon his soldiers hailing and would mock them for being a small and significant kingdom which needed their aid during their counterattack against Albion.
During the invasion of Albion when the Tristain forces would cower in fear of the charging Albion nobles, the Germanian soldiers would charge headlong against anything thrown at them, may it be a group of Magical knights or a group of triangle mages or even an army outnumbering them 3 to 1. They fought with the strong will and determination for their empire that even the captain of the Griffon knights would be put to shame. Unlike his army which was completed depended on nobles to command them, The Imperials relied upon both nobles and their commoner officers, they also respected each other which made their military more formidable and also more flexible unlike his contingent where nobles would always disregard the like of a commoner soldier in order to attain glory in battle.
If a commoner soldier of their empire had that much pride in him, a knight would become a throne in his operation rather than being helpful, as being regarded as inferior soldiers there is a possibility they might even disregard his orders or any orders from his command staff during the heat of the battle. In simple words, he was not comfortable with the addition of Imperial troops in his ranks.
" General I am not asking but ordering you to accept the command of the Imperial knight order." He continued " You have more or less 500 men in total from them only 50 are mages, with this recent addition your numbers would grow up to 800 in total with also an addition of nearly 150 noble knights in your ranks. "
" As you wish your majesty," Gramont answered in a defeated tone.
" Well then as everything is settled I would conclude the meeting for tonight."
Emperor said.
As advisors and generals started to leave the room, " Mr Marcus and Gen. Gotfried please would you stay behind for a little longer I have some important matters to discuss with you right now.
After a while, only Emperor Albert, Prime advisor Marcus and Gen. Gotfried were left in the room.
" What you want to discuss with us, your majesty? " Marcus asked.
" Marcus and Gotfried as you know after the defeat of Hanczel's army along with our Gallian allies the imperial military presence in the Formar county is only limited to the city of Italica and that too those troops are not regular imperial Legionaries but instead Italica's city guards and militia. The formar county is more or less lost to the outworlders army."
as the emperor continued he pointed at the formar territory in the map present at the table.
" And both of you also know Italica city is situated on directly upon one of the most important highways leading to western provinces and also that highway has a direct route to both the capital and other kingdoms borders. "
As he finished Gotfried asked " Your majesty we know about that, What are you want to imply about this territory? "
" Scorched earth " emperor replied.
Both Marcus and Gotfried were having shocked expression on their faces as he continued
" We have to destroy anything and everything that the enemy might use to advance more towards the city of Italica and the highway. Burn all the villages and farmlands leading to the city, poison all the wells along the way, leave nothing standing that can be used by those invaders against us. "
" But my lord, What about the revenue, and also of the commoner population in the area, the month of harvest of their crops is coming near, they would likely to oppose the burning of their crops and their villages. " Marcus asked
" Other Lords and nobles of the court are also going to oppose the scorch earth policy. It might be due to the reason this territory of being an influential noble Count Colt who died during the initial thrust by the outworlders. " Gotfried stated.
" I know about that General, I know they would likely surrender to the outworlders rather than fight for the empire. They have no loyalty to the crown or to the state but only to themselves. The massive loss faced by the regular army also has forced my hand, I am totally dependent on the provincial units provided by them those are likely to be more loyal to their masters rather than to me. " Emperor stated losing his cool.
" Your Majesty we would give our lives for you and the empire. " Gotfried declared as Marcus nodded as he supported gotfried's declaration.
" I know I would be able to trust both of you as you are the most loyal members of the court. " Emperor said with a broad smile on his face.
" I want you Gotfried to take the command of the Imperial Fists as soon as you leave the palace and give them the orders for the initiation of the scorch earth tactic in the Formar territory as soon as possible. I want everything burned to the ground. "
" Yes, your majesty " Gotfried replied.
" What about the commoners your majesty, and what about the local lord? " Marcus asked.
" The territory is ruled by the daughter of the late count right now who is still a minor and most probably a weak ruler, About the commoners well leave no witnesses, the news of the destruction is to kept in secrecy as long as possible. When the news breaks I will handle it and until then it will be too late for those fools to interfere in my plans. " Emperor replied.
" Here take this letter directly to the commander of the Fists extending the letter with the seal of the empire to general Gotfried and he will know what to do next."
" When the Tactic will be successful we will be having an enemy low on supplies and forced to bring their own supplies from their land tiring their horses and slowing them down long enough until the Imperial Legions are back in full strength."
Both the men saluted their emperor and turn to leave the room as they head out to fulfil their emperor's orders and bring the enemies of the Great Germanian empire to its knees.
( 1 hour later )
Germania, Fort Imperial Glory (2 leagues from Vindobona)
After the secret meets with his Majesty Gotfried along with his guard escort rode directly to the Imperial fists primary base of operation just 2 leagues away from the capital, The reason the base being away from the capital was to keep the prying eyes of the commoners and spies. The road leading to the base had three heavily guarded check posts, to cross these posts the person had to have the order directly signed by the emperor or from the war minister, no one even Gotfried himself was allowed inside the base though being a General in the army without proper documentation. As he reached near the fort he was welcomed by a large high exterior wall with sentries patrolling on them. As he got closer to the gate of the base a Legionary armed with a musket saluted him and asked.
" My lord would you be kind enough to show some documentation, please "
Gotfried brought out the papers he had been using to cross the previous checkpoints and presented it to the guard on duty at the gate.
" You are cleared to pass my lord " Directing one of his fellow sentries to open the gate " But you are only allowed to bring only two of your guards inside the fort and you will be escorted by one of my men to the main command building "
Gotfried nodded and signalled two of his men to follow him.
As they entered through the gate, they came across a large open area on the right side of the fort where a row of dragons were sitting there and were being tended well by their riders who stood beside them, in the far end there were structures those were being used to house those dragons.
As the passed through that area one of the General's guard asked curiously
" My Lord why do the Fists got bigger dragons than our own Dragon knights?"
" Is this your first time here Captain Ludeck? " Gotfried asked.
he nodded.
Gotfried explained "Well Unlike our own troops numbering in thousands, the fists number in hundreds, This is due to the reason of their rigorous training procedure they have to endure for 3 months, many trainees fail during the training only leaving the strongest amongst them. They are the best of the empire's elite fighting force, not some conscript or militiamen. This is the reason why they get to use all the best equipment the army can offer. Not to forget these men fall directly under the control of the Emperor and the War minister respectively." He continued. " Well about the dragons, well they are a very rare breed of dragons only found in the western provinces of the empire. Their scales are sturdier than our regular dragons and are also quite hard to keep them in control."
As they crossed through the barracks and parade ground, they saw hundreds of men in black armour and helmets covering all over their head except the eye holes were lined up on the parade ground. Many were armed with muskets strapped on their backs and pistols holstered on their waists, they were also armed with swords and different kinds of melee weapons preferred by individual soldiers.
" Does the Fists recruit commoners into their ranks? "
" No Captain, They are all noblemen, after the invention of muskets which give the commoners some edge against us nobles, the previous commander of this regiment decided to train them in the art of firearms and magic. They can and will use both magical attacks along with their firearms to gain an edge during a battle. "
" My lord, how can I be able to join the Imperial fists ?" Ludeck asked.
Gotfried sighed and replied " Well captain you need to have 5 years of combat experience before even being eligible to apply and also you have to be a Triangle mage in order to join them. Last but not the least you have to pledge a oath to promise not to release any confidential information related to the security of the empire and this unit and do not forget the intense training you have to endure before you become an Imperial fist you must have extraordinary skill to pass them also you have to renounce the noble of fighting in a war these people will fight to win not to gain honour and glory in battle . They recruit in every two years amongst the ranks of the imperial army."
With this revelation baffled Ludeck who believed in the noble way of fighting in duels against any fellow noble except the commoners of course.
As they followed their escort they came across a large building guarded by two Fists operatives. Their escorted said.
" My lord we have reached our destination I will be waiting for you here, you can take your guards with you into the command building."
With that Gotfried entered the building along with his men, the commanding officer's room was on the second floor they passed through a number of sentries of the building, Ludeck while following his general the death glares he was receiving from those sentries. It sends chills down his spine. As they neared the room Ludeck again asked his general.
" Why are those sentries we passed through were looking at us like we were here to kill someone? "
Gotfried warned " Do not do anything stupid here Captain and do not look in to their eyes as well, Imperial fists are trained to only follow orders and be loyal to their emperor only, They don't like anyone except any other of their own men to command them, they also do not trust anyone from the Imperial legion due to the fact that Imperial legion bases can be infiltrated by spies and assassins and now we might be those men in another man's attire impersonating them. They will kill us if they sense any doubt of our ranks. "
As they reached the door leading to Imperial fists commanding officer's office Gotfried ordered his men to stay outside and do not cause any trouble. He knocked the door and waited for a reply.
" Come in "
Gotfried opened the door and entered the room he was greeted by a man in mid-forties seated in his chair beside a highly decorated table. The top of the table was scattered with maps and other documents for the military operation and training results of this unit. As he saw Gotfried entering his room he stood up from his chair and said warmly.
" Ahh, General Gotfried good to see you here, though I was expecting you, after the recent battle report coming from the Alnus Hill campaign I knew It was not long enough until his Majesty orders us to be deployed to fight outWorlder barbarians at the gate."
Gotfried replied " Good to see you too Colonel Berengar I have brought Orders from his Imperial majesty. "
Berengar scoffed " Ohh you can just have sent a messenger with the letter why to come yourself to present this, I presume it is of utter importance for his majesty to send one of their premium generals here to bring his orders to us. "
" It is of great importance Colonel extending the letter he had to Berengar please read it. "
While breaking the seal to open the letter Berengar asked " Do you have any idea what is the content of this letter? "
" I have no idea " Gotfried lied, he knew what the emperor had ordered but he wanted to see the reaction on Berengar face when he would know that the command of Imperial fist unit has been transferred to him and now Berengar is going to be his second in command. These elite soldiers of the empire see themselves superior to any other fighting force in Halkeginia, even the Imperial Legion is looked down upon. During the Invasion of Albion, they were given their own separate command and their troops were more or less independent from the normal chain of command of the legions as the answered directly to their commander who in turned answered directly either to the emperor or the war minister. So being under the command of a normal Imperial army general was going to be hard for the fists.
As Berengar open the letter he began to read it loud so that Gotfried would even know what his Majesty has ordered them to do.
By the order of your Emperor Albert III to the present commander of the Imperial Fists, to hand over the command of his unit to General Gotfried of the Imperial capital defence army, Until further orders you will follow his orders as they were of mine.
Signed by Albert III
Seal of Germanian empire
In an instant, Berengar stood in attention clicked his boots and presented a salute to his new commander General Gotfried.
" My Lord What are your orders? "
" Mobilize one of your most ruthless and elite units, you are to advance to the Formar territory immediately. After you arrive at your destination Gotfried reveals a map from his pocket and spread it on the table Destroy all the rural settlements in the area, poison the wells, kill their cattle, leave nothing standing that can be used by those outworlder invaders. "
" My lord, are you ordering us to us Scorched earth in the Formar territory? " Berengar asked while being stunned by the order.
" Yes Col. we are commencing the scorched earth in Formar County, Just leave the provincial capital out of your trail of destruction, any means are to be used and leave no witnesses behind, we do not want some mere peasants spreading the word of the Scorch earth tactic we have resorted to use and plummet the moral of the people and army more after our crushing defeat. Is that clear Berengar. " Gotfried said in a sternly.
" Yes my lord, the serpent company, the most ruthless company in the whole Imperial fist regiment will be deployed tomorrow. "
" Very well Col. You may go "
Berengar saluted and moved out of his former office now being occupied by Gotfried. He directly heads towards to meet the company commander of the Serpent company for the preparation of their deployment.
( Next Day )
" Men of the Imperial fist regiment, you are the best of the best the empire could offer. Your emperor has ordered you to pillage our own land in order to stop those barbarians from advancing further into our domain and we will follow that order even if our lives and honour at stake. Sacrifices have to be made for the goodwill of the empire and its citizens. Some have to die so that others may live. We are giving those people who would be killed by your swords and spears to be remembered as martyrs of whole Germania. "
Gotfried gave his speech while he stood in front of the Serpent company ready to head out towards the Formar County. From the expression and posture of those men, He knew they were not interested at all in his speech at all, unlike a common soldier they do not need any motivation to complete their task, That too taking orders from an Army General rather than their own commander who is now his second in command or the emperor himself, made them rather being annoyed by his presence.
As he completed he speech, Berengar yelled.
" Long Live the Emperor"Long live the Germanian Empire "
" Long Live the Emperor and the Empire " His men followed suit.
" Mount up " Their commander ordered.
Soldiers mounted their dragons and took off from their base towards the Formar territory.
As Gotfried had heard these dragons were more durable and flew faster than their counterparts in the army, Though their size was larger they were far agiler than a normal Dragon. With that These Soldiers were armed with the latest set of enchanted armour developed by Germanian Mage researchers would be able to withstand the fire from a musket until the shield is broken. They were quite expensive and also were kept as a state secret from other Kingdoms even from their ally Gallia and Romalia. This armour was only provided to the Fists. Even he had to swear an oath in the name of the Emperor and Brimir to keep this secret.
Estimated by Col. Berengar they would be Italica within a week or so.
After the ceremony, Gotfried returned back to the capital as his work was done here giving the temporary command of the Imperial fists back to Berengar.
Germania, outskirts of Vindobona, Tristania Army camp. ( Same day )
General Gramont stood along with his son and Saito, They had just received the news of the soon arrival of Rose Knight order into their camp for the combined operation in Formar province.
" So what do we know about this knight order? " Saito asked curiously.
" Well, Saito they are a bunch of beautiful Noblewomen and some men bunched together into forming a Knight order. " Guiche said.
" I am looking forward to meeting them personally, and by luck might have some of them fall for me eventually, " He thought to himself.
" Hey Guiche snap out of your thoughts of wooing someone from that order, we are here to fight a war, not to forget if I find you doing that I will tell Louise just send a letter to Montmorency about your plans for two-timing again. " Saito said.
" How do yo..."Saito cut him off
" Well from the looks of your eyes anyone can know what are you thinking right now especially me as I know how you like to look cool in front of girls. " Saito said in mild amusement.
Guiche gulped and replied, " ok ok you win I lose I will try to control myself, please don't do anything like that or Montmorency will leave me forever."
Saito nodded and replied " Well Guiche stay faithful to whom you love do not try to deceive them in their back. If you come to know Montmorency is cheating you how will you feel right now."
Guiche lowered his head and said, " You are absolutely right Saito, I will try my best to change myself and be a faithful to her."
" By the way, I haven't seen Louise today where is she ?"
Saito replied " She is still in her tent sleeping right now.
" Why don't you go and wake her up ?" Guiche said.
" Well," Saito said while rubbing back of his head " We had a fight last night as I denied her to sleep with me last night. You know how the beds we are provided here small in comparison to we have in the academy so as we might be moving out in our scouting mission today I don't want to have an uncomfortable sleep last night." He continued " As a matter of fact she was furious at me and promised me to blow me up with her explosion magic. "
As both of them continued to chat Gramont decided to ignore them as they were still very young to understand the severity of the situation they are along with the whole of Halkegenia right now.
One of the soldiers comes running and salutes Gramont before saying. " My lord the Germanian knights are here they are asking permission to enter our camp."
" Let them in " Ordered Gramont.
" As you wish my lord " the soldier salutes Gramont again before returning back to his post at the gate.
A few moments later A group of young women in ornamental armour entered through the gates of the camp and rode directly towards the command tent where Gramont was waiting for them.
As they neared the command tent Gramont saw the young women might be bit older than Guiche in red hair leading the group, To his surprise, there were only 10 knights in total, but according to the report, he got their numbers should be 300 not ten knights in white armour before him.
Their commander saluted Gramont which he returned and introduced herself to him.
" Greetings General Gramont, I am Pina De Teree Present captain of the Rose-Knight of order." and went on introducing the men and women in her group.
" Pleased to meet you, Captain Pina, please come in we have so much to discuss right now." Gramont then ordered some of his men to go and fetch Tabitha, Kirche and Louise from their encampments right now.
After a while when the whole group gathered in the camp the meeting began.
" As per the orders from his majesty, the Rose- Order of knights is now temporarily attached to the Tristain contingent. From now on we will be working together until the invaders are dislodged from the Imperial lands. We are also receiving food and other resources from the empire so the logistic problem we were facing from bringing supplies from Tristain is finally rectified." Gramont said.
Turning towards Pina he asked " Captain would you care to explain why have you bought just ten men with you, I have heard you have nearly 300 knights in your order. "
" Sire according to the orders from his majesty we are going for a scouting mission not on going to battle our enemies head on. " Pina replied.
" Very well then when should you think we would begin our mission. " Guiche asked as his eyes were fixed upon Pina on the whole time.
" I propose we should begin our mission right away, the more we delay here discussing what to do next those invaders would be pillaging Imperial villages and cities right now," Pina said sternly
" Captain Pina you would be joined by Captain Napoleon and his men during this mission. I want you to prepare your supplies you would be taking with you during the mission and head out to Formar County as quickly as possible." Gramont ordered.
Pina saluted him and exits the tent and heads out to prepare for her journey to their destination Formar County.
" Napoleon I want you to leave your Griffon in the camp and take a detachment of regular cavalry with you. " Gramont said.
" Yes my lord " Napoleon replied
" Ok Everyone else I want you all to prepare for the shifting of the camp from here to the outskirts of Format County. We will begin our preparation for Napoleon and the scouting party are away from the camp. "
Turning towards Kirche " Miss Kirche which is a good place you see in this map would be a good place to set up our camp outside the Formar County. "
Kirche reviews the map for a while and says " Here we can set up our camp here beside the river Tire which marks the natural border between Formar County and other provinces. From here we have a direct route towards the regional capital Italica most probably three days away from here. "
" Thank you Miss Kirche, It is settled then we will move out after Napoleon's group is out, and Napoleon let the Germanian knight be a command as they know the lay of the land, now go prepare your men for the operation."
With that Napoleon salutes and exits the tent, followed by other members of the Tristain command staff, but as Saito was about to leave Lousie caught hold of him and said " we have something to discuss Saito. " and pulls him back into the tent.
While being forcefully pulled back into the tent Guiche saw Saito's face has gone pale by seeing the evil grin Louise had on her face.
Guiche was near his tent when he heard a loud explosion going up. Knowing what had happened he decided to ignore it along with other nobles and soldiers who have become accustomed to the out busts of Louise had on Saito.
( 3 hours later )
The Combined scouting group comprised of Rose order knights and Tristain Cavalry unit commanded by Napoleon exited their camp and rode towards the Formar county. They would be reaching their destination within 2 weeks. From the recent reports from Italica, the enemy is still confined to the Alnus hill fortifying their position. They would be closely followed by the army until the border of the county where they would set up their camp. While he along with Rose order knights would scout the region. Pina's rest of the order will also be joining the Tristain contingent.
UNTF Fort Endurance, Special region, August 19, 2019
Command Center, General Hazama's Office.
Hazama stood beside the window of his office grazing upon now fully operational base in the special region. It has been three and a half month since the battle of Ginza, four weeks since the counter-attack conducted by the Germanian empire was repelled. After the attack, the construction was sped up and within a week the base had a fully operational airfield followed by completion of the construction of barracks and a motor pool for the vehicles. The base was surrounded by a high exterior concert wall with AA guns, SAM sites and machine gun nests deployed at key points of the wall. The base was constructed as Bastion or star fort which was prevalent during the age of Gunpowder in mid 15th century. This design was proposed by the Italians as this type of forts are very good in shrugging off cannonballs fired at them. ( though Hazama doubted they would ever going face another attack after enemy forces faced devastating losses ), Current drone surveillance reveals the area dotted with minor village level settlements and no military presence not even patrols in the area, like the whole region had been demilitarised after the previous battle. It is like either the Germanian army had pulled out of the region or had resorted to guerrilla warfare, which is highly unlikely due to the honour system prevalent among the officer rank of the empire's military. This information of fighting for personal honour and glory was found out after a brief interrogation of an imperial officer captured after the battle of Endurance ( Battle of Alnus by locals ). The Nobility like the ones Earth saw from the ancient times to the end of the 1900s who most of the time will fight head-on rather than fight in dishonourable way i.e how modern wars are being fought rather than head-on clashes between major powers but proxy wars, insurgency, cyber warfare is being used.
Hazama returns back to his seat leans back and opens the file provided to him by the American CIA after interrogating a high ranking officer captured during the battle of Ginza. the file contained all the intel on the special region and the enemies they are facing right now.
Hazama open up the file
'Halkeginia' is the name of the world given by its inhabitants.
This World is divided into four major kingdoms before there were five but the fifth was invaded and was split between the allied nations.
" Heh like the allies did to Germany after second world war. " He thought.
1) The Empire of Germania
It is the largest Kingdom in Halkeginia and also regarded as the strongest in military strength. Also, It is the most populous nation in this world. Also consists the highest population of non-human species like orcs, trolls known to be used as the auxiliary in their armed forces.
Form of Government: monarchy
Head of the state: Emperor Albert III
Capital: Vindobona, also known as Imperial capital
Language: Germanian [ Slightly equivalent to old Version of German language]
Status: At war
Total Military strength: Unknown Probably in thousands
2) The Kingdom of Gallia
It is the second largest country and also the second largest population in Halkeginia. This nation is also the primary reason for the opening of the gate in the Ginza district, Tokyo, Japan. For this reason considered to be the hostile nation. Also, fields the largest navy i.e Flying warships in this world.
Form of Government: Monarchy
Head of the state: Joseph de Gallia
Capital: Lutece
Location: Unknown
Language: Gallian or French
Status: At war Due to being the perpetrators for opening the Gate for the empire to invade. Also, the fleet of ships presents during the battle of Endurance were sent by them.
Total military strength: Unknown probably in thousands with a strong fleet of Airships.
3 ) The Kingdom of Tristain
It is a small kingdom with a weak military and a small permanent force. This nation relies upon marriage and alliances with other major powers. Though being militarily inept it has recently withstood an invasion and counter-attacked with the help of her allies.
Form of Government: Monarchy
Head of the state: Queen Henrietta de Tristain
Capital: Tristania
Location: unknown
Language: French ( medieval dialect )
Status: Possibly hostile due to alliance with Gallia and Germania
Total Military strength: Unknown probably very weak.
4) The Kingdom of Albion
This Kingdom is a floating island in the middle of the ocean and was in a political strife a few months ago. The Civil war was between the Royalists and the Reconquista a popular uprising against the Albion royal family. The royalists were defeated and the Reconquista after taking the control of whole Albion then turned its attention towards its neighbour Tristain. The nation was counter-invaded by the alliance of Germania, Gallia and Tristain and is now presently under the military occupation of the three nations.
Form of Government: Puppet state, divided among the alliance.
Head of the state: Unknown
Capital: Londinium
Language: Albionish or English.
Status: Possible location for Partisan movement, These cells if active can be provided with aid and resources to cause havoc and disorder in Albion diverting military units from fighting the UNTF.
Total Military strength: N/A, Before the army was dissolved Albion had the second largest army and the largest navy in whole Halkeginia.
5 ) Holy Romalian Empire
It is an empire that is presently equivalent to the Papal States from the Renaissance period of European history. It is considered as the birthplace of present religion in Halkeginia is also the holiest site for the natives. The Romalian empire is also considered hostile due to having sponsored the construction of Gate and the Invasion of Japan. It is ruled by a papacy.
Form of Government: Theocratic absolute elective monarchy
Head of the state: Pope Victor XXXII.
Capital : Roma
Language : Romalian or Latin.
Status: possible Hostile
Total Military strength: probably hundreds
Note: The nation of Romalia has the religious control upon other nations and might have instigated the opening of the Gate to Earth.
6) Holy Land
The real name of this country is unknown but this place is considered as Holy land by the Halkeganians. This area is inhabited by another species known as Elves. Little is known about their society or their location of their nation. This nation is situated in the Sahara desert.
Form of Government: Unknown
Head of the State: Unknown
Capital: Unknown
Language: Unknown
Status: Unknown
Total Military strength: Unknown, from the information received from the prisoners' Elves are more advanced than any other human state in this world.
These Kingdoms are the carbon copies of former European powers during the Renaissance, Their names are so similar and the languages they use are also similar to Languages used now in France, UK. Though Romalia used Latin and Germania used old German dialect and Tristain used Medieval French. He thought-out loud.
As he was halfway through the file the door of his office is knocked.
" Come in, " He said.
Yagida enters the room and salutes Hazama " General Sir the recon teams are ready to head out into the special region for Recon and first contact with the Civilian population of this region."
" Then order them to proceed to their designated routes provided to them and bring some good info on the lay of the land. " Hazama replied.
" Yes Sir " Yagida replied
" One more thing Lt. before you leave what have we found about the strange crystals from the wreckage of those airships."
" Sir nothing can be determined about those crystals except being theorised that those are used to power those ships. The first batch of are already being prepared to be sent through the Gate for further research. "
" Very well Lt. you may leave now, " Hazama said calmly.
" Yes Sir " Replied Yagida as he saluted Hazama and exited the room.
" We are facing not a single nation but an alliance of nation driven by some kind of holy crusade to invade the Elves but instead invaded us by mistake ." Hazama sighed as he returned back reading the rest of the content in the file.
Fort Endurance, JSDF Briefing room.
The room was a fairly big briefing room. Itami was along with other four JSDF officers in the room. Infront of them was their colonel.
JSDF was given the separate command of their own units unlike the combined command of International units under UNTF.
" You all have been given the command of 11 men platoons. Your mission is to make contact with the civilian population engage peaceful relations and learn about them, their culture, economy and anything you can that can be useful for our operation. I suggest you follow these routes as several settlements have been noticed along these routes. You all must be in touch with the base by reporting in every four hours. UAVs have not detected any enemy presence in this area, our guess is that they have already retreated from this area to regroup. Avoid enemy contact as best as possible."
" Any Questions " Colonel asked.
" No sir " was the answer from the officers.
" Very well, you are all free to go" Colonel replied.
Itami sighed as he had to now go on a mission deep behind enemy lines. He slowly stood up and left the briefing room. Less than an hour later he was ready to go.
Third Recon Team aka Recon Team Three ( RTC 3 ) was ready to depart on the main road. As Itami arrived he saw his men having a good laugh with the international unit added to them.
As Itami arrived the head of the International unit a British officer from the looks of his uniform greeted him with a handshake.
" Lt. Itami I presume, I am Lt. Arran of the British army "
Itami nods as he shakes Arran hand with a smile.
"So Lt. Itami here are my men. Private Carter, and Private James from the British army."
"Sir Pleased to meet you, Sir" was the greeting of the two. Beside them are Sergeant Beaman and Corporal Cardwell from the French army, Both the men snapped a quick salute, which Itami returned back.
These are the crew members of the Marder IFV that is attached to our unit. Second Lt. Bauer Kalb Commander, Gunner Erwin and Driver Franz, in an instant those men also saluted Itami.
" Last but not the least our local language expert Corporal Falke Muller. "
" We do have common knowledge and language books why do we need translators now," Itami asked.
" Sir " Muller said " I am trained to speak the Germanian language and also will be read the local runes used by the inhabitants of this world. "
" Oh, " Itami said " You are going to be useful as he shakes his hand looking forward to working with you "
Itami then turns toward Arran
"Lt. Arran It is good to have you and your men joining us, and please call me Itami you know we are in the same rank."
" Ok then Itami, call me Arran. " He said with a smile as Itami nodded.
" So are we ready to move out sir? " Carter asked.
" We will be moving out in 10 minutes private just let me see that my squad is ready or not " Itami replied and walks back to his men.
The JSDF Soldiers were waiting for their commander to arrive they stood in a line facing towards Itami.
" Fall in " Sgt Major Kuwahara commanded " Third Recon Team ready to go, sir"
" Hey Pops, how are you? " Itami said while smiling.
" I am still going strong sir " He replied
Itami noticed his platoon consisted of some old faces including Kurata and Tomita from his base and also new ones including two female members in his platoon.
" Thanks for falling in or whatever I am lt. Itami, your team leader. " Itami said " Like I have introduced myself, I would like to know all your names so we can know each other better, right. "
" So lets us begin from the left "
" Sgt Major Soichiro Kuwahara, sir "
" Master Sgt Tetsuya Nishina, sir "
" Sgt First class Akira Tomita, sir "
" Sgt First class Mari Kurokawa, sir "
" Sgt First class Shino Kuribayashi, ready for action, sir "
" Sgt Takeo Kurata, sir It is good to have you with us, sir. "
" Leading Private Daisuke Tozu, sir "
" Leading Private Wataru Karsumoto, sir "
" Leading Private Hayato Sasagawa, sir "
" Leading Private Hitoshi Furuta, sir "
" Leading Private Higara Higashi, Reporting for duty sir. "
" All right let get cracking folks, " Itami said
" Mount up " Kuwahara ordered
He then turned towards Arran who was standing beside his own team. " Arran we are ready to move out "
Arran replied " Roger that Itami, Men mount up and get ready to move out "
" Yes, sir " was the unison answer they boarded their vehicles to move out.
The recon team moved out of the base with Itami in his Lead Toyota HMV, a type 73 light truck, The LAV armed with 50 cal browning machine gun with Rotation armoured turret for extra protection followed by British Land Rover and Marder IFV. On each vehicle sides was painted with white letters "UN" just above the local language.
East of Alnus base ( Location unknown )
The convey was rolling at a moderate pace on the little dirt road. They Left their base 40 minutes ago, the roads were awful as it can be expected from a medieval empire. As the armoured convoy of 5 vehicles tried to pass through terrain full of bumps from the uneven road and it wasn't anything pleasant to see. After a while testing the nerves of the recon team a wide road was visible to everybody's happiness, even it was more like a wide trail.
Recon 3 headed south-west leaving a trail of dust at the maximum speed of 40 km/h.
For past 20 minutes, the 5 UN vehicles rolled through a large plain surrounded by groves on the edges of the road.
Kurata driver of Itami's HMV asked " Sir, What do you think we will meet in this new world?
" I hope whatever we meet it would be least of our troubles we are facing already. "
" Man I would like me meet a fantasy girl! A magical one or a beautiful elf with a massive rack. hehe. "
" Oy Kurata you wish might be fulfilled one day, there is a lot of potentials and I am too excited about it, I pray to god your wishes to be fulfilled and we might meet someone of your description. " Itami smiled as he spoke to his driver.
Meanwhile, on the highway towards Italica, a certain elf girl wearing a large hat covering her elf ears, rode through the highway on her horse. Though her friends have accepted her people of Germania have not. Germanians possess intense hate for the elf kind.
She suddenly sneezed, she thought " someone might be thinking about me right now. "
( 20 minutes later )
The convoy rolled through the forest, everyone was silent as they scanned the area for any possible threats, though the enemy lacked the firepower they have the still posses rudimentary firearms and the use of magical attacks which can be very painful for a close-range attack.
" Sir " Kurata said, " we are nearing the location of the first village marked on the map, right among those trees up there."
The convoy came to a halt, Itami disembarked his HMV and peeked through his binoculars.
Lt. Arran came and stood beside Itami
" What do we have here leftenant? "
" Arran you see the forest up at 11 o clock, well there is a village out there, estimated distance 1 click from our present position. "
" Roger that, we will be ready for any hostile approach from the villagers. "
" Arran please don't scare those people out there, we are here to make friendly interaction with the civilians, not to just enter their village with our guns blazing."
" Copy that " Arran replied
( 15 minutes later ) Coda Village, Special Region.
The convoy arrived at the gate. The lead HMV came to a halt followed by other vehicles of the column. Some members of the convoy disembarked from their vehicles. Itami and Muller were the first to enter the village through the small wooden gate. Itami was chosen to enter because he was the leader of the Team and Muller being the Translator and local language expert.
They both noticed the villagers were tending their daily chores and children playing around. In return, they also received a curious look from the villagers.
" Who are they? what's with their clothes, are they are wearing uniforms?, What a peculiar set of clothes these people are wearing, Are they soldiers? " were few questions the villagers asked among themselves in their native tongue.
While Itami was having a little bit of difficulty to understand the villagers, Muller knew what they were discussing about due to his proper language training from Itami whose local language skills were still in the rudimentary stage.
Itami came forward and stopped near a man who was caring some wood and an axe.
" Hello, Me Itami, bring peace, me soldier, need information "
The man looked confused by the way Itami was speaking to him.
Noticing the confused look Muller took over the discussion.
" Sir let me do the talking, " Muller said before turning towards the ma.
" Hello sir we soldiers from a faraway land, we just need information of this area."
" Speak to the elder then" the man replied while pointing towards an old man in his mid-fifties seating on a bench, looking at them with a questioning eye.
When the man was approached he rose from his bench and took off his hat.
" Hello sir, I am Muller and this is our leader Itami."
" Welcome to Coda village, What can we help you with ?" he asked.
" We came in peace sir, may we take a seat and talk. "
" Yes, why not, please take a seat on the bench. Who are you, people? From your uniform, I presume you are soldiers "
" Yes, of course, we both are, Along with my friends just outside the village," Muller replied with a smile.
" Hm? you friends? "
" Yes sir, can you permit them to enter the village? "
" Yes yes, of course, you are all welcome here " The elder replied with a broad smile.
" Sir we have the permission," Muller said.
" Affirmative" Itami then turned on his radio and relayed the order to enter.
" RCT actual to RCT 2, do you copy? " Itami asked.
" Loud and clear RCT actual," Kuwahara said.
" Bring in the cars but leave the IFV at the gate, copy that "
" Copy that RCT actual, RCT 2 out"
Shortly afterwards the vehicles of RCT 3 minus the IFV entered the village. People were amazed and terrified to see these unknown iron horseless carriages entering their village. On the side of these moving carriages there were strange inscriptions painted on them, Just above the unknown alphabets there was the local language used by the empire. It read.
U-N...
UN ?
What it was and what it meant was a mystery for them as more of these strange soldiers got out of them.
I have never seen these carriages move without horses before, Where are you all from? are you all some kind of knight order? Are these all carriages running through magic ? were some of the questions asked by the village chief.
" No, no we are common soldiers we are not from any Knight order, neither these vehicles are running through the use of magic," Muller replied
" We are from a very far away land called Earth "
" What you all are doing here this far away from your home? "
" We are exploring this land, We are exploring soldiers," Itami said.
" So you all are a scouting party. " The elderly man was clearly afraid he heard rumours about a known army invading Germania and they had already destroyed the army sent to counter them. He didn't want his village to be sacked all the villagers enslaved or killed by the invaders.
With fear clearly visible in his voice he asked " What can a small village like us do for you, my lords? "
Muller quickly noticed the fear in the Elder's face he reassured him.
" Sir we are not going to sack or doing anything like that, we are here just to ask directions and have a friendly interaction with you people. "
As Itami with the help of Muller conversed with the chief the villagers started to slowly try to interact with these unknown men. The first ones were being the children as not caring about their parents warning they surrounded Higashi who was handing out some candies he had on him.
Pvt Carter was playing with the kids while James was trying to keep some curious away from their vehicles. As per Kurokawa, her unusual facial features and hair colour was really catching the attention of some young men in the village.
Itami now joined by Arran were reviewing the map provided by the Elder, they were marking the point of interest on their map so those places can be reconned before returning back to their base.
After 15 more minutes of talking and reviewing through the map, they were ready to leave. As the RCT3 left the village some villagers waved at them as they left a cloud of dust.
( Meanwhile, 50 clicks away from the Coda village )
A settlement larger than the Coda village was now being sacked by the men from Imperial fists Serpent Company. They had killed all the inhabitants of the village and were now burning the village and the farmlands nearby the village which was being used these villagers to obtain their livelihood. Captain Noldid stood over the body of the village chief who pleaded him not to kill them and even promised to keep their mouth shut even if their village was burned to the ground and asked him to let them go.
Noldid disregarded their pleas and just thrust his sword into the man's chest before ordering his men to start pillaging the village but leave the Brimir's temple alone. As the temple was a holy monument and being a noble himself he dared to demolish it.
" Sire we have completed the destruction of this settlement, no survivors found. I am confident all the commoners are dealt with."
" Very good, After burning the farmland we will be heading towards our base camp and rest for today, tomorrow we will head towards the Coda village. " Noldid said while he reloaded his flintlock pistol.
He then handed his second in command the official copy of Imperial decree from his Majesty.
He chuckled to himself when he read the Decree out loud to the villagers and watching their faces going pale to know why these men are here for.
He asked one of his men " How much time did we took to fully annihilate this village.? "
" Sire most probably 20 to 30 minutes at best. "
" Hmm.. we have to be much faster than this "
His soldier nodded and mounted his dragon.
They prepared to move back to the camp as he mounted his dragon flew towards their camp. Unknown to him and his second in command by mistake the Decree had fallen off from the bag due to being overloaded with loot mostly food articles taken from the villagers.
Special Region, RCT3 present location.
The sun was going down as the armoured convoy reached the tree line of the nearby forest. Itami was informed by Coda village Chief that there is a village large than Coda in between the enormous forest.
" Lt. I suggest we should camp in front of the forest tonight" Kuwahara suggest.
" Guess you are right old timer " Itami replied.
" Sir why can't we just plough through the forest and meet the settlements out there? " Kurata asked.
" If we enter the forest now, we would be at the gate of the settlement at night and can be perceived as a threat. We cannot even camp in the forest tonight, I don't want to face unknown creatures or even enemy soldiers ambushing us in our camps. "
Kurata nodded to Itami's explanation.
" Well sir I heard your language skills are rea... ohh" Kurata was hit by the red translation book.
" If you don't keep your mouth shut then beware I have more books and not afraid to use..." He was cut off by Kuwahara
" What's that Lt. ? " he asked.
They saw thick black smoke rising from the other side of the village.
" hey, Itami " the radio came to life " are you seeing what I am seeing? "
" Affirmative Arran, It is like a massive fire has started in between the Forest & it is coming from the location of our Present objective. "
" I don't like the looks of it"
" Lt Kalb, I want your IFV to be the lead vehicle of the column I do not want to be walking into an ambush right now. " Itami ordered.
" Roger That"
The Convoy came to a halt as the IFV changed its location from the rear to the front.
" Arran please report our present situation to the base via radio. Keep moving forward we need to get through the forest ASAP. "
He felt bad for the village out there, What could have happened to them? he thought.
At full speed the convoy crossed through the forest, the view of a burning village came closer and closer.
To be continued...
Phew over at last, Well enjoy and do not forget to review it. Once again I will not be posting for a while. I have also adopted the " War of the Worlds " Attack on titan fanfic from one of my favourite writers Apollonir, Due to the shortage of time and studies he decided to drop the story. But being a diehard AOT fan I asked him if he can just let me adopt it so I can continue it. He is a very good writer and I love his " Iron Heart of Man " story. Any Mass effect fan here I recommend just go and try it, I guarantee you would not be disappointed. "
Stay tuned for next chapter. Discoveries and the Green Guardians.
Though the update might take a little more time than usual, hehe.