A soft and delicious aroma reached my nose while I continued delirious, feeling how the servant gave me a spoonful of a hot liquid, soup, I recognized that it was chicken broth. I wasn't in my right mind so I didn't think twice before continuing to eat desperately, if it wasn't for the servant I'm sure I would have ended up burned by the broth. I finally managed to eat something! little by little I was able to recover my strength and after a few days eating I was able to get back on my feet.
However, I was not completely recovered, I often had severe pain in my chest and sometimes it was hard for me to breathe.
/
"So... it was you who went hunting for me..." In front of me were several Imperial soldiers and Volralden soldiers, including Volcatts.
They knelt before me, since they had technically disobeyed my orders and they knew I didn't take that very well.
"You all have my gratitude, you have saved my life, you will be handsomely rewarded." I said giving a sign to my servants to give them big bags of coins. "I will also give you some pretty good land in Gali, all of you will become landowners."
I made sure to reward everyone who served me, it's a good way to earn their absolute loyalty.
"Long live your highness" they said gratefully, it seemed that things were going to improve now, since the ramp was about to be completed, very soon we will be able to take that city of traitors tonight.
/
The plan was to attack that very night, but a heavy summer rain began to pummel the battlefield, turning the ground into thick mud.
"Dammit!" Throwing my helmet on the wet ground, quite furious.
28 days... 28 days in this siege, the vast majority had not eaten anything for almost a month, many faint every day and get sick. How many days now will we have to wait to start the assault on the city? How many days would we last?
No soldier came out of his tent, since only a madman would think of attacking with this heavy rain, I looked helplessly at Tania's wall, not even they looked out to see what we were doing.
I quickly went to the other end of the camp, to climb the palisade my men built to view King Harngeil's camp. They were also not in any position or formation.
"No one is expecting us to actually attack..." Realizing that, I quickly ordered everyone to get out of their tents and line up, under the heavy rain.
When they formed up, in front of me there weren't the brave soldiers, veterans of great battles, but there were emaciated, pale men, trembling confused because they didn't know why I was gathering them.
"Soldiers!" he said screaming at the top of his lungs, the rain prevented them from hearing me clearly. "This is our only chance to survive! We must take the towers the towers and the ramp to advance!" pointing towards the walled city. "Inside that city full of traitors is the food they promised us! That food is ours and we're going to get it back! They think we're done for, that we won't be able to fight. They'll see the mistake they made when our swords cut open thier belly!"
Without saying more and without waiting for a response from my men, I turned to start going towards one of the siege towers to try to move it and make it advance, surprising everyone, obviously it didn't move an inch, my boots were full of mud and it was getting harder and harder to put one foot in front of another.
"What are you guys doing?!" Volcatts roared and then started to help me move the tower. "Are you going to let your prince do all the work?!"
Given this example, the soldiers quickly made their way to both towers and the ramp to start advancing slowly through the mud, pushing for hours being covered by the heavy rain and the dark night.
/
Tania City.
The city guards were gambling and gambling under the walls, under cover, no one believed that the Imperials would launch an attack. heavy rains always made life miserable for the imperials, making the construction of that kind of ramp take longer and longer.
And when the rain passes, the Imperials weaken and attempt an assault, the King's forces will come to meet them, ready to make them fight on two fronts.
Little did they know that the rain that had brought them so much luck would be their downfall.
"What's that?!" The soldiers pointed to the top of the walls; the siege towers had arrived.
Chaos descended on those who were awake, some rushing upstairs and others calling the entire city to wake them up.
For those who climbed the wall, they discovered to their horror that the ramp was also in position. Seeing how the imperials entered from three different places, making it impossible to defend since most hardly knew about the attack.
"Defend the streets!" The Gali general ordered. "We have to form bottlenecks until everyone is ready!"
And so, the defenders fell back to the streets closest to the wall. There were some palisades as a defense measure in case the wall fell. A few thousand people managed to line up on different streets to withstand the imperial onslaught in time.
Or that should have happened, since the imperials were not charging against them, a group was forming in front of them but the rest were still on top of the wall.
"Damn... What are they waiting for?..." General Gali didn't know what to think, because he believed that the Imperials would attack at once out of hunger and not to allow them to accumulate troops... But there they were, quiet and waiting for them to accumulate.
The general saw that on top of the wall, where the gate was, there was a blond young man with a steel breastplate and a purple cloak stained with mud, a lot of mud, like the rest of his soldiers, emaciated by hunger and death. illness. He could see that he was carefully watching both armies.
"So that's the prince of the empire..." It was a moment, but their gazes met, the young prince had a look full of anger, and then raised his hand, shortly after the soldiers near him took out their spears, bows and crossbows, those who were close to them also noticed and did the same, so until absolutely everyone on top of the wall had a ranged weapon.
The general knew what was coming, he looked back with fear seeing how more and more men came to reinforce the ranks.
"No... Everyone! We must fall back to the central plaza now!" The general ordered, which left all his men confused. After all they had the palisades and the Imperials were very hungry, however as the Imperials had taken over the wall completely unopposed they could now shoot anyone.
Then a Galli soldier was felled by a spear, falling to the muddy ground.
The general turned to face the wall, Zorzal's hand now aimed at them, causing everyone on the wall to throw their arrows, spears and javelins into the mass of soldiers.
Then the Imperial soldiers who had formed up in front began to advance, covered by another barrage of projectiles.
"Withdraw-" Before the general could repeat his order, a pilum pierced his stomach, making him vomit blood and gasp for air to continue speaking.
-The general is wounded! - The soldiers shouted.
"He must be avenged! Let's show those starving dogs what we can-" Another hail of spears brought down thousands with each volley, forcing them all to fall back.
Of course, without the general, the withdrawal was not orderly at all, some stayed to fight, others ran to the square, and others fled to look for their families.
The fate of those who chose to fight was predictable, the Pilum shattered shields giving way to arrows, then cold Imperial iron moved in to finish the job.
/
Tania Palace.
"We lost the wall, our defenses and our general?!" The governor shouted in alarm. And not only that, when the city found out that the empire took the wall, they began to flee en masse towards the palace, which made it very difficult for the soldiers to regroup as the streets were full of desperate people.
"That's not the worst, people are massing outside the palace... There's no way we can mount a last stand if every corner is full of civilians!
The civilians were desperate, begging to be allowed to take refuge in the palace. Cries and screams mixed with the noise of the storm.
"... Following Harngeil's plan was a mistake... Send an emissary to Prince Zorzal! We surrender!" ordered the governor.
"Sir... We will all die if we give up, we should fight!"
"We can't, chaos and anarchy reign in my city... The only way for my city not to be reduced to ashes is to beg Zorzal for mercy... may the gods help us."
/
As soon as the defending soldiers surrendered, the Imperials went into every barn, warehouse, and house to steal food, cutting down anyone who got in their way, regardless of whether they were men, women, or children.
The cries of the murdered civilians began to reach the palace, where the prince was meeting with the governor.
"Please prince, spare the life of this city!" The governor was on his knees, his head on the ground. "Please have mercy!"
Looking at it from above, I was seriously thinking about what to do. He couldn't let the city go unpunished, there had to be a punishment for this betrayal so no one else would think of doing it again.
Also, if I decided to do nothing, I would be seen as weak in the eyes of the other nobles and my own soldiers, who were clamoring for blood for all the trouble they caused us, they even started a slaughter right now even though it means I could punish them.
"Why should I show mercy for traitors like you?" I said coldly as I went to a window to look at the city, although it was so they couldn't see the expression on my face. Was I going to reduce an entire city to ashes? Order the murder of women and children? Was that something necessary or was there another way to punish them without having to make a massacre and without putting me in a bad position in my fight for the throne?
"If you're looking for a culprit, I'm the one who decided to betray you! But please have mercy on those who couldn't choose to oppose you!" He continued to beg so that his city would not be destroyed.
I clenched my fist, I felt like my chest hurt again in this situation.
"...Well, I'll forgive those who didn't have a choice."
"Mister!" One of my captains began to complain. "They deserve proper punishment! You can't do that!"
"Are you questioning my orders?" I seriously questioned the captain, who instantly backed away speechless.
"Thank you! He truly is a merciful prince!" He kept thanking.
"Captain..." I said, to then be silent for a few moments, I felt my breathing getting more and more agitated. "Bring all the slaves in this city to the palace, they are under imperial protection."
That left everyone in the room confused, the governor was afraid to ask but he did.
"My lord... Why bring the slaves to the palace?..."
"I thought you would understand, since you were the one who suggested it, to spare those who couldn't choose to fight me."
There was a moment of silence, my guards just started to smile. "Your will be done, your highness." Said the captain, who went out to transmit the orders of his highness.
Instead, the governor had an expression of horror.
"W-What does this mean?! I didn't mean slaves! I meant civilians!" The old man desperately tried to explain.
"No, the civilians are free, and since there was no attempt from inside the city to open the gate or send us food, I can say that they chose to oppose us." Zorzal explained his reasoning. "And of course, slaves can't disobey their masters, so they'll be out of harm's way."
I was approaching the governor, drawing my sword. "Oh, don't worry, you gonna die now and you don't have to see the rest." In one move, I stabbed the old governor in the stomach, twisting my sword inside to widen the wound and then back out again, causing blood to splatter on my armor and purple cloak, mixing with the mud.
The governor fell to the ground, clutching his stomach so that his intestines do not come out of his body, watching Zorzal walk away from him, until death came to claim his life.
Hours later, the captain returned saying that the slaves had already been relocated to the palace, and that he stopped the soldiers from killing anyone they saw, although this time they would not be punished.
"The soldiers are on standby." commented the captain. "What are your orders to the city?"
"First I want you to destroy the ramp and the siege towers." I said forcing a calm tone but I was actually nervous about what I was going to say. "Then... tell the soldiers that they have carte blanche to do whatever they want to this city and its citizens for the next three days. And those who survive will be turned into slaves." I ordered after a few moments of silence. While saying those words a strong throbbing in my ears had appeared, I felt the blood pumping so hard that it was painful.
The captain came out after giving a salute by hitting his chest.
It was morning, the rain had stopped and the ramp and towers were destroyed. After that, all hell broke loose in Tania, the screams of the women being raped were heard throughout the city, in the square the men were used as practice targets and for competitions between the soldiers on how many they could decapitate in a certain period of time. The defending soldiers or those who opposed received the worst part, being crushed by throwing boiling water on them, dismembered by different animals, or making them watch as they tortured their loved ones, definitely if Rory saw this she would not hesitate to send all of us to hell, after all we deserve it.
I could have hidden myself in the farthest corner of the palace so as not to hear or see the atrocities, however I had to know what my decision caused, I couldn't and shouldn't hide from this.
My servants insisted that I should let them clean my blood and mud-stained purple armor and cloak, however I would not allow it, not until this campaign was over. Purple was the color of royalty, even in the flag it is that color, so they insisted that it had to be washed, but for me it would be a reminder of this day.
Looking out the window as smoke billowed out of some houses, I was beginning to wish the Japanese, or some other modern nation, would show up to force me to stop this. However unless I have enough strength I won't be able to change anything.
Power, strength... That's what I need, without that I will have to do things as they are done in this world. That or another more powerful force, like the JSDF, forces everyone to do things differently...
Seeing how hell came out to claim men and boys alike, I couldn't help but think that Japan also did these things without even having spent 100 years since the Gate appeared, even several of those who committed those acts are still alive and without punishment. Both empires were not very different, both raped and looted, were deeply racist and committed all manner of atrocities that would turn anyone's stomach... And both were forced to stop when a larger force came into play: in the case of the Japanese were two nuclear bombs and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, in the case of the empire was the arrival of Japan.
I'll be able to change some things if I use the right words, but it won't be possible to end things like discrimination against demi-humans without the strength to wipe out anyone who opposes me... There will be times that I get away with it and cheat the system, but if I am not able to change it then this type of situation can be repeated.
"With a play on words I was able to save at least the slaves... But there's no way around this without earning the army's resentment and being seen as weak."
/
Gali Camp.
Harngeil was completely desperate to realize that the Imperials had taken the city, but that was not all, now practically half of his army wanted to leave to defend their homes in the north.
The king tried to keep them together to start besieging Tania, but he was unsuccessful as they knew the city had provisions for at least half a year more, and the northern soldiers thought that was a long time, after all what was the point of defeating the Imperials if his family was killed and sold into slavery anyway?
That also meant he wouldn't have enough numbers to harass Zorzal's forces in the woods, so the scorched earth tactic would lose much of its effectiveness.
However, the king did not lose his head, reviewing his strategies, he could know that the war was not yet lost. Both Les and Ali were built on high ground: Les on a plateau and Ali on that range of hills that gave Thrush such a headache. In addition, the imperial force in the north was only 10 thousand, so they would only have to wait for those who go to the north to finish them off and then return.
With a cooler head, he ordered the troops that did not leave, about 70 thousand, to go to Tania, since they considered that the empire would attack there again for reasons of honor.
That same day, the great Gali army left, separating in two.
/
Imperial forces commanded by Cornelius were arriving at the city of Tania a week after it fell. They could see smoke rising from the city, indicating looting.
"Look at that, Gali slave." Said the captain quite annoyed with Saskia for her audacity before. "Your people have been massacred, their homes burned and their women raped." He said trying to provoke her.
"I don't care what happens to the Parisians. How do you think I became a slave?" She said something annoyed, she hated the Parisians for what they did to her and she didn't like being compared to them. "For a veteran captain you know nothing about your enemies."
"How dare you speak in that tone to the captain?!" said one of her escorts drawing her sword, she simply ignored him.
This had been typical throughout the trip since they left Sadera, she said something inappropriate or disrespectful and her escort threatened to kill or rape her, at first it was not her intention to disrespect someone. But between his lack of etiquette that he was never taught, that for the majority he considered it an insult for a slave to speak to him without permission and that in the end no one could really harm him because he was the prince's property, well... piss off any arrogant Imperials who cross his path.
The escort, seeing that his threats were not taken seriously, put his sword away. "Do you really think that the prince would accept a plan as stupid as yours? Surely when he sees everything you've done, he will be furious."
"Yes, and when that happens, we'll make sure you pay for fooling us using your highness's name." Said the other escort.
"Sure sure, whatever they say." She said selflessly to annoy them.
/
Already on the outskirts of the city, I was waiting for them, the explorers warned me about the arrival of Cornelius, but not Saskia's, so seeing her there was a great surprise for me.
"Saskia?!" I walked over to her, rather quickly, leaving Cornelius behind who was in the middle of a greeting. "What are you doing here? This place is dangerous!" I said concerned taking her shoulders to shake her.
"I heard you were in trouble, so I came to help you." She responded by bowing as a sign of respect.
"Help me?" I wondered confused, to then think a little. "Well... Come to think of it... If it wasn't for her, I would most likely have died trying to attack the Inland Sea or abandoned all of Helvetii... I wouldn't know anything about the coalition or early winter..."
The only reason I've won so much is because of her. "Okay, we're going to go to the war room to talk about your plan and what we're going to do."
"Your Highness!" Cornelius raised his voice in protest. "It is unheard of for a slave to attend a military meeting!"
"Why not? It's not illegal to bring your personal possessions to those meetings, even if those things help you strategize."
"That..." Tiberius fell silent before relenting.
I played word choice again, referring to Saskia as a useful object to help with planning, like a map or something to mark this one, instead of referring to her as a person. After all, a slave is an object to them.
Saskia didn't seem to care much; she already knew about my use of words to get what I want. She then turned to give her escorts a smirk upon learning that she will receive no punishment.
/
Northern Imperial Army.
Servius found himself surrounded by treasure looted from his raid. Seated on the throne that belonged to a Galli king, before they were unified under the Parisian banner.
At his feet were chained two women between 14 and 17 years old, the daughters of the former king, with clear signs of having been beaten and raped.
"So... a large force is headed this way." He said when informed by the explorers.
"That's right, my lord." a soldier said. "Lucky, we have taken this fortress city or else we couldn't stand so many enemies."
"Finally, some action!" The general said as he got up from the throne. "The prince had all the fun for himself, but this is my moment of glory!"
"Don't think the prince could only have fun, I heard the Gali evacuated most of their villages with the exception of Tania, Ali and Les. So, until recently they couldn't enjoy any of the Gali whores." He said looking at the two women on the ground.
"And for that very reason they will no longer touch these two ´princesses´ because I plan to give them to the prince." Servius said, giving a sign to his servants. "Clean them, feed them and no punishments that leave marks, if they are not to the prince's liking then I will make them repent." He ordered and the servants took them away. "Now, everyone prepares for the upcoming battle! We must hold out here."
/
Ali city.
King Harngeil was struck again by another piece of news.
"What do you mean the imperial army is heading with 70 thousand soldiers towards Les?!"
They believed that they would try to take Ali again, instead they decided to go directly for the capital Parisia. The marshy ground between Tania and Les was something that would slow down any army.
"Call everyone! We must leave for Les immediately!"
If the empire took over that city, they could go north and join the other two legions to finish off the others who decided to break away. If that happened, then the war would be lost.
That same night, the Galli army left the city, but while this was happening, a few hundred soldiers disguised as civilians entered through a sewer.
Most of those soldiers were from the ancient tribe of the Andes, in those sewers they had tried to flee from the Parisians when their city was attacked. Now, after so many years, Saskia and the Andeans, along with some imperial soldiers, set foot in their hometown again after so many years.
Memories of her trying to flee this way with her family flooded the young Gali's head, bringing tears down her cheeks.
A similar feeling took hold of her compatriots, a mixture of nostalgia, anger and impotence.
Now it was time to reclaim what was rightfully theirs.