AN: Clarification…God Rising WILL continue to be updated here. Simply not at the same pace as previously done as it will undergo EARLY release on the discord server for community members, charity donors, and beta readers. Chapter 66 will be on the Discord this evening, it'll be here on FFN when its been edited.(Note: You do not have to be a donor to join the discord)
...General Enri's Army...
General Enri could scarcely believe her own title as she rode on a horse that...a few years ago, would have had her arrested, thought a member of Zuranon, or would have been thought to be completely impossible as the magic involved was beyond most mortals understanding, an undead warhorse, personally provided by the Sorcerer King...it was an impossible thing, like her being where she was. Yet it was here under her...and also...here she was in turn, riding at the head of an army of many races, from the human to the inhuman, wearing clothing unlike anything she had ever imagined.
She laughed a little bit at her own discomfort.
"Something funny General Enri?" The Strategist Sun asked politely. The little goblin stroked his beard as he looked at her with curiosity twinkling in his eyes.
"No, nothing old Sun." She said with a warm smile, "I was just thinking about how different everything was now, it seems not that long ago my greatest hope was to marry, own a farm, have children, and not die violently in my village that, thanks to the Kingdom's ineptitude, existed always on the verge of destruction...and if all my dreams came true then I would have died an old woman having never traveled more than fifty miles from home and never having spoken with more than ten people in my life that I had not grown up with. Now...I am married, but I also rule one of the fastest growing cities in the world, lead an army, I have seen the Emperor and had him seated at my table, I have been to the impossible realm of Nazarick, I am going to conquer the Slane Theocracy...and if all my dreams come true, then when I have children...they will be nobles who know all the world."
"The paths life takes us down may be very different than what we expect." He said with a sage nod, "It can be comedic in its way, but don't spend to much time looking backwards at who you were and where you were going, spend more time on who you are and where you are going." He said patiently.
"Of course old Sun, now...you saw the reports, correct?" She asked.
"Yes the Slane Theocracy has taken the bait, we have five hundred real soldiers controlling over forty thousand 'dummy' soldiers on horseback, and the Slane Theocracy Army that had intended to confront us, has instead moved to protect the capitol of Kami Miyako from an imaginary force, this means that the city of Ikari has nothing but its own forces to defend against us." He said with an approving nod.
She gave him a hard eyed grin, and thought back to the time the troll attacked her village, the desperation as she and her husband had quickly distracted it, deceived it, and delayed it from the fight until help could arrive. She was doing more or less the same thing again, only visually, with a fake army, rather than with a spell that created the illusion of absent ogres. Her eyes had been hard and determined then, and they were hard and determined now. The five hundred she'd dispatched were almost certain to die, but they would have removed an army of seventy thousand from the defense of Ikari, and would be remembered for their success.
"This does not mean we can take our time however," the goblin strategist pointed out, "they will quickly realize the deception once battle is joined, and we must have the city by then or we will find ourselves surrounded and vastly outnumbered."
"True, but outnumbered is not outfought, we have them outmatched in almost everything." She said.
"I won't disagree with that, but quantity can have a quality all its own, and I would prefer to deny them that." He replied.
"I won't disagree with that either, no, we will not delay the assault even an hour beyond the necessary time for victory. Have the elven messengers been left at two mile intervals?" She asked.
"Yes, when you are ready, the signal will be raised and our support will be on the way." He said with a canny grin.
"Then we've done everything we can." She said, "All we can do now, is hope to fight well and that we leave as few mourners in our wake." She let out the sigh of a person burdened with a heavy responsibility.
Her short blonde hair swayed behind her, "When should we arrive?" She asked.
"Late afternoon, about two hours before sunset." The Goblin Strategist said.
"Perfect." She replied, and a fierce expression, one foreign to her childhood, bloomed on her face.
While her eyes had turned hard, they would never contain the raw terror that Neia could inspire...but they were hard ones, determined ones, the goblin strategist approved, indecisiveness was the destroyer of opportunity, the thief that stole victory, the reaper of the needless dead, and he saw none of that weakness in his general, in his pupil, in his summoner.
The march was steady, but far from quiet. There was the constant tramping of feet, and that was loud as thunder, but there were no shouts, no cries, no faltered steps. Men, goblins, ogres, elves, walked in common accord under the guiding flag of the Sorcerer King. Drums kept the soldiers constantly marching in step, every left foot fell in unison with every other left foot, flags in the front sent signals, while scouts on tireless undead horses roamed beyond the wings to ensure that nothing could take them by surprise. They did not even stop to eat or drink, instead they ate and drank as they marched, each soldier carrying a satchel with fruit, cheese, and bread that could be eaten with a single hand, and carrying a water skin with them to quench their thirst along the way.
This sped their arrival time up by more than an hour, and when late afternoon arrived, they were within sight of the city walls, even from a distance the activity was obvious as people scurried along the parapets and moved back and forth preparing to defend themselves.
From a distance, they looked like little ants, she felt nothing for them in that moment. It was a curious sensation, she wondered...'Would I feel anything, if any of those dots on the wall over there...stopped moving?' As she contemplated the raw brutality of the fact that not only would she not, but even when they ceased to be dots and she could see the terror on their faces, the fading of life from eyes and the pleas for aid to stop the nightmare she was going to unleash on the hapless city of the Slane Theocracy...she would order the continuation of that violence until no resistance remained.
As she thought of this, she remembered the faceless knights that nearly killed her, had killed her parents, and would have killed her sister. She wondered if within that hapless city, there were mothers and fathers hiding their children, fearing what she and her army would do to them. She frowned a little at that, resolving that she would be kinder than the knights had been...but also resolving that she would not stop until the city had her king's banner raised over it.
...Inside Ikari City...
The 'Iron Governor' Tenva was shouting at his military command. "What do you mean 'You have enough soldiers'?!" he asked furiously. "You do know who is marching on us, don't you?!" He snapped.
His orichalcum clad commander looked troubled. "I do, I've heard it is General Enri, she defeated a troll in combat bare handed, she tamed an army of goblins who follow her loyally, and in her first battle, she defeated Prince Barbro, killing him and bringing down his entire army in the name of Ainz Ooal Gown...all while still an untrained peasant. Reports even indicate that she was personally trained in the realm of the Sorcerer King in the ways of war, and who can guess how much that ageless ancient being knows?" He said.
He paused and thought it over. "...Maybe I should call up the militia." He said.
"Yes," Governor Tenva said, "Perhaps call them all up, call up every single registered person who can draw a bow, and call for volunteers among the unregistered." He said flatly.
"I'll do it immediately governor." He said and saluted. "I will return to see you in victory, or not at all."
"I hope to drink with you when all is done, Commander Gorag." Governor Tenva said solemnly as the salute was dropped and he turned around and walked out of the manor to go call up the militia.
...Enri's army...
She took a deep breath as they came close enough for violence, and she raised the white flag of truce. The city raised its own, and a small door in the large gate opened up, and a single man in orichalcum armor came out, he bore no weapon, so General Enri took her sword of command from off her waist and handed it to the goblin strategist, she then rode her horse half way between her army and the city and awaited his arrival.
She did not wait long, and she did not dismount. She looked at him from her position on her undead warhorse, and the man shuddered as he looked into his blood red eyes.
She spoke first as he appraised her, "I am General Enri Bareare, servant of the Sorcerer King, I come to take possession of this city in his name, that is not negotiable. The choice before you is simply this, will I take possession of it peacefully...or will I take possession of it by FORCE?"
The man swallowed hard as he saw the determined look in her eyes. He could see she meant what she said, and behind her he saw the impossible, elves next to humans next to ogres next to goblins, and beyond them were other beings that should have been enemies to humanity, but served under command of a human girl who rode an undead horse, words failed him as his mouth opened and closed several times. General Enri filled the silence with her command voice.
"I am not a cruel woman, if you surrender your city, none of your citizens will be slain, though their arms will be confiscated. No buildings destroyed, no soldiers slaughtered, I will not allow anyone to so much as plunder a vegetable garden. The laws will be left intact save for those which bar the followers of Black Justice from their religious rights, and slavery will be overturned, but no harm will come to you. I swear it on the justice of the Sorcerer King."
The man's faced turned purple...purposeful...and contorted with rage, she cut him off by continuing.
"If you do not surrender, my armies will shatter your walls, slay your soldiers, and capture your city, many will die that would not have but for your stubbornness. We outnumber you, you have no reinforcements coming, and you will fall before the sun rises tomorrow." She said bluntly.
"Bah!" He snapped, "You have numbers, we have walls and mages aplenty, we have supplies enough that besieging us could take six years before we ran short, we will have help long before then!"
"Your walls will fall within six hours, you do not have six years." She said bluntly.
He was taken aback by her words, but remained stubborn. The gods will aid us in your destruction!" He snapped.
"How many armies do your gods command?" She asked, leaning forward and speaking sarcastically, "I have not seen them, are they so well concealed?" She asked.
That did it, he exploded with rage and screamed at her, "You will die on our walls! I will see to it!"
"Then I will break your walls so that such an event becomes impossible." She threw in the quick witty retort, and he whirled and turned his back on her.
"Come and die then, the gods will see us through." He said, and returned into the gate.
Enri returned to her lines and took her place next to the goblin strategist. He held out her sword of command gingerly with both hands, and she took it gratefully. She looked at him next to her, "Send the signal for the elf messengers." She said, a moment later a single arrow sailed up over her army, burning off green smoke. Two miles away, another went up immediately afterwards. Two miles after that, another went up, and another, and another, all the way back to her camp, and dragons carrying the dragon's lunch boxes took to the skies. But before the city's walls, Enri began to shout. "Elven slaves! General Enri Bareare of the Sorcerous Kingdom has come to set you free! Rise up! Rise up and fight if you would be free! We stand with Black Justice! We stand with Neia Baraja, the breaker of masters and the destroyer of dark cities! Rise! Rise! RISE UP!" She shouted, and the elves nearby, one and all former slaves, echoed her call, for five full minutes they shouted for the slaves to rise, and then fell silent, within the city, they could hear distant shouting.
Ikari city's defenders understood quite well the meaning of her resounding call for elven liberation, and faces turned white with horror as they realized an ancient truth...if you wished to know the number of your enemies, you must begin by counting your slaves. So great was the horror as the archers on the wall as they looked behind them to see and hear the violence of the slaves they thought they had broken, that they entirely missed the green burning arrow that Enri had ordered launched, even if they had, they would not have known what it meant. Not so for the army of General Enri, for them it held a double meaning, and archers began their attack on the horrified defenders, sending flights of arrows towards the walls of the great city, many of them now carried runic equipment that enhanced range or penetrating power. Those on the walls could compensate for this, their forces having greater height from which to fire gave them a greater range, and the archery duel began in earnest. Enri had not been foolish about it, an archer with no cover was an archer with a shorter lifespan, and her archers carried specially designed shields on their backs. These curved shields covered the archer from their feet to their stomach, but they were not meant to be held. Instead on the inside of each shield there were two small leather sheaths, these sheaths held two spikes that snapped into place at the lower corners of the shield, and the other held a small hammer. When ready for use, the archer would remove the shield from his back, remove the metal spikes from the leather sheath, snap them securely into place at the left and right bottom corners, and then with the small hammer, they would pound the shield into the ground, creating instant cover for half their body. Not quite perfect, but it was a previously unheard of innovation that was understood too late by the defenders. Between their moment of confusion and their moment of understanding, whole companies of archers had gone from vulnerable, to fortified.
Shouts of frustration at their slowness to respond echoed from the walls, and the duel raged in earnest. As this was happening, Enri called up her ogres, and behind them came carts bearing huge stones, and the ogres began to throw them at the walls. Enri was watching all of this with a calm and stoic expression when Lupusregina Beta approached her from behind, holding her massive weapon on her shoulder.
"They're putting up quite a fight there aren't they -su?" Lupusregina asked.
"I had to provoke them a bit." Enri said.
"That isn't like you. -su" Lupusregina replied, almost but not quite questioningly.
"It is now." Enri said softly, "It has to be. I need them committed to that position no matter what, and making them angry does that." She said.
"I'm not criticizing." Lupusregina said, "You have to deliver Lord Ainz a victory after all -su."
"I will." Enri said with determination.
"Are you ready for me to do my part?" Lupusregina asked.
Enri looked over at the smiling red haired maid of the Sorcerer King.
"Can you be damaged by dragon breath?" Enri asked curiously.
To the uninitiated, it would have seemed an impossibly bizarre question, the buxom but not overly strong looking Lupusregina seemed an unusually beautiful but otherwise not overly impressive girl, yet Enri remembered how easily it had stopped a blow from a troll, there was no question whatsoever that she was far more powerful than she appeared, but dragon's breath was another matter.
Lupusregina touched her cheek and thought about it, "I'm sure I'd survive it, but it might be enough to damage me -su." She said thoughtfully.
"Then no. I would die of shame if I sent you over there and had to send you back to the Sorcerer King injured." Enri said softly.
"Well I could easily slaughter everything before the dragons get here -su." Lupusregina said with a sadistic smile.
"I know, but then they wouldn't win a victory." Enri said and gestured to the army behind her. "See that?" she said, pointing to the archers.
"What of it?" Lupusregina asked.
"There are humans, goblins, elves, a vampire, a few nagas, all working together over there, all trusting each other, all fighting together. All bleeding together, behind them are ogres throwing rocks at the same enemy, all around us are all these many races of people, coming together as never before in all the history of the world, as they bleed together, they become one people of one common blood, no matter what they look like. That is the true victory our King desires." Enri said firmly, "To truly unite the world, and bleeding together, suffering together, trusting one another, defending one another, this is the way, the only way to truly do that. By morning elves and nagas will call humans brothers and sisters, ogres will be welcomed at the campfire beside dragons, dragons will call goblins family, and out of many, there will come one nation."
Enri nodded with absolute confidence, as she finished her speech, "You may win the war by yourself, but the Sorcerer King is striving not just to win the war, but to win the peace and through it, win the world he wants after it. That is what he told me."
Lupusregina Beta pouted slightly, "Lord Ainz is always right but...I really wanted to have some fun -su."
General Enri rolled her eyes, "You're impossible, you know that Lupu?" She said with a warm smile at the girl she'd known for years, the terrifying, beautiful, wonderful, sadistic little guardian of her village and savior of her life.
"I am as my creators made me -su." Lupusregina said with a big wide grin.
Enri looked to the sun, it was coming down, the defenders were expecting the night to give them rest. They were going to be sorely disappointed.
Stones smashed and screams echoed from the walls, the runic bows exacted a terrible toll, and the ogres wearing strength enhancing gloves had begun to take apart the towers. Enri had ensured that she kept her entire army at this single gate and that was forcing them to do the same. The commander of the city would no doubt think her quite mad for not having used her numerical advantage to surround his city and force him to stretch his lines thin...but Enri knew...its easiest to wipe out a rat's nest when all the rats are trapped in one place.
The sun was just drifting down over the horizon when she looked behind her army and saw the dots in the distance, the dragons would be there very soon, the defenders had clearly put every effort into this, most likely they'd done a citywide call up of every available militia member, the flow of arrows over the walls had not slackened significantly despite what had to be some nasty losses, and that meant relief was constantly replacing the dead.
The more she thought on it, the more obvious it was that he was desperately counting on the night to give him a reprieve. She shook her head. That was a grave mistake, quite possibly literally if he was one of those 'fights are always to the death' types.
Which of the defenders first saw the dragons would remain forever a mystery, but it didn't matter, because it was already far too late. The dragons swept over the city from on high, swooped low, smashed homes on the far side of the city, and the soldiers within the "Dragons' Lunchboxes" opened their latches and rushed out, flashing runic blades and bearing runic armor. The dragons took to the skies and let loose their terrible roars and made a pass over the wall that was heavily defended. Then they sent their breath into the backs of the unprepared forces. The unconventional transport caught those not at the conflict point completely off guard, they were outnumbered, out armed, and outfought, and one tower after another saw the Sorcerer King's banner rise. Including the gate on the far side of the city. Enri looked to the goblin strategist and gave the order, "Signal the cavalry to ride for the rear of the city the gate there is ours. They can now support our infantry."
A few moments later, goblin wolfriders, human horsemen atop undead mounts, and centaurs calling for blood…were charging along the wall and racing to be the first into the southern gate. As the dragons made their pass, they took a perch along the east and western walls, striking out at any of the Slane Theocracy's men seen running through the street, turning long orderly streets into winter death zones.
Enri turned her eyes to Lupusregina.
"Now you can go do your part, Lupu." She said affectionately.
"You got it 'General Enri' -su." Lupusregina said, and she walked towards the main gate like she was taking a stroll through the park, she paid no mind to the arrows or stones flying around her, and the screams of the wounded and dying were making her more excited than anything else, her sadistic grin peaked when she unslung her weapon from her shoulder, and swung it like a bat, smashing in the wooden gate and turning it in to splinters. There was only the portcullis now, she grinned, and then she drew her weapon back again, and swung it with her implacable sadistic smile held firmly on her beautiful face, and the portcullis flew into the city interior smashing a building across the street, turning it into rubble and ruin. She then walked back out the gate, went over to part of the wall, and smashed a gap into it, sending stones hurtling inwards along with bodies. The dead, and the soon to be dead, were sent tumbling all the way to the merciless stone below as the part of the wall she struck became more a cloud of dust that none would ever guess had once been part of a wall, while those stones that survived were scattered in all directions. She smashed in two more great gaps before the survivors realized what was causing the destruction and tried to stop her.
A brave fool charged out the gate to intercept her stroll as she went to the other wall, he ran at her, screaming a warcry and holding up an axe to split her skull, she did not even look his way as she walked, she simply grabbed him by the front of his face, squeezed, and his head popped into red mush as if she'd just popped a grape. She smashed three more holes along the wall, and then returned to Enri's side.
"S'all done there, general -su." She said with a contented happy smile, "Go ahead, do your thing." She grinned, and Enri lifted her sword above her head, and lowered it towards the city of Ikari, and sounded the charge. The multiracial army of the Sorcerer King flowed through the gaps in the wall like a river through a burst dam, and they washed over the defenses as if they were not there. Hasty attempts at creating a force to blunt the charge were made pointless, ogres simply ran through them and trampled everything in their path, dwarves used their powerful lightning based weapons to electrocute their enemies, elves took precision aim with their bows, and the vampire drank his fill and unleashed his fury upon his king's enemies. The wall was all but swept clean within minutes of this, and though the forces of the Slane Theocracy tried to find purchase elsewhere, some place they could defend themselves, too much had been put into one position, one single wall, and now it was gone and all for nothing, the soldiers who had surprised the southern side of the city had begun to take control of every point of access, while the four dragons had seized control of the east and west, making the city effectively quartered by the forces on all sides, without the ability to reinforce any position, every Slane Theocracy position was made weak, and block by block and house by house, the army of General Enri fought those who would fight, and captured those who would surrender.
Her love of the Sorcerer King and her reverence for his justice was made clear in her strict instructions to her army to abide by the Draconic Accords, and this they did, spilling as little blood as they had to as they gained control of the great city of Ikari. The sun was now completely down and night had set in, yet this was more a liability for humans than for any other, and her army had many species for which this was not only not a problem, it was ideal, and she took full advantage of that to secure all remaining positions.
While fighting was still heard in a few corners for a little while, even this gradually died down, and in the fifth hour of the fight...General Enri's words were proven true. The city designed to endure for six years, had not endured for even six hours. General Enri Bareare rode through the city on her undead warhorse, along the streets were bodies, some were her people, most however...were not, the careful strategic planning had kept the city off its best possible performance and its forces had been destroyed in detail, isolated, rooted out, and ruined. Blood soaked corpses were draped mostly on their bellies, stabbed in the back as they'd tried to fall back to a new position, some still clutched their swords, occasionally she saw a clump of corpses, these were ones who had managed to fall back to their comrades' defensive positions, many of them had broken legs or arms, they had been trampled either by undead cavalry or centaurs or ogres, before their heads were smashed or hearts pierced by sword, spear, or arrow, not a few had been decapitated by heavy axes wielded by the handful of minotaurs she had within her forces.
The continual light spell of one of the goblin mages ensured she saw everything, and missed nothing, the shadows of the dead danced in the light, a stark contrast to the unmoving existence of those who cast them, who would never move again. Fireballs from her magic assault team of goblins lit the night, but sans the sound of battle she realized they were celebrating the victory, cheers would be heard from many quarters as the last resistance was utterly crushed. Enri however, kept her cool and kept her comfort with victory at bay.
She rode to the city center, there was only one place she had to be, beside her walked Lupusregina, who rested her weapon over the back of her neck, and kept her arms curved lazily over the weapon and above her head. The manor Enri saw was ornate but not opulent, it was the manor of the city government. If the Slane Theocracy had any surviving military or civilian leaders, they would be here. In front of the great double door stood a handful of militia, Lupusregina made as if to attack them, dropping down with legs bent at the knee, leaning slightly forward, and her hands out and open at her side, her smile was as savage as she was beautiful, but before she could attack, Enri said softly..."Wait."
Enri looked at the defenders, they were mere boys barely old enough to bear arms, seven of them and they were shaking, wearing militia grade armor and carrying iron tipped wooden spears, they hadn't a chance and they knew it, but their fear of the shame of running was greater than their fear of death. Enri sheathed her sword, dismounted her undead warhorse, and stepped forward. Illuminated by the light behind her, she appeared as if she were an angel. She held out her hands invitingly, "Boys, men, soldiers of Ikari...the fight is over, you have lost, you did your best, but you have lost." She said in a soft and gentle voice, she wanted to spare these boys if she could.
"I am here to accept the surrender of your leaders, so that nobody else must die, the entire city has fallen, there is no point in further violence. Lay down your weapons, and you can go home to your families, you will see your mothers, fathers, and your younger siblings again. You can grow old and tell your grandchildren that you were the last men standing at the battle of Ikari, and you can be proud you did your duty... live with that pride, don't force me to live with your deaths, I beg you, too many have died today..." Enri said, her soft voice reached them, and some of them began to wane.
"Just one more then!" A boy who could not have been more than seventeen shrieked and charged recklessly at Enri with his spear lowered, the decision to die made evident in his wild eyed expression. He had not made it to the base of the stairs before Lupusregina had moved in and severed his head from his body with one hand and caught the forward charging momentum of the rest of his body in the other by grabbing the back of his shirt collar. She yanked the body past her, back the way the boy had come, and casting it hard on its back while the head rolled away, even as it was dying, clearly the head of the boy wondered what had just happened to him. He never got an answer even as the horror dawned on his face and he saw his own body on its back a few feet away.
Lupus looked up at the remaining six would be heroic militia defenders. "Was he right, was it only one more...or is it seven more -su?" She asked with a predatory smile...and first one, then another, then another, and finally the rest, all threw down their arms, sending them clattering to the stone and falling to their knees, sobbing in fear, shame, and the shameful joy of being a survivor among the dead of their city.
Enri touched Lupusregina on the shoulder as she walked forward. "Thank you, Lupu, I appreciate it." She said.
"No problem, it's what I'm here for -su." Lupusregina said with a pearly white grin.
"Well, let's go get the surrender." Enri said, and Lupusregina smashed the door in as they passed the defeated band of six, behind them others of their army came and bound the boys and accepted their surrenders, but Enri had other obligations. She walked down the hall, the carpet was red and gold, nice but not fantastic, the walls were of some sort of golden wood that that reflected a golden hue from the light cast off from the equally spaced candle holders secured against the smooth wooden surface. It did not take long to find where they needed to go, they went to the central room near the back, and Lupusregina smashed that door in just as easily as she had taken down entire sections of stone wall, and that was how Enri found herself face to face with the governor of Ikari, a slender man with a thin mustache and hair that was just starting to turn gray.
"You would be the 'Iron Governor', Tenva I presume." Enri said politely.
The man sat stoically behind his desk, as if expecting her arrival.
"You know why I am here." She answered.
"I do." He said.
"Do you surrender?" She asked.
"I do not." He answered.
"Excuse me." She asked.
"I said, I do not." He replied. "You will just have to kill us all."
"I don't want to do that." She said. "In fact I am prohibited by my king from doing that." She added.
"Then I guess you'll just have to leave the city, General Enri." He replied.
"I can't do that either, and I won't do that." She said in response.
Governor Tenva stood up from his desk and went to a drawer, he opened it slowly, ensuring he showed no sign of intended violence, and he drew out a bottle.
"I was saving this for my retirement." He said with a glib smile on his face, it was the face of a man with nothing left to lose. It was the smile of a man who did not care about consequences anymore.
"Now is as good a time as any to drink it, I suppose...and this is kind of a retirement...if not quite the one I wanted." He said, and he put out two glasses and poured them both.
"I was going to drink this with my wife when that day happened." He said. "But...she went to the wall, I haven't seen anybody come back from there, so I suppose she's dead now." His voice was soft.
"So...I guess I'll drink with her killer instead." He added in the voice of a man who was all but broken.
"To fallen loved ones, wherever they wait for us?" He raised his glass in toast, and Enri picked up the glass and raised it in turn.
"To fallen loved ones." She echoed, but just as she was about to drink it, Lupusregina grabbed her wrist.
Enri looked at her in surprise, and Lupusregina's usually mirthful face was serious, "I should check it first -su." She said to Enri, and understanding dawned.
Tenva laughed, "It's not poisoned, I promise you, I like my job, but not enough to kill myself when it came time for me to retire, and do you really think I just keep a bottle of poisoned wine sitting in a drawer in my office, sealed and ready just in case I need to poison somebody where I'm working?" He through back his head for an even deeper laugh at that.
"That sounds more like the plot of a really bad story than anything that could actually happen." He snorted dismissively. "Now are you going to drink that or not, it's bad enough manners as it is to even make the accusation." He said flatly.
At a nod from Enri, Lupusregina released her grip.
"To fallen loved ones." Enri said, repeating herself and raising her glass again. The two drank, it was a rich cherry like wine, nowhere near what the Sorcerer King could offer in terms of quality, but good for a governor.
"I'm sorry your retirement had to be this way, and I'm sorry about your wife, and the rest of your people." Enri said sincerely.
Tenva looked at her for a long minute, searching for some sign of mockery or arrogance and finding none, "I think you actually mean that. I guess you're not as evil as reports have said." He said with a voice full of introspective thoughtfulness.
"I try not to be bad, I know what it is to lose loved ones. The Slane Theocracy killed my mother and father while I watched, I took my little sister and fled while my father tried to hold the knights back even as they stabbed him to death, I fled to the forest, knights chased me, I couldn't hold my sister and escape, and I couldn't let go either, I fell, they caught up, one swung a sword and slashed my back...I held my sister under me as she screamed, the knights of your country were going to kill us both despite the fact that I begged for the life of my sister, not even my own life, just spare my little Nemu, that was all I wanted." Enri's voice rolled out over her tongue as the memory was recalled as clearly as if it had happened only minutes before, even though years had passed, it still pained her to think of how narrow a thing it had been, and an inkling of that pain seeped out of her voice as she drank and told the story.
"They weren't even going to give me that, they were going to stab her right through my body, then the Sorcerer King appeared, he killed the knights, protected me with his magic, gave me an impossibly valuable item to protect me even further, and then he saved what was left of my village, killed your knights, destroyed the scripture you sent to my home to kill us all...and you know the rest." Her voice was hard.
"I hate war, anyone decent, even if they're good at it, hates it, I didn't want to kill your wife, I didn't want one of those boys out there to die, but your country started this war, and I will see it ended so that it does not ever have to be fought again. Now will...you...surrender?" She asked.
Governor Tenva shook his head slowly. "I am sorry about what my knights did to you, I have heard stories about operations like that, but whether you come for revenge or duty, no matter how many of my people you've killed...I am sorry, but I have a duty too, and I will not surrender." He said.
"I see." General Enri said.
"You know," She began as she set down her glass and he poured for them both again, she nodded her head in polite gratitude and took the glass back, she sipped it slowly, "Some time after my village was rescued, we were attacked again, a troll came over the walls we'd built, if it had not been stopped, it would have caught my people at the gate who were killing a very odd looking ogre, trapped between both, they'd have all been killed, so I had to stop the troll that had come over the wall. So I and the man who became my husband...we deceived it, all warfare is based on deception, and that was war, just like this was war, smaller yes, but no different regardless. We crippled its ability to smell and then disguised our scent, we took the blankets of ogres and laid them out in a barn so it would think there were ogres there to fight. This bought us time, then we taunted it, my husband and I each wore a cloak like the other and hid our faces, it didn't know for a while which of us it was chasing." Enri giggled at the memory, "It was terrifying, but looking back now...it was a proud moment, and in the end help arrived in the form of the the woman next to me, who killed the beast and saved us all." Enri smiled softly at Lupusregina, and the red headed maid cocked her head, gave the V for victory sign with her fingers, and grinned happily.
"Yes, what is your point?" He asked curiously.
"Enri finished her glass and set it down. Thank you for the wine Governor Tenva." Enri said and stood up, "Again, I am truly sorry about your loss."
"Thank you", he said and stood up in turn, noticing the bottle was nearly empty, "but may I know the point of your story before you kill me?" He asked.
"Why would I kill you?" Enri asked curiously.
"Because I won't surrender." He said flatly.
Enri smiled sweetly at him. "But...you did surrender Governor Tenva, and I wanted to thank you for that also."
He looked at her, utterly dumbfounded.
"Or that is what I'll tell everyone anyway." She said with a smile, "You won't be in a position to tell anyone differently, because you'll be securely held away elsewhere until the end of the war. Don't worry, you won't be harmed, we'll adhere to the Draconic Accords on the treatment of prisoners." She said sincerely as she picked up the governor's seal on his desk and pressed it to a blank sheet of paper. She handed it to Lupusregina and said, "When you take him out of here, please have one of the goblin army's spies forge his official surrender declaration on here, they should be able to do that fairly easily."
"My people will never believe that!" He snapped out in shock as he saw his seal on the blank sheet.
Enri turned back to him smiled in return at his shock and dismay, "I think most of them will, and most of the rest will at least pretend to believe it as an excuse to not die fighting a battle they can't win. You can set the record straight after the war," Enri promised, "I'll even back up the truth and admit I tricked your city into capitulating when you weren't willing to give in. You see…if you hold out, I think they would too, and a lot of people who do not need to die, would die. The Sorcerer King's sacred text tells us that life must be temporary, death and unlife may go on forever, therefore we should treasure the brevity of the moment in the sun we have, and that all living things have, and treat it with respect. Therefore do not throw it away meaninglessly, nor take it from others without reason, necessity, or just cause. I don't like lying, but just like tricking that troll, if by one lie I can save almost two hundred thousand lives...or however many are still alive in this city...I can live with paying that price." Enri said softly and inclined her head politely.
"Lupu, would you please render him unconscious as gently as you can and take him into custody." Enri said kindly, "We don't want him shouting orders to resist, better they think he went meekly in captivity, or at least have an excuse to believe it."
A moment later, the stunned expression on Governor Tenva's face was wiped away by a firm blow to the back of the head, and his limp form was hidden away for transport elsewhere, along with his 'official surrender that wasn't', and a sample of his handwriting taken from within his desk for the goblin spymaster to work with. Within hours the forgery was carried from hold out position to hold out position and carried by word of mouth to every horrified...and many a relieved...ear. General Gorag was defeated and the Iron Governor had surrendered unconditionally.
When morning came the next day, those who had gone to bed as Slane Theocracy citizens, woke up to find themselves to be citizens of the Sorcerous Kingdom... sort of. General Enri had the word shouted from every street corner, more copies of the surrender document were made and routed around and posted on every corner for public 'scrutiny', and dragons kept watch on all four quadrants of the city, while her soldiers patrolled the streets in great numbers, and they put to use their labor force of undead skeletons, formerly used to carry military supplies in the baggage train, now used to clean the rubble and to begin to rebuild the walls.
Her own army was thoroughly united, nagas drank with humans, a vampire bought blood from a soldier he'd fought beside and took it from his veins in the street, the selling soldier took a few coins and the vampire healed the wound closed on the spot, the two then raised their cups and drank on the street corner, the human was heedless of the fact that the vampire was drinking his blood, and happily drank his own beer. Goblin patrols kept order in the streets and told jokes with elves who told those jokes to humans who told those jokes to centaurs, and they laughed at the same things. Ogres worked alongside their smaller counterparts to rebuild what was broken, and the deeply religious city was equal parts horrified and fascinated and beyond disbelieving at the impossible things they were seeing in their own streets...but people are resilient as a group, and life went on, bread had to be baked, iron smelted, leather boiled, food harvested, and drinks poured, the living needed their needs met, no matter who was in charge or what had transpired the night before.
Casualties for Enri's army had been roughly three thousand, with the total dead being some twelve hundred, chiefly among the archers who had kept the wall busy, the casualties among the thirty thousand man army of the Slane Theocracy was estimated to be roughly twenty eight thousand killed, wounded, and captured, most of whom were in fact 'killed' while a few escaped either during the chaos of the night or they removed all evidence of military service from their bodies and blended back in to the population. Casualties among the city militia were thirty three thousand, mostly wounded, but with eight thousand confirmed killed, and the remaining twenty seven thousand having surrendered their hold out positions outright when word was carried to them of the Iron Governor's submission to 'The Stone Eyed General' Enri Bareare, who became famous among the population for her hard stares but otherwise kind and considerate dispensation of rulings and edicts.
The next two days had General Enri becoming governor Enri as she oversaw matters pertaining to the city, the first order of business was disposition of the dead, and Slane Theocracy citizens came begging for the corpses of their loved ones, pleading with Enri not to turn their dead into skeleton slaves, something Enri assured them would not happen, those with deceased loved ones were allowed to pass by the bodies to find the one or more they sought, and then allotted an escort and a volunteer burial detail, who allowed them to be laid to rest in accordance with their traditions. This openness was a welcome shock to those who expected that the bodies would either be abused, or turned into the undead, or held hostage out of greed.
Far more transformative however was the response to slavery. The elf slaves had risen within the walls and though some had perished, most survived, and it took most of a whole day to cut the chains from every single one of them, the brothels were emptied of elven women, and when they were walked past General Enri, who came on her undead warhorse to personally see to their liberation, such was the monstrously horribly treatment of the slaves that the next priority for her became the trials. Every slave master's property was confiscated, they were not even permitted the clothes on their backs, they were given large sacks with a yellow X painted over it to denote their shame, and they were given heavy chains to wear.
After that came the common slaves, day laborers who performed menial work around the city, they required jobs, and the tasks still needed to be done, so Neia raided the city's coffers to pay them for their labor...and included several years back pay made possible by the confiscation of property from the wealthy who oversaw the slave trade.
Next were the house servants, the elves who tended to individual families, many wealthy, but others not so much, and in this there were...complications, because some of the elves had come to these houses as children, or had been well treated, there had formed among some, amiable bonds, such that the elves who occupied several homes, risked themselves to protect the family that owned them, from the wrath of other slaves.
A further complication emerged as slaves sometimes turned on one another, as a guileful or cruel elf slave managed to gain position by betraying his fellow slaves to their masters, in some cases behaving worse than the masters themselves, with one house having the only casualty be the elf head butler.
The wild variation in treatment and behavior resulted in the need to set up war crimes trial, since many of the behaviors were a direct violation of the Draconic Accords, as they were carried out against prisoners of war...even if they were prisoners from a former enemy. This required General Enri to dispatch the information to the Sorcerer King, who in turn sought out the Argland Council State as a neutral party.
Until the answer was forthcoming, the dungeons and prisons were filled with the accused, and every task pertaining to these former slaves, created two more to go with it, leaving General Enri Bareare VERY busy, and a top priority became capturing the countryside farms that fed so much of the Slane Theocracy, and freeing the slaves held prisoner there.
And as to the disposition of Tenva in the eyes of his people...
Though many doubted that the 'Iron Governor' Tenva had in fact surrendered, few would openly give voice to those private thoughts because that could be considered a call to rebellion, and nobody wanted to fight the army of nightmares that had overthrown their city in mere hours. Criminal laws were enforced as they had been, and more regular Slane Theocracy citizens were hired to do the work formerly done by slaves. Some of those formerly in bondage chose to remain in the city, while others went north to the Sorcerous Kingdom, or sought to join with Enri's army and swelling her ranks with thousands more willing, eager, fearless, and fanatical soldiers. It was not for nothing that within a short time of the increase of her army, a congratulatory letter came from the Sorcerer King, stating his appreciation for General Enri's masterful accomplishment. It would remain among her proudest and most treasured possessions until the end of her days.
A separate letter informed her that a relief force would be dispatched to allow her to move her army at her earliest convenience, but that she was entrusted with the power to act on her own initiative if the opportunity presented itself, and it promised her a grand reward for her service when she returned.
Enri sighed, the end of war was the reward she really wanted, and she'd gotten them all, both sides, much, much closer to that reward today...but even with this victory, she knew it was still a long...long time coming...or at least...it would feel that way.
AN: So concludes the siege of Ikari and General Enri's debut battle, I trust you found it entertaining and worth the wait. Of course reviews are welcome, but I also remind you I have a discord server where these stories are shown first if you want an early look, and I encourage you to join many of my other readers there, where a great supportive and positive community has taken shape. Till next time! Long Live Ainz Ooal Gown! ;)
If you appreciate the work that went into telling this story, you can donate a dollar or so to the author's charity organization: bdgiving dot org.
P.S. Don't be a choosing beggar. I enjoy all the stories that I write, and I update them each as it seems fit for me to do. Stop spamming side and concurrent stories with reviews that just ask for more of this one. If you want to be 'entitled' to pick which one I write on which day, well the only ones who I allow to make that choice, are the larger charity donors, as a reward for their generosity. If you're not willing to do that, just wait and I promise you'll see the one you want come up soon enough, maybe a few days, but it'll get done, I'm NOT abandoning any of these stories.