Ser Wardes had two itches that he just couldn't scratch. One was his eye socket, still complaining about the wound he'd taken months ago. The other was the urge to stab this "Sheffield" woman in the back and summon a tornado in her chest.
Lord Cromwell might have put great faith in the dark haired beauty, but you didn't need to be a trained spy to tell she was a little mad. And definitely was planning on getting every single member of the Reconquista killed. Sheffield was playing for a different team, and he was certain their goals didn't align at the end.
It was only the desperate strait they were in that kept him from 'accidentally' killing the woman. He'd betrayed more worthy masters than Cromwell for the sake of humanity, and he'd do it again in a heartbeat. But the Reconquista needed to succeed for the people to survive, and the conquest of Saxe-Gotha had put everything in danger. Between "the prophet's revelation" of a new magic, and Henrietta's diplomats and spies sowing treason, the Reconquista's alliance was cracking.
"So how is hiking in the mountains going to retake the city?" Foquette asked from behind him. While he didn't understand why the woman insisted on following him, Wardes was happy for her presence. He couldn't read her well, but he could tell she was trustworthy. And if he did need to remove Sheffield, he'd need her help.
"The answer is just around the bend," Sheffield replied.
Fortunately, this time she told the truth. Around the corner was a large stream. One of the many that ran to Saxe-Gotha to supply the city. Still... "I'm not sure how this will help. Even without commoners learning how to purify their own water, the city will be looking for poison or other contaminants."
"Indeed." Shefield grinned and pulled a ring from her belt. He recognized it as the Ring of Andvari. "But they will be looking for impurities in the water? Pure water, the water that controls the heart and mind? That will flow right past them."
His eyes narrowed as the priceless artifact melted in the woman's hands, dripping into the spring. A quick check showed she was right. As far as he could tell the water was pure and clean. Still...
Foquette asked the obvious question. "So how does that help? You just got rid of the artifact that lets you control people with pure water."
"Please." Sheffield sneered. "I'm no simple fool. My will was already in the item. Everyone who swallows but a drop will be my tool."
She turned to him and once again he had to suppress his urge to stab her. At least until after the victory they needed. "Are the assassins on the move?" she asked.
"Yes. Though I can't guarantee they'll succeed. Anyone who agrees to act on such a short timeframe is inherently an amateur." An unfortunate reality of the world. The better the assassin, the more time they would demand.
"Good. Our loyal knight will make sure they succeed." Sheffield turned to look down on the city. "Once again the Silver Pentecost will see God's will touch the face of the earth."
The sarcasm in the woman's words could corrode steel, but Cromwell forced himself to stay calm. For now.
But he was definitely going to kill her later. For the good of everyone.
Louise groaned as she finished yet another letter. "I hate paperwork."
"I told you that you should hire a secretary," Kirche said as she brushed Tabitha's hair. The Germaian had been less than helpful with this task.
"Sure Kirche. I'll just pick up a secretary I can trust with state secrets here in a foriegn country we're invading. That'll go great!" She sighed and put the ink and quill aside. No point in doing anything more today. She'd just make a mess of her instructions. How did Satori manage to write so long into the night? Was it some youkai trick?
"She's got a typewriter too. It's like small movable print!" Utsuho thought over to her.
"I should force Guiche to make one of those," Louise muttered, though she made a mental note to actually look into that. It seemed like a useful tool.
The propaganda campaign against the Reconquista had been going well. So well that letters had arrived wondering what Tristain's plans were for the country after Cromwell's defeat. Some were probably from nobles looking to get in with whoever won, but she knew some were spies looking for an opening to break up any counterrevolutionary block. Patrols had caught at least six foreign agents slipping into the city. Including one who had committed suicide to keep his information secret.
"I heard de Poitiers is being appointed Field Marshal," Kirche said. "Bit premature, I feel."
"Princess Henrietta thinks Cromwell might get killed after whatever trick he's got planned fails, so taking Saxe-Gotha might be the last real battle we fight. She promoted him now so it looks like a reward for winning instead of just a promotion because someone's gonna need to be Field Marshal after Focht dies." Louise cleared away her writing tools and grabbed some bread, offering a chunk to Utsuho. "Of course that is the only reason he's getting the promotion, but he's better than anyone else at the moment so we have to make do."
Tabitha's eyes flickered over. "You?"
"I wish I was good enough." It'd make her choices so much easier. "I don't know unit tactics as well." And it'd take her years to learn, given how Momiji was still destroying her in practice matches.
A loud bang from outside made Louise jump. She whirled towards the window of the inn she'd claimed as her personal quarters. However there was nothing noticeable outside. "Did some idiot fire off a cannon by accident?"
"It didn't sound like it came from the walls but-" Kirche's sentence was cut off by another explosion, this one close enough to rattle the windows. Siesta jolted upright and nearly fell over, while Utsuho cawed loudly in surprise. The glow of a fire starting appeared over the houses across the street."
"That was fire magic," the youkai crow sent over to her.
"We're under attack," Louise realized. No one accidentally threw out fireballs that big.
Siesta was blinking sleep from her eyes, but she was already throwing on her traveling cloak. "How?"
"I don't know." Louise shook her head in annoyance. "But we'll have to find out what's happening. Tabitha, tell Sylphid to get ready. There's no time to get to the Zero Fighter."
"Mm." The woman nodded sharply, her staff already set to cast.
Louise started for the door before cursing and running back to scoop up her letters. She couldn't just leave state secrets around. When she turned back Tabitha and Kirche had already moved out, while Siesta was waiting for her. "Need anything?"
"No," Siesta replied. "Let's hurry."
Louise ran out of the room and hopped over the railing to fly down to the first floor where her friends were peering out into the street. "Anyone out there?"
The sudden ringing of the town bells muffled Kirche's reply, but a shake of the woman's head told Louise all she needed to know. With a nod she headed outside. The stables where Sylphid was staying were two streets down. The four of them began quickly walking down the road-
And the next thing she knew, she was blinded and covered in blood.
She grabbed her wand and stumbled back right into Siesta. As her friend caught her, Utsuho's calming presence filled her mind. "Don't worry. We got them."
Louise cleaned off her eyes and blinked until the stars faded. There was a smoldering corpse to the left, and a man who'd taken at least two dozen ice spikes to the right. Kirche was keeping watch in front of them, while Tabitha had her eyes to the rooftops, where the men had likely struck from.
"Are you okay?" Siesta asked.
"Y-yeah." Louse managed. She sucked down a few deep breaths while her heart sped up and slowed down. Someone had tried to kill her. Again. And would have succeeded if Utsuho and Tabitha hadn't known to look up!
As much as she wanted to stay there and go through a nice quiet breakdown, the pops of gunfire from across the city forced her to get back to work. "Thanks. We need to keep moving."
"Of course Louise. Let's find a nice spot where I can clean that mess off you," Kirche said as she started walking forwards again. "Assassins are so boorish, bleeding all over the place."
Siesta gave her shoulder a squeeze, and they were off again.
To her surprise it looked like a fight had happened in front of the stables. Even stranger Guiche and a few of his men had been the victors of the skirmish. The nobleman's golems were a little wobbly, telling Louise he'd been out drinking, but the fight had apparently sobered him up a fair bit. "Ser Valliere, what's going on?"
"I was hoping to find out. What happened here?" She looked around, but the men dead on the ground looked like they were all part of the Tristain and Germanian force.
Guiche pointed at a bucket with pitch and torches spilled among the fighting. "We were heading back to quarters when we found these men trying to light the stable on fire. Of course I demanded to know what they were doing, and the leader tried to stab me. After that, we defeated the ruffians, but they fought like fanatics. And Sergeant Nicola says he recognizes the men as some of our own!"
"What?" Louise's heart fell. This could be really bad. She looked to the Sergeant. "Are you certain?"
"Yeah. Gillian here owed me eight silver." He pointed to one of the downed men. "But when we met today his eyes were dead. Like he didn't give a damn who I was. And there was some strange magic on him. More noble magic than the stuff Lady Takao taught us, but damned if I could figure out the details."
That sealed the deal. "Tabitha, is Sylphid safe? Siesta, could you tell if they were undead? Like when Albion tried to kidnap the princess?"
Kirche swore, while Tabitha closed her eyes for a second. "Sylphid ate her attacker, and Flare doused the fires," the blue haired girl replied.
"Suppose the amphibian is good for something," Utsuho muttered.
Siesta poured a little bit of quicksilver next to the man, and frowned as the liquid crawled towards him. "I don't think he was undead. But the spell feels similar to what Orin told me to look for. It's some kind of water based control."
Kirche summed up the situation. "So that's what the perfidious bastards were up to. A poison we couldn't see."
"That's my guess," Siesta replied.
And now everything was falling apart. Louise whirled to Guiche. "Get your men up and prepared. Have your troops check everyone for control magic, then get to forming something like an army unit. Until they're cleared as safe you are to ignore rank. Are you clear?"
Guiche paled but nodded. "And what about the command staff?"
Louise turned towards the stables. "I'll handle that. We'll meet up soon."
It turned out handling the command staff was easy. They'd been shot by a group of soldiers. Chief of Staff Wimpfainn was the only survivor, and personally comprised most of the living officers above the rank of Captain right now.
When he realized the scope of the mess, he immediately ordered a retreat. And while Louise wanted to castigate the man for cowardice, it was probably the correct choice. The army was going to rout after losing so many people to magical treason, so they might as well get in front and make it an orderly retreat.
Unfortunately he was dead set on continuing the retreat, despite the fact that the entire Reconquista army was marching to crush them.
"These hills are the best defensive positions we have until Rosais," Louise snapped at the man from Sylphid's back. "And if we try to march all the way there we'll lose half the camp followers and the supply wagons."
"And if we stop here we'll lose the army," the man snapped back. "I have no idea who taught you warfare, but our army has been routed. Half our troops will break if they see action. Even if their morale was high we've lost most of our artillery and heavy support weapons."
That was the truth. With a fiery leader and dedicated troops it could be possible to fish out a win, but they didn't have that. However, they did have one other trick to play. "The army won't need to fight today. Just hold the position to get the enemy to form up for battle." Louise scanned the hills. "I will see that their treachery is answered."
The man's eyes narrowed. "If you want to sacrifice yourself to save the army it would be an honorable choice. But I'm not going to put my soldiers' lives in your hands, Ser Valliere. Now-"
"They are Princess Henrietta and Kaiser Albrecht's soldiers, and I speak with their authority." She pulled out her writ and unfurled it as the man bristled. "You will hold the line here, or you will hang for treason. Do you understand?"
For a moment their eyes met, and she forced every bit of self confidence she had into her glare. Finally he relented. "I do this under protest."
"So long as you do it, I shall consider your honor unmarred," she replied, throwing the man a bone. It wasn't fair to insult him for not understanding Utsuho's power. She turned back to Tabitha. "Can you fly us to that hill there? That'll be the best vantage point."
"Mm." Tabitha nodded and guided Sylphid back into the air.
"Are you sure about this Louise?" Kirche asked. "I know Utsuho is powerful but can she beat a full army?"
Louise scanned over the future battlefield. "One of the first things my tutors told me. Utsuho can't control land. But she can make land uncontrollable." She took a deep breath and continued. "Also Utsuho is powered by faith. We're going to use that."
Siesta was the first to understand. "That's why you needed to stop our army isn't it?"
"Well there's a lot of reasons, but that's the main one." She have Utsuho a quick head rub as they landed. "You're gonna have to be in human form for this too."
Utsuho cawed in agreement then hopped off her shoulder and transformed. "I just gotta blast the army until they run away right? That shouldn't be hard."
Louise pulled out her wand, trying to think up what she needed to craft. "Just wait until after I finish talking." She chewed her lip. "Um, I'll need a sound boosting spell from someone though. I won't have the willpower to do that and Illusion."
With a flick of her wand Tabitha tossed the spell on her, and Louise whispered her thanks.
And then the waiting started.
It seemed that the Chief of Staff had decided to follow her orders and managed something like a battle line. There were a lot of units 'getting lost' and continuing the retreat, and the camp followers weren't stopping, but he'd managed to get something together that could hold off a half assed cavalry charge.
Which meant when the first scouts of the Albion army broke the treeline, they immediately whirled around to report the finding. The enemy general was sure to be confused. Unfortunately for Louise, she didn't have enough of a reputation to pull a Zhuge Liang and get him to run away. Fortunately, she wouldn't need to.
The sun was getting low in the sky when the main body of the enemy's force arrived. It looked like the enemy general had forced marched to get here early. The forces started immediately forming up for battle.
"They won't be able to attack before night falls," Kirche noted. "Seems unwise to start a battle after sundown."
"It's either attack immediately or spend the whole night waiting for whatever trick we've got up our sleeve," Louise replied. "He knows it's either a trap or a mistake, and he's betting we didn't have the time to set up a proper defense. It's probably the best option, given what he knows."
The sun had slipped below the hills when the Albion army finally was ready for battle, leaving everything in the twilight. A chill wind had picked up, sweeping over the hills, which had caused all the girls to wrap up inside their cloaks. And as the first stars started to become visible, Louise decided it was time to act.
"Utsuho, take up a good spot. Everyone else, make sure no one interrupts me." She took a deep breath, letting the magic Tabitha had gifted her rise up as Utsuho flew into the darkness.
"Soldiers of the Reconquista!" She yelled out, and she saw the ripple as both armies turned their attention to her. "You have committed innumerable crimes, excusing every one of them by claiming divine providence. No tactic was too dishonorable, no truce kept. But now you have not only broken the laws of man, but blasphemed against God by committing your perfidy during the Holy Pentecost!"
She began gathering her own willpower. "And for that you will be judged! The sun has set, and the Yatagarasu is once again free to turn her attention to those who break their word! Behold your destruction!"
"Illusion," she muttered as she flung her wand up to the sky. And in front of everyone a massive three legged three eyed crow appeared. The Yatagarasu from the books Satori has shown her, surrounded by smoldering red fire.
She kept her focus on the illusion even as spells from the nobles fired up at it. Now it was all up to Utsuho.
"Ooh, nice!" Utsuho was pleased with the lightshow Louise had given her. She could already feel faith in her growing. Though it wasn't enough to change the amount of power she could wield.
Time to fix that.
As the idiot humans threw their ugly danmaku at the fake bird, she looked for a good target. In the end she decided the center of the army would be best. A quick flash of a laser and she superheated the ground beneath those troops, killing a few in the process. Seconds later the boiling water inside exploded from beneath, sending steam and rock shards everywhere. There was some kind of secondary explosion as well, but Utsuho wasn't sure why. Still it made quite the impression.
She scooted over towards the left wing, letting orbs of flame rain down on the back lines. The screaming started then, with wagons burning, gunpowder exploding, and animals panicking. Mages were firing randomly into the sky now, but the flames surrounding them meant they were blind to where Utsuho was flying.
Things were going pretty good, so she decided to take a risk. Unlike some people, her spell cards were a weakened version of her real attacks. With a bit of concentration she caused a star to form in front of her, and then it fell, plasma balls spitting out of it to land among the enemy ranks. This one was far more effective! It chewed all the way through the island, and there were all sorts of fires starting now.
Absolute terror flooded towards her and Utsuho shivered as faith filled her being. Oh she'd missed this. No, in fact she'd never felt anything quite like this. She really needed to convince Satori to let her run wild. She glanced down at the weaklings beneath her as they ran and screamed in fear.
She was tempted to finish them off one by one, but there were bigger groups of mortals to deal with. A flap of her wings put her between the center and right flanks, and she summoned up one of her most powerful skills. "Hell's Tokamak", she said, and the sky and ground both fused into plasma. Hundreds were vaporized instantly, while even more screamed and died as blistering bullets spewed out from both miniature suns.
She could hear the prayers now. Voices begging for mercy, for help. She looked at the colors of their souls and granted or denied their pleas at her whim. After all, she was a goddess called forth to punish them for their sins. She could make judgments as she wished.
History called it the "Night of Burning Judgment," because it seemed foolish to call it a battle. The forces the Yatagarasu struck ceased to be an army within the first minute. It was every man for himself, and those fleeing didn't even bother to consider the direction. They just wanted to get away. Many soldiers fled straight into the waiting armies of Tristain and Germania, who barely managed to collect themselves enough to take their former enemies prisoner.
While the leaders of the Rebellion, including Cromwell, were still alive, the Reconquista effort died that night. The promise of a miracle had been all that had kept the faltering alliance together, and when that miracle turned against them, the coalition broke. Half the cities in Albion surrendered within two days, including some not even close to enemy forces.
Meanwhile the shattered remnants of the army who weren't captured began searching for a way to recover from the defeat. The conscripts headed home. The demihumans turned to raiding. And the mercenaries started reforming their bands. As often happens, some took contracts with the local nobles, others threatened villages into 'protection' schemes, and the worst of the lot turned to raiding and banditry...
The splintering of wood awoke Tiffania. Her wand was in her hands seconds later. She'd hoped violence wouldn't come to her tiny village of orphans. But once again it seemed like her hopes would not be answered. The scream of a child forced her to hurry, skipping the hat she usually used to hide her ears.
The melody she'd used years before was in her mind already as she pushed her door open and stepped outside. A thug was holding little Brandon in a firm grip, while the others were watching some of the other buildings.
Normally she tried to ask people to leave politely, but she wasn't going to risk the lives of any children. She started casting-
And was interrupted by searing pain in her arm. She screamed as the spear shaft broke her wrist and sent her wand flying. Another flash of pain across her legs left her collapsed on the ground, looking up at a man putting the point of his spear in her face.
Through the haze of pain she heard the men speak though she could barely understand the words. "What are you doing? She'll lose value if she's all beat up!"
"I'm saving your stupid hides. You saw what that one crazy girl did to us back at Saxe-Gotha! Besides, she won't need hands where she's going."
She looked for her wand, but it was out of reach, the point of the spear hovering over her as a warning if she planned to try for it. She heard another child scream from inside the house they'd broken into, and the thug holding Brandon backhanded the small child as he struggled to get free.
Was that it? Would they all die like this because she'd made a small mistake?
Please someone! Help us! At least save these children!
The dark of the night was torn asunder by a green flash, and everyone stared in shock as a woman in white with the ears of a wolf appeared in their midst. "Sanae was right," the woman said casually. "I really shouldn't have gotten involved in isekai nonsense."
The spear wielder spun his weapon to face the new threat, but the white haired woman took a single step and flattened the man with a causal punch. Looking down at Tiffania she smirked and said, "I ask of you, are you my master?"
She didn't have a clue how to answer, so instead Tiffania grabbed her wand. The man holding Brandon had put a dagger to the boy's throat, and the wolf woman's expression had turned dangerously serious, but it didn't matter now.
Ignoring the pain she cast the spell with her left hand. The bandits who had been approaching her went slack jawed, their weapons falling. The children who heard her would be soothed as well.
Focusing on the men she simply said, "there was nothing here. It would be a waste to return. Go."
As the men sleep walked away, the wolf woman relaxed again. "A kindness they didn't deserve, but perhaps better for the children. So who are you, and how did you call me here?"
"I don't know how you got here. But I am Tiffania of Westwood. Who are you?"
"Momiji Inubashiri, white wolf tengu. And I can see we're going to have a long talk, Tiffania."
Satori was to some degree used to explosions. Oni lived in the old hell. Fights were a daily occurrence. However the violence was getting closer and the fairies had started getting agitated. That was unusual. Most people never came near the palace of Earth Spirits.
Well if there was an incident she should find out what it was. She put a bookmark in the tome she'd been using for reference and floated out into the marble halls.
She arrived just in time to see Orin get slammed into a wall but a dozen huge danmaku stars. To her surprise Sanae was the intruder, and as they locked eyes the woman yelled, "Where did your stupid little game send Momiji!"
Satori blinked as she read the details from Sanae's heart. Then she sighed. "I started an incident in an entirely different world and I'm still getting beat up by a shrine maiden? That's just not fair."
Yeah it's been a while. Lot of reasons for that, one being a work promotion that eats all my time, and the sad reality this became more of a 'obligation' instead of 'something fun'. I'm going to avoid any proclamations or promises other then I'm gonna put up a chapter next week that should serve as a good 'book end'. What happens after that I can't say, but I won't leave the story hanging.
