"La garde meurt, elle ne se rend pas!"
Words of the French Imperial Guard after Waterloo ("The guard dies, it does not surrender!")
...
...
"Urrggghhhhh…"
Napoleon slowly opened his eyes as he felt himself being bumped around. He didn't move for a few seconds, and then noticed that he was lying on what appeared to be a cot, with something white above him. It appeared to be cloth, and from the way he was being bumped around, he had to be in a cart. He quickly recalled the light and what his partner had done, but observed that despite being swallowed up by that pure light and apparently being knocked out by it, he felt perfectly fine, and didn't appear to be suffering from any wounds or missing body parts.
He sat up from the cot and looked around the wagon. There were a few more cots beside him, but there were all empty as the midday sun shone in on them. There was only one other person there, and he was sitting in the entrance to the wagon, his legs dangling out. Napoleon recognized him as the wind mage in their mission last night, the one whom had been carrying Agnes after she was knocked out. Holding a wineskin, he looked at Napoleon and began talking.
"Oh, you're finally up. Some of us were starting to get worried about you, huh….."
It was clear that the mage didn't know what to call him, and so Napoleon responded while also quickly thinking of an appropriate cover story. Claiming he was from a different world would not help him at this stage.
"My name's Bonaparte. Napoleon Bonaparte. I'm an artilleryman."
The mage scoffed and waved his hand.
"That's a weird name. And you're a cannon man? You guys don't do any real fighting. It's mages like us who are the cream of an army. Anyways, name's Cartier Martin. It seems like we managed to get rescued from that little girl's light show in the end, so we're all right."
While the mage had just insulted Napoleon and artillery, it was clear from his voice that it was more of a joke than anything, and so he let it slide.
"Have you been up for a while? Or were you even knocked out to begin with?"
"Nah, it looks like we all got hit by that spell, and so us and pretty much the whole Albion army ended up taking a nap. But the Princess noticed that light, and decided to go ahead and send the entire army in to find out what happened. They picked all of us up, and took the entire Albion force prisoner. Doesn't look like anyone on either side actually got hurt by whatever that little girl did anyways, and mission ended up going great. Blew up that artifact, took an entire enemy army prisoner, no one died. I'd say that goes about as well as it can get. From what I've heard, the soldiers in the camp are calling that light a holy miracle. I don't know if that's true or not, I just know it saved all of our asses, and so it's holy enough for me."
After taking in his long response, Napoleon moved off the cot and then strode towards the entrance of the wagon. He could see a dusty column of soldiers in front of him, and it was clear that the Tristanian army was on the march yet again even as they ignored the wagon and the occupants inside. He sat down besides Martin, who offered him the wineskin. Napoleon accepted, and then took a quick pull of what was a fairly cheap red wine.
"I scrounged it up from the village before the giant mess started. You aren't fighting, you should be drinking. That's the way I see it."
"It's not bad. I had figured a fancy nobleman could get something better."
Martin grinned at Napoleon's quip and playfully punched him in the shoulder.
"Who, me? Naw, I ain't no nobleman! Was the fourth son of the Duke of Walloon, and then got kicked out for chasing some tail and hanging around bars too much. Old Daddy's a real holy type, gets real passionate about Brimir and stuff, and he didn't need another son to pose a threat to his grand estate. It doesn't matter to me. I'm just a soldier, a damn good one who ended up in the Musketeers despite, I mean because of my reputation."
Martin took another swig while Napoleon continued to stare outside.
"So, where are we going at this point?"
The mercenary wiped his lips and shrugged in response.
"I had figured we'd camp out at Tarbes, but it appears her Majesty wants us to head to La Rochelle. There's a rumor that she's got some master plan to take out the entire Albion army, and it has to be done there. I don't know if it'll work. A little girl who has a grand scheme to defeat Albion? She may be a triangle mage so she's definitely smart, but that doesn't make you a warrior."
Napoleon chose not to mention that it was his master plan which dictated that, and as Martin passed the wineskin back and forth, the two continued to chat. Martin was someone who didn't need much of an opening to talk. While Napoleon listened, he talked about some of his adventures, woman, being a Musketeer, and whatever he could think about. Meanwhile, he never asked Napoleon anything about his past, something which was convenient for him.
The two continued sitting and drinking the last of the wine, and it was only when they had finished that Napoleon spotted a distinctive shock of pink hair. Louise had apparently been at the end of the column of soldiers, but now she was sitting on a horse while holding onto Agnes. The captain of the Musketeers appeared to be none the worse for wear. As Louise spotted her partner, she pointed vigorously at him and the horse eventually caught up to the wagon. Napoleon raised his hand in greeting and first spoke to Agnes.
"Are you all right? That was quite a hit you took."
Martin laughed at the idea that his Captain could get hurt, and Agnes talked back without hesitation.
"I'm fine. I apparently had some broken ribs, but her Majesty fixed that. I would reproach this girl for that, but then again we wouldn't have completed that mission without her."
Louise gave a faint blush at being praised by someone as skilled as the captain, and stammered out words of thanks.
"Well, I'll deal with that." Napoleon said. "Louise, just what the heck were you doing with that guard?"
"Aw, come on, Napoleon, don't be too harsh on-"
"She's my partner, Martin. She summoned me. Consequently, I want to know what she's doing."
Martin stared at that.
"W-wait, summoned! So you're a familiar! I never heard of a human familiar! Guess you are special, little girl!"
"I'm Louise's partner. Familiar implies servitude to the one who summoned me. I serve no one."
Martin burst out into laughter at those words.
"Man, you're a tight one, Napoleon! But hey, girl, you're from the Tristain Academy?"
Louise's stare continued to bore a hole into the ground as she mumbled an affirmative.
"Hell, that's great! I graduated a while ago, but I still have mine! Hey, Joan, come out here!"
From the back of the wagon, a grey parrot flew out and landed on Martin's shoulder. He rubbed the bird's back before extending his arm to Louise.
"Say hello, Joan!"
The parrot cocked its head at Louise her for several seconds. Silence reigned as everyone waited for it to say something, but it finally spoke just as Martin was about to encourage it again.
"Hiya, pretty girl! You're a bit too small for my tastes!"
…
Three minutes later, Agnes left the wagon, carrying the charred remains of what was once a Wind mage in a bucket. She grumbled, as she wondered if Henrietta was capable of fixing this mess. Louise and Napoleon were left alone in the wagon, watching the trees go by and the soldiers march.
"So, let's start over. What were you doing in the village to begin with?"
Louise stammered again at Napoleon's question.
"W-well, you're my partner, right? So I couldn't go and leave you."
"Didn't Henrietta herself explicitly state that you were supposed to stay behind?"
"Y-yes, but… What does it matter? You guys wouldn't have completed the mission if not for me, right? "
He had honestly expected her to state that from the beginning. Louise was not the kind of person who was just going to take an interrogation without complaint, even as her words trembled with false bravado. Napoleon turned towards her as he responded.
"You're right. You nearly killed all of us, but in the end, you managed to save us. I'm grateful for that. And I'm not going into some long speech about how a soldier unconditionally follows orders or something like that.
But I will ask about your attack. Why did you attack the guard?"
"Because he was a threat, right? So that's what you do in war, you attack enemies."
"You never thought about why we who were closer to that guard didn't attack him?"
She hesitated for a long time before mumbling a single word.
"No."
"It's as good of a time to learn it as any. Heck, it's probably a great time to learn it given that you seem to be capable of explosions which I've never seen before, Louise. You have to understand that warfare is about seeking a single moment, when you apply maximum force to seize a decisive victory. Countries are fully capable of fighting for years to merely seek that one moment. You probably grew up hearing lots of stories in battle of brave charges and glorious battles right, Louise?"
"Yeah."
"That's complete bull, or rather a tiny, tiny segment of war. It's all about preparation for that one moment – you'll have one day of war, and then 30 days of marching and maneuvering. And that's because you have to time that one day perfectly right. If you use force at precisely the wrong moment, it's almost always worse than using no force at all, Louise.
I'm not mad at you for anything you did, especially since you turned out to be vital for that mission. You'll get the hang of it as you fight more wars. But you have to be careful about when you actually choose to draw your sword, and it's something that you must be careful about. Don't go exploding things unless you'll destroy a lot of things with that explosion."
Louise sniffled at his criticism and looked ahead while Napoleon chose to lie down on the wagon floor.
"Let's forget about that for now. What the heck did you do, anyway?"
Louise jumped on that statement and wheeled on Napoleon, bringing a finger to her lips. All the same, she couldn't keep the excitement out of her as she responded.
"I can't believe it! I'm not a failure, I'm not a Zero! I'm in fact a Void mage! God gave me a power greater than the four elements! You were right from the beginning, Napoleon! I won't be someone's who just mocked anymore, someone whom like you said, can cast the biggest and best explosions of all!"
"So that light of yours was Void magic?"
"Yes. I managed to learn it from that book. Maybe it contains all the Void spells or something in it? I'll just have to learn it on my own! I can do it, I can become great, and I can laugh in Kirche and the other's faces!"
Her self-restraint cracked and she hugged Napoleon as a way of just expressing her uninhibited happiness to the world. It was only then that she noticed that he didn't seem to share in her excitement, as he wasn't smiling or laughing at her words at all.
"Is something wrong, Napoleon?"
He shrugged.
"No, not particularly. But does the entire Tristanian Army know you're a Void mage at this point?"
"The Princess seems determined to make sure this remains a secret, and I get it, it's why I indicated you needed to be quiet. But I don't want to! It would be amazing for everyone to know what I can do!"
"It's probably better that people don't know. The Princess is right."
There was something short and clipped about what he stated and he rolled over on his side. For reasons that Louise couldn't understand, he didn't seem interested in talking anymore. So the two of them remained quiet and they sat in the wagon, as they watched the sun continuing to move over the sky.
…
Bowood stood in front of a fireplace back in Albion. As his hands lit a match and put it into a pipe, he glanced over at the soldier in the doorway. His uniform was dirty and unkempt, but the message he had was too urgent for such things to matter.
"So, let me see if I have this straight. A little over twelve hours ago, you people were resting from the capture of Tarbes."
"Yes, sir."
The response was immediate, but Bowood ignored it and continued.
"During the night, the army heard an explosion and realized that a Tristanian raid was occurring. They thus rushed to intercept it, leaving only a token force behind as the rearguard."
"Yes, sir."
"They advanced towards the sound of the explosion, and then there was a massive ball of light which appeared and ended up covering the entire town."
"Yes, sir."
"You men chose to wait until morning to figure out what had transpired out of concern what had happened."
"Sir, we believed that Tristanian had sprung a trap on the soldiers who rushed. I decided to have my men wait until we could have the appropriate sunlight to see what had happened. Given the lack of light, we felt that moving then was not the best course of action."
"Very well. Then in the morning, you realized that a major Tristanian force was on the move towards the village, and you concluded that you had to retreat."
"Yes sir. We believe that they had at least 5000 men, while we had only about 500. The rest had participated in the attack. We were also unable to establish any communications with the rest of the military during that time period. I believe that they were knocked out by the spell, along with the Tristanian forces who started the raid, and then the rest of the Tristanian Army took our men prisoner."
"So then you sat back, and then you saw the Tristanian Army head off to defend La Rochelle as opposed to fortifying Tarbes? And upon seeing that information, you decided to report back to me."
"Yes sir."
Bowood stroked the left side of his mustache, and then dismissed the aide. 2500 veteran soldiers of the Revolution, gone in the blink of an eye. He couldn't help but suppress a shudder at the thought. If Tristain, through some unknown technology or magic, was capable of doing such a thing, he knew that the invasion could become that much harder. And if such an attack could be used on his ships, the results would be disastrous. His proclamation to Cromwell that foreign troops would never set their feet on Albion would become a hollow promise that would be used against him.
He shook his head and poured a glass of water from a nearby decanter. He was over thinking things, and besides, Cromwell would likely have him shot on suspicion of treason if the invasion failed this badly on account of his known monarchist leanings. He would have to try again, and not think about the consequences of failure.
Finishing the glass, he strode outside the door, and called in another man who had been waiting in front of the door of his office.
"Yes, Commander-General?"
"How long will it take until the Lexington's repairs are finished?"
"Sir, the workers say it will take 2 more days."
"They have 36 hours."
"Sir?"
Bowood moved back to the desk and sat down in his chair, his arms folded and face stern.
"You heard me. They have 36 – no, make that 32 - hours to complete the repairs on the Lexington, or I simply will fire them all without pay and get new workers to complete the job. Then I'll move out there myself, with two of the three columns which should easily decimate the Tristanian fleet. We will take and fortify Tarbes, and then advance on La Rochelle. Dismissed."
…
Napoleon tapped his feet as he waited within the hallway. Louise kept shooting evil glares at his fidgeting, but chose to say nothing. It had been a little over an hour and the sun had set since the Army arrived in La Rochelle. Most of the soldiers quickly headed towards the barracks, and Louise had been told by Agnes to talk and meet with Henrietta about what she had done and its implications. Napoleon had attempted to take advantage of the hustle and bustle and slip off to meet Giono. The printer was still within the city, having shipped off his materials to a nearby town, and Napoleon had wished to inform him of the destruction of the books among other things. However, during the attempt, he had bumped into Martin, who had apparently already been completely healed and loudly kept chatting with him long enough for Louise to catch up with him. It was a very unhappy Louise whom had dragged him to the royal headquarters, especially when he had explained what he was doing.
"I don't get why you spend all your time with that old man. You can always talk to him later."
Napoleon didn't respond to her mumblings, and the two continued to sit there for another few minutes. Then Henrietta came out, followed by Agnes and another fat elderly man with a magnificent white mustache and a fancy military uniform. Napoleon sniffed in distaste. This person was clearly a high general, and he disliked commanders that old. They were generally hide-bound fools completely incapable of thinking of anything new, and he remembered struggling against them as a young man. Under his Empire, his best marshals, Ney and Davout, were younger men.
The old general gave a discriminating glare at Napoleon and then Louise, and then after some stares, everyone chose to move into the office. Napoleon noted with satisfaction that there was a large map of Tristain on the wall, with a pointer nearby.
Henrietta was the first to speak up as she moved towards a cavalry saber that leaned by the doorway. She picked it up with both hands, and then regally presented it to Napoleon.
"In the aftermath of the destruction of that Albion army, and the courage which you showed in leading the men, I'll be giving you your own command. The 50 men whom fought yesterday will be fighting under you."
The old general spluttered in shock at these words.
"Your Majesty, what is this? Who is this man! For someone who is wearing a different uniform to be commanding our men, what are you talking about?"
Henrietta sighed as she looked at him.
"General de Poitiers, this is another sovereign from a far away land who has volunteered his services. It is the least I can do for him, especially since he's the one who proposed a plan which can hopefully save all of Tristain."
Only Agnes and Napoleon noted how Henrietta stiffened at those last words, but then De Poitiers truly began roaring in response to those words.
"Wait, HE'S the one whom came up with that plan? Thank God, your Majesty, I had wondered what had happened to you that you would propose that!"
Napoleon simply looked at the general with his beet-red face, and spoke almost as if it was not a matter concerning him.
"Do you have objections to the plan?"
"Yes, it's dishonorable and cruel! There's no way I'll ever accept such a thing!"
"What about whether it'll work?"
"Huh?"
"I'm asking whether the plan will work. Do you believe it would?"
De Poitiers seemed to fumble about in his response.
"Well… from a military standpoint, it might work, but you're forgetting the other things, the things that really matter in war! There's a better way to defend this country!"
"Oh? And what would that be?"
"Her!"
De Poitiers pointed a stubby finger at Louise as he continued to rant.
"She created some light bomb that knocked out the Albion army with magic, right? She can do it again! And we can use her to destroy the Albion Army, and then their fleet! And we can invade and kick Cromwell up his backside! He'll never know what hit him!"
The general began cackling and rubbing his hands in glee, thinking about victory over the invaders and the honor and promotions he could get from it. However, he was broken out of his reverie with a noise.
"I refuse."
Outraged that a foreigner with a new command would dare refuse him, De Poitiers turned towards him, but then froze upon realizing that he had heard two voices. He could tell that one of them was the man in an odd military uniform with his strange accent, but it took him a bit longer to realize who the other one was.
Henrietta. It was clear that at best she was quietly angry at what he had just said, and her voice threatened to form icicles in the room.
"I will not send Louise into combat for now. She has already entered her first battle yesterday, and she will not do so again unless I say so. I will declare it right now. If Louise Valliere is to partake in this war, she will only do so under my direct orders. Not yours, General."
"Wait, but your Majesty…"
"There is nothing to discuss about this. General De Poitiers, you are dismissed. Go and collect as many soldiers as you can in preparation for the defense of La Rochelle."
With a last glower, both at Napoleon and then only for a second at Henrietta, De Poitiers stalked out of the room. Napoleon looked at Henrietta.
"I'm genuinely surprised. I thought you wouldn't say anything to what that idiot had proposed."
She gave a soft sad, smile at those words.
"There are some things I have to protect, aren't there?"
After saying that, she also moved towards the exit.
"Agnes will be staying with you to discuss the details of the defense. Louise, I'll also have to ask you to leave them alone."
Napoleon's partner looked at him, and then also moved towards Henrietta. She couldn't stop watching the brilliant saber the whole time, before she suddenly stopped.
"Wait, Napoleon, where's Derflinger?"
Silence reigned for the next few seconds before Napoleon shrugged.
"I guess I forgot him. We were in a hurry that day."
His partner's eyebrows twitched that he had so casually forgot something she had brought for him, but Henrietta interrupted.
"As I said, the soldiers you worked with last night will be under your command. You will be working with the goal of defending Tristain and winning this war, and I do believe that is your objective, so it'll work for now, even though you're primarily an advisor. I'll also be giving you some money in payment for what you have done. My thanks, Bonaparte."
She gave a final bow and left, Louise following her. Agnes and Napoleon turned towards each other, and the latter was the first to speak.
"Before we begin, I'd like to have a few details about La Rochelle figured out. I obviously know some things about the city and surrounding area for it to work, but more information is always good."
It was in the tone of a polite request, not an order, and Agnes gave a curt nod to that statement.
"That'll be fine. La Rochelle is the primary port of Tristain, and is arguably the most valuable through its important trade with the rest of Helgekinia, with Gallian wine and Albion timber being the most important imports. Ships are supposed to stop in the harbor, but there have been problems with smuggling which the Crown has been attempting to deal with. The reason it became such an important city is because of its geography. As there are mining communities in the mountains to the north and east and farms south of it, it serves as a vital place for all sorts of people to trade goods together. We'll also have to watch out for spies, as due to this trade, there's quite a few foreigners here, meaning that Albion could already have implanted people in preparation for this attack."
Agnes went on and on for quite some time talking about La Rochelle, while Napoleon only half-heartedly listened. He was still concerned about Louise, and by extension himself.
He had always been interested in dealing with the girl and helping her unlock what she was capable of like he had always done. However, he had massively underestimated just how powerful Void magic was, and thus he knew that Louise was now a potential threat to him.
The biggest problem was that she was capable of tipping the balance of power in this war. Napoleon didn't just need any war. He needed a conflict where his genius would prove indispensable. A war where Tristain was losing was an ideal example of this. However, if she could use that Explosion spell rapidly and consistently, then she could likely devastate the Albion fleet by herself, which would mean that the usual noble dunderheads like De Poitiers who ran the military would have no reason to change the status quo. Consequently, ironically after working to train her, he would now need to restrain her, in order to make himself more indispensable and for her own good. Ideally, she would decide not to fight in the war, but given her headstrong nature, that was probably unlikely. Still, she wouldn't interfere in the upcoming battle, which would be the first and as a result most important moment for him to shine.
He finally began paying attention to Agnes and the two talked strategy for most of the night. The Captain seemed to hate Napoleon's plan even more than Henrietta did, but she understood its logic better than the Princess. So they went about and formulated a way to finally defeat the imminent Albion invasion, with no Void magic and no Louise.