Chapter Twenty-One "Escalation"
Winter was hell for small villages. All they could do was pray for the coming of the warmer seasons while weathering the cold days in their homes. If spring was late, or if the harvest in autumn was meager, they might be forced to eat their seed stock, and people would still starve to death even if they did so. While there was nearly no field work to be done in winter, village life was still closely associated with the words "activity". There were many tasks to be done indoors, like tending the livestock, maintaining the farming tools, repairing their homes, livestock coops, and so on. There was simply no time to rest.
This would've been once true for Carne Village. Carne Village's future seemed very bright indeed. All of this was thanks to Shirou Emiya, who had saved the village and helped it in many ways. Many people in the village gave thanks to the two of them, and some even prayed to them over breakfast, revering them in the same breath as they did the gods. For this reason, Enri Emmot muttered a prayer of thanks to her hometown's patron.
Enri and Nfirea headed to a small hut. She opened the wooden door and entered, followed closely by Nfirea. Enri went straight in after opening the door and sat herself down onto a pile of hay, sinking her rear into the dried grass with a soft pomf. After closing the door, Nfirea sat by her side, his magic light illuminating the surroundings.
"Chief, you should save the playing around for after you finish this; we still need to see if we have enough hay and then make several decisions afterwards."
"You're calling me Chief again…" Enri complained. Nfirea could not help giggling at Enri's depressed reply. "Well, that's fine, isn't it? I am the Chief, after all!" She let out a tiresome sigh and looked to her lover. "There are many more capable individuals that do what I am being forced too. Older, more experienced individuals that are supposed to be dead!"
"Remember… They are supposed to be dead as you said when in reality they are not…" Nfirea look turned serious. "Why are you complaining? Shirou-sama thought it was good opportunity for you to demonstrate and hone your latent leadership skills that Arturia-sama had noted you possessed."
"I am just annoyed that we are not aiding in the hidden tasks. They are so much more interesting and fun from what I hear." Enri whined.
"Everyone has a role to play in making the future of Shirou-sama's vision come true," said Nfirea. "Our part just happens to be playing along with the official story regarding Carne."
"It so strange that no one besides outsiders call our home, Carne," said Enri. "Anyway… There is no point in us pretending Carne is still the small, farming village that we once were. The magic that Shirou-sama and his followers enacted makes everyone believe in that story. You, me and dozens of people don't have to pretend to be farmers anymore… It's just a waste of time and effort…"
"We are still farmers," Nfirea corrected.
"Not most of us anymore…" Enri noted as she recalled the changes that had been wrought by Shirou on Carne. "A majority are still farmers, but we are learning the knowledge and skills to become something more than just simple farmers. All thanks to Shirou-sama's library inside Chaldea and professional experts residing within…"
Nfirea nodded his head. It had been awe-inspiring sight to see the dozens of farmers that had originally made of Carne Village learning things that they had never been able to before because they didn't have the resources or connections to make a thing possible. Seeing simple farmers become skilled tradesmen and highly trained professions. A simple farming village turned into a bustling town filled with professionals of all sorts in less than a year.
The door flew open without a knock. So forceful was the entry that the door crashed loudly against the nearby wall. It caused both Nfirea and Enri to jump up. Yet, something also happened that both of them wouldn't have reacted the same a year ago. Their bodies and minds prepared for a possible fight. Something that had been trained into them as part of Shirou's self-defense training that he had offered to Carne's residents.
"What happened?" Enri inquired as her mind raced through several possible scenarios as given her recent training.
"We have an emergency! It's an army! There's an army headed this way!"
"Eh?! What, what did you say?!" Enri shouted as she fearfully remembered when Carne had been attacked months ago and only because of the rescue of Shirou Emiya had saved them.
"Enri…" Nfirea walked behind Enri and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "There is no need to panic. Remember your training… Shirou-sama would not have placed you in charge if he didn't trust in you."
"You are right," said Enri as she calmed down. She gave herself a light slap to her cheeks to psyche herself up. "Whose troops, are they?"
"We don't know about heraldry so we couldn't tell. But there's a lot of different coats of arms, so you should come and look… In any case, we should shut the gate first. What should we do?"
"Ah! Ah… well, can you tell us which coats of arms make up the most among them? If you can describe or sketch them for me, I can help." Nfirea replied as he tried to recall his knowledge of the heraldry used by the Re-Estize Kingdom's nobility. After listening to the description of heraldries, a puzzled expression spread over Nfirea's face. "How strange. Those are flags from the Kingdom. If we knew which nobles' crests they were, we could identify who was coming here."
"What on earth's going on? Do you know why, Nfirea?" Enri asked. "Do you think they discovered our secret?"
"Why would the Royal Army come to the village? If they wanted to go to the Great Forest of Tob, it's strange that they're sending so many troops. They could have just sent adventurers instead. If that's the case… maybe there's a revolt or something…" Nfirea spoke absentmindedly.
"Did such a thing really happen?"
"It's just hearsay, but I've heard that the King's power in the Kingdom isn't actually very strong. Currently, it seems like the nobles are in conflict with the King. If that's the case, are they coming to Carne Village to attack the King's territory?" Nfirea replied.
The blood drained from Enri's face. She didn't want to remember the terror and misery that she had felt months ago when she had seen her family, friends and neighbours dying and being tortured. Her fear soon disappeared as she remembered what she had been learning over the past few months to prevent such a thing from happening again. This time she was ready to face the situation with the skills necessary to fight it head on.
Could it be that the village would be subject to a dreadful assault like last time? Enri thought in dread. "We should flee into the forest."
"Why are we running?" Nfirea asked curiously as he remembered his lover vowing to never run away from a fight without first trying to stand her ground before considering running.
"Shirou-sama's orders were very clear," said Enri. "We are to maintain the illusion that Carne is still a simple farming village. If we were to fight back in our current state it will reveal our secret."
"I don't that is possible, Enri-san. We are looking at an army of thousands. Well above ten thousand…"
Both Nfirea's and Enri's eyes widened and their jaws slacked at the news. Ten thousand! Over Ten thousand! That was something that they couldn't imagine possible. That was a number of soldiers that was unfathomable. Carne was not the defenseless farming village it had once been. Yet, an army over ten thousand seemed something that could be defeated despite the miraculous transformation to Carne.
"Shirou-sama and Arturia-sama is also not here nor are they contactable…"
"For some reason I got the feeling that Shirou-sama and Arturia-sama are testing us…" Enri muttered to herself before she focused at the situation at hand. "Have anyone this is not willingly to stay to retreat underground into Chaldea. Also request reinforcements from Chaldea."
"That has already been done, but I was told that we are to handle the situation at best as we can. It seems like there situation going on Chaldea so they cannot help…"
"What would be going on down at Chaldea at this very moment that they cannot help…?" Nfirea asked in confusion.
"Who knows?" Enri replied as she brushed off the problem for later as there was a more pressing concern issue at hand. "Tell the militia to form up near the front gate. I will be heading there right now."
"Of course, Enri-san. I shall relay your orders at once."
Enri thanked the older man for letting them know about the situation and wished him to be safe as she made her way towards the front gate of Carne. Nfirea followed in suit. Although he kept silent as he saw his lover seemed to be deep in thought as they walked.
Enri and Nfirea soon found themselves at the front gate. Already a few of the villagers that made up the village militia had seemed to have heard about the orders they had gathered with their equipment. A few of them greeted them in a friendly manner but many seemed very concerned or tensed to do any more than eye contact with Nfirea and Enri to acknowledge their presence.
Soon the sound of hooves came from the other side of closed front gate. Enri was quick to climb up the watch tower housed within the gatehouse that was part of front gate. What Enri saw was a lone rider that was lightly equipped on horseback carrying a flag that Enri didn't recognize.
"This one is the envoy of the First Prince of the Re-Estize Kingdom, Barbro Andrean Ield DDale Vaiself! Open the gate and let us in!"
"The First Prince?" Enri asked in an incredulous tone as she doubted what she had heard with her ears.
However, judging by the way Nfirea was scurrying up the watchtower with a concerned look, she was certain that the envoy's words were true. Enri didn't want to make the wrong assumptions so she asked her lover to confirm if the messenger's words were true.
"The King's flag is among them. Only the royal family or those related to them would be allowed to bear that flag." Nfirea confirmed. "It means that the royal family has brought troops to our village."
"Do you think that they have discovered our village's secrets?" Enri whispered in a concerned tone.
"It's possible?" Nfirea nodded. "Although, I find it hard to believe that anyone could have discovered our secret given our far Shirou-sama had gone to hide our secret…"
"Shirou-sama warned us that despite the lengths he went to hide our secrets that it might be discovered. That is why he kept telling us to try on best efforts with our secrecy…" Enri replied. She soon turned to the messenger. "Why, why do you need to send so many troops to a frontier village like this?"
"Villagers like you don't need to know about that! This land belongs to the King, and obeying the Prince is the proper thing to do! Or could it be that you're defying the King ― rising up in revolt?"
Enri's body shuddered. She knew how powerful her village's patron was. After all he was the leader of Team Chaldea, one of the only few Admantite-class adventurer teams of Re-Estize Kingdom. His fame was well known across the Kingdom for his ability to slay powerful monsters and resolving difficult situations that others would have dealing with. Yet, even he couldn't face an army of tens of thousands.
It was obvious what had to be done. As subjects of the King, they should open their doors. However… Enri exchanged a glance with Nfirea.
"There is no need to worry…" Nfirea gave his lover a smile. "Shirou-sama had been very cautious for a reason. It was why we had trained for so many possible scenarios like this one. Besides… No one will be able to find the hidden entrances into Chaldea and even if they did it was so they are so deceiving that no one will notice their true purpose."
Enri smiled and hugged Nfirea for the emotional support.
"I repeat. Open the gate!"
"My, my apologies! Right now, right now we're preparing to welcome his Majesty the Prince! Please, hold on a bit!" Enri quickly responded with the first excuse we could think of.
"Repeat yourself, woman! Are you in charge of this village? This delay is unacceptable! Do not waste even a single second in opening the gate!"
"Why are you so desperate to get in?!" Enri shouted. There was a silence that confused Enri. "Why aren't you answering! You are impostors pretending to be Kingdom troops, aren't you!"
"Does the adventurer, Shirou Emiya, not come from this village once?"
For a moment, Enri felt a spike of panic before Nfirea held her hand and gave her warm smile. She felt the panic fade away and took a deep breath to steady her nerves.
"Yes that is correct. Shirou-sama comes from this village," Enri replied as she recalled the excuse that Shirou had told all the villagers to tell any outsiders. "Is there any reason for such a large army is heading towards this village?"
"The Baharuth Empire has declared war on the Re-Estize Kingdom with the intent of capturing this village. To prevent this empire from capturing this village his Majesty, King Ramposa III, wishes to station a garrison in this village."
"Oh…" Enri muttered as she finally understood the situation. "There-there is cow dung everywhere! W-we can't let the Prince walk into a place like this! Please give us some time to make this village presentable for his Highness."
"Oh, um. Understood. I will relay your message to his Highness."
- O -
"Say it one more time?!" Barbro snapped at the reporting knight.
Barbro's frustration had reached its limit. He glared at the reporting knight with a look usually reserved for an enemy and not an ally. Barbro's anger overflowed as he grinded his teeth in frustration teeth.
"Sir! Carne Village will not open their gates until they make the village presentable for your Highness."
As he listened to the knight's calm reply, Barbro was filled with the sudden desire to punch him. However, that would have been foolish. Barbro struggled to control the anger welling up in his fist. This knight included, nobody here was actually sworn to Barbro. In the first place, Barbro commanded no troops. Every man here was under orders from their liege lord, or in the company of their lord. Because of that, he could not strike this knight while his comrades were watching.
"Why is that? Why are those peasants in Carne Village not opening the gate? The land is directly ruled by the royal family! They have a duty to obey me! I order them to open the gate right now!" As his frustration built, so did his agitation, and Barbro no longer picked his words carefully. "I don't get it! Do they take me for a fool? What the hell are they thinking?!"
The villagers were beings far inferior to the First Prince. These beings were now insulting him. They should be opening the gate to the village happily for their prince. It was their duty as serfs to his family. The nerve that they were showing by making excuses and not opening the gate was suspicious. He thought about declaring them traitors before he remembered something important. The original purpose of his mission was not to harm Carne Village but to protect it from the Empire.
"Tell them I don't care about the village being made presentable or suitable for the presence of royalty." Barbro ordered.
"I will relay your orders at once!"
Barbro turned around and didn't pay attention to the knight leaving his presence. He turned to look at Carne Village. It didn't look to much different from many frontier village that dotted the Kingdom's borders. Huts or simple wooden homes being called homes. Large fields surrounding the village. Barbro had a hard time believing that such a simple farming village could have given rise to such a powerful and famous adventurer as Shirou Emiya. He stood there thinking about how Shirou Emiya could have grown up to become the man he currently was.
Several minutes passed as Barbro waited. A knight soon returned to relay that the village had refused to open their gates with the same excuse. That made him angry.
"Oi! Prepare the flame arrows!" Barbro shouted.
"F-flame arrows?!" One of the knights charged with protecting Barbro asked in confusion.
"That's right." Barbro nodded. "There is no reason for the villagers to be taking so long when I told them I don't care how the village looked or if it was unsuitable for my presence. It is suspicious that the villagers are making excuses for so long and refusing to open the gates. Threaten them with flame arrows. We must found out why the villagers are acting so suspiciously."
"Understood, your Highness!"
- O -
"Is everyone prepared?" Enri asked as she looked at the gathered militia. There were several nods from the militia. She nodded back happily.
"Citizens of Carne Village because you did not immediately open the gate when ordered, the fact of whether you are loyal subjects of the Kingdom has been called into question. You are to open the gate at once as we question and search your homes!"
The tense atmosphere took a completely different meaning amongst the villagers. They were loyal citizens of the Kingdom. However, that loyalty paled in comparison to the one they had to the man that had saved their village for no charge or obligation. After all, when their families, friends and lovers had been murdered, the only one who had reached out a hand to help them was Shirou Emiya. Their loyalty had further been turned unshakable when he was responsible for their village's recent prosperity.
"There's no way I'll let myself be questioned! I bet they are going to torture us!"
"Despite how much Shirou-sama has done to hide Chaldea and his secret projects there might be a chance that the Kingdom will discover it. We cannot surrender ourselves to be captured and our homes searched! We need to fight back! To protect Shirou-sama's Chaldea and secret projects!"
Loud arguments like these echoed from all around. However, the one thing they had in common was that nobody wanted to do anything which might inconvenience their hero.
I don't think we can hide Chaldea and Shirou-sama secrets anymore since the Kingdom has become suspicious of us. They will not leave any stone unturned to find what we are hiding… It seems fighting is inevitable given that, Enri thought gloomily.
"You have been warned and refused to open the gates! What happens next is on you!"
Soon cracking sounds could be heard. Sound of several objects whistling through the air followed. As the sound came closer, streaks of brilliant red light appeared before their eyes, and arrows fell like rain onto the watchtower. The crisp sound of arrows piercing into wood filled everyone's ears.
"…No way…" Enri drew a sudden breath as she realized that the Kingdom was longer willingly to use diplomacy and use force.
The watchtower began to burn. The thatched roof caught alight in an instant and turned into a fire which got fiercer by the second, and the roof collapsed. Everyone in the village could see the destruction of the tower, no matter where they were. Wails of sorrow rose from all around her. One in particular was especially loud. As Enri's breathing turned chaotic from this revisited trauma, she saw the man who had screamed the loudest, whose voice carried the most anguish.
He was a man who had moved into the village. His face was a mix of equal parts hatred and despair. She looked around herself, and many of the immigrants had similar expressions on their faces. Enri remembered. She remembered that their villages had been burned down in a similar way.
"They're the enemy!" The man screamed. "They're the enemy! If they weren't the enemy, they wouldn't be doing this! I want to fight them!"
"To hell with the Kingdom! They're scum who didn't even help us! And now they want to burn this place down too?!" A plump woman shouted.
"I won't forgive them for this! If they want to kill me, go right ahead! I'll take as many of the bastards down with me as I can! I'll take revenge for him!" A young man followed up with a cry of his own.
Madness and hatred were saturating the air, thanks in no small part to the flame arrows.
"Enri," said Nfirea in a tone as hard as steel. "It's time to make a decision."
"Everyone, prepare yourselves! Shirou-sama will never abandon us. We don't know what is going on inside Chaldea but all we have to do is hold out! Our savior will come!" Enri shouted as she demonstrated the rare charisma that only Arturia had spotted.
The madness soon faded away as the militia focused their attention on Enri. A great chorus of approval came in response Enri words. Their eyes blazing with determination to protect their home and the secrets that lay in their village. With a thunderous roar, their fists were tightly clenched. The looks on their faces showed their determination to resist to the end.
"We'll fight! We'll all fight! Don't take any risks. Our goal is not to defeat the enemy but to pay time for Shirou-sama and Chaldea to respond. Stay alive everyone!" Enri shouted.
- O -
Prince Barbro smiled in pleasure as the gate opened slowly. It seemed that Shirou Emiya might be a traitor or a spy for the Empire given that the suspicious villagers of his hometown could reflect his true nature. If that assumption was true than Carne Village needed to be quickly subdued, its inhabitants interrogated, and homes searched for any evidence of Shirou's treachery.
His soldiers slowly advanced to the gate to enter the confines of Carne Village. Victory seemed assured as his soldiers were faced with nothing more farmers. Barbro was about to turn around and enter his quarters as it was obvious that the battle was a foregone conclusion. That was until soldiers were flung back like thrown dolls. Their bodies crashing back into the ground to remain unmoving or mortally wounded.
"What?! What is going on?!" Barbro shouted in disbelief at what he had just witnessed, and even greater shock came to him when he saw who were responsible. "How…?! They are just…?!"
Soon, the ones that had sent Barbro's soldiers flying loomed in the opening of the gate. The soldiers were just as shocked by what they saw as Barbro was. Their minds betrayed them as what they saw didn't match what they imagined. Several more soldiers were sent flying as they couldn't accept what they saw and who was responsible.
Amidst a spray of blood and gore, the stricken soldiers flew into the distance and impacted on the ground, which woke their fellow troops from their stupor. They panicked, turned tail and desperately began fleeing. Several more individuals appeared from behind the gate, as if to pursue them. As the soldiers fell back in a disgraceful rout, they were struck and sent flying. It looked like children kicking their dolls into the distance.
Barbro was kept shocked in place as he was frozen in place with disbelief at what he was seeing. His eyes had to be fooling him. What he saw were clearly humans. A poorly equipped militia from their appearance but the abilities they were demonstrating was something that very few humans should be able to do. Only something that powerful monsters with superhuman strength should do but the fact that he was seeing human-dressed-militia possessing superhuman strength dashed such notions.
"Who are they?! Are we fighting Gazef?!" Barbro shouted in disbelief as similar words were spoken around him.
The sound of a horn rang through the air. Knights had raised their lances in unison. It was a textbook motion that showed that they were professional soldiers. However, the fleeing conscripts seemed difficult for the knights to plunge into the chaotic battlefield.
"Why aren't you shooting yet?!" Barbro shouted as his military training kicked into effect to calm him and forced him to take command. "Even Gazef cannot block a hail of arrows!"
A similar effect of military training kicking into place happened as the military officers around him listened to Barbro's orders. They soon began to return to their duties and relayed Barbro's orders down the chain of command. It was several minutes before the orders finally trickled down as archers prepared to fire a relentless barrage of arrows.
The Carne militia seemed to have predicted or noticed what the Kingdom's troops were doing. They began to retreat. The fleeing conscripts as meat shields, preventing the cavalry from pursuing, and in the end, they fell back into the gate.
Barbro's men received the survivors and then began reorganizing into a proper battle formation.
He gripped his reins rightly. Barbro listened to the number of causalities. The number stood five hundred. Past experience told Barbro that likely more than half those losses had come from the unorganized retreat as the conscripts only thought about fleeing with their own lives and disregarding if their actions get others killed.
Barbro could not help clicking his tongue in annoyance, knowing the surrounding nobles' eyes were on him. However, he had no time to pretend to be calm. He turned a keen eye on the knight running toward him. It was the commander of the conscripts that had been sent packing.
"…What the hell was that? What's going on?!" Barbro demanded.
"I, I don't know, sir. Nobody expected farmers too… This is just abnormal… what on earth happened in that village…"
"Never mind…" Barbro spoke he pinched his nose. No one could've known this was going on.
Cold and pragmatic mind took hold as military training took hold. Barbro analyzed what he had just witnessed. The militia that had fought them were clearly not of Gazef's caliber. If that had been the case none of the thousand-strong battalion of conscripts would've returned alive. A single individual of Gazef's caliber had the ability to singlehandedly slaughter a thousand soldiers. Rational analyze told him that the militia were not yet up to Gazef's caliber or even close, but he was facing a force that was clearly not composed of normal humans despite their seemingly poorly equipped nature.
"Felix!" Barbro called out for the nearest magical expert.
"Yes, your Highness?!" Felix, Barbos' personal magician, replied.
"Take a look at the militia tell me if you notice anything?" Barbro commanded.
"The distance makes it hard for me, but I can tell you, your Highness, that despite the militia being equipped with what looks substandard equipment they are in fact magical items. Powerful magical equipment from what little I can see."
What a brilliant tactic. No one would take a poorly equipped militia seriously and as a result not expecting such devastating defeat. Barbro thought. "What sort of enchantments do you see?"
"Nothing, your Highness, at this distance. I will have to be closer to know what kind of enchantments could be used."
"Shirou Emiya must be incredible emotional attachment to equip his hometown's militia with such powerful magical equipment…" Barbro mused. "What is the status of the main force? Are they here yet? How many soldiers do we currently have?"
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