Eostia: Harem Quest

by EostianScribe

The Gods have given mortals the power of The Gamer as a pass time. A hobby. A means to compete and relax. One goddess, however, sees it as a means of salvation; starting with one world. As such, she rolls the dice... (Harem, Citrus and Eventual Dark Content Warning)

82. Act III-Ch IX: Collision Course

[ - Author's Note - ]

Here we are. New PC, new chapter. Nice.

A fair warning for everyone; I'm going to be on a trip for the end of this September so I'll likely be unable to write as quickly/much during that time. Come the start of October I'll be back and grinding things out once more so chances are the next chapter will be mid/late that month. Maybe then I'll have a chapter under twenty thousand in length...

Anyway; this chapter... We see Olga's response to the loss of territory, Iryna's back, James goes about Mooncast... and we see what Olga's response is.

Oh, and a brief little love scene. Because we haven't had one in a bit.

Let's go!

[ - Act III - Chapter IX: Collision Course - ]

"Are you ready to get going?" I asked the Marquisess of the Garan Occupied Regions; aka the GOR. We had just entered the stables of what was Nightsong Palace as our escort finished readying itself. White Peach was fitted with her armor once more and once she saw me she stamped her front hooves twice before moving to trot right up to me as I chuckled and patted her face through the plate.

"Indeed. I am eager to see the people of this city and offer what comforts I can." The person I was speaking to, Marquisess Iryna Syniy, replied as she followed me, a peach held in her hands. White Peach quickly noticed and looked to the dark elf and stepped closer and as the fruit was lifted up the gift was accepted and quickly devoured by the mare; I advised her to give one to Peach as a peace offering as she would be the one riding her. Once the fruit was gone we moved to the side and I assisted Iryna up into Peach's saddle. Once Iryna was in the saddle comfortably I moved to take Peach's reins and led her out of the stable where our escort was waiting.

We had an escort of Makoto, four Dawn Templars and an additional four members of the Primordium; literally Latin for Dawnguard which was it's more used name. It was the military arm of the Anima Lux Chruch, AKA the Faith. Each member present wore mythril armor and held a halberd in their hands and an arming sword at their left hip. Each also carried an additional weapon; two bore hand axes, another a second arming sword at his right hip and the last a knight's shield on his back; the shape was a bit more flared at the sides and rose to a taller point in the center and a rounded one on the bottom.

The trim was yellow with a thick band of blue within, another band of yellow inside of that and blue as a background. On the shield was a Divina Crucis reaching from top to almost the bottom, outlined in gold and filled with yellow over which a pair of white wings on the bottom with a silver-gray outline and two halberds, crossed near the bottoms and pointing up and to the sides between the wings and Crucis' moon section with a spiked, white butt and weapon head highlighted with silver, black shafts and brass bands over the butt and under the weapon head. The shield was, in fact, the Dawnguard's emblem in shield form.

They were a fairly elite group and would assist in Garanian conflicts although due to their much smaller size (They were only some five hundred to seven hundred strong) compared to the forces of the Una Vertias Church, AKA the Church ( Who were were closer to ten thousand strong) their effect was more limited overall and they were often charged with guarding VIPs.

(For the curious the Una Vertias' forces were called 'Exercitus Ecclesiae' or The Army of the Church; most people simply called them the Church Forces.)

Once we joined with our escort we were off and walking off towards the city proper. "I think it'll be a good morning."

"I agree." Iryna replied to me as she clasped her hands together as she smiled. "May the blessing of Larentia smile down upon all on the glorious morn as we do our work."

[-]

Many think the destruction of the Ninth Brazen Army (Better known as the Wolf Pack) was a brilliant trap laid out by Pinewall rebels in a clever and ingenious plan. As like many things in history the truth is something different then what's commonly believed; it wasn't a genius trap but rather a desperate moment to prevent information from getting into the hands of the empire.

The Pine Spear Rebels had a base within the forests of Pinewall that was coordinating with various resistance groups, collecting several intel reports and was a major supporter of Joanna of the White Cloth and the Shield Maidens. Indeed; they knew of her location when she was organizing her army for the Battle of Arndale and had her position been discovered in this juncture things might have gone very different as it would have allowed the Brazen Empire to find her and perhaps kill or capture her before she could put up enough of a defense. The Ninth learned about the hidden base and at least suspected what was in it and while they didn't know it's exact location they had enough of an idea to go search for it.

The Pine Spears knew what could happen and did their best to destroy all they had but the Ninth arrived too quickly. As such Peter Pineforge, who was their leader, opted to set fire to everything to prevent it's capture. The Ninth initially entered the base to put an end to the fire while fighting the rebels but supplies of lamp and cooking oil were used by the defenders to spread the flames further as they did everything they could to trap the Wolves inside the base while fighting those outside of the place. Half of the rebels died in the efforts and their base was lost to cinders as the survivors fled the forest across the river but one thing was accomplished in their desperate struggle; the Ninth Brazen Army, better known as Walter's Wolf Pack, one of the most feared and decorated units in the Brazen Empire was killed to the man or close enough to it and failed in their task of recovering Joanna's location.

Despite the losses they suffered in their desperate defense they knew it was an opportunity; they reframed the desperate struggle as a planned trap and they downplayed their losses to make the battle look more one-sided to their favor. The tale took off and even commanders in the Brazen Empire swallowed the propaganda; after all it was the Pine Spears word verses those of the Wolf Pack... that no longer existed.

It wasn't until the rise of the Seven Kingdoms Alliance that the truth was first spoken by those same survivors and were recorded but ill-believed as they were either doubted by those who only had heard of the propagandized tales or merely preferred the fluffed up tale. While this is understandable it sweeps away a valuable lessons from the history books; beware the desperate. Beware those with nothing left to lose. Beware those backed into a corner with no escape except through you and yours. Because no matter how bad the odds most people accept a small chance to survive over none and will do something wild, crazy or even self damaging to acquire victory and survival.

Nothing is more dangerous then those with nothing left to lose and everything on the table to gain.

~Dominic James Pencraft, The Eostia Historia

[-]

Napreryvnyy City, Royal Palace
Southeast Blazecrown
Near the Borders of Blackshard and Onyxcloak
Kingdom of Garan

The throne room was silent. Military commanders both dark elf and higher ranking Aberrant were present. Matron Olesia Reclusia was present on one knee, head low besides General Gavrillia Dreadblade next to her and matching her position. Inna Nightsong and three, mostly unfamiliar faces were in the places of the fallen Matrons, kneeling with Olesia. No one spoke. No one made a move to leave or do anything. At most there was a soft cough that was restrained until it no longer could be held back. Even Chloe, the so called pet halfborne, stayed as silent and still as possible to avoid gaining her Queen's attention; something she would normally wish.

Over the course of two days reports filtered in suggesting the impossible; at least until the remnants of Chaoxis and Nightsong forces arrived, battered, demoralized and telling the same tale. Representatives of the other houses arrived to report as well as reality sank in deeper and deeper.

The number of lost Matrons rose from an unacceptable two to an unthinkable six; only Olesia survived as a Matron from the start of this incursion to the current day.

Their overall forces lost nearly thirty percent of their number that was gathered at their capitals.

They lost all five of the capitals ruled over by their High Houses.

But the worst of it all, the one that allowed for all of this to happen was that the Armies of Eostia marched into their lands, into the Dread Field, captured their cities and found a means to defeat the Dread Field for the first time in seven hundred years and were finally unaffected by it.

All looked to the Trueborne Dark Queen of Garan, Olga Discordia as she sat on her throne. She was known for her stoicism and calmness and she was legendary among the gathered for her emotional control and her ability to say much without changing the pitch or volume of her voice, merely it's tone. She could remain in control as all of those around her were out of control and the few times she showed open amusement was uncommon enough to be cherished memories and the fewer times she showed anger could be counted on one hand by any one person present.

She was clenching and unclenching her hand around her staff; normally it was so subtle that only those closest to her would take note. It was currently so obvious that everyone even those not close to her took note as at times only her thumb pressed it to her hand. Her body quivered as her lips twitched back as she fought to keep then from curling down into a frown or a sneer. She did her best to keep the emotions from bubbling up and reaching her eyes but she glared forwards as if to destroy all before her with her gaze alone. Her breathing was audible as if she was physically restraining herself from screaming herself hoarse as she did her best to contain herself. "Inconceivable..." She let off in a low, hissing tone that reached all in the room before she stood up to her feet, lifted her staff and slammed the butt of it to the floor hard enough to echo in the room before her control broke and she bellowed into the room.

"I-N-C-O-N-C-E-I-V-A-B-L-E-!-!-!"

Every one in the room flinched and cowered back as she barked out and let off a long, soft yet clear and threatening growl as she glared to all before her. "What. In the name. Of the fucking Giant. Happened!?"

No one answered for a long moment and when the answer came... it was to glance towards Chloe, the favored of the Dark Queen with begging looks to somehow placate the queen. Chloe noted the looks and for a moment thought about tossing them under the wagon but for her queen's sake she spoke up. "There are no clear reports on what happened or how the Dread Field was defeated but if I had to guess the means, short of destroying the Citadel, could only be accomplished via one manner; enchantment. And we know of one enchanter among the humans who could have devised a probable defense to it."

"James Noxdecus..." Olga let off darkly as she finally moved to sit down. She sneered openly as she thought it over for a long moment as she gripped and re-gripped her staff. It seemed like sparing the human was biting her in the ass; while not exposing her condition to anyone, let alone Chloe, was important it seemed no good deed would go unpunished. "... I will say that this human's accomplishments are... respectable..."

Everyone stiffened in shock at her words; Olga Discorida had rarely said such a thing about a human throughout the centuries. Indeed, to the oldest of those present he would be the fourth to be called such in seven centuries of war, behind Hogan Levantine, Cassius Roisage and Aston Arcturus... and of them he was the only of the four she had not yet faced in combat. "We haven't confirmed it, but I can think of no one else able to do such a thing among the Eostian forces." Chloe let off. "Regardless of how they did this... we have to answer a question..." She said as she turned to her queen with a look; to most it was controlled and composed... but Olga could see the fear underlying it. "What do we do in response?"

The question hung over them for a long moment; no talk, no muttering, no nothing. Nearly everyone present that had fled the five cities were petrified that Olga might have bathed the room in dark flames to be done with them all. In truth Olga had considered the idea and dismissed it; they could not afford the loss of commanders and forces gathered there as she knew every last fighter was required in that moment.

"If I may..." Gavrillia began softly as she looked down. "Our options are clear; fight, negotiate, surrender or flee north. We must pick which option we will take and then begin making a plan... but my Queen... I needs be honest about just how dire the situation is for us." She said softly as she finally moved to stand to better speak and be seen by all. "We dark elves cannot breed as fast as the humans. If Eostia loses ten humans to one of us they win out in the end as they will replace those numbers within years... we would require decades at best. We need the Aberrant to make up for numbers but we always had to be mindful of how many we permitted to breed lest we lack the ability to feed them... and currently much of our food stores were taken by the enemy. With the loss of land, our best farmland no less... we will be unable to maintain Aberrant numbers for long. We can, perhaps, feed our forces for two months, three at a stretch as things sit. We cannot afford to defend our positions; we would lose a stalemate before long. If we are to flee we must begin now. If we are to negotiate we must send word soon. If we are to surrender we should draw up conditions swiftly. But if we are to fight then we must attack with all we have, and quickly."

"Is that your assessment, General?" Olga asked as Gavrillia nodded. "... In your opinion; if we were to take our cities back and repel their forces... what then?"

"... I apologize... but were I in your place..." Her General began as she lowered her head. "I would fight them to the borders, raze a few cities and then... sue for peace." Muttering followed as she looked right to the Queen as her shoulders slumped. "As painful as it is to say we would best be served by gaining a powerful stance and gaining favorable concessions. Without the defensive benefits of the Dread Field or some other, likewise defense we will not win a war of attrition. We can either win a better position... or we are ground into the dirt." Her words finally made the crowd begin to bark out and mutter.

"Peace!? With humans!?"

"We can't lose to them! We are the favored species!"

"We cannot let a lesser race walk all over us!"

"I refuse to consid-"

"Enough!" The room went silent as Olga barked out loudly, glaring around everyone for a moment. "... I am forced to admit our position has become... unfavorable, but even if we must... consider a peace treaty we cannot do so now and even then we only abide such until we can find a new defense. We must first avenge our humiliating loss as... ... What is that?" She let off as her head titled up, eyes in the room turning to follow her gaze as they saw something odd; a golden sheet of paper, folded in a way to have wings floating through an opened window that let in light as it turned and floated down towards Olga as it slowly dived towards her. In what might be called a semi-humorous moment the small, bird-like paper impacted her left breast and bounced off, falling to the floor gently as Chloe blinked and moved to pick it us.

"This is... spell paper?" She let off as she looked it over. "But... it's never worked in the Dread Field before..." She let off as she gawked at it. A bit of muttering sounded as Olga's eyebrow twitched. The defeat of the Dread Field was punctuated by that small sheet of paper as Chloe unfolded it and looked to the message upon it. "It's a message... from Celestine Lucross of Eostia."

"... What does it say?" Olga let off as she frowned and glanced to her aide as Chloe began to read.

"Dear Queen Olga Discordia of Garan. I hope this letter finds you in good health. As I am sure you are aware by now we have captured the capitals of the five southern territories of Garan. I myself am in Mooncast City as we settle in to ensure the people here are taken care of. Needless to say the Dread Field you and yours have used to prolong this destructive war has been defeated and can no longer be used to hide behind. This war shall soon come to it's end and I would rather it be in a peaceful manner. Therefore I invite you to come to Mooncast so we can speak face to face and come to an accord that sheds no more blood. Be warned however; this war shall end and if you will not speak to me willingly to end it I will bring you to negotiating table by force if I am required to do so."

Chloe kept reading as Olga's face darkened further. "Know this; I dislike violence. I dislike war. However seven hundred years worth of this conflict has forced me to understand, practice and employ these things I dislike to ensure the people of Eostia survive and thrive. If I must raise the banner of Eostia over all of Garan and annex the whole kingdom I shall and I will rule over who is left as best able. I would do this not because I wish to but because this war must be ended and if that is the path required to end it then it is how I shall end it. The next move will be yours; a peaceful end or a forceful one. The choice is yours and I do hope you make a wise one; for the sake of your people if nothing else. Signed respectfully, High Queen Celestine Lucross, Ruler of the Seven Shields Alliance."

Olga's hand opened then shut over her staff as she mused over the letter's contents for a long moment before speaking. "...She must think this war won already, or us weak if we would surrender just now... No... General Dreadblade!" She let off, slamming her staff's butt down once more as she stood. "I want you to gather forces as quickly as possible! I want the captured cities set to siege save Mooncast! We will set march to Celestine herself... and I demand a force of more then seventy thousand at my back as we march!"

"S-seventy thousand!?"

"Such a large force..."

"The Eostians will be unable to stand up to such a force!"

"Only once we retake our cities will this war end!" Olga declared as she pointed her staff outwards to them. "And when we do they will meet our demands to see their precious peace; lasting until we can once more regain our impunity!" She let off, forcing herself to smirk.

In truth she was well aware of how disastrous this could be for them; if they could overwhelm the forces of Eostia they would have the means to set the terms of anything to follow and if they could capture Celestine herself then that would be all the better... but she was not unaware of the risks. If they were defeated that was that; they likely would have little else to throw into the fray beyond, perhaps, a final and desperate defense. Even if they won she was unsure if they ever could regain their impunity; at least not as much as they had and it was likely that her words would become hollow in the future. More over was her condition... the Black Sickness had not gotten any worse but it was still a factor, weakening her full power.

She would need to take the field... she would need to fight... and in turn risk exposing or worsening her condition. That could undermine her position within Garan and even if the Five High Houses wouldn't turn on a trueborne like herself the exposure of her condition would mean she would lose much of her control over them and they would act more independently... to the risk of conflict amongst themselves; even without Eostia on their doorstep that would be devastating to them. She could not let that happen, no matter what and in order to do all she needed to do she had to, without fail, walk a razor's edge without a loss of balance.

"It is time to march onto the Eostians in a collision course!"

[-]

Mooncast City, Nightsong Palace
Warroom

"The message has been sent." Celestine cared little for the room; the walls were a dark gray, the floor a deep purple and the furniture a dark gold color. The book shelves, tables and chairs were all black with deep purple padding for the chairs and busts carved from dark stone decorating the room. Garan's color palette in the palace was very dark, lacking color making much of it feel drab and depressing. "Thankfully James was right; a filter spell placed on powdered spell stone and mixed with the ink was just the trick to send the message out.

"I admit, even I hadn't expected him to be able to defeat the Dread Field." Kaguya began with a soft smile from a projected image. "Let alone in so short a time." Claudia and Prim with in the room with the High Queen but Kaguya, Alicia, Maia and Lulu were calling in from their locations via voxlux. "While I would prefer a peaceful end to this war that a military option is now open to us is a benefit and may force them to consider diplomacy for once."

"Yeah, but you have to figure Garan isn't going to take this lying down." Maia let off; her feet off to one side on the table her own voxlux was propped up on. "What are they gonna do now?"

"That is... difficult to say." Celestine said with a soft frown. "High elves are ill known to take something like this lying down, as Maia said, but even if doing so is the best option I doubt our dark cousins would do that and begin speaking of peace. We must assume they are planning a counter-attack."

"We have scrying devices and Sky Eyes in place to see what they are up to." Claudia began as she nodded before looking to a report. "Nothing to note yet beyond that it seems their leadership has recently gathered. They are likely still deciding on their course of action. I imagine it won't be long before they pick one, however; among the things we captured is a lot of food and the lands of the GOR boasts the bulk of their farmland. They might suffer a food crisis depending on their own stores; I would think they cannot afford to wait long. They will have a response soon and we'll have an idea of their choice before the week is up."

"If they want to fight then they are real dummies." Lulu let off with a huff. "But it seems outside of Eostia most elves are dummies when it comes to their pride. No offense.." She added as she looked to Celestine.

"None taken." The High Queen replied.

"Indeed; I presume they'll prepare an assault." Kaguya let off as she sighed.

"Well, as someone with a fair amount of pride I would attack." Alicia said as she crossed her arms in thought. "No, I'd go all in. I'd assemble as much of my force into one place as possible and storm each city in turn and try to trample over the defenders. Right now they have to endure the thought that someone might end their rule by force and I imagine they are feeling desperate."

"I can... understand the feeling of desperation..." Prim said softly as she frowned before looking to Celestine. "Had Halbert not bound me so there's no telling what I would have done to escape or what injury I'd do to myself to fight back. If Olga is desperate..."

"Then she may well strike with all she has and her forces may fight like demons." Celestine finished with a sigh. "Indeed... This war may not end until one or both forces have been ground to nothing."

"If I may ask something?" Prim began as she looked to Celestine. "I've been wondering; why did you try and make James the Marquess? He wasn't wrong when he said he was more valuable being free to do his work as an enchanter."

"I also can't help but note you had him up front as we entered the city." Claudia added as she looked to the elf in the room. "It's clear you're trying to uplift him in the view of the other lords, commanders and troops. What is the reason for this?"

"Indeed; I am aware of accusations of favoritism towards him." The High Queen said with a nod. "And I am aware some of his peers may become jealous or envious of this favor but I am not doing this for no reason; as you know the vision I had places him as the one to save Eostia. We still know precious little of our foes within this Black Storm nor their plans. What we do know is James is meant to be the one to help us through it. As such it's best to raise him up within the ranks as quickly as possible. And while there is... risk with this we only have so much time to do it in. I need him to be seen by the people at large as a hero on par with Hogan, a Champion of Eostia."

"You want him to be a figure to rally the people around." Claudia stated as her fellow Shield Princesses looked to their queen as she nodded. "...I can understand that. While he is sometimes a tad... casual that is as much a benefit as it is a flaw as it makes the commoners more at ease with him."

"His trend to be merciful can lead to problems down the line, but it is very knightly." Alicia added with a nod. "More over he tends to show strong morals."

"He is intelligent and wise." Prim said with a grin, "Perhaps not to the point some may think but there is no doubt that his creative thinking is what got us this far."

"A warrior and mage both; he can appeal to those wishing to be either." Kaguya added with a smile. "And while he may never be a master of either he shows the benefits of balance."

"Being a dragonborne might be a problem because of some dummies..." Lulu added as she grinned. "But dragonborne are always seen as great heroes."

"And he's a good lay." Maia let off as everyone turned to look at her with a mixture of annoyance or exasperation. "Hey, this is Eostia and we've all heard the pirate ship rumor! Virility is important to have in a hero here!"

"That is true... if embarrassing to think about." Celestine said as she lifted her hand up. "But yes; he is to become the Champion of Eostia, Defender of the Realm... without getting him killed in the process."

"Which... is counterproductive to the heroic ideal as being a hero is all about taking risks." Claudia said with a sigh.

"He is brave, there's no doubt about it... he rushed to my aid, twice." Prim said as Kaguya nodded.

"I concur." The priestess said as she furrowed her brow in thought. "But I will say he isn't reckless; or at least unless it's needed."

"He does seem able to calculate the risks at least..." Alicia said with a frown as she thought. "He hasn't lost a major fight yet... it's like he can get an idea of his opponent's strength at a glance."

"I... have to admit; he seems to have a knack of quickly working out of what he's up against." Celestine said with a nod. "It... might have something to do with the five figures over the board in my vision."

"I recall visions from the Odd-Faced God myself as he directed me to betroth with James." Kaguya said as she looked back. "There were five pillars in it and... something about them made God wary. As if they represented a greater power."

"So he's... a chosen one?" Maia let off as she blinked as Celestine frowned in thought before speaking.

"Perhaps... I know there were gods above those in the Age of Gods; greater gods if you will..." The High Queen frowned in thought for a moment. "Little was known of them beyond that they rarely intervened. It's possible they've done something in his regards to ensure he has the skills and abilities to acquire victory... and yet I do not know if their rare interventions was because they do not choose to, want to... or have rules preventing them from doing so... perhaps by even gods greater then they..."

There was a long stretch of silence that was uncomfortable before Lulu broke it. "Who cares!? If they're helping, great! If not then we'll deal with it! I'm not gonna rely on a god to help me smash dummies!"

"Hear, hear." Claudia said with a nod and a smile. "Let's leave this issue for now; I feel it's well covered. Instead, let's move on to the treatment for the prior slaves we rescued..."

[-]

I let the reins of White Peach go not long into the walk; she stuck to my side while carrying Iryna as I looked about as our escort wrapped around us in a loose circle. We were starting to pass the residential district as homes were being repaired; mostly by the home owners in question but other locals along with Eostian engineers and volunteers who were assisting. There was... a strange response from the Eostian side of the fence. There was a bias against dark elves that was... regrettable but understandable and there was a lot of talk about punishing them leading up to the siege. I feared (As well as Celestine and some others) that they'd take their hate out on the local, civilian population... and some did, but only some. The bulk ended up with another feeling; pity.

After all their nobles and leaders, those who should have been looking out for them set fire to the homes of the commoners to buy themselves a little extra time. It was a disgusting act and for a lot of the troops sympathy and empathy won out over hate; after all the majority of them were commoners themselves and there would always be a class divide between the common man and the nobility... and they all understood that a careless or heartless noble could well do the same to them. It made the people of Mooncast City seem much more, well, human and relatable. That wasn't to say Eostians and Garanians became best friends over night but there was a level of... respect and understanding I didn't expect.

Oddly enough the lowborne and highborne, the ones who would least benefit by their subjects wanting to join hands with Eostians, has caused their subjects to tentatively embrace the occupying Eostians by being destructive assholes. If I had to say anything to them on the subject it would be, I guess, 'you played yourselves' because not only did the Eostians become tolerant to the locals the local Garanians tolerated us. Hell, some seemed to accept our presence; I could see a dark elf and a human sitting together and taking a break from work and talking. Naturally we were getting a lot of attention; both myself and Iryna.

"Isn't that the Shield Lord?" One dark elf let off as we passed; and yes I had yet another nickname and I gained this one due to how I fought the fires set to the district with shields.

"It is and... I'm... who is that..?"

"She's beautiful!"

"Is she... highborne?"

"Maybe trueborne?"

A small crowd was gathering to the sides of the road as Iryna, and her natural beauty, as they stared at her. Finally the woman pulled softly on the reins and brought White Peach to a halt. She would then move to dismount and walk past me and our escort, hands moving to fold before her lap as she looked about to everyone. There were humans on hand, of course, if further back but the bulk of the gathered were dark elves and locals. Finally she spoke. "I am Iryna Syniy, appointed Marquisess of the captured territories. I will understand if there is resentment given the situation, but rest assured I will do my best to lead you well in my tenure." She said as she moved to bow at the hips, low enough to be past forty five degrees.

"Sh-sh-she's bowing!?"

"To us!?"

"I... what do we do?"

"Should we kneel!?"

"W-we should start pros-"

Overhearing the reactions I let off a sharp whistle that caused everyone (Even Iryna) jump slightly. "You don't need to bow to her." I spoke firmly. "While her greeting is more humble then most lords that's all she's doing. Greeting you as the woman tasked with your care."

"Indeed." Iryna said as she stood up fully. "There are times the situation one demands you bow or kneel to your lord. This is not one of them." There was some muttering as the people looked about as they looked on. "I will not say Eostian lords are all saints, nor do they always have their people's best interests in mind." She spoke as a few humans in the crowd nodded. "But even they understand a strong, loyal peasantry benefits them. Eostia is not perfect and we are not representative of all those within. Our fair Alliance has both saints and sinners in abundance; we merely must do our best as we can. However long I serve as the Marquisess of Garan that is all I shall do; my best."

"... I... I still can't believe some lords like this exist..."

"Why couldn't she be our queen..."

"She's amazing..." It seemed the crowd enjoyed what she had to say as she moved forwards, the crowd gasping as they parted as her escort and myself followed (And yes, White Peach walked along as well) as she moved towards the market district. The idea was to have her ride White Peach to be easier to see as the new local lord... but it seems she wanted to walk among the people... and I can understand why...

So walk along we did.

[-]

Across Eostia in various Adventurer Guilds as well as the homes of nobility, merchants and the upper ranks of the commoners were newly made items called 'Viewers'; modified, smaller voxlux boosters designed to receive signals to various 'channels'. For most of the day all that was projected was a time, explaining when the next bit of content would be coming; given the newness of the system the idea of twenty-four/seven programming was not created yet and even if it had a combination of expenses, experimentation and unsure audience size to contend with. For those on both sides of the device exactly what it would become of it and if it would last the test of time was unknown.

But in that moment those who tuned to Channel Six were watching one Effmia Herz, holding a device that would make her voice clearer to the voxlux pointed to her (Itself placed upon a hovering, flat block of wood with spell stones to both allow for it to levitate but also allow her to control it's movements and motions via magic) as she spoke into it. "As you can see behind me many buildings in the local residential districts have suffered fire damage; some moderate but most severe. Some buildings are so badly damaged that they are required to be torn down and rebuilt from the ground up."

"According to what I've heard Marquisess Iryna Syniy just passed this area and is on her way to tour the city." She continued on as she walked down the road, directing her floating camera to follow her. "In addition word is that Lord James Noxdecus of the Barony of Mungale is in escort with her. Lord Noxdecus is, of course, the creator of very thing that allows me to project this scene to you directly, allows for people to talk across Eostia. More over he has both invented travel by air and was tasked to devise a means to defeat the Dread Field; a task many claim was accomplished in a week. In doing so we have, for the first time, been able to truly launch the offensive into Garanian territory. By all accounts, however, the Granaian nobility, called lowborne and highborne, fled and set this fire as a means of delaying the oncoming armies from reaching them without any care to the common people's well being. As such it's the dark elf commoner suffering the effects of this-"

"What is this?" Effmia jumped slightly as a couple of dark elves moved to her, looking over her shoulder. They could see the voxlux on the floating block projecting what it was aimed before it; the pink haired reporter and now them as the blinked at it.

"We're using the voxlux communications system to report on the events here to people back in Eostia directly." Effmia told them, side stepping a bit before turning to face them. "What we are, ahhh, doing here is being seen by people over there. I was just explaining to our viewers the events of the fire that was set."

"Yeah; bloodly assborne..." One of the men let off with a snarl. "That's my home there!" He said, pointing off to a building; black not from paint but from flames; windows missing and door knocked in. "Demanded the conscripts get themselves killed while they ran! Cowards! Lot of them!"

"My friend Andrei suffered burns saving his sisters!" The other let off as he huffed. "And my place collapsed! I lost everything I had, even my last coin! All to save their own skins!" Effima blinked as the two complained but given the situation rather then stop them she opted to pivot her report; after all this was a chance to see what Garanians on the ground were thinking!

"Is this behavior unexpected from them?" She asked, aiming her sound catching device to them.

"Pah! Not at all. Last week they chased down a lad who gave one of the assborne a funny look." The first began. "Wench had him chased down and had the snot beaten out of it. Stomped his knee good to; he still can't walk straight."

"Not to mention she took his coin pouch and just dumped it into a drain." The second added as the pink haired reporter nodded.

"That's... unexpected." She knew that nobility of Eostia could be rude to those under them, but she never heard of them mugging and beating a commoner in such a manner. "Well I imagine you're... less then happy about the Eostians in the city." She said as the two men looked to one another then, after a moment, shrugged at once.

"... I mean... at least they're not the lowbrone." The first said with a shrug.

"I mean, yeah. They can't be that much worse to deal with." The second added as Effima gave the pair a long look and blinked.

"That... you sound rather... apathetic about the change in your rulers." She let off as both men shared a look and shrugged.

"Like we said; can't be any worse."

"And at least the new ruler looks amazing, did you see her?" The second let off before giving a long wolf whistle.

"Hey! You two!" They heard, the two men flinched, as someone called out to them. "Stop screwing around and get back to work!"

"Ahhhh... excuse us."

"So long!" The two let off as she blinked and turned the camera to her.

"Well... as you can see the locals of Mooncast City are... adapting to the Eostian presence. I will report to you more of the details later. This is Effmia Herz of Channel Six News."

[-]

Napreryvnyy City, Royal Palace
Southeast Blazecrown
Near the Borders of Blackshard and Onyxcloak
Kingdom of Garan
Two Days Later

Olga was well aware who's footsteps were behind her. Over the last four decades Chloe had served her well; finding the halfborne was a boon to her. At that moment she was at the balcony of her quarters, staff in hand as she looked out to the city. She resisted the urge to set her hands on the railing and hunch over the onyx carved barrier. "Tell me; what news have we?" Olga asked as Chloe moved to kneel behind her as she braced for what she would hear.

"The passage used by Nightsong to escape was sealed off and an old sewer system is being heavily guarded. More over they are working on the walls of Mooncast City to ready for an attack." Chloe began. "That said we have a loyal agent within giving reports, although it was with difficulty we gained them."

"What resistance are the people giving the Eostians?" Olga asked... and the answer was not immediate. She gripped her staff a hint tighter as she waited with no answer still. "Chloe?"

"...There is... no meaningful resistance, My Queen." Came the answer as Olga stiffened. "The few attempting to rally support are finding nearly none. The Eostians have not done a thing to these loyalists by what I've been told; they merely ignore them and consider them harmless... and... by the reports they're correct." Olga slowly, turned to Chloe and when her servant met the Queen's gaze she flinched at the look of open shock with her mouth hanging open.

"D-did I hear you correctly?" The queen began as she looked to her. "They are not resisting? In the least?"

"N-no, my Queen." Chloe said, flinching for a moment; she couldn't ever recall hearing her queen stutter before. "By all accounts the people are... ummm, going on as normal..."

"... I... do not understand... They are laborborne. The foundation that follows those above them." Olga let off as she flexed her hand around the shaft of her weapon; now in nervousness and shock then anger or worry. "Why? Why would they accept this? I do not understand this."

"...There is often a... strain between the lowborne and laborborne." Chloe said softly. "Some of the laborborne may find human rule... preferable..."

"...Unthinkable..." Olga let off as she turned to look back at the city. "...What is happening..?" She let off. She wasn't a fool, she knew much of the ground floor ruling of Garan was left to the lowborne which was fine; she could not rule all of Garan alone and much of her orders were directed to the highborne who directed the lowborne under them. That she never heard of discontent told her that all was fine and well... Clearly it was not. "Chloe. I want you to go into the city tomorrow. I want to understand the thoughts of the laborborne and understand why this may have happened and before we march. Regardless of the outcome there is a clear need to address problems I am yet ignorant of. I must rid myself of this ignorance before addressing these issues."

"Yes, my Queen."

"We will march on the capitals, free our people and I will understand the reasons of what is going on."

[-]

I was back in the city once more, looking about the markets. Last time I was escorting Iryna, the day after I was traveling back to Mungale to get Cloud Rider number nine into the air as well as acting as escort for former humans slaves to be taken care of; they had been getting treatment since we took the city (Although two, sadly, had their mana systems fully collapse) and would be taken to Ur after both for treatment and to work out where home was for them. Now I was taking a chance to shop and explore on my own accord. Makoto was, of course, with me but Celestine had a trio of Dawn Templars following as well.

The writing for store signs was a bit hard to read; the dark elven written language (Also known as scarrter) looked like chicken scratch. Each letter matched one from the Latin alphabet so as long as you knew what batch of lines was what you could read it and as a noble I was taught how in case I came across a written, Garanian letter. That said I couldn't read them very fast. That said I found a magic shop, by all accounts, and walked in. The shopkeeper, a dark elf male (Akim Darkshatter, according to Observe) stiffened as he saw me but aside from a smile and a wave I moved to browse his wares which... ummm...

Wasn't much.

There was the usual; spell stones, powdered spell stone, regents, books of magic theory and so on. A few wands and robes but... It was all... rather low grade. I was disappointed, likely clearly so, as I looked to the man. "Beg pardon shop keep." I asked as I moved to walk to him as he gulped. "Relax. I'm merely curious... the product out here seems fairly... poor. Is this common?"

"Ahhh, n-no sir. This is the laborborne section of the shop." He replied, trying to stay calm. "Garanian law limits what can be sold to which caste, you see. I cannot, by law, showcase my finer wares to the common public." He said as I nodded.

"I imagine a black market for such must be about then..." I said with a sigh. "Well, Eostian law has no such limitations. May I browse the better wares then?" I asked as he blinked to me. "I will not force the issue if you're unwilling; I'm just curious."

"N-no, it's fine. ... If anything, I can use the business..." Despite the differences Eostian and Garanian coin were close enough in size that it was decided they were roughly interchangeable. He would lead me over to a set of double doors and, with a key, unlocked it and allowed me in. Now this was more like it. Wands, staves, books and robes along with what looked like Armor Weave (I think they called it Scale Weave) and magical weapons. Better quality spell stones and powdered stone as well as thick books and even spells. I took my time to browse and look about; first taking a series of spell stones that were of good quality; namely two comparable ones I could use to replace in the Shining Gemini's ends to further increase it's power. Spell scrolls, while hard to read, were about and with Observe I could quickly work out what they were and ended up buying two. I opted not to bother with books; useful as they might be it took too long for me to translate; I'd point Channer over here as he could read the language better then I could.

I paid ten platinum as I left and thanked him. A general store was nearby and I browsed it as well, finding more of the spiced beef jerky and bought some. I normally didn't like spicy stuff but I enjoyed a bit of kick now and then; Cress also loved the stuff so I'd be sure to tell him about the shop as well. I didn't bother with a weapons or armor shop; I was happy with what I had and aside from maybe getting Tiffany some robes there was little more I could do for upgrades for them just yet.

Once back on the street I looked about; aside from darkly colored buildings it was just a city. From what I can see most people went about their business although giving Eotsian troops a bit of a wide berth. That said a few that noticed me waved and I waved back. It was a bit... strange; I didn't feel unwelcome but didn't feel rejected by the people either. It was hard to put into words.

As I was thinking that I saw someone I knew; Gaston. ... I mean Baston. He saw me as he stood at the end of an alley and blinked before waving me over. After a moment I walked over as he grinned. "Wondrous timing M'Lord! I've a conundrum on my hands." He said as I blinked.

"What's the issue?" I asked as he pointed down the alley.

"I saw a man walk down this alley, local." He began to explain. "He seemed suspicious and thus I took the time to investigate. He wasn't in the alley and a guard at the other side he said no one came through."

"So he vanished inside the alley..." Makoto summed up as I looked down the alley. "...Could it be an enemy spy?" She asked as I frowned.

"I dunno." I said as I walked down the alley in question, looking about as I frowned. The alley was paved with stone and free of most debris... no trash or even a lot of sand or dirt. It was odd... but as I passed the middle point I paused. I sensed something with my magical senses so subtle I nearly missed it as I turned to the wall and moved my hand along with it... and then it sank in. "An illusion spell..." I let off as I moved my hands, feeling wood under it... and then a door knob. It was locked but an Unlocking spell fixed that. I opened it up, stepped in and...

Saw a gawking doorman as he backed up. He had a club in hand and lifted it up but was all but pressing himself into the corner of the small room as he looked to us. There were stairs that led down and I looked down before I glanced back to him. "Baston, keep an eye on him; just make sure no one gets hurt."

"Of course." He said the Gaston-copycat let off as he crossed his arms and stood before the man. "No one will prevent a fight like Baston." He let off as I walked down the stairs to see what was there and I found...

A speakeasy.

Naturally a human followed by three more in Mana Armor and a samurai made everyone take note and everyone go silent. I made a show of looking around as everyone froze and then I walked over to the man behind the bar (A scarred elf no less... that was rare and suggested whatever hit him bore some nasty toxins) as I made a show as I knocked on the bar's counter top softly. "I beg your pardon, barkeep. Why is a gentlemen selling-" I looked about to what people had before them. "-what seems to be whiskey and chocolates in a hidden bar?"

"Ahhh... Well... we sell... whiskey here, sir." He replied as I nodded to the man (Gleb Scoursong) and gave him a pointed look to ask him to explain further. "Smuggled whiskey, sir."

"No one buys local whiskey?" I asked as he shook his head.

"No one's allowed to make harder liquors. Or sell them." He said as I blinked. "So we need to, ummm, hide our enjoyments."

"So, this is the local black market then." I said as he looked to me confused. "A black market is an often criminal enterprise to sell what's illegal."

"Ahh. Yes, you can say that." He said, nodding. "Whiskey, cigars, chocolate and such."

"...Why is that all... never mind, it'd likely make my head hurt." I said with a sigh. "Look, as far we care; don't sell hard drugs, don't sell poisons and we're good."

"Ahhh... Thank you, sir!" He let off, clearly surprised as I smiled.

"Also; what's the price of a chocolate-"

Ping-Ping-Ping-Ping!

"Excuse me." I said as I pulled out my voxlux and saw Celestine's face as I answered. "Celestine, can I help you?"

"Indeed. I need you to return to the palace as quickly as possible; we've an issue to handle." She said as I nodded; her voice and tone was serious so I knew she might have been underselling the issue.

"Understood." I said with a nod. "I'll see you soon." I said as I hung up. "Pardon me." I said before pulling a single platinum out and setting it on the counter. "And give everyone a round on me." I said as I turned to the stairs. I'd tell Baston to leave the doorman be as we left.

There were some real oddities in this land...

[-]

Once I was back in the palace I was ushered off to the war room. What surprised me was everyone was seated; Celestine, Claudia, Prim and General DuLouvenoir were all seated with Alicia, Maia, Kaguya, Lulu and Klaus via projects from propped up voxluxs. "I'm a little surprised to be invited to a council like this." I mused as I moved to an empty seat; setting me between Celestine and Prim as I sighed.

"Given both your abilities as an enchanter and interactions with Olga I believed you might have a unique insight." Celestine began as she pointed to the map. "With the scry devices and Spy Eyes you've given us we have been able to keep an eye on the motions of our opponents. They are sending a forces of roughly seven thousand to each city save Mooncast and the bulk are marching towards Napreryvnyy City. We assume they plan to join their forces together into a single, massive army."

General Mallory DuLouvenoir would speak next. "Based on our intelligence we think they might end up fielding a force of over fifty thousand strong, perhaps approaching sixty thousand. We think the smaller forces are moving to blockade our movements. To that end we're already marching troops towards Mooncast to prepare for a coming attack. We're employing the Cloud Riders to move people quickly and we'll be assembling all seven Shield Princesses for the defense."

"It's not hard to imagine why she's going to do this..." Alicia let off as she frowned. "Her back is to the wall for the first time ever and she must be feeling the pressure... I know I once said she'd go all in, but I didn't imagine this."

"If it's over fifty thousand strong then... this might be the biggest army formed in a thousand years... Maybe even since the days of the Imperium." I let off. I didn't know military history enough to say for sure; the Brazen Empire at least. Celestine nodded.

"Even Verlangen never assembled more then forty thousand at a time." Celestine said with a nod. "In that era no one could raise an army much larger then that."

"We are doing our best to rally as many troops as we can." Mallory said as she gave me a serious look. "That said they have a head start on us and we don't know if the Thorn forces will arrive on time."

"That's... a potential problem." I summed up. We couldn't leave the captured holdings without a garrison and one sizable enough to handle the smaller armies so even if we wanted we couldn't just gather all of our forces here. "At best how many can we summon up?"

"That depends on how long it takes the attack to come." Claudia answered this time. "I would estimate forty thousand if Olga marches the first moment she can, fifty if she takes two days longer and close to sixty if she waits for four. That said she might take the extra time to draw more troops up for her march. Until she makes her move it's hard to say."

"This means we must prepare as best as possible and use all we have at our disposal." Celestine said as she looked to me. "Which brings me to a request; the Cloud Riders have been a revolution in transporting our people and supplies which is why we have endeavored to keep them away from direct combat thus far but this battle will likely be a decisive one. As such I would ask that we load mages, archers, riflemen and such onto them and employ them as attack platforms."

"I can understand that." I replied, turning to look her in the eye. "And I agree. We have too few Cloud Riders to risk them in combat, but a battle like this could be the last of the war if we're lucky. To hold back makes no sense at this juncture. If anything if Olga is going all in then we must as well."

"Naturally." Celestine said as she looked about the table. "Gather your most elite forces and bring them on the wagons and march all we cannot ferry by air that can afford to come. That will include yourself, Klaus; your assistance and defensive magics will be of a great help."

"One question is; what of the people of the city?" Prim began as she looked to Celestine. "Regardless of if they would rather be under our rule or Olga's we do need to ensure that they come to no harm."

"It might be an idea to ask them to go to their homes during the battle... although the burned out district is still under repair; we might have to find other places to shelter them." I let off as Celestine nodded. "We might want to ask the local conscripts for a suitable building or location and task the civilian's safety to them."

"That's an excellent thought; they would be interested in ensuring order and security." The High Queen let off with a nod. "Let us begin with discussing a rough plan for what we currently expect..."

[-]

Northern Onyxcloak
West Northwest of Mooncast City
Town of Sevenshards

Vult grinned as he took a long drink of his flask as he looked over the town they came across. He didn't know what it's name was and he didn't much care what it's name was; they had women, food and drink. That's what mattered and as the town was aflame he basked in the sound of his men, human and Aberrant alike, as they made women howl as they were raped. The men and children too young to be good cock sleeves had already been killed to the last and once done the women would join them, the bodies taken to a barn, set alight and the with a little magical encouragement the bodies would be burned to ash.

On the one hand the Eostians were a high paying client; the High Throne had coin to spare and many of it's territories had it's own to throw around. If you were a mercenary and willing to risk your life for some good coin the Garanian War was an unending stream of cash that came about every few years; sometimes each year. A cash cow that, by appearances, was finally coming to an end, sadly. He was sure this would be... disruptive to both the status quo and likely more then a few plans.

But that was an issue for another time.

The worst thing in working for the Eostians was they adhered to things like treaties, accords, honor and so on and frowned on raping foes... well the Traditionalist states weren't sticklers for those rules so good on them. Even so that meant they had to be more discreet when doing so on the Eostia's copper; hence why they needed to ensure not a peep left that town. He chuckled a bit more; his own enjoyment done as he heard something ping. Grunting he looked to the voxlux he was given and seeing the face of Mallory DuLouvenoir. He answered and grinned. "General, what can I do for you?"

"Vult, I need you to... what are you doing? What's that noise?" She asked as he looked up to his men.

"Just giving the men a chance to enjoy themselves." He replied with a shrug.

"Whatever. I need you to recall all you can to Mooncast; we suspect Olga is coming... and bringing everything she has to spare."

"Of course, general." I'll begin the march tomorrow morning.

"Good. Summon all the dogs you can; we're expecting a massive battle."

"Naturally." He let off as he nodded. "Until then." He said as he ended the call and looked off to his men as the cries of women rose higher and higher as he grinned.

[-]

So I bought some new spells and took the time to learn them once I got to my quarters. Yay. So, what did I get from my little shopping trip?

(-)

Black Shard [Lvl I] (0/1000)
Magic Type: Darkness
Cool Down: Low
Mana Cost: Moderate

An attack spell that creates a lance of darkness that explodes into damaging fragments upon impact; the fragments are ineffective against armor and structures but the initial attack has good piercing potential.

Blast Zone [Lvl I] (0/1000)
Magic Type: Fire
Cool Down: Moderate
Mana Cost: Very High

A powerful, lance shaped flame that explodes with devastating effect. The explosion is concentrated in a single direction making it a poor choice for large groups but excellent verses a hardened target.

(-)

I doubted I'd use either one all that much in the near future when I had better trained options but it never hurts to pick something new up when you can. More immediate for me to use was the shiny new spell stones I grabbed. I replaced the ones at the ends of the Shining Gemini with the new, stronger ones, re-enchanted them and tested; the extra punch the new spells provided would be highly useful... and I opted to add a double headed axe head to my list of Gemini forms because why not and I even added a claymore form as well that I didn't expect to be able to use given it was a two handed weapon... save it was still classified as a one handed one because the mana formed blade was light enough I could use it with one hand. Go figure... I removed the enchantments on the old stones and stored them away; I might have a use for them down the line.

I had also taken the chance to offer Campbell Galeraven the sword Nightweaver who took to it like a duck to water. While the spell stone as a focus was worthless to her as a Hero class she did know to use Blazing Weapon and had I had done some work on it to both give it Flame Guard, fire a Flamethrower spell from the end and offer Physical Boost to the holder; although triggered and not automatic. Of course no Flamethrower spell if it was on, but she didn't need to deal with the physical strain of Physical Boost and as she could use Blazing Weapon herself it wouldn't limit her much. She was very happy with it.

Having done a fair bit of work I moved over to the balcony with some coffee, a book and took a seat to look over the courtyard as I tried to relax my nerves... which was a bit tricky; Olga was coming sooner or later and the only questions were when and how large an army she brought with her... and until she marched we'd have no answers. As such rather then worry I tried to read and take my mind off things, sipping coffee (Double-double) as I relaxed. I hadn't realized I was no longer alone until a bowl was set down before me. I flinched lightly as I looked down; three chocolate scoops of ice cream in two bowls as someone sat down next to me. "Evening Cele." I said as I set a marker in my book and set it down.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you." She said as she set her own bowl before herself. "I saw you when I was about to have a moment to myself as well. I hope you don't mind me joining you."

"No, no... It's fine." I said, stretching my back for a moment before picking up the spoon from my bowl. "Just... trying to stay relaxed before things go to hell once more."

"That's understandable and wise." She said as she started to get a spoon of the cold delight. "After seven centuries of this nonsense I'm eager to end it... Honestly, a part of me half wants Olga to come in peace, sit down so we can talk... and the other half of me wants to wring her neck for all she's put the Alliance through over all this time..."

I... don't think Celestine and Olga having a giant, hairpulling, claws-out catfight would improve the situation, nor a messy, sloppy mud wrestling contest... ... I'd still pay to see that, mind you...

"Maybe. It is hard to understand her reasoning..." I said with a sigh as she ate some of her ice cream. "Seven hundred years of this and she keeps going... I don't know if it's a case of she's unwilling to stop, unable to stop or even what her reasons are. The only way to find out is to speak to her directly... but maybe we shouldn't be talking shop when we're trying to relax."

"Indeed... Forgive me for starting the conversation on such a note." She said with a smile as I took a chance to enjoy my own bowl of creamy delight. "Instead, maybe tell me some of your little discoveries on the road you took on to install the boosters. Not the bigger moments; the smaller ones."

"Smaller moments, huh?" I let off as I too a bite and thought for a moment. "... Have I told you of the court case involving Captain Parus?"

"No, you haven't." She said as she shook her head. "I know the broad strokes, of course, but not the details. Please, enlighten me of them."

I chuckled a bit and took the time to start with our arrival to Cauldona and seeing the ships, how they beached and the mad dash of the Fighting Wench's crew. Alicia's demand and how she nearly started an ill-advised fight followed by my intervention and how I used Celestine as a bluff, something she was amused by. The reasons for why the chase was on over Brend von Harmon and our arrival in Port Whitedawn, meeting the Acting Baroness and the court hearing's arrangement. I even brought up replacing the stones in Airlie of the Planks' (AKA Airlie von Harmon) wooden limbs the night before the trial and then the trial itself.

Naturally the trial itself was the main focus with my preferred, and most proud moment, being facing down Dax in the cross examination; that was a proud moment to be sure. She seemed curious about the whole thing as well, although she was more interested in my cross examination of Valter Shepot which while it was a winning moment for me was a bit of a surprise; as it turned out she was acquainted with him to the point of calling him a friend and it was him that told her the most of the case as a whole. I was not aware of that until now.

Following the case I explained my suspicions about what Dax would do and why as well as how I used an Illusion to disguise Riri as Brend just in case, the fight on the deck of the stolen Fighting Wench, defeating Dax and then his escape... and the sinking of the Fighting Wench. The conclusion of the court case was the last part and nodded as she smiled. And then... "So... how true is the rumor you slept with the entire ship?" And I flinched... leading to... "More then a little then?"

"Ahhhhhh..." I let off before coughing in my hand and blushing. "Well... What I'll say is a... stamina potion was involved..."

"Oh my." She let off with a giggle. "A thankful bunch then?"

"Something along those lines... Bit much, if you ask me." I let off as she giggled once more, a small blush coming to her own features and highlighting the best of them.

"I imagine you've acquired a few stories." She let off with a smile. "If nothing else Maia is... eager to mention how she pleased she was." She let off as my eye twitched.

"Should I take you to bed and give you a personal demonstration, Your Highness?" I asked, pointing to her with my spoon as she leaned onto the table with an elbow.

"Beh!?" She let off in a cute manner; she was scooping ice cream at the time and it fell back into her bowl as she stiffened and looked to me like a deer in the headlights, cutely unblinking as I ate my own scoop as a deeper blush came to her. "Ahhh... Joke or not I'm not used to be so... bluntly propositioned."

"In my defense you do owe me for dropping the Dread Field issue into my lap with no warning." I said, pointing my spoon to her before going for another scoop... annnnnnd she was blushing harder. It took a second for me to realize how my comment could be taken... but she was so cute blushing I opted to pivot as opposed to apologize. "Perhaps I can take you on a date or the like? When this war's done and things have settled down a little?"

"Ahhhhh, y-yes... that would be more appropriate, wouldn't it?" She let off with a smile as her blush faded. Before anything else could be said the pinging of a voxlux went off and she moved to pull hers out; she would answer a called from one of the Dawn Templars. "Yes, is something the matter?"

"No, your highness. But Prostoy Earthtone is requesting an audience in regards to the Mooncast Conscripts." The Templar, a pink haired one, let off as Celestine nodded.

"I see. I'm on the balcony, can you show him over?" She asked as the Templar nodded.

"At once." She said as she hung up; as Celestine set the voxlux away we shared a look.

"I wonder what's up..." I let off as I frowned in thought. "I have to admit that... things haven't gone as I thought they might since we arrived; the response we've gotten has been pretty tepid."

"So I've heard." Celestine said as her look turned stern, her blush fully fading. "All the reports I have read state an unexpected lack of response from the people... I was afraid of what measures might have been needed to pacify the populous... And yet now I worry what was going on that nearly no measures was needed."

It did speak volumes, and not in a positive manner. We had a light chat before Prostoy arrived as he walked to the table, a Templar escorting him. "Thank you. Dismissed for the moment." She told the Templar who saluted and moved to leave as she looked to the dark elf. "Please, join us."

"I'm sorry if I was disrupting something." He said, moving to sit at the table across from Celestine. "But I wanted to speak to you as soon as I could."

"It's fine." I was the one to speak up as he looked to me. "We're all tense about what's coming, so it's understandable to get as much straightened out as possible as soon as able."

"Doubly so as this situation must be... awkward for you and yours." Celestine let off as she looked to him. "We are here fighting your countrymen. That thought cannot be easy for you."

"You're right. It's not." He said with a sigh. "But to be blunt... this might be the thing this nation needed." He said as he looked to us; both of surprised by the statement. "Tell me... Do you know of Arblade?"

"Anyone who knows their history does." I said as I nodded. "Until the arrival of the Great Pox they were the greatest rival and threat to Eostia. We're aware dark elves from beyond the Reach arrived and Olga followed sometime after and put it all to the sword. What exactly happened is... hazy."

"The lowborne and highborne have their own tales of heretics set to chains and humans to the sword." Prostoy said with a nod. "But a few of us remember what happened, wrote the tales and told them to the young. It's a history spoken only among the laborborne and behind closed doors or in hidden places."

"Please, regale us." Celestine said and it was clear he had both of our attentions; I was just glad someone else was giving the history lesson for a change.

"When the extermination of the humans failed thousands of years ago those who returned were shamed by those who remained." He began. "But the number lost was a significant part of our number... All our women at the time were trueborne; those born of the giant's seed or what we believe is once it was discovered. However as it was declared only one trueborne could be brought to the world every thousand years, originally to curb population growth, it was decided to bring the men who were pushed aside back in to breed and raise numbers... it was here the rulers called the Pure Council arose. They divided us into castes; trueborne who were of the giant and of those returned or considered lesser by the Council, highborne, lowborne, laborborne and... the lesser chainborne."

He carried on. "Needless to say I think an army marching south would come sooner or later but who knows. What I do know is large parts of the laborborne and elements of the lowborne became sick and tired of the lot in life they were assigned to and began to rise up in protest... only for the Pure Council to crack down for a century. They thought our ancestors were tamed but instead they decided there would be no reasoning or changes. As such they opted to leave. Anywhere around Nidavellir wouldn't work, of course, so they braved the Reaches to arrive in human lands hoping to find sanctuary and a new home."

"Instead they found a realm in chaos and panic." He said with a sigh. "All I have is what I was told and what bits were written and hidden away. They found a land recovering from sickness and besieged by Aberrant. Naturally my people came under attack by the Aberrant as well and, as such, a pact was agreed to with those of Arblade; an alliance to survive. Alliance then became understanding which became friendship and, soon, a union. Human and dark elves would court one another and hybrids of the two would be borne; along with pureborne of both races, of course. Supposedly it was a near century of... perhaps not a peace but improvement."

"Then Olga and her armies came from the north." He said as he took in a breath. "There are... several stories of this time, some don't match. What it seems happened is Olga arrived and was confused by the union but offered the dark elves of Arblade a place in her armies if we turned on the humans. Some say it was not her who delivered the offer but a member of the Drakepyres or Nightsongs or another highborne. Some state she wouldn't arrive in person for a few months, having sent a force ahead of her to prepare for the building of the Citadel. What I do know is the Arbladish, human and dark elf alike, gave the same response to them; leave. Instead they all fought."

"They say golems came from the north as the war raged and started to build the Citadel. The Arbladish destroyed some but not all and in the end they couldn't break them all as they had to focus on survival and they were struggling with the army. Still, after a few months things turned for the better; Olga's army were being pushed back and slain... until the Dread Field came up. The humans near it became instantly ill and those further away weakened before succumbing. Without their human allies the dark elves of Arblade were unable to stand up to the invaders and soon the conquest was finished... And then the Aberrant came, found themselves empowered and jumped on what humans were fleeing; raping the women and killing the men."

"I don't know how the Aberrant came to serve Olga; I imagine they found service to her to their benefit. But that is, a perhaps abbreviated, history." He said as I mused for a moment.

"I recall when I was fighting Blood Caller, a hobgoblin, how he said Dagon birthed the Aberrant to slay humans." I began as I moved to rub my chin with a thumb as they looked to me now. "If I recall correctly he said that he, at least, gave up on the idea of ending the human race and was more interested in conquest and said he wasn't opposed to fighting alongside like minded humans. Maybe this is something like that; the Aberrant are using the Dread Field to kill, conquer and breed with humans and they either see dealing with the Garanians as either an acceptable compromise or maybe even they think it's to their benefit."

"Aberrant aren't stupid, but in my experience they are... short sighted, save a bare few." Celestine said with a nod.

"I tell this history to make you understand not what is but what was, or at least as much as I know it to be." Prostoy sighed. "But I also tell all of this to you to ask of you something. I spoke with my troops and we all agreed; we want to stand with you and face Garan." I blinked. I was sure Celestine blinked. "We want to bring back the Spirit of Arblade, or at least the Arblade my ancestors knew and fight once more for a better future."

"You are aware that our plan isn't to conquer Garan unless we must; it is to make peace with Olga Discordia." Celestine said as he nodded.

"I am aware; you are here for your own people and not mine." He said with a nod. "And yes, that can lead us to facing others... forced into combat... But even if Olga remains queen we will make it known that we are no longer willing to be stepped on... The people need to fight back but more importantly be seen fighting back. What is coming for us will not be a battle for Garan as a state, it will be a statement we the laborborne scream to the heavens; no more." He hissed as he looked to us with a stern glance. There was a silence for a moment before I looked to Celestine.

"If we bring them along then we'd need to change or recolor their armor to avoid confusion." I stated as I looked to her. "We have no idea how many people Olga is marching with beyond 'many thousands'. There might be frictions between them and our troops but we might need every last set of hands and spears out there."

"...Indeed... We just might..." She let off as she sighed. "More over we do not know fully what Olga is thinking or what she knows of her people. I often find it difficult to learn of and connect with the commoners of my own land; even when I take an active role in learning... I can imagine Olga may suffer such difficulties as well... if not worse... She could well be uncaring for the common people but she also may be merely ignorant in distance from them. In such a case it would do us well to enlighten her." She finally went silent for a moment before speaking once more. "Prostoy Earthtone; I grant the request you have made and I'll tell my people. We will help do our best to outfit you with something to identify yourselves to avoid confusion."

"I thank you." He said with a nod. "I know of an old family with old samples of Arbalde livery and banners hidden away. We can restore the banners and find something to use as tabards if nothing else."

"Very well. We should be able to assist to some capacity." Celestine said as she smiled. "Eostia and Arblade were long rivals, but if what Arblade was in the end is as you say then to carry it's torch to battle would be a thing of pride; for us both."

[-]

Mooncast City, Nightsong Palace
Training Room
Evening

"Come on... Come on..." Channer let off as he focused on the device before him. Like the body the mana system needed to be trained and to train it required a particular sort of device; in this case a resistance orb. Despite the name it didn't need to be an orb although being made of a spell stone or spell glass was common. It was designed to let a person press their mana into it as it pushed back; channeling the excess energies to it's stand as ice and fire mana both, canceling one another out and making light bits of steam and mist.

Like working a muscle with weights the resistance built a person's mana reserves and the more mana one pushed in the more was pushed back; like adding more and more weights. People came and went in the training room but the Blitzhaus youth had been their for hours and hours, sweat pouring off his bare, topless torso as he grit his teeth and pushed more and more mana into the orb as it shook lightly and light steam came off of it's stand.

He had thought ending the two cyclopses (Cyclopsi?) would make his name known across the Eostian forces... save that while it had been seen and noted James had ended up eclipsing him yet again by defeating yet another matron... and then starting putting out fires before anyone else arrived and being called the Shield Lord by the locals... and that was before the blatant favoritism Celestine was showing him in handing the GOR to him; only James' own refusal that kept the honor from them and even then he was the one to suggest Iryna Syniy as Marquisess, a suggestion Celestine took and ran with.

He focused all of his frustration onto the device before him as more and more steam emitted from the stand of it as he poured more and more of his mana into it harder and harder, as quickly as he could with as much force as he could. Despite looking like he was straining with nothing the effort he was putting in was plain to any mage watching and anyone else educated enough on the subject.

Sweat, exhaustion and effort was clear on his face as his arms trembled with effort and exhaustion. Even as people came, trained and left he stayed, pressing on for longer then anyone would advise. Regardless he kept going and going until a hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back physically. "That's enough, Channer." Even without looking back he knew who it was by the voice and firm tone; his father Arnold. "Go get something to eat and then get your rest." Channer snarled a bit but when he turned he kept his voice even and calm.

"I need to train harder, father." He let off, panting with long breaths. "I keep. Falling. Behind."

"And if you drop to mana exhaustion the recovery time will make you fall further." The count told his son firmly. "I well understand your frustration. As I told you once I was behind my brother, once upon a time." Channer's shoulders slumped but he relaxed as his father kept speaking. "I couldn't best him a fight, nor in chasing women, nor in hunting, nor in... much, really. At least until my father opted to test us, in one last moment before deciding on who would arise to take his position. My brother got complacent for awhile, indulged too much... and the last fight we had I would win, if narrowly. Given my better skills in tactical and logistical matters my father named me his heir and my brother... I offered him a spot by my side, but he instead left to find his own way in the world."

"... You miss him, huh?" Channer said as his father moved to the side for a moment to grab something off a rack, walking back to hand his son a towel; the son taking it to dry off his sweat.

"More then I thought I would." The father said with a sigh as he looked up. "Honestly I often envy the relationship you and your siblings have; we were often... less brothers and more rivals... sometimes too bitter. It's one of the reasons I did my best to never pit you and your brothers against each other; it's a strange pain that never went away. But that takes away from what I am speaking of. You need to stop obsessing so much; it will hinder your growth more then help it."

Channer flinched back for a moment, blinking at him. "You are directing your energies to such a degree you forget at times what is important." Arnold carried on. "You compare accolades and accomplishments rather then focus on what you can do for yourself and those around you. It doesn't matter who has done more or greater now... What matters is who arises in the final conflict. If anything, in that thought, James' accomplishments benefit you."

"Wait... what?"

"Think of it as this." Arnold lifted a finger up as he spoke. "At some point in the future if you two clash then what matters is who is left standing after the contest; be it in a tournament, duel, work or other competition... The only thing more known then a legend is the one who defeats a legend. As well and known as Verlangen was Joanna and the Shield Maidens are much more exulted. To defeat someone like that will be all the accolades you need. Now, come." He said, smiling. "Get dress. Eat. Bathe. Rest. Olga will march for us soon so we must be ready."

Channer chuckled a bit as he moved off to the side where his tunic hung on the wall, pulling it off before slipping it on to himself. "Thanks Dad..."

"No need. It's what I need to do as a father." Soon side by side father and son would walk off, a sandwich claimed, a bath had and rest claimed.

Tomorrow would be another day.

[-]

Naturally come the morning as I found myself with a little free time I trained starting with stats and getting enough to pop one more into Endurance as I spent my two Regular Stat Points into Constitution bringing them both up to 73. The two Sexual Stat Points went to Capacity because... it was the lowest. I got about thirty one hundred XP in sparring which, sadly, was four thousand short of a level up. Can't win'em all.

In case your wondering I trained with a few of the Dawn Templars near my level. They were more then happy to do so... even if they were a bit distracted. I wasn't; in a world where a half naked woman is fully able to kick your ass you learn to ignore tits when weapons are out.

What I wasn't sure of is what to do with my fifty Universal Trait Points; with a big battle coming up it would behoove me to get every advantage that I could. Of course that begged the question; what do I get? Rather then just pick one I opted to make a list of choice selections of traits I thought would be useful that I could afford. That list?

[Bolster Armor] - 30 TP
Your armor seems to be stronger then if another wore it. +10% to all resistances of your current armor.

I thought this could be a useful one; my dragon scale armor had saved me quite often already; I'd likely be dead if I was still using my old leather gambeson at the very least. Making it more effective would be a plus and as the scales drew in mana over time to reinforce itself the effect would compound.

[Elemental Conduit] - 45 TP
You can channel elemental magic into your weapon with greater ease. Any Combat Art that imbues a weapon with an elemental effect has that elements damage increased by double.

Given how often I used elemental weapon spells, let alone the two I crafted for myself, doubling the damage would be useful.

[Dual Strike] - 25 TP
You are exceptional at using two weapons at the same time. +5% Dex and Agi while using two weapons at once.

I had been using the Shining Gemini split it pieces quite often or pairing one with the Dragon's Claw so I'd benefit from it quite often. Along with it and a few others it costed only twenty five Trait Points so I could get two of them if I wanted.

[Iron Fist] - 25 TP
Your fists are hardened from years of combat practice. +2% Damage to all Unarmed attacks with an additional +2% Damage to all punching attacks. Furthermore your hands and knuckles have their resistance to damage doubled.

Another twenty five TP trait I applied fisticuffs to my attacks fairly often so while it was low on my want list it had a place on it.

[Blast & Blade] - 30 TP
5% of your Str is added to magical damage. Add 5% of your Mag to physical damage.

I fight in melee. I fight with magic. This would work out for me as I'd improve my overall damage and healing ability.

[Sword Master] - 25 TP
You are a master of any sword set to your hand. +2 Damage to all one handed swords in your use, +4 Damage to all two handed swords in your use.

Given my main weapon was a single handed sword and I could turn the Gemini into two singled handed swords I could make use of it.

[Badass Bookworm] - 25 TP
Your learning has given you insight on how to handle and fight those who use magic. +5% Resistance to Magical Attacks.

While I think Bolster Armor was more useful the cost made it notable; not to mention it would be useful even outside of armor.

[Aura of Command] - 40 TP
You inspire those around you with you presence. +2% to Stats of all allies within thirty feet of you.

Possibly useful; I often was fighting with someone nearby but at the same time I was often was fighting alone.

[Gunslinger] - 40 TP
You have the ability to use pistols as a Secondary Weapon.

Being able to use guns could be useful down the line as, at the moment, I didn't have access to the weapons. Still being able to enchant bullets could have interesting applications and, unlike when I came into this world, I had the cash to afford the weapons.

[Arcane Weapon Mastery] - 30 TP
You can cast Arcane Weapon with a reduced mana cost and enhanced damage. -50% Mana Cost to use Arcane Weapon. Any weapon made with Arcane Weapon has +3 Damage

The Shining Gemini was my main backup weapon and improving it with mastery would be a boon; more power for less cost and more damage? Yes please.

[Arcane Mastery] - 30 TP
+7% Power to all Arcane Spells.

This one would also increase Arcane Weapon's power but also spells like Magic Missile and Scatter Bolt which I use very often. If I can get both this and Arcane Weapon Mastery the Shining Gemini would be improved greatly.

[Mana of the Storm] - 35 TP
You enjoy spells related to the weather and storms. +5% Effect to any water, wind, ice or lightning spell you cast.

A means to let me improve half of the magical elements; I used wind and ice spells quite often and, as usual, a ways to improve things I had made such as the Cloud Riders.

[Near & Far] - 25 TP
You are an adapt of both close range and long range combat. Your Accuracy increases your melee accuracy by 20% of it's value and your Dexterity increases your ranged accuracy by 20% of it's value.

I checked; yes, ranged in this case included magic. A means to improve my accuracy at all ranges would be useful and combined with Blast and Blade that would make my overall combat ability much better.

[Shield Caster] - 30 TP
You are an expert in casting all kinds of shield spells. +10% Power to all shielding spells you cast.

That would improve the shield in my glove, any casted shield I raised, shields in the Cloud Rider and anything else I made.

[Hybrid Master] - 35 TP
You are a master of Hybrid Magic and understand it's complexities. -15% Mana cost when casting a Hybrid Spell. In addition adapting and creating Hybrid Spells are easier for you

Given I had a list of powerful, hybrid spells this would be useful... and if I had the ability to adapt or create new hybrid spells it could be useful down the line.

All in all each one made sense to one degree or another. As for which I'd pick I believed that Bolster Armor was the one that would have the most immediate benefit and with chances being high another chaotic melee was coming (Possibly the biggest yet) and I knew the chances of being blindsided was likely; improving my armor was a good investment to keep myself in the fight if something happens.

In that moment however I was laying on a bench with a barbell, pressing iron up and down. Sure I used up all the boosts to my Stat XP gain for the week but I was still gaining a trickle... and I needed something to do that wasn't sitting around. In my old world I'd never have guessed I could press some three hundred pounds like this but here I was, pressing the weights rather well. I was shirtless and pumping my arms with grunts and pants as I exerted myself, enjoying the repetitive action more then I should.

Finally I finished and set the weight on the rack, took a breath and finally sat up, calling it a day for now as I grabbed a towel and started to wipe sweat off myself... just as someone came in. "There you arrrrre..."

"Alicia, you've arrived then, huh?" I said as I turned to her as I rested the towel around my neck. Indeed, she was there and... looking over my chest before her eyes finally met mine with her face flushed.

"P-p-put a shirt on!" She let off as I gave her a narrow eyed stare; the room was mostly empty but a few knights were about working out or sparring.

"Alicia, you run a group of knights, I'm sure shirtless men is something you've seen enough of." I pointed out as I moved to wipe my forehead for a moment before I reached for a water satchel for a long drink.

"That's not the point... they're staring." She hissed out; 'they' being some of the female knights in the room, including the Dawn Templars. I looked over to them and some turned their heads, pretending they weren't staring while wearing cropped tops that bared their abs while some waved and kept looking as I looked back to Alicia.

"So?"

"You're joking." She let off as she looked to me. "Don't you find being stared at embarrassing?"

"Alicia; you're half naked and I am well aware of what color panties you like to wear and I don't need to try and look to know." I told her as she blinked to me. "You manage, don't you?"

"...fair point..." She said, sighing softly. I chuckled, sipping the water and took a moment to wipe off with the towel before grabbing my tunic and pulling it on.

"I haven't had lunch yet, you?" I asked as she shook her head. "Care to join me, then?"

"Sure."

[-]

Logistics meant that lunch wasn't fancy; pork chops and pan fried potatoes. They weren't french fries as they were cut in slices as opposed to sticks but the taste was similar; thank goodness for salt and pepper. As it turned out the other Shield Princesses has yet to arrive; Alicia was able to hitch a ride on a Cloud Runner running supplies about along with a handful of the Knights of Iris. "So, how has the Unicorn Knight been?" She let off cheekily as I sighed. And yes; it turns out I had yet another nickname which was earned somewhat by the Noxdecus House Banner and more from riding White Peach in her armor as the golden mythril horn on it made her look like a unicorn. It made sense, but I was starting to find all the nicknames a bit much.

(As it turned out the term Unicorn Knight was a reference I wasn't aware of; unicorns were a thing in this world but extremely rare and of unknown origins. One of the most notable Imperium generals of the age, Sarah von Noxrex, tamed and rode one earning the name 'Unicorn Knight' as her steed would gore foes with it's horn. Of course the First Age of Conflict happened and while I had heard of her before I and many others thought she was a myth. Turns out there are genuine records of her; although few survived.)

"Wondering why I'm being showered with so many nicknames and titles." I replied as I cut into my chop. "I'm not going to act like I haven't done anything notable-"

"You killed two opposing matrons, Beyll Klyk, three trolls at a time, beat the Dread Field-"

"Thank you for reminding me of what I've done." I said as I raised a hand, cutting Alicia off after her interruption as I sighed. "But I'm worried things might be blown out of proportion. I don't want to be standing on a pedestal."

"That I can... understand..." She said as she paused to eat her food for a moment as I did the same. "I was always going to be set to a pedestal and... I guess I was raised to prepare for it; unlike someone from a less notable territory." That was... true, neither of my lives prepared me for being in the spotlight in such a manner. Honestly; in my old life I was happy to blend into the background and only took the lead when I had to... although I was well aware sometimes you just had to take control of a situation lest things turn to shit.

"I just prefer to do my thing, I guess. I'm aware I can't avoid attention; I just think I'm just getting too much of it." I summarized as I moved to eat a bit more.

"I guess that's why you've been able to... make headway with the Field when no one else could." She mused as I blinked at her as I chewed. "You're... You do your best to not be above anyone and remain humble. You were willing to speak to pirates with respect and decency. You will speak to commoners as if they were equals or near equals and treat your servants with friendship and honesty. Where others would be too self assured in their pursuit of an answer you just... sought it."

"It was more I just didn't chase the usual theories and just followed what evidence I had." I pointed out between bites as she shook her head.

"That's what I mean." She replied after swallowing her own food. "Everyone else chased them for seven hundred years. You didn't."

"You're over praising me."

"Maybe." She came back with right after I spoke. "But have you considered you're under praising yourself?"

"Hmmm... I'd rather not get a big head." I said as I shrugged. Anything else I was about to say was cut off as a plate was set by next to me as someone sat down; Sondra Brissania, a friend of mine (Although one distance sometimes strained) and from a house allied to Noxdecus. I was aware she wore mythril armor to battle but she was in her standard wear currently. "Sondra, haven't seen you in a while."

"Ahh, hey James." She said, giving me a warm smile. "Indeed... It's good to see you once more."

"Did you arrive with Alicia, here?" I asked; after all she must have been in the Foeh front before now... and then both women gave me a look. "...What?"

"You didn't hear?" Alicia let off as she blinked to me. "Sondra went missing; back when you were working on the Field problem." She let off as I stiffened; no I wasn't aware of it.

"Really? What happened?" The worry in my voice was very muted; she was sitting right next to me so whatever happened was unlikely to be that bad.

"I ended up being knocked out in a skirmish and rolled down a hill." She said as she looked to me. "When I woke up there was a goblin... and... well..."

[-]

Two Weeks Ago
Forest Cave in Northern Arafe

Sondra blinked as she sat on a battered, creaking crate. Stacks of scavenged bricks formed the legs of a table made by what seemed to be a broken side of a wagon. The dishes, aside from some chips on the edges, were well cared for and rather clean and the same could be said for the cutlery save a slightly twisted fork and spoon. A... decently seasoned piece of hunted venison was on her plate with wild nuts and fruits mixed into a bowl. A dinged goblet was filled to the brim with a wine, although it was bent to lean slightly to one side.

Across from her was a smiling, red goblin, holding his dinged and even more bent and swirling the drink in a circle as the campfire lit the room and the bed; a mattress made up seemingly of a mix of leaves, blankets and pillows, a barrel filled with water and another with loose logs and sticks for the fire. "So... How'd a pretty lady like you end up in a forest like this?" He let off in a suave tone, or rather an attempted suave tone, as he smiled to her with a wriggle of his eye brows.

Normally she wouldn't entertain such a thing but she was unbound, had her weapons by her side and he was nude and made a show of displaying his lack of weapons (Save the fork and knife designed more for eating food then martial combat) and still had her voxlux. He even claimed she could leave if she wanted, he just wanted a chance to romance her...

It was... oddly sweet. A hint creepy, but sweet.

[-]

I blinked.

Alicia blinked.

Sondra blushed.

"Well... as long as he didn't touch you." I said with a sigh.

"Oh, he did." Sondra replied.

My jaw dropped.

Alicia's jaw dropped.

Sondra coughed into her hand. "He was... a very... energetic lover. It wasn't that bad, all in all."

I sighed.

Alicia sighed.

Sondra blushed deeper.

What is my life?

[-]

Come the next day in the mid-morning the rest of the Shield Princesses had arrived and I had the honor of greeting them in Mooncast outside the gates of Nightsong Palace along with their fellow Shields. Three Cloud Riders went to Scalefire Highpeak to pick them up along with Klaus and members of their respective elite units. Hugs went around (Including Lulu leaping up at me to do so, arms around my neck) as Claudia and Klaus embraced and kissed. It was sweet...

But every party has it's pooper.

Before we would move in Celestine saw something and turned to look out the gate of the palace and frowned as she gave off a sigh. Wondering what she saw I turned to see a red and gold colored carriage moving slowly towards us... with a mounted Sancta Gloria escort with both men and horses in golden colored armor and red tabards and an Una Vertias banner; aka the Church. Meaning chances were high that riding in the carriage was a Cardinal of the Church... or even the Archbishop himself.

The Seven Shield Princesses stood in a line as myself and Klaus stood behind them as we shared a look. I was a bit worried that it could be the Archbishop; he was the first and thus far only person to sense when I used Observe on them which put him on alert... on top of that the Church had a mad-on for dragonborne and there was more then a fifty percent chance one of their members knew that and passed it along. Soon the carriage stopped, doing a quarter turn to have the door facing us.

Of course with my luck as it is it was the Archbishop, Lucilius the Sixth, who stepped out along with his bodyguard, Harrison Hamilton. "Avatar Celestine; it is good to see you once more." He said as he walked to her, using his crosier like a walking cane as he had a slight smile to a mostly neutral face while his bodyguard stood by his carriage. "I didn't send any announcement of my arrival so I imagine you were all out here for other reasons."

"Indeed; the Seven Shields are here as one. We were merely greeting those who had just arrived." Celestine said with a calm tone and look. "I would have preferred you sent word of your arrival but it is not unexpected. Here for potential of the battle, I assume?" Lucilius looked to us all for a moment, no one giving him happy looks with Alicia crossing her arms under her bust and Maia tapping her foot as she narrowed her eyes.

"I will... ignore the lack of trust from you and yours; we are all here to safe guard our nation, regardless of our disagreement of how it would best be ruled." He said in diplomatic tone; a mix of understanding that, yes, we didn't trust him... while at the same time extending a proverbial olive branch while pretending the issue was solely one odd thing and not how shady he was. "Because regardless of such things defeating Garan benefits us all."

That... was true. My understanding of the Church's plan was, at least from what I know and can see, they're playing the long game and building influence over time; as such removing Garan as a threat just meant one more, destabilizing factor was off the table and would be one less thing to consider when planning... mainly how to destabilize Eostia on their terms.

"Naturally. I'm sure you're hoping to get a spot for the Church Forces in the order of battle?" Celestine replied. That was another thing to consider as he must have known what we knew; Olga was going to come to Mooncast City for a visit along with tens of thousands of her close and personal friends. There would be a lot of glory to be had in a battle of that promised size and no doubt the Church wanted a large slice of that praise... if only to hold themselves higher up in the people's esteem for the sake of propaganda. It was worth noting that the Faith's Dawnguard were here in force but more for Iryna then the coming battle... not that they were above doing the same.

"Of course. Tis the job of the Army of the Faithful to defend their peers and fight Eostia's foes, is it not?" Lucilius said with a grin... as I shared a look with Klaus. "That being said I was hoping we could set up in one of the manors along this place, assuming you can spare one."

"I will ask General DuLouvnoir if there is one you can use. As I recall we had one set aside in the eastern most spot of the district." In other words; away from most of the rest of the regular Eostian forces.

"Naturally." The Archbishop said with a soft, likely false, smile as he nodded; as if expecting something like that. Then he finally looked to me; I was sure he noticed me since he stepped out of the carriage and just ignored me or pretended to until now before he moved to shuffle past the High Queen to walk to me, stopping before me. Harrison stayed back still as the Church's leader stopped before me; the Seven Shields turning to watch with their own narrowed eyes. "And the man who is quickly becoming a hero; even over at the Caul and Bladeguard fronts I've been hearing tales of your derring-do, Lord Noxdecus. No introductions are needed, I assume?"

"Of course not." I said with a nod of my head. "And I'm not here to gain tales of 'derring-do', as you say. Just doing what I can."

"As we all should for the Goddess' sake, my son." He said, his voice and smile warm and friendly... his eyes much less so as he looked to mine. If the old man didn't know before I was dragonborne he knew now given how close he was. "And by all accounts you've been... instrumental to victory, more then most. I will be keeping an eye on you." Translation; I can't kill you right now, but I'll be watching you. Watching to see what I do or for a chance to jump me, I don't know. He said, tapping his staff to the floor twice before turning and walking off. "Until next time, good people."

I frowned a bit as he finally entered his carriage; it felt like he just stopped in to let us know he existed and once they had left I had said as much. Celestine would nod and speak in reply to that.

"Indeed... but, as much as I hate to say it, we might need his help; the Church Forces are substantial in size and the manpower will likely be need-"

Ping-Ping-Ping-Ping!

Celestine pulled her voxlux out and saw General DuLouvnoir in it's projection as she answered it. "Yes General?"

"My queen, the scry device has picked up Olga and her army marching..."

"Excellent. What numbers are we looking at?" She asked as Mallory sighed and looked to the queen in question before answering...

[-]

Two Hours Previous
Outside of Napreryvnyy City
Southeast Blazecrown
Near the Borders of Blackshard and Onyxcloak
Kingdom of Garan

"One hundred thousand strong..." Olga mused as she stood on her hovering platform as she looked out to the army she faced. The forces marshaled under her banner spread out far and wide and included members from all of the five High Houses as well as her own elite forces and Aberrant on the grassy plains outside the city walls. "I am surprised we pulled so many into what must be the largest force we've ever sent out."

"Indeed... However much of what swelled our numbers are reserves pulled back into service and conscripts rushed to arms." Chloe said with a sigh. "I'd estimate they make up, perhaps, a quarter to a third of our forces." On top of that they had drafted every single Aberrant in their collected forces to this one army; to the point they might have less then a thousand left in reserve total. It was the closest to talking back to her queen she ever recalled doing in her life.

"That is... disappointing, but we have little time to waste." Olga began as she resisted the urge to sigh. "We need to march soon and before the Eostians can fully consolidate their hold. Weight of numbers, however, will assist us and the all those raised as conscripts were supposed to have basic training. It'll have to be enough..."

"My Queen..." Chloe let off softly. "...I'm... not sure if we can win, but I will see you safe at the end of this." Olga gave her favorite aide a look, the hand on her staff softly clenching in surprise. Chloe had never declared she would protect her before; if anything it was Chloe enjoying her protection... That she would say such a thing spoke to fears in her aide's heart that she struggled to hold in.

In truth she struggled with much of the same.

It wasn't the only cause for worry as she had Chloe look into the possible reasons the laborborne might be willing to submit to Eostian rule and found... much to be distressed about; rumors and tales of abuse, disregarding those who, by all rights, should have been uplifted to the lowborne out of spite, rape and worst of all fires set to delay the opposing army in the five capitals... in the residential districts of the laborborne... She was well aware she lacked the full scope of what was going on and it would take time, focus and dedication to both understand what went wrong but correct it... time she, sadly, lacked in that moment... She had a larger job to do in that moment.

"By the time we are done there will be no need to fear." Olga said as she narrowed her eyes. "We shall reclaim what we lost." She said before stepping forth and then lifting her staff up before slamming it down. The sound was magically amplified to get everyone's attention. Any talk inside the troops ended as she spoke. "Garanians! Hear what I now declare!" She began loudly as she paused to allow all to readjust their attentions.

"Days ago we suffered a defeat on a scale we had never suffered before. And yet we shall not bend." She let off, her voice amplified by her magic to reach all in her force. "Nor shall we break. Nay; instead we march. We will retake lost cities and lands and push the lowly humans and any of their allies back to whence they came. We will take our cities back and reinstall good order and governance. We will water the grass and trees with human blood. And once our standard is raised over our realm once more we can then turn our attentions south. Today we begin the long march to the next chapter of our kingdom. Long live Garan. And long live Nidavellir!"

"Long Live Nidavellir!" Came a call back, loud and strong as she turned to walk around the platform's throne and took her seat.

"We march on Mooncast City. Forwards!"

[-]

There was an understandable amount of fear once the reports came in. A hundred thousand troops? It boggled my mind. It boggled a lot of minds.

Once the initial shock wore off, however, the good general laid out other reports; an estimated twenty to thirty thousand were fresh, raw recruits likely raised in little time. Perhaps reservists or conscripts who bore training or service at sometime in the past but hadn't seen training or combat in a long time. In addition the armies moving to siege the other cities were, by all accounts, lacking Aberrant. It seems we anticipated her plan correctly; of course she had no idea we could watch her in such a way and, as such, likely didn't expect to need counter measures. I assume she was watching for Cloud Riders in some manner and was confident enough to not need to fog up the air over them. Indeed, it wasn't until they were away from the city that Dark Mists were used to create one, huge cloud over the army in an effort to hide numbers.

Too late for that.

Still; that was a number roughly around the size of the Eostian force in total and it wasn't concentrated all in one spot. Calls were set out, orders to march given to get as many people here as possible. Reserves were directed to Mooncast as the numbers were tallied up; we were expected to field sixty to seventy thousand troops. Depending on how quick troop movements were we would face between a five to three and a half to three disadvantage in numbers. That wasn't to say our situation was all bad; if we were right there was a chance a large amount of their troops were fresh conscripts and, thus, not hardened in battle. Even our conscripts (Save a couple thousand recent reinforcements) had cut their teeth now and knew what to do, not to mention our regulars.

More over among the regulars who arrived was Steel Lock's finest marksmen along with a lot of firearms and while in this world they weren't that effective against metal armor anything short of that wasn't an issue... and conscripts were often given cloth and leather gambeson to wear; they might be able to negate the opposing conscripts alone.

Speaking of conscripts; the local forces who'd be joining us raided the local armories for equipment and found a lot of metal armor; not enough to fully supply their full number but they could leave the cloth gambeson to archers and leather to skirmishers in their ranks. In addition they either used paints, dyes and whatever else they could use to color armor and tabards white before painting a pair of steel blue iron crosses on the fronts, one over top of the other, and a sword over them pointing down. I didn't know what to make of it until they pulled out a restored Arblade flag they intended to fight under... and it made sense right after.

The centerpiece of it was a black outlined, wide tower shield with the top and bottom coming to points to make it six sided. A gold stripe with a thinner, black line on it's inside led to a red back ground with two, steel gray iron crosses outlined in black at the top and bottom with a sword pointing down over them; the hilt with a gold cross guard and pommel at the top with a gray handle and green, diamond shaped stone in the guard and lighter gray blade.

Crossing over the shield's center was a simple banner white, black outlined banner; ribbon like with notched ends and outlines set inside of it in black with 'ARBLADE' written in a fancy, bold, black font. As I recalled it was the banner of Dreadrick Arblade's House and when he founded his empire he just... slapped said house banner on a flag and called it a day. The rest of the flag was a dark red with dark green stripes on either end. Fitting for a unit now calling itself 'The Ghosts of Arblade'.

My understanding was an Eostian commander was assigned to the unit as no one among them had any real command experience. Said commander was rushing to get Prostoy up to speed to be an able lieutenant and, with luck, a commander in his own right with a handful of others as sergeants. They couldn't be relied on as a fully independent force yet but with luck they'd be... ready enough once the battle came to our doorstep. That said by all accounts the Ghosts were ready to make their mark.

Not that they were the only ones; both the Church Forces and the Black Dogs would be present in most of their forces... and both were under the leadership of men I couldn't fully trust... Grand. Of course other mercenary orders flocked over as did a steady tickle of Adventurers who were both looking for a paycheck and a grand story to tell over drinks one day; Claudia was organizing them into several irregular units with choice picks being set into established units; especially the mages.

Soon the enemy was a day out... and I was doing all I could to avoid the nerves getting to me; reading, training, touring the town, spending time with Prim and Kaguya. I did what I could to get my mind off what would be coming this way soon. Come the last evening I sat by the window of my quarters; I choose a smaller one for myself as I felt like I didn't need anything large or fancy and it still had it's own bathroom, even if the tub was a bit odd; it was tall, had a small, half door to get into it and it bore a seat. Huh.

I swirled a glass of whiskey in my hand (Bought from that speakeasy I found) and sipped at it as I looked off the rising moon. I had dressed down to just boxers and a light tunic, both black, as I ran through thoughts in my head. My main one was this; how to counter Olga's Annihilation Stream. ... Well, beyond 'don't get hit by it', I mean in the event I couldn't dodge or interrupt it. Even if she is weakened that spell was a major threat to deal with; it killed Commander Keen and other knights, both Dawn Templars and others. The thing to note is that as a hybrid fire/darkness spell it was hard to counter it.

For starters there is the fact that particular hybrid combination eats through any conventional, casted shield like it was nothing; a magical shield against that spell was as protective as a bikini against the cold of Antarctica. That wasn't to say no spell would falter right away; any attack spell I had that operated in a wave could push it back if I could overpower her spell... which is a big if. Another option was a spell that created a physical barrier of some sort; mana reinforcing an object such as ice, water or earth. Of course even with that there were more issues; for example it's a darkness/fire spell and thus will cause intense heat and flow around a barrier that doesn't provide correct cover. Burns and heatstroke were both potential problems depending on how powerful it was.

That's not to say the darkness half didn't matter; it didn't bolster the heat but caused the spell deal more damage to what ever it hit so any physical barrier could be destroyed by it, even to the point of burning through stone if enough power was pumped into it, something Olga could do. So to summarize it was a giant flamethrower that could burn through almost any physical barrier without being hotter then normal fire, eat through any magical barrier and was still hot enough to burn, scorch and cause heatstroke while also slamming into anything it hit hard. Fun.

The chances of burns and heatstroke were mitigated by my armor as it did have spells to help manage by body temperature against excessive cold and heat... although I imagined it wouldn't hold up if I took a direct hit. My first instinct was simple; an ice or water elemental Dragon's Breath to at least counter the fire aspect of it but... after a bit of thought I decided I needed a better plan. That plan requires me to hit her spells with enough force to push it back enough to at least cause a draw or stalemate and I wasn't confident I could overpower her magically; yes I knew she was weakened but 'weakened' didn't mean weak.

That said I had another idea I was pondering... not to use a single spell to counter it but a pair of Dual Casted spells that should, in theory, counter the Annihilation Stream if it came to it. Of course I'd rather not need to employ such a plan but better to have a plan and not need it then find myself needing a plan and not having it; if it would work or not was the question and I wasn't looking forwards to the answer. I had finished my glass and debating with myself on a second when a knock came to the door. "Come in." I called out, turning to see who my guest was as the door opened; as it turned out it was Kaguya who stepped in and turned as she shut the door. She sighed and turned while I crossed the distance to her; I caught her off guard as I cupped the back of her head and leaned over slightly to give her a soft kiss. "Evening." I say softly as she blushes.

"Evening. Have you been drinking?" She asked as I chuckled and gently led her to the bed.

"Just a glass." I said as I sat down as she sat next to me. "Just trying to stay... at ease for tomorrow."

"I think we're all a little worried about what is to come." She said as she took my hand in hers and gave it a soft squeeze. I sighed and smiled to her, squeezing her hand back. "Your efforts have brought us further then anyone could have thought. Be proud of what you have done."

"Thank you, Kaguya. But I do have to ask what brings you by?" I asked as I wrapped an arm around her shoulders "Do you need something, or did you just want to come visit?"

"A visit... and to... seek comfort for my own worries, I suppose." She replied as she leaned into me, head pressing to my shoulder. "I think we all have fears of what will come tomorrow."

"I can agree with that, yeah..." I said, my hand at her shoulder and rubbing it softly as I sighed. "It'll be another day of hell tomorrow." I let off as I felt one of her arms snake around my side to hug me as well.

"To end this painful war, it will be worth it... At least I am I hoping it will rush this war to it's end." She admitted as she hugged me a little tighter. "I suppose that's-eep!"

The 'eep' came from the fact as I lifted her up and set her onto my lap before moving to give her lips a firm kiss. She stiffened for a moment before relaxing and kissing back as her other arm moved, hand cradling my head as my other hand moved to her hip, rubbing softly as I groaned into her lips.

"Hell can wait for tomorrow. We're here now and we should enjoy what time we can until then." I told her, smiling back as I was about to ask something only for her to kiss me in turn as my eyes widened for a moment before I kissed back; my hand moving to undo the knot of her top. After a moment I had her topless but before I could do anything with that she was pushing me to my back and shoving my own top and off me as she moved to straddle my hips. She smiled down to me as she pressed her hands to my chest.

"Honestly, since the changes in the Seindai everyone has made up for lost time on sleeping around and finding people to court and flirt with..." She said, blushing as she shimmied her way down as her hands framed by groin between her thumbs and forefingers over my boxers as she squeezed me softly. "And you are there, my fiancee, living across the realm... I've had to satisfy myself with my fingers for awhile now..."

"Ahhh, that is... an issue..." I admitted blushing as she giggled, moving her hips back further.

"Come now, I don't blame you for this." Kaguya told me as she undid my boxers and pulled them down enough to expose my cock. "If anything I should apologize for imposing... and grateful am I of your acceptance." She finally leaned over, kissing the tip of my now stiffening cock as she smiled up at me. "Permit me to show you the appreciation I have..." She let off as she kissed my cock once more before parting her lips and suckling down my length to only a third before starting to bob her head up and down slowly as she looked up to my eyes.

I opted to let her take the lead as it seemed to be what she wanted; I merely moved my hand to her head and stroked her hair to encourage her onward. She pressed her tongue to my shaft's underside and I wonder where she learned this as it felt, real good. (I would later learn it was a combination of asking around with her fellow, now promiscuous, priestesses but also with the help of a cucumber) I petted her head as I groaned out deeper as I shuffled my legs about to further push my boxers down my legs.

She would move one hand to the base of my dick and the other moved to cup my balls; the former stroking in shallow, firm strokes and the latter giving soft, gentle squeezes and strokes with her thumb as I groaned under her in delight all as her mouth bobbed deeper and deeper, until she was taking half of my length into her oral cavity. I couldn't help but buck my hips up in response to her efforts. She looked up to my eyes as she worked as I let off another, long groan of pleasure and delight.

Honestly it didn't take over long for her efforts to make true headway as I was left panting under her, groaning and shivering a bit. "Kaguya... I'm getting close..." I warn her, giving her a warning that I was about to cum and that she should move her lips if she didn't want a mouthful of cum. In spite of my warning, however, she simply bobbed her head faster and a hint deeper as I groaned out. I got the hint of her plan and relaxed on that and just focused on my coming climax; one she earned rather well as I groaned and felt my balls tighten up before I shot up into her waiting mouth with a nice, hot load of thick, white man cream.

She didn't flinch, even if her eyes widened for a moment, as she shivered a bit and kept sucking, if softer and gentler now as I groaned over her deeply. "Fuuuuuuuck..." I let off as I shivered for a moment, thighs quivering gently.

"I am glad that was... pleasing..." She said, blushing for a moment, letting me go to reach down and pulled her panties off... and then some slip of paper that was stuck on her sex (She would later say it was a seal she applied to ensure that if she was captured her sex couldn't be used... and would direct any dick to her ass where the Odd-Faced God can knock them out) that she also set aside as she moved to straddle me as she smiled. "But the... situation last time didn't allow me to use the... correct orifice for this... It is time to correct that."

"I for one, don't mind." Not to mention... fucking her ass might be rude to her god... since, you know... he lives there... She would set my cock to her sex as I moved my hands to her waist, holding on to help support her as she lined up and pressed me into her lower lips. She moaned softly and once I was wedged in she moved her hands to my chest, leaning over as she took in a calming breath... and dropped down onto my pelvis with her ass clapping to me as she squealed out... and not all in pleasure. "Kaguya?"

"I'm... okay..." She let off as she winced but smiled as I looked down, a trickle of blood leaking from her pussy. I thought I felt her virgin barrier break across my cocktip but she dropped down so fast and sudden I wasn't sure. "Ahhhh... I'm okay..."

"You really should have gone slow and worked your way to it..." I said as I pulled her body down to mine as she blushed; my hands moving to rub at her back slowly. "Just wait for a bit and adjust..."

"I... imagine you're more experienced in these things..." She said as she snuggled her head to my shoulder as she sighed; my hands rubbing her back for a long moment.

"In fairness I haven't broken in that many virgins." I replied, kissing her cheek as she giggled. I really haven't because... Eostia. My hands moved down to cup one of, perhaps the, most desired ass in the realm and gave it a good squeeze before rubbing along the plush cheeks as I moved my legs; fully kicking my boxers off and planting my feet before starting to softly rock my hips. She gasped as I fucked her from below, taking my time and enjoying it as I went slowly. I was half doing it to pleasure her and half to test how recovered from popping her cherry she was.

"Ahhhh! James! I was supposed to be pleasuring you!" She let off as I chuckled, hearing her moan over me as I rocked up hard once before resuming my pace.

"Oooooh, you are." I told her, kissing her lips this time as I started to slowly pick up my speed, groaning into her mouth as I pressed up into her. I moved my hands off her before clapping them back down on her ass in a double spank before groaning into her lips in turn. She broke the kiss to moan out hard as I started to ram up harder and faster, gripping her ass harder and firmer as she panted over me, her legs quivering as I worked myself into her harder and quicker. "You like that?" I grunted out as she nodded.

"Y-yes, like that..." She let off, gasping as I kept the speed up before adjusting my feet once more as I swapped to a harder, shallower pattern; hitting hard and keeping myself deeper in her as she mewled over me. Before I knew it her sex clenched down on my cock as she came; her sex leaking her own juices onto me while she squealed. I still had some endurance, however, so I kept going as she grit her teeth and rolled her eyes back as I panted under her. "Oh, my god!" She gasped out as I groaned deeper.

I groaned out deeper and louder as I clapped my hands to her rump once more, maybe a little too hard but given her moan and the clench of her sex she enjoyed the effect as she shivered; holding on from cumming a second time too soon. I finally rammed in hard and deep as I groaned out and came, spilling a load of cum up into her and triggering her the climax she tried to hold back, crying out once more over me as I rocked my hips a few more times before settling down and laying my legs down normally as she panted over me. My hands moved back to stroke her back as I kissed her cheek. "Mmmm, if things were better I'd keep going... but we both know we need our rest."

"That... that is true..." She panted out for a moment, taking a moment to calm down. Eventually she'd move her hips to dislodge my cock from her before laying down on top of me. "For tonight... we rest... Just... don't go dying on me, tomorrow."

"I have no plans on it." I said, smiling to her. "And the same goes to you; I want to see your pretty face after tomorrow. A lot."

"As much as you wish to see it, my love..."

[Fucked List]

Banged Kaguya, Sun of the East=100xp
+20% Rising Star of Eostia Bonus
Gain 120xp Total

[-]

Come the next morning we washed up and once the coast was clear I let Kaguya leave the room and left ten minutes after; like a college sweetheart escaping before a dorm manager noticed. That was all the real levity I had. Once breakfast was had I looked at the reports we had...

Olga's forces were approaching; a total number of just over six digits. Our own force had grown, in the end, to some seventy two thousand strong. That was slightly larger then General Arron Levantine's force during the Nine-Ninety-Eight Conflict with Dominious and Olga's force was double what Dominious fielded back then... Klaus, who was better versed in military history (It was a preferred subject of his father and one of the few things the men ever bonded over... if barely) told me it would be the largest, single recorded battle since the days of the Imperium. Olga was likely to take the field once more so chances were... higher then zero that I'd run into her and with my luck, I'd say there was a one in one chance I'd run into her. Yeah.

Everyone was moving to take positions on the field or walls. Speaking of, the walls were semi-ready for battle; stone was mortared down on the outside to act as crenelations, burned wood and other debris from the burned homes were used to jam up the tower's outside entrances with ladders built to allow men to get up onto them with said ladders secured in place from the inside. A sturdy building near the north wall that was tall enough to peek well over it was occupied by the Steel Lock detachment under Brandy Mignite's command... and some, weird cannon was set onto it looking like an old school, muzzle loaded cannon and a colt revolver had a love child... and they called it the Peacemaker...

Okay then...

Supposedly Brandy wanted to, initially, use a Cloud Rider to fire from but it was decided that the Riders needed to stay mobile and the Peacemaker needed a more stable, not-moving foundation to fire from. The roof also gave them more places to store cannonballs and powder while storing powder in lower floors to ensure they didn't have it all go 'boom' if something went wrong. They had the clearance to fire on the opposing forces without risk of hitting allies on the wall and, supposedly, it was highly accurate in the right hands.

The Ghosts of Arblade would take a place on the field opposite of the Church Forces; of all the forces to not mesh well with the locals it was expected they'd be the worst of all. I had seen the banner of the Church Forces as they marched out; it was in a Roman styled, tower shield with a wide, golden edge with a yellow line along it's center. The background was red and on it, with a gold trim in yellow, was a Divina Crucis with a green wreath under it; it's sides reaching just under the moon section of the emblem. Two, gladius type swords crossed over the bottom of the emblem; white blades with black fullers that blended together and bronze handles. And yes, much of the Church Forces had likewise shields and gladius swords. Their armor was even styled on the Imperium's roman stylings; although leather plate was the most common with steel reserved for their more seasoned units.

With the Garanians arriving in about an hour I prepared as well; double checking my weapons and armor as well as my supplies as I walked into the stable. A few horses were about, of course, but I was going to just one. She was all armored up and once she saw me she shook her head out and hopped with her front feet. I had a peach in my hand and once I came up to her I held it up as I set my hand to her mythril, plated face. "Okay girl... You ready for this..?" I let off as I looked to White Peach as she quickly ate the peach in question as she bobbed her head as if to answer what I had said. Moving to her side I pulled myself to her saddle and sighed. "Right... let's go." I said, clicking my tongue and guiding her outside and towards our next destination...

The battlefield...

[ - Author's Note - ]

Yeah... I guess I don't need to say what's happening next chapter, do I?

You know the drill; leave a comment and say what you liked, didn't like, hope to see and would like to see. So then... next chapter...

Olga goes All-In...

~~Eostian Scribe