The New Empire

by salva30

Spear and Spell was one of many games of the 24th century, a dark fantasy game set in the late 18th century. Unfortunately, the largest empire in the game has all of his players trapped in their game as their characters on another world, a world dominated by another empire, the Saderan Empire.

7. Chapter 7

(Hello everyone, sorry for the long delay. No more interruptions, love ya'll for reading)

Grasslands of the rabbit warriors

3 days after the Cataclysm
(00:04 / 12:07 AM)

Pirwoon, Warlord of the 7th Air Regiment

From my mount, I watched as the prisoners were tied with ropes taken from their own camp. The fires were extinguished, and tents and flammable objects had been removed.

The looting had been successful, but the price in my opinion was too high. especially because of the relatively small amount of supplies we had obtained. 13 dead, all enemies and the majority being caused by our dragons and their breath, plus 47 wounded, most of whom had burns of different levels, those were our estimates since it was possible that the bodies of some of these soldiers were ignored and not counted, either because the fire melted them, or they had been devoured by our mounts without us realizing it.

Several kilos of grain, stale bread, and dried meats had been captured along with a handful of donkeys and small horses capable of pulling simple carts. But the supplies were negibles, barely a drop to fill the bucket the empire needed, and now we have prisoners… Tactically I knew I had stopped the attack too soon, hell, the prisoners outnumbered us almost two to one! And not only did we have these legionnaires as prisoners, there were also civilians among the members of the camp, cooks, merchants, prostitutes...etc. It wasn't really surprising, in our camps it was not unusual to see civilian cooks feeding people in exchange for doubloons, or prostitutes offering their services... It was just annoying the number of mouths we had to feed, and I didn't want to kill people! Not at least until I know for sure if we were in a game or not.

Something, however, that bothered me and many of the troops was the presence of slaves who obviously did NOT want to be slaves. Another nail that told me "This is no longer a game", two men had been beheaded by my troops when they found the slaves in their horrible conditions, and the truth was that I didn't even want to ask who did it, because although I wanted to avoid bloodshed as much as I could, as a woman I couldn't simply ignore their actions.

- Pir, the officers have been gathered - The other dragon rider walked fearlessly towards my mount which was resting on the grass.

- I'll go - I said while absorbing the sunlight like a plant from the saddle. After a few moments where I mentally prepared myself, I got off my beast, waking him up accidentally, heading towards the prisoners with my dragon following me not long after

The officers, or at least who we believed to be the officers under our limited Roman knowledge, distinguished by their fancy faces, cloth and armor, were separated from the rest of the prisoners for obvious reasons. The last thing we wanted was for them to incite a revolt that would force us to shed more blood

The shaking of the earth was my call, and I soon reached the prisoners who were kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs. If they had not noticed my presence because of the shaking of the ground, they noticed when my beast shaded them from the sun with its body.

- Just like the rest, no one speaks a lick of Polish - The rider muttered as we both looked into their terrified gazes.

- Polish? - I asked

- The translator doesn't work, are we speaking Polish? - The man asked with confusion surely written on his face.

- Polish? We are speaking Swiss! - I declared, to which the man took off his helmet revealing his human appearance.

- Hey, what language are we speaking? - The rider asked one of the samurai guards

- French? - He responded surprised

- So the translator works, but it doesn't work with them? - I wondered out loud before turning to one of the prisoners - English son of a bitch, do you speak it? - I grabbed his tunic, earning cries of fear and some screams from the rest of the prisoners, screams that were drowned out when my beast growled - Is there anyone here who speaks Italian? They seem to speak Italian or Spanish - I took off my helmet, getting several surprised looks from the detained men

…Now that I realize, they are all men. Although if we really are in a new world, I suppose its armies would be men

- Bah, this is a waste of time. I doubt they speak Italian anyway, - I muttered as I returned to my mount to contemplate what to do.

How could i even treat prisoners? It was clear that there were simply too many of them, but I didn't want to kill them either... what to do... should I set them free?

But if I do... No, I simply have no choice, either let them go, or be forced to kill them... Can I keep the officers to exchange them for ships and food?... No, wait, the coastal city! I can go there and exchange the prisoners for supplies... But what if they are not allies? It is possible that they are different city states!

Hmmm…

Well, it's no use for me to stay here deliberating whether it's possible or not.

But how can I send the message that I want food in exchange for the prisoners and not lay siege to the city...?

- Do we have someone who speaks Latin? I guess they are speaking Latin right? - I asked one of the soldiers under my command as I mounted my beast

- Nobody speaks Latin - The soldier declared

- Can we make a Latin translation seal? - I asked, the truth is that I knew little about the SaS blessing system, the only thing I knew was what was useful to me, such as defense or stealth blessings.

- I doubt there is such a thing - The soldier shook his head

- Hmmm…. Well, ermm, we'll try it the old way... Let's head back with the rest - I ordered while blowing my whistle.

- And the prisoners? - Another soldier asked

- We take them alive. We're leaving quickly. Musicians! Quick march, we have to return before more of these arrive - I shouted to guide the troop. The prisoners were forced to walk tied to each other while ropes were tied to the dragons to "motivate" them.

The march back to our "fleet" was considerably faster considering that we did not have to approach in stealth, however many people were already showing clear signs of fatigue, and I was not invulnerable to this threat, I was tired, and I don't want to know how tired the troops who were on foot were, even with banners and musicians helping with the fatigue.

However we returned without anything notable happening.

Warriors from different clans and guilds took advantage of their non-human races by helping with efforts that would surely have taken two people, so progress was quite rapid back with the fleet remanents. The solitary ship that was previously floating, had now been joined by another boat with pieces clearly cannibalized from other ships, the rest of the ships trapped? Most of them were either too damaged, or had been dismantled to fix the new ship or to set up some barricades.

Upon seeing us, people cheered our arrival, waking up those who were resting.

Fortunately, this time we were not surrounded, so we were able to approach without problems the small improvised fort with barricades by walls, where the union leaders were already waiting for me.

- Brother, secure the prisoners as much as you can. Kill if you must - I said to the dragon knight next to me with a small lump in my throat - The looting was a success! No Allied losses! - I announced while taking off my helmet. The leaders cheered along with the rest of those present.

- How much have you achieved? - The samurai leader Chìyún asked, to which my spirits fell slightly.

- Honestly, not much, but I have a plan. Exchange these prisoners for food in a coastal town that is not far from here. Maybe a few hours of travel on foot - I explained vaguely. I really hope they are from the same nation, because if they are from different… No, I can order a siege in that case, I have dragons and wyverns at my command, if they are city states from different sides they can't have a large air force right? And even with two ships I can bombard the city with HE ammo while covering them with the dragons to avoid anti-aircraft defenses!

My duty is to find food, and protect the empire at all costs… Yes, I do this for the empire…

- Shall we go out tomorrow then? - Aokusa asked, to which I nodded.

- Get all the sleep you can. Tomorrow after lunch we go out - I indicated

…For the empire… Yes

Uldeer, Senate Palace

3 days after the Cataclysm
(10:24 / 10:24 AM)

Sir Wellington, Head of the Senate

The situation was getting worse at the moment, what all of us wanted to avoid at all costs was happening.

The revolts had become full-fledged revolutions, minor warlords tried to gain more power, and "civilians" became criminals. The towns near Uldeer had been mostly saved by the strong presence of the Black Guard and the forces that were gathering here.

Gathering a large part of the army to reorganize them may not have been such a good idea, especially at such a turbulent time.

Fortunately, the "air force" mostly remained loyal due to their proximity to important warlords. The "navy" was still completely missing, and we are still trying to find out who from the rest were still loyal and who had joined the revolts.

The warehouses and factories on the central islands were secured, but the rest of the warehouses and factories were at unknown locations, or under siege by rebels.

I would probably have to send some guild of angels to keep the peace in those cities that were too far away, since it was clear that the provisional regiment simply cannot advance much in its pacification operations without completely abandoning pacified areas... hmmm

Taking another document from my desk, I read the report of the tests that were being done to test the limits of the new reality we were in. The blessings worked, the effects of, for example, alcohol, were suffered by those who consumed it as if it were reality, tests with "illegal" equipment resulted in the items working relatively normally, since the problems they were causing were mainly caused by the artisans. inexperienced in the development of such items

There was also the fact that probably 75% of the civilian population was unemployed due to their workplaces having collapsed, or refusing to work, and the truth was that I wasn't going to blame them much, we were all affected by what happened, probably the only reason there was a working command center in the empire was because of Sir Nami who acted almost immediately, in addition to the multiple security measures that had been spread throughout the empire.

Taking another piece of paper from my table, I distracted my mind with another matter.

The foreigners captured. Their language was completely foreign, but the automatic translator still worked. Even when they were isolated, they did not leave "their roleplay", so these were another reason to add to the pile of evidence that we had been transported in some way to another world.

The Valkyrie who had taken the role of translator reported everything that the foreigners told

Another supposed "Empire" that was currently at war against its tribes. According to reports, this empire had the appearance of a "Roman Empire", so its way of acting could be described as a war of conquest, either to obtain slaves, or whatever it was.

They were probably a war for slaves, since the warriors were apparently stupidly strong like an angel, and fast like a horse, all compact in a humanoid body and without many dietary requirements. Heck, if such a race existed in SaS, it would probably be the most popular by a mile even with the restriction of only being a female race.

They were basically an improved version in all aspects of an amazonian!

As for the foreign empire, apparently we are in the center of an important lake near the only entrance between the territories of the rabbit tribe and the empire, so it would not be surprising that we will soon come into contact with them.

I really pray that we will then have the situation under control, as I have no doubt that they will see us as easy prey if the riots are not quelled soon. Otherwise we run the serious risk of being invaded just as they are doing with the rabbits. I am concerned that despite the biological advantages of rabbits, the empire is apparently winning to the point that about two tribes have already been wiped out and enslaved.

Looking at the crudely made map again, I started looking for defensive lines, points that were easily defensible, but that wasn't my specialty. The only thing I could see was that the beach facing the sea was the only entrance to the island which was elevated by high cliffs.

I guess I'll have to ask war senator Glarem to lend me something to defend the beach, since I doubt the Imperials will decide to scale the walls considering the entire island is being scanned from head to toe by all kinds of winged beings to make maps. Unfortunately, the beach is almost on the opposite side of the island, so to transport equipment safely, dragons are going to be necessary and these are in very high demand…

- Sir Wellington - Someone called me, breaking me out of my thoughts. Looking up I could see one of my guards - They've made a working translator - The rest of the message didn't have to be explained. Grabbing a nearby cup, I finished its contents in one gulp before following the guard.

The walk to the church was almost depressing, seeing the state of the city after knowing its original glory... Now the streets were full of rubble, people wandering without a real goal, and members of the black guard patrolling with slumped shoulders.

The origin of the black guard was somewhat strange, as it was originally formed from one of Sir Nami's personal guilds that created the foundation for the empire. Some believe that they were originally servants of Sir Nami in real life, because despite trying to hide it, it is revealed at once that he is someone rich in real life. But either way, the black guard had a history of being extremely loyal to the emperor, and if it weren't for them, the empire would probably have collapsed entirely during the Cataclysm.

Walking after multiple patrols, I finally reached my goal, the Uldeer Cross Church.

Inside, as expected, it was full of wounded people in addition to the recognizable members of HoldenC who were either working or unconscious where they could, the poor bastards had not stopped working for the last 3 days.

Ignoring them, I went down to the basement where there was already a small group interacting with the strangers. Sir Nami with his insectoid bodyguard plus the Valkyrie, and a small handful of people. These seemed to be angels due to their wings and golden aloe, they were probably here to enhance the blessings of those above them while thy helped the Valkyrie find a way to translate

- Hello Wellington - Sir Nami greeted, his tired gaze imitated by almost everyone present.

- You look like shit- I muttered as I sat in a nearby chair.

- Tell me something I don't know - Nami laughed vaguely before turning to one of the strange rabbits who was holding a paper seal in her hands, something that Nami also carried - Ruph, can you give Sir Wellington a translator? - The Valkyrie quickly nodded before taking one of the seals she had on her desk.

- Sir Wellington, I need a drop of blood for it to work - She explained as she took out a thin needle. Sighing, I extended my finger so she could poke me. Once a drop had formed, she pressed the paper on my wound to mark it. Almost instantly, the paper glowed revealing that the seal was working - The seal is active - The Valkyrie declared

- Well, Mrs. Fuuleri, let me introduce you. This is Sir Wellington, head of the imperial senate. Sir Wellington, this is the Fuuleri hunter, from the Kanaet tribe... I hope I said those names correctly - The rabbit woman looked me up and down as Nami presented me before sighing.

- It's a pleasure - She said slightly tense.

- The pleasure is all mine - I returned equally uncomfortable... It doesn't matter, I should know more about this world

- Now that you are here, we can start the questions - Said Sir Nami - Mrs. Fuuleri, do you know where you are? - The rabbit thought for a moment

- If I remember correctly, we are in the Great Sea, although I never knew that there was an island in the center of it... We had left a coastal imperial city at night to be sent deeper into the imperial territory to be sold when we crashed into their island - She explained

- I see, I suppose you were involuntary slaves? - I asked, Fuuleri lowered his rabbit ears which were cut off

- That's right... The empire sank us in its numbers. Each one of us was enough to kill 10 of their legionaries - She declared with some pride - But the empire always sent 20 to kill each one of us... - Her pride drowned in her throat. Both Sir Nami and I looked at each other worriedly at such a statement.

- Every slave who steps on our land is considered a free man, free woman in your case I suppose - Nami declared proudly. We already had enough slaves in real life, we didn't want more in our games

The rabbit woman looked incredulously and Nami

- You don't have slaves? - This he asked confusedly

- Nope - I shook my head.

- And who built these buildings? Who… -

- Builders - I interrupted her - There are people who just like to build things, so we let them build. Sometimes you have to break some things, but others? There are people who do true wonders - Constructions were always faster than in real life because these people did not take safety measures into account, construction and the army were where you always used to see teenage characters due to the high number of fatalities

Construction was probably more dangerous than the army! Although now that we weren't in a game, we should probably set rules and laws

- Slavery is not allowed in our empire - Sir Nami explained to the confused woman - Shall we tell her? - I knew Nami, I knew that he meant that if we counted that we were not from this world, although he was probably doing it to show that we were really still in a game. Without a doubt he was stubborn, the evidence was more than obvious

- Go ahead - I nodded.

- So... Mrs. Fuuleri, we are not really from this world if you can believe it - Oh? Did you finally accept it?

- Aren't they...? - The woman looked at all of us present in disbelief - Yes... That would explain what an elf, a human, divine messengers and... that, are all together - Fuuleri pointed to Nami's insectoid bodyguard

- Do you believe us that easy? - I asked confused

- ...There was a legend told by our shaman that told how we, bunny warriors, came to this world through a portal millennia ago -

- We did not arrive through a portal - Nami declared - A few days ago we were inside a game… -

- Our world shook one night, our territory was compacted on this island, and now we are here - I interrupted Nami. Sometimes telling the whole truth wasn't the smartest thing to do. He glared at me, but didn't correct me.

- ...I see - Fuuleri contemplated with a lost look - In that case, please, I ask for your help - Fuuleri He knelt in front of Nami - Please, our lands are not very far from here so we are practically neighbors of the territory. I beg you for help to help us in our war against the empire - The rabbits who were behind Fuuleri gasped in surprise - We can give you silver, grain and meat... Whatever you want, I only ask for help for my tribe - Nami and I looked at each other for a few moments before releasing the translation seals that we both had

- It's an opportunity... - Nami started

- That we can't take - I finished, getting a frown from him - We can't even control our own territory and you intend to take a side in their conflict? - I explained

- They can give us food, something we desperately need - He countered.

- And what do you intend to do? Send in the army while our territory burns? - I asked

-...And what would happen if they came here for refuge? - I opened my mouth to debate it, but I closed it. Technically there was no law against immigration in the empire other than that only "citizens" could hold positions in the government, and to be a citizen one had to pay a certain quota of grain or after manufacturing a certain amount of items in the imperial factories.

- They can stay I guess - I shrugged my shoulders - You even know the culture shock that there will be if that happens, right? God knows what their culture is like, I mean, she has called the angels here "messengers of the gods" - I pointed to the two angels and the Valkyrie with a laugh

- Well, we can teach some things, right? - He asked before taking his seal again, a gesture that I repeated - Fuuleri, we have talked about it and at the moment we cannot really help, the… cataclysm, as we call it, has caused us considerable damage - Her ears suddenly lowered - But, anyone who steps on imperial territory, our empire I mean, will be accepted under our benefits. These are zero discrimination and freedom of race, religion or sex, freedom to settle where one wants as long as the imperial tax is paid, and protection under our flag for all who live under it. This is all we can really help -

- I... I see... I guess that's better than nothing... - Fuuleri sighed - By the way, I wanted to ask, why are you all hiding your faces? The only ones I see as an exception are Miss. Nami and her bodyguard - Miss. Nami? Oh, that's right, his character is female…

- It's mostly a custom, I think. People don't want to have their lips read when they use blessings or even know that they are actually using them, which is why people cover their faces. I really don't care, and Dan can't use blessings so hiding his face is useless - Nami explained.

- I understand... So if my people come here, would we have to hide? - Fuuleri asked

- Not at all, it's simply an army custom that spread beyond it - I shook my head

- And our culture...? -

- If I told you how many cultures there are in the empire... - I joked, we had all kinds of guilds with practically all religions. There wasn't much conflict between us since we all identified as imperial - As long as you don't bother others, no one will bother you -

-...I see... So can we get out of here? - She asked

- I guess, but no one is going to understand you without translator seals - Nami shrugged his shoulders as he pointed to the Valkyrie so that she could make more seals.

- Seals... It's a type of strange magic that I had never heard the truth about - Fuuleri looked at the seal on the paper - They really look like magical runes - That piqued my interest

- Magic runes? - I asked

- If I'm honest, I don't know much about them, except that imperial nobles and imperial cavalry usually use them to stop our slings and arrows before they hit them - She shrugged - When we are at melee distance, magical shields are little more than a nuisance to our force -

- Stop? Don't they deflect blows? - Nami asked.

- No no, it's like they have a shield in front of them, but that shield is invisible most of the time. They are apparently expensive to make, since only rich humans used them - That could be problematic, what if those shields could stop our bullets? Would we have to use enchanted ammunition to take them out?

- Do you know of other kinds of blessings? - Nami asked

- I know that elves and mermaids use spiritual magic, but apart from that I don't know much else - Fuuleri shook his head - The magicians are really strange to find by, and most of them are in Rondel studying, Rondel is the city of the magicians, despite being imperial territory, they barely have control, and subhumans like us are more or less accepted -

- From the way you said that, I assume that you demihumans are not very accepted? - I asked, to which she shook her head - What kind of intelligent species are there in this world? -

- Well... Humans are the most common, there are subhumans like me, cat subhumans, dogs... etc., there are centaurs, elves, draconoids... and the truth is that I don't know more. As I said, humans are the most common species, and we don't have much trade except for other tribes of warrior rabbits, the elven tribes of the east, and the centaur tribes of the north - Fuuleri explained - And you? -

- Well, I'm an elf - Nami answered - Sir Wellington is a human, which just like here is the most common, Dan, my bodyguard, is an insectoid, they... - Nami pointed to both angels -... They are angels of the cross, and she... - She pointed to the valkyrie - It's a angel of the ravens, although everyone calls them "valkyries" to differentiate them from the angels of the cross - Nami explained - We also have centaurs of the lightning, nagaris of the lotus flower, wendigos of the feather... and I think that's it? - Nami asked me

- You are missing the shedim of the star and the jinn of the crescent moon, although you will hardly hear anyone call them that, everyone simply calls them both demons. Oh and the oni of the Tori gate -

- Demons? - Fuuleri tensed

- Yes, but don't worry, they are nice, for example the doctors here who wear black armor and white cloth are shedims -

- Oh - It seemed that it relaxed her - And you don't have subhuman races? -

- More or less, races without a "last name" can have offspring with the others… - According to the lore, well in the game it wasn't like that, although I wouldn't say this out loud - Elves have the "Half-Elf" subrace with humans, those are more common by a mile than pureblood elves like Sir Nami… in fact I think you can count on both hands the number of pureblood elves there are in the empire. Humans have halflings, don't know where thy come from, and giants, or Amazons, no idea either. Insectoids are parasites, so they do not have subraces as all their offsprings are more genetic clones from the insectoid -

- I see - She seemed to mutter something, but I couldn't hear it, however I noticed Nami's reaction, so he could have heard it - In that case... Do you have any more questions? - Both Nami and I looked at each other, he shook his head just like me.

- Maybe later, about the "empire" here, but for now nothing more - I answered - Thank you very much for answering - The woman nodded

There was a long day ahead, and it only started.