An hour earlier...

24th of April 2024, 8:00

The Pais Magic Academy, Kingdom of Pais.

A figure walked down the halls of a prestigious magic academy, one of the few within this world. As he walked past students and teachers alike, everyone recognized him. He is Edium Aphetosh, one of the four arch-magicians, accompanied by his two disciples.

Suddenly, he felt a great disturbance with enormous amounts of mana concentrated to the south. It was so unusual that even he, an arch-magician, nearly collapsed.

???: [C] "Master? Are you alright?"

(Author Note: [C] in this case is the Central Language)

One of his disciples, Christine Grimsbane, asked worriedly. Edium regained his balance and looked at both of his disciples before nodding.

Edium: [C] "I felt a great disturbance to the south. There's no reason for so much mana to be concentrated there. We'll have to go investigate."

Christine: [C] "Where are we going exactly, Master?"

Edium: [C] "Tariq."

(Author Note: "Gibraltar" is the Spanish derivation of the Arabic name, "Jabal Ṭāriq" meaning the "Mountain of Tariq" which is named after Tariq ibn Ziyad who initiated the Muslim Umayyad conquest of Visigothic Hispania by crossing the Strait of Gibraltar at a point which is known today as "The Rock of Gibraltar".)

???: [C] "What about the remaining lectures and classes today, Master?"

This time, it was Edium's other disciple, Igrazahl Onzopius, who spoke up. He was the one who organized lectures and classes for the arch-magician so it was rather common for him to ask such a thing.

Edium: [C] "Cancel the remaining sessions and inform the Royal Family and the Royal Court Mage Corps of my two-day journey."

Igrazahl: [C] "Wait, Master. Doesn't that mean I don't get to go with you?"

Edium: [C] "If you stay here, in the worst-case scenario, you could still send help to us especially in a state of war like this."

Igrazahl: [C] "As you wish, Master. I will go inform the Royal Palace immediately."

Edium: [C] "I am counting on you, Igrazahl."

As soon as Edium finished talking, Igrazahl quickly walked away from the two while they continue on their way to Tariq (Gibraltar).

* * * * *

Present

In the village of Cantagon, to the north of Gibraltar

Inside the relatively peaceful village with a population of just over 500 people, however, all that was to change with the arrival of the "Quistadoria Empire".

The village elder, Forthri, quickly gathered all able-bodied males and gave them whatever they could use as weapons before the forward detachment of scouts from the Quistadoria Empire's Southern Imperial Army, comprising of mounted knights, reach the village.

???: [C] "Elder! I would like to fight too."

A boy quickly ran up to Forthri with his sister. Forthri was horrified that both of them haven't yet prepared to evacuate the village.

Forthri: [C] "No. Brand, you shouldn't be here."

Brand: [C] "But I want to fight too, Elder!"

Forthri: [C] "Listen, take this and get as far as you can from here."

Just as Forthri handed Brand his garden fork, to everyone's horror, the Quistadorian knights started charging towards the village while everyone was in the middle of the evacuation.

Forthri: [C] "Those bastards..."

As soon as Forthri finished his words, the merchant who was visiting the village was decapitated right in front of him.

It was a one-sided slaughter from the start, the knights mercilessly killed the desperate villagers before they could even defend themselves.

While most of the knights were busy killing the villagers, some dismounted from their horses and began searching for women and girls. Those unlucky enough to be caught were dragged into the abandoned houses to be raped.

(Author Note: As honourable and chivalrous as knights were often depicted in romantic fictions and popular culture, the truth was, knights, especially during the early Middle Ages, were like "hired thugs". They were commanded by warlords and were often given license to plunder the villages where they did the battle, loot, rape, and burn everything and everyone in sight, as they went as shown during the Siege of Jerusalem in 1099)

Forthri, on the other hand, was having a hard time fighting the knights. He managed to take some down from their horses but he was still overwhelmingly outnumbered.

Forthri: [C] "WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE, BRAND? RUN!"

Brand: [C] "B-but!"

Forthri: [C] "Just run, protect Ivy!"

Brand took Ivy's hand and started running away. Forthri wanted to hold the knights off for as long as he could so that Brand could escape, but he was soon stabbed in the back by a sword and fell to the ground, barely alive.

Some of the knights began following the two, but they soon came to a dead end as they continued running along the narrow alleyway.

Brand took a defensive posture with the gardening fork he received from Forthri earlier while Ivy was about to cry from fear.

Knight 1: [C] "Come on, kid. Hand over the girl and we will consider leaving you alive."

Brand: [C] "...Stay away!"

As two knights approached them, Brand, even though he was shaking, was determined to protect his own sister.

A figure soon emerged from the corner, followed by flashes and loud bangs as the sound echoed from what looked like magic equipment, blood splattered all over the place before one of the knights collapsed.

As the other knight tried to charge the figure, the figure pulled out yet another piece of magic equipment and it was again followed by a flash before the knight fell, dead.

Brand covered Ivy's eyes as the figure approached both of them. He was in a strange attire that he hasn't seen before, and the clothing was rather dirty in his opinion.

Brand: [C] "W-who are you?"

The figure hesitated for a second before smiling at both of them.

???: "Don't worry, I am from the Franco-British Army. We're here to help."

* * * * *

A few minutes earlier...

Theo calmly watched the events unfold through his binoculars, while he slowly reached out to his radio to report the situation to the rest of the platoon while Ralph grabbed his own binoculars and looked over the village.

F21: "Sunray, this is F21, message, over."

Sunray: "F21, this is Sunray, send, over."

F21: "Sunray, those knights are aggressively manoeuvring around the village, roger so far, over."

Sunray: "Roger, out. F22, this is Sunray, message, over."

F22: "Sunray, this is F22, send, over."

Sunray: "F22, move your section over to grid: 30S TF 87822 08531, I say again 30S TF 87822 08531, roger so far, over."

F22: "Roger, out."

Ralph: "Corporal! Take a look at this."

Theo: "What's it?"

Ralph handed Theo his binoculars as Theo quickly looked through them. What he saw shocked him, an old man was decapitated by one of the knights as they entered the village.

Theo: "...Bloody hell."

Ralph: "We should be doing something before all those poor lads die."

Theo: "I am on it."

F21: "Sunray, this is F21, message, over."

Sunray: "F21, this is Sunray, send, over."

F21: "Sunray, those bastards have already entered the village and those poor villagers are being slaughtered everywhere, roger so far, over."

Sunray: "Roger, over."

F21: "Requesting permission to engage, over."

There was a slight delay in Sunray's response. After all, the platoon commander, Second Lieutenant Wyatt Saunders, was a new Rupert fresh out of Sandhurst.

(Author Note: Rupert is a term similar to "Tommy" but instead of being associated with enlisted personnel, it's associated with commissioned officers who have attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.)

Sunray: "Permission granted, over."

F21: "Roger, moving over to engage, over."

Sunray: "Roger, over."

F21: "Contact from enemy forces, grid: 30S TF 87886 08554, I say again 30S TF 87886 08554, roger so far, over."

Sunray: "Roger, over."

F21: "Contact, wait, out."

Theo took a deep breath before he squeezed the trigger on his L85A3 and shouted out the order.

Theo: "Section, 500m, right-hand building, RAPID FIRE!"

Everyone in the section, upon hearing the order, immediately started firing into the village.

The sounds of gunshots stopped the fighting in the village temporarily as everyone was dumbfounded and tried to search for the source of the sound. At the same time, several knights started falling from their horses, dead.

Theo: "Ralph! Come here."

Ralph: "Aye, Corporal."

Theo: "Alternating bounding, you know the drills."

Ralph: "I got you, Corporal."

Theo: "Alright, see you on the other side. Charlie Fire Team, ADVANCE!"

Theo and three other men of the Charlie Fire Team quickly stood up and rushed forward to a new position while Ralph and his Delta Fire Team provided covering fire from the overwatch position.

(Author Note: Normally smoke grenades would've been thrown too, but in most cases, it's entirely up to the judgment of the section commander and his 2IC.)

Theo: "SET!"

Ralph: "Delta Fire Team, ADVANCE!"

This time it was Ralph and his fire team's turn, they quickly stood up and rushed forward, ahead of Charlie Fire Team's position while Theo and his men provided covering fire.

Ralph: "SET!"

Upon seeing this, some of the knights tried to charge the section but were gunned down in the process. The bounding continued until the section reached the village.

By then, fewer than fifty knights remained in the village as the rest were either killed or fled the village entirely.

Once the section reached the village, they began taking positions inside houses overlooking the village centre where the rest of the Quistadorian's knights were regrouping as stated in their FISH and CHIPS tactics.

(Author Note: FISH and CHIPS stands for "fighting in someone's house and causing havoc in people's streets" which is one of the four terms used by the British Army for urban warfare.)

The section immediately started firing on the regrouping knights with deadly results. In less than 10 seconds, all the knights still inside the village were either killed or severely wounded.

Ralph: "Position clear!"

After position clear was called, they moved into the village centre and set up a perimeter around the village centre.

Theo: "Sum up the mags, Ralph. I got six left."

Ralph: "On it, Corporal!"

Most of the section still have the majority of their ammunition left, as such, there was no need to redistribute it. Theo quickly stood up and checked around the village.

But before he got far into the village, he stumbled upon an alley where a boy and a girl were trying to hold off two knights.

Theo wasted no time shooting one of the knights dead while the other, upon hearing the gunshot, turned around and tried to charge him.

He pulled out his sidearm, an L131A1, and shot the knight dead. After making sure they were dead, he approached the two kids.

Brand: [C] "W-who are you?"

He was a little bit confused at what the kid said. It was neither English nor French. With a little hesitation, he smiled and answered back.

???: "Don't worry, I am from the Franco-British Army. We're here to help."