The next day...

29th of April, 12:00

A kilometre to the north of the Fence of Gibraltar.

As far as one's eyes could see, the Quistadorian Southern Imperial Army covered the lands, organising itself for the first assault on Gibraltar. If one were to guess, their numbers would be from 75,000 to 150,000 men. Realistically speaking though, their numbers seemed uncountable.

The Duke of Nethiolor deployed his men across a 2,000-yard front and divided his army into three groups for the upcoming battle. The right-wing was commanded by Gaiseric, the centre led by the Duke himself while the left-wing was under Sigmund.

The Duke wondered why the Franco-British haven't deployed their army yet. But one thing was certain to him, this wasn't going to be like any other sieges he has ever been in.

Gaiseric: [C] "We can wait for those bastards all day, my lord. If they don't appear in an hour or so, we can take it as if they are going to keep their cowardly butts inside those small fences of theirs and begin our advance."

Sigmund: [C] "I would highly advise against underestimating them, my lord."

Rictiovarus: [C] "If that's all, you may go prepare your men now."

Sigmund: [C] "Yes, my lord."

Suddenly, the Duke felt an inexplicable, strange feeling warning him that most of them are going to die, but from what? He doesn't understand and he doesn't want to. But he wasn't going to wait now, he ordered his men forward, the assault on Tariq shall begin now.

Meanwhile, on a temporary watchtower hastily constructed at the Fence for use as an observation post, a fire support team (FST) from the Royal Gibraltar Regiment watched the huge formations through their binoculars while relaying information to the six L118 light guns from Thomson's Battery.

FST Commander: "Thomson battery gunfire target, over."

Gun Position Officer (GPO): "Thomson battery gunfire target, over."

The GPO responded as the battery gunners quickly take up post, battery gunfire target means that the targets are likely to move or are moving, so the speed of the gunners are essential.

FST Commander: "Grid reference 30S TF 88944 04202, height 200 ft, right ranging, fire, over."

GPO: "Grid reference 30S TF 88944 04202, height 200 ft, right ranging, fire, over. HE 166, charge 3, zero 346 degrees, angle of sight 2 degrees."

The gunners rammed their L50 HE shells with L166 multi-function fuzes fitted to the nose of the shells into their L118 light guns, after which, the powders were inserted.

GPO: "Right ranging, 7700, fire!"

And it was then that the gunners pulled the lanyards as they covered their ears before the shells went out of the barrel, flying towards the Quistadorians.

GPO: "Shot, 7700, over."

FST Commander: "Shot, 7700, over."

The air was filled with a sudden high-pitched whine, then a brown cloud of dust flew up so high into the skies that it concealed some of the Quistadorians formations entirely. The Quistadorians suffered no casualties but they were scattered, the explosions were enough to make them break formations and run for their lives, even if it's for a short period of time.

FST Commander: "Right 50 add 100, over."

GPO: "Right 50 add 100, over. More 20 minutes, 7800."

The gunners quickly adjusted their L118 light guns, rammed in the shells and the powders before pulling the lanyards once again, unleashing another short yet deadly artillery bombardment. This time, however, it was not to be a warning salvo.

GPO: "Shot, over."

FST Commander: "Shot, over."

Just as the Quistadorians reorganised themselves, and just as they thought it was over, the most thunderous sound was heard as the ground shook from explosions. And in the blink of an eye, hundreds if not thousands of men were obliterated with the ground underneath them. The Quistadorians were dazed and bewildered by the bombardment, which they are completely powerless to stop.

FST Commander: "18 rounds gunfire, over."

GPO: "18 rounds gunfire, over. 18 rounds gunfire!"

"18 rounds gunfire" means that all L118 guns present have to fire 18 rounds as fast as they could, so, the gunners quickly got to work and unleashed three more salvos of shells into the Quistadorians' formations.

The thunderous impact was followed by a silence so profound that it seemed unreal, with gaping holes in their formations, they tried to reorganise themselves. It was then that the real bombardment finally begins, however, all the Quistadorians could do was to throw themselves to the ground or flee from the field, to avoid being blown away by the ear-shattering noise and the ferocious impact of the bombardment battering their formations. Those unlucky enough were blown into the air like leaves scattered by the wind.

Sir Jeremiah Berry and Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Marsh watched through their binoculars as the real bombardment begins. Joseph couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor Quistadorians who was at the receiving end of the bombardment.

Joseph: "I feel sorry for them, sir. They never stood a chance against us, but, they seem to have not realised that fact yet, which is a little bit unfair innit, sir?"

Jeremiah: "Well, I couldn't disagree. However, the government back in London didn't even take their demands seriously, so hopefully, this might force those lads to think twice before formally declaring war."

Joseph: "This is probably going to be the shortest siege Gibraltar have to endure, sir."

Jeremiah: "We'll see about that. Oh and by the way, Joseph. As the old saying goes, if it's a fair fight, then your tactics suck!"

Joseph chuckled as Jeremiah walked out of the room. He cleared his throat before turning back to watch as the bombardment continues.

On the other hand, the Quistadorian foot soldiers and archers broke their formations, turned, and fled from the field almost entirely. The Duke tried to reorganise his men, to no avail. Numerous men and horses littered the field, almost a quarter of his force was, to put it frankly, annihilated in less than five minutes.

Sigmund and Gaiseric quickly rode up to the Duke, asking for orders. It was then that the Duke realised the strange feelings he felt just earlier were premonitions of certain death, not only him but everyone else are going to die if they stay here. This was the first time in his entire military career that he feared for his own life.

Sigmund: [C] "My lord-"

Gaiseric: [C] "I suggest we attack Tariq immediately, my lord. If we stay here, we'll be like a sitting duck!"

Sigmund: [C] "My lord, what are your orders?"

Rictiovarus: [C] "...Gaiseric, you take the vanguard, thirty thousand men. One-third of my army, you take them and you attack Tariq. Sigmund, signal the rest of the army to retreat and bring me those wyverns, it's about time they appear already."

Sigmund: [C] "But my lord-"

Rictiovarus: [C] "DON'T YOU DARE CRITICISE ME! ...Don't you dare, Sigmund."

Sigmund: [C] "...Yes, my lord."

Gaiseric: [C] "You can count on me, my lord. I will deal with Tariq myself."

Without responding to Gaiseric, the Duke turned his horse around and rode back to the camp alongside Sigmund after the retreat signal was sent. Gaiseric and his thirty thousand men will now have to attack Gibraltar with only the wyvern knights assisting them.

Gaiseric: [C] "Give those wyvern knights the signal to begin their attack. We'll watch as Tariq burns before we launch our own attack."

And just as the bugler sounded the "Charge" bugle call, fifty wyverns appeared and flew past them towards Gibraltar. The wyverns' fireball is as powerful as a thermite incendiary bomb, which is more than enough to reduce Gibraltar to nothing but ruins and debris.

The Quistadorians below cheered as the wyverns flew ever closer to Gibraltar but Gaiseric noticed that two contrails rose high into the skies from inside Gibraltar itself. To them, it was as if the city exploded or something. No one knew what was happening.

As it turns out, these were two Land Ceptor missiles fired from a MAN truck mounted with the Common Anti-Air Modular Missile (CAMM) launchers, SAAB Giraffe radars, and a Rafael Command System.

(Author Note: The designation of the naval version of the CAAM missile is "Sea Ceptor", while the land version of the missile is called "Land Ceptor" with the whole system being called "Sky Sabre" which was designed to replace the Rapier.)

The two missiles flew towards the wyverns as they come almost head-to-head to each other. The first missile exploded into a sudden burst of flame right in the middle of the formation, sending fragmentation everywhere and killing a quarter if not half of the entire squadron before they even had the chance to react.

The other wyverns, upon seeing this, immediately broke formation and tried to make a run for it, to no avail. The second missile didn't explode right in the middle of their formation unlike the first, however, it was still enough to wipe the rest of the wyverns, just from the fragmentation alone. Not a single wyvern remained to continue the advance towards Gibraltar, to the shock of Gaiseric and the Quistadorians below.

Gaiseric decided that without the wyvern knights, an attack on Gibraltar would be suicidal for now. Soon, the retreat signal was sent and his forces retreated back to their camps so that they could fight tomorrow, without wasting any more human lives.

The Quistadoria Empire's 1st Attack Result - Approximately 25,000 dead

* * * * *

Present

29th of April, 12:30

The City of Coralodor, Kingdom of Pais

Christine opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling of a room at the inn unfamiliar to her. To make matters worse, she was also naked but couldn't recall anything that happened yesterday.

She quickly got out of bed and dressed herself up. It was then that she realised that John, the man who was with her yesterday, wasn't there. She quickly ran towards the door and just as she was about to open it, a voice came from behind.

John: [C] "You seem to be in a hurry, aren't you?"

Christine turned back, only to see John staring at her as if he has been waiting for hours just for her to wake up.

Christine: [C] "...N-no. It's nothing."

John: [C] "Is that so?"

John stood up and approached her while she took a step back until her back was against the door. That was when John came closer to her ears and whispered.

John: [C] "...Don't worry, I will take responsibility for what happened between the two of us yesterday."

Christine: [C] "W-what do you mean?!"

John: [C] "Don't you remember what happened last night?"

And soon, a blush spread across Christine's cheeks as her face suddenly turned red. John's face was just way too close.

Christine: [C] "T-that-"

John: [C] "Hush."

John silenced her with a kiss, surprising Christine. She blushed even more from the unexpected kiss and after it was over, both Christine and John were too embarrassed to say anything.

John: [C] "...I will see you at the inn."

Christine: [C] "Y-yes..."

Christine stuttered as John walks out of the room. Although Christine didn't notice it, John knew full well his heart was beating like a wild animal trying to escape his chest, it was as if he had fallen in love with the lady. But soon enough, he came back to his senses. "What am I even thinking about? ... That's absurd.", he reminded himself why he was here in the first place and then carried on.

As for Christine, she was left struggling to recall what happened yesterday between the two of them, but as unfortunate as she was, she couldn't recall anything due to the embarrassment she had to experience just a few moments ago. Upon leaving the inn, John made his way back to the Caravela inn where Canine was waiting for him at the entrance.

Canine: "What have you learnt, sir?"

John: "That I don't enjoy learning a new tongue."

Canine: "In the end, it is still a bluff, innit, sir?"

John: "Her name is Christine, and as it appears, she's a magician. The old man she came with, Edium, is an arch-magician or something. He's pretty much at the very top of the magic hierarchy inside this kingdom, the Kingdom of Pais."

Canine: "Magic?"

John: "That's right, magic."

Canine: "Well, that's quite unbelievable, sir."

John: "As much as I agree with you, a man was burned to death right in front of me with the magic we're talking about."

Canine: "Well, what are you going to do next sir?"

John: "...That kind of reaction when I kissed her, there's no doubt about it. That was definitely her first kiss."

Canine: "And so you're going to take responsibility, sir?"

John: "As a Franco-British gentleman, I would, of course, have to take responsibility. But not before we complete our missions, am I right, Léonard?"

Canine: "I will take that as you're willing to make her the Marchioness of Leyburn, sir."

John: "Silence, Léonard. I told you not to mention that."

Canine: "Of course, My Lord."

John politely chuckled before both of them walked into the inn again. What is John's true identity? Is he really only a lieutenant in the Royal Navy? As for now, his identity, position and motives remain unknown...