Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 00:10

Pine Family Dining Room, 3rd Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Olivia Pine Fredirin.

“What is going on?” I asked as I entered the dining room that had been designated as our meeting spot for this.

“It’s not good.” Commander Tale replied without even looking up from the document that sat in front of him.

I could tell he too had been asleep. He was wearing simple cloth pants and his silky white shirt was only buttoned up halfway. Even his hair was left hanging loose, down upon his shoulders.

Not that my entourage was much better. Pamela was with me, and both of us had enough time to put on proper clothing, pants and a shirt for me, and a simple dress for my sister. But, we only had time to do so, because we were prevented from leaving my sister’s room until our guards had come to meet us.

Pamela’s Guardian Knights were the first to arrive. One was tall, dark-skinned woman wearing a pair of shorts, a tank top, a thick and heavy coat, and armed with a short spear and a wooden shield. The other was more average in shape and build, but her outfit was even stranger. She still had her night clothes on, but had thrown a shirt of chainmail on over them. She too was armed, a spiked morning star at her hip and a heavy metal shield strapped on her back. Pamela had introduced them as Lala and Pammy respectively.

Soon after my own guardian knights arrived. Carla with her standard sword and shield, along with half of her armor, while Abby, my temporary protector, was wearing a robe and little else, but she was carrying a massive warhammer that was longer than I was tall, and the business end was larger than my head.

Only when all four knights were there, were we able to leave and meet here, and on our way, we were joined by our maids.

“Olivia, Pamela, are you okay?” Timothy, who had already arrived, asked as we both came in.

“We’re fine, just a bit tired,” Pamela said with a smile while I looked over Timothy’s two guardian knights.

To his left was a huge shirtless man, his body crisscrossed with scars. He had leather pants on, or I should say, he head leather armor on his legs, and two metal gauntlets with spikes over the knuckles. To his right was a man who was only as tall as my brother, who was currently sitting down. I recognized the knight as a dwarf, his bushy red beard was braided in the manner that only dwarves used. I couldn’t see any other parts of his face because he wore a full helmet. And like many dwarves, his weapon of choice was a one-handed battleax that he paired with a shield.

“Commander, what is happening?” I asked again, and this time he did look up.

“The forces at the Bleeding Forrest reported an Elemental Overflow. This report here,” he said motioning to the document he had in front of him, “Says that most of the soldiers are retreating here as we speak, but a rearguard action was organized to delay the elementals’ advance. In the meantime, the Crown itself has issued an emergency call to arms for all combat forces that can be spared.”

There was a collective gasp around the table at his words, but I was momentarily at a loss.

I quickly scanned through the Original Olivia’s memories, and only found a few, vague references to what Commander Tale had just mentioned, an Elemental Overflow. From what my original understood, occasionally an elemental fragment would tear an opening to an elemental plane, allowing large amounts of elementals, plus the fragment itself, to flood into the material plane.

Elementals were inhuman, in the sense that they were intelligent, but their methods and manner of thought were completely alien to mortal races. Even to outsiders, of which elementals technically were, their behaviors and motivations were hard to grasp. They were, however, powerful and dangerous, but besides trying to create a more comfortable environment for themselves, they were rather passive in nature unless threatened. Water elementals, for instance, would simply seek out a place with large amounts of water, or try to create such a place, and then would just idle within there. Unless they were attacked, or the place containing the water was attacked, they would generally ignore anyone else. Of course, what constitutes an attack was somewhat hard to determine, so to play it safe, most people would avoid them.

But according to my memories, here at least, they would burst out in great numbers, and such an event would be considered a great disaster. I could understand if it was fire elementals erupting out in a forest, or really any kind of elemental appearing in a city, but I didn’t understand why they would seemingly head here.

“Do we have to heed that call to arms?” My brother was the first to break the silence.

“Of course we do,” our steward, Old Man Hart, who I hadn’t even noticed had entered, answered, “That said, we have a lot of leeway to determine how many of our soldiers we send.”

“We do?”

“Hmm, yes we do. We still need to maintain our own defenses, and even if the summons called for every soldier we had, there would still be limits.”

“So what should we do?” Timothy asked the important question.

“A good question,” Commander Tale answered in the steward’s stead. “We do not maintain a large force here, just enough to defend this estate with some men to spare. If we were to send what we have without weakening our defenses, we could send maybe one to two platoons, no more than thirty men, maybe even less.”

“What if we reduced our defenses to the bare minimum? How many could we send out then?” I asked.

“Hmm…” The elven commander seemed to think for a second. “To actually maintain the security of the estate, fifty men. If we were to reduce our forces further, keeping only enough to ensure the people in this room’s safety, maybe a small company of eighty. But, I do not recommend that, if anything did happen, we would be forced to abandon the estate.”

“I see,” I said.

“What will we do?” Timothy asked.

Both the commander and the steward exchanged looks before Old Man Hart answered.

“We should try to send at least fifty men, even if we do compromise our defense here. Anything less, and it would reflect poorly on us here.”

“I do not think we should do that,” Commander Tale disagreed, “Whatever we send will likely suffer casualties, possibly heavily. The more men we send, the more we will lose.”

“Well, what about…”

I let the conversation wash over me while I became lost in my own thoughts.

Everyone in the room was debating on the best course of action, but their goals were to maintain the stance that the family previously had. And that was not my goal, not at all. This was a great chance to make a large move, but, I had reservations.

I preferred to lay out my plans in advance, to take in the big picture, to clearly analyze it, and to make detailed moves. There is always a degree of last minute choices in any plan, because no plan will be followed to the letter. However, on-site decisions in regards to an actual plan are a completely different beast as compared to this. Right now, I had no plan, so making a move here would be risky. Very risky.

But still, letting this slip by, was not what I wanted to do either.

Thus, I was considering two different options.

The first was to send no forces at all, or at least only a token amount. This would, as Old Man Hart mentioned, reflect poorly on our family. But that did not matter at all, already all of our actions were viewed unfavorably, the stock of the Pine Family in the public eye was already rock bottom, a further drop would be irrelevant. And if we sent no one, we would suffer no losses either, leaving us with more options after this crisis passed.

This is what I would normally have done. If we had real allies here, I might have participated, but the other five ducal houses are enemies, letting them bleed amongst themselves while we continued to build up our own strength did seem to be the safe bet.

However… I keep going back to the thought that I had tried those actions before, and I knew from first-hand experience, that they were flawed.

Which brought me to my second option…

“Everyone,” I said, drawing attention to myself and causing a halt to the existing conversation, “We should send all of our forces to assist.”

“That, if we do that, we will not-” Commander Tale began, but I cut him off.

“You misunderstand. I do not mean just our guards, I mean everyone. All mages, all knights, everyone.” I smiled as I stood up. “We shall send out everyone capable of fighting within this estate.”

“That, is not an option.” Commander Tale denied me.

“Sir Jop, Sir Silver Falcon, and Lady Peony are rank 7 mages,” I continued, ignoring the elf’s objection, “We have two more mages at rank 6 here, in addition, we have ten rank 6 warriors, and how many rank 5’s and 4’s? That is a considerable amount of military might.”

“Hmm…” Old Man Hart rubbed his chin while thinking about my words.

“And those people are vital to our defenses here. We can not deploy them.”

“We can,” I said, my smile growing larger, “This estate holds one thing of value, the people within, and nothing else. We will leave behind half of the common soldiers to defend the estate and to prevent opportunist who might want to break in and steal the furniture, but the rest will escort the staff into the 1st Circle, we can find lodgings for them there easily enough if we ask.”

“No.”

“What do you think, Steward Hart?” I changed my target, “With all of our powerhouses together, our losses will be minimal, and we will be able to make a bold move and show off our might and devotion to the kingdom in one swift move.”

“Hmm… well, it is a bold plan if I do say so myself, however… it is risky.”

“It is,” I agreed, “but only to a degree. And you forget, if the army is defeated, then we risk an even worse outcome.”

Not that I considered that a real possibility. I wasn’t sure how many elementals would be included in this Overflow, but I knew that the Capital’s garrison consisted of at least ten thousand men. If we included the conscripts currently being pressed into service, plus the regular guards, they could easily reach thirty thousand. Unless the quality of the soldiers were shockingly poor, which I was confident was not the case, or unless the general leading this was completely inept, we would be in no real danger.

“Well… there is that…” The old steward seemed unsure.

“What do you think, brother and sister?” I changed targets again. “Should we do the bare minimum? Or should we use everything we have to save as many people as possible?”

“Of course we should!” Timothy said enthusiastically, which made me feel a bit guilty since I was sort of manipulating him with my words.

“I…” Pamela hesitated, and then looked at me for a second. Her face shifted into a frown, but then changed to a more resigned expression. “I agree with Olivia, we should send everything we have.

“Absolutely not!” The elf said.

“Come now, Eslan, this is a losing fight for you. I myself, am inclined to agree with the young lady.” Old Man Hart said with a sigh.

“You may agree, but I am in charge of the Pine Military forces here.”

“Indeed you are, but I am in charge or everything else, and if I, and our Lord and Ladies, all think we should act, I believe you are outnumbered. And while you do have final say, that is only if you can in good faith, say this course of action is wrong and will lead to unacceptable losses to the family. Can you say that?”

“...”

“I will take that as a no.”

“... I understand. I will make the arrangements for our soldiers. Steward Hart, I will ask you to coordinate the evacuation of the staff.” He said, frustration clear in his voice.

The two began sending a flurry of orders, and I could finally relax.

The first part of my plan was now being put into action.

Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 00:22

Temporary Command Center, 7th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

General Merrick Miller.

General Merrick Miller was a miserable man. Not in the sense that he was wretched or unpleasant to be around, but in the sense that his predominant state of mind could be described as unhappy and depressed. His parents had disowned him when young, his wife had left him, his children did not speak to him, most of his subordinates looked down upon him, as did his superiors and his contemporaries. He had no goals or objectives, and his life was effectively stagnating, he even lacked hobbies and pastimes.

And yet, he carried on every day.

The Fredirin Kingdom was a highly structured kingdom, and one way that manifested was in trying to rank everything. The best hunter, the best blacksmith, the best horse, the best painting, the best restaurant, and the best general. If a commoner was asked to name the top five ranking generals within the army, they would answer.

General Jaz Portlo, a masterful strategist who plays with the entire nation’s army as if it were a game.

General Kimberley Goldfield, whose use or calvary is the best even in the surrounding kingdoms.

General Horin Copper-Spade, a dwarven siege specialist who could bring down any castle or fort.

General Red Hog, a descendant of the northern barbarians who leads his men from the front.

And if asked for which general would take the final slot out of the top, they would fall into a debate.

However, and what really bothered General Merrick Miller, was the fact that the top five generals were in fact, already clearly ranked.

And that he was one of them.

Rank 1, Jaz Portlo.

Rank 2, Kimberly Goldfield.

Rank 3, Merrick Miller.

Rank 4, Horin Copper-Spade.

Rank 5, Red Hog.

Not only was he in the top five himself, he was ranked third. And yet, no one knew that.

Of course, there was a reason for that. The other four generals were all noteworthy people, having great deeds connected with their names. General Goldfield was the only general originating from one of the ducal houses to be allowed to be stationed with a permanent army, General Red Hog personally crushed enemies while leading his men. General Copper-Spade once brought down an entire castle filled with theocracy forces in one night, and General Portlo could easily recall where every single unit was stationed within the kingdom. As for himself, General Merrick Miller had none of their talents, nothing flashy or noteworthy like that. Instead, he was a master administrator and an expert in logistics. Even the first rank General Portlo would enquire with him when he needed to move forces.

And his talent, boring and unassuming as it was, did happen to be incredibly valuable right now, as the Royal Capital’s defense forces needed to rapidly muster their forces and integrated the numerous conscripts.

“General, the Royal army is leaving their positions within the inner city, they should be reaching the rally point within minutes.”

“We have requisitioned as many wagons and carriages as possible to move supplies. We will only need enough food for one day, but it is still an enormous amount of food.”

“The merchants were not happy about the order, however. We even appropriated a large amount of their supplies.”

“A necessity,” The general spoke, “The roads are going to be clog as civilians flee north and as the soldiers begin moving south towards us. If we begin emptying our depots in the northern half of the city, the traffic will slow to a crawl, and we don’t have time. So we will commandeer anything we need from the south half.”

“I understand, and the emergency orders give us leeway to do whatever we need to make the army combat ready in thirty minutes, although I think that might be pushing it.”

“It is fine, at least for the royal army, I will get us ready in half that time. It is the guards, the noble’s forces, and the civilians that concern me.”

“About that general, Guard Commander Genkly says he can only spare two to three thousand men, the rest need to protect the civilians. Already there has been more panic that we expected.”

“That is about what I expected, less than I wanted, however. Still…” The general scanned over his adjutants for a second, “What of the civilians and the nobles?”

“The civilians are moving well, all of the major combat schools have begun moving, and numerous individuals are already moving into our set up rally points. We are well on our way to making the numbers you estimated. We might even exceed them.”

“The nobles are, however… not as promising. We are getting soldiers, but their quality…”

“And they are coming with an awful lot of complaints.”

“I bet those nobles will think twice when their estates get overrun.”

“Doubtful. They’ll just blame us and then ask the Crown for reimbursement.”

“Ignore their complaints. If they interfere, arrest them. And as for how their troops will be used, that isn’t my job, I do not know who will command this venture, but it won’t be me, and I thank the Gods for small favors like that,” General Merrick said as he shook his head. “What of the ducal estates? What have they sent us?”

“So far, only the Steam-Bursts have sent forces, one hundred heavy infantry and eleven mages with an average rank of four.”

“The Canyons and the Lakesides have sent messengers pledging their forces, however. The Canyons regret only being able to send fifty men, but five of them are rank four knights. The Lakesides can’t send any soldiers, but they are sending a group of mages and twenty iron golems.”

“Charles Goldfield is personally coming and leading a force of fifteen high-rank warriors.”

“That leaves the Pines and the Quarrys. The latter likely has nothing to spare, their estate is almost abandoned.”

“Um… A messenger from the Pines just arrived with a letter outlining the forces they are sending… but…” one of the junior adjutants hesitated to speak up.

“But what?”

“Are they sending no one?”

“Er… No… that isn’t it.” He still looked unsure.

“What are they sending then?” The general asked.

“A rank 7 elementalist, a rank 7 arcanist, a rank 7 druid, thirteen rank 6 warriors, eight rank 6 mages, two rank 6 priests, and… nearly forty other warriors and knights of rank five and four. Also… another thirty mages and priests of those ranks too…”

“...Huh…?”

“...Wha…?”

“...That…”

Shocked expressions covered his adjutant’s faces, and even the general himself, could not prevent his mouth from falling open.

Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 00:26

Blue Sky Street, 3rd Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Olivia Pine Fredirin.

Our carriage slowly proceeded along the road that would have normally been almost empty during the day, let alone at night. However, during this night, the road, normally a wide, scenic one, was packed with people. Men and women wearing the uniform armor of the Royal army marched southward in great groups. Smaller groups of civilian warriors, of guards, of mercenaries, of even temple priests and holy warriors, they too headed south. And then there was the multitude of normal civilians, now little more than refugees, fleeing to the north. Under normal circumstances, commoners would not be allowed within the 3rd Circle without good reason, but either those rules were allowed to fall lax tonight, or the guards who would normally man the gates and prevent their entry had been recalled.

With the road being packed, our group of travelers should have been slow. However, the opposite was the case, we were able to proceed even faster than normal. That effect was courtesy of the fact that we were not simply a carriage with a few guards, but a large military convoy. The commoners, even panicked as they were, could see the resplendent robes that covered our magicians and priests, the ornate armors of our knights. Magical effects were also clearly visible, glowing rings, twinkling necklaces, shields that made the air around them shimmer, weapons that literally burnt with golden fire or that crackled with blue energy.And the fact that the leader of our convoy was sitting upon a massive black skinned animal with a serpentine neck and a head that was not only covered in spikes, but that dripped saliva that seemed to burn and sizzle as it fell onto the slush that covered the ground, made sure that no one approached or got in our way.

“My Lords and Ladies, it is almost time.” Pamela’s guardian knight, Lala, spoke up breaking the silence.

This carriage was much larger than the ones we had used previously, easily able to sit four or five people side by side, and it had four benches instead of two. My siblings and I occupied one, one guardian from each of us occupied another, and the other two were filled with our personal servants.

“Lala, Be safe,” Pamela said with concern.

“Send those elementals back Foriv,” My brother said to his Dwarven knight.

“Good luck,” I said as I nodded to Carla.

Slowly our carriage, along with the entire convoy, came to a stop. The Blue Sky Street that we had been traveling eastbound on had come to an end, we could either turn left and head north, or turn right and head south.

Or, there was the third option that we were currently taking, to split our convoy into two.

The three knights were exiting the carriage, and they would combine with the rest of the high ranking warriors and head south, while the fifty some regular soldiers were going to escort us into the 1st Circle where we would take refuge in the Royal Castle.

“Carla, wait,” I said suddenly.

“Hmm?” Carla, who was the last to leave, but she was already stepping down from the carriage into the snow, paused at my words.

“Carla, you are my knight,” I said.

“Yes! I am your knight,” She said, looking up at me who stood in the doorway.

“You know Carla…” I hesitated for only a fraction of a second before I continued, “Things are going to change for the Pine Family.”

“Okay…?” She looked confused.

“Did you know? I draw a strong distinction between things in the world.”

“Um, My Lady… we do not really have time…”

“Just listen,” I said with a sigh, “Carla, everything in this world can be split into two camps, things that are mine, and things that are not. And I will not allow anyone or anything to take or harm my possessions. Do you understand?”

“Uh…”

“You are my Knight, Carla.”

“Yes!”

“Then take this,” I said as I handed her a small crystal set into a chain. “If you put mana into that crystal, it will keep you safe. Only use it in an emergency.”

“This… thank you My Lady.” gratitude covered her face as she placed the chain around her neck.

“Then get going,” I said as I returned to the carriage.

Carla said nothing else, and no one within the carriage spoke as we slowly began moving again. But, I could see the worry in everyone else’s eyes.

“Do not worry, it will be fine. You will be safe in the Castle.” I spoke up as I reached into one of the overhead racks and pulled down a long and thin package.

“Hmm, yes, we will be safe there.” My brother said.

“...” Pamela was lost in thought, but she suddenly froze and then looked up at me.

My sister knew me too well.

“Olivia…” She was about to say more but stopped when I opened the packaged and revealed a long machete-like sword.

And then, before she could say anything else, I removed the coat I was wearing, revealing my leather armor.

“Olivia?! What are you wearing?” Timothy yelled, looking shocked.

But I didn’t answer him right away, instead, I focused on putting my gloves and mask on. But, I could tell that he wasn’t the only one shocked, everyone was. Pamela at least seemed to understand something, but everyone else was just baffled.

“Well, it is about time for me to depart,” I announced as I looked out the window.

“Depart? Where are you going? What are you doing? Wait, you can not leave.”

“Brother,” Pamela said to him, “Calm down. You are panicking.”

“Ah, right,” He said as he sat back down, “Wait, what are you saying Pamela? What is she doing?”

“Pamela,” I addressed my sister, “I leave it to you.”

Before anyone else could speak, I opened the door and snuck from the carriage. We were currently crossing a wooden bridge, and our carriage took up all of the space on it. Without anyone noticing, I was able to slide out and descent past the railing of the bridge. Before the carriage had passed me, I was already under the bridge and slipping into the icy water.