511 - 518

Befuddle

"If your ally is a narcissist of an egotist, never give them any glory; it will be your undoing. If you enemy is a narcissist or an egotist, give them all the gory; it will be their undoing."

On the 14th day of the 6th month, seven days after the Battle of Cape Romani, Lorist finally finished making his arrangements and led the remaining ships to Armatrin Harbor. Senbaud left for Silowas with Firebird legion, the other captured sailors, and more than 300 privately owned merchant vessels a day earlier.

The Battle of Cape Romani was a costly victory. They'd lost two thousand men, and serious damage to their ships. The 16 whaling ships were completely incapacitated. It would take them months to repair and costs thousands of gold coins. Lorist decided it wasn't worth it; they were weak and outdated, so they would join the enemy ships at the bottom of the ocean as the foundations for the new castle and harbour.

Lorist arrived at Armatrin Harbor on the 21st of the 6th.

"The king sent a messenger a while back. He's asked us to deploy as quickly as possible. We've stalled saying we're waiting for you to arrive. He will notice the ships you brought and demand we deploy immediately. No doubt he'll think it's our supplies and won't let us delay any longer," Potterfang immediately reported.

Lorist laughed and waved.

"No worries. If he sends another messenger, just tell him he doesn't have to worry about the Union launching an offensive this year. We've taken their supply fleets so they don't have the means. In fact, it'll be surprising if they can hold the front-lines."

"So, we're going to attack the bay and take Morante?"

"We don't need to anymore. We're going to disguise ourselves of survivors of the battle and sail straight for Morante. The sentry legion and Firmrock should start preparing and embarking immediately. Tigersoar and Jaeger will remain here. They'll leave for the front-lines only after we take Morante. Without support from the city, their forces will crumble quickly. Wait for them to receive news of the city falling, then attack. Hit them while they're panicking and disorganized. Take as many prisoners as you can. We need a lot of new subjects for our new province."

"Understood, Your Grace!" replied all the high officers.

Lorist didn't expect that, instead of just sending a messenger, Auguslo came personally with Kenmays and Fisablen the next day. Apparently the loss of two of their strongholds on the plains the previous year had put a lot of pressure on the young would-be emperor. His forces were on the brink of collapsing. The enemy need only give them a light shove and they'd crumble. But, they didn't. He'd not been attacked even once this entire year, and half of it had already come and gone. The thought that the Union might be saddled with a problem somewhere else didn't even cross his mind, so he was left sleepless, worrying about the plot the Union had to be brewing. As such he was desperate to get Lorist on the front-lines. A swordsaint and a couple hundred additional men would at least make him feel safer.

He was hysterical when he saw thousands embarking in the harbour. Lorist had to jump in and explain everything to him to calm him down. He quickly explained the goings-on on the sea for the last year. He made sure the emphasize that it was thanks to his and his men's valiant efforts that the Union could not launch any offensives, and to go into depth about how the Union had now shifted focus to him and his men. The Union had sent a hundred thousand men to Silowas, and he was moving to counter them with his two legions now embarking. He could not afford to lose Silowas, you sea. Without the island he could not support the front-lines.

Auguslo nearly emptied his stomach from relief. He could finally stop worrying about a Union plot. He decided to shower Lorist with praise rather than lunch. Among the many things he promised was to enshrine his name on a monument he was planning to build in celebration of the war and the empire's refounding.

He only stopped once Lorist tried to run away. He expressed his sincere understanding for Lorist's predicament, and suggested he give him control of the two legions he was leaving behind, Tigersoar and Jaeger. He promised to put pressure on the Union on land to pull some attention away from Lorist and increase his chances of victory at sea.

Lorist quickly turned him down.

"I appreciate Your Majesty's goodwill, but now isn't a good time. The kingdom is in a dangerous predicament and we have to remain united to resist the Union. It's not that I'm unwilling to hand Jaeger and Tigersoar over they just can't leave the harbour. I have a great track record but it is not perfect. If our retaliation fails, we have to be able to mobilize them immediately."

Lorist took out a map of the sea off the coast and showed it to the king.

"I have word that the Union gathered 100 thousand men in the south. Jigda's also sent 50 thousand. I suspect they sent Firebird.

"They are all going to be sent against Silowas. If that is the case, I need to be ready to stand against them. There is, however, a chance that it's a ruse to get me to move my forces away from Armatrin so they can attack it instead. If that is the case and they take the city, they'll cut off our supply lines. If that is their plan, then you can be sure they'll push on the front-lines at the same time.

"I have to keep the two legions here in case that is their plan, and for in case I fail to hold Silowas."

Auguslo wiped the sweat off his forehead. This scenario was enough to give him sleepless nights again. This plan was absolutely terrifying, partly because it would be devastating, and because it was just too innovative. This had never been done before. He would never have thought of it and would have been caught completely off guard. It wasn't that people were too dumb to think about it, it was that noble honour didn't make it an option to even think about. There was only honor in fighting for land on land and fighting for water on water. Using naval forces to win a fight on land just didn't make any sense. It was, in a word, ignoble, so no one would even think about doing it.

"Your considerations are all-encompassing as usual, Locke," Auguslo said, "Tell me if you need any help. We cannot afford to lose either Armatrin of Silowas, so I will help in any way I can to make sure that doesn't happen."

"You don't have to do anything on this end. Just keep the Union occupied so they can't afford to send even more men against me. I suggest striking at a few inconsequential places. You don't have to win any actual victories, just make the enemy think you're getting restless or are testing the waters for an impending major offensive. If you can make them burn supplies, that would be even better, since they can't resupply easily now.

"If you can hold on until I wipe out Invincible, then this was will end in our victory, even if it doesn't immediately."

"Alright," Auguslo agreed energetically, "Locke, I trust you will win and shatter the Union. Don't disappoint me."

I knew you loved to give out moral support, but this is just ridiculous...

"There is one more thing… I beg you treat the nobles I caught at sea as befits their standing. If we're to end this war quickly, we cannot make mortal enemies out of the entire Union. If we can show that we are the better men, the hearts of the Union's people will soften, if only slightly. If, however, we slaughter them again, the Union will only harden their hearts and resolve again to fight us to the death."

"You're right. I've vented my anger already, so now is the time to be pragmatic. I will spare the nobles and treat them as befits their standing."

Lorist returned to his tent after dealing with his visitors to find his men giggling uncontrollably.

"What's with you guys? Did you swallow too many poppy seeds?"

Loze smiled.

"Isn't turning the king down like that a little much, Your Grace? If he finds out you already destroyed Invincible, he'll not take it well and we might have him as an enemy again."

"You are right, but if he knows we're going after Morante, he'll demand to take part. When we take the city, he'll demand the lion's share of the plunder. Then he'll try to take all the glory. Morante's plunder and the glory of taking it is the lynchpin of our strategy for making a profit from this war. If we lose that, then why even bother?

"I'm also worried that if the king gets the glory for taking the city, then he'll expand his ambitions to the whole continent. He'll certainly demand to be given the plains, and the Union will never settle for that. They can still stomach losing the lands they took from the Empire, but they will never give up their historical territory. We can take and plunder the city, but we don't have the means to hold on to it long-term. If the Union refuses to come to the table, the citizens will eventually rise up. If they do, we'll lose the city and many good soldiers. Even if that doesn't happen, we can't keep this war going much longer. The kingdom will lose if we don't end this quickly.

"If we're the only people involved in taking the city, then we can just tear it down if worse comes to worst and leave. But the king will never let us abandon the city if he's involved. We'll have to hold it and we'll lose our entire army within its walls.

"Understand now? We must keep this plan a secret until it's accomplished."

"We won't disappoint, Your Grace!"

"Alright. Potterfang, Els, I want you ready to leave by tomorrow morning. We leave in the afternoon. Loze, Freiyar, head to the front-lines as soon as you hear we've taken the Morante. The Union has 400 thousand men on the plains. Even in their disarray they won't cave immediately. Push forward with the entire army, the king and our allies included when you see them start to withdraw or move forces away.

"We have to wipe that entire army out and leave the Union bare. They won't come to the table as long as they have a hope of winning."

"Yes, Your Grace."

Occupation

"The fog of war blinds you to your enemy's movements as much as it blinds your enemy to yours."

On the 26th of the 6th, the ships carrying Firmrock and the sentry legion arrived at Morante. Invincible's fourth flotilla never imagined House Norton's forces would disguise themselves as their own to sneak into the bay. The battle of Cape Romani took place almost 20 days earlier, but the fleet's complete defeat was still unknown.

Serihanem, who had successfully escaped, had struck bad luck. His ships were severely damaged from the battle. He was forced to beach them shortly after escaping to avoid sinking in the middle of the ocean. It took him much longer to get home as a result. His messenger to Morante was still on the road.

As far as the Union was concerned, Invincible must have won. They were just waiting for the good news. It was odd that it would take so long for news to get back, but they didn't dare send out anymore ships before they knew of the fleet's victory. It would be suicide. The fourth flotilla was no wiser either and they certainly didn't have the manpower to face the enemy, so they couldn't send out any ships either.

So, when ships with friendly flags sailed into the harbor, they immediately accepted the ruse and cheered. Lorist made it easy for them as well. He had some of his ships bombard the flotilla as his ships sailed into the harbor, making it look like these ships had broken through a gauntlet. The enemy rushed to defend them and didn't bother with the usual checks. They did eventually realize it was a ruse, but by then it was already too late.

Penelope watched two of his captor's blademasters leading units against the city's harbor defenses from the deck of one of the ships.

"This is the first time Morante has fallen. It's all my fault. If I hadn't been this incompetent..."

Lorist laughed.

"There's always a first. You should stop blaming yourself and giving credit where credit is due. It's not your incompetence that defeat your fleet, it's my brilliance. The Union wasn't built on a nobility system, it doesn't work with the kind of people and the kind of country the Union was. You destroyed yourselves. Morante used to be free and lively, I used to love the city.

"Now it's a rotting corpse. If by some miracle we don't conquer it today, it might hold out another decade, maybe even two or three, but it won't make it another fifty years. Someone else will come along and burn it. Seeing your city burn is much like a woman watching her rose being opened for the first time. It hurts really bad the first time, but by the third you hardly even notice, and by the fifth you enjoy it."

"Pffft!"

Jinolio and the guards burst out laughing. Even Duke Lorf couldn't contain his chuckle. The Union was his kingdom's overlords in all but name. He kept up a smile to placate them, but thought nothing of watching them burn if it didn't bode ill for him; in fact, he enjoyed the sight.

The Union officers within earshot turned red. They might have stabbed Lorist immediately of not for him being a swordsaint.

"D-d-duke Norton... Y-y-you're going too far. How is this noble behavior?" Penelope voiced his objection.

"My words may be crude, but they are true," Lorist rebutted calmly, "Apologies, gentlemen. I studied in this city for a decade and even worked as a mercenary here, so I tend to forget I'm a noble when I'm here. This is what Morante used to mean to me. If not for the sake of ending this war, I wouldn't have come for the city. I'd much rather burn everything outside the city and have it surrender without having to break a stone.

"Don't look at me like that. I've mastered gunpowder. If I move the cannons onto land, can you hold onto the plains? I am going straight for the city because I want to avoid another million deaths. My intentions are sincere. If the Union surrenders, we will withdraw without a word. Peace depends on you now, not me."

Penelope froze. Even Duke Lorf didn't think Lorist would start lecturing them. When Penelope snapped out of his reverie, he bowed respectfully.

"We will take your words to heart. We are willing to do all we can to stop this war."

Lorist stroked his nose as he nodded.

"If you do your best, we will soon have peace again. My word is my bond, I told you we'll leave once the Union surrenders, and we will. Alright, time is of the essence. Let us disembark. There is much to be done."

The surprise attack progressed quickly. Shuss and Els took the walls without trouble and the rest charged into the city. The locals even cheered them on, thinking they were reinforcements. The men didn't know how to react. Fortunately, they were disciplined and marched forward wordlessly. The invasion thus turned into a parade of sorts. Lorist's men marched through the streets in neat formation and the local spectated from the sidewalks, windows, and rooftops. Some of the more military-minded praised the army's armor and discipline. Everyone quickly cheered for their impending victory over the vile empire.

It wasn't that nobody questioned the Ragebear insignia on their armor. They just didn't think it was possible for House Norton's forces to march on Morante's streets openly. The men didn't lift their banners either, so they didn't have anything to corroborate the idea. In the end people assumed it must be a southern noble house that used a bear as well, but no one knew whom that might be.

The outer city's conquest was an easy matter. Most of the forces were on the front-lines, leaving the city only sparsely defended. Just eight thousand men manned the entire city's defenses and kept order in the streets. The two citadels nearby each only had a thousand men.

When Shuss and Els marched on the walls, the garrisons even thought they were their relief. They greeted the men smiling and gave up their positions willingly. They only realized something was off when their weapons were taken and their relief started tying them up. They fought as best they could, but without weapons, they were quickly overcome.

Reidy and Potterfang's march on the inner city failed, however. Unlike the outer walls' garrisons, the inner city's belonged to the big six guilds. Reidy was fortunate enough to capture 600 on the northern edge of the inner wall, but the patrols soon discovered them. The alarm sounded, and the enemy sent out blademasters to take care of the situation.

The two commanders were injured in the ensuing fight, though Reidy killed two blademasters, and they were chased out. Firmrock suffered a thousand casualties during their route. The enemy suffered three-fold losses, however; three thousand guards and two blademasters were dead. They shut the gates and holed up inside.

This was not unexpected, however. Lorist's men were much stronger and outnumbered them many times over, but he couldn't match their elites. He just had too few. He only had three blademasters, Reidy included. Engelich was a coward, though, and could only be trusted with guarding the Northlands, so in effect Lorist only had two.

Shuss was a former slave and became a blademaster through constant fighting on the brink of death. Though he was a rank 2 blademaster, he wasn't strong enough to match a rank 3 blademaster. Reidy was another story. He had trained to the late part of the Dan Ocean Ki-refining Technique's fourth stage. While he couldn't match a blademaster, a rank 3 blademaster wasn't a problem.

No matter how strong, however, two people were just two people. They couldn't fight the enemy's numbers. Every big-six guild had at least three blademasters, some even had four. Some second-rate guilds also had a blademaster, and a couple third rate guilds might have one as well. Reidy had been forced out of the inner city by a rank 3 blademaster and two rank 2 blademasters and had a serious wound on his back.

Morante's inner city was the main merchant guilds' main base. Every guild that had a blademaster kept them there. It was the most-defended place on the continent. Besides the blademasters, hundreds of gold ranks and thousands of silver ranks lined the walls and streets. It would be a near impossible task to take it quickly. Especially with the Union now keenly aware of what was happening.

Lorist took ten guards to Brinn Hill amidst the chaos now quickly spreading across the entire city. It was one of the most beautiful and expensive areas in the city. Only the rich and elite could afford a house there. He had dreamt of owning a house there himself and living out his days there with his then-girlfriend. He wasn't going there now to fulfill his old dream though. He headed there now to take care of the Union's sole swordsaint.

He'd been all but incapacitated in their last duel, but his opponent hadn't come off any lighter. It took him two years to recover, but his opponent was still licking his wounds. It was now the perfect time to plug this weed out by the root. Lorist wasn't foolish enough to wait until the man recovered before challenging him to another duel. Only unreasonably talented geniuses with plot-armor would do such a thing. While he enjoyed good fights, he would not suffer a truly threatening enemy to live, and, without the swordsaint, the Union would have no laurels on which to be stubborn.

The mansion was completely empty, however. The swordsaint was nowhere to be found. Lorist couldn't even find any traces of him. He learned from one of the servants that the man had been out on a stroll when he suddenly told his servant he had to leave and vanished, accompanied by his disciples.

Lorist ran to where the servant had last sen the swordsaint. It faced the bay and could clearly see everything. The old man's eyes were very sharp. He must hae noticed what was going on and made to get away. No wonder he had felt like he was being watched when he disembarked.

"Should we give chase, Your Grace?" asked a guard.

Lorist shook his head. More than 40 minutes had passed. It would be impossible to find the man in the current chaos.

"He is blessed," Lorist said through grit teeth, "Let's finish things here first."

Fall of the City

"The demons come to take our city.

They will die here with us.

House Norton?

House Norton?

They are vile beasts -- barbarians.

May the gods rip them to shreds

and bind their souls

in the underworld

for an eternity of torture!"

~ a popular Morantian lulliby.

The Union always parroted freedom and justice as a virtue, but no Morantian was born equal even before the aristocracy. The twelve inner city districts, 24 outer city districts, slums, and external shelters, for example, were always had always been arranged in a hierarchy. The twelve inner city districts were the backbone of the various merchant guilds. The lowest position they usually occupied was that of supervisor. Most of the Union's military families also lived there. It was one of the unspoken benefits afforded their soldiers. At the same time, however, it made their families easy to reach in case a soldier went AWOL or chose to defect.

The 24 outer districts varied considerably even among themselves. The academy instructors, merchants, and foreign nobility drove up the price of property in the different districts. The cheapest and most basic properties were for servants and laborers. The mid-range ones were for artisans. Merchants and other mercantilely inclined individuals lived in the inner edges of high-end districts, a few closely associated or related to guilds might even live in the outskirts of inner districts.

The big-seven took the biggest pieces of the cake when the aristocracy was founded. They turned their focus from Morante to their far-flung demesnes and took most of their people with them, leaving a massive vacuum in the inner city. Usually second-rate guilds would have jumped to fill it in, but they, too, had left for lands outside the city.

It was a law of nature, however, that empty spaces were always filled in. The vacuum left in Morante was no different. As the Union accelerated its expansion, new guilds sprung up like weeds on an untilled field. They quickly bought places in the aristocracy and moved into the inner city. The price of land within the inner walls of the city quickly skyrocketed and the big-seven and second-rate guilds capitalized on it. They auctioned off all but their most sacred and secret land at exorbitant prices.

Currently, the inner city districts were no longer the place where the most influential merchant guilds were situated. Instead, they had become the place of residence for the Union nobles as well as the center of operations for many other merchant guilds as well as a place where wealth was stored. It was also the place where the most elite Morantians resided, hence the heavy security. After it suffered an attack by Firmrock, the guards of the inner city districts regrouped and rang the alarm bell apart from taking the northern walls back.

Lorist wasn't too worried about the inner city. His biggest concern was that the outer districts might rise up. The 24 outer districts each had about 20 thousand residents. If they all rose up at once, he would suddenly be facing a force of 480 thousand. And, unlike normal militaries, he could not just march in, take out the general, and watch the army collapsed. Every single man, woman, and child involved would be their own general. Even worse, if the slums joined the uprising, the enemy would stand near a million strong.

Lorist had taken the outer city first before moving on the inner city, but he had yet to march through the slums outside the city walls. If they rose up, he'd only know once the masses started rushing the gates. Luckily he had control of the walls.

The city had three gates, north, east, and south. The west of the city ran straight into the sea through the harbor, so it had no gate. Each of the roads leaving the city through the gates headed to three of the nine other major cities in the Union, three to a wind direction.

The few armed ships in the harbor had two choices, either surrender, or try to do as much damage to the enemy before they were killed. If they chose the latter, their best choice was to ram the ships into the enemy and set them on fire. The problem was that most of the enemy ships currently occupying the harbor were captured from Invincible, besides the manpower losses their loss would incur, the enemy wouldn't have suffered any real damage. The defenders weren't willing to sacrifice themselves without getting some worthwhile results, so this idea was abandoned in favor of surrender.

Though the inner city had yet to fall, they were completely surrounded. Nobody could escape. The forces still hidden within the outer city was thus cut off from their leadership and couldn't muster a serious defense. They were quickly quashed.

Despite the ease of his victory, Lorist didn't commit too many troops to the city. If a large-scale revolt broke out, most of the men in the city would be lost, so the fewer he had in the city, the better. He thus only committed the minimum necessary to keep the enemy in the inner city at bay and man the outer walls. Such a revolt was almost guaranteed the moment the people found out they were being occupied. Morante was famous for its pride and arrogance, the people would never accept a foreign occupier.

He thus kept his men out of the back alleys and side streets of the districts. He allowed his men only to patrol the main streets and set up checkpoints in major plazas and intersections. His men melted into the cityscape's background and behave like they were friendly visitors. They even obediently paid for drinks and chatted with interested people politely. When they bought something they paid the quoted price without haggling, which made them quite popular with the hawkers and merchants.

Despite this, however, some troubles still bubbled up here and there. A few women yelled at the men here and there about being invaders, though the soldiers never retaliated. They just kept their march or stood on guard like automata, even when several fingers were being shoved in their faces.

A few fools got it into their heads that they were easy pickings and tried their luck. A few mercenaries gathered and tried to chase a patrol out of the district, only to be crushed mercilessly. The soldiers lined up several ballistae and turned their would-be attackers into porcupines. Their corpses were then hung at key intersections with signs plastered on their chests.

The people's suspicions grew with each incident. And revolts soon began to spring up intermittently all over the city. Soon thousands of corpses lines the streets. Despite this, the Morantians kept rising up. They were nothing if not stubborn. The fighting left the street and went underground. Dozens of soldiers soon started to die after drinking or eating at local establishments or consuming their produce. Anyone even just suspected of having been even just remotely involved or related to someone who was involved in those incidents were hung, drawn, and quartered and displayed in front of their former establishments. Anyone who resisted the soldiers or impeded them were killed. An old, retired blademaster even got involved once. He gathered up everyone he knew and then some and charged at one of the outposts, only to be turned into a pin cushion.

While this drove fear into the hearts of many and finally made them obedient, it cemented an eternal hatred for these foreigners in everyone's hearts. No one associated with these devils would ever again be allowed into the city alive ever again.

Els and Ovidis moved out with a division to attack the nearby cities once everything calmed down. Shuss stayed behind to watch over the city. Mass and Gypsy, the two cities in question, were close behind the front-lines, and served as the final logistics hubs for resources being sent out to the front-lines.

As Lorist had too few soldiers with him, he was spreading himself a little too thin. He had to control a city with more than a million inhabitants, so he gave up on chasing down the windstorm swordsaint. Fortunately, the plan proceeded well despite some minor hitches. He now had to deal with inner Morante. He couldn't just let them be until the Union capitulated. His plan hinged on plundering the inner city for its wealth.

The two Firmrock divisions that encircled it had 24 thousand men. Naturally, only around 22 thousand remained as a thousand plus was lost during the failed initial assault.

Lorist and the legion's catapult brigade arrived at the same time. The 500 catapults were split into four regiments, one for each wall, and lined up horizontally.

"Your Grace, there's no need to bring the catapults. We have 40 cannons!" Jim, the artillery brigade's sergeant-major complained.

Lorist laughed and patted his shoulder.

"They're too advanced for those bumpkins. I don't want to flatten the walls completely. It's enough to terrify the bastards with the catapults. Besides, once they learn we have a swordsaint, they'll surrender. The artillery brigade is our most important reserve. We shouldn't waste it on something as trivial as this."

Firmrock's wheelbarrow-ballistae were spread out all over the city to maintain order there. Only the two divisions of swordsmen and pikemen surrounded the inner walls. Jim and the artillery brigade was only present in case any of the enemy blademasters tried to escape.

If Reidy and Potterfang managed to take down the walls, Jim would install the cannons on them and point them at the city below. It was a shame the two divisions didn't take the walls. Jim had no choice but to spread his cannons along the walls.

Though the Battle of Cape Romani ended in their victory, they lost nearly half of their 200 land-use cannons and a third of their crew. For the sake of monitoring the 100 thousand new laborers back at the reef, Lorist gave Howard control of all but a 100 of his personal guards.

Though only ten cannons could fire on any single part of the inner wall, they should be enough to take out a blademaster in a single volley. Jim had hoped the enemy would try to escape so he could show off his weapons, but no one did.

Lorist didn't understand why they weren't trying to escape either. They must be unwilling to leave their families behind. Either that, or they thought they could hold out until friendly forces took back the city.

"I count on you now, Penelope. If you can get them to surrender, I promise no one will be harmed. They'll be moved to the camps until the war ends, but they'll be safe. We won't let them ransom themselves, however. They must stay in the camps until the Union surrenders.

"They may not take any more than one wheelbarrow's worth of personal belongings with them, no more. We will not take it from them and they may trade freely if they wish. This is enough to show our sincerity. If they refuse, we will flatten the inner city with our catapults. I trust you've noticed them already."

"I understand, Lord Norton. I will convince them to surrender. I just hope you'll give me enough time. Besides, didn't you promise to return the city intact once the war ends?"

"That would certainly have been the case had we taken the inner city without a problem, but if they will not let us take it, we will flatten it. The outer city is a volcano waiting to erupt. If I am doomed to lose the city, I will burn it to the ground as I sail out of the harbor."

"I will go talk to them immediately," said Penelope with a deep bow before he rushed towards the gate.

The gates opened as the sun set and the inhabitants walked out with their wheelbarrows.

Trouble

"If everything is going your way, something horrible is about to happen."

"An urgent report, Your Grace. General Els has successfully occupied Gypsy. According to the captives' testimony, the next citadel, Robertway, is also defended by just a thousand men. The place is the Union's main medical facility in the theater. General Els has requested permission to continue his assault and take Robertway. He's confident he can take it before the Union can react."

Jinolio appeared troubled as he read the message with a yawn. Lorist hadn't slept for three days, not since Morante fell. Jinolio didn't do much better; just four hours of sleep. It wasn't that Lorist neglected his disciple; no one could afford to sleep. They had thousands of things to do.

"Have Els return. Taking Gypsy is enough. We don't need Robertway. Ovidis has secured 30 thousand laborers from the shelters outside the city so we don't need more. Els should focus on moving our supplies to Mass. We only have two days. Any supplies he can't take, he must burn. We cannot allow the Union to get anything back. Leave them only a ruin."

Both Lorist's eyes were bloodshot. A swordsaint had far more stamina than any ordinary mortal, but they were not exempt from the needs of man. He could only go so long without sleep.

"When the Union learns of Morante, Mass, and Gypsy's fall, they will respond. If we do not have our supply lines in place by that time, we will lose the city in no time. If, however, the Union is the one without their lines, they will fall in less than a month. We must hold on until then."

"Understood, Your Grace. I will write the general immediately," responded Jinolio, slapping himself lightly before leaving in a hurry.

"Lord Tarkel requests an audience," reported a guard.

"Let him in."

Tarkel appeared before Lorist, no less tired than him.

"Everything in order?"

"Yes, Your Grace. The high officials' and 17 blademasters' families have boarded the ships with the 92 Union nobles and gold-ranked swordsmen and their families. A total of 1784 people, sans the 648 servants going along. Jim has installed five bronze cannons on each of the eight Daws and the linked deck ensures the guests have nowhere to go," reported Tarkel.

"Phew... Now everyone can finally get some sleep. You should rest too. It has been a busy three days for us

The inner city's surrender didn't mean all was well. Instead, Lorist and his subordinates raised their guard, mainly because the 17 blademasters and 40 plus gold-ranked swordsmen were still present. It was a high-tier force Lorist could not ignore, even though they'd surrendered.

With Lorist there, all would be well, but should he ever be absent... A sudden uprising by the blademasters and gold ranks would be devastating. The issue was that Lorist couldn't be in charge of looking after all the prisoners, so Tarkel came up with a solution to it.

He suggested the captives be held on the ships. The bay was safe so the prisoners could be kept on ships in the middle of it.

Lorist loved the idea. He immediately had two captured Sabnims and several dozen Daws prepared. None had masts, so there was no threat of the captors using them to sail away. They were all fastened together, hull to hull and moved to the middle of the bay.

The bay was sheltered from the normal turbulence of the sea and now was not storm season. The ships were in no threat of coming loose and drifting. It did present a slight challenge, however. Most of the captives were nobles of one sort or another, and they had to have certain, luxuries. The ships had to be stocked beforehand. Some were even allowed a servant or two as company.

Naturally, Lorist was extra cautious. He moved several ships from the line defending the bay to keep watch on the floating prison.

"The nobles have been settled, Your Grace. But the rest of the prisoners from the inner city have complaints," Tarkel continued.

"Complaints? What complaints? We've done everything we promised!" Lorist exclaimed.

"They complain the food is too plain and too little."

"Hahaha! If they don't think it's enough, they can always buy more! It's not like I confiscated their wealth. They brought their wealth with them when they left. Remind them that they're captives. They should be happy to get any food at all!"

Lorist had indeed kept all his promises. He provided food and water and had not touched their wealth. Goods were very expensive at the moment though. He'd even gone as far as to set up a tavern in their camp. They could have good meals as long as they paid.

Lorist had a monopoly on anything going into the camp, so he set the prices as high as he could. He would bleed the people dry before he left the city.

"Alright. Pajik will take a sentry division to the camp and keep them all in their place.

"When Senbaud finishes escorting the captives to Silowas and hands us the name list, we can split the family members into two categories. Those sailors still alive may take their families to Silowas. Dead sailors' families will be sent to the camp in the city. I trust a 12-thousand-strong division is enough to keep them under control."

The 100 thousand captives from the inner city were Union loyalists and Lorist wasn't interested trying to get them to defect. They were nothing more than sacks of gold. He had agreed to great conditions to entice them to surrender, such as not taking their personal wealth and property, but he had his ways. He would leave with every penny this city had or his name wasn't Norton Lorist. Besides, everything belonged to him by right, anyway.

He would've had to be more careful were this the outer city -- it was just too large -- but the inner city was no trouble. He actually hoped they'd revolt. It would give him the perfect excuse to just take everything.

"Come to think of it, have the fourth flotilla's families boarded the ships?"

"They have, Your Grace. They will depart at three this afternoon," replied Tarkel.

Though Morante's port was for public use, the fleet area was reserved as the accommodation for the members of Invincible. Lorist set his sights on the surrendered sailors, all rich with seafaring experience. He planned to form a larger transport fleet in the future, so he turned to them sailors to solve his lack of manpower.

He didn't transport the families to Silowas to reunite with the sailors out of the goodness of his heart. He wanted to use them to make sure the sailors behaved, lived obediently, and served him. Their families were hostages. As long as they had lingering ties, they would serve him the best they could.

"Colonel Belnick took one division to occupy the warehouses outside the east gate. Colonel Jades took three brigades to the commercial area and Reidy is somewhere in the outer city. Potterfang occupies the inner city with a brigade. The whole of Morante is ours," concluded Tarkel.

"Sigh!"

I never have enough men when I need them.

The two legions had eight divisions, 96 thousand men in total, but it was spread very thin across the city. Men were needed everywhere. The city was a mass of holes in its defenses. Lorist had yet to get to plundering because he couldn't spare the men.

Of the sentry legion's four divisions, Els and Ovidis took one to Mass and Gypsy, Shuss put one on the walls, the third was guarding the port, and Pajik was on the prison ships with the last.

Of the four Firmrock divisions, Reidy was using two to watch other the outer city, one holding down the fort by the warehouses, and the final one had been split in two. Three of its brigades were with Jades, holding down the commercial area, and the last stood guard over the inner city with Potterfang. The treasuries, armories, and shrines were still unguarded, and Lorist's men had yet to set foot in the academy area and on Brinn Hill. Lorist couldn't watch over them all with just his 100 personal guards.

"Things should go better once Else returns," Lorist consoled himself, "Tarkel, any response from the dominion yet?"

"Not yet, Your Grace. It should be another day or two."

"Alright. That will do for now. With the blademasters gone, we can finally breathe, though just a little. I mean, come on... The Union actually has so many blademasters! Just the assholes left here to guard the city is more than the entire kingdom has. I never knew they were this common..."

"Do you want to try to recruit a few?"

"No. I cannot ensure their loyalty. Having a loose cannon that strong is a greater liability than it's worth. I would rather cultivate my own. Don't worry we'll have a few more soon enough. Loze and Potterfang might be our first ones next year."

Lorist yawned.

"Well, that's all. I'm going to take a nap. I haven't shut my eyes in three days. You get some rest too, Tarkel. Make sure you look after your health."

"Understood, Your Grace. Rest well. I take my leave now."

Lorist said he was just taking a nap, but only woke up seventeen hours later. He was greeted with Jinolio, red-eyed.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"Bad news, Your Grace. Sir Belnick finished inventorying the warehouses. We don't have enough food to feed the city. We can last at best half a month!"

Crisis Control

"A smart thief steals in such a way his target doesn't know he's been robbed. A genius steals in such a way his target thanks him for taking the stuff off his hands."

Lorist got up after forcing Jinolio to sleep, took a bath, and filled his stomach before he started dealing with the food shortage, refreshed. He had predicted Morante would be short on food. That half the transport fleet was carrying food made it apparent.

The city housed a million people. Coupled with the 200 thousand laborers and poor folk outside the walls and the 400 thousand troops at the plains, it fed 1.7 million people a day. Falik Plains was a well-known agricultural region back in the day, but it now lay in ruin thanks to the war. It had supplied half of the Union's food. The other half came mostly from Callisto Hills, which was stressed to the breaking point.

Tarkel arrived and brought with him more bad news. Mass was supposed to be the region's granary, but it only had a day's worth of food.

The Union had betted on the shipment and carted most of their supplies to the front-lines. But now that food was Lorist's spoils. Lorist knew there would be a shortage, but this was far worse than he'd imagined. Their entire stores could only last 15 days, and all of it was rough, cheap foods like wheat and potatoes.

All the fleet's food had been sent to Cape Romani instead to feed the laborers working on the reef fortress. Howard had kept only what was necessary and sent the rest to Silowas.

Lorist had the ships to go get the food, but no one to man them. All the old crews were now laborers or captives somewhere else. Silowas had the food, but not the ships. He just had to make due without it. The few merchants who'd been in the city's harbor when he'd attacked, had fled already.

Senbaud's Blitz flotilla was heading to the bay to get the captured sailors' families and take them to Silowas. Everything would have been perfect if only the damned city had food!

When Senbaud arrived, he quickly loaded the families and left again. He would return with as much food as he could, but no sooner than 15 days. He would make it in time if nothing went wrong, but something always went wrong. And while the food would last 14-15 more days, the mere fact that the food was a danger.

Lorist expected the enemy to react in three or so days. If the enemy commanders were decisive, he'd be facing an army in ten days. The possibility of relief by their own side, coupled with knowledge that they didn't have much food left, might just be enough to push the 1.7 million people into a massive uprising.

Lorist had planned for the enemy's reaction and put Tigersoar and Jaeger on the front-lines to keep the enemy busy, but the Union had 400 thousand men. They could still send a massive force back compared to what he had in Morante.

His original plan had been to stand his ground in the city. He only needed to drag the fighting on for a week so Tigersoar and Jaeger could smash through the front-lines and march to the city. Or at least pressure them enough to threaten to do just that. The Union would crumble and surrender.

The city's lack of food made that plan nearly impossible. He could hold the enemy outside the city, but he couldn't fight the people inside it at the same time. Definitely not if a million rose up at the same time. They could crush his men under the weight of their corpses alone.

"How did the Union deal with this?" asked Lorist.

"They would supply some food every fortnight. Most would be coarse and every household could use their registered booklet to buy a set amount from the shops at a set price.

"Food aside, meat, wine, leather, even some other consumables were rationed. Any amount purchased within a set limit would cost little but they'd have to pay several times more for any more than the ration. A few of the ration ships are still open. Some even make a decent profit," said Tarkel.

Wait a second... Why does this sound familiar? This sounds just like planned allocation used during the time of the planned economy! My grandparents always took a large number of tickets with them for meat and cloth. I remember using a ticket to buy a piece of maltose candy only to be pummeled by my grandfather! He said he wasn't mad that I was eating candy, but that I took something without permission, I'd stolen.

I don't know what these Union merchants are thinking. They actually planned the whole economy.

"Weren't there objections? How are the shops managed?"

Tarkel shook his head.

"The people were easily swayed. The Union said everything was for the war effort. They said everything would return to normal once it ends. Everyone was willing to suffer to see the kingdom defeated.

"I sent men to investigate the outer city. Nothing seems out of order. The cheapest food right now is dried and salted fish, and potatoes. The potatoes come from Callisto Hills and the dried fish from the sea. The fish in particular is from an old stockpile. Nobody really ate it before so a large stockpile had built up.

"We've taken over the city, so Callisto Hills won't send anymore potatoes and the stockpiles are nearly completely dry. If we shrink the rations, we might be able to stretch it to 15 days.

"The guilds handle the trade directly. Forde handled fine goods and meat, Peterson handled leather and cloth, as usual, Mayflower dealt with honey, spices, and other luxuries, Riwald the allocation of daily necessities, Chikdor seafood and other related goods, and Twinhead Dragon various precious ingredients -- mostly to nobles.

"The divide between rich and poor has become binary and extreme. The rich ate like there was no war going on at all until we barged in, while the poor were barely getting by. I've even heard a market for rat meat has sprung up and many people spend their days hunting the gutters and slums for rats.

"All the guild shops are now closed, of course. Luckily people mostly only buy when there's a sale and we haven't missed one yet. The next sale is four days. If we don't have food ready and shops open by then, however, people might start getting uppity."

Lorist stroked his chin as he paced around. Tarkel's report was grave. It was imperative that the people were placated soon. They could not afford to let them rise up. They already hated him and his men to the bone, and the slightest excuse would sweep them up into full revolt.

"Send for Torin, Belnick, and Jades. Also, tell Els and Ovidis to finish up quickly and come back."

The guards by the door saluted and dashed off.

"Tarkel, send an eagle to Camorra and Spiel. Tell them to prepare a convoy as quickly as they can. Send as much beast fur and food as they can. Have them send administrators as well."

"Understood, Your Grace."

Tarkel turned to leave.

"Wait. Invite the syndicates in the slums to a meeting tomorrow."

Torin was Tok's father, the second-in-command of Northsea. He was old, so he was put in charge of logistics. An exception had been made however, and he had been given the task of sealing Hidegold Bay. He had performed admirably.

Torin was the first to arrive, Jades and Belnick came soon after. Lorist briefed them quickly.

"Uncle Torin, go to the docks. Tell Pajik to leave some sailors behind. Also, have him leave a brigade as an escort. Take as many ships as you can and head for Silowas and bring back as much food as you can. You have to be back in 12 days.

"If you come across Senbaud, show them the parchment I'll give you later. Take them back to Silowas with you and use them as transports as well."

He regretted having Invincible's fourth flotilla sent to Silowas early. He should've waited. He could really have made good use of them now. The remaining sailors either didn't have family members or lost family during the fight. They were considered unreliable.

"Understood, Your Grace. I will be back as soon as I can," assured Torin. He bid his farewell and left for the docks immediately.

"Jades. seal off the commercial area and start searching the stores. Transport everything valuable to the inner city and make and inventory."

"Understood, Your Grace," Jades saluted.

"Belnick, take a brigade to Callisto Hills. Buy as much food as you can. Buy, you hear, not take. You can offer 1.5 times the market price if you need to. You can double the offer if the farmers can transport the food to the city immediately. You have three days."

"Yes, Milord."

Lorist met syndicate bosses the next morning. Among them he knew Jindoz, Els's old friend. The man had changed considerably, however. He was not friendly towards Lorist, at least. It was to be expected, however. Back then Lorist had been the friend of a friend, now he was a bloodsworn enemy. Lorist had also turned from a simple mercenary into one of only a handful of swordsaints on the continent and the ruler of what was a kingdom in all but name.

"Gentlemen, I have conquered Morante for the sake of peace. I am not here to deprive you of your riches," Lorist became shamelessly. He rattled off a speech about establishing lasting peace between the two countries. It took him twenty minutes to get to the point.

"I promise to not mistreat the people as long as they don't fight me. As I said before, I'm only here for the guilds who drag you into their war. We will take only their wealth.

"Quiet down. I know what you want to say. It's true that many of the supplies and daily necessities are in their hands. If we take it, you will starve. I have no intent of doing this. I will show my sincerity by keeping you all fed. I'm willing to sell the food we take from the guilds to you cheaply.

"Gentlemen, before, you were all in charge of your districts' security, hygiene, and taxation while the guild handled supplies. The guilds are gone, so you must step up. You will sell the food to the people instead."

Lorist's lips curved.

"I will give everyone free food in three days. Every household will get 5 kilograms of potatoes and half a kilogram of dried fish. We'll also have a sale on some of the stuff we took from the guilds."

The Angle of Merchants

"It is sometimes better to give up a city, than to fight for it."

Just as Lorist was wracking his brains over the livelihoods of the city-folk on the 33rd day of the 6th month, the seventh day of House Norton's occupation of the city, the 400 thousand Union troops on the front-lines finally got word of the city's fall, as well as the occupation of Mass and Gypsy.

All the commanders seemed to have been done in the posterior. They instantly broke into a huge frenzy. The finally realized why the enemy had kept attacking them for the last two weeks.

The forces that had most troubled them, and continued to do so now, were House Norton's two other legions on the field: Tigersoar and Jaeger. They always had the upper hand in their confrontations and made the Union eat dust far too many times. They'd swept over every obstacle since the moment they showed back up on the front-lines and pushed the front-line back by a large stretch. If they hadn't had to return to the Northlands when the rebellion broke out, the war would likely have been over already.

They had to admit that House Norton and its damnable armies were far beyond their ability to fight. Luckily they were only a small fraction of the total enemy army. The rest of Andinaq's forces were incompetent at best, and downright dangerous to their own side at worst. A cake walk for the Union. So far they'd made up for the losses they suffered at the hands of House Norton's forces with victories against the rest of the enemy forces.

They won every battle in which House Norton was not involved. And beat Auguslo like a bully would beat a retard. It was almost sad. They'd done especially well during House Norton's absence and were on the brink of victory. But that damned fool just had to clean everything up just in time and send his men back into the fray. In just a few months they'd gone from being on the brink of victory to being on the brink of defeat. With Morante's fall, that was no longer just the brink of defeat, but the brink of total defeat.

The Nortons didn't strike their strongest fortresses; they hit only where the Union was weak. It wasn't very efficient and had confused the Union for a while. Why would House Norton, known for striking decisively and trying to end things as quickly as possible, now hit large inconsequential places? The attacked slowly opened a hole in the lines in the far north of the plains, and they rushed in, forcing the Union back quite a bit. It took the Union three days and a hundred thousand men to close the gap.

It wasn't enough to stop them, however. Jaeger and Tigersoar didn't meet them on the field. They just melted away whenever the Union showed up. They soon lost track of the two legions entirely. When next the two legions were sighted, they were opening another hole in the south of the plains. It took four days this time to close the hole. Again the enemy melted away when they showed up and struck somewhere else. This quickly sapped them of their momentum and soon Andinaq had the initiative.

The Union's upper command, led by Twinhead Dragon's president, Cobleit, was painfully aware of this fact, but they could do nothing. Most of their troops were infantry and could not keep up with the mounted enemy. What little cavalry they had were all in personal guard units and no noble was willing to let them go out and face an entire legion on their own, not to mention that it would leave the nobles unguarded. They'd considered, for a while, sticking infantry on horses and just throwing them at the enemy, but horses were in cripplingly short supply.

Only two places on the continent bred horses in any real quantities. One in Andinaq's territory, the other straddled the border between Romon and Khawistan.

The Union had once been capable of fielding a 30-thousand-strong cavalry force, back during the War of Glass, but it'd taken generations to build up the horses and expertise for that unit, and the wars since then had all but wiped it out. They couldn't replace them either since both powers had stopped their horse trading with the Union, and Andinaq would certainly not sell them horses.

Lorist had played with the thought of joining the horse business, but it wasn't lucrative enough to be worth it. It certainly didn't help that the horses native to his territory were lean, relatively small, and weak compared to proper warhorses. They were fine for farmwork and other civil duties such as transport, but ill-suited to warfare, especially if they were to be armored to keep them alive.

The Union had been on the brink of negotiating a deal with Duke Fisablen several years back, but then Lorist attacked the duke and destroyed their plans.

The Union now paid for their lack of cavalry. The Nortons bullied their men with impunity. They could strike at a moment's notice, and didn't even have to bother with planning since they could just run away if things were looking bad.

Fisablen and Felim's cavalry suffered heavy losses two years earlier because they used them to take on strongholds, the worst thing one could do with cavalry besides trying to fight a navy. Tigersoar did not have that problem. They used their cavalry only to strike ill-defended positions and moved their catapult brigade against heavier positions.

The Union had built up their own catapult forces using the blueprints they got from The Northlands, but, while they were better than their old ones, without the right materials they were still no match for their Norton counterparts. Though every fort, castle, city, and stronghold was armed to the teeth with catapults and ballistae, they could do nothing as the enemy's rocks soared in from beyond their range and pummeled them into dust and bloody pulps.

Duke Cobleit, had been brainstorming plans to deal with the two legions for two days without sleep and was on the brink of collapse. He had just sent for his aides, advisors, and subordinates for the umpteenth time when he got news of Morante's fall. He fainted even before he could vomit the blood that suddenly burst into his mouth from that magical gland the people of Grindia had that stored blood for just such occasions. It was left to drool out of his mouth as he lay, convulsing, on the floor.

He was woken by his men several minutes later, his attack having passed, to hear of Mass and Gypsy's fall. He empty's that special gland, wiped his mouth, and started the meeting.

A few hot-headed youths among the junior staff clamored for revenge. They wanted to march on Morante with the entire army immediately. Their wiser seniors were wary of such a reckless move. They suggested redeploying only a part of the army. They suspected House Norton's two fielded legions would move the moment they noticed a thinning of the front-lines. If they turned their backs on them, they'd be wiped out.

The two sides fought endlessly in the tent. One side accused the other of cowardice, whilst the latter accused the former of stupidity. Cobleit was forced to adjourn the meeting for the day so everyone could calm down and think things through on their own.

He called a second, secret meeting with the other guild-heads in his private quarters.

Duke Peterson wanted to know why they had to have a secret meeting.

Cobleit smiled wryly.

"Information will leak easily with many people, and everyone is too emotional right now to think clearly. I'll be plain and direct. We've lost. This war is over. All we can hope for now is a good exit. We haven't lost because the Nortons took Morante, if only that we could still turn this around. We lost because those bastards sank the fleet and took the convoy. There's no coming back from this, there isn't even a stabilizing of this."

Duke Chikdor's expression fell apart.

"Impossible!"

"Nothing's impossible," Cobleit countered solemnly, "They started their attack from Hidegold Bay. We had a whole flotilla there, and the rest of the fleet was heading there. They've obviously been lost. You should've seen the fourth's report regarding their clash with the Norton fleet. They call it a victory, but it was a rout.

"We've not heard from the rest of the fleet for a month. They're gone as well. It's even more certain with the bastards having taking Morante. I suspect we'll hear of the fleet and convoys' demise in a few more days, but even if they weren't taken or sunk, we have no way of bringing supplies in by sea anymore and land transport is too slow. We should make our preparations."

"Shouldn't we take back Morante immediately even more if that's the case?" asked Peterson.

His angst to retake the city made sense, it was their capital. It wasn't just a matter of practical problems as a result of its loss. It having fallen to the enemy at all was bad enough for their honor and reputation already, but if it was still in enemy hands when they called it quits and surrendered, their honor would be completely destroyed and they'd never

"No, we can't turn back," said Cobleit, shaking his head.

"Why not?"

Peterson aside, the other presidents also let out shocked gasps.

"Think about it. What benefit does taking the city have? There are no food stores, so we don't get back supplies. Besides the losses we'd have to suffer to take it back, it would be a burden on us rather than a benefit. We'd have to find food elsewhere suddenly to feed the million people. We're already struggling to feed our million people here, how will we feed double that amount?

"Morante isn't the anchor for our rule anymore, we can do without it. If anything, losing Morante has lightened our burden quite a lot. The biggest benefit is that we don't have to worry about feeding a million people that don't give us anything in return. Without our extensive trade network, all those merchants and craftsmen in the city are worthless. The farmers and miners, woodcutters and hunters in the rest of our lands are worth far more right now. We don't have to worry about the enemy pushing beyond the city much either. They won't be able to hold the city for long, hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they're already losing dozens of men a day keeping the people at bay. Remember why we moved out of Morante in the first place, and why we didn't hand it over to someone as a fief. The people in the city are completely dedicated to the idea of freedom and equality because of our propaganda during our war with the Krissen Empire. They'll never accept being ruled over by nobles. That same sentiment will be even stronger when the noble took over by force and is a sworn enemy of the Union.

"Let them keep Morante. This is actually an opportunity to inflict heavy losses on them. Send agents to infiltrate the city and whip the people up into revolt. They want to take Morante from us? Let's show them how stubborn the people there can be, and bleed them dry while we're at it! Even if we have to lose the war, we'll make sure they don't have the people to work the land they'll get and will be forced to pull back to their stinking castles!

"We'll hold out in our dominions and wait for them to have to withdraw, and sweep in as the saviors again. If we play our cards right, they might even be so much weakened we can just march into their lands and wipe them out.

Cobleit's words didn't invigorate the other presidents.

Duke Forde sighed.

"Have we really lost the war, Cobleit? Can we not turn this around somehow?"

"I wish it were otherwise, We've not been bested on the field, but we can't keep this war going any longer. That bastard Norton struck us where we couldn't afford to be struck. We can't just keep fighting on the front-lines because we don't have the supplies, but we can't turn back and march on Morante because his allies will stab us in the back if we do. Not that taking back Morante will do anything, without the convoy and its resources, we'll starve in a few more weeks, anyway."

"We still have 400 thousand men, though, right? They can't just swallow us whole!" Duke Riwald interjected.

"Numbers alone don't matter. In fact, having that many makes us even weaker right now. Our supplies will run dry much faster because of our numbers. We can have all the men in the world, without food, every additional man just starves us out that much faster."

"What do we do now?" asked Peterson.

"We should conserve as much of our core and elite units as possible, the 200 thousand of our personal retinues, mainly. The rest can be sacrificed to cover our retreat. March the freedom zealots from Morante back to the city to hold them down. Charge the remaining hundred thousand against Andinaq here while we withdraw."

Cobleit brought over a map.

"We'll charge them into the enemy here, here, and here and withdraw while the enemy's focused on dealing with them. We'll head for Mauvlin as fast as we can. Everything between here and there is wasteland thanks to the war, so we lose nothing by giving that up. Mauvlin is the best place to defend. We can also keep our 200 thousand men fed with the rest of our territories and it's much closer to them so we will have an easier time getting the food there."

Miscalculation

I seem to feel like there's something off, thought Lorist as he paced about on the walls.

It was the 17th day of House Norton's occupation of Morante. A week ago, Lorist received urgent word from a scout that the Union troops have already begun heading for Morante with 100 thousand men in the vanguard and another 200 thousand in the rearguard spiritedly. It seemed that a huge, bloody battle was about to break out at the city.

With the huge army coming their way, Lorist and the officers of the two legions didn't manage to get any rest in the next few days and were busy with managing various defensive aspects of the battle. They spent a huge sum of money and resources and managed to rely on the citizens of Morante to clear out the shelters for the poor folk and dug out some trenches and built some mud walls. It was a busy time.

When everything was ready and done, the first wave of attackers arrived. Near 10 thousand Union soldiers swarmed in a disorganized manner and discarded their weapons and armor with both their hands waving all sorts of white cloth in surrender as they called out, "Have some mercy and give us something to eat!"

"Open the gates! We surrender!"

"I want to go home and stop fighting!"

By the time Lorist, Potterfang and the other officers of the legions saw that, they were so shocked that their teeth almost fell out. Nobody knew what was going on. It was obviously not a trick as never has there been a performance to bait an enemy that was so realistic. Those soldiers ran up to the walls with ragged breaths and sat straight down without bothering to stand up.

Only when Els sent someone to ask them what was going on did they begin to understand the situation. Seriously speaking, those ten thousand people were the survivors of the Union's vanguard. They had set out to take Morante back with only five days' worth of rations and the Union higher-ups told them that since Gypsy and Mass had fallen too, they would gain more supplies if they reconquered those places.

As those 100 thousand men were Morantian recruits, they set out without a second thought out of worry for their families' safety. However, they were only infantry men and no matter how quickly they marched, they only managed to reach Gypsy after they finished their food. It was unfortunate that only a husk of the citadel had been left behind by Lorist and the soldiers took the city back without shedding a drop of blood only to find that there wasn't the slightest bit of food there. There wasn't anything edible. It was bricks and stones galore, so they could only drink more water to fill their stomachs.

So, they placed their hopes on the citadel of Mass. The two citadels were only one day's travel away from each other. However, they were attacked by Tigersoar and Jaeger midway there. The 100 thousand soldiers were hungry and tired and crumbled immediately. That 10 thousand ran faster than most and managed to escape encirclement by the cavalrymen. However, they realized that there was nowhere else they could run to and thought of their family members in Morante and decided to surrender after some discussion.

Lorist really didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He had spent a few day's effort only for it to end up wasted. A day later, Tigersoar and Jaeger's men returned with a large number of captives, adding another 100 thousand mouths to feed on Morante's food. Fortunately, Senbaud and Uncle Torin had already brought food back from Silowas and they had enough for the moment to feed a population of more than a million people.

Tigersoar's general, Loze, and Jaeger's general, Freiyar, arrived with the captives. It was then when Lorist found out that the Union's 100 thousand men were separated from their support troops at the rear for a distance of two day's travel and weren't able to call for help. Tigersoar and Jaeger used that opportunity to encircle them and exterminate the force of 100 thousand.

Loze and Freiyar mentioned that their two legions would continue to mount a surprise rear assault on the 200 thousand forces that remained at the frontlines to debilitate the return of the Union troops to Morante. After some brief discussion, the two of them set out with two brigades of captive-escorting cavalrymen.

However, two days had passed and there wasn't a single report about incoming Union reinforcements. Lorist couldn't help but guess what was going on. Even if the Union reinforcements were frightened into retreat by the extermination of the 100 thousand vanguard troops, Loze and Freiyar should've sent messengers back to inform him about it. It would still be better than having him wait at the walls with nothing better to do than anxiously await further news.

Three columns of smoke could be seen in the distance. A rider on a magnificent warhorse stormed towards the walls, calling out, "Urgent report from the frontlines! Open the gates!"

Lorist opened the letter personally penned by Freiyar and almost started with shock. "What?! The 200 thousand Union reinforcements aren't heading for Morante at all and are instead going to Mauvlin?! What are they doing?! Giving up on Morante and the whole of Falik Plains?!"

"Yes, Your Grace. I also received Tigersoar's urgent report as I was on my way to deliver Sir Freiyar's letter. The Union forces that were left behind to defend Robertway, Krido and Ritt all sent Tigersoar messengers to surrender and Sir Loze has already taken the three citadels back. If that is true, there's no doubt that the official report would soon arrive," uttered the messenger another surprising thing.

What the hell is going on? Are they cutting off their tail to survive? What in the world is the Union planning?! Would they really sacrifice half their forces to protect a mere 200 thousand soldiers? How could that be possible? That's too huge a price to pay! Or have they actually changed their minds after finding out that their vanguard had been defeated and returned to Mauvlin to conserve their troops? Why would the soldiers left to defend the citadel surrender then? That's around 100 thousand men too... Lorist couldn't understand what was going on no matter how much he troubled himself over it. Regardless, the avoidance of a battle at Morante was a good thing.

A day later, Lorist received another report from the frontlines and understood what was happening. The heck! They're trying to move the warzone away. The Union is trying to conserve their elite forces by sacrificing their ragtag troops. This was something they had planned all along and they intend to let House Norton feed those 200 plus thousand hungry mouths. This number of captives will no doubt cost us a lot of food... But why would the Union forces give up on retaking Morante? Do they have any other aims?

In Loze's report, the troops that were guarding the three citadels had surrendered because of a lack of food and other supplies as the rear forces of the Union had brought most of the supplies with them when they departed, leaving behind only five days' worth of food. As the soldiers were afraid that the allied noble army of Andinaq that they had battled against for the past two years would do them ill after they surrendered, they took the opportunity to surrender to House Norton's troops instead.

Loze requested Lorist to send a batch of food to those three citadels as soon as they could because the 100 thousand captives were currently consuming Tigersoar's own rations. Even the Tigersoar soldiers were only half fed. At the same time, Auguslo also discovered that the three citadels were in Norton control and sent a messenger over to take over the citadels.

Sigh, I just hope this king of ours doesn't give us any more trouble in such a busy time. Lorist wrote an order for Loze to refuse Auguslo's request. There were seven citadel cities including Morante on Falik Plains and Auguslo had only control over one of them, Bluwek. If the three citadels were handed to Auguslo, he might stay there and refuse to leave, which would complicate negotiations in the future.

Lorist also had Loze borrow some food from the house's three allies and Duke Fisablen to overcome this obstacle. Jaeger was currently pursuing the 200 thousand Union forces that escaped and couldn't be mobilized for anything else. Lorist then had Firmrock take over the three citadels immediately. Only when Potterfang arrived would Loze escort the surrendered garrison soldiers over.

After dealing with the arrangements and ordering Potterfang to depart, Lorist gave it some thought before writing Auguslo a personal letter which detailed House Norton's successful defeat of Invincible Fleet and conquest of Morante. He mentioned that the change in the situation on the frontlines was the result of the capital being taken. It seemed that they had given up on the city and Falik Plains altogether and retreated to Mauvlin.

Lorist impolitely demanded for Auguslo to not make any rash moves to ruin the current state of affairs they had fought so hard for. Lorist was going to use Morante and Falik Plains as bargaining chips for a peace treaty between the two nations and he expressed his hopes that Auguslo should go find something else to do, such as going back to accompany his poor wife that had spent three years alone in the palace.

Lorist also promised auguslo that he would use his status as a swordsaint to negotiate with the Union and that he would bear any responsibilities for upcoming changes. Should the negotiations fail, it wouldn't be too late for Auguslo to come and wrap things up. It was still much better than having it be ruined by Auguslo's appearance. But if the negotiations were successful, he would still need Auguslo to show up and sign the peace treaty.

After sending his guards off with his letter, Lorist breathed a long sigh and began to consider what the Union really intended. Were they really going to ignore Morante altogether? That was the most famous trading capital on the whole of Grindia and the capital city of the Union.

Jinolio and Tarkel both came over, each holding a large stack of documents. But they wore rather grim expressions.

"What's going on with the two of you? You look so down," said Lorist with a laugh.

"Your Grace, the inventory of the inner city districts and the commercial area is ready..." Jinolio ignored Lorist's question and replied with a solemn look.

"Oh? Let's hear it. I wonder how much our accounts will grow after this." Lorist's mood improved. His wasn't doing charity by participating in the war. All the resources and riches in Morante were supposed to be his spoils and compensation for deploying his troops. He believed that they wouldn't let him down.

Jinolio replied with a pained look, "Your Grace, the spoils this time around wasn't as much as we expected. We only found around four million gold Fordes in the inner city and commercial district combined and another bunch of resources worth up to ten million gold Fordes, a small amount of which are expensive luxury goods. There are also many jewelries that are worth about a few million gold Fordes. That's all there is."

"What?! It's that little?!" Lorist said with a start, "That's impossible! How could there be so little spoils in Morante?! It's a city with a population of one million! Millions of gold Fordes circulate in the markets on a daily basis! Other things aside, the merchant guilds of the city should have a huge store of various treasures from all over the continent! How could the spoils be worth so little?"

If it were some other city, Lorist would be more than surprised at the amount of spoils he got. But this was Morante. How could the sum be so less? At that moment, Lorist wondered whether any of his subordinates were faking the accounts and trying to hide the spoils away. He definitely wouldn't believe that it was really that meager.

"Your Grace, that would be the case if it were a decade ago. The current Morante is not the trading capital it once was. To be honest, it's not even as influential as Jigda's capital, Saint Manarde. Ever since the Union fought Teribo in the War of Glass and the implementation of the nobility system, the midsouthern nations erected trade embargoes against the Union and that caused Morante's status as a trade city to fall way down. The number of people that come and go can't even be compared to a decade ago. It's not nearly as merry as it once was," said Jinolio calmly, shattering Lorist's good impression of the city in an instant.

Hmm... It really does seem to be the case. Otherwise, the various academies wouldn't close down because they didn't have any new applicants. Dawn Academy wouldn't have to start over in The Northlands either. Just like Knight Lundmorde had mentioned in his reports before, Morante's prosperity had declined and there hasn't been a single trading convoy coming in from the outside. The city's market seemed to be completely in the hands of the various merchant guilds and the profits have all been split between them already, leaving no room for others.

A few years back, Tarkel once drafted a plan for the formation of a new merchant guild in Morante, which they would spend years to nurture into one that had a huge influence in the city. It was too bad that even though Lorist approved of that plan, they found that it wasn't practically possible.

As Knight Lundmorde had said, all the industries in the city were monopolized by those merchant guilds, ranging from products citizens consumed to military equipment. Even if a new product was developed and put into the market, the related merchant guilds would come to force the manufacture and distribution of the product to be given to them and there would be terrible consequences for a refusal to comply.

"Your Grace, ever since the Union implemented the nobility system, the various merchant guilds gained their own dominion and they basically moved all their production centers and stores there. The commercial areas of Morante are only glorified storefronts for their products. Even though they still keep a substantial amount of stock here, it really isn't that much.

"And since the Union went to war with the midsouthern nations, the market in Morante had only grown colder by the day. Most of the goods stored in the city are bad-selling spoils of war or daily necessities required by the citizens. There's almost nothing valuable here. That's the case for almost all the store houses of the merchant guilds here," explained Tarkel more clearly.

Lorist slapped his forehead at how he still considered Morante to be how it was in its glory days when he was studying and working as a mercenary there. He didn't think that the passing of a decade would see the Union swallowing seven neighboring nations in the War of Glass and it being suppressed by the other neighboring nations due to its expansionist policies, which also resulted in the severing of the trade routes. A few years later, the Union waged war again to force the trade routes open, but that naturally didn't bring any good results for Morante itself. Could a trading capital without trade still be known as such?

Pitfall Trap

"If your enemy has a conscience, kill him with it."

Jinolio put a large stack of documents on the table.

"Take a look, Your Grace. They document the money spent to maintain Morante for the last three years. The Union lost 3 million gold Fordes in the first year, 5 million in the second, and just over a million last year. The trend suggests they'll have evened things out by the end of this year.

"This suggests Morante's been made completely self-sufficient. It no longer needs trade to supply its own demand, or at least will have needed none very soon. The guilds have also become the direct employers of nine-plus-tenths of the people. They work for the union for money, then pay that money right back to the guilds to buy the things they need. The Union might as well have done away with money in the city altogether if this kept up for a couple more years.

"We discovered a few letters between a guild vice-president and a few of his associates in the inner city. They were arguing over whether it was worth feeding the people not involved in production in some way or another. It's actually pretty interesting. His associates were arguing that they should move half the city's population to the dominions.

"The vice-president argued against it. He believed the people in the city were far more educated than the obedient plebs in their dominions and that the Union could exploit this. He talked about having moved his operations to his dominion, but that it was not up to standard, so he had to move it back to the city.

"We've picked up from a number of letters and documents that the guilds are still debating how the city's management was to be handled in the years to come. The city is no longer as impressive as used to be. It is also no longer the biggest trade port on the continent.

"One document is a proposal to disband the city almost entirely and scatter its inhabitants across the entire country. The abandoned districts would then be turned into resorts, retreats, villas, and palaces for the nobles away from the plebs.

"The big-seven vetoed it. Twinhead Dragon's President Cobleit rejected it outright. In his statement he made it abundantly clear that the problem was temporary and that it would go away once the war ended. They were not to disband the city under any circumstances. He even went as far as saying that, rather than disbanding the city, they should expand the city. He wanted it to be the biggest and most glorious city on the continent when they were done, a worthy of being the Union's capital."

Lorist tapped the table lightly as he listened. He had to admit that Cobleit was brilliant. His foresight was far greater than the rest of the gold-grubbing merchants. The Union's current state was those fools' fault. If they hadn't implemented the aristocracy, Morante would've remained the number one trade city on the continent. They weren't happy being rich commoners, however. They just had to be nobles too. They were tired lowering their heads in front of nobles far poorer than they just because the latter had a title and the former didn't.

In their own greed, they forgot everyone else was greedy too. Everyone jumped to become nobles and abandoned the city, leaving it to fall into ruin. Factories and productories were moved out of the city in a couple of months and tens of thousands lost their jobs. Without salaries they couldn't pay taxes. Without taxes there wasn't money to maintain and run the city.

The people were turned into vagabonds. When the guilds finally took note and started doing something, they did it in such a way that the people were turned into slaves in all but name. The guilds and merchants shouted freedom from the rooftops, but clamored slavery in their homes. How pitiful…

At least the highest officials, those on the council, still had some sanity left. They knew this system would collapse once the war ended and saw the city's potential to grow back afterwards.

"That all? Well done, Jinolio. Quite comprehensive," praised Lorist.

Jinolio smiled in a troubled manner.

"It's not all good news, though..."

"Oh? Out with it. It can't be worse than our current situation, can it?"

"Our occupation has crushed what shadow of an economy was still alive in the city. The people are completely dependent on us for food, and without anything to do, they're lazing around all day. If this continues, they'll start making trouble if for no other reason then to beat back the boredom..."

"What?!"

How? I am this city's conqueror! I should be bleeding it dry of all its riches, not sinking all my money into feeding its sheep!

Jinolio shrugged.

"It's true, Your Grace. If we try to pack up and leave without leaving food for the people, they'll probably rise up and kill us before we get out. We could kill them all before we leave, but that'd ruin your reputation.

"I'm only speaking hypothetically. I know Your Grace would never kill so many people just because they're inconvenient. Callisto Hills isn't sending food anymore and nobody can work because the guilds are gone and with them the resources needed to keep business going."

It's like I dug a pitfall for the Union only to bury myself in it! Ah...

Lorist stood up frustratedly and knocked Jinolio's head.

"Aren't you a daring one? You dare speak to your teacher like this?"

He paced back and forth in the room, wracking his exhausted brain for a solution. His eyes flashed brightly several minutes later.

Is the Union not coming for the city so they don't have to worry about the city's people? Do they want to dump them all on me? No, that can't be. The food we got from the convoy was meant for the city...

Of course! We took the convoy! Without the convoy they can't feed the city! The bastards are leaving the city for me so they'll be spared the headache of having to figure out how to feed the city!

Callisto Hills had its harvest just before the convoy left. It'll be three months before they have another harvest and can send more food.

They were planning to tide themselves over until Callisto had its next harvest. But we've taken their convoy and their food. They'd only be making more trouble for themselves by retaking the city under these circumstances. So that's why they gave up on the city and pulled back to Mauvlin...

They really are shameless, honorless bastards. Morante is their capital but they'll give up on it because it's not convenient to have it right now. A noble would've rushed back without any hesitation.[1]

It can't be that simple. They know the food issue alone isn't enough to put us in a bad position. The real problem is the people that have nothing to do. They are going to start making trouble out of boredom.

"Jinolio, what were the people doing before we took the city? How are the rations distributed?"

"Sir Tarkel sent people to investigate. His report should be here..."

"Tarkel, speak."

"Yes, Your Grace. There were less than 800 thousand people in the city before the war. The slums had at best 100 thousand. The population skyrocketed when the war started as refugees fled from the plains. Some joined rich cousins or children. The richer ones bought houses and started small businesses.

"The Union conscripted 140 thousand from the city. Their families got more rations, which meant everyone else got less. They've lost 20 to 30 thousand in the two years since. Families included that's 400 thousand.

"Most were involved in production industries. The biggest was textiles, second is military equipment, mainly thanks to the war. Fishing is third. Fourth are jobs related to the guilds, but with them gone there's no bringing those back. Without the products to work, most of the production industry is gone. People have already started making trouble as a result."

Lorist smiled bitterly. He now suddenly had to both feed and work these people.

[1]Lorist calls it 'shameless and honorless', I call it smart and pragmatic. If your enemy wants to relieve you of such a burden, then why not let him? Never look a gift horse in the mouth.