C5 Blame

Eric went to his mother's room. For asking permission. 

"I have told you, you won't go anywhere out of the capital. Send chief Adney or someone else, but not you" Mother Sarah was adamant on not allowing him to go.

"Mom, I am taking 5000 men for my security and Kipler would also be with me. You know Mom, dad wanted a United Alvaton. These nobles rebelled within days of his death. Would his soul be in peace seeing all this. And I am just going for talks and negotiations ." Eric explained.

Finally, after an hour of persuasion and naggings his mother allowed him to go. But she made him promise that he would not put his life at risk.

…

On his bed Eric was in deep thought. He thought of making gunpowder and rifles. But it would take time to gather the materials needed for it. 

However, making a crossbow was easy and wouldn't require many things. It could be easily built by modifying the bows and arrows currently used by the army.

It was easy to make a simple crossbow. But equally difficult to make an advanced crossbow, especially the one with the self loading function.

As he was thinking all this, a message popped in his head. He was now used to sudden messages from the system.

[ Host, After completing the mission provided by the system. You could use the points to buy things from the system store. 

There is also a feature to acquire the technology and production methods. You can use these purchase designs of crossbows. You could also modify these to fit your requirement.]

Shameless promotion by the system of it's ware, thought Eric. 'If I needed anything which I couldn't make, I would surely turn to you.'

… 

 Kipler after leaving Eric's room went straight to the reserve camps and brought four brigades of 500 with him. He sent two reserve brigades to the Bruns city, clearly instructing them to neither let anyone enter the city nor exit the city.

The eight attack and two defense brigades were readied for the mission to Campbell. They camped out of the city gates and had just taken emergency supplies for a week. Remaining supplies would be sent after a few days.

… 

Next day,

Eric got up early, the system had a great feature called mental alarm. Nobody in or out of the room could hear it. It rings in Eric's Dreamland, whether he is licking ice cream or kissing a girl. Alarm replaces that object/person . What a great way to wake, licking an alarm clock. Huh!

Eric got ready for his voyage. He wore leather armor and chainmail. It was heavy but bearable. And finally, a surcoat depicting the picture of an eagle.

Outside the city gate, several people had gathered to cheer for the soldiers leaving the city.

Royal carriage exited the city gates, it was a four wheeled carriage pulled by four horses. Strips of gold and silver on the edges and black wood formed a perfect combination. 

The carriage stopped, A tall man with shoulder length hair emerged from the carriage. Most of the people hadn't seen Eric before. They saw their king for the first time. His clean diamond shaped face with black eyes were perfected with a strong jawline.

Murmurings started within the crowd. Eric didn't pay any attention to them. He walked straight to where Kipler was standing. 

Soldiers and commanders bowed to the king. Eric shouted "are you ready to claim back what's ours."

"Yess!!!" nearby crowd had to shut their ears. 

"Let me ask you again, Are you ready?"

"Yess!!!!!" The throats of soldiers and ears of listeners have become sore. Eric was now fully satisfied. He returned to his carriage. 

The convoy got ready for move, the Campbell city was nearly twenty kilometers away they would reach there within a few hours. Eric had taken with his two cavalry brigades. Foot soldiers would take a little more time compared to fast moving cavalry.

They had planned that the eight brigades would wait two kilometers away from the city and two brigades would follow Eric to the city.

… 

Reynold manor, the Campbell city

Duke Reynold was a noble of Alvaton. He was in his fifties and was selected as leader of rebels of Campbell city. 

In the main hall of his manor, all the nobles had gathered. They were informed that a convoy from the capital would be arriving soon.

"Dannet, are you sure they are coming here to talk with us."

"Of course, you must stay strong and don't bend to them. You have to elongate the process of negotiation and talks. Leave the rest to my Lord." Dannet said.

"Your lord hasn't even come here once. Even if they haven't come for battle, it will surely happen in the near future. In that our lives would be on line, what about you and your master. You will just lose some gold which you spend on us, but we will lose everything, if our plan goes awry." Other nobles also nodded, they firmly supported Reynold.

Dannet knew these greedy ones wanted more gold coins. Anyway, there was no problem in giving them. They were just expendable clowns, when his master comes with his forces the gold would return to him.

"Okay, this is last, I will provide you ten thousand coins but you have to elongate this process for more than two month. After that my lord's forces would land here and defeat the army of Alvaton. Then you could be the permanent ruler of this place." Dannet gestured to his assistant who brought a large sack and passed it to the servant of Reynold. 

The Nobles present in the room were delighted, their dream of ruling Alvaton would be reality soon, just two months wait. They all looked towards Reynold. A brilliant smile formed on Reynolds' face as if he had won some great war.

His assistant said something in his ears, his smile faded. He glared at Dannet, who smiled back at him.

Dannet knew the reason for his dissatisfaction, "your grace, I currently have just this much. Give me a month. I will surely fulfill my promise."

Smiles on the faces of other nobles also distorted hearing Dannets reply. This guy had always been like that. Despite his scrawny body this man was a sword master and their only shield against the military Chief Kipler, plus he had brought 500 trained soldiers with him to guard the city. And his intels were always right, they needed his support to fend off the forces of Alvaton.

… 

Eric and Kipler with two brigades marched towards the city. Other eight brigades were asked to make ladders and wait for their signal.

The city wall of Campbell wasn't much bigger, it was about twenty feet. Climbing it won't be difficult, so there was no need for larger seize engines. Ropes and ladders were enough to mount this wall.

"Chief, I think this place has a better view," Eric said to Kipler. The place where Eric was standing was a flattened hilltop from where the city and sea both were visible.

Within an hour tents were erected on hilltops and soldiers were given their duties. Campbell city was surrounded from three sides. Fourth side being the sea could not be guarded, Alvaton didn't have a navy.

They waited for the messenger but no one came the first day. 

… 

Reynolds Manor,

"See, I told you he has come for talks. No minister would advise the king to battle the nobles of his own kingdom, if matters could be solved by talks." Dannet said.

"Hmm, tomorrow I would send my messenger to them, you put your soldiers on watch tonight. If they try to attack or sneak your soldiers could handle it better than our Garrison forces." Said Reynolds

Next morning a messenger arrived from the city holding a white flag on the hilltop. He was thoroughly checked for any hidden weapon and then taken to the main tent.

Eric was lying on the bed, Kipler sitting on a chair and other officers stood behind Kipler.

The messenger entered and greeted Eric. "Your highness, we want peaceful resolution to this problem and we are ready to discuss how each side will retreat ." He had been instructed to buy time and elongate the discussion.

"Hmm, we also share your sentiment," Eric paused and then said a quote "but it could only be done by mutual understanding. They sent you to talk peace, while the city gates have some other flag. If you want to talk, we are ready. However, you also must understand our concerns"

" How could we be assured that you haven't  received assistance from some other kingdom and are working as per your instructions." asked Eric with sleepy eyes.

"Um, your highness, we are really not involved with others. Our lords saw that no one was at capital to rule. So they decided to rule the city for the welfare of the people of Campbell." Messenger replied earnestly.

"Then, bring these flags with you and hang them, to show your allegiance to Alvaton. Then, you can come for talks tomorrow." Eric gave him the Alvaton's flag. And dismissed him.

…

A week passed by and no progress was made. Both sides were just passing time. Everytime the messenger went to see Eric. Eric would ask him to do different things each day to show that nobles of Campbell hadn't defected to another nation.

"Your highness, how long are you going to extend this negotiation thing. " Kipler could see that Eric was just purposely playing with them. He didn't want to really negotiate.

"I'm just doing what they want, prolonging the process. If they are serious we can discuss but I don't think they really want to end this."

 What Eric said was also true, other party didn't want to diffuse the situation.

"Your highness, today their leader is about to come."

"Hmm, send signal to our waiting troops. When the talks start they would attack the city from the opposite direction." Eric said after thinking for a bit.

"But would it be appropriate. I mean attacking during talks, won't it damage our reputation. And didn't we come to solve this by talks" Kipler was a bit unsettled with the prince's decision. He had always followed the rules of war and now his highness' ordered him to violate his principles.

Seeing the troubled look on Kipler, Eric said "Chief, please don't be troubled, first thing, you are not leading the attack. Some commander would do it, you will just relay my orders. So, you don't need to worry about your image or principles."

"And second thing, Are they morally right. What they have done till now, is that correct. They had beaten and thrown the families of martyrs on streets instead of giving pensions sent by the kingdom. They taxed the residents of cities double. They took the Kingdom's officials captive. Declined our friendly gestures. Colluded with foreign kingdoms to destabilize our Kingdom. "

"Chief Kipler, what of this comes in your moral category. They have done every immoral thing possible and we can't even do one. That too to punish them for their wrongs." 

All the soldiers and commanders in the main tent stared at Kipler, waiting for his decision. Their blood was boiling, what happens if they punish them immorally at least it would save many lives from being lost.

Kipler turned and saw the heated gazes of his subordinates waiting for his order. He sighed, "who is ready to lead this?"

"I will" all the commanders replied in unison. They were ready to take blame for the greater good of the Kingdom.

"Let me do this, I will retire after a few months, put the blame on me that it was my personal decision." A commander who was in his fifties came forward with his suggestion.

...