18. Chapter 17: First blood

CHAPTER 17: FIRST BLOOD

«An army ? »

« Who ? »

« What ? »

« We must raise the flags ! »

"No!"

"Who's attacking?!"

Immediately after the declaration, each and every king started launching questions left and right. The unfortunate knight who came with the news felt quite uncertain, not sure how to react at the sight of more than fifteen of the most powerful men on the continent all asking for answers at the same time.

"FELLOW MONARCHS…"

Grandmaster Tullier's booming voice silenced the audience.

"How about we let my knight explain what he has seen…"

With a relieved expression, the knight spoke to the audience. Now that he had had some time to breathe, his could speak normally.

"My thanks, Grandmaster. Just moments ago, the soldiers on guard duty around the Gate came to warn me about men coming out of the Gate on Holy Alnus. They told of men completely dressed in green, followed by beasts of iron and steel from which even more men came out from. Just before I left, they seemed to be starting to build simple defences around the Gate. I then spurred my horse as fast as I could to warn you all…"

Cyrus the Great, Shah of all the Shas banged his fist against the table.

"It's them! They tried to poison us so our armies would be disorganized, then they attack! We have to react before they get ready!"

"I agree!"

"Sound the war drums!"

Just as the assembly was heating up, another, calmer voice toned down the atmosphere.

"How about we think, before attacking an enemy we know nothing about?"

Heads turned to face Sardasso, the Prince of the Seas. His expression was one of a schemer. Grandmaster Tullier who was still on the fence about what action to take raised his voice.

"Then what do you propose, Prince of the Sea? The Emperor told us to keep whatever was on the other side out of Falmart until he could open negotiations, and I believe he will want to send in a senator from Sadera to meet them."

Sardasso scowled.

"I agree with that, Grandmaster. However, we all know why we're the first… "Line of defence", you could say. He's afraid. He knows at least a little bit about what's on the other side, and he's afraid of it. That's why he called us here, so we could weaken the enemy before his legions engage them and win with less losses than if he engaged them at their full strength."

"Are you saying the fact that someone attempted to poison us has absolutely nothing to do with the fact they appeared just after?" said Cyrus, still raring to go.

The various shouts quietened as all of them pondered over their words. While they gave their loyalty to Emperor Molt, none had love to spare from him as the yearly tribute wasn't light, and restrictions were put on the number of soldiers they could field at any time.

"I'm saying…" resumed Sardasso. "If we were to… Make friends with these newcomers. Learn how to use whatever makes them so strong. Then… Molt's head wouldn't be out of the question… And we would be freed of his… Benevolence…"

"PREPOSTEROUS!"

A loud voice immediately sounded in the tent, attracting everyone's attention. A king of a minor western nation had raised from his chair and pointed an accusatory finger at Sardasso.

"Are you implying you would commit high treason?! Against Emperor Molt?! Traitor, let me take YOUR head right now, scum!"

The king then took out the arming sword from his belt, but Sardasso wouldn't be intimidated by a no-name in his eyes.

"I'm implying I would do what I can so the gold used to make my lands richer doesn't go into Molt's hands! You're nothing more than a lapdog if you he gives you "consideration" just because you stick to him like a leech!"

The minor King's face turned red from anger, even more so when he realized he was the only one who had immediately called out this blatant treason.

"These accusations are grave! All of you! All of you are dirty traitors! I'm going to make sure the Emperor hears about this once the filth at Alnus Hill is taken care of!"

Enraged, the minor king put back the sword in its scabbard and sat back in his chair, crossing his arms.

"What you're proposing is extremely dangerous, Prince Sardasso…" Began Duran. "So your option would be to befriend these newcomers… Does anyone else has any other plan?"

"We destroy them and leave nothing in the dust, of course!" Fumed the minor king.

It was Cyrus from the west who first gave his piece of mind.

"These "newcomers" as you said poisoned us, and as we speak they build defensive positions around the Gate. I don't know what's gotten into all of your heads, but we must kill them before they plant their fangs into Holy Alnus like a tick."

High King Jormandur from the north was the second to speak.

"The Shamans gave me bad omens today. The spirits of the ancestors are concerned about the power of this new threat. I don't intend to go against their wishes. I shall speak with them."

Shogun Kamiro from the east raised from his chair.

"Molt invaded my lands, but I merely command the force sent by my divine father, the Emperor of Yamato. The crossing of the Great Ocean is a long and dangerous one, and I have no doubts I'll receive reinforcements to dispose of Molt in due time. I need no foreign help to cut a snake's head. We must decapitate these newcomers then destroy the Gate."

Following this declaration, all the minor monarchs told about what they chose. While the enemy may seem dangerous, and set on building defences around the Gate, who wouldn't be in front of an army they knew nothing about? And the idea of disposing of Molt and his grubby hand into everyone's treasuries was an attractive one.

On the other hand, for many monarchs the Empire was actually a good thing. Paved roads, aqueducts, a greater and richer market, coliseums, but also sanitation, help with disposing of roaming beast hordes and an efficient administrative structure…

It was a hard choice to make. In the end, it was eight monarchs who were in favor of killing the newcomers, and eight monarchs in favor of speaking to the newcomers. Only Duran was left to speak, and his choice would quite literally decide of the fate of more than two-hundred and fifty thousand men.

"My ancestors have fought for independence many generations ago, in the Elbian mountains. We lost to Imperial number and tactics, but also because we were stuck in our old-fashioned ways. This time, I will not repeat the failures of my ancestors. I will seek out knowledge, and the means to dispose of Molt. Just as all of you, I'm tired of his ways. I'm tired of the Empire. What we will do isn't just freeing ourselves, it will be freeing the whole of Falmart. We will speak to the newcomers."

With his decision taken, it was the course of the Allied Armies that was taken. It wasn't a light one. Now that all of this was said and done, the Emperor wouldn't ignore having his orders disobeyed, and even more disobeyed with the intention of acquiring knowledge and weaponry to overthrow him. In the worst case, Molt would even wage war against the traitors.

But the thought, the mere thought of being free from the Empire's grasp made many wanting.

"Faster, faster, we need those defensive positions and quick!"

A handful of "Yes general!" answered Hazama's voice as the pace quickened around him. It has been merely twenty minutes since he passed the Gate along with the JSDF troops. High command had told him that the original intention was to open negotiations with the nations of the Special Region, but also to set up a defensive position around the other entrance. In order to do that, the past week he had tens of trucks prepared, filled with large sandbags one meter in height and width to build fortifications.

"Third line of defence completed General!" Reported one of the engineers.

"Good. Continue like that!"

The engineer saluted and left, while Hazama looked over the map displayed on the screen in front of him. The defence around the Gate had been thought of with the medieval army in mind. Each line of defence could work alone as they didn't know if the other side's men would leave them time to build them. Fortunately, it had been twenty minutes now and the only activity coming from the soldiers on the wooden wall surrounding the Gate was observing them. And they had used that time wisely, the engineers not stopping a single second.

The third line of defence, the one that was closest to the Gate was comprised of large sandbags forming a thick wall, on which machine gun emplacements had been set up. Behind them, a large number of mortar teams were finishing readying to rain death on anything that came in their direction. As flyers had been spotted in the enemy army by the reconnaissance drones, vehicles fitted with AA equipment were ready, their radar dishes already spinning in search of targets.

The second line of defence comprised of the vehicles which first brought the large sandbags, parked in a way that soldiers could safely shoot from behind them. A few sandbags walls were set up as well made of remaining material from the third line that hadn't been used. Huge areas of barbed wire connected each truck. Between the second and the third line, tanks were setting up in positions in order to allow crossfire between each tank. They were mostly equipped with cannister rounds as the main force of the other side comprised of infantry, but they also had about twenty armor-piercing rounds each as larger monsters had been spotted by the drones. APC's were already unloading their occupants on the future position they would be in. They would stay with them in order to provide heavy machine gun fire and also to pull back soldiers if the situation got hairy. Hazama would have liked to have a minefield set up as well, but it would have been too time-consuming.

Finally, the first line of defence wasn't a defensive position so to speak. Highly mobile armored cars brought forward soldiers whose job would be pour out the biggest volume of fire possible then quickly fall back if the medieval army wasn't running away at this point. There were two reasons for them to do so. The first one was to test the enemy's willingness to fight, and the second one was to test out the effectiveness of bullets on an enemy they knew very little about.

However, things weren't just as Hazama would have liked it. The first one was that instead of being given the more recent Howa type 89 battle rifle, they had the type 64 instead. Another "toy" they hadn't been given for this campaign was the Howa type 96 automatic grenade launcher. Hazama could only dream at the effect such a weapon would have on tightly packed enemy formations. Alas, all of the better stuff was kept for the Coast Guard and the JSDF on the border with the Chinese because of their aggressive behaviour.

In regard to armor however, Hazama's wishes had been answered by high command. He had sixty Type 10 Main battle tanks to protect that Gate and twenty Type 87 Self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, in addition to countless Komatsu LAV's, APC's and trucks to offload everything that was needed. There were ten tanks placed in each cardinal direction, with twenty more kept in reserve.

"General Hazama!"

Hazama turned to the soldier speaking to him from inside of the mobile communication center.

"A report from the soldiers guarding the first line of defense! There's someone currently making his way towards the Gate!"

"Any threats?"

"Some kind of envoy on horse, followed by seventeen people each holding a different flag coming from the south! There's also a flying unit hovering over them. No threatening behavior detected!"

"An envoy? Has he told anything yet?"

"No sir, they're still half-way."

Hazama turned to one of his officers, but he already knew what to do and was currently starting a nearby LAV.

"Someone find diplomat Sugawara and direct him there!" Said the General as he ran to the passenger seat and buckled his seat. The vehicle drove around to the southern side of the Gate, passed the third line of defense and made its way to the place where the report came from. A squad of ten soldiers was standing behind a Komatsu vehicle with the second lieutenant leading them looking through his binoculars at the approaching group.

As soon as the vehicle stopped, Hazama buckled off from his seat and ran to the squad, followed by the officer.

"General Hazama, sir!" Shouted the second lieutenant leading the squad and saluted, while the nine other soldiers kept aiming at the "envoy" with their battle rifles.

"Anything new since the report?"

"No sir! They've stopped half-way, and they remained unmoving ever since! They've been shouting something, but none of us can understand it."

Hazama took out the binoculars, and looked with more care at the group waiting in the no-man's-land.

The envoy was richly dressed in a green and yellow striped robe with a golden outer lining, and he held a silver scepter in his hands. Behind him, the seventeen people holding flags were very varied. Some wore medieval European full plates, some wore lighter scale armor with lot of loose clothes and turbans, some wore chainmail and fur, and as he looked over the extreme right of the group, he froze.

Not believing his eyes, he rubbed them, checked the binoculars, then looked again.

"Something wrong, General?" Asked the officer at his side.

"Am I… Am I seeing something wrong or is that a goddamn samurai on the right of the group?"

Both the officer and the second lieutenant turned their binoculars to the right, and both blinked in surprise. The man was definitely wearing samurai armor, with a sashimono in his back holding a flag. He held in his right hand a cavalry spear, and a bow and arrows were strapped to his saddle.

As a descendant of a famous samurai bloodline, Hazama knew quite a lot about them thanks to all the picture and photo books his family kept. And as he looked closer, he realized it wasn't exactly samurai armor. Instead of the traditional colored leather and iron plates such armor was usually made from, he could distinguish some kind of scale, certainly not metallic. Maybe it was from some strange beast of these lands? The resemblance was uncanny.

A second car drove and stopped near them from which the diplomat sent with the JSDF force came out and approached the group.

"I'm here, mister Hazama! Who am I to meet? I've already been briefly briefed."

"Those people." Said Hazama, handing the diplomat his binoculars.

"Anyway," He said, turning to face the group of soldiers. "Major Natsuko? You will follow and protect mister Sugawara, take five soldiers from second lieutenant Tadano over here."

"Yes sir!"

"Perfect! Mister Sugawara? I believe you already know what your task is. Remember that the JSDF are there only to initiate contact between our nations. Possibly even trade. Not war. Not aggression. We're only there to make sure about their intentions. However, we also have to make sure they won't attack us."

The diplomat smiled at the General.

"Of course, General. I'm no fool. Mister Natsuko, are your men ready?"

The major pointed to five soldiers standing on the side. As it was a meeting with a foreign diplomat, they made their best to look better, brushing aside any dust or stains that could have gotten on their uniforms.

"Let's go, then." Said the diplomat, followed by the six soldiers.

As the men walked away from the APC the squad was taking cover behind, Hazama took out the radio hanging at his belt and asked for reinforcements.

'Ah, finally' thought the envoy. He wasn't a thin man, obviously enjoying life's pleasures, and it showed on his large belly. He had been repeatedly asking for a meeting with someone important for a while now, and it was only after some kind of horseless chariot approached that now a group of seven men came dressed in green. As they approached, he noticed one of them was wearing some kind of black suit instead. As soon as the group of otherworlders was close enough, the envoy raised his voice.

"Welcome, otherworlders! I am Laius Zu Epeia, retainer of Grandmaster Tullier of the Toumaren knighthood! I was chosen to represent the globality of the nations that gathered here to watch over the Gate! To who do I owe the pleasure of speaking to?"

The man dressed in black stepped forward and spoke as well.

"I am diplomat Sugawara, under command of General Hazama of JSDF. We come from nation of Japan in peace!"

Laius Zu Epeia was surprised to hear that the man was using High Saderan to speak, a language used only by the Empire nobility and their vassals. It made administrative work much easier for Imperial officials, and it reinforced the Empire's influence on other nations. It was an old dialect that originated from the founding of the Empire.Granted, the man had obvious flaws in his speech, but to know that the Imperial culture spread as far as to other worlds…Pleased to hear that these men were civilized, Laius continued in a more amiable tone.

"If you come in peace, my liege as well as the monarchs of the allied nations would like to meet lord Hah-za-mah! However, they demand that you stop fortifying the area around the top of Holy Alnus. If you come in peace, then there isn't need to fortify, is there?"

The diplomat looked behind him at the state of the fortifications already built, then back at Laius.

"General Hazama will be pleased to meet your liege, Epeia Mister! Many things to talk about! Meet here again? And shou-"

Sugawara's voice was suddenly cut by a shout in a foreign language by one of the men in green, then suddenly all of them threw themselves to the ground. Curious and confused, Laius looked around, searching for the source of their strange behavior.

It was then that he heard a roaring sound behind him.

And he turned just in time to see the fireballs explode in the middle of the group of men he led.

Hazama watched with horror as multiple ball of fires came from all sides of the medieval army straight on top of the meeting between the medieval delegation and the JSDF.

The fireballs exploded, sending flames everywhere and turning to cinders the men victim to the explosions. Screams of pain sounded in the mostly silent area, screams of men burning alive and desperately asking for help. Unfortunately, there was no one to help them.

Hazama was somewhat conscious of the second lieutenant at his side screaming in the radio for his men to retreat immediately, but he was more focused in a morbid curiosity at the scene happening in the no-man's land.

When all screams stopped, all that was left was a few burning flags still miraculously standing up, two horses that had somehow survived, running away as fast as their legs could carry them and unmoving burnt corpses.

Fortunately, the JSDF delegation was mostly unscathed, with two of them helping the Major (who had burn marks on his legs) to run and another who was trying to put out flames from his uniform while running. Their reflex to throw themselves to the ground had saved them as the flames had roared above them.

A great clamor came from behind the wooden wall, the very air shaking from the tens of thousands of screams of anger.

This took Hazama away from his stupor.

"All men prepare for a full-on assault!" He shouted to whoever was listening. After a moment of realization, he took his radio from his belt and clicked on the right button, sending his voice to every single radio of the force sent to the special region.

"All men prepare for an assault! Conditions of the engagement are to shoot on my order and my order only! Third line, unload everything you have at them then immediately fall back to the second line if needed! Second line, let the tanks deal with the big stuff, aim at the officers in priority! Logistics, I want you to focus on resupplying! That is all, men! Believe in your weapons, believe in your aim, and believe in our cause! For Japan!"

Shouts of approval came from every Japanese soldier on Alnus Hill, faces were steeled, weapons readied, mortar aim calibrated and tank rounds loaded.

Hello there, author here

I've realized I've been dragging this part of the story for waaaay too long. But I'm trying to limit myself to 3k words per chapter as I'm busy with other stuff (mainly university). And well, it's hard to write things that make sense with only 3k words per week without sounding like "And they passed the gate and they met with the allied nations and they..." etc etc.

Now, for the reviews:

zheminer: Yes. But well, there's a reason all those electronics are installed. Without them, good luck having the same accuracy and fire rate as before.And thunderstrikes ain't the only magic the people of Falmart can cast.

miguelphenom: He named Zorzal his heir precisely because Zorzal is completely stupid and easy to manipulate. And as the most powerful man on Falmart, I think Molt has very little reason to fear an assassination attempt. Remember the praetorian guard of the Imperial Palace is shown as weak in the anime because they got slaughtered at Alnus Hill, and the ones in the Palace were replacement troops. In normal times, the praetorian guard protecting the Emperor's family is considered the best of the best of all the Imperial forces.And about the mercenaries? Yeah, they'd be considered terrorists by Japan. But Japan doesn't know who sent them. All they know is that the mercenaries came from the other side.

Luna: Well, if they were to choose a marshall before every monarch of the allied armies was there, it would cause a huge diplomatic incident. Hence why they had to wait so long to vote for one. Sad indeed.

NlaEid: Thank you!

Pacman: Yup. You read right.

TheGeekno72: Haha, maybe, maybe not? Who knows?

DownTownAlpha: Stay tuned!

Thanks for the interest, and see you next week!