The War Has Begun

Antonia cries and sobs endlessly in the bedroom, because Magno has come to her to tell her the terrible news.

- But why? Why would the hero do this to him?

Magno hugs her consolingly and comments sadly.

- I made a promise to him, to look after you and the fief at all costs, and I'm going to keep it, understand? Now it's just the two of us.

She continues to cry.

- Don't worry, I'll protect you with all my might.

After trying to console her, Magno leaves, closing his hand tightly and saying low and angry.

- I will keep this promise, Charles' blood will be avenged.

Leaving the house where Antonia had stayed after the fighting, it was a simple house in an area where there was no trace of destruction from the battle.

He ended up meeting Ricardo, who was wearing a white headband and with a few dents in his now dusty armor.

- How was it, my lord?

- She cried a lot, I almost cried with her, but first, what happened to you? - Magno asks as the two of them head towards the town hall of the Feudal Capital.

- Oh, it's just that an arrow grazed my head, and I also had to fight those damned insurgents face to face.

- You need to be more careful.

- It's true, but when I get carried away in combat, I always end up forgetting that.

- So you'd better learn to control yourself in these situations, because now things are going to change radically around here, and these mistakes could cost you dearly, and above all, I want you alive, to succeed Cobalsk as Supreme General.

- Oh, that's too much for me, I don't know what to say.

- Just improve your self-control for now, okay?

- Yes, sir! - Replies Ricardo cheerfully.

- Now go and inform the rest of the Wiki Guard about my brother. - He orders with an air of regret.

- Yes, sir. - The knight replies a little sadly.

As soon as he sees Magno continuing on his way to the town hall, he begins to think.

"I hope Mr. Magno will get over this terrible loss, it's hard to accept, but sometimes... it's necessary. It's necessary."

After the battle, parts of the Feudal Capital lay in ruins, especially the area where the castle stood, now reduced to rubble, but given the complexity of the situation, that's not much.

- Raise the flag! - Shouts a corporal.

Magno arrives in front of the town hall accompanied by his heavily armed troops.

There, everyone sees the Wiki City flag being raised at the town hall, and the people who live in the surrounding area soon arrive to see what's going on.

However, his troops maintain a high level of vigilance against possible suspects in the vicinity, all to ensure the safety of the successor to the fiefdom.

Then he begins to speak loudly.

- People of the Seven Lakes Fiefdom! Today an attempted coup d'état broke out! This unfortunately claimed the life of Charles Histol Kirbom! My brother.

The population is shocked at what has happened, and in the face of this reaction, your troops are even more vigilant, but they don't point at anyone.

- But the feudal government continues! With the efforts of the loyalist forces and the Wiki City forces! We managed to stop the coup in its tracks! However! Lives have been lost.

The people are apprehensive, but this apprehension soon disappears and becomes a talking point, ignoring the fact that Magno is standing there face to face with them, something that particularly surprised him.

"Maybe they don't know who I am, or maybe they think I'm some kind of madman, but that's the way it's going to have to be."

- Well! As everyone already knows! Me! Magno Histol Kirbom! I am next in line, also at the request of Lord Charles himself! I will give myself the perpetual duty of administering the Fief of the Seven Lakes! For not only do I have the law of blood! I possess the legality of my word! Which I must fulfill at this very moment! Thus I! Magnus Histol Kirbom! I proclaim myself the new lord of the Fief of the Seven Lakes!

Everyone hesitated for a moment, but gradually the population began to acclaim him as the new feudal lord and to celebrate the new feudal lord.

Magno didn't know it, but the news that his brother was dead had spread to the people in an overwhelming way in the Feudal Capital, and because of this, the population was talking at that moment, because they hadn't expected such a proclamation from him, a young man of 15 who until then had been extremely busy running a small town relatively far from the Capital.

All that dedication he had given to Wiki Town had given an impression to the inhabitants of the rest of the fiefdom of someone who was not very interested in feudal affairs. This view was further reinforced by the fact that he paid more attention to Wiki Town than to the rest of the fiefdom, even though he was second in the line of feudal succession.

And seeing this reaction from the people, he is relieved.

"I'm glad it worked out, I don't know how I managed to give a good speech without losing my temper."

However, even though he seems to have won the support of the people of the Feudal Capital, the overall picture is still catastrophic: a civil war in the fief with a high risk of external intervention in the conflict.

With a view to reversing the situation, he talks seriously with Cobalsk as he leaves, leaving parts of his troops to celebrate with the population.

- Long live the new lord! - Several of Wiki's soldiers shout, overjoyed.

- We need to know as soon as possible which of my brother's generals and cities are on our side, although we have won the battle, we still have the war, and to win this war we need more allies. - Magno comments.

- Yes sir, we're already trying to contact the generals of the entire fiefdom.

- Any response?

- Yes, as far as we know, the coup plotters have taken over the cities in the northern half and cities in the Capital region too.

- Then they'll have an easier time negotiating the other fiefdoms' entry into the conflict, they've cut off our contact with the rest of the empire.

- That's right, my lord, and that's why I've already sent a letter to the Prime Minister, ordering him to send weapons and instructors to the cities we know are our allies, and I've also ordered the troops here to prepare for an advance outside the capital.

- Good, do you know if the leaders of the southwest are on our side?

- Well, my lord, as far as I know there's a delicate situation.

- How so?

- According to a general loyal to your brother who answered our calls, the leaders of the southwest have declared independence.

- What? All of them?!

- Yes, it was all of them, they claimed that the fiefdom is unsustainable and on the verge of collapse, but according to the same general, the legalist forces have only subdued two of them, but thirteen of these leaders are still missing.

They're heading back to their former post, where they coordinated the resistance during the battle in the Capital.

- Their support will be needed, so call their representatives to me, maybe I can change their minds.

- Yes, sir.

When they got there, Cobalsk immediately went to write the letters with the orders mentioned.

Magno, on the other hand, went to look at the map of the fief, which was hanging on the wall, as their post was inside a house, and there he looked at the map intently, planning his strategies to consolidate his power and legitimacy in the fief.

"Perhaps first I should consolidate my power in the region of the Capital and Wiki, if those south-western leaders don't accept being subdued in diplomacy, then they will be subdued by force of arms.

But he is exhausted and extremely stressed, his face and clothes dusted with debris.

"But now, I must rest, I really need to rest and absorb the fact that now that my brother is dead, there's only Antonia and me to carry on the Kirbom family legacy."

As Magno left, he came across many soldiers celebrating their victory, which made him give a brief, shy smile.

"I need to honor my family's legacy."

The next day.

In a small palace that the coup plotters left behind in the retreat during the battle in the Capital.

- Well, I have to do it now. - Says Magno, drowsy from having just woken up.

After a yawn, he quickly went to get ready for his errands, but began to think about Charles' death.

- What would he do if he were in such a situation?

His room wasn't small, but it wasn't large, and inside it there were some gunshot marks on a wall that ran parallel to the wall with windows.

The marks indicated that he had been shot from below, something reinforced by the fact that the place had two floors.

"It will take drastic measures to unite the people of the fiefdom." - He thinks as he looks at the gunshot marks on the wall of the room where he is staying.

Leaving the room, he meets Ricardo, who was waiting to come out of his room to inform him of something very important.

- Sir, I have something very important.

- So tell me Ricardo, what do you have to say? -He asks, already walking down the corridor.

- It's just that we've recently received information that there's a fief supporting all this.

- What?!

"That makes it harder to unite the fiefdom, since whatever the fiefdom is, maybe at some point that fiefdom will invade my fiefdom, and that could escalate the feudal civil war into an imperial civil war."

He then asks.

- And which fief is supporting the insurgents?

- The Quar fief, sir.

- The one to the northwest of ours?

- Yes, sir.

Magno remains silent, which he breaks when they reach the exit of the small palace, but it was clear that he was thinking something about it.

- So the Feud of the Seven Lakes will increase its coastline.

- How is that, my lord? - asks Ricardo, surprised by Magno's answer.

- The Feud of the Seven Lakes will expand, we'll annex Feud Quar.

- But sir, how will this be told to the Emperor?

Magno smiles.

- If we conquer Feudo Quar, the Feud of the Seven Lakes will have the size to demand more from the Imperial Feudal Council, after all, we'll be the largest feud in territorial terms by far, we'll even have more influence than Emperor Kirsim himself.

They pass a row of soldiers standing at attention next to each other, and after leaving the small palace, Magno looks at them and adds to his argument.

- But it's not just territory that I'll need to do all this.

Hours later.

In the northern suburbs of the capital, the artillery starts firing.

Cobalsk appears inspecting the actions of the troops, who are bombarding Kirt City, located to the north of the Capital, and seeing everyone acting as expected, the old supreme general reflects.

"A decade ago, I was protecting Mr. Magno, now, there's a civil war because those damned insurgents haven't surrendered, I'll have to continue commanding ranks, I'm too old for that, but Mr. Magno has promised me that I'll soon be able to retire."

Then Cobalsk gets on a brown horse equipped for long-distance travel and leaves the place.

"Since things are under control here, perhaps I can go there now."

But after the general has gone, Magno arrives with Ricardo at the same place, asking for him.

- Have you seen Supreme General Cobalsk? - he asks an artillery commander on the spot.

Notoriously nervous, he replies relatively calmly.

- Yes sir, but now the Supreme General is no longer here my lord.

- And where did he go?

- He went into the capital claiming it was important.

- Important?

Magno wonders what could be the motivation for his subordinate's attitude.

"So he went there."

But without knowing any possible motives, having hardly ever interacted with Cobalsk outside of work, Ricardo asks him.

- My lord, do you have in mind the place where the Supreme General went?

- Cobalsk has a family here and as he works for me in the position of Supreme General of my troops, he ends up having to constantly communicate with them through letters, but that's just my assumption, and as there was a battle here, he probably went to see where they are. - Magno replies calmly.

And he continues: "If not, I don't see what could be motivating their sudden departure at the moment.

His suggestion was correct, and as he rides he worries for his family, who could have been killed by the coup plotters during the attempted coup.

"I hope there was no fighting here, from what I can see there was nothing here, there are no bodies or blood, there is no trace of destruction here, at least that."

When he arrives in front of a two-storey wooden house, he stops and ties his horse to a nearby post, and enters the place, with a pistol in his waistband in case of anything unforeseen.

Entering the place, he goes into a living room where at the end there is a staircase to the upper floor, and also sees an old woman with gray hair with a rifle in her hand, ready to shoot, who is surprised by Cabolsk's presence there.

- Oh, oh, calm down, Clide. - He comments, startled, with the rifle pointed at him, and puts his hands forward, indicating that he will do nothing against her.

She soon realizes, calms down and lowers her weapon.

- False alarm! It was your grandfather, come and say hello.

Then two children come down the stairs, a girl and a boy, both with white skin and brown hair.

The old general happily kneels down.

- Come here, Grandpa's little grandchildren!

The two of them hug him happily, followed by his daughter, a girl with brown hair and white skin, wearing a short yellow dress.

He smiled instantly when he saw her.

- Ah, my daughter, how are you? - She asks as she gets up and her grandchildren come back up to where Clide is.

His daughter, in turn, replies with joy and concern.

- My father, thank God you've come, what was all that about? An attack out of the blue, the mother and I took the children away quickly as soon as we heard the explosions, Kudo went to see his family when the noise seemed to have no end, he had said he would be back soon, but so far he hasn't returned.

Seeing his daughter's joy turn into clear concern, he became serious and left.

- Dad? Where are you going? - His daughter asks.

- Rebeca, I'm just going to check on your husband and I'll be right back.

- Take care, things are difficult out there. - She says, fearful that the same thing could happen to her husband.

- Don't worry, I may be old, but I can still handle a sword better than many young men out there. - She comments confidently.

But as he untied his horse and mounted it, he continued to look at his daughter, who had followed him outside.

- By the way, my daughter, I'll be back with carts so we can move away from here, because now it's no longer safe for them or for us, so we'll leave for Wiki, as soon as Mr. Magno authorizes it, he himself gave us a better house and a plot of land next to it, understand?

- Yes, my father, but my husband's parents?

- There will be room for both of them. Mr. Magno wanted to give me a lot of money for my work, but I refused. Instead, I just wanted a big house and a big plot of land to live on in Wiki, so that I could live out my last years with my family in peace.

And already calving a horse, he's going at a trot to keep going.

- And I also want my dear daughter to have a suitable place to raise her family as peacefully as possible.

She, in turn, is moved by these words.

- Go well, my father. - Her daughter comments fearfully.

So Rebeca goes back into the house, moved and worried about her husband, by her own father.

He leaves on his horse, heading for another corner of the capital.

Meanwhile, Magno meets Ricardo again in a meeting room in the small palace where he is staying.

- Ricardo, I called you here because I want you to formalize something.

Magno hands over the paper and it says that it's the formalization of the succession of Supreme General.

- Wow... Sir, I can't believe it.

- Believe me, before all this happened, I was already planning it.

- Does General Cobalsk know about this?

- Does he? He was the one who nominated you to succeed him, he said you had the mentality, strength and energy for the job.

He continues.

- He told me weeks ago, before this coup attempt, that he's tired of war and that if there was another war it would be the last straw, and since it's happened, maybe he's already expecting me to do it, but I also want to formalize it as soon as possible so that there's no possibility of unnecessary disputes in my army, do you understand?

- Yes, sir.

- So, are you going to sign?

- Hmm... Yes, sir.

Then he takes the pen that was with the paper and signs it.

- Well, now you're going to be the future Supreme General, but don't tell anyone, otherwise it'll be an unnecessary stress.

- Yes sir, my ears are a safe.

The two of them get up from their chairs and shake hands.

- I hope I can work with you in this position.

- Me too, sir. - Ricardo replies cheerfully.

- Finally, before we go back to our respective jobs, take care, I want you alive to hold this position.

- I'll do what I can, sir.

- Well then, see you later. - Magno said, heading out of the room with him.

With that settled, the two went back to their duties.

Ricardo returned to his role as head of the Wiki Guard and Magno as the new feudal lord who had not yet been sworn in and the main coordinator of the legalist forces in the Feudal Capital region.

As a result, Magno returned to the legalist artillery line, which was still firing.

He walks up to him while reflecting.

"Cobalsk is already old, at some point he may retire or die, and this vacuum can't be left open, his position is too important and could cause a rupture in my troops, and that's unacceptable, especially if it happens now in these times of calamity.

Arriving there, he looks at the magical map of the fief, in his makeshift administrative area, analogous to Charles' during the attempted coup in the Feudal Capital, which was a tent with an office inside.

"The inter-feudal border is essential, and when I conquer the entire inter-feudal area of the fief, no fief will dare invade me, but it must be done as soon as possible, especially because of Feudo Quar, if they haven't already done so."

So time passed and the artillery attack ended hours after he had left the artillery line, and one sunset, Magno glimpsed across the meeting room, and also saw on the horizon the glow of artillery fire, which was resuming the attack on Kirt City, and the sounds of part of his troops leaving for the attack on Kirt City.

"First of all, I must gather the largest contingent I can."

But not everyone can see the view: on the outskirts of the Feudal Capital, prisoners of war taken during the defense of the Capital, guarded by soldiers from Wik City, are forced to build a railway line connecting Wiki City to Histolópolis, the Feudal Capital.

All there working 5 hours a day without a break, which on this first day of work wasn't hot, but it was a little beyond lukewarm, during which they only had the right to drink water.

With rifles constantly pointed at them, it ended up making for an extremely quiet working environment, with only the sound of work being done echoing.

- I want this whole part to be perfectly built by one o'clock! - Shouts the sergeant responsible for coordinating it.

But while they work.

Someone opens the door to the meeting room, and there is a large window on the right, chandeliers to light up the place, a large oval wooden table and chic wooden chairs, pictures of all the Kirbom family who ruled the fiefdom in the past, except Charles, scattered around the walls of the room.

- Sorry for the delay, Mr. Kirbom.

- Cobalsk, there's no need to apologize, have you been to see your family?

- Um... Yes sir, how did you find out?

- You usually disappear like this when you go to visit them, why do you still insist on leaving them here Cobalsk?

- That's what I wanted to talk to you about, sir.

- If you want to move your family to Wiki, no problem, I'll reserve 10 soldiers and 10 carts to take all your belongings to the house and land I've already bought for you.

Then he interrupts him.

- So that's why you've been deducting part of my salary for a year? - he asks, a little surprised and suspicious.

- Yes, because when I did that, I was in a bad way financially after buying that painting for my office. - Magno replies with a forced smile, remembering the financial problems caused by buying that painting.

Then he gets up from his chair and says.

- But leaving that aside, you need to come here and ask me, after all, you're the Supreme General, you could have just sent a letter asking for it, but if that's the authorization you want, then you have it now.

- Thank you very much, sir, but there's something else I'd like to ask you.

- Say it, don't hold back.

- What are you planning to do at the funeral and burial of Mr. Charles and Miss Luiza?

Magno remains quiet for a short while and then replies, letting off steam.

- Well... I'm still thinking about it, I had already made a plan for them in case they died, but lately I've been reviewing some things, because I see that they're not worthy of them, so I've made changes to the planning of their funeral and burial, despite all this, I guarantee that tomorrow everything will be settled, point by point.

- I've never seen this plan of yours, my lord, but if this is your will, who am I to question it?

- I can see you're worried, your face doesn't lie, you don't have to worry about this, everything is going smoothly.

Cobalsk asks him as he looks at Magno's subtly serious face.

- I don't think that's what you want to talk about, so what are your doubts, Mr. Magno?

- Do you know my late brother's other generals?

- Almost all of them, except the leaders of the southwest.

- And have you managed to count them all?

- I have, my lord, and so far I only know who the traitors are.

- What do you mean? Did you already know how many traitorous generals there were in my brother's ranks? - asks Magnus seriously, looking him in the eye.

Seeing the tension rising, Cobalsk keeps his cool in front of Magno.

- No, my lord, I only had a few suspicions, all of which I told your brother.

Oh, well, I hope that's right, you're one of the people I trust the most, so... Hum, then order the sending of spies to confirm your hypotheses.

- Yes, sir.

- But that's not what I really wanted to discuss with you either.

- And what would that be? Don't make a mystery of it, my lord.

Then a butler in the room hands Magno a map, which he shows him by placing it on the table.

The map was of the entire territory of the Kirsim Empire divided into its fiefdoms, with a design similar to the Principality of Kiev, however, the southern half of the territory is surrounded by water, making it a peninsula.

The northern part is surrounded by land, which the empire itself borders with other smaller human nations, but mainly the Empire of the Semi-Humans on the northern border and the Empire of the Demi-Humans in a small part on the eastern border of the northern part of the empire.

- The war will spread to another fiefdom.

- How is that? - asks the Supreme General in astonishment.

Magno, for his part, remains serious and continues.

- For the time being, this is the fief that we suspect is supporting the insurgents.

- But why? Why would Mr. Kilibe get involved in this?!

Magno gets up from his chair and goes to the window in silence and answers.

That's what I'd like to know, but his indirect participation is almost completely confirmed by the prisoner reports we took during the defense of the Capital, do you happen to know what that means?

- Yes, sir. - Cobalsk replies, a little tense.

- That the troops of the Feud of the Seven Lakes have the duty to depose the lord of the Feud Quar, we will stain his Capital with blood, just as it happened here, the Feud of the Seven Lakes will go to war with the Feud Quar.

- May God protect us from what may come.