Please click on the character names for their illustration, if any.
Climos Summers: King of Swabia Empire.
Visual Kheda: Cohen Kheda’s father and Duke of the Swabia Empire.
IGT: The Imperial Guarding Troop, Cohen Kheda and Fischer Summer’s personal force.
The Rage Wolf: A specialized IGT squadron under Wilder’s commander.
The Nighthawk: A specialized IGT squadron under Jack’s commander.
The Firmament: A specialized IGT squadron under Moya’s commander.
PUF: The Protoss United Forces.
AUF: The Asmodian United Forces.
The following day saw me giving my soldiers one last training order after a meeting with the provisional lieutenants.
The order was simple, the Wolf, Hawk and Firmament squadrons must reach a city on the Swabia border in the shortest time without being found about their real identities or arrested. There will be no limits on how they got there.
I dare to say; no commander in this continent was as bold as me, at least there was none in the Protoss Alliance dare to allow his troops to cross two countries without notifying the authorities. My soldiers must not only work out a solution to their limited supply but also avoid any head-on confrontation with the local guards.
But these men were never afraid as if they have never feared anything since they joined my army. All of them were spoiling for a fight the moment I issued my order.
Fischer and I took 50 men and the priests on horseback then left without the others.
We traveled along the commercial road and lodged in the scheduled hotels, waited.
Three people will find us on each day without interruptions.
From these men’s words and phrases, Fischer and I could deduct roughly the three squadron’s future style and growing perspectives.
The Raging Wolf was a group of manly bandits. Wilder being the commander, they must first attack the local defenses at night. The poor local troopers will end up being stripped into ‘naked pigs’.(naked pig: a man removed of their wearings and hanged upside down. Origin: v2c11.) The Wolves will then swagger to their destination wearing robbed armors and outfits, riding either robbed horses, boats and being well fed.
The Firmaments, like their commander, were typed as the enduring troop. They were able to cross mountains and rivers and travel hundreds of miles in a day. To avoid the local forces, Moya and his men hid by day and traveled by night like swift ghosts. Where they passed through will be left with several hundred miles newly reclaimed paths, dozens single-plank bridges. Birds and beast of that year will be severely cut back along the way.
The Nighthawks, being led by a funny commander Jack, was no longer a group of men suitable for fighting on the battlefield. Or I should seriously consider the rightful use of this unusual squadron.
There was no surprise for a young noble to chase a lady, right? However, a group of young nobles ran after a woman that was too ugly to not kill an Asmodian was no longer ordinary, besides they will run after that lady for thousands of miles. These men traveled with their ‘servants’ were well fed and well lodged. God knew where they found the money to spend.
When they dressed as mercenaries, the situation was much better. The only problem was that they liked to fight during meals. When at meals, I will see a group of mercenaries feast, and when they were finish and ready to pay, a newly came men will jump in yelling ‘You slept with my wife!’ with a weapon in his hand. The two will fight vigorously and when the first mercenaries were defeated and ran, the second one will chase like a ton of bricks.
Fifteen days later, Fischer and I have arrived Concrete City on the Swabia border, collected our scattered troops then finally reach Divine City after another four days. For me, the Divine City was another battlefield. And on that day when I was in the DC wall, it was not far from Swabia’s statutory New Year.
Watching people cheering for us as well as the many floating confetti in the air, I cannot recall the feeling I had when the last time I was in DC.
To celebrate the rare crowning of more than one Protoss Knights within one country, His Majesty Climos unusually received us in the grand hall of the imperial palace, accompanied by the empire officials and the high priests from the DC holy temple.
By the majestic melodies played by the royal orchestra, Fischer and I wore the silver armors that the War God had bestowed us as we entered the hall and gave the King our salute.
Although we were Protoss Knights, we were still the younger to the King and I was his bureaucrat. Thus it was legit to do the salute. But our status and the close relationship with the king were a huge bomb to the Minister and the temple.
The King remained same old as well as the others, but my loving father was not there.
The empire officials aside seconded, though it was a bit hard to tell if they were seconding.
The king said as he suddenly squeezed my hand.
I nodded hard my head, then knocked one of my heels onto the other thus my battle boots clicked. It was a grace demeanor which Fischer taught me yesterday.
We turned about and noticed the High Priest’s approaching with a smile.
I joked while tried my best to act as modest as possible. I would rather not displease anyone for the moment.
After the verbose receiving ceremony, the King brought Fischer and I as well as the Minister and a few core bureaucrats to the secondary meeting room behind the imperial hall. He seemed to have matters of importance for us to discuss.
After shutting the meeting room door, the King revealed a scroll, face dignified.
… decide now to build allied force and jointly crusade the evil Asmodians!
… Swabia will be instructed to deploy 30, 000 riders as well as ⅓ of the supplies for the united force.
… order temple assigned official, Prime Minister of Swabia, Luhrmann, Chief Quartermaster of the United Force.
… Knight of Protoss, Prince of Swabia, Fischer Summers, Chief Operator of the United Force in Swabia.
… Knight of Protoss, Viceroy of Dark City of Swabia, Cohen Kheda, Commander of the Ninth Legion.
… the United Force has an even greater lineup for this war. Soldiers numbered up to 700, 000… all above are top classified information that must not be revealed! In addition, all mentioned personnel who will assume a position in the United Force must be prepared to report to the United Force Headquarters by February next year without delay!
I dozed off halfway, only brought up attention when my name was mentioned.
One-third of the Alliance’s supply was the primary job for Swabia during this war, compared to which, the 30, 000 riders were merely a symbolism. In fact, they didn’t even have to go onto the battlefield.
The Minister, like the last war, was the army’s Chief Quartermaster. Fischer’s job was even better; he will be in charge of operating all supplies that passed through Swabia. He didn’t even need to leave the Divine City.
As for me, it was harsh! The Ninth Legion was the slave army, which was the legion deployed first to attack and the first to die on the battlefield. It was the one army marked as ‘expendable’ on the United Force’s register!
“This is the end of the order!” The King exhaled and put down the scroll.
“… the merciful lords!” Everybody lowered their head, hands crossed.
The King left Fischer in the room for more words. I just wandered by the door, helmet in hand.
The Minister smiled and approached even closer as if there was never any gaps between us.
I watched as the Prime Minister left then turned about and knocked into the meeting room, then informed the King about the Minister’s words.
The King exhaled heavily then immediately frowned.
“Could we believe his words?” Fischer asked.
Once we learned they came off growing fruit trees, Fischer and I all laughed.