Chapter 110: 95: Culmination

Auratic

Bleak sky strew above the arrow riddled mantlets that lay abandoned around a field of ransacked dwellings left outside the protection of the modest stone walls of Viveria. Hastily put together wooden hoarding capped the walls. The town has been under encirclement for a week and a half now, besides the occasional small skirmishes around the gatehouses, there hadn’t been any large engagements as of yet. The soldiery from both sides were stricken with foreboding trepidation. Siege engines of the Imperial army were almost ready. They were hoping that the refugee populace from the razed villages and the cutting off of outside supply would put additional pressure on the garrison. The sickness and wasting brought about by starvation would kill more than any blade could. There had already been a demand for an unconditional surrender in exchange for provisions and peaceful occupation. Though the Margrave would have none of it. Things might have been different had it not been for an unexpected aid from a witch.

Following her instruction he had seeked out the ‘merchant’ and the young girl. Surprisingly the man in question did not converse, not on his own, rather he almost acted as though he was the retainer to the girl. The said girl in question however despite the childlike appearance and initially playful greetings was quick to reveal an inconsonant sagacity in her teasing remarks. The derisive mockery deeply hidden within her ribbings flew right over the heads of his less sophisticated bodyguards, only his close aide caught some wind of the jest. Charlie, she called herself, the third ordinal in service to their Lady, invited him and his entourage of bodyguards to visit a certain warehouse at the far edges of the town. Although it reeked of ambush, he pushed on. Reynould didn’t fully trust his new connection yet but he didn’t have much else to rely on. The trip was short and brief, but it felt lengthy; he had many questions for the young child prancing in front of him, yet her humming lullaby left no room for them. The incongruousness with the girl grew inside him with every step he took.

When they arrived the mercantile man in cloak accompanying the girl pried open the door. Therein were crates stacked and sacks piled high to the ceiling, their contents a secret then the man went over to one of the sacks pulled out a dagger seemingly out of nowhere to cut a small slit at the top of the bag and golden brown granules cascaded down and settled into a small pile on the floor. Food, warehouse full of it. A modest amount for a town but with proper rationing, it could last for a week or so. With the looming threat of war at their steps, the price of food shot to the skies but then the man named his price and gasps filled the air from the escort behind him. At his rates, it was practically a steal with how cheap it was. Of course some demanded that it be handed over free of charge, after all it would be a contribution to the defense of the town. But Reynould put a stop to it, it was already a gracious offer and he didn’t wish to impose any further. He simply told the merchant when and where to collect his payment and ordered his men to move the supplies, his aide quickly bolted out to inform the rest of his men and to inform the garrisons. The cloaked merchant only bowed and made his exit. When Reynould attempted to stop him and ask questions, he only turned to the little girl that was sitting on top of a crate swinging her legs, seemingly enamored with the armored men carrying the provisions away.

He quietly commanded his men. Although there were some who would object, it was a direct order thus they complied hesitantly. They all left the warehouse after a short time, and the suspicious merchant soon followed, leaving them in solitude. He had his suspicions but he wished to set it straight.

It was a characteristically inscrutable answer of a child who didn’t know how to describe what they saw. Perhaps she was just a child and maybe, just maybe he was reading too much into something.

Her eyes sharpened to a steely glare, yet still she wore a beaming smile.

Threats he had heard many times in his life, but with this one, a dread like no other took hold of him, there was a full intent behind it and it felt even more disturbing coming from a childlike entity.

‘So… another monster…?’ was his thought. He felt as though he was courting with forces no man should deal with, but it was far too late to turn back, he had to see it through to the end now.

Just as the tension left the body he felt it return again when she posed an inquiry. He only nodded in response.

It came out of nowhere. He wasn’t even sure what to respond.

A rush of disgust came over him to learn such scum still prowled the streets of this town that was his by right. Despite the highborn upbringing, he wasn’t as gullible or naive as to be completely divorced from the cruel realities of the lower class society. What infuriated him was that these were happening, under his nose and had no clue of it.

Certain kind of anger was welling up. He couldn’t quite describe it.

Letting out an amused hmm:

As soon as she had finished her utterance, she disappeared in a series ‘jumps’ far too quick to track by eye, leaving the winds rushing wildly in her wake. Reynould was attributing the tendency of sudden departures and disappearances to the Araneae-kind by now…

In a bailiff’s office Reynould was recalling these events in light of another warehouse being mysteriously stocked with fresh fruits not native to the land being offered. They had a price of course, as everything does - war and conflict was never enough to stop the flow of coin, in the end, conflict itself was just another form of business - but it hardly strained his coffers. As he was signing off an order for transfer, a small white creature skittered on to the back of his hand, still holding the quill. He froze up, and a strange chill came over him. A tiny white spider that carried messages from his new associate, it spoke to him it’s master- it’s mistress’s words. He froze up not in fear of the creature - rather, after the initial apprehension, he considered himself quite used to its presence, almost considering it a strange pet that hid in the box in his pockets - but it only came bearing warnings, an ill omen. This one was particularly dire, for it was told that the enemy would begin this assault in full force six hours after the last toll of the bell, in the dead of night. He knew it was coming, they wouldn’t wait until any reinforcements to arrive. They needed only a few more days before the first of the help would arrive… Though none of it mattered now, they had to weather the storm. The city must survive, it was his duty as a Margrave to protect it.

The Imperial army was unaware that they had a number of ‘double-agents’  distributed across their ranks, feeding information to Alicia who in turn monitored their internal movements and fed the crucial details to Reynold beyond the walls.

The men leaking the information to Alicia were prepared by Erwin, or as she herself put it, ‘conditioned to revere the glory of their mistress’.

Though she had no business being involved in actual warfare, seeing as her most relevant experience was derivative knowledge from RTS games, even she could understand and appreciate the tactics maneuvers being employed by both sides.

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The walls of Viveria had a handful of towers that sported permanent ballista fixtures atop of them. Although she initially assumed it was due to paranoid cautiousness, the true reason was something she couldn’t even imagine. Wyverns, other draconics and flying monsters in general often roosted in mountains or the forest areas and feasted on livestock of villages. Sometimes they would get bold enough to try their luck with towns and cities. These ballistas were there for this reason and in order to shoot up in such extreme elevations they were permanently angled up. Although accuracy was a problem considering how nimble they could be in the air, that was never their main goal.

The ballista bolts were large enough to deal significant damage to any flying monster if not outright ground them for good, barring dragons. Near misses of such bolts were threatening enough to make any monster reconsider their life choices. However in other cases these ballistas could become a formidable defense against any attempts at siege. Though it would be hard pressed to be an effective anti infantry weapon due to their awkwardly high angling and limited ammunition, the increased range allowed them to start firing at enemy siege weaponry before they could get in their range. With some trial and error, and a little bit of luck it could even destroy them with a direct hit. Not to mention the loss of morale of having to enter its firing range without any meaningful protection or a way to retaliate, even if the chances of getting struck were extremely minimal.

Due to this, the Imperial army had to build their engines out of reach of the bolts and then push them into range. Their plan was to simply overwhelm the ballista fixtures with superior numbers and disable it. Though this meant they had to build their weapons with wheels to push it in the first place, increasing the complexity, material footprint and overall time required for construction.

‘I have to prepare as well, I need to assign all the points I have leftover… though there’s just too much to think about… Never thought I would have too many choices…’

>System able to auto-assign animanucleo points based on recommendations following generated presets. Simplify administrator choice.

‘Ohhh… that sounds interesting… show me.’

>Processing request…

>Generating presets Standby… … … … … … … … …

>Generating contextual text.

>Complete.

>System will reserve 10 points for purposes of tactical flexibility.

‘Ah… still a lot of choices… just in a bundle. Well it is somewhat approachable I guess…?’

Auratic

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I think I'm gonna be okay.

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