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The Calamitous Bob chapter 229: Total War .
🕑 Added 2025-01-24 16:21:35 +0000 UTCCrest watched the column advance with a sense of purpose. In the cold Paramese winter, the soldiers of the Kingdom of Maranor moved forth: Baranese, Shadowlanders, Helockians, men and women, veterans and green horns, all of them braving the cold with determination. Pristine snow covered the sleepy trees and the field beyond. It was also very quiet, the silence only broken by the crunch of boots and the breaths of hundreds of throats. That contrasting view was almost enough to forget all the horseshit.
The army was moving south. Per Oleander’s orders, the kingdom was to secure Baran first by felling its king’s enemies, thus reuniting the nation in peaceful order. Crest was fully aware that such an approach followed the creed behind Oleander’s path, and that meant they would receive the blessing of the goddess every step of the way. It was a righteous decision. The old man’s wife had decided she knew better than him who should be heir, thus she had overstepped her role and forgotten her position. It was not a matter of gender or age here, but of seniority. Erezak was king of Baran, and Rosea was his queen, but he was the monarch. Order and the chain of command had been broken. They would be restored.
People sometimes forgot that a good enough leader was much better than a perfect leader plus a civil war.
Crest’s thoughts were disturbed when a Helockian scout returned on horseback, quickly climbing the hill he was waiting on alongside the Hopecrusher and a few dozen officers. They were the vanguard of an army almost a hundred thousand strong spilling over the literal horizon. That army needed eyes.
“Report,” the Hopecrusher calmly demanded.
His aura calmed the man, who had been fearful of the imposing elite. The Hopecrusher’s nickname wasn’t aimed at his own people. To them, he was a champion. The scout would understand that in time. They all would.
“Sir, I return from Siden. The enemy has deserted the place.”
The city could barely be seen in the distance. The lack of enemy patrols and encampments had already told Crest the Baranese rebels hadn’t waited to be wiped out, which wasn’t surprising.
“There is more. I talked to the mayor who is willing to give us the key to the city. She mentioned that, as of yesterday, the portal network ceased to function.”
Crest tilted his head at that.
“Can you do whatever mages do to make it open again?” The Hopecrusher asked him in a way that was just short of rude.
“I need to see it first,” Crest replied.
“Then we ride.”
The Hopecrusher left a junior officer in charge of the vanguard, only taking a small cavalry detachment with him, not that it would matter. The ride down the slope towards Siden was as uneventful as could be, the only signs of life puffy smoke rising from cottages buried under their icy blankets.The gates were open. A group of nervous notables waited beyond, standing on the icy pavement alongside a handful of city guards equipped with halberds and truncheons. They posed no threat.
The Hopecrusher stopped in front of the mayor but he didn’t dismount from the massive black charger under him. It amused Crest that the man couldn’t fight on horseback so it was all just a show. From the terrified faces of the notables, it was working.
“Welcome to Siden, my lords and ladies,” the mayor greeted.
She was an old, dignified, dark-skinned woman wearing a warm green dress and a sash of office. The people with her appeared to be administrative paths. There were no warriors and no mages.
“You welcome us, yet, a few weeks ago, you were welcoming the traitor Rosea and her cohorts with the same open arms,” The Hopecrusher said in a deceptively soft voice.
To the mayor’s credit, she didn’t flinch. Crest could see sweat pearl on her skin but her eyes remained on the massive warlord.
“We are a peaceful city, milord. War is not something we can pursue.”
Translation: My citizens would all be burning corpses in a pile, you stupid cunt.
“Yet war has come to you all the same,” the Hopecrusher replied in what simple-minded people would believe to be a good comeback.
Gods but was this man full of himself.
“I am sure my companions have many questions for you,” Crest interrupted. “But it is imperative I see the teleportation circle right now.”
The mayor turned her attention to him. Her smile was a practiced one, fed by the hope this would stir the conversation towards a non-lethal ending.
“Of course milord. My son, Tal, will guide you. Tal?”
“Mother?” the younger man bleated.
He could probably feel the tension. If Crest had ever raised a child, he, too, would have preferred to get him as far away from the Hopecrusher as possible.
“This is acceptable,” the Hopecrusher said. “You and I will continue this conversation in the town hall, Captain Lis’sho will talk to your quartermaster, or whatever it is you call the one who knows what’s in your warehouses. Crest, a moment?”
Crest set a privacy spell because he knew what was going to happen. The Hopecrusher’s expression didn’t change since people were watching, but his words were no less harsh for it.
“Do not dare defy me in public again.”
“Do not waste my time with grandstanding and I won’t have to do it.”
“You are playing a dangerous game, Crest. Some have questioned your loyalty to the cause…”
The threat was left hanging. rest couldn’t have that. He almost wanted the Hopecrsuher to try his aura on him just so he could set things straight.
“Just so we’re clear, first my contribution to the war effort is irreplaceable. Yours is not. Second, you are not my commander. My priority is transport and you’re getting in the way of it. You need to understand this well because I am only saying this once: only Nero can order me. Not you, not Jar’ko, not Erezak, not anyone. If you keep wasting my time I might just send you to cool off in Helock’s bay, and I can do it right now. We have a task to complete. You can crush hope on your own private time.”
The Hopecrusher didn’t speak.
“Just give me an excuse,” Crest said. “Do it.”
He spread his arms. Crest’s confidence that he could send the Hopecrusher fifty leagues away before the man could even draw was rooted in confidence.
“We will speak of this again.”
“We will not,” Crest replied, and he unmade the enchantment.
The short ride to the teleportation circle was awkward. Tal kept casting glances at Crest. They were filled with worry. The vulnerability in those annoyed Crest because Tal was very cute and a little submissive and that ignited all sorts of glyphs in the mage’s mind.
It had been a long week.
“Over there, milord.”
“You may call me Crest, young Tal.”
“Young? You don’t look much older than me!”
“Oh but I am old, and I have traveled much. Ah, here we are. Oh.”
The circle looked inert. It did so because there was a hidden, semi-active spell hidden under the complex layers of silverite-infused steel making the main teleport array. His eyes traveled over the workings with increasing fascination. It was witch magic. It was so much a witch approach to it that amusement and anger warred within his heart. There were no strict distance measurements, no energy fluctuation array to activate the spell at just the right amount of mana regardless of what people were pushing in. Instead, this portal linked to the previous one via a sort of identification tag that was so descriptive it had to work off visualization. And that visualization had been set at cast. And it didn’t even account for seasonal changes. And it still worked. It felt like the witch had kindly explained what to do to the planet, the planet had dutifully listened, understood and consented. It was insane. The fact she didn’t have a space-related path to back her up spoke of her skill and insight. He almost wanted to praise her, but this wouldn’t go well with the other idiots.
Wait, what was that?
Crest observed an addition to the directional array even he didn’t use. It was curved? Why would it curve? And then it hit him. The arrow was following the curvature of the land so the spell wouldn’t have to go through the planet itself.
“Oh, that is… brilliant!”
The energy saved wouldn’t be that significant per cast, but for a static ritual spot used all year long, it would still make a nice difference in the end. Even he hadn’t thought of that. It was a pleasant bit of optimization.
Crest felt extremely aggravated that he hadn’t thought of that first. Perhaps his path and being the only one who understood space among his peers had made him too complacent. Improvement didn’t stop at mastery.
“Milord?”
“One moment.”
His attention turned to the second, hidden array deep within the earth. It must have been buried there during construction, invisible until it was activated. Crest’s mana perception allowed him to pick up two main components. The first was a kill switch. The second…
“Ah, I see. This portal was remotely sabotaged.”
“What, but… the empress…”
Tal’s mouth closed with a snap.
“I mean, your enemy. The enemy, yeah…”
“Save the theatrics for the guys in armor. Yes, she told you she wouldn’t interfere with your portal?”
“We were assured it couldn’t be tampered with easily, and that it was completely under our control!”
“Not easily doesn’t mean it can’t be done, first, and second, the array is under your control. The contingency circle underneath it, however…”
Crest shook his head.
“Dammit.”
So young…
“So you can’t repair it?”
“The intent is gone. That array is just a piece of metal now, and forcing a reactivation will trigger the second part of the contingency array.”
“Would that be bad?”
“Does the term ‘catastrophic cascading failure’ translate to non mages?”
“Yes, very vividly,” Tal replied.
He blushed a bit when he realized he’d gone onto the banter territory. Despite this being a shitty day, Crest was happy to see he still got it. Unfortunately, the shitty day returned knocking with a commotion several streets away. In summer, Crest would never have heard it but with everyone indoors and the snow swallowing most sounds, yells carried.
“That’s towards the warehouse district,” Tal said. “Siden stores much goods for Helockian and Baranese merchants. Ahem. Sir.”
“We’re done here. Let’s see what this is about before it makes us skip lunch.”
“This way!”
Crest took off at a dead run. He was reminded he should run more after two minutes of sprinting behind the sprite Tal. Damn teleportation was making him soft. As they arrived, all thoughts of exercise vacated his mind. A shadowland officer was currently screaming the ear off a frightened sashed merchant while the translator merely stood there not sure what to do. Indeed, how did one translate “your mother shoved a death eel up her nethers” to one who had never heard of a death eel before?
“What is going on over here?” Crest asked in the ash tongue.
The officer calmed down. His glare landed on Crest. The mage wasn’t moved by the hostility as he’d faced worse just a few minutes before, and he wasn’t surprised either. Shadowlanders were loyal to the Hopecrusher as a rule, and he currently wasn’t the man’s favorite person right now.
“He said they sold their entire food surplus two weeks ago. Their granaries are mostly empty. There is just enough to feed the city until spring!”
That made Crest frown. Memories of months of hunger in the Shadowlands returned. He forced his fists to relax.
“You sold all your food? Do you intend to eat the gold?” he spat at the merchant.
“We didn’t ‘sell all our food’. We entered a commodity repurchase agreement for excess goods: a banal transaction, I’ll have you know. Such agreements, options, futures and the likes have become commonplace over the past few years,” the merchant said with barely hidden disdain.
Crest was forced to blink. He didn’t care about his image at this stage.
“A repurchase fucking what?”
“It’s a financial product that states that the seller, here us, is contractually obligated to buy back the goods at a fixed date, so in three months. We will buy it back at a lower price and the transportation risks are carried by the buyer. It’s a fairly good offer. We sometimes use it to move grain around to places that urgently need it”
Crest refused to believe his ear. It couldn’t be possible. He had to be hallucinating.
“You gave away most of your extra food at a fraction of the price to someone who said they’d bring everything back in three months? And you believed them?”
“We have been working with that bank for over ten years and they’ve never led us astray,” the merchant replied, defensive. “While I appreciate your advice, I have been a merchant for my whole life. I am very sure this was a safe investment.”
“Who made the offer? Who took the food away? Lead me to them. NOW!” Celerin screamed.
No food for the army? Unthinkable.
The merchant was only too happy to redirect their anger and he was a fool to believe Crest would forget. Squads of Kingdom soldiers joined him on the way, attracted by the loud display. The path led to Siden’s central square, all of its prestigious businesses locked. Most of them, Crest realized, were banks. Not surprising for a merchant hub.
“There, milord!”
The edifice was recent and different from the rest of them. Stones and columns gave it an archaic and slightly sinister air. They didn’t need to make the stones so massive. The brutal style reminded him of —
“Motherfucker.”
“Milord?”
A sign hung frozen from a steel bar. it displayed a golden scale but there was something sinuous and slightly disturbing about the design. The words were written in golden paint without the usual fluff and curlicues favored by the affluent.
“Golden Scale Bank and Exchange? I recognize that name. You… you sold all the food to the Harrakan Empire?”
The merchant’s mouth opened and closed his mouth. Crest punched him before he could even think about it.
“What is happening?” the Hopecrusher asked as he exited the town hall.
“Those fools sold all their food reserves to the Harrakans for iron bits! With a promise it would be returned in spring. Those idiots! You lot. Search the place!”
A quick ram spell made short work of the fortified entrance. Inside, the bank had the quiet of the tomb. As Crest followed his men inside, he noticed signs that he was far too late: burnt documents, empty safes, gutted drawers. A layer of dust covered everything. They had even taken the damn pens.
He left the place filled with impotent rage.
“The army needs more food,” Crest told the Hoperusher.
For some reason, Celerin’s own fury had made the tall man calmer. When he spoke next, he was almost respectful,
“Not to worry. As you said, they only sold the non-essential reserves.”
The Hopeccrusher turned to the mayor tailing him.
“It looks like your people are going hungry this winter.”
Yes, the brute was right. The army would get their food. No matter what. Rage deflated, replaced by a strange, cold pit in his stomach.
Why did he feel like he had fallen into a trap?
***
Between the winter, the persistent food supply problems that forced collecting parties being sent, and the sabotage of the portal network, Oleander’s travel south progressed at a snail pace. It didn’t help that the connecting roads had fallen in disrepair after ten years of minimal use. Northern Baran had to learn how to survive without teleportation again. Crest and his vanguard also discovered that it wasn’t just food that had been denied to them: many smiths had traveled to fulfil exotic orders while essential nails and iron reserves had been shuffled around and then mostly lost. The amount of money invested in frustrating Oleander’s advance was colossal, and that wasn’t all: the targeting of important supplies was so thorough and systematic, it must have been planned long in advance. Supplies were quickly dwindling. A month after landing, Oleander’s army had barely made it into the second duchy without a single battle. His army covered a large area, but it lacked direction.
Three days later, the warehouse district in Helock went up in flames in a single night, destroying tens of thousands of gold talents in supplies. This, in turn, led to more foraging parties sent to search for grain before starvation could set in.
The Kingdom of Maranor’s advance had crawled to a stop.
***
Nero watched the two prisoners with vague interest. It was pleasant to have something go his way, finally. Param had been very much a slog so far and he was eager to get things going. He noticed that they were not wearing collars. It was an oversight. Turning to an officer whose name he couldn’t remember, he pointed towards the pair.
“Why are they not being restrained? The woman, especially.”
The guard withered under his stare. The prison was a gilded cage sparsely decorated but comfortable enough by prisoners’ standards. Perhaps they believed the captives would receive preferential treatment. If som they were wrong.
“My apologies, my king. It will be done immediately.”
The Enorian man standing next to the bed was clearly a warrior. His face was bruised and there was a scabbing wound on his sword hand, which didn’t prevent him from giving off an air of sullen defiance as he guarded the woman. She was older though high stats had kept her appearance youthful, with curly brown hair kept short. An open shirt showed bandages covering much of her chest. Droplets of fresh blood stained the base of her ribs. She was currently unconscious, skin pale and clammy. Jar’ko had stabbed her first.
“Gil of Enoria,” Nero flatly greeted. “And this is… your mother?”
“Stepmother and current paramour of my father, the king. Your attack without a declaration of war will not go unpunished.”
There was little fear in Gil’s voice, only anger and a little bit of shame. Perhaps he believed he could have protected the woman if he had been a better warrior.
Nero shook his head.
“Oh that is where you are wrong. You see, I know your father obeyed the true Queen of the Gods as long as the temple had you in their custody.”
“That was more than ten years ago. My father has other heirs now,” Gil replied.
Courage. If only those who opposed him had less of that, less pride, and more understanding of what would make the world better. It was so tiring.
“Commendable, but you see, your father could have made more heir to begin with. Instead, he bowed to the temple, not out of faith but out of fear. This tells me he’s weak.”
Gil took a step forward before quickly regaining his composure.
“Many people have underestimated my father.”
“I base my opinion on evidence. A true ruler must not balk at individual tragedies if they are to protect the nation. One who sacrifices the herd to save the kit has lost the right to lead. Your father’s love for you is a well known and easily exploited weakness. Now I have you and the woman he loves, and so he will fall in rank just like the others.”
“We will see.”
“There is nothing to see. Enoria already agreed to join us on our march.”
Nero allowed himself a rare half-smile, though it turned bitter immediately after. Humans were so fundamentally flawed. Even the most talented ones never grew past their nature.
“You are alive and will stay alive. That is all I need. Farewell.”
As he left, he reiterated the need to have them contained by spells or collars. The woman was a witch of considerable power. She was too hurt to act now, but that would eventually change. Jar’ko’s knife wounds would help by keeping them in pain for weeks. Hopefully, the war would be over by then but he wasn’t taking any chances. As he left the jail in Helock’s castle, he spread his red wings.
It felt amazing, freeing, to fly above the city. Griffin riders escorted him at a distance before returning to their duty, but no one approached him here. The peace was a welcome respite from leading vaguely loyal people through a war without battles, for the enemy had denied any engagement so far. After a while, he landed in the main camp near Siden. Crest was off to set up his own portals. The Hopecrusher was present, drilling new recruits into proper soldiers. The massive man approached him with reverence.
“My lord?”
“It occurs to me that I have an opportunity to solve the Baranese problem on the spot — or at least simplify it. I will be gone for two to three days. Keep an eye out for trouble and our elites next to the food warehouses.”
“My lord, some of them have been displeased with their posting…”
Nero’s glare silenced him on the spot.
“If they are tired of serving, do send them my way and I shall accept their…resignation in person.”
He was going to kill them. No one left during a war.
“Yes, my lord. I shall remind them.”
“Good.”
***
Nero made full use of Nero’s basic portal network to travel south, then he flew. The truth, as he traveled, was that he didn’t need an army to win. He was The Immortal. He needed the army to control and mop up the opposition. Nothing prevented him from doing exactly what he intended to do: cut off the sneak’s head.
Queen Rosea of Baran was going to die.
He flew for hours in a state of constant frustration, losing his path twice and having to fly down to villages just to demand direction. Orienting himself from the air was still an unfamiliar experience and the snow didn’t help. He eventually found the main Baranese army camp where he expected, slightly west of their capital. By then, the sun was setting over the winter landscape.
The camp was so pathetically puny by comparison with his own. If only those fools could see the world like he could, they would join is cause, cease their pointless struggle. He was doing this for them, after all.
Nero frowned.
The camp was also empty. He descended at a good speed, finding the tents and mana-built bunkers empty. It looked like everyone had left in a rush. Smith equipment was still there.
What was going on? Fortunately, there were tracks going in every direction. He followed a large group, flying at good speed. It took only around ten minutes of pursuit before a disorganized mass of footmen came into view, their breaths puffing in the pre-night air. They wore gambeson, kettle hats, and pole weapons. Backpacks hung from their tired shoulders. As he landed among them, their steps faltered. It was easy to blanket the area with his aura.
“Told ya we shoulda split,” one of them bemoaned.
“I’m sorry, brother,” another replied before the two fell silent.
It was a pathetic sight. He grabbed one of the cowering wretches by the throat. His skin was red and damaged from the frozen temperatures. He smelled strongly of old sweat too, not an uncommon happenstance in winter.
“Where is the queen?” he demanded in rusty Baranese.
“I… I… I…”
“Speak!”
“I don’t know! I don’t even know if she was in the camp! We were told to split whenever you approached!”
It took some effort for Nero not to blink.
“You knew I was coming?”
“Yes! The sergeant told us! I don’t know anymore, I swear!”
Curses. Of course.
“Tell me where the queen is.”
“I don’t know,” the man sobbed.
“Then you are of no use to me.”
He snapped his neck, then grabbed another one.
“Where is the queen?”
“For… For Bara —aaah!”
Someone drew a sword. Some of the footmen charged him. Others fled. It didn’t matter in the end. They were nothing to him. Nothing. He left their cooling corpses behind as a warning to the others, a poor use of his time but he would still make the best of it.
“I need a knight,” he realized.
The snow really saved him by showing fresh tracks. He found the imprint of horse hooves not far away and followed them. They soon merged with a small road. A brief look showed him that the freshest tracks — those at the top — led north, so he followed them. It took another five minutes to find a trotting knight leading a page on a gray palfrey.
The knight was an old man, his beard more gray than black, and the inspection showed him to be on the fourth step. The page was unimportant. The old man must have felt something, because he turned to stare straight at Nero.
There was nothing there except brief acceptance. The knight didn’t even try to run. He dismounted, then signaled for his page to make way. Nero landed at some distance. He noted in passing that the page was a young woman with muscular arms. That was different from his own experience of Baran decades before. Some things had changed.
The knight took a swig of something, a very disrespectful gesture to Nero.
“So, talk or fight right away?” he dared ask.
“There isn’t going to be a fight,” Nero growled back.
The knight tossed the flask away.
“Figured.”
“Where is the queen?”
“Ah,” the knight replied with a bitter smile, “that’s the thing. None of us can betray our sovereign if none of us know anything to begin with. A brilliant idea, I must admit. Just like scattering was. The black witch ’s idea. I can see its worth now.”
“Are you telling me none of you know where Queen Rosea is?”
“I myself cannot say. What I can tell you is that she’s not here. There are portals, hiding places, and the scouts knew you were coming.”
Oleander grit his teeth. He had already failed, and he only had himself to blame as he knew damn well not everything could be solved solely with violence.
“And before you ask, no I don't know how the scouts figured it out.”
Clever.
“I suppose I will find one and ask them.”
“Whatever you say. I still have to wonder what is happening to your men since you’re away. Nobody to protect them now,” the knight said nonchalantly.
“They do not need protection.”
“Ay, I thought I didn’t need protection either.”
Nero breathed deep, forcing his anger back. This was just a step, another task in a tedious yet necessary process to save mankind from its own flaws. Nothing more. He had to grow more detached.
“Baran is always more resilient than people believe. We survived Harrak at its peak, lad, and we will survive you too.”
“I assume from the banter that you have nothing of interest left to say,” Oleander concluded.
The old knight had cleared his blade by the time Nero struck him, but there were two steps between them and that was a gap no one could fill. He fell with Nero’s hand in his chest. There was no need to draw Leveler from its sheath for the likes of him.
‘Spare… the guh,” the knight hiccuped.
Nero considered his request, realized he had no messages to convey and so he killed her as well. A brief flash of mana melted enough snow to wash the gore off his gauntlet, then he was up and flying into the night. Something the old knight had said about protecting his army bothered him.
***
Erezak couldn’t sleep. His back hurt. His knees hurt. Every time he lied down, a hissing sound from his lungs forced wet coughs, keeping him awake through sheer discomfort. Not even wine could force him to close his eyes since it has been banned by his physician. The repeated flares of gout had finally forced him to relent, as he couldn’t spend an hour per day being attended by disapproving priests.
Old age was a shipwreck. It was… inevitable. He just needed to hold for another ten years. Ten years and his second oldest would be ready. His tutors all approved of his progress in a great many disciplines. Erezak could tell the 40 years old man was chafing at the bit from all the training, but Erezak was an old snakehound and he knew his successor needed to be truly ready to face the hard times ahead.
He considered asking for something hot. Maybe klod. With an effort, he sat himself up in the bed, cursing as his spine cracked like an old house. The room was too cold. It was only a duke’s guest quarters. Oleander had claimed the duke’s own rooms for himself and there was no helping it, even if he was away.
Erezak reached for the bell and found it missing.
He was absolutely sure it had been there. Annoyance gave way to surprise. Surprise gave way to concern.
The shadows stirred.
Concern gave way to terror. The dark unfolded until a smiling mask shone under the pale rays of the moons peeking through a skylight. A locked, heavily enchanted skylight.
“Hellow.”
That voice had haunted his dreams.
“You…”
“Yes,” Irao said. “Me.”
Erezak refused to believe he was already dead. He had lasted three hundred years. Three. Hundred. Years. He wouldn’t die to some cursed experiment.
“You are a fool to show yourself,” Erezak spat. “I can’t wait to watch Oleander pull you apart, freak. You will regret it.”
“He is not here,” Irao said. “Only we are here. Together. After so long.”
The mask was suddenly much closer. Erezak licked his lips. That anger was unseemly. He was a king, for Maranor’s sake.
“Yes, well. You have done a great job in the past. Your help proved instrumental in my success, I must admit. It was unfortunate that you decided to leave. Listen, I know skill when I see it. I will intercede in your favor so Oleander looks upon you favorably. He might be zealous but he is, above all, a realist. All lords need assassins when a single blade can accomplish what armies cannot.”
A knife appeared in the figure’s hand. Erezak forced himself to swallow.
“On that last point, I agree.”
The figure lifted the blade, catching silver light.
“We did make a good alliance. You did give me money. I couldn’t spend that money because I couldn’t show my face. I didn’t want a throne in the gutters. I wanted a home. You promised me that you would give me one. You promised for a long time. There were always reasons why it couldn’t be done.”
He sighed.
“So many reasons.”
Somehow, the mask was now serious. Erezak looked into cat-like eyes. There was an intensity there he had never seen before. He didn’t even believe hadals could feel anything.
“It was a mistake to let me have a dream when you couldn’t deliver. After I left, I looked for that dream for a long time. We did make homes, but… we need humans. We need to be anchored. Otherwise, some of us become despondent.”
Erezak’s mind searched the room for salvation. Anything to save him. He knew screaming wouldn’t help.
“I met her. She gave me that home. She gave it to me as soon as she had a town under her control. After centuries of waiting, I realized.”
The mask was very close now.
“It really was that simple.”
“You’re making a mistake.”
“I am very confident that I am not. I just wanted you to know. It feels important for me to let you know. I also wanted to savor the moment.”
Erezak reached for the table and found only air. He had no options. Suddenly, the mask pulled back.
“It is not every day that I get to kill a king.”
***
Sidjin felt guilty. He was still going to do it, but he knew his actions would lead to the death of people he held dear. The world didn’t care about his qualms. It would keep on turning. People were always going to die for important things. The only thing he could do was to be there with them, bleed alongside them, and hopefully, win. He adjusted his elaborate black and silver robe one last time, checked his staff, and walked through the portal.
The exit location was at the edge of the large pit in which Sikoua, Peace at Last, had expanded:a vertical city of bridges and hanging vegetation inside the Deadshield Woods. During the day, polished stones directed the sunlight deep into its bowels while at night, logs from the ever-replenishing forest warmed its walls. It was a beautiful sight at any time. Even now the ice couldn’t defeat the merl’s powerful drive to stay warm. It was a monument to endurance and the impact a single, difficult decision could have.
“It was worth it, after all,” he whispered to himself.
Then he returned his attention to the Sikoua’s entrance, marked by a stone arch decorated with the names of the elders who’d died since the city’s founding. There was an elevator to the side but it was barred and inactive. Lines of torches led inward. Warriors stared at him from behind bone masks, their bodies warmed by beast skins. Spears and Harrakan-made throwing axes hung from their belts. They were eerily quiet.
A long walk down, then.
Sidjin didn’t speak on his way. Merls of all ages but mostly the young ones touched his heavy cloak as he passed them by: warriors, hunters, merchants, orchard keepers, crafters. He wanted to stop and greet them. He recognized some of the older ones by name. He didn’t. The moment was as important to them as it was to him. He could also tell they knew why he had called for an official meeting.
It had been a good decision to come alone. He felt like old times, back on the wall, when there had been only merls by his side. It made him miss his old friend Siul.
About halfway down, one of the warriors started to hum. He was joined quickly by most of the others. The song wasn’t exactly a happy one but the way it resonated spoke to him of unity. The merl punctuated the end of each choir by slamming their weapons on something solid. The loud thud came as shock. It was a beating heart that couldn’t be extinguished. The first spiders appeared as well. Many of those were old and scarred, warriors, not the silk weavers he had grown used to seeing. It was at the bottom of the pit that he found those his inspection called ‘siege tarantulas’: enormous beasts carrying two dozen archers on their armored backs. The matriarch was here as well though only her head poked through a cavernous entrance.
Sidjin was moved to see that the path ended at the foot of his statue. At his instance, they’d left it basic just the way it had been carved when they first arrived. The merl’s ruling council waited for him in solemn silence.
He stopped before them, allowing the current leader, the ancient shama Tweek, to address him as tradition dictated. Well, ancient for a merl. He was almost fifty.
“Friend Sidjin, our savior. You who suffered in our name. You who brought us, and held the gates until we were all away. You asked for us. You have a request. Let us hear it.”
He was talking to him in Harrakan as a gesture of respect. Sidjin’s own merl was heavily accented, so he used a sound enchantment to help him. He had practiced for this.
It felt important to give them the respect he didn’t owe them, but he felt they deserved anyway.
“My friends. A great war is upon Harrak. The enemies are numberless. They will come to our home to destroy us. We cannot win alone. I come to you in my hour of need with a request.”
He took a deep breath.
“We have shared food, and water, and iron. Now I ask that you share your blood as well, and for that, I am sorry, but we need your valor. Please help us.”
The leader of the council didn’t reply immediately. It took him some time to force the words out.
“I was there on the wall when you fought with us. I watched your back disappear through the closing portal when you guarded our escape. I remember the great war. When you call for the merls, you will never receive silence.”
He slowly lifted his office staff above his head. When it reached all the way up, he screamed. The rest of the merl screamed with him.
The sound hit Sidjin like a wall. He remembered hearing it in Glastia. Back then, it had been defiant, sometimes even desperate. Now it spoke of a reborn people. The spiders joined the chorus by drumming on the ground with their front legs, but it was only when the barn-sized matriarch emerged from her cavern covered in enchanted harness and armored plates that Sidjin knew the merl hadn’t just been waiting for him, they’d been ready. And he was going to need a bigger portal.
Comments
David Kanevsky
Edit: *** Nero made full use of CREST’s basic portal network to travel south,
David Kanevsky
I think it would depend if the queen is still in the line of succession. Or negro might believe in a strictly paternal dynasty so females can only ever be consorts. Also if the king declared his wife will have all before dying and we will tell from the line of succession that would probably strike her too. IRL it would basically calm down to a popularity contest / unofficial election among the nobility. In this world it will probably be up to Marinor or her priesthood to decide who inherits her support.
David Kanevsky
Edit: He spread his arms. Crest’s confidence that he could send the Hopecrusher fifty leagues away before the man could even draw was rooted in TWO CENTURIES OF EXPERIENCE.
SnowReason
It would be funny if they did honor the options contract though. Maybe with conditions. Especially after Nero's people appropriated the food.
KnightRider007
Nah, he’s a religious fanatic. They can always twist “what they want to do” into “it’s God’s will”. In this case, it’s simply “The natural order has me at the top”
elijah pickett
That assassination thou😘👌❤️
elijah pickett
I may have cried a little at the end there🥹
Elaine
good chappie
JLM
Nero is about to learn a very valuable lesson. Logistics win wars, and Viv has had a long, long time to prepare for his evil ass to cross the border into her city. Welcome to Harrak bitch.
Yasmin Meier
At the start of the chapter they spoke about "restoring the order in Baram by killing the Queen". But now the king is dead. wouldnt that mean that under natural order the Queen would rule Baram therefore making Nero seizing their troupes against order?
Sæþór
Tftc!
Daniel
I totally agree. Because summit or death, is Not really order IT IS Absolutismus. I to think, it is Not mutch left of him. Manoar the goodess told viv order can be different things. He could have done Something Like viv. And i belive He has tried, failed then given up one some point and Had gone totally dictator and conquerer.
Clifton
It shows how far his path has crushed him. And that he's leaning into it, presumably because he believes it's required. Where did he get that idea when Viv has been warned several times about it? It also reinforces the danger of paths, something we've gotten glimpses of from the gods' perspective previously. It does make me wonder how much freedom they actually have within their domain since they're even further along. Finally, it does also make Nero look like he needs to be put down, even if Effester might benefit from the chance to redeem someone so far gone.
Moatdog
I believe Tallit referred to him as the state incarnate. I think ur right about their not being much of himself left. He’s basically Maranor’s meat puppet wrapped in the power of all the land he’s conquered. And if he can’t move his armies then on a narrative level he’s weaker, especially if he goes to Harrak with a small elite force. Viv will be in her seat of power with her people and the alliances she’s made marked on her shield. Luck magic is gonna be on her side heavy
Desert Yeti
Generally, when you get the antagonist's POV, it humanizes them a bit and you can build up a bit of sympathy even as you root for them to lose. Not here. The more of Nero I see, the less human he becomes. I don't care if he dies. Hopecrusher, I hate. Nero, I don't even pity. He's a broken weapon that needs to be recycled.
iloverugs
I think as long as there’s an overall goal to make humanity stronger, Maranor is fine with oppression. She probably even thinks it’s necessary for a large society. It’s stagnation and suppression of others to the point of causing regression that she hates. I personally don’t think Nero is building a stronger humanity by destroying all who disagree, but I can see why an ancient warrior/conqueror would think that way.
W. Randy Hoffman
"Every time he lied down..." => "laid down" ==> Should be "lay down", actually. "Lay" is the past tense of the intransitive verb "to lie"; "laid" is the past tense of the transitive verb "to lay [something]", which requires an object.
Sloth
I thought it was Crest’s?
FuriousDee
I wonder if Irao will path up again during the war. Maybe after killing the undying. Also how long until Glastia is held hostage against Sidjin.
FuriousDee
Worship of Maranor is not banned in Harrak as Viv said when she met Maranor. Also Maranor failed to get any of the other gods to side with her in this conflict. Even her brother sided with Emeric. She seems way less suited to the role. The academy lost the freedom to be neutral, all of his soldiers have lost the freedom to choose if they want to fight.
Clifton
I thought her goal was to become king of the gods, a direct play against her husband. The one who, frankly, has demonstrated his unfitness for the role. Ignoring her intent, is Nero weakening humanity? He's uniting then under one banner in a totalitarian regime, but except for Harrak, where do people (other than the nobility) lose any freedoms? He has plenty of elites so clearly strength is still obtainable. Finally, is the worship of Maranor banned in Harrak? They were directly harmed by a follower of hers, but she's still a light god. If a single continent doesn't like her would that stop the other two worshipping her?
Clifton
Because Nero isn't trying to ascend as his primary goal. He's trying to unite humanity (for it's own good) under his rule. Viv, like everyone else, is merely an enemy to be ridden down. Why jump ahead when the implacable wave has worked everywhere else?
Moatdog
She’s the God of Order too so maybe she’s bending her rules a bit. I mean we know she’s doing some not so great stuff and has been going darker. Honestly the fact that she hasn’t fallen yet is a testament to her willpower but it’s only a matter of time.
Garrett Kout
Also he "needs" the army to like, efficiently govern a conquered territory, he could pretty easily just fly with a group of people and kill Viv. Not to mention how easily he could cripple the city (which is basically her whole "empire"). Or at least, he should THINK he'd be able to win with minimal effort. And he'd probably be right, I don't think there's a whole lot anyone in Harrak can do against a sixth step. Even this chapter, when he decides to "cut the head off the snake", why's he go for one random queen who's defying his rule, and not The Black Witch orchestrating everything? What issue was the Barranese (?) queen in exile causing him? Plenty of time after he's killed his only major opposition to worry about establishing an effective bureaucracy and supply lines, or whatever he's using the massive army for.
KnightRider007
It’s a very specific financial term that Arthur would have learned from Viv. It’s highly unlikely that she would come up with something that works the other way around and happened to call it the exact same thing. It’s more plausible to me that the author has made a single, minor error (one word) than to jump through hoops to justify why this particular piece of terminology, imported from earth, would have its meaning changed so drastically
KnightRider007
“Commodity repurchase agreements” is a very specific, technical term in finance. Given Arthur leaned about finance primarily from Viv (and she is from Earth), it’s highly unlikely she developed the exact same term independently and meant something different by it. https://www.asiacommodity.market/products/repurchase-agreement#:~:text=A%20commodity%20repurchase%20agreement%20(repo,the%20commodity%20acts%20as%20collateral.
InLucidReverie
In this case, the loan is the grain, not the money, which is the collateral
Nicholas Williams Chamarro
Damn, I forgot about that. Can you imagine if her blessing just fails as every other god blesses Viv's army
Tsorov
Or the german campaign in the second world war. Both made the mistake of underestimating the russian winter
Tsorov
That was the hopecrushers thoughts though, not Oleanders
Tsorov
I didn't think of that point. I agree that that is something that she could be doing. Alongside the obvious: Letting Neros armie starve, while at the same time showing everyone that he doesn't compromise.
Tsorov
The Hadals could also have freed the queen and her son, so...
FuriousDee
That would be really funny if most people call it Crest's network because he set it up but Nero calls it Nero's network.
FuriousDee
Given he represents Maranors vision of humanity if his army and state fail he (and possibly Maranor) will fail with it.
Robert Rosenthal
That’s what I mean he doesn’t need them. They lead to more disorder in the present and unless he plans to execute them a huge problem to integrate them in whatever order he has built when they are on the march when if he succeeds. He has built an “order” without them on multiple continents returning them does not fit. And they are a detriment to his causing problems and difficulties when they add little to nothing in what he needs to do.
FuriousDee
Didn't Maranor say that control that suffocates humanity is against her? I wonder if by acting like this they are making it harder for Maranor to keep blessing them.
FuriousDee
Because he is the herald of Maranor and is bound by her path. He needs to bring order that is why he needs the army.
Bum-Sama
Ah tear in my eye. Nice chappie.
KnightRider007
Yeah, same, I figured that one was specific enough to make a separate comment.
HJ
I think its the opposite kind of agreement. In this one, the buyer is obligated to sell the goods back to the seller in the spring but at a discount. This is because the buyer needs the goods today for some purpose and the seller does not.
Red Viking
Doubly so with them starving every town they go through.
Robert Rosenthal
Nero right that using armies is pretty dumb in this situation why not just take his elites to new harrak and settle it if he’s confident he has his elites and In this world low level people can’t do anything to him, if he does not care about casualties so why not full scale slaughter of harrak till viv cones out to play,? And if not why not kill the elite enemies he can find like the water elemental mage? I mentioned he is committed to weakening humanity so why not go faster?
Robert Rosenthal
That depends if oleander is actually her intention. He is dramatically weakening humanity and this appears to be a power play for maranoor to weaken or destroy humanities other light gods. He and possibly she are breaking order, at best she is trying to create a new hierarchy but remember humans are not the only species or the only gods, if I recall correctly the dragon god was beyond them and it’s not clear from the story where humans stand I. The world without Viv the lizard people were whooping them and we have no evidence that they were actually anywhere near the top either. Oleander is only concerned with human conquest does fit with putting his goddess on top of humanity but that’s not particularly good for everyone else,
Andrew K
Nothing says Arthur can't offer seemingly insane pricing to make the deal appealing when she has a goal other than profit. Also, Arthur's construction of a repurchase agreement doesn't need to precisely match what someone from Earth would expect either - if her version (at least for food) treats food as fungible to some extent (within some reasonable categories), a deal like the one described could be common for setting up for a short sale (i.e. Arthur buys food and sells it to another party, with the expectation of a market change allowing her to buy sufficiently equivalent food later at a lower price) or to exploit a short-term price spike elsewhere else.
Andrew K
Maranor's intent to help humanity means basically nothing to light vs. dark status - what matters is the actual outcome and especially perception thereof. At this point, she is basically in a situation where if Oleander loses, she's going to get automatically reclassified as a dark goddess because basically no one will want anything to do with her, and any outliers that still worship her would be (at best) suppressed.
Andrew K
(Comment moved to the later standalone version of the part about the repurchase agreement.)
Clifton
I think it's less her rigging the odds and more her being consistent. She likes order, and will settle for any order, but prefers more order.
Clifton
All Nero's problems seem to stem from the fact he started trying to enforce civilisation rather realising it needs to be built to self reinforce.
Clifton
Everyone seems to hate Maranor. She's acting consistently, trying to do what is best for humanity. That's what defines a light god in this setting. The dark gods act for their own interests usually against humanity as a whole.
BelligerentGnu
Goosebumps. Sidjin and the Merl never fail to affect me.
Daniel Dye
The man follows Nero because of inertia. An object in motion, tends to stay in motion. Tends. But you get enough friction, and inertia eventually runs out.
Nopret
There is also no way Enoria stays loyal to him. Using hostages as a way to secure a military alliance is really stupid.
tr13ze
Thanks for the chapter 😁
Senko
Nero doesn't seem to understand the difference between minor concessions to someone who is still bound by agreed policies till you can rescue a family member and bending the knee to a conquerer who needs a reason not to kill. The former will see political maneuvering the latter an all out war of revenge. Not to mention the impact on the other currently neutral Param nations given he's unprovoked attacked, injured and taken prisoner the queen and crown prince of a nation he's not at war with. I do wonder how he got ahold of them them though it feels a little convenient even with his pet assassin. I also wonder if the Baram king was the only one to be assassinated by the Hadals or if they hit other high priority targets while Nero was elsewhere?
anonymous wildfire
Another win for relentless draconic capitalism! I wonder if the whole thing with Crest’s ill omen when they stole the food was Viv tilting the karmic scales with fate magic? Good vs. Evil? Establishing the other side as morally bankrupt? Making it so she gains more plot armor from being the *true* hero of the story?
TheBotler
This chap is glorious, thank you.
Senko
I get the feeling it was more of a buy time approach. He knew in a direct battle between them she'd win as she's a war god while he's not. If they fight and he loses she has the rightful claim to be ruler of the gods and is backed by higher powers when she enforces her new world order. Both on the divine and mortal plains. By running he leaves her just one god amongst several which means while Nero is backed by her those opposing him can be backed by the other gods with no issues. Meanwhile she is going up against another war god and several allied gods on the divine plain.
Drakenclaw
I think it's less subsumed in his path, but just that there isn't really much Oleander left at this point. His soul has worn away. There isn't really anyone with hopes and dreams in there. Just a shadow of it's former self, going through the motion. Propped up by the system and his god. At least that's my impression.
anonymous wildfire
That would seem to be the case, but if I had to guess, it’s that belief that will be what makes him lose. In direct combat, sure, the two are on an entirely different level. But Viv understands the value of good allies, Nero seems to have forgotten it. In fact, he seems to be on the path to forget why he’s even uniting humanity in the first place with his edgy “no one understands what it takes” type of ideology.
Red Viking
It's the casualness with which he kills that sells the hypocrit monster to me. He's not regretful, sad, or even tired of killing "those that oppose him". He killed that page just because he saw no reason not to, not because he saw her as a threat or a concern.
Keifru
Hmm. It seems like Oleander is alienating themselves, abstracting more. Becoming more subsumed by their path? We've seen elemental mages, Azure Lady and Elunath, when they go far into becoming Other. I feel like this is going to make him brittle to metaphorical attacks- by embodying Order then anything that undermines that will be extra effective. Viv's side flourishing and helping people will tip the scales when Oleander's actions cause suffering, strife, and death. Compounded by those of their underlings- Viv has trust in her's and they're acting in lock-step building up defenses. Meanwhile, Hopecrusher is starving the general populace. Speaking of Hopecrusher- I wonder if there's going to be reprisals for striking against the Golden Scale Bank. Never slight a dragon :) even if the premises were... temporarily vacated due to renovations.
Voss
Fucking hell, I do so love this story.
Angus Losier
Maranor is trying to rig the odds, such that even if she loses her gambit for all-out power, she retains her existing portfolio and power, because you always need some amount of order and organization. A sort of "heads I win, tails I don't lose" situation. The real question is whether she realizes there's absolutely no effing way that Viv will let her get away with that.
KnightRider007
IMPORTANT - NOT A TYPO “It’s a financial product that states that the seller, here us, is contractually obligated to buy back the goods at a fixed date, so in three months. We will buy it back at a lower price and the transportation risks are carried by the buyer. =>Commodity repurchase agreements are a form of loan, FROM the "buyer" TO the "seller", with the actual goods as collateral. As such, the repurchase price is usually HIGHER, not lower - this is the "interest on the loan". Otherwise there's no benefit to the "buyer" - they would have to hold the stock for three months (meaning they can't use or consume it), and then get less money back. The benefit to the "seller" of this arrangement is that they don't have to store the stock, and they get an immediate infusion of cash (in effect, a loan) for short-term financial use.
Angus Losier
He's incapable of self-reflection at this point. He's too numb due to his own debasement of his initial moral values. Everything in the name of expediency and victory means he never even begins to question his actions or path.
wanderer117
He's very Peace Maker "I made a vow to have peace. No matter how many people I have to kill to get it."
wanderer117
por que no los dos Why not both? Erezak used hadals, never thinking of them as equals until one day they turned on him and killed his mother? Or, since this is a brutal world, he ordered them to kill his mother then publicly blamed them which caused them to turn on him.
wanderer117
Crest’s confidence that he could send the Hopecrusher fifty leagues away before the man could even draw was rooted in confidence. suggested edit Crest’s confidence that he could send the Hopecrusher fifty leagues away before the man could even draw was rooted in experience. It didn’t help that the connecting roads had fallen in disrepair after ten years of minimal use. suggested edit It didn’t help that the connecting roads had fallen into disrepair after ten years of minimal use. If som they were wrong. suggested edit If so they were wrong. Nero made full use of Nero’s basic portal network to travel south, then he flew. suggested edit Nero made full use of Crest’s basic portal network to travel south, then he flew. or Nero made full use of his basic portal network to travel south, then he flew.
David
With all the viewpoints from Crest, I can't help but think he will play a very important role at a decisive moment. A bit like Sam Gamegie. An amazing chapter as always!
Leviathon251
New prediction. Nero is either going to drag Maranor dark, or be abandoned and turn into a big ol spite monster after crashing out really hard. I hope he drags her dark so we get a light gods vs Maranor fight. Her MO does Not seem to fit with the rest of them imo. I'm biased tho so eh. Thnx for the chapter.
John Anastacio
I am astonished that Erezak used to be Irao's ally. Erezak hates the hadals; in an interlude Erezak once said hadals killed his mother. That interlude was completely nameless, though.
KnightRider007
That final note -that they're even sending the *matriarch*- lands super hard T.T
KnightRider007
"He almost wanted to praise her, but this wouldn’t go well with the other idiots. " => "wouldn't go down well" ************ Crest took off at a dead run. He was reminded he should run more after two minutes of sprinting behind the sprite Tal. Damn teleportation was making him soft. As they arrived, all thoughts of exercise vacated his mind. A shadowland officer was currently screaming the ear off a frightened sashed merchant while the translator merely stood there not sure what to do. => "behind the spritely Tal" => "a Shadowland officer (proper noun) *********** “The army needs more food,” Crest told the Hoperusher. => Hopecrusher *********** The Hopeccrusher turned to the mayor tailing him. => Hopecrusher *********** IMPORTANT - NOT A TYPO “It’s a financial product that states that the seller, here us, is contractually obligated to buy back the goods at a fixed date, so in three months. We will buy it back at a lower price and the transportation risks are carried by the buyer. =>Commodity repurchase agreements are a form of loan, FROM the "buyer" TO the "seller", with the actual goods as collateral. As such, the repurchase price is usually HIGHER, not lower - this is the "interest on the loan". Otherwise there's no benefit to the "buyer" - they would have to hold the stock for three months (meaning they can't use or consume it), and then get less money back. ********** "Crest refused to believe his ear. It couldn’t be possible. He had to be hallucinating." => "refused to believe his ears" ********** "Oleander’s travel south progressed at a snail pace" => "snail's pace" ********** "The guard withered under his stare. The prison was a gilded cage sparsely decorated but comfortable enough by prisoners’ standards. Perhaps they believed the captives would receive preferential treatment. If som they were wrong." =>"They believed the captives would receive". In this case, should that be "should receive"? Preferential treatment from whom? (From Nero -> "would". From themselves -> "should") => "If so, they were wrong." ************ "Now I have you and the woman he loves, and so he will fall in rank just like the others." => "fall in line" ("fall in rank" implies a demotion, not compliance) ************ "Nero made full use of Nero’s basic portal network to travel south, then he flew. The truth, as he traveled, was that he didn’t need an army to win. He was The Immortal. He needed the army to control and mop up the opposition. Nothing prevented him from doing exactly what he intended to do: cut off the sneak’s head." => Even if that's not supposed to be "Crest's basic portal network", having his name twice in quick succession looks odd => "Cut off the snake's head" ********** "Every time he lied down, a hissing sound from his lungs forced wet coughs" => "laid down" ********** "At his instance, they’d left it basic just the way it had been carved when they first arrived." => "At his insistence" ********* "allowing the current leader, the ancient shama Tweek, to address him" => "ancient shaman, Tweek" ********* "It felt important to give them the respect he didn’t owe them, but he felt they deserved anyway." => strongly suggest "owe" be placed in italics. Otherwise it implies they're not actually worthy of that respect, as opposed to the intended meaning of "he was not obligated, but gave it freely"
Jonathan
Also if she mutated him to have magical cancer but he can't die then he's likely to turn aberrant and that's an unpredictable outcome, could be unkillable blight or simply be incapacitated.
BenjiVoid
rest couldn’t have that -> crest If som they were wrong -> so, have made more heir to begin with. Instead -> heirs Nero made full use of Nero’s basic portal network to travel south -> Crest's tell the 40 years old -> year had expanded:a vertical -> missing a space
Angela Roberts
Remember that talk Maranor and Viv had? Didn't Maranor at least imply that she wouldn't harm Viv if she won?
Jonathan
Also can be used against the King's favored heirs, since the queen now has seniority. Not sure if her children are older, but with the dowager's favor that's another ding against their metaphysical goals. Same with Nero killing and/or starving everyone, while "saving humanity". Seems like a nice move on Viv's part, hurting them politically and metaphysically. TBH when he falls, I've been wondering if they'll be rebranding Maranor as a dark god after this. Also that she might attack Viv to solidify her theme of "the slayer" by slaying the rising deity of luck in representation of Emeric, King of the Gods.
Diego Castrejon
I like that you can see himself detaching himself from his humanity and the consequence is that he matters less, both to his people and to the reader.
Drakenclaw
To be fair, this is a world with magic and paths. You probably only need a few "Winter Generals" to make it far far easier.
Bloodkite123
Thank you for the chapter! I have to say, I don't care about Nero anymore. He is so far gone, it's not even funny. At his point, Viv is doing him a favor in defeating him.
Red Viking
Is right Morky is what it is!
Red Viking
Fu~ck Nero is so far up his own ass. "I'm here to save them." Bloody twit.
BgB
This is key: "The truth, as he traveled, was that he didn’t need an army to win." Even if Viv and allies could stall his army indefinitely, resolution will only come from a confrontation between the two immortals, and not just for story purposes. They're just too powerful for the armies to be the deciding factor.
william wallace
Probably, but we haven’t seen him in a while. And he’s a sneaky f*cker. If we haven’t seen him he is definitely up to something. I cant wait to find out.
Sloth
“ People sometimes forgot that a good enough leader was much better than a perfect leader plus a civil war. “ This is incredibly ironic
Dietz
And deny him the joy of stepping on individual troublemakers? He would have an interface surely.
Dietz
Huh. Crest's justification for attacking the queen of Baran is the same crime Maranor is currently committing. That implies she's actually going against her own domain.
Bret Steinkamp
I think Irao being able to kill him was/is a big part of why the god wouldn’t let Viv use the forbidden spell.
william wallace
Ooo thats a really good move. Maybe add in a lend-lease program like in ww2 to bolster forces in his way and maybe some raids of the other continent. I really want to see the league of lesser evil go full on ministry of ungentlemanly warfare. Not to mention a Kark heavy infantry change while screaming ‘SNEAK ATTACK!!!’ And if Solfis isn’t the new core of Viv’s floating battle station I will be severely disappointed.
ARealPerson
Don't forget public perception. I'm pretty sure the way the city's grain got stolen was a set up to make Orleander look bad and will be compounded by Harrack sending humanitarian aid through the secret portal network.
D
Oh that would be epic. XD
Johan Persson
YEAAAAAAHH! The financial warfare blew my mind. Like a move that we saw unfold over literal IRL years.
Angus Losier
Yeah, it really seems like Emeric and Maradoc's plan was to just stir the pot, inject enough chaos into the situation for Emeric's luck to kick in, then see what rose to the top. Viv wasn't planned directly, but she definitely seems like the sort of result the meta-plan would generate.
Angela Roberts
Oh the strategy!! The dragon of finance strikes hard! Forcing your enemy into careless mistakes - marching in winter (how many times must that lesson repeat), underestimation of opposing forces plans, hubris - it's all delightful to see! And Viv, marshalling ALL her forces, excellent.
Maurin
So I guess Oleander never heard of Napoleon’s Russian Campaign, Berezina incoming
Max E Malekzadeh
Economic warfare by a fucking dragon. That's why I keep coming back it never gets predictable lol
Clara
I think Viv pointed that out indirectly last chapter
i shteynberg
now we know why emeric ran away and even changed sex
Aaron Greene
Oooh boy! Assassin showdown!?!
InLucidReverie
Good catch!
Andrew
Thank you!
InLucidReverie
Gods, what a great sequence that last one is
Marian Ch
Nothing bad ever happened to armies marching during Father Winter's visitation time.
SDCard
Thanks for the chapter!
Atlas88
Fuck Nero And Fate Magic is pretty OP
WarStrider72
Or the man has an ego
James Faulkner
LETS GOOOO
InLucidReverie
>Nero made full use of Nero’s basic portal network to travel south Crest's?
william wallace
Sidjin: I will call my allies. Viv: Have I told you about General winter? Iaro: *Happy stabbing Noises* Arthur: I choose financial instruments. Loving the set up here. Bring on the war crimes!!!
Craeth
I thought of something. The reincarnating assassin that Viv killed repeatedly last chapter.....what Irao kills stays dead.
Emily Gurnavage
Unless im mistaken, Emeric's plan was to escape his wife before she killed him and continue to enjoy life as best he can and largely care-free. Afaik he had no plan for her downfall, he was just gonna hide forever until she either gave up or someone else took care of her somehow. Pretty sure this is all just his "luck" working out for him as usual.
Unwillingmainer
Marching in the winter is a bad idea. Marching in the winter with no supplies is an even worse one. He said not all problems can be solved with a sword, but doesn't seem to be following that advice. I wonder how many places he is getting fucked by the Golden Scale Bank and Exchange? As for Irao, good on you for finding your people a home and killing the one who lied about that promise before.
Matt Grayson
Give it time.
lenkite
Not sure the title fit the chapter. "Total War" means something else entirely.
Thomas Todd
It might be worth calling Erezak the King of Barran earlier on because I forgot that was his name until the last part
Thomas Todd
Arthur once again being one of the most dangerous creatures in existence and winning through the power of finance! Question for Mecanimus or anyone else with a theory: what was Emeric's original plan? Because it looks like Viv will stop Maranor on the physical plain which I'm assuming will either stop her bid or weaken her but Emeric didn't seem to plan for Viv so what was the original idea
WarStrider72
Merl Spider Calvary incoming! And poor Nero, he doesn't know who he's messing with. Welcome to Advanced Warfare!
Brandon Yarberry
Fuck yeah Merl!
LenoraeKB
You know the more I see of this Nero fellow the less I care for him. On a more serious note I greatly enjoyed the dragonboozle. I hope that somehow the war is resolved by spring and we get to see her returning all the food exactly on time as contracted.
Young Youghurt
Marching during winter? Lmao they are going to get so Le Grand Armee Moscowed!
WarStrider72
Thanks for the chapter boss!
Mecanimus
They have been dragonboozled.
InLucidReverie
Ayy
