Chapter 4:
Yelenetta, on the Move
Erhard Asbach Yelenetta
“WHAT?!” I BELLOWED, SMACKING THE TABLE IN front of me. The loud noise reverberated off the stone floor and walls. I glared at the messenger, who shrunk into himself. “I dare you to repeat your absurd report!”
“Y-yes sir! Werner Fortress to the southwest has fallen! After the border order retreated, we received word that only a fraction of Scuderia’s troops stayed behind, so our forces tried to retake the stronghold but failed! We’ve taken heavy casualties and our forces have retreated to the fortress city, Grosser, where they are reorganizing!”
“Impossible!” I threw the ceramic cup in my hand at the soldier who knelt in front of me. It hit his shoulder and he flinched. “An unfunny joke at best! To lose on all three battlefields after all that preparation was bad enough, and now you tell me we lost a fortress? Impossible, with weapons like ours!”
I smacked the table again, enraged. The messenger’s eyes remained fixed on the ground, his shoulders trembling and sweat dripping from his forehead to the floor. “M-my apologies. They had all sorts of formidable weapons on which we had received no intelligence. Weapons capable of neutralizing not only the black balls, but also our large wyverns. It is possible that someone has leaked information to—”
“Silence! I’ve already received that report thrice!” I roared.
“Y-yessir!” His voice came out in falsetto.
I tried, despite my fury toward this man, to get a grasp on the situation. With the support of the Solstice Empire, the supreme rulers of the Central Continent, I had plotted to take down Scuderia and make Yelenetta the reigning power on the continent of Grant. How could I do otherwise when presented with the black balls and cannons, weapons that did not require the help of mages to subjugate any enemy? Much like the Allied Nations of Hethel, which were sandwiched between the empire and the ocean, Yelenetta was forced into a disadvantageous alliance with Solstice. We could not oppose them. Even more pressing, however, was the steady rate at which Scuderia had increased its own power in recent years.
In defense of our nation, I’d purchased vast quantities of black balls and fire cannons. I’d even played nice with the Solstice Empire, all so I could rip territory from Scuderia’s hands. If I gained the empire’s support, I could acquire the means to develop the black balls myself—under certain conditions, anyway. My ultimate objective was to gain the power necessary to go toe to toe with the Solstice Empire.
How foolish that all seemed now that we had lost successive battles with Scuderia, a country not in possession of such advanced weaponry. We would be the laughingstock of anyone who heard of this. The act of fools, they would say.
I ground my teeth. How? How could this have happened?
When we first clashed with the Solstice Empire, the power of their black balls and cannons brought us to our knees. Their ranks included Chivalric Orders from the Allied Nations of Hethel, but frankly, the outcome would have been no different without them. The Solstice Empire itself was simply too strong. Their Chivalric Orders had lined up a horizontal row of twenty cannons, and each of their infantrymen was equipped with black balls. Even with high-tier elemental mages on our side, the best we could manage was to take out two of their cannons. Any attempt to destroy a third would be met with fire from a different cannon, causing heavy casualties.
We attacked with bows and charged them with our calvary, but nothing worked. Their heavy infantry were invulnerable behind their massive shields, rendering our attacks useless, and when we tried to force a clash, cannon fire battered us the moment we stopped moving. The cacophony of the black balls and cannons scared not only the horses but also the less experienced troops, robbing them of their will to fight. At that point, we were barely engaged in warfare anymore.
So we faced merciless defeat at the hands of the empire, forced to ally with them under their shameful terms. They turned Yelenetta into what amounted to a subservient vassal state. We had to pay one-sided tariffs on imports and exports, and while they forced their demands on us, we could not do the same to them.
The silver lining was that as an ally, we could receive support from the all-powerful empire in battle. The Solstice Empire promised aid to all of its allied nations because it led to more and more nations serving under it. The place had something of a ranking system; those nations allied directly with the empire were the first tier, those nations’ own allies were the second tier, and so on. Increasing the number of allied nations below your own rank could earn a nation preferable treatment when it came to taxes and commodities.
The empire didn’t call us subservient vassal states in so many words, but nor did it have to. The Solstice Empire would eventually control the world, so its allies rushed to include more countries under their own umbrellas. Hethel was no different in that respect, though the circumstances of its geographical location were unique: capable of acquiring smaller nations only one at a time, their ability to increase the ranks of allies under them was stymied.
For our part, after we lost to the empire and fell under their umbrella, we wasted no time marching to the small nations to the west and northwest and forcing them into alliances. Both nations then became second-tier allies. To Yelenetta’s east was Solstice, to the north was Hethel, and to the west were lower-level allied nations. The only enemy country bordering us was Scuderia.
They had always given us trouble, but with the empire’s military might, we would change that. Yelenetta would become the continent’s most powerful nation and amass more resources than even the empire. With the technology to make black balls and cannons, we could eventually tear the empire down from the world stage.
Or so I had thought.
“Why? How could this have happened?!” I felt dizzy with rage. I had worked so hard to carve out a good position for us among the allied nations, but at this rate we would lose ground and the empire would dispatch its own Chivalric Orders to handle things. That would endanger not only our position as an allied country, but our very existence. “I must crush Scuderia no matter what. It is the only way for us to survive!”
Cosworth Yelenetta
ALL MY YOUNGER BROTHERS, HAVING LOST THEIR respective battles, were captured by the enemy. When I received this report, the world went dark as fury consumed me.
“How could they lose with all those weapons and equipment? Not just the black balls—they had two-legged wyverns and earth dragons too!”
Without conscious awareness that I was doing so, I crushed the glass in my hand. The soldier who had come to deliver the report shuddered in fear at the shrill sound of shattering glass.
“W-well,” he said haltingly, “it appears that Scuderia has developed new weapons of their own. They also seem to have some kind of unnatural ability to construct strongholds…”
“What?” My tone was quiet. “Are you trying to tell me that the fortress cities located in Scudet, Marquis Fertio’s territory, and Count Ferdinatto’s territory were all stronger than we anticipated?”
The soldier shook his head. “N-no. I mean that they managed to build a fortress out of nowhere in less than a day. That is why Fortress Werner in the southwest has fallen. His Highness Prince Istana attempted to retake it but failed. He and his men have been forced back to the fortress city in the south.”
“Istana lost? Idiots like Unimog and the others I understand, but Istana? If that’s true, we must re-examine Scuderia’s combat strength. But this is absurd; small they may have been, but I have personally taken over two nations.” I snorted. “What idiots. I suppose this is simply proof that I am worthiest of the throne.”
The soldier nodded rapidly, attempting to flatter me. What a spineless man. I sighed and stood, combing back my hair. “We will return to the royal capital! I, Cosworth Yelenetta, the first prince of Yelenetta, will take direct command of our forces. We will engage Scuderia in all-out war, and we will crush them!”
Istana Yelenetta
“HOW SHAMEFUL,” I PROCLAIMED. “WITH OUR OLDEST brother, Cosworth, coming back, the rest of us are in the line of succession in name only. In the worst-case scenario, we might have to request aid from the Solstice Empire, and that would put the Kingdom of Yelenetta on the brink of disappearing altogether. Our struggle for succession will mean little. We cannot afford to lose again.”
Commander Hellenic, leader of the Chivalric Squad, pulled his chin in grimly. “Indeed. But if I may be frank, taking down that fortress city will be no easy task. It would be preferable, if possible, to retreat to the capital, gather our strength, and face the enemy elsewhere.”
He lowered his head, probably aware that his recommendation was futile. The man was suggesting that we flee to the capital after losing one of our most important strongholds, after all. Should Cosworth hear him speaking like this, Hellenic might well be thrown the executioner.
And yet, even knowing the risk he took, he offered his opinion. From my perspective, he was correct to do so. I said, “I doubt my older brother would be agreeable to that idea, but if we word it carefully, we may at least be able make the recommendation. Tell me, then, Commander Hellenic: in your opinion, what do we need to do to get out of this situation?”