Rick and I met with Peter within a day. The army was moving much quicker than I anticipated, given that cannons and barriers were involved. Rick was flabbergasted upon meeting Peter and bowed excessively. Peter calmed him and told him, "We don't do that here." I shook Peter's hand and handed him his mother's diary.
"Change of plans, I'm going to wage war for revenge as it just got personal for me," I told him.
Peter stared at me all confused but proceeded to read the diary as we walked along. You would think that the founder would be sitting inside a carriage being dragged along by horsettes, but he had always been humble and preferred to stay with his men. He's the closest being to what I would call a saint.
Rick followed along with the rest of us, heading towards the way we came from. It won't be long until we are in sight of the city. We will definitely need to be cautious for any unexpected cannon fire or potential ambush from the soldiers. We have to be ready at a moment's notice.
"I never knew Jane made it out alive after the war. To think she confronted the Queen directly. What a shame that it ended this way," sighed Peter as he closed the diary and handed it back to me.
"Nothing shameful about it. Because of her death, I now know how dangerous the Captain is, potentially a powerful demon in disguise. We will need to be extra wary of this captain," I explained.
"True indeed. It's a shame I cannot participate in this war directly. Otherwise, I would have personally beaten the living life out of this captain and Queen," Peter replied.
Peter will not be joining this war directly as assaulting the city under his banner would lead to an all-out war between both cities. Not only will both cities be forever at odds, but the City of Heliotrope Ixia would lose its main source of food supplies from this continent. Hence, the reason as to why I had to sneak in alone was to become the instigator of this war. I need to paint myself as the target to prevent the Queen from severing ties with the City of Heliotrope Ixia should we lose this war.
All the armies provided to me had no banners or stripes to link them back to the East. We made sure that there was absolutely nothing that would relate these armies to his city or Peter himself. If anything, I'll just declare that I hired them as mercenaries for the purpose of this war. As I have a plentiful amount of coins earned from my royalty, it's not a stretch for me to declare that I can actually afford to hire enough mercenaries to start a war.
Same for the elves. There are certainly mercenary elves that can be hired with money, and I'll declare that I hired all of them. Sadly though, Sladar couldn't join this war as he had to be stationed at the Northern continent. He said that there were some disturbances going on over there that he needed to investigate. Is it some pure coincidence, or did the Queen plan that far?
"We are within sight of the city. The forces are yours to command, Zen. Make full use of them," said Peter as he proceeded to hide among the soldiers with his disguise.
There is an experienced soldier that Peter had assigned to help me in giving advice throughout the course of the war. I will be heavily relying on him for guidance as he has been through a lot of them.
"Mr Wick, are we in effective range for a siege battle?" I asked the soldier.
"Master Zen, we should proceed closer for our cannons to be in effective range. From this distance, there are chances that our cannons might not be able to hit its intended target," he explained.
"Let us proceed closer then," I gestured for the army to follow after me and head closer to the city.
"Messenger sighted!" shouted one of the soldiers.
That soldier must have eagle eyes to be able to spot the rider at such a distance. Even I couldn't spot the messenger that far away. That is most certainly a messenger coming to negotiate with us alone. What a guy, the chances of him dying are extremely high. To come alone and negotiate with certain death is a job no soldier ever wished for. Seeing that I'm in a good mood today, I shall let the messenger return alive.
***
"Zen Hawthorn, by order of the Queen, you are to surrender your forces and submit yourself to the Queen directly. Failure to do so will guarantee that anyone related to you will be declared traitors and executed on the spot," announced the messenger.
Wow. You call that a negotiation? That was nothing more than a demand. I struggled hard not to say out loud the words "All your base are belong to us" to the messenger. So, the Queen thinks that she will be able to survive this war? Not on my watch.
"Mister Messenger, I commend you for coming all the way here to deliver the message, alone. I believe you aren't expecting to return alive, am I right?" I asked him.
The messenger furled his lips. He was sweating excessively from his forehead, and I'm certain it's not due to the heat alone.
"P— please, spare me, Master Zen. I have a family waiting for me back in the city. Please, let me go," uttered the messenger softly.
"Go back to the city, check on your family, and sneak them out of the city after you defect from your position. Bring along as many soldiers and civilians as you can if you all wish to survive. My qualms are with the Queen and only her alone," I said to the messenger.
"And she's a demon," I whispered softly to him.
He gave a surprised shriek. He stared at the ground for a few seconds and then turned to look at me as he moved his lips to the words "I will do that" without making a sound.
"Oh, right. As to the demands of the Queen, this is my answer," I snapped my fingers to signal the soldier on my right.
One of the soldiers caught my meaning and fired a cannon towards the city. It smashed against the wall and a portion of it started crumbling.
"Better start riding back as fast as you can, if I were you. Raise the barriers!" I told the messenger and shouted to the soldiers.
The messenger immediately started riding back at full speed towards the city. The soldiers in the city are surely stumped by our sudden shot without warning. This should give us some time to set up our metal barricades to protect our soldiers and cannons. Going well so far.
"Demons! Demons coming from the north!" shouted one of the soldiers.
What? How is that possible? Is the north compromised? Sladar should have made sure that no demons were able to come in from the Northern continent. What's going on?
"Mr Wick, take command of the cannons. I will fight the incoming demons. Foot soldiers, to me! Cannon bearers, focus fire on the walls and bring down their cannons!" I shouted as loud as I could as I ran towards the approaching demons.
Only a couple of demons are flying towards us that I can see. Whether there are any demons on foot, I have no clear vision due to the surrounding trees. I'm hoping there are not too many demons that have made their way here. I must fend them off and protect the soldiers.
***
The war has officially started. Casualties on our side were being kept to a minimum due to our metal barricades. They protected us from the many, many cannon fires shot from the city. Their walls still stand strong despite our barrages of cannon fire. No wonder they were so proud of their walls. No matter, it's only a matter of time before their walls fall or their cannons are destroyed.
What worries me more than the cannons are the constant assaults from the demons coming from the north. At first, we thought there were just strays attacking us, but over time, they just kept coming constantly to attack our position. Is the City Of Lilies Dahlee destroyed, seeing as the demons kept coming from that direction? I wished I had time to investigate what happened to them, but I have a war on my hands. Is there really no end to the demon's assault? Good thing it was only lesser demons that attacked us so far.
"I wonder, is the north compromised?" said someone behind me.
I glanced behind and saw a soldier that sounded awfully like Peter. It seems like he finally came out of hiding and was concerned about the current situation.
"I have no idea. Did Sladar fail to prevent some sort of demon outbreak? With their relatively small number assaulting us right now, I can still prevent them from causing much harm to the soldiers. But if more were to come, I doubt that I can stop them from tearing us apart. We are relatively sitting ducks here, being attacked from both sides," I explained to Peter.
"It's only a matter of time before some of the adventurers in the city help us with the cannon problems after they had evacuated as many civilians as they could. As to why demons kept coming over from the north, I am getting more concerned about their condition," he said.
"Stay with the army and continue the assault on the city. I will head up north to check what's happening. Perhaps something happened to Sladar that rendered him unable to hold back the tide of the demons," Peter continued as a soldier handed him a cloak.
He rushed towards the demon's direction with a handful of his trusted soldiers. Hopefully, they can stall the demons long enough for us to be able to concentrate on stopping all the cannons bombarding us. I really hope those adventurers can help us with our cannon problems soon.
***
It's been a couple of hours, and the cannon fire from the city showed no signs of stopping. What's going on? Are the adventurers inside compromised as well? We won't last in this battle of attrition. The city will win due to its walls and more supplies in the long run.
Is there no way for me to check on the condition inside the city? I wonder, am I able to sneak over to the south and check on the elves? I'm certain I'll be hitting the ground as there is no way I'll survive a direct cannon hit if I foolishly charged headlong directly into the city. One does not simply walk into a city under constant cannon barrages.
***
Nightfall arrived, and the cannon fires lessened. We made sure to use as little fire as possible for our light source to survive through the night. A well-placed cannon fire on our light source would be devastating to our infantry. Demons had completely stopped coming to attack us at this point. I really hope Peter was able to find out the reason as to why and how the demons were coming in from the north.
I gazed towards the City Of Pines. It was brightly lit. Fire and smoke could be seen lighting the sky. The city itself was in disrepair but still standing. Their proud walls still stood even after a full day of bombardment from our side. I hope the adventurers are taking advantage of the darkness and helping us to incapacitate those cannon bearers. I had come this far, and I don't wish to see my plans foiled because of those cannons.
Before entering my camp for the night, I consulted with Mr Wick on our chances of outlasting the siege battle against the city. He said that we might be able to last for another two days at most before we start running out of cannon ammunition and the metal barriers start giving way. No doubt the barriers are sturdy and strong, made from the best materials of the east, but they will not last forever from the constant bombardment of the cannons. He explained that two days includes salvaging the cannon balls that were scattered around the battlefield.
Not good, hopefully there will be less cannon fire tomorrow and we can finally charge onwards towards the city. And perhaps I can finally reunite with my friends inside the city.
***
Dawn approaches and the siege battle begins once again. There was no sign of the cannons lessening from the city. In fact, it felt as though there were more firing at us now.
I racked my brain. Should I head towards the southern entrance to check on the elves for a status update? There is nothing I can do here aside from giving the occasional basic orders. There are also no walkie-talkies or radio waves that I can take advantage of. No wonder they said that information and communication are the key to winning a war. I have to make a decision now.
"Mr Wick, can I trust that you'll be able to handle things from here?" I asked him.
"What do you have in mind, Master Zen?" he asked.
"I plan to sneak over towards the south to rendezvous with the elves. I need to gather some information from them and how they are coping. I will be back with a status update by today or send someone to inform you about their status there," I explained.
"Very good, sir. As of now, there are no further insights to be had here. All we can do is to continue our cannon assaults on their walls and hope that we'll be able to breakthrough. The demons have stopped attacking us, so it's best that you go now. I won't let you down, sir!" saluted Mr Wick.
I saluted back and tapped his shoulder plate. Peter had trained his soldiers well, despite him being known as a pacifist; but he's also a realist. No doubt war will always happen whenever humans are involved.
I pulled up my hood over my head and headed out as quickly as I could using the cover of the barricades. Once I reached the end of the barricades, I'll have to run full speed using the cover of trees and bushes towards the south. I told Rick to stay behind, but he insisted on coming along. I told him that I won't be able to protect him should there be any stray cannon balls flying towards us. He assured me not to worry and just focus on what I have to do. Oh well, here goes nothing.
***
It took me about an hour or so to finally reach the southern entrance. Running at full speed sure takes its toll on my legs for such a long duration. Rick was barely able to keep up, but somehow he managed. He was panting heavily as we made it to the southern entrance. Something felt off here—it's too quiet. Why are there no cannons being fired here? Did all the cannons move over to the eastern wall?
As I approached quickly, a few of the elves shot their arrows at me as they heard someone approaching them. I skilfully grabbed the arrows that were shot at me mid-air before they hit me or Rick.
"Friendlies!" I shouted.
The elves lowered their bows as they saw me approaching them. I quickly removed my hood and revealed myself to them.
"Mister Hawthorn, your skills have improved tremendously to be able to catch our arrows so easily," said one of the male elves.
"Thank you, but please, call me Zen. I need a situation report for this entrance. Can anyone lead me to whoever's in charge?" I asked them.
"Right this way, Mister Zen," said one of the female elves as she gestured us into the woods.
"Your reaction speed is crazy, Zen," said Rick softly.
I just responded to him, "Don't I know it," and focused on the task at hand.
What a difference in topography between the east and the southern entrance. The east had barely any terrain cover and was a wide-open field. Without the metal barriers, we would have been sitting ducks from the cannon fires. The south had plenty of trees before the entrance, which was favourable for the elves. Is that why the Queen moved the cannons towards the eastern wall instead, as it was pointless here?
***
I was brought to a small camp where the elf's commanding officer was located. As I entered the camp, I realised there was only a table in the middle of the camp with nothing else. Talk about being a minimalist. There were only two elves inside. A male and a female elf. I wanted to greet them but was stunned by the appearance of the female elf.
"L— Lily?! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be inside the city?" my jaw dropped as I stared at her.
"Lily? Ah, you've seemed to mistake me for my younger sister, silly," chuckled the female elf.
"You're— Lily's elder sister?" I asked with genuine surprise.
They looked extremely similar, except for the fact that she was wearing different clothing and no gauntlets. Otherwise, it was as though God decided to use the copy-paste function between the two of them.
"Violet Moonshine, at your service. This here is Noah Moonshine, my brother," replied Violet as she bowed politely. Noah, on the other hand, was only squinting at Violet. That's—odd.
"Wow, I never even heard that Lily had an elder sister and brother. She barely told us about her family at all," I returned the bow to them.
"Ah, that's normal. We don't exactly tell every stranger about our family, unless we are in a relationship with them or married. The family line can get—extremely complicated, so we avoid telling everyone about families if possible. The downside of being able to live this long means the family tree can get really large and wide. Please, don't take it the wrong way," explained Violet as she bowed a little.
"None taken at all. To think that both her elder sister and brother are spearheading the elves in this war. I am certainly thankful for it," I said my piece and bowed with gratitude to both of them.
"You must be Zen. Lily told us much about you and pleaded directly to us for help. You are exactly what she described you to be," said Noah.
"Indeed, he is. I can see why she is so infatuated with him. If you prefer a much older woman, I am available," said Violet as she placed her index finger on her lips.
"Violet, please," sighed Noah.
"Just kidding! He is rather handsome, though," said Violet as she licked her lips.
"Can I get a situation report, please?" I pleaded to both of them. What a sister, I have to keep reminding myself that this is not Lily; otherwise, I might end up doing something extremely stupid.
Noah gestured for me to approach the table. It was a huge map of the city, along with its borders. Noah told me that it started with cannon fires yesterday but was swiftly cut off by the elven marksmen. The soldiers that were manning the cannons were sniped off one by one, reducing their effectiveness significantly. They thought that they could assault the city after stopping the cannons, but soldiers with heavy armours and shields came out to defend the entrance. Their shields and armours were surprisingly strong enough to withstand their arrows and weapons.
They could technically breakthrough by using their own cannons, but that would incur tremendous casualties on the soldiers. Lily made it very clear that unless necessary, they should try to minimise the death of the soldiers. Otherwise, by the end of the war, there would be no one left to protect the city.
Damn it. If we were able to defeat these armoured soldiers, the entire army could enter through the south and start claiming the city. I am also dying to know what's going on inside. I am certain that there are plenty of guild members that could have helped us with the cannons, but somehow, it would seem that no one is currently helping us with that. Should I just forfeit the lives of these soldiers that are defending the southern entrance?
"How many armoured soldiers are defending the entrance?" I asked both of them.
"Possibly about 200 of them are guarding the entrance tightly," said Noah.
"Were there no soldiers that came to attack directly in the forest?" I asked them.
"None so far. They were extremely defensive and were only focusing on guarding the entrance," answered Violet.
Something's not right. What's the point of dragging out this war? You do not win a war by being defensive. My gut is telling me there is something else going on inside the city, and this is all a ploy to delay my advance.
I closed my eyes and gave a heavy thought. Is my Fear spell strong enough to scare 200 soldiers? What are my other options? Using cannons should be my last resort. I do not wish to kill these soldiers if possible. C'mon brain, think! I'm sure there is something else that you can use. THINK!
Surprisingly, a light bulb did appear for me. How did I not think of using this? I use this all the time, and I had never thought of weaponising it. I smacked my head and started to chuckle. To think that something I used often would end up helping me right now.
Rick, Noah, and Violet were confused by my odd behaviour. I opened my eyes and greeted them with two questions.
"How certain are we that there are no cannons firing at us?" I asked them.
"Fairly certain. We engaged in melee with the soldiers, and no cannons fired at us. But it was tough to break through because of the soldiers' shields. Not only are the shields tall and extremely tough, but their armour does not leave any openings for us to injure or incapacitate them," said Noah.
"No matter, we do not need to injure them. Now, for my last question, do you happen to have alchemy ingredients and equipment?" I asked. Who knew that alchemy would come in handy whenever I'm in a pinch?