Oh my god. Feels like forever since I was able to update anything. Sorry about the delay, schools been throwing shit at me rapid fire and I have just been trying to keep up. Hope
5 months Later
Harry's POV:
Harry looked down in annoyance at the sorceress Yennefer in this small village in the empire of Nilfgaard. It had been annoying to track her down only to find that after four months of work, she was in the same boat as Geralt. He supposed that it made sense, Geralt had his memory destroyed but he for some reason thought Yennefer would be in a better position due to magic. If Harry suddenly lost his memory, he had ways to restore it through magic and potions. Of course, he could probably do it for Yennefer and Geralt but he would either have to kidnap them or find a way to convince them to come with him and let him experiment for possibly a year. Wasn't easy to sync potions to a new user after all.
Besides, as far as he could tell, their memories did seem to be coming back albeit slowly. He turned his eyes from Yennefer and over to the Nilfgaardian soldiers talking together. It was strange that there were soldiers here in this small village without there even being an outpost nearby. They built a small barracks when they had arrived and now lived there. The village didn't seem to mind but it did seem suspicious to Harry.
Why was there a random barracks with ten soldiers here except to possibly watch Yennefer? Sure, she didn't know who she was really, but anyone who knew of her would possibly recognize her. She still seemed to prefer black clothes and she still had her offsetting pride. Very recognizable.
He couldn't imagine why they would be keeping an eye on her if they were interested and not simply arresting her. Nilfgaard had a better relationship with magic users than the Northern Kingdoms at the moment but they tended to force them to do their bidding.
Harry sighed and let it go. He had put alert wards all over the village and on Yennefer herself. He had also made an international portkey to make sure he could get there instantly without having to use ass loads of energy like apparating would. Ever since his experience with Isadora he made sure he had exit strategies that didn't rely on his current amount of magic. Although he did genuinely feel bad for Isadora and would not have made the Dragon Pass through her home had he known it was there.
With that, he activated the portkey back to his tower feeling like the last few months of research on where Yennefer was had been a waste of time.
1 month later
Harry stared at the little entourage standing in front of him. All serious men staring at him and one smaller nervous one in fine clothing. The rest where soldiers and all where in heavy armor. Harry was unimpressed with the group. His soldiers who were surrounding the room for his 'protection' didn't seem that impressed either. Harry wasn't the strongest swordsman but he had a pretty heavy Skelligan who trained them. They were both skilled and savage in combat. Harry also made sure all his soldiers received standard equipment and training unlike most kingdoms who would only train men at arms but not their peasant soldiers.
"You want me to give my land and holdings as well as the Dragon Pass to Velhad because your duke thinks that despite never having access to it, all land beyond the Dragon Mountains should be his. He now also sends a pathetic little envoy to try and intimidate me. It sounds like your declaring war on me, is that analysis accurate?" Harry asked calmly as he continued to both chill the room and put a heavy magical pressure into the air around his guest. The soldiers were better at hiding it but the messenger was not. He seemed to unconsciously shiver every few moments and wipe his forehead with a handkerchief. A little mousy man with black string like hair and a small build.
"Not war my lord. Duke Lambcast offers you vassalage under him. You will gain a lordship and…"
"You mean King Esterad. I am no fool, I am aware the man simply wishes to have plausible deniability in case his little plan fails. He wishes to test me and my capabilities. I have expected this. There will be no arrangement. Go back to your duke, tell him I will be there in a week from today and we shall have war." Harry said to the messenger. Immediately the man paled and the soldiers behind him started shuffling around. The messenger gulped and bowed his head before quickly departing. Harry watched him go.
Merri had stood silently at his side during the whole exchange. As the group filed out of the room she moved in front of him and stared at him with questions clear in her eyes. He made a gesture with his hands and the soldiers in the room left as well. With a wave of his hand, he conjured a seat for her and she took it.
"I'm confused." She stated.
"About what?" Harry questioned though he was pretty sure he had a good idea.
"Why are we going to invade Velhad? We control the Dragon Pass, we know the mountains and the lands on this side of it. It would be easier to defend then attack would it not? Also, we only have 300 men at arms now. That's not enough to go against Kovir and Poviss." She pointed out.
"I will use the dragons. It's why I have them in a first place. You would not be scared of an enemy who had a weapon but did not know or want to use it. I need to show I am willing and able to use them and this a perfect opportunity. Although, I doubt they even believe we have them. They came one of the few times the dragons were out hunting so they probably did not see them. Still, invading will not be a problem. Do you know what the true issue will be?" Harry asked. Merri thought on and stayed silent for a time.
"Holding it?" She asked. Harry smiled and was pleased she got it correct.
"Indeed. Dragons are an amazing conquering tool but once you have the land, they are practically useless. 300 men can't hold Velhad and even if they could, that would leave Avalon defenseless. So, if you were in my shoes, knowing what I could do and my resources, what would you do?" Harry asked her. Again, Merri dipped her head down in thought as she tried to imagine what he could do.
"Threaten maybe? You don't need to actually have the dragons there but if you show them the dragons and threaten them to follow, I'm sure they would." She pointed out.
"Yes and no. That would work for many of the common folk but there will be some that are smart enough to realize the dragons can't be around forever. They will scheme and plot and possibly even turn to guerilla tactics against me. I can't have that, nor would I want it even if I could. There is a simpler option that you are not realizing." Harry said to her. Her eyebrows scrunched up in annoyance.
"Well stop keeping me in suspense. Tell me already." She demanded. Harry just rolled his eyes.
"Look around you. Look at what I have already built. Why do you think so many people chose to come here to live? Why do you think we have already started getting a flow of immigrants from the Northern kingdoms? It's because I treat them better than anyone else. They live elsewhere and pay ridiculous taxes to some lord or king for protection that they barely provide. Here, there is more. Their lives are easier. They don't have to worry about their next meal. They pay taxes but there paying taxes for services I give in return. Housing, land, crops, livestock. All this I gave them. I treat them with a kindness they have never been given." Harry finished.
"So, you're going to give them things then?" Merri asked for clarification. Harry nodded.
"In a manner of speaking yes. I prove myself a more benevolent ruler and the peasants won't need to be controlled. They will prefer my rule to that of their previous rulers." Harry told her.
"And if they spit on your kindness?" she asked
"Then they no longer receive it. I give all a chance but never ask me for more than that." Harry said as a noticeable frost entered his voice.
"What a vampiric way of thinking." A sweet voice floated into the air. Despite its sweetness, both Harry and Merri tensed upon hearing it. Harry looked to the door and watched as Isadora glided over to them.
"Isadora." Harry said as a welcome. The vampire just smiled back at him. Merri's eye twitched upon seeing it but she said nothing.
"I hope I am not interrupting. I came to simply inquire on the status of the little project you were doing for me." She said innocently. Harry calmed himself.
"It is going well. Your home has been built and the physical structure of the gate has been as well. All that is left is for me to find a way to link it back to your home world." Harry told her. In truth, that was the hardest part. Portal gateways were easy enough, getting them to go to a specific world was a lot harder, especially as he had never been there before. He didn't want to admit it but he had been delaying the project. He was probably going to need some of Isadora's blood and he wasn't exactly keen on asking her for some. She might kill him before he could finish the question. He really needed to figure out a way to hold his own against her.
"That's good to hear, I look forward to seeing it soon." She said before disappearing before their eyes.
"I hate it when she does that. When are you going to teach me to kill one of them?" Merri asked.
"Soon as I figure out how to do so myself." Harry grumbled in annoyance. He then looked at Merri.
"Gather 150 of our men and start heading to Velhad. By the time you get there I should be done uprooting the local nobility. We need to show we have an actual army. You will basically go village to village and let them know they are under new management." Harry said. Merri frowned.
"King Esterad isn't going to like that."
"Then he shouldn't have decided to target my kingdom." Harry shot back.
"You're planning to take over all of Kovir and Poviss then?" she questioned with uncertainty.
"Yes, only because I doubt Esterad will let what I have done stand and will want to strike back very quickly. We will have to move faster than him. Once we take Velhad, I will go to each village and gather their leaders. I will then have them vote in an administrator for their province who will represent their Kingdom on my advisory council. Then the integration process will begin. We will be surrounded on all sides so I will strike hard to send a message after Velhad if Esterad pushes me." Harry finished.
"Sounds like a lot of work. Will the other Kingdoms not retaliate?"
"Possibly if Esterad calls for help, he did help them in the Northern Wars when he didn't have to and some of the other rulers may seek to pay him back should he ask but I do not intend to give him time to ask. Esterad is smart but he is also proud. He will not ask for help until he is sure that he needs it. Hopefully by then it will be too late." Harry explained, "Either way, prepare the men. One week and we march on Velhad."
1 Week Later
Harry stood on the back of the biggest White Dragon he had with a sticking charm as it flew in small circles several thousand feet above the ground. Had anyone looked up they probably wouldn't even see them considering the dragon was making use of its natural camouflage abilities. Harry looked down and saw the small castle they he would be destroying soon. Just outside the castle were probably around 200 men at arms waiting to move out on their Duke's command to attack his home. They all had colors so he assumed there were no mercenaries in the small army.
Harry made a small grunt as he looked at the target. He would have to keep a strong hold on the dragon's actions as he only wanted to destroy the keep and not the small village surrounding it. He would try to avoid the army as well. They would possibly submit easily once their lord was dead.
"Alright, time to go to work." Harry told the dragon. Immediately, the dragon closed its wings and started a controlled freefall towards the keep. Harry made sure to dive bomb as a well-placed Ballista shot could injury the dragon and he had forgotten to check the keep for them. He conjured a shield to block the wind blowing into his face as his dragon dived down towards the keep.
With the dragon in freefall, the keep approached insanely fast. It was a bright sunny day so the dragons shadow eventually started covering the keep forcing those in it to look up to see his large reptilian companion. Close to when they approached the ground, the dragon reopened its wings and immediately slowed its fall and entered into a glide. As it glided past the keep it unleased its first breath of its freezing breath.
Harry heard yells of panic that turned into brief cries of pain. The dragon performed a sharp turn and unleashed another torrent of ice onto the keep almost covering the entire thing in it. During this turn, Harry jumped off and slowed his momentum until he landed softly on the floor. He looked around and saw what looked like frozen statues of people all around the small courtyard. They were stuck in various positions ranging from cowering in fear to trying to run in a certain direction. Most of them appeared to be soldiers but some appeared to be civilians. He sighed
Harry walked up the stairs to the noble quarters and blasted the ice-covered door wide open. The inside was just as frozen as the outside probably due to the open window the room had. He saw two statues. And approached them. With a wave of his hand, the ice melted off and two bodies fell to the ground clearly dead. Both were dressed in noble wear, one a female and one a male. He kicked the male body over so Harry could see his face. He had only seen Lambcast once before but this seemed to be him if his memory was correct. With that, he grabbed the body and threw it over his shoulder before apparating outside the castle and near where he saw the small army earlier. Once on the hill he calmly walked up to the encampment where he saw the men looking on in horror at the castle before spotting him.
Five men stood at the front of the crowd and watched his approach. When he got ten meters from them, he dropped Lambcast's body on the floor. The men looked down at the lord. Three of them had to look away at the sight.
"Your Duke is dead. Surrender and there need not be more death today. You cannot defeat my dragon and even if you could, I have my army marching here ready to finish what I started. I shall not punish you for rallying against me if you declare yourselves under my rule." Harry told them. One of the men stepped forward and glared at him.
"You kill our duke and expect us to just give you our loyalty just like that? You're a fool. Even if you have killed our duke, King Esterad will never let this stand unanswered. He will rally his armies against you." The man who stepped forward said to him.
"And they will fall as well. I have five dragons and an army. I will win against them, this I promise. The man you served tried to take something that wasn't his just because he thought he could. He paid for his greed, there is no reason you must also pay for it. I give you this chance and that is all I will give you. You do not have to answer now. My men arrive in three days, give me your answer then. If you choose to flee I will assume you have chosen to stand against me." Harry said to them before turning around and getting ready to make his way to the village.
"Wait."
Harry turned and looked at the man. The man drew his sword and pointed it at him. Harry raised an eyebrow.
"I have heard tales of you. You are supposedly some sort of sorcerer. Let's see if the sorcerer has any honor. You and I duel right now. If you win, I will accept your terms and submit to your rule. If I win you leave these lands and will not return." The man said with a scowl. Harry stared at the man for a moment. He knew he was not the most skilled fighter but he had also taken steps to make sure he had a distinct advantage in fights by using the new enhanced Witcher potions he had made. He could move faster and was stronger than most men.
"I will need a sword." Was all Harry said in response to him. The man turned and nodded at a younger boy who was probably his squire. The boy ran over to him nervously and pulled out his sword to give to him.
"Thank you." Harry said kindly as he gingerly took the sword and started to weigh it in his hand. It wasn't as heavy as he remembered it being and it looked well-made and taken care of. He nodded in satisfaction.
"Shall we?" Harry asked as he raised the sword to his opponent. The knight raised his sword above his head and moved slowly towards Harry. Harry simply started to circle the man. For a few moments nothing, they simply stared at each other. Finally, the knight moved to strike. He got in close with the sword raised above his head but just before he got into striking range, he moved it down to try and strike upwards at Harry. Harry took one step back as the sword came in and took a step forward as soon as it passed and went for a stab. The man didn't have time to bring his sword to block it so he stepped to the side just fast enough to dodge it. Harry had moved faster than he did predictably but the man clearly had experience with combat and was ready for retaliation.
Harry continued to say nothing as they went back to circling each other. A few moments passed before the knight lunged again. This time though, Harry stepped in to meet him throwing the man off balance as he was going for a swipe. He raised his leg and kicked the man in the chest knocking him backwards. The man stumbled and looked to be about to fall over before catching himself and getting his feet back under him.
This time, Harry moved to strike, he pushed forward towards the man and tried a series of strikes. The man blocked the first three but it clearly wasn't easy with Harry's strength. Harry switched to a stab and watched his blade smash into the man's armor pushing him to the ground. The man fell back but went into a roll as he hit the ground to gain some distance from Harry. He stood up and charged Harry.
Now, Harry was back on the defensive as he had to make sure to block all of the man's strikes since he was not wearing armor himself. One strike would hurt him quite a bit. As Harry blocked a strike to his left side, he didn't see the knight get in close and slam his helmet into his head. The blow knocked him back several feet and dazed him. The next thing he knew, he felt a sharp pain coming from his shoulder. His vision cleared and he saw the sword buried into him.
Harry snarled and kicked the man back forcing him to pull the sword out of Harry's shoulder. Harry looked at his shoulder and silently cast a numbing charm on it. The pain subsided but he gritted his teeth in annoyance anyways.
He had no more time to think about it as the knight came charging at him once more to take advantage of his weakened state. Harry growled quietly as he saw this and decided on something unconventional. He waited as the man approached until he got in striking distance, he then dropped to his knees and dove at the knight's knees.
It worked perfectly as he collided right into the knight's legs and forced the knight into the air. He did a full flip before landing heavily on his back with a groan. Harry got up quickly and had a blade at the man's throat before he could even think about getting up.
"Yield." Harry commanded as he looked down on the man. The man looked up at him but said nothing. He was clearly thinking on his options.
"You fought honorably and now it is time to keep your word honorably." Harry said as he lowered his sword and offered the man his hand to help him up. The man looked at his hand for a moment then back up at him. After a moment of silence, he took the outstretched hand. Harry pulled him up back to his feet.
"Never thought I'd meet a sorcerer fight with honor in my lifetime." The knight said begrudgingly.
"I never thought I'd let a knight put his goddamn sword through my shoulder so this has been a surprising day for all of us." Harry said to the knight. The knight couldn't help himself as he let out a soft chuckle at Harry's words.
"Too true I suppose. Well, I am a man of my word. We will accept your rule. Velhad is yours." The knight said though he still did not sound happy about it.
"Do not worry, in time you will see this is a good thing, that I promise. I apologize we had to meet in such circumstances though. I know it's never easy to lose a ruler. I will treat the people fairly I promise." Harry said to the knight. The knight at least seemed pleased at his words.
"Only time will tell if you speak the truth. Duke lambcast was never the best ruler but he didn't take advantage of his people which is a hell of a lot better than most." He said as he moved back to his men. With that, Harry moved back to go to the village. He needed to implement the second part of his plan.
2 Weeks Later
"You're an absolute idiot." Merri said as she looked at Harry's newest scar. Harry just smiled at her words.
"Perhaps but it worked. I got the army from the one battle and that's worth a little scar. It means less resistance and now the size of the overall army is doubled." Harry told her.
"How do you know you can trust them?"
"I am currently monitoring their attitudes and plans through magical means of course. They live here so they don't really have a choice but to work with the person who currently has control over it. They could go and support Esterad, and some of them will, but many will stay and see how this plays out. I did show up on a dragon. That tends to stick in one's mind. I would never just trust a former enemy. Technically speaking, Lambcast had no heir or relatives as he was appointed so they have no other they are required to be loyal to after his death. Besides, it was not like he was the best ruler anyway. High taxes and pretty much let bandits do whatever so he could drink and whore his way to an early death. Many are probably glad for his death." Harry said back.
"If you say so. I dealt with those captured spies today. You were right, Esterad has heard what has happened here and is gathering his forces to attack us. While the various keeps have currently declared themselves for you, they will jump ship as soon as they see Esterad's forces on the horizon. We need to strike soon if we don't want to fight on multiple fronts." Merri told him. Harry nodded at her assessment. He reached onto the desk he had had been using for the past two weeks in the keep that Lambcast used to use and pulled out some papers.
"Here are the various decrees that will be going into effect now. Lower taxes, improved farming, etc. Make sure it's spread to all the villages as quickly as possible. Also, make sure the village leaders pick a representative before the end of the next week. My patience is wearing thin with their petty arguing." Harry told her. Merri looked over the various decrees for a moment before nodding.
"As you wish. After that, I'm going back to Avalon. I don't trust Asal alone without either of us there." Merri stated.
"A good idea, he has already tried break in to my private quarters twice while we've been gone. He hasn't succeeded but still. Plus, you need to take charge of the administrator duties while I am away. Make sure there is no discontent between the people." Harry told her. Merri was the official representative of the people of the Far North even when that really only meant Avalon.
That would probably change soon though as some of the settlers wished to go back to a village lifestyle as the city was not for them. Harry had allowed and they were currently in the process of building structures for housing and work. Harry would go at some point at ward the villages once they were finished.
"I hate desk work." Merri groaned.
"Do you think I like it? Of course I don't, but it needs to be done to keep the kingdom running. With Velhad now added, we have close to nine thousand citizens present day and it's probably going to keep rising. You can be sure those new citizens are going to want to go somewhere and start complaining about their problems and I have a war to fight." Harry told her. She sighed and shook her head in exasperation.
"Fine, I'll head back. What are you going to do in the mean time? I know you're not actually going to fight a war the whole time."
"I'm going to go to the villages and start casting wards on them. Then, I am going to start developing better roads. Next, is to develop outpost along the roads to allow for patrolling to discourage bandits. So, I will be keeping myself busy while I wait for Esterad to gather his forces." Harry told her. Merri stopped leaning against the desk and stood fully before downing a shot of alcohol that Harry had completely forgotten was even there once she had originally entered the room.
"Alright, I am out of here." Merri said as she walked out with the papers in hand to go get her work done so she could leave.
Harry dropped his smile as she left and immediately conjured a map that showed all the northern kingdoms and even parts of Nilfgaard. The true problem with conquering Velhad and probably Kovir and Poviss was that he would now be considered a Northern Kingdom and things in the Northern Kingdoms weren't going so great at the moment. His main concern was the Church of the Eternal Fire. Religious Zealots would be annoying to deal with and he had no idea how he would have to deal with them. They viewed their beliefs higher than law and that made them dangerous.
Another concern was Nilfgaard. Harry was sure that Emhyr was planning another invasion and soon. He couldn't take on all the Northern Kingdoms though as proven with the first Northern Wars. He would need to find a way to destabilize the rulers or turn them against each other. There were a lot of ways he could do that and from what his little birds reported. Emhyr already had something in mind.
Even if he didn't know about all this from his spy's, he could feel it in the air. Something was going to happen soon, he just knew it. He needed to finish this petty feud with Esterad quickly and get settled and ready.
Silently, he called out a summoning to the remaining dragons he had left in Avalon. He hadn't meant to use them all against Esterad but he would need them to stomp on the conflict in one move. Either Esterad would submit or he would die. The soldiers would be given the same choice.