-"It's finally done."-Guinevere stretched after restoring the last forest affected by the Shamans.
-"Good job."-I handed her a water skin filled with fruit juice.-"How does working in the field feel?"
-"I expected it to be tiring, but only after living in the forest for the week straight did I understand how much I had gotten used to the conveniences of human civilization. Even with all the help from animals and the Druidic techniques, I was exhausted before the sun even started to set."
-"That's because Druidism wasn't created by humans who fight with the wilds, but by elves who live in harmony with it. You don't have to forego human civilization, but you have to find a way to make it exist alongside nature."
-"You are instructing me like I have the ability to change how human civilization is."-She rolled her eyes.
-"Now you might be unable to do so, but after you take over your father's legacy, who knows?"-I shrugged.-"Both Artoria and Morgan are committed to bringing Britain back to its more wild state, allowing fae and spirits to roam its lands again. While I know they do it for me, it'll allow your talent to fully blossom."
-"Well, it's not like I need to kill a city, so my power doesn't need to bloom that fully."-She walked away, her tone leaving not much of her indignation toward me to one's imagination.
Guinevere was the only one in my close circle who didn't accept or at least understand my actions, distancing herself and not hiding her attitude toward me. While this was something regrettable, there wasn't much I could do, so I just let her be. I wouldn't be able to convince her with words, so I could only hope she'll understand one day.
With the restoration of the land done, I had to return to my military campaign. As the autumn was quickly approaching, the mud and rain would make traveling harder, so I had to either rush south before the British weather arrived in force or fully commit to this side of the northern front. After considering the overall situation, I decided to travel south, leaving King Urien to station his forces on this side of the Tyne, waiting for reinforcements before continuing northward.
And so, after another few weeks of travel, I arrived at King Rience's camp. His siege of Lincoln progressed as planned; the city was still holding strong, but the first traces of hunger and discontent started to appear. King Rience, of course, didn't act on those signs, just continued his passive blockade of the city. But those were enough to finally make me able to order him to take some action, forcing the battle to occur.
Of course, we couldn't just rush at the walls and expect defenders to surrender, but there were ways to end this siege before the winter arrived. Soon, I come up with a plan to shatter enemy morale, hoping to win this battle without killing. But as I looked at the plan I've written, I stopped, my eyes doubting this was something I wrote.
-"Eno."-Promulgator appeared by my side, her face more serious than ever before.
-"I have it under…"
-"You don't."-She interrupted me, throwing my stats sheet on the table. There, in plain runic script, one could read:
______________________________
…
Parameters:
Strength: C+
Endurance: B- → C-
Agility: A
Magical Energy: A+
Luck: B → D
Noble Phantasm: A++
…
Personal skills:
…
Saint: D → (Sealed)
Tarnished by sin, the pure flame can't burn as bright as it used to.
…
Bestowal of Seven Sins (Wrath): D (New)
The resentment of the guilty and sinful, washed in the blood of innocents, to create a curse capable of tarnishing even the holiest of beings. Acts as an alternative to Mad Enchantment, enchanting the righteousness and justice for power, but weakening the host if resisted. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, but sometimes the road to redemption is only found in the deepest abyss.
…
______________________________
-"Your state of mind is wrong. You are becoming irritable and cruel. With my and Otto's help, we are able to slow it down, but how long can you last? A year, maybe two?"-She reprimanded me.
-"I know."-I sighed, taking off my right-hand glove, revealing a red mark, as if blood that couldn't be washed off, a stigma of my sin.-"I'm working on it."
-"We both know you are not. Eno, you should seek help. I believe that those girls will be able to help you."
-"No, it's not time to worry them with my state."
-"You are truly a stubborn mule. They will be angry at you for that, you are aware of it, right?"
-"But tell me, do you believe that can resolve this?"-I motioned to my right hand.
-"I do."-She spoke simply.
I looked at her, neither of us backing down. Finally, I sighed again.
-"Have it your way, but not yet. I'll contact Artoria after matters of this front are dealt with."
-"Good, but if I see you lose control, I'll go to them directly."
I nodded.
-"Eno, don't let some pride hurt you or them. They are not vases you need to shield from everything."
-"I know that, believe me. But I also feel how taxing this war is starting to get on them."
-"You truly are a fool."-She sighed and shook her head before disappearing.
I watched her leave, my eyes gleaming with Moonlight to keep my emotions at bay. After a moment, I scrapped the previous plan and formulated something less… evil.
Days after that passed in a blur of preparations and arrangements. My plan consisted of two parts, overt and covert. The overt part focused on preparing the army, building siege weapons, and posturing to keep the city in a state of high alert all the time. And this was where the covert elements started to appear.
Cooperating with a few insiders that Mostima managed to plant in the city, to spread the word of what happened in Newcastle, focusing on how the choices of the lord resulted in its demise. I didn't hope that this would convince them to surrender, but it was enough to plant a seed of distrust.
While the city mostly consisted of Saxons, the population of Britons was still sizable. Even before they were treated as second class citizens, receiving lesser rations and unfair treatment, but now, they were almost thrown out of the city. The soldiers stationed in the city treated them as potential traitors, and some even vented their frustrations on them.
This caused retaliation from the Britons, small acts of sabotage that quickly started to accumulate. In a week, the city devolved into an open factional conflict, divided into districts based on stance and position. And, due to our movements outside the walls, the lord couldn't spare his soldiers to pacify the city, resulting in the situation getting worse day by day. In such a state, it was only a matter of time before something broke.
And something did break. On a certain morning, a noble knight known for his promiscuity and abuse of women was found dead in a bed of a red-light district, his neck sliced. This fully escalated the conflict in the city; it was no longer some petty squabble between low-born peasants, now a noble was dead. The whole city was forced on lock down until the perpetrator was found, but days passed, and no clues were even uncovered.
As the tensions mounted, we also started our attacks, using trebuchets to start shelling the walls. The regular impacts of stones destroyed what peace remained inside. And then, most likely in an attempt to frame the Britons, a group of soldiers lit a fire in one of the empty grain storages, trying to make it look like sabotage. But they miscalculated, forgetting about the fact that this place was also used to store flour before.
In the evening hour, an explosion erupted in the city, caused by the ignition of the dust remaining in the silo. In the chaos, part of the knights thought that we had already breached the city, so they organized their units to stage a breakthrough out of the city, and due to the lord being occupied by the explosion, no one noticed their actions before it was too late.
They opened one of the gates and rushed out, only to be captured by Margaret's cavalry minutes later. After noticing that they had made a serious mistake, they quickly surrendered, but what was done was done. Cellinia didn't give the defenders time to rectify this unexpected defection, capturing the gate with Mageknights as soon as she received news of it opening, allowing our army to enter the city.
Inside, the aftermath of the explosion became obvious, the fires spreading out while people tried their best to run, few caring for the injured behind them. I flew into the air, finding the enemy lord in the middle of organizing rescue and firefighting efforts. I landed next to him, causing him to look at me with tired eyes.
-"Your Excellency Justiciar."-He greeted me.
-"Some of your knights deserted, opening one of the gates to run. Our army is in the city."-I informed him directly.
-"Sigh. We'll capitulate."
-"Good. Order your soldiers to throw weapons away. I'll make sure no unarmed person is harmed. We'll move to assist in the rescue after confirming our safety."
-"Thank you for your generosity."
So soon, rather than fighting with the city defenders, our army worked hand in hand with them to save people and stop the spread of fire. Shining's healers quickly became the core of the rescue, healing everyone in need, without care of their origin or belonging. I meanwhile focused on controlling the weather, using rain to fight the fire.
The blaze burned for the whole two days before it was brought under control, destroying a third of the city. A total of ~10,000 people died there, most civilians caught in the fire, but around ~300 were soldiers and knights had also perished, casualties during the rescue. The scale of the tragedy was enough to place it close to the top of the most deadly events in the war, losing only to the massacre and illnesses appearing here and there. But the fire was only the beginning of the troubles that were about to happen.
With the city destroyed to such a degree, it lost most of its strategic value, causing us to decide whether to retreat or push forward, hoping to capture some smaller fort to hold for the winter. In the end, I decided to take over a small highway fort a few miles from the city of Lincoln. When we arrived there, we found it abandoned, so we settled in before the first snow fell.
King Rience divided his force between a few cities and forts, each not further than two days of travel away. Yet, before I could even start getting into some research, my Spectral Hawks observed that his forces started to make unnatural moves, setting out further north while leaving us south. It was obvious that he had finally decided to make his move against me.
He moved the whole way back to York, where he tried to capture Mostima, only to find her gone days before he arrived, but that was not the only thing missing. Aside from the bare minimum, almost all grain storages were empty, leaving enough food for the remaining people in the city to survive, but definitely not enough to feed his remaining force of ~4,000.
Then came the news from his fiefdom: a rebellion against King Arthur had erupted, one led by his close supporters, but was in fact orchestrated by Morgan and Mostima behind everyone's back. This, in addition to the fact of his secret negotiations with Vortigern's forces, was enough for us to brand him a traitor.
His letters were courtesy of my contact with Vortigern, but they weren't a free gift. Five years. This was a price I had to pay. For the next five years, my forces won't step on the Anglo-Saxon land, leaving Artoria alone on that front. But I accepted this deal, knowing that King Rience wasn't going to surrender peacefully, so the next five years might be full of internal conflict rather than an external one.
And King Rience didn't disappoint on the field. Understanding that he was set up, he doubled down and officially rose in rebellion, forcing a winter march back to his lands, abandoning all the terrain we captured over the past two years. This forced King Urien to send his people to take over defending the southern part of the front, stretching him thin over the two long fronts.
But the forced winter march was all but safe. King Rience's forces, adding the soldiers and knights dispersed around the York territory, amounted to little over 5,000 people, but by the time they arrived in Wales, only ~3,500 remained. The rest either deserted or were abandoned on the way due to illness or injury. But, back in his territory, King Rience conscripted more than 10,000 peasants into service, bolstering his ranks.
But those people weren't loyal, had no armor or good weapons, and most used farming tools. They only fought because of the fear of execution that awaited deserters and traitors. But it wasn't his army that caused the most impact on the war; it was food. Wales was a major food production region for loyalists; now that it rebelled, the food shortage became and immediate issue.
Morgan's territory was mostly barren, so King Urien's lands had to supply the whole northern front on its own. King Leodegrance's lands were enough to sustain Artoria's forces, but there was no surplus, making securing the logistical lines our top priority. And this was my first task.
Rallying up ~1,500 new recruits and conscripts, I equipped them with crossbows from Terra, far beyond what existed in Britain at the moment, and made them escorts of our transports. And they quickly proved how necessary this was, as in just the last month of winter, rebels attacked more than twenty food transports.
While we sadly lost ~100 people and three of the said transports, the guards using the better crossbows managed to kill at least 400 people, defending the remaining transports successfully. But those were just probing attacks, as now that spring had arrived once again, the real rebellion would erupt.
With my forces under 2,000, defeating King Rience's >10,000 army was a pipe dream, but defending a fortified position wasn't impossible. And there was a perfect location for that, Gloucester. A city where the River Sever widens into the Bristol Channel, the gateway between Wales and Cameliard.
I arrived in the city along with my 300 personal army and 500 of the new recruits, leaving the remaining ~1000 to guard the logistics. But shortly after settling in, it became obvious that there was much to work on before this city could prevent Rience from moving further.