The Mechanical Era

Corel marches his beaten army into Tyrol. He, like Danial, had suffered immense defeat against Rose's musketeer forces. As they march in the streets, the people, who were busy with their own lives, turned around to take a look.

They saw their clothes and armor riddled with holes, with the peasant infantry covered in dirt and mud, all slowly marching with their heads pointed to the ground, as if they suffered disgrace. The knights, who usually looked high and mighty, appeared gloomy and depressed.

Whispers started to roam around the entire city of its curious citizens. What had happened that caused such a defeat, and where was the previous king, who took off from the city? The army stops at the town square and dismembers so that everyone could go eat, sleep, or take a bath.

Corel went inside the palace and got out of his runic suit of armor. He took a quick bath and swapped into some formal purple robes. Once he is dressed up, he roamed around the halls, asking around the servants, until he found the room where he found Salvatore present.

He appeared to drink himself to death, as the nice wooden table had a tall wine-glass cup on top, next to 2 large bottles of wine, with one of them empty, and the other half full. Corel enters the room, grabbing Salvatore's attention.

"Mind if I have some?" Corel asked. Salvator turned around to see a sweaty Corel, tired and gloomy as him.

"Be my guest," Salvatore replied in a slightly drunk tone. He got the maid to deliver another glass, with another bottle. Corel took the bottle himself and poured the wine into his tall wine glass. He then sat down and drank a bit from the cup.

"Mmmm... 120 years?"

"134."

"Ah. I see. So... you faced those things as well?"

"Yes. Those... weird weapons. I am not sure what the hell they were, but they sure were powerful."

"You got any idea to counteract them?"

"No clue. I am waiting for Danial. He hasn't seem to have arrived yet. Speaking of which, where the hell is that stupid bastard? I wonder where he is..." Salvatore replied, slightly drunk.

"He is not here?"

"If he was, I would have been drinking myself with him."

Corel looked at his glass of wine and shook it around, causing the wine to make a tornado inside. Just then, a realization hit him. His eyebrows raised, and he nearly dropped his glass. He keeps it down and turns to Salvatore once again.

"Salvatore, did you happen to face Rose Valine?"

"No, did you?"

"No. Do you think that maybe..."

"Maybe what?" Salvatore asked, with his voice slightly louder. He took another jug from his wine glass

"That he might have been caught?" Salvatore immediately stopped drinking from his cup. He placed the glass down and thought hard about it. He then turned to face Corel in the eyes, and eyes his eyebrows in realization.

"Oh... shit. You might be right. What do we do?"

"Well, I think the first thing we should send a message to Malinda and our wives about the situation. The carrier pigeons should work fine."

"Alright. Alright. Maid? MAID!" Salvatore screamed. A maid quickly came inside the room after hearing his slightly drunk screams.

"Bring us a stack of paper sheets and... and a quill! Got it?"

"Yes, your highness. I will be on my way," she replied. With that, the maid left the room. Corel looked at Salvatore.

"Say, I think it would be best if I was to write the letters," Corel suggested.

"Why so?" Salvatore asked. His eyes were getting a little heavier.

ραпdα nᴏνa| сom "Because you are half-drunk, you bastard. We don't want to mess this up."

"Alright... Alright... I hear you." The room entered a period of silence as the two continued to wait for the maid to arrive. It was just then that the half-drunk Salvatore remembered.

"Say, what about Hoverdam?" he asked Corel.

"What about Hoverdam?"

"Shouldn't we send a letter to the minister there?" he suggested. Corel turned his head to maintain eye contact.

"Oh, would you look at that? You CAN think straight." Corel replied while touching his shoulder, forming a slight smile.

"But yes, we should. Good call my friend. I nearly forgot."

The maid eventually brings in them the sheets of paper, the quill, and the bottle of ink. Corel, after taking one piece of paper, started writing down a letter to inform them of the difficulties they face, the new weapons the enemy possesses, and that Danial is missing.

Once they finished, they attached it to a pigeon and sent them off. The letters eventually made their way to respective recipients, especially Malinda, who received the letters about 2 days later. Malinda was busy training alongside Kristina in her runic suit of armor.

A maid came over to deliver the message. Wanting to focus on her training, she ordered the maid to read it out loud. However, as the letter spilled out the disturbing contents, Malinda requested the maid to hand the letter to read it herself.

Malinda read the letter quietly, focusing mainly on the first part; the one that detailed her husband's disappearance and the probability that he could have been captured by the enemy. She then walked up to Kristina and told her to read it.

"His majesty is missing?" Kristina asks.

"Yes. I am afraid so. He sent a letter to Corel and Salvatore to meet at Tyrol, but he himself hasn't shown up. They fear that he might have been caught," Malinda replied in a worry some tone. Kristina read the letter herself, focusing mainly on the enemy's weapon.

"They are using a firearm," Kristina commented coldly. Malinda looked up from the ground to Kristina, her face all confused.

"I beg your pardon?" Kristina turned to face the queen.

"Your majesty, I think I know what weapon they are using," Kristina claims. Malinda's eyebrows raise in surprise.

"You do? How do you know?" Malinda questions, wiping off some little tears on her face.

"According to the description in this letter, I think we might be dealing with a gun or firearm. Prince Kant invented one last month, and demonstrated its capacity."

"Was that the weapon you informed me about in a previous letter?"

"Yes, your highness. Their weapon uses this... powder. They probably light it up in some way. In Prince Kant's case, it was the use of flint. There could be a similar system to their firearms.

The large metal barrels might as well be just a bigger gun, operating under the same principles," Kristina explained while Malinda listened in carefully.

"I see... Did he tell anyway to counter it?" Malinda questions Kristina.

"Let me think..." Kristina replied. She had her hands holding her chin. As she recollected the events of what happened, she remembers a few things.

"I got it!" she suddenly speaks with a snap.

"From what I know, there are two weaknesses of firearms, at least in his prototype. First, they cannot operate once the weapon is moist. A powerful water spell that rains over the enemy could disable them.

Because of the moisture, the powder cannot be properly activated, and so the projectile, or the bullet, cannot be fired."

"And the second one?"

"From what I remember, this weakness would apply if the gun barrel is 'rifled' or not. Considering that the letter states they fight in packed formations, firing timed volleys, I assume that their guns are smoothbore.

Smoothbore weapons are highly inaccurate. So the best way to counter that is to spread out as much as we could. This way, even if they do fire, they would be hitting fewer targets overall, and we would have a higher chance of victory." Kristina replied.

"That... that is good! Quick, we must write a letter informing them at once. Who knows when they will strike!"

"Yes, your majesty. We should."

...

Meanwhile, as Kristina and Malinda went off to write a letter, Rose places her spyglass on her eye. She focused on getting a good view of the city below, surrounded by a circular wall. Although there may have been some delays, she had managed to march forward, taking any city she confronted easily.

With the 1st brigade to the south of the city, with the 3rd and 4th brigades to the east and west, she planned on taking the city. From there, she was to encircle and capture the other two kings with ease, allowing her to initiate the second phase of her plan. That is to send the signal to take over the main cities.

She turned to the messengers that arrived from the 3rd and 4th brigades. They informed her that the siege could begin once she gives the signal. Feeling she should at least let them surrender, she sent over a messenger, informing them about her proposal, and what would happen if they refuse.