As he stepped past the gate, he entered the garden. A path led up to a series of black boxes, which people had placed their medallions on to access. The doors opened and they stepped inside.
A fight broke out between two contestants as they were fighting over the same booth. A woman dropped from the sky, trouncing the offender. In just three hits, she had subdued the alchemist and dragged him away.
The other alchemist looked pale as they numbly put their medallion into the booth and quickly entered.
Erik was one of the slower ones and moved to the booths off to the side. He took out his medallion and placed it into the slot.
The runes lit up and the door opened.
Erik stepped inside to find a seat and a desk with a rack of books. The space at the back of the desk was a screen: Read the ingredient books. When you have finished and you are confident, you may challenge the ingredient test.
“Ingredient book?” Erik said in an excited voice as he pulled down a book and opened it.
The pages were filled with information.
He began reading and going through them. It was a few hours later that he sat back with a sour expression on his face.
As he had been reading, his Alchemy Book had been updated, the information stored in the back of his mind. The problem was that the old information that he had was filled with flaws. The technique and information books from the lower realms had a number of discrepancies that had led him down the wrong path.
“When acquiring new information, one can’t just blindly believe others as they might have the wrong information too. You have to get information from multiple sources, cross-reference it and then once it tests out and works, you can move forward. They have used something similar to the scientific method, but unlike Earth where the scientific method is widespread, information in the Ten Realms is limited and few people are willing to share it to those they know, let alone strangers.” Erik shook his head.
“Something I need to make sure doesn’t happen in Alva Dungeon.”
He continued reading through the book and opened up other books, using them to cross-reference one another. His knowledge of some ingredients had been sorely lacking, needing to rely on his own deductions and the few books he had obtained previously.
Now with books on hundreds of ingredients, instead of being daunted, he was excited. Knowing more ingredients, in the future he might be able to substitute them for one another or even make new concoctions.
If he did not have the Journeyman-level ability of the Alchemy Book, he knew that more than half of the information would be wasted. With it being saved in his Alchemy Book, once it was learned, he couldn’t forget it if he wanted to.
Chapter Luring With Threats
General Tabur listened to Captain Yesun. Her words were cutting and vicious. She had been sent ahead with a scouting group to learn about the Alva Healing House to confirm all of their information.
“Lord Aditya kicked you and the remaining scouting party out of Vermire?” General Tabur asked.
“Yes, sir. Lord Aditya’s man sent a message on his behalf.”
Tabur could hear the rising anger in Yesun’s voice.
“What was it?” he asked. Yesun was a good officer, but since she had gained her position and the Zatan Confederation had grown in power, she looked down on anyone who was not Zatan, thinking of them just weak old regional powers that would be cleared out by the confederation in time. She was a scout sending him back information but she had not been part of the battles, thinking that they were easily won. Tabur had been in those battles and he knew the truth: the older nations had not only built up an incredible wealth over time, but to continue existing they had powerful members who could secure their rule. The longer a group existed, the more powerful trump cards they could purchase or secure to continue the length of their rule.
If the Zatan Confederation pushed too hard, too fast, then they might be willing to use those trump cards to teach them a lesson.
Tabur sunk into thought. With Lord Aditya saying that he will back the Alva Healing House, it is clear that they will not let them go peacefully.
“Has he made any moves?” Tabur asked.
“He sent out a recruitment notice for mercenaries. There are a number of people coming from outlying outposts toward Vermire,” Yesun said.
In other places, it might take weeks or months for kingdoms and counties to pull in strength, but these are outposts around the Beast Mountain Range. There are thousands of parties and people who risk their lives all the time in the Beast Mountain Range. For an easy payout, they’d happily head to Vermire.
“What kind of numbers?” Tabur asked, feeling a headache coming on.
“We’ve seen about three thousand in the first day, with more coming in every day. The one restriction is that people have to be at least level seven.”
Level seven? Just what kind of gold does Lord Aditya have? We need to end this quickly before he is able to get more reinforcements. The kingdom Carteia and Fayeport empire are fighting it out; the Scormm county and Rahir kingdom are in talks, which could go either way. Another battle is brewing. As they look to consolidate their power and come for us, we need to take this time to raise healers. He knew that he had to reduce the losses to Zatan’s military. They were easily dealt with problems, but they simply didn’t have the resources, connections, and people to do so.
Although he was annoyed with the gathering of mercenaries, at the end of the day they were just that—mercenaries. He had a trained army at his back.
He had hoped that the healing house would accept the deal. It was a good one and it would have ended things quickly. Now he had to resort to violence.
“What are their defenses like? I need to know everything,” Tabur said, coming to a decision. If he couldn’t get them through negotiations, he had to use force. Hopefully Lord Aditya would listen to reason. Just seeing a massive army outside his gates might change his mind. But if he turned stubborn, then Tabur needed to know his enemy’s weaknesses and how to take down the city and complete his objective.
He pulled out a map. The Vermire Trading Outpost was shaped kind of like a kidney bean. On one side, there was a divot and the opposite side curved out. The side that curved out pointed toward the Beast Mountain Range, while the road connecting the rest of the world met on the divot side of the trading outpost.
The trees around the outpost had been cut back five hundred meters and the outpost sat on a slight rise, looking down at the approaches. The road coming from the outside world was in a depression coming toward the gates, giving the defenders greater height advantage.
At one side of the bean was the residences for those who lived in the city; at the center was the lord’s manor. Across the other side, the roads had been laid out in a grid, with stables against the wall leading to the outside world, then the market and trading areas over a few streets before it reached the taverns and seedier inns that lay against the wall leading out to the Beast Mountain Range.
The healing house was with the crafting buildings, located in part of the residence section circled with charcoal.
“I was only able to get a bit of information. Mostly I have been relying on traders to bring back information. The walls are three meters thick with a height of twenty meters, to defeat the beasts. This goes all around the city.
“There are four hundred guards owned by Lord Aditya. All of them have the best equipment and training. Most of them are over level twelve. They have also been healed by the Alva Healing House, so their strength is greater than before. They have absolute loyalty toward their lord. They were all wounded or left behind and he looked after them, found them a place. They are trained with ranged and close combat to shoot from the walls or on the ground. There are only twelve mages in the guard’s ranks but many of them have a few quick spells to use.
“There are only two gates in and out of the city, but they are large. They have been made from ironwood from the Beast Mountain Range and they have
iron gates that they can drop to block off access. It is one of the few times I would suggest we scale the walls instead of being bled at the gates.
“Stationary weapons and emplacements, not too sure—some think that there are ballistas and other weapons that they have that are long range. I would be prepared for this but there is nothing rock-solid on this. They don’t have a cavalry force; the guards fight on foot.
“The mercenaries are drunks but they have been fighting in the Beast Mountain Range. Like the guards, their strength is going to be greater than regular soldiers. With enough money on the line, they’ll do nearly anything. Tactical spells and scrolls—I’m not sure but Vermire is one of the strongest trading outposts in the Beast Mountain Range, through a combination of alliances and Aditya’s reputation. He might only have one leg but he is supposedly a powerful fighter. The different trading houses and bars all have their security staff, but they will likely be looking out for looters during the battle and as long as we assure them that we will not attack them, then they will leave us to the fight.”
She might be biased but her information was in-depth.
“So, we don’t know much at all,” Tabur said sarcastically, sighing.
Yesun flinched at his assessment. When the Zatan had been taking over towns and villages all the way up to cities, they would cut off the people from any reinforcements and supplies, yes, but they would also have their own spies and people working inside the walls to incite anger in the population—burning food supplies, opening the gates, assassinating powerful figures: all of this together allowed them to weaken their enemy before ever meeting them in battle.
They had a time constraint and it would be nearly impossible to create unrest in Vermire. Lord Aditya was firm but fair; the mercenaries were happy to fight as long as they were paid; the guards were loyal.
If I could drag it out, I would target their food and drink.
Tabur let out a deep sigh. He would need to take Vermire head on.
“I need a victory, something that makes it look like Vermire isn’t that strong, something that would make the mercenaries think that it would be a bad idea to join their side. They are just a city, so trying to get them to come out and beat them on the ground is out of the question. The land is rough and they will have the advantage, much like how we had the advantage against the older kingdoms.” He leaned forward on the table and looked at the map.
“Yesun, how many people do you think that he can gather in five days?”
“Fifteen to twenty thousand,” she snapped off.
“Twenty thousand added to the ten thousand fighters they already have and the four hundred large elite guard force. We will need at least one hundred thousand troops to attack them effectively. We only have a few mages and our fighters are mostly level seven and eight, with our elites being level ten—only a few level elevens. If we want to dominate and scare them, we will need to do it with numbers.” He quickly pulled up a number of messages and reports on his table, looking over the information. He got reports from all of the forces that were watching the other groups around the Zatan Confederation. The confederation had a total of four hundred thousand soldiers. The more soldiers he had, the more effective they would be when facing the outpost. That was how he reached the base one hundred thousand number.
“I can get another fifty thousand from the other forces that are watching the borders. The Barcino kingdom and the Tacolod kingdom are licking their wounds from the last fight we had. Then, with the other kingdoms fighting and in talks, that should give us a few weeks to clear this up and then we can push our people back into place. Movement wise, it should take us five days to collect everyone if we use caravans to bring in the reinforcements and rush them to the front.”
It only showed the power that healers wielded as Tabur didn’t even think about the movements. If he could get those healers, then he could bring another sixty thousand soldiers who had been wounded in the fighting back to the battlefield, increasing their strength rapidly. The soldiers already had bad morale over the fact that they needed to raid their neighbors to get their healing supplies for themselves.
This would be like adding wings to a tiger: they could bring forth massive strength and continue to forge ahead, caring less about their wounds and sanitary conditions.
“Keep me updated on any changes,” he said to Yesun. He used his sound transmission device to pass out orders to the different generals and commanders, getting their forces moving.
***
General Tabur was not the only person having meetings.
“I thank you all for agreeing to meet with me,” Lord Aditya said to his guests, who were all sitting around the meeting table. They were men and women with sharp eyes and smiles that hid their true emotions.
Being around them, Aditya felt as if he had entered a pit of wolves. Instead of being scared, his smile only became stronger.
“Your invitation was most interesting,” Lady Concordia said with a serpent-like smile before she drank from her glass.
Aditya merely smiled at her words as he pulled out several pieces of paper, holding them up. The maid came over and took them, passing them out to each of the people around the table.
They looked at the reports and information contained within.
“These are the locations of all the Zatan Confederation outposts as well as supply caches,” Lord Nuzif said, a note of surprise in his voice as he and the others all looked at Lord Aditya with more interest.
“General Tabur has sent word to the other generals and commanders. They are moving their forces to come and attack little old me,” Aditya said.
“This last page is an agreement—a temporary alliance to deal with the Zatan Confederation.” Lord Uvrisu’s voice turned dark.
“Yes. I felt it would be best if a neutral party coordinated that. You all have your own issues with one another, but this is an opportunity to deal a heavy blow to the thorn called Zatan Confederation. General Tabur will draw one hundred and fifty thousand of his soldiers over to Vermire, leaving just two hundred and fifty thousand to defend the confederation. With the cover of ‘disputes’ with the kingdom Carteia and Fayeport empire fighting over a mining town and the Scormm county and Rahir kingdom having a talk, it gives us the cover to move forces around. Each of these nations have some of the fastest and strongest scouts and cavalry. Once Tabur is underway, they will move to engage the assigned outposts and cut off communication back to the confederation, allowing the heavier siege militaries to move in and reclaim the land that you’ve lost.”
The other men and women looked at one another. They had been opposite each other on bloody battlefields, but now they would be putting their strength together to deal with the Zatan Confederation. If they were able to pull it off, their standing in their own countries would rise.
“I agree to these conditions. With a neutral party creating the battle plan, it removes any possible mistakes. When would the attack begin?” Lord Nuzif asked.
“In six days, just after Vermire has engaged Tabur’s forces and brought them into battle. It will make them slower to respond,” Aditya said in full confidence, getting looks from the others around the table as they assessed his strength. It showed that he had skin in the game as well as made the others feel more confident moving forward. Although they had everything to gain, Aditya would be in the tiger’s mouth.
They all held a greater respect in their eyes.
“All of this for a healing house?” Lady Concordia asked with a light voice. Her eyes slid over to Aditya.
“While I do like having a healing house around, I just don’t like people trying to take things from me. And I saw it as a way for me to thank each of your countries for trading with me,” Aditya said with a refreshing smile, even as his eyes were cold.
“The Fayeport empire agrees to these terms.” The first lady spoke.
It wasn’t long until the rest of the lords and ladies agreed to the plan.
Aditya smiled as they sign
ed the contract, linking them to the deal. If they broke it, they would need to pay Vermire one hundred Mana stones. With the rarity of Mana stones in the First Realm, a Mortal Mana stone, if auctioned off, could sell for fifteen hundred gold. Using the Mana stone would allow a half dozen people from the First Realm to increase their Mana Gathering Cultivation and allow them the power to step up into the Second Realm with ease.
Breaking the contract was not only a large financial burden but also a large resource burden, as Mana stones could be used to power nearly any formation and assist in cultivation, crafting, and more.
With the contract created and the Ten Realms witnessing it, they were now all bound to one another.
***
Special Team One and Two were in the briefing room, as well as four other regular parties as Blaze entered the room. They all stood, with Roska saluting Blaze.
“Sit,” he said as he returned the salute.
Everyone did so as he pulled out a piece of paper and placed it on the lectern.
First of all, he got them all up to date on everything that had happened in Vermire, from the movements that Aditya had coordinated to the visit from Yesun and their threat.
They had heard most of the matters already but silently listened to anything that they might have forgotten.
“As we speak, an army under the command of the Zatan Confederation is moving toward Vermire. General Tabur is leading an army of ninety thousand, but other reinforcements are being rushed to him on horses and through multiple supply routes from other fronts.
“Special teams!” Blaze’s words made the special teams snap to attention.
“Your mission will be to infiltrate the Zatan Confederation, to eliminate generals as well as the upper echelons. Here are a list of potential targets.” Blaze pulled out a collection of papers and passed it to Roska. She and Storbon opened it and started to look through it.
“The remaining four parties, you will be combined together into a singular fighting force. Lieutenant Chen will be in charge. You will be assisting the forces at Vermire. Your target will be to eliminate General Tabur, Scout Yesun, and the leadership, and render silent aid to the Vermire forces.”
The Third Realm Page 36