Chapter 8: One and a half year later

It has been a year and six months since my father led our troops to war and had me governed our territory. I'm much taller now, although I'm only 9 years old, my height has reached 1,6 meters already, the average height of men here in Iceland is 1,85 meters, which is quite impressive when I know about it. I'm relaxing in a chair in my office, reading my new book, Tactics in medieval warfare. Although Sun Tzu's Art of War is a masterpiece, I only understand a small part of his world so I need a new book to help me develop my plan in military affairs.

Lazily lying beside me is Alpha, the black wolf I saved in my trial, he has grown bigger than the size of a Husky on Earth. I name three other wolves as Beta, Gamma, and Delta. I believe right now they are playing somewhere in the castle yard, my men are quite unfamiliar with them at first but with their regular existence, four wolves have become important members of our castle. They are very cute, right? Although sometimes, they are naughty and tease the maids, they are always forgiven for their cuteness.

Put the book on the table, I check the report of the development in my territory last year. With the appearance of high-quality paper on the market, our income has grown dramatically. Although the money used in maintaining schools and my new-recruit troops is high, I still have spare money since, in the past year, many merchants have come to our land to trade. I believe Neverwinter is now the biggest trading city in the Alleinstein Kingdom now.

In terms of the military, our army size has grown to 5500 men. There are 3000 spearmen, 500 heavy shock cavalries, 700 archers, 1000 katana swordsmen and 300 knights who acted as commanders and my bodyguards. I train my spearmen to fight in formations, especially shield walls or phalanx. I considered arming them similar to Macedonian pikemen at first, but in Iceland, most of the land are hills so using pike is not ideal. Instead, a spearman is armed with heavy armour, a 2.3-meter spear, a wooden kite shield reinforced by a layer of iron, and a short sword as a secondary weapon. Although their phalanx is not as strong as that of pikemen, they'll fight more efficiently in Iceland's terrain.

Heavy shock calvaries have long lances and ride the our best horses. I arm them with heater shields, heavy armours, and swords as secondary weapons. Shock cavalry is always a dangerous unit in every medieval warfare; however, the terrain here is mostly hills so I just choose the best riders inside my new recruits to create 500 elite cavalries.

Archers wear light armours and use daggers as their secondary weapons as usual. I just replace their main weapon with Japanese longbows, which I believe will deal a huge blow to my enemies.

Finally are katana swordmen, my trump card. They wear samurai armour and use katanas to fight enemies. Samurai armour gives protection not as much as heavy armour, but more than medium armour and it is much lighter. Katana is one-edged sharp only, but if used properly, they can cut iron like cutting meat. So I choose the best fighters, train them to use katanas. I believe if using properly, these katana swordmen can bring fear and horror to my enemies.

Why still deep in thought, a man rush inside my room without knocking on the door and shout:

- Milord, our scouts spot an army of Beastmen heading toward us from the Abandon Forest.

I look at the man, his name is Kruger, a man who has extraordinary skill with spears. I discover his talent a year ago and I assign him as one of my closest bodyguards. Sometimes, he makes me think of the Red Viper in the Games of Thrones series while observing his training. He is not the kind of man who makes jokes about a matter like this. So I stand up immediately and ask him:

- How many are they and how long will they reach us?

- According to the scouts, there must be more than 15000 Beastmen, we only have about an hour to prepare.

- Raise the alarm, let the citizens to get into the inner city, inform Charles so that he can let soldiers be ready to fight. Moreover, get all archers and bring all of oil barrels to the wall.NOW!!

- Yes, Lord Ivar.

He rushes out of my room immediately. About 10 minutes later, I hear the sounds of bells ringing. I start to dress my armour- the type of samurai amour designed for generals. The only difference is the symbol of our house: a shied crossed by a bow, a sword, and a spear in blue theme. Dress quickly, I get out of the office with Alpha following me. The servants have prepared the chariot for me, I found other wolves and with their accompany, I ride to the northern gate.

When I get there, Charles and several commanders have already been commanding their troops to get in position . I see archers are getting on the wall carrying their bow and oil barrel. Get on the wall, I look toward the Abandon Forest, from here, I can see the dust from the Beastmen marching.

About 20 minutes later, the army comes insight. Exactly as the scouts say, there are at least 15000 of them. They mostly are orcs, which looks similar to the orcs in Lord of the Rings. Mixed in them, I see orcs riding taoties, they must be their calvaries. Huge trolls with 4 meters tall and 2,5 meters minotaurs are mixed in them. They all have poor armours and shields but their huge axes and halberds give me unpleasant feelings.

Charles and Kruger get beside me and say:

- Milord, our men have got in position.

- Order arches to be ready to fire, aim at those huge beasts first, we can not let them get closed to our men.

- ARCHERS, READY! AIM AT HUGE BEASTS!!!

Archers start to draw bows and aim at the enemies. If they charge toward us, I'll order to fire immediately. However, not as I expect, the Beastmen start to form battle formation about 500 meters from the city. A group of orcs rides forward, one of them wear distinguished amour and a crown, so he must be the leader of this army. They ride forward to about 250 meters from the city and then shout:

- HIGH CHIEFTAIN KURSK ORDER THE COMMANDER OF THIS CITY TO GET OF THE WALL AND MEET HIM!!!

Hearing those world, I get off the wall and head toward my chariot; Charles and Kruger advise me not to go out since this can be a kind of trap. However, I know that although Beastmen are feared for their thirst for wars, they are an honorable warrior race and never use sneaky tricks to defeat their enemies.

Ride out of the gate with four wolves and about 30 knights riding behind me, I meet the Beastmen's army's leader, who is called Kursk. He rides his taoties forward and speaks:

- I have an army of 17000 strong warriors in my army. Bend your kneel and order your men to surrender, and I will give you mercy. Or else, if we get into the city, we'll kill you all.

- Only "if you can get into the city". I, the protector of this land, order you to lead your army back to where you belong and I'll spare your lives.

-YOU FUCKING LOWLY ARROGANT HUMAN!! I SWEAR IF I FIND YOU ON THE BATTLEFIELD, I'LL TEAR YOU APART AND DRINK THE BLOOD OF YOUR MEN.

- Enough threatening, you say too many "if". I will lot surrender this city to you. If you want it, come and take it from me.

To angry to talk back, the orc and his guards ride back to their men. I ride back to Neverwinter and order my men ready to fight. And just like that, the first battle of my life in this world begins.

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Men will discuss about this battle long after it finishes. A battle when a 9-year-old child commands an army and defeats a 3 times larger one. This battle is the first page of Iver the Great Emperor's tale when he expressed his talents in leadership and tactics. A small page in a thousand-page-long legendary story.