Planning and Invasion.

'I managed to sign a piece treaty with Asvarre after I captured the giant city Maliayo. I knew that Asvarre is the main superpower in the continent, they could probably raise another 100,000 men as easily as the first one, so I bribed the Queen who has the King as her little puppet. She is an interesting woman who only cares about riches and power. She couldn't give two craps about the country, so I offered a couple tons of gold, that I got from the nobles that I pillaged when I invaded Brune, and she sent a messenger with the simple offer: leave Maliayo and we shall sign a piece treaty. To this, I just complied. With a little twist, though. I took all of the population and all of the resources.

What they got was a simple ghost town. While I gained over 300,000 citizens, they kept their city. They should be happy, after all, I didn't burn the city to the ground, even if I had thought about it. However, I don't want another army after me. My supplies are growing shorter and shorter, I barely have enough to feed my army for another week, and while the grain that I got in Maliayo helped, I now have another 300,000 to feed, so I had no choice but to retreat and give most of the territory that I captured back to Asvarre.

Well, I left them just the land, the true resources are in my hands, I made sure that I left nothing behind... I'm lying. I left a couple of nobles impaled at the entrance of each city. I knew that the subjects of Asvarre were quite enraged by that, however, the King still ordered to sign the piece treaty, with the queen whispering in his ears the correct words, it was impossible for him not to. In the end, we managed to sign a piece treaty of 2 years between Brune and Asvarre.

In the West, Roland managed to defeat the Sachstein army, and the Muozinels retreated shortly after. They had over 100,000 men and the King marched to their location with an army of at least 40,000 troops. If he reunited with the Duke of Nemetacum's army, then they would have around the same number as the Muozinels, the commander, Kureys Shahim Balamir, didn't want to take the risk, that is why he retreated.

With that, the Kingdom of Brune reached peace. It has been over a year since these events. I was treated as a hero by the people of Brune, even though I was the one who started the war. This is the wonders of propaganda, you start spreading the word through every city, and most of the population of Brune believes in it. It is to be expected, after all, most of the population of Brune doesn't know how to read or write, so they believe in everything they hear.

Shiro became one of the most influential nobles in Brune. Not only as the sister of the King of the mountains, but also as the benevolent ruler that cared for its people. The taxes that Shiro ensued on the population were the lowest in the nation, and possibly in the continent, she also created schools for everyone. It doesn't matter your background, you are allowed to go to school. She constructed huge roads from every city to the capital in the mountain. All the roads lead to the capital. This made commerce easier and the lives of the merchants easier aswell. This is what it looked like in the surface. In reality, those roads are meant for armies to go through them, and for supplies to pass easier.

When I first invaded Brune, I noticed something. Their road networks were terrible, and it made mobility hard for both huge armies and supplies. I spent the entire year making sure that the next time I marched through there, I would have enough supplies for at least 3 months of campaigning. In total, my population is now over 1.5 million, and I have an army of 150,000.' I analyzed my moves in this past year.

I am currently in my capital with Machi being next to me, together with Shizuku and Pakunoda.

"What is your next step?" Machi asked.

"What do you mean? I am already King, why should I aim for something else?" I inquired.

"Being King is not enough for you." Shizuku commented.

"Fufufufufufu. You know me well, too well. I have been preparing for an invasion of Zhcted." I told them.

"If I remember correctly, Zhcted is the nation that has the Vanadis." Machi commented.

I nodded. "Between the north of Brune and the north of Zhcted there is the dinant plains, do you know why Brune has never stepped on their lands?"

"Because the strongest Vanadis, Alexandra Alshavin, rules those lands." Machi said.

"Yes that is one of the factors, however, she is sick, so she is not that much of a threat. In 3 years she will die at most. But the biggest problem in that, is the impregnable fortress that separates Brune from Zhcted. The fortress is called Babel and it has never been breached." I explained.

"You can just destroy the walls yourself." Machi said.

"I could, but where is the fun in that?! We will take it without losing a single soldier! That is the objective." I announced. 'While I could destroyed the walls myself, I am not sure of how strong Alexandra Alshavin truly is. She is the strongest Vanadis, she might be at least as strong as a Ultimate Class Devil. If what Nyar said is true, and the Vanadis are stronger than normal, then she might my equal, or even stronger. I'm curious.' I turned to Pakunoda and Shizuku. "I am sorry, you are going to have to stay behind again. I cannot entrust this precious capital that we built together, to no one. My Generals will all be needed somewhere else, I need capable ministers, however, getting them is easier said than done."

"Don't worry about it. If it is your order, then I will obey." Shizuki said.

"Huff. I will compensate you." I shook my head.

"This is all well and fine, but how do you plan on getting through the north-east of Brune? That part is still ruled by Ganelon, if I remember correctly, you mentioned that Ganelon is actually a demon disguised as a human. Will he really just allow you to cross through his lands?" Pakunoda interrupted.

"Who said anything about going across his lands? I will go around it. I will go through the Villecresnes Plains and through Alsace." I said.

"Is the Earl of Alsace going to let you go through his lands?" Pakunoda inquired.

"Fufufufu. It is not like he has a saying on it. I will just go through them, if he has anything to say about it, then he can just fight me in the battlefield. The only reason why I don't go through Ganelon's lands, is because I still need him for my plans. After all, he is the one that is going to poison the King." I explained.

They just nodded.

"When is it that you are going to attack?" Machi questioned.

"In the Vanadis annual meeting. Every single year there is a meeting in which all the Vanadis attend, to report to their King about the current status of their territories. This meeting normaly takes 7 days to take place, in these 7 days their lands are going to be unprotected, and that is where we will strike. However, we won't do it alone. It is time for us to get some help from our good friend."

(King Viktor of Zhcted POV)

I am was getting ready to receive the Vanadis. Festivities lighted the castle, everyone was getting ready to receive the them.

I am currently in the main hall, in my ceremony dress, waiting for them to enter through that door. Suddenly, the 7 current Vanadis entered in their dressings. It was a stunning sight. Leading the way was Alexandra Alshavin, the strongest Vanadis. Sasha is a woman with an average height and bust-size. She had short black hair that is no longer than her neck and a skinny body figure due to her illness.

'What a shame such a strong Vanadis has such a deadly disease. When she perishes, the Zhcted Kingdom will face a great loss.'

Next to her, there is Eleonora Viltaria, Ludmila Lourie, Sofya Obertas, Elizavetta Fomina, Valentina Glinka Estes and Olga Tamm, she is the most recent member.

The pressure emitted from the 7 Vanadis is such that even myself feel powerless in front of them. 'While the Vanadis are a huge shield in Zhcted, they are also quite an internal threat. They have the freedom to start wars between each other, and to help nobles in other Kingdoms, which can cause a lot of instability in the Kingdom. Unfortunately, I don't choose the Vanadis the ones who does it is their weapons. Which makes it impossible to predict what kind of individual will gain power in the Zhcted Kingdom.' I slightly shook my head. "Huff. I was quite lucky in my rule." I whispered.

The Vanadis knelt in front of me.

"How are the preparation for invading Brune?" I inquired.

"We have amassed 20,000 soldiers." Eleonora answered.

"It is not enough to capture the capital. Double those numbers." I told her.

"I will need the help of the another Vanadis if I want to double those numbers." She said.

I nodded. "I will entrust Sofya to help you with the invasion."

All of a sudden, a messenger bursted through the doors and knelt right behind the Vanadis, and chocked on what he was going to say. The pressure of all of the Vanadis made the messenger scared for his life.

"What is it? What is so important that you have to interrupt the anual meeting with the Vanadis?" I asked.

"A-an army of 100,000 has crossed the Dinant Plains!" He exclaimed.

All the Vanadis opened their eyes wide. "How is it possible that we have only been warned right now?" Eleonora asked.

Sofya noddded. "If someone in Brune amassed such an army, then we would know. After all we have spies all over the capital."

But Alexandra Alshavin decided to interrupt. "No it isn't someone from the capital."

"How is that possible? There is no one besides the King that can raise such an army." Elizavetta questioned.

"There is. The King of the mountains, Oemitsu the Brittania. He is a hero in Brune and he controls the north-west of Brune. He is the only one capable of lifting such an army, however, there is no need to panic. I have left my second in comand in Babel. Alexander. As long as he is in there, the fortress can't fall." Alexandra answered.

"Zhcted has never been invaded with an army of that size, and that fortress, while it has never fallen, it has also never faced an army so big." Elizavetta commented.

"There is no need to worry. With my General there, they can last until we can set up an army big enough to defeat them." Alexandra reaffirmed

At this exact moment, another messenger came through the hall and knelt. "Reporting! The Mouzinels are grouping an army on the border!" And exclaimed.

This took all of us by surprise.

"According to rumours, Oemitsu always had an good relationship with the Muozinel King." Alexandra commented.

Eleomora nodded. "He invaded Brune together with them and Sachstein. Now that he already has the north-west of Brune under control, it was expected for him to try and control the nort-east. However, he instead choose to march an army here, to prey on Zhcted." Elizavetta said.

Alexandra turned to the messenger. "Tell me every single movement that you know of the army belonging to the King of the mountains."

"When I left the border, he had gone past the fortress of Babel and instead of targeting it, he decided to attack the fortresses around it." The messenger explained.

"Why is he wasting time with small villages and outposts? He should just siege Babel." Eleonora asked.

"What type of person is the commander that you entrusted the fortress?" Elizavetta asked.

"He is a kind man that loves the people of Zhcted, and would happily die for them. He has made large donations to the poor, and he hasn't let his success get to his head... wait a minute. Get me a map." A few seconds after Alexandra reqiested the map, a soldier spread a huge map of Zhected on the floor.

"What do you think is his motive on taking all of the fortresses around Babel? If he keeps doing that he will face an army by both sides." I said.

After realizing something, Alexandra opened her eyes wide. "What about the people?"

The messenger tilted his head. He was confused and did not understood what she meant. This was not only with the messengers but everyone on the hall the same.

"The people of the fortresses that he has captured." She insisted.

"Weirdly enough, he let everyone go after he captured the fortresses." The messenger answered.

"Leaving everyone alive. He is surprisingly kind to the people." Eleonora said.

"What happened to all those citizens?" Alexandra asked.

"When I left, they had captured 3 fortresses, and every single citizen was taken in by The general Alexander in the Babel fortress." He said.

"It takes 3 days to go from The Dinant Plains to the capital. He must have already captured every single fortress in the area." She said.

"What is the problem Alexandra?" I asked.

"Huff. That bastard intends to capture the fortress without losing a single man." She said.

This took us by surprise again. How is that even possible? The unbreakable fortress Babel, falling without losing a single man.