C91- The Fall of Anfre (5)

Corvin tinkered around with the rockets for about half an hour. The rockets were ready to launch now. But, they still had to wait.

"Your Highness. The rockets are ready. All we have to do is wait for minimal wind, and we can launch them. Because they have no way of correcting their flight path, the wind will set them off course."

"It's okay. As long as they give the army a chance to pierce the enemy defenses."

As Corvin waited for the wind to slow down, he worked on his calculations more, trying to make the rockets more accurate as much as possible. Since the rockets relied on gravity to turn them downwards and hit their target, their launching angle had to be calculated as precisely as he could.

'I wish there was something that could calculate for me... Maybe I should work on that next...'

After completing his work, while thinking about what to do once he is back at the capitol, he was also checking the movement of air.

'Please. I beg you. Please stop, wind!'

The Emperor hadn't left, and he was still looking at the rockets with interest. Corvin felt the judging gazes of the royal guard that was piercing him, probably angry at him for making the Emperor wait. The Emperor, however, wasn't displeased at all. He was a man who could endure almost anything if it was for achieving his goal. Waiting for a couple of hours was nothing for him.

As Corvin continued on feeling the movement of the air-

'....Finally.... I don't even have the mental energy to celebrate it anymore...'

- the wind finally slowed down enough.

Getting up from his seat, a stone slab made by the Emperor for him to sit, he turned towards the Emperor.

"Your Highness, we can launch the rockets. They should roughly hit the targeted place, now that the wind is slow enough."

"Go ahead. You can launch the weapons."

Terry turned towards his guards and ordered.

"Alert the army. The weapons are ready, slow down the soldiers so they aren't hit by the explosions."

The knights saluted and left the stone platform.

"Then, Your Highness, please get away. These things are really experimental and dangerous. As I said, if it wasn't an emergency order, I wouldn't use these without at least a whole year of experimentation."

"It's okay. I will have a barrier ready."

"The sound might damage your ears, Your Highness."

"You can block the sound with your magic, can't you?"

"...I am sorry, you are right Your Highness."

Terry smiled and talked with a more lighthearted tone.

"Now that the royal guard is gone, you can be a little less polite. I feel a connection with you, don't worry too much about respect. Just treat me like you treat the Margrave."

"A-Are you sure, Your Highness?"

"Yes. I felt this connection ever since I met you. At first, I thought you were a whisperer and were trying to use magic on me, but that is impossible since you are a vector mage."

"Ah... Is that why Your Highness looked at me like that at first? I thought I had offended Your Highness."

"Haha, no, don't worry about it. You were worried the guards might accuse you of something when the rockets were launched and that's why you asked me to go, didn't you?"

"Y-Yes... They were really annoyed..."

"Don't worry about them. They may be noble knights, but they are my guards before that. They won't act outside of my orders. Just forget that, but are you sure you want to chat? The wind may come back."

"Ah! I'm sorry! I am launching them right now!"

Corvin used his magic to use the fire startes at the bottom of the rockets at the same time and lit their fuze. The sparks traveled up the fuze and made contact with the black powder inside. The black powder lit up and with a violent and loud noise, lifted the rockets and flew them away.

The rockets drew an arc of black smoke in the sky and fell behind the walls of the city, right behind the defenders.

Right as the rockets flew up, the Altus army also started a major offensive.

BOOOOMM!!! BOOOOMM!!!

As the rockets fell, the mages who bothered to stop them were distracted, and in that small time of distraction, they left an opening for the Altus army to enter. When the mages ignored the rockets and focused on the enemy offensive, the rockets reached the ground and destroyed a good chunk of the part of the wall it fell on with a loud explosion that startled the defending soldiers and mages.

The rockets didn't kill a lot on their own, but the distraction they caused gave the Altus army several key openings to take advantage of. The Altus army quickly got past the walls of Anfre and dealt with the Eidzunge army in the city.

The Eidzunge army, which was weak compared to their navy, failed quickly, and had to leave the city with the help of the navy.

As the banner of the Altus family was hung on the walls of the city, the Emperor quickly ordered relief crates to be distributed to the people of the wartorn city. The people were informed of what had happened to the Septen Kingdom.

The peace conference with the Eidzunge passed easily. The result was just a truce between the two strong states for five years. The Eidzunge blockade was lifted, the city of Anfre was given to the Empire.

No sides paid reparations, since with the conquest of Anfre, the Altus army could cross the strait and occupy the Sorept continent with enough effort. Fhölle, aware of this, didn't force his chances, as the Eidzunge had no chance of winning against the land forces of the Altus Empire, rumored to be the strongest land force in the world.

*****

Thus, the Altus army returned home with a victory parade. A portion of the army was sent to the Werga Passage to clear out the rubble and start the trade with the south once again.

Since the war had ended, and the price of black powder along with many other things, was expected to drop back to it's original price with the restart of the southern trade without relying on third parties to carry the goods. But still, the Empire's economy which wasn't industrialised yet could barely handle the cost of a war with the new industrial weapons. The Emperor, in an attempt to relieve the people who were on the verge of starvation, lowered taxes in all of the Empire and distributed free goods to the people as a celebration of victory. The critics of the Emperor quieted down slightly and the people seemed pleased once again, at least on the surface.

But deep down, that wasn't actually the case. Underestimation of how expensive it is to fight a war with the new weapons dealt a big hit to the Empire's yet to be industrialised economy. The people's trust in the ruler had died, and it wasn't going to come alive again. No matter how much the nobles hid it in their various reports, that didn't change reality. The people didn't trust the Altus family anymore.

The Empire won the war, but lost something much more important because of it.