71st Move | Dynastic Decline

So not a lot of info on Siltrosso, thus I'm making most of these things up. I thought long and hard about how magical sieges would work and came up with some ideas.

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Siltrosso, a day before the Great Tenma War

The city-state of Siltrosso has been through better times.

Socially speaking, Sitrosso is split into three Estates. The First Estate consists of the Clergy or Priests of Luminism, they are exempt from paying any taxes. The Second Estate consists of the Nobility, they pay a relatively small amount of taxes in comparison to the Third Estate. The Third Estate consists of everyone else: merchants, peasants, or intellectuals, these people make up over 90% of Siltrosso's population and contribute to almost all of the tax revenue.

Physically speaking, Siltrosso is a city-state that's split into two portions. The inner portion is called 'Shia' and the outer portion is called 'Silt', with the First and Second Estate situated in the former and the Third Estate in the latter. The wealth disparity between Shia and Silt is so visible that it's as if one placed the edge of a jungle next to a desert, as nobility and the clergy make up the First and Second Estates.

The city-state is situated on the northwestern edge of the Southern Falmian Mountain Range, further northwest of the city is the coast, making Siltrosso a very valuable trading city since it is situated between two Great Powers and a natural barrier.

Siltrosso was the seat of the Rosso family, possibly the most powerful family in all of the West.

From the lowest of tax collectors to the highest of regional governors, the Rosso family has dipped their fingers in all the pies within the Western world.

Thus, the name Rosso carries enormous weight, and over the millennias, hundreds of branch families have been created and dozens pruned away for disobedience, all in service of the main branch of Rosso, the true Rosso. Unlike the branches that must add a middle name like 'Von' or 'Vi' to signify them being separate, all true Rosso don't need a middle name.

In fact, one may argue that, just like the Rothschild family, the Rosso became a dynasty: their influence vast, their wealth plentiful, their power both soft and hard are enormous, and their ambition unending.

Granbell Rosso was the head of the Rosso family, the Patriarch, and the True Hero. He was the one who made this dynasty. To the outside world, he is seen as the pinnacle of humanity's potential, a True Hero rivaled only by the Legendary Chronoa.

One can argue that he's the most powerful man in the West, second to none due to his political, economical, and physical might. With a single letter, he could force whole Dukedoms onto their knees, and with several more, he could either end or start entire nations. He became a True Hero, a step above even Saints.

He used this power to ensure Siltrosso stays independent while simultaneously spreading the city-state's web of influence, controlling individual nations as a puppetmaster would to marionettes.

And yet, despite all of these...

...He looked like he's seen better days.

Dark rings formed around his cold, dead eyes, his usually sharp clothing was wrinkled, a half-finished glass of wine in his right hand— he looked like a drunkard one would find wandering the streets at night after being kicked out of a bar.

Granbell downed the glass of wine in one gulp.

The room he was currently in was one of those dining halls. Gold and red decorated the walls of the room, the centerpiece being a long table, and numerous tall panels of glass lay forested on the right side of the room in relation to Granbell. The windows were mostly covered by curtains save for a sliver, allowing for bits of light to pass inside, ensuring the room wasn't too dark.

Around the table sat only Mariabell Rosso, the Heir of the Rosso family in the event that Granbell was to die.

Mariabell stared at her grandfather. Even if he's more than a couple of generations older than her, Granbell was more of a parental figure to her than her birth parents would ever be.

Mariabell Rosso was an Otherworlder, a reincarnator to be exact. She had the appearance of a petite young girl since it's only been 10 years since her reincarnation. Mariabell had fair skin, blond hair, and pink eyes, practically flaunting her heritage as a Rosso for the world to see.

In her old world, Mariabell was born in a poor family in the middle of some of the worst places in Mexico. At the age of 9, she accidentally witnessed her mother selling herself so she could go to school. At age of 14, her father smuggled her to America using his contacts with the cartels, hoping that she would get a better education. It was at that point that Mariabell knew the world revolved around money, and thus when she gained a scholarship to study at Harvard, she chose to study economics and business.

After all, what better way to earn money within a capitalist system than through the economy and businesses?

Mariabell will always remember the day of her death. She was graduating. A headhunting company had offered her a job at a hedge fund, so her future was secured. Just as she crossed the street from her residence to the Harvard Allston campus, a freak accident involving an out-of-control robot from MIT struck her in the head, killing her instantly. Mariabell remembers a single 'crack' before hearing the Voice of the World.

Mariabell wasn't even able to repay her parents for what they'd done. It wasn't until 3 years old that Mariabell's baby brain finally developed enough to register the meaning of these strange memories.

The Otherworlder locked herself away in her own room for a full month.

Mariabell continued to stare at the decrepit old man, scarcely believing that the broken man in front of her is truly him.

Granbell moved to pour himself another glass.

"Grandfather—"

*boom*

A distant explosion had interrupted whatever she was about to say. The room shook slightly, the other glassware around the room clinked, and the chandelier on top of the room swayed precariously as bits of dust fell from the ceiling like stalactites in a cave.

The defenses of the city-state of Siltrosso were less than other places like Central, Imperial Capital Nasca, or Lura. In Mariabell's personal opinion, those places are freaks among cities considering their age and importance.

Even so, Siltrosso, and especially the Inner City of Shia, have many defenses that make it near impenetrable.

Oftentimes, earthquake magic is used during the siege of a city, as the ground splitting up tends to make the walls not feel so good.

The cities countered this by reinforcing the ground they sat on, making it much harder than the surrounding environment and thus, more resistant to earthquake magic. Only the richest and largest cities had this option available to them, other cities had to settle for reinforcing only the most important sections.

There's a reason why S-ranks were seen as superweapons. A single S-rank can lay waste in a city. A single S-rank mage can create earthquakes that overpower all but the strongest earth reinforcements.

The Rosso family hired an S-rank earth mage in the past to reinforce Siltrosso to the point of making any attempt at using earthquake to breach the walls all but impotent.

While earthquake magic is the most common form of laying siege against a city, through the thousands of years of combat, the tacticians and Generals of old have come up with plenty more.

"—Grandfather, I think you should stop drinking at a time like this." Mariabell continued. It had been weeks since she last saw her grandfather. He said how he was 'going out for a mission' before leaving her for over two weeks. While he was gone, Mariabell tried to come up with plans that could salvage their dream of world domination through economic means.

And now, when he returned, the servants said how 'he seemed to be shellshocked'.

With a placating gesture, she finished with: "I don't think that's healthy."

The Jura Tempest Republic represented an Outside-Context Problem: a black-swan event that upended all of her and her grandfather's plans. They had done everything the duo had planned to do, from introducing new technology to issuing a new currency, they took over as the newest Superpower on the world stage.

It had infuriated Mariabell, but not to Granbell much to her surprise.

The old man ignored his granddaughter and poured himself another glass, soft rumbling once again spread throughout the room as the sound of another distant explosion can be heard, this time much weaker, signaling that it was farther away.

Seeing how her grandfather is still ignoring her, Mariabell was partially stunned. Her grandfather always listened to her ideas, he treated her as an adult, not a child.

Getting up, Mariabell walked over to one of the curtained windows and parted the drapery, letting more than a sliver of brightness in, lighting up everything behind the girl like the sun chasing away the darkness of night.

Mariabell looked over the city, the two ring walls that serve as dividers that remind people of their social classes. Shia was a veritable sea of large manors of different architectural styles as Siltrosso is placed at the crossroad between the West and the East. Homes that remind her of Asian styles were placed next to Western manors like a mosaic.

Further out in Silt was when things started to get blurry. Since it was so far away from her window, Mariabell could only see a general color scheme.

Pillars of smoke and pits of fire burned all over the city.

A single string of fast-growing smoke came from above the outermost walls and—

*boom*

—Struck what Mariabell could only assume to be a barrack.

The next most common type of siege tactic apart from causing earthquakes was attacking from above. It was pioneered by the Pegasus Knights of Dwargon and was reportedly first used 900 years ago during the Siege of Vernia, one of the major cities within the now-extinct nation of Night Rose.

The process called for combined arms warfare between ground and air troops, which if executed correctly, would allow the attacker to take a city within a single day.

The amount of coordination required between ground troops and air assets is so great that other than Dwargon and the Harpies, no nation has ever attempted such tactics. Magical Communication Artifacts were expensive, so any nation that could afford enough of such devices for their troops is already an economic Great Power, and would thus rather employ an S-rank mage instead.

Unlike other cities, Siltrosso is immune to such air attacks.

Deep within Shia, there is a Mythical-Grade artifact that Granbell managed to secure from 'somewhere' that would project a field of absolute isolation that would essentially block out all attacks. However, since the field is indiscriminate, it must be lowered down every once in a while to let fresh air in, otherwise, there would be a serious risk of suffocation for the two million inhabitants of Siltrosso.

Using Precision-Guided Rocket Artillery that Dwargon managed to procure from Tempest through the Central Continental Treaty Organization, Dwarven Forces outside Siltrosso have been hammering away at all military, governmental, or storage warehouses whenever the field went down.

To Mariabell, she saw it as their attempt to destroy Siltrosso's food supply, forcing the city to give up or face starvation and unrest. Silently, the Otherworlder was thankful that Gazel was the honorable type to not use indiscriminate bombardment of missiles.

Already, the coast had been blocked off. Any foreign ship not belonging to any of the CCTO nations was seized by the order of King Gazel. Rationing has been instituted all across the cities, and while the First and Second Estates in Siltrosso know better than complain, the same could not be said of the commoners that make up the Third Estates.

"The horrors of industrialized warfare are too much for you?" Mariabell called out vexingly to Granbell, who had just taken out a new bottle of wine and started pouring, "in my old world, there exists a weapon that can vaporize a city off the face of the map. But here you are, already in despair."

Seeing how her words had no effect on her grandfather, Mariabell felt annoyed, her ego was bruised as even when Granbell ignored other people, he would always listen to her words.

He treated her like an adult, but now he's treating her as though she were air.

"Are you truly going to stay in here and drink yourself to death while our seat of power is burning?"

Granbell gulped down another glass of wine. The pink-eyed girl would've used [Greed] had she not known it would be useless against someone with an Ultimate Skill.

Instead, she swiped a dining knife and haphazardly threw it at Granbell, the silver blade merely bounced off the True Hero's skin, not even causing a single dent.

Granbell made no movement to block the knife, as though he couldn't care less if he died in the next moment or not.

Anger coursed through the reincarnator's veins at the dismissal. Mariabell grabbed the bottle of wine out of the old man's reach just as he was about to pour himself another glass, "what the hell's gotten into you grandfather? Was the destruction of Lura really so traumatic? I thought that with our biggest obstacle dead and their nation fighting in a hopeless war we could perhaps continue our plan of world domination through economy no?"

For the first time ever since Mariabell got here, Granbell turned his attention to his granddaughter. His eyes that once filled with energy and spirit now felt more empty, tired. It reminded Mariabell of her old father's after a long day of cartel activities.

The True Hero took a deep breath in, before letting it slowly go out. Granbell then massaged his temple like a student encountering a particularly hard problem in an exam as Mariabell smirked.

It would appear her old grandfather is finally back.

Granbell cupped his chin. Leaning on the hand cupping his chin, his eyes stared down the long room at nothing particular, the man was lost in his thoughts.

Mariabell wasn't able to pierce Granbell's poker face, but whenever her grandfather acted this way, a plan is usually hatched.

It took until the isolation field to come back up 20 minutes later for Granbell to get up. His eyes steeled in determination.

"Bring me my sword!" He bellowed out, echoing through the entire Rosso manor.

In a gentler tone, he spoke to Mariabell, "Mariabell. I need you to go to the Rosso family vault and open safe R-1-13-9-18-9-19."

He then handed the girl a single enchanted key. "In there, you will find two things: a folder, and a talisman paper. Bring me the talisman paper, keep the folder on you until I return after the battle, got it?"

Mariabell felt a tick mark on her forehead as her grandfather started treating her like a child, before relenting and nodding along.

Once Mariabell left, Granbell sat back down on his chair and let out a raspy sigh like an old man next on the reaper's list. He stared up at the ceiling, Granbell felt fear at the prospect of new hope and uncertainty at whether or not this was truly the way to go.

He then looked down at his left hand, the one that was carrying a necklace with a small blue gem.

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Around the time of the Great Tenma War. Outside of Siltrosso, Dwarven War Camp

A siege against a city is a long and arduous affair. Like how war is expensive, if the attacker does not want their own men to suffer large casualty numbers, it's usually best to starve the city out.

And like with many things, the coming of Tempest changed this fact of life.

King Gazel looked at the map of Siltrosso on the table in front of him, blue pieces that were supposed to signify his own troops surrounded the entire walled-off city. The Dwarven King was wearing his silvery battle armor with a red cape, the golden crown on his head reflected all the magic lights in the tent akin to a mirror. Around the table were his military advisors and Generals.

The scientific marvels of the Jura Tempest Republic had meant that he recovered extremely quickly in spite of the seriousness of his injury. He recovered so quickly that he had wanted to ask Rimuru if he could share some of this 'Stem Cell Treatment' but the War with the East placed a stop to that.

The current World War put a stop to a lot of things. Scientia's death put a stop to almost everything. When the Jura Tempest Republic was just starting out, Gazel's court advised him to invade this fledgling nation so that it may never become a threat. Gazel put a stop to that, considering how the nation's birth coincided with the disappearance of Veldora, these new strangers must be in some way related. Instead, Dwargon became friends with this nation, assisting them with logistics during the Sea of Broken Glass and the subsequent liberation of Falmuth.

Through this friendship, Dwargon became the first one to sample the mighty Tinkertech—technologies that operate on scientific principles unknown to the world, something that the Angels would rage against. And since it'll be another 50 years until the next Great Tenma War, the CCTO would have plenty of time to prepare.

Gazel was currently surrounded by his war council. He had wanted to use his Pegasus Knights to capture the city but his own war council vehemently objected, citing the danger of such an act.

When he asked what should they do, the Warmaster proposed the idea of using the weapons given to them by Tempest through Article 15 of the Central Continental Treaty Organization, known more commonly as the 'weapons sharing program'.

"The effectiveness of these rocket artillery has been proven, now we should use these to reduce Siltrosso to rubbles!" One of the younger Dwarves said, around his chest was a name tag that denoted his name as 'Japolis'. He was the head of the Heavy Attack Corp, one of seven corps that makes up Dwargon's military.

Japolis was always one of the loudest advocates for the expansion of magical artillery, but since most of the wizards had been picked up by the Magic Attack Corp, he wasn't able to get his way. Tempest solved this by giving him devices that the common dwarf can operate.

"And do tell me, what would we use for a city of rubble?" Gazel finally had enough, his voice rough, tired of hearing Japolis' words, "Temperature is expected to drop soon due to Veldora's rampage kicking up enough debris into the atmosphere to block out a large amount of sunlight. I originally only authorized the use of these new scientific weapons as potentially a way to end the siege of a city faster, Japolis. Remember that we will fight with honor, and thus, we don't pillage nor rape the civilians."

That had shut Japolis up after he realized he didn't have the support of the King. The Dwarven General sulked, trying to justify his words, "They're cowards. They're the real honorless ones. They hide behind their shields instead of fighting us head-on. We wouldn't need these weapons if—"

Japolis was interrupted as a messenger arrived in the tent.

"We have a new development in the city! The isolation field is down early—"

*Kaboom*

A distant explosion rung out as a wave of air pressure washed over the war tent, causing it to flail about like a young tree during a tornado. Some of the military advisors watched on nervously as the wooden support beams creaked.

"We're under attack?" One of the military advisors asked.

Japolis spoke in a passive-aggressive tone, "thank you for your keen observation, General Garp."

While the rest of his staff started arguing between themselves, Gazel ran out of the tent to see a massive fire going on at where they had stored all the extra missiles, the smoking coming from the fire stood out from the daytime sky. Due to how dark the smoke is, the fire was like a beacon. Distant shouts and alarms started blaring out as soldiers rush towards the flame, whether to put it out or to investigate it.

Then, a flash of holy light came from the pegasus stables, disintegrating it and creating another pyre, this time much smaller. Seconds later, another beam of holy light shot up to the sky near the edge of the camp, far away from the other two fires. Since it was daytime, if one wasn't paying attention to the sky, they wouldn't have noticed that beam of holy light.

There was only a single person in the West who was so proficient at Holy magic.

"Granbell..." Gazel growled, fear crept into the dwarf's veins. Part of the reason why Gazel had agreed to lay siege on Siltrosso using those missiles was also to bait Granbell out. If Granbell falls, then Siltrosso's defenders will likely give up since the Hero is their greatest shield.

Slaying Granbell was never a certainty. A True Hero is a step above a Saint, so instead, if the killing was unsuccessful, he planned to use the Pegasus Knights to stall and beat Granbell into unconsciousness, and failing that, his military advisors suggests using all of the missiles as a threat to reduce Siltrosso to rubble unless Granbell submits.

"Damn it." Gazel gripped the handle of his greatsword and closed his eyes.

'Don't lose yourself to hate; be honorable in life.' Those were his father's last words to him, on his death bed.

If he leveled Siltrosso to the ground, would his subjects still love him as much as before? Gazel Dwargo was celebrated as a Wise King for his impartial rule and the ability to root out corruption. In truth, all of his facade as a 'Wise King' was a reality due to his secret Unique Skill [Dictator] that no one but himself knew. [Dictator] allowed Gazel to read people's thoughts, allowing the man to truly know a person and install only those loyal to him in positions of power.

He filled his court with loyal people, allowing him to displease them if required.

Opening his eyes, Gazel's lips thinned, and his grip on the sword's handle tightened even more.

A wise king would immediately order a retreat, but he truly wanted to kill Granbell. Gazel wanted to see the light in Granbell's eyes die as the dwarven king chokes him out. An intense hatred that was once bottled up now spilled across Gazel's mind, the idea of finally killing Granbell for what he's done...

It is just too tempting.

This bottle of hate poisoned Gazel's rationality.

With the speed of a Saint and the grace of flowing water, Gazel blitzed towards the apparent location of Granbell. Everything else seemed to be a blur as the dwarf advanced towards the site where the beam of holy light shooting up to the sky originated.

Knowing the man, Granbell probably created the fires as a diversion, taking up the majority of the soldier's attention like an arsonist as they flee the scene. But, that third beam must be for Gazel, the dwarf king slowed down as he realized this could so easily be a trap.

The Pegasus' is destroyed, their artillery is gone, and chaos is everywhere as most of the soldiers are now on fire-fighting duty. If the Siltrosso forces attack now, it'll be a massacre.

The King slowed down to a stop. He could make out the distant shapes of the watchtowers around the edge of the camp.

This trap would be too obvious.

When you're dealing with people as old as Granbell, thousands of years of wisdom have made their logic different from those of normal humans that live for less than a century. Like watching a grandmaster play a game of chess when you yourself are a newbie, an elder like Granbell Rosso knows how to play politics. The True Hero is known for putting his opponent in an unwinnable position by discretely setting up a web of chain reactions with many triggers.

If it's really a trap, someone like Granbell would ensure he wouldn't even know that it's a trap.

It's too damn obvious. Any more obvious and Granbell would have to literally post a sign saying 'trap up ahead'.

It's not like the patriarch of the Rosso family to be so obvious.

"Damn it..." Gazel's face scowled. He wanted to end Granbell, at the same time, he's a King who's responsible for his people.

But he's been pretty selfless ever since he became King, so isn't it time for him to be selfish for once? Using this mindset, Gazel eventually convinced himself of this action, further cementing it by deducing that if the Siltrossian army isn't here yet since they haven't attacked, Granbell must want something if he is here without any visible support.

However, for safety precautions, Gazel took a detour and retrieved a small black box that Rimuru had given him after he was declared 'alright' by the hospital AI.

As he reached the place where the beam supposedly originated, surprise showed on Gazel's face as he saw Granbell sitting on a rocky outcrop.

Granbell sat leaning forward casually as though nothing was wrong. Granbell wore a stylish suit, with a necklace containing a small blue gem around his neck. Off to his side was his famous Longsword of Truth, a supposed mythical grade artifact, a grade above even the best that Gazel has access to.

Most importantly, Granbell wasn't a single bit focused. He was relaxed. He was as calm as a windless day.

Doubt blossomed like poisonous vines inside Gazel's mind. Seeing Granbell now made Gazel feel wary, even when he wanted to kill the man, actually doing it is an entirely different story. More so when Granbell isn't even taking him seriously.

"You've finally come," Granbell spoke, seeing how it made Gazel even tenser, the True Hero got up.

"You wanted revenge, don't you?"

Gazel Dwargo took out his legendary-grade blade— 'Judicious', the sword passed down to every Dwarven King in Dwargon, and got into a fighting stance.

Granbell spread his arms wide out as if inviting Gazel, tilting his head, "you wanted revenge for me killing your father over 300 years ago no?"

Granbell then unsheathed his own sword. The Hero's sword wasn't even pointed at Gazel, many openings formed around Granbell as if the old man couldn't care less about dying in the next second.

"Let's see if you're worthy of it."

Thus, the battle between two Kings, the ending of a blood feud, Hero versus Saint, commenced.

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AN: A lot of original elements in this story. I thought it logical given how Gazel existed for 300 years for there to be some bad blood between other long-lived people.