7 Preparations

Fort city Phord, built entirely for the purpose of war 10 years ago, was a city that had fewer civilians than soldiers.

Henry was walking in this city and wondered, was it alright for this many people to live here?

Even though this was a fort city, it was made up of three layers. The first layer was a shopping district, the second was the residential district and the first one, right in the center, was the barracks district.

The barracks district was mostly occupied by soldiers, also, that place was where most of the city supplies were stored.

This city was in the very southwest corner of the Kingdom and bordered the Country of Elves.

10 years ago a war broke out between the Kingdom of Polenimia and the Country of Elves, also called The Drosian Alliance by the elves.

The reasons are unknown, but the elves were the first ones to attack, and the nobles of Polenimia seized this as an opportunity to expand their lands.

At the start of the war the Kingdom was pressed into a defense, but after a treaty with the Merchant Kingdom of Pettera, the Kingdom was supplied with troops and weapons to press their attack.

By now the front line has greatly expanded and continued to dig further into the enemy lands each day.

The front line was pushing, but part of it stopped at the elven fortress Burgen. The reason for that was because that castle is believed to house the special troops of the Elves and the War Princess.

If Polenimian troops were to take over and kill the greatest force of the elves, the War Princess, the Kingdom would gain a huge advantage against the elves, and probably end the war in the upcoming year.

This is where the Twelve Claws come in. The Kingdom can't afford to show weakness on the front and take away troops for the siege, but with the money supplied by the Merchant Kingdom of Pettera, the nobles started hiring every mercenary band in the country.

There were dozens of other, even bigger, bands than Twelve Claws here, and it is estimated that over 12000 mercenaries were hired for this.

Henry did not know the local prices for mercenaries, but if 5 silver coins were paid each day per mercenary, they would have to pay 600 gold coins every day, which is an incredible amount.

And that's only for a day; the mercenaries were waiting in this city for about three weeks already…

Henry walked with this in mind when he noticed a certain building. He was currently in the shopping district, and the building he was looking at looked like every other shop he had seen, except for the sign it bore.

The sign portrayed two white swords, which was normal to see around here, and a golden staff, which was not. Henry knew magic existed, but this was the first time he saw something that reeked of fantasy.

Without hesitation he walked inside.

To his surprise it somewhat resembled a convenience shop. The left wall had various weapons and armors on display, while on the right stood an empty counter. The middle of the shop was mostly filled with gondola shelves that had swords, knives and other equipment such as lanterns and bandages.

He walked around the shop and examined some of the items. There were a lot of unknown things to him, such as old dusty books written in an unknown language, old looking scrolls and even strange amulets that gave off an eerie feeling.

Henry wondered whether he should have taken Janna with him, since she would probably know about these things.

He heard movement behind the counter and quickly grabbed a few things he thought he might need. The things he took looked like something that could save his life one day, such as bandages, weird smelling herbs and even a few potions he knew nothing about.

He quickly walked up to the counter and got confused when he saw no one there.

"Didn't I hear someone come out from behind the counter?"

"Look down, dumbass." answered a voice with obvious annoyance.

Henry shuddered after getting surprised and then looked down behind the counter.

There stood as small man with an angry look on his face. He had a huge brown beard but no hair on top of his head. Henry instantly recognized the man, it was a dwarf.

"Ah, sorry about that" Henry apologized after realizing his mistake. "I'd like to buy these."

The dwarf seemingly did not buy his apology and glanced over the things Henry put forth.

"Wow, I actually guessed right. You ARE a dumbass." the dwarf said with a slight grin. "First, this herb here is called Exite and it produces laxative effects, while this potion does nothing but allow a person to stay without sleep for three days." Dwarf said barely holding in his laughter.

What's with this combination?! It's the worst one possible! He'll probably think I'm planning to do something weird!

"Ah, well, you see. I'm from the city, yes, in the far north, and…it's the first time, buying things…like this." Henry struggled to come up with an excuse and not sound like a complete idiot while doing it, he though he succeeded.

"Well, anyway. What I am actually looking for is a health potion or some sort of healing salve, maybe a lantern and some arrows."

The dwarf instead laughed for a few moments before returning his composure. His face however, still looked rather angry. Was it the characteristic of dwarves? Or was it the beard?

"Ahh…it's been a while since I laughed like this…" The dwarf looked to be deep in thought about something before speaking up again. "Anyway, I'm out of iron arrows, the army bought them up, I only have mythril arrows left, only adventurers buy them though. Also, I only have regeneration potions, for the healing one's you'd need to find a specialist who makes them."

"I guess I'll have them then…how much are they?"

"Hmm, the potion is 5 gold coins, while the arrows are 1 gold each."

Expensive! Half the bounty for Gare the Bloodied went to the leader while the other half went to Janna, and she promised me half of her share. Not to mention that I had to pay all the medicinal expenses for the three weeks that I was taken care of, I only got a bit over 20 gold coins left!

I could sell the mythril sword I got from the Golem, but it'd rather keep it to myself. It's a high quality item after all…

"T-then, a potion and 10 mythril arrows…" Henry said as his shoulders slumped down and he passed the dwarf 15 gold coins.

The dwarf noticed his reaction and, most likely out of pity, offered him a deal.

"Say, if you want to live a bit more than others, I'd recommend buying a helmet. I got a cheap one, and I could sell it to you for 4 gold coins."

Henry thought about it for a moment before deciding to agree. His life is worth more than mere 4 gold coins.

"Alright, also, what can I get for this steel sword?" Henry said as he placed a steel sword he had looted from a bandit some time ago.

The dwarf looked at the blade and swung it a few times before saying. "Alright, tell me what you need."

-------------------------

In an incredibly luxurious room there was a young beautiful girl. She had long silver hair and long pointy elf ears. Her head held a silver white crown that gave off a holy feeling and she was wearing an expensive dress embroidered with silver and mythril. The dress was stunning, but it was nothing compared to her face, which was so beautiful it looked like it belonged to a princess out of a fantasy book. Even her aura was pristine and perfectly reflected her beauty, grace and nobility.

She was Amelia Maryanna Mirwood, the 5th princess of The Drosian Alliance, also known as the War Princess among her enemies.

The room she was in was the most luxurious room in the castle Burgen and she was surrounded by servants. Without any care to them she walked back and forth while thinking about her current situation.

Her father sent her to the front line to gain achievements, and through sheer luck the enemies fooled themselves into thinking that she was a tactical genius, thus the name War Princess.

However, in truth, she was a bad tactician, and during the battle she only listened to her childhood friend's, and also bodyguard's, suggestion. She knew nothing of tactics and spent most of her childhood living in luxury without any troubles. But now, she had to go onto the battlefield and command thousands of elven troops.

She was scared of fighting at first, but after noticing that humans were so weak, and she was such a great mage, she's become more confident.

Of course she can't kill her enemy all by herself, because that would require spells written in the books from her childhood, which were obviously fiction. No one can summon a meteorite and destroy a mountain in one spell, at least no one she knows of.

And now, after she gained achievements and was given an honorable, even though unworthy, title, she was lazing around in the safest castle on the front.

Her peaceful time did not last and she was interrupted by a knock on her door.

Without care Amelia raised her hand slightly and the servants moved. They quickly and silently opened the door and allowed yet another beauty to walk in.

It was a female elf, and she was very beautiful, though not as much as the princess. She was wearing luxuriously decorated mythril armor. If an elf saw her for the first time they would instantly know, by the symbol on the armor, who this person was.

She was the paladin commander of the 3rd corps of the Royal Guard. Her name was Alison Goldglow and she was assigned to guard the 5th princess.

Bodyguards of royalty, at least in the elf society, were assigned since their birth, thus, these two people grew up together and could be considered childhood friends.

Amelia looked at her guard with obvious excitement. But before she could greet her friend, Alison kneeled down and spoke.

"Princess Mariyanna, excuse my interruption, but I bring dire news."

Amelia instantly returned back to her royal act after understanding her friend's words. Something bad must have happened that made her this serious in front of the servants.

"I forgive you, commander." The princess said as she ordered her servants to leave, before continuing. "Now, what has happened to make my best friend so serious?"

"I'm only doing my duty, and just because we're friends I cannot show disrespect to you." The paladin said as she produced a sincere smile, but it didn't last as she had to continue with her message. "Our scouts have noticed movement of the enemy, that is, not the front, but a separate unit of theirs. An army of 12000 is marching towards this castle and they will get here by tomorrow morning."

"W-what do you think of this?" Amelia asked her friend with a concerned voice which she failed to hide.

The paladin stood up and straightened up. "Don't worry princess! We will guard you even with our bodies if we have to!"

"Are you joking? Stop it if you are, it's not even funny! I don't want my friend to die!" the princess paused for a second before speaking up again. "Also, tell me all the truth because I can see you're hiding something!"

The paladin sighed and murmured "I knew I can't hide this from her…" then she continued "Truth is…this castle MAY be able to hold out the siege. But what I'm concerned about is…why did the humans attack now? Surely they must've known about this place for a long time but instead they waited. They must have some kind of plan that makes them think they will win."

"Alison, I'm sure you know that I'm a worthless commander, but when it comes to you, who is my friend, I know everything. I know that you're still hiding something!"

"*sigh*…Yes, Amelia… The thing is that I and my subordinates considered taking you and running away at night before the siege happens. We cannot risk losing you, especially when your brother died recently and you're the only successor left of the Mirwood clan."

"I knew it! I know that I'm a worthless commander! I know that I'm a useless heir that no one ever wanted! If not for my brother's death even my father would probably not care whether I had achievements or not!"

"P-princess, that's not true…" her friend said with a worried expression.

"Silence! I'm not planning on running and you can't force me to run! The humans have a plan? So can we!" The princess said with a furious, but still beautiful, face and thought for a few moments.

"I guess this is the way. I might be bad at leading troops, but I'm no dumbass. We'll meet them at the plains before sunset with a surprise attack! Since they think they will siege us, we'll catch them with their guards down! I'll leave the commanding and strategy to you!"

The princess finished talking with her bodyguard as she smacked the door open and went out.

The paladin stood there baffled with her mouth open. She never saw her friend like this…

But before she could reorganize her thoughts she heard her friend shouting orders left, right and center, and had to go after her.

She was her shield, her right hand and her best friend. She must look after her, especially at this dangerous time…