Preparations, Attack and Offer

Preparations went underway immediately and the kingdom has its hands full in defending itself against the impending forces of Alban, especially now that they are preparing to march over the frontier river going to the last bastion of Livinia's defense.

On the side of Ixander's forces, trenches were built by the troops of the officers. Each officer was given a battalion to order the building of the trenches, aided by the zealous men also from Pregrenav. They also wrote placards encouraging the joining of the digging of the trenches and preparing the defenses of Livinia from the other bank opposite to the direction of the enemy.

Folijon's scouts were effective at spotting the campsites at the base of Alatsto ranges. Ixander immediately wanted them neutralized at the dark of the night. They were given grenades and crossbows, and taught them the techniques to be done in order to neutralize the enemy camps.

It was a success, but much work has to be done.

The officers are asked to conscript an army in order to train units against the forces of Alban. They were given a training with proper discipline, and once they fell too weak for the defense, they would not be eligible for the trenches.

Ixander meanwhile, went to the court of the King and gave him the letter containing the ordered defection of Ponram and Vilmios.

Marmaligos and Mazimier arrived shortly, then they saw Ixander genuflected in front of the king but looking at him. The king's face was delighted with this and ordered Ixander to stand.

In confusion of his delight, Ixander asked, "Why are you delighted, your majesty?"

"Why not? You have shown me the true valor of a man who is willing to fight for our land!"

Suddenly, Ixander realized that the paper he has given is not the letter of betrayal by Ponram and Vilmios: It was the poem he wrote of his uplifting to fight the Albanese for the defense of Livinia.

"This should be published over to the rest of the realm! This is a work of valor and courage! I never knew you were such a writer, Ixander!"

Ixander's face flushed red in embarrassment as he had shown his majesty the poem he wrote to uplift his wavering soul.

"Y-your majesty, I do not intend to give that! I-I was intending to give this instead!" said Ixander.

He then provided the letter to his majesty, he opened this paper, and his mood quickly changed. The king's face grew red with anger, mixed with terror. He stood, took a halberd, and chopped every drapery that is hung among the pillars of the room.

Marmaligos's eyes grew as his draperies in the palace of Nuem have been destroyed by a single slash of halberd. "I've paid two gold trivertis for each of those…" said Marmaligos. Marmaligos said nothing but a sigh. He then approached Ixander along with Mazimier and asked "What has happened? What is the content of such letter?"

"Ponram and Vilmios are ordered by Willemus to defect to Alban. They were behind the quick fall of Axan and Grenav."

Marmaligos was shocked, he approached the throne, went on a read the contents of the letter. The guards then is trying to stop the king from chopping the velvet draperies, but it became a game of tag as the king goes into every pillar, chopping every single one of the draperies in rage.

"This is a right timing, Ixander. Ponram and Vilmios were found missing from their division. This may explain why they are missing" informed Marmaligos.

"I have a bad news though, unless the king consents us to do what we must ourselves without his orders, Livinia might be done for" said Mazimier.

Ixander stood and speaks his thought.

"Perhaps then we should advise the king that we govern our respective divisions with independence. Just tell him the consequences then."

The king finally calmed himself. He slowly then sat back at his throne. Ixander then raised a bold proposal to the king.

"Your majesty, if you do not permit us to act independently to defend our lands, we may be ill-equipped to face the enemy. They may take the kingdom over fully" Ixander said.

The guards then armed themselves, but the king stopped them. Ixander was then tapped on the right shoulder by Mazimier. "Oi! What are you thinking?! It's an offense telling the king the possibility of defeat!" whispered Mazimier.

Ixander then raised his voice and it rang to the court. "EITHER THE BURDEN OF MY HEAD IS TAKEN OFF…"

"…or his majesty's head. Not by us…but by the enemy."

Everyone was speechless including the king. "Did his majesty know of the beheadings of monarchs and those who supported the monarchy in Alban?" continued Ixander.

The guards on the side of the King then armed themselves once again, but the king raised his hand to stop them from being hostile to Ixander.

"Would I trust that you will save the nation with your advice?" asked the King.

"Your majesty, if everything fails, my head and yours will be upon their blades. I will not allow it so as long as Livinia still has the power to defend itself" responded Ixander.

"What do you advice, Ixander?" asked the King.

"A Diet, your majesty" Ixander advised.

Everyone was ignorant as to what kind of thing that is. "Diet? What's a Diet?" asked the King.

"It is a system of governance where the king may stay on power, but the laws and advises may be executed by the Diet. A Diet is a gathering of elected representatives of their different regions, making sure his majesty's aid and decisions reaches those areas which are often ignored. However, there would be a revision of that reform. Those in line of defense against the Albanese troops opposite to our bank of the Great Livinian River will be given more attention as it is necessary for us to swiftly react against the threat. That way, we may be able to decide for the best tactic used on that region" Ixander explained.

"T-too much words! A-ahem! Anyway, I shall grant you then the powers to establish that council" the King granted. "Also…" the King looked at Marmaligos and said "I would request marshal Marmaligos to be relieved of his position as marshal, and that should be given to Ixander. Ixander then may decide to give his marshal position up to whoever he suits most."

"Granted sir" Marmaligos obliged.

"Be thankful, Ixander, that I am a rational king. I am not like my father." The King said.

"We will do our best not to disappoint his majesty" responded Ixander.

"You may start immediately with your plans" ordered the King.

The next day, Ixander formed a council for the defense of the banks of the river. The council was named "Livinian River Defense Council".

Under this council, the Defenses of the divisions shall be given priority by recruiting men to build the trenches, palisades, and gabions among the hills where the newly invented Livinian cannons may be placed.

Ixander also introduced a certain thing to the artillery men under the Defense Council. "What's this?" asked one of the men who have been shown a particular cylindrical object.

"A canister. This is opposed to the rocks and iron balls that you place in these cannons."

He pointed at the shield prepared at the field opposite to the cannons. "You load the canister the same as how you load a cannonball." Ixander then proceeded to reload the cannon with the canister he invented. He lighted up the ignition from the vent, and the canister flew. Everyone wondered where the canister went.

"Now, men, follow me" ordered Ixander. They then went to the field where the shields were opposite of the cannon. Closing up, they saw small bullet holes in each of them. Some shields have two to five holes numbered on them. Yet another innovation by Ixander.

After those, men who were willing to join the digging of the trenches, building and maintaining of the palisades, and placing of the gabions. Bags of flour were converted in use to fortify the trenches. There is one issue though: they lack iron.

Nonetheless, if an attack comes, they have to defend themselves. Finally, after such digging operations, they have fortified and prepared their positions.

On one position…

"Men! Listen to my commands!" ordered the captain.

He raised his hand, and the soldiers then went on to their positions. It was misty, but they can hear the drums of the enemy coming close, and rapidly. One of the men in the trench has his hand shaking, but he was comforted by a fellow soldier.

He then ordered "Fire at will!" and so the soldiers did.

The muzzle-loading cannons fortified behind gabions also began firing their rounds, inflicting casualties en masse against the enemy.

The General who commands the Albanese troops in Livinia, Baron-General Vladistav, heard of the reports of the attack on Sankobar-Alatsto line, which devastated the Albanese attackers. In the first day, some third of the battalions were routed, while Livinians only lost a thousand. In actual numbers, Alban lost twelve thousand men, while Livinia only lost a thousand. Alban attacked with a force of thirty-two thousand in Sankobar-Alatsto line, eight thousand short of the half of the army of Alban in Livinia. The Defenders in Livinia only numbered the entire army of Ixander, twelve thousand men.

"Do not worry, Baron-General. They will break soon. In reality, there is a shortage in supply of iron, and they may not last the entire month of attacks" advised Ponram. Ponram now sided with the promise of the Duke-General, encroaching more for the power in Livinia.

"We were sick of that Ixander, who blabbers of his 'equipment' and 'inventions', quite frankly, they prove to be effective now that we saw the potential of it" reacted Vilmios.

Unbeknownst to the traitors however, there will soon be a hope crawling to the Livinian soil, and that hope is no other than Carab. With the discovery of iron near the Mytulan border, Carab began to exploit the resources. Soon, an emissary from Carab was sent to Livinia from the Khatan of Carab, the leader of that country.

"To our friends in Livinia,

We know of the crisis that you are facing currently. You have lost the iron-rich Halerdan to the enemy, however your allies, us, have a large reserve of iron. I will allow the subjects of Livinia under King Stijepan to exploit the remaining reserves to fight off the enemy on their side. In exchange, I would like to bring under our realm the abilities of Ixander to command our armies. His great skill which saved Livinia from misery, has echoed through the realms of the Axis Continent.

We will be expecting your response, in the very soon.

Khatan Kharabi Amperiatoulo"

After he finished reading, he closed the letter and went to the King. "Simjen, tell to Mazimier and Marmaligos that a meeting shall commence in the court of his majesty" ordered Ixander to Simjen.

Afterwards, Ixander rode off to Nuem to meet with Marmaligos and Mazimier, and of course the King to enquire the negotiations with Carab.