The Sack (1)

The sky was reflecting a deep blue colour.

Yet, Everlasting City, with its walls destroyed, was filled with screams, wails of agony as well as despair. For many commoners, their life in Everlasting City was the result of generations' worth of hard work. Sometimes, commoners would sell themselves in order to save enough funds to purchase a house. Otherwise, they would be forced to live on the streets or pay off expensive fees at the inn.

For commoners, the army was a safe way to assure their family's survival. However, joining the army would very often result in returning home crippled or not returning at all. In other words, it would only slightly improve the family's situation, and even though there were some monetary rewards, it would rarely change the social class of the said family.

Becoming a knight was obviously a life-changing situation, which could allow a commoner to become rich, or even become a noble if he accumulated enough achievements. However, becoming a knight required a lot of things: Talent, resources and techniques. These three factors were unfortunately hardly met for commoners.

After all, the reason why nobles were stronger than commoners in general was because nobles possessed 'Knight Breathing Techniques', allowing them to become much stronger just by practicing it. With enough regularity, willpower and the right environment, it was possible to reach the preparatory knight realm in a matter of fifteen years, even for the ones who lacked talent.

Resources, including food, manuals, swordsmanship techniques, were plenty as well for nobles who possessed treasury available for all descendants of their noble households. However, for a mere commoner soldier to gain access to any resource, he would have to accomplish extraordinary feats. In other words, without luck or becoming a person of interest in the eyes of a noble, they would hardly ever eat a proper nutritious meal, or learn high-grade sword arts.

Last but not least, talent played a huge role. Nobles were usually descendants of strong knights. They would themselves marry off other nobles, who are equally strong genetically. Over time, the more ancient a noble household is, the higher the concentration of knight predispositions and strengthened cells are. With equal environment, resources and techniques available, a noble would always do better than a commoner.

Hence, to a commoner, their house was their everything, and seeing it being destroyed, or worse still, sacked, was a disaster.

The sight of women screaming: "PLEASE! ANYTHING BUT THIS PLATE", while holding their family silverware with intense struggle was quite difficult, even for someone like Arthur.

However, hard decisions were to be made. In order to make the Landragon the next strongest noble household in the Southern Gate Region, he needed funds. Sacking Everlasting City proved to be a very efficient short-term situation. Trusting John with the management and his experiences at the academy to create novel ideas, Arthur was confident that the tens of thousand of gold coins he would earn in the sack would be enough to change the Landragon fief thoroughly.

Entering a random house, Arthur frowned.

The sight of three Elderwood soldiers surrounding a man beaten up to near death and his wife who was frightened entered Arthur's eyes.

"What is the meaning of that?", Arthur asked

The three Elderwood soldiers gasped and knelt: "Sir, this man has tried to hide his family in a hidden room full of treasures, including their silverware, a dozen gold coins and many books!"

Arthur sighed, took out his sword, and beheaded them on the spot.

[You have dealt 25 points of damage]

[You have killed [Level 3 Elderwood Soldier]. You have received 25 EXP]

[You have dealt 28 points of damage]

[You have killed [Level 1 Elderwood Soldier]. You have received 8 EXP]

[You have dealt 25 points of damage]

[You have killed [Level 2 Elderwood Soldier]. You have received 15 EXP]

'Seems like they received orders to get as much as they can, by all means necessary, in spite of my warnings...', Arthur thought

This time around, the old Elderwood Lord had gone too far.

Arthur was disappointed. Coming in the Landragon fief, he had hoped to see commanders and veterans who possessed a vast depth of experience, lessons to teach him and incredible might. Instead, he found uneducated ruffians who would send their army into frontal attacks under the promise of fame, if only it were to sustain their pride.

Count Elderwood lacked any foresight, and his strategists were beginners. It must be said that most people were uneducated in this world. Any commoner that rose in power would usually learn to read at a very old age: fifteen for the luckiest ones, thirty for the least wealthy. It meant that anything they learnt was done through discussions. However, commoners would never be able to afford tutors or perceptors. In the end, there was only so much you could do by yourself.

Strategy did not work like that. In order to develop a good strategy, you would need to learn the basics that were proved right over hundreds of years of trials and errors. Then, you would learn advanced tactics that were created by geniuses, and then, and only then, you would be able to form your own tactics.

Skipping the studying part would not make you a good strategist, no matter how high your talent is. This is the part where Arthur was doing great. He might not have the experience, but he did read a lot. This short battlefield allowed his knowledge to blossom, and applying it on a real battlefield allowed him to grasp the essence of strategy. In the end, with his ring rewarding him skill points and the numerous decisions he had to make, his strategy skill was nearing the [Advanced] realm, an incredible feat considering that most strategists were only at the [Beginner] realm, due to the lack of studying.

Considering the advantage he possessed in the battlefield, and the gap in strategies, it was only natural for Arthur to win the war so easily.

What he did not expect, was Count Elderwood's lack of judgement. His pride of being from the last generation prevented him from grasping Arthur's strength. More accurately, he knew Arthur to be strong, and wanted to test him.

If Arthur could not bear the sight of Elderwood men tormenting Everlasting City's residents in the sack, then Count Elderwood would earn the opportunity to restrict Arthur, and even get the excuse he needed to invade the Landragon fief and crush any thoughts of rebellion.

However, Count Elderwood did not calculate it through.

Baron Halefire was completely in awe, and would side with the Landragon Household if a conflict were to arise. More importantly, Viscount Palford and Baron Gale would not risk their descendance over an old man's pride.

If a war were to begin, the Elderwood Household would fall.

However, there was no need to create a war with allies yet.

'I already gave orders to the Dragon Army. They will kill those who cross the line. Count Elderwood won't be able to punish me if I apologize and say that my brother's men acted based on their morale code...', Arthur thought, 'I will use your army till it is gone, Count Elderwood'

Arthur's aim was not the Southern Gate Region Leadership. Of course, he would take it gladly, but it was not enough. Arthur needed enormous amount of gold coins and magic crystals to build a magic tower. They would be necessary to fund the plans, the runic masters engraving formations on walls, as well as the immense work force necessary to transport the [Starlight Ore] from the Elderwood Mine to Satbury, the Landragon fief's capital.

These funds would also be necessary to increase the standards of life and development of the Landragon fief.

Arthur didn't need a few tens of thousand of gold coins. He needed at least 1 million gold coins, which was the equivalent of 10 000 magic crystals. Just sacking Everlasting City would not be enough. He needed the wealth of the Raveneer Barony, and Baron Nalestone's personal wealth.