The Price of War.

"The Battle of Brunag taught me many lessons about war, especially its cost."

"How men whom you have thousands of gold on, spend years with and even made friends with…."

"Can die in a second on the battlefield."

"As a sword, cares not for your status, wealth or circumstances."

"For is an object which cuts a man without discrimination sending kings, lords, knights and commoners to the embrace of death."

"What matters is the person wielding it as it is people, sentient beings who discriminate the most in this world."

Reginald Coulan, creator and head of House Aurellion in dynasties online.

…..

[The bloodlust skill is still in effect, some of your troops will refuse to retreat.]

'Damn'

Wurgoth shouted in his mind when he saw the system notification appear, regretting his decision to try to break through with bloodlust as it had now come back to bite him and prevented him from retreating with his entire army. However, the effect did allow the orcish heavy infantry to take only 2500 casualties from the Chavarian heavy infantry compared to the 4000 casualties they inflicted on the Chavarians. The 20% increase in attack combined with the orc's naturally high physical attributes made their attack devastating, allowing them to have a near 2:1 kill-to-death ratio when fighting their physically weaker human opponents.

'At least those stubborn ones can be used as a rearguard or cover for the rest of the army to retreat.'

Wurgoth thought coldly, deciding to use their stubbornness to his advantage at least and help achieve his strategic objective of retreating like Zugbu, the player only really seeing them like a number in a wargame instead of sentient beings with emotions. Many players would be like this, using their NPCs only for their own personal gain and to better themselves in the real world, while few would care about them but would find that if they did that, they would be far more loyal to them, especially in situations where they are struggling.

…..

Mulush deftly swung his battle-axe around him, two arrows stuck out of his back, a souvenir from having to avoid the Chavarian archers who had locked onto him and fired arrow after arrow at the orc leader. His other hand held a Chavarian shield which the large orc used to defend himself from arrows that the 1000 archers kept firing at him. The other 5,000 crossbows and 1,500 surviving archers provided much-needed cover and support for the Chavarian infantry, their small clouds of steel projectiles ripping into the rear ranks of the orcs to help prevent them from accidentally shooting their allies who were in melee.

The archers and crossbows used their vast experience accumulated through years of fighting wars to make accurate shots. A few of the most experienced were even able to save a few Chavarian infantry from dying with well-placed shots that killed an orc before the green-skinned being could deliver a death blow to their opponents, who struggled to defend themselves from the orc's overwhelming attacks.

Mulush cut a Chavarian knight in half while at the same time bashed another with his shield, making the man fall to the ground with a clank emanating from his armour, getting closer and closer to Lucius by cutting down the knights who made his bodyguard one by one the Chavarian general being locked in the orc sights.

Sensing another cloud of arrows coming towards him, the large orc simultaneously deflected a sword that came towards him with his axe while using the shield to protect himself from the arrows, which turned the Chavarian knight battling him and the one groaning in pain on the floor after being bashed by the orcs shield into hedgehogs with multiple arrows sticking out of their chests.

Seeing the approach of Mulush, who came from behind the Chavarian formation because he broke through it earlier, Lucius' knight bodyguards returned from the frontlines to their commander to protect him from the orc's rampage drawing their swords and bravely facing down the powerful orcs. This also put some strain on the Chavarian's formation, which was getting smaller and smaller. But with Archtorius telling the 1,000 archers that were firing at Mulush to instead fire on any orcs lucky enough to break through and to relieve the infantry allowed them to make up for the disappearance of the knights on the frontline allowing the Chavarians to barely hold on.

While each of the Chavarian knights that were assigned to protect Lucius were expert fighters being the best knights that remained in the army except for the knight captain who was needed to lead soldiers into battle, their excellent teamwork could only hold out for so long as they slowly started dying one by one to the skilled orc who methodically cut through them.

A long crude horn then boomed across the battlefield, signalling a retreat and causing Mulush to curse out in rage.

"Damn! Why now? I only have about 50 more to go, and their general's head would be mine!"

The large orc cursed out loud, slamming his fist into the ground and shaking it slightly to calm himself down before retreating alongside the majority of the orcs and the orcish light infantry who had not joined the battle for long, most of their casualties coming from the archers and crossbowmen whose arrows and bolts managed to find gaps in their small shields. However, a loose formation prevented them from dying quickly like the orcish pikes and spearmen whose tight formation led them being annihilated by the Chavarian ranged units and horse archers who attacked them from both sides with projectiles until they all died.

With most orcs retreating, the Chavarians, now aided by their cavalry led by a wounded Leon, quickly finished the orcs who did not withdraw. However, their stubbornness and death allowed the rest of the orcs to retreat successfully while their comrades were slaughtered, all while being harassed by the horse archers and knights under the command of the knight captain.

Seeing the arrival of their cavalry, a loud cheer rippled throughout the Chavarian line before becoming sombre as they saw the tens of thousands of corpses and wounded, some of them their own brothers in arms lying lifeless on the ground, a constant reminder of the horror and cost of war.

This only made the Chavarian soldiers and officers more determined to destroy the other two kingdoms and establish an empire where the citizens of all the kingdoms and their own descendants could live in peace and prosperity.

"So we managed to hold on then."

Lucius said to himself, letting out a sigh of relief before ordering his troops to return to camp, taking one last look at the once beautiful landscape littered with blood and the corpses of the slain before returning his gaze colder and slightly hardened from experiencing war first-hand.

"Get me a report on the casualties we have sustained and prepare for the next stage."

Lucius said quietly to a knight just as he turned his horse to leave.

"I almost forgot…."

Lucius called back, his body now facing away from his knight escort, who watched the crimson cloak that flowed down the Chavarian general's back flutter in the wind.

"Bury the dead. Who knows what diseases and sicknesses we could catch if we don't? The last thing I need is more of our men dying as we seem not to have too many left."

Lucius said as he rode up the hill and towards his camp.

….

After seeing the orcs retreat, Lucius immediately ordered that the anti-magic crystals back at camp be deactivated now that the threat of the enemies was temporarily gone so the uninjured soldiers and those who knew healing magic could heal wounded, most of them being knights.

In the Chavarian command tent, Lucius clenched his teeth and let out a cry of pain as the knight captain removed the arrowhead from Lucius, frowning when he smelled something odd from the arrow tip and looked closer at the wound.

"The arrow was poisoned, general we must treat, or you will almost certainly die. A bit has already begun to enter your heart another 2 hours, and even the Royal doctors may have nothing that they could do to save you."

The knight captain said in concern channelling his magic in preparation to treat the Chavarain general's wound the moment Lucius gave his consent.

"Treat it then. I can't go to hell yet and miss the beautiful ending I have meticulously planned!"

"Please excuse me, general. This may hurt a bit."

"Is that why you intentionally leaked not only the timing of our knight raid so the enemy could make preparations but even the weaknesses of our formation set up for the next day's battle?"

The knight captain asked just as he finished his preparations for Lucius' treatment and began to talk to him and change the subject to try to take his attention away from the painful procedure to come.

The knight captain then sent his green-tinged white magic into Lucius, who was just about to explain to the captain his plan.

"That's right! AHHHHHH SHIT, NOT AGAIN!"

Lucius screamed the pain of the magic cleansing his blood and forcefully disconnecting the poison from the blood within his body, the pain being similar to what Friend System had subjected him to in the tutorial as he felt like his insides were burning while the knight captain had a look of concentration on his face as he manipulated his magic throughout his generals body the wound providing an easy access point for his magic to enter from.

The healing continued for 5 minutes, leaving behind a small scar. All this time, Reginald, who was controlling Lucius, made the slightly odd decision of keeping the sensitivity at 100% despite being able to lower it temporarily for the procedure; however, he decided that he wanted to not only immerse himself in the game more but also get used to pain as he had already decided to be a more war based noble house so going into battle and getting injured would be regular occurrences so getting used to it will allow him to keep his cool and concentration even when injured in combat.

Over the 5 minutes, Leon got someone to close his wound with magic quickly and then, hearing that Lucius was injured, ran over to the command tent before being ordered out and decided instead to guard the outside of the tent, his hand trying to crush the hilt of the sword which hung from his left when he squeezed it tightly when he heard Lucius screaming in pain.

After spending a few minutes calming down, Lucius' laboured breathing became steady. He looked at the knight captain, who had just finished disinfecting his wound and put away the few medical supplies used in medicine in the game.

Because magic existed in the game world and was far more convenient for healing wounds and treating diseases than a more science-based approach, it meant that while healing with magic was quite advanced in Dynasties Online, the convenience of this approach also meant that healing with things like herbs and medicines was not which was something that was normal and was something players could begin and introduce in the world especially as some poisons are magic resistant needing powerful mages to dispel from the body but may be able to be treated in a more scientific way foregoing the need for a powerful mage.

Lucius was lucky enough not to have been poisoned with a magic-resistant poison, but it reminded Lucius once again of the dangers of this medieval-like world.

"Why was this way more painful than getting a wound closed?"

Lucius asked as he was treated by magic after suffering his wound in the first skirmish fought between the Chavarians and the allied army, remembering that the experience was a lot less painful and even soothing to a certain extent.

"It's simple, general! Finding and magically removing the poison from blood would be much more painful than closing up a wound and increasing our recovery rate as we have to forcefully separate it from the blood."

The knight captain explained, turning to leave now that he had made sure that Lucius was ok as he had many other wounded men to attend to on his way-out Lucius asked one last thing.

"Thank you for the treatment. I never got your name."

Lucius asked, only seeing the rather handsome face of the knight captain for the first time now as typically, the young man wore a helmet that was the same as the one all the other royal knights wore, allowing their captains to blend in with their men making it hard for enemies to find them.

It is said that usually only the royal family or those deemed trustworthy or important enough to the king are allowed to know the names of the royal knights who would later become the imperial guards of the Chavarian imperial family as it prevented them from becoming too close to outsiders. Even family members struggled to know or recognise imperial guards allowing them to be forever the swords and shields of the Chavarina imperial family.

"Scorpius."

The knight captain said coldly before leaving the 25-year-old man remaining expressionless as he put his helmet back on and went outside the tent.

"Is he ok?"

Leon asked Scorpius, who had just left the command tent, his strained worried voice hinting that the large man was much more concerned than his calm outer appearance suggested.

"The general will be fine. He was poisoned, but I have purged it, and it was the reason for his pained cries earlier."

Scorpius said calmly while leaving to treat other wounded soldiers, while Leon let out a sigh of relief when he heard the general would be ok.

"Vice General Leon!"

A soldier called out, running towards Leon with a piece of parchment in his hand and giving it to the Chavarian Vice General, who took a deep breath in when he read its contents.

"Damn, we really did get hit hard today!"

Leon said to himself quietly as he skimmed through the parchment, which was sent to him from the quartermaster, who had just finished the casualty report for the day.

He then entered the tent in time to see Lucius put a nice silk shirt on over his scarred back souvenirs from his lifetime of service in the Chavarian army. The arrow wound leaving only a tiny, almost indiscernible scar to add to the tens which were dotted around on Lucius' battered body.

Hearing the tent's flap open and the footsteps of someone enter, Lucius calmly turned round with no sign that he was affected by anything or was screaming in pain only minutes ago. He then saw a piece of parchment in his friend's hands and greeted him.

"I heard you got injured in the last battle. Are you ok? I assume that is the casualty report from the battle?"

Lucius asked the large man who had just entered, pointing at the parchment in his hands while sitting on a stool in his tent, and motioned for Leon to read it.

"I am fine general, and yes, I just received the casualty report if you're interested. It's good to see you so well recovered from your own altercation on the battlefield."

Leon said, sighing deeply when he scanned the content of the report again.

"Is it that bad?"

Lucius asked when he heard the deep sigh and felt an ominous foreboding at the report's content.

"Yes general, our current casualties taken from the last battle are as follows."

Leon replied, sighing before becoming serious and began to read the report.

"6000 heavy infantry are dead, 1000 wounded of that 500 are serious and will require them to be retired from service after the battle as well as prevent them from taking part in future operations."

"2000 archers are dead with 500 wounded, though like the 500 non-serious ones among the heavy infantry, with some magical healing and rest, they should be able to recover and ready for battle by tomorrow if needed."

"3000 knights are dead, with 500 wounded that we could save again with healing and bed rest; they should be able to fight again tomorrow."

"4,000 horse archers are dead, with 1000 wounded in a similar condition to the knights."

"We also lost Vice-General Lyndon, and with the exception of Lindorus, who did not take part in the last battle, every other person who was ranked vice-general or higher, including you, was injured though each of us will be able to fight after treatment."

"If we combine that with the casualties sustained throughout our engagement, we have the current troops remaining and fit for battle."

"3,000 knights, 7,000 horse archers, 5,000 crossbows, 3,000 archers and 3,500 heavy infantry for a total of 21,500 troops ready for battle."

"Damn, so we have lost over half of our combat strength."

"Yes general, we began the battle with 50,000 soldiers, and now we have less than half remaining, though I doubt our enemies are doing much better as we have almost completely annihilated the enemies' cavalry and made them take many casualties! however, we are starting to get low on arrows and crossbow bolts."

Leon said, informing Lucius that they were running out of ammunition before asking Lucius one last question.

"General, why did you have me say what I said in the battle? Even if I had to let, Bardornus and Alden go so I could save our main army in time to attack him psychologically to beat him in single combat…."

"Wasn't an offer you knew would be refused pointless to make?"