Chp-44 The Great War: A Tragic History
In a small kingdom near Ingrassia.
The capital was decorated with flowers, old flags, banners replaced by new shiny ones. The market bustling even more than normal as everyone quickly hustled from one stall to another, buying everything on their long shopping list. Children ran across as they played, a face of joy in their face as the elders watched them with smiles of their own.
Maidens and housewives chatted among themselves animatedly as men and boys talked about what new things are going on in the country. The most prominent one was the reason for this Festivity.
It was the beginning of a new year, year 210YD had ended and 211YD was to begin tomorrow. It was started by the empire of Orion. YD simply meant Year of Dragons which was quite fitting of the Empire that came up with it.
{A/n I don't know if there was any calendar system but I will add mine.}
At the beginning, even though this system gained a lot of popularity, the foreign nations tried to start their own years but ultimately failed to set a proper time line or other setbacks, and due to that, they reluctantly resorted to using the Empire's.
The Empire came up with different Holidays, a period of time in the year where people can enjoy a time of rest, with their family and organise festivals. One of the most important was the Day of Harvest of crops and another was the Start of a New year and the end of the previous.
Tonight, they will celebrate the end and begin of a year. A day filled with well wishes for the future and the acceptance of the past.
So, this kingdom, which was too small for its own good named Listeria, situated between the Empire and Engrassia enjoyed a period of peace due to both nations being in friendly terms with it. Well Engrassia atleast, Orion is a doubt that they would like to give the benefits of. Ten years ago, Orion stopped expanding its borders.
When it became the largest nation in the world, it abruptly stopped it's expansion. As if they had planned all these. It was not because they had met a formidable enemy nation capable of stopping. No, if they wanted then half of the world might have already been under them by now.
Still, It was not a really bad thing. Unlike the eastern empire where the future of citizens were doubtful, Orion allowed its people to climb the ladders of power. The only thing it demanded was that you become a devotee of the Dragon OverLord and work for your future. No strings attached.
Back to the festival at hand. In the castle of the kingdom of Listeria, on the balcony we see a young prince looking out to the hustle and bustle of the kingdom. As he heard the sounds of hurried footstep and shouts of orders as the servants hastened to decorate the castle.
*Knock**knock* "Your Highness?"
A muffled sound came to the room where the Prince was.
"Come in Sir Luther. " The prince commanded as he entered the room.
"Greetings Your Highness, his Majesty is waiting for you in the dining table. He has asked for you to join him for lunch." Sir Luther bowed as he said the reason for his visit.
"Certainly Sir Luther." The prince said as he walked out of the room, followed by the Knight towards the dining hall.
While walking, the prince asked a question which had been bugging his mind for a while.
"I heard that the products of Orion is quite revolutionary and also convenient in daily life?"
"Indeed your highness. The magic items of Orion is very useful as well as quite cheap. It is also easy to use as well." Sir Luther said.
"Is this true that father wishes to propose a contract with the empire for military aid?"
"Yes, Your Highness. As You know, our Kingdom is very small, and compared to our neighbours we don't have even a fraction of their army. As for any powerful warriors, only me and Sir Alvin is of Rank A and the other knights are B. So getting help for the empire might ease our difficulties." Sir Luther said.
Silence fell after that as The prince went into contemplation of the facts spoken by the knight. It was indeed a fact that their kingdom was quite weak and there was always a threat of getting invaded. They don't know if it was purely out of luck or not but for the 500 years of its existence, no kingdom tried to usurp it.
Maybe it was because there was nothing of too importance they had which will entice the enemy to attack or anything else. But still, the king decided to be safe than sorry and called for a meeting with the Minister of the Empire in secrecy.
After the short walk, the prince entered the dining hall as Sir Luther waited outside.
"Good Afternoon Father, Mother." The prince greeted.
"Good morning son, come sit with us." The King said as he smiled towards his only child and heir.
"Father, I heard you were planning to form a contract with the Empire?" As he sat down, the prince asked his father. His father was quite young for a king. He was in his early 40s with an air of authority and discipline. He was a fairly kind-hearted and fair ruler. He sought of what was best for the kingdom and it's people.
He was also a loving husband. He never did married anyone other than the prince's mother. In a world where polygamy was a common occurrence, the King's decision was something unheard of.
"Yes, Son. I wanted to strengthen our army so the best course of action was to take help from the outside. Engrassia might have been a better option but now that the empire has proved itself to be quite cooperative, I have decided to hand out a proposal to them." The King said.
"I know you have already taken into account of the fact that they might use this opportunity to meddle in our affairs right?"
"Yes. But I have already considered for all these things when I decided to send them the request. It was met with a reply quite swiftly, stating that the Minister will arrive tonight." The King said, his face showing the surprise he felt when a magic circle lit up on his desk as soon a letter was dropped on it.
"Father, I trust the decisions you have made so I will not try to change your mind. But I do have a question, is it really true, that the Emperor is a God?" The prince asked in scepticism.
He had heard of the preachings which was spread by the Dragon Priests. Followers of the Dragon God or the Supreme One as they like to call him. In Listeria, it was still not that popular, well even followers of Luminous were quite scarce here.
"I don't know about that son, but from what happened 30 years ago in the Great War, which was true, he might as well be a God in that regard. "
The King said as a shiver went down his body remembering the massacre of the Great War.
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30 years ago, when Orion was in its conquering phase. All the remaining kingdoms of the Western Nations as well as with the aid from Ingrassia, the Holy Kingdom and Dwargon, a massive army of 3 Million was formed.
Multiple Otherworlders and Famous Adventurers were also in this army. Each formidable and known for their strength. The gathered coalition of such a large army was headed by the King of Dwargon, King Gral Dwargo. A special S Ranked king who defeated a demon lord in his youth. He had ruled Dwargon for 800 years as a very powerful ruler who rivaled the power of a Hero without being one.
In a conventional war, such a lineup of powerhouses and a large army was enough to win the war. But fate had it that they were up against the Dragon OverLord.
The war went on for three days, the first day went on as a normal war would. Deaths on both side and constant uses of strategies and war formation. The Empire had deployed only 1 million army. Along with it they sent only two Guardians, namely Roku and Yama.
These two Guardians decimated the whole Battlefield as they alone were responsible for the deaths of approximately 700k soldiers, many adventurers and Otherworlders tried to stop them but were met with Swift demise.
This went on untill Gral had to step in. With the help of the Hero Team Kibou they managed to stall the Two Guardians for enough time that the sun had set, signalling the end of the first day of the war.
It was so, because before the war began, a meeting was held where Orion proposed a rule that after Sunset, neither sides will continue the battle and let the battle end for the day. This left the Coalition of Nations puzzled as to why Orion asked such a thing.
But after the first battle it was clear that Orion just wanted to mock the coalition of their hopeless struggle. Just only two of the Guardians out of the 10 was enough to make them run for their money.
The next day of battle, Yama and Roku were nowhere to be seen. They were replaced by two females. One was named Isabella and the other Adriana.
Right from the beginning, Dark clouds formed and as the war began, dark lightning struck the battlefield. Whomever the lightning touched, that person will instantly collapse. This struck fear in the hearts of the army. They tried to evade the lightning but failed, they tried to form magic barriers but that too failed.
They the tried to retreat only to find their back lines being attacked by explosions occuring all over. It was later found that the storm of death was conjured by the lady called Isabella as the explosions were the creation of the other names Adriana.
By the time this was known, the day had ended and the coalition lost 1.5 million of their army. Only half of it remained. Some voiced of retreat but they were quickly silenced.
The third day. There was no army to be seen from Orion. The battlefield was quite for a while when suddenly a dark portal opened from above as the Overlord himself entered the battlefield. That day was the day where the coalition felt true fear as they watched the Overlord transform into a dragon.
A 200m dragon who with just one for breath killed hundred thousands. In that final battle, out of the total 1.5 million, only 50 thousand survived. And that too because the sun had set and the Overlord followed his own set rule.
The Dwarf King Gral was also killed in the war along with the Hero Team and many other kings and heroes of their nations.
That day, was the most tragic day of eachnof the kingdoms who was against the Empire.
★★★★★★★