Chapter 17: War of the Duchies I

3rd Pov

In a small village on the border of the Duchy of Hyarlia with the Lordship of Duloc, we can see people living their lives as simple peasants, since it was a simple village where some merchants passed through, with them focusing on raising animals that would then be given as taxes to the Court that protected the region.

In the center of the village, we can see some soldiers from the Fortress and a man wearing beautiful clothes, with the man writing some things on the parchment while talking to the village elder, who represents everyone who lives there.

"The tax for these 5 months is done, Sir John, the Commander will be pleased with such fat cattle to feed the soldiers" Said the man after writing a few more things on his parchment.

"Ah, we are just doing our job, Mi'lord, this is our way of thanking the Commander for protecting us" Said Elder John respectfully to the representative of the Fortress, who nodded with a smile.

"Well, since we have what we need, we will-" Before the man could say anything, the sound of bells was heard, signaling that there was an enemy attack.

Looking in a certain direction, they saw several men on horseback advancing against the village, they wore dark green uniforms, with dark fur hats (bubsys) that had the symbol of a white skull, and the men had sabers and twigs made of iron pieces at their waists.

The Guards of the Envoy of the Fortress quickly took defensive positions to protect the man, while the villagers of the village ran to arm themselves, but then they saw some of the strange men point the twigs in the direction of the envoy and the guards, soon hearing a bang and smoke rising to the sky.

Before the envoy could say anything, he received several shots in the chest and one in the neck, killing him for good, with the other guards also falling lifeless to the ground, with holes in their armor.

The villagers were horrified by this, some tried to go against these men who were riding horses but soon suffered the same fate, being shot to death by some while others were cut by the sabers, causing the rest of the villagers to try to flee or surrender so as not to suffer the same fate.

Those who tried to flee were soon captured and joined with the rest of the villagers, everyone was scared, the mothers held their children tightly, and some children even cried, while the men looked at the men who attacked their village.

"W-what do you want from us?" Asked the village elder, his clothes dirty from falling to the ground while trying to escape from two men on horseback.

"We are part of the Dulocian Royal Army, from today onwards these lands are under the control of Lord Joseph-Maximus von Farquaad, if you dare resist the occupation, we will be severe when dealing with those considered rebels, as the only punishment is death" Said a man with a short mustache and beard, pointing his saber at the villagers, who cowered in fear.

"Half stay here to secure this village, the rest come with me, we have one more village to take while the troops come here" Said the man as he began to advance on his horse, with half of the Cavalry following him after reloading their pistols.

With that, the remaining half of the Cavalry remained guarding the village, while the villagers were digesting what they had just heard, this would mean that the Duchies were now at war with the Lordship of Duloc, which many did not understand, why would the Lordship go to war against them?

Some were angry, they wanted to attack the remaining soldiers, but they couldn't do so without risking the condemnation of their families, and in their eyes, these soldiers used magic, and they wouldn't stand a chance against sorcerers.

After about an hour, troops from the Duloc Army arrived in their hundreds, and they quickly planted the Duloc flag, a 2-headed Austrian Eagle on a yellow background, in the middle of the village, with several Dulocian soldiers saluting the flag.

The cattle that were supposed to be given to the Fortress were now the property of the Army, while the villagers had to bury their acquaintances and relatives who had died while trying to resist the Cavalry, as well as the guards and the Fortress envoy, after taking everything of value and equipment from them.

The officer who was appointed to be temporarily in charge of the village forced the elder to take them to the village warehouse, taking with him 6 soldiers to search everything.

After searching the warehouse with extreme care, where there was only meat to be used as food, he then looked at the village elder seriously, while the old man trembled in fear of what might happen to him.

"We will confiscate the weapons of all the villagers, we do not trust your people with such weapons, besides, since this village is now Duloc's territory, you will obey our laws, but don't worry about that last one, the police that will arrive will make sure that you obey every law of Duloc~" Said the officer with a malevolent smile on his face as he looked at the elder before laughing a little.

The elder was sweating with fear, but nodded quickly, knowing that for the sake of the village, they would have to listen to everything these men with spiked helmets said or they could be killed quickly, which they did not want.

After they left the warehouse and closed the entrance, leaving 3 guards to protect it, the officer gave orders for some soldiers to confiscate the villagers' weapons, with the Elder having to calm down anyone who tried to resist before the Dulocian soldiers got angry and decided to kill someone.

The Dulocian soldiers took all the swords, shields, and spears that were in the villagers' houses, with them taking these weapons with them to be delivered to the Blacksmiths who would hold the steel to make sabers, pistols, or muskets.

The villagers could only watch all this while clenching their fists, they had lost people they knew and loved ones to these invaders, while they still did not understand what the Duchies had done to start such an attack, if there was any justification.

Village on the Border of the Duchy of Gisla

While in Hyarlia the first village was taken without much bloodshed, this village was different, in Gisla one could see Dulocian soldiers marching seriously before being ordered to halt, they then had their lines point their muskets forward before firing, the target being a village militia that tried to resist.

The villagers had been given the choice of surrendering to the Gisla Front Cavalry or resisting and dying, and they decided the latter, so the Cavalry charged, killed a few villagers, and set fire to the village chief's house before quickly leaving the place to warn the Army.

Now we are seeing the Massacre that was happening because they decided to resist, with several of the militia dead on the ground while the Dulocian soldiers still advanced seriously while placing bayonets on their muskets.

"CHAAAAERGE!" A Dulocian officer shouted as he drew his saber, firing his pistol at an advancing militiaman before he charged at his roaring soldiers.

The Cavalry also helped by attacking the militia's flanks, killing several in the process, but then left the battlefield, after all they had other work to do, but they did lend a helping hand to the army that was not on horseback.

What followed was the Dulocian soldiers advancing like savages against the remaining militiamen, with them using their bayonets to stab their bellies and hearts, as if they were using spears against the enemy.

Other Dulocians had the misfortune of being too close to the enemy, so they had to use their fists, with some falling to the ground with the militiamen and punching them in the face, some even using the tips of their pickelhaube to stab the enemy in the eye or throat.

These were just the first of several battles that would occur, in what would later be known as the "War of the Duchies" by Duloc.