29 - The Northen Lord

The group remained alert the rest of the day, they had passed through 3 border stations or checkpoints in total, the course of action was the same, the tanks would stop at a distance of around 1.5 kilometers where Merlin would evaluate the situation of the checkpoint before Geo's group would move ahead and fire at the anti magic beast weapons and the gate, then the entire battalion would pass through the checkpoint. As they continued north the surroundings changed from fields and forests of the south where they had come from to generally more rocky terrain

"Merlin"

Merlin stopped scanning the surroundings as Jane's voice sounded out from the radio, Merlin picked asked

"What is it?"

A few seconds passed before Jane's voice sounded out again from the radio

"The crew said something about the road wheels are starting to need maintenance, would it be okay if we stopped for a few hours?"

"One moment"

Merlin quickly popped open the top hatch and quickly scanned 360 before he sighed and spoke out into the radio

"All units, halt, Geo form a circle defensive formation"

"...Roger"

The M41's under Geo's command quickly formed a circle with their cannons pointed outwards, the rest of the tanks drive into the circle and parked neatly before the crew exited and began to perform maintenance on the tanks, Merlin stretched before he took the map out from his inventory and quickly scanned it, after a few minutes he had determined their rough location from the surrounding landmarks and quickly marked it on the map before he wrote a '+5' next to mark the time they had been on the road before he sighed and put the map back into his inventory then he jumped down from the tank and walked a few rounds around the temporary camp with Jane, the two of them had formed this habit on the 2nd day and had been doing it ever since, Jane had complained in the start that she felt motion sick and her behind hurt from sitting down all day but today she was silent which puzzled Merlin a bit, he was just about to ask what was wrong when Geo walked out from the tank ahead of them, he showed a smile as he spoke

"We're making good pace"

Merlin nodded before he gestured for Geo to come over as he took out the map and spread it on a flat rock and pointed on a spot

"That will be the real test"

Geo and Jane's face hardened slightly, what Merlin was pointing at was the Northern capital, the city of Yil, the city was situated in between two mountains and made a natural fortress, the fastest way if one wanted to make it to the mountain pass where the Helga army would be passing through was straight through the city as it would take about a day's travel for them to travel around the city on the smuggler routes that were marked on the map, Jane gazed at the spot where Merlin was pointing and asked

"...Can't we just pass around?"

"Sure we could… But since time is against us we'll have to pass through the city… Besides, we don't know if the smuggler routes are traversable with tanks, and… I want the two of you to prepare for eventual civilian casualties"

Jane nodded, then she looked over at Geo who's expression had hardened considerably after a bit he sighed before he spoke

"We save more by preventing the invasion of Helga… I know that… Still, I am not letting off any white phosphor shells unless the situation becomes critical"

Merlin nodded before he spoke

"I'll also hold off on using canister shells once we enter the city, I just wanted to tell you that if the situation calls for it we'll use all options we have"

Jane and Geo nodded, then Merlin showed a smile and reassured them

"We'll enter the city tomorrow, they won't have any meaningful time to make any big roadblocks for us with just 2 days of preparations time, still expect roadblocks on the main road, now let's go over every scenario we can think off"

Jane and Geo nodded before they began brainstorming the possibilities and events that could happen while passing through the city that would happen the next day.

The tank battalion stopped again about an hour after sunset and formed a defensive formation before they powered off their engines and went to sleep, Merlin slept alone in the Centurion Mk. 3 he had named Secundus after he had dismissed the crew there was some space in the bottom of the fighting compartment to sleep on where he had laid out a blanket, still it wasn't before long into the night that sleep finally found him…

"THEY DID WHAT!?"

"The metal carriages passed through 3 tax stations, they appear to be heading straight for the Northern capital"

The Northern city lord was a relatively young man in his 20's, he had taken over the position when his father died when he was 15 years old, form there he had lived a life of decadence and corruption which eventually led to him being swayed by Helga and rebelling towards the crown in exchange for countless riches, the Northern city lord began biting his nails as he muttered

"Since they passed so easily through the border posts they likely won't have a problem with my outer walls…"

Then after thinking for a bit he ordered

"Begin barricading the main streets, contact the adventurer's guild no, they won't move because of an invasion… Contact the local Harmony mage faction, spin them a story about the metal carriages and get them to help us drive them off! Also, send notice to the guards to report once they spot the metal carriages! Leave at once, time is of the essence!"

The butler bowed deeply as he spoke

"Understood"

The butler left the bedroom of the Northern city lord behind, meanwhile, the Northern city lord got dressed before he walked out of the bedroom and up to his office where he imputed mana into a magic mirror, soon a blurry figure appeared in the mirror, the Northern city lord spoke with great respect

"General, the Engir kingdom has sent strange metal carriages that have broken through 3 tax posts in less than a day, they are heading for the Northern capital as we speak"

The figure in the mirror only spoke after some time

"We are still 5 days away from the Northern capital, even if I were to force the march we would still arrive late, but I thank you for the information and will pass your contribution on to the emperor"

The Northern city lord nodded before he spoke

"I will take my leave again"

"Yes, rest well…"

The Northern city lord stopped injecting mana into the mirror and after a bit, the blurry figure disappeared from the mirror he muttered

"I've done all I can for now… No, I haven't spoken to the 7 rings yet…"

The 7 rings were the criminal syndicate that operated within the Engir kingdom, they handled smuggling, slavery, theft, drugs, security, assassination, and gambling thus the '7' in their name, the city of Yil had a rather big presence of the 7 rings, they practically ran half the city and the Northern city lord himself held a rather high position in the organization too and the head of the security division had his headquarters in the Northern capital too, the Northern city lord sent a messenger to the 7 rings and around dawn, he received a reply which he hurriedly read before he muttered

"'The concern of the Lord is not the concern of the organization, use this method of communication lightly again and you will soon be known as the 9 fingered lord' Those bastards!"

He slammed his fist down into the desk as he cursed, as he did there were a knock on the door to his office

"What!?"

The door was opened and a guard stepped in, he was the guard captain of the outer walls, he quickly reported

"The Metal carriages have appeared about 2 kilometers from the walls!"

The Northern city lord's face darkened but before he managed to curse a person walked into the office, it was the butler he had sent off earlier in the night

"The Harmony mages have agreed and are standing by on the Southern walls… Also, they said that they expect payment for this request"

"Those leeches!"

The Northern city lord once again hit his table in anger before he yelled

"Fine! Tell the guards to be ready for battle!"

The guard captain nodded before he spoke

"Then I'll take my leave"

"Yes, be off at o---"

At that moment distant thunder sounded out interrupting the lord, he quickly became confused and muttered

"Isn't the skies clear? Where did that thunder come from?"

The next moment more distant thunderclaps sounded out, then a servant rushed into the office and quickly kneeled down as he spoke

"The Southern walls are on fire!"

"WHAT!?"