Dynasties Online

Chapter 208: The Life Of A Basic Nathian Soldier.

"You must always remember that to lead, one must first learn to follow."

Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia.

....

15th of September 4009 ASA (After Species Awakening) Nartook Fortress

"Alright, maggots! Time to get up, the marquis wants you outside for training in 30 minutes."

A Nathian sergeant bellowed his chainmail clinking and clanging as he went past the barracks door.

’Another day in paradise.’

Railius mused sarcastically to himself as he sighed deeply and shakily willed his body to get up while letting out a large yawn.

When Railius first heard of disgruntled players deserting the army, he wondered how they could be so stupid as to attempt such a stunt, especially when most nations’ armies were largely made of professional volunteers, and the price for desertion was well...

Let’s just say it’s hanging around the walls and the gatehouse of the fortress for all to see, and it really gave a new meaning to the phrase ’look upon me and despair.’

One look at those strangled, hanging corpses was enough to keep most men from deserting, as the rope was the cleanest death a man can have.

But now that he was living the life of a basic soldier, he understood them and the many complaints the players had about the game, because until he was forced into the life of a basic medieval soldier, he had had a very privileged experience with it, even if that experience was filled with bandit attacks and assassination attempts.

Because he had been a noble, a lord, perhaps one with no lands or titles and hunted down by the only recognised superpower in the southern continent, but a noble nonetheless and even a fallen noble title mattered because it was this title and the legacy left to Railius by his father Lucius that got him a foot in the door and allowed him slowly weed his way into the very heart of Nathian power and society.

His status gave him leeway, lots of leeway, especially when the soldiers protecting him on his journeys through the world were bound to him by both love and oath.

It was these loyal Pelican Guards who were indulgent of his little eccentric antics

These loyal Pelican Guards helped repel attempts by disgruntled, insulted nobles who sought to retaliate against him over perceived slights.

These Pelican Guards, who let him sleep at night without worrying about whether he could see the next morning and sleep in when he was feeling tired and lazy.

To be honest, Railius did not know what he and his noble house did to inspire such loyalty in his men, even if House Aurellion’s entire unique unit was derived from the concept.

As even the most loyal guards will turn against you should you mistreat them or lead them towards a dead end, for those who are willing to die out of loyalty to another are few and far between.

But as a regular soldier in Nartook Fortress with no apparent background, he managed to truly experience what it felt like to go from heaven to hell in an instant.

The next time Railius came up with a scheme like this, he would choose an identity that allowed him more comfort than a bunk bed in an old, over 500-year-old, hard stone-cold barracks.

Though if what Ranier told him was true, he should be thankful for even a bunk bed in a barracks, as the reinforcements who would soon be sent by the various members of the Nathian nobility to help defend against the Chavarians, whose vanguard would be arriving within a week, would only have tents to sleep in as any taverns and inns close or in the fortress will be filled by the lower nobility and knights while those of higher status would get the luxury of warm rooms in the main keep of Nartook fortress and fine food every day.

Not the kind of hard bread and few scraps of meat the regular grunt gets.

Seeing that Railius had done nothing but sit on the side of his bed, seemingly deep in thought, Jordis Mantalon, his loyal friend and son of the grand commander of his Pelican Guard, Leon Mantalon and one of nearly 50 men who shared this barracks with him, came over to encourage him to get up.

"Come on, let’s go get breakfast, Harmon, before it gets cold or time runs out."

Jordis said in a voice as gentle as the hard born soilder could manage getting Railius to finally put on his weapons and armour and head for breakfast.

His other young friends were also waiting for him, already up and ready for the day: Norfaelor, with his massive size and morning resting on his left shoulder, and Vegrif, as calm and collected as always, oiling and upkeeping his dagger in the corner.

"I’ll be just a minute, Jon."

Railius said as he finished putting on his light mail and began to strap a brown leather belt around his waist, swiftly attaching the sheath of his sword, Righteous Wrath, the only piece of his usual ensemble of equipment apart from his noble houses sigel which was hidden in a breast pocket that he was allowed to keep on him when he assumed his new fake identity one that Kodjis Kendari the crown prince of Nathia arranged for him.

Harmon Hestime, this was his new fake identity, the supposed third son of a household knight who joined the army for the free food, generous pay and chance to prove and make something out of himself.

It was this status that left him between the ranks of commoner and knight, which allowed Railius to have a basic education without drawing suspicion, something that would be increasingly hard to hide as time went by, as his ability to read and his proper manner of speech would raise eyebrows should he only be the son of a farmer or lumberjack.

After all, a household knight would usually at least be able to teach their sons how to read while they were alive, and as reading was second nature to all players, it would only take one mistake for his identity to be revealed early.

And if it were, then all the preparations he had made for this battle would be in vain.

Railius and every other noble or high-ranking officer in the fortress knew there were spies among their ranks, just as there were Nathian spies in both the Chavarian army and the imperial court, though with Amulius Lunaris in command, Railius imagined most, if not all, of those spies had already been dealt with.

Only fools would think otherwise, and Amulius Lunaris and Ranier Lantier, two geniuses of their generation, would make such a low-level mistake.

After a small but hearty breakfast, it was training time once again.

Since Chavaria had declared war, training in the army had been far more intensive than it was before, if the words of veterans in the army were to be trusted, which Railius supposed made sense, as every bruise suffered in training gave a soldier even a slightly improved chance of survival.

Though even that recent increase in training was mild compared to the gruelling training over the past few days, when the scouts reported that the 100,000-man-strong Chavarian vanguard would arrive outside the fortress within the week.

And this vanguard was commanded by none other than Archtorius Shadowspire, a Duke now, after he had been promoted in rank and given new lands for his contributions during the Battle of Brunag nearly 23 years ago, where Lucius Aurellion led 50,000 men to defeat an allied army of 100,000 and his many other merits over the years.

An old friend and protégé of Lucius Aurellion, the man whom he stabbed in the back to save his own family and the reason why House Aurellion fell from power.

While many loyalists to House Aurellion hate him, Railius does not. If he were given a similar, seemingly impossible choice between the safety of his family and the death of a friend, Railius imagined he would have made the same decision Archtorius made.

He would have betrayed his friend and mentor to protect them.

As family is everything, especially in an age where noble houses rule the land.

Coming to one of the huge training grounds, Railius saw Marquis Xalvador Tiber, vice general of Grand Duke Ranier Lantiers’ personal retinue of 20,000 men, who had accompanied him on his posting to Nartook Fortress, standing on a platform overlooking the training ground, which was filled with the grunts of recruits running, sparring and wrestling.

The overall general and commander position was obviously held by the old Grand Duke himself, but compared to the soldiers of many nobles, the Grand Duke of Bundo’s men were elite veterans, with 10,000 men being unique units loyal to House Lantier, the Lantier knights of Light.

It would be these men who would be crucial for holding the line, especially as the Grand Marshal of Chavaria was bringing his own unique unit to the field.

The childish part of Railius was looking forward to seeing which unique unit was the strongest out of the many gathered, as both nations would be throwing all they could into this war because the young lord of House Aurellion hoped that it would be his Pelican Guards that can fight 2 to 1 against the legendary Imperial Chavarian Guards who would be found to be the best soldiers in amongst the two nations.

While the rational and emotional parts would feel devastated by the loss of every Pelican Guard in the name of duty.

Railius ran for 30 minutes, frowning when he saw the hanging corpses of deserters and spies swaying in the wind as they dangled from the walls, before taking a short break. After warming up and stretching, he would spar.

Just as he was about to ask Jordis or Vegrif for a friendly spar, never asking Norfaelor as too many times had Railius seen people dislocate or break limbs while fighting the giantlike half-elf for Railius to dare face him, a board voice entered his ear.

"Harmon Hestime, are you looking forward to the grand melee? This time, I’ll make sure to crush you into the dirt!"

An arrogant Nathian soldier said, making Railius sigh and roll his eyes as he turned around.

It was always the players who enjoyed boasting and using their skills or status to show off, as the veterans knew it was meaningless, while the NPC commoner recruits were spending their time trying to learn enough to survive on the bloody battlefield.

Only players had the luxury to create rivalries when an army was about to bear down on them, turning Nartook Fortress into a human slaughterhouse.

This was Lucas Gale, a player who had been in the Nathian army for nearly 2 and a half years now and was proud of his skill, only to be beaten down by Railius like an errant child the moment Railius first took to the training field on his first day masquerading as a regular soldier.

As a result, the prideful player took losing to a new recruit very poorly, even though he was the son of a household knight and so logically should have known that Harmon would have had a stronger foundation than he did in matters of combat.

After all, how could a player who had only had the most rudimentary combat training stand against the personal disciple of masters and grandmasters?

Railius’ character has had two main teachers; the first was Leon Mantalon, the Grandmaster of Loyalty. However, most of the training he imparted to Railius was done while Reginald was not in control of the character.

The second was Aldorus, the First Commander of the Pelican Guard, a quasi-grandmaster, who had accompanied him for the past 3 years in the game, protecting him from those who wished him harm and had continued Railius’ combat training while they were travelling together.

So, expecting a player who had only been trained as a regular soldier to be able to defeat Railius would be no better than hoping for the sun to rise in the west, especially as the best opponent he ever had to face was an expert fighter.

The Grand Melee was an event that usually occurred once a month, a way for the lucky winner to take home a prize of 100 gold coins and a means for the Nathian army to motivate its soldiers to improve themselves.

The winner also couldn’t take part in the next two grand melees, lest the same person win multiple times.

Since war had been declared, the Grand Melees had shifted from once a month to once a week, with the prize money doubled to give the soldiers as much real combat experience as possible before being sent into the crucible that is war.

The Grand Melee was open to all soldiers below the rank of lieutenant, with Sergeants usually vying for the top spot as they leveraged their experience fighting in wars to defeat the raw recruits who had never set foot on a battlefield before.

Master fighters were also prevented from entering, though they would have their own competitions, not only because they enjoyed exchanging tips with each other but also to show just how much stronger they were than the average soldier.

For the army is a place where might makes right, and nothing shows might better than striking faster than most could follow, helping to keep the soldiers in line and loyal to their commanders.

"Oh, and how do you plan to do that, Lucas?"

Railius said with a mocking smile as he was well aware that the gap between them was anything but small, especially as over the few weeks of training, Railius had managed to analyse the Nathian way of fighting, drastically increasing his chances of winning.

"You will see."

Lucas said as he returned to his circle of friends, making Railius frown, as only by recruiting help would Lucas have any chance of defeating Railius.

It would appear that today’s Grand Melee would be more interesting than he expected, and Railius expected that this confidence came from the thousands of players who had rushed to Nartook Fortress the moment they received the notice of potential rewards if they achieved merits in war.

As Railius and Vegrif began to take up their positions Railius some conversations began to pique Railius’ interest, mainly those of players who had recently joined the army after the Kingdom of Nathia allowed anyone who brought their own gear and food to fight on the front lines to achieve merit.

"I hear The Sword of The Morning will be arriving today, they say he is the strongest player in Nathia and is already well on his way to becoming a master."

One of the players said as he blocked an opponent’s attack.

"Isn’t he also a vicecount? Why would he come to the front lines and not stay inside his territory, living a good, idle life?"

The player’s opponent asked, seemingly confused as to why someone who was a noble and had territory that could continuously make money for him would want to come to the battlefield.

After all, the main reason most of the player soldiers joined the army was that they were bored or wanted to earn great merit to gain a noble title and maybe a village or two.

"Haven’t you heard that many nobles who decided to just leech off their territories and didn’t govern well either died in rebellion or through one of their opponents’ schemes?"

Another player watching the two fight chimed in as they discussed the latest rumours on the forums, including the Nathian player alliance that had persuaded the Nathian royal court to allow them to assemble what was essentially a private army.

"Do you think he will be here in time for the Grand Melee?"

The first player asked again.

"I don’t know, it will be starting at midday, which is only about an hour away."

Railius listened as he fought Vigrif, his NPC childhood friend, who was best at one-on-one combat but, when working in groups, was able to cooperate well with his comrades and seamlessly shift formations as needed.

While Norfaelor and Jordis would lead cavalry and shock troops in the future, being better suited to sudden attacks that relied on their personal skill to rally and lead troops, Vegrif would be turned into an infantry commander, the solid anvil for the two hammers of Norfaelor and Jordis to smash against.

The duel only lasted less than a minute before, with a flourish, Railius disarmed his friend, though their confrontation, like all the spars between the four friends, drew many eyes, mostly from the veterans and generals who quickly realised that their techniques were far from rudimentary and a few recruits who wanted to learn what they could by watching higher level battles that they could actually follow.

The shock of Jordis nearly winning an entire grand melee the first time he entered further emphasised this, with many generals realising why these four recruits had the eye of Ranier Lantier.

No, the veterans and generals in the army knew that these four friends had all been trained from childhood to fight as their muscles were strong, showing that they were brought up on a diet, with one of them likely possessing a status which could not be easily offended.

Just then, a cry came from the southern gate.

"Banners! Banners are coming from the south!"

It would appear that some of the Nathian reinforcements had arrived before the Chavarians had.