Around the 15th century, the continent of Atlasia had two great wars.
One war changed the face of the continent.
The other war - the one this story will unfold- changed the history of the world.
-Chapter 1- April 1463
“Why is your face so dull, Klein?”
"Huh?"
Looking up from the pile of papers and documents stacked on his desk, Klein, Klein Caesar Voyage, a young high-ranking soldier of the Latilian Kingdom Army, glanced around the room to find the person who had just asked him.
As one of the youngest commanders in the country, largely thanks to his family, a line in the aristocratic House of Voyage, partly also thanks to his ability to learn fast and his constant achievement of high scores in exams, Klein was assigned to command an independent legion after the former commander passed away.
All of those reasons mentioned above, is why he was considered an excellent soldier, and was respected by quite a large number of people in the military, both superior and subordinate.
In fact, Klein was so respected that he even had his own office in the Royal Palace itself (the one he was currently sitting in), although it was somewhat thanks to someone else's hand in it, and it was no accident that the person who had a hand in establishing him an office in the palace is sitting on his office window.
“Flarius?”
Full name is Belisari Flarius Latila, another young commander of the Imperial Army, another military noble.
Like Klein, Belisari is also a formidable and capable commander in the military, but their ranks are slightly different, Klein is one rank lower than Belisari in the military, and two titles lower than Belisari in the nobility.
These two people are friends, the most unbalanced pair of friends in the whole kingdom. Not just hierarchy, those two people, except that they are both human, having the same gender, in the same age group (Klein 23 Belisari 24) and the same nationality, both of them frankly have nothing the same.
Klein belongs to the eastern Grecolatina ethnic group, while Belisari is a western Remenus. Klein is also short, 1m67, while Belisari is quite tall, nearly 1m9. Klein also has a pair of thick and large glasses, covering almost a third of his face, while his friend does not wear them glasses, and is even an excellent marksman.
Although their hair color looks similar, if you look closely, you'll notice that Klein has light sunburn and is a bit rough, while Belisari's hair is black and almost perfectly smooth.
In addition, the Voyage officer hates people who are not serious at work, especially at times in need, while Belisari… rarely takes his work seriously, unless urged by a superior, in which the whole country only has one.
But regardless of the differences, Klein was still Belisari's childhood friend, and that friendship was still going well until now. The relationship could have been even tightened if it weren't for an invisible boundary separating two people at two different levels in society:
“Nothing, Your Royal Highness.”
Klein's rank in the nobility is a member of the House of Voyage, Belisari, the Archprince, or in other words, heir to the throne of the Latilian Kingdom. A common noble and a future ruler.
“Say it, Klein, I won't ask twice.”
“Fine…”
Even though they were friends, Klein rarely addressed Belisari intimately.
He didn't even call him by his first name but always called him by his middle name or title, no matter how many times his friend the prince convinced him to do so. It's not because he is afraid of being rude or anything, many people in the Voyage family also call the Archprince that way, but this soldier is a disciplinarian and always maintains proper etiquette when addressing anyone:
“I have concerns, Your Highness, the upcoming war...looking at these reports and at the current state of the army...I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to defeat the Empire.”
Enough about introducing the characters, let us start with the summary of the history of this world with some political geography knowledge:
The Kingdom of Latila, or the Latilian Kingdom, the kingdom these two particular individuals are serving in is a small size nation lying ashore the continent of Atlasia, which is one of two fully explored continents. Keep in mind that the true owner of the continent is not them, but an Empire named Elestovakia.
The Empire, formerly the Kingdom of Elestovakia, is the largest country in history currently after the Northern Expedition that lasted more than six years ignited by its emperor.
Exactly ten years ago, Elestovakia and the Kingdom of Latila had war. After a series of defeats in every battlefield, the Kingdom's Royal Army was pushed out of most of their territory by the Imperial Expeditionary Force, except for the capital and a few offshore islands. Even then, in the final act of the war, the kingdom's capital, Latila, was besieged by the Elestovakia army and almost fell, if not for a little luck and the timely arrival of a foreign relief fleet.
Although it was able to keep the capital from being lost to the enemy, the Kingdom had to grit its teeth and signed a treaty which recognized Elestovakian legitimate occupation upon all captured regions in order to maintain its independence. And so, from a powerful kingdom, Latila was kicked off the map by Elestovakia and lost 97% of its territory in just three months.
The Empire then did not stop, but continued to direct its army north and conquer the rest of the continent, giving the condition to establish the Second Empire of Elestovakia, the supreme giant who alone dominated the continent Atlasia.
That was the war that changed the face of the continent.
Unfortunately for the empire, they would have expanded into the Gaulli continent next to Atlasia if they had not suffered a catastrophic failure when invading this neighboring continent.
The Imperial Fleet, during an expedition, encountered and fought the combined fleets of the Kingdom of Milishila and the Maritime Federation, two masters of naval warfare of the neighboring continent, and lost completely to the allied fleet. This defeat destroyed the Elestovakia fleet, completely cutting off Elestovakia from Gaulli and thereby extinguishing the fire in the Empire's war machine.
After losing the war eventually after, the Empire, instead of reviving the dream of conquering Gaulli, put it aside to completely unify the continent of Atlasia first and at the same time restart its war machine, which the Kingdom unfortunately located on the continent of Atlasia.
Knowing that it was about to become a target, Latila went everywhere calling for support, seeking help from the Maritime Federation and Milishilian Kingdom, and allied with another country that was also about to become a victim of Elestovakia, a southern kingdom named Vlenna, to join forces to repel the Empire. The Latilian army, after 7 years of renovation, has become quite formidable, with a force of 70,000 strong. It sounds like Latila will have a chance to win because she is well prepared: she has allies, both direct and indirect, she has the army, she has a plan... but unfortunately that preparation is far from enough, because:
“Latila and Vlenna are small countries, Your Highness. Our opponent is a great power. Two against one sounds easy, but have you taken the fact that the two Kingdoms combined are only as big as the Empire's capital? Elestovakia defeated us once, and we were strong at that time, now looking at the map Latila is a tiny dot."
To put it bluntly, the potential of the two Kingdoms of Latila and Vlenna combined cannot match the Elestovakia Empire. From population, territory to economy, everything is inferior, even with supporting allies.
And when it is said that 70 thousand troops are strong, that is for a small country, because Elestovakia, as a superpower in any standard, has a total army of up to one million:
“So you're saying we are sure to lose?”
“I'm not saying that, Your Highness, don’t distort my words, I'm just making an honest comment as an upright soldier. It's good that the Milishilian Kingdom and the Maritime Federation help us, but allies...I feel like we lack a lot. And even within the national army itself, there are racial problems.”
After Elestovakia pushed north, many nations, including nations of non-human races, were forced to evacuate their populations.
“From the bloodthirsty vampires of the former Nosfetura Empire, to the elves, expert archers of the former Duchy of O'well, to the sky-humans, the sky-explorers of the former Aeropostales Republic,...”
Except for the citizens of the vampire empire who were too far from the Kingdom for the population to evacuate, almost the entire flier population and half of the elves on the entire mainland had flocked to the city. Many joined Latila's army on the day it nearly fell, instrumentally pushing the invaders outside the walls protecting the city.
“I don’t trust them completely.”
But now, miserably, Klein is questioning them with half-open eyes:
“Elaborate the problem, Klein.”
“I mean those guys are foreign troops. I consider their merit in defending the country to be great, but we must accept that they did it to avenge their ruined countries, not for Latila, they are not loyal to the Kingdom.”
“Is that all?”
“That's not to mention the cultural differences that make things messy, fliers are easy to please, but elves are very difficult. Culture, language, customs, fighting style... To be honest, considering the national army's total combat potential is 100%, by the fact that it is not a unified bloc, we should expect just 70% of the combat efficiency.”
Klein leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath, a completely valid concern, but Belisari waved his hand and replied:
“Oh, I see you're too worried. If there's an emergency, they won't care about racial differences to help our Kingdom.”
Then the prince looked out the window.
Latila Royal Palace was built right next to the main street of the city, so just a glance outside can see the entire view of the city.
Down the street, in the crowd of people walking around, there are a large number of non-humans.
“The friendliest human city.”-Latila was called that by the arcane races.
Since the first landing of a pioneer flier in this territory more than 2700 years ago, before Latila's predecessor city was even founded, this place has been home to many non-human intelligent beings, and it is still home to their descendants and newcomers to this day:
"There are still many people down there who call this place home" - the prince cleared his throat
“So what?”
“I mean I believe they would be willing to shed blood for the Kingdom. This place is their home, they will not give up their homeland just because of racial differences. Don't worry, Klein, I will make them fight with 100% of their fighting power.”
Having finished speaking, Belisari turned off his serious mode, his face turns bright:
“Do you sound like my father, Klein?”
“Father” here is of course the King of Latila.
"You do"
“It probably looks ridiculous, right?”
“Well...I'm sure my sister will say that.”-Klein sighed-”I’d rather say you ought to act like that more often. Anyway, even if what you said is correct, I'm pretty sure we are still the underdogs.”
The Voyager soldier put the completed documents aside, then stood up and walked to the prince at the window:
“I still hope we win though, I am a Latilian and will always be a Latilian anyway.”
“I know.”
...
“Hey Klein...I am still trying to get some vampires into the army, please see if you can find a way to dig up some of them for me.”
“Absolutely impossible.”-Klein immediately replied.
The reason he said that was because the territory of the former Nosfeturan Empire of vampires was several hundred kilometers from this city and was always locked by the Elestovakia Imperial Army. As an obvious consequence, for over ten years no vampires have approached any human nation. It was due to the downfall, the old Empire has cut off all communications with the outside world.
“Unless”-Voyage continued-”You somehow manage to find an available vampire, then we open a bloody path and use that person as a catalyst to negotiate with the Nosfeturan exiles, so that they might grant us some of their soldiers...Yes, that's the only way.”
“Okay, let me see. If I see a vampire coming to Latila, I will capture it for you, is that okay?”
"If"
“Your attitude manifests hopelessness, Klein.”
“It is true though.”
The two face out the window.
Latila is so peaceful out there, nothing like they are rushing to prepare for the upcoming war.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
"Hey"
For some reason, Belisari suddenly asked:
”Do you want to go down the street?”
"Your Highness, if you're still thinking about going out at this time…."-Klein was about to object, but was interrupted by the prince:
“The war didn't come sooner because you took a day off, relax. Lately, you've been cooped up in your room all the time, and you look really haggard."
Belisari speaks as to poke a lion out of its nest. The two were already extremely different physically, but that difference became even greater in recent months when Klein was busy burying himself in work, saying that he was not a foot troop, but an office military commander to avoid exercise.
On the contrary, the seemingly exemplary prince has an extremely formidable physical health, being an elite fighter:
“Look at yourself, my friend, even I can carry you with one arm, let alone your sister. People like you are hopeless to get married."
Having his pride touched, Klein lets out his angered:
“Tch! You don’t have a wife either to judge me. Okay, we go, I also need some air and sunlight...and new glasses, so when do we leave?”
“Right now.”
“Right now? Okay!"
The Voyage officer immediately rushed out of the room to prepare his things.
"Heh, it's easy to trick him into doing something."-Belisari smirked, he stood up, put the chair back in its original position, closed the window and left the room.
A moment later, a sailboat emerged from the horizon
**
“Ah ha! The wind is strong here, isn't it?
Through binoculars fixed on a sailboat departing from northern Siberia, a little girl in a lab coat was looking for the city of Latila from a far distance.
Her silver hair shined in the sunlight, the wind blew wildly, making her long, flowing hair cover her vision:
“Dammit, should’ve tied it- Ah! Here it is.”
Catching a glimpse of Latila port in her sight, the girl used her left hand to brush her tangled hair out of her face, then used her right hand to remove and put the binoculars fixed in her backpack.
“Agh-”
Finished, she grabbed the rope between the sail and the bottom of the boat and swung herself down.
- Splash! -
The little girl jumped into her flooded boat, picked up the bucket and scooped the water out. Then she broke a piece of wood from the mast and patched the hole in the ship's hull. It must have been punctured when she pushed it out to sea, the ship must have hit some iceberg, the hull was already quite weak to begin with.
The ship won't be able to float much longer. However, the mainland is quite close so it is nothing to worry about.
The important thing now was to keep the belongings from getting wet. The girl quickly threw all her belongings on the deck onto her oversized backpack, leaving behind whatever she could, then climbed back onto the deck- then suddenly:
Rattling
A sound suddenly came from behind.
“Who’s that!?”-With a quick hand, the girl reached into her backpack and pulled out a handmade gun, pointing it at the place where the noise came from.
However, it turned out that it was just an old ship stuck on a rock.
The wood was rotten and the sails were tattered, looking like it had been here for a century. Encouraged by her curiosity, she steered the boat close to the stranded ship:
“Ah”
On the hull and sides of the ship, a few symbols were still there, that the girl could recognize, even though they were worn out:
“So…this was where you ended up...goodbye then, compatriots.”
The girl saluted the ship, then turned the sail back towards the city, leaving the deceased ship of the Eastern Roman Empire's expedition team behind, the ship that will never reach its destination.
**
“Hey Klein, want to try the apple?”
The sun shines throughout the port area of ??Latila.
Merchant ships parked side by side came from various countries, with the most impressive being the fleet of ships of the Maritime Federation. The traders from the Federation are truly experts in trade and commerce, with abundant sources of goods and huge markets throughout the two continents.
Among the products sold by Federation traders here, the most outstanding thing is the highest quality apples imported from Vlenna, which Belisari always picks up every time he goes out:
“No need, thank you.”
Klein politely refused. He had just returned with a new pair of standard glasses. It seemed like he wasn't lying about having to replace them.
On the outside, Klein had to speak in a somewhat civilian manner so as not to reveal Belisari's identity. It is quite hard to do so, hence the true reason Klein rarely goes out for a walk.
Additionally, they both wore low-level military uniforms, highly-titled enough for others to see and decide not to mess with them, but also low enough to go out without attracting much attention.
By the way, the prince accidentally spent all his little money, so he had to ask his friend for some more:
“Okay”—Klein put his hand in his pocket and tossed out two gold coins—”but what to buy?”
“Coffee, from Milishila, Elestovakian coffee sucks.”
Coffee is not a luxury item, but good coffee must have a great growing place. Only coffee imported from Milishila is delicious. Unfortunately, traders in that kingdom never come ashore, so Belisari has to come to the selling place himself.
Dragging Klein around is tiring, so:
“Take this” - Belisari gave the bag of apples to Klein and told him - “If you meet your sister, give some to her. I'll come back later."
“Hurry up, the whole palace probably knows you've escaped by now and is looking for you.”
“Yes, I know.”
Saying goodbye to Klein, Belisari walked into the harbor alone.
Latila Port is a huge complex that combines military and civilian areas. The inside is a large ring-shaped structure, containing dozens of warships of the Kingdom's Royal Fleet, each equipped with ballistas and flamethrowers and always on standby against pirates and enemy fleets.
Meanwhile, the outside part is two long rows of dock parallel to each other so that boats can anchor from both directions to load, unload, and transport goods with high efficiency. Both areas have roofs to protect them from rain and storms.
For comparison, Latila port would be similar to the former Port of Carthage on Earth near the city of Tunis nowaday, with the differences only being larger in size and the traffic is ridiculously busier.
In the harbor, each country is assigned a separate area to anchor ships. Latila is the heart country, but other than the inner military part, Latilian ships only anchored in the left quarter of the port. The Vlennians take up one-fifth, the Elestovakians the rest.
On the right side however the Maritime Federation alone occupied three-quarters of the port as an anchorage, leaving just one-fourth for Milishila, quite modest in area, but it was also a place frequently visited by the Archrince, Of course, without revealing his identity:
“Yo Cereus”
“Is it you again, Flarius?”
After hand waving, Belisari tossed the two gold coins he had just taken from Klein onto the table.
Hearing the sound of coins hitting the table, Cereus, a famous spice merchant from Milishila, stepped down from the side of his ship. The man with many years of experience takes no more than thirty seconds to open a container containing coffee and began scooping roasted coffee beans into boxes, for Belisari to brought back to shore, obviously:
“How do you know I will buy coffee?”
“You always buy coffee, or you want raisins today?”
“No no, just coffee.”
“I knew it. I’m used to it”
While shoveling, Cereus picked up the gold coins to examine:
“You always pay me in gold coins, I'm also used to that. Gold coins are always more valuable than silver coins, even though I find the silver coins to be more beautiful, especially the Latilian Denarii silver coins. I mean, the more silver coins are produced, the more experienced the people who mint them are, the more beautiful the coins are."
"So" - Belisari suddenly questions - "How many Denarii coins will it cost to buy your ship?"
Cereus's ship was a three-sail ship built in Vineci, one of the four republics of the Maritime Federation, so the quality was excellent.
Her price must be equal to the sales revenue of a Federation merchant in five years. Of course the price must be cheaper now because of her age, but the number is still quite large:
"100 thousand denarii."
“I will consider buying your ship.”
“Nice joke.”
Tying the coffee box carefully, Cereus gave it to Belisari:
“Goodbye kid, see you next week, if our ship doesn't sink.”
"Yes."
And that completes the coffee purchase, that's it. Belisari happily stretched out his hands to receive the coffee box Cereus was holding. He was carefully taking final measurements before handing over the goods....And done.
“Okay, let's go home-”
Just as he was about to turn away, the prince caught a glimpse of a sailboat approaching the other side of the port.
“Huh?”
There wouldn't be anything worth paying attention to if it weren't for that boat... almost half its masts were submerged, the ship's hull was completely submerged in the water, and pieces of ship debris were floating around the ship, washed up by the waves. Not only Belisari, Cereus and the surrounding merchants were also attracted by that strange scene.
But perhaps the sinking boat is not the only thing worth noting, maybe the boatman herself is even more noticeable: A white-haired girl in a white robe, holding a sinking mast in her hand, waiting for departure.
That hair, the white hair of the girl is the thing that dragged the attention of them all:
"Eh... I'll get it tomorrow" - the prince put the coffee box back into the bewildered Cereus's hand, picked up the two gold coins and put them in his pocket, saying - "I…think I have an emergency."
**
“Woah, land.”
Right before the ship completely sank, the girl driving the boat used all her momentum to swing on the rope and jump onto the shore, almost falling, but luckily she was able to duck and push herself forward. Coming back to her senses a bit, she realized she was standing on the harbor:
“Cool breeze, Mediterranean climate, just like when I was in Greece and Italy, maybe in Rhode Island and Sicily. Well, I heard people in this area speak Latin..."
Anyway, time to enter Latila-
“You, you over there.”
Suddenly someone called out to her from behind, it was a shipmaster. But why did the shipmaster call me? Or does he know that I stole this boat? - The girl thought worriedly.
But the shipmaster just looked at the boat, or at least what was left of it above the water (namely half of the windward flag and about five centimeters of the mast) and said- “A denarii to anchor the ship here. And you tell me your name and nationality too.”
Phew “I thought I was going to be jailed.”
The little girl searched her bag. No one would suddenly use ancient Roman coins for anything, but there was probably something she could use instead:
“I'll pay with this.”
The girl pressed a silver bar to the shipmaster's chest, which was clearly worth dozens of times more than that "one denarii"
"I will not say my name, but my nationality just says… Roman."
The shipmaster looked at her in surprise, but happily secretly put the silver bar into his pocket, muttering-"Okay, welcome to Latila, have fun, kid." "Though…when did Nosfetura change its name to Roman?” he whispered, then turned and disappeared.
“Heh, isn't it easy to bribe these guys? Wait? What is Nosfetura? Nosfe...Nevermind.”
The girl put her backpack back on her shoulder, then walked towards the city, not realizing the glares of people around her, or simply couldn't care less.
**
“Damn it, where is it!?”
Returning to Belisari, the man was impatiently searching everywhere to find the ship driver he saw at the port after losing sight of her near the end of the port.
It was thought that it would be easy to find a girl with such outstanding hair color, people in this whole country are either a little tan like Klein, or are dark like Belisari or Klein’s big sis.
A snowflake in the middle of a pile of coal? The search would be a piece of cake.
But no, that's just humans. Elves in O'well and Latila have silver-blond hair, fliers' hair is half gray and half blue. White mixed with those two colors is hard to differ. Confusing a white hair person with a light blonde elf is not uncommon for a regular person. So even though he ran all day through nearly a quarter of the city, Belisari still couldn't find that girl.
"Damn it." - The prince angrily kicked some pebbles along the road as he walked.
The reason Belisari went out of his way to find her was simple.
White hair is the hair color of vampires. At birth, vampires have natural hair like humans, but after a long life of drinking blood, the amount of iron in the blood accumulates and is excreted through the hair, making the hair turn silver.
If you meet someone with white hair who looks young, pretty sure that person is a vampire.
And vampires are what Belisari needs right now.
It was quite difficult for Belisari to admit that his subordinate was smarter than him, but Klein was right, Latila needed a vampire to open negotiations with the Nosfetura exiles. That girl's hair...Belisari insisted it was white, of course, on the boat it was impossible to mistake the color.
Yes, she's a vampire, no matter how she got here, she came to this country, Belisari needs her.
But the search is a bit hopeless.
Two hours passed without finding her out. The people with white hair turned out to be all elves. Fliers had other easily recognizable characteristics so Belisari couldn't be mistaken, but if he searched a little longer, maybe the prince would be crazy enough to mistake black for white, much less fliers and vampire:
“I pray to you, Lord Joshua and Saint Morgan, please don’t deceive this prayer.”
The prince looked up and glanced at the street, the bright heads were all yellow and blue. This prince was a sniper but unfortunately his ability to perceive colors was zero, no wonder he couldn't find her.
“How about I go back to the palace and order the gendarmes to find it?”
Belisari crossed his arms and thought, well, using his power to mobilize people to search would be easy, the problem was how to convince Klein's sister-Belisari's only superior in Latila-to let him send soldiers to search. just one person, even if it's a vampire... let's think about it as he go-what about bribing her -
Bang!
"What the-?"
A loud explosion that sounded like the sound of a cannon firing from somewhere unknown suddenly shook the street where the prince was standing.
Needless to say, that shrill sound attracted everyone's attention.
From the other side of the road rose high a column of black smoke, followed by a strong volcanic smell.
What else is going on?
Parade? Coup? No, this isn't a headquarters or a square, it has to be something else.
Pulling out the decorative sword in its scabbard, the prince quickly jumped into the middle of an alley connecting two streets and then came out at the other end:
"Hah?!"
As soon as he walked over, Belisari saw two lightly armed people lying on the ground on the road.
Nearby there was a large black streak where the black smoke the prince saw was coming out. Their injuries were only minor, a little bandaging was enough to heal them, but the faces of those two people looked like they were scared of something.
As for that smoking black streak... I'm not sure what it is, but it's best to help the other two first. The prince rushed forward and helped the two people up:
“Are you okay, you two-”
Suddenly there was a child's voice behind him saying:
“Don't help, they're robbers, they almost took my bag.”
“Is that so, but why don't you seek help?”
“There's no one to help, so I'll just do it myself.”
“Tsk, next time-”
Belisari turned his head and was suddenly stunned.
Standing in front of him was the girl, who was holding a metal pipe towards the thugs.
The girl was wearing a long white coat, with a pair of strangely designed glasses made of leather on her forehead.
Her body is very short, about 1m45, so small that the metal tube she is holding is a quarter of her body size, and the jacket she is wearing almost touches the ground even though it is tailored to fit a person of average height.
The bag on the back would fit if Belisari was wearing it, but what she was wearing was too big.
The face is quite young, not youthful but childish, looks less than eighteen, and the expression says she's only five years old, some people still believe it-
But that information is not important, that girl's nearly one meter long hair is white, White!
The prince stood up, calmly clasped his hands and prayed:
“In the name of God, I ask you, father of Joshua and master of Saint Morgan, to bless this prayer, and guide my sword.”
After praying, Belisari drew his sword and rushed towards the girl. Seeing that, the girl suddenly panicked, dropped the metal tube and reached into her bag to get a gun. Where is it? The enemy is getting closer and closer. Glanced for a second, she tried to back away but almost fell over:
“Stop right there!” Belisari shouted at her, then sped away.
“Ah, here it is!”
Gun found! The white-haired girl shouted happily, then pointed the gun at the prince-"Stop-"
But before she could do that, Belisari neatly placed the blade between the girl's neck and head:
“Huh?”
The prince only needed to move his sword two centimeters to the right and it was enough to cut her neck:
“Hah…hah” -Belisari panted and said - “I told you to stop right there, you damn vampire frick..."
