23 Fort Rose

-- Autumn of 1544 --

The Grand Duchy of Gardenia had fell into Imperial Occupation, after the Imperial Army swiftly captured the Fortress of Reńaiss and the grand ducal capital of Vyon.

The Grand Duke of Gardenia and his men immediately escaped the Palace when the Imperial Army stormed into it, they managed to escape by using the secret tunnels located in the Palace.

They went outside and regrouped with the Royal Army in the northern gates, and they proceeded to march through the northern mountain pass in the mountain ranges.

As they marched, they brought refugees and local town's supplies with them, and thereafter burned properties and crops along the way.

The Grand Duchy of Gardenia's food production immediately crashed and the Grand Duchy no longer produces any food at the moment, leaving the inhabitants of Vyon to starvation under imperial occupation.

The Royal Army marched with it's 20,000 troops through the northern mountain pass and arrived Lincliff three and a half weeks later.

The officials from Lincliff can't believe what they just saw, the Royal Army from Lincliff bringing people who wanted to seek refugee from the horrors of war. Almost fifteen thousand to twenty thousand civilians came with the Royal Army. Bringing with them livestock and salvaged food.

The winter of the year 1454 is going to be one of the worst winter the continent will ever see in it's history.

-- Lincliff, Mayor's Palace --

The Queen could be seen again drinking tea with the Lincliff mayor in his Palace, the two had slowly becoming close friends and are doing a usual tea party.

The Queen received a gift from the Mayor, which was a tea set porcelain that came from the easy.

"Oh Thank you, May i ask but where did you bought this?" the Queen asked,

"I bought that when i visited Italica two years ago, that product came from the East" the mayor replied,

The Queen was thankful of the gift and humbly accepted it, she plans to add it to her collection of tea sets back in Buckingham.

The two proceeded in drinking their tea whilst eating scones from Britain.

"So, what do you think of Lincliff right now after we had arrived?" the Queen asked,

"I guess the city had become more lively, to be honest life in Sienna is much worse than here. There are no walls to separate the rich and poor here. The very reason why i opened the gates of the Palace to everyone." the Mayor replied,

Lincliff's urban landscape had heavily changed after the British arrival, a sewer system primarily financed by the British government is about to be finished in its scheduled completion date by next year. Multinational companies began expanding their ventures on the city slowly while a power plant is being built in the city, expected to be done next year.

"But you know what, i hope this world experiences peace as soon as possible. I don't want to see this continent suffer from the corrupt forces of despots" the Queen said,

A moment of silence swept the room, until a servant came over and relayed a message to the Mayor's ears,

"What? ok let them in. Make sure they are indeed safe" the Mayor replied to the servant.

The Mayor looked with a serious face on the Queen and said,

"Your Majesty, thousands of refugees fleeing war from the Grand Duchy of Gardenia and the Royal Army garrisoning the Grand Duchy had made their way into safely on the outskirts of the city. They we're tired of the journey and needs immediate relief response as soon as possible" the Mayor said to the Queen,

"Really? that was incredibly fast? like how did the Imperial Army managed to sweep off the Grand Duchy of Gardenia in less than a year?" the Queen said to the Mayor,

"Your Majesty, the Grand Duchy of Gardenia ruled by the Grand Duke which in turn is a vassal of His Highness, King Edward. Is located in a terrain that is highly favorable in military campaigns, as the Grand Duchy is surrounded by the towering Mountain Ranges of Gardenia in the north, but most of its land that reaches until the south is a region of vast plains" the Mayor replied,

"So no wonder why the region immediately fell to the Empire, but do you have any idea about the Empire's weapon arsenal?" the Queen asked,

"We can't confirm it yet, but there were rumors since the beginning of the war that the Empire had amassed a terrifying number of Siege weapons"

"Siege weapons? like what?"

"probably bombards, but much more numerous and stronger than ours"

Queen Anne suddenly became curious about the strength of the Imperial Army and decided to be more cautious next time.

-- Reńe Palace --

The commander of the British army base in Sienna had went to visit the King due to important matters, Commander George arrived in the King's living room. He bowed and sat to a couch in front of the King.

The King invited him to drink tea with him, in which he politely agreed on.

The two enjoyed modern pastries and English tea from the United Kingdom. The King in particular enjoyed macarons and cakes. He loved British tea parties that was influenced to him by Queen Anne as the two would often do tea parties way back in Lincliff.

"May i ask your highness, why's the sudden visit your highness?" Commander George asked the King.

After drinking a few of his tea, he wiped his mouth with an handkerchief and proceeded to talk,

""Withdraw all your forces from here, withdraw them to Lincliff"

The Commander was shocked and intrigued with the King sudden instructions,

"Sir? Why's that your highness? you will voluntarily leave Sienna to the onslaught of the Imperial Army?" Commander George asked the King,

"Commander, I am fully confident that the might of the British Army can deter the Empire's ambitions in the continent. But, for now we shall retreat to Lincliff. We wouldn't be able to last here in Sienna" The King said to the Commander,

Commander George was amazed by the King's analysis on the two countries, currently the British Government is handing out rations on fuel and to some extent food. Ration's are being distributed properly on the British Isles.

Many forests and uncultivated land in the United Kingdom are undergoing huge agricultural projects. Aiming to raise British self-sufficiency 90% by the next 5 years.

meanwhile, coal production is dwindling and the government had to find new sources of oil in the Continent. Good thing that the United Kingdom is slowly accepting green energy and almost 30-40% of their energy comes fro renewable sources.

"So if we want to conserve men and supply, shouldn't we act and move immediately?" Commander Geroge replied to the King,

"Then how about fort Rose?" Commander George added,

"Let the Imperial Army take the bait, you will come as reinforcements in relief of the fort right?" the King asked,

"Hmm interesting, the British Army can provide aerial support and inflict major casualties on the Imperial Army like they had never seen before" Commander George added,

Commander George smirked and he can't wait to unleash the might of the Royal Air Force against the uncivilized barbaric forces from the Empire"

"I like what you are thinking" the King said to the Commander,

"Shall we get moving now?" Commander George added,

Commander George humbly bowed to the King and left the room quietly,

"Now, i can finally get my revenge against the Emperor" the King thought to himself,

The feud between distant relatives in the continent can be compared to the major mistake the monarchs of Europe made during the crisis of 1914.

Commander George stepped out of the Palace and left by the coach he had use to ride earlier,

-- Fort Rose, Autumn of 1454 --

It is the usual day of the autumn season in Fort Rose, the Fortress of Rose. Is located near the Mountain Ranges of Gardenia in the Inner Side of the Kingdom of Summerwyn. The fort was built as a necessary to deter any hopes of foreign invasion across the mountain ranges. The fort has never been captured and besieged since it was built. There was one instance when the Emperor wanted to invaded Inner Summerwyn and hoped to capture the city of Sienna, but this ultimately became a disaster and the Imperial Army saw its worst military defeat in the disastrous 1st Battle of Sommen Pass under the leadership of the newly-ascended King Edward de Bretagne.

The ascension of King Edward de Bretagne and his reign was challenged by Imperial claims to the Throne, he was extremely lucky to preserve his throne when the Imperial Army was marching to their country.

But times have changed, the Imperial Army had expanded their arsenal, almost threshold after the disastrous Battle of Sommen Pass. The Imperial Army had their strength and firepower increased at the expense of the Empire's subjects.

The Military Bureaucrats under the backing of the Emperor had increased their budget on the Imperial Army threshold at the cost of the Empire's subjects. The standards of living of the common folk in the Empire had decreased due to the Empire's poor financial decisions.

Loud noises of footsteps and animal running sounds can be heard in the distance,

The garrisoned men atop the Royal Fort of Rose was puzzled with the sudden strange noises they could heard at the distance, but they see nothing in front of them.

"Sir! What is this! what should we do Sir!" one of the soldiers atop the wall reported to the General.

"What?! remain and stay vigilant as much as you can! Immediately report more strange occurrences to me!" the Commander replied,

A huge sound of explosion can be heard from the distance and suddenly, a huge cannon ball can be seen firing at the direction of the fort's bastion. Tearing apart the fort's bastion for the Imperial Army to swoop in.

The Imperial Cavalry, armed with muskets. Swooped in and entered the bastion's fallen structure, the Imperial Cavalry and the mysterious cannon ball mysteriously appeared from nowhere.

The cannon ball reached as far as the headquarters of the fort. Numerous generals and other high-ranking military officials instantly died on the wake of the attack.

The magic telegram message sent to the Capital was suddenly cut off, this will soon send alarm bells to Sienna.

"Surrender! or else you will face execution! the Holy Emperor is merciful enough to take all of you as prisoners!" Clause shouted to the fort's disorganized garrison in his gallant horseback,

'That was a nice trick, we used one of the most sacred magic the Imperial Army had been mastering for decades. Using invisibility magic on the Imperial Army and assaulting the fort in a way the Royal Army won't be able to react' General Clause said to himself,

'The Imperial General Staff really is full of competent people, I'm glad that i live in this era' General Clause added,

Several hours later, the Imperial Army had used fortress Rose as their main base in Inner Summerwyn. The Imperial Mages erected instant-physical barriers to the damaged bastion earlier.

"Truly, no one can match the firepower and decisiveness of the Empire" General Clause proudly remarked to the Imperial Army in their so-called "Victory Party"

"Cheers for the Empire! Let us fight for the Empire honorably and crush the corrupt King of Sienna!" he shouted while cheering in front of the Imperial Army,

It was the middle of the night that the Imperial Army had done celebrating their "Victory Party", One Imperial soldier fell asleep while doing parol duty.

"Hmm? what is it can you see I'm sleeping?!" the patrol soldier said to his comrade,

His comrade had been waking him up for minutes now, he had not have time to explain and pointed out to strange and eerie noises from the sky.

And several minutes had passed, papers that seemed like leaflets rained from the sky.

"What? seriously?" the patrol soldier said shockingly while taking the leaflet from the ground.

"Surrender and leave.. Summerwyn? Or else you will face the wrath of the Royal Air Force? what?" the patrol soldier read confusingly,

"Hey shall we report this to the general or other superior staff?" his comrade asked,

"No, they might be sleeping soundly and they're obviously drunk. We might not want to make them mad at us" the patrol soldier replied,

And after a few moments had passed, fire explosions could be seen in the fort. With supposedly falling bombs from the skies,

The Imperial Army was awoken and immediately went out of the fort.

When the moon finally revealed itself from the clouds in the skies, they could see strange metal birds flying in the sky. Dropping the bombs that caused fire in their fort.

The Fortress of Rose was immediately bombed to the ground, within minutes the Imperial Army suffered as much as 75,000 casualties.

This night air raid was an experiment conducted by the Royal Air Force to see the Imperial Army's strength and military capability.

Some Imperial Mages managed to prepare in time and decided to fire balls towards the flying metal birds, but to no avail. Since the flying metal birds was incredibly much faster than a wyvern.