From Londoner To Lord

"It ended for the same reasons by which most wars end..." Duvas sighed. "The war had been going on for years, and alliances were built and broken so many times in all combinations between the three countries. After nearly half a decade of continuous war, there is a mental exhaustion which sets in over any country, since nearly every home has had someone from their family dead or disabled to the ravages of war. Other than the trained retinues of nobles - including knights - the vast majority of the men fighting in that war were militiamen pulled from farms, and after many years of bad harvest because only a small number of people were sowing the seeds or reaping the crops, there was a serious famine in our kingdom, and I believe the situations in the other two countries wouldn't have been too different from that."

The majordomo continued, "Eventually, the three countries decided that it wasn't worth it to continue the war, for a while anyway, and there was a three-way peace agreement to return to the status quo before the war. That treaty required that neither of the three countries would try to mine iron ore from the Tolasi hills, and they all agreed not to deploy their knights close to those hills, as well as to return their men to the farms."

"It has been two decades though," Kivamus muttered thinking about the inter-war period in the twentieth century on earth. "That is often long enough for countries to replenish their population, and start going to war again, often for the very same reasons..."

"You might not be wrong there," Hudan commented. "Binpaazi knights have often been seen raiding deep into Reslinor in recent years, and that's probably why Count Cinran seems to be so worried about an attack on Cinran in the near future. I mentioned in the past that I was born in the outskirts of Ulriga, but when I wanted to become a knight in the past, it was only in Cinran where I found an opportunity to become a squire, likely because Count Cinran had already started thinking of increasing his trained force of knights to deal with a serious attack from Binpaaz in the future."

"I agree with that," Duvas said. "Fort Aragosa was built near the Tolasi hills to prevent a deep incursion from Binpaaz, but its main task is to prevent an attack on Ulriga. Cinran is often left to its own devices, or at least that was how it used to be when the current Duke of Ulriga - your father - actively ruled the duchy. As of now, your older brothers seem to be doing most of the governing, which is why Count Cinran doesn't know how much protection he can expect from Fort Aragosa in case a war breaks out."

"Is it really possible that Fort Aragosa will leave Cinran to be conquered or ruined?" Kivamus asked with a frown. "I don't think any country would allow its territory to be stolen that easily."

Duvas gave a rueful chuckle. "Of course it wouldn't! But you already know about the long running rivalry between Count Cinran and the Duke of Ulriga. That's why, in my opinion, in case of another war with Binpaaz or Girnalica, all the knights of Reslinor posted in Fort Aragosa and even a newly gathered militia army by the Duke, would be ordered to wait until the very last moment, before they really had to go and defend Cinran. That duration would be long enough for an enemy country to besiege and probably even destroy most of Cinran, which would bring Count Cinran and his forces to their knees, and would leave the Count completely unable to challenge the Duke for power for another decade or two. As ruthless as it seems, that's exactly how it was done in the previous war by your father."

Kivamus took a deep breath, having heard very similar strategies used on earth in many past wars. "You are right... Now it's easy to understand why the Count hates the ruling family of Ulriga so much. In this case even if the war ends favourably for Reslinor, Count Cinran will have to focus on the reconstruction of Cinran, which would drain him financially even more than the war already would have, and he certainly wouldn't be any challenge to the Duke's power..."

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He shook his head. "This is certainly an effective way to keep your subordinates under control... despite the hardship the people of Cinran and the surrounding areas will have to go through."

Duvas looked at him. "You do understand that it wouldn't be just Cinran which will be left for an enemy country to destroy until the very last moment, right? Tiranat didn't exist during the previous war, but in case a new war breaks out in the future, both our enemy countries would already know by now about the coal mines of Tiranat, not to mention it is located directly on the way to Cinran for any invading army of Girnalica. That means the Duke, or rather your brothers, wouldn't send any help to us until our village is already turned into ruins."

The mental image of his village destroyed by an enemy army was enough to send Kivamus' blood boiling. Hudan had clenched his fists at that thought, while Feroy's face was also showing a rare expression of anger.

"I don't think my brothers would send any help to us even after Tiranat is destroyed," Kivamus muttered with a glare in the direction of Ulriga. "Having this village destroyed and most of its people killed - including me - without even having to dirty their hands works in their favour."

He took a deep breath once again and looked in the eyes of the three men around him. "Despite my brothers and other rival nobles wanting to assassinate me, and our neighbouring countries wanting to capture Tolasi Hills while destroying Tiranat on their way, I won't let them succeed. No matter what! Whoever will come to destroy Tiranat will be sent home in caskets!"

Hudan punched a giant fist into his palm with a grin. "I am completely with you to make that happen!"

Feroy had a dangerous smile on his face, and gave a nod to him without saying anything. Duvas was also looking proudly at Kivamus. "I have no doubt you will do what is best for the people of this village."

Kivamus grinned at their trust in him and continued, "Tiranat has a long way to go, but one day we will become strong enough to resist any attack on us. Until then we have to hunker down, and not let any rivals or nearby nobles know about any progress we make towards that target."

He looked at the guard captain and the ex-mercenary. "For that we will need to know in advance if such a war is imminent in the future. Duvas mentioned recent raids from Binpaazi knights into Reslinor. How serious were they?"

Hudan gave the reply after thinking for a moment. "I know for sure that there were a few such raids in the previous summer, where Binpaazi knights rode in on their horses, and put many farms on fire in the east of Cinran, and returned before the farmers could ask for help from Cinran. It usually happens a few times every year, but I haven't heard any news of a more serious attack into Reslinor from them in recent years - that would involve both their cavalry and infantry, including swordsmen, spearmen and archers."

The guard captain continued, "If they became serious about attacking Cinran, then they could also bring their siege engines like battering rams, catapults and ballistas. Some trebuchet were also used in the previous war from what I've heard, and they can easily reduce a town to rubble without even needing to breach the walls. Thankfully, as of now Binpaaz seems satisfied by harassing the farmers near the border, which is why they are only using knights for raiding, since they are a lot more mobile on their horses than any infantry."

"I agree with Hudan," Feroy said. "While I don't think there is going to be a war in the coming year, it does seem like Binpaaz is building up towards it, and is testing Reslinor's responses before they decide on a serious invasion. I think we might still have a few years before a war breaks out, but that's the best case scenario. Nobody really knows what goes on in Binpaaz."

Kivamus nodded. "I'm glad to know we still have some time, although I accept there is always a chance of things going wrong. Also, I think these recent raids might very well be the reason behind Count Cinran increasing the taxes, assuming that is not just a fabricated rumour by the merchants in Kirnos." Then he shook his head thinking about another thing. "However, I don't think I would be wrong in guessing that Fort Aragosa would have just let these recent raids happen without any retaliation, am I?"