41st of Spring 5860 Imperial Highway №04-030, March of Zon'guldac

The stars had come out for the night, and the Army of the Republic had pitched its tents around the half-finished Casamonu-Zon'guldac highway. Tomorrow, they'd arrive at Aroghlie, the city of the dwarves.

Brown was taking a breath of fresh air right next to his tent, which sat at the center. It was night, yet the area was lit bright by the campfires of four thousand souls, plus the uncounted camp followers who were following them. Compared to Casamonu the area was quite flat, though it was equally populated by a dense forest of trees. Quite the scary place to be if one wasn't surrounded by an army. A few weaponnappers had come popping out on the way, only to be scared off by the giant mass of people and burrowing themselves back.

Suddenly, Brown noticed Vaiz the priest running towards him. Before he could even wave hello, the priest shouted "Mister Brown! Horrible news!" He had been stationed along with the army since having someone who had visited these lands before helped.

Brown simply replied "Tell me the news first so that I can evaluate myself whether it's horrible or not."

"A messenger on horseback just ran up to me and... and there's forth thousand men coming to attack us from Ancoire, Changra and Bolipoli! What do we do?!"

"First, we take a deep breath and calm down, young man." Brown waited for Vaiz to do so before speaking further "Now, what do you know about our new enemies?"

"Huff… Changra and Bolipoli are relatively small cities, but Ancoire is where the High Priesthood is located. His Eminency's wealth is bountiful and Ancoire populous. I'd certainly believe that they could have raised forty thousand men together if they wanted to. The city of Ancoire itself is only second to the capital in terms of size."

"I see." responded Brown calmly.

"Y-you see?"

"We have five thousand men, who I'd say are the best equipped and trained in this realm, not to mention best supplied. I don't know how they're equipped, but I've got trust in the Republic's men."

"I-I see." Vaiz didn't know what he had expected, but he wasn't surprised that the old man didn't think of surrender for a second. "Do you have any orders you'd like me to relay back to that messenger?"

"Tell General Tubman to hold steadfast and delay the enemy as much as she can. Don't bother defending the weak walls of Karabush; retreat to Casamonu and prepare for another siege. We will make our return once the elven chief is defeated. Oh, and-"

Before Brown could finish speaking, there was shouting from outside the camp. A commotion that lasted for a brief moment before it seemed to quiet down. "Oh, and, we'll speak later." Ayomide was running towards him.

Ayomide spoke very quickly and laconically "The elves just shot at us. A bunch of our men are injured. We don't know where they are firing from."

"Quite clever." Brown thought about sending the cavalry to patrol, but horses usually didn't mingle well with dense forests. "We'd probably have to burn the entire forest down if we wanted to reveal where they're hiding."

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"Would you like use to burn the forest, old man?" asked Ayomide without a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Brown sounded offended "Of course not, young lady! Why would we burn the forest we're currently residing in? Not to mention that it'd be a slight against the Lord to needlessly tarnish what He has put on this earth!" He took a deep breath and calmed down "Just, make sure to be extra careful with your patrols. They'll probably keep harassing us throughout the night."

"Okay, old man." Ayomide left the premises to go do her thing as a revolutionary catgirl wizard.

"I've heard this is why the elves have always stayed separate from the Empire: they're quite troublesome. Apparently, no army has been able to enter their forests and stay intact. I personally observed how sharp their shooting was during my time with them." Vaiz looked at Brown, trying to see if the old man had any sort of expression of worry on his face. He didn't.

"Which is why I don't plan on adding the elven lands to the Republic. Not yet anyways, until they are ready and willing. We'd either have to commit an atrocity and wipe them and their forest out, or we'd have to watch ourselves go through countless nights like this while they grind us down. We'll depose their chief, and then leave as swiftly as we entered."

"Hopefully it's as simple as that." Just thinking of reentering the forest as an enemy hostile to the elves made Vaiz shudder in fear. "These elves have been unruly and uncivilized since time immemorial."

Brown furrowed his brow and replied with genuine anger "They're all sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. They're no more or less savage than the city-dwelling blueblood slavemongers. The only difference is that one of them is more soft-spoken, and therefore seems more agreeable and civilized to you."

"A-apologies, Mister Brown." Vaiz awkwardly apologized, and then silently left Brown's side to avoid further talk of this topic.

Brown heaved a deep sigh "Oh, there is so much to teach to these people…"

42nd of Spring 5860 Imperial Highway №04-030, March of Zon'guldac

The Army of the Republic had woken up early in the morning, and by the evening they had begun seeing signs of life. On the perimeter of Aroghlie there weren't as much farmland as one might expect from a standard human settlement; most dwarven farming was done underground. There had been a few human villages along the outskirts of Aroghlie, but those had mostly been abandoned after the elves came to visit. For now it was eerily quiet, with empty, unsown fields scattered here and there. In the distance there seemed to be a hastily erected slate obelisk for "Captain Blackbeard, lost her life in these premises on16th of Autumn 5859 in battle with the elven invader."

"Rest in peace, the poor woman. I remember having a drink with her once" commented Lady Whitebeard. She was among the dwarves who had been dispersed into the human pikemen as reinforcements, acting as an officer. A few of the dwarves expressed similar condolences as well towards their late comrade.

As they got closer, the familiar slate walls of the city began towering over them. They had been repaired since the siege. Now that they were maintained, the walls probably had some structural integrity to them. The Republic had acquired a few cannons from the arsenal of Karabush, and they had brought them along for the siege, but they were mostly small-caliber and probably not enough to knock down the walls by themselves. Still, they had been brought over along with a couple of siege engineers hired from Karabush. No harm done by pounding the walls a bit.

On the walls the elves could clearly be seen from the shine reflecting from their bronze helmets. Not to mention that their lanky figures peeked way beyond the dwarf-sized defenses. Brown rode forward towards the wall, with a new invention in sight. It was a conic device, with holes on both sides, for enhancing sound. A megaphone, not an electronic one, but even an old-fashioned megaphone made things much louder "This is Commander-in-Chief John Brown of the Federal Republic of Gemeinplatz speaking! Surrender now, and you shall be spared and treated justly! What you do right now is a slight against all that is good and fair!"

Brown couldn't hear it, but the elves on the walls were chuckling at his remarks. "To the dwarves still inside the city, we implore you to sabotage your oppressors and aid us as much as possible! As your allies, we are here to aid you, and you will regain your freedom as equals with us once this siege is over! We have your brother and sister dwarves here with us in our army!"

Seeing that, unsurprisingly, nobody was budging, Brown turned around and rode back to his men. "Set up camp. It is time yet for another siege!"

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