House of the Wolves

"In war, mercy is a sweet yet rare luxury. This is why I cannot fathom the minds of those that incite it and weep the losses it took from them, and those who had the means but never prepared for it. Perhaps this is why the ancients say that only the dead have seen the end of war."

- Duke Friedrich "Carl" Rudolf von Flugel

Former Field Marshall of the Eisen Kaiser Reichdom

An excerpt from his war manual "Im Krieg"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

At the western front of the Baronetcy, the main force of the Demesne allied army was being led by none other than Earl Kaltka Penne himself. Riding in a luxury carriage, he was flanked by two of his concubines while a third one was sitting on the floor and sensually massaging his feet.

In front of him was his son and the heir of the Earldom, Kaliath Penne, who is also being caressed by his own pair of concubines, one of which inched for a kiss that the young man quickly took and began to forcefully make out with her… In a way, save for the obvious difference in their ages, the saying "like father, like son", is not amiss for them.

A few moments later, Kaliath broke off from the kiss and after wiping his mouth, turned to his father with a question.

"Muah… Haah… Say, Father. May I ask a question?"

"Gehehehe~! You sure can, my son." his father replied, amused with the act of virility of his son.

"Do I… really need to marry the Bougainvillea's brat?"

After hearing that question from his son, Kaltka heaved a short sigh as he removed his arms around the shoulders of his women and pulled back his feet from the hands of his concubine on the floor.

"I know it may sound vexing to you, my boy. But regardless of your personal feelings, we have to take that child into our fold as I will be taking her mother with us as well."

"B-But father… she is… but a hapless toddler. I would've understood if she is a child nearing her coming-of-age, but as I have heard, she is still at an age where she drinks warm milk." Kaliath reasoned out, mentioning the fact about Syrene's very young age. However, his father insisted and rebutted his response with a justified reply.

"It matters not, my boy. Those two ingrate bastard sons of hers are one thing, but that young daughter of Selena is another case. I believe I already told you about why even though we are supposed to be under the jurisdiction of the Taiga Marquisdom, that fool Elmor can do nothing against us, yes?"

"You did, father. You told me that it was because of the difference between the ages of our respective noble houses. Our earldom has been in power since before the Age of Uprising, governing this side of the continent in the name of the Francois Bourbon Kingdom. We have set our roots and made allies and subordinates in this land long before the end of the Colonial Era and the establishment of the Marquisdom by the Empire."

"Fantastic, my boy! You truly are worthy as my heir… Just as you said, we are more established here in Serafina, and with the fact that this is among the lands whose inhabitants that belong to the Ostos race has been wiped out to near extinction alongside their history and culture, in order to facilitate the settlement of the colonizers that belong to the Helenas race, there are no other people around these parts who can take the title of "natives" in this land but us…" Kaltka took a pause as his face changed to an expression of grief. "…or at least, that should be the case if not for the fact that there is someone else who has a better claim that us."

As Kaltka mentioned that, his son realized why he cannot escape being betrothed to Syrene despite their age gap and how much they belittle the Bougainvilleas.

"House Bougainvillea was not as poor and weak as they are now. Centuries ago, back when the Colonial Era was coming to a close, and the Age of Uprising was about to begin, they are not the weak Baronetcy that they are now… back then they were called as "The Imperial Dukedom of House Bougainvillea", the most powerful family in all of the continent."

"P-Powerful…? H-how Father? In what way?" Absolutely baffled by the revelation, Kaliath leaned in with that question.

"In all kinds of way, my boy. If the tales from back then are to be believed, they used to lead thousands of aerial battleships into battle. These airships were equipped with the thickest armor, most destructive cannons and the purest levitation stones. It was said that if they wished, they could take both the United Kingdoms of Erica and the Atlanterran Confederation simultaneously and most likely win. But! Looking at their military might alone in order to justify their power is naïve. There's also their economic might that centered around a highly coveted resource that has become lost after their downfall."

"W-What is this resource, father?" Kaliath inched closer and his father whispered it to his ear, making him scurry back to his seat after hearing what it is. "F-Father! Please tell me that you are lying!"

"I jest not, my son… Especially not when it concerns my ambition for the future of our family." Knowing well why his son was that shocked, the Earl leaned back on his chair as he wrapped his arms around the shoulders of his women again.

"Besides my desire to take back Selena from the pigsty that she insisted to stay in, if we are to break off from the hold of Ostadonia, we need to gain both wealth and power, and I very much believe that the key to do it is to acquire the knowledge that those pitiful fools has been holding on for the past few centuries."

As his army marched on, the Earl thought little about the resistance that they will face and focused on what would happen later on in their victory which he is confident that they would win.

Little did he know that the victory he is expecting has never been in his reach in the first place.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

In the western battlefront, the news about the total annihilation of over half of their forces finally reached the ears of the three commanders of the remaining 4,700 men of the eastern invasion force.

"I-IT WAS TOTAL DESTRUCTION, SIRE! NONE OF THE OVER 8,000 MEN THAT MARCHED OUT FIRST WAS LEFT!"

"P-Preposterous!"

"A-Are you sure of this?! Are you really sure of this?!"

"Y-YES, SIRE! WITH MY LIFE!"

Hearing the report of the scout cavalry's leader, the two nobles turned to Dreyfus who had a conflicted expression on his face over the news that they received.

"How strange… why now of all times…?" he murmured under his breath as he was studying the diorama that the scout leader assembled according to their findings in the field.

"General Shang! We need to send more men to learn what happened out there!"

"T-That's right! We need to know what caused this! We cannot-"

"Silence, you two! Do not be so taken over by your shock, this is not the right time." He raised his hand to silence the two and returned his attention to the diorama where six, tiny fallen flags are scattered around a small crater, illustrating the army that they just lost.

For a few moments, he pondered their next move until he slowly stood up and turned to the scout leader with an order.

"Take three of your best riders into the Baronetcy and bear an imperial diplomatic flag. Bring a letter that I will prepare shortly after into the hands of the Acting Baronet."

"G-General---!" One of the two remaining noblemen exclaimed towards him, but he met it with a sharp rebuke.

"HUSH! I will not take any complaints about this!"

Half an hour later, three cavalrymen left the camp, bearing a blue flag with a white star and a scroll that contained the general's demand for a meeting.

"HALT!"

"W-Whoa-!!!"

However, this letter will not even make it to the Baronetcy's land, for just a few hundred meters away from the border between the two territories, the messengers were blocked by men who wore armor familiar to the three of them.

"Y-You are Count Hermie's men! What are you doing here so far from the encampment?"

"That is none of your concern! We're here for one thing and one thing alone… Hand me the letter, now."

With that reply, the leader of the three cavalrymen understood why these people are here and for what reason they blocked off their path.

"FOOLS! We have orders from General Shang! Do you mean to go against the order of the general?!"

"Our master is Count Hermie and no one else! It's clear as day that the Qiman coward is negotiating for the safety of his own head by handing over the life of Count Hermie, Viscount Olsee and us lot!"

"Y-You cur-!"

"How dare you slander General Shang!"

"YOU WILL PAY FOR- GAH-!!!"

The accusation spat by the Count's men quickly turned the encounter sour. The three cavalrymen took out their sabers and so did the Count's soldiers who raised their spears and loosed crossbow bolts that quickly struck down the horsemen from their saddles and mortally wounded them. With no orders from their captain, the warm confrontation became a full-blown murder site.

"F-F***! Who told you to fire on them! I didn't give an order!" the knight captain turned and saw his crossbowmen looking at each other as if trying to find who it was that fired first.

In doing this, he turned his eye away from the men dying from the fatal arrow shots whose leader took out a small crossbow and pointed it towards him.

"Y-YOU---! YOU'RE GOING WITH US TO THE AFTERLIFE!"

"C-CAPTAIN!!!"

Although one of the Count's spearmen turned and saw it, he was far too late to stop it and as the crossbow bolt was loosed, it struck the captain right at the ear and gave him a bloody end.

"F***! Things were already bad and now it got worse!"

"W-what are we gonna do now!? We can't possibly haul them back with us!"

"…Damn it! All of you dig two holes right now! We've gotta hide them!"

With this total blunder done, the men quickly cleaned up the area and dug shallow graves for the four corpses that it claimed. After the dead bodies were buried, they removed the identifying colors and saddles from the horses of the cavalrymen and let them loose before discussing on an alibi for the entire thing.

"We are telling the truth to none but Count Hermie. To anyone else, we say that we went hunting and the captain got nabbed by a monster and we didn't get to save him. Never, and I mean that! NEVER! Ever tell anyone that we had something to do with this entire thing. As far as everyone is concerned, those messengers arrived in the enemy territory, and they got killed by them instead. Are all of that understood?!"

"""YES, SIR!"""

While these men were thinking about doing this entire excuse to save their lives, they didn't know that the delay caused by the accident actually led to them keeping their lives and their future… For several tens of kilometers away, the entire camp had a face-off with what is the Bougainvillea Baronetcy's premier fighting force in this war.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

At the Demesne's eastern allied army encampment inside the Lavento Barony, the afternoon teatime was cut short by a booming voice whose source the soldiers initially cannot locate but quickly found to be hovering above the camp.

["Men of the East Serafina Demesne Association! I see that you have quite the gathering here suspiciously very close to the only accessible highway leading to my land!"] In a voice that is loud and has a distinct crisp of being artificially enhanced, everyone in the camp heard the voice of none other than the Acting Baronet himself.

["While it's not my hobby to be a busybody who goes out of his way to check up on things, nor am I some cranky, old man that gets pissed off when someone steps on their land, I believe it's not wrong for me to personally come here after you blatantly trespassed on my territory despite the very obvious and clear warning that we gave out."]

The commotion caused by Jonathan's arrival was further aggravated when the soldiers snapped out from the shock that it caused and saw over twenty people slowly flying around the camp as if keeping it in constant surveillance and sizing up any danger. The presence of these men hovering around the camp is when they realized that something very strange is going on.

"H-Hey! Is that really the guys we're fighting against!?"

"The hell is up with that?! I've never heard of anyone save for Dukes or the Imperial Military to have that many Aerial Combat Wizards with him!"

Among the various military branches in the world of Promethea, the title and designation of "Aerial Combat Wizards" are as highly regarded as it is feared. They wear various special equipment such as purpose-made magic muskets that can fire both spells and bullets enhanced with spells, armor plates that can form dense barriers made of solidified magic particles and metal boots with perforated soles that can output wind magic spells to initiate flight and aerial movement.

All of this is powered by a Combat Computation Unit, a mechanical computer whose size can vary from the size of a shoebox that belongs to the low-end of the spectrum to one the size of a human torso that has become the standard for Combat Wizards. Because of all of this high-level technological equipment that they wear on their body in order to be an effective fighter, the price needed to equip one Combat Wizard is equivalent to five times the expenditure needed to equip a standard Imperial Army Battalion including its supporting medical, supply and engineering platoons.

This is the reason why seeing twenty-five Combat Wizards including Jonathan, absolutely baffled the men and why Count Hermie, Viscount Olsee and General Shang quickly understood the magnitude of the situation.

"W-What shall we do, General?" The Viscount cowered and asked Dreyfus what they should do.

"Should we fight back? I can give the order right now!" Count Hermie gave a suggestion that was quickly shot down by the Viscount.

"T-That's a platoon of Aerial Wizards! We can't fight back against them!"

"If they're here to kill us, I'm not getting myself and my men die without a fight!"

While the two were arguing, General Shang stood up and walked out in the open to confront Jonathan. By the time the two noblemen saw it, it was already too late to pull him back and stop him from taking over their negotiations with the enemy.

"You must be the acting Bougainvillea Baronet!" The elderly General shouted and was quickly noticed by Jonathan who directed his magically-enhanced voice output towards him.

["I am. With that armor and the obvious difference of your appearance from the others here, you must be General Dreyfus Shang of the Yilong Confederacy… Are you leading these men?"]

"Some of them, yes. Some of them, no… As you may already know, it's hard for me to assume total unified command in an army as diverse as this."

["After the incursion yesterday, I am very aware of it. Which brings me to my purpose of being here… You lot are being a nuisance and given that your side unilaterally declared war on us, I'm inclined to end said nuisance in a way that none of you may like."] On Jonathan's finger snap, the hovering Aerial Combat Wizard raised their guns whose barrels began to glow with a bright colored sheen.

"S-S***! They're not screwing around now!"

"G-Get the guns up and ready!"

The Count and Viscount began to shout orders to their men but was ordered to cease by the General.

"HOLD IT YOU FOOOLLLSSS!!!"

Before things went into an all-out massacre that is massively against their favor, General Shang shouted an order at the top of his lungs, making everyone in the camp to freeze in shock.

"Although we're not as many as before, we at least have the veteran soldiers and mercenaries with us. However, this current situation won't do… If we face them here and now where we were caught unaware of the type of troops that he brought, we will be slaughtered wholesale."

Although it may seem like General Shang shouted that order because he is considering a peaceful and diplomatic way to resolve this issue, the truth is that he is simply employing the same tactic that made him win and survive during the Yilong Confederation's war for independence. He will negotiate for enough time to regroup and get his men prepared for the battle that they will fight now that they know what kind of troops their opponent has.

"B-Baronet Bougainvillea-! I recognize the situation that both of our sides are in and offer up terms. We will retreat from the Lavento Barony, away from any immediate access to your land and we demand that you spare us during our rearward march and the establishment of our---"

["Do you take me for a gullible moron, General? Do you really think that I would even consider anything from your side short of either dissolving this entire force or giving all of you a death in battle? …And who are you to demand anything from me?! After declaring war against us and trespassing into our lands, do you think you can get away from any of that!?"]

"Khh-!" However, this attempt of his was fruitless and instead, he ended up in a far worse situation than what he started out with. Still, he didn't want to just give up.

While he is shouting further attempts for a truce to facilitate their retreat and regrouping, both Count Hermie and Viscount Olsee agreed to bypass the overall command authority of Dreyfus and silently ordered their men to point their volley guns towards the Wizards that remained stationary at the air. With a coordinated order of attack, a single shout rang in the crowd which was followed by a barrage of gunshots from the small cannon that each held one hundred barrels primed with both grinded fire magic stone and a metal ball shot.

"Eat lead, bastards!"

"FIRE!!!"

With that shout from the two nobles, a cacophony of gunshots rang out that quickly grew in both number and intensity.

"All hands! Commence evasive actions and active defensive spells!"

"""Aye, sir!!!"""

Jonathan was quick to give out an order that was immediately followed by his Wizards. All of a sudden, greenish semi-transparent walls manifested at the places where they are being shot at and sporadic movements made by controlled bursts of wind magic applied over their flight magic formulas further made the gunshots fired by the soldiers to be utterly wasted.

"Fire! FIRE!!!"

"T-They're too agile!"

"We're not hitting anyone!!!"

Bursts of gunfire continued to fire out, but none hit their marks as it was either dodged or blocked by the defensive barriers of the Wizards. Although it was an entirely fruitless action, the soldiers still fired at them under the order of their lords as well as the knowledge that if they don't keep them at bay, a very, very terrible thing can happen to them…

"Lord Jonathan! Their volley guns are spent!"

…and that dreaded moment of theirs has now become truth.

"I see… All hands! It's time to counterattack! Prepare explosive spells of 6:4 ratio between fire and wind magic! Keep it contained inside your guns until I mark the moment to fire!"

"""Aye, sir!!!"""

Flying through the air while still making stochastic movements to throw off their enemies' aims, the Wizards followed Jonathan's order, congealing magic particles from their surroundings which formed in their Soul Cores and started the process of how magic works in the world of Promethea.

The Logical Calculator, which in this case is a Soul Core, activated its fourth magic core, independently operating alongside the three other activated magic cores that each computed and operated the magic formulas of the flight, barrier and thought communication magic spells.

The fourth core, one of the five dedicated high-performance cores, began to rapidly compute the parameters of the explosion spell as dictated by the thoughts of its user. It converted the collected magic particles into elemental forms, namely fire and wind magic, and through forced alchemical reactions, compressed it into a bolt of magic formula that it sent to the magic rifle.

"All hands, FIRE!!!" at the order of Jonathan, all twenty-four Wizards fired alongside him.

*BYAK-!!!**PYUU---!*

The magic bolts were fired from the rifles and a meter away from the ground, it all detonated into a burst of searing white-hot flames and destructively massive explosions.

"HIYIIIII-!!!"

All around the camp, the soldiers were either vaporized by the explosions…

"HOT! H-H-HOOOOOOTTTTT!!!"

Immolated by the searing flames, reducing them to charred corpses…

"M-MEDIC! MEDIIIIIIIICCC!!!"

"HELP! HEEEEEEEELLLLPPPPP---"

Or survive just long enough for the second, third and fourth shots fired in a coordinated volley by the Wizards that ultimately killed them.

In under five minutes since the first shots rang out from the Demesne side, the entire battle was finished unilaterally by Jonathan's force. Count Hermie, Viscount Olsee and General Shang all disappeared alongside their soldiers with no traces left. Every preparation, schemes and strategies that those men held were hopelessly crushed by the Wizards' overwhelming destructive force.

"Gunther, ground status report."

After the dust settled and he saw the utter devastation of the entire camp that became littered with explosion craters and charred earth, Jonathan ordered a nearby Wizard to scan the battlefield using enhanced optical magic.

"…No signs of life left on the ground, sire. No viable survivors and no traces of the camp and its armaments are left. Residual mana signatures from the survivors indicate that they have no chance to stay alive for long."

"Excellent, that should be enough of a lesson for the lot of them."

Jonathan apathetically spoke as he raised his Soul Core to take pictures of the now devastated battlefield. The photographic spell took the form of a semi-transparent panel that hovered in front of his helmet's visor and copied the visual scene into the computer that is built into the Soul Core. While he is doing this, Gunther's eyes rose for a moment which Jonathan noticed and motioned him to speak of.

"Master! Incoming ManaCom line in the Imperial open channel. The speaker says that he is a designated imperial observer who is camped within those woods a kilometer from here."

"…Patch me through, I'll talk to them while we are flying off. Gather everyone into V-formations facing the west, stat!"

"Aye, sir!"

Moments after his order, the built-in headphones on his helmet were connected to the ManaCom communication spell and what came out of it was an agitated voice whose words immediately annoyed Jonathan.

["Baronet Bougainvillea! Explain yourself right now! Where and how in Promethea did you acquire Combat Wizards?!"]

"…With all due respect, sir. I am under no obligation to disclose such information to you. I will refrain from both recognizing and answering your question."

["And what makes you think that you can just refuse to answer me!? I am a man of the Empire designated to oversee this conflict and report about it! As one of the parties involved, you are obligated to disclose-"] his words were sharply disrupted with a shout from Jonathan on the other side of the line.

"Is this so-called "man of the empire" educated about the Imperial Feudal system or not?! If so, I highly doubt that he is authorized to gain any information save for what is willingly told to him and what he independently gathered! …Or what, is he a moron swinging around an authority that isn't even bestowed upon him?!"

["How dare you, you damned pest-"] before he can even finish his words, a screeching sound echoed nearer and nearer towards where he is camped…

*Schiiiiiiiii---*

"What the hell is that noise?! Where is-"

*---BYAUUUUUU!!!*

"KYAAAAAAA!!! Gwaugh-"

"S-Sir! Are you alright?!"

…and ended with a sonic boom created by Jonathan's Wizards making a low fly-by that made him shriek at the top of his lungs before fainting in utter shock. With the main observer officer unconscious because of their stunt, the group's second-in-command took the ManaCom headset and heard Jonathan's words for them.

["To the men in the Imperial Observer group, you should leave this place immediately as I cannot guarantee your safety if you continue to stay here. You are free to tell the Senate or whoever asks of it what you witnessed here, I will not impede your rightful work… So please, leave immediately."]

"Acting Baronet Bougainvillea, are you telling us to leave as a threat? I don't believe even the Feudal System's Magna Carta would protect you if you do so."

["This is no threat, officer. You have seen what I did to that camp and its soldiers and as such, I cannot guarantee your group's safety while I am fighting against the Demesne. Thus, I advise you and the Imperial observers to stay very far from their forces lest you become caught in the crossfire."]

Hearing that genuine reply made the more level-headed observer officer to understand why Jonathan spoke as such. Knowing the power that he wields, the officer asked him a question that he immediately and truthfully answered.

"…Is there no possibility for your sides to end this peacefully? You've already shed enough blood on their side to prove your might."

["This isn't about proving my strength, officer. This is about setting things straight with these people and getting what is rightfully ours."]

"And what is this thing that you claim to be rightfully owned by your family?"

["Justice. For my father and my family that they all wronged… and for that, they will pay with their lives."]

Shortly after giving that answer, the ManaCom line was cut and the observer officer looked at the formation of the flying Wizards rescinding from beyond the horizon with supersonic speed.

"Good grief… of all the things that can define my career as an observer officer, the beginning of a new age was never in my expectations." He murmured as he took out a cigarette and lit it, huffing out a puff of smoke while speaking something beneath his breath. "Go get them Baronet… if anyone's going to change this nation, nay, this world… it would be those who dares to defy it."