His Soul is Marching On to Another World; or, the John Brown Isekai

[SupasouljaX]

Why no alcohol guns? Seems simple enough that a dynamite gun is more complex.

 

[CabbagePreacher]

67th​ of Summer 5859
Sir Korvus' Not-So-Humble Dwelling, Casamonu​

Sir Corvus woke up, didn't brush his teeth because dental hygiene hadn't been invented yet, and then clapped his hands to call a servant to his bed for breakfast. He waited for a good second, and then he waited for a bad second, before finally realizing that nobody was coming. The young master got off his own hindside for once. It was certainly a struggle, and he made up his mind to whip the servants who had slacked off. Nearing the door, he heard some faint murmuring. A whole lot of it. Corvus opened the door to see a large congregation of servants, retainers, and other unmemorable personages of the castle arguing between each other.

"You tell him!"

"No, you tell him!"

"…people, he's right there."

The congregation immediately fell silent upon seeing their lord look at them with confusion. Corvus looked at them, they looked back at Corvus, and this would have gone on forever if not for Corvus opening his mouth. "What's going on here? Speak, or you'll all be hanging tomorrow!"

"S-sir!"

"Uhm…"

"Yeah… Nothing?"

Corvus could clearly see the congregation fidget and look at each other in anticipation. His birthday was a few months off, so this clearly couldn't be a birthday surprise. Nor could it be an assassination attempt of some sort considering nobody had tried to stab him yet. What was going on? "Just tell me what's going on!"

"Uhm…"

"Ahem…"

"So…"

Finally, a retainer with well-polished armor stepped forth. "Sir, the- the castle was infiltrated yesterday.

"And?" asked Corvus. He began pacing around while waiting for an answer with his brows furrowed deeply.

"And… Erm…"

"And?" asked Corvus once more. He had paced around to a window facing out towards the castle's gate. There he saw a pile of ash where his lovely granary used to be. "…and." He turned around to the congregation behind him as if he was waiting for them to confirm whether he hadn't gone mad or not.

"…as you can see, sir." concluded the well-polished retainer. "They burnt down the granary."

"I can see that, you bloody fool!" Corvus' plans about hanging someone for failing to serve him food had been thrown out the window now that excrement had hit the windmill. Now he wanted to hang someone for having doomed their defense. "Where are the fools who were guarding the gates yesterday?"

"We weren't able to find them, sir. They apparently ran away yesterday."

"The guards let the intruders burn the granary?!" To Corvus, it was obvious that the Demon King's army was behind this. Who else would come in and bribe his guards to burn the granary down? "Find those lousy guards and… and…" It was way too late. There was nobody who could unburn the granary, since no magician in Gemeinplatz had dared study into something as silly-sounding as "unburning magic". "…you know what, we don't have time for that! Everyone! Listen up!"

Silence fell upon the congregation in the room. The retainers of Corvus, those who knew at least a little bit about war, could feel the fact that their food stores being destroyed in a siege was no good. The rest of the servants could feel the fact that the retainers were feeling no good. Nobody felt good about a bunch of evil demon-lovers entering their castle.

"Now, let me say this clearly: We'll be starving to death in a couple of days." That much had been clear since the start, but clear mention of it by Corvus caused shoulders to be slumped and faces to be sullen. There was doom, gloom, and despair in the air. Doomsday had arrived, the one consistently preached by priests, and the people here were about to meet it head on. "They have us surrounded. There's no way we can simply escape unnoticed or unscathed. We have been unable to contact anyone outside the walls for reinforcements, and none will come before we run out of food and eat each other. Therefore!" He pointed out the window, towards the burnt granary "We have no choice but to sally forth and sortie, or we'll all be razed like this granary!"

"Being razed doesn't sound good…"

"It definitely doesn't."

"Mhm."

The people around Corvus weren't exactly motivated by their lord who had planned on looting the city and leaving in a similar fashion, but they couldn't help but agree on the fact that they didn't want to be the ones being razed.

"Then, if you agree that we should live standing than die kneeling, get everyone you can! We'll easily ride the savages down!"

68th​ of Summer 5859
Below the disintegrating walls of Casamonu, Casamonu​

Brown was pacing around the camp. His hair would have whitened from the stress if not for the fact that it hadn't done that way before he had landed on Gemeinplatz.

"Armageddon, young lady, this is our Armageddon." The old man was followed by Ayomide, and around them were the thousand or so free soldiers. "Here we shall sever the wicked, and from our wounds the Lord shall let freedom flow."

From the perspective of the League, defending against a sortie wasn't easy. The walls around Casamonu had two gates, and there was also one breach made by Ayomide right next to one of the gates, so there were three locations in total the defenders could sortie from. The two gates were in opposite directions to each other, which meant that the League had to practically divide their forces in two to anticipate the attack, which an attack would surely come if the defenders didn't plan on starving to death while doing nothing. One force was being led by Brown and Ayomide while Tubman and Shinasi attended to the other.

"Old man, look." Ayomide pointed at the top of the wall "They don't have any men on the walls."

"This means that they must have gathered everyone for an attack." Brown stopped in middle of a group of troops. "This is good, they don't even have anyone checking the walls itself. Our little surprise won't be ruined."

"Little surprise? I haven't heard of such a thing."

Brown smiled. "You'll be hearing and seeing it soon, young lady. Providence provides to those who are patient."

Ayomide shrugged, not wishing to dig further into the old man's antics for now. "I've been more than patient, I'd say."

"You need to be more than more than patient then, young lady." Such quips were the only thing left to do while waiting for the attack. Brown had never considered what Julius Caesar must have been doing to pass the time while waiting for the barbarians to attack. The poor fellow must have died from boredom.

Suddenly, a soldier from the frontline screamed "I think I see them!" Their thought turned out to be correct. Brown saw the thick iron gates of the walls slowly roll up to reveal a mass of troops.

On the other side of the gate, Sir Corvus II had one simple command: "Cut them down!"

On one side was the men of Casamonu, comprised of Corvus' retainers, the city's garrison, reinforced with armed citizens and somewhat-armed adventurers. Sir Corvus' personal retainers were very well armed, some having full steel plate armor combined with state-of-the-art culverins. These men, being of excellent noble and chivalrous breed, stayed back to let everyone else graciously take the brunt of the attack.

In front of the retainers were the city's garrison, who had diminished greatly in quality and quantity during the recent period of turmoil that Casamonu had found itself in. Still, they were all armed with excellently tailored gambesons, and nobody could deny that their helmets looked mighty shine and fine. The garrison was frontmost, with their shields raised up and spears raised forward to protect the troops behind them.

Sandwiched between the noble and the ignoble folk were the truly ignoble folk: a collection of armed citizenry and paid adventurers. Casamonu's citizens, like many other cities in the Empire, were obliged to defend the city in case of an emergency like a siege. Legally speaking, at least one adult in a household had to keep a weapon and a helmet ready, though the level of readiness was shaky due to the corners cut by the citizens looking to pinch pennies here and there.

Lastly were the adventurers, whose skills in defeating low level mobs was high, and their skills in defeating besieging armies was about to be tested.

On the other side were the men of the League. In terms of numbers, they were outnumbered about three-to-one. The fact that the army of Corvus had to trickle out the gate negated this a bit. Their equipment was a whole lot more standardized compared to Corvus': a copper helmet/bowl, a copper spear, a gambeson, and a huge shield. They paled in comparison compared to Corvus' fine retainers. What they lacked in equipment however…

"Hold the line! Keep those shields up! Do not move an inch!"

…they made up in discipline and training. The League moved as if it was one giant body unlike the cacophony of Corvus' army. Sure, there were some kinks here and there, but the men of the League had quickly and efficiently formed a square before they had even met the enemy. No matter how much Corvus' retainers circled, they wouldn't be able to find an opening to charge in with their horses.

"Behave yourselves, do not charge yet! Wait for the adventurers to wear the enemy down."

Corvus wasn't an idiot however, so he kept his retainers back to let the lowly infantry smash against the square and create an opening. The retainers stayed back, the infantry began their charge, and one crossbowman fired the first bolt of the battle towards the square.

The Battle of Casamonu had begun.

 

[Tired Iron]

"We have no choice but to sally forth and sortie, or we'll all be razed like this granary!"

"Being razed doesn't sound good…"

"It definitely doesn't."

"Mhm."

The people around Corvus weren't exactly motivated by their lord who had planned on looting the city and leaving in a similar fashion, but they couldn't help but agree on the fact that they didn't want to be the ones being razed.

Click to shrink...

Clearly, an unparalleled giants of thought have converged in this very room.

 

[General_Urist]

Trained copper-age vs half-clueless iron age. Let's see how this showdown goes.

 

[MilitantBird]

I was expecting cannon and rifle fire directly into the mouth of the gate when Brown mentioned a surprise, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see to find out what it is.

 

[CabbagePreacher]

68th​ of Summer 5859
Below the disintegrated walls of Casamonu, Casamonu​

Casamonu: a grand ancient city, established several millennia before the Empire of Gemeinplatz had ever been born. The city stands above all the Casamonus before it, so much rubble had built up over the years that the city had found itself on a hill. For the last week, city's walls had been bombarded by a canon which had caused a breach. Such an important city required excellent protection from those protecting it, and excellent protection required excellent soldiers.

Unfortunately, experienced guards require money. Money that Sir Corvus definitely couldn't afford to spare for some men to stand around all day waiting for an attack from the sieging forces outside.

"So, what're you doing this weekend?" asked Billy (whole real name continued to be Bilaleddin), who had escaped being caught and gotten a place in the sortie. Thankfully, his gambeson being newly fixed was about to become really useful.

"…don't you have anything else to talk about? We're heading to battle, for my granny's sake!" replied Bob (who real name had been Boron until he had gone to court last week and legally changed his name to be Bob, and then he had illegally changed his name to Boraks while he had been under hiding), who too had survived again and found himself stuck with the idiot right next to him again. He had to sell his tabard to cover lodging costs during his stint in hiding, and now he looked like any ordinary soldier amongst the mob of soldiers.

Billy sighed and looked forward toward the ranks of fugitive slaves in formation. They had gotten close enough to them to see eye-to-eye, though the eyes of Billy were more focused on the spears that the fugitives held. They stood like a human porcupine, which definitely wasn't a pleasant sight, especially when one was potentially about to be on the sharp end of said porcupine.

The two sides met… or, they were about to meet, but Billy saw that the men around him slowed down right before they were about to be impaled. Billy and Bob stopped too as they wanted to continue being alive. They saw javelins, bolts and arrows whizz dangerously close as both sides exchanged fire without entering melee. Billy turned around to see if he could run away, but the crowd of soldiers behind him was too great. He was being pushed forward by the people behind him, and he was pushing the people in front of him. Eventually the push proved too great, and the brave souls in front of Billy were forced into contact. Those with shorter weapons crouched under the spears in order to close the distance, while those with longer weapons began clashing spears at a more respectable distance.

Billy and Bob joined their spears in the clash, though they were unable to do much in the chaos as their spears were practically lost in the forest of wooden shafts. They still had hold of their own spears, sure, but they were unable to control their weapons as the forest of spears moved seemingly randomly. It was chaos distilled to its purest and densest form.

​

Slowly, Bob saw holes forming in the shield wall of the fugitives. A few men had been downed thanks to the bold adventurers (who were looking to earn some extra pay by being in the front) crawling under many a spear. The fugitives who fell found themselves crushed either by enemies or friends trying to reposition themselves. The same was true of the men of Casamonu, who either went forward or went downward to never come up again. Neither Billy or Bob could tell who was winning and who was losing.

The fugitives were unable to reinforce their front properly however, and Billy had found himself being pushed forward towards a portion of the wall which had been left without spears. He was so close to an enemy soldier that he could feel them breathe on his neck. Spears became unwieldy at such close range, so both men dropped their weapons and began wrestling each other. Everyone around them was busy with the battle, so there wasn't much to bother them in their fight to the death. Billy punched the fugitive right in the face. He immediately drew his fist back when the fugitive responded by biting his arm while twisting it. The fugitive followed up with a kick to Billy's gut, and then a headbutt that threw him back and landed him on his backside.

With his head spinning like a windmill on a stormy day, Billy retreated back to the relative safety of Corvus' men. His comrades had done the same as well, the fighting winding down as both sides retreated to rest with no man's land in between them. Billy had felt hours pass by when, in actuality, only a couple minutes of fighting had occurred before everyone had been too tired to fight on. He felt like he had run an intense marathon, and it made sense: fighting was physically intense, especially when it was a fight where both sides were trying to dearly hold on to their lives. In the middle, where the no man's land was, were the poor souls who had failed in holding on to life. Worse than a graveyard the scene was, with the bodies just lying there exposed with no tombstone or any sort respect for the dead.

Billy looked away from the open-air graveyard. Corpses weren't the most pleasant of things to look at. He'd have noticed Bob amongst those in the pile of corpses if he did, but now was not the time for noticing such things. Projectiles were still flying to-and-fro. One man next to Billy collapsed after being hit right in the throat by a javelin.

He wondered how things were looking from the other side of the battle…

68th​ of Summer 5859
Below the disintegrated walls of Casamonu but a bit further, Casamonu​

"Hold, hold you-" shouted Ayomide to the crowd who were too busy to listen to her. All that training, all that drill, and it had gained them what? A few more minutes before the men of the League had begun slowly falling back from the enemy army? She watched as the copper spears of her comrades struggled to penetrate through simple gambeson. What'd happen when the more heavily armored retainers came to the frontline, would they not be able to penetrate their armor at all? Ayomide had done her best by casting wind there and then to make a few enemies trip, but she herself wasn't going to be able to turn the tide of battle. The old man, despite having made a remarkable show with the cultivator, had seemingly exhausted all his built-up power all in that one fight. He wasn't going to be of much use either, unless he could pray hard enough to summon a miracle or something.

Everything seemed to become silent for a moment, even if it was nothing but silent. Ayomide could see chains bind her again as the right flank of the shield wall completely broke off. She turned her head around to see that the flank had met the brunt of a cavalry charge by Corvus' retainers. "Turn around, there's cavalry to your right!" she shouted, and the few men who heard her tried their best to reform their ranks to face the charging cavalry. The horses stopped right before the spears, and the cavalrymen turned around to retreat after unloading a volley of fire at the men who had stopped them. Then came the enemy infantrymen who, looking to take advantage of the distracted men of the League, had already surrounded the men who had turned around to meet the charge.

Ayomide looked around her, seeing John Brown in the distance to her left. He was keeping his cool, calmly commanding men in the back to march forward to fill the broken ranks. Soon the right flank was built up again as the fresh and energetic reserves pushed back the tired enemy. This local retreat prompted a general retreat as both sides silently agreed on a brief truce to take a breather. Such brief, impromptu truces in mass combat were common in Gemeinplatz, or for any sort of melee battle everywhere for that matter. Ayomide ran to the left to meet up with Brown during this brief respite.

The old man welcomed Ayomide as she ran towards him. "Don't run, young lady. You need to conserve your energy for the rest of the day."

"Old man, we…" she broadly gestured at where the right flank had collapsed.

Brown broadly gestured to where the men from the flank had retreated to, which was right next to him. "Hm? We've reinforced that flank, haven't we? It's normal to have men retreat in battle, especially after such a devastating cavalry charge. What's important is that we don't break completely, and that they return to battle when they are ready." He looked at the enemy side. "Things might look bad here, young lady, but I can assure you that the enemy isn't feeling any better than us. Keep faith, and we'll be victorious. Especially as…" The old man's gaze went up to the walls. "I think they've arrived."

"What has arrived?" Ayomide looked up the wall as well. The walls were deserted, without soldiers, except for two dark figures in the distance. She could swear that there had been at least a skeleton crew of enemy soldiers there before. The dark figures threw some burning bags down towards the enemy soldiers and-

BOOM!

Before Ayomide could even reorient herself from the explosion, Brown shouted "Now is the time, charge!"

 

[SupasouljaX]

Rolling schrapnel barrel bombs? Ouch that's messy vs packed troops.

 

[General_Urist]

This captures the messy nature of pre-modern melee warfare so well.

 

[CabbagePreacher]

68th​ of Summer 5859
Right next to the disintegrated walls of Casamonu, Casamonu​

Billy thought that this must be hell, or more accurately, he had found himself in a hellish otherworld. He had heard an explosion right behind him, a severed hand had slapped him on his back, and now the fugitive slaves were running towards him while shouting "Liberty or death!" Now he could hear screaming behind, right, left, and in front of him. It seemed that the men of Corvus were in rout and running towards the walls, and Billy joined them in their wild dash. His comrades on the frontlines were immediately killed in the charge, lacking support after everyone behind them had routed, and Billy could feel that there was a fugitive right behind him. He ran fast, faster, and as fast as he could, weaving through the disorganized crowd trying to retreat back to the safety of the city's walls.

Corvus' men had retreated back to the gate of the city, forming a wall of men blocking off the entrance. They had lost many soldiers, but the gate was narrow and they were ready to defend it if the fugitives tried to push their assault further. Sir Corvus himself was at the back of the line, doing his best to regroup the routed men for another push.

"Look men, they are a bunch of savages, holding crude weapons tipped with copper. If we lose here, then our progeny will never forgive us for being cowards. They can't pierce our armor, they can't pierce our will, and with another cavalry charge they'll be gone with the wind. Don't be startled by some cheap explosive darkskin trick!" Truth be told, none of Sir Corvus' retainers had died in the charge. Their steel armor was simply too tough to be pierced by copper, and they were professional soldiers armed with experience. With proper infantry support, Corvus was sure that the fugitives would break soon enough after realizing that defeating his cavalry was a futile endeavor.

Despite Corvus' speech, the men were unwilling to charge. It was the same for Brown's men too – they were tired after having ran after the enemy. Both sides continued trading projectiles at a safe range, looking to see who would gather energy first to commit to entering combat again. Corvus knew that the city would begin having food shortages, and that his men wouldn't be able to fight in peak condition like this again if they were routed again. Brown on the other hand wanted to capture Casamonu before it began starving and the people inside needlessly suffered, not to mention the fact that he wanted to take a break with military campaigning to establish a non-provisionary government as soon as possible.

Suddenly, an idea popped up in Ayomide's head. She poked Brown. "Old man, could you delay the charge for a bit? I'll bring something real quick."

Brown nodded. "Go a bit forward, very slowly, don't actually charge them!" He vaguely got what Ayomide wanted to do, so he feinted a charge to make the enemy go on the defensive. Corvus' men packed themselves close together to anticipate the coming charge. "Alright, very slowly now. Act like you're hesitating." It took several minutes, and the armies were far away from making melee contact.

Meanwhile, Ayomide had gathered a few of her men to help her. She was coming back on a horse that had a cart attached to it. The cart had an item which had been covered up by cloth. "Open the way, heavy load coming through!" She parked the cart near the frontlines, though the enemy soldiers were too busy watching her "charging" comrades to give any notice to her. She uncovered the cloth, revealing the cannon and shrapnel-packed cannonballs which they had used for the siege. "Rabanowicz isn't here, but I think we can make this shot without her. Turn the canon around towards 'em!" Her men pushed the canon on the cart to face the enemy. With the extra height provided by the cart, Ayomide could clearly see the enemy despite standing behind her allied comrades. A few of the enemy soldiers had noticed her, and she saw them pointing towards the canon. It was a bit too late however, as Ayomide and her men loaded the cannonball.

The first cannonball tore through the middle of the packed crowd of defenders. Ayomide hadn't managed to time the fuse without Rabanowicz, so the ball lodged itself on to the earth which happened to extinguish the fuse. However, a heavy clay ball launched from relatively close range was still fast enough to cause instant death and injury to the men it had made contact with. The second cannonball landed right as the defenders had understood what was happening and begun breaking their ranks in a rout. After a few seconds in the earth, the second cannonball's fuse went off.

BOOM!

Countless shrapnel flew around, injuring and killing many of Corvus' men. The explosion itself knocked many of them out, and there no longer was a defensive line to speak of. Brown shouted "One last charge, let's make sure they never return again!", and the men of the League began their charge for the gates. There were none of Corvus' men left on the wall to close the gates, and so the League poured into Casamonu proper.

68th​ of Summer 5859
Below the other gate of Casamonu, Casamonu​

"Yawn…" Shinasi had been cooking under the scorching summer sun, and for what? It seemed that the enemy had decided not attack through this gate considering he hadn't seen any enemy soldiers for a long while. The men had gotten tired of waiting as well, and most of them were sitting on the ground, chatting between themselves.

It felt weird to complain about there being peace and no battle, but Shinasi felt himself complaining about just that. He contemplated whether or not his men should move to the other gate to help their comrades, but Tubman had strictly ordered Shinasi to stay put and stick with the plan. Stuck he was, stuck without being able to help Ayomide… Truth be told, Shinasi was pacing around, worrying whether she was doing fine on the other side. At least he would have preferred to die by her side if they were going to be defeated.

Suddenly, a jolt. The gate began opening, going up and up. The men got up from their hindsides and prepared for battle. This was it. Fate had called upon them, to fight for liberty or for death. Frustration, for having waited for so long, swelled up in their chest. They were ready to charge and tear the enemy to shreds even if Tubman didn't order them to.

The gate opened, and on the other side were… "The captain? Ayomide?" …fellow soldiers of the League.

Brown and co. rode up to meet their comrades-in-arms, and they were met with cheers. However, Brown seemed to be in way less of a jovial mood. He quickly reported to Tubman and co. "We have taken the gates and the walls, but the defenders are still fighting in the streets, and most of them have locked themselves in the castle. The siege is far from over, so save your celebrations for later if you could. We won't have control of this city without having control of the castle up on that hill, so we rushed over here to reunite with you and take the castle together. Me and Ayomide's men are tired from the battle, so we'll need your help." Tubman's and Shinasi's men weren't too happy with the fact that they'd have to attack a castle, but they were relieved to hear that their comrades had won the battle.

Without being given a chance to cheer for their victory, the men of the League marched back into the city.

They were eager to write the last chapter of Sir Corvus' story.

 

[We Just Write]

C: Good thing they've still got the air cannon.

 

[SupasouljaX]

Wonder how long it'll take them to figure out fuel air bombs, dust explosions and flame throwers.

 

[General_Urist]

Oh boy, that inner citadel will have thick walls, a challenge even if they have enough gunpowder left for a sustained bombardment.

 

[chickeness]

At least it seems like Brown met his #1 goal, assert control over the city before its people started starving.

 

[CabbagePreacher]

68th​ of Summer 5859
Casamonu Castle, Casamonu​

Sir Corvus found himself standing on the ramparts of a wall. These were not the wide, ever-encompassing walls that he was used to. These were shorter, thinner, and much older than the walls of Casamonu. He knew not how old this castle was, just that it was pretty old, and whether or not it would stand up to a cannon. "Who am I kidding?" he muttered to himself. Of course, it won't. He turned around and looked towards a door leading inside the castle. Corvus could hear a hymn accompanied by a crowd. Priests from the local temple had run inside the castle for protection, and now they were holding service just before the battle. To him, it seemed like a scene right from fiery gospels writ in burnished rows of steel.

"The Demon King is here, and all we can do is stand and watch." Corvus bowed his head. Only if he had taken his loot and escaped! He'd at least have had a year or two of luxury before the demonic legions took over Gemeinplatz. Now, from atop the hill where the castle stood, he could see a line of fugitives march up and up towards his holdout. Still, he had hope. His men were stationed inside a castle after all. Sure, they could blow open the walls, but the fugitives would have to fight through the castle's tight corridors if they wanted a quick victory. Corvus only needed a brief respite for his heavily armored retainers to charge out of the castle and blow the fugitives back to where they came from.

Things would be fine.

Corvus would have to calm down now and, after this was all over, he'd piss off to the capital and never return to these accursed borderlands ever again. He made his way into the castle to avoid being shot by a stray javelin. The indoors were truly crowded, with soldiers and other persons of various levels of importance squeezing between each other while navigating the tight corridors of the old castle. The air was oppressive, both from the tight and crowded space and from the feeling of impending doom. It was awfully silent despite so many people being so close together. Even the noblemen had stopped admonishing the occasional person accidentally stepping on and dirtying their shoes. Facing death, all had become equal as they were in the eyes of the grim reaper. Corvus squeezed through, the sounds of the hymn becoming louder as he got closer and closer to the center of the castle.

Ye who accompany us, day and night
Deliver us from evil, o' Divine
We bow before thine boundless magnificence
Ye who is most merciful and kind​

For now, Corvus had nothing to do but wait for the enemy to attack. The men garrisoning the castle would have to deal with it. There was no harm in joining the sermon and praying for a good place in the afterlife if things were to go south. His dining hall had been turned into an impromptu prayer hall, though now was definitely not the time to shout at the priests for having done that without asking him. Corvus sat on the ground, where all the common and uncommon people also were. It was as if some divine power had constructed everything, the siege, the Demon Lord, all of it, just to humble him in this exact moment.

With thine infinite will and wisdom
Ye made all that is above
Below we pray to visit
Thine kingdom to come​

Suddenly, an explosion rang out above Corvus' head. It was outside the walls of the castle, but the explosion was so loud that it felt like Corvus had been bashed on the head. Dust fell from the ceiling, and a few stray bricks fell from the ceiling. One particularly large one landed right next to Corvus, almost killing him there and then. He screamed and jumped away from the brick which reminded him of his mortality. The castle was relatively old, it hadn't been built with cannons in mind, and his predecessors had only renovated its insides to look fashionable. Castle Casamonu had been the core of Casamonu after all, as the city had been rebuilt around it after it had been burnt down again in time immemorial. Now Corvus was in time memorable, and the castle had proved to be too weak. He got up and grabbed the first soldierly-looking bloke he could find "Get the- get the officers to gather the men, we have to mount an offense to defeat them!"

The nameless soldier bowed and then ran to get his officer. Corvus, ever curious, ran to the walls to see how many were sieging them down. There must not have been much fugitives left, and he remembered that the force he fought outside wasn't too large. Unless they had somehow pulled out some reserves in the last hour, Corvus still had a chance to win.

There was one slight problem.

"…am I seeing doubles, or are there a whole lot more men down there?"

Corvus' vision was perfectly clear.

The League, with their forces gathered from the second gate, had practically doubled their manpower with fresh troops eager to fight. At least they had stopped firing. There was an old man, known to some as Captain John Brown, waving a white flag towards his enemy. "To whoever is responsible for the command of this city, I'd like to parlay with you!" His voice was carried by the wind magic of Ayomide, which allowed him to be heard from far away.

Sir Corvus didn't have the convenience of a catgirl wizard though. "Get me a white cloth!" Soon, he was waving a white tablecloth in response. "We accept your offer" he replied to buy some time while his men got ready to attack. The cannon-fire had stopped, replaced by anticipant silence.

"I'd like to read an excerpt from our constitution, the law that our League abides by." Brown cleared his throat and read the eighth article of the provisional constitution:

Article VIII: No person, after having surrendered himself or herself a prisoner, and who shall properly demean himself or herself as such, to any officer or private connected with this organization, shall afterward be put to death, or be subject to any corporeal punishment, without first having had the benefit of a fair and impartial trial; nor shall any prisoner be treated with any kind of cruelty, disrespect, insult, or needless severity; but it shall be the duty of all persons, male and female, connected herewith, at all times and under all circumstances, to treat all such prisoners with every degree of respect and kindness that the nature of the circumstances will admit of, and to insist on a like course of conduct from all others.


"I can see, from the deserted streets, that many citizens have escaped into your castle. If you surrender now, we'll treat you and your citizenry according to the aforementioned laws. If you do not surrender and make us bombard your castle, you'll be responsible for the deaths of the many who reside within. So, for the sake of yourself and others in the castle, I ask you to raise the white flag and surrender your weapons!"

Men atop the castle walls looked at each other and then to their lord. Sir Corvus looked back at the anticipant crowd. "What, do you think we're going to surrender to a bunch of savages? We-we'll c-charge at them, and run them down!" The crowd's lack of enthusiasm gave him a sufficient answer.

"Listen!" Brown continued "We know that it is hard to trust our word, for malignant forces have made you believe that we are here to do evil. Let me say: we have the Hero on our side." His declaration of having a Hero didn't exactly do much when he could easily be making it up. "…ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you an unpleasant truth: We either demolish this castle with you in it, which definitely would result in your death, or you surrender and take a chance at life. I ask you: which scenario has a higher chance of you making it out of here?"

Men atop the castle walls looked at each other and to their lord again. Sir Corvus was getting sick of the crowd. "Didn't you hear me?!" He shouted down at Brown. "We do not negotiate with savage darkskins and servants of the Demon Lord! All of us will die here if we have to!" Sir Corvus, if he was to die, at least wanted to make an example so his bravery and loyalty could be remembered. Even the littlest of prestige, the tiniest crumb, that was worth the countless lives sheltering in the castle. To die standing up with a sword in hand, that was the noble creed.

"Are you sure? We will begin bombardment immediately if you are to not surrender. This is your last chance." replied Brown.

"Of course, no-" Before Sir Corvus could reply negatively to Brown, the crowd around him began making noise to drown him out.

"Sir, we have been defeated anyways!"

"Sir, just accept an honorable surrender!"

"Sir, just give us a chance to not die!"

Sir Corvus roared back to shut the men up. "You! Don't you all have weapons, or at least hands to swing back at the enemy? Why are you here, instead of mounting a counter-attack, do you stand here like cowards! I'll reject the offer; you knaves go down and fight those savages!" He was about to tell Brown to piss off when one of the soldiers next to him jumped to grab him. The crowd followed too, trying to silence Sir Corvus. With so many people on the tight ramparts trying to apprehend him, Corvus was pushed to and fro.

Suddenly, Corvus lost his balance. The wave of people behind him pushed him off the rampart. Gravity did the rest as the once high and mighty Sir Corvus found himself speeding head-first into another world.