The Greatest Sin [Progression Fantasy][Kingdom Building]

Fortia shook her head as she read the news and watched the video of Uriamel’s giant monsters simply popping their heads out of the water and then beginning a retreat. If Allasaria was here, this would have never happened, likewise if Maisara was here and if Fortia was still leading the war, then Kassandora wouldn’t have been allowed to play this game of city-smashing, since it quickly became a game of city trading and now one could sustain those sorts of losses for long.

 But Allasaria was not here and Fortia had retreated. She didn’t care at this point. Maisara was dead. Even if they did manage to win and secure White Pantheon dominance for another millennium, Fortia already she wouldn’t be able to stand being on that mountain. Allasaria would simply crush her eventually, the Goddess of Light was simply more powerful in power. Fortia could not fly and she could not engage Allasaria. And she knew that she was far less charismatic than Allasaria too.

Fortia sighed as she thought of what to do with hers and Maisara’s army. Their blessings would start to fade soon too. Fortia could apply hers, but she wouldn’t force it on the men.

Iliyal had a war to organise. He had troops to plan. He had a tent that was organised chaos, with paper after paper on the desk and on some the floor which detailed everything that the Epan Coalition had. A post holding up nothing had been put up in the middle of the room, pinned to it was a series of papers that marked down Anarchia’s last confirmed location and date. The Goddess had been seen four hours ago; that meant the Goddess could be anywhere in Rancais at this point. Iliyal to deal with the mind-numbing logistics of Epa, where everyone spoke a different language. Iliyal had to deal with Olonia rebuilding in Lubska and wanting troops, with Saksma reorganising her own nation and with Paida growing impatient that her country was not being retaken back right now. Iliyal had a damn lot to deal with, the last thing he wanted to deal with right now was guests.

Iliyal stared at the four sorcerers as he thought of ways on how to curse them out of here. And they had come for what exactly? Because they wanted to? “I am impressed you made it all the way here.” Iliyal said. He was impressed and he was downright furious that these four children had somehow made it through checkpoint after checkpoint with nothing but their Little Crimson Books. The little books were passports for the soldiers, in which they had written down their direct superior and who promoted and so on. Soldiers got green ones, sorcerers got crimsons, beastmen got yellows. The elf managed to hide both of his emotions, the older one got the more unbecoming it was seen to be emotional.

Eliza and Lyca stood to one side in shorts and shirts. Both tanned from their time in Kirinyaa. The boy with a full beard and hairy arms. The girl with brown hair that had grown past her shoulders and was tied back in a tail. Then Edmonton, the man had become a contractor. Sorcerers never struggled searching for work and apparently he was back in Epa, selling his services for the rebuilding of Lubska. And then Fleur. In a black skirt and black shirt and boots. With long black hair that trailed down to her hips and furious blue eyes that stared daggers at Iliyal. Fleur took out her booklet without a word, open the first page and slammed it on Iliyal’s desk.

Iliyal looked at the booklet. There was a picture of the girl there.

Name: Fleur Ambelee.

IMFN: SA-3. That was her Imperial Military Forces Number. Iliyal had helped design the system, although common soldiers took it as bureaucracy. SA meant Sorcerer Awakened. Three simply meant she was the third. Iliyal’s own was BK-1. That was Kassandora-Blessed One.

Rank: Sorcerer Captain.

Unit: 3^rd Platoon.

And then on the second page, Fleur was tapping her finger. Superior: Goddess Anassa, of Sorcery. “That’s how I got in.” Iliyal wouldn’t humiliate himself by showing that he had the same thing in his booklet, but with Goddess Kassandora instead. And he knew that Anassa had her own book, and that Anassa’s direct superior was also Kassandora.

“If you were under my jurisdiction, I would have you digging trenches right now.” Iliyal said coldly. There was nothing else that annoyed him more than when people skipped protocol. It was beyond infuriating. The sole thing that made the Empire work so brilliantly was its hierarchy and the fact everyone fell in line. Although sorcerers had always been a problem. He didn’t like it, but there was a small part in him that had been waiting for the moment when he would see the chain of command broken so shamelessly. “But you are not, so what do you want to discuss?” Iliyal asked as he leaned and interlocked his fingers behind his head. Sorcerers needed to be shown their damn place. They were magical and they were powerful and each of them was worth a thousand standard soldiers, and Iliyal wiped his ass with sorcerers. He nodded to the side of the tent. “There are glasses there, and a bottle, pour one out for the five of us.”

Fleur did not move, but Lyca shared a wry look with Eliza and immediately moved to the cabinet. “What are you going to do with Rancais?” The girl asked coldly, Iliyal smiled at the tone.

 “I will invade it.” He kept his voice and controlled. There was no reason to enter battles of snark with girls here.

“And then what?” Fleur snapped.

“I will conquer it, most likely Paida will be given control over the country. Post-war management is not my demesne though.” The elf kept his cool as he stared at the black-haired girl. Was it time to wrest control of the situation? Not yet.

Fleur took a few moments to respond. “When are you moving in?”

“When I’m ready.”

And again, the conciseness yet immediacy of the answer seemed to take the girl back. It usually did with sorcerers. They liked grandiose reasons that could be verses from poems. Blunt military talk was just too simple for them. “And when are you ready?” The girl asked now, somewhat taken aback. Either she didn’t care or she didn’t realise the stunned surprise was painted on her face.

“How much can I pour?” Lyca asked from the cabinet. He had found brought out five glasses and a bottle of Lubskan vodka. Olonia now personally made sure that Iliyal had a constant supply of her nation’s finest.

“Not so much that you can’t walk yourself out later.” Iliyal said and the man poured. Him and Eliza were obviously more experienced than Fleur and Edmonton. Those two carried themselves like veterans, whereas Edmonton stood straight backed like a parade guard and Fleur looked like the high-class Rancais twit she was. “I will be ready when I’m ready.” Iliyal said.

“I thought you could manage it.” Fleur said. Her eyes met Iliyal’s and she must have realised she made a mistake. “I didn’t-“

“No.” Iliyal interrupted her. “You didn’t mean anything by that Miss Ambelee.” The elf made his tone cold, now that she had been taken aback, it was time to start pressing her. “I am managing Kavaa’s Clerics, I am managing Kirinyaans. I am managing Allians and Lubskans and Doschians and Rancais. I have three goddesses I wrangle. I am facing skirmishing from blessed superhumans everyday, there is a Goddess out there that’s far more powerful than expected, and the red-light has been placed on sending any Divine to engage her. Miss Ambelee, if you wish to take my position, then I will gladly give it up for you, but I am not here to discuss battle plans or make explanations to you. I will move out when I move out. You may receive a letter stating I need you if I decide I need you, and if I don’t then I would suggest you enjoy your break.” Iliyal stopped himself from adding a foreboding warning about the fact that they probably wouldn’t have times for breaks in the near future, once Allasaria came back and opened the gates to Paradeisius from their side.

Fleur looked to Iliyal without saying a word as Lyca came over with the glasses. He poured a lot for himself and for Iliyal. Less for everyone else. “Cheers.” The boy said. What timing.

“There’s a reason we’ve come.” Edmonton took the glass from Lyca’s hand as Eliza came over to hold Fleur by the shoulders.

“Don’t Ed. It’s fine.” Fleur said quietly.

Edmonton, taller than everyone else but Iliyal, took a step forwards as he spoke loudly and clearly. “Fleur is Rancais, General Tremali. Her family is from the south.” And Iliyal understood the issue perfectly now. All of Rancais had fallen, but certain areas had fallen less than others. The nation’s north-west wasn’t particularly bad. Aris was a nightmare though, and the entire south too.

He picked up the glass and swirled the vodka. “You should have said so earlier.” Iliyal said. “Have you managed to ring them?” Fleur shook her head. “But you know where they are?” Fleur nodded this time as Lyca all but forced the glass of vodka into her hand.

“Cheers!” The boy said again. And the five drank. Iliyal finished his glass in one go, Lyca saw him and did the same.

“Where are they?” Iliyal asked.

“In our country estates.” Oh. That most likely meant they had just been cut off from power and phone-lines. But they’d probably be alive.

“Have you read the Anarchia Report?” Iliyal asked. Lyca and Eliza both raised eyebrows.

“There’s a report?” The boy asked.

“I’ve read it.” Fleur said.

“Then summarize it to your friend.” Iliyal said. That actually worked out well, it proved whether the girl was lying or not.

The moment Fleur said the first sentence, Iliyal knew she had read it. “Anarchia steals humanity. We don’t know how she does it, but she can take it from Divines and give it out to her followers. With physical strength, you actually shrink when she does it.” Iliyal nodded along. That was a good summary, he had left what happened out of the report but that didn’t mean he couldn’t scare them.

“We have confirmed that she is able to do this to Divines. We have not confirmed stealing of blessings but the Divine did not have any in the first place. Whether magic or sorcery can be stolen is another question, although my answer is yes.” He looked at the four people in front of him. Suddenly their smiles dropped and they did not look so sure of whatever plan they were cooking up.

“Are you sure?” Eliza asked.

“Magic and sorcery are fundamental parts of you, I see no reason as to why it shouldn’t get stolen. I wouldn’t be surprised if Anarchia could also steal intelligence and willpower, but the woman simply hasn’t thought of the idea yet.”

“Wow.” Eliza said.

“But it is my family.” Fleur replied. “I can’t just leave them there.”

“And what if I tell you there’s no choice but to leave them?” Iliyal asked. He simply wanted to see how the girl would respond. The Tremali brigade was slowly making their way out of Rancais, but a series of sorcerers would also give good scouting information. Anassa would not be happy if Iliyal sent them off to die on a suicide mission, but if they wanted to go themselves? From how well the elf knew Anassa, she would most likely pour herself a glass of wine and say good riddance.

“Then I will go anyway.” Fleur said, Edmonton put his arm around her. Maybe Arascus or Helenna or Sara Daganhoff found this young love adorable, but it made Iliyal want to wretch.

“I will go too.” Edmonton said as he brought the girl close and turned to look back to his friends.

“Of course, it wasn’t even a question.” Eliza said. “I’m going.”

“How long can you sit about on a farm at the end of the day?” Lyca asked.

“So we’re all going.” Edmonton said and Iliyal smiled at them. This was the issue with sorcerers. It was much like managing Divines. You couldn’t just tell them what to do because if you aggravated them too much, they still had enough innate power to assert some level of independence. Soldiers were commanded but these people were guided.

What damn children. Iliyal hated them. Hopefully the girl’s family was all dead and she’d meet Anarchia waiting for her. Fat chance of that, the Goddess was up in the north of Rancais trying to establish some society without hierarchy. She seemed to think that Iliyal was not going to attack and that the incident with Fer had scared the Empire off.

Good for Anarchia. Being comforting made one stagnate and stagnation was worse than death. “Then since you know what you’re doing, what did you come for?” Iliyal asked. Now though, it was time to make sure that they respected his authority. “I hope it wasn’t to ask permission from an old man like me.”

Edmonton and Fleur both lost their wills to speak, but Lyca responded. Quickly and easily even though his cheeks were starting to blush. “We wanted help.”

“Transport for Fleur’s family?” Iliyal asked and the boy nodded.

“So you wanted me to plan an operation for you?”

“You did say there’s a lot on your plate though.” Lyca said.

“Please!” Fleur called out suddenly. “Please! I have to do something about them! I can’t leave them with those animals out there!”

“Is that your area to worry about?” Iliyal asked. “I’m asking something else, do you want help or not.”

“YES!” Fleur said.

“Then you will have it.” Iliyal said. If someone was Anassa, then they could command Sorcerers. But Iliyal was not Anassa, so he had to guide them. And what better way to guide people than to have them ask you for help?

They would go and rescue Fleur’s family. And they would test out how far these blessed Anarchian soldiers could actually be pushed.