No Battle No Life

The battle of Aude which would decide the fate of the newly resurgent France ended in a great victory for Tu’s Paris forces. 4,500 brilliant warriors were sacrificed in exchange for 23,000 casualties in the Austrian side (most of the damage was inflicted when the Austro-Hungarian side retreated), and 1 captive.

— But,

“My respected majesty, it truly is a cause for celebration that you could emerge triumphant from such unfavourable circ.u.mstances. I’m so moved that I cannot help but to write a poem to sing your praises but if you do not return Dawn, then I’m afraid your majesty will be treated to an inspection of my personal army in Paris.

— Karl”

After the end of a brilliant first battle, Tu received this challenge. As he sat in the office in the palace facing the giant fountain outside the window, Tu kept thinking.

He thought back to the time when the battle ended, as he pointed the sword at the bloodied face while long golden hair spread haphazardly across the white snow. At that moment, he felt like he was in a fantastical and dramatic scene from movies.

What a weird delusion, she’s an enemy, and someone who only just a short while ago wanted his head. Why did he have this weird feeling, a warmth in his chest…

Tu shook his head and tried to keep his cool. He had to get rid of any stray thoughts. This was a battlefield and he could not afford to relax. Even when victory was in his grasp, he still could not allow himself to relax as he would not forget how the Soviet Union’s Vatutin died.

But no matter how much he tried to remind himself, Tu was still very frantic then. This was very weird to him as he had been through a great deal in the closed beta, yet why did his heart not stay calm then?

“Hu~~” Tu exhaled as he got up and looked out of the window.

A few b.u.t.terflies flew in the flowers beside the fountain. The golden sunlight pa.s.sed through the crystal clear water and reflected within the mist, creating a golden light show. This gave quite a bit of flavour to an ordinary scene, and–

— A golden haired young beauty.

— The girl who was now picking flowers in her uniform — Dawn.

The conflict between a relaxed environment and the dignified uniforms, or perhaps simply “gap moe”, made Tu’s heart thump again… Just like it did in their first meeting.

Tu turned around, and did his best not to let her affect his judgement.

Should he keep the woman or face the consequences of crossing swords with Karl? His army at present, was not able to sustain such losses.

— The things I have to consider are far too many. It’s easy for Karl, but troublesome for me.

Tu thought back to the time when they were returning to Paris. The other generals had very different reactions seeing him dismount from his warhorse as he led the captive and her horse toward his palace.

— Of course, I remember Grouchy’s helpless look, and Murat’s wry smile…

Though he hadn’t actually talked to her the entire way and though her expression was icy and she had a disdainful look on her the entire time, she was surprised when she saw the king led her horse…

Tu had detected it, but he didn’t speak, and only led her into the palace with a smile as he introduced her to this and that… Now that he is thinking about it, not throwing her in prison before negotiating with Austria was something very illogical.

— Too many illogical things have been happening since Dawn came into the palace.

When she first entered the palace, she kept wearing her uniform that was caked in mud and blood. When night came, she slipped into the laundry room when there was a change of guard and placed her outer clothing in the pile of clothes which were to be washed. When she returned, the guards tried to stop her but she stared at them with bloodl.u.s.t, and stopped them short, before returning to her room.

Though he had specifically instructed that she was to be treated well, and even specially picked more honest guards, he felt like this action of hers made him feel helpless about the situation.

— Or perhaps, interesting.

Pleasant recollections swept through him like a gentle breeze, making him feel very comfortable. Even though it was only yesterday, it felt like something that happened long ago.

He thought back to yesterday noon when he first spoke with her. The content was simple, and apart from the usual greetings, it was mostly him one-sidedly sharing his views.

Of course, these were all unimportant thoughts which would disappear not too long after even if he didn’t talk about them…

Whether it was a courteous reply to him starting a conversation, or to break up his endless speech, she asked him a question– About the sword, the sword that shone with a radiant white light on the battlefield.

Then he hesitated but decided to tell her anyway. This was the special sword given to the French monarch– Joysword, a holy sword that could radiate different hues of light under different circ.u.mstances. Of course, this game wasn’t some fantasy game and this sword was just a slightly st.u.r.dier ordinary sword that could emit light…

He stopped there and she did not ask further about the sword as she turned to look at the garden outside the window. He then switched the topic to the garden and tried to extricate her from the whirlpool of boredom he had thrown her into from his long political speeches which seemed to make her irritated.

Now, Tu turned toward the sword on the rack. He had hid one characteristic from her. The sword’s light reflected the mood of the user, e.g. it would turn red when the user was happy and white when calm etc.

Thus, one could determine what the commanding officer’s next step would be and this was one way he himself had defeated France in the closed beta. Thus, this sword should only be drawn when absolutely necessary.

…

Tu’s rationality stopped his boundless thoughts, and he looked at the gigantic map hung on the wall.

This was not the ordinary European map. Countries and borders were different. Britain was separated from continental Europe as usual but unlike in history where Britain was a powerful force and could easily mess up continental Europe, here it was divided into over 50 countries with no unifying organisation whatsoever.

Tu smiled as he thought about how George was still enduring and holding back in London and how his situation was worse than that of France.

But… France’s situation was not too optimistic either. Though the victory at Aude had gained Tu the loyalty of the feudal lords surrounding Paris and shocked the south which was pro-Austrian, if France were to remain divided at a time when battle could come from anywhere, peril was still abound…

Looking at the map, to the west of France was a Western Union Kingdom ruled jointly by 2 monarchs, one man and one woman. As they were currently engaged in a battle for dominance over the high seas, they were currently friendly toward France and trade was flourishing with the feudal lords on the western front.

(TL: In case anyone forgets, Spain is to the west of France.)

Northern Britain was still experiencing secessions, and from time to time, small groups of pirates would arrive and attack the northern parts of France. But these thieves weren’t enough to const.i.tute a serious threat. The true threat for the northern feudal lords was Prussia– The country that Tu originally controlled.

Because of this, Tu knew what Prussia was up to and if he wasn’t wrong, Prussia was currently busy engaging Austria in war and couldn’t care less about their western border as Prussia had to decisively defeat Austria before it could move on to France.

— But what use is saying all this? The northern feudal lords won’t even listen!