Swiss Arms
Chapter 179
-VB-
Hans
1310
Habsburgs lost.
The war would soon be over.
But being close to done wasn’t done yet, and Duke Frederick had sent a thousand soldiers to burn my home.
I needed to either intercept them or arrive home before them. I … wasn’t aware of all of the routes around the Eastern Alps, but I knew enough to know that there were a dozen paths from Klagenfurt to reach Fluelaberg.
Which meant that it was unfeasible for me to search through them all to try and intercept the Habsburg soldiers.
Which left just one option for me: reach home before they did.
However, I had an army here.
… But then again, that was the entire reason why I raised the rangers.
I turned to the one of the few ranger officers who survived the Bruneck Betrayal.
“George. You will command this army and lead them back home to Fluelaberg.”
“What about you, my lord?” he asked me. Around us were other officers and a few regular volunteer-soldiers.
“Since the Habsburgs want to burn our home, I’ll ride ahead. I don’t know how they will try to reach Fluelaberg, but if I am at Fluelaberg, then it would be protected, wouldn’t it?”
They nodded, though with varying degrees of acceptances. Those who have seen me train, trained with me, and saw me fight in battles knew that I would be able to defend our home. Those who weren’t as familiar with me doubted me. That was alright. They’ll learn in time.
“What about Bruneck, my lord?” George asked again. “And the Prince-Bishopric of Brixen?”
I gritted my teeth.
So many died from their cowardly attack.
“We will deal with them once the threat to our home has been dealt with.”
“Could we not lay siege to Brixen ourselves?” someone asked.
“No,” I replied firmly. “We lack siege weapons, and none of you are siege engineers. For all we know, the duke might have had more mercenaries on the way, and if you get caught between them and the city you are sieging…”
“It wouldn’t end well for us,” he said slowly.
“Precisely. So I want all of you to loot as much as you want, but by the end of … maybe two days from now, I want you to all have packed and begun moving. Understood?”
“Yes, my lord!” my officers and the soldiers all acknowledged.
“Good. Now, someone get me the fastest horse we have.”
And so, just three hours after the battle ended, I left, my ride galloping away from my army.
Just five hours later as the sun set over the horizon, I arrived at Sterzing. There, I sold the horse.
Then I took off on my feet, far faster than the horse.
And instead of routing through the valleys, I ran up the side of the mountain and over the snow-capped peaks. My feet sunk into the snow as I landed on the other side of the peaks -.
[Soul of Mana: Jump Boost]
-10 MP
-before the snow plumed when I jumped away less like a goat and more like a bullet.
[Character Status]
Name: Hans von Fluelaberg
Age: 25
Title: Count of Fluelaberg-Rheintal
LvL: 59
HP: 1500/1500
MP: 890/900
ST: 750
STR: 140
END: 150
AGI: 140
DEX: 93
INT: 90
CHA: 34
I sailed over the ground. The mottled green, brown, and gray blurred underneath me while my heavy armor let out a metallic hiss and my bear fur cloak flutter-rumbled on and behind me.
My jump dipped and the ground came up quickly as the peak lines of the mountains around me shot up.
I slammed into the ground and -.
[Soul of Mana: Jump Boost]
-40 MP
-shot up. Unlike the last jump where I landed near the peak, I was now at the bottom of a valley, so I needed to burn more mana to get up high.
And I flew.
I didn’t think about anything potentially seeing me or anything like that. I didn’t really care, actually, though I knew that the setting sun was helping mask my movement through the skies.
Though I knew that the sun was setting, I still saw as if the sun was not yet setting. Everything was slightly red shifted, though.
I slammed back down into the ground again, and jumped again, this time straight toward a lower part of the mountain chain. I landed there after just a small dip from the peak of my jump, and I took off jumping again.
And on and on and on and on…
-VB-
Isabella
1310
She yawned with a shudder that ran through her body while she held Louis to her chest.
Her son had a nightmare and hung onto her.
The boy would soon be five years old, and he had a bit of a temper. Worse, she learned tonight that her son might also be magical just like his parents.
She looked around her son’s room and at the utter devastation he had wrought upon it. Because, if she could piece together what he told her, he did this because he was “angry” with his nightmare. Because it stole things from him.
So he lashed out.
And now, there were grooves in the wood and stone of the room.
“... rd.”
She blinked as she looked up and around. She heard something.
“...me, my lord.”
Her eyes widened.
Hans was home? She stood up with her child still in her arms and left his room. Once she was out of the room and in the corridor, the cold Alps night air struck her and she shivered.
Isabella loved how each room in the castle was kept warm with whatever it was that Hans did, but he intentionally left the corridors unheated because it would “suck up too much heat.”
But as she got over the cold and looked around, she found her husband walking toward her from down the corridor.
He looked up and saw her.
She saw him.
And she couldn’t help but smile.
“Welcome home, my lord.”
He smiled. “I’m back.” Then he paused. “Why is he with you even before the sun is up?” he asked her.
“Ah. Well,” she grimaced. “You might want to look at his room.”
He looked at them quizzically before he did so.
“... The hell?”
“It seems, my lord,” she whispered as she followed behind him after making sure there was no one close to hear them. “That our son indeed gained magic from proximity.”
Hans looked down at her and at Louis. He grew out a scruffy beard and moustache since he’s been out in the field. He didn’t look bad in it, though she doubted she would like it when they got intimate.
He took a peek inside the room and stiffened. “... It does seem that way, wife. He’s going to need training soon, if only to keep it under control. But for now, we have a bigger problem.”
She frowned. What could be a bigger problem than their son - his heir - needing help?
“What is it?”
“Habsburg sent a thousand men to try to burn Fluelaberg. I don’t know where and how they will arrive.”
“... Oh.” Yes, uh, that might be a bigger problem.
-VB-
Hans
Work began immediately after my return home.
I recruited the city’s denizens to fortify the defenses. I set up outposts where there were none before. Parts of the walls which were still made out of wood were replaced slowly during the day and more quickly by my hands during the night. Most of this was done by delegation, of course. I needed to stay here in Fluelaberg, which was the target.
And when they finally came after what felt like a tense and busy week…
I -or rather Fluelaberg - was ready.