Empire of zero part 3: Diplomacy, honour and family issues.

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Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of the games in the total war franchise, nor do I own the show Familiar de Zero/ Zero no tsukima. If I did this would come out as a rough script for the campaign map for empire total war in the same way the warpath campaign can be bought and a reboot for the anime adaptation of Familiar de Zero.

''Language'' = Regular spoken language in a language that is natural to the person. (Meaning one of the languages that they speak so fluently they literally think to themselves in that language. And yes that doesn't have to be your birth language if you grow up with two or more languages being spoken near you consistently.)

''Language''= Text written like this means that it is a language not natural to the person, in the first chapter I made I wrote it down in the language of origin no matter if the person listening to it can understand it or not and you just had to realize if they knew what was being said from the surrounding text.

Since the second chapter however I've made it so that as long as the person understands the language but it's not their native language, it will be written in cursive English (for instance while Piet van Vlimmeren can both understand and speak French, it is not a natural language for him like Dutch and French would be so it will be written in cursive English. However if somebody were to speak to him in for instance Arabic, he just wouldn't understand it at all so it would be written down in cursive Arabic.)

Language= Text written like this a form of mental communication. For instance the whole VR to reality transition will cause the generals to develop slight psychic bonds with their troops and their communications will be shown like this. Not hive-mind level psychic connection, but closer to the level of Jean Grey connecting all X-men team members through their minds connection.

Language= Text usually involving someone trying to forcibly have another person either submit or perform an action through active mind control. Will also be used by both sides during such a battle if it causes supernatural powers to be exhibited in the outside world or by a single person exerting high levels of supernatural power in a ritual/spell.

With supernatural powers I don't mean regular magic but more like as in close to Godlike levels of power being used to force a person's will or desires upon reality (like say teleporting a large group of people between worlds while also granting a large number of them actual physical bodies, a soul, life and free will).

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World: Halkeginia, Location: main hall of the Tristanian magical academy, the moment Eleonore leaves the hall

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3rd person POV

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Silence reigns for a moment after Eleonore de la Vallière storms out, before professor Colbert sighs. ''Well there goes our ability to actively enforce our 'No duelling' rule this year. Can't we have one year where people do not keep trying to get into duels on this school?'' As he asks this he turns towards the only Vallière left in the room.

''Neither you nor your officers have a problem with us freeing ourselves right? We could have escaped somewhat earlier however considering that might have caused this to escalate to lethal force we didn't. It would be better for the continuation of the negotiations. if we're both free.'' At this she nods, not able to form full sentences yet with all the anger and worry visibly coursing through her.

This in combination with the reluctant nods from the generals he moves his hand slightly and the rope falls away, showing that he had a dagger hidden in his left hand. After this he frees the headmaster, who starts moving a bit to get the blood in his limbs to flow a bit faster again, especially his right arm. Meanwhile the secretary wasn't bound in the first place due to not having been personally involved in the earlier scuffle.

Everyone is silent again for a moment before General Jean-Pierre starts speaking. ''Now that that whole situation is over, I believe we still needed to discuss the situation about those Orcs terrorizing a nearby region and how we might be able to use the land to station a large portion of our army there after killing off the Orcs? Can you give us some more information about the situation?''

At this all three academy personnel nod, before they exchange some looks with the headmaster sighing and nodding his ascent to both of them. After this he turns towards the other group in the hall and begins his explanation. ''The Orcs are a group of somewhere between five-hundred and six-hundred, we're unsure of their exact numbers.

Few of them have armour of any kind and only their leaders personal bodyguard has decent weaponry, though that group is very dangerous as they are most likely experienced combatants, the best armoured overall and also have tamed a mix of bears and large horses of some kind that they now use as their mounts.

This group contains at most a tenth of the armies size though, most of them will be at most clothed in some underclothing with rough wooden clubs as their weapons.'' At seeing the somewhat surprised faces of the soldiers he misinterprets its as them not understanding why the orcs haven't gained better weapons from the regions soldiers they would have had to defeat.

''The region they have taken up residence in is one that has never been very large or wealthy in any form, with before the Orcs came along somewhere between nine-hundred and a thousand farmers and lumberjacks being its only inhabitants. The noble family supposed to watch over it died out a few years ago without heirs after the last lord kicked his son out of the family for staying loyal to a commoner girl he had fallen for instead of agreeing to the match with a much older woman of noble birth his father had planned for him.''

After this he sighs. ''After the old lord died and with his son being unable to claim the lordship for himself, most of the small standing army under pay of the house left the region to join the Royal army. The only ones protecting the region after this were the members of the small regional militia, but as can be seen from how the orcs are now in control those either weren't enough to fight them head-on, or have just long since abandoned the regions former capital town.

That capital town is from back when the region still had some eighteen-hundred inhabitants, though most of the people left simply because there weren't any guards anymore at the largest employer in the region, the iron mine near the capital nor was the second largest employer, the noble's guard force, being paid anymore.''

After the explanation the generals look contemplative and exchange some looks with each-other, before Louise speaks up. ''I'll have to ask the princess if we can get this region under our control then, what is it called? We'll head there tomorrow, today will be spent on beating my sister in that duel and getting the main army settled properly.''

The headmaster nods at this. ''The region is a small county named les Mountagnes Rouges, after the iron ore that was long ago visible even on the outside of the mountain near regional capital.'' The generals seemed to startle at something, but the academy staff dismissed it, thinking that they might have a location with a similar name back home.

''I'll go write the letter to send to the princess, general Saito, can you and a few of your soldiers join me in this? So that you might also give some advice the situation?'' The young man takes her hand while bowing slightly and giving it a kiss before signalling to two of his men to follow them before turning back to the now blushing young woman.

''It will be my pleasure Milady, please lead the way.'' At this she walks out of the door with them following her, though still lightly blushing visibly more confident and calmer then she was less then five minutes beforehand. As the door opens it can be seen that most of the crowd outside has begun to leave already and with armed soldiers escorting her nobody wants to give the youngest de la Vallière reason to attack them, allowing them quick passage.

As the door closes behind them professor Colbert turns to the two remaining generals. ''Now sirs, you mentioned rising the efficiency of the production process of books and thus indirectly giving us a good chance of enlarging our capabilities at researching things, during this you mentioned several interesting devices. Do you have a moment to explain?''

At this Jean-Pierre nodded, and started speaking to the professor. ''Most certainly, we would also like to learn somewhat more about the world from the eyes of experienced somewhat higher ranking members of the society. While miss Vallière has been generous with information she is young and sadly enough a social pariah and thus understandably doesn't know everything about it.

It would be nice to know where it is the same and how it different about our society during this time period and as such I would love to exchange some information.'' The professor nodded to this and they started speaking to each-other with the headmaster listening in while his secretary and general Piet started a short conversation about the supply situation before both heading out together with a decent number of the soldiers in the room to assist in transporting the supplies and organizing the camp.

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Louise POV

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That was both frightening, amazing and embarrassing at the same time. It was definitely nice to have them stand up for me once again, though it was even nicer to feel Saito hug me. Those strong arms surrounding me, him telling me everything would be alright and how he would then lash out at my sister in my defence, maybe if I asked him to hold me tonight again….

No, bad thoughts, not good, you've only known him for a single day! Besides if there is one thing Kirche was right about it's the fact that I look childish and don't have much of a figure unlike hers. But… he did say that he thought I was beautiful, maybe I could make him examine it a bit more once we're alone, in my room, with less clothes in the way…. No, bad thoughts again! Not doing perverted stuff with my familiar!

Are you alright Louise, you look like you're thinking about something very deeply? I keep my face facing forward so he can't see the blush that's most likely heavily present on my cheeks, now I just have to hope that it doesn't come through my mental voice like it would through regular conversation.

I'm alright Saito, just completely overwhelmed by the entire situation. As I'm telling him this I notice we're nearing my room. I just hope that the dratted Zerbst cow stays inside her room and doesn't come out while we're nearby. As we arrive I ask Guards, Can the two of you stay at the door to ensure nobody interferes or tries to listen in on us?

After getting an affirmative reply I take out the key to unlock the door, while Saito opens it for me with a slight bow while I'm pocketing said key. After you milady Vallière. Okay now he has almost certainly seen the blush if its still present on my face, though I hope it has receded by now.

Thank you, Lord Hiraga. After I enter the room he follows me inside, hmm its better if the thing is actually locked. After he enters I turn around and lock the door before going over to him again, hugging him. He doesn't respond for a second, probably not having expected this, but then he brings his arms around me and hugs me to him, some slight tears falling from my eyes onto his chest.

''Thank you for everything you've done for me Saito, without your quick actions I might very well have been forced to marry a man that I have taken a severe disliking to over the years after my parents made a match between us when I was barely six years old.'' As I whisper this to him I look to his face with a small smile.

He looks down at me and smiles himself, making his strong features stand out even more. ''I'll always be there for you Louise, every person has the right to choose their own fate, especially in something as important as the person you'll spend a large portion of your life with.''

After he whispers this he kisses my forehead, making me bury my head in his chest again, still somewhat overwhelmed by just about everything that has happened today. He meanwhile rubs my back slightly. After remaining in this position for some time, I'm unsure how long, I remember what we came here for and sadly enough have to disengage from the hug.

As he looks at me questioningly I wipe away some of the tear tracks with my sleeves. ''I still need to write those letters for the Princess and knowing my classmates if they realize the two of us were alone here for long in this room they'll probably start creating rumours of us having sexual relations in here and I do not want those type of words to reach my mother before I've explained the actual situation to her through a letter.''

He nods at this and as I move to gather some paper, ink and a feather before I sit down at my desk. Wait a moment, I don't have a second chair. ''I hope you don't mind standing behind me too much Saito?'' As I say this I turn around only to notice that he's already standing in a seemingly comfortable position behind me to the right.

''It's no problem to me Louise, now who will you be writing to first? The princess or your parents?'' Not exactly the easiest to decide on actually, Henrietta needs to know about the entire situation quickly so we can have our answer by tomorrow though on the other hand the letters will probably leave with the same courier so the chance of them actually arriving earlier or later depending on which one I write first is relatively low.

''I'll start with the one to the princess first then, that one will probably be easier to write.'' After I say this he nods. ''Hmm okay how should I start? 'Dear Henrietta'? No to informal, maybe 'My queen'? I'm unsure about that one, its more formal then the first one but she herself will dislike it because of her not wanting to be addressed by title by those she considers friends.''

At this I heard Saito cough, making me turn towards him. ''I have a suggestion for this if you don't mind?'' As he asked this he looked at me, asking for permission to speak. After a nod from me he continues. ''What if instead you put not only the name but her full title in the following way: To my dear Henrietta, queen of Tristain. Sound good?'' Hmm I suppose its decent enough.

World: Halkeginia, Location: Command tent of the army camp near the Tristanian Academy of Magic. Time: 13.30 in the afternoon

3rd person POV

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Inside the tent eight people can be seen, two of them guarding the tents entrance, two stationed on the other side of the room two of them stationed in the corners of the room on the opposite side of the entrance and lastly four of them standing around a strategy table, though due to not having a map currently available the last group isn't fully able to use it for its usual function.

The guards are all dressed in the same deep red uniform coats with bayonet equipped rifles in their hands, however the four in the centre stand out due to the differences. One is a man that is tall and not yet middle aged but also not young anymore, dressed in a mostly blue uniform with black and gold accents at several points. He has has a triangular hat lying on the table in front of him showing off his black hair, with the sleeves of the uniform partially rolled up to his elbows.

His face and the parts of his arms that are visible show a number of scars, some small, some much more prominent like the one across one of his eyes on his face, the eye in question being an almost glowing ice blue, the same with the eye on the other side of his face. In a sheath at his side a sword can be found, with a rifle slung over his back. The man's name is Piet van Vlimmeren, the general in command of the United Provinces soldiers currently inside the camp with them.

On his right hand side, a tall middle-aged man with dark brown can be seen, whom is wearing a white uniform with blue and gold accents spread out over it, with just like the other man a dark coloured triangular hat completing the appearance, though this man is still wearing his. As weaponry this man only has a sabre hanging at his side.

His face also has some scars, though they are less in number and most of them older then what can be found on the face of van Vlimmeren, with his eyes being a vibrant green. This man is called Pierre D'Alain, commanding officer of the forces of the French Royal Army currently stationed inside the camp.

The third male figure at the table is a man both much younger and somewhat shorter than either of the others, barely out of his teens, only some 173 centimetres or 5 foot 8 inches compared to their height of 190 centimetres each or 6 foot 2 inches. He is wearing uniform similar to both of them, however where their uniforms are blue or white his is red in colour, with again the black triangular hat, though he has set it down onto the table in front of him.

He also is only armed with a sabre while only having one small visible scar on his cheek, which brings more attention to his black hair and blue eyes, the latter of which have a burning quality that makes them seem like balls of blue fire when the man is angered. He is Lord Saito Hiraga, leader of the British Royal Armed forces detachment at the camp.

A female voice can be heard, the only woman in the room. ''Okay so to summarize what has happened, firstly I have sent the necessary letters both to Queen Henrietta and my mother, we should get a reply to the one sent to the Queen this evening still, the capital is less then 3 hours away on horse so the courier can make his way back from it without too many problems even if the Queen takes her time writing the response or doesn't have time to deal with it until late in the afternoon.

I'm unsure of when we will get a reply on the one sent to my mother, though it is just as likely that she will read the thing, receive home an angry Eleonore less then a day after complaining about me and then decide that she needs to investigate the situation more closely. The effect of which would be her heading over here, investigating everything that has happened.''

The voice belongs to a young woman, who is wearing a Tristanian academy uniform consistent of a white blouse, a black skirt and a dark coloured cape. Her hair is pink coloured and long, framing a now stern but somewhat angelic looking face that shows the young woman isn't pleased with the situation. The name of this young woman is Louise de la Vallière.

''Secondly the work with the supplies has been done, giving the cooks enough food to prepare good meals for the men tonight while those same men now also have decent housing for the night.'' She looks around the room to ensure her information is correct, with all three of the men surrounding the table nodding in agreement to this.

''However we have yet to put together a strategy on how to deal with my sister, Gramont and the Mott siblings.'' At this she turns towards Pierre. ''By the way can you give the soldier that gave us this information that these two new gold coins as a reward for ensuring this was the correct information, it's not all that much but it should easily buy him a few meals and drinks.'' The general in question nods at this and accepts the two coins she gives him.

''Okay so Louise, can you go over them again however this time instead of their general capabilities as you gave them earlier, more personal things about them? You've told us their elemental alignments, mainstay capabilities and their general level of competence and that they're all relatively prideful. However you haven't told us anything about say what each specific person is so prideful about, or any fears they have you know of outside of the general ones that we can take advantage of in the psychological element of this battle.

Is one of the girls extremely proud about her looks for example? Or one of the guys very proud of his looks? Which of them has a severe idea of superiority over us outside of your sister? Are any of them afraid of explosions for instance? Or maybe of impaired vision of some kind? Any other potential fear?'' At this question from Pierre she can be seen to be thinking deeply for a moment.

''Well I know that Robert Mott is an overly proud idiot who like my sister takes the belief in noble superiority to an entirely new level. This means that unlike most nobles, who simply think that magic makes them stronger than the average commoner and give them a right to rule enacted by Brimir but that common soldiers most certainly still stand a decent chance at harming members of nobility, instead they think of it in the way that commoners are completely incapable of harming nobility in anything even slightly resembling a straight up fight unless they have a twenty to one numerical advantage.''

At this Piet spoke up, a dark look in his eyes. ''So the same ideas as that idiot girl Von Zerbst had? About how they a group of mostly nearly untrained mages with only a few that have actually experienced combat of any kind would have been able to take us down with ease and few losses even though we had both superior numbers, a large amount of troops with combat experience and had already been preparing for a battle in the first place?''

Louise nods at this. ''That but to a more extreme level. For all of her talk thinking back on it, that was mainly to gain a superior negotiating position, while she probably did believe we would win that was because she thought could afford to retreat into a castle fortified by magical wards that can withstand siege for a day easily while the nearest royal army depot is less then a few hours away.

She probably expected to lose some students in the defence of the front door before significant numbers of the academy staff arrived in case it did come to a fight, either that or she expected Gramonts golems to have a decent chance of being replaced fast enough to hold the small entrance when given support fire by her and Colbert's capabilities in fire magic and Tabitha's ice daggers.

While with the knowledge I've gained from you now I know that most of us would not have been able to make it to the castle due to your canons having a serious advantage in reach over the ones we have in Halkeginia and thus you would have easily been able to rip us to shreds before we actually would get back through the front door, allowing you to charge in before a serious defence could be mustered.''

''If what you say is true then the girl is much less of an idiot then I thought. Still why would she insult you in that same sentence if she was trying to get the upper hand in the negotiations? We were standing there and had just heard you had summoned us… wait did she think we would be stupid enough to fall for the idea that if you, the one they considered a failure, could summon an army that everyone else in their group would be much more capable?''

Louise shook her head at this. ''It was most likely more that she expected you people to be distracted enough by her figure to slip the insult to me by you without you even noticing. She has oft used this type of tactic against students and teachers both, and it has worked very often, so she probably got overconfident.

We also kind of have this millennia long family rivalry going on between the Vallières and the Zerbsts and she apparently likes the idea of holding herself to the tradition of continuing it, even in situations where it is not a good idea to do so. And she is right in part, I haven't ever done a spell we were taught about in class correctly with the exception of the summoning ritual.''

At this last bit she looks depressed, though it doesn't last long as Saito hugs her to him while ruffling her hair and caressing her back. She buries her head into his chest, while in the background Piet and Pierre can be seen smiling slightly. ''Louise there is no reason to be depressed, you do remember what the man that has become your people's god said to you right? You are very strong and have just been attempting to use the wrong elements.

If you try to forge something using steel and are using the same methods as you would use to forge copper or bronze you wouldn't get very far would you?'' she nods at this though not fully knowing where he's going with it. ''Then would you call steel weaker then bronze when it somehow doesn't work properly using the methods to forge bronze weaponry?''

She thinks on this for a moment before smiling up at him then burying her head into his chest once more before hugging him more tightly and whispering ''No I wouldn't. Thank you Saito, you seem to always know just what to say to cheer me up.'' Unknown to the two who are both lost in the other for the moment, Piet and Pierre are talking softly to each other and chuckling about ''Young love''.

After letting the two stay like this for a minute or so however, Piet decides that they need to get back to business. So he clears his throat loudly before declaring ''Now if the two lovebirds can focus on the actual planning session instead of being too busy declaring eternal love for the other, that would be nice. We still have a duel to get to after all, you can act like this tonight in your room when we're done here.''

This makes both Louise and Saito jump away from each other, both with completely red faces. After which Louise clears her throat. ''Right, back to the strategy. So as I pointed out my sister and the older Mott sibling will most likely underestimate both you and myself badly, we can use this to our advantage by having one of you storm through his defences and take him down hard, while I have Saito near me and we take on the combination of Guiche de Gramont and my older sister.

As soon as whomever fights Robert is done with him, he goes to either assist the other in taking care of the younger Mott sibling or performs a flanking attack on Gramont and my sister, the action depending on who is in need of the most assistance at that point in time.'' At this all three men nod, though Saito raises a question that is on all their minds.

''It is a solid plan Louise, however it hinges on your sister keeping Gramont near her while the other two fight on the flanks, how are you so certain this is what will happen during the duel?'' Louise meanwhile smiles at all three of them in a sinister way that seems very unfit for her face, though unknown to the others Saito thinks a bit differently of it then they do.

''Oh that is easy, my sister will see this mainly as a bonding exercise between her and those three, with how much she will underestimate us. Guiche de Gramont meanwhile is a young man that not only has the type of looks she likes but has also proven himself to be a capable fighter in duelling tournaments on top of being charming and decently intelligent. Last but not least he is a bit of a playboy, which is also known far and wide.''

At this all three of the others around the table look surprised, though it is not limited to them with the guards also looking at Louise with their mouths agape. ''Are you telling me that your sister, who looks at least a decade older then him and potentially is even older then that, is going to let her arousal rule her mind over viable combat strategy because she wants to get into the bed of a teenage Casanova and possibly ensnare him in a marriage contract of some kind?''

As she nods at this, understanding the general meaning of the term due to the runes, the others around the room including the guards are even more shocked, though the one visibly having the worst of it is Pierre. ''Are you really sure about this? I don't doubt your capabilities or knowledge, however this seems just too… foolish I think for a person that is acclaimed to be a researcher of certain renown in the land.''

''It is more that my sister oft has been rejected by people that our parents were trying to get her into a marriage contract with due to her personality, I wasn't joking when I said that her reaction was probably in part because she had just been rejected for the tenth or eleventh time due to just how bad she treats everyone she meets while looking down on them, including most of her prospective husbands.''

She seemed to think about continuing however Piet held up his hand to stop her. ''While this would probably be interesting blackmail material at some point or even just a nice conversation to pass the time with, its currently not the best idea to talk about since we're both on a time table and also will not be able to use this during the actual fight because of the image we're going to try to portray.

Men who will stand to protect the innocent and their cause but are also deadly professional soldiers who will destroy anything standing in their way if such an action is necessary is not an image we'll get by having banter with a young woman in which we insult her choices in regards to her potential sexual partners.''

At this Louise nodded her ascent before thinking for a moment and going back to the original topic. ''Okay so you all now do believe me on the whole 'She will place herself at the centre with Gramont part?''' Getting three nods at this she continued ''What do you three have to add to this plan? I think it is good but you two have taken part in active combat on numerous occasions as far as I know.'' At this she pointed at both Piet and Pierre.

''And all three of you have training for a type of battle and overall warfare that I cannot even grasp in the slightest due to its sheer scale,'' she shook her head ''Preparing for potential conventional warfare against and besides countries that have peace-time standing armies larger than the entire population of Tristain with wartime armies possibly as large as the entire human population of Halkeginia…''

She shook her head in disbelief again, though it was easily visible she did believe her familiars were speaking the truth, it was simply so far removed in scale from what she was used to that she didn't know how to truly process the information. The others looked at he in sympathy, each of them experiencing the same type of disbelief, though more directed on just how everything in the past few hours had come to pass.

''Hmm I personally think the plan is a good baseline however we need more information about just how the Mott kids will fight to figure out who would do a better job at taking on who, Pierre here has a slight advantage over me in flexibility and inventiveness in combat situations,''

Piet nodded to the man as he said this ''However I myself am more experienced in close quarter combat, especially infantry close quarter combat, have actual formal training in fighting with a sword extremely similar to the ones we're currently using and have a larger amount of raw striking power due to a much larger amount of muscle mass.

This means that while he's got a better chance of dodging whatever magic the opponents will be throwing at us, I have a much better chance of taking them out fast or dodging hits from whatever weapon they use while in close quarters. While on the one hand this means I'll be able to defeat the male sibling fast enough for Gramont to not actually have a chance of realizing just how much support Robert needs.

On the other hand I'm also more likely to not have a problem handling both a number of golems spawned by Gramont and an actually competent magical combatant at the same time due to being able to get in closer early enough for her not to be able to use her magics ranged advantage in its entirety, and such a ranged fight would be a disaster for us since we cannot use full deadly force against these children while they will sadly enough can use it against all of us except Louise.''

Louise visibly paled at this. ''Full deadly force?! This is a duel, why the hell would either side use that? No matter who does the killing in the group their entire side would be brought to court as a group and judged on it as if they were all murderers!'' At this Piet and Pierre looked at her deadpan before Piet reacted.

''Less then fifteen minutes ago you said that one of them had bought the Judge to such an extreme that he not only got away with being caught on attempted rape more than once but also with attempted murder of a classmate and the actual murder of two familiars.'' She nodded and moved to say something but Piet held his hand up to stop her.

''I know, we're humans instead of animals and there will this time around also probably be a number of noble witnesses, however if the Judge is bought so badly that he let one of them go in clear cases like that then he will probably rule that this was in the fire of battle and a kill or be killed moment against an enraged familiar, making it self-defence and at most giving them a fee and nothing more.

Meanwhile if we do the same the bought Judge will even if it was actually in a killed or be killed scenario rule it as first grade murder and have all three of us sentenced to death while you will most likely have your rank as a member of the Vallière family removed and be cast out from nobility.''

Louise paled considerably as she considered the possibility, her anger melting like snow in the summer sun. ''You're right, that is actually a very likely possibility. This also means I can't just send a very strong explosion against them and take them all out at once, that would have a decent chance of actually maiming one of them, even though there would be no chance of it actually killing any of them.

Now I believe Guiche the Gramont and my sister are unlikely to actually use deadly force, with Gramont because he'll see this as a sparring or training exercise, and a such just not a place where deadly force should be used while my sister will be too afraid of the damage her public image will suffer if it comes out she has killed a familiar of her youngest sibling.

So the main threats to our safety are first Robert, who is simply a buffoon that doesn't think about long term consequences plus who would also believe it is his divine right to squash some people that are in his mind upstart commoners who do not know their place. The second threat is Katherina who will probably see any deaths on our side as removing my support and thus lowering my chance of becoming a threat to her politically in the long term.''

The three generals apparently decided her assessment was reasonable enough, as all nodded at this, after which she continued. ''I think the best option is thus to have the person that is strong enough physically to get in close fast enough to negate most of the advantage she will have with both magic and a lethal combat mindset fight Katherina, so Piet can you handle her while Pierre takes down Robert?''

Piet nodded his ascent at this, after which she turned to Pierre. ''Are you also in agreement?'' Causing more nodding to be performed. ''I believe the best option after you take him out is for you to go assist Piet, while it would be nice to have the support unless we're losing badly for some reason it is better to simply take out the people who will actually try to kill us the moment we can. Do any of you still have suggestions?''

'' I have one actually but its less related to our overall strategy and more what exact role you will be playing in it.'' Louise raised an eyebrow at this but nodded for him to continue. ''You see, one of the most important parts of modern warfare strategy is using suppression to keep enemies from advancing or returning fire however in the open against an attacking force to do the opposite.

While we can't use deadly force, we could have you send a very large amount of lesser explosive spells at both the golems and your sister at a fast pace, forcing them to move forward to close in with you to stop you from just pummelling them at range. Especially since your sister will probably be surprised at just how effective your magic will be at doing this, heightening the chance of her making a rash decision like charging towards you instead of having Gramont create earth based defensive structures.

Meanwhile Gramont will probably get closer earlier, with Saito handling him and most of the Golems, allowing you to use your smaller and more athletic form to dance around your sister on the battlefield and wear her down fast, though you don't have the raw strength to beat her in a fully physical fight, your smaller profile and speed should give you enough of an advantage. Sound good?'' Louise nodded, looking very excited at the idea.

''While Eleonore is better than me at physical raw strength contests, she is very bad in endurance so I shouldn't experience too many problems, especially not since I think Saito will be able to easily beat Guiche in a close quarters fight, because while he has a decent amount of experience, he also has a large amount of overconfidence because all his opponents except for his brothers have till now been teenagers with little in the way of actual direct physical combat training, all of his tournament opponents relied on magic alone as far as I know.''

Piet nodded. ''Good to know. Now are we all done on that topic?'' After getting three nods he continued. ''Good onto the next topic. I propose we send some infantry and canons ahead tomorrow morning with a single commanding officer while the remainder of us keep here for a bit and have some further negotiations with the school about supplies in the way of food and drink for the troops in exchange for our services as either soldiers or workers?''

''I like the idea though I did just get a message from Steve that he prefers to join us with his general bodyguard unit while Pierre stays behind, do you have a problem with that Pierre?'' His answer was a shake of Pierre's head. ''Okay, alright then after the negotiations the British and Papal general units will join us in heading there, together with the Gendarmerie unit since they'll probably end up being stationed in the region anyways if you do not have a problem with that either? I myself will be leading the infantry on the journey meanwhile.''

''After the region has been captured and established I'll probably head over there myself to work with the locals for us, since Saito is the main familiar the closeness to Louise this brings is currently already showing itself.'' An embarrassed ''Hey!'' in the background from both Saito and Louise was ignored by everyone else in the room.

''Meanwhile Steve doesn't actually speak the local language and would thus always need a translator, which as the commander of our forces in the region would be a bad thing, while you Piet are our best field officer and as such should not be bound to managing the defences and armies of a single province.

I meanwhile would profit from being in one area, as I can then also work more on advancing the local understanding of technology and thus giving our faction a large scientific advantage over whatever opponents we may have in the future.'' At this he turned towards Louise. ''Think on it for a moment Louise, I could ensure that your queen and country will have enough of an economic and military advantage over all other factions and countries quality wise that it will in large part negate the advantage all your current potential enemies have: far superior manpower, while the settler infantry units will be able to assist in both the actual practical application of the research and in speeding up the non-military parts of it.''

She nods at this with a smile on her face, overcome with happiness at the possibility of her country for once not ending up on the verge of collapse and saved only by miracles or another nations incompetence every time they get dragged into a war with one of the giants surrounding it. ''I am very interested in the idea, please do tell me more about this after the duel I over. For now let us gear up and then head towards the duelling grounds.''

They all agreed, though they had little to gear up with so they all just settled for checking their current gear then all including Louise taking a dagger each as spare weapons.

World: Halkeginia, Location: Duelling grounds near the Tristanian Magical Academy, Time: 14.30 local time

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Guiche de Gramont POV

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Where the hell is Robert? Our opponents got here nearly ten minutes ago, me, his sister and the elder Miss Vallière have been here for the past twenty minutes, however for some reason the damned fool cannot even bother to show up on time? That buffoon is such a waste of noble blood, even these commoners in front of us would have been more worthy of it.

Luckily we managed to confirm they are all magicless commoners, though with their speed that they showed according to Miss Vallière in their scuffle with the teaching staff in the main hall, the familiar runes have probably enhanced already well trained and decently equipped soldiers to a level where they can be a real challenge to us even in the open.

Now if only I could convince the lovely Eleonore or that brute Robert of this we would have had a much easier time in the planning session. Surprisingly enough lady Katherina was the only one other than me to see just how dangerous our opponents could be if they actually intend to maim or kill.

We are literally facing three experienced soldiers who on top of their physical enhancements probably have also gained some kind of unknown power gained from their familiar runes and are lead by a young woman who while very bad at magic of nearly all kinds also has the tendency to turn anything she casts in explosions of varying levels of strength!

This when supported by familiars who can keep physical dangers such as my Golems, sword and the others direct attack spells away for at least thirty seconds at a very low estimate means she could very well create an explosion equal to the actual line level fire spell explosion meant to be used against enemies in non-enchanted armour!

While such things would be easy to survive if still painful if we actually had the enchanted armour of the average ground bound mage knight like my brother's unit has, however when it is used against unarmoured youngsters? Unless we finish it quickly enough for her not to be able to have the time to actually strengthen the spell, it might very well end up with one of us maimed or even possibly dead if she is angry enough.

We will still win of course, but winning this duel is less important than all four of us surviving it, which will be a bit harder with half our side not recognizing the fact that our opponents can very much be a lethal threat to us from the moment the match starts.

Finally there is Robert but… why does he have a small crowd behind him? I thought we explicitly tried to keep the news of exactly when the match was somewhat quiet so that there wouldn't be more than a dozen or so bystanders to lower the chances of projectiles that miss their targets hitting random people?

''Robert Du Mott, what in the Founders name made you think that creating a large crowd of bystanders for a duel between trained soldiers and a mage with explosive spells on one side and an Earth mage, wind mage, water mage and a fire mage on the other side would actually be safe in any way, shape or form?''

It seems the younger of the Vallière sisters agrees to me on this, which is good considering that it means her sister will probably do the same ''Why would it be bad Louise? So afraid of losing this fight that you don't want a crowd? They'll know anyways when I take you home to get you married to the viscount!''

Their mother is Karin the Heavy Wind. How the hell does the lovely Eleonore not realize just how dangerous this can be? I mean if we had a proper duelling field, sure we could do that, however we don't have one and if we try to create one ourselves we'll be too magically exhausted to fight efficiently.

''Are you crazy sister? Do you want to have to send the letters to their parents to explain that 'I apologize deeply but your son died from a wind blade hitting their face when I fired one at somebody in a duel but that person dodged, and well your son was in the crowd?' I thought you were a researcher at our country's best academy for Founder's sake, you do have a mind analytic enough to notice the problems in your reasoning right?''

At hearing this I turn towards Louise who is staring at her sister in astonishment and I actually have to agree with her. Turning back to lovely Eleonore I see that her temper is gaining ground over her ability to reason properly, so I'll have to interfere. ''While she could have formulated it better, your sister is correct in the sense that it is not a good idea to have a large crowd here, dear Eleonore.'' When I stop for a moment at this to gauge her reaction I see her anger evaporating while she looks at me, good.

''Well said Miss Louise de la Vallière, Guiche da Gramont. This crowd is too large for the duel to remain safe outside of it being held in a duelling field, however as a solution for that Mister Colbert and myself will create a temporary duelling field to not only keep the crowd safe, but also to keep them from interfering with the match.''

I turned in surprise at hearing the headmaster say this, and yes there he was standing, with Mister Colbert by his side, who was muttering about something that I couldn't hear from this distance. That is a relief and takes away most of my worries about the crowd. However something still needs to be addressed, so I grab Robert by the shoulder and drag him close.

''What the hell were you thinking having us wait here to get a crowd? And now with the actual duelling field our range of motion has severely decreased, meaning we can't just keep moving to stay out of their range! While the crowd will be nice when we win, this will lower our chances of getting out of this match without one or more of us getting severely injured by a significant amount!''

He pushes my hand off his shoulder and whispers back venomously ''Stop being a coward Gramont, this'll be easy as could be. They're just commoners and they don't even have ranged weapons of any kind. With your golems to keep them at a distance they have no way in hell to actually do shit to us. As for the Zero, well that one will be handled by her sister with ease considering the zero can't even cast a single spell correctly, no need to worry about it.''

She can't cast a single spell correctly. What is this idiot thinking! Sure this would give us an upper hand in a competition or in an actual one on one duel, however with all her spells turning into explosive blasts and with Karin the Heavy wind as her mother, she can easily just use her magic in the same role canons are used in on the field.

And yes, my golems can hold them off, but they aren't a true match for multiple organic soldiers because I have to direct every single one of them on my own while also keeping enough of my concentration at my own body to defend myself and use other spells efficiently. If the situation keeps going downhill like this they might actually have a chance of winning the duel just by some of us underestimating them so badly on a battlefield were they have most of the advantages!

Sigh, nothing to do about it, I shall just have to switch to the state of mind for battle. They are nearly finished with the spell to create the duelling field, we're in the positioning that Eleonore asked us to be in, the siblings holding the flanks, me in the middle. Looks like Louise will be facing us with a the younger dark haired soldier, the one that according to Eleonore's story moved very fast, hit her and then took multiple albeit low level spells in Louise's defence.

So he probably gained some kind of magic resistance and speed enhancements from his familiar runes, that does make me the best on our side to deal with him actually. I see the shield around the duelling field going up ''Are you all ready?'' At this statement from the headmaster everyone either nods or gives affirmative answers to the headmasters statement.

''The match starts at the count of 1. Three, two, one, GO!'' Throwing the petals down I summon a single full unit of Earth golems and a single unit of Bronze ones, before giving them the mental commands. Bronze golems stay with me and Eleonore, Earth Golems six of you defend Robert, six others defend Katherina, the remainder attack the enemy head-on!

As I form a sword I hear the others casting some low level spells to test the waters, however the youngest man somehow parries the wind blades heading for himself and Louise with his sword while the other two dodge the spells aimed at them while moving forward. ''Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!''

Raising an Earth wall around myself and Eleonore on reflex I can feel some of the spells impacting, while not doing too much damage individually it will start breaking down the defences fast. My forward golems in the centre are all down, most due to the explosions one taken down by Louise's assistant, on the flanks most of them are also down already. ''Forward! We need to get in close with those two!''

Yes Eleonore as if I didn't understand that yet! This is going to be even harder than I thought. I'm going to need more golems, so throwing some more petals on the floor and spawning four more bronze ones it is. Six bronze with me, one bronze defends Eleonore during our advance, last bronze go support Katherina, all surviving Earth golems hold on to previous orders!

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Pierre POV

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As I dodge around a clumsy hit from one of the Golems in a side-step -with its hit almost seemingly in slow motion due to the speed boost the runes give me- while chopping it in half, I can see that Guiche sends the small wall he made forward, Gramont and Eleonore are both moving up behind the wall! Louise blasts the section that would hit her to pieces before sending some more spells in the hole to distract Eleonore, while Saito jumps over it before engaging both Gramont and six of the bronze golems he has spawned.

I can see Louise starting to trade spell-fire with her sister, neither hitting the other much due to both not being the most accurate and some of their spells hitting in mid-air causing some dust to start to go up. Though to be honest to Louise, part of the reason why

As I feel a warmth approach I duck just in time to see a whip of fire go over my head, need to keep my concentration to my own part of the fight. In the time that I was watching and warning the others the six golems near the boy moved forward, hmm I can use this. Charging ahead I duck somewhat to dodge the next stream of fire, cutting the golem to my right in half while grabbing the golem to my left, breaking its skin in a grab and throwing it at Robert.

Without looking if it has hit him I side-step, cut off the arm that was meant to hit me before cutting through its chest then kicking it's upper body at another golem behind it, the speed of it causing both to crumble to pieces. As I charge towards the last golem I see the boy aiming his wand in my general direction while kneeling slightly, forcing me to dodge a blow from the golem before I use said arm to pull it in between me and the boy.

With the fire immolating the thing, I dodge to the side and charge the final few metres towards the now panting boy, before kicking his wand out of his hand, pulling him up with my left hand and hit him in the face with the hilt of my sword. Letting him fall to the ground a quick check to be certain reveals him to be unconscious.

Looking towards the others I see Saito duelling with the Gramont kid and a collection of Golems, with the golems taking hits intended to take Gramont down non-lethally , distracting Saito long enough for him to escape some more hits while Gramont also uses his sword to parry and block attacks the golems miss.

Looking at Louise I can see that her sister is now trying to hit her with spells but Louise is stopping it by sending explosive spells into the wind spells, cancelling out both. Meanwhile her sister is getting bruises all over her body it seems by numbers of very small explosive spells with little force behind them hitting her or near her.

Piet is handling the girl he's fighting relatively well, actually he has disarmed her of her wand but she's somehow using magic? Never mind apparently she had two of them, and now the new wand is also out of her hand and he knocks her out. Though he does seem to have some slight wounds, it isn't anything to be truly worried about.

He looks at me and nods towards the other two. You go assist Saito, I'll assist Louise. I nod back to him in the open and move towards where Gramont and Saito are fighting still, stepping up behind one of the remaining two Golems and slashing it in half, giving Saito the opportunity to catch both opponents blades with his own and use his left fist to hit Gramont knocking him back and off balance, allowing me to slap the wand out of his hand with my sword, while Saito finishes off the last golem.

He valiantly tries to fight on but now that he's alone Saito simply blocks his hit, overpowers him and throws him to the ground with a sword at his neck. I look over to Louise and Piet to see that Eleonore is already on the ground seemingly unconscious. ''This match is over, the duel has been won decisively by Louise de la Vallière and her compatriots.''

Looking at the crowd I can see that they are somehow completely overwhelmed by the outcome, with the exception of the teaching staff and strangely enough the young blue haired woman what was her name, ah yes Tabitha. She also seems unsurprised by the turn of events. However her compatriots are less so, with the entire crowd gawking at us in a mixture of surprise, fear and disbelief.

''Yes! We won! Thank you, thank you!'' Turning to the sound I see Louise jumping into a hug with a not very surprised Saito, before she somehow finds the strength to also pull a surprised Piet into the hug. She then looks at me with puppy eyes…. How can I resist that. Walking over I also join the hug, careful not to crush Louise's small frame between Piet and myself.

''Ehm Miss Vallière, while I understand your elation at this victory, we need the healers to look over you and your companions wounds as well as those of your opponents. Can you please let them go?'' Louise squeaked, with Piet and myself worming our way out of the group hug while she tried to push away from Saito, only to fall towards the ground before he caught her and started supporting her.

Some members of the crowd looked as if they were going to make comments on this until Piet started growling slightly with, is that just an effect of the light or are his eyes really glowing? Oh well something to look into later, the crowd for their part looked horribly frightened, he must have really shown off in his fight or that Katherina girl was considered to be a much bigger deal to them then Louise did.

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World: Halkeginia, Location: Command tent of the extra-dimensional army stationed near the Tristanian Academy of Magic, Time: Shortly after the duel is over.

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3rd person POV

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As we look into the tent we can see Louise blushing still, though she has calmed down somewhat. This time around Piet isn't with them, being dragged to the healers after they saw the small cuts on his arms, even though he insisted it wasn't a big deal. This time around Steve was with them gathered around the table, though now there were chairs.

Louise and Saito sitting next to each other, with an empty seat on Louise's right for Piet, with Pierre sitting left of Saito, with Steve sitting between Pierre and Piet's intended seat. ''Okay the duel went very well and also shows that while magic can be very dangerous, it works in essence as the same type of equalizer any other high quality or advanced weapon would, in that the idea of it being used is more what gives it power when in the hands of people not trained in its use rather then the actual application of it.''

This conclusion got Pierre nods all around the table, including from Louise. ''Now let us start talking about what soldiers will be going towards the region besides the already agreed upon units. I propose we send in three of our four settler infantry units as at least one of those units is very likely going to be staying in that region long term, keeping one of the British ones back here in case all the other units want to settle there.''

They would continue talking about both what advantages Pierre's research could give the country of Tristain and what units would need to be part of the infantry detachment to the liberation of Les Mountagnes Rouges until dinner, after which they would continue for a while before Saito decided to call it a day when he saw how tired Louise had gotten from all of it, with her protesting but not actually being able to do much of anything against him when he carried her back up to her room.

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World: Halkeginia, Location: hallway to the bedroom of Louise de la Vallière in the Tristanian Academy of Magic, Time: 20.30 hours local time.

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Saito POV

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''But I don't want to go sleep yet Saito, it's still so early and I can go do more important things…'' This was followed by a yawn while she settled a bit more into my arms with her head snuggling against me shoulder.

Considering you just ended that sentence with a way too cute yawn Louise, I am not believing you right now. Wait I did not intend to actually send that to her! Hopefully she doesn't remember it tomorrow due to how tired she is right now. Actually with how I accidentally sent her a mental message and only realized afterwards I was doing it plus how stressful today was, it might be a good idea for me to also go sleep some.

''Saito?'' I looked at her, she was looking at me with those adorable puppy dog eyes I saw for the first time this afternoon but I already consider them some of the most powerful weapons I have ever seen. ''Could you please sleep by my side, after everything that happened I will *yawn* need something to assure me tomorrow it was all real. You also don't have anything you could use as a bed yourself, while my bed is more than large enough for two people.''

I should not do this, I shouldn't do this, it is taking advantage of her. I will just tuck her in, then go and sleep on the floor with my weapon at the ready as her guard inside the room. We sadly enough couldn't get any agreement from the school on posting some guards outside of her room, however that is understandable with this being the female dorms and all, while we can keep our people in check through telepathy they don't know about this.

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World: Halkeginia, Location: Bedroom of Louise de la Vallière in the Tristanian Academy of magic, Time: Some ten minutes later, POV: still Saito Hiraga

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And she ended up convincing me to settle in her bed with her after I pulled off some of my outer clothing, leaving me in my trousers and a shirt before she fell asleep in her academy uniform, somehow ending up with me lying on my back and her head planted firmly in the centre of my chest while she made cute snoring sounds with one of my arms around her. Oh well, I now just have to hope I'll wake up before anybody learns of this tomorrow morning.

Wait I just jinxed myself didn't I considering I thought the same thing of ending up in her bed ten minutes ago? Oh well there are much worse things I could be caught doing then just sleeping in a bed with a beautiful young woman cuddling me. Hmm this is a good position to fall asleep in anyways.

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World: Halkeginia, Location: ?, Time: the moment Saito falls asleep, still his POV.

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Hmm… wait where am I? Looking around the room I'm in I can see a very large table with a map on it, while Louise is looking around wildly standing near it. ''Why does this map show Halkeginia, why are most things in Tristain except the academy area somewhat greyed out but still visible enough while the remainder of the world and a few areas in Tristain are covered in a near black grey that you cannot see through except for the lighter grey their capitals? Why am I here alone?! Where is here!''

''Louise, you're not alone, I am here.'' As I am saying this I walk towards her and take her in my arms, with her returning the hug enthusiastically causing a by now somewhat familiar warmth to well up inside me at the feeling of her body against mine. As I look at the map I realize what it is. ''As for that map I think I know what this is supposed represent, since an earlier version of the simulator had a similar style campaign map. The simulation was called Empire Total War.''

She looked to me, now a bit confused, which was reasonable enough to be honest. I held up my hand to stop her questions for a moment. ''I'll answer your other earlier questions first, the reason the academy area is shown is because our army is here, meaning that due to our mental connection with the army we know roughly where everything is around here, how far along the creation of buildings are, and so forth.

Most of the remainder of Tristain is a light grey most likely not only because you consider them either allies or faction members due to your shared loyalty to the queen, but also because you actually know a lot of the rough locations of settlements and such in those regions. If my theory is correct, the dark patches are above regions you consider non-aligned.''

Looking at the map I manage to locate the Les Mountagnes Rouges region, bordering the academy's region. ''As you can see here this region is one that Tristain isn't truly in control of, however we do have basic information about it. So we can see the rough details through the dark grey, except for the small light grey pocket of this farming village where an unknown number of regional defence units flying the Tristanian flag are situated.''

Nodding at this she thanks me and I sit down for a moment, only for her to plop into my lap, causing me to bring an arm around her to keep her steady. She her head towards me smiling ''Thank you.'' Before turning back towards the map and asking ''So can you explain everything a bit further? This seems like it will be very useful in the future.''

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World: Halkeginia, Location: hallway near the bedroom of Louise de la Vallière in the Tristanian Academy of Magic, Time: 7.30 in the morning local time the day after the last entry

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3rd person POV

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In the hallway a maid can be seen knocking on a door asking ''Miss Vallière? Are you in there?'' When she doesn't get an answer the maid shrugs. ''She's probably asleep still, that duel and the following celebrations they might have had yesterday must have really tired her out.''

Opening the door she looks at the bed to see as expected a bulge and some pink hair sticking out of the top. She turns away only to then notice something that makes her freeze. Pink isn't the only colour of hair that can be seen, there is also very prominently black hair. Looking a bit closer she can see a man's face and part of his chest sticking out above the sheets, with Louise's head visibly on top of that chest and her hair covering most of the view of it. A very loud shout can be heard before the maid races out of the room, with the shout waking up both Saito and Louise.

The latter of whom then slowly realizes just what position she is in inside her bed with Saito while a young maid visited and saw them, not also seeing that both were still clothed. ''My life is ruined, my mother will kill me if she hears of this!'' Just after she is finished saying that Kirche von Zerbst appears in the doorway and stares for a while.

Eventually, after a few coughs and hand movements from Saito, Louise notices her standing there. ''What are you doing here Zerbst?''

''Well I never thought I'd see you taking my advice more seriously Louise, good job on getting this one in your bed that quickly!'' She laughs slightly after her last words but stops at a glare from Saito and starts moving away ''I'll just ehm leave then, bye!'' before starting to run as dignified as she could.

Meanwhile back in the room Louise is pacing while Saito starts rubbing his forehead. ''Why am I always the one that has to deal with this type of shit…'' Then he looks at Louise pacing around still. ''Okay this time around I've got to admit it is for a good reason at least.'' Sighing he steps out of the bed and starts on the task of calming down Louise.

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And that was it for this chapter, I hope you guys liked it. At the end of this chapter there will be the character indexes of Louise and all three of the generals involved in the fighting, with some slight changes as a result of the duel. There will also be a battle report, though in this chapter no sentients died in the fight, so it will be pretty short in comparison to future ones.

Next chapter will have the battle for les Mountagnes Rouges between Louise's army and the orcs.

Before that however I will answer all reviews posted on the story until now, in case others were wondering about the same things and because I realized it is not a good idea to send personal messages to everyone in case somebody else has the same question.

Kirov of the USSR: Thank you for the compliment and the advice, I do think it is a realistic way for them to react though. All three of them are familiar with the customs on Earth on how to interact with modern royalty, however they are now interacting with what is as far as they know Feudal or early modern royalty, with a very high possibility of absolute monarchy.

Because of this they act in a more deferential way then they would back home, simply because they are unsure of exactly how the etiquette for this royalty works and do not want to screw up diplomatically when they are an army without supply in a land completely foreign to them with no known way of calling in support from back home.

On top of that they also have runes carved in their hands that are supposed to make any type of positive feelings they have towards their summoner somewhat more prominent (In this story it is this, in canon it would just create new feelings altogether however if that were to happen the mind link between the armies would cause them to find out about it relatively quickly.).

Still thank you for telling me of your opinion and in future chapters they will probably interact with them closer to how they would with modern monarchy because they will have gained the necessary supplies and base of operations by that point, plus the backing of another royal family member in the form of Louise.

PEROCONCINO: It might be a bit hidden in the name descriptions, but they all have the runes and can use them to control weapons. Unlike canon Saito, these are all military men. Every single object around them is a weapon to them. I.e. If they take the wheel of an air-ship, that air-ship is a weapon, their own bodies are weapons.

This means that instead of Canon Saito who needs to have something at hand, they can just call upon the power of the runes whenever they wish. This in combination with the supernatural capabilities of their bodies will make them some of the most dangerous beings in Halkeginia in contests of individual combat.

However while they can take on all but the strongest of mages in 1 on 1 fights especially with special things like deflecting certain low level spells with their blades once the runes are active, the main thing about the generals will be their ability to strengthen their soldiers and how this will grow.

By the end of the story they will be able to turn certain defeat in complete victory simply by appearing on the battlefield and taking command, at least if they are all still alive by then, with Louise growing in much the same way.

Guest: I am trying to solve the text wall problem, please review again if you read this on if this is better or not.

flo463: I am trying to create paragraphs, however due to conversion problems from word document form to the website document form it will sometimes go wrong. Please reply again if possible on whether or not it is better now.

Next up, no as said before no oc replacement, as far as the plans are now it won't be a Saito x harem. This is partially because I think I won't be able to write that type of relationship in a convincing enough manner for it to be an enjoyable read, which kind of ruins the whole reason behind putting it into the story.

However the main reason I don't plan on using it is because realistically a human being with a decent enough character to actually get enough females interested in him for such a relationship hailing from modern Japan while being heavily influenced by western history is near certain to see a multi-partner relationship such as a harem as taking advantage and/or abuse of the other people in said relationship and as such refuse to be part of it unless they are forced to by the circumstances.

We'll have to agree to disagree on the topic of how creative assembly could have made the game better and which one is better. The thing is that because it is a video-game made to be playable for teenagers and that it can be run on your average laptop you cannot truly put everything into it to do honour to how a fractured city-state based society such as there was in ancient Greece works.

Another reason is that because unlike in reality the Romans aren't in a near constant state of civil war, meaning that you need to group together other cultures into united nations that they were never really part of to ensure playing as Rome isn't the easiest thing in the world, even after weakening the nations with structured near professional militaries badly due to it being, well, a video game in which your troops actually have to follow orders.

Where in reality nearly the only orders that could be given when your forces are little more than a coalition of warbands is 'there is the enemy, charge!' or 'we wait and ambush them in this rough area!' and then hope that they would actually listen, because you would lose nearly all control except for those fighters extremely near you once the fighting started.

So they kind of needed to build something in to ensure there would actually be a challenge to play as Rome, meaning that they needed to add some people together. Meanwhile Carthage was a trading empire that relied on mercenaries almost completely to fight its wars. The only reason they were actually a large threat to the romans at any point was the fact that Rome at that point was extremely bad at building ships and the Hannibal family being very capable leaders at a point in time where Rome was weakened by both infighting and numerous other wars that were going on.

xxwarlovexx: Well here is another chapter to read, hopefully you also like this one.

Guest: It was caused by problems between transition from my word documents to the websites own document storage, however I've been trying to fix that. If it is better now please review again if you are reading this, if its still bad please also review so I can work on it some more.

TDL: Thank you for the compliment and I hope you still like the story.

Louise de la Vallière

Category: Leader
Class: Faction leader (She has both overall command of her factions military, but is also the political leader/head of state. Whenever entering a battlefield will have supreme command of all her factions troops in the area. However, said faction is a protectorate of the Tristanian crown)
Men: 1
Firepower: 2 to 500 (Depending on what spell is being used, how much power is put into it, at what range it hits the opponent and if she has her wand or not. Her usual spell of choice, the 'fireball' type explosion spell, does 10 to 120 damage depending as said before on the power put into it)
Range: 50 to 350 (depending both on what spell is currently being used and if she has her wand or not, since both can either shorten or enlarge the range. A combination of using the wand and her fire-ball spell at full power together has the 350 range.)
Accuracy: 15 without wand, 20 with wand
Munition: 1 to 250 (depending both on how much power is put into the spell, at what range the attack will hit and if she has her wand or not, with no wand the maximum damage in the strongest spell (500) uses up all available magic, while with a wand she can fire 2 of those, but nothing stronger because that is the maximum amount of power the wand can channel at once.) (2 to 500 if the Void is with me activates regularly, 4 to 1000 if The Void is with me activates supercharged)
Melee attack: 2
Charge bonus: 2
Defence: 2
Morale: 8 (16 with Noble's Duty activate, 24 with For the Monarch activate. 24 morale means literally completely impossible to rout no matter what happens, so combining them wouldn't add anything.)

The third child of the main branch of the De La Valliere family, with her mother originally having said name and her father (the bastard child of the grandfather of the current Princess, who despite his heritage was seen as a brother by the last king) taking the name after marrying Karin de la Vallière.

Louise is currently 4 foot 8 inches foot (145 centimetres) tall and 17 years old. Due to her father's lineage and the fact that the current heir to the throne is an only child, Louise de la Vallière is the fourth in line for the throne of Tristain, with before her being crown princess Henrietta, Eleonore de la Vallière and Cattleya Vallière.

She is often seen as a problem due to people not understanding how her magic works, which made them think she had no ability to shape magic and as such was seen as a shame of a mage by her eldest sister and most of her 'peers' at school. Her mother, unknown to her, while not liking the fact that her daughter couldn't do normal magic, did understand the implications of the ability to create different calibre explosions with every spell cast, and then being able to cast those explosions many more times than her peers could cast their own spells.

She didn't interfere in the problems between sisters, thinking in her 'rule of steel' line of thought that the conflict would only make Louise stronger as long as it didn't kill her. This has left the girl very inept socially, which makes it even harder to gain friends, but has also both created a hidden steel right under the surface of her personality and made her become unquestionably loyal to those few that have managed to earn said loyalty, including her older sister Cattelaya and the current Princess of Tristain Henrietta.

She will do anything for them, no matter the cost to her personally, consequences be damned as long as the job will get done and the person in question is saved. When during the ritual she summoned a veritable army of thousands and was told shortly afterwards that it was her magic that gave most of them a chance at new life, she was both shocked but also extremely elated, she will now prove to the world that she was worth much more than a simple trophy wife with nobody being able to disprove that it was she that had summoned entire armies.

She has made some headway into this path already afterwards by defeating her sister and a trio of others in a duel where she was supported by her familiars, however a partially true rumour was started the morning afterwards of her having a romantic relationship with one of her familiars, which might cause trouble in the future.

Abilities

Void magic

Nature magic (Locked, will unlock once this person gains either the 'A hero of the nation, shield of the people' or the 'Enemy of mankind, demon of legend' trait)

Explosion magic (this person has a specialty for explosion magic, making them much more attuned and capable at this then most)

The Void is with me (will activate as a side effect when either Noble's duty or For the Monarch activates, enlarges her magical reserves by 2 times when either one is active, by four times if both are active at the same time.

Will not change firepower maximum because of the fact that the regular maximum firepower is also the largest amount that can be channelled through both Louise's body and her wand without damaging either currently. Will change in the future once both her body gets stronger and/or the wand gets replaced with a better version.)

Mark of the summoner (Allows the summoner to use the same type of mental communication a faction leader has with their subjects in a Total War series game to give orders to everyone that swears loyalty to her. The disadvantage of this link is that only words can be sent, and that unlike in the Total War series long distances can decrease the strength and clarity of the link. Also allows to view city management as it is shown in Empire: Total War.)

Technological abilities

Enchanted armour (Gives +4 to defence and a higher level of heat resistance. Currently being held onto by her mother and will be given to her after she successfully commands forces in a battle for the first time)

Wand-sword (Can both function as a close combat weapon in which function it will give her +3 melee attack and +2 charge bonus, can also handle not only 50% more magical power being pushed through it at once but also strengthens the magic being pushed through by 20%, enabling Louise to use more of her full power at once if necessary and heavily strengthening the effects of said full power. Being held onto by her mother currently and will be given to her after she successfully commands forces in a battle for the first time.)

Traits

Theoretical knowledge of magic (due to hours of studying for theoretical knowledge of magic and the potential applications of many spells to a much higher degree then a regular mage, this person can now more easily devise tactics both with and against groups of mages. +1 command when fighting against an army mostly consistent of mages, +1 command when leading an army mostly consistent of mages into battle)

For the Monarch (This trait is the result of her close relationship with the current crown princess. When anything is seen by her as being even remotely a threat to Tristain's royal family she will be either victorious or die in battle. When activated triples her base morale, gives her +1 command ability and her sheer determination will inspire her troops, +1 morale to all units fighting by her side on the battlefield.)

Noble's duty (This ability started to exist out of the great dedication towards duty this person has, which makes them take the duty all members of Nobility have in their eyes to defend the commoners extremely seriously, especially when said rights are being infringed upon by other nobles.

When activated doubles this persons/units base morale and gives +1 morale to armies with similar views and/or mostly non-mage troops when the person with this trait is the commander of the armed forces)

Horsemanship (Is good enough at riding a horse that it doesn't diminish his/her combat capabilities while riding one)

Mentioned in dispatches (+1 morale, +1 to command when leading infantry units)

Rumours of a common lover (Rumours float around about this member of royalty/nobility being in a relationship with a person of lower social standing. +2 love from the lower and middle classes, -1 love from the nobility.)

My people are my family (This leaders cares greatly for his or her subordinates, which those subordinates know and admire their leader for. +2 love from the common populace, +1 love from the nobility/high class, +1 morale in battle for any friendly forces)

Multilingual (This person has the ability to speak more than 3 languages, both enabling easier diplomacy and giving him more prestige in the eyes of nearly every member of the population, though mainly so for the nobility. +5% chance of convincing people your argument is correct, +2 love from the nobility, +1 love from the lower classes, +5 diplomatic prestige)

Requirements to recruit:

Special units are referring to specific people, the 'hero' units and leaders of their factions, which means that it is impossible to actually recruit most of them outside of personally convincing them to join your side over whatever group they are siding with now.

General Saito Hiraga

Category: Leader
Class: General
Men: 1
Range: - (will change in the future, but currently doesn't have a ranged weapon)
Accuracy: - (50 normally on average, 70 with runes on average, with will of steel and runes both together 90)
Reloading skill: - (normally 30, with runes 50, Gandalfrs and runes both 70)
Melee attack: 16 (32 when runes are activated, 48 Gandalfrs steel conviction and runes both)
Charge bonus: 15 (30 when runes are activated, 45 Gandalfrs steel conviction and runes both)
Defence: 14
Morale: 16 (24 when Gandalfrs steel conviction activates)
Recruitment cost: -
Upkeep cost: £2 (spent on food and equipment upkeep only)
Command ability: Between 9 and 14 command capability depending on the situation
Army bonus morale: +7 morale

Saito Hiraga is a 5 foot 8 inches (173 centimetres) tall 22 year old man of Japanese origin. He was hired by Creative Assembly to work on their new VR project, which started on the 15th of October 2018 and has become good friends with his direct superior in this project and the three co-workers that he spends most of the day with during testing. Unknown to Saito, the reason behind selecting him was not done on any physical abilities or disabilities he may have had, but a combination of a cultural and educational factors.

Saito Hiraga was born in a family that has a long history of martial service in the Japanese military or later on self-defence forces, with his father, uncles, aunts and one grandfather all having served in the self-defence force while his other grandfather and one of his great grand-fathers had served as part of the Japanese imperial military.

While Saito is part of the JDF reserve forces and as such can be called into service in case Japan will ever get attacked, his main focus was on his studies in history, where he was specialised in 18th century Europe and the Middle East. His fascination with this specific time period had started after he played Empire Total War in 2012, and fell in love with it. Because of this, when Creative Assembly attempted to recruit him for their VR project for the game Empire Total War in September 2018, he jumped on it.

Due to a combination of high intellect and his large knowledge base on this time period, he had gone through a faster than regular program in his studies, which caused him to be a history professor at age 21. This has had him be not only a test-subject for the project, but also one of the historians working on ensuring the outfits, buildings and flags that can be seen on the battlefield and campaign map in VR mode fit with the actual historical nations they are supposed to represent. However after he had worked on the project for only slightly more then two weeks, he and 3 of his co-workers were teleported out of their VR chambers by way of a portal summoned by a young mage from another world.

However due to a combination of outside interference and the way that the VR machines worked, instead of just the 4 of them being transported to Halkeginia in their jumpsuits, they instead appeared with the clothing, gear and armies that they would have had in the VR session, which meant they were now commanding thousands of men armed and equipped with 18th century military gear in what seemed to be a medieval fantasy world.

He and his comrades have also gained a small bit of fame among the local populous for their combative capabilities, after they were able to defeat a group of mages in a four on four duel, albeit with one of the four being their summoner Louise de la Vallière instead of former Captain, now General, Steve Churchill.

Abilities

Can rally routing troops

Inspires nearby units

Good stamina

Gandalfr runes (allow for the use of any weapon at least somewhat competently no matter how little you knew about it beforehand while also giving increased physical strength, usually double of what was originally there. Also enables faster reloading and better aim with all ranged weapons and a high level of competence in driving vehicles built for the purpose of war. Also allows for psychic communication with the summoner.)

Modern infantry training (Gives even higher physical conditioning and allows for both better ranged ability with fire-arms as well as better close quarter abilities both unarmed, with bladed weapons and with rifles. +5 to melee attack, +10 accuracy with fire-arms)

Resistant to morale shocks

Gandalfrs steel conviction (When fighting for something or someone he fiercely believes in on the battlefield, it strengthens his morale to the point routing him is impossible, no matter what happens. Also, even when without a weapon of any kind the runes will activate, if he has a weapon they will double the usual bonus.)

Modern military training (Gives superior physical conditioning and a 50% higher capability with modern weapons/vehicles. Also allows to create improvised grenades and other explosives with greater ease. Also heightens ability with any and all fire-arms by +5 accuracy.)

Technological abilities

Combat medic (Not in use yet due to 'modern medical supplies' not having been researched yet)

Traits

Born to fight (+2 command when fighting on land)

Great general (+3 to command in battle)

Cool under fire (+1 to morale)

Courageous leader (+3 to morale)

Darling of the gutter press (+2 to morale)

Charismatic (+25% of chance of convincing people your argument is correct, -5% costs on supplies bought in bulk, +25% higher recruitment rate of troops for the
faction this person is part of, +10% higher chance of opposing units surrendering in negotiations)

Historian (+10% chance to see pattern in actions when these are there, also knows a lot about 17th and 18th century strategies, logistics, tactics and production methods, +1 command against enemies using tactics that were recorded extensively in history, +2 command when fighting in command of such an army.)

Horsemanship (Is good enough at riding a horse that it doesn't diminish his/her combat capabilities while riding one)

Modern military officer's training (+2 command when on the defensive against a combined land/air assault due to extensive knowledge about how to quickly and effectively setup a trench based defensive system and how to make improvised Anti-Aircraft weaponry.

+1 command when using a combined arms assault while on the offensive. Lastly gives +1 command when in charge of an infantry force with fire-arms and artillery support, no matter how primitive or advanced said weapons and artillery are.)

Mentioned in dispatches (+1 morale, +1 to command when leading infantry units)

Multilingual (This person has the ability to speak more than 3 languages, both enabling easier diplomacy and giving him more prestige in the eyes of nearly every member of the population, though mainly so for the nobility. +5% chance of convincing people your argument is correct, +2 love from the nobility, +1 love from the lower classes, +5 diplomatic prestige)

Rumours of a royal lover (Rumours are that this person is in an unmarried relationship with one of royal blood, causing some positive attention from the common citizen but severe dislike from most members of the higher classes due to their disgust of him 'besmirching her honour'. +2 love from the lower and middle classes, -1 love from the nobility.)

Requirements to recruit

Special units are referring to specific people, the 'hero' units and leaders of their factions, which means that it is impossible to actually recruit them outside of personally convincing them to join your side over whatever group they are siding with now.

General Piet van Vlimmeren

Category: Leader
Class: General
Men: 1
Range: 70
Accuracy: 70 (60 when on horseback, 80 when on foot with runes active, 70 when on horseback with runes active)
Reloading skill: 60 (30 when on horseback, 70 with runes active on foot, 40 on horseback with runes active)
Ammunition: 15
Melee attack: 24 (36 with runes are active on horseback, 30 when on foot without runes active, 45 when on foot with runes active)
Charge bonus: 15 (25 on horseback, 23 when runes are active on foot, 37.5 on horseback with runes active)
Defence: 20
Morale: 16 (24 when steel convictions becomes active)
Recruitment cost: -
Upkeep cost: £4 (spent on food, equipment and ammunition only)
Command ability: between 10 and 17 command capability depending on the situation
Army bonus morale: between +8 and +16 morale depending on the situation.

Piet van Vlimmeren is a 190 cm tall 37 year old veteran soldier from the Netherlands, who fought in a multitude of battles and was during his time of active service the second most capable close quarters combatant in the Royal Netherlands Military. He started military service at age 22 after finishing officers school at the top of his class, and fought in multiple battles during 3 tours in different warzones.

He left active service at the age of 30 after seeing his brother die trying to save several civilians, with said civilians still dying shortly afterwards despite all effort being put into having them survive because of an enemy RPG rocket hitting the building they were hiding in.

After returning home, he decided to instead join the reserve forces, where he was immediately granted back the rank he had when he left the active military, namely that of captain. After seeing the extremely poor state the reserve forces were in and how the general public treated returning military veterans, he decided to go into politics. Joining a political faction in his home-town, he quickly worked his way up the political ladder through both charisma and his popularity with the local public for being a straight-forward person and decorated military veteran.

Since the town was close to a military facility, many of the voters worked for/with the military or profited from the fact that they were stationed there in some way or another, causing the people to be more interested in the state of the military, their treatment by the general public and the quality of their equipment. From here after winning local elections by a large margin and being part of the town council, he joined national politics at age 35.

While less effective on a nationwide level, he still had gained enough public support that he was standing to gain 5 of the 150 seats in the 'Tweede Kamer' (second chamber, the name of one of the Dutch chambers of parliament) which would be just enough to make the victory of a coalition of 2 other parties a certainty, causing him to bargain with them.

The results of this would see him supporting them in their ideas for the most part, with him becoming Minister Of Defence and their support of his plans to spend more money to ensure all overdue maintenance on military equipment would be performed and new equipment bought where the old needed to be replaced badly.

After another political party that was also in negotiations with the coalition learned of this, they feared that their own party would not be allowed into the coalition because of them wanting much larger changes to the coalitions plans since with the seats of the new military oriented party they would be useless.

To counter this danger to their position they started a slander campaign, including leaking all Piet's medical files to the public while making speeches of him being a ''Bloodlustige man die het liefst ons land in oorlog zou brengen om het kleinste akkefietje.'' (''Man filled with bloodlust, who would drag our country into a war over the slightest diplomatic problem.'').

This in combination of fear for how his PTSD would affect his abilities as part of the nation's leadership caused public support to crumble almost completely, both in national and local elections. At the actual elections he eventually didn't even get enough votes to get 1 seat in the new parliament, sending him into a depression and ruining his chances at the local elections a few months later.

The rival that started the whole thing also blackmailed the new minister of defence into revoking Piet's membership of the reserve forces for alleged mental instability, throwing him further into his depression.

With no family left and not wanting to ruin his body with drink, he dove into playing video games as his way of escaping his problems, eventually coming to enjoy strategy games, in specific those of the Total War series. While in this depression he was approached by Creative Assembly to work for them as a member of the team that would enact the movements for the troops in their new VR version of the original Empire Total War game, which he readily accepted to just have something productive to do on a daily basis.

After enjoying working for them for more than a year, he also took them up on the offer to join the testing teams for the VR gameplay, bringing him in as a military expert. Though after he had worked on the project for only slightly more than two weeks, he and 3 of his co-workers were teleported out of their VR chambers by way of a portal created by a young mage from another world.

However due to a combination of outside interference and the way that the VR machines worked, instead of just the 4 of them being transported to Halkeginia in their jumpsuits, they instead appeared with the clothing, gear and armies that they would have had in the VR session, which meant they were now commanding thousands of men armed and equipped with 18th century military gear in what seemed to be a medieval fantasy world.

He and his comrades have also gained a small bit of fame among the local populous for their combative capabilities, after they were able to defeat a group of mages in a four on four duel, albeit with one of the four being their summoner Louise de la Vallière instead of former Captain, now General, Steve Churchill.

Abilities

Resistant to morale shocks

Can rally routing troops

Inspires nearby units

Modern military training (Gives superior physical conditioning and a 50% higher capability in operating modern weapons/vehicles. Also allows to create improvised grenades and other explosives with greater ease. Also heightens ability with any and all fire-arms by +5 accuracy.)

Modern infantry training (Gives even higher physical conditioning and allows for both better ranged ability with fire-arms as well as better close quarter abilities both unarmed, with bladed weapons and with rifles. +5 to melee attack, +10 accuracy with fire-arms)

Steel conviction (When fighting for something or someone he fiercely believes in on the battlefield, it strengthens his morale to the point routing him is impossible, no matter what happens.)

Very good stamina

Grappling hooks

Slightly degraded Gandalfr runes (These runes give half the bonuses that similar full runes would give to a person, in this case a 50% increase of physical abilities, half of the increase in ranged abilities but still give a high level of competence with controlling any vehicle meant for war. Also, like the original version it allows for psychic communication with the summoner.)

Technological abilities

Fire and advance
Fire by rank
Square formation
Platoon firing
Socket bayonet

Traits

Fought on the line (As this man was once a simple soldier fighting on the front line as well, his speeches make a much deeper impression on the men and inspire them more then the same speeches would from most other officers, especially those about the defence of their homeland against aggressor's. +1 morale in offensive battles, +2 morale in defensive battles, +1 to command in all situations.)

Modern military officer's training (+2 command when on the defensive against a combined land/air assault due to extensive knowledge about how to quickly and effectively setup a trench based defensive system and how to make improvised Anti-Aircraft weaponry. +1 command when using a combined arms assault while on the offensive. Lastly gives +1 command when in charge of an infantry force with fire-arms and artillery support, no matter how primitive or advanced said weapons and artillery are.)

War, war never changes (Due to a large amount of experience in warfare while on the frontlines himself, this man knows just how much it can affect the people fighting in it and will do anything in his power to assist his men into surviving the physical wounds gained and overcoming the psychological scars it creates. Both his own men and his allies know this and are proud to stand by this man's side all the more because of it. +1 morale to any and all friendly forces, +20% chance of having wounded soldiers survive the fighting)

Born to fight (+2 command when fighting on land)

Hero of the downtrodden (He will always fight for the rights of those that have very little or none, no matter the cost to him personally or what positions he will reach in life. This will oft cause him to class with the less scrupulous members of the Nobility. Gives +4 love from the working class/commoners, -2 love from the higher class/ nobility)

PTSD (Due to long-term experience with wars and the death of many friends, comrades and innocents in said wars, this person has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This causes him to be quick to anger not only when people have no respect towards the causes he and his comrades fought, bled and died for, but also when they look down on those that he feels have at some point gone through what he went through in some way shape or form. +4 love from others that have experience with war, -1 love from those not experienced with conflict, +25% chance of acting impulsively when people look down on him or any other soldier that fights for a cause he can respect.)

Courageous leader (+3 morale)

My enemy is the media (-1 morale due to past and present problems with the press)

Great general (+3 to command in battle)

Infantry commander (+1 command and +2 morale when leading an army mainly consisting of infantry forces into battle)

Shield of the innocent (After seeing civilians die in battle and being helpless to stop the slaughter, this man has resolved to never again be helpless in such a situation and will also inspire those under his command to follow that same ideal. Will activate when the opponent actively threatens the lives of innocent civilians. Gives +1 command, +6 morale for all friendly forces, +2 melee attack and +4 charge bonus for the entire army when active.)

Drillmaster (+2 to Command when leading Infantry Units, +5% to infantry unit's campaign movement range)

Good defender (+1 to command when defending on land)

Multilingual (This person has the ability to speak more than 3 languages, both enabling easier diplomacy and giving him more prestige in the eyes of nearly every member of the population, though mainly so for the nobility. +5% chance of convincing people your argument is correct, +2 love from the nobility, +1 love from the lower classes, +5 diplomatic prestige)

Hero of the Army (+4 to Morale in all Battles)

Mentioned in dispatches (+1 to morale in all battles, +1 to command when leading infantry units)

Requirements to recruit

Special units are referring to specific people, the 'hero' units and leaders of their factions, which means that it is impossible to actually recruit them outside of personally convincing them to join your side over whatever group they are siding with now.

General Pierre D'Alain

Category: Leader
Class: General
Men: 1
Range: - (will change in the future, but currently doesn't have a ranged weapon)
Accuracy: - (Normally 50 on average, with runes active 60 on average depending somewhat on the weapon)
Reloading skill: - (Normally 30 on average, with runes active 40. How much higher or lower it will be depends near completely on the weapon used.)
Melee attack: 18 (With runes active 27)
Charge bonus: 20 (With runes active 30)
Defence: 18
Morale: 16 (24 when steel convictions activates)
Command ability: 7 to 12 command general depending on the circumstances
Army bonus morale: +6 to +8 morale

Pierre D'Alain is a 190 cm tall 42 year old former member of the French Grand Armée who reached the rank of sergeant, however he left the army shortly after his husband was killed in the line of duty. During his service he was a combat engineer and mechanic, which basically meant he built bridges, camps, roads, and everything else expected of a member of the engineer corps, but at the same time he had also enjoyed the training of a combat mechanic.

This meant that he could make quick repairs to vehicles, weapons and communication devices. This combination has assisted him well after he left the military at age 34, and after a short re-education started working as a mechanic for a car rental service in the outskirts of Paris.

Life was good for him, though he never fully got over the loss of his love, he did find peace in the act of caring for the children of his sister, with whom he kept a good bond. This changed however at age 41, when his sister, her husband and their two children died in a car accident.

Having lost everything he cared about threw him into a heavy depression, which got even worse when he lost his job not a month later after a change of management happened at the company he worked for, where it was decided to fire him and the other ex-military personnel employed there for them being too 'militant' for the new owners views, throwing dozens of men and women alike out of their jobs all over the country.

While in this depression, Creative Assembly reached out to him and gave him the option of becoming one of the field-testers for their VR technology, which he rapidly agreed to after reading the contract. He, unlike nearly all other members of the project, worked at the Rome Total War section first, and was placed over to the Empire Total War section after they finished the Rome Total War: VR Edition development.

Both the current and previous project have done much to drag him out of his depressed state, though he is still often cold and also very slow to trust. However after he had worked on the current project for only slightly more than two weeks, he and 3 of his co-workers were teleported out of their VR chambers by way of a portal created by a young mage from another world.

Strangely enough due to a combination of outside interference and the way that the VR machines worked, instead of just the 4 of them being transported to Halkeginia in their jumpsuits, they instead appeared with the clothing, gear and armies that they would have had in the VR session, which meant they were now commanding thousands of men armed and equipped with 18th century military gear in what seemed to be a medieval fantasy world.

He and his comrades have also gained a small bit of fame among the local populous for their combative capabilities, after they were able to defeat a group of mages in a four on four duel, albeit with one of the four being their summoner Louise de la Vallière instead of former Captain, now General, Steve Churchill.

Abilities

Resistant to morale shocks

Can rally routing troops

Inspires nearby units

Modern military training (Gives superior physical conditioning and a 50% higher capability with modern weapons/vehicles. Also allows to create improvised grenades and other explosives with greater ease. Also heightens ability with any and all fire-arms by +5 accuracy.)

Steel conviction (When fighting for something or someone he fiercely believes in on the battlefield, it strengthens his morale to the point routing him is impossible, no matter what happens.)

Good stamina

Grappling hooks

Slightly degraded Gandalfr runes (These runes give half the bonuses that similar full runes would give to a person, in this case a 50% increase of physical abilities, half of the increase in ranged abilities but still give a high level of competence with controlling any vehicle meant for war. Also, like the original version it allows for psychic communication with the summoner.)

Mechanic (Can do field repairs on vehicles due to both military training and previous experience.)

Technological abilities

Train the mechanics (Allows this person to train mechanics, currently not available due to there being no vehicles or other examples of modern/semi-modern technology to train them with)

Better machinery (25% increase of efficiency in machinery designed by him, with factory building speed also rising by 20%. Will only become active once installed as a province commander or researcher.)

Traits

PTSD (Due to long-term experience with wars and the death of many friends, comrades and innocents in said wars, this person has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This causes him to be quick to anger not only when people have no respect towards the causes he and his comrades fought, bled and died for, but also when they look down on those that he feels have at some point gone through what he went through in some way shape or form.

+4 love from others that have experience with war, -1 love from those not experienced with conflict, +25% chance of acting impulsively when people look down on him or any other soldier that fights for a cause he can respect.)

Mentioned in dispatches (+1 morale)

War, war never changes (Due to a large amount of experience in warfare while on the frontlines himself, this man knows just how much it can affect the people fighting in it and will do anything in his power to assist his men into surviving the physical wounds gained and overcoming the psychological scars it creates.

Both his own men and his allies know this and are proud to stand by this man's side all the more because of it. +1 morale to any and all friendly forces, +20% chance of having wounded soldiers survive the fighting)

Courageous general (+3 morale)

Born cavalryman (+2 command when leading cavalry units)

Aggressive general (+2 command when attacking)

Fought on the line (As this man was once a simple soldier fighting on the front line as well, his speeches make a much deeper impression on the men and inspire them more than the same speeches would from most other officers, especially those about the defence of their homeland against aggressor's. +1 morale in offensive battles, +2 morale in defensive battles.)

Superior General (+2 to Command in Land Battles)

Support crew (Due to being part of such a unit himself in the past, he knows how important support units are during combat and as such manages to get the best of the best for this job. +1 morale, +25% chance of being able to repair mechanised forces after a battle, wounded soldiers have a +10% higher chance of surviving the battle, +5% upkeep costs for all units)

Machines of war (Due to long term experience with modern vehicles, this man will be able to easily reverse engineer any vehicle baring even the slightest resemblance to modern vessels of war. This means that as long as one still semi-working example of a vehicle can be found, he can reverse engineer a lot of its technologies allowing them to build their own, if slightly inferior, versions of it.)

Hero of the downtrodden (He will always fight for the rights of those that have very little or none, no matter the cost to him personally or what positions he will reach in life. This will oft cause him to class with the less scrupulous members of the Nobility. Gives +4 love from the working class/commoners, -2 love from the higher class/ nobility)

Cunning General (+1 to Command during Ambushes)

Born to Fight (+2 to Command when fighting on land)

Multilingual (This person has the ability to speak more than 3 languages, both enabling easier diplomacy and giving him more prestige in the eyes of nearly every member of the population, though mainly so for the nobility. +5% chance of convincing people your argument is correct, +2 love from the nobility, +1 love from the lower classes, +5 diplomatic prestige)

Requirements to recruit

Special units are referring to specific people, the 'hero' units and leaders of their factions, which means that it is impossible to actually recruit them outside of personally convincing them to join your side over whatever group they are siding with now.