A month had gone since Levantia received the war declaration sent by the king in Latila. It was at this time the Elestovakian Imperial Court was in the middle of an important meeting.

  “Around two weeks ago, our main army under the lead of Count Pyrrhik defeated the Vlennians in their attempt to pre-strike our force. With most of their power exhausted, their Royal Army was forced to withdraw into their city where our army soon laid siege upon together with the navy.”

  Hovering his finger upon the map of the continent, the general of Kaval informs his Emperor of the progress of their invasion. As expected, for Vlenna, the Elestovakians are dealing with them well, inflicting casualties and winning while sustaining minimal losses. Even when Vlenna had prepared themselves before the attack, their force succumb to the might of the empire:

  “Excellent, what about Latila?”-asked Kaval.

  However:

  “As for the Kingdom of Milishila and the Maritime Federation, our relationship with them is maintained at a neutral level. Not good, not bad, but for sure they will not join the war against us. That being spoken, there are rumors saying that their naval activities are getting closer to our shore,we ought to be cautious-”

  Table slammed“General, I was asking about Latila.”

  “Sir…”

  “Don’t avoid the question, tell me!”

  For the last three weeks, Kaval hasn’t heard anything of Latila. Aside from when he was told that his separated army encountered a Latilian army when they were about to cross the Granisus, there has been no other development on this front informed to him to this point. This silence concerned the Emperor, who is known for not wanting vital information to be concealed from him. In his head, multiple theories had emerged: could his Elestovakians be crushed by the Latilians? Or a coup is undergoing with that army, and they cut communication with him to form a state before the imperial capital could act?

  “Please calm down, Your Majesty.”

  But to Kaval’s anger and frustration, the general calmly replied:

  “The reason why I don’t talk about Latila is because they are not active, thus nothing new to talk of. As I’ve said weeks earlier, the main Latilian Army stopped entirely after our arrival in Granisus, and they had been there for the last few weeks without any strive to cross the river. Plus, it has been said that their force numbering up to thirty thousand, far less than ours, they have no chance attempting to attack our force.”

  “You might say so, but what about the other armies?”

  “Well, while I am not too sure, I don’t think you have to worry much about them. First of all, Latila is not likely to be able to field a sufficient army aside from their main one, so they won’t be able to take more than a weak garrison or two, if their main force is in the watch of Your Imperial Army.”

  And that is true given that Latila is a small nation, with little resources and constantly relies on foreign aids to support their own city. It is quite reasonable to think it that way, Kaval considered:

  “True…but do you have anything to say so sure that the Latilians will cause no harm to us?”

  “Well, Your Imperial Majesty, you ought to know that the center of our continent is harsh and unsustainable for any army that is big enough to pose a threat. Voyage, sure, maybe if they can take it. However, anywhere further than that point, like Carthagia or Liston, they will starve. So, per my request, please calm down Your Highness, it’s safe to assume that everything is under control.”

  “Perhaps you are right…”

  After hearing the presentation of his general, Kaval feels a bit relieved, though some suspicion remains. Nonetheless, the general’s analysis was quite reasonable. The Emperor might’ve worried too much, probably because this was the first time his nation receive a war declaration since his reign:

  “Would you like some tea?”-spoken a maid nearby, offering the two men some drinks after the long meeting.

  “Yes…hold on”-Kaval pleasantly takes the cup-”This aroma...is of apples?”

  “Correct, Your Majesty. A Vinecian merchant arrived a week earlier and introduced this type of tea to us. They are pricey, but very delicious, so the chefs decided to import some of the samples for you to try.”

  “I will see.”

  Kaval takes a sip from his cup. The scent of apples really captured his sense of smell. They are tender, not too sweet, such a nice flavor:

  “Amazing.”-He says, astounded by the scent of the tea he had just drunk-”Where did the merchant import it from, I wonder?”

  “Rumors said it comes from Latila, Your Majesty.”-the maid speaks.

  “Latila, huh? I will go to that city and taste the drink in its original version, after my army has captured it of course.”

  **

  “Move your arms up! The road will not build itself.”

  Today is a beautiful day in Liston- no, Auronopolis.

  As effects of the earlier battle fade away in almost instant, life in the city returns to normal. Well, almost normal, because the administrators of the city are now Latilians. Meanwhile, Elestovakian prisoners of war, instead of being treated like ones, were immediately released and work on the new road hub planned by the new Countess. The positive thing is that they get paid, were allowed to keep their personal fortunes and clothes, and considered freemen while if this wasn’t the case they would’ve been all slaves. The negative thing however, is that the job is quite mandatory, otherwise they would still be imprisoned. Nevertheless, with the construction plan restarted, Auronopolis will soon be connected to Voyage, then Kether, and soon there will be a road from the city directly toward the former Nosfetura:

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  “That’s a creative way to use them.”

  “Sure.”

  While all of that is happening, the Latilian Army is already on the move. Their destination: The Carthagian Desert. The schedule is that they will be at the edge of the sand within two days of travelling, expecting nothing less:

  “But why aren’t you just enslaving them?”-asked Belisari curiously, about the decision of Aurora to employ Elestovakian prisoners of war, to which the girl answered frankly:

  “There is no place for slavery in a perpetual capitalist economy. No slave is better than having them. A good market only exists by promoting freedom over everything, even the fates of the people, which means no slave.”

  “Are you saying that to grow fast, Latila must eliminate slavery?”

  “I will not make any political statement, but that is true, and will stay like that.”

  Letting the argument of slavery aside, the Latilian Army, by this point, remains at only just two thousand combatants, coming from the most elite class of each unit, just like the plan when it was discussed back when they were in the meadow. With that, the pressure placed upon the logistics team was lifted, and the soldiers got to eat well, because they still have one more place to take supplies before entering the desert:

  “The Outer Carthagia Savanna. It was the point where we left the Kingdom of Latila, and entered the republic of the Carthagians.”

  In fact, they can already see it within spyglass sight now. The road here is very high in elevation, while also less sloppy than the other side, thus furthering their vision. According to Aurora, they are about 40 kilometers away from the soil of the savanna.

  “And it’s also beautiful.”

  Indeed. To the Meadow, the Outer Savanna is not any less gorgeous on its own. Tranquil springs and lakes, vast fields of weed and grass in yellowish green, quite captured the atmosphere of the border that separates desert and plateau. It is a nice reward after the feat of surviving on the height of Liston plateun. Good for raising morale of the army as they lay down to rest on the field, and good for aggressively resupplying for the incoming ordeal:

  “Should we draw a hoarding plan right now on the road?”

  “We ought to, we have not much time.”

  Inside the carriage of the Archprince, with her scout position be taken over by another individual, Lily, along with Belisari and-for no particular reason-Aurora draw their next plan for the sandy trip:

  “We will separate five teams of six out of the cavalry. A navigator along with five combatants, they will be tasked with searching for usable water sources, and will go ahead of the army.”

  Despite the availability of water in the region, according to the mappers, they tend to be small and will be used up quickly if spent unwisely, especially if an army lives on that source. Thus, the problem of water is one of the hardest problems for the Latilians to solve. They have to constantly look for water before the main army arrives there and use it. That way, times will be saved:

  “Should we ration the water portion?”

  “Definitely.”

  Aside from searching intensively, they must also save as much as possible. After entering Carthagia, it will take days to find any oasis in the desert, and most are unable to yield much water for them. It’s harsh, but they have to survive. That being said, thinking of the idea that their army will vaporize water from the savanna as they trample over it, it’s quite frightening:

  “Okay, enough you two.”Lily says-”I will later inform my cavalry about the plan and they will execute it, I hope it will be flawless.”

  As any mistake might lead to munity.

  Now moving to the problem of food. The fauna and flora of the Savanna is sufficient for hoarding and storing in the long term, not limited to meat, milk, butter, fruits and nuts. The only thing that need to consider is how much to carry:

  “We need meat for sufficient nutritions, but storing them is a waste of salt and water.”

  No fridge is a real big problem. Salting meat or smoking them were the best methods to preserve them before the invention of modern food preservation. That said, they are not good if the meats have to travel hundred of miles under the heat of the sun:

  “They might be spoiled. Spoiled meats are not safe to consume, and will slow us down.”-Belisari reckons-”So, just bring enough for us to last half a week or so. Aurora, can you calculate?”

  “Both maximized and minimized. I do.”

  “Good, Honestly, I’ve always wanted to try some meats from that land. I’ve heard of elephants, their meat was said to be very bad, but I want to have a try, maybe eat one or two if I turn out to like it.”

  “Yeah…Wait, hold on a minute…”

  Suddenly, Aurora turns around and asks:

  “Belisarius, do you know what an elephant looks like?”

  “Ugh…no…are they as big as a cow-”

  “Way bigger! They are way bigger! Comparing a big cow to a smaller elephant is like comparing me to Liliya!”

  It is worth remembering that Lily is 192cm, and Aurora is just 145cm, not to mention the muscles and chest-size, both of which the Archduchess far outmatched the other. Nevertheless, judging by how surprised the two aristocrats were upon receiving the information, it is likely that none of them had any idea how much of a unit an elephant is before Aurora told them. And probably, probably, they have no idea what animals look like in the savanna either.

  If Belisari and Lily have no idea what animals to look for when entering the region, could they be absolutely clueless of how savannas and deserts are like, and the plan was drew just by general theories:

  “No”-Lily clarifies, as if she can read what Aurora is thinking right now-” While we have no knowledge of what specific animals are living in the region, we do have a brief understanding of the environment, water availability and food sources coming from Aeropostalis merchants. Plus, given information from the map, the plan is pretty much well thought of.”

  “Still, you have no idea of what the biggest land animal looks like…that’s terrifying to me…”

  “Tch”-the Archduchess clicks her tongue, lamenting-”Well, I did never see one, okay? Nor Belisarius, we just know about elephants from the accounts of a friend of his in Carthagia.”

  “You have a friend in Carthagia?”-Aurora asks curiously. Belisari confirms-”I do, I met him a few times when his father went to Latila for diplomatic missions. The last time we met I was just thirteen or so, while he was seventeen. Most of the things I know about the desert of Carthagia came from him.”

  “Oh…you made me curious. What is his name by the way, I ought to know?”

  “Ehh…Barka. His family name is Barka. Hannibal Barka.”