Chapter 327: One Last Act of Desperation (1/2)

Emperor Balsamo Corsini was sitting upon his imperial throne within the City of Florence, news of Milan's fall had just reached his ears, and he could hardly believe it. If it were not coming from a trusted source, the man would never dare to believe such shocking words.

The Holy Roman Emperor swallowed the saliva built up in his throat before asking the question on his mind to the General standing before him.

”Can you repeat what you just said for me?”

Upon being asked this question, the General did not hesitate to respond with the words he had just spoken moments before. He sighed with defeat as he announced the grim news that he had only recently received.

”Milan has fallen; it took the Austrian Army roughly an hour to penetrate the city's defenses. Afterward, resistance to the Austrian invaders ended as swiftly as it had begun. According to reports, the Austrians have been ransacking the wealth of our Northernmost cities. Anything of value that can be taken has been stripped from the local populace, leaving the population poor and destitute.”

With this clarification, the Emperor rested his head in his hands as he gazed at the floor with a panicked expression; he could seldom believe Milan had fallen so quickly, especially after he dispatched forces to hamper the Austrian advance.  As such, he promptly asked about the status of his skirmishers.

”What about the troops we have set in the field? How many of them remain to slow down the Austrian Army?”

The General who had given the Emperor his report cleared his throat before speaking up about the status of their skirmishers.

”We have lost contact with the forces who were supposed to halt the Austrian advance; my guess is the Austrians found a way to hunt them down. The last message we received from any of our units in the field is a bit cryptic...”

The Emperor frowned as he heard this; in fact, he was quite afraid to ask, but he knew it was his duty to do so as such Balsamo masked his internal trepidation with a facade of confidence as he asked the General for his report.

”What were the contents of the message?”

The General once more did not hesitate to present the evidence; as such, he looked at the message written down with what appeared to be the blood of the man who had written it before speaking up.

”There are only two words... Austrian Ghosts”

Balsamo was a deeply religious and superstitious man. As such, his prior confident facade came crumbling down as soon as he heard the phrase. The Emperor immediately stood up from his seat with an expression filled with dread before breaking out into a mad outburst.

”What sorcery is this? Berengar can control the souls of the damned! Is that what my soldiers mean to tell me! How can we defeat such evil!?!”

While the Emperor was having a mental breakdown, the General cleared his throat and tried to present a reasonable alternative to his liege as such, he responded with a firm resolve.

”I don't believe the soldiers meant literal ghosts; I think what the report means is that Austria has hidden units that move in the shadows and swiftly attack our forces while remaining unseen. These alleged ghosts are a serious threat and need to be treated as such.”

Upon hearing a reasonable explanation, the Emperor collapsed in his seat as he sighed heavily in relief; it took him a moment or two to calm his nerves, after all the manner that the Austrians had managed to advance through his territory was already border lining the supernatural.

The Emperor spent the next two moments reflecting on his options. The more he thought about it, the more he realized the possibility of victory in this war was practically non-existent. His Navy was utterly decimated and lied at the bottom of the Mediterranean.

His trade fleet was being pillaged by a combination of Berengar's privateers and foreign pirates with impunity, and as such, the economy had suffered severely. Without a proper navy, his trade would come grinding to a halt soon enough.

As for the Swiss front, it was a lost cause; half of the Nation had already fallen after the defeat at Zurich. The Swiss leaders were now convening to negotiate their surrender to Adelbrand and his Army of 25,000 Austrians.