Chapter 31: ~Commoners vs. Magicians.~ (1/2)

***Norfolk, Sarn-Valley***

“Warships! Five ships!” “They are almost here!”

My office is stormed by a group of panicked fishermen. They are all talking at the same time and I wince at the sudden fuss.

“Shut up!” Celestial screams. She is sitting in front of her writing table at the entrance. The group goes silent. “You! From the beginning! In chronological order!”

“What does chr... chrono... mean?” The fisherman I pointed out confirms my expectations of a fisherman's average IQ.

“From the beginning!”

“Ah. We were fishing at sea, when we saw five warships appearing on the horizon. They had a red phoenix on their sails! So we immediately set our sails and came back here. Fortunately the tide was on our side, so we may have a little time left before they are here.”

One of the younger fishermen finally manages an understandable report.

“Thanks.” I smile at them. “There is no need to panic. Our defence should be able to deal with them. You may go.”

I wave them out of my office. After thinking for a second, I stand up and walk outside. There I find Sarah, who is dealing with the fishermen. “Sarah, find Den and tell him to come to the main entrance with a carriage.”

“We need to avoid a panic.” Celestial is right behind me.

I turn around to face her. “You need to sit down. I will take care of this.” Celestial is in her ninth month and in no condition to run around in tight situations!

“Don't tell me what to do! I will not sit around while my home is in danger!” She walks past me with confident steps.

“~Sugar cat?~ Please be reasonable! Look at yourself! I promise that our defensive weaponry will shoot just ~once~ and everything will be dealt with!” A pregnant woman shouldn't run around outside! Especially in that cold weather.

But Celestial ignores me and walks outside. I hurriedly run after her while casting environmental protection on both of us.

I am one hundred percent sure that five ships won't pose a problem. The village of Sarn is located at the end of a long fjord. There are steep cliffs to each side of it. The fjord is approximately two kilometres in width at most.

If someone wanted to attack Sarn, he would have to sail up the fjord. Or he would have to anchor at one of the cliffs and climb up. That's something that not many people are able to accomplish.

The other choice is to attack from the land. But then you would have to get past the mountains.

So the first thing I did was to fortify the roads which lead through the mountains. My whole principality is as close to a fortress as it could get.

My second obvious goal was to ensure the safety of my port. So I built a series of defensive watchtowers along the fjord.

Anyone who sails into the fjord would be under threat of taking fire from both sides. Those five ships really pose no threat at all!

We arrive outside of my property where I find Den on top of a carriage waiting for us. The carriage is of course created in Norfolk-style with skis instead of wheels.

Den helps Celestial up the carriage. “I already heard about the ships. Should we sink them immediately when they get into range?”

I shake my head. “No. Wait until they entered the fjord. I want to be sure of their identity first. And if we wait, we could get all of them. I don't want them to report back to the Phenex Empire.”

Den nods and starts to whip the horses. After my first encounter with this pigheaded race of draught animals, I am certain that there is only one place where they belong.

And that's the soup pot! When I can introduce the first engines, it will be the end of these stupid animals!

Den navigates us through Sarn and up on a road which was carved out of the cliff to the left side of the fjord. I want to see the enemy ships before they are sunk.

Maybe something important can be deduced from them. Den is consulting his subordinates during the entire trip. I created some simple communication devices for all my personal guards.

Additionally we installed fixed ones into all watchtowers and custom offices. Everything that's important to defend my borders is connected. The most important thing in warfare is communication and information.

After a few minutes we arrive at one of my watchtowers. Hmm. Maybe I shouldn't call it a tower. It's just a well camouflaged position for observation. Others are hidden all along the fjord to both sides.

There are twenty people in white and gray military uniforms here. The uniforms are perfect for this environment. The soldiers here are our common troops and Den trained them with his men for two months. Everyone who was able to survive that has my respect.

All of them swore a magical oath to protect my family and my principality. It's a little cliché to do something like this, but the world works that way.

In addition all of these observation points are armed with a railgun. It's practically just a long steel tube with magical circuitry. A ten centimetre round is inserted into one end. Then it has to be aimed and an infusion of mana activates the spell, which sends the metal slug on its way.

Even commoners can do that. Every person in this world has a certain amount of magical power. It's just that the common population hasn't enough control over their power to cast proper spells.

And they don't have much of it. But if all twenty people who are stationed here work together, their power amounts to one real magician.

I get down from the carriage and walk over to the commander of the outpost, who is waiting for us. “How is the situation?”

The brown haired guy with a scarred face bows. “Four of them entered the fjord. The fifth is waiting at sea.”

“Close enough to sink the ship?” Damn. Those guys from Phenex seem to have a brain. They don't commit all of their forces and keep someone back to run home with information.

“I am not sure. From the reports... it could be that we manage to sink them. But they are very far away. Even if we use a globe for aiming, the most we can hope for are just a few lucky hits.” Den sums up his information.

One of the soldiers hands a spyglass to me and I walk over to the railgun. The gunning crew assembles around it to infuse their mana into the artefact.

I was just in time, because as I raise the spying glass, I see four ships entering the fjord. They are big vessels. A fast adjustment on the spyglass's scale enables me to measure their length.

Wow. The leading vessel has a length of about one hundred and fifty metres. That's really big for a sailing ship. I wonder how much crew such a thing needs?

There are high bulwarks, which are probably meant to protect the sailors. Five masts are distributed along the ship. Another switch for the zoom gives me a better view. The deck is filled with soldiers. They are probably readying themselves to storm my city as soon as they hit land.

“What do they think they can accomplish with four ships?” This makes no sense.

“Maybe just a raiding party? They are probably trying to probe Norfolk's abilities? I heard about many attacks along the coastline.” Den offers me an explanation.

“It doesn't sound right. Why here? We are too high up in the north. And they had to know exactly where Sarn is. I don't think that they are sailing up our fjord out of a whim. There are hundreds of river mouths along the coast. Do we have a spy in our city?” I grab the spying glass tighter.

“It's possible that there are still some spies. Maybe they have navigational information from somewhere else?” Den shrugs his shoulders.

“Should we open fire sir?” The commander asks us with eagerness.