Chapter 113: The sHenchman” Tatara (1/2)
Conquest Chapter 113 (Part 1)- The “Henchman” Tatara
JUNE 19, 2017 SUPERPOTATOSAMA3 COMMENTS
So this chapter (113) is about 6.3k characters long, which I am also going to split into 3 parts (considering that I don’t think I can comfortably do it in 2). This chapter is a bit short, but I hope you guys enjoy.
Although winter had already passed, the weather suddenly changed, a sudden snowstorm in the northern part of the Byzantine Empire set in, lasting an entire three days. The snow blocked the road and closed off many bridges. Goods had a very hard time traveling around the empire, causing the prices for food to soar, and adding a great deal of pressure on the common citizens.
In contrast, these problems seemed very far away for the majority of the Empire’s nobility. When the snow arrived, many of the nobles were busy holding various different activities, such as lavish banquets, horseback hunting during the snow, enjoying the winter scenery, and the ladies and lords were happily showing off the latest styles of fur clothes in fashion.
Shaar and his companions, and the rest of the caravan was obstructed by the sudden road blockages, and were forced to stay in the provincial capital of Armenia, Malika City.
Armenia County was already considerably close to the Empire’s capital, Osgiliath. Despite its’ proximity, however, it does not belong within the jurisdiction of the central government but is rather a Themata militarized region (TN: This author uses quite some technical terms from history, you can click here if you were wondering what this term actually is), comprised of the county capital Malika, the surrounding six smaller cities, and dozens of other villages and towns, with a population of over half a million people. Moreover, in regards to geography, the distance from Armenia county to the Empire capital, Osgiliath, is the closest, and Malika City is also the empire’s third largest city. From a military viewpoint, Armenia Military Zone is also top three in terms of military strength, out of a total of forty-six.
The Armenian Military Region is also the very first since the establishment of the current military order, and the current superintendent of the military region, General Hughes, is a member of the military faction. When the seat of power fell into his family’s hands seventy years ago, they have never turned the power over to another and has already passed the position down for three generations.
After seventy years of operation, like most other military regions within the Byzantine Empire, the Armenian Military Region seems more like a country within a country. The Superintendent General Hughes not only has a force of over fifty thousand citizen-soldiers registered on paper, he has also developed another standing army of twenty thousand strong. Of course, this army did not exist on the official records of the Empire and is still classified under “farmer-soldier”, which many other military regions similarly did.
Looking at it from this perspective, if we consider all of the military regions within the borders of the Byzantine Empire, the one that causes a headache for the Emperor the most would undoubtedly be the Armenian Military Region!
It is because it is too close to the administrative zone of the Imperial Capital, Osgiliath!!
The Imperial Administrative Zone is comprised of Osgiliath at the very center, surrounded by six other urban zones along with another approximately one thousand square kilometers of land surrounding it. And setting off from Malika City under normal circumstance, in accordance with the speed of a marching army would only take three days to reach the Imperial Capital Osgiliath!
Under with the Themata Military System, these various warlords and superintendents of these military zones were only loyal to the central government superficially. With the situation like this, how could the emperor rest easy?
The Armenian military region has an area that produces high-quality iron ore which was found sixty years ago. The direct aftermath of this discovery led to the immediate prosperity of General Hughes’s family. The possession of such a wealthy land with an enormous population, coupled with the discovery of iron ore led to the strength of the Armenian military region to be more than doubled! A saying even arose from this discovery, that the armor the Armenian military infantry possesses is of an even higher quality than that of the standing Imperial Army!
This region produces the Byzantine Empire’s best armor and weaponry, and the output to is very shocking! Because of such an advantage, the Armenian military region’s governing family could be considered a major power within the empire’s ring of military families. As the Armenian military region often exports weapons and armor to other military regions, it has become the core player within the military faction.
The current Governor Hughes, even when considering the area of the entire empire, could be considered in the top ten list of people with the most power, and as such, naturally, would not personally come and meet Shaar whose standing was far beneath his.
Although Shaar had arrived at Malika City for only one day, the Hughes family had already received word of this new up- and- coming star’s arrival due to their impermeable information networks which have been put in place after three generations of rule. Right when he entered the city, Shaar had already exposed his identity when he showed the guard proof of his identity.
However, when the news was passed up the line of command, Hughes did not have any intention to suck up to this “Hero of the Empire” at all. However, he did pass down a command: “Don’t provoke or obstruct that guy. Let him pass through.”
Unfortunately, due to the roads being blocked in by the snow, Shaar had no choice but to live in the city for a few more days.
A short chapter, as I was looking for a decent place to cut this section off. There were some technical stuff that I had some trouble translating, but it ended up daijoubu.
Signing out,
SuperpotatoSama
Conquest Chapter 113 (Part 2/3)- The “Henchman” Tatara
JUNE 20, 2017 SUPERPOTATOSAMA4 COMMENTS
Yay! 20th post milestone!
The foundation for the next arc is slowly being laid… enter, THE TOURNAMENT ARC! DUN DUN~~
Although the winter wonderland attracted the attention of many nobles, it was quite a different scene inside the city.
The snow on the roads was trampled under countless number of horses, turning into a muddy black concoction. In some locations, the snow melted and formed into muddy pits, and an occasional carriage passing by would splash the dirty water onto the nearby passerby.
The prices for grain had already risen a lot despite the governor’s attempt to solve the food shortage by opening the city’s various grain reserves as well as banning all merchants from mass-buying large amounts of grain. The price for bread had risen by forty percent, and the price of meat doubled- Armenia, though rich in iron ores, was not a big producer of grain, nor animal husbandry industry a prevalent force in the within the empire. A portion of the food within the military region was imported from outside of the region.
However in general, over the span of three generations the governor’s family rule could be considered successful, as in regards to the poor population within the city, not many of them have been starved or frozen to death.
However because of the blizzard, many people were trapped within Malika City. In addition to Shaar and the others, there are also many other caravans traveling north that were also delayed there. Though there was a lot of them, they were as a whole very peaceful, being merchant groups that do business.
This time around, there were also many warriors and mercenary groups within Malika City.
This was because at the beginning of every spring, the Empire- wide annual martial arts competition will be held at the imperial capital of Osgiliath. As long as you are a citizen of the Byzantine Empire, and hold an official title of warrior, then you could participate.
This ancient tradition has been passed down in the Byzantine Empire for thousands of years. Legend says that at the very founding of the empire, such an event was held to promote the prestige of martial arts within the empire. The first few competitions were said to be restricted to only warriors, with a chance to meet the Emperor personally along with badges of honor bestowed upon the winners of the contest, along with a reasonably lucrative reward and a quick rise to fame, becoming one of the warriors under the Imperial court.
After the passage of thousands of years, this tradition was still retained, however the layout of this event had been changed hundreds of times.
In the arena, the original solo competitions have been retained, but another category was also added: Group battles! This no longer restricted it to the individual, but allowed groups of warriors to participate and compete amongst themselves in view of tens of thousands of cheering spectators with many different combat styles, such as melee warriors, swordsmen, ax soldiers, and even archers and assassins. This addition made it so that the competition was not a test of individual skill, but rather required a high level of cooperation and collective combat skills.
During many a round of competition, the losing side would suffer severe casualties, or even massacred on the spot! But the reward for the victors is just as amazing!
And aside from the various man versus man competitions, there are even blood-soaked battles between man and beast! (TN: PvP and PvE lool)
Raging bulls, lions, tigers, leopards, hungry wolves… and later on, even monsters were captured and thrown straight into the arena for warriors to fight against!
And the rules of the competition became more and more cruel and bloody over time! Before the start of each competition, the applicants must sign a death contract. Upon entering the arena, the competition would immediately begin with the portcullis shutting behind them and competitors would fight to the death. Only after surviving until the end could the winner ask for the portcullis to be opened again, signifying the end of that round!
In recent years, the competition has reached to an unprecedented bloody level.
However, there would be no shortage of participants, as even convicted criminals are allowed to participate in such an event, and once reaching a certain number of victories, no matter what degree of severity your crime was, the Empire will grant amnesty to you and eliminate all records of your crimes!
There are even some slaves that, upon receiving victory at such a grand event, can obtain freedom!
At the present time, the empire already has many warrior groups that have gone professional for an event like this. These teams recruit many brave warriors and form an organization that does nothing but go through hard training every day, and swarm to the Imperial capital to participate in this event. In achieving victory, they would attain immediate fame and fortune, and if they fail…. They would become nothing more than corpses on the floor of the arena, to be dragged away by the standby soldiers.
Some of the participants are brought by slave traders from all over the world. They are put through strict combat training, and then signed up for the event. Upon winning, the slaver trader would obtain an enormous “bonus”, while the slave would obtain their freedom.
At the same time, because this ancient tradition naturally incentivizes gambling, this has become a source for evil….
At this time, the annual competition held at Osgiliath is less than a month’s time away, and many mercenary teams have been trapped in Malika City due to the snow. Numerous men, who were rowdy and boisterous by nature, when faced with the looming date of the event with no way to vent their anxiety would naturally cause a lot of trouble to break out.
Even more are the many regulars that participate in the event, and had held grudges and hatred for individuals in previous competitions, upon meeting them here, would naturally let the accrued jealousy and anger burst out….