Meanwhile at the warsight
The moment the king's soldiers managed to pass the point of no going back and got into the duchies theretory, Oliver got informed of it immediately. However his father and his brothers were already ready to fight off all evil. He himself was to stand back and watch the castle for any kind of news. The young man couldn't stop being worried but he knew that his father was one of the most powerful mens in their family of all time with the dragon blood flowing in them. He had faith in them and he would pray for their victory.
The duke and his two sons went out to the field they estimated the battle to take place. For them this battle was the last resort which would determine who would win and live. They all knew what was at stake here. Needless to say that none of the men wanted to lose their lives much less their loved ones.
"They released the beasts!"
"How many of them?"
"From what the first squadron reported they were around 10 different kind of beasts."
"How much can they fight off?"
"Father, they are our knights which Oliver and Ryan trained personally. They can handle this situation."
"Good."
"We have another problem though."
"What's wrong brother?"
"I don't think that the beast are just normal beast from what is written in this report."
"What do you mean?"
"They all report that these beasts are fast and that their skin is rather hard and penetrating the skin would is more than just difficult but look at this small picture they put inside."
"That's impossible!"
"Exactly! These beasts shouldn't be fast at all and yet they are. They also shouldn't look like this completely."
"What are you saying?"
"I fear they have experimented on them."
"That lunatic!"
The duke was together with his both sons in a small tactical camp they had set up before the war broke out. It was the best place to have a tactical retreat and a gathering to discuss the process of the battle while their men were fighting the beast off. For now they had sent out the first and second squadron to deal with the beasts which were released. Needless to say that all the mens were skilled and had enough experience to kill a beast. Still it was no easy feat for them as well. They were after all just normal human beings.
One of the duke's sons was the manager of the library. He himself loved books more than the real world and as such his knowledge was unparalleled to anyones. If this brother said that something was wrong then, the duke as well as the other brother would listen to it. However, hearing that the beasts were modified made them alarmed about the state in which they would go in.
"Any weakness to this madness?"
"I need to see a dead beast for that."
"Then go and be careful."
"Yes, father! I'll return soon."
With that being said one of the brothers left the tent while the other was still staying there together with his father. All these two individuals were waiting for was a note that the war had broken out completely. For now they knew that all that was to this attack was to lure out all their men and make them exhausted for the real fight.
"Father, I don't like this. They have too many beasts."
"You have noticed this as well."
"Yes, why else would they send 10 beasts for the first round? They must have something else in stock for us."
"I know. However they must think we are fools to fall for this!"
"It's the foolish king we are talking about."
"Yet he managed to create something like this. He must have had help."
"Do you think that the magic tower is behind this?"
"I highly doubt that. They will come and aid as later on. We just have to hold out."
"How long till they come and how many of them?"
"The tower master and his disciple as well as around 100 mages will come."
"Wow... that is a number."
"Indeed but they are our allies so stop spouting nonsense."
"I am sorry father."
No matter how the duke looked at the documents in front of him, he couldn't understand why the king was ready to do something like this. If this was all because of a prophecy then he could have called for them and then executed them to bring daylight in front of everyone. Yet they always send a spy or an assassin, never dirtying their hands but doing everything in secret. What was that the king feared? This question was laying heavy on the duke's mind. They knew the reason as to why the king was attacking them but they had no idea why he chose to do it in this roundabout way.
A heavy sigh came out of the duke's mouth, he didn't want to lose this many soldiers and even if he had this strikt image, he himself was a soft hearted person. If he could avoid war, then he would have considered another way. They knew how it was to live in a place where beasts were common. The people in the duchy were thankful to the dukes family but they were also scared of them for the same reasons everyone else was. They feared the crown more than the duchy's people and it was no secret that the crown despised the dragon's descendants.
"Father?"
"There will be a lot of lives on the stake here. We cannot lose this war."
"I understand father but you shouldn't worry about this! They have us to protect this land. This is our own mission after all."
"I see you didn't slack off as much as you did with the other lessons compared to Oliver."
"Well our family story is something else than the succession lessons."
"Yes indeed. Our family is tasked to protect the people of this land and the land itself as this was the wish of our very first father."
"We will do it!"
"You seem rather confident in yourself."
"I am, father. I trust in your ability to lead us to victory as well as our brother's wisdom."
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
"Did I say something wrong?"
"No, you are right. There is only one option here anyways."
As the duke was talking to his son and preparing his mind, a messenger suddenly came into the end. He had a magical bird in his arms and a letter as well. It seemed as if there was news coming from the magic tower and he hoped that these news were good news since he in fact wasn't so sure that they could win this war. Their numbers were great but what would numbers do if there were powerful beasts his men wouldn't be able to take down?
"Duke Underwood, a messenger arrived from the magic tower."
"Let me see."
The solder handed the letter over to the duke. It was one where only the recipient would be able to read the letter. Since this was a war, the magic tower would of course make sure that no one besides the right owner of this letter would get the information.
The letter contents were as followed:
"Dear friend,
I have chosen all the magicians and will be arriving shortly. Please prepare a place to stay for my men since they will be tired from such a big teleportation array. We also prepared some magic weapons to fight off the beasts as well as demons if they should appear.
Words have spread that Ryan is coming to the battlefield as well. He will not be alone and will be coming with backup as well. It seemed he managed to gain the trust of the Saintess as well as the new pope as well. Holy knights as well as 1.000 other inexperienced knights will arrive at the scene.
I estimate they need the whole night and only arrive in the morning dawn.
Till then we will have to fight them off on our own.
Yours faithfully,
Your magician friend."
Once the duke read about this, he couldn't help it but start laughing out loud. He knew already that the new Saintess was definitely his very own granddaughter. So of course his grandchild managed to get their help. There was no way he wouldn't do that. Besides, the duke hasn't even thought that Ryan would manage to gather 1.000 soldiers. It was a number which they needed in the fight which would come. The only concern he had was that these knights would travel the whole night just to fight in the morning dawn with them. They will be tired yet they are there for them. It was simply astonishing and surprising.
"Good news, I assume."
"Yes, we have the backup of the holy church and will receive 1.000 soldiers in the morning."
"1.000?!"
"Yes."
"What in the world happened for us to receive such support?"
"My grandchildren happened."
"You mean Ryan did this?"
"Viviana and Ryan."
This made the duke's son speechless. He knew about Oliver adopting a girl and naming her Viviana. He also heard that she looked soo much like their lost sister yet he never actually saw the girl at all. In fact all he got was his brother warning him to have Rosetta under check because his spoiled daughter was more than just jealous about the sudden change. So it surprised him to hear that Viviana had her hands in this as well. No matter how he was thinking about it, the church was as well something the crown was leading and having their hands into. For them to be able to help them out and the holy knights being here joining them into the battle was just unbelievable.
"Get me some paper. I will reply to this and immediately put up a tent for 100 more soldiers."
"Yes, Sire!"
The soldier who came into the room, immediately went out to spread the news about the new tent which they had to put up as well as to get the duke some newspapers.
Meanwhile the duke was once again left with his son and they were in a considerably better mood than just moments before this letter came. It was more than good news after all. Now they had to actually manage to survive and hold on till the backup with the holy knights would arrive.
"This was really unexpecting..."
"Indeed it seems as if our ancestors are looking down at us and protecting us."
"Do you really think so, father?"
"I do."
In fact even if the duke wanted to actually deny it, he wouldn't be able to do that at all. They had investigated Viviana quite thoroughly and yet there was no information available at all. They didn't know why she was at the silence forest, nor how she survived being there. The blood on her was proof that she was not alone but there wasn't any dead body in the entire forest. It was as if this girl came out of nowhere. He had thought it was more than strange but soon he found himself wondering if she wasn't just someone sent by their ancestors to help them out in dark times. Not only did he think that but he also thought that she could be a spy until he saw the manifestation of an ability which was exclusively only to their very own family. There was no way a child this young from another family could do things she did while not knowing anything about her past.
She as a whole being was suspicious but looking past that she was more mysterious than being a danger to them. It was clear when she spoke out her mind and exposed spies as well as the way she acted that she knew something they didn't. Moreover the duke had a feeling back at the moons festival that she was someone who might disappear easily. He couldn't understand why he was feeling this but he simply felt as if that girl would one day just vanish.
Now that it came down to this and the past had shown that she indeed could run away quite easily, the duke knew there was something that the girl was here for. Perhaps it was her destiny or it was her life mission. Not only him but the magic tower owner felt the same way towards the girl. She was simply different.