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| ===Chapter 6 - ===
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| Two days had passed since the meeting with King Leopold before Pascal concluded his obligations in Nordkreuz. The Landgrave had done what he could to kick off the recovery efforts, and Kaede had spent much of this time helping him assess local talents whom they could entrust the daunting organizational task of rebuilding to. By the time they found themselves standing outside the city gates with the assembled Knights Phantom of the ''Ghost Riders'', the winter solstice was just three days away.
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| According to Trinitian history, the dragonlord Hyperion had been born on the 'day of the longest night' during year one of the Dragon Age -- the same year when the nomadic dragonkind made landfall upon this world. Twelve centuries later, this youthful draconic messiah would 'save the world from its sins' by sacrificing his own life to shut down the Abyssal Rift, gateway to the demonic realm where all the evils of the universe manifested in physical form.
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| It came as no surprise that the image of Hyperion casting the unnamed ritual known only as the ''True Cross'' would become the most pervasive symbol of the Trinitian Church, or that this historic birthday would mark the second holiest day of the year for its faithful.
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| A fresh cold front had arrived from the north, and amidst the light flurry of snow a galloping mass of phantom steeds and wagons rode out of the sun to the east. But as Kaede stared at the distant dawn, she pondered just how exactly did soldiers celebrate a white Christmas in wartime.
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| Well, half of her was wondering -- it helped to take her mind off things. The other half was too busy being distracted by a cramping stomach as she struggled not to double over in pain.
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| ''The Period of Christmas... God I hate you,'' she blasphemed in the safety of her own mind.
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| It was almost daunting to realize that roughly one-quarter of all women suffered through this on the jolliest week of the year.
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| "<u>Kaede did you take some tea before leaving?</u>"
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| The familiar, soothing voice over telepathy lead Kaede to turn about. Her eyes soon met Ariadne's supportive smile just a few paces away.
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| The Duchess-to-be and newly named commander of the ''Ghost Riders'' stood next to another white pegasus. Her flowing pink hair and the burning-red fabrics of her open-front uniform skirt billowed in the lakeside breeze. Beneath her collar was a newly minted Knight's Cross and the rank insignias of a Major, as she had been promoted twice in a row for receiving proper Knight Phantom status.
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| "<u>No. I've only been drinking it before sleep,</u>" Kaede pressed a forearm rune containing one of the ''Telepathy'' spells to reply.
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| "<u>Have some with your meals this week as well. Parzifal had asked some of the female medics what they did to relieve menstrual cramps. They said that chamomile tea helps, especially with ginger, peppermint, or raspberry leaves added to it.</u>"
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| ''She could tell?''
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| The Samaran girl's eyes opened wide in response, eliciting a sympathetic nod from the noblewoman whose blessing of magic meant she was above the commoners' problem of monthly period pains.
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| "<u>It's been enough days since your last time. I took a guess since you looked like something was physically upsetting you. I'm guessing you have a thirty-day cycle then?</u>"
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| Kaede couldn't respond. Given the importance of the female bodily rhythm, she ''really'' should have been tracking her cycle. But after the last time, she had almost forgotten entirely about it until this morning. Had her undergarments not come with self-cleaning enchantments, she would have made a mess in Pascal's bed.
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| ''Can't even keep up with the least time consuming of 'feminine routines','' she thought with a heavy sigh. ''So much for getting used to being a girl.''
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| "Assuming it stays consistent," Kaede muttered, remembering Parzifal's warning that many girls also had irregular cycles.
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| As informative the conversation was, it only focused her attention on the cramps and made them feel worse.
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| Thankfully for Kaede, the reason for their wait soon arrived as shadowy hooves touched down upon the snowy ground. The hundred steeds of the understrength ''Falcon Force'' Knights Phantom were followed by light wagons of the 36th Logistics Company, except these vehicles were drawn by two ''Phantom Steeds'' apiece and could float across the open air.
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| Four members of the King's Black Eagles also rode within the formation, as Pascal had requested a squad to help with intelligence gathering. His unspoken goal was to keep King Leopold informed through sources that His Majesty would trust beyond any doubt, thereby transforming the expedition's successes into further military support.
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| It was a double-edged sword, as even the closest of allies spied upon one another. But as Kaede picked the familiar sight of a petite dhampir waving from within the formation, she couldn't help but return a smile.
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| "Welcome to Nordkreuz Sir," Pascal began as he lead the salute towards the highest ranking officer of the expedition.
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| Colonel Walther von Mackensen was a square-faced, stiff-jawed man who appeared to be in his early forties. His height must be nearing two meters (6'5"), for the colonel towered over his cavalrymen even as they remained sitting on their mounts. A pair of neatly trimmed handlebar mustaches accentuated his stern countenance, and the piercing blue gaze beneath his chestnut hair felt as keen as any saber.
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| Apart from the black-on-burning-red uniform of the Knights Phantom, he also wore his iconic hat -- tall and made of black bearskin with the skulls and crossbones emblem. It was matched by every man in the ''Falcon Force'' company, which gave birth to the nickname their enemies knew best: the ''Death's Head''.
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| "Major von Moltewitz. Your Highness," the Colonel nodded to both Pascal and Sylviane, his expression showing not the least bit of change despite coming face-to-face with the royal princess he captured a decade ago.
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| "It is an honor to be working with your Sir, and I apologize for any offense the political arrangements might have caused," Pascal began in an uncharacteristic display of humility that really spoke for just how much he respected this man.
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| "That I am to take my orders from a mere Major?"
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| The Colonel's smile came out more like a sneer, despite his utter lack of malice.
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| "Your father would be proud of the work you have done, both in Skagen and here in Nordkreuz," von Mackensen spoke in a low bass that carried his own version of the aristocratic drawl. "So long as you continue to display qualities worthy of your blood and lineage, I do not mind taking orders from a junior. But make no mistake that I shall not hesitate to disregard a foolish order."
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| "I shall strive to meet your expectations," came Pascal's sincere reply.
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| It became clear that this man respect two traits above all, although Kaede had to guess which one would win out in a contest between the two: ''competence or blood?''
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| The answer to that only grew more complicated as the old cavalrymen turned towards Ariadne:
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| "Major von Zimmer-''Manteuffel''," he uttered her second surname with clear, unmasked contempt. "Although we are both Phantom commanders, rank and seniority dictates that I shall be your direct superior and you shall obey my orders. Is that understood?"
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| ''No wonder Pascal had picked him during the 'Manteuffel Incident','' Kaede thought. ''He must consider 'treason' the eighth and ultimate sin.''
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| She certainly did not miss that von Mackensen proved as shrewd as he was belligerent. Within moments of their meeting, he had already laid the basis for undermining Pascal's command should the young lord failed to meet his standards. Given their difference in both rank and reputation, Kaede had little doubt whom the soldiers would obey.
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| Meanwhile, the noble lady herself managed -- just barely -- to swallow her own pride and anguish as she returned a perfect salute.
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| "Yes Sir!"
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| "Your Highness," the Colonel's penetrating gaze swept back to Sylviane once more. "Regardless of my appraisal of the Major, you have my word of honor that I shall see our objectives through. The ''Falcon Force'' is one of most esteemed formations of Weichsel. We shall fight to the last man to defend your honor and uphold the rights of succession as ordained by the Holy Father himself."
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| The severity of his every demeanor left no doubts among his listeners: this was no declaration made for diplomatic posturing or foreign relations. It was an oath sworn by a diehard adherent of the traditional military caste who truly believed in his each and every word.
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| Taken aback, the Princess scarcely had time to say "thank you" before her fiancé replied with beaming confidence:
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| "I would not worry about that. We shall make our enemies fight to the last man first."
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| <nowiki>----- * * * -----</nowiki>
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| "<u>Hey Cecylia, I thought you had told me that Hyperion armies didn't use firearms... I mean black powder armaments? What about those mortars then?</u>"
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| Kaede had asked Pascal to link the dhampir Black Eagle trainee into their private telepathy web, which also connected to Sylviane.
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| It was a blessing that speaking in telepathy did not require any movement from her jaws, as her teeth were busy clenching themselves to endure the cramps that seized her abdomen. The cold front from the north might have brought low clouds that masked the expedition's movement into Rhin-Lotharingie. But as Kaede rode through the air among the Knights Phantom, the freezing winds gushing past her thin body only seemed to make her period pains worse.
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| ''Why couldn't the past week have been 'that time of the month'?'' she complained bitterly in thought as she awaited her topic of distraction.
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| "<u>I believe I mentioned that elite and specialist troops used some black powder weapons,</u>" Cecylia's mental voice replied in her soft soprano. "<u>The mortars are considered 'specialist weapons', just like the Knights Phantom's grenades.</u>"
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| Kaede hadn't even noticed until now, thanks to the auto-translation magic Pascal worked into the familiar bond. But the Imperial language word for 'mortar' literally meant 'arcing grenade launcher', three words slammed together in true Germanic fashion.
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| "<u>But unlike the grenades, these aren't hidden inside some warded extra-dimensional space most of the time,</u>" Kaede countered. "<u>So what makes them acceptable as effective weapons when other black powder technologies aren't?</u>"
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| This time, it was Pascal who answered:
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| "<u>It is not their effectiveness that is questioned; it is their reliability. Mortars make only a fraction of the Weichsel artillery forces, most of which are still equipped with traditional torsion siege engines. Their destructive capabilities are a blessing for battles, especially against troops in heavy armor. But as a specialist, support weapon, their limited deployment also means their loss could not decide a battle by itself.</u>"
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| "<u>Perhaps it's harder to grasp since you come from a world without magic,</u>" Cecylia patiently added. "<u>But black powder's vulnerability to the elements means it's ''extremely'' unreliable. The smallest ember causes it to combust; the slightest spark ignites it; a mere splash of water renders it useless -- these are all effects that even the most ''basic'' of spells could conjure.</u>"
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| Kaede knew that there were many modern explosive compounds that mitigated or even avoided these pitfalls. But of course, since Hyperion never embraced the earliest form of gunpowder, they also lacked the incentive to research more stable chemical formulas. It had taken centuries on Earth before Alfred Nobel invented the first plastic explosive; on Hyperion, this process could take millenniums.
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| "<u>But you also have defensive spells and wards to counteract that...</u>"
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| "<u>Most of those spells -- like the often used ''Legion Resistance'' -- only reduced the damage dealt by elemental magic, not negate it outright. Soldiers have body armor and padded clothes to help absorb the lingering damage that passes through, not to mention humans could endure a light burn,</u>" Cecylia explained. "<u>But what do you think happens to the infantry whose trying to load a black powder projectile?</u>"
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| Kaede shivered as that horrific explosion during the Air Battle of Nordkreuz replayed in her mind's eye: the sight of a fireball engulfing dozens of comrades, of mangled bodies, severed limbs, and burning carcasses. Scenarios like that didn't just kill the unfortunate troopers caught by the blast either; it also demoralized entire armies and made soldiers distrust the very weapons held within their hands.
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| The Knights Phantom were elites with exceptional gear, discipline, and morale. They could be entrusted to use the most dangerous and destructive armaments for equivalently high returns. But the average soldier or conscript farmer? Individuals who quaked in their boots from 'just' the looming death of a massed cavalry charge?
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| ''...They would desert their weapons and run.''
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| "<u>Combine this with the fact that black powder couldn't even be stored in large quantities,</u>" Cecylia continued. "<u>I mean: destroying ten thousand arrows takes work, or at least powerful spells that few mages could cast. But ten thousand stones of black powder? Even a child could light a match.</u>"
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| "<u>It'd be like a Lotharin army without arrows,</u>" Sylviane commented dryly.
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| The Rhin-Lotharingie military was heavily dependent on its massed archery, courtesy of a national sport that taught every self-respecting man how to shoot and hunt. Without ammunition and forced to engage as light infantry, even a victory would leave the army in ruins.
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| An army that emphasized firearms only made this worse, as the Swedish Carolean Army of the 17th century learned that even muskets with bayonets were a poor replacement for proper melee weapons like the sword.
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| On Earth, early firearms like the arquebus were unreliable, inaccurate, and had a dismal effective range. Their greatest benefit over archery was that a conscripted farmer could be expected to become proficient within weeks of training rather than years. But on Hyperion, where massed deployment of gunpowder troops posed both unique logistical challenges and significant tactical risks, it was unsurprising that the military establishment kept to their traditional ways.
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| "<u>If that's the case, then what makes mortars so special that they could at least make a limited deployment?</u>"
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| "<u>There are two main benefits to mortars,</u>" Pascal began. "<u>The first is that, like all other grenades, mortar shells are encapsulated. The casing wouldn't stop proper assault spells from detonating the powder, but it at least offers some protection from fire and more importantly -- weather.</u>"
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| Pascal had actually shown Kaede a Weichsel 'tandem-charge mortar round' yesterday. Within the thin iron casing were two cylinders of black powder separated by an air gap, held apart by light springs and secured with safety pins. When a shell was dropped into the mortar tube, its momentum would force the upper container to slam into the lower one. This drove a flint ignition rod into the lower powder chamber where it scraped against a sharply angled steel file. The sparks would then detonate the lower charge, hurling the shell's remnants into the air while igniting the timed fuse to its upper powder chamber. Mortar gunners could even adjust this fuse through a screw on the side, with veteran gunners aiming for the ideal 'airborne burst' where shrapnel rounds exploded just overhead the target to inflict maximum casualties.
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| It was an impressive design, despite its crude triggering mechanism. But on Earth, it would take until the 19th Century -- half a millennium after the first arquebus saw mass deployment -- before the percussion cap was developed to allow for sealed cartridges that could fire reliably in any weather. Yet on Hyperion, the development of grenades had already exceeded that and went straight onto the modern 'tube mortars' first invented in World War I.
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| "<u>The other benefit is that it is an indirect fire weapon,</u>" Pascal highlighted the high trajectory firing arc that defined mortars. "<u>This means we could fire it from within trenches and deep pits, where they would not only be hidden but also protected from most attack spells. A ''Resistance Screen'' could even be applied on top of the pit to protect the weapon and its crew from overhead detonations.</u>"
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