“Federalist forces ramp up attacks along against the L?t–Wuringen axis, forcing Royalist forces to redeploy more and more of their ground and air assets in the area. Reportedly, fifteen LF-20 Phantoms were shot down yesterday alone, with another twenty-three LF-12s also shot down from both sides. Both Royalist and Federalist forces also ramped up their missile campaigns, with an estimated one hundred thirty cruise missiles being fired by both sides, alongside upwards to a thousand one-way drones used against infrastructure and supply hubs. It is yet to be seen however if the threat against Thein will truly materialize, with local forces already holding fast amidst the tide of Federalist steel.”

  - ROCN News

  West Orland

  Duchy of Rimwurz

  November Palace

  January 12, 2026

  Amelie patted Alice’s head, as the girl frowned at her.

  “But why?” Alice asked, her pout clearly showing her disappointment. “Isn’t that place becoming more and more dangerous? I heard in the news last night that they’re sending a lot of bombs there.”

  “Shh, it will be fine,” Amelie replied, smiling to cheer up her little sister. “I’m just going to check in on our guys over there and figure out a strategy. Then I’ll come back once things are neatly organized again.”

  “But—”

  “Again,” Amelie placed her finger on Alice’s lips, stopping her. “I’ll be fine. I’ll even bring you nice stuff when I come home. For now, just stay here, and be a good girl. Okay?”

  She nodded, even if it was clear that Alice greatly protested it.

  Amelie stood up, giving her a last pat, before she left the room her little sister used. Rushing through the palace’s hallways, Amelie made her way briefly to the situation room. It wasn’t exactly filled at the moment, with only Marie and William being inside the room, discussing things a bit.

  “Amelie?” William turned to Amelie as she closed the door behind her. “Are you sure about this?”

  “Yeah, we need to organize a defense,” she sighed. “Besides, I’ve been wondering about the current state of our forces in L?t. We’ve been cutting a lot of men, materiel, and assets from that section of the front, and reduced their reinforcements…”

  “All necessary to execute Operation Eastern Jade,” William countered, as Amelie went to the table. It seemed that Marie and William were talking about the ‘Restorationists’ again, which piqued Amelie’s curiosity.

  “I hadn’t had an update about them for a while now,” Amelie said. “Any new things about them?”

  “Yeah, they attempted to attack my agents last night in North Hebei. They seem to be attempting to disrupt our operations against the North Hebeian government,” Marie replied, sighing. “They managed to kill two members of Lily Team while we were trying to sniff out the updated locations of their high-profile military leaders.”

  William took out his cigarette, lighting it up. That immediately gained a stare of disapproval from the two women in the room, but he simply shrugged.

  “What?” He asked.

  “I don’t like the smell of it,” Amelie crossed her arms.

  “Same,” Marie said before she turned back to her laptop. “But, anyway, back to what happened to Lily Team. Yeah, they were trying to track down the location of the ‘Eagle’s Lair’, where members of the North Hebeian high command gathered regularly. The plan was to use explosives and magic to assassinate them and cause further disruption to North Hebeian command, but…well, we called it off.”

  “Okay,” Amelie sighed, noticeably disappointed about the deaths of two RIU operatives. “How did Lily Team perform though? Did they manage to at least match those ‘Restorationist’ guys?”

  “Well, we still ran into the same problem about their power armor and weapons,” Mary frowned. “While Lily Team used improved anti-armor spells against them, it still struggled initially. We did kill six of their agents, but, like usual, they exploded and left no trace. Eventually, Lily Team was overwhelmed, so they had to abort.”

  “I see then,” Amelie sighed. “Well, hopefully, we won’t see those guys again in this expedition.”

  “You’re just jinxing yourself at this point,” William chastised. “I mean, come on though, do we have to? It’s such a pain to organize the PSU for this thing.”

  “Complaining about his job? That’s new,” Marie chuckled on the side.

  “Shut up,” William shot back. “I have no problems working with this, but, see, we have problems in L?t already with missiles and bombs flying everywhere, and then, you have these guys in power armor that might strike out of nowhere. It’s a damned hassle.”

  “I believe there won’t be any of that this time around,” Amelie declared. “And if there is, I don’t think it is a reason to abandon the troops I have on the ground. If I have to go to hell without security, then I’ll do it.”

  “Let’s not get there please.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “I’m not joking,” Amelie replied to William. “Anyway, let’s get to L?t.”

  Amelie turned around, ready for another expedition out of the palace. Behind her, Marie and William followed after closing their laptops and files.

  “Fine,” William groaned. “I signed up for this job anyway.”

  +++

  Archduchy of L?t

  January 13, 2026

  L?t.

  Once again, it was on fire when Amelie arrived at the wounded principality. It was where the full force of the Federacy’s hatred was sent into. The recent offensive on this place wasn’t the first, nor would it be the last.

  It was already night when they arrived. The towns, cities, and other settlements they passed through were all badly damaged. Shelling, missile attacks, drone attacks, and even something as simple as carpet bombing had leveled most of the principality’s infrastructure.

  Even the roads at the most westward end of the principality were hard to traverse, craters from attacks still clearly painted on them. It was no different the closer they drove into the principality, where soldiers fought in back-and-forth offensives and counter-offensives.

  Amelie was now talking to one of the local commanders active on the battlefield. He was merely in the rank of Major, commanding a mechanized battalion that was rotated out of the main frontlines. At first, the man was quite surprised when Amelie arrived with their HMLV earlier at the town they used as a staging ground.

  But now, they were already inspecting the warehouses converted into motor pools, alongside the array of heavily used IFVs. Amelie eyed one of the M8 IFVs as the officer talked in length about their previous engagements, noting the various bullet marks and burn marks on its armor.

  Even its ERA blocks seemed to be used up. She pointed at the IFV’s autocannon, specifically the white markings on its barrel.

  “What is that?” Amelie innocently asked. “White circles?”

  “Oh, that’s their kill marks,” the officer laughed. “The squad who used this specific IFV killed six enemy vehicles. I’m not sure which type of vehicles to be specific by the way, but I encourage my men to do it a lot.”

  “Hmm…” Amelie tilted her head. “I notice that it’s quite rare amongst the vehicles you have here.”

  “Indeed,” the officer nodded. “Most M8 IFVs and even our tanks get chewed up in the battles before securing a lot of kills themselves. In fact, around a third of my vehicles usually find themselves destroyed before even taking out enemy armor. It’s unfortunate…”

  “Why exactly?” Amelie asked. “Why is it that most of your…crewmen die this way?”

  “They don’t all die when they’re taken out, Your Majesty,” the officer explained. “Though, yeah, many end up that way. The reason for that is simple—recruits. It’s a bit difficult, but indeed, when you only have recruits, greens coming in, making up half of the unit, it’s a hard business to keep them alive.”

  “I understand,” Amelie’s face turned grim. “I’ve heard that recently, the death rates here shot up…”

  “It’s a direct result of the offensive, Your Majesty. This battalion for example already sustained one hundred-eight casualties since last week. A good amount of the guys you see outside are replacements for the dead and wounded,” he shook his head. “The metal though, the vehicles themselves, since we lost eleven M8 IFVs and six L?we tanks, they’ll be arriving…probably in a day or two.”

  “Then you’ll be rotated back into the frontlines?”

  “Indeed. The rest of the brigade needs us quickly,” the officer sighed. “We’ll go in when another battalion is rotated out of the battlefield. Rinse and repeat. It’s an endless business.”

  +++

  “Damn…” Amelie silently muttered in shock as she watched the distant battles using her binoculars. Behind her, William silently smoked, standing in front of a tree while Amelie was lying on the ground. “Who’re those guys again?”

  “57th Mechanized Brigade,” William answered, as three massive explosions struck the string of towns they held, lighting up the dark skies. “They’ve been holed out there for twelve hours already. They’re going to be relieved soon by the 68th Infantry Brigade.”

  “I wonder…do we have to start shifting troops from other fronts?” Amelie asked. “Like…for example, from our southern front?”

  “Nah, too dangerous. I doubt that’s a bright idea,” William frowned, as the constant cracks of gunfire continued. It seemed that the battlefield here wasn’t going to calm down even during the night. Glide bombs, rocket artillery, and heavy shelling continued nearly unabated.

  Earlier, while driving closer to the front, they even witnessed a convoy of military trucks getting struck by loitering drones. Luckily, due to the PSU being highly dispersed, with only a single HMLV that Alpha Squad used trailing behind them, they were largely outside of the crosshairs of anyone.

  From far away, they just seemed like an unimportant soft target. Even if a drone spotted them, there were always so many other assets that were being targeted instead of them.

  Amelie stood up, walking straight at William.

  “Alright, I’d like to inspect even closer now,” Amelie said. “I’ve seen the conditions at the rear, and it’s bad, but I still haven’t seen how bad it is over there. Maybe we can check the towns held by the 57th Mechanized?”

  “Are you kidding yourself?” William said, now truly surprised. “Come on, I thought we were supposed to compile a report file and talk to the HQ guys of the L?t front.”

  “We can do that tomorrow or after tomorrow,” Amelie replied. “For now, I must check on my men. Besides, I need more info about the care package thing I was planning.”

  William stared at Amelie blankly.

  “Why are you even insisting on that nonsense?” he groaned. “Care packages should be at the bottom of the list for our soldiers. They need bullets and supplies.”

  “Come on, have you not seen the faces of my men,” Amelie countered. “They look so demoralized and downtrodden. These guys need a taste of our home’s comfort. Otherwise, what are they even fighting for? Besides…I’ve gathered letters too from schoolchildren. It’ll be a part of the morale-boosting plan.”

  “...I’m quite sure they’ll just wipe their asses with whatever letters you place on those care packages,” William said, skeptical. “It’s a bit out of touch, don’t you think.”

  “But it’s not,” Amelie defended. “Sure, it’s not the best thing I can do out there, but regardless, there has to be something greater for these people to fight for. We ask them to fight for their country and the people behind them, yet the people behind them can’t even manage to send them their words of appreciation and a few gifts. It’s insulting.”

  “Whatever…” William sighed, as Amelie huffed and went for their parked HMLV. “So to the 57th?”

  “Yep,” Amelie and William boarded their HMLV. Amelie fastened her seatbelts, while William held the wheel. “Alright, let’s go!”

  “For the first time, I think I need to pray to the goddess for our safety,” William shook his head.

  Then, his feet pressed on the gas pedal.

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