Kingdombuilding: All My Inventions Are Novelty

When Aiden came out of the reaver camp, the surrounding reaver soldiers whistled at him mockingly.

He had gone to negotiate with the reavers, but he never got to meet Fern himself.

Instead, he met a man named Amon.

Aiden immediately stated Prince Simon’s conditions for surrender: the reavers must withdraw from the Snake Pass, give control of their cities and nearby lands to Prince Simon, and in return, Prince Simon would recognise the reavers as his overlord.

Of course, this was an outrageous demand, and just as he expected, the negotiation ended with no agreement.

The reaver side offered their own terms: open the gates of Dunmere City, and they promised not to harm Prince Simon. They would grant him one city as a domain.

Naturally, Aiden also refused. But he didn’t reject them outright; he said he needed to return and ask Prince Simon for instructions.

”My Lord, this buys us three to five more days before we need to negotiate again,” Aiden reported. ”But from what I could tell, the reavers didn’t seem too upset either. I think they’re also stalling.”

”Fern never plays by the rules. No one can predict what he’ll do next.” Simon replied. ”We’ll stay still and watch. Besides, negotiations in war are always mixed with fighting.” Then he turned to Liam. ”Don’t sit idle tonight. Fire a few rounds at their camp. Make sure they don’t get a good night’s sleep.”

”Leave it to me, Your Highness,” Liam said with a bloodthirsty grin.

This negotiation was never serious; Simon only meant to mess with Fern. But he also knew Fern might be doing the same to him.

Since both sides were bluffing, it was fair game.

After all, it’s the attacker who’s anxious, not the defender.

As night fell and the reavers lit their campfires to cook, cannons suddenly roared from the city wall. One after another, black solid shot cannonballs flew into the reaver camp.

Through his telescope, Liam watched the chaos unfold. The reaver soldiers were eating when the cannonballs hit, injuring many of them.

Fern was eating too. The explosions startled him so much that he ran out of his tent and hid behind his shield, terrified he’d be hit by a cannonball.

Agarth was hopping mad, yelling and pointing at the city wall. They never expected that right after sending their envoy, the defenders would launch an attack.

The reavers scrambled to regroup, but when no second shot came for a long while, they cautiously returned to their meals.

As darkness fully set in, the reaver campfires glowed brightly. What they didn’t know was that Dunmere’s defenders could see them much better than they could see the wall.

Liam remained on the wall with his telescope, constantly watching. Every so often, he fired another shot into the camp.

Each explosion sent the reavers into chaos. No one wanted to be killed by a cannonball in their sleep.

The fear kept many of the cavalrymen awake, their eyes locked on the glowing walls.

They realised that the cannonballs always came right after the flashes of fire. So every time they saw fire, they panicked and scattered.

Fern couldn’t sleep either, even though he was surrounded by guards holding shields.

He was waiting for news that the city wall had been breached.

But then he noticed light at the base of the wall; Dunmere’s soldiers were pouring fire oil down.

”Stay alert tonight!” Someone shouted. ”His Highness said the reavers might try to sneak in and plant explosives. If they succeed, we’ll all be blown sky-high!”

Tonight, Lancelot was on night watch.

He poured the oil, setting fire to the piles of corpses and broken ladders beneath the wall.

Since Simon figured out the reavers wanted to blow up the wall by planting gunpowder, he had ordered his soldiers to keep a close eye on any slave soldiers digging tunnels.

Every time they spotted one, the defenders would shoot it immediately.

”Yes, Captain!” The soldiers were startled by Lancelot’s warning. Even the tired ones quickly snapped awake.

Just then, someone shouted. ”There’s someone down there!”

Immediately, arrows rained down. Cries of pain followed.

One intruder fell, but more came running from the shadows.

Lancelot frowned and threw a torch down. The flames lit up a swarm of slave soldiers.

Taking advantage of the night, the enemy had launched another surprise attack.

”Throw the gunpowder jars! Now!” Lancelot shouted.

The reavers were cunning. To avoid being targeted by the cannons, they attacked under cover of night.

BOOM! BOOM! The sound of explosions rang out again.

The entire city woke up. Simon jumped out of bed and rushed to the wall. He could already hear the shouting and clashing outside.

At the same time, the sound of arrows whistled through the air; reaver archers were hiding in the darkness, firing at the city.

The defenders couldn’t see them clearly in the dark and had to fire blindly. Casualties rose far faster than during the day.

”Throw the jars below the wall!” Simon shouted as he arrived.

Fern’s goal was clear; he wanted to bury explosives under the wall. They had to stop him at all costs.

So there was no more holding back on the gunpowder jars.

Shieldmen quickly formed a wall in the darkness while the defenders kept hurling jars down.

Screams and explosions echoed. More and more bodies piled up below the wall.

Staring into the pitch-black reaver camp in the distance, Simon looked grim. Fern was indeed a tough opponent.

With no visible targets, the cannons couldn’t be used effectively. It was going to be a long, miserable night.

The battle raged until morning. Over 600 gunpowder jars were used up that night. Beneath the wall, the bodies formed a thick layer.

But it wasn’t for nothing. The slave soldiers’ corpses had filled the trenches and blocked the holes being dug to plant explosives.

Digging again wouldn’t be so easy now.

”My Lord, at this rate, we’ll run out of gunpowder jars,” Liam said anxiously.

They had hoped to conserve ammo, but Fern’s tactics had shattered that plan. If he launched a few more night raids like this, the wall might really fall.

Seeing Simon’s concern, Benjamin spoke calmly.

”My Lord, don’t worry. Cannons may be powerful, but in the end, it’s the people of the Eldorian Empire who will win this war. Even without cannons and gunpowder jars, we can still fight with our own flesh and blood to stop the reavers.”

Simon paused, then looked at the soldiers on the wall.

Yes, when all else fails, he still had these brave, fearless warriors.

So what was there to fear?