After the barbarian envoys were met with rejection and mockery in Brill’s camp, Lazli Fort endured a second, more violent siege.

　　The enemy were determined to breach the walls at any cost. After sustaining heavy casualties, they forced captured Limidian civilians into relentless labor to construct a massive siege ramp, intending to mount their painstakingly crafted catapults upon its height. However, the ramp collapsed during a subsequent torrential rain. This perceived touch of the supernatural emboldened the defenders with newfound vigor, while striking a chilling fear into the hearts of their adversaries.

　　Brill took advantage of the chaos, secretly dispatching silver-tongued messengers into the laborers' camps. They stirred the captives' courage and kindled a spirit of rebellion; when these laborers acted in concert with Brill’s combat units, the enemy forces were plunged into utter disarray.

　　Yet, the ensuing pursuit proved too reckless. The consequence of their hasty advance was a bitter defeat near a village called Mornebus. During the fray, Brill’s own horse was cut down, throwing him to the ground. It was only through the desperate, frantic fighting of his loyal subordinates that his life was spared.

　　The setback of the Limidian army incited the enemy to launch a third assault on Lazli Fort. This time, however, the commanding officer strategically positioned his troops to the rear and flanks of the fortress. This maneuver forced the enemy to focus their offensive solely on the city's front, while simultaneously compelling them to divert forces to guard their own exposed wings. From within the walls, the defenders sent out signals of provocation to the enemy camp, while spies were sent to sow contradictory rumors among the tents. This psychological warfare turned the already suspicious factions of the enemy army against one another in a web of mutual hostility.

　　As the fierce ebb and flow of the siege continued, the subordinate general Frilence led his troops away from the camps at the rear. He successfully lured a formidable force of barbarian cavalry into a desolate wasteland, where the treacherous, debris-strewn ground made it nearly impossible for horses to gallop. Trapped by the terrain, the enemy was completely decimated under a hail of Limidian spears and crossbow bolts.

　　Upon hearing of this crushing defeat, Tunawa erupted in curses. He pulled his forces back a short distance, intending to force a direct confrontation with Brill on the open plains. As the son of the great Steppe Ruler, Tunawa wielded his father’s authority across the lands of Limidia. Recognizing the moment, Brill convened a council of war and made the decisive call to launch a proactive strike against the barbarians stationed nearby.

　　To bolster the morale of his men, Brill donned the simple armor of a common soldier and took his place within the ranks. Yet, to ensure victory, he entrusted his own life and the lives of his troops to the tactical command of his most battle-hardened generals. The ensuing clash was brutal, lasting until the sun dipped below the horizon before both sides finally withdrew. To allow his weary barbarian warriors some much-needed rest, Tunawa handed over the defense of the camp to Nilmod, a man who had previously earned the favor of the steppe tribes by surrendering the fertile lands of Taris to them.

　　Inside Brill’s tent, the lamps burned late into the night. He listened intently as his generals proposed a daring gamble: rather than waiting for dawn in a state of uncertainty, it would be far better to launch a sudden, midnight raid to catch the enemy off guard.

　　The Limidian soldiers cast aside their exhaustion, following their commander with unwavering resolve. Though the enemy sentries noticed the flickering torchlight and restless movement within the opposing camp deep in the night, they failed to stir—no countermeasures were taken, and no alarm was ever sounded.

　　Seizing this fatal lapse, Brill’s army stormed the encampment, shattering the enemy forces and driving the remnants of Tunawa’s and Nilmod’s troops back toward Jesbus. The stubborn Tunawa, refusing to accept defeat, attempted to rally his barbarian warriors to make a stand and halt the pursuit.

　　However, Nilmod—a man who loathed direct confrontation—decided to let the shifting winds of fortune dictate his next move. Positioned on the left wing of the barbarian line, his men bore the brunt of a fierce, sudden charge at the very start of the engagement. After offering nothing more than a symbolic, hollow resistance, they cast down their banners and fled, leaving Tunawa and his barbarian allies far behind to face the onslaught alone.

　　After the battle, Brill received word from Hedlim while still in the saddle: the life of the gravely ill monarch was at its very end. He had to make a decision—whether to install a new ruler for the Parshi Dynasty or to take the throne for himself. Tunawa, in his panic, fled in the wrong direction and intended to make for Rierbi for the time being. Meanwhile, his opponent, after occupying Jesbus without shedding a drop of blood, continued advancing toward Kodian.

　　Brill’s army received the tributes and support of the people along the route, arriving smoothly at the gates of Kodian. A mutiny among the Kodian defenders allowed Brill to occupy the town without a struggle; the garrison commander was bound hand and foot and brought into the camp of the Army of Justice.

　　After making the necessary arrangements, Brill returned to the Great Highlands without a moment’s rest to bid a final farewell to the King in the court of Hedlim. The honor and merit of his victories had carried this former financial official to the pinnacle of power. Sometime later, the son of Lierlun ascended the throne amidst the cheers of the crowd and a facade of respectful homage.

　　Nilmod’s army, after engaging in two performative battles, received news from two directions at once: both the Great Ruler of the Steppe and the forces of the Great Highlands were marching toward Jerhe.

　　Consequently, Nilmod withdrew a certain distance toward the rear on the pretext that his troops needed rest and access to grain, even pulling out the forces defending Jerhe. Although his position allowed him to aid one side while threatening the other, he preferred that the two powerful sides exhaust and wound each other in the coming clash, so that he might bargain between them.

　　After a sharp engagement, Brill’s troops marched into Jerhe amidst triumphant cheers. Inside his own grand pavilion, Nilmod, still harboring unrealistic thoughts, smugly received envoys sent by both parties.

　　The arrival of the main barbarian host once again placed the defenders of Jerhe under threat, facing potential attack from both the barbarians and Nilmod. The former held the city walls in contempt yet found themselves helpless against them; they used every means to try and force a confrontation on the open plains. They relentlessly harassed the city’s supply lines, and several defensive outposts on the nearby high hills were razed to the ground by the barbarians.

　　However, the scorn and verbal humiliation from Tunawa’s envoys toward Nilmod caused the embittered ally to reveal the barbarian prince’s location to their enemies. He smugly believed this would both strike down his rival through his enemies and provide him with a bargaining chip.

　　Verdik, the garrison commander and a soldier from Pandir, decided to act. He intended to leave the walls of Jerhe, but not to lead his men before the barbarian ranks. Instead, he organized a capable and elite team to strike in the direction indicated by Nilmod. Tunawa was attacked; except for fifty men who were captured, all the barbarian followers in his retinue were slain.

　　The complacent Nilmod never expected that Verdik would instead use the heads of the barbarians and the prisoners to knock open the gates of his camp. They rushed inside and began a pitiless slaughter, and Nilmod himself narrowly escaped death from a stray arrow.

　　Bilbis personally led his men to Nilmod’s residence and, without a word of explanation, slaughtered him in front of his family. However, as the conqueror’s army drew near, an officer named Kotanemir broke into his own master Bilbis’s estate with a squad of soldiers. The resistance of loyal servants incited the low-ranking officer to a fury; he killed everyone present and stripped the manor bare. Although the man was eventually captured and executed, the pardoned Bilbis had nonetheless lost everything.

　　The victory at Jerhe had forced the steppe barbarians to flee in panic after losing nearly five banners of their strength. They retreated behind the walls of Trabbino—the very same walls these barbarians had once held in utter contempt. Now, standing atop the ramparts, they could see the banners of the Willem Family and the Parshi Royalty flying high over the nearby military camps.

　　After a period of waiting, two Limidian cavalrymen appeared beneath the fortifications with spears in hand, delivering the message the barbarian leader had dreaded. Following the defeat of Nilmod’s forces, the severed heads of the secessionist lords and the barbarian prince were displayed upon spear-tips—grisly trophies of triumph. Others began to abandon their resistance against Brill, journeying to his camp to kneel and beg the conqueror for mercy.

　　The people of Trabbino openly voiced their resentment toward the barbarians. With a measure of patience and strategy, the barbarian garrison within the city might have collapsed into chaos on its own.

　　But Brill was unwilling to wait any longer. Fearing that the temperamental barbarians might turn their blades upon the city’s populace, he ordered an immediate assault on Trabbino. To better observe the movements of the battle, he stationed himself so close to the walls that stray arrows struck the ground all around him.

　　Suddenly, a stray arrow hit Brill in the shoulder. The razor-sharp tip pierced downward through his protective chainmail, nearly throwing him from his horse. His subordinates urged him to move away from the danger and return to the safety of the camp. But Brill only retreated a few paces, refusing to leave the field.

　　He watched the gallantry of two captains and quirked the corner of his mouth in a nod of approval. The two men led their soldiers to scale the walls using wooden towers and ladders; though few in number, they fought with ferocious bravery. Inside the city, the people also rose up, wielding crude weapons to support the military action from without.

　　To further ignite the courage of his men, Brill took up the mallets and beat the war drums himself. Once his army had secured the battlements of Trabbino, he issued a stern command: the people within the city were to be met with comfort, not hostility; but the barbarians were to be met with total destruction, not mercy.

　　The generals and soldiers carried out the conqueror’s commands, yet in doing so, they brought peril and hardship upon the friendly tribes who had long since settled there. These people had become friends, partners, husbands, or wives to the Limidians—some were even students and apprentices—yet now, without exception, they were subjected to suspicion and relentless searches. Even the testimonies of neighbors, partners, and friends proved useless. The slightest resistance or a single heated word would immediately bring trouble, or even a bloody end.

　　The defeated barbarian leader realized that he could no longer maintain a foothold in this land teeming with hostility. If they did not withdraw at once, their fate would be sealed: either annihilated by the pursuing Limidian army or slaughtered by the vengeful locals.

　　However, the Limidians pursued them only symbolically for a short distance, then allowed them to return to the steppes without further hindrance.

　　Brill returned to Hedlim to nurse his injuries and recover his health.

　　During this time, he enacted appropriate laws and dispatched capable officials so that the people might feel the gentleness and magnanimity of their conqueror. The commanders he selected strove to restore the frontier defenses, remaining vigilant against a potential return of the steppe barbarians. However, the rebellion that broke out in Rierbi must ultimately be blamed on Brill’s failure to judge a man’s character.

　　The local administrator, Gems Kokoli, viewed the populace through a permanent lens of suspicion. His restless mind devised all manner of bizarre and tyrannical schemes each day, employing every possible means of extortion to squeeze the people of their property. It seemed that, in this administrator's eyes, keeping the people in poverty was the only way to prevent danger from arising.

　　Pushed beyond their limits, the people stormed a treasury in Rierbi, taking a portion of the grain and denarii stored within. Subsequently, in the official dispatches sent to Hedlim, the people's actions were described as ingratitude and outright rebellion. In a fit of rage and without fully grasping the situation, Brill signed a tyrannical order that nearly pushed the local populace entirely over to the side of the opposition.