"Oh, right, you don’t know anything!" Bronti says, smacking the side of his head as if reprimanding himself. "The Sentinels are the military personnel who have at least entered the Core Stage. They have their own internal ranks and everything, all the way up to general. It’s the folks in the fancy black robes, like General Corvo Ataras!"
I almost felt like I was about to step on a landmine by asking my next question, seeing the almost reverential look on the young man’s face. Still, I asked. "General Corvo Ataras? Is that the guy who was giving the speech and everything earlier?"
Bronti gave a look that almost looked offended by my lack of knowledge on the subject. "Damn, have you been living under a rock?! Oh, right, you were. Cave-dwellers, right. Yeah, that was General Ataras! The commander of the Northern Front against those Avargustian bastards!"
"Whoa, hold up! I am gonna need you to explain from the beginning, as I don’t understand any of this. Northern Front and Avargustian?" I ask, confusion clear on my face.
"Right. Ugh, I wish I had a map, as it would be so much easier to explain. Well, you’ll have to learn in detail about the other nations another time when you can see a map," he replies, scrunching up his face as he tries to gather his thoughts.
He then motions for me to follow him and sit down on the bench as he begins to explain. " Right now, the Ulthuan Imperium — us — are at war with three other nations concurrently. The eastern front is against the Dinostros Federation, and the war has been a stalemate for the last six years. The southern front is against the Kingdom of Medamos, which has also been a stalemate since the war began two years ago."
Bronti takes a breather as he calms the anger he was starting to feel toward the hostile nations. "Emperor, preserve us," he mutters to calm himself, then continues. "A few months ago, the Kingdom of Avargust, one of the three claw kingdoms to our north, declared war upon us. They tried to take the fortress city of Nevarrine, which is further behind our current encampment, but the fortress was able to hold them off until General Ataras brought up this current army and pushed them back into the valley, whence we are currently fighting."
"Wow, three battlefronts concurrently and not losing! The Imperium is pretty strong then," I say quite amazed, as that is not a feat many nations are capable of.
"Damn right! Our armies are mighty and our Emperor invincible! Still, it is quite awesome that you actually managed to survive the clash today! It’s rare to see peasant folk like us survive in the Death Chargers," Bronti replies with an almost fanatical look, and then even looks at me with amazement.
"Why is it so amazing I survived? Also, what are the Death Chargers? Actually, if the military is so strong, why are we peasants fighting?" I fire off a string of questions that have been bugging me.
Bronti scoffs at my questioning look, as if starting to get annoyed at having to answer such basic questions. "The Death Chargers are just the unofficial name people call the mandatory service recruited peasants. It’s a strategy the Imperium uses to prevent losses amongst their Knights. After all, the initial clash between two armies charging at each other has massive deaths, so peasants are sent in as the first line to cushion that first clash and minimize initial casualties of the Knights that follow. That’s why it’s so cool you survived, since it’s like a ninety percent death toll. Though only the Imperium has the population that can do this."
"Geez, how large is the population of the Imperium if they can just throw away lives like that? Also, how many of us were in the charge?" I ask, my mouth slightly open in wonder.
"Hehe, I don’t know really know the exact amount. Though I do remember someone once saying it was at least in the billions. Oh, though, for this battle, there were fifty thousand of you guys sent in, and you are the only known survivor per rumors," he says, with his hands up as if trying to count on his fingers before giving up.
"Wait, so you are telling me fifty thousand peasants for each battle just get obliterated? And billions of people in a single nation?! Fuckin’ hell, how many kids do you people have?!" I exclaim with visual surprise.
"Oh no, no!" he says, waving his hands. "Not for every battle; even the Imperium would have population issues doing that. It’s just fifty thousand for each army battlefront to use however each general wants. General Ataras is of the mind that the first battle is the most important, so he sent in all fifty thousand for the first battle to get the advantage for later on. He won’t be getting any more Death Chargers unless this goes on for years; then he might get another batch. Oh, and yes, it’s pretty standard for most families to have upwards of ten kids; even I have six brothers and three sisters. Do you Valleymen not have that many kids?" He asks, curiosity written on his face after he explains.
’Holy Hell! Are the people of this world part rabbit or something, popping out kids in entire litters!’ I thought to myself in amazement while, at the same time, seeing the idea behind the General’s plan, though I still felt like it was an overall waste of manpower that could be used in other ways. However, I probably just don’t have all the information to make a truly informed decision on that.
"Uh, err, not really," I lie, as I have no idea how many kids those so-called Valleymen are popping out. "Oh, what can you tell me about the emperor, then?"
Bronti stands up with exuberance! "You want to know more about the Emperor! I will tell you all I know about our great Emperor!"