It's almost 5 am. A thick layer of fog permeated every corner of the port city of Arash. Due to its proximity to the sea, early morning tends to have extremely low visibility, even when you turn on a floodlight to see. 

So it would be no surprise when the guards on the city battlement got spooked by an army of 2000 men that suddenly appeared at their doorstep. Thankfully, they managed to keep their fingers off the triggers, allowing enough time for the runner below to announce their identity. What came out of his mouth scared them shitless.

" White Rock has fallen!"

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The city gate opens, and walking out is a group of soldiers escorting what seems to be the one in charge of guarding the Eastern gateway of the city. By now, the first ray of sunlight is dissipating the annoying fog, giving the leading officer a clear view of the tattered state that the 2000 men ahead of him a sporting. 

The men are bruised, bloodied, and running ragged out of breath. Some are missing their rifle, while others don't even have their full uniform. Many lay on the ground, trying to regain their strength after facing untold hardships. The luckier few are those on vehicles or what's left of them. He can see a tank that is missing half of its turret, and on the tank are six guys with various degrees of injuries. Frankly, even a poor group of bandits looks better than this regiment he's seeing right now.

" The hell, they look like they fought a monster and barely managed to run away." A soldier next to him commented. A fair assessment.

Having decided that gawking at them is not gonna help anything, he addresses a wounded soldier nearby. Even though he outranks everyone here, they're too tired to perform a salute. Not that he minds anyway. " My friend, can you tell me who's in charge here?"

Before the soldier could even bat his last intact eye, a voice interrupts. " That would be me." Followed by a series of footsteps.

Turning to look at the new arrivals, the officer sees a Colonel approaching him. He performs prim and proper military salutes as he's just Captain. " Sir! I'm Captain Huynh, in charge of guarding the Eastern gate of Arash. I'm sorry I block your entry to the city but this is standard procedure, sir."

The Colonel, Erwin Rommel, calmly nods. " I understand. I won't fault you for it. It's just that I hope you already informed your superior because I need to discuss with them a lot of things." Technically, Rommel isn't lying, so the Captain fails to find faults in the Colonel's words.

" I've already passed on words of your arrivals to Colonel Francis. He's tasked with guarding Arash, and he should be moving to meet you from our Headquarters right now, sir."

" Good to know that. Do you mind if I come in and take a seat?" Rommel asks. Per Ustian military tradition, an officer rarely shares a rest with his battered subordinate. Rommel has to act the part, even though he dislikes it.

Again, understanding the pickiness of an officer, the Captain doesn't see anything wrong with allowing a few people inside first. " It should be fine for you and your adjutants to head in, sir. Let me lead the way for you."

The Captain politely waves his hand, motioning the Colonel and his crew to follow him inside. Under the watchful eyes of the regiment, Rommel disappears behind the walls of Arash. Now, he just needs to have a private chat with the insider. After that, things should be smooth sailing.

Being led to a guest house, Rommel and his adjutants make themselves comfortable in the somewhat luxurious building. The Captain bows and takes his leave. " Sir, me and my men will be outside if you need me, we will also send someone out of the city with food and drinks. Hopefully, it will alleviate some of the fatigue from your troops."

With a smile, Rommel says. " That is much appreciated. I'll make sure to put in good words for you later."

Nodding appreciatively, the Captain moves out of the premise. They will be waiting for the men under the City Colonel to takeover. Giving himself a mental pat on the back, the Captain thinks he managed to score a good point on Rommel's book. Maybe his career good will be a bit more smooth sailing later on.

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In the compound, Rommel is served a cup of coffee after his adjutant checks it for poison. The supplies here seem to be fine to consume, so he also tells the rest of his crew to get comfortable and procure them some snacks.

" Not a bad cup of coffee. Though I like our Belkan brands better." Rommel commented after he took a sip. " But at least we are being treated hospitably, the way here didn't treat us all kindly."

His adjutant chimes in while placing a tray of biscuits on the table. " I doubt the men would mind it, sir. They know what they're getting themselves into, after all. As for the coffee, it does seem to lack a punch like the ones we are used to drinking. Though I heard that the coffee beans, grown in Indochina, are of exquisite taste. I do not doubt that Ustio should have access to a large quantity of them, seeing that Indochina is a colony of Ustio."

" I see, I hope we can procure some of them for the Princess later. She has a penchant for a good coffee." Rommel says, making it up a bonus objective for them on the spot.

" How about this, Colonel." Another officer, who is munching on a biscuit, adds. " Me and Tim will scout out the local shops to procure some souvenirs for the Princess and the rest of the boys. After we formally gain access to the city, of course, I reckon some of the guys would also like to hang out in the city too. We can disperse and grab as many as we can before things go South for the city. As Arash is a port city, there should be a lot of specialties that can catch the eyes of our Princess."

" Umu, good idea. As long as you all don't raise any suspicion, I will allow it. The troops also need an outlet, after all."

" Yes, Colonel! I will brief them on that till they say it in their sleep." Knowing that the one saying is famous for his spartan discipline. The entire table laughs as they can picture the scene of soldiers with their souls leaving their bodies.

They then chat for a bit more till the door is knocked on. Rommel's adjutant went out to open the door, revealing an Ustian Colonel and his entourage. Giving a salute, the adjutant announces to the entire room. " Sir, the Colonel is here."

Rommel and the rest stand up to offer their greeting.

" Colonel Francis, I hope my abrupt arrivals did not inconvenience you much" Rommel says, shaking hands with his peer. " I very much appreciate your arrival on such short notice."

" Well met, Colonel Manon. And no, it's not an inconvenience for me at all. I have also taken the liberty to provide your troops with a hot meal. That should have them picked up their spirit." Colonel Francis, a man that looks younger than his actual age, replied courteously.

" That will be great, in fact, your Captain also said the same. He's a good lad, I tell you. It seems you have capable hands under your lead. And please, have a seat."

" Thanks for the compliment, Colonel Manon. I will take up on your offer and I hope you still have some coffee left."

" Timmy, go pour the Colonel here a cup will you?" Ordering his adjutant Rommel then turn to his Ustian peer. " Do you have any special requirements?"

Francis replies. " Two cubes of sugar if you don't mind."

Nodding to the request, Timmy heads to the kitchen. He soon returns with the coffee.

Francis receives the coffee and takes a drink. " Your adjutant knows his way around brewing a nice cup of coffee, Colonel Manon."

Putting down his cup, he then continues. " Sadly, we truly don't have time for formalities and off-topic talks." He then motions for his men to check the surrounding, making sure there's no unwanted privy for the conversation that's about to happen.

With the coast clears, Francis pulls out an engraved plate and places it on the table. He presses a button in the middle of the plate and the engravings lit up, signifying the plate's activation. " With this silencing ward, we can discuss freely." Francis said.

Rommel nods. " I am surprised you have a magic plate."

Francis reveals with a smile. " It was made by my wife, a kitsune. By saying only that, you can guess the reason why I risk everything to help you Belkans." 

Rommel and his group are surprised at the revelation but ultimately, only Rommel offers his words. " No wonder, we're provided with minimum info to identify you, not your reason to help us. Knowing that you have a wife of Belka heritage, answers many of my questions. But, do your wife has an in on this?"

Shaking his head in refusal, Francis says. " No, she doesn't know and I would like to keep it that way, at least until the city is fully under Belka control." He stops for a bit, seemingly in thought before continuing. " In my forty years of living, she's the only ray of light that I have and I want to keep it from being tainted. I found her when I was but a Corporal, bruised and bloodied and being chased by hoodlums. Fought them off and brought her back to take care of her wounds. That's when I notice her magic disguise worn off, showing her tail and ears... I was indoctrinated, mind you, but I don't have an aversion toward your country nor your people. So imagine her surprise when she woke up on a human's bed."

Francis smiles, reminiscing about the past. " The first thing she did is to pick up a fruit knife, stabbed, and pinned my left hand on the table. Spoiler, it hurt like hell even though it turned out to be a love wound later on. And well, she kinda held me hostage till I proved that I had no ill-will toward her. After a period of torture/discussion, we had a heart-to-heart talk and it turns out she was chased because the local gang wanted her to be a prostitute. Not because she's a damn hot kitsune, thankfully. I took care of it by calling in some favors. One thing leads to another and we slowly fell in love with each other." Francis looks at the ring he's wearing. " Been married to her for more than 15 years now. Thanks to her help, I get to be the Colonel I am today and I make damn sure that her secret stays hidden. I also converted a part of the city to house people like her, keeping them safe until they can move on to greener pastures like Belka. The garrison here, under my leadership, was reformed to be more open-minded, loyal to me, and treats all races fairly. They can help us in attacking the army guys stationing here. That is if you would trust me with such a task. Otherwise, I will be stationing my man to guard my wife and the sanctuary we built."

" Wow." That was all Rommel and the others could say. " Your story is very inspiring. It seems like there are others out there that hold the same view as us Belkans, even though we serve under different flags."

Francis nods with a knowing smile. " In Ustio, there are many people like me. It's just that we have to hide our world views away from the scrutiny of people under the Prime Minister. They don't take kindly to such treachery. Hence we try to keep our actions under wrap as much as possible."

" I see. When the city surrenders to the Princess, your days in hiding will be over. As for the matter of your force placement, we can discuss it later. We still need to get my men inside the city."

" That will be easy. There's an empty military complex near the dock, around 15 minutes walk to the Bank of Denver. I reckon that would fit your needs the most. I will send a runner with my order to let your men relocate there."

" That would be great, thank you. To keep up the ruse, you can also send medics and supplies to the complex."

Francis nods at Rommel's words. " That's a good idea. Go and pass my orders, will you." He sent out a subordinate to relay his orders.

Francis then asks. " So, what is your plan moving forward? I can say that, currently, the dock holds but only a few destroyers and the now under construct warship. The Bank has been requesting an armed escort to transfer their gold away but I stall the request for quite some time already."

Rommel ponders. " The Princess's division is but a couple of days out at max, we will be scouting the surroundings and setting up a proper battle plan in the meantime. She tasked us with capturing the shipyards, and the Bank, and blowing an entry point for the division. It will be great if you can delay the transfer for at least another day, by that time our scout should have announced their presence to the entire city. Meaning you can have an excuse to lockdown Arash, effectively preventing anything from leaving the place. As for the navy, I doubt you can block the destroyers from heading out for the sea... Can you do anything about those?"

Francis touches his chin, thinking up a plan to bag everything in one go. " I have a plan, we can do this lethal or non-lethal. So what interest you the most?"

Rommel replies. " If possible, we should go for non-lethal. What do you suggest?"

Francis nods. " Here's my thoughts. Before the Belkan division arrives, I will host a party for both the army and navy officers. I can arrange for the chefs to spike the food, those that consume it will be paralyzed for around a day. Poisoned food will also be sent to the barracks to take out as many soldiers as possible. After the poison acts up, we can just secure them and move them to an empty warehouse complex. By then, the city will be ours, we just need to wait for the Princess to arrive."

" It can work but the numbers will be too much no?"

" I have under me around 1500 trusted men, you have 2000, and the opposition has 4200. While we are indeed outnumbered, the effective enemy strength will be reduced quite a lot and they won't have cohesive leadership. We can also use the poisoning incident to lock down the city to search for a nonexistent culprit."

Rommel gives the plan a thought. It's feasible and combat will be kept at a minimum. They can save the hassle of dealing with the civilians also.

" I'll admit, the plan has its merit. But can you ensure that the poison will be delivered successfully to the troops below?"

Francis gives a chilling smile. " Don't worry, I got this covered. Just like you, Belkans can't say no to a good cup of coffee, we Ustians can't say no to a glass of wine."

Rommel just laugh at that.

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After the clandestine discussion was concluded. Francis allocated transportation for Rommel and his troops, moving them to one of the empty barracks. Along the way, Rommel and his troops were watched with gazes of pity by Ustian citizens. They seemed to think that Rommel and his troops were defeated at White Rock and barely escaped with their lives. Oh, how they couldn't be more wrong.

Back to Colonel Francis, he goes back to his Headquarters and finishes up today's paperwork then calls it a day. It's half past noon when he's done with everything, he wants to surprise his wife today so he boards his private car. Telling the driver to take him to a confectionary store, he's surprised to see the soldiers under Rommel buying cookies there. Spotting him, the undercover soldiers salute him, he waves them off before buying a tiramisu cake for his wife.

Francis thinks to himself once he gets back in the car. ' I'm surprised they can speak with no accent.' 

He then resumes his ride back to his villa on a hill, overlooking an untouched sandy beach. The gatekeepers of the villa, noticing the master of the house is returning, quickly open the thick steel gate. One of them runs inside to announce the return of Colonel Francis. As the car grinds to a halt beneath a few steps of stairs leading to the villa lobby, Francis steps out only to be greeted with a tackle-like hug. Francis had to tense up his pose just to not let them crash back into the car. Though he soon relaxes his body once he feels a very familiar warmth. 

Francis smiles and says. " Alia, you surprised me there you know? What if we ended up with a bump on our heads?"

" What? I can't hug my husband after two days of not seeing each other? Or is it that you have no need for this vixen of yours anymore?" Alia, his kitsune wife, jested.

Alia is a mature woman with brown hair and green eyes and a loveable person once you get to know her. Her two tails and fox ears are hidden away by illusion magic, though she can reveal them when they are alone.

Francis says wrily. " It would have been nicer if your hug isn't like a bear grip, Alia."

Alia whines. " But you love it when I give you the fluff." 

" Yes, but you risk me dropping the tiramisu cake I got for you."

" Cake!" The moment she heard the word tiramisu, Alia swiftly dispossesses the box Francis has been holding. Yeah, this fox lady has a penchant for sweets.

She then runs inside with the cake, preparing dishes and utensils for them to dine on it. This leaves Francis standing at the front door, stupefied. He turns to his driver and asks. " Do you think she loves me or the cake I brought?"

The young driver just shakes his head and pats Francis on the shoulder. " I know your feeling man. My girlfriend is just like the lady, though she likes cookies instead of cake. No idea how they can eat that much sweet but still want to worry about their physique."

They both sigh at that, women can be very weird sometimes.