At the Royal Palace in the heart of Stinnard City, ranks of Holy Crusader soldiers stood ready, watching the streets outside.
Dark clouds crowded the sky. A thunderstorm was brewing, and a stifling, rusty smell hung in the air.
Across the Square, the Revolutionary Army had assembled. After days of failed negotiations, they linked their scattered positions, surrounded the Royal Palace, and pressed inward, creating an immense threat.
Unfortunately for them, the Royal Palace was not an isolated city cut off from supplies. Its food stores were limited, but the Space-Time Gate beneath it could deliver a steady stream of food, equipment, weapons, and potions. Logistics were no concern.
Compared with an ordinary city or fortress, the Royal Palace was small, and its walls were hardly sturdy. But the Space-Time Gate kept it supplied, making a simple siege useless. Neither the Revolutionary Army nor the Rune Federation behind it wanted to make a mortal enemy of the Holy Light Church, so they dared not attack lightly. All they could do was threaten the defenders and try to talk them into submission.
The days passed in negotiations and fruitless arguments. Before long, the Revolutionary Army had besieged the Royal Palace for more than twenty days.
There had been no large-scale clash. The two sides merely faced off, glaring at each other from afar, with neither willing to start a real war.
Another major development came after the Revolutionary Army settled on a monarchy. Louis Bonaparte, the new King, held a simple coronation, then abruptly announced that he would build a new Royal Capital—Nice City—on Hirtennes Plain between Stinnard and the Red Fortress!
After that bombshell, he moved with astonishing speed. Under the banner of building the new Royal Capital, he drew twenty thousand troops from Stinnard and seized and transported vast