Recapture of Norstomino District

### Result

**Esperanto Victory*** Esperanto succeeded in recapturing the Nordostomino District.

The **Recapture of Norstomino District** is the battle between the Esperanto Kingdom and Demon Army that the Western Defense Force recaptures the Norstomino district from the demon army occupation in the Esperanto Kingdom.

* Anionnrial Empire
* Western Defense Force Commander Pentsy
* 10 orcs
* 2 orc kings
* 1 Jet-Black Knight
* Rabid wolvies (unknown number details)
* 800 heavy infantrymen
* 250 pikemen/halberdiers
* 200 shock troops
* 300 mages
* 150 riflemen
* Jet-Black Knight injured (mind-controlled disabled)

## Background

### Esperanto Kingdom

In the past two months alone, the districts of Ochistomino and Norstomino had fallen, dooming their inhabitants to an awful end at the demon army despite the valiant efforts of their soldiers. Under normal circumstances, they were used to losing dozens or even hundreds of people, but under no situation were they prepared for facing repeated losses. Some of the refugees went to Malnovo, making the atmosphere in this district tense. At the Rastineo Castle in the Legastilo district, King Zamenhof XXVII worried about beast incursions and suggested they plan for retaking the Ochistomino and Norstomino districts. Not only did they deal with a nationwide crisis, but they were at the forefront of an existential one.

Later, the Western Defense Force led by commander Mortes Perentino planned on advancing with the knights at the vanguard on the retaking of Norstomino and the defense of the Fonnolvo district. They would be sending more heavy infantrymen to deal with the jet-black knight to bolster their defense and minimize casualties. They requested reinforcements from the Fumithazono and Ochidentabaro districts. Commander Zabir and some riflemen would fight against the jet-black knight wielding Type 89 assault rifles from JGSDF Lieutenant Oka Shinji, who trained them to use firearms. They waited for the inevitable all-out war that the demon army had prepared for the Fonnolvo district.

### Annonrial Empire

After the failed attack of the Demon Army’s Reconnaissance Force on the southern gate of the Sudamparo district, Zelsmalim communicated with Daxild Branmar through the wired manacomm inside the basement of the old, dilapidated house in the Malnovo district. Running along the tunnel to the Norstomino district, several thick, black wires were connected to a magically powered machine up on the surface, along with an antenna from where radio waves fly directly towards Mt. Vaglar. Zelsmalim stated Daxild Branmar that he couldn't pinpoint the location of the beacon that lies beneath the Esperanto Kingdom, but he had difficulty searching it in the royal castle with many guards. Also, he informed him about a human trespasser from the sky called Japan Self-Defense Force.

After having issued his orders to Zelsmalim, Daxild Branmar ended the communication and learned what happened to the demon army's reconnaissance force they sent to the south of the Sudamparo district that solider from Japan defected the jet-black knight. He doubted the involvement of Japan in the defeat of Demon Lord Nosgorath in the Topa Kingdom some days ago, but it reeked too much of fabrication of an intervening emerging country. He decided to send one more reconnaissance force to the northern water spring districts, where was a straight line from the water springs to the district, locating the royal castle. If they attacked there, they could reliably move on towards the center town districts, which they would draw guards from the royal castle to deal with the attack, lowering their defenses. He didn't have enough settle things before submitting the data to the Advanced Biological Laboratory and their Ordnance Department. He also sent in a direct observer with the reconnaissance force after being aware of the fact that the jet-black knight was defeated last battle.

Three days later, Daxild Branmar sent another demon army's reconnaissance force from the demon-held Norstomino district to attack the Fonnolvo district, where it would be hitting the northern water spring districts, next to the northern mining district.

## Battle

### Offensive Outside the Wall of the Fonnolvo District

Outside the walls that separate the Fonnolvo and Norstomino districts formed the Western Defense Force. Their modest force formations consisted of 500 heavy infantrymen, 400 swordsmen, 50 shock troops, 200 mages, 50 riflemen, and 50 magical archers to engage the demon army reconnaissance force. The rest of 1,150 men were split in half, with each half heading towards the defense of one of the two mining districts nearby.

When the demon army reconnaissance force arrived on the battlefield, Mortes issued the command via manacomm from atop the walls to open the gates. While his subordinates still followed his orders, he decided to stay back at the walls, marking another step in the modernization of their forces.

The jet-black knight rode on a rabid wolf with orc kings and orcs on both its flanks, moving at the head of a wedge. The heavy infantrymen formed into an inverted wedge. The rabid wolf-riding jet-black knight continued charging toward the heavy infantry and wielded a great longsword. Seeing that the rabid wolf was about to crash into the heavy infantry, the jet-black knight jumped high into the air as soon as they made contact, holding its longsword high to swing it down onto the mass of knights below. The heavy infantrymen saw him and immediately raised their shields. The jet-black knight then landed, but its blow was deflected by the mass of iron shields, causing it to tumble down onto the ground. They faced him standing in a line of shields from all directions. Four heavy infantrymen emerged from the line of shields and swiftly closed the distance. The jet-black knight swung his longsword towards one of the heavy infantrymen, who saw it and readied his shield. When the blade came upon him, instead of having his shield stand directly in the way, he had it move along the direction that the longsword swung, causing the blow to be deflected without injury to his person. The jet-black knight was unexpected, opening a hole in its defenses. One of the swordsmen quickly exploited this, striking at the jet-black knight's back.

The Western Defense Force was able to shave off some of its strength. The heavy infantrymen were switching places, letting in fresh individuals while retiring the exhausted or battered ones, but it wasn’t tenable. After around three blows, their shields broke, forcing them out of the battle, which against the jet-black knight was very unfavorable for them. The platoon of orc kings engaged the other units of swordsmen, heavy infantrymen, and mages, and soon enough was slaughtered one by one. The shock troops, magical archers, and riflemen were dealing with the goblin horde behind the orc kings and were rapidly wiping them out by the dozen.

### Combat Shooting with Type 89 Assault Rifle

Mortes, who stood amongst the regulars down the battlefield, saw this routine and gave riflemen commander Zabir waiting to secure a shooting range on standby until the jet-black knight got exhausted from the fight. Zabir felt a sense of nervousness he had never done with fighting against the jet-black knight before. Mortes signaled him to ready immediately for shooting.

Following a shield-bearing heavy infantryman, Zabir emerged onto the center of the ring. The formation of shields surrounding the jet-black knight slowly changed from a ring to a crescent behind him, aware of the fact that he was now going to fire. He saw the jet-black knight's powerful attacks up close with the fear of facing such a monstrous beast. He aimed Type 89 assault rifle up at the center mass of the beast as he slowly paced towards position, waiting for Mortes's signal before the jet-black knight's weakened. The jet-black knight was still vigorously swinging around its longsword, overpowering the heavy infantrymen that it hit.

When Zabir was closing into about 10m from the dark knight, he prepared a lunge at him with a Type 89 assault rifle. The jet-black knight noticed that something was odd and suddenly swung its longsword towards Zabir. Mortes shouted to him to take it down immediately via manacomm. Zabir shot the jet-black knight on the right breast, with the bullet penetrating through the layers of armor and skin down into the flesh. Another rifleman had their shot graze the jet-black knight’s scalp, destroying the circle around its head. The jet-black knight then collapsed on the ground, with purple blood spewing out of its wounds.

The heavy infantrymen cheered him successfully in killing the jet-black knight as the kingdom’s strongest rifleman. The full-plate armor wearing Zabir collapsed on his knees, clutching the Type 89 rifle. In a few moments, Zabir observed the fallen, unconscious jet-black knight. He felt that he saw it move slightly. With the heavy infantrymen currently moving out to await new orders, Zabir pointed his Type 89 rifle towards the jet-black knight as he walked towards it. He saw its half-closed eyes looking up at the sky as blood ceaselessly oozed out of its chest. He walked closer to the jet-black knight as if it was no longer moving. The jet-black knight's blue eyes looked at Zabir, and then its hand grabbed onto his ankle. Zabir’s finger then clenched around the rifle’s trigger.

Meanwhile, an ogre who was an observer sent to survey the battlefield watched the situation unfold from atop a tall cliff through a pair of binoculars. He only noticed Zabir's presence with a strange rifle from the other rifleman, which wore full-plate armor, and was armed with the kingdom’s traditional musket. He mounted a rabid wolf and left for Mt. Vaglar to report it to Bahara.

### Reinforcements from the Districts of Fumithazono and Ochidentabaro

The jet-black knight’s defeat affected the magical beasts around the Norstomino district. The demons tend to follow the strongest. However, with one orc king defeated and 80% percent of the goblin horde wiped out, there was little cohesion. The various forces of the Esperanto Kingdom were now moving in to mop up the survivors. Mortes saw this as an opportunity to take back the Norstomino district.

The 100 heavy infantrymen, 300 swordsmen, 100 pikemen/halberdiers, and 100 shock troops emerged from the Fumithazono and Ochidentabaro districts, chasing down the hideous beasts who ran away. With the pikemen in front, they kicked down any magical beast who couldn’t get away in time. The heavy infantrymen and swordsmen, following quickly behind them, dealt the finishing blow, killing them one by one. The shock troops combed through the alleyways between houses, rooting out anything to hide as if venting their pent-up anger and resentment. The demon army’s reconnaissance force, which had lost their semblance of cohesion and morale, was easily slaughtered, with dozens wiped out quickly.

From the Ochidentabaro district, stonemason dwarves rushed into the scene, bringing the massive boulders. They then plugged these onto the gaping holes along the walls that bordered the Norstomino and Ochstomino districts to prevent the magical beasts from escaping into the neighboring districts.

With all these reports coming in, Mortes, brimming with satisfaction, proceeded to make the declaration that the Western Defense Force succeeded the victory in recapturing the Norstomino District. They cheered with joy emanating across the Norstomino district. Mortes and the knights would be busy for the rest of the day, thoroughly exterminating the beasts that had taken shelter in Norstomino and returning the district to its former functions as part of the kingdom. Upon hearing of the news, the other districts, including the Rastineo Castle, were overcome with the joy of victory, and celebrations popped up all over.

## Aftermath

After mopping up the remaining demons, the knights of the Western Defense Force promptly transferred the wounded back to the garrison and the hospital in the Novalvo district. Reaching the knights hospital, they found a throng of people huddled all around and healed their wounds. Zabir and the knights brought the captured jet-black knight to the hospital for examing.

When Oka Shinji arrived at the hospital from the Ravoleo district, he noticed Zabir standing off to the side with the jet-black knight on the only bed occupant in the room. They learned the person inside the armor of the jet-black knight was a male ogre. When the magic doctor examed the unconscious jet-black knight, he figured out that its lung was injured. The body structure of the jet-black knight was similar to that of humans. Oka wondered if they referred to the jet-black knights as the mindless enemies. According to the king and Mortes, the jet-black knights never spotted consuming humans. If they were only being controlled, then there should be a way to help them. They didn't know if they could communicate with the jet-black knight. Valsas Gilbernik and Oka decided that the jet-black knight would be sheltered at the Gilbernik household in the same manner as a prisoner of war.

At Mt. Vaglar, the ogre sent to reconnoiter the Norstomino district had returned. He reported to Daxild Branmar that he witnessed the jet-black knight was surrounded by several heavy infantrymen, and when it got exhausted, it was gunned down by a gunner at point-blank range. However, he was not aware of the retaking of the fallen districts after leaving the Norstomino district. Consequently, Daxild and his Annonrial subordinates did not know that the mining districts returned to Esperanto. It was all down to the faulty demonic control device and the incompleteness of orders given. Their operation to attack the Fonnolvo district and occupy the northern water spring districts was a failure. Then they shouldn’t have sent a recon force in the first place, since if that was how the Esperanto Defense Force carried out their strategy, they shouldn’t be able to hold out against the full force of the demon army. According to Zelsmalim's report, he couldn't infiltrate the castle for searching the beacon as the guards never left their positions when the demon army attacked the Sudamparo and Fonnolvo districts. Daxild Branmar had a strategic plan with the full force of Bahara's Demon Army to invade the Esperanto Kingdom and cleanse the people in around two weeks. He would recover the beacon after the Esperanto Kingdom was reduced to nothing.

Unbeknownst to Daxild Branmar, due to a flaw in the demonic controls device, Zelsmalim was able to contribute Oka Shinji, Saffine, Justide, and Valsas at the Gilbernik house so that the entire demon army would be an all-out attack on August 31st, turning them surprised. They went to the castle and informed King Zamenhof XXVII and the chancellor that The Esperanto Kingdom put an end to work operations and speeded up the preparations leading to August 30th before beginning the demon's invasion the next day.

## Outline Map

1. On August 10th, the 213 demons of the Demon Army's Reconnaissance Force attacked the Fonnolvo District again. The 1,250 soldiers of the Western Defense Force led by Mortes succeeded in neutralizing the Black Knight, the de facto commander of the force.
2. The entire force of the Demon Army's Reconnaissance Force collapsed, and a total of 600 troops from the Fumithazono District and the 1st Company of the Okidentabaro District entered the area. The battle moved on to the cleanup of the remnants of the Reconnaissance Force and the monsters and demonic beasts that had nested in the Nordostomino District. The Royal Esperanto Knights succeed in recapturing the Nordostomino District.