One Will Survive Part VI: The Battle of Tasfeya

**One Will Survive Part VI: The Battle of Tasfeya** is a chapter in *Pax Regalis*. In this chapter, the Rivarosian forces march to Tasfeya. It takes place in Scorpio 4003 AFL.

## Transcript

**Y**AY! Hooray! We made it! We survived Nadraah! Now we'll liberate Tasfeya. I sure hope that it's not gonna be more prone to earthquakes than that town that's northly ahead of us I guess. Also, do I mention that while Halloween is coming to an end, we're going to celebrate... *Pasalamatan* (thanksgiving in Tagalog)? Well, after all, it's a mixture of American and Canadian versions of Thanksgiving days, which can both happen in your world. Now let's take a difference.

Two Pasalamatans can happen in the second Buwanaraw of Virgo and the fourth Dumakulemaraw of Scorpio? We only started to celebrate it annually when the indigenous peoples came together with the dominant colonial powers like Belgica, Britannia, Dania, Batavia, Gallia, Germania, Italia, Lusitania, Rossia, Hispania, Suecia, Nippon, Osmania, Siam, the United States, the Habsburg Realm, the Dual Monarchy, Curonia, the Commonwealth, the Holy Roman Empire, Maleth, Sicilia, the Knights, Maghrebia, Cathay, Caledonia, Australasia, Aotearoa, South Aferia, Nusantra, and many more.

That's to show how thankful for what you have and the bounty you and your people might get every year while giving thanks to Bathala for helping the pilgrims and colonists alike to survive their very first brutal winters, *habagats*, typhoons, earthquakes and many other natural disasters that can happen in respective colonies.

How can you celebrate that? Well, you can spend time with your family, feast, do varied religious practices, giving thanks to Bathala, berryball games, cricket games and parades. We can eat a turkey that's stuffed with a duck, a chicken and bacon, a ham, mashed potatoes, stuffings, pumpkin pies and many more, including non-alcoholic drinks.

At the same time, most indigenous peoples know how to do crop feasts that would include a harvest meal and various ceremonial dances while teaching colonists how to fish and farm at the same time. Man, you don't wanna forget about cranberry sauces, sweet corns, autumn vegetables. Pumpkin pies are sweet and savoury at the same time, containing cinnamon, *luya*, nutmeg, cloves and custard. Stuffings are with bread crumbs, rice, cornbread and oysters too. You'll get sweet potatoes baked with marshmallows on top and wheat-based rolls too. Pureed sweet potatoes are there too, plus cornbread rolls and muffins are there too.

No matter, most of us shopped in Black Friday and Cyber Monday, where we get the luxurious cyberware that's imported from sky cities too. You can spend tons of times in outdoor activities as well, and not to mention that you can have cranberries too. Every year, turkeys presented to Sinayan kings, queens, princes, princesses, presidents and many other leaders would be pardoned.

And now folks for some healthy advices every *Pasasalamatan*: avoid indigestion by relaxing and eating slowly. Take time to rest a meal before any physical exercise. Try using antacids to relieve discomfort too. Eat smaller amounts of food, otherwise you'll get a heart attack and/or a gallbladder attack. Make sure to designate a sober rider to make sure you arrive home safely.

Oh, and now I can see the river, the bridge. Yeah. I think we're making good progress finally. And the scroll is inside a bottle with a cork on it to keep it sealed.

As Geralt began to swim to the river, he got the bottle, and swam back safely without having a single oxygen to lose itself off. Now he's darn very good at swimming.

I smiled gently, and when he was climbing up the bridge, it was a surprise that I can open corked bottles up without a corkscrew. My fingers are obviously strong. I tapped the bottom of the bottle and the scroll fell out from the bottle to my right palm. I opened it up and... hey, let's see what it looked like!

"Well done Captain. It was never in doubt, was it? You will be glad to know that our next target, Tasfeya, is not ſo prone to earthquakes. There ſhould be nothing untoward in the next miſſion -- get in there, deliver a healthy doſe of vengeance, then get out of there!"

Okay, that's just meh for the most part, so I guess I'll try to get a turkey for me and my friends to dine together for it as a *Pasasalamatan* celebration before things get colder for the worse... or if it was for the Southern Hemisphere, get hotter for the worse.