ACT 2
Egypt—one of the four great civilizations of the world. People were already settling and growing crops there as early as 5000 BCE. While much of the land was dominated by infertile desert, every summer, the inundation of the Nile River moisturized the ground, creating rich soil. The area the native peoples cultivated with this boon came to be known as “Kemet,” meaning “the black lands,” which referred to the dark soil the Nile blessed them with annually—it would not be known as “Egypt” until much later on.
Time continued to pass, and civilizations within the land continued to rise and fall, until finally, in 3500 BCE, the land was consolidated into two main regions. These are what is now known as Upper Egypt, an area dominated by the upper basin of the Nile; and Lower Egypt, occupied by the Nile’s lower basin. Then, in 3150 BCE, the pharaoh Narmer of Upper Egypt conquered Lower Egypt, bringing it under his rule and unifying the two Egypts in the process, giving rise to what is now known as the First Dynasty of Egypt. Several other dynasties subsequently rose up and crumbled until 16 BCE, when Ahmose I expelled the Hyksos from Lower Egypt and unified the country once more, ushering in the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt...
“Tch! Mother understands nothing!”
Within a room of the Great Temple of Amen, a young man spat vitriol. Looking to be in his midtwenties, he possessed piercing eyes, a muscular build, and a dominating presence that called to mind that of a lion or tiger. Even from just these qualities, there was little doubt that this man was destined for greatness. His name was Thutmose III, and he currently stood at the apex of Kemet as its pharaoh. However, ever since his infancy, his stepmother Hatshepsut had in fact held all the power, relegating his status to a mere figurehead.
“Why must we settle things calmly? Peacefully? Amicably? Nonsense. Those Mittani barbarians formed an alliance to bring Kemet to its knees, took back the city of Megiddo, erased the hegemony of the Four Regions Kibratim Arba’im, and you’re still going on about peace?!" Unable to find another outlet for his anger, he slammed his fist on top of a nearby desk. Half of that anger was directed toward himself. Despite the severity of the situation, he was simply too powerless to usurp authority from his mother. While her blunders concerning the Four Regions were egregious indeed, Kemet itself was currently at peace, and its citizens were living in the lap of luxury, so she had many supporters.
Thutmose III had heard the same excuses time and again.
“The barbarians will have a hard time invading thanks to Kemet’s geography. All we need to do is hold the line."
“We have the blessing of Mother Nile on our side, after all.”
“What else could we possibly require?”
Those in the royal palace refused to see a need to change the status quo.
“Cowards, all of them! Have we as a society all forgotten the humiliation our predecessors suffered at the hands of the Hyksos?!” Kemet’s geography may have made it difficult for outsiders to invade, but Thutmose III had learned enough from history to know that such an advantage was far from an absolute defense. Kemet wasn’t infallible, nor impenetrable. After having taken the Megiddo region with so little resistance, that fact had no doubt become clear to the anti-Kemet alliance as well. At this rate, there was nothing stopping them from coming after the Nile’s blessing next.
“By the time that happens, it will be too late. We must reclaim the land of Megiddo first and show them the true might of Kemet!” Thutmose III gripped his fist tightly, determination burning within his heart.
Though currently a pharaoh in name only, this was the man who would one day go on to conquer the most territory in all of Egypt’s history and gain a reputation as the “Egyptian Napoleon.”
“I see... So this is the city of Megiddo.” Muttering to himself, Thutmose III gazed up curiously at the towering fortress wall before him. There was nothing like this in Kemet—being surrounded by a desert was enough of a defense on its own. Well, “nothing” was saying a bit much—there were a few fortifications here and there, but it was the first time he’d ever laid eyes on one this majestic.
“Ph-Pharaoh, forgive my impertinence, but we shouldn’t be here. We’ll only put ourselves at risk with these insufficient numbers.” The young man cowering behind him, his foster brother and trusted confidant, spoke timidly. His name was Radames, and he was serving as Thutmose Ill’s bodyguard today. He was certainly loyal, and he knew his way around a sword. However...
“Fool, don’t call me pharaoh here. Doing so places us at great risk of discovery.”
...for all his strength, Radames was a coward and a dunce, marring an otherwise shining jewel.
“H-Huh?! F-Forgive me, LordThut!”
“You’re forgiven. Just be careful, and calm down, will you? You’re going to make us seem suspicious.”
“F-Forgive me!” Seeing Radames retreat further and further into himself, Thutmose III let out an exasperated sigh. His brother could be the ultimate bodyguard if he just had a bit more courage—although Thutmose III acknowledged people couldn’t change overnight.
“Well, be at ease for now. I highly doubt anyone suspects that I came here to snoop around.” A wide, mischievous grin appeared on his lips. They had come to the city of Megiddo for reconnaissance. By staking out the city, Thutmose III hoped to piece together some sort of strategy for a counterattack. Naturally, it was bold and reckless for a pharaoh to take it upon himself to do grunt work like this, but failure was absolutely no longer an option. He had to see it with his own eyes to make absolutely certain. As it happened, he’d already learned much. Particularly valuable was a greater understanding of the geography of the city of Megiddo. There was only so much one could learn from hearsay alone.
“Seems tike a direct attack will be more difficult than I’d anticipated "The towering Carmel Mountain Range to the west would be particularly problematic. They would have to circle around the mountains from either the north or south, but both options would involve a time-consuming detour. In war, pincer attacks were usually the quickest path to victory, but with the mountains in the way, it would be difficult to coordinate. Their logistics would be stretched thin. What’s more, the enemy had likely already deduced the Kemet army would need to travel around the mountains from one of two directions and planned a suitable counterattack. No matter how he looked at it, it was too risky.
“Next!”
“Oh, looks like it’s my...no, our turn,” Thutmose III said.
Once the guardsman at the gate called for the next person in line, they paid the entry fee and passed through the gates.
“Whoa!” Thutmose III let out a cry of amazement as he marveled at the scenery of the city spread out before his eyes. The bricks used to build the city were the same sun-dried ones they used in Kemet, but perhaps because this was a different location, they gave off a different impression. It made him realize he really was in the Four Regions. The uniqueness of the temple he spotted in the distance was particularly striking. While Kemet’s pyramids were made of limestone and were impeccably triangular, the ziggurats constructed in the city of Megiddo consisted of brick and didn’t resemble triangles at all, thus lacking beauty and finesse.
“Well, it seems they’re no match for us when it comes to aesthetics, at least.” Thutmose III said with a scornful laugh. This city prided itself on these ziggurats—from just that fact alone, the crudeness of their technology was more than apparent. If he had to guess, he’d say Kemet’s technology was probably a hundred, no, perhaps even two hundred years ahead.
“So, our true enemy is Hattusa, then,” Thutmose III decided. The Kingdom of Hattusa’s army farther north was more coordinated and powerful than Kemet’s army could ever hope to manage. Rumor had it that they employed the use of a “divine metal,” and as improbable as it sounded, it was apparently the truth.
“Take note: their king, Tahurwaili, is not to be underestimated,” Radames explained.
Tahurwaili—the current ruler of Hattusa. Known as one of the strongest warriors around, his name had even traveled as far as Kemet. Having quashed one rebellion after another in Hattusa no sooner than they had cropped up, King Huzzjia I, the king at the time, had this to say of his ability: “Tahunvaili’s spear is worth its weight in gold. ”
Though he’d left Hattusa around twenty years ago, he had suddenly returned ten years later, built up an army in the several years that followed, then usurped the throne. There was no doubt he was just as formidable as the rumors suggested.
“And yet, because of the way he stole the throne, it seems his tenure as king is on shaky ground.” The corner of Thutmose Ill’s mouth turned up into a sly grin. The biggest threat in the anti-Kemet alliance was unable to make a move. In other words, there was no better time to act. Therefore, he wanted to make this reconnaissance mission a success at any cost.
“Now, now, Lord Thut. Let’s leave the complicated political talk for later and wet our whistles with a stiff drink first. It’s been a long journey, so don’t you think we should take a breather for a bit?” With an ingratiating smile, Radames pointed to a sign indicating a tavern and offered to lead the way.
“Wimp,” Thutmose III almost said out loud, but then he reminded himself that it was also a leader’s duty to keep his soldiers content. “All right, I suppose,” he said with a nod, and they made their way to the tavern.
Thutmose III was hard on others just as much as he was hard on himself. However, toughness alone didn’t get people to follow you. Radames might’ve been a hopeless coward, but as upsetting as that was, his brother’s timidness also functioned as a good indicator of when he was being too strict.
“Welcome, welcome!” The middle-aged man at the counter, likely the owner, waved them in with a gruff voice. However, that greeting went in one of Thutmose Ill’s ears and out the other—a certain area within the tavern had immediately grabbed his attention.
Thutmose III was, by his own estimation, one of the three greatest warriors in the entirety of Egypt. Seasoned warriors such as he were able to roughly gauge the strength of their opponent at a perfunctory glance. . . and that was why he could tell.
“Who in the world are they'?'." he blurted out. On the surface, the tavern-goers he’d caught sight of appeared to be a group of delicate, incredibly gorgeous women, but the alarm bells that had gone off in his head the moment he’d entered the establishment told him otherwise. He had walked into a den of monsters.
“We made quite a profit this time, didn’t we?” Feeling the hefty weight of the leather bag tied to his waist, Nozomu cracked a sly grin. Half a year had passed since his family had started their trade venture, and he felt he was finally beginning to get the hang of merchant life.
“I’m not a puppy yapping at my dad’s heels anymore, Miss Sigrun. Now this dog has teeth!” he muttered to himself. He hadn’t forgotten what Sigrun had said to him six months ago, and at the time, no one had denied it. Even his own father Yuuto had merely looked away awkwardly. In other words, they had all agreed with Sigrun’s assessment. At the height of his anger, he’d wanted to retaliate, “You’ll regret underestimating me!” However, in the end, he’d realized that nothing he could say would change their opinions and that he’d have to prove them wrong with actions, not words.
Perhaps fueled by spite, he’d put his nose to the grindstone and had fervently studied to become a merchant. Fortunately, judging by this latest transaction, it seemed he had some innate talent already. At this pace, he figured, it wouldn’t be long before the name “Iarnvidr Trading Company” was known throughout the entire Orient.
“Tee hee. Indeed, with this, even Lady Sigrun will surely see you in a new light, Nozomu.” Ephelia was practically beaming sitting beside him. She was the woman he’d looked up to like an older sister from an early age, and she’d gone on to become his crush and then his wife—as of three months ago, following a ceremony held on the island that was their family’s base, she and Nozomu were officially married.
Just seeing her gentle smile was enough to set Nozomu’s heart aflutter, and he turned away from her bashfully. In truth, she was the entire reason he’d tried so hard to become a merchant in the first place. Outside of wanting to be acknowledged by his father, a part of him also wanted to gain the means necessary to provide for his wife on his own merits.
“Not just Miss Sigrun, but my good-for-nothing dad too. I’ll show them all,” Nozomu spat as he made a fist. After retiring, his father Suoh Yuuto had started to take it easy—too easy, in fact. He’d left all of the actual management of the company to Linnea, and he spent every hour of every day goofing off with his children, fishing, or playing Othello or shogi with his wives—and currently, he had taken an interest in sugoroku, essentially a Japanese version of Parcheesi. In the six months since they’d touched down on the island, Yuuto hadn’t done anything even resembling work.
“Goodness, ‘good-for-nothing’ is a bit much, wouldn’t you say? After all, he worked himself to the bone for twenty years. Don’t you think he deserves a bit of a break?”
“I think you’re all too soft on my dad,” Nozomu fired back, mercilessly rejecting Ephelia’s attempt to smooth things over. Yuuto was still only a little over thirty. He still had so much life in him, so why was he already acting like a retired old codger? What kind of man lazes around and lets others do all his work for him?! “I’m being serious here, Ephy. I never wanted to see dad be this...lame.”
Everyone always put Yuuto on a pedestal, gushing over how cool he was, but Nozomu didn’t get what was so cool about having a lazy father. Truthfully, he was disappointed in him, and it upset him even more that his father’s wives allowed him to conduct himself in that manner. Nozomu fervently wished that just once, one of them would give his father a swift kick in the rear.
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