《Nexus》 Prologue - Lifes Lottery I often heard that a good family generally produces a well-adjusted productive member in the society. If that is so, then I lost the life lottery big time. Born to a whore of a women who only gave life to me and to my siblings so she can collect child support and welfare. Who knows what her circumstances were. Maybe she herself was a victim or simply a lazy bitch. After living under her authority I¡¯m 100% sure it¡¯s the latter for her. I was always little smarter than your average kid. Kept me out of trouble and less work to get decent grades at school. Getting too good of a grade in my ghetto school will get your ass kicked by other looser kids. That crab in the bucket mentality. Tests were too easy, so I skipped half of my homework to intentionally get openly scowled by the teacher during class. Even with this I pulled B average in all my subjects. I can¡¯t believe 20% of the grade is based on doing homework. Half the kids copy of each other anyways. How¡¯s that supposed to rate how much you learn. I hated this shitty neighbor. Yeah, I was basically trailer trash. That women whom I refused to call mother anymore used most of the money on herself as she partied and eat herself to fatness while her kids lived of scraps. I and my siblings where always hungry as kids. I started working under the table jobs when I turned 15, but it was never enough. I used most of the money to feed my younger siblings in secret. I couldn¡¯t stand doing nothing while my kid brothers and sister suffered as I did. As my siblings were getting older they needed more money, so I threaten to report her if she didn¡¯t hand over my share of the child care from a father I¡¯ve never seen. In truth I want to report this woman, but I couldn¡¯t. I knew us siblings would be separated and I didn¡¯t want that. We only had each other and as the big brother, I stepped up to the plate to take care of them. In any case, combined with my pocket money and my share of child support wasn¡¯t enough for the 4 of us siblings. That led me to join my buddy Alex in working for the local dealers. They said because we were underage from under privileged home the law would not be hard on us. These fuckers loved recruiting juveniles. Needless to say, I never joined. On the way to the dealers, Alex was gunned downed by competitor to make an example to scare away potential recruits. I receive the message loud and clear. I was taken to the police stationed for questioning. That¡¯s when officer Johnson introduced me to one of his Army buddy. A retired Major. He was on a wheelchair in old army fatigue. Major Profit. Yeah, awesome name. I later learned that he was a badass during his time in the service. Fought in the New Babylon conflict in 2089 to 2092. When the insurgents refuse to accept the Persian government making peace with the American Government. I guess old hatreds die hard. A very bloody conflict that won him a blood bar, combat commission in support of New Babylon¡¯s decision. Stolen novel; please report. Then in 2099 he was sent to South America with 82nd Airborne Division, 1st BCT. An expedition to suppress new strains of highly addictive drugs that were not killing but mentally crippling people and costing trillions of tax dollars in medical care where ever the drugs are pushed. It was a flagrant attack on the people of North America. The new strains were so well made to mimic the usual narcotics that it was difficult to identify, not even the pros could identify them. Major Profit had a very promising career, he was promotable to Lieutenant Colonel, until a mortar round landed at his feet. Taking both his legs and his family jewels. Shit! He would have probably made General if he wasn¡¯t medically discharged. Major Profit filled the father role I never had. Thinking back now, I really needed someone like him to teach me to be a man. A real man! I didn¡¯t realize it then, but Officer Johnson did. They saw me struggling, trying to do the right thing, but making wrong choices. They were both good men doing what was right in their eyes. They counseled, helpwd, and mentored me for the next 2 years. They helped me to think constructively for my life instead of reacting to my environment. And in doing so I would better serve as a better example for my younger siblings. In the process I joined the ROTC program to pay for university to make something of myself, and receiving a Sergeant¡¯s pay really helped me to financially help my younger sibling. After my Airborne School, before I start Junior year, I was visiting my siblings. Jason 16, Rene 15, and Jose 14. That¡¯s when the shit hit the fan. Jason did what I did and got involved with the wrong crowd trying to make some cash. He wasn¡¯t strong enough to take that mad women¡¯s shit every day. So he ran with the bad crowd to run away from home. That bitch drove him out. When I tried to physically take Jason from the drug dealers, the Fuckers actually shot my ass. I told them I¡¯m his older brother and his coming home. The last words I heard was ¡°nobody leaves once they join¡± Wow, I can¡¯t believe I died like a bitch. It was just too na?ve thinking I could just walk in and walk out. These fuckers were bat shit crazy murdering so casually. Being in the university environment for the last 2 years really made me complacent. I really did lose in the life lottery. I really tried to make a stand for my younger siblings. It hurt to watch them suffer as I did. I could have run way but I chose to make a stand. I can¡¯t say I have too much regrets as I tried my best with occasional fuck ups. I, Chris Garcia, a white looking red hair dude, with a Latino last name from a father I¡¯ve never seen, died at the age of 20, to a drug crazed addict. That¡¯s some shit! Well, this is the short version of the story. Ch1 - Not Hell Nor Heaven Woot! I''m excited. First Chapter.If any see some problem please let me know. It will be a while before I figure out what works for me as I find my style of writing. PS. I really hate info dumps. So it will effect how I write. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°Greetings Chris Garcia!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°What the Hell¡± as Chris stumbles to get his bearing and feeling for injuries on his body from the gun shots. Chris found himself floating in darkness surrounded by endless stars. The pains, where¡­ So I must have died and gone to hell. ¡°No. Not Hell. This is in-between life.¡± states a monotone feminine voice. As Chris looks to the direction of the voice, he sees a feminine silhouette of soft light. If he didn¡¯t know any better, he would judge it to be some sort of an energy being. ¡°Are you some sort of a Goddess?¡± asked Chris. ¡°Or an Angel to judge my soul?¡± ¡°What I am, is irrelevant. And no. I am not here to judge you. What I offer you is a chance to start with a winning lottery in your next life Chris Garcia.¡± The voice replied. ¡°What do you mean by Lottery?¡± asked Chris while squinting his eyes at the silhouette. ¡°I¡¯m just borrowing your word as you seem to like to use the word Lottery so much. I suppose in a sense you can consider yourself to have won the lottery to be picked for this opportunity.¡± The voice replied amusingly in its own monotone voice. Chris though he could almost see the silhouette smile with that. Without sensing any hostility from the silhouette, ¡°Can you please explain more in detail. I¡¯m finding it hard to take this all in, considering I just died.¡± Chris asked slowly. ¡°For whatever reason, the Multiverse has chosen you to participate in the Nexus. It is a place where the universes intersect one another. Those who are chosen will live as they would without natural death. Only way to die is to be killed. Your objective is to grow strong in any way you can. You are one of uncountable multitude throughout time who has, who are, and who will participate in the Nexus. Some will befriend you, some will ignore you, and others will seek your death for power.¡± The being continued to inform in a monotone voice. ¡°Like all the other participant, you will be given abilities to help you survive and thrive if you are strong enough. Or die trying. And the reward is the accumulation of all your strengths and successes that will be carried onto your next life. Which would equal to being born with extraordinary talent, higher family status, etc.¡­ Hence, starting with a winner lottery.¡± She pauses for few second. ¡°May I ask why?¡± ¡°You may ask, but there is no need to explain to you what you cannot understand. The Multiverse is supernatural by its nature. Even a higher level beings such as myself can only imagine and speculate my understanding and play our roles in it. But, by participating, perhaps you can glimpse into its nature to understand a little. So, will you participate Chris Garcia?¡± ¡°Do I have a choice?¡± asked Chris. ¡°Of course you have a choice. Unlike the birth to your mother, whom you had no choice to make, you can choose. You can choose to go as you are and take your chances on the wheel of fate to whom you will be born to in your next life, or you can choose to gather your strength here, in the Nexus, and take with you to your next life to get a better head start.¡± Fate huh! Thinking of that selfish women brought a scowl to Chris¡¯s face. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll do it, but can you tell me about the world?¡± He quickly answered. If there is a chance he won¡¯t be born into similar situation in his next life, there is no point in hesitating. ¡°No, I will not. Your Journey is your own, and I will not deny you of your discovery of yourself in the Nexus, which is also a form of growing strong. However, Nexus is a forever changing world. So be mindful of it.¡± ¡°What of my ability?¡± ¡°Your powers and ability will be made known to you when you enter the Nexus. If not, you will have to learn them as you go. If you so choose to, you may think of me and I will commune with you to answer questions you may have that I am allowed to answer.¡± The silhouette continues to talk in monotone. Chris wonder if the silhouette is some sort of a supernatural automation. There is a part of him that doesn¡¯t want to believe this is happening. At the same time. He felt as if he were simply reacting and going with the flow. ¡°If you are ready, I will transport you to a relatively safe location to start your journey.¡± Quickly reflecting on himself. Strange, why do I not feel any feeling for my poor siblings. Does being dead effects my emotion? It feels really uncanny not feeling any lingering feelings for his family or friends. Or perhaps, I really hated that world and I¡¯m just glad to have left. Well, either way I¡¯ve made up my mind. ¡°I¡¯m ready. Please send me to the Nexus!¡± ¡°I guarantee that you will be safe for a short while, so take your time looking into your ability. But don¡¯t take too long. Nexus can be very volatile at times.¡± And in a blink of an eye he was in a glade overlooking a large valley. In the center of the of the valley ran a contour line going all the way down and beyond. Following the contour line in the distance, Chris could make out some sort of artificial structure that appear to be a town. But before he could observe his surrounding any further Chris started to feel a gradual feeling of his blood pulsing in his body and pressure building up in his brain. Feeling light headed from whatever is happening to his body he laid down on the long grasses letting whatever is happening to him take its course. This must be the ability the silhouette was talking about now taking place. And why am I so easily accepting of my situation? I can¡¯t seem to think too clearly either. Then strange numbers and status started to form in his mind. Name: Choose new name. (Names have power over your soul, for some, old names cause negative causation from your former life) Level: 1 Current Race: Human INT: 19 SPIRIT: 15 STR: 10 CON: 10 DEX: 10 MANA: 24 HEALTH: 20 EXPERIENCES: 0/1000 REPUTATION: 0 UNIQUE: Summoning: 1 .0000% Resources: 24.0000 Personnel: 0/15 Logistic support: 0/26.00 You receive 1% experiences from some ofyour summoned minions. Their souls are linked to you in this world. AIR: 0.000% WATER: 0.000% FIRE: 0.000% EARTH: 0.000% Relevant Skills: Rifle: 2 .000% Pistol: 1 .000 Leadership: 1 .000% What the hell is this? Some sort of a game? And why do I only have 3 Skill? Well, I suppose the silhouette did say I will have to learn as I go. But this lack of skill is ridiculous. When Chris started to focus on the skill in his minds eyes. After many hours of difficulty of trying to understand it¡¯s meaning he innately understood what the ability represented. But why? So he focused on thinking about the silhouette as per instruction. ¡°Hello Silhouette person. I have some questions. Are you there? ¡°No, I am here, and you may ask.¡± In that same monotone voice. She became visible in front of him. Man, I can¡¯t tell if she¡¯s being a smart ass or simply just have no ego. ¡°Well I have my unique skills. I can understand that resources points are need to summon soldiers and equipment. And to gain points, I need to defeat adversaries. And the personnel are numbers I can summon, but where are these people coming from? And aren¡¯t I destroying lives by pulling them out of their world. This leaves a bad taste in my mouth.¡± ¡°You do not need to worry about their lives. They are already dead¡±. Replied the Silhouette. ¡°These souls were unable to let go of their past lives to move on. Their lingering attachment to their former lives has weakened them to the point they no longer have the spiritual energy to complete their journey to their next life. Hence, you would actually be helping them by summoning them to aid you. In doing so, they will gain new experiences to lessen their old life¡¯s attachment. Perhaps living here will fill the needs they could not fill or the regrets that held them. You will be helping them so they can eventually move on¡±. ¡°I see, but what is the reason for the discrepancy in the resource cost?¡± he asked looking at the cost modifier. ERA: WWI x1 WWII x2 COLD WAR x3 CORPORATE WAR x4 MODERN WAR x5 CORPORATE WAR II x6 IDEOLOGY WAR x7 ADVANCE WAR x8 RESOURCE WAR x9 CYBER WAR x10 FOREIGN SOUL +50%, FOREIGN EQUIPMENTS +10% ¡°Time lessens their attachment, but it also weakens their resistance to the summon. Therefore, cheaper to summon. The additional cost for Foreign is simply because you lack the sympathetic attachment to foreign culture to understand them. The price is paid to compensate for the discrepancy so your interactions are not hampered by the difference once summoned.¡± ¡°Also, why do I have only 3 skills? ¡°You do have other skills. Your common skills are not relevant in importance. Unless the skill advances to the point where they become relevant. Henceforth there is no reason to measure them. Your true skill manifest when you are tested. One never knows one¡¯s limit if they are not challenged. However Relevant Skill effects are more specific in nature. These skills effect your soul when you move on from the Nexus.¡± ¡°Ahh, yes I forgot. I¡¯m doing this for the bigger starting pot in my next life¡±. ¡°Now that I know of your abilities, be advised formerly known as Chris Garcia, only the participants know of this. For the masses who are born in the nexus this is the world they live in. and they cannot see the measurement, only the participants have the ability to see their own measurement.¡± ¡°The nexus is vast, no one has ever been able to map it in its entirety,¡± as she continued, ¡°for it is forever expanding, shrinking and her face forever changing. Good luck!¡± ¡°Thank you for your helpful information¡±. Said Chris. Wondering if she would only tell him this information after this ability became known. It¡¯s there a relationship? He questioned. As the connection ended first thing first, he decided to give himself a new name. Something cool. A name not given by that selfish bitch who¡¯s only reason to give birth to him was to use him and his siblings for her own selfishness. Chris thought to himself it would be an honor to name himself after Major Profit, but he decided not to. It may create unnecessary attachment. ¡°Alright, henceforth I will be known as Spike Phoenix. Yeah. That sounds cool¡±. Talking to himself with an amused smile. For the next few hours Spike went over his powers and abilities. But he repeatedly had to go over the options as he struggled to process and remember the information available to him. What the hell. It¡¯s like my short term memory went to shit. Magic seems to deal in Elements and compound elements when casting. Mana¡¯s are used for casting magic or summoning expendable supplies, such as ammo¡¯s, rations, and medical supplies, etc. Looking at who and what he can summon: Rank and resource cost: Private 1 Corporal 2 Sergeant 3 Platoon Sergeant and up 4 Lieutenant 5 Captain 6 Major 7 Lieutenant Colonel 8 Colonel 9 General and up 10 As for the equipment. The countless variant simply over whelmed Spike. And he had difficulty in processing and remembering what he saw. This caused him much frustration and anxiety. The eerie feeling, he was getting being alone in a very dense forest only made it worst. So he decided to stick with well tested common equipment from his military history for now. Fortunately for him, every soldier he summons will come equipped for their roll. Wow! No way he can afford a Landship anytime for 50 resource points. Chris quickly dismissed any idea of summoning something armored. Ok, I decided. Let¡¯s keep it simple so I don¡¯t wreck my brain cell. This is just too much for me and I can¡¯t process all this information. 10 Riflemen with basic gears in olive drab uniform. M1 Spring Field with 10 5round clip belts and another clip in the rifle, in addition to the 45 round stuffed all over their pockets and 40 additional round in their rollups. It wasn¡¯t even a real back pack but a blanket rolled up with their gears. And a bayonet tied to the rolled up they can¡¯t even reach. Plus 1 MK2 Grenade. And 3 days¡¯ worth of rations. Let¡¯s not forget the stylish M1917 helmet. Finally, M1911 pistol with holster and 2 additional 7 round magazines in a magazine pouch. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. 2 corporals with same gears to serve as team leaders. Chris knew this wasn¡¯t normal WWI organization, but felt satisfied. But most of all he wanted some other human presence to help in easing his anxiety. And 1 sergeant to help him lead the squad. Feeling his anxiety build up he stood up and Said ¡°Summon!¡± repeatedly to no effect. ¡°Hey, how do I summon?¡± ¡°Simply think of what you want and will it.¡± ¡°I see. Words along isn¡¯t enough.¡± Spike thought of what he wanted and thought of the resource available then willed his emotion. ¡°Sergeant Rector reporting for duty Sir!¡± snapping to attention. Holy shit that was sudden. Chris thought has he jumped a little, rapidly blinking his eyes. With little a hesitation. ¡°Ohm, at easy Sergeant. Actually Sergeant, I haven¡¯t received my commission yet. So you shouldn¡¯t address me as Sir. I was just about to enter my 3rd year in the Reserve Officer Training Course before I bought the farm.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not an issue Sir. You summoned us, you command us. In addition, we are thankful for the opportunity to move on to our next life. Besides, we¡¯d like to rack up as much goodies even after we are able to move on.¡± Sergeant Rector declared. ¡°I... I see. I will also need your help Sergeant Rector. My military training is incomplete and I will be relying on you to help me fill the gaps and to become a better commander.¡± ¡°It will be an honor Sir!¡± looking at the other 12 summon soldier, ¡°I think it¡¯s time for us to be introduced.¡± Spike nodded to acknowledge. ¡°Men, before we introduce ourselves, a quick reminder. Let¡¯s not mention too much of our past personal lives. We need to move forward and not live in the past.¡± ¡°Roger that Sergeant!¡± They acknowledged. ¡°Corporal Winston, Sir.¡± ¡°Corporal Washington, Sir.¡± Hmm Washington is black. I remember from my history lesson about discrimination during WWI era. Hopes it won¡¯t be a problem. ¡°PFC Korhonen, Sir.¡± ¡°PFC Muller, Sir.¡± ¡°PFC Martin, Sir.¡± ¡°Private Kirk, Sir.¡± ¡°Private Novak, Sir.¡± ¡°Private Jones, Sir.¡± ¡°Private Smith, Sir.¡± ¡°Private Smith, Sir.¡± 2 Smiths! I will have to separate them so I don¡¯t get them confused. ¡°Private Jones, Sir.¡± ¡°Private Gonzalez, Sir.¡± Hm. Another minority during much racial civil unrest era. Hope this won¡¯t be a problem. I¡¯ll just see how Sergeant Rector handles this. I¡¯m really feeling like a fish out of water. In the military, your last name essentially becomes your first name. They didn¡¯t volunteer any more information, and I think I shouldn¡¯t ask. I will know who they are through their actions as time progress. But they are all so young, I thought the WWI drafted all age group. But I suppose all military like them young and malleable. In any case, Spike just realized his organization was a sausage feast. Much different from his time line. With advancement of technology, women were able to serve in robot assisted body armor which equalized the playing field in many of the combat field. Eventually, 35 years ago, laws were passed for their requirement to registering for selective services. ¡°Gentlemen! Before we do anything farther,¡± Spike softly address them, ¡°I¡­ I need some time to reflect on all the changes. I need it. I just died less than 3 hours ago and I¡¯m having difficulty in processing all this.¡± Looking at Sergeant Rector. ¡°Sergeant Rector, I leave the security of our parameter to your professional judgement. I was told this area is relatively safe for a time, but I wasn¡¯t exactly told for how long. Let¡¯s not take any chances with the local wild life. Let secure this area as our temporary base. So do what you need to do Sergeant.¡± Feeling a bit relieved to have some human presence, he then he walked to the edge of the glade to look out to the unknown town in the distance just to realize he was still wearing his blue jeans, green T-shirt, and a running sneakers. Shit! I¡¯m gonna freeze my ass tonight. Let¡¯s check what I can get. 7 resources points left. Looking at cost, the summoning individual equipments were hella expensive Spike thought. 1 point for each M1911 9mm pistol. It cost 1 point to summon a completely gear soldier. Not very cost effective. However, looking farther down the cost list, for each point more he spends it doubles the amount received. (RP=resource point) 1RP = 1 pistol, 2RP = 2 pistols, 3RP = 4 pistols, 4RP = 8 pistols. Doubling each time until 10 resource are spent at one time. 10RP = 512. It seems all summoning cost can only go up 10 rank from the base cost for equipment and supplies, but not for souls. Spike could summon 1 soul or 1 pistol. What to do. Maybe he should just summon bodyguard instead of wasting a precious resource. His mana can be used to summon ammunitions and such. Having 2 more personnel slot. Well let¡¯s try it he thought. He summons 100 30-03rounds for 1 mana. Let¡¯s see how long it takes to get his mana back. It was a quick wait. It seems to take slightly less than a minute to regen 1 mana. This may change in the future as I get stronger. Wasting 1RP is just too wasteful for single item. Spike felt a nice breeze giving him a slight chill. I better tell the Sergeant to make a temporary fire pit so I don¡¯t freeze my nuts tonight. After playing around with the summoning with his mana, Spike looked into these elements for magic, but there were no spells nor abilities to use them. Opening his thought. ¡°Why do I have these elemental attributes if there is nothing in them to activate.¡± ¡°Discover them in the Nexus, then learn them.¡± Feminine monotone voice. Well, shit! Looks like I have work to do. For the rest of the time, Spike vegged out trying to work out his situation on a mental and emotional level. trying to clear his head, he eventually tried to meditated to no avail. Why do I not feel anything for my brothers and sister. I know I had no feeling for that bitch once I was old enough to figure out what was happening. Is this a reflection of the feeling that it¡¯s not my responsibility anymore or simply I¡¯m just glad it¡¯s over now! Was I tired of the daily struggle to be a good big brother? Or is this simply an effect from being dead.¡± Rest of the time, Spike mulled over his lack of emotion and tried to come to a closure to his former life. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°You think his going to be ok Corporal?¡± ask Private Smith as he looked at Spike sitting by the edge of the forest overlooking the valley. ¡°Most likely.¡± Replied Corporal Washington while digging a foxhole. ¡°The man just died. His just going to need a bit of time to adjust. Nothing to worry about.¡± Commented Private Kirk as he dug his own position with his shovel. ¡°Keep a clear head you all. None of us want to be recycled and god knows if we¡¯ll get another chance if we screw this up. We are the first, so let¡¯s do it right for everyone else.¡± Said Sergeant Rector ¡°Roger that Sarge!¡± ¡°Corporal Washington! You got Korhonen, Martin, Jones, Kirk, and Smith. Corporal Winston will take everyone else currently pulling security. Looks like we are going to be here for more than a few days. If not longer. So dig deep. Also dig out a temporary ammo depo in the center.¡± As he looked at the piles of munitions crates Spiked summoned near his sitting area. ¡°I¡¯m going to do a quick personal recon around AO (area of operation)¡± Sergeant Rector ordered.¡± ¡°Yes Sergeant! We¡¯ll start on it right away. Smith! Martin! You 2 get a start on digging a depo until we switch out with Corporal Winston¡¯s team.¡± Corporal Washington continued with concern as Sergeant Rector started to walk away. ¡°You need an extra security Sarge?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯ll be taking someone from Corporal Winston¡¯s team for security. You got the base until I¡¯m back.¡± ¡°Roger!¡± Corporal Washington replied. Walking up the ridge with high density of woods, Sergeant Rector quickly identified Corporal Winston¡¯s team as they discuss the terrain and how best to secure and patrol the parameter. ¡°Corporal! What do you have for me?¡± ask Sergeant Rector. ¡°Ah well, this area is a virgin forest Sarge. The vegetation is so thick it¡¯s impossible to patrol the area without cutting down the vegetation. Muller just came back from down the slope.¡± Looking at PFC Muller. ¡°Give the Sarge your report.¡± ¡°Right. Looking down from the slope the over growth of the vegetation is very thick for 3 to 4 klick at least, it¡¯s impossible for anyone to sneak up on us unless they are smaller than a house dog. When we leave this hill it¡¯s going to be hell cutting trail. It will probably take all day just to get down to the bottom of the valley.¡± ¡°I suppose that¡¯s good and bad. They really put the commander in a safe location.¡± Sergeant Rector mussed. ¡°Alright, I still want 4 guards up and patrolling at all time, and collecting fire woods. we know nothing of the area we are in. So consider ourselves in hostile environment. However,¡± looking upward to the heavy vegetation where the sky is impossible to see from the tall trees, ¡°against my normal judgment, I think we can make a small cooking fire. It should be enough to keep the small critters awaywhen not cooking anything. Also, lock and load all weapon, and be mindful of accidental weapons fire.¡± --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rest of the afternoon Spike looked out from the glade and reflected about his past life and his current situation. Having given his best to be the big brother, and every decision based off that, he couldn¡¯t really feel regret. I suppose the only regret I feel is that I will never know how my younger sibling will grow up to be. I just hope I was good enough role model to leave a good example for them to live their own life. Damn! Spike cursed at himself. He found himself more frustrated by the fact that he didn''t feel anything of his past life afterdying. What the hell am I thinking. I¡¯m dead now. With all his hopes and dreams gone Spike found himself very lost. But in this world, with the ability of summoning these souls from his world''s history, these souls needed Spike. And that gave him a sense of meaning. A sense of purpose. I suppose it helps when you are needed and wanted. ¡°Food¡¯s ready!¡± Realizing that he was actually hungry Spike got up and casually approached to the cooking fire. ¡°Oh, can you secure the extra ordinance I summoned Sergeant. I got a bit over zealous with experimenting.¡± Pointing to the stacks of several dozen crates while looking apologetically. ¡°I don¡¯t think we can carry all that. Maybe we can bury them or seriously make this area in to our base?¡± ¡°I saw that pile of crates Sir. So I already ordered the men to dig a temporary depot.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great. Thank you. By the way Sergeant, I notice we are having soup. Do we even have enough water for general consumption?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a problem Sir. The patrol found a natural water spring.¡± ¡°Oh, That¡¯s good.¡± For meals, the men got creative and made soup with the Reserve Rations and edible wild plants. Strangely, Private Kirk had a talent in identifying edible plants. He said he came from a poor family from the south and knowing what to eat is a matter of not starving to death. PFC Korhonen and Private jones also reported they were able to ID some of the plants. Everyone seemed to be pleased to know that not everything is completely unknown to them in this world. As for Spike, he was simply amazed that someone actually had been summoned with a cooking pot. With this he simply ate and laid down to try to sleep. Mentally and emotionally he was drained and very confused about what to do. The men loaned him a blanket to use since someone was always on guard and not using theirs. As the men were eating, they kept snickering with a big ass stupid smile as they chowed downed on the soup made with rations. ¡°Hot damn this taste good!¡± Then everyone burst out in happy laughter. ¡°Anything tastes good after almost 2 centuries of nothing.¡± Everyone agreed. ¡°I can¡¯t wait to try some local food. I hope they have something good.¡± ¡°Here! Here!¡± For now, Spike decided to simply listen to the men banter and enjoy the mood and take advantage of the safe area while it lasted. Then Spike remembered and sat up. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to bring up what may be a sensitive topic, but are you privates going to be OK withfollowing Corporal Washington orders? I remember from my history lessons there were lots of racial problems during your historic time?¡± Spike inquired. ¡°That¡¯s nothing to be concerned about sir. We¡¯ve all spent more time as small glowie lightbulb floating in darkness then having a physical body with skin color. Nobody cares for such superficial thing like race sir. Besides. We don¡¯t even know what our next life will be. Hell! We may not even be humans. It¡¯s a big ass cosmos, sir. We¡¯ve all had plenty of time to reflect. A man¡¯s soul is more important than the body that holdsit.¡± Corporal Winston Said. Everyone by the cooking fire nodded in agreement. ¡°That¡¯s good to hear. I¡¯m really glad.¡± Spike said with a pleased face. I like these guys. They are good people. Spike thought to himself as he laid back down to sleep. Ch2 - Hill with no name. Sleeping on the hard ground, Spike woke up with a stiff neck. And from the smell, breakfast will be the similar soup type from yesterday. The Reserve Ration simply didn¡¯t have enough variety and the men were using local wild plant life to supplement the taste. Damn, so I really died. Spike thought to himself as he walked to the edge of the clearing to relieve himself. Walking back after a quick morning relief, ¡°Morning Men!¡± as more men stirred to wake up. ¡°Morning Sir!¡± men waking up by the fire greeted back. ¡°How are you feeling Sir?¡± ask Sergeant Rector. ¡°I feel fine Sergeant. Thanks. Little bit of sleep seemed to have helped. I just find it a bit strange from my lack of emotional attachment to my former life. If anything I feel relieved and frustrated that I don¡¯t feel anything from the former life.¡± Spike replied. ¡°In any case, how much do you know what¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°Actually Sir, we know quite a lot for things that affects us. We all understand that we need to live in this place, if you can call it that. And grow strong to gain enough energy for our souls to move on. But once we gain enough spiritual strength anything extra will help us into our next life. As I briefly mentioned yesterday. So it¡¯s not only an opportunity to finally move on, but a chance to live a better life in the next world.¡± Sergeant Rector explained. ¡°But you know sir, this Nexus place is like living another life before the next. Something like an appetizer. But we all also innately know that if we are unable to ever move on from the nexus, or after certain recycles if we are given any, when our spiritual energy has been completely drained, we will simply seize to exist. Unfortunately, no one knows the said number of recycle if we keep failing.¡± Ok! Right. These men need me. ¡°I see. So we have a symbiont relationship. We need each other¡¯s help to gain this spiritual energy while we are in the Nexus and get the hell out.¡± Spike commented. ¡°I¡¯ve heard this ¡®better life¡¯ term multiple times now. And I kind of remember you mentioning it yesterday. Can you explain this term?¡± ¡°I think it is something along the line of being born a genius or rich parent, being talented, or some sort of higher status. Basically a stronger start up in the next life and more. At least this is what we all feel. And it seems to be linked to you. Do you not feel it Sir?¡± ¡°No. is it strange that I don¡¯t?¡± Spike asked. ¡°Hmm, well perhaps you are different. Considering that you have unique powers to summon us and you don¡¯t have our problem. We have been drifting in some unknown void for god know how long. And we all have a sense of this world like some sort of instinctual knowledge. Not specific knowledge, but something more along the general knowledge, but unable to find the right words to say.¡± Looking at the other soldiers eating breakfast. ¡°Any of you men sense something different?¡± Sergeant Rector asked the men. Everyone replied no, minus the 4 pulling security who are not present. ¡°By the way Sir, your eyes are red, I mean they are not exactly, but kind of blood red. It¡¯s a strong indication something is different about you.¡± ¡°What?¡± raising his life eyebrow. ¡°You should take a look at yourself when you get a chance later, but your eyes stand out.¡± ¡°I see. Well there is nothing we can do about how pretty my eye color is. Thank you for share your knowledge.¡± Said Spike. ¡°Then let¡¯s discuss our next move. We need information. and the closest place for information is that town, at least it looks like a town, about 7 klicks away.¡± Pointing upward. ¡°And the 3 suns in the sky tells us nothing of how to navigate. So we need to get into that town and make contact. If I decide to go I¡¯m fairly sure you men would stop me from doing it. So who wants to volunteer? Or maybe I should go but take everyone as security?¡± ¡°Well Sir.¡± Corporal Winston pitched in. ¡°I think we¡¯d all like to keep you lock up some place nice and safe, but I don¡¯t think this is how it works. Because, we all feel a bit of instinct to keep you alive as if you die, we would truly be fucked. Not only that, but there is that instinctual need to obey your command, not as some sort of mental slave, but more of survival need.¡± ¡°Yeah, I feel that too.¡± Few of the other men chimed in. and others nodding in agreement. ¡°So, insulating you from the world is not the best option, especially when you are making command decision.¡± Corporal Winton followed up. ¡°Aright then. We¡¯ll stay another day at least,¡± glancing at the large pile of munition, ¡°and bury the ammo crates. Then in the morning we¡¯ll think about moving out to the town. I think it¡¯s a bad idea to separate our small group. By the way. Has anyone seen any wild life yet?¡± ¡°No Sir. No of the men reported anything yet. Perhaps we are too high up on this large ass hill. However, Private Kirk heard some noise during his guard rotation last night. He thought it was some sort of small wild life. But without visually seeing it to confirm it¡¯s hard to say.¡± ¡°Ok. That reminds me, anyone come with a binocular?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a negative Sir. Those are for Platoon leaders and up. Or often picked up from the dead.¡± Replied Sergeant Rector. Damn, I don¡¯t want to burn what few points I have for a binocular. ¡°Ok. Sergeant Rector, do you think I should summon a Louie? I can summon 2 more soul. But I also don¡¯t have much resources to summon replacement if we lose men. ¡°Every gun counts Sir. And if you could I¡¯d like at least 1 medic for keeping us alive from recoverable injuries.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good point. 1 corpsman and having a Lieutenant early on would be a good. He can help me build up¡­. And I¡¯d really like to get access to a Bino.¡± Quickly making his decision. ¡°So be it!¡± Spike focused on summoning and burned up the last of his points. 5 points for Lieutenant and 2 points for an experience Medic. Spike figured having an experience Medic now would save lives. ¡°Lieutenant Jung reporting for duty Sir!¡± ¡°Corpsman Corporal Smith reporting for duty Sir¡± More than few snickers were heard with an introduction of another Smith. ¡°At easy.¡± You kidding me! Another Smith. ¡°Alright, everybody else back to detail. Let¡¯s go!¡± Sergeant Rector ordered. ¡°Grab a spot on the ground LT, we still have some food from breakfast left. Medic Smith you also. While you are eating, I¡¯ll bring you up to speed.¡± Putting his hand out to Lieutenant Jung for proper handshake. ¡°Spike Phoenix.¡± Spike introduced himself. Then others, the Sergeant and the Corporals introduced each other to the Lieutenant before getting on with digging and pulling security. Spike spent the next hour briefing both LT and medic on their situation. But Spike also briefed the Lieutenant on his abilities so he can help in his long term summoning for better tactical planning. ¡°And as my education is incomplete, I¡¯d like you to help me complete the military aspect of it. And you¡¯ll be helping me build the platoon you will eventually command. But right now, we need information. So tomorrow morning I¡¯m thinking we¡¯ll move to the town down the valley.¡± ¡°I understand Sir. I¡¯ll give you my best. But I can only teach what I learned as I¡¯m only a 2nd Lieutenant. I died on my second battle from a germen sniper.¡± Lieutenant Jung replied humbly. Spike thought the Lieutenant was just simply down playing his ability. He seems more confident than what he says. ¡°Very well. Then we''ll both learn as we go. 2 heads are better than 1 unripe cherry. You should go talk to sergeant Rector and get to know the men. And come up with some recommendation. We will talk after, but I need to talk to Corporal Smith¡± Spike said. ¡°Yes Sir.¡± ¡°Corporal Smith.¡± ¡°Sir.¡± ¡°Considering the fact that you are the only medic we have to keep us alive, we don¡¯t need you to be a hero. If anything, you may have to wait for the injured soldiers to be brought to you. At least wait until we get more medics before you charge out to the injured. You understand this?¡± ¡°Yes Sir. Loud and clear.¡± ¡°Also, I know you came with your medical pack, but you are allowed to use all expendable medical supplies without reservation. Just let me know when you are low on anything and I can summon as much as you need.¡± ¡°Yes Sir. That¡¯s good to know sir.¡± With the help of Corporal Smith medical knowledge, Spike was able to familiarize all the medical supplies that are used at the corpsmen¡¯s level. Over time, Spike felt confident that he will quickly master the list. In addition, he also learned more than his first aid level from his past training from thecombat life saver course. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ¡°We¡¯re still missing 2 shelter half.¡± Commented Sergeant Rector. ¡°Smith and Borg are still out on patrol they¡¯ll be rotating in soon Sarge.¡± Corporal Washington replied. ¡°Hmmm that¡¯s fine, I think 11 shelter half should be enough. After you pack the dirt hard, be sure to cover up the dirt with dry leaves. I don¡¯t want the local wild life digging up the ammo crates. And don¡¯t forget to booby trap the crate with the grenades.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take care of it Sarge¡± Corporal Washington stated. As the men were covering up the crate with the shelter half to prep for burying and cover up. Lieutenant Jung walks up to the ammo detail team. ¡°Sergeant Rector.¡± ¡°How are you doing Sir. Glad you can join us.¡± ¡°Damn good to be here.¡± LT acknowledge. ¡°Finally, out of that shit hole of a void.¡± Extending his hand to Sergeant Rector, properly greeting each other. ¡°The commander just brought me up to speed and I¡¯m making a quick change. Seems the commander isn¡¯t taking his personal security serious enough. Considering his situation, I suppose it¡¯s to be expected for a while.¡± ¡°Yes Sir.¡± Agreeing with the lieutenant. ¡°Let¡¯s pull 1 man from each team, put them as permanent bodyguard. He¡¯s our life line and we also have duties to keep him alive so the commander is given opportunity to call up other souls. So who do you recommend for the job.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good call Sir. Hmmm. I was initially thinking of putting an entire team as his bodyguard. Hmm. Let¡¯s pull PFC Martin and Private Gonzalez. Martin! Go find Corporal Winston and tell him Gonzalez has been reassigned. Tell him I¡¯ll explain the change when he comes in for rotation. Then both you and Gonzales report to the commander for permanent body guard duty.¡± ¡°Roger that Sarge.¡± Happily, Private Gonzalez replied as he quickly gathered up his gears and moved out with a purpose. ¡°Lucky bastard!¡± Private Jones shaking his head cursing as he kept digging a large hole in the ground. ¡°By the way Sergeant, have the men zeroed their rifle yet?¡± ¡°Not yet LT. When we were summoned yesterday and the commander seemed more interested in not bluntly revealing our location. And considering we are high up on the hill I was concerned how much the sound would travel. So I had planned to do so right before we left this hill.¡± ¡°I see. Then we¡¯ll do as you planned and zero the rifle on the morning we move out of here. I also noticed the commander isn¡¯t armed.¡± ¡°Ah. Well Sir. When were summoned, it was apparent the commander was going through some shock as he had just died and dropped in to Nexus. And will sir, I was a bit concerned he may hurt himself. And ultimately I believe he could summon any resources he needs, but from the earlier statement from the commander I overheard, he seems to indicate there are some restrictions I don¡¯t fully understand yet. In any case, at the time, my main concern was security while the commander was give some time to figured himself out¡± ¡°Ok, I understand. I¡¯ll take care of it.¡± ¡°Thank you Sir.¡± ¡°Before we bury the munitions,¡± as the LT looked over the item names on the crates, ¡°what¡¯s our current load out on the ammo?¡± ¡°Everyone is loaded with the standard 11 5 round clip, including the clip in the Springfield, 9 additional clip stuffed in their pockets, 40 additional round in their rollup. 4 grenades each. With the standard M1911 pistol load out. Should I increase anything sir?¡± ¡°No, the commander can summon them at will whenever he wants to.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good to know sir. Ah, for your information sir. There are no city slickers here sir. All of our boys can shoot. Which is a blessing amongst the first of us to be summoned.¡± ¡°That¡¯s really great Sergeant. I suppose only thing I can think of are the ammos¡­ have some extra for the zeroing so we don¡¯t use up our load out¡± ¡°Yes Sir!¡± ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We are too light. We need couple of machine guns, at least one, but there is nothing we can do about it now. The commander needs more resource points and somehow his personnel limitation needs to change to higher value. Pondering the information Spike shared. This world is just too weird. It feels like some sort of strange game. After the commander explained everything to me, there is no other way a grown ass man would think. Fine! Then let us play this game. I will do my damnest to protect my King so my pawns get promoted. And we will rule the board. But most of all, I don¡¯t want to drift back to that void ever again. I won¡¯t miss out on this chance to move on and to better myself and my next life. I am ready. Let¡¯s do this. Bring it! After making his round of the parameters, he pulled out his binocular to get a closer look at the town, but it was simply too far. Only thing they could make out was the fact it was some sort of a town with clearing around the town. Most likelyfarm fields. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. I wonder if I should just take a team and go recon the town. The town may be hostile, and are they even humans living there? What if they were some different sentient beings instead? Something tells me not everything in this world are humans. Lieutenant thought to himself as he walked toward the commander. First Mission. Survive! As Spike was deep in thought staring in to the flame LT walked up and announced himself. ¡°Sir, I just talked to Sergeant Rector. We¡¯ll be assigning PFC Martin and PVT Gonzalez as your body guard.¡± ¡°I see. I suppose it¡¯s an obvious decision.¡± Nodding to acknowledge bodyguards¡¯ assignment. ¡°And I believe instead of going directly to the town,¡± as he grabs a spot in front of the fire. ¡°let¡¯s spend some time reconing the town¡¯s surroundings. Once we get close enough my bino will actually be useful. Also sir, a quick question. Can you explain your logistic option of your ability?¡± Having a formal education in military strategies, Lieutenant Jung felt he needed it quickly understand the Logistic Support. ¡°Hmm, let me focus.¡± After a short pause. ¡°Interesting, I thought it was simply how many heavy equipment I can summon. In addition, if I designate any piece of equipment, they do not suffer from normal wear and tear from everyday usage. Only from actual combat damage during enemy engagement. So If I designate your rifle LT. you no longer have to do any daily maintenance.¡± ¡°That¡¯s excellent sir. Can you designate all of our M1 then? I¡¯d hate for them to take damage from the environment for simply carrying them. Especially when replacement parts are not available.¡± Quickly willing it his logistic slot gets filled to 14/26. Corpsman did not come with M1. ¡°I think I will us up the other 12 left over slot on the pistol. Any request on who LT?¡± Unfastening his pistol belt and handing it over the Spike. ¡°This one is for you, sir. We can¡¯t have you unarmed even with your body guards and I still have my M1. For the other 11 slots, I recommend we designate it for the Sergeant, 2 team leader and Corpsman Smith. And everyone but the 3 privates in Corporal Winston¡¯s team. And that will use up all the Logistic slots.¡± ¡°Done. Also, I was planning to stay here for few more days. But now that I have you LT. let¡¯s move out tomorrow morning. I feel if I delay our departure, I may never leave this hill.¡± ¡°Very good sir. And thanks for your vote of confidence sir.¡± ¡°By the way LT. let me borrow your Bino. I want to check out the valley from the glade entrance.¡± Handing over the binocular case. ¡°Roger sir. Also Sir. Next time, before you use your resource points let me know. I seem to have an ability to activate a requisition skill. It seems to indicate that it can reduce your resource cost. But I have no idea by how much until we try.¡± ¡°That¡¯s outstanding LT. Shit! If I had known this from the beginning I would have summoned you first! Damn!¡± ¡°We learn as we go sir.¡± ¡°Roger that LT.¡± ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°Man! Those lucky bastards. They got a sweet job of standing around looking puurtty!¡± complained Private Jones as he was literary up to his neck in dirt digging. ¡°Quit your yapping and keep digging Private¡± Corporal Winston warned. ¡°Corporal Winston. Where¡¯s Sergeant Rector?¡± ¡°He took Corporal Washington down the slope to scout out a path off this hill sir.¡± ¡°I see. I want you to start burying the munitions Corporal.¡± As the LT look down into the pit. ¡°We will be leaving the AO tomorrow morning. So be sure everyone gets a good night rest. It¡¯s going to be a long day tomorrow.¡± ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°Going down will be a bitch sir. I¡¯m not even sure if we can make it down by tomorrow.¡± Reported Sergeant Rector. ¡°It¡¯s that bad?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have to make a lot of detour as we go down. Between the impassible vegetation¡¯s and natural terrain, it will be time consuming as we look for a safe path. Better safe than breaking bones sir.¡± ¡°Alright then. We can expect 2 days to travel down. No problem. It¡¯s not like we¡¯ll have shortage of food. Perhaps on water.¡± Spike stated reflecting on his land navigation courses. ¡°Actually that¡¯s not a bad idea. There¡¯s usually a stream or a small river in the center of the valley coming down from the large hill like this. Judging from the contour line I saw earlier there should be a decent size stream. Let¡¯s head straight to the center of the valley and use the stream. Then we won¡¯t have to worry about water and causing heat casualty from lack of drinking water. 1 quart of canteen just isn¡¯t going to cut it. In my time we carried 6 quarts of water as standard.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good idea sir. Let¡¯s do that.¡± Supported LT. ¡°In addition, Corporal Washington, since you did the recon, you take lead on the first half the day then switch out with Corporal Winston¡¯s team on the latter half. This may be a last night for a decent rest for a while, so everyone be sure to get some good rest.¡± LT finished off as he looked at each ones face for conformation. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dressed in a Simple brown common robe Lord Karen Daldia sat at his office overlooking the center of the city. A large water fountain that was once a simple water well now serves as water reserve. And surrounding it in circular formations are various merchant stall trading what little goods have to sell. In the past, there were less bartering and more coins exchanged. But those were better days. A middle aged man who now looks 20 years older than his actual age from a decade long stress and depression from being powerless. What was once a healthy dark brown hair have turned completely gray, addition to many stress wrinkles effecting his once handsome face. His clear blue eyes now affected from constant sleepless night showed his desperation. For 4 generations, Daldia family had worked hard to build up this town 30 kilometers outside of the Stavkow Kingdom. It was the hope of Daldia family that one day they would be invited to join Stavkow Kingdom as minor nobility and find support to tame the frontier farther west. But for the last decade, instead of invitation, Baron Myojhuk with the support of his liege Margrave Kyzdon have raided his township territories and other township nearby. Whenever Margrave¡¯s territory experiences any economic short falls the frontier territories are raided for supplies and slave labor. When that happens, the only thing Karen coulddo is barricade the town and try to minimize the damage and the loss of his precious citizens. Between the loss of resource and manpower from Stovkow raids and the frequent plagues, Daldia township isone of many towns and villages in the west of Stavkow Kingdom that isslowly dying. Each year like many other townships they each lose an average of 20 farmers, mostly men who will eventually be force to fight as slave soldier in the east. And occasionally youngers girls to work as prostitutes. What was once a thriving population of 2000 is now a population of little over 1000. Daldia is one of many towns that are quickly being down grade to a village. The raids took more men in the earlier days, but now there are less men for the slave raiders. This has left many widows and fatherless children and the lack of men has created overpopulation of women who are not as suited for the long strenuous labors on the farms. Lord Daldia has made many adjustments to the towns internal infrastructure, but in their current situation, they could only survive. If the township experiences another plague like 2 years ago, they may not be able to survive in the future. One of the of the reason Kyzdon hasn¡¯t completely sieged Daldia township is that they would lose too much of their war potential and having to feed and maintain too many slaves would be a loss to them. Hence it¡¯s more beneficial for Kyzdon Margrave to raid each year for easy profits. Slamming his fist on his work table. ¡°Damn! Bastards!¡± Lord Daldia cried out in frustrations. All the painstaking work of 4 generations. At least my poor father didn¡¯t have to witness this. He lamented. While Karan Daldia looked out the yellow color glass window purchased decades ago in better times, a knock at the door brought his attention. ¡°Come in.¡± he ordered. Covered in brown leather armor, fully shaved head, loyal Havington, Steward of Daldia family walks in with troubled look on his face. Once a powerful warrior who settled down in Daldia town to raise his family. ¡°Forgive me my lord, but I bring troubling news from the hunters. They¡¯ve found multitude of goblin tracks at the Whitestone hamlet. There have been no attacks yet, but the Hunt Master Malikai assists it¡¯s only a matter of time. I also agree with his assessments. The Whitestone has yet to start harvesting.¡± Lord Daldia simply listened with deep expression. ¡°We can send out some of our guards while they harvest, but they would be easily dispatch by any Margrave Kyzdon¡¯s raid party outside of the town fortification or simply get overwhelmed if the goblins numbers turn out to be more the expected.¡± Looking extremely fatigued. ¡°Gods must be damning us Havington.¡± He muttered. If he brings in the Whitestone folks behind the town fortification without the harvest, the town will face starvation over the winter. If he keeps them out to harvest he may loss them all to the Stovkow raid party or the goblin raid. ¡°Now we know why there hasn''t been anytraders from farther west for so long. The goblin must have either gotten to them. Are we the last human settlement this far out!¡± He commented. In the pass, independent hunters would turn up with games and skins to trade for food and tools, but over the years the numbers of hunters left were but a handful. Now, it¡¯s apparent they are no more. ¡°Does the Hunt Master have any idea how big the goblin raid party is?¡± Lord Daldia asked? ¡°The Hunt Master assessment is that there are multiple goblin raid group. If they were to merge into one group, he believes them to be in the range of 400 goblins plus. He believes that if something isn¡¯t done soon, we may loss all the hamlets in our control my lord. So not only Whitestone, but all of our crops are in danger besides the ones outside of our immediate town. Master Malikai also reports that there were multiple sounds of unusual thunder sound in the distance. He believes it came from the top of the valley hilltop. His not sure if it has any relation to the goblins. There has been no record of goblin shaman every using any lightening base magic. Unless there is a mastermind behind their movement. And that is a possibility my load.¡± The more Havington spoke, the more Karan Daldia dreaded. With only 10 knights, 50 guards, and conscripts during towns defense, 3 layers of trench and wooden fortifications. There is no way he could effectively protect the township without taking sever damage to the population. Even if all the able men fought that would only give me about 200 mostly fodders soldier. Then come midwinter, it will be a slow death from starvation. Daldia¡¯s family is well known for fire magic which has kept any raiders from actually assaulting the town defense. But he is also kept locked up in the town during this time for town defense. The raid force is simply too large. Every year Stovkow sends about 1000 battle harden soldiers from the eastern war. Then they always break off in the smaller groups in plunder the harvest and rape of the local girls they capture. Already, many young girls have had given birth too many bastard children nobody wants. If Lord Daldia started to hunt the raid groups, then they¡¯ll simply regroups and assault the town in his absent. The only saving grace from these raid is that the raiders never burn nor kill unnecessarily. They plan to keep harvesting slaves and crops yearly. It would not benefit them in the long term. ¡°Do you think Baron Myojhuk will accept our plea?¡± Lord Daldia asked, thinking about the goblin raid party. ¡°Judging from the last 10 years of interaction, I¡¯m afraid not my lord.¡± Havington regretfully replied. ¡°He cares not for anything except for the growth of his personal power. The goblins in our mist will benefit him during his raid. Therefore, if he is given a chance, most likely the entire town and the surrounding hamlet will be enslaved and sold off for profit thenanything of value looted.¡± Giving a hard look into Lord Daldia¡¯s eye, ¡°My Lord! To be frank, I would rather fight to the death and take from him then live as a slave and let them profit from my enslavement. After 10 years of resentment from all the suffering we have experienced in their hands. I feel confident in saying that I believe the rest of the men feel the same as I my lord.¡± Finishing his declaration in defiantly. ¡°So, slow death it is. Even with my power it will not be enough it seems. We need a miracle.¡± Lord Daldia regretting even asking Havington his thought. It should have been obvious to him considering the man had lost all his sons to the Margraves raiding forces. If it wasn¡¯t for his wife and daughters still living in the town, I think he would have gone to wage a one-man war in the Margraves territory. ¡°We¡¯ve no choice. Bring everyone in from all the hamlet.¡± We¡¯ll just have to figure something out after the raid season.¡± He declared. Ch3 - LT is a meany Next morning¡¯s departure went much smoother then Spike had expected. Amazingly, everyone zeroed their Springfield with 6 rounds. Or to be exact, the rifle seemed to have been zeroed to each summoned soldier when they were summoned. And they simply confirmed their zero. This bit of knowledge made it very convenient for all future summoned which made LT and Spike very pleased. Everyone was ordered to pre hydrate before leaving. LT had no idea when they would find water before we reach the stream. This would get them through to lunch and the 1 quart will hopefully last until they reach their destination. ¡°Sergeant Rector, be sure to gather up the used brass. Even if it¡¯s not much, they may come useful.¡± Order the LT. To top it off, they were able to bury and relatively camouflage the munitions last night, speeding up their departure. Spike just hoped that no wild life decides to dig up the crate of munitions, and trigger the booby trap. If something like that happened, they¡¯d blow themselves up with the 15 crates of granades and 16 crates of 30-03 ammos. 15 Crates of grenades going off would make the area very messy. Before leaving, Washington¡¯s team was designated as Alpha, and Winston¡¯s team as Bravo for call signs. As the they marched without a machete, the oversize squad had hell making their way down. The bayonets they had were for stabbing, not cutting or slashing. Even their WWI entrenching tools were useless. There were many cursing from sliding, tripping, smacking in the branch, insect bites and such. To top it off, for Spike with his sneaker and T-shirt, in the first hour, he was already filthy from all the tripping and sliding. But most of all the little irritating scratches all over his face, arms and the rest of his upper body where his T-shirts had tears made him look like he just took 50 lashes. And finally continuously getting dirt into his sneakers sucked. He had too much pride to ask for any spare trench shoes. So he sucked it up and took it. Every scratch, fall, insect bites, sliding, etc. There were whole lot of sucking for Spike as he took each step. Needless to say, Spike was not having a good day. Except for dealing with the terrain and vegetation, the day was uneventful. Everyone ran out of water shortly after lunch but were able to reach the stream they were aiming for few hours before sunset. Most of the men were on the verge of suffering from heat exhaustion. So everyone just simply stood in the 6 feet wide foot deep stream to cool off and drink. As for Spike, he laid in the stream facing the sky. What was left of his T-shirt looked like a rag with scratches all over his torso and arms. The cold water did wonders to cool his body down and lessen the pain from all the cumulated scratches. About a dozen were more than just scratches that should be look at before getting infected. ¡°Sergeant Rector! I want 2 man upstream and 2 man downstream 25 meter from here for security. Take 15-minute break. Then we¡¯ll move downstream to find a place to camp for the night.¡± Ordered LT. This sucks! This really suck hard balls! Spike thought to himself as he was in his own miserable world. This is worst then Gwadamn AIT (advance Infantry Training). I wonder if Ranger school would be just as bad. Fuaaaack! I¡¯m wet with no spare cloths, not even a spare underwear. When the men offered one of their spare uniform, I should have taken it. But I didn¡¯t want to take something from the men for only convenience. I wanted to show them I¡¯m no cheesy city slicker. ¡°Sir, let¡¯s get you out of the water and have the medic look at your cuts. Some them seem little more than a scratches.¡± Advised LT. ¡°Roger that LT.¡± as Spike dragged himself up and out of the water. ¡°Come on sir. You look terrible!¡± commented Corporal Smith as he started to open up his medical packs. ¡°And you mind as well as take off your rag sir.¡± ¡°Yeah, I got it¡± Spike replied a bit embarrassed, as he just realized he didn¡¯t¡¯ even humped any gears nor a rollup during the march but allowed himself to dip in the foot-deep stream. So much for leading by example. Spike thought to himself as he looked at himself in soaked cloths. Man, what I wouldn¡¯t do for a VTOL or even a helicopter. I wonder when I¡¯ll able to summon them? Spike thought to himself. ¡°Hehe, the commander is obviously a city slicker¡± Private Novak commented as he smiled with an amused look on his face. ¡°That, he sure is.¡± Agreed Private Borg as they both walked down stream to pull security. Damn bastards I heard that. I know they didn¡¯t mean no disrespect, but damn! After drying Spike off and disinfecting his deeper cuts, ¡°I¡¯m going to wrap you up with lots of bandages sir. Considering you have no spare shirt, the extra bandages will serve to keep you warm over the night.¡± Corporal Smith stated. ¡°Thanks Corporal.¡± Spike replied dryly. ¡°Got any Cigarettes left?¡± Asked Private Borg after taking a few mouthful of water from the newly filled canteen. ¡°No, I smoked my supply on the first day. Been so long I couldn¡¯t help myself.¡± As Private Novak laughed at himself. ¡°Yeah, I think most of us did. Except for Smith. I think his saving his for trade later.¡± ¡°What! Damn. I better go suck up to him when I get a chance. Hehe.¡± ¡°Good luck. I tried that already.¡± Borg informed. ¡°Huh? Did you see that?¡± ¡°What?¡± Private Borg inquired. ¡°There!¡± As Private Novak pointes on the left bank of the calm stream. ¡°What the hell is¡­¡± A small green humanoid about 100cm tall stood up from a low bush once it was seen by Private Novak. It yelled with a bloodcurdling screech alerting other of its kind. Coming out of the wood line, a dozen more came out to join the screeching one. ¡°Shit! We got something!¡± cried out both lookouts as they ran back to the squad. The screeching sound also alerted the squad. Behind the 2 lookout as they ran back to the squad, the rest of the group saw more of the green critter showing up armed with spears and short bows. ¡°Sir getbehind Martin and Gonzalez.¡± Spike quickly complied while pulling out his pistol and got into prone position behind his 2 bodyguards. LT quickly identifying the bows being knocked on by several creatures. ¡°Alpha team take out those creatures with bows, now! Bravo, get ready to throw grenades!¡± he commanded as he watch the creatures mass up for spear charge. Lieutenant Jung decided to shot first and ask question later considering the fact that their body language showed obvious hostility. Without anyplace to take cover, Alpha team quickly took kneeling position and snipe the half dozen bowman as they quickly identified them 60 meter down range. With the first firing for the Springfield rifle the green creatures charged with their spear. Half of the creatures were forced to charge through the calm stream. As soon as they got to about 35-meter, Bravo team stood up on count of 1 to throw their grenades. ¡°3, 2, 1, Grenades!¡± Corporal Winston shouted in warning. Then everyone went prone position. 5 grenades plus 2 more added from Sergeant Rector and LT created a massive explosive carnage around the spear chargers. The clear calm stream colored with green blood with creature¡¯s inners splattered everywhere and the body parts scattered in and out of the stream. With the devastating effect of the grenades and the explosive sound the few surviving creature¡¯s morals broke and they quickly disappeared into the forest before the sniper could recover from hugging the ground from the grenade explosion. Looking up from the prone position, ¡°Holy Shit! That was a quick ass battle.¡± Commented Spike with stunned expression. ¡°Secure the area. Don¡¯t kill the injured creatures if they don¡¯t resist. And be sure to disarmed them. And don¡¯t forget to police up your brass.¡± Lieutenant quickly issued orders. Walking up the Spike ¡°You OK sir? No shrapnel woundor anything?¡± quickly doing a visual check on Spike¡¯s physical status. Giving thumbs up. ¡°I¡¯m good LT.¡± ¡°Very good sir. Now I need to know sir. Did you get any resource points or experience from this? ¡°Checking.¡± After a short pause from Spike concentrating. ¡°Yeah. 125 experience and 3.6 resource points.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not bad. Let¡¯s do some experimenting. Follow me sir and keep your pistol out.¡± Walking up to prisoners. ¡°What do you have Sergeant? Are they able to communicate with us?" ¡°No sir. They simply snarl and sneer at us in anger, for the ones that are able too. I get the impression these creatures don¡¯t like us.¡± Sergeant Stated. ¡°But considering we just killed the whole lot of them I shouldn¡¯t be surprised. But you know what sir, when I look at them I feel as they are enemy to us in general.¡± With that LT. stared back at the eyes of these creatures in silence. ¡°¡­.. yeah I feel like I need to kill them. How about you, sir?¡± LT asked Spike. A long pause after staring at the creatures that returned his gaze with hatred, ¡°No, I don¡¯t feel anything from them. If anything, I feel impartial. They look like some sort of a goblin from a fantasy 4D cinema. I don¡¯t feel anything instinctual like you men. Well, except for the obvious hate from their looks¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Pointing his M1 and killing one of the injured creature without hesitation. ¡°Check your point now sir.¡± Surprised and horrified, ¡°Damn LT. that¡¯s some cold blooded shit. Didn¡¯t they teach you about Geneva Convention and shit?¡± ¡°I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about Sir. This Geneva Convention must be something after my time. And sir, might I remind you that this isn¡¯t Earth.¡± Looking back at Spike with business as normal look. ¡°Besides, they were about to stick us with arrows and spears. I¡¯m not taking any chances of losing any of our valuable men.¡± He stated strongly. Damn, this hard ass SOB. But I guess I can¡¯t really fault him for trying his best to keep the men alive. ¡°I got it LT. I see your point.¡± ¡°Sir. Points?¡± ¡°Ahh right. Give me a second.¡± After concentrating, ¡°it went from 125 experience to 135 and 3.6 resource to 3.7. No other changes.¡± ¡°Sir, when I say this, please understand that I have our best interest at heart sir. And so I¡¯m going to have to ask you to kill one of these critters, sir.¡± LT asked. I¡¯m sorry sir, but I¡¯m going to have to give you some pain. I will do everything in my power to survive and thrive in this world. I¡¯m not going back to the void because I hesitated in anyways in taking even a smallest advantage for use to survive. Damn, this cold blooded somabitch. Logically he makes sense and I know why his doing it. So I can¡¯t really fault him, but damn this dude. Taking one step toward the closest goblin looking thing and looking back at LT. ¡°LT, I¡¯ve never killed anything besides insect in my former life.¡± Spike confessed. ¡°Well sir, then why did you pull out your pistol when the fight started? It looks like you were ready to kill.¡± ¡°I¡­well¡­ I was just trying to protect myself.¡± Looking back at LT. ¡°I get what you¡¯re saying LT. sigh,¡± taking a deep breath Spike walked up to the nearest injured goblin coughing up green blood. Shit! Shit! Shit! I¡¯m not ready for this shit! As Spike looked into creatures eyes that looked back at Spike with such hatred, he pointed his pistol to the head hesitating a bit. Calmly speaking. ¡°Every seconds you hesitate sir, this creature suffers in pain. It knows it¡¯s body is already destroyed. Be merciful and give it a clean death sir.¡± LT almost whispered. Then Spike pulled the trigger almost closing his eyes. Taking a deep breath gathering his wits he checked his state to distract his mind of the killing. ¡°235 experience and 4.7 resources LT.¡± Spike reported solemnly and wondered why he didn¡¯t feel so bad after killing this unknown creature. Is it because they are not human? Or is it simply the killing I don''t truely dislike? ¡°Is this what you were verifying LT?¡± Still staring at the dead corpse missing both legs and guts hanging out. ¡°Yes sir. And now I¡¯m going have to ask you to personally give the rest of these creatures a merciful death so they no longer suffer, Sir.¡± LT requested without showing any expression. Spike slowly turned his head to LT and simply looked at him in the eyes expressionlessly without saying anything. ¡°Sir we won¡¯t get too many opportunities like this. We should grab them wherever and whenever we can. It¡¯s not like we are killing innocence. And we are still too few in numbers. So we must do whatever we can to survive. If it makes you feel any better, think of it as butchering pig for food. Because that¡¯s essentially what you are doing sir. They are food for us, for use to get stronger. Also sir, I say this as an officer. But, you should never order your men to do something you yourself won¡¯t do.¡± Spike looked away and took a deep breath. ¡°No, you are correct Lieutenant.¡± Much as Spike found this distasteful, if he doesn¡¯t lead by example from the start, he realized that he would be a hypocrite. In the future if he ever orders his men to do something similar because he was emotionally compromised to do it himself, he would truly lose the men¡¯s respect. Mentally, this bothered him. But emotionally he felt nothing. Perhaps, Spike thought. That¡¯s why he was so bothered. Spike slowly took several deep breath and hardened his heart and then put the rest of the other 15 injured enemy out of their misery to gained 1500 additional experience and 15 additional resource points. This pushed him up to Level 2 with 1735/3000 experience and 19.6 total resources points. 1 stat point. Mana jump from 24 to 48. Health went from 20 to 40. Personnel from 15 to 30. And Logistic Support from 26 to 52. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. When he thought about the extra state point he noticed there was an unused point making it 2 stat points. Looking at Spike, ¡°I¡¯m sorry that I had to make you do it sir. But being an officer isn¡¯t easy. Sometimes you must judiciously execute even your men for desertion or even in extreme case insubordination during combat. It¡¯s part of being a military leader sir. Doing things, you don¡¯t like, to serve the greater need.¡± LT gently patted Spike on the shoulder as he walked away to start giving commands. ¡°Sergeant Rector. Let¡¯s get these bodies out of the water. We¡¯ll be going down stream and I don¡¯t want to taste their blood. And don¡¯t forget to loot. We may need some tradeable currency once we get to the town. After taking a few minutes of giving out orders and inspecting few of the creature¡¯s weapons, LT quickly returned to Spike sitting on the left side of the river bank. Both men actually having thought of this before quickly decided to put the 1 attribute point in too Spirit and bringing it up to 16 there by increasing the personal to 32. Spike informed LT on the extra unused point. But it was decided to hold on to it for now to have adaptability when they have more information. ¡°I think we really need couple of machine guns, sir. If there¡¯s more swarms like this or bigger group. We could get in to trouble if we allow them to get into our melee range because we couldn¡¯t kill them fast enough. Rifles aren¡¯t as effective in melee. And having two machine guns will give us more offensive power to make up for our smaller forces.¡± ¡°I see. It seems you¡¯ve been thinking about this ahead of time.¡± Spike observed. ¡°Yes sir. That¡¯s my job. In addition, I think now that we have enough resource and personnel slot I¡¯m thinking of taking Sergeant Rectors recommendation of putting a team as your body guard.¡± Then a sheet of paper materializes in LT¡¯s hand. It was a requisition document for additional soldiers on the cost and total resource points, including a saving of 10%. 2 Machine gun team cost of 4x2=8 and 2 rifle man and 1 corporal to lead the body guard team costing 4 resource team. 8+4=12. 12 x .9 = 10.8. This would leave Spike with 8.8 resources points. Spike reach out and touch the document and affirmed it. 2 machine gun team, 1 corporal, 2 privates in each team appeared. Gunner, spotter and loader. Then 3 riflemen, 1 corporal and 2 privates were also summoned in to complete the bodyguard team. The new summoned men quickly introduced themselves and organized in to the unit. Corporal Robinson, Private Thompson, and Private Davis filled up Spikes bodyguard team. Corporal Robinson was put in charge of the bodyguard team. Corporal Johnson will lead machine gun team 1, Private Williams as a spotter and Private Brown as a loader. Corporal Miller will lead machine gun team 2, PFC Harris as a spotter, and Private Tylor as a loader. This brought the total man power to 25, including Spike. ¡°For now, I feel comfortable with what we have sir. I think we should save some points and wait till we get out of the thick forest. Something tells me we may need to bring in different type of unit.¡± Looking at the few man being bandaged. ¡°Corporal Smith. What¡¯s the status on the injured?¡± ¡°Nothing major Sir. Just cuts and bruises from the debris.¡± Corporal Smith reported back. ¡°I understand. We should leave some points for flexibility.¡± Replied Spike. ¡°Then if you don¡¯t mind LT. let¡¯s move up stream a bit. I don¡¯t want to be down stream of the all the blood. And I don¡¯t feel like being too close to bunch of strange corpse for the night. And it¡¯s getting to late to move too far.¡± ¡°Yes Sir.¡± Nodding in acknowledgment. Looking toward the detail, ¡°Sergeant Rector. Is the detail finished?¡± ¡°Yes sir. The corpses have been moved 25 meter into the forest, and as many body parts we could find sir. And properly looted as per your order. We can move out any time. Just waiting on your command sir.¡± As the men were on standby and alert for potential danger. The unit ended up moving 300 meter upstream and to set up base on the left bank for the night. The men quickly dug up 2 temporary machine gun position. 1 pointing upstream and the other one pointing downstream. And the rest of the rifle team evenly spread out leaving the command group consisting of the bodyguards, Spike, medic, Sergeant, and LT in the center. Once the camp site was set, the command team looked over the loot. Few rusted sword, rusted spearhead and all poorly made short bows that looked like a child¡¯s toy, also with rusted and filthy arrowhead. ¡°The accuracy must be terrible with these bows. Luckily nobody got hit by these filthy arrowheads or some of us would be suffering from tetanus.¡± Sergeant Rector stated. ¡°That¡¯s a good point Sergeant. Everyone get their tetanus shots?¡± seriously asked Spike. ¡°What was that sir?¡± asked LT. ¡°You know, vaccine for tetanus.¡± He stopped himself short. ¡°No, I suppose it¡¯s possible the vaccine wasn¡¯t available during your time.¡± The men just looked at him not really understanding Spike¡¯s comment. From the loot they came to conclusion that these creatures where mostly prehistoric level to bronze age. Beside the miss matchwell-crafted ornaments and coinage they had, the creatures showed no signs of real commerce. From the looks of the creature, Spike was fairly sure they were some sort of goblin type. The green skin, large pointy ears, large eyes and very large wicked witch of the east nose. ¡°With your approval sir, I¡¯d like to designate these goblin type of creature as killon sight. They seem more animalistic if you ask me and I don¡¯t think we would be able to properly communicate with them.¡± LT. advised. ¡°And just so you know sir. After we killed them I feel pretty good and uplifted. And I observed the men. I can see that they seem to be energetic as well. Right Men?!¡± Everyone chimed in agreement. Earlier, the men did report general feeling of hostility toward the creatures. Maybe I should trust their instinct. Their instinct has been more or less correct so far. ¡°Alright, I will trust your instinct on this LT. It seems things that pertain to your survival is very instinctual so far. So I will trust in your judgement.¡± From Spikes era, goblins in 4D cinemas were often portrayed as evil minions of stronger master. So after thinking about it, he didn¡¯t feel so guilty anymore. Or is he still being effected from his death he wondered. ¡°A question LT.¡± Now that there were some extra points Spike wanted to know if LT could requisition future weapons to save points. ¡°I was wondering if you are able to requisition any equipment from your future?¡± ¡°No sir.¡± Pausing for a few seconds. ¡°I only see listings from my era.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a pity.¡± Spike went back to his own thought. No gunship then. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- They had no other incident during the night. However, they hear many wild critters of some type fighting for the carcasses downstream all night. ¡°Looks like the local wild lives are having a feast tonight.¡± Corporal Johnson commented during his guard shift. ¡°Better down there then where we¡¯re at Corporal.¡± Private Williams replied as he looked downstream. ¡°Hey put that shit away Private. You trying to get us killed?¡± Corporal order as Private Brown was about to light his cigarette. ¡°Sorry Corporal. I couldn¡¯t help it. After all these years, I came back with this shitty habit.¡± Private Brown replied apologetically pocketing the cigarette packet. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°Lord Daldia. This time, the thundering sounds were much closer. Many of the towns people outside heard it was well.¡± Havington reported with concern in his voice. ¡°Should I ask Hunt Master to look into this matter?¡± ¡°No. This may be more then he can handle. We can¡¯t afford to lose him. He needs to keep hunting to increase our meat supply before the impending raids.¡± Look at a sheet of report. ¡°It¡¯s almost harvest time. Those brigands will soon be upon our land to steal our hard earned labor.¡± Lord Daldia lamented. As he knows his people will starve again this winter. Each year is the same. Damn, what I wouldn¡¯t do for some strong wine! With yearly shortage of food from the raids Daldia township lacked the vital resources to produce any sort of alcohol. Food is just too critical for their survival. ¡°Have all the villagers from the hamlet reported in?¡± Lord Daldia asked. ¡°Yes my lord. Hunt Master had already given out warning to the hamlet and the villagers were already packed to move out before the messengers even arrived.¡± ¡°Malikai is a good man. We are fortunate to have him.¡± ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°Baron Myojhuk! My loyal retainers have informed me that you¡¯ve step beyond your boundaries. I am very disappointed with you.¡± Margrave Kyzdon chastised. Sitting on his audience room looking very imposing surrounded by his battle hardened elite veteran bodyguards. Every personal guard tested in the eastern war. An elderly man in the twilight of his life. Margrave¡¯s blue eyes showed a penetrating look. Wearing a fine red silk robe. Many gem encrusted rings on his fingers, each with intricate designs to show a master craftsmanship. And long gray hair flowing loosely held in place by a golden circlet. With a surprised expression. ¡°What do you mean my Lord Kyzdon? I don¡¯t understand.¡± Asked Baron Myojhuk standing before his liege. ¡°Don¡¯t play the fool with me Baron.¡± Margrave shouted as he slammed his fist on the throne armrest. ¡°You stirred up the goblins in the west to give you an excuse enslave all the Daldia township. Did you think I wouldn¡¯t know? The very fact you are standing before me to ask permission to send in an invasion force instead of a raid proves your guilt.¡± ¡°I ...I..¡± the young Baron stammered. At the age of 28, his good looks have given him much confidence with women everywhere. A strong facial structure with dark hair and emerald green eyes, tempered with sturdy body from many years of knight¡¯s training, people would say it¡¯s only natural for him to pull many women of all ages. ¡°I had plan for the west after this god forsaken war in the east was concluded. An empty frontier is completely useless to me you short sighted greedy fool. Who will work the land once I take control of it. You? You, incompetence!¡± Margrave declared. While the Stavkow Kingdom was waging decades long war against the Theolemor Kingdom over territory dispute after agroup of adventurer discovered a lost city with unknown wealth and knowledge, the Frontier territories were stabilizing and expanding. This created a long term threat to the Stavkow Kingdom. There were many fears that while the 2 kingdoms were embroiled in the decades long war the frontier would form a Kingdom of their own and be a threat to Stavkow from the west. It did not help that more commoners were fleeing to the frontiers to avoid being drafted into the war. To remedy the situation, the royal family, in secret, promised Margrave Kyzdon future rights to expend their territory into the Frontier for keeping the frontier weak. In addition to sending slave soldier to fight in the east with food supplies from the raids. Once the war was over, the Royal family promised not to create a new territorial charter with new nobility, but would give Carta Blanc to the Margrave family. Which would in time raise his family peerage to Dukedom. ¡°I still need you to secure slaves for our conscript quota, but do so after the frontier deals with the goblin problem you created. Also, there will be no harvesting of their food. You will provide them yourself as your disciplinary action. And don¡¯t you even think I wouldn¡¯t know if you step over your boundary again.¡± Margrave order with scorn. ¡°Do not disappoint me again Baron! Now get out my sight! Just looking at you makes me seethe with anger!¡± Waiting after the door closed behind the Baron. A man wearing a hooded clock, covering most of his face, silently walks up to the side of the throne and bows waiting patiently. ¡°Good job Sir Alexi!¡± With a wave of his hand a servant boy walks up to the Knight with a tray with a coin pouch on it. ¡°As it pleases you your Grace.¡± The knight bows again then takes the pouch as it jingled. ¡°Should I have my men keep him farther under observations you grace?¡± ¡°Yes, do so.¡± Answering without hesitation. ¡°He lacks his father¡¯s wisdom. Maybe his younger brother will serve better?¡± Margrave mused coldly. Too often has the Margrave Kyzdon heard of the debauchery of the young baron. Living off his father¡¯s glory the young baron grew up weak. If he reduced his debauchery life style he wouldn¡¯t always be short on coins, Margrave thought to himself. 7 years ago, the Margrave had personally asked the crown to elevate Sir Myojhuk post-humanly to a baron. When Margrave personally participated in the eastern war, Sir Myojhuk had save the Margraves life at the expense of his own. To reward him for his life time of service and personal sacrifice, the Margrave petitioned for a new Baron peerage to be created to be inherited by Sir Myojhuk¡¯s heir. But disappointingly the apple fell too far from the tree with the first born. If it were not for the discovery of the ruins he would have used his resources to annex Daldia and many other towns in the frontier and kept expanding. But whoever controls the ruins will reign dominance in the area. Just as it happened to the Kindarth Empire directly north of them. So he was forced by the crown to support the war effort at all cost. The discovery of ancient ruins always signal a change. Lost knowledge and wealth always brings about change to those who control it. Ch4 - First contact. Everyone woke up groggy from the nights disturbing noises. There were too much animalistic sounds over the night as the carnivorous creatures fought over the carcasses of the green creatures. ¡°So, will you confirm for me if those creatures we fought are hostile goblins?¡± Spike ask the silhouette. ¡°Yes, since you¡¯ve fought them now. I can confirm for you that they are goblins as you suspected. But it should be very obvious to you from their hostility level to you.¡± ¡°So you will only confirm things after the fact?¡± ¡°Only sometimes.¡± ¡°From the lack of reaction from the men, I assume only I can see you!¡± ¡°You assume correct Spike Phoenix.¡± ¡°Perhaps we should have made camp farther away from the corpses. We may have slept better.¡± ¡°No use crying over spilt milk now LT.¡± Said Sergeant Rector. ¡°Alright, quick breakfast and we move out. We¡¯re only hours away from the town and the information we badly need.¡± Said LT. ¡°You heard the Lieutenant. Let¡¯s move it men. And everyone be sure to grab 1 drum of machine gun ammo. That includes you Mr. Bodyguards.¡± Sergeant pointed out. Within the hour, the unit marched downstream toward the town. Alpha team in the lead, follow by machine gun team 1, command team in the center, machine gun team 2, then Bravo team covering the rear. ¡°As you can see from these marching order sir, we generally keep the command in the center for better control the movement. And the machine gun support for Alpha and bravo team for quick fire support. This way we cover our front and rear. And if we get flanked the spotters and loaders can easily support the machine gunner giving him time to set up. And the rifle team can quickly shift to cover them. If we had 2 more rifle team I¡¯d have them marching on both side of our formation to cover flanking.¡± LT quickly instructed Spike as they departed. Little by little LT shared and taught Spike basic tactics. Then they silently marched so as not to let their voice alert any hostiles. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°We got goblins and something else in the forest. So we won¡¯t be veering too far from the road and open fields. So I don¡¯t want you to be chasing wounded games if you can¡¯t put it down quickly.¡± Hunt Master Malikai instructed. ¡°I¡¯ve no desire to face your women or man folks just to inform them that your carcasses are laying inside of some critters.¡± Blond grizzly looking giant of a man. A veteran of 20 years of hunting. If he and the 4 demi-humans he led didn¡¯t¡¯ have family in the Daldia town, they would have fled many years ago, but their wives and children wouldn¡¯t be able to make it out in the frontier. The wild animals weren¡¯t the problems, but the monsters and humanoids who prey upon all humans and demi-humans. There simply is no safe heaven deeper into the Frontier. The hunting party approached the town¡¯s gate on a large 4 wheeled wagon pulled by 2 horses as gate guard greeted them. ¡°Planning for a long hunt, Master Malikai?¡± ¡°No, it will only be a day hunt. We¡¯ll be back by evening. Order from Lord Daldia.¡± Malikai answered back. ¡°Ah, then good hunting to you Hunt Master.¡± As the hunting party was crossing the bridge, which was built 200 meter from the main gate Hunt Master noticed something out of place by the steam. ¡°Hold!¡± he commanded the driver and quickly jump off the wagon briskly walking down to the stream. Quickly reaching near the object that caught his eyes. He reached in to the water to pull out a goblin arm. Some part of the arm had animal fang marks as if was chewed on.Kneeling and gathering a hand full of water he slowly tasted the water before spitting out the water. ¡°Damn!¡± he cursed out loud as he looking upstream where the visibility is good for a kilometer as the stream cuts through the farm land."Quickly, turn the horses around and back to the town.¡± Hunt Master could taste the scent in the water. Even with the constant stream flowing downward the scent was just too strong. This can only mean a lot of dead goblins up stream. Meaning a largefight must have happened upstream. Something must have happened upstream or the goblins fought amongst themselves for dominance. Or it could be from any unknown scenarios. He needs to quickly report this to Lord Daldia ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ¡°Whelp, that¡¯s some eagle eye he has.¡± LT report as he observed through the bino. He watched as a man on the wagon jump down off the wagon to inspect something in the water. Then pulls up an arm of a goblin, taste the water, shout something at the drive, and head back to the town. ¡°This man is good. I¡¯d love have him come work for us.¡± Then he quickly reports what he just saw to both Spike and Sergeant Rector. ¡°Well there goes our plan.¡± ¡°They may send out a scout party soon. And if they do send out trackers. That man will definitely find our tracks for sure.¡± Said LT. ¡°So to recap. What we know so far is that they look to be around the Dark Ages level technology. And judging from the crop make formation, they are not too efficient on farming technology either. I think the only thing we have to worry about is if they have magic in the town. And if so, what?¡± LT gave his assessment. ¡°So, what do you recommend we do LT?¡± ask Spike with uncertainty. ¡°Sir, you gave me command of this short platoon. But ultimately I follow my chain of command. That means you command me sir. So which ever order you give me, it¡¯s my job to make it happen.¡± Looking Spike in the eyes as he says this. ¡°Now having said that as a reminder to you sir. We have 2 choices. Considering the fact that the town trackers finding us is eminent. 1, we can leave this town and live off the resources you can summon while welook for other settlements. Which is very doable. But it will delay our goal of getting information. Or 2, we can initiate contact with the town first to build trust if that¡¯s achievable. If we make contact after they find our tracks, we can potentially create future trust issues. So what are you orders sir?¡± I see. I had thought I could sort of pass the responsibility to the LT for a while for me to figure things out, but his not going to let me. So far he has been very good at keep the unit running smoothly with Sergeant Rector. But as he said, that¡¯s his job. Either way, we have to know where we stand in this world and we need local information. I have no real choice then. ¡°Thank you LT. I understand what you mean. Then let¡¯s initiate first contact. So how do you want to do this. I really don¡¯t want to risk losing anyone to ¡®what if¡¯ scenarios because we didn¡¯t prepare.¡± ¡°Very good sir. Now that we are out of the forest. We should call in 3 Calvary troopers. 1 Corporal to take charge and 2 troopers. I¡¯ll take them as my back up and we can retreat faster on horse. In the future, I¡¯d like more troopers as they make good scouts and messengers.¡± ¡°You sure it has to be you going LT?¡± Spike asked with much concern. ¡°Yes sir, an officer and a gentleman would make better Diplomate then an enlisted soldier.¡± LT replied sternly to covey intent on going. ¡°There really isn¡¯t much to discuss. Either we can open up a dialogue or they tell us to piss off, sir.¡± To make this happen, LT decided to set up a parameter 100 meter from the bridge at the wood line. Both machine guns were set up facing the town in case they were chased out. 2 rifle team were strung out on each side of the machine guns to support them. And the command group in the center for easier control for Sergeant Rector to give out commands. And the spotter from each machine gun team were sent50 meters behind their position as security. The troopers were summoned with almost identical gears with Springfield and pistol. But more pistol ammos strapped on the horse. 2 points each for Calvary Trooper and 3 points for the Corporal for the total of 7 points, leaving him with 2.4 with 10% cost reduction. Corporal Garcia, PFC Jackson, and Private Brown were briefed on their mission to escort the LT. Before leaving, LT and Spike swapped their weapons and Spike had the bino to keep an eye on the contact team. On the road, LT on foot leading, and 3 Cav. troopers slowly followed. LT¡¯s intent was toshow the sentrynone hostility intention by walking and giving whoever is in charge ample time to be warned of their approach. It was a slow 10 minutes¡¯ walk to the gate. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hunt Master had just completed his report to Lord Daldia when there was ruckus down stair coming up the stair. Then a quick powerful knock on the door disrupting the town leaders from farther discussion. ¡°Urgent news¡­gasp¡­ my lord!¡± panting shout from the door. ¡°Come in!¡± Loudly commanded Lord Daldia. He wondered when the bad news would stop knocking on his door. Panting from sprinting from the main gate. ¡°My lord¡­pant¡­ sorry¡­ pant¡­4 strangers¡­ pant¡­ on horse coming¡­pant¡­ up the road¡­ pant¡­ to main¡­ gate¡­pant.¡± Finally sucking in large amount of air. ¡°Sigh...! We better go find out what these people want and who they are.¡± Lord Daldia said with depressing tone. Wondering what more trouble is coming to knock at his gate. As he was coming down the stairs. ¡°Someone go tell the Steward Havington to come meet us at the main gate!¡± he shouted. As the Hunt Master Malikai and Lord Daldia walked together to the main gate. ¡°Do you think this has something to do with the Goblin raids?¡± Lord Daldia asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know my lord. It¡¯s too soon for Myojhuk forces to raid us. There is a possibility that these men are free hunters. But free hunters are not wealthy enough to own horses and we haven¡¯t seen any in the last few years.¡± They finally got to the ramp at the main gate looking downward to the visitors. Single man stood wearing a very fine threaded brown cloths with many belts and straps on his body. 5 meter behind him were 3 horsemen dressed in similar outfits. He could not recognize any armor, nor any known weapons on their bodies or on the horse. So they want to talk, Lord Daldia thought. Their cloths definitely are nothing from the Stavkow Kingdom. Is this some sort of trickery by them? Even though their cloths are strange, they are definitely not your typical commoners. Perhaps some foreign nobles? ¡°Who are you strangers and what do you want?¡± Lord Daldia ask loudly so they can hear each other clearly. ¡°Greetings! We are lost foreigners seeking information on where we are. We are not here to cause any trouble. We are willing to trade for informations if it¡¯s no trouble to you.¡± LT loudly declare. ¡°Are there more of you?¡± Hunt Master stepped in. I suppose there is no point in hiding it. If their trackers come out it will be obvious they are more than the 4 of us. Lying would just cause distrust in the long run. ¡°There is, but for safety reason they are waiting inside the forest.¡± LT declared. ¡°Do you know anything aboutthe goblin raids?¡± Hunt Master inquired. ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about this goblin raids. However, we did engage in combat with these creatures upstream yesterday. Is that what you¡¯re asking about?¡± So, he wants to know about the goblin arm by the river. He sure gets right to the point. ¡°Then what Kingdom do you hail from stranger?¡± Daldia asked. That¡¯s a good question. Can¡¯t tell him that we are all dead men. Hmm I know! ¡°We hail from Phoenix Kingdom.¡± LT quickly and proudly declared. Just then Steward Havington joins the town leadership on the ramp. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of Phoenix Kingdom.¡± Speaking quietly so not to be heard by the strangers. Looking over the ramp to get a better look at the strangers. ¡°I can tell from their body movement that they are soldiers. And the uniformity of the cloths indicates some sort of a militant order.¡± Looking at the clean shaving of the strangers. ¡°I say they are some sort of militant merchant order.¡± ¡°Really!¡± ¡°Yes my lord.¡± ¡°They say they are lost, but it could be a front to gain our sympathy. Then what do you think their intents are Lord Havington?¡± Hunt Master asked. ¡°I¡¯m not sure until we give them a little trust. We really have nothing to lose. Stavkow is slowing killing us off. Goblin raiders, or Goblin war parties are at our border. And now we have some strangers knocking onour gate wanting to open a dialogue of some type. And they want to trade.¡± Steward Havington gave his assessment. ¡°Oh, and they were strong enough to kill of a goblin raid party mind you.¡± He added. ¡°Even if they are some forward scout to a foreign invasion, it may be better than being enslaved by Stavkow.¡± Quickly finishing off. Everyone understood that goblin raid party normally range from 50 to 80 goblins. For untrained peasant conscripts they would need 2 to 1 odds to win while suffering casualty. Farmers vs. goblins who constantly fight for food and breeding territory. It¡¯s obvious what Steward Havington is implying. ¡°If you put it like that Lord Havington we¡¯d be stupid to not talk to them.¡± Said Master Hunter. ¡°So be it then.¡± Looking over the ramp wall. ¡°Visitors, I Karan Daldia, Lord and Mayor of Daldia township invite you for talks of trade.¡± He proclaimed loudly to be heard. ¡°Open the gate for our visitors.¡± He believed that if there were trouble he could handle these strangers with his fire magic and felt confident about inviting a small group inside his wall. Besides, they would be surrounded and out numbers inside the town. LT raised him arm high to indicate he understood and for Spike to see his hand signal. It was agreed after 2 hours of no contact the delegation has ran into problem. But Spike would instantly know if something was wrong from his ability. Which meant that there is a major fallout. Walking through the wooden gate. ¡°Greeting, I am Lieutenant Jung.¡± Giving a quick salute. Everyone slightly stiffened with a mention of the rank Lieutenant. ¡°So you are military.¡± Steward Havington said as he return with a knight¡¯s salute. ¡°Yes, but no need to worry. As I have said earlier we are simply lost and we are trying to figure out where we are at. But unfortunately, we lack basic information on where we are even to decide where to go from here.¡± He tried to reassure the town leadership and be more honest. ¡°So you say. In any case, as I¡¯ve said earlier. I am Lord Daldia, Steward Havington is my right arm, and this is our trusted Hunt Master Malikai.¡± There was no hand shaking offered. Different culture. LT thought. They were mostly silent as they were lead to the center of the town. A silent consensus from the leadership expressed their desire hold the talk until they have more private setting. As Lieutenant Jung walked through the main road, the 2 story housings on both side of the road appeared to be stores of some type. All built withwood, giving it a cabin like feel. Him and his men received much stares as his team was personally lead by the town leadership. The smell of urine from lack of proper sewage system is very obvious. A major worry for dysentery and many potential disease outbreaks. If anything. This town is screaming for a disease outbreak. The Lieutenantquickly made up his mind not to spend too much time inside the town for him or any of his men. And another thing that was very obvious was the appearance of malnutrition on all the towns people. Lack of normal level of body fat and the people were just too short. Which is a generalsign ofgrowing up under long term sever famine. Whether it¡¯s from hunger or something else, as he walked onward, he could see the fear and gloomy expression on the town''s people. It was a face of a defeated people. But what surprised him the most upon closer look was that there were towns people with furry tails and ears that looked like feline and canine side of the animal family. With a short walk they arrived at the Mayor''s mansion which looked more like a very large 2 story cabin. Cavalry troopers stood guarding at the front receiving much stares. The central market essentially froze to observe the strangers.LT decided to take only trooper Jackson with him as a bodyguard. After settling down in the audience room on the second floor which was lacking in luxury. The 3 leaders and LT were served basic herb tea. 2 town guard and 1 trooper stood behind each respective leaders. ¡°Lieutenant, let¡¯s be candid and get straight to the business mater. We want to trust you, but we are not sure how we can trust you. We know nothing about you, your Kingdom, and what you really want. We live on this land. You are the visitor. So how do we trust that you are not spies from Stovkow.¡± Lord Daldia spoke to start off the dialogue. ¡°Thank you for coming straight to the point your lordship. I can assure you that we are not from this Stovkow.So I¡¯ll also come straight to the point. We are in an unfamiliar territory, most likely scenario is that we are stranded, and we need local information to survive. Such as, which nation are we in so we don¡¯t infringe upon the existing power. What are the local politics? What are the local geographical terrains? are we able to acquire lands to live if we find ourselves stranded here? Do we need to pay tax to the local lord? As you can see, we can¡¯t live in the wilderness forever. What are the local laws and regulations on immigrants? We don¡¯t mind living in the undeveloped land. But are we allowed to cultivate it for our use without heavy tax burden. Is there some cultural aspect we need to be wary of so we don¡¯t anger the locals?¡± LT informed his thought. As the 3 leaders listen, they glanced at each other in wonder. Is he for real or is he some foreign spy. If he was spy, there would be better way to acquire information. Such as taking prisoners. They are unable to figurewhat to make of this man. They just couldn¡¯t believe that he knew nothing of the current local maters. And willing to trade for that very common information. ¡°Lieutenant, if what you said is true. It¡¯s very hard for us to believe. I¡¯m not saying that you are lying. It¡¯s just that from our point of view, it¡¯s seems just too amazing. And you haven¡¯t really told us how you got here.¡± Lord Daldia said. ¡°Perhaps if you gentlemen could take what I say as a truth. We can start from there. We seemed to have been summoned to this land we know nothing of. How this happened I¡¯m unable to answer as it¡¯s beyond me. So for now, our needs arevery basic. We need information to survive. To make proper decision. I¡¯ve told you our side of needs. If you can tell me your needs. Perhaps we can start negotiating your price for these information¡¯s.¡± And little by little, each side opened up to better understand each other. Before both side could actually start to negotiate they had reached the 2 hours¡¯ time limit. However, Lieutenant Jung was very confident that this township needed his unit more than he needed them. And he felt very confident that as long as he showed no hostility this township would not act against him. Especially after the town leadership informed him of the yearly raids from the Stavkow kingdom and current goblin incursion. ¡°Gentlemen. Let us take a break for today. I need to inform my master of our talk and he will be wanting to talk to you directly. But I can say with honesty, I believe, us helping you with your current problem will actually be helping ourselves. Can we continue our negotiation tomorrow?¡± asked LT. ¡°Very well Lieutenant Jung. Will your men require housings or food? We do have ample space in the town.¡± With the loss of half the town¡¯s population over the last decade has left many empty housing. However, Lord Daldia found himself worried about giving them food support. ¡°Thank you your lordship for trusting us enough to offer hospitality inside your town. But my men are unused to these type of town structure. They may find it too difficult for them. However, if you could offer an open space outside of your wall with good water source, that would be much appreciated.¡± LT had no desire to expose his men to potential disease outbreak. He remembers his history lesson inmedieval siege warfare. ¡°Ah! And no, we will not be needing any food support from your town. No insult intended, but I think your people need the food more than us.¡± That raised the eyebrow from the 3 leaders. Stranded but no food shortage? ¡°I see.¡± Lord Daldia said with slight expression of relieve. He was still unsure about inviting unknown foreign military inside his wall. But the gesture was made to show good well. ¡°Then Lord Havington. Please have one of the farmers guide them to the west field. I think the water well there will serve their needs.¡± ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ¡°So, what do you think?¡± Lord Daldia asked his 2 trusted subordinates. ¡°There is much contradiction that leaves more questions than answers, but he makes no efforts to hide them. Is he a fool? But no leader would send a fool as an emissary unless they are trying to start something. Yet he offers help with Goblin incursion and Stavkow slave raids. I just don¡¯t understand. Is it their way of showing strength?¡± ¡°I do not know my lord, but was it wise to give them so much information so soon?¡± ask Steward Havington. ¡°They would have known about them soon enough on their own. This just puts them in our debt a little.¡± ¡°I say let¡¯s embrace these foreigners my lord. It¡¯s highly likely they are a vanguard to a foreign invasion. If they want to help with Stovkow I welcome a chance for bit of revenge for servitude as payment. It¡¯s better to kneel to a kind invaders then a neighbor who have stolen and killed our children¡¯s future. We may even be able to negotiate a bit of self-governorship or even a title and this land for your lordship.¡± Steward Havington stated. ¡°So¡­ an enemy of my enemy is my ally.¡± Muttered Lord Daldia. ¡°What say you Lord Malikai?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve heard no reports of these men raping nor pilliaging from any of the hamlet. Nor from any other hunter from other township in the recent days. It could all be trickery¡­ or not. But I¡¯m leaning toward Lord Havington¡¯s thought my lord.¡± ¡°Is this the merical I prayed for?¡± Lord Daldia spoke quietly. ¡°My lord?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s nothing.¡± Quickly recovering. ¡°Then we will go with Lord Havington¡¯s recommendation and work with these foreign invaders.¡± Staring out the window, looking at the dying town. ¡°We simply have no choice. The Stovkow drove us to this. We have nothing to lose.¡± Said Lord Daldia. But truth be told, if these strangers can save us, I would crawlmy belly and beg for their help. I no longer have any pride left as a leader. Sigh! All my sons are dead and my grandchildrenlivein hunger. The town''s leadership and their families are allocated little more food than the rest of the town. But only barly enough to stave off hunger. Even then, it¡¯s not enough for fast growing children. Only the hunters are well fed as they are able to eat well from their daily hunting party. But they need to be well fed as hunting wild animals are taxing. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A very scrawny man looking no biggerthan a teenager guided LT and team out the gate. But at closer look at the man, anyone would think him to be in the late twentiesof age. Upon leaving the gate LT gave the rally point hand signal and pointed at the bridge. Then they waited by the bridge for the rest of the unit to meet up with them. Looking at the nervous farmer. LT shared some of his ration of bread to calm him down. The farmer graciously took the offer. ¡°Seems things went well LT?¡± asked Spike. ¡°It did sir. I¡¯ve made arrangement for a camp site out of the forest sir. Our guide, foreman Vadin, will lead us to our temporary base. I¡¯ll brief you once we get settled in sir.¡± Noticing the nervous eyes of the farmer, LT gently patted Vadin¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Relax Vadin, we are friends. We even broke bread just now my friend.¡± Reassuring the scared farmer. ¡°Now lead the way my good man.¡± ¡°Yes milord.¡± Relaxing a little as he bowed. Looking at all the open field as they walked. ¡°Farmer Vadin, when will the town start to harvest? It seems it¡¯s almost time?¡± LT asked. ¡°Yes milord. We will start next week.¡± ¡°I see. When we get to our camping site, would you like to stay for lunch? We have some tasty meat.¡± LT offered. Spike casually looked at LT wondering what his trying to do. Is he trying to get intel of the peasant? ¡°I¡­ I couldn¡¯t milord!¡± Vadin repied nervously. ¡°Nonsense, we are friends now. We can¡¯t have you go back on an empty stomach. It would be improper and ill manor of us. Now you aren¡¯t trying to spread the rumor that we are unhospitable and rude, especially after Lord Daldia graciously provide this camp site for us now are you?¡± ¡°N.n.no, of course not milord.¡± Vadin stuttered. ¡°Then I will humble stay for lunch milord.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the spirit.¡± LT said smiling at the frighten farmer to calm him down. ¡°Sergean Rector. Let¡¯s have Private Kirk cook up something meaty for our good friend Vadin.¡± He ordered in a relaxed tone. ¡°Yes sir. You hear that Kirk! You got cooking duty ASAP.¡± Sergeant Rector spoke loudly at Private Kirk. ¡°Yes Sergeant!¡± Upon arrival everyone except for Private Kirk were assumed 360 defensive position. LT decide to set the base camp 40 meter from the water well. The area had a small clearing big enough for his unit without damaging the crops. They had 200-meter clear visibility of the surrounding as long as the enemies didn¡¯t low crawl or small animals sneaking through the wheat field. He placed one machine gun pointing to the road going into the forest. And the other opposite direction facing east. And spread the rifle team in circular position between the machine guns. And the command and bodyguard team in the center. As Private Kirk finished washing the cooking tools, one by one everyone dropped off their ration to make soup. As Private Kirk looked at the pile of rations, ¡°Sarge, I¡¯m gonna have to cook 3 times. The pots not big enough for all 28 of us.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine. Just start cooking.¡± Then he announced. ¡°Rifle team first, then machine team with the troopers. Command and bodyguards will eat last.¡± ¡°Damn right. I¡¯m glad I¡¯m not in the bodyguard team. I¡¯m starving!¡± Private Jones said happily. ¡°Shut up Jones. Now go find some fire wood for the cooking fire.¡± Said Corporal Washington. ¡°That¡¯s a good point.¡± Sergeant Rector jumped in. ¡°Corporal Washington. Take your team up to the wood line and gather up some fire wood¡­ as much as you can. We may be here for a while. And don¡¯t get separated from each other¡± ¡°Yes Sergeant!¡± he quickly replied annoyed with himself for giving the sergeant the idea. But realized someone had to do it and smartly marched to the wood line with his team. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sitting on the ground Vadin silently watched the stranger called Kirk cook. He used many different thing his never seen. Each metallic container had some sort of meat in it. And he even used salt. His never had salt before, but he had once seen Master Havington use it when he was a boy. That clear white powder looking thing must be real salt. He even used some other ingredients Vadin had never seen. They must all be serving a rich lord or how else could they afford such luxury. How envious! When the cook was finished they even offered him the first plate. They told him because he was their guest. Such manner, they must truly be from an elite class, Vadin thought. He was grateful that that these men treated a peasant like him so kindly. Farmer Vadin quietly ate the stew and the ration bread he was offered. He first watched how the rifle teams were eating to make sure he was eating it correctly. They offered him a metal plate with real silverware of some type. He thought this was some sort of luxury. He has only ever used wooden bowls and wooden utensils. Amazing, the bread tasted so good. It¡¯s been so long since Vadin had any meat. He mostly ate water downed bone soup with hard biscuit. There was so much meat in the soup he simply could not believe his luck. He could taste pork and what he believes to be beef. His never eaten beef before. And he could see some white chicken meet or maybe it¡¯s some sort of bird these men hunted, he wasn¡¯t to sure. Ah, this meal is a story to brag about when he gets back. It was so good he was almost in tears. No one has ever been this kind to him before. Vadin ate slowly. He may never get another meal like this. So he wanted to enjoy this experience. When there were only few spoon full left on his plate his eyes naturally wondered towards the cooking pot. He couldn¡¯t help himself as he stared wanting more. Just then the kind man who shared bread with him brought over the cooking pot and filled his plate again without saying a word and only smiled at him. Vadin didn¡¯t even realize his tears were running as he brought each spoon full to him mouth. Ah, the smoke from the fire must be getting to him he thought as he gulps down the stew. When he was leaving the kind men even gave him some salted bacon in some strange paper wrapper. As he happily walked back to the gate he thought his wife and children would enjoy this luxury tonight. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°Are you going to stay quit and torture us LT or are you going to tell us what that was all about?¡± Ask Spike. ¡°Well sir. Care to make a guess first?¡± LT said as he smiled. ¡°I¡¯m sure it¡¯s something along the line of psychological manipulation of the town leadership. It¡¯s a given that they will interrogate Vadin on what he saw of us. But what¡¯s your angle?¡± ¡°Correct sir. And my angle is I want them to know that we really don¡¯t need them. They probably assume our current forces isn¡¯t our full force and we have supplies with the main army or such. This works to our advantage sir. Considering your ability to summon supplies. In a way this illusion isn¡¯t so far off from the truth as you will summon more men and equipment increasing our overall forces in the future.¡± ¡°I see. Well, I suppose it¡¯s all good, but watching that poor man in tears really pulled my heart string. You are an evil man LT. I just want to tell you that.¡± Spike commented looking at the LT with wryly expression. ¡°Why sir, you¡¯re making me blush in front of the men.¡± LT said with a villainous smile. ¡°Forglory andstrength.¡± Doing a roman legion salute. ¡°Now that the farmer is gone. Let¡¯s get down to business. LT.¡± Spike quickly changed the topic feeling slightly crossed. ¡°All Corporals and above, to the center for briefing.¡± LT ordered. Everyone quickly formed up. LT waited until all eyes were on him before starting in information briefing. ¡°From my visual observation, we seemed to be in some sort of a dark age era. Their weaponry is consistent of that era. Their spears, swords, bows, leather armor shield, and metal armor. The only concern I have is how effective our pistol will be against their plate armor. I think the plate armor will affect the pistol¡¯s stopping power so try to aim for the head when in close range with the pistol.¡± ¡°Also, in good faith the town''s leadership shared some local geopolitics with me.¡± As LT continued, he briefed of the yearly raids from the Stovkow Kingdom and its effect on the frontier for the last 10 years. The war in the east with Theolemor Kingdom. North of Stovkow Kingdom lies the large Kindarth Empire, but they are also involved with long term boarder clash with the Highlanders from the Central Steppes. It seemed the Highlanders didn¡¯t take to kindly to the Imperial¡¯s attempt to expand into their territory and took it very personally. And the south of Stovkow and Theolemor Kingdom consists of many powerful city-states. And finally, everything west is the frontier to the local¡¯s knowledge. Anything beyond that is just too far for the locals to know anything. The frontier is completely dominated by monsters and humanoids such as the goblins. LT shared his believe that because of the lack of trades the geopolitical information¡¯s were very limited. ¡°In addition, I¡¯m ordering all of you to stay away from the town unless it¡¯s for official reason. The town¡¯s human waste disposal and general hygiene level is barbaric. We don¡¯t need to be getting sick or be part of a plague outbreak these types of towns are known for.¡± ¡°Have you identified anything worthy of trade?¡± ask Spike. ¡°To my limited observation at the central market that¡¯s a negative sir. These people are living in malnourishment with limited resource for living. Ah, how could I forget. I saw my first non-human folks in the town. They appear to have some anima traits such as furry tail and ears. Besides those physical trademarks they appear very human. I¡¯m assuming they are free as I did see some people in collars, which I am assuming it¡¯s an indication of slave status.¡± LT reported. ¡°So the towns immediate problems are goblin incursion, expected raids from Stovkow in the next few weeks, and being able to harvest for the coming winter. Now the question is what are your order sir?¡± Shit! I forgot I was in charge. Spike cursed as he surprised himself at how laid back he is. LT thinks nothing of the goblins except as food for power. So that¡¯s a given. ¡°What are your thoughts on the Human raiders from Stovkow Kingdom LT?¡± ¡°I suppose the question rest on whether we are ok with declaring war against an existing Kingdom sir. Any action we take against them would be taken as so. Unless we become a mercenary. And frankly speaking sir. We are killers. Not murders, rapist, or slavers. And because of... thanks to your summoning ability, we do not have to face becoming thieves or brigands for food. Which I feel very grateful for. So I have no qualm about killing a bunch of slavers, brigands, and rapist who are above the law.¡± ¡°I see. Then what are your thought¡¯s from a tactical point of view?¡± ¡°In our discussion, the Hunt Master informed us that Baron Myojhuk normallysends around 1000 battle harden veterans plus supportfor the raids. They always break off in the 4 groups to cover more towns and hamlets. Once they meet their unknown quotas they return. These veterans consider these raids as recreation as I was informed. The peasants are too weak to defend and the women are always raped for pleasure. Taking that into account. We will have the advantage of surprised. In defense and ambush, I have confidence on our over whelming success. My concern is their bows and crossbows but if we use proper cover and concealment we should be able to minimize our loss. We also still have no idea about magic in this world. And that could be a tactical game changer. However, we also have no idea about the reprisal force if they should come seeking revenge. But that also depends on your ability of growth sir?¡± Showing an evil smile. ¡°I would love nothing more than to put you behind our Lewis Gun and let you go to town on them sir.¡± He declared. As they discovered from yesterdaySpike received full experience if he personally deals the coup da grace. Which has put them on a fast track in summoning more men and equipment. ¡°Then we should ask the town''s leadership about magic in this world for tomorrow¡¯s talk. But since you agreed to help them with the goblin pest problem¡­ well I think we were going to do it anyways. It should build up some good will. And I was thinking we can help out with theirfood shortages with Iron and Reserve Rations but let¡¯s use that as a leverage if we need to. Also, where you able to get some idea on how many towns and hamlets in the area LT?¡± ¡°No sir. Our talks hadn¡¯t reached that far before the 2 hour limit you set came to an end.¡± ¡°I suppose the more specific information will take some time to uncover. But on the subject of magic LT. Don¡¯t you think our guns will appear to be magic to them?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good point sir.¡± LT nodded in agreement. ¡°Ok. Then let¡¯s help them with their goblin pest control. Their Hunt Master seems like the man to help us track them. So we¡¯ll have him help with the local tracking and guiding. Let¡¯s not go through yesterday¡¯s nightmare of trail blazing. If we help them with the Stovkow raids, for our payment, we¡¯ll be insisting they share their knowledge of magic and access to any books they have in the town. Also, I know I¡¯m just a cadet, but even my common sense is telling me declaring war on an opponent you have very little information is just risky has hell.¡± Spike said with much concern in his voice. ¡°You sure about this LT.¡± ¡°Yes sir I am. These 2 countries have been at each other¡¯s neck for nearly 2 decades. If we destroy the Stovkow raiders. They would think twice about opening up a second front. If Stovkow Kingdom opens up a second front in the Frontier they will lose the east if not then slowly loss their ground in the east. Too much bad blood between these kingdoms will serve our purposes. 1000 soldiers are not small numbers sir. Knight and soldiers cost resources, time and money. They won¡¯t be able to recoup their loses quickly and by then I believe you will be able to summon more of us. Hell sir. If we can get enough resources, I¡¯d love to have you summon us a landship and go to town on these Stovkow brigands.¡± LT said with that crazy looking eyes. ¡°Sir, I¡¯m just curious. If you¡¯re going to meet the leaders tomorrow and others in the future, shouldn¡¯t you have a title or something sir?¡± Corporal Johnson inquired. ¡°Hm, that¡¯s a good point corporal.¡± Spike replied not sure of himself to properly answer. ¡°How about Captain? Then Commander out ranks the lieutenant that way.¡± ¡°How about just Commander? Then he will always be the boss.¡± ¡°No way, that¡¯s too Navy.¡± ¡°What about Presidintie Phoenix?¡± ¡°What?¡± as everyone burst out in laugher. Bastards! What about some respect for your boss?Spike thought to himself. ¡°How about simply Lord Phoenix without any additional title.¡± Sergeant Rector inputted. ¡°This will indicate his higher status and authoritywithout giving out any additional information. And they can assume whatever to their imagination.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a damn good idea Sarge. I like it.¡± Spike jumped in wanting to quickly end this topic. Perfect. I can use this. As LT smugly smiled to himself. ¡°Hey LT. Why do you have that villainous look on your face?¡± ask Spike. ¡°It¡¯s nothing sir. The situationjust seems humorous to me that¡¯s all.¡± As he continued to show that look while chuckling. As Spike looked at him with worry. ¡°Well I suppose it is sort of funny.¡± As he kind of agreed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°My lord. This was given to farmer Vadin.¡± As Steward Havington place the bacon wrapped in strange paper. After extensive questioning he had trade the salted bacon for choice meat from the storage. It would be bad form to take something that was a gift. Especially if these strangers were to find out, they could lose face for theft. ¡°It¡¯s salted bacon my lord.¡± Hunt Master informed. ¡°I personally verified it.¡± ¡°From the description I was able to extrapolate, they do not appear to be heavily armed. Vadin was able to identify some daggers or knives, but that isn¡¯t to say that aren¡¯t properly armed. They may have different types of weapons that we are not familiar with.¡± Steward Havington explained. ¡°In addition, foreman Vadin said that most of them seem to carry some sort of staves. Perhaps it¡¯s some sort of magic weapon or many of them could be magicians. Given that they all seem very strangely confident.¡± ¡°Do you really think they have that many magicians Lord Havington?¡± asked Lord Daldia. ¡°I can¡¯t say my lord. It¡¯s unlikely considering how rarely gifted are born. But that¡¯s not in the realm of impossibility. But it¡¯s very obvious these strangers are not from this parts of the world. Most likely from one of the other continents.¡± ¡°Then its more imperative we enlist their help and not anger them in any ways.¡± ¡°Strangely, Forman also said one of them seemed injured as he was all wrapped in high quality bandages. But that he didn¡¯t move around as if were badly injured. That could simply be from the fight with the goblins from yesterday and they have some sort of healing ability. Which still doesn¡¯t make sense why they would use so much bandages for such minor injury. He also described their food and use of many different spices. From his description, they all seemed very well fed and healthy. I just can¡¯t understand these strangers.¡± Steward Havington admitted. ¡°What of you Hunt Master?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that they are enemy to us my lord. But potential ally.¡± Staring at the salted beacon. ¡°They have done no harm yet. They could have simply taken prisoners and hostages, then used violence to get what they want. But instead, they came to trade. I had my wolf demi human scout out upstream at the battle site. He reports damage to the terrain that he can¡¯t explain. Which is a high indication of magic usage. And he found this copper based trinket all over the battle site." Showing the spent brass casing. "I nor the other hunters have no idea what it''s used for... I say we cater to their wants and milk their strength for our survival. And if things go badly with Stovkow raiders, where the strangers are force to abandon us, then we can say we were coerced by these mages.¡± Steward Havington shook his head to Lord Daldia to indicate he has no idea what the brass is for. ¡°Then we must do what we can to win them over. Pass the word that these strangers are to be treated as honored guest or there will be severe punishment.¡± Lord Daldia commanded. ¡°Another thing my lord. Forman Vadin said that the leadership ate last. They made sure the rest of their soldiers ate first. They seem to care for their men.¡± Steward Havington added. ¡°Interesting! They seem very benevolent. Or very wise.¡± Steward Havington commented. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°Lord Phoenix, can you summon up some feed for the horses, sir? It would be bad form for us to let the horses graze on the crops when the towns people are starving.¡± Asked Corporal Garcia. ¡°No problem Corporal, where do you want it placed.¡± ¡°Anywhere by the trooper team area will do sir.¡± Spike burned up 5 mana for 16 serving worth for the horses. Considering it took less than a minute to regen 1 mana point, it¡¯s never a problem to summon anything while not in combat. Even if he was fighting it would not make any difference considering he has no magic knowledge to use the mana. Soon after Spike settle down for the night to think about his current situation again. He understood and came to term with his relationship with the summon soldiers. It¡¯s a nice feeling to be needed. It¡¯s also very comforting that he isn¡¯t alone out here by himself. But at the same time he felt the Lieutenant was scheming. He didn¡¯t think it was anything malicious to him or the unit. But still, something in his guts is telling that LT isn¡¯t always telling him everything. Which annoyed him. It¡¯s only been a few days. So for now, Spike decide to go with the flow. Little bit of insecurity, whole lot of confusion, plus not fully understanding military culture, he felt no different from a cherry private right out of training. Basic and Advanced Infantry Training during first summer break, Airborne school and Mechanized School during second summer break just didn¡¯t¡¯ teach him enough leadership skill. His entire time was spent in training environment. And the lack of practical experience made him a bit uneasy when it came to dealing the LT. Granted, during Basic and AIT, the Cadres had him as Squad Leader and Platoon Guide. But that was it. Simply holding that position during Basic and AIT just wasn¡¯t enough. The leadership course would have been during his third year summer break. Then Advanced Tactical School plus Ranger School to finish off his Infantry Branch schools after graduating from the university. Thus commissioning Spike as 2nd Lieutenant. But now, but now, Spike repeated to himself. I¡¯m stuck with that evil lord Lieutenant Jung. Then his mind slowly drifted towards the soldier''s chit chatting amongst themselves. ¡°Hey Corporal. So you were in the town. How were the Janes in the town?¡± one of the private from the rifle team ask expectantly. Taking a pause to find the right words. In a serious tone Corporal Garcia spoke. ¡°Well Borg. I reckon you wouldn¡¯t find them too attractive. They are all just too skinny from long term malnutrition. Many of them are too short from the effects of growing up without enough food. They smell from lack of proper hygiene. I really don¡¯t think you¡¯d find them attractive. Unless you¡¯re desperate enough.¡± He concluded with pitied voice with his eyes reflecting it. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You serious?¡± ¡°Yeah. It looks really bad.¡± PFC Jackson added his opinion. ¡°I couldn¡¯t tell whether they were teenagers or adults. They were so small and scrawny. I could see the fear and desperation in many oftheir eyes." ¡°If you¡¯re a real man, you wouldn¡¯t be thinking with lust once you see them with your own eyes. That just isn¡¯t living I tell you.¡± Corporal Garcia sneered with scorn. And that nipped the conversation about the local women. As everyone else settled down for guard rotation and rest. I suppose I can¡¯t blame them for wanting to talk about the local girls. Hell we were all like that after basic. Not having seen any girls for 6 weeks, our first weekend pass was a paradise. Spike remembered with a smile. Hell! Looking back now, even the ugly girls looked good after 6 weeks of sausage party. Shit! Shit!Survive and get strong. Then think about chasing tails you fool. Spike chastised himself. ¡°Maybe we could teach them better farming techniques?¡± PFC Korhonen offered. ¡°What do you mean PFC?¡± ask Spiked as it pecked at his interest. ¡°Well sir. Just looking at the light density of the wheat field I can tell that they are scattering the seeds instead of sowingit. That alone would vastly increase their crops. But I suppose the Stovkow raiders showing up during harvest time does not help at all either.¡± And the farm boys started to talk how ineffective the current farming technology was as Spike drifted into sleep. Ch5 - Evil Lord Officer. Binge upload. I''ve been writing this story for a month. finally had tocourage to upload it. Other chapters need heavy editing. I will upload them as soon as I feel I''ve edit it to the best of my ability. Cheers! Please leave a few comment if the story is interesting enough. As I''m still not sure of the stories future, a little comment can go a long way for me. Thanksin advance. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°Good morning men.¡± Spike greeted as he woke up. Feeling a bit guilty, ¡°Perhaps I should also be pulling a guard shift.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a negative sir.¡± LT stepped in. ¡°That¡¯s too risky and unnecessary. I¡¯m sorry sir, but we just can¡¯t let you do that so you alleviate your guilt. Ain¡¯t that right men?¡± ¡°Dang Bisky Sir.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s going to give us food if something were to happen to you, sir?¡± ¡°Or give us grenades to blow shit up!¡± One men looking at his bandages. ¡°And bandages?¡± Then they burst out laughing. ¡°Sorry sir, Didn¡¯t mean no disrespect.¡± Little embarrassed. ¡°Yeah. Yeah. I get it.¡± Spike said giving in. ¡°In any case sir, we¡¯ll be meeting the mayor after breakfast and clean up. And we can¡¯t have you looking like a mummy.¡± ¡°Well I¡¯m not using up a resource point just so I can look pretty LT. I¡¯d rather use it up to summon another soul.¡± Spike declared firmly. ¡°Not a problem sir. Private Brown,¡± LT commanded, ¡°you¡¯re about Lord Phoenix¡¯s size. Bring out your spare uniform. I think our boss¡¯s dignity has suffered enough.¡± ¡°Right away sir.¡± Shortly after, Spike was dressed as one of them, but the uniform had no rank. He looked like a buck Private fresh out of basic. No gears except for his pistol belt with holster and 1 pouch to hold 2 magazines. ¡°Feels weird LT.¡± Spike spoke feeling bit out of uniform dressed code. ¡°Nothing to feel weird about sir.¡± LT declared in confidence. ¡°US Army Military Uniform Code states that all General Officers are authorized to modify their personal uniform. And you, Lord Phoenix, out ranks all General Officer.¡± Smiling with that irritating knowing smile. ¡°And besides sir. We are not in the US army anymore. We¡¯re in the Phoenix Army now.¡± Spike with open mouth, wanting to say something but unable to, his mouth just flapped trying to process what the LT just said. ¡°You look good sir.¡± Giving Spike a proper military salute. This son of a bitch. Is he fucking with me or is he serious?Spike thought. ¡°In 1 hour, I want everyone feed and cleaned up. Sergeant Rector, I¡¯ll be taking only the Bodyguard detail. Also, let me borrow your pistol just in case.¡± LT ordered. ¡°Yes sir. But you sure you don¡¯t need another rifle team with you, sir?¡± Sergeant Rector ask with concern in his voice. ¡°Thank you for your concern Sergeant Rector, but it will be fine. These people are desperate for help. And we¡¯re the perfect ones to give it to them. I¡¯m absolutely confident that these people won¡¯t do anything drastic.¡± Tapping his flare gun. ¡°But in case something happens, keep an eye out for flare signal.¡± ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Escorted by Steward Havington, the negotiation team walked through the town¡¯s main road to the Mayors Mansion. With a quick greeting at the gate very little were spoken. There was nothing pleasant about the walk as Spike saw firsthand the condition of the people living in the town. Sweet lord. The men weren¡¯t exaggerating about the condition inside the city. The buildings had seen better days, but still functional. However, people were another story. Sweet B¡¯Jesus! They looked no different from documentary footage of thestarving masses when North Korea merged with South Korea when their regime finally collapsed internally. Spike thought to himself. He was simply unused to seeing this level of poverty and misery with his own eyes. He could not hide the shock nor pity that showed on his face. And the air reeked with staleurine making things more unpleasent. As they march up the road Spike was completely surrounded by his bodyguards, and flanked by Corporal Smith. Led by LT and Steward Havington, they quickly walked on dirt road to the mansion. He twinkled his nose as the smell of a town got worst as he near the center. Spike understood what the LT was saying about potential disease outbreak from the lack of proper sewage system. In the distant he saw what looked like a piss bucket being pore into the street, right in front of the door to the house. The mayor waited for them at the entrance of the mansion. He wore a dignified fine cloths in compare to the rest of the towns people. All the official were lined up in the front to be introduced. The knights and towns guard were present and in formation to honor the guest. When Spike was introduced as Lord Phoenix, the 3 main leadership looked at Spike and then to each other with a surprise look on their face. I wonder what that was about! Do I not look like a lord or is it the red eyes the men told me about? Spike wondered. The town''s delegation even had various guild masters for the occasion. Everyone was quickly introduced to each other and brought into the large private audience room on the first floor. On one side sat Spike and LT, with the 2 bodyguard and corpsman standing behind them. Across, facing them the 3 town¡¯s leadership and behind them 2 guild masters sat. Then behind them 3 other knightly armored guards stood. ¡°I hope you slept well gentlemen.¡± Lord Daldia opened up. ¡°Thank you. Everything was fine Lord Daldia. We are used to sleeping outdoor.¡± LT politely nodded. ¡°That¡¯s good to hear. If there is anything else, please let us know. If we are able, we will do our best to accommodate.¡± Damn, I have no experience in this. I should have talked more about this to LT before I walked in to this meeting. Is he doing this to teach me something Spike thought. ¡°Thank you Lord Daldia, but please. Let us talk of more important matters at hand.¡± Lieutenant quickly getting to the business at hand. ¡°Yes of course. Have you decided on how we can trade for your services?¡± Ask Lord Daldia. Lieutenant leaned back on his chair after he had set the stage. ¡°Lord Daldia. Lieutenant Jung had briefed me on your troubles. I very much want to help with your goblin pest problem, but we would need some assistance in tracking them as we are not familiar with the local terrain.¡± ¡°Lord Phoenix. I thank you for the generous offer of help. But we have very little of paying you for this service.¡± Lord Daldia informed. ¡°Lord Daldia. If you loan us your trackers we would consider this as a joint effort to build trust and friendship. If your trackers can quickly find the goblin warparty, we would completely annihilate them. And I am assuming it¡¯s a war party and not a raid party. Or you wouldn¡¯t be so concerned.¡± LT taught him to say this. Being surprised by Spikes declaration. ¡°What you say is a great possibility. But if it is a war party are you sure you can destroy the goblins? including yourself, you only have 28 men vs. hundreds. Probably numbering into 500 hundred or more.¡± Will he admit he has more men somewhere? Lord Daldia wondered as he looked for Spikes reaction. ¡°I can assure you Lord Daldia, I do not gamble with the lives of my men. We have more than enough for the job. As we are doing this in gesture of our desire for friendship with the people of your town. I don¡¯t see how this isn¡¯t a good offer to your township and the surrounding hamlet.¡± Spike said, pointing out the obvious. I really want to help these people. There is just too much injustice in this situation. I don¡¯t want to look the other way. I just wished I had much more fighting force. ¡°To be very honest, my men are itching to test out these Stovkow who prey upon much weaker forces. After the goblin pests are taken care of, we might be motivated to do something about it. And that¡¯s where the payment of knowledge is required.¡± At the same time, he couldn¡¯t just simply look down on the town leadership and take away their dignity. So the payment is demanded. This has been their struggle. I should not disrespect their 10 years of sacrifices. Spike thought as he silently reflected on his own struggles in his former life. ¡°Lord Phoenix? Stovkow is a well established kingdom. You would declare war on them?¡± Hunt Master ask in surprise. Without expression Spike looked at the Hunt Master with his best poker face not sure of how to answer him from the slip of his tongue. It¡¯s true, he really didn¡¯t want to fight a war against existing establishment. But the last statement just slipped out of his mouth because he really wanted to help these people. He could sympathize with their powerlessness from his own life as a child. ¡°Hunt Master.¡± Lieutenant quickly jumped in to save Spike. ¡°What my lord is saying is that, at current situation, we are nothing more than a mercenary. Having said that, we would not mind clashing with Stovkow veterans. Honestly, we are curious just how good a fighter these Stovkow¡¯s are, and we are always looking for a good challenge.¡± He smiled witheyes of a predator. Lieutenant had absolute confident that as long as they keep killing adversaries without taking unnecessary loses, they can face this medivel dark age army. Even if his force faced magic, as long as it¡¯s not something out of this world he believed Spike will grow stronger one way or another to balance out the difference in war forces under his command. From their prior talks there were indication of mages in the Stovkow raiders. Which is encouraging in gaining magical knowledge for Spike. ¡°Gentlemen. Let us hold farther talk of Stovkow for now and let¡¯s focus on the goblin war party please.¡± Spike spoke trying to recover from his blunder. ¡°If we are in agreement about your hunters assisting us in tracking these goblins, I very much like to move out right way after this meeting.¡± The town¡¯s leadership were astounded on the confidence level these strangers projected. It was almost audacious of them with such small number. With this, they simply had to except the fact that these people were not showing all their cards. Lord Daldia simply stood up taking 1 step forward offering his hand to Spike. ¡°I accept your term Lord Phoenix.¡± With stern and serious expression. ¡°If you can save my people from the goblins, I welcome your help.¡± Spike quickly stood up to reach for Lord Daldai¡¯s hand to seal the deal. ¡°You can rest assure.¡± Spike replied in earnest. ¡°As long as you are honest and honorable with us, you can expect great thing to come from our relationship Lord Daldia.¡± Lieutenant Jung told from the side. Spike nodded to Lord Daldia in support of LT¡¯s declaration. Why the hell is he so damn confident? Spike questioned to himself while smiling to the Mayor. ¡°Very good. Then can your trackers meet us in 1 hour by the bridge?¡± LT ask while looking at the Hunt Master. ¡°Yes. I will make it so.¡± Hunt Master replied vehemently. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Hunt Master and 4 other hunters showed up much earlier than an hour. They appeared very enthusiastic about the hunt. All the hunters were equipped with a bow, spear, and skinning knife. Every hunter wore similar brown leather armor. The 4 demi-humans brought some interest to the men causing them to stare. 2 where of canine family, 1 from a feline family, and the last one was a large individual of some other type. The men were very fascinated with the individual¡¯s tail coming out of their lower back and their anima ears. ¡°Everyone, these are my trackers. All veteran tracker and hunter. The black tip ear is Grigor a wolf demi-human. The other one is a canine demi-human Tam. Red hair feline demi-human is Rikko, her ability to see at night is invaluable to us. And the big one is Sodie, he is a bear demi-human. As long as he doesn¡¯t intoxicate himself on wild honey he is very reliable.¡± ¡°Very good Hunt Master Malikai. So let¡¯s keep this simple. You only have to find them for us and tell us where they are and we¡¯ll do the extermination. I know that you all are very competent, but I must insist that none of your tracker partake in the actual fight. You¡¯ll just get in the way and may get hurt.¡± LT told the hunters. ¡°Understood. Find them then lead you to them.¡± Hunt Master replied. I have no problem with that. No need to risk my men if I don¡¯t have too. ¡°Also, do we need to hurry to any particular hamlet to save the farmers?¡± Spike asked. ¡°No Lord Phoenix. They all moved into the town few days ago upon discovery of the many goblin tracks. Earliest time we can harvest is in 1 weeks. And the goblins are meat eaters so they don¡¯t care much for the crops. So there is no point in endangering the farmers by leaving them out side of the walls. Normally, the goblins will ransack the homes of the farmers for trinkets and such, but that¡¯s about it. It¡¯s during the actual harvest time that we will have much difficulty.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good to know. We don¡¯t have to worry about protecting noncombatants.¡± LT said. Looking over his men. ¡°Let¡¯s move out.¡± It was same marching order as before, except the Calvary troops were right behind the command team. ¡°So tell us what you know of the goblins Hunt Master?¡± With a surprise look. ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± ask the Hunt Master. ¡°Nope. We don¡¯t have them where we come from. When we fought them few days ago, we killed them so fast we didn¡¯t learn much about them.¡± The Hunt Master wasn¡¯t sure how to accept LT¡¯s admission of having no knowledge of the goblins or the fact that these strangers killed the goblins so fast. ¡°Well they are very clever and vicious creatures. We normally would need 3 farmers to kill one of them to minimize our lose. Even though they are smaller than humans, they simple have much more fighting experience from hunting and they often fight amongst themselves for territory and breeding space. Now against a properly armored and armed fighterwith real training, they can take on 2 goblins. More if the individual is backed up by experience. The Goblins are always led by a leader and they never hunt alone. And some time their shaman can join them in raids if they number more than a hundred or so. I suspect we will run into 1 or 2 during our hunt.¡± He concluded. ¡°Do you know where they generally live?¡± ask Spike. ¡°We would have to track them to their caves. Goblins enjoy the darker cave environment over brightly open space.Before the Stovkow raids 10 years ago. Little by little over the many years we had chased them farther into the frontier lands with the bounty hunters and hunters working together. But the towns ran short of coins from disappearance of the merchants and continuous raids from Stovkow. To our knowledge all the hamlets farther out have been abandoned over the years. And the goblins have been slowly pushing back the human settlements. And now they have become our competitors in the nearby hunting grounds. And the Daldia is down to 3 hamlets from 8.¡± ¡°So why haven¡¯t you people relocated to another place¡­ if you don¡¯t mind me asking?¡± LT inquired. ¡°We have no place to go. Up north is a large inland sea. East lay Stovkow. They would enslave us as soon as we enter their territory. To the south is the open ocean. It''s the only port town south of us, whos situation isno better than ours. Then we have the frontier in the west.¡± Hunt Master informed indifferently. ¡°That¡¯s a pity.¡± Spike commented. By noon, the unit reached Whitestone hamlet following the dirt road from the town. And just as Hunt Master said, the hamlet was ransacked for valuables. There were 4 shacks in a square formation. Each shacks were big enough to house a full farming family of 10. Shacks had its doors facing the center and one window facing north and south each, and one more opposite side of the door. In the very center was a community water well. The shacks were surrounded by the 50 meters¡¯ deep wheat fields. The wheat had grown to hip level soon to be ripe for harvesting. The plan was for the soldiers to set up a defensive position in Whitestone for now. The trackers would go off on their own to find the goblins then guide the soldiers to fight the goblins. The cavalry troops would patrol the roads for quick messenger service between the trackers the main force. ¡°Hunt Master. We¡¯ll sit up temporary base here. I think if the goblins are clever as you say, they¡¯ll definitely have scouts eyeing this place even as we speak. Which means Whitestone will soon be a battle site. I¡¯d like to take the opportunity andreduce their numbers here if we can before we heading farther in the forest. So while we lay out a trap for them, please find them critters for us. Also, if you can, try to lead them to here if you need to run.¡± ¡°Very well Lieutenant.¡± Signaling his hunters to move out. ¡°Sergeant Rector. I want as many men on top of each shack the roof can support. See how many men each roof top canhold. Those short critters can easily low craw right up on top of us with the crops so high. I want 1 machine guns in shack diagonal of each other for better coverage. And I want everyone else inside the shack. Build a make shiftfiring position ateach windows. I don¡¯t want nobody getting hit by an arrow or bein the open fortheir spear charge.¡± LT shout out his orders. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°He must be a foreign royalty. Even if they didn¡¯t declare any title¡­he must be what, a 4th or 5th son. Most likely a bastard son without a real title but wealthy enough to support his ventures. And those red eyes of his. It must mean something.¡± Lord Daldia ponder loudly tapping his fingers on his desk. ¡°They are a puzzle asking to be solved.¡± Steward Havington said as he looked on his masters worried face. ¡°As long as they keep their promise I don¡¯t care. I just hope I didn¡¯t make a deal with a devil for another devil. They even gave us the irons off the goblin weapons to be melted for our use without even asking for anything. This is just too good to be true.¡± Showing a touch of frustration. ¡°I could understand them if they were more mercenary like. I just don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°My lord, you¡¯ve had you back against the wall for the last 10 years without any reprieve. You may simply be unused to a little bit of kindness and charity.¡± Steward Havington observed. ¡°Let us wait and see how this develops my lord.¡± Nodding in agreement. ¡°I suppose that¡¯s all we can do for now. Perhapsyou are right Lord Havington. I may be just jittery from receiving assistance for a change. But this isn¡¯t a ¡®little bit of kindness and charity¡¯. It¡¯s a lifesaving forus.¡± Is this hope I¡¯m feeling? Is this why I¡¯m feeling jittery now? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It wasn¡¯t even an hour after the trackers had left before the Whitestone defenders hadgoblincontact. The unit barely had enough time to set up proper defense when out of nowhere, over a 100 short goblins charged with their spears with archers in the rear. The rooftops could only support one person¡¯s weight with Springfield and ammo. And the rest of the riflemen who were assigned evenly throughout the shacks. Everyoneran inside to their positions when the lookout on the rooftop shouted warning. ¡°Many goblins coming from the Southwest!¡± Shit! That¡¯s the corner without a machine gun. ¡°Corporal Johnson! Move your gun to southwest shack. Everyone fire at will! Corporal Miller! Move your team to Northeast shack. Keep your eyes open for sneak attack from our rear. Roof top, Snipe the archers as your priority!¡± Lieutenant shouted orders from the window from northeast shack. Then after, it was difficult to give out orders over the sounds of guns firing off. Except for the Northeast shack. The riflemen opened fire from the windows. Snipers on the roofquickly shot the archers in the rear formation one by one. The rifles with a loud thunder sound could be considered a magic weapons in the minds of the goblins, which did not deter the goblins movement enough to make a different. Thinking quickly,Sergeant Rector ran into the southeast shack from the southwest shack to take command as he heard, ¡° Use Grenades!¡± When the goblins reached 20 meters from the corner building the grenades were thrown from the 2 window killing half of dozen and injuring another half a dozen goblins. The grenade explosion surprised and stunned the goblins. Causing the goblins to hesitatelong enough for Corporal Johnson¡¯s machine gun team to run into the southeast shack. ¡°Shoot through the corner of the building. Make a firing hole.¡± Sergeant Rector shouted out his order to Corporal Johnson. Corporal Johnson order his 2 teammates to move the small dining table to the corner to set up his machine gun with a bipod. He immediately fired his machine gun through the walls making a large hole. With each bullet fired,the hole got bigger, asdid his visibility of the firing field. Click ¡°Reload!¡± Private Williamsquickly helped reloading a new drum. And another 97 round of 30-06 shot in the enemy mass. The 3 snipers on the roof made quick works of the goblins archers at such a short range. While they were in prone position on the roof top it made them a very small targets for the goblins archers to accurately hit them. PFC Muller took an arrow into his shoulder when a goblin shot through the window. ¡°Reload!¡± Shouted Corporal Johnson. So many goblins. So close. A single goblin tried to run up and jab a spear though the hole only to be shot by Private William. Everyone was so focused on the goblins that were charging and almost right up on their faces that they over looked the goblin shaman by the wood line until it was too late. PFC Korhonen on the corner rooftop received a magical fire blastexploding right on his face killing him in the instance. The flying fireball surpised the other 2 snipers on the next roof tops quickly recovered from their stunned expression and both shot the shaman to death before it could cast another spell. More than half of the goblins were dead from the goblin spear charge when on the northwest side of the hamlet Corporal Miller opened up on his Lewis Gun through the newly opening made on the corner of his shack. Riflemen kept firing though windows then took cover when a grenade were thrown over their head from the same window. Then got in position on the window again until the next grenadeswere thrown. Few goblins made it to the doors to charge in only to get killed by the riflemen covering the door. 5 quick shot through the window. Change out with another rifleman. Reload. And change position to fire through the window again. And repeat. The goblins simply could not break through the grenades, machine gun, and rifle barrage. Eventually overwhelmed by mass causality on both side of the waves, what¡¯s left of the goblin force, that could run, retreated into the forest even as they were being either mowed down by the machine gun or sniped by the riflemen. ¡°Seize Fire! Seize Fire!¡± LT shouted his order. He waitedfor the seize fire before shouting out additional orders. ¡°I want accountability. Wounded to the medic in northeast building. Secure the area in pairs. Some of them could be playing dead just tostick you with their spears so keep your eyes open.¡± Forced to sit low in the center of the shack by his bodyguards. ¡°Hey LT. We lost a man.¡± Spike reported when he noticed a drop in the personal number when he was checking his stats. ¡°Shit!" LT sneered in anger. "Call out. Who did we lose.¡± ¡°Korhonen sir. He took some sort of fire blast to his face from the goblin shaman.¡± Private Novak reported. ¡°And sir. You have to come up and see this sir. His body isn¡¯t here.¡± He added with concern. ¡°What the hell do you mean his body isn¡¯t there.¡± LT shouted back with bewilderment. ¡°I don¡¯t know sir. All his gears are here except for his body.¡± Replied Private Novak with distraught. When Lieutenant Jung go up on the of the roof he saw all ofPFC Korhonens gear''s lying flat on the roof. It was as if the body simply disappeared from the inside of the uniform and all the equipment left behind. ¡°Fuck!¡± LT cried out in anger. ¡°Hurry and round up those wounded green fuckers.¡± Looking at Spike as he gotup top on the roof. I knew I would eventually lose men. But still¡­my first lost! Clinching his fist. Spike stared at the empty uniform with a scowl on his face and looked at LT as LT stared back at Spike''seyes. After a few seconds of silence, ¡°Yeah, I know LT. I know.¡± Spike jumped down off the roof top to prepare for the mercy killing. I¡¯ve become an executioner. Some fucking lottery! I mean I get it. Hell, I was in training to become a combat officer. But still¡­ is this why history says that ¡®All wars are hell¡¯? And for fuck''s sack. Why are these fights resolved so fast? Didn¡¯t even last a minute after the first shot was fired! ¡°Hand me PFC Korhonen¡¯s rifle.¡± Spike ordered. With the disappearance of the body, it was an unexpected result to see what happens to them at death. Or, can it even be called death! As the riflemen secured the injuredgoblins, Spike quietly put them out of their misery. As a symbolic gesture he used PFC Korhonen¡¯s rifle to deal the coup de grace. I¡¯m sure the LT is thinking they are food for our souls. Particularly to mine. But I hope our killing psyche doesn¡¯t carry over and we all live as vicious killers in our next lives. Almost 200 Goblins. Amazingly, Spike had to put down 69 injured goblins. Is thiswhat they mean by bringing a knife to a gun fight! Spike contemplated. The soldiers thought the goblin''s will to live even after being heavily injured was admirable. Their body may be small, but their will wasby no mean weak. As Spike was putting them down one by one, the goblins witnessed Spike''s action.They sneered in defiance as their last act. Do they hate me because I¡¯m executing them or is it because they are natural enemies of human kinds? Again, like before, the soldiers looked very uplifted. Any man could almost imagine these men coming out of the room after getting laid. That look of conquest. Feeling that you are onthe top of the mountain. These guys definitely gained something from the fights. Even the sniper that was up top on the roof getting his ass treated with an arrow sticking out of his butt. The rush they must be feeling looked very enviable to Spike, because he wasn¡¯t feeling it. After all the goblins were dispatched the soldiers again collected all metals for the town''s blacksmiths. There wasn¡¯t anything they could do about the damages to the crops on the two sections of the fields. But the biggest question was what to do with all these corpses. Eventually, they ended up leaving the corpses where they laid. Not enough time and not enough man power to dig up a mass grave. ¡°We got 3 flesh injuries from the arrows sir! The arrow head were poisoned. They look very inebriated.¡± Corporal Smith reported. ¡°I had to open up the wound to get the arrowhead out. They will most likely have fevers in a day or two if the poison isn¡¯t severe, orfrom the generally filthy arrow. Soon they won¡¯t be fit for duty for a while sir.¡± Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°That means we need a base for our wounded.¡± As LT looks at Spike as he walks back to the center from the mercy killing. ¡°Calvary troopers returning.¡± The lookout on the rooftop shouted. ¡°Do what you can for the wounded Corporal Smith.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± ¡°Damn. That¡¯s a lot of dead creatures. Looks like we missed all the action this time around.¡± Corporal Garcia said as he walked his horse in the center of the hamlet. ¡°We were already on our way back with a message when we heard the gun shots. So we came charging back sir.¡± He reported to LT. ¡°So what¡¯s the message Corporal?¡± LT asked. ¡°Hunt Master reports a large group of fresh tracks heading to the direction of stream where we had our first fight with the goblin scouts sir. He confirms it¡¯s not a raid party, but a war party sir.¡± ¡°Perfect. They decide to make it easier for us and gather themselves.¡± Looking at Spike as he join the makeshift meeting in the center. ¡°So how many points did you get this time sir and how many personnel slots?¡± ¡°Pure business as usual huh LT?¡± Spike said dryly. ¡°No such thing sir.¡± Getting the mean. ¡°PFC Korhonen isn¡¯t dead. And you just have stay alive to eventually summon him back. He had some kills so that will prolong his soul from disappearing. Besides sir, no point worrying about those not here with use. We both have the living to worry about.¡± ¡°Sigh! You¡¯re right LT. My apologies. That¡¯s why I have you in charge.¡± Spike admitted. But your still an evil bastard. ¡°Thank you, sir.¡± LT replied smiling. ¡°We got a good haul this time around. 82.3 total points. 46 open personnel slot for total of 72. I leveled up twice so I put 1 into INT for little more logistic support and 2 to Spirit using up the unused point to increase the men we can summon. My overall goal is to get as many men summoned as possible for a time. We simply have too few men for my comfort. As for filling up the roster and equipment, I leave it to your professional discretion LT. Or should I be calling you Captain soon?¡± ¡°Understood sir. Since our first battle with the goblins few days ago I have been thinking that we can¡¯t fight as we did on earth. Even on earth, how we fought was changing during my time. In the face of trench and machine guns, our normal cavalry charges had become obsolete.I think that¡¯s why our fights so far have been so quick. Except for the magic users and bows who can attack us at range the fact we are not being fired upon is making it very easy for us. So what I¡¯d like to do is build each squad with 1 rifle team and 2 Lewis Gun in a single machine gun team. Each machine gun will only have a gunner and loader/spotter lead by the corporal as a team leader. And the squad leader will control both team. Also, with the vegetation being so thick, if we fight in the forest, enemy¡¯s bows will not be as effective compare to when we create a field of fire with our machine guns. Let¡¯s try to keep it simple and flexible sir. We will need to adapt to many changes as we learn to fight in the Nexus. So expect changes.¡± ¡°And we should also get another Lieutenant sir.¡± Lieutenant Jung finally added. ¡°Then I think you should be a Captain in preparation for future expansion of our units. Captain Jung.¡± Spike declared. As soon a Spike spoke the word Captain Jung¡¯s collar with a single gold bar glowed. The rank insignia changed from single gold bar to 2 silver bars. Unable to hide his surprise, Spike said. ¡°Well that was simple.¡± ¡°Thanks for the double promotion sir and the vote of confidence.¡± Sounding very pleased. ¡°No need to thank me Captain. Just keep doing good.¡± After doing some mental calculation. ¡°Then I¡¯ll summon 4 complete squad to your specification plus a Louie. With 1 remaining slot. I¡¯m going to summon another corpsman for the second Platoon. Corporal Washington is going to have to wait for replacement forPFC Korhonenuntil I get more personnel slots.¡± Focusing for a brief seconds Spike summoned 46 men maxing out his personnel slot of 72. Thus leaving him with 26.5 resource points after 10% reduction from Captain Jung ability. Everyone quickly introduced themselves. After summoning several times, the novelty was slowly wearing off as Spike didn¡¯t feel so strange about it anymore. Handing the spent physical requisition form back to Captain Jung. ¡°Lieutenant Moore. You¡¯ll be taking orders from Captain Jung. Captain Jung, the unit is all yours.¡± Spike ordered. ¡°Sergeant Rector. I needsome time to reorganize our unit. Bring the newly summon up to speed. And have the rest pull security.¡± Captain Jung ponder while the briefing was going on. Should I evenly create 2 shortplatoons or make a full platoon and keep second as reserve until its roster is filled? But at the same time we were able to annihilate these goblins with so few of us. And so he pondered as he walked around the hamlet. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I was able to promote LT to Captain and it costed me nothing. This is good considering most of the casualties in all wars are from lower enlisted and junior officers. I wonder if I can promote enlisted to office. ¡°Can I?¡± ¡°Yes, you can. You simply have to think and will it to happen. Just as you did with Captain Jung.¡± ¡°So much to ask, but I already how you¡¯ll reply. But are you able to tell me if PFC is back in the void and if I will be able to summon him back on the next summon?¡± ¡°That he is. His brightness has increased since his summoning. And if you survive long enough I¡¯m sure his time will come again.¡± ¡°I see. So I can¡¯t really control whom I can summon. Hmm. Just now, I just realized. That I will eventually be a force in this land when we are a large enough force. Is there any limit or restriction placed on me?¡± ¡°No restrictions, as long as you are able within your own power. You can be a tyrant or benevolent as you want. You are but a drop of water in a vast ocean Spike Phoenix. You should not be afraid of your growing power. Nexus is a place of changes not of destruction.¡± ¡°Is the killing also part of the changes?¡± ¡°Yes. Is it not obvious?¡± ¡°No it¡¯s not apparent to me. But I suppose I¡¯m justconfused with too much of sudden changes to my life that I cannot clearly see it yet.¡± ¡°All those who are chosen sink or swim.¡± Go with the flow and learn quickly or I will die. I get it. However, I want to help my men, but apparently, the quickest way is for me to partially participate in the fights. Damn!I would love to summon a MK3 Spartan power armor, but it¡¯s just too expensive at 7000 points with the era penalty. Maybe something from earlier era. Let¡¯s see. Spike spent the rest of his time going through the various machine guns to find the lightest that had high rounds per minute rate of fire. He finally decided on a M249 SPW from the 1st Corporate war era. Even though he could get it from the Cold War era for a point cheaper. The SPW model was much more optimal with all the added options with lighter weight, shorter length, buttstock clasping, and a hand grip. It even had an overhead hand guard for the barrel and optics and lasers. Total cost 2 time 4 for the era. Total of 8 points. Now for the complete combat gear. But he needs to manage with the left over points of 18.5. Spike chose from the same era. A complete combat gear with Spartan level 3 body armor cost 4 points time 4 equal to 16. I feel a little guilty for using up these points but I can easily make it up by getting solo kills. I know the Captain won¡¯t like it. But I was already in the mist of combat in the last 2 battles. I don¡¯t want to feel naked anymore. and besides. I don¡¯t think he know the future weapons availability as we didn¡¯t really talk about it considering I didn¡¯t have enough point at the time. Inside the shack, Spike started to take off his uniform in preparation for his personal combat gears. ¡°Is everything OK sir?¡± Corporal Robinson asked. ¡°It¡¯s all good Corporal. I¡¯m about to summon some personal gears for me to be more helpful and to protect myself. So you men step back a little.¡± Then he summoned all the gears onto his body. Full battle rattle from almost 90 years ago from the military history vids he¡¯d watch during downtime. He looked very archaic. Spike reached and touched the various gears on his body to get a feeling for the items. When his hand reached the helmet he noticed the night vision optics. He set down his back pack and to get a better look at himself. He only had the Doughboy uniform before, but with the all the gears from the 1st Corp War era on, it gave the feeling Spike went back in time. It was an interesting feeling for Spike. But still nothing if compared to MK3. Even if he has never been inside the power armor before. Then Corporal Smith walked in to be surprise with Spikes new cloths. ¡°Ohm. Captain said we¡¯ll be moving out in 15, sir.¡± ¡°Very well. I¡¯ll be out in a minute.¡± Spike wanted to go through his gears but as long as he could fire his weapons and reload, it should be ok for now he thought. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°Lieutenant Moore. I¡¯ve decide to fill up 1st platoons roster then bring up your platoon¡¯s strength as Lord Phoenix is able to summon additional men. One of your squad leader will have to serve as a Platoon Sergeant as welluntil we you get more men. So you¡¯ll be getting a 2 full squad. I¡¯ll leave them in your charge now. Also Sergeant Rector, you are now my platoon daddy. Corporal Miller will be promoted to Sergeant Miller and take over 1st squad.¡± ¡°Sergeant White will be in charge of 4th squad. Sergeant White, you are going to be short a machine gun team until we get more reinforcement.¡± ¡°Understood sir.¡± ¡°So you¡¯ll be my reserve for now. Sergeant Martinez will be in charge of 2nd squad. Sergeant Pears will be in charge of 3rd squad. What the¡­?¡± Captain Jung said as he saw Spike walking out with his new gears. ¡°Everyone go prepare. We move out in 15.¡± And smartly walked up to Spike. ¡°So, what do you think. These are 80 to 90 years in your future. I paid a bit extra but I think they will pay off. I mean, even the night vision goggle along is worth its weight.¡± Spike said. ¡°Sir, you should have advised me ahead of time for the usage of points at this stage of the operation.¡± Captain Jung said unable to hide his annoyance. ¡°In a normal situation I agree with you Captain. But I¡¯m already maxed out on personnel limit and there¡¯s not much we could have purchased. So I made an executive decision to purchase a personal body armor and some gears to be more efficient.¡± Spike firmly stated. ¡°Besides captain. I have been literally in the midst of our fights so far and I¡¯m not too happy about my bodyguards throwing their bodies on top of me. But you don¡¯t have to worry. I¡¯m not going to senselessly charge into battle. I simply want to be ready for ¡®what if¡¯ scenarios. Because I¡¯m not going down without a fight. But most of all, I intent to live long enough to resummon PFC Korhonen.¡± Spike stated as a matter of fact attitude. After staring hard at Spike for a few second and coming to an understanding. ¡°I understand sir. But in the future please let me or any of the commanding officers know of your intents sir. Until our forces are large enough to handle more situations.¡± Spike agreed with the captain. In principle, Captain Jung is correct. But Spike also didn¡¯t need a babysitter. If he gets too insolated, it will lead to long term problem. Spike remembered that simply being in the ROTC program for two years was enough to insolated him from the ghetto street life. And he died from single mistake of forgetting that street life. Shortly after making adjustments to the unit. ¡°Alright! Move out!¡± Captain Jung shouted his command. Since the fight is expected near the town, the injured were saddled up on the horses. They simply could not stand straight to march with the main unit. They were instructed todrink lots of water and to find accommodation in the town before the fever over took them. Their situation wasn¡¯t immediate life threatening so both medics stayed with the main unit. The Sergeant Rector was put in charge of the marching and Sergeant Miller¡¯s squad took the lead element. Unfortunately, the unit wasn¡¯t fully cohesive with the sudden growthin size. They would need some time to adjust working with each other more smoothly, but everyone still understood each of their roll. And something that Spike always felt uncanny and little intimidating is that all the men always seem very composed and under control of themselves even during combat. Their simple lack of real fear was very unnerving. As they marched Captain Jung shared the knowledge and experienceof since beingsummoned with Lieutenant Moore and the newly summoned squad leaders. They discussed tactics and how quickly the battles have been. And the threat of magic users and ranged weapons. Near the town where the clearing started awaited Hunt Master and his feline tracker Rikko. As they got close enough to see the trackers face the surprised look on the Hunt Master Malikai eye spoke loud and clear. Even Spike could read the obvious. ¡°Nothing to worry about Hunt Master.¡± Spike spoke as he smiled reassuring him. ¡°Just a little reinforcement. There will be more in the future so you should just get used to it.¡± ¡°Hunt Master Malikai!¡± Bringing him out of the stupor. ¡°Yes Lieutenant.¡± ¡°Ahm. It¡¯s Captain now.¡± ¡°Oh. Then congratulations are in order.¡± Hunt Master offered his hand. Unable to hide his look of surprise. Lord Daldia was right. They do have more men, but just how manymore? Hunt Master thought to himself. ¡°Thank you Hunt Master.¡± Shaking hands. Then directly to the point. ¡°I have 3 men who will need accommodations. Nothing serious, but I want them isolated as they have been poisoned andwill be in high fever soon. My medical personnel were not able to complete clean out the filth from the goblin arrowhead and they¡¯ll be needing to fight of the infection. So I¡¯d like them safe inside the wall while we hunt these goblins.¡± Nodding. ¡°I see. Rikko. Run up to the gate and have someone arrange for one of the empty warehouse in the merchant district for their use. And be sure to have them set some guards as sentry to prevent any disturbance.¡± ¡°And this is Lieutenant Moore. Lieutenant Moore. Hunt Master Malikai.¡± They quickly made introduction. Neither side wasted any effort in pleasantry while they were in a hostile situation. The three wounded limped and wobbledafter Rikko as the Hunt Master reported the current goblin movement. With grim look on his face. ¡°Tracker Grigor just reported that he found a massive goblin tracks leading toward the area where you had your first fight the other day. There is an area with lighter vegetation densityand that¡¯s probably where the raid party traveled when your group first ran into them.¡± Hunt Master drew a quick map to indicate goblin movement heading perpendicular to the stream. ¡°The goblins have a very good visual in a low light environment. So they will hit us tonight right when the sun goes down. In addition, they will use the crop to hide their numbers and movements until they are almost right up to the first barricade. I believe they will set up camps near the stream to rest up during the day and move down when they are ready.¡± Looking at the Phoenix leaderships nervously. Hesitating before saying anymore, ¡°Lord Phoenix. This is a goblins invasion force not a war party. They intend to kill everyone one in this town and stay. So far, my trackers have identified 3 different goblin tribes. Grigor said they numbered into several thousands. At least. That¡¯s why they haven¡¯t assaulted the hamlets earlier. They were gathering information¡¯s. and the ones you ran into several days agowere scout force. They haven¡¯t been out this far in decades. So they are being either pushed outor their population have over grown.¡± Looking back at the Phoenix leadership with the implication of these new developments. Looking back at the Hunt Master. The Captain suddenly broke out into gleeful laughter almost bordering madness. ¡°At least several thousand you say! That¡¯s beautiful.¡± Looking at Spike in his new gears as he continued to laugh. ¡°You are so right Lord Phoenix. I¡¯m so glad you prepared for that ¡®what if¡¯ scenario. Since they are coming to us tonight let¡¯s prepare a welcoming party for them.¡± As he continued his uncanny laughter. Everyone simply looked at Captain Jung with concern and a slight touch of fear for his sanity as he laught away in glee. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was a quick decision by Captain Jung. There was no point in hunting goblins when they will be upon the town in half a day. He quickly decided to spread out the 10 Lewis gun evenly around the wooden wall to cover the 360 degree. Each machine guns were placed 50 meters from each other. Then shift them as need it. The Riflemen were scatter between the machine gun placement to support the Lewis Gun by sniping goblin archers and shamans and throw grenades when the goblins got too close to the walls. The shamans were put on priority target. Everyone were double loaded with 8 grenades. And each Lewis Gun position had 20 additional drum with 97 rounds in each drums. The local garrisonalso participated on the rehearsal which served as a training to move the ammo drums with Lewis guns they were assigned to. They also served as a shield bearer against the goblin archers. Additional rounds were summoned for the flare guns the 2 officers carried. The prior placement of the barricade would slow down the goblin charge. Giving more time for the machine guns to do their job. If they could throw in some barbwire this wouldalmost looked like the trench warfare these men were used to on the French front. Hunt Master explained the situation to the town''s leadership causing an uproar. The only saving grace was that they now had allies who were willing to defend their town and its people. And as they started shooting off their Lewis gun to set up a firing range for each position, it gave the people hope. Witnessing strange weapons and more protectorshelped them easy their fears. The panic and despair that should have ensued was reduced with the knowledge that there were soldiers armed with magical weapons inside their wall. After setting up defensive position for the Phoenix forces, all they could do was rest and wait. With the preexisting walls and obstaclesin placethere were very little to do. As for Spike, after summoning all the requested munitions he spent the next hour familiarizing himself with the M249 SPW and its functions plus the night vision goggle on his helmet. He practiced reloading and clearing his weapons. And firing position against the wall. But he was most excited about the infrared laser pointer using his NVG(Night Vision Goggle). Then he thought to himself that the Nexus was slowly making him into a killer. ¡°What the hell are you men doing here?¡± asked the captain to the 3 wounded men. ¡°Well sir, we reckon since we got no place to march you could use 3 more rifles on the wall. Besides sir. We all feel fine now. The poison must have run it¡¯s course already.¡± Replied one of the private. Thinking for a quick second after the looking over the men. ¡°Fine, until you men can¡¯t hold your rifle straight, go report to your squad leaders.¡± "Thank you Sir." All 3 replied happily. Watching them walk to their squad leaders. ¡°Everyone''s itching to get some kills. General Patton would be proud.¡± Spike commented. ¡°Who? Sir.¡± Captain asked looking at Spike as if his trying to remember something. ¡°Sigh. Never you mind captain. Just someone after your time.¡± Spike said in defeat. ¡°By the way sir. I was just thinking since this may be a big ass battle. You think you could whip up some double ration for the local women folk to cook for us? It would be good for the moral and I¡¯m sure the town''s people could really use it. Having a decent meal for a change could easy off lot of stress.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea. It¡¯s easy enough to do.¡± Looking at his Mana. ¡°I''m about half full from summoning all the ammos and regening. We still have about 4 hours before the sunset. I¡¯ll go summon them now at the warehouse. Send the 2 medics to help organize the distribution.¡± Spike said as he walked down the woodenramp in his battle gears. Even though the extra gears were heavy Spike felt comfort in the knowledge he isable to mow down some enemy now. The words were spread very fast that the strange men were giving out food at the warehouse. The mayor¡¯s staff were quickly put to work by helping distribute the food and the cooks from the mansion got busy cooking for Phoenix men. To prevent a minor food riot. A squad of town¡¯s guard were brought over to maintain order. After Spike burned off the last of his mana he looked at the pile of food stuff he just summoned and realized he summoned to much. He ended up with enough food to feed little over 3000 people for 3 days. Scratching his head as he looked at the big ass pile. ¡°Maybe I summoned to much?¡± ¡°Ah¡­ maybe sir.¡± Corporal Smith replied. Out of curiosity Spike took a look at his summon ability skills and he noticed something he didn¡¯t see before. His summoning points went up by .001 compare to before. He wasn¡¯t tracking it before because he had been experiencing information overload. Compounded with stress and confusion. But just now he noticed it that .001 change in number from before. Spike thought this is something the captain needs to know when shit settles down. They both thought the summoning skill only went up with usage of resource points. But this changes things a little. Was it because I depleted all my mana? Leaving behind the medics and the support people from the mayor¡¯s mansion he quickly returned to the wall. Flanked by the bodyguards Spikes wondered if they will be a permanent fixture to his life as he looked at his new M249 SPW on a sling resting against his stomach. Upon arrival to the wall he found the 3 town''s leadership in discussion with Captain Jung and Lieutenant Moore. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to sound ungrateful Captain, but how likely do you think we will come through this intact enough to deal with the Stovkow raid?¡± Lord Daldia asked. ¡°Oh¡¯ I would say pretty damn sure Mayor. My men are damn good with these type of battles. And I can almost guarantee that even after we take care of your goblin problems we will have even more men to helpdeal with the Stovkow¡¯s slavers.¡± Captain Jung replied with so much bravado and overwhelming confidence that left the 3 township leaders speechless. Damn. That man is loving this. It¡¯s like he was born for this shit. Spike thought. His probably thinking we¡¯re about to have a feast tonight. ¡°H h how can you be so confident Captain. We are surrounded and outnumbered by at least 20 to 1.¡± Lord Daldia cried out. In a normal dark age environment, he is correct. Outnumbered 4 to 1, this town would be laid waste by the morning. Even throwing in magic in to the equation for the defender, the odds would not change too much to make a difference when they are outnumbered over20 to 1. ¡°Calm yourself Lord Daldia. You don¡¯t want to spread panic now do you?¡± The Captain quietly warned. ¡°If my people didn¡¯t believe we would have an overwhelming victory none of us would be inside your walls. So please rest assure. We will be victorious.¡± Steadily looking into their eyes. The 2 fights with the goblins have left the Phoenix force with much confidence. Having been out numbered 10 to 1 and still leading to a quick victory with minimal casualty has given the men a sense of superiority. Normally, it would be good for the moral but not so good in the long runas it causes careless mistakes. But Spike thought, that didn''t apply to these men. ¡°Now then My Lords. I still have duties to full fill.¡± Captain Jung spoke. ¡°Sergeant Rector. Let¡¯s take the men off the walls until about an hour till sunset. It''ll turn out to be a long night and I want the men rested.¡± Looking back at the 3 towns leadership. ¡°Lord Havington. Please inform me if something comes up.¡± ¡°Yes of course Captain. I¡¯ll have my guards continue with the sentry until you and men are need it.¡± The Phoenix force were walking into thewarehouse while the mayor¡¯s staffs were still distributing the rations to the towns people. The line was full of mostly women and children. Except for few old men and cripples, no other men were present. The look they received from the women werevery intimidating as their eyes showed no emotions as they measured up the men. The look of hunger, desperation, depression, and dead eyes of a broken people. But most of all, the physical looks of the people from lack of fat and muscles on their face and body looked horrendous. It¡¯s as if the living could look like skeletonsthen these people would fit the bill. Up to now, the captain had the men isolated as much as possible from the civilians. Finally witnessing the conditions of the local children and women folks brought disgust and anger to the pits of their stomach. Its no wonder they haven''t seen any children playing. From the looks of their condition they had neither the strength nor will to play as children.With the shock seeing firsthand the inhuman condition of 10 year of starvation left the men speechless. Thus they walked silently into the warehouse as both sides stared back at each other. As the men settled down in their respected assigned area in the large open warehouse. They watched as one by one mostly widowed women with children came through the door to receive their food rations. ¡°This shit is wrong.¡± ¡°This is fucked up.¡± ¡°Someone needs to pay for this.¡± ¡°The injustice!¡± Etc.¡­. The men spoke their feelings as if they were the one in indignation. ¡°So¡­¡± Spike walked to the center getting everyone attention. ¡°What do we say we do something about it men. What say you?¡± Spike challenged the men. ¡°Let¡¯s go kill some goblins then move on to Stovkow. No matter where, those in power have always shit on the powerless. But now we have the power to make a change. What say we burn down the establishment and free these people from tyranny?¡± Spike felt he should do something about this. Thus he spoke his mind. Unlike Captain Jung who only thought of killing. Spike felt motivated to make a stand. It was all emotional, but he felt that he had to do something about it. In a certain way, he felt, if he makes a stand here for justice here and now, he would be finishing what he might have done for his siblings, his family. ¡°Fuck Yeah!¡± ¡°Huzzah!¡± The men cheered in approval. ¡°PHOENIX! PHOENIX! PHOENIX!¡± the men chanted in approval. That¡¯s right Spike Phoenix. Keep inspire the men to fight and I¡¯ll make the battlesvictorious for us. The captain looked on with a very satisfied look on his face as the men chanted. Ch6 - Its better then Kumbaya. I went and proofed read Ch5. I realized because I''m a speed reader it effects my grammar as I write. I tend to skip words andoftentype in incomplete words. or throw in a different word then i was thinking. Can you believe it took me 4 hours to proofread Ch6. Maybe this will turn into a weekly update. I welcome any grammar Nazi''s to comeexecute my chapters. =========================================================================== The food prepared by the mayor¡¯s cooking staff was ready and the men leisurely took their share inside the warehouse. Resting and bumming off cigarette from the newly summoned soldiers. ¡°Ah, thank you for coming by Lord Havington.¡± Captain Jung greeted him as he walked through the large warehouse door. ¡°Please come have a seat.¡± Waving him over. ¡°Please grab a bowl. The cooks cooked extra.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mind if I do.¡± As one of the cook gave him a hot bowl of meat stew. ¡°So what can I do for you Captain.¡± Has he sat on the small crate serving a chair. ¡°The Hunt Master informed me that you have the most combat experience in the town. So I¡¯d like to ask you a few question about goblin magic.¡± ¡°Ah yes. Lord Malikai did mention your lack of general knowledge of goblins. Please, ask me anything.¡± ¡°Earlier today, wo lost a man to a goblin shaman. From my men¡¯s description it was some sort of fire explosion. Can you tell us what you know about it?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear of your loses Captain. The shamans are very dangerous. Their specialty is fire magic. They are known to cast Fireballs, Fire walls and sometime Fire arrows. It is a general knowledge that Fireball has a range of about 50 meters. While fire arrows are less deadly, it has a range of 100 meters. The Fire wall¡¯s flame is about half of arm¡¯s length deep, but once cast it becomes stationary until it burns out. And that depends on how much mana the shaman has used for the fire wall. On average, a single goblin shaman is known to be able to cast a 10-meter-long, 2-meter-high fire wall. But older and much more powerful shamans are known to have little more output in range and damage for all their fire magic.¡± ¡°Are the shamans the only magic user in the goblin kingdom?¡± ¡°Hmm, though it¡¯s rare, sometimes Hobgoblin can show up. They can generally double the magic power of the shamans. But it¡¯s rare as they are the product of captive human women giving birth from goblin rape. The reason it¡¯s so rare is that hobgoblins babies are often still born. And men or women are often slaughtered for food sources for the goblins before any raping happens.¡± ¡°Do you think there will be any Hobgoblins in the goblin invasion force?¡± ¡°Hmm, normally I might think so considering the size of the goblin force, but there hasn¡¯t been to many human presences beyond our township for many years. Manymen have given up on the frontier from the lack of support and have moved on. And generally speaking, in the vanguard of all human Frontiers, there are very few women. Until the men stabilize the said frontier area enough to support a family, the women normally stay in more civilized settlements. Having said that. It¡¯s not impossible, but highly unlikely that there is a Hobgoblin in this invasion force.¡± ¡°Is that the only reason?.¡± Spike farther inquired. ¡°Well Lord Phoenix. The humans have been losing ground in the frontier in the last decades. That has given the goblins much territory for breeding and hunting. I believe they are simply retakingthe territories back. I suspect if your forces should leave this area of the frontier, with the continual raids from the Stovkow, all the human settlements would eventually disappear. Then the Stovkow will have to directly deal with the inhumanoids and monsters from the frontiers.¡± ¡°This is crazy. Doesn¡¯t Stovkow realize this?¡± Spike asked. ¡°I¡¯m sure they do. But I also think that they didn¡¯t think the war for the ruins, in the east, would last this long. Before the merchants stopped coming from the east, I heard even the Theolemor wasn¡¯t doing so well either. The prolong war has forced them to borrow much gold from the various free cities in the east. The very money they borrow are being used to higher mercenaries from the same free cities. How ironic.¡± As he laughs wryly. ¡°Thank you for sharing these information Lord Havington.¡± ¡°Not at all Captain Jung. You are risking your life behind our walls and about to face a goblin horde well over 2 thousand in numbers. I think this much is nothing.¡± As he showed his appreciation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ¡°These strangers seem very confident in themselves.¡± The guard on the wall spoke as he patrolled with his partner. ¡°Well did you see them practice with their stave weapons earlier?¡± ¡°Yes. It was terrifyingly loud. But I didn¡¯t see any real result.¡± ¡°Well I was nearby when one of them leader spoke to Lord Daldia and I overheard them speak. It¡¯s some sort of a magic weapons that shoots out a metal pellet.¡± ¡°But it must be difficult to aim?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I heard they already fought the goblins twice, and this morning they killed over 200 and I only saw 3 lightly wounded men walking in pass the gate earlier.¡± ¡°No. You don¡¯t say.¡± ¡°You taking me for a woman who gossips all day long?¡± ¡°Ah, no. I didn¡¯t mean it like that. I¡¯m sor¡­.¡± He froze as he looked out to the wheat field. ¡°Oh my gods. They are here. Raise the alarm!¡± He shouted as the goblin forces slowly came out of the wood line all around the stream. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°Alright men! It¡¯s almost time. Remember all riflemen prioritize the shamans, and any strange looking goblins, then the archers. The goblin bows have terrible accuracy, but they make it up by volley firing and using poison. So be sure to work with the shield bearer as we rehearsed earlier. Don¡¯t use the grenade closer than 5 meters from the walls. It could damage the wooden wall. Use your pistol if they are that close. Leave the spear phalanx charge to the machine guns. Think trench warfare in the French front.¡± ¡°Goblins. Goblins are here!¡± one of the guard shouted frantically through the main door of the warehouse. ¡°Looks like they are early.¡± Looking at the guardsman. ¡°Calm yourself guardsman. Now which side are they gathering?¡± ¡°On the wall facing the giant hill milord.¡± ¡°Lieutenant Moore. I want you to position 1 rifle team and 1 Lewis Gun on each side for security. I¡¯ll take 1st platoon to face the goblin horde.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± ¡°Gentlemen! The goblins have delivered themselves to us for this evening¡¯s feast. Let¡¯s not be ungrateful and be shy about it. I command you all to splurge to your hearts content.¡± Captain Jung declared. ¡°Huzzah!¡± the men eagerly shouted while laughing. ¡°Everyone! Move out!¡± In high spirit the men of the Phoenix force charged out of the warehouse shouting their war cries frightening the children and women still in line for the rations. As 73 men shouting, ¡°Goblins! Goblins! Goblins!¡± were chanted they ran up to their positions on the 3 meters high walls. Upon reaching the walls the rifles and Lewis Guns barrels stuck out over the walls as the men readied themselves for combat. The goblins formations hugged the wood line to keep out of range from the bow from reaching them. From the set up the goblins concentrated their force on the north side. With their overwhelming numbers the goblin warlord knew that all they had to do was concentrate on one side and the walls would collapse. The defender could hear the goblin commanders shouting out order as they screamed in their racial tongue. Once set, they waited. ¡°Oh. Looking like they plan to wait until sunset to gain visibility advantage us.¡± Captain Jung said. ¡°It¡¯s their normal tactic when assaulting fortifications Captain.¡± Steward Havington replied. ¡°However, even they will have difficulty in pitch darkness. So they plan to breach the wall before dark. Then their shamans will light the building on fire to increase their visibility during the battle while we will be at a disadvantage. Then they will slaughter us all for their victory feast.¡± Amused. ¡°How funny. When we plan to feast on their lives.¡± Captain Jung replied. Then everyone on the Phoenix force broke out into laughter at the humor. Settling down from the laughter. ¡°Listen up.¡± As he walked back and forth on the wall will giving commands. ¡°Do not fire until they reach the first barricade. Let the archers and the shamans get a little closer to increase the hit ratio for the snipers. That should give little more time for you to identify the shamans. However, if you see anything that looks like they are casting magic snipe them at will. As the captain finished his instructions rest of the Lewis Gun ammo drums were brought over to each positions. 20 reloads plus the 1 drum loaded. 6 machine guns to receive the goblin assult. Supplemented by over 16 rifle with the squad leaders and the bodyguards. Plus, multiple grenades. The Phoenix force was ready to receive the goblin horde. While everyone waited Spike took the opportunity and used the x4 optic on the M249 SPW to scope out the goblins for shamans and any other strange looking goblins. He started to call out the shaman for the riflemen when the Captain came up to him and joined him with his binocular. ¡°I counted 12 voodoo witch doctor looking Goblins. Captain. How about you?¡± ask Spike. ¡°I counted 11. They are moving in and out of the wood line. There¡¯s more, I¡¯m sure of it.¡± He added. ¡°I¡¯ll keep firing up the flare to help with the visibility but the machine guns will place a bigger roll. I¡¯m just glad I¡¯m on the giving side of it than on the receiving end. 6 Lewis Gun which can fire up 500-600 round per minute with 97 rounds per pan magazine. It¡¯s going to be a slaughter sir. I say this from experience. If we had some artilleries or mortars it would be nastier. But I wasn¡¯t expecting to be defending a position so soon.¡± ¡°After this fight we¡¯ll have more options.¡± Spike replied. Once the goblins break through the wheat fields they will lose the visibility coverage. Starting with the barricade they will lose all coverage and will be shooting ducks in the pond. The barricade were simple thick wooden spears half buried to detour cavalry charges. Should they jump over it, there were smaller size spears designed to stab the invaders feet and legs to impair their movements. 3 layers of barricade were set up within the 50 meters of the wooded walls. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When only the tip of the sun was visible the goblins marched. The advance formations carried ladders and rope ladders to clime the 3-meter wall. They moved with discipline which was unexpected for Spike. They trampled on the wheat field as they moved in mass. In the twilight, the goblin movement looked the like the wave was coming in on the field. ¡°Hold your fire!¡± The massive movements generated loud sound of stamping and many rattles from the weapons carried by the goblins. The guardsmen were very nervous. They would have been terrified if it wasn¡¯t for the Phoenix soldier singing a strange song. It started with a simple whistling of a catch toon. Then like a virus, the other Phoenix men joined in. As the men sang Spike thought they were insane. If anything, the fact that they were singing made him more nervous for their sanity. When Johnny comes marching home again, ¡°FEAST!¡± Hurrah! Hurrah! We''ll give him a hearty welcome then ¡°FEAST!¡± Hurrah! Hurrah! The men will cheer and the boys will shout The ladies they will all turn out And we''ll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home. The old church bell will peal with joy ¡°FEAST!¡± Hurrah! Hurrah! To welcome home our darling boy, ¡°FEAST!¡± Hurrah! Hurrah! The village lads and lassies say With roses they will strew the way, And we''ll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home. Get ready for the Jubilee, ¡°FEAST!¡± Hurrah! Hurrah! We''ll give the hero three times three, ¡°FEAST!¡± Hurrah! Hurrah! The laurel wreath is ready now To place upon his loyal brow And we''ll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home. Let love and friendship on that day, ¡°FEAST!¡± Hurrah, hurrah! Their choicest pleasures then display, ¡°FEAST!¡± Hurrah, hurrah! And let each one perform some part, To fill with joy the warrior''s heart, And we''ll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home. Every time, they put an extra emphasis on the FEAST part. At the end, all the Phoenix men broke out with a jolly laughter. These bastards are insane! Spike thought. But they were also in a good mood. ¡°Lewis Guns, stay hiden behind the wall as cover! Riflemen start sniping the archers. Shoot the shamans when you see them!¡± Captain Jung commanded as he fired of his flare gun up toward the center of the field. The snipers shot at the archers. It was impossible to miss as they were massed up for volley fire. That made it even worst for the archers as the sniper¡¯s bullets often also killed the goblins behind it. The guardsmen held a medium side shield over each riflemen and himself for added protection from overhead shots from the archers. Ignored by the defender for now the goblins phalanx formations pushed up to the second barricade even as their grunts took damages to their feet and legs, and some impaling themselves as they fell forward. Then as planned the Lewis Guns came up behind the walls and opened up on everything until their ammo drum was empty. And all the riflemen held their fire looking for any shaman who would react to the mass killing. Just as expected the shaman started to cast their magic behind the archer¡¯s formation. They gathered their mana and started to form the fire balls. But they made themselves an easy target by illuminating themselves as the flame gathered in their hands. Under 3 seconds all the shamans casting magic died from the snipers. ¡°Machines guns now! Shift target and mow down the archer formations!¡± Captain Jung shouted his command as he kept firing flares over the battlefield. Spike finally joined and unloaded 200 rounds of 5.62 into the mass groups of goblins. With his night vision and infrared illuminator, he was able to maximize his kill rate. He would reload behind cover, move over left or right of the wall about 5 meters each time with the shield bearers, then fire 200 round each time leaving a pile of dead goblins in the wake. The barrage was just too much for the goblins. They have never faced anything like it before. Witnessing over a third of their forces get destroyed so quickly was just too much for them. With their moral quickly crushed the goblins broke rank and tried to flee. But with the wheat field flattened from their assault, they no longer had visual coverage to protect them. And the many hundreds that were still stuck within the barricade obstacles could not retreat fast enough. ¡°Unload everything you got. You got 800-meter maximum effective range on the Lewis guns. Fire into the forest as they run. Turn the whole forest into your killing field! Kill them all!¡± The Captain shouted in ecstasy. Once they started to run, it was no longer a battle, it was a massacre. As history has taught them on Earth, most of the deaths in battles happen when the enemy flees. Nexus is no different as the enemy are freely shot in the back as they ran. Even as they ran into the forest many goblins were killed as they were still within the machine gun¡¯s killing range. ¡°That¡¯s what you get for bringing a sword to a gun fight!¡± Someone shouted. ¡°Yeah! Easy victory men.¡± ¡°YEEEAAHHHHH!¡± ¡°Woooohoooo!¡± The men shouted in victory. With so many defeated enemies, all the Phoenix¡¯s men were again high on ecstasy that Spike could not feel. He found himself kind of envious of them as he could not join them in their rush of power they were feeling. Feeling left out Spike focused on personnel to see who he lost. Amazingly he was still at 72 out of 72. The goblins charge never even made it to the walls. Shamans were quickly dispatched as they were casting. So he figured if there were any injury most would be from arrow wounds. Feeling his weapon lighter then usual, he realized his ammo drum was completely empty and all the reloads were empty as well. Holy shit! I shot 2200 rounds down range. He quickly summoned a reload and tied a spare drum to his hip. Then he started to mentally prepare himself for what¡¯s to come. The damn Captain¡¯s going to make me execute the wounded goblins again. The smell of gun powder was everywhere on the wall. Spike could feel the heat emanating from his M249. This much should not have damaged my new baby. He hoped. ¡°So¡­ What do you gentlemen think of our way of battles? ¡°Captain Jung asked the 3 town¡¯s leadership with a very smug look. All 3 of the town¡¯s leaders were completely speechless from being absolutely shocked with the battle result. They have never seen such power nor have every witnessed such complete absolute victory. But most of all, for Lord Daldia, for the first time in a decade, felt hope. Hope for a future for himself, for his family, for his people. For what¡¯s left of them. Ten years of pain of losing his children. Watching his people and their family die as each day passes. Witnessing the destruction of all the work of 4 generations of his family. Children¡¯s laughter disappearing to be replaced by their cries of hunger. Complete helplessness as little more of his people die from the hands of Stovkow. Everything, everything¡­ everything dying. His crushed soul finally cried out for help. Breathing heavily, unable to hold his emotions, he walked up to Spike with meaning in his steps and kneeled before Spike trembling in tears. ¡°I beg of you Lord Phoenix.¡± As his voice cracked with intense emotion. ¡°Please save my people. From the goblins. From starvations. From the Stovkow. As I am kneeling before you now, I will pledge myself and this town for all time to your authority.¡± Kneeling before Spike, Lord Daldia broke down and wept with his head bowed low. Letting it all go. Desperately hoping for a salvation. Steward Havington and Hunt Master Malikai understanding their lord¡¯s intent, without hesitation, quickly kneeled next to their master, Lord Daldia in support of his decision. The sudden action from Lord Daldia left Spike completely stunned, including all the guardsman and conscripts tasked out for labor duty during the battle. Unsure of what to do Spike looked at Captain Jung for help. Yes, this is perfect. Internally extatic with the situation.Captain Jung smoothly walked up to stand next to Spike. ¡°My Lord Daldia. If you remember from our early talk. We did say many good things will come out of our friendship. If you are absolutely sure of your decisions, then my Lord Phoenix welcomes you as his loyal subject.¡± Spike was about to say something out of shock before Captain Jung grabbed his arm and slightly shook his head. Signaling to Spike to let him handle this situation. This dude. What the fuck is he doing. Damn. Shit¡¯s moving just too fast. This scheming son of a bitch. Spike looked at Captain Jung in surpise. Kneeling to face Lord Daldia. ¡°Lord Daldia. I can see that it¡¯s been incredibly difficult time for you. Why don¡¯t you return to the mansion for tonight and leave Steward Havington and the Hunt Master to finish up the cleanup. We¡¯ll talk in the morning after you are well rested.¡± Taking the que. Steward Havington ordered couple of knightly armoredwarriors to help Lord Daldia up and escort him back to the mansion. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rest of the guards were tasked out to gather torches. Then in a team of guardsman and simple laborers with Phoenix force, moved out of the gate. Taking caution, they started gathering the wounded goblins into one location for Spike to do his dirty duty. Sigh! They are green. Their blood is green. So therefore, they must be grass and I am the lawnmower. I¡¯m just doing lawn work damn it! Is what Spike wanted to believe as he cried for his soul. After few hours of going through the battlefield for live goblins and relocating them all in one location, Spike quickly mowed them down and did his duty. Group of towns labor and guardsmen that witnessed such violence looked away from Spike to avoid eye contact. With the killing of all the goblins it was decided the real cleanup will start in the morning, after everyone rest up. Phoenix forces decidedto stay in the warehouse and the regular guardsmen were tasked with sentry duty for the night. Overall there were 9 flesh wounds on the Phoenix side. All the wounds were on the arms and shoulder area from arrow wounds. They also learned that even 2nd platoon who didn¡¯t participate in the fight felt very enervated. ¡°What does this mean? Is it because of their range to the battle site?¡±Spike thought. ¡°No, it is because of your leadership level and the Captains command abilities.¡±Silhouette jumped in. ¡°What? I see. My leadership is only at level 1. These skills have some sort of range effect.¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± ¡°Can you tell me the range?¡± ¡°No. Does it really matter. You and your men just need to keep doing what you are doing. Simply consider it a bonus. If you lose yourself in technicality, you will die.¡± ¡°Then how do I increase my skill?¡± ¡°It¡¯s simple. Use it.¡± ¡°I see¡­ by the way. How come the men feel so alive after the battles but I feel nothing? I feel kind of cheated you know.¡± ¡°You are not a lost soul. You are not like them.¡± ¡°I see. I understand. Also, I hope the rest of the world isn¡¯t like what I¡¯m seeing so far. Is the rest of the Nexus so sad?¡± ¡°You have the power to be a tyrant or benevolent. You need to discover the would on your own.¡± ¡°Yes, You¡¯ve said that before. I¡¯m still not sure to what extent you speak of.¡± ¡°Discovery it yourself.¡± ¡°Corporal Robinson. I¡¯m going to the warehouse now. Can you send a message to the Captain to come see me when his done with whatever his doing?¡± Spike ordered. ¡°Yes Sir!¡± Pointing at Private Davis. ¡°Go find the Captain and pass the message and come right back.¡± This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°Roger Corporal.¡± And Private Davis briskly ran off. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Resting his back against the wall Spike looked at his stats. He had gained a crazy about of experience. 76,712 pushed him up to Level 12 with 86,428 total EXP. This is frightening amount of experience. Even without increasing his Spirit anymore, the personnel max increased to 432. The increase in his military resource was terrifying to Spike. And it would only increase. As long as he stays alive and his men achieve victory. Is that why the Spirit repeat her warning of tyranny and benevolence. I just wanted to help. I wasn¡¯t thinking of being a conqueror. It hasn¡¯t even been a week. I¡¯m still trying to learn and get used to this world damn it. Everything is just moving too damn fast. Sink or swim. huh. Losing himself to his thoughts, Spike didn¡¯t even noticed the had Captain walked up to him. ¡°You called me sir?¡± Captain ask as he settled down in front of Spike. Slowly turning his head toward Captain Jung. ¡°It¡¯s too easy.¡± ¡°Sir?¡± ¡°The battles. It¡¯s too easy. And the level growth rate is frightening too fast. Don¡¯t you think so Captain? We started with 15 men. Now we are about summon over 500 men.¡± ¡°Hmm I see what you mean sir. But it¡¯s to be expected when you are on the side that has overwhelming fire power.¡± ¡°No I mean this land. It¡¯s too easy. At the rate I¡¯m able to summon military resources. We will be more powerful than the local nations. There must be something else. It can¡¯t be this easy.¡± ¡°Sir, if I remember right from what you¡¯ve said before, the silhouette did say that there are and will be others like you who will come to the Nexus. Maybe there something to that. But I think we should not worry about it too much for now as we can¡¯t do nothing about it. Let us first focus on building our power base here sir. Once we have some stability, then we can start figuring out what and how we should go about it.¡± ¡°So, is that what you¡¯ve been scheming all this time Captain?¡± Giving that sly look. ¡°Well, I wouldn¡¯t go so far as saying scheming sir. But if the opportunity presents it¡¯s self then I¡¯m sure as hell going to take it without hesitation.¡± Pausing to give Spike to process his word then he continued. ¡°Sir, as we grow, we¡¯ll become too large a force to be a vagabond. However you look at it, we are a military force and we will absolutely need a base.¡± ¡°I suppose you are correct in that. But why so soon and why here?¡± ¡°It¡¯s never too soon to start planning sir. And I think this location is a good place. From the limited knowledge we currently possess, we are near a free port town giving us access to having a navy in the future. The Frontier has monsters we have yet to see and these inhumanoids who are natural enemies to human types. I get the impression you¡¯re not too keen on killing human so the Frontier offers the men potential to grow in strength. The kingdoms in the east appear weak. From their long term war, it has caused them to become a militant despot. I believe the people are ripe for some liberty in the eastern kingdoms. And best of all. All the settlements in the frontier are in need of strong military to protect them. Even if we don¡¯t need it right now, but if the shoe fits perfectly and you have the money, it¡¯s not a bad thing to purchase early and break it in.¡± ¡°You¡­ you were really thinking of all this or did you just shit this out of your ass?¡± ¡°You give me too much credit Sir. A good commander knows when to grab opportunity when they come. It¡¯s our job to keep our eyes open. And Sir.¡± Putting his hand on Spikes shoulder. ¡°You are not alone in this. All the summoned soldiers are with you. There will be other officers in the future as well. Failure is not an option for us. There isn¡¯t a single summoned soul who wants to go back to the void and fade away into oblivion. You give the men hope sir. As long as you live, even in death we all know that you will eventually summon us back again. And if truth be told Sir. Do you remember when you were briefly in the void?¡± ¡°Yeah. I remember. It was like being out in space with nothing but endless stars.¡± ¡°All these stars¡­ are us before being summoned. I hope you will live long sir.¡± Captain said looking hopeful. The final information left an awful feeling in Spikes stomach as he suddenly felt very pressured by that implication. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of pressure you know.¡± ¡°Then you now understand the pressure I face as a senior commanding officer.¡± Captain Jung added knowingly. And that shut up Spike from saying anything farther. ¡°So, you see sir. We¡¯re all in it together.¡± Then Spike was hit with an understanding. ¡°Then I suppose I should be sharing the wealth a little more Major Jung.¡± Spike smiled as the collar on the Captain glowed and reshaped in to a golden 7-point leaf. That gave Spike a little satisfaction getting back at the Major. ¡°Triple promotion under a week. To my knowledge, this hasn¡¯t happened since our Civil War. Thanks for putting me on the fast track sir. But you sure you don¡¯t want to summon some other field grade officer?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure unless you feel you can¡¯t handle the job. At this point I find your presence comforting. Even if I find you annoying when I think you might be scheming.¡± The Major seemed very happy with the last comment as he chuckled. ¡°I believe I can handle it sir. But don¡¯t promote me to take charge of a regiment or a brigade for a while sir.¡± ¡°Understood. And thanks Major Jung. I needed that talk just now.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m here sir. To assist you and follow your orders.¡± As he said with that villainous look again. ¡°So what do I have to work with sir?¡± ¡°Our personal slot jumped up to 432, resource points are at 932.4. and logistic is up to 696. But that¡¯s before I use up the 8 stat points. I was thinking of putting 4 points to spirit so we¡¯ll get a base summon of 2 complete squad. But we had a large increase this time around and I really don¡¯t understand this stat mechanism. Then put the rest into my physical stats to keep me alive in case shit hits the fan. I think I need to balance out my stat for long term survivability.¡± ¡°I agree sir.¡± ¡°Ok. After putting 4 points to Spirit. The personnel max went up to 528, logistic 696.¡± ¡°Very good sir. I¡¯ll have some numbers for you in the morning. And now please get some rest.¡± ¡°By the way Major.¡± ¡°Sir?¡± ¡°I noticed something about everyone that I summoned. Every one of you men are very composed and cool. Even under fire. You men never panic and appear always under control. Why is that? Because you know¡­watching you men sometimes¡­ I feel insufficient. It makes me feel insecure.¡± Spike admitted. ¡°Well sir. In the void, we stop living. There is no gain. We have no body to feel hunger, pain, pleasure and such. In the void, our soul slowly loses spiritual energy. Only way to experience something new is to share memories to gain something new. These memory becomes our currency. We trade memories. In this way we gain something new and different. And because of all these shared memories we know more, felt more, experienced more¡­ in a sense, even if they are artificial. Even experience dying many times over in different ways. I suppose this makes us all feel old. You understand sir? ¡°Yeah I think I sort of get it. I¡¯m like a kid compare to you all.¡± Chuckling. ¡°Well, I suppose if you put it like that, it¡¯s not too far from the truth.¡± ¡°Ok. Thanks for the talk Major Jung. Suddenly, I feel very tired. I don¡¯t have the privilege of feeling that enervating rush after each battle like you men. So I better get some rest.¡± ¡°Very good Sir. See you in the morning.¡± After allocating his other 4 points; 2 to CON, 1 to DEX, and 1 to STR which brought him to: Level 12 INT 20 Spirit 22 STR 11 CON 12 DEX 11 Mana 384 Health 276 Spike quickly fell asleep from a very long and exhausting day. Last thing on his mind as he drifted into the sleep land was. At least I¡¯m not hungry. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When Spike finally woke up, he found the warehouse empty of everyone except for his bodyguards. Right way he felt the difference in his physic. He didn¡¯t feel the stat increase last night, but after a good night¡¯s sleep, the difference was very obvious as his body woke up. ¡°Good morning sir. It¡¯s a beautiful day sir!¡± Greeted Corporal Robinson cheerfully. Slowly getting up. ¡°You men still high from last night¡¯s battle rush.¡± Spike asked as he focused his eyes on the men. ¡°It was a lot of body count sir and so few of us. It was a tasty feast.¡± Corporal Robinson replied with that satisfaction look on his face. ¡°I hope this doesn¡¯t lead you men to killing without restraint.¡± Spike asked with concern. ¡°No need to worry sir. We don¡¯t know how we know but killing enemies are infinitely better tasting then just senseless killing. Fulfilling that instinctual hunger is incredibly satisfying. Besides sir. We are men of honor. Not murders. I believe we are supposed to find adversity and being a senseless butcher doesn¡¯t meet that requirement.¡± What the hell. Then what do you call Major Jung making me kill of all the wounded goblins. Spike cried to himself. ¡°Because you are different.¡±Silhouette replied ¡°I wasn¡¯t asking you Silhouette! Wait! Are you reading my mind?¡± ¡°Well, yes. How else do you think we can commune as we do?¡± ¡°Wait. You mean you can read all my dirty thoughts too?¡± ¡°Obviously.¡± I need to become a monk. ¡°Still doesn¡¯t help.¡± Damn! Somehow, Spike felt very naked. What made it worse was that the energy being appeared as an opposite gender. But with his will power he took a deep breath and focused on what¡¯s in front of him. ¡°That¡¯s a relief to know.¡± Spike said as he received a bowl of porridge with slice of bacon in it. And trying very hard to not think about the Silhouette. ¡°I am actually a little jealous of you men. All perky and bright in the morning after a hard day. Sure must be nice sucking up all that energy.¡± Taking a spoon full. ¡°Oh.¡± Surprised and stump for words and showing a look of pity. ¡°Don¡¯t mind it Corporal. My condition is different from you men. That¡¯s all.¡± Feeling slightly dejected. ¡°Whenever you¡¯re ready sir. The Major said to meet him at the mayor¡¯s mansion. He said there¡¯s no rush.¡± Corporal Robinson informed. Looking to his right as Spike noticed a duffel bag. ¡°Is that my duffel I left at the Whitestone hamlet?¡± ¡°Yes sir. The Cav troopers dropped it off when they returned from their morning patrol.¡± Putting the empty bowl away. ¡°I see.¡± Spike as he reached for the duffel bag. When he summoned his complete battle gears yesterday there was very little time for him to see what was packed in the duffel bag. He was satisfied enough with the weapon and the body armor that he had lost interest. Now that he had some time and the curiosity got the best of him he opened up the duffel bag. He was delighted to find brand new multiple underwear packed nicely for him. Then realized, he had not taken a bath in 5 days and he stunk. Looking at his bodyguards, at least he wasn¡¯t the only one. When he laid everything out. The loots were bit disappointing. Except for the extra underwear, socks and combat boots, he thought most were unless as they were all garrison cloths. What the hell was he supposed to do with Class ¡°A¡± Dress Blue uniform. He laughed as he pulled out a black umbrella. Quickly stuffing everything back in the duffel bag Spike put on his combat gears and left the warehouse. 2 of his bodyguard saluted as Spike walked out the door and took their positioned as they surround Spike. Inhaling the morning fresh air as he walked out, he very much regretted it. He forgot it smelled in the town. But most of all, he noticed that his gears didn¡¯t feel so heavy and he walked with an uplift. But still¡­ Damn this town stinks. It stinks more than my 5 days unwashed ass for fucks sake! As Spike walked through the dirt street, everyone kept staring at him but kept a respectable distance from him. Yeah. I¡¯m sorry. 6 stinky bodies walking in the middle of the road must really reek. To them, perhaps our body odor is worst then the town¡¯s smell. ¡°We must really reek for them to keep their distance like this. And the stares. Hey Corporal Robinson, ask around where we can wash up will you. This is embarrassing.¡± ¡°Yes sir. I¡¯ll be sure to do that.¡± Corporal Robinson relied nonchalantly. When Spike''s little posse reached the mansion, the guardsmen opened the door for them and announced his arrival. One of the maid quickly escorted him to the meeting room. Upon Spike¡¯s entry everyone stood up. Major Jung, Corporal Smith, Lord Daldia, Steward Havington, and few of the master craftsmen he recognized sat in circle drinking tea and snacking on toasted ration bread with jams. Many of them were taking notes from Corporal Smith. ¡°Greetings Lord Daldia. Are you feeling much better now?¡± Spike polite asked. He understood that the Mayor has been under long term duress and finally broke down last night. He truly sympathized with the poor man. Everyone settled back down again as Spike motioned them too. ¡°Yes Lord Phoenix. I seemed to have been badly in need of that rest, but I¡¯m perfectly fine now. Thank you. But please come join us.¡± As he makes a gesture for the servant to bring over a chair for Spike. ¡°The Major and the Corporal here was just explaining about how to improve the health of our citizens and avoid a potential plague break out. They possess advance medical knowledges we had no idea of.¡± ¡°Ah, yes, well. They are both highly educated in their studies.¡± Spike played along. Eyeing the Major wondering what his scheming now. ¡°Now that you are here Lord Phoenix we can discuss some other important topics.¡± Major Jung jump in to quickly talk business. ¡°Lord Daldia has made it very clear his decision to swear his allegiance to you Lord Phoenix. Everyone would benefit from this relationship. This would also make it very easy for our transition. Therefore, I give my full support.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Spike said as he recalls their talk last night. ¡°I have no reason to refuse since this is what everyone wants. Very well. Is there some ceremony we must perform? Or is our public announcement good enough?¡± ¡°Given the current situation I believe a public ceremony is in order. The town¡¯s people need to see this to give them hope. They need to know that there will be reliable protectors for them.¡± Major Jung said. ¡°I understand. I¡¯m sure the ceremony will take more than a few days to set up. I will leave it up to the specialists to handle it. So what are the other topics.¡± Spike said to quickly change the direction of the talk. ¡°I have informed Lord Daldia our desire to take over Whitestone. Currently it¡¯s the farthest territory controlled by the town. I plan to use it as a staging point to clear out the Frontier for future human expansion. It¡¯s 3 kilometers directly east of Daldia township. It¡¯s close enough to mobilize our forces to the towns defense and far enough to not interfere with the town¡¯s general activity. Once the craftsmen have built sanitary infrastructure per our guidance and educate the public on proper hygiene and sanitation etiquette, I plan to rotate our soldiers to reinforce the towns garrison.¡± ¡°I approve Major Jung. This is why I promoted you instead of my other option. Have you thought of the reinforcements?¡± Spike worded this way to farther boost Major Jung¡¯s image to the town leader. Even if he didn¡¯t need it. ¡°Yes my lord. As soon as we go to Whitestone I¡¯ll show you what I have in mind.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯d like to get moving asap. While the goblins are running scare I think it¡¯s a good time to quickly finish them off before they reorganized. Lord Daldia, then we are in agreement that Whitestone will belong to me?¡± Bowing his head. ¡°Yes my lord. All of Daldia township is yours to do as you will. There is no longer a need to ask my lord.¡± Holy shit! This is so medieval. Strongest rule. He truly submitted to me. I need so show some results. Spike rapidly thought to himself. ¡°Very well. I want to reduce the local goblin population as much as possible before Stovkow slavers arrive.¡± Spike stood up to walk out, but right as he reaches the door, he looked back at Lord Daldia. ¡°Lord Daldia. Be it known that while I¡¯m here your people will not know hunger again. Because your people are now my people. Harvest what you can with safety as priority. I will make up for any shortages of food.¡± Standing up, Lord Daldia stood and deeply bowed. ¡°I humbly think you for your generosity Lord Phoenix.¡± Very good sir. Keep winning the hearts and minds of the people and I¡¯ll be the bad guy if need be. Major Jung keenly observed the mood. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 wounded men were instructed to rest in the warehouse for the next 2 days to observe their fever. Lieutenant Moore was put in charge of 3 full squads with the all the trackers assisting him. They were sent into the forest to kill any stragglers and wounded goblins left behind. Then to track the goblins to their habitat. 2 squads, bodyguards and Cav troops made it to Whitestone under 30 minutes. Spike walked directly to the water well to refill his canteens. Now that he stopped to think about it the water in the Nexus tasted so damn good. There really is no substitution to all natural clean water without modern pollutions. The water source must have been the deciding factor for building a hamlet here Spike thought. ¡°You ready for the list sir?¡± ¡°Yeah. Hand it to me.¡± As Spike put away the refilled canteen. ¡°Wow. It¡¯s a big list?¡± ¡°Yes sir. You have the resource and the personnel slot. So it¡¯s time to put some of our options to use.¡± ¡°Alright. Give me a minute Major.¡± Spike focused. Then 441 souls were summoned. With the prior 72, the total souls were 499. Essentially, Phoenix force amounted to a light battalion. 2 full infantry company strength. A full company consist of 187men. With 4 platoon. Each platoon with 4 squad of 11 men. Each squad would have a rifle team and a machine gun team. Single companylead by a Captain, an Executive officer, and a Company Sergeant. Additional support consists of 2platoon of Engineers. 1 Engineer platoon for the city development and 1 for the military fort. A squad of clerks. A squad of logistic specialist. And finally 2 doctors would be supported by a squad of medics. 19 more Cav Troopers summoned to bring up the Cav strength to 2 full squad. Total resource cost with cost reduction was 480.3RP. leaving 452.1RP. Now that Spike had enough resource points it was decide to summon proper officers instead of promoting current soldiers. If not, at this rate the higher rankingofficers would never be summoned. 22slots were left open for contingency and flexibility for now. In the process of summoning, Spike and Major Jung found out that he could not produce requisition documents for personnel¡¯s not in his branch. An officer was first summoned and they produced the proper document for their respective branch. However, Major Jung¡¯s ability worked fine for Cav Troopers. ¡°That¡¯s interesting. Do you think it¡¯s because both are combat branch Major?¡± ¡°Maybe sir.¡± ¡°Is it?¡± ¡°The multiverse recognizes it as one type. How you human differentiate and how the multiverse differential isn¡¯t the same.¡± ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After the summoning and proper introductions where made, mostly with the officers. Spike took a back seat and observe how the officers got together and ran the outfit. His objective was simply to watch and learn. A single infantry platoon and engineer platoon was immediately sent to Daldia town to secure it and to give reassurance to the public that the Phoenix force were committed to them. A new plot of lands was cleared and dug out to burn the goblin corpse from yesterday¡¯s fight. Spike was able to summon gasoline with his mana to help burn the bodies. He kept learning new things about his summoning ability as requests were made from the officers. From the engineer Lieutenant, Spike learn how confusing his summoning ability was. He could not summon cements with his mana. They were considered none disposable because they are used for permanent fixtures. Even the nails were considered none disposable. 101RP were used up to summon tools for the Engineers to dig and chop down wood to start building their fort and dig out the sewage system for the town. To make up for damaged replacement tools in the near future, Spike bulk summoned many of the tools needed. This actually worked out as they planned to summon more engineers in the future. One of the officer had a bright idea to melt down the spent brass and turn them in to nails to save RP points. Unfortunately, Phoenix force did not possess any proper forge. They would have to build everything from scratch. Hence needing more engineers. Request were sent do Daldia to send farmers to early harvest the wheat in Whitestone. The stems were still green, but it was decided to save what they can then to let the military burn them. That very afternoon 100 men and women were escorted to Whitestone to immediately start harvesting and help with manual labor. The farmers were amazed at the number of Phoenix¡¯s men at the Whitestone. But also happy in the knowledge that they were well protected. The manual labors finished harvesting by following evening enabling the men to set up 2 men tent on the former wheat field, using their shelter-half. For the line companies, they were given 2 days to organize and work as a unit by conducting maneuver training. It was a very limited time, but all the men were already trained from the start. It was simply getting to know the ability of the next man standing next to them. The Cavalry Troopers conducted constant patrol of all roads in force. The 2 doctors and medics were assigned 2 shacks until a better building were built by the engineers. Personnel and logistic got the other 2 building to keep the document nice and dry. Everyone else set up tents in the former wheat field, until the engineers got around to building them a barrack, hopefully in the future. At the end of the first date of taking over Whitestone, Spike received 126 EXP and 12.6RP. The sweep by Lieutenant Moore had been successful. Ch7 - But I thought I was in charge. Hope my grammer is better today. ====================================================================== With the goblin horde massing up in recent days there were very little wild life in the area. The silver lining is that it also kept the other monsters away from the area as well. Many Phoenixian men were sad that there were no games for them to hunt during their maneuver training. As a consolation, a make shift firing range was built for them topractice and just have fun shooting up targets. Which, eventually become a permanent firing range. Logistics squad team were busy receiving and organizing all future requisition documents and supplies. Personnel squad were busy creating database of all soldiers and organizing that information and laying down ground works for future expansion of the Phoenix force. That included employing extra hand from the town. Medical squad spent more time in the town then the outpost. The town simply had too many sickly people from the prolong malnutrition and living under unsanitary conditions. All in all, Spike listened, observed, and asked questioned when need it. But he stayed out of the way of the officers in their duties. Which left him with too much time for the next few days. And going to the town now would be a bad idea for him as he knew they were busy with preparing the inauguration ceremony. That was unfortunate for Spike as he really wantedto look at the books in Daldia¡¯s possession. He was itching to find information on magic, but with so much happening. The opportunity just wasn¡¯t there for him to ask. Hopefully after the ceremony he thought. So he went patrolling with the original platoon with Lieutenant Moore commanding. He figured he could maybe find more stragglers and getsome points. Tracker Grigor was assigned to the platoon while the other 3trackers were out tracking the goblin dwellings. They were ordered to not go too far out. If there is a large goblin retribution force, danger of being overwhelmed and wipeout is very real. For Spike, it was a very uneventful day. Nothing of interest happened. He almost regretted going on patrol with zero sum gained. He finally washed himself down with a buck of cold water and crashed. Today felt surreal to him. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Next day morning Spike came to a realization that he really wasn¡¯t needed in the daily operation. Except to infuse his mana to the requisition forms to summon supplies. ¡°So there really is nothing for me to do?¡± Spike asked. ¡°I¡¯m afraid not. You¡¯re at the top of the food chain and you don¡¯t really fall anywhere in the chain of command sir. Unless you fire me and take over my job.¡± Major Jung said. ¡°Sigh! Don¡¯t even think about that Major. If you¡¯re not in charge, I would feel unsettled.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you go to the town sir? I know they are busy but there must be something?¡± Major suggested. ¡°It¡¯s only been a few day Major. And the smell kills me.¡± Spike complained. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯ve only been in the world for a week and I¡¯m practically begging to do something more proactive.¡± ¡°Sir, why don¡¯t you take a break, eat some ration, relax, summon up some ration booze, and think about what you want to do in this world.¡± Major offered. ¡°Do you know, just now. You sounded like a man giving an advice to an old friend who¡¯s about to retire from the work force.¡± ¡°Relax sir. Tomorrow, we have the ceremony, celebrate on ration booze and sweets. Then on the following day you will go west with Alpha company to hunt goblins for 3 days then return to deal with Stovkow. By then Bravo company should have the area well mapped out for ambushing Stovkow slavers.¡± Leaning back a little to observe Spike. ¡°What?¡± Said Spike. As he raisesan eye brow reacting to Major Jung body language. ¡°You know sir. For some who was complaining about things moving too fast only few days ago, sure complains a lot when things slow down.¡± The Major said bemusingly. Like a kid busted doing something silly. ¡°Well¡­¡± looking away. ¡°Sir. Why don¡¯t you go find something decent to wear for tomorrows ceremony! I know you¡¯re avoiding the town because of the smell, but you should look more dignified then just wearing Doughboy Private uniform or that battle dress uniform.¡± ¡°Ah, well now that you mention it, you just gave me several ideas. Thanks Major. Didn¡¯t mean to bother you.¡± ¡°Not at all sir.¡± Watching as Spike left the field tent. Sometimes you just have to manage your boss. He laughed inwardly. ¡°So, what do you have for me Captain Pearson?¡± Major ask as turn to Captain Pearson standing by. ¡°It¡¯s as you believed Major. The tracker Sodie just returned from Farengo, next town up north. He said they haven¡¯t encountered any notable goblin presence. It seems the goblins had mainly focused on Daldia territory. But what does that mean? Farengo is only 15 kilometers north and Birsk port town is only 10 kilometer south. And neither has had any goblin contact.¡± Captain Pearson stated. ¡°I¡¯m not sure either, Captain Pearson. But I sense intelligence behind their movements.¡± ¡°By the way. You sure you don¡¯t want to brief the Boss on this?¡± He asked. ¡°No. He needs a few days of rest the catch himself. And it¡¯s not like we can do anything with this information. Not until we know more. No need to give him a reason to go run off because he was bored. That¡¯s just not productive.¡± Major Jung replied. ¡°We have keep him alive, no matter what! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back in the warehouse, Spike unpacked the duffel bag again and laid out the Dress Blue. When he had summoned his full infantry gear of 1st Corporate War era, it really was tailored for him. As he found the infantry cord, cross rifle insignia and even a jump wing. Even if he only had the 5 qualifying airborne jumps, sometimes known as 5 jump chump, he didn¡¯t feel so bad about wearing the maroon beret. And the airborne wings on his chest felt good. He laid out the outfit he would wear tomorrow. Then asked the injured men on standby to keep an eye on it. For some reason or another, none of the men broke out witha fever. The doctors had been monitoring them to find some clues as to why, but nothing, except for their unusual healing speed. If nothing develops by tomorrow, themen were slotted to be back on light duties until the arrow wound completely heals up. ¡°Doctor Lavideka, I have a question.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°You know. I was wondering. If I were to pore some gasoline on the ground where these people have been dumping their nightly urine, do you think it will kill the smell? I¡¯ve seen some old war movies where they would burn human waste for sanitary reason.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure. But wouldn¡¯t it be fire hazardous in this wooden town sir?¡± ¡°Ahh. You know what! You¡¯re right. These people are uneducated. Introducing too many things at once will cause problem. Never mind.¡± Spike said in defeat. There really was nothing for him until tomorrow. So he eventually decided to go up stream and wash himself and veg as he watch time go by. He wondered what that puppet master wasscheming. = = = Next morning, Spike and all the Phoenix officers were present for the ceremony. The market was cleared out for the occasion. A clear path from the Mansion to the water fountain was marked. Being a poor town, only the basic were used for decorations. Which equaled to people lining up looking pretty. However, the town Knights were cleaner than usual standing on ceremonial ground. And the Phoenix force had a 40 men detail for the honor guard making a pathway from the mansion to the fountain. The center was crowded with more or less the entire town, hoping and expecting for a better life. Alpha Company mixed in with the crowd to show support to the people and to mingle and celebrate after the ceremony. To start off Lord Daldia walked from the mansion to the water fountain flanked by 2 knights. Once in front of the fountain, he created a circular fire wall rising up tothe sky right over the water fountain causing steam to rise. This was an unexpected discovery for Spike and the officers. As the flame settled down Lord Daldia turned to face the mansion and kneeled. On que, in Dress Blue,Spike walked to Lord Daldia as his officersfollowed him. Spike stopped at a meter distance from Lord Daldia. Raising his head high even as he kneeled, Lord Daldia declared his vow of allegiance. ¡°I Karan Daldia, 4th in his generation, declare to my new liege and master, Lord Phoenix, that I and my bloodline is his to command until the end of time.¡± Unsheathing the borrowed Cavalry Trooper¡¯s ceremonial saber Spike rested the tip on Lord Daldia¡¯s shoulder while he made his declaration. Slowly, loudly, and deliberately. A declaration that was prepared by Major Jung. ¡°I, Spike Phoenix, first of his name in these new land, I accepts Karan Daldia as my first subject to the Phoenix Kingdom. All that is his, is mine, and all that is mine, I protect. So I declare. As the first to swear your allegiance to me, henceforth, you shall be Marquess Karan Daldia. May you and your decendants serve with honor.¡± Taping the other shoulder. ¡°Now rise Marquess,¡± Sheathing the saber, Major Jung handed Spike PFC Korhonen¡¯s Springfield. Spike then handed the rifle to Marquess Daldia. ¡°This rifle is called Springfield, a weapon of the Phoenix Army. Now you are one of us Marquess Karan Daldia. Hold it with pride.¡± ¡°I will treasure it with my life my lord.¡± Marquess Daldia spoke as he received the Springfield with trebling hands. Spike took 2 step back. Then one by one, Phoenix officer approached Marquess Daldia and saluted him with honor welcoming him to the rank as their first civilian officer. With the final Officer¡¯s salute, a 21-gun salute was given as a closing ceremony. Followed by Marquess Daldia announcing a day of celebration the town had not seen in over 10 years. The free ration booze, sweets, and food prepared enough for all the citizen and to spare for left over brought much reason for celebration for the public. But the greatest reason for the feeling of joy was watching their town Lord being elevated to Marquess. For most, they only knew that it was a high noble, but it was enough reason for them understand the implication. It represented a sense of authority backed by belonging to a powerful foreign Kingdom. Which they now belonged to. Now that I¡¯ve said it. ''Spike'' sounded really stupid. What the hell was I thinking, a name like ''Spike''. It sounded so cool when I thought of it. Feeling his face burn up in silence, Spike thought as he stood in rank as Marquess Daldia gave his after ceremony s speech. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In a private office that looked down on to the center plaza. Spike and Major Jung shared a ration wine. ¡°Major Jung. I hope we made the right decision.¡± ¡°We did sir. Have no doubt. This will be good for all of us who are friends.¡± Major Jung affirmed. ¡°By the way. Don¡¯t royalty and such use ¡®We¡¯ and not ¡®I¡¯ for such speeches?¡± Spike ask. ¡°They do sir. But in your case. There is only you. Because only you can command us. There will never be another who can command us who are summoned by you. Should something happens to you, it¡¯s unclear whether if we will disappear with your death.¡± ¡°Oh, I see. I really didn¡¯t want to think about that yet.¡± Spike admitted. ¡°So. Am I supposed to be a King? Now that you made me ennoble the Marquess? What plans are you cooking up for me Major?¡± ¡°Honestly sir, in your case, titles are useless. Without a title, everyone will assume you are secretly getting reinforcement from the fatherland. Keep the enemy confused and allies mystified. In addition, if you are not killed as the silhouette has informedyou, you will outlive all your nexus subjects. The very name Phoenix will become a title.¡± ¡°What?" Spike exclaimed in surprise. "Is this why you had introduced us as ¡®we are from the Phoenix Kingdom¡¯ from the beginning? Just how far ahead have you been planning you damn schemer. Come clean now damn it!¡± ¡°Sir. I cannot tell you a straight lie. I have not been scheming as you often say. Each time the opportunity presented itself,I took it. And built on top of each opportunity. And that¡¯s all there is to it.¡± Major Jung confessed. ¡°You¡­¡± Just then, there was a knock at the door. ¡°Lord Phoenix. This is Marquess Daldia.¡± ¡°Come in please.¡± ¡°I was told you wanted to speak with me my lord.¡± ¡°Yes. Yes. Come have a seat.¡± Spike said as they all grabbed a chair. ¡°As you know, I¡¯m leaving with Alpha company to hunt down the rest of the goblin tribes tomorrow. So I won¡¯t have time to talk with you again until I return. I noticed during the ceremony that you cast fire magic. Can you tell me about how it works? To inform you I have access to mana, but I do not know any magic nor how it works.¡± ¡°Oh. I¡¯m delighted to know that you have access to mana my lord. But have no one from the Kingdom instructed you on magic?¡± Spike replied. ¡°Our magic developed differently Marquess Daldia. So our knowledge base is different. It¡¯s more related to technology if I must say so. And I am very much interested in learning your type of magic.¡± Damn, I¡¯m lying through my teeth. ¡°I see. A different magic development. To begin with, our type of magic is only useable by those who are borne with special organ called manatite. They are very rare and it¡¯s always a cause for celebration for the family that borns a child with manatite. If such child is found, starting at early age, they are taught magic if there is a mentor for them based on their aptitude. Sometime the aptitude is referred to affinity as it can develop as child grow up. But most are not so lucky to have affinity. Now there are 4 elements in magic. Earth, water, air, and fire. And any combination of the 4 elements. Most are only able to use the most basic of these magic. And with the rising difficulty of the magic, the number of mages who can use them decrease ever so drastically. But the lucky ones who have affinity can overcome the limitation to the element they have affinity with. By chance my lord know if he has any affinity?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I only know I have access to all 4 elements. Is there a way to find out?¡± Spike asked. ¡°To my knowledge, only by trying to us all 4 elements and by finding which element one has the easiest time with, can one tell. There was rumor of ancient artifacts that can measure one¡¯s potential. But I know of no nation possessing such artifact. Mana is a raw force of nature that dwells in our soul, I am told. And manatite is the manifestation of mana into a physical form. Scholars have been known to say that those who are born with manatite are descendants of gods. But there has been no such proof to support it. As for my family, those who are born with manatite all have affinity to fire. 3generations have affirmed this. I am not the first born, but I took the helm of our family because unlike my older brothers, I was born with manatite. Our families manatite bloodline was kept a secret to protect ourselves in the beginning from a political fallout with the main family from Stovkow. Or they would have invited my family back few generations ago. But my grandfather who fled could not accept the idea of submitting to the usurper family.But I will save that for another story my lord.¡± ¡°I guess my question now would be, do you have books on magic? Can it be self-taught. And finally can you teach me what you know.¡± ¡°It will be an honor to be your mentor in magic my lord. When you return, we can start at any time.¡± --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Before sunset, Alpha Company and the command group slowly marched back to Whiteston. Everyone having their share of the free booze and sweets all provided with the summoning ability had a very satisfied look on their face. While slowly marching Spike was thinking about the unfinished talk with the Major from before. This SOB really pisses me off. But his so efficient I can¡¯t replace him. And I know he has the best interest of the men and myself so I can¡¯t really go off on him either. It¡¯s like his running circle around me with all that experiences he has. Damn! That¡¯s just not fair. Spike cursed inwardly. ¡°So, Major.¡± ¡°Sir?¡± Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°About that talk we were having earlier.¡± ¡°Ah right. I still stand by my statement sir.¡± ¡°Ok. Then what¡¯s your objective. State it clearly so even a cherry 3rd Lieutenant like me can understand.¡± Spike demanded. ¡°As I was saying sir. I took every opportunity to secure our position in this land. I understand that you had much to adjust as you only just bought the farm a week ago. As none of the summoned wants to go back to the void for obvious reason, I had to come up with the most efficient way of doing it. In the future,I envision you being surrounded by at least a company at all time. Having you tide up in garrison and the men going out to hunt by themselves may be safe but the EXP and RP return of investment would be too slow. We need to expand fast. At least our military forces need to, for me to feel any sense of security.¡± ¡°I get that. That¡¯s why I¡¯m going out with Alpha in the morning.¡± ¡°Hmm. Well that¡¯s fine for now sir. But in the long run, you, yourself must become stronger than the rest of us. I suspect there will be things out there that none of the summoned soldiers will be able to handle. And you will have to use magic to deal with whatever that adversary may be.¡± ¡°I do agree that there are muchmore then what we¡¯ve seen so far. But how long do you think we have until something big comes along?¡± ¡°To be honest sir. I do not know. But I¡¯m a military officer. It¡¯s my job to be prepare and not sit around with my pants down to my ankle. That¡¯s what politician are good at. Right now, except for the locals, nobody knows about us. It¡¯s a good opportunity to quickly grow while everyone is looking elsewhere. Eventually there will be many eyes looking our way. So to strengthen our position for our future geopolitical standing, preparing is what I¡¯m doing everyday sir. Even if I don¡¯t tell you everything running through my mind.¡± ¡°Ok I get it. I shouldn¡¯t micro manage you. Perhaps I¡¯m just being insecure with you being so all knowing and all.¡± ¡°Haha. Really sir you shouldn¡¯t mind it. We have other officers now. They won¡¯t stand still if they believed I was fucking up. Their souls are on the line based on my decisions. I believe you should focus more on increasing your personal strength for when we are not able to stand with you. And let the officers worry about running the military. Hmm. Yes, even though you are a male, you are kind of like a queen ant or bee. If you die, we die with you.¡± ¡°That analogy sounds very disturbing Major.¡± Spike complained. ¡°Haha. Well, I don¡¯t believe it¡¯s an exaggeration. In any case sir. The officers and the men are figuring out your personality and wants. Such as, you don¡¯t like to see suffering and misery. So you want to save these frontier people. We get that now. So we are moving in the direction that support your desire. Sir, to remind you. You command us. Tell the officers what you want and it¡¯s our job to make it happen. Your job is to get strong to stay alive for us and for yourself. Figure out what you want and let the officer support you. It¡¯s our job.¡± ¡°What I want¡­ I¡¯m still not too sure yet.¡± Speaking quietly. ¡°You just got here Sir. Why don¡¯t you just try enjoying the adventure, the exploration of this world.¡± ¡°You sound just like Major Profit I knew from the other world.¡± ¡°Sounds like a smart man.¡± Major Jung added. ¡°Yeah, and you¡¯re reminding me of him just now.¡± Looking at the Major in admiration. ¡°When you died in the shitty trench warfare, I think the earth became a lesser place.¡± ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°By why lord Myojhuk.¡± The hunter said as he coughed up blood. ¡°I said to stir up a hornet¡¯s nest. Not create a goblin invasion you fool. Do you even know how much it costed to bring up that hobgoblin? You imbecile! And the time invested. If you hadn¡¯t killed the damn beast we might have been able to salvage this mess. Now I¡¯ll have to go clean up this mess.¡± Baron Myojhuk sneer in contempt. ¡°But it had grown too powerful. It had overcome its¡¯ conditioning. We had to put it down. Or we all would have died by its hand. My lord.¡± ¡°Excuses will not save you. Kill them all. I don¡¯t know where Kyzdon¡¯s spies are lurking. No word of this must reach him.¡± He ordered his guards. The hunters throats were quickly slit. ¡°How many soldiers should we call forth my lord.¡± Asked Steward Caldrun. ¡°Daldai wouldn¡¯t make a dent on the goblin horde. Almost 4000 goblins. what were these idiots thinking?¡± Pausing as he thought. ¡°Send messengers to all my retainers. It¡¯s time to test the strengths of my retainersthat we have been saving from the eastern front. Quicker we put down the goblin horde, less it will cost in men and resources.¡± Looking at the dead hunters. ¡°We are all slaves Caldrun. The royal families are slave to their lust for power. Kyzdons are slave to their greed. And I am a slave to my father¡¯s legacy. And these fools,¡± kicking the corpse, ¡°are slaves to incompetence. All slaves, one way or another.¡± He muttered. ¡°I will have our fastestrider send out the words my lords.¡± Steward Caldrun said with his head bowed. ¡°Have them assemble at Falkor in 2 days. It will save movement time.Tell them to make haste.¡± ¡°Yes my lord.¡± ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Next morning 194Phoenixian men, including Spike, formed up for the hunt. A team of medics were included in the number. Captain Wraeth served as Company Commander. LT Moore, LT Cornwell, LT Lee, and LT Clark to command 1st to 4th platoon respectively in that order. The demi human trackers had already located 4 cave dwelling of the goblins. It was very easy to track from their statement. The goblin horde had left a track even a blind man could follow. Tracker Rikko and Sodie were attached to Alpha Company for the hunt. Hunt Master gave strict order for Sodie to stay away from all beehives. Captain Wraeth was ask to keep an eye on Sodie. Warning him of his weakness to wild honey. With an obvious trail left behind by the goblins the nearest cave was easily traversed. 1st platoon easily cleared out the area to the entrance of the cave. The goblin sentries were very limited in number during day light. With the trackers help in pointing out the goblins for quick sniping, the rest hadran back inside the cave in fear from the gun fire noise. The battle was expected to take place in the cave from low light withthe torch to no light. The close in range fight took away the rifles and machine guns¡¯ advantage. And they had no idea how many and what was inside the cave. There was a danger of collapsing tunnels if grenades were used. ¡°Sir, how about summoning a team of flamethrowers and shotguns.¡± Lieutenant Cornwell advised. ¡°Flamethrowers will light up the tunnels and burn the critters while the shotguns will prevent ricochets.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine idea Lieutenant.¡± Captain Wraeth praised. Then looked at Spike nodding to show his approval. ¡°Ok. I support anything that can keep our men alive. So how many of each do you recommend Captain?¡± ¡°Hmm. We¡¯ll leave a platoon out here for security. Send in 3 platoon. Let¡¯s have a flamethrower for every 2 squads and all rifle team will change out for shotguns. Rest of the machine gun team can carry the extra fuel tank and they have the pistol for self-protection.¡± Said Captain Wraeth. ¡°7RP will get 64 Winchester model 12 trench guns, but for 3RP more we can make it 512. It somehow feels like a waste. Captain.¡± ¡°I see your point sir. We can just have the men carry the extra shotguns in their roll up when not in enclosed environments and bury the rest for later retrieval. We really need some sort of pack mule. I can see our equipment increasing in the immediate future.¡± ¡°Very well. But I don¡¯t see any Flamethrower in the US arsenal for WW1. I¡¯ll have to go foreign. Any recommendation gentlemen?¡± ¡°Go with German sir. They were the first to use it. Flammenwerfer M.16, sir. I know. My platoon faced one in the trench. I lost a squad very quickly.¡± Lieutenant Clark informed. ¡°Understood. I¡¯ll summon a German officer first.¡± Then Spike focused and will his soul. {Note: I decided to use US rank names only. Changing spelling for every rank for each nations is just a pain} ¡°Lieutenant Stein reporting for duty, sir!¡± Saluting to Spike. ¡°At easeLieutenant.¡± Spike order. Then quickly gave him the sitrep(situation report). ¡°I understand sir.¡± Lieutenant Stein said as he handedSpike a requisition form that was in both English and German language. The flamethrower costed 3RP before any adjustment. 6 German flamethrower and their equipment plus 512 shotguns were summoned. 4th platoon set up a defensive parameter around the cave entrances. 1st squad directly inside the mouth of the cave to guard the exit. And the other 3 squads to guard the entrance area, all the machine guns, rifle, and spare shotguns. All members of the machine gun team going inside the cave were to carry the extra fuel for the flame throwers. ¡°Captain Wraeth. Which squad should I go with?¡± Spike asked in anticipation. Giving Spike a hard stare. ¡°You don¡¯t sir. The Major has given very specific order regarding you entering the caves.¡± ¡°What! What orders?¡± Spike asked unhappily. ¡°He said to kill myself before I let you enter the cave, sir. He was very clear when he expressed to the officers of Alpha Company about having the wisdom to understanding the different between senseless risk and calculated risk. And having you entering the cave is considered a senseless risk for someone who is essential to our survival.¡± ¡°Damn it! Then what the hell did I come out here for Captain?¡± Spike ask outrageously. ¡°To quote the Major sir ¡®go find some opportunity for our illustrated boss to score some points, but without putting him in senseless danger¡¯. Sir.¡± ¡°FUCK!!!!! That damn Major.¡± Spike cursed. ¡°Don¡¯t take it personally sir. As the Company commander, I need to stay at the cave entrance also. The Lieutenants gets to go have fun on this one. I suppose when we get the all clear signal, we can go in and inspect the men¡¯s work sir.¡± Captain Wraeth said calmly. Damn it. I just can¡¯t win against their knowledge, experience and wisdom. That man is stressing me. I was so looking forward to this, but I can¡¯t argue because I know his right. Spike cried inwardly. With his head down in defeat he slumped down on the ground. He summoned a ration hard liquor, took a swig, recapped it, then tossed the bottle to the Captain. The Captain took a swig and passed on to the next man. It kept getting passed on until the bottle was empty. ¡°You know; he is the first officer I summoned and I¡¯m really beginning to hate him. He is so stupidly smart. I¡¯m not sure if I got lucky or cursed.¡± Spike said in almost monotone voice. ¡°From my perspective sir. I¡¯d say we all got lucky.¡± Captain offered. ¡°We started with 15 and only lost 1 man, and look at how many of us are here now.¡± Looking at the Captain. ¡°Sigh! Yeah. I suppose you¡¯re right.¡± And looked away disgusted with himself. I feel so emo. I need to get my shit together. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°That¡¯s a lot of fuel. It¡¯s going to be a sauna inside.¡± Private Jones complained. ¡°Keep moving Jones.¡± Corporal Washington said. ¡°But man, did you see good old Spiky¡¯s face when the Capt told him he couldn¡¯t go. Hehe.¡± Private Jones laughed. ¡°Shut you trap Jones!¡± ¡°OK! OK! I¡¯ll shut up, but come on Corporal. You gotta admit. It was funny as shit.¡± Then the Lieutenant Moore came around and smacked the back side of Private Jones helmet. ¡°Show some respect Private.¡± Giving a disapproving look then kept moving up to the flamethrower. ¡°Yes sir.¡± Looking all solemnly. ¡°That¡¯s why I told you to shut up Jones.¡± Waiting until the Lieutenant had gone farther up. ¡°But yeah. It did look funny.¡± He spoke quietly chuckling. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Each platoon was broken up in 2 team with either the lieutenant or platoon sergeant leading. As this was an assault they took no consideration for stealth. With the Beacon Army Light pointing forward it was just enough light to visually detect thegoblins. The flamethrower simply fired for 1 second and it was enough tolight up the tunnel, burn, and herd the goblins. 6 team of Phoenix forcemarched in to clear out the tunnel. Witnessing the tunnel fill up with flame the goblins panicked and simply ran deeper into the tunnels. It was simply a massacre with goblins burning or running away from the flamethrower or quickly blown away by the shotguns. Under a normal conditions the goblins would have fought to the death to protect their home. But in the face of burningdeath as stream of flame spud toward them, the goblins simply could not overcome their fear. The teams found many berthing chambers with female goblins working as a caretaker, but no exceptions were given. To the Phoenix men, they were all a hateful enemy to be exterminated. It was bound to happen eventually. The men did find few human and demi-human women with their belly bulging. Sadly, their body may still be alive, but their mind and soul were already destroyed. Only thing anyone one could do for them was to give them a quick and painless death. Which only reinforced the beliefto the men that these creatures are enemy of human kind. And that there can be no peace with them, ever. To the men, there was nothing emotional as the goblins screamed in pain as they died from the flame. In their mind, they were simply killing pests that had no redeeming quality to the cycle of life. ¡°Lieutenant Lee. Take a look at this.¡± Sergeant Young alerted him. ¡°What do you have Sergeant?¡± ¡°It¡¯s very crude, but they are processing iron sir. Looks like this is where they are getting iron for their spearhead and arrowhead. Let¡¯s take few ore for the engineers to take a look at sir.¡± ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s give them a present.¡± Lieutenant Moore replied in serious tone. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°We have some damn good engineers who are very good with cartography. Even though we haven¡¯t been able to cover as many area as we want, the quality of the map is turning out excellent, sir.¡± Engineer officer Lieutenant Hall reported. ¡°So what¡¯s the holdup Lieutenant?¡± Major Jung asked. ¡°It¡¯s the Frontier sir. There are just too many areas with heavy growth sir. We just can¡¯t cut through. We sometimes have to detour for kilometers, eating up daylight. Captain Pearson already identified multiple sites for ambushing. I think it would be prudent to wait until hostility has settled down before my cartographers can give you a more detailed map, sir.¡± ¡°Alright. We¡¯ll do that. Pull them in by tomorrow evening. The scouts still haven¡¯t reported any movements on the Stovkow borders so I think your men will have at least that much time. Focus on the walls for Whitestone. I might have the commander summon up some barbwire so when you put up barricades, take that into consideration.¡± ¡°Yes sir. I¡¯ll make a note of that.¡± ¡°We may end up having to split our force and station a full company in both here and the town. But I¡¯m more concerned with the sanitary condition of the town.Ifthey decide to siege it once they find us here the plague outbreak may destroy us. Are you making any progress?¡± ¡°We are sir, with the help of the local. And as per the doctor order, we are feeding the populations 6 times a day but in small portion to help them recover faster. They havegained some noticeable strength since the celebration. But they simply lack the strength and stamina to maintain a steady output. So I cannot guarantee we will finish on time before the slavers arrive. If we had another platoon of engineers and real construction supplies it would be different sir.¡± ¡°That''s a pity.¡± ¡°However, we were able to finish building firing position for the machine guns at least sir. I had put a priority on it and since it¡¯s a wooden structure, it only took a few hours for each positions.¡± ¡°Then we just have to catchthem on a good crossfire ambush. A 1000 knights and support. Steward Havington did say that most of their supports are just guards for the slaves and supply train for the knights. I think we can manage. And depending on how much success our boss finds on this hunt, we will adjust as need be.¡± Ch8 - Everyone has issues. ¡°When things settle down later. I¡¯m going to have to recommend we start a training course for our own force to learn tracking from our friend Hunt Master Malikai.¡± Captain Wraeth said. ¡°Their service and knowledge is invaluable to our future in the frontier. I¡¯d have few of my men attached to them now, but they would be too distracted with the rookies in toll.¡± Within half an hour of the entry to the cave, all the assault squad cameback out. Without proper ventilation, all the little fires had built up too much smoke. It had been a slow progress as they took their time with caution. So they were not able to clear out the cave when they exited. There was some coughing from minor smoke inhalation. Without exception everyone came out covered in ash and sweat. After coughing out their lungs. ¡°There were just too many materials catching fire Captain. We¡¯re going to have to wait until the smoke clears out. It¡¯s probably killing off the goblins as we speak.¡± Lieutenant Moore reported. Just to check. Spike focused on this EXP number and sure enough his EXP was slowly increasing. ¡°That is some cheap ass way to get points you know. But looks like they are dying inside. Wow, somehow, this just feels really cheap and dirty.¡± Spike said amazed. ¡°There is no such thing as a fair fight in wars sir. It¡¯s not a sport. If we can win without fighting it¡¯s just that much sweeter.¡± The Captain informed. ¡°Is that what they teach you at West Point Captain?¡± Spike asked. ¡°Actually sir, I came out of Citadel. And no sir. It¡¯s just common sense. War is business sir. Less resource you lose, to achieve your goal, is a very good investment, sir.¡± ¡°Right.¡± Spike said. So much to learn. I really am just a kid compare to these men. Physically we look about the same age, but they have that cheat knowledge and shit. I suppose I am lucky and should be grateful. ¡°Hey, is it really Ok for these men to be so knowledgeable. Isn¡¯t it a major cheat for me?¡± Spike asked the silhouette. ¡°For someone who seemed smart sure asks stupid questions. I will simply accept this as you are still going through adjustment. Didn¡¯t the Captain just say there is no such thing as a fair fight in wars?¡± The silhouette said in the same monotone, but in a condescending way, if it was possible. Oh right. I¡¯ve been kind of emo lately. I need to get my shit together. But I think I¡¯m beginning to understand. We all have our roles to play. Spike mulled as he watched the officers and men interact as they each perform their designated duties. Did I just jump from a cadet to Commander in Chief? He said I don¡¯t¡¯ fall in the normal chain of command. Spike thought as he watched the men receiving their order and following a chain of command from the Captain to the Private. What¡¯s my role in all this? There must be more to this then just surviving and getting strong. ¡°Scout coming in.¡± One of the looked out alerted. ¡°I hope they got some opportunity for me.¡± Spike said as he looked to the scouts with expectation. = = = ¡°I have received replies from both Farengo and Birsk, Marquess Daldia. Both towns are open to the idea of joining forces with you if we can prove what our messenger say as a fact.¡± Steward Havington informed. ¡°Then it¡¯s just matter of time before we are able to. I will have to discuss this with Lord Phoenix upon his return from the hunt. But before that, I think it would be prudent to invite representatives from both Faengo and Birsk to witness the changes in Daldia.¡± Marquess Daldia mulled. Being address as Marquess so sudden felt very alien to him. But still, having witnessed the military power of the Phoenixians, he has no doubt nor hesitation on the roll he will play in the future. During the leader¡¯s conference 2 days ago, Major Jung was very clear. All military actions will be handle by the Phoenixians military officers, and all civilian and diplomatic functionary will be in Marquess authorities until the military gets involved. Once military gets involved, military officer¡¯s authority will supersede his. I have received your message loud and clear Major. Don¡¯t bother your people unless there are killings involved. On one hand, they act as a savior, but on the other hand, their behavior appears to be the devil. They are a frightful people. I am lucky to have been their first contact. If they keep gaining successes, which I¡¯m sure of, as the first to acknowledge their power, Daldia will surely prosper. ¡°Also, Master Malikai reports he roughly counted over 450 Phoenixian soldiers. But has found no tracks of how they arrived. Except for a small squad of tracks leading up the hill. Should I have him follow up the trail my lord? Master Malikai said it will take at least a day even for him to reach the top.¡± ¡°No. They must be in possession of some sort of powerful artifact to summon so much men and resources. We shouldn¡¯t delve into their workings, least we lose their trust in us. Besides, we were essentially given a second chance by the Phoenixians. We shouldn¡¯t look in the gift horse¡¯s mouth. I will tell master Malikai myself when next we meet. To ceaseanymore of his spying activities before he gets caught and damages our relationship with our savior. But I¡¯m sure they will tell us when we have the need to know.¡± Marquess Daldia warned. ¡°Yes my lord. Then moving on. Though the food shortage has been mitigated by our new master, thereby freeing up extra labors. Even with the labors reallocated for this sanitary project they want us to build, it will not be completed in time. We simply do not have enough men for the hard labor it requires and women make poor substitute, especially when they are under such poor health.¡± ¡°Then we can only pray for speedy resolution with the Stovkow Raiders so we can pool the resources of the Farongo and Birsk with us to build our frontier nation. Let¡¯s wait patiently Lord Havington. We¡¯ve waited a decade. Another week will not matter. Our new master seems to care for the people¡¯s well being. They are not told to fight. But most of all, I no longer have to hear my grandchildren cry to their mothers because they are hungry.¡± Marquess said. ¡°Then what shall we do with the local guards my lord? We no longer have to give them bigger portion of the food. And with the Phoenix soldier mixed in with the lot in guard duties, all they do is spend most of their time standing around.¡± ¡°Then temporarily rotate half of them to help with the diggings. We should have done this from the start.¡± ¡°Yes my lord. Also, have you asked about arming the local guards or at least the knights with their rifle in joining them in the fight against the Stovkow yet my lord?¡± ¡°No. Not yet. After Major Jung¡¯s decree on all military actions I found it difficult to bring up the subject. They remind me of the rumors of the Highlanders up north of the Empire. But more bloodthirsty for battles.¡± ¡°I see. Then I take it Major Jung nor Lord Phoenix hasn¡¯t said anything about the guards in town my lord?¡± ¡°No. Strangely they haven¡¯t shown any interest in the towns operation outside of the current projects they ordered to be built. However, just this morning, the Major did advise me to speedily bring in the other nearby settlements within 30-kilometers. He said it will only benefit us all.¡± ¡°Then I shall send messengers to Farengo and Birsk to offer them an invitation right away. = = = ¡°Baron Myojhuk. 1200 knights, 2200 guardsmen, and 400 archers have currently arrived to answer your call. I believe this is more than enough to deal with goblin horde. Should we wait another day for the stragglers my lord?¡± Steward Caldrun asked. ¡°No, the stragglers will have other duties when we return. Daldia should have already fallen by now. Also, make sure all the men are accounted for each morning and evening. I want to know if someone is missing. I want to find this spy Kyzdon sent. Where ever he is. Have you sent out the scouts yet?¡± ¡°Just this morning my lord. We should hear from them when we reach the frontier border. And the messenger to Theolemor also left with the merchants just this afternoon¡± ¡°Once the Theolemor receives the message it¡¯s on them from now on. Wither they take this opportunity or not. But they would be fools not too. In any case, it¡¯s too late to move out for today. Pass the word. We move out at first light. Make sure all my captains know their marching order.¡± Baron Myojhuk declared as he walked back to his command then. I wanted an excuse to garrison the frontier, to secretly move some of the operations outside for a year. The numbers were getting too high. Just one more year. Because of the incompetent hunters, I had no choice but to move early. 4000 goblins at my border within days. I must quickly destroy the horde, then siege Kyzdon. To deal with this horde 1000 knights would not have been enough. If the 500 knight from Kyzdon saw the horde, the word would have reach the Margrave. Then I would have been finished. 5 years of planning. 10 years of playing the fool. There would have been too many other lords who would have shown up to defeat the goblins. To many outsiders in my territories. An outside army already rallied in my territory. They would surely have found my secret training grounds. To many little things out of placed. And this damn spy lurking somewhere in my territory. He must be very close. Or else, how could that greedy bastard knew something was brewing in the Frontier. Every year 500 of his knights and 500 of Kyzdon knights with small guard force and support would raid the Frontier as need it. But this time, he welcomed them all like brothers who were about to raid the whore house. In Falkorhe poisoned their wines to weaken them. In a quick surprise attack, they were all assassinated. Not a single Kyzdon man escaped. No words of the goblin horde must reach the Margrave. Having forced to deal with the goblin by himself, he had to call up all his near by retainers. If the Margrave found out about the Baron¡¯s secret army he had scattered all over his and neighboring territories, he would be hung for treason. But now Baron Myojhuk had been forcedto move up his time table. Years ago, the Baron had secretly contacted Theolemors and made an offer they couldn¡¯t refuse. I will make them all pay. The usurper family for waging a war that took my father¡¯s life. Kyzdon for taking father¡¯s life intheir greed. That he never had time for his family. Forcing father to abandon mother for that harlot. Just because father was a mage. I¡¯m glad your daughter died during child birth Margrave. Because of you, mother died alone in sickness while I was force to play as one of your puppet soldier in the eastern front. Fighting your war. And now with this title that enslaves me. For a half bastard brother, your grandchild, do you think you can sway me. Taking me for a fool. I know I¡¯m just a place holder until your grandchild is old enough. This title! What privilege damn you, bastards! It¡¯s just another collar of a slave. I will watch you all burn for your greed and lust for power. For what you all did to me and my family. At first, Baron schemed alone, but it took too long. So 3 years ago he made contact with Theolemor. Made them an offer. He asked nothing in return besides a chance for revenge. They took it. Using the merchant of Kindarth, Theolemor coins were filtered through his and adjacent territories to find anyone who were discontents. With the prolong war, it was easy. Many had lost loved ones. The tax to support the war was ruinous for many families. Their lords were oppressive to collect more tax. Causing parents to sell off their children to pay for taxes they couldn''t afford. And sometimes giving them directly to their Feudal Lords in lieu of coinage or tradable goods. With the help of the merchant, and his servants, they found manydiscontents, sweet talking to them, offering help with coins, and promises were made. They were recruited and trained in secret. Fools, so insolated with their wealth, titles, and power. They don¡¯t even realize what¡¯s going on in their own territories. They will all pay for their arrogance. If I am not allowed to have a future, then neither shall you all. It¡¯s started. Instead of making it to his tent, Baron Myojhuk found himself at the mass grave. Kyzdon¡¯s men were stripped of all their gears and valuables and mass buried as he looked on. This is the start. = = = Grigor watched the Borders of Stovkow. One main road the merchants had used during better days. The slavers would always come through here. With their military power, no one could stop them. It¡¯s always the same. They would come with arrogance knowing they were free to do what ever wanted. They would come marching in and split off into different groups at each fork to raid other towns. But this time, it will be different. The Phonixians were here. And 3 days ago, he became a Phoenixian. For the first time since the oppression, the Wolf demi in him stirred with excitement. This time there was no fear of reprisal against the town if he hunt the Stovkow slavers. The Stovkow scouts that were sent ahead to find frontier workers desperately harvesting. This time, this time, he will hunt them. Hunt Master Malikai, Tam, and himself will hunt as a pack. They were given order by their new master to hunt the Stovkow scouts with extreme prejudice. Extract information from them in any methods, then terminate them. Grigor liked the Major. The Major was his type of human. In a way similar to his Hunt Master. The Hunting pack waited and observed. The captain gave a hand signal pointing out the enemy scout as they stealthily moved about into their visibility. Taking the signal, Grigor and Tam lowered into their cover and concealed position. Without any resistance, the Stovkow scouts had become over confident over the years. Why are they so cautious now? Do they know something? Did they see us? Malikai thought as he stealthily observed. The 5 enemy scouts moved cautiously as they looked for signs of danger. Even for a human, Hunt Master Malikai had the best eyes. He hid behind thick trunk of a tree. His face covered in mud to conceal his skin, he slowly peaked with one eye to observe them without out making sudden movement. Malikai had positioned himself up the small slope. And he waited until closest scout was within 25 meter from his position as they were about to move pass him. With his well used bow, he silently pulled the bowstring and quickly fired at the nearest enemy scout striking him in the chest puncturing his lung. The falling scouts cry of pain alerted the other 4 scouts as they looked up toward the slope. Malikai intentionally showed a small part of his bow as he nocked another arrow. Quickly noticing there was only 1 opponent the leader of the scout party ordered the closest two men to charge up the small slop while he and rear scout quickly shot arrows at Malikai to keep him from firing. The 2 rear scouts gavecover fire for the 2 other scouts to get into melee range and flush out Malikai. Going up the slope on the loose topsoil slowed down the 2 scouts with their sword unsheathed. Laughing at the Stovkow Scout, mocking them to focus on him, Malikai taunted the Stovkow scouts. ¡°Your man cry like a swine as he drowns in his blood.¡± Laughing ¡°Your not so tough when you¡¯re the hunted you Stovkow pigs!¡± With that signal from Malikai, the 2 demi human hunters slowly rose out of their cover aiming for the 2 Stovkow scouts in the back. ¡°You must have gone mad with hunger you frontier slave. I will skin you alive like an animal.¡± Enemy leader sneered Impossible to miss at 20-meters the veteran hunters hit their mark killing the leader and heavily injuring the other. The screams from the dying and injured scouts cause the other 2 scouts to turn their head giving Malikai just enough time put an arrow in the head of closer scout. Quickly nocking another arrow, ¡°You can surrender or I put arrows in your legs and arms then skin you alive. Your choice.¡± Malikai offer. ¡°You would do that anyways you slave.¡± The last standing scout shouted back at Malikai accusingly.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Hunt Master Malikai would have loved nothing more than to kill the scout, but he realized that a live prisoner will make a better gift to the Major instead of killing him here. ¡°I¡¯d rather take you as a prisoner to my new master. But if you want, I can take one of the wounded then just break all your limbs and leave you to the wild life. As a scout, I¡¯m sure you must know that the wolves will eat you alive.¡± ¡°You would, wouldn¡¯t you, you frontier savages.¡± Raising his arm to signal. ¡°Grigor! Tam!¡± ¡°Alright you savages!¡± Dropping his weapons. ¡°Gag and tie him up.¡± Malikai order. Then they slit the throat of the injured and dump the bodies in their former concealed spots. ¡°These scouts are weak Pack Leader.¡± Grigor commented. ¡°It¡¯s been so long we were allowed to actively fight them. I never realize how weak they were. They aren¡¯t much of a scout.¡± ¡°Humans are habitual creature Grigor. Hunting games that don¡¯t fight back has weakened these slavers. Tam, you have the faster legs. Run up to the Major and tell him we have a prisoner for him. Tell him, if anyone of us were to extract information from this scout, we are more liable to kill him before he talks.¡± ¡°Yes Pack Leader.¡± Tam replied and quickly made his way. How quickly they surrender. They are much weaker than I thought. Or maybe their hatred isn¡¯t as severe as ours.Hunt Master thought. Coldly looking at the scout with contempt. When Major Jung gave him the order to extract information from any captured Stovkow slavers, he didn¡¯t think much of it when he recieve the order. But after hearing their screams in pain. It brought much pleasure to his heart. That sweet sound of their hated enemy¡¯s scream as they die. He decided not to trust himself nor his hunters for this job. They may all lose themselves to revenge and forget their duty. We are hunters. Not tortures. Malikai thought in silence. = = ¡°The terrain in this location gives us a good cover and the slight uphill gives us a good advantage as the foot soldiers have to run up the slop.¡± Captain Pearson explained as he pointed on the hand drawn map. ¡°We¡¯ll let the foot soldier march pass here and wait for their knights. If we neutralize their most mobile unit, we can hunt them down much easier considering our limited number of Cavalry troopers.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not bad. We¡¯ll need to preposition our men to close off their escape. I want a platoon behind them when the first gun is fired. I¡¯m thinking a platoon is enough to close off their retreat on the road. Alpha returned last night. They should be moving up to our location as we speak. So you should start moving a platoon into position after this meeting. Move them out early so they don¡¯t accidently meet up with the Stovkow movement. ¡°Yes sir.¡± ¡°From their historical pattern, Hunt Master said their marching line is about 500-meters long. Including their supply trains. Here and here, we¡¯ll close off their retreat and advance. Then here in the middle we¡¯ll divide them in the center of their marching line and cut them to shred. Hmm. On second thought. We better send 2 platoons to close off their retreat. Unlike the goblins they have 1000 knight on warhorse. 2 platoon to cut the center. And 2 platoon to close off their advance. That will leave 1 platoon each in Daldia and Whitestone.¡± ¡°You sure you don¡¯t want to leaving the Whitestone to the engineers, sir?¡± ¡°If they were just defending it would be fine. But I want the engineers to work none stop until our baseis built. We also have civilians working with the engineers that needs protecting. No. This is enough. And we still have the Chief¡¯s ability if shit hits the fan. So, if there is nothing else for now, pick your platoons Captain Pearson and send them out. We¡¯ll have another meeting when Alpha arrives.¡± This battle is straight forward. From what the Hunt Master tells us, the Stovkow slavers have gotten complacent with confidence and laziness from the lack of resistance in the Frontier. But we¡¯ll fight as if they are better. I won¡¯t allow my men to depend on enemies over confidence nor laziness. Now it¡¯s just a matter of moving the men in place and wait. Opening the flap to the command tent. ¡°Sir. Tracker Grigor is here to see you.¡± Privateinformed. ¡°Let him in.¡± ¡°Good to see you Grigor. You have some good news for me?¡± Major Jung ask with a smile. ¡°Ah well. I came with a message from the Pack Leader, Major. We ambushed a scout team from Stovkow and captured a prisoner. But the Pack Leader wasn¡¯t confident in interrogating the prisoner. He said that he is more likely to kill him before having the prisoner talk.¡± ¡°So the main Stovkow force could be hours to few days away from the location. Then we need to move fast. How far out is the prisoner Grigor?¡± ¡°No more than half hours Major.¡± ¡°Private Nelson, go find Captain Pearson and tell him I need him in 30 minutes. And tell him to hold his platoons until I¡¯m done with the prisoner.¡± ¡°Yes Major.¡± As he ran out. = = The goblin hunt turned out to be a major let down with little action. Burn and smoke them out. That was the motto for the 3-day excursion. From this, Spike sensed that the goblins were one of the lowest on the food chain when it came to inhumanoids and monsters. From hunter Rikko¡¯s talk, the most frighten thing about the goblins were their numbers and incredibly fast breeding cycle. And the fact that they have much more shamans compare to very rare human mages. The end result was Spike gained 2 levels. Barely pushing him up to next level by 50 points. 185 total RP gained. Spike put 1 point to STR to help me deal with the recoil on the M249 and 1 point to DEX so help him aim better for higher hit rate. There were no fatalities, but lots of them got scuffed up pretty bad in the cave. Scraps, cuts and bruises. Strangely, these healed within a day. The men were happy for the 3 days. Their banter talk sounded more like a R&R hunting trip to Alaska. But Spike was worried about their future in the frontier. If he used an analogy of raccoons raiding human settlement¡¯s garbage cans for food to goblins. And bears, wolves, and mountain lions to whatever is out farther and deeper into the Frontier. They haven¡¯t even seen the tip of the iceberg yet. He worried for the days when they will no longer be fighting the lowest in the food chain in the frontier. Because he refused to believe these fight will be this easy as they move deeper into the frontier. This is something Spike realize as inevitable. His men desired for the hunt. The frontier towns needs it for their security, prosperity, and eventual expansion. And he also had to become stronger to survive the unknown future. As Spike thought of his future, the voice of Lieutenant Ward, Alpha Company¡¯s executive officer (XO) brought his attention back to the construction report. ¡°Before the Bravo Company XO, Lieutenant Turner left to the front, we ironed out our location for the future barracks placement. Major Jung plans for Whitestone to be split into 4 quadrants for 4 company and 1 other company as permanent security garrison. For now, we will get the quadrant 1, and Bravo will receive the quadrant 3. Quad 2 and 4 are reserved for future line company. And the other support unit will be stationed in between the line companies.¡± ¡°Have the Engineers produced a blueprint to the barracks yet? I¡¯d like to see what we are getting if it¡¯s available.¡± ask Captain Wraeth. ¡°Not yet sir. There were some issues about if the officers and NCO will get a separate housing or be housed in the barracks for better command and control efficiency. And that has delayed the actual blueprint. Major did mention he eventually wants all officers and NCOs to have private housings. NCO¡¯s rank is equivalent to a knight. He said it will cause the Phoenixian NCOs to lose prestige and credibility with the outsiders if they are not given better quarters. So it¡¯s a matter of short term vs. long term needs¡± ¡°Always thinking of the future.¡± Spike commented. ¡°The Major must be enjoying playing Nation Builder.¡± Lieutenant Lee said as he chuckled. Just then, ¡°Sir!¡± Company 1st Sergeant Cox opened the flap and entered the command tent. ¡°1st through 3rd platoon has formed up.¡± ¡°Well then. Let¡¯s go meet these slavers and rapist and properly discipline them.¡± Captain Wreath said. While 4th platoon was already on the half completed walls pulling security. Rest of the company was formed up and in formation. The command past from the 1st Sergeant to the Captain. ¡°Lieutenant Lee when we march through Daldia, as per order, you and you platoon will stay to reinforce the towns guard. XO, you are in command of both 3rd and 4th platoon. Lieutenant Stein, your squad of flamethrowers will march with us. I¡¯m sure the Major will have some idea on how to use your squad.¡± ¡°Understood sir.¡± = = = After Hunt Master personally explained why he didn¡¯t interrogate the prisoner and took the time to bring him over. ¡°When they come up to our hidden position, they behaved differently than usual. It was like they were expecting trouble or something.¡± ¡°I understand Hunt Master. I actually understand your situation.¡± Major Jung Nodded to the Hunt Master. ¡°But you say they behaved a differently?¡± as he looked at the prisoner who was tied up and kneeling. It was very obvious the scout was terrified of his situation. Not only because he was a prisoner, but because he had no idea who these stranger were. They are someone who should not be in this area. Everything about them made no sense to him. Their cloths, attatude, and commanding presence. ¡°Yes. They are normally more laxed.¡± ¡°Private Nelson. Go bring me a roll of that slow burning dynamite fuse.¡± ¡°Right away sir.¡± Private Nelson said as he quickly ran off to retrieve the roll of fuse. ¡°Greeting Stovkow scout.¡± Said the Major as he looked at the fearful scout and walked up to him. ¡°No need to speak for now. Just listen. I¡¯m going to demonstrate something to you in few minute, then I¡¯m going make an offer you can¡¯t refuse. Well,¡± as the Major smiled at the prisoner, ¡°I suppose you could refuse. But you won¡¯t.¡± He said in confidence. ¡°Sir. The fuse.¡± As Private Nelsonset theroll of fuse down. ¡°Well that was quick." Looking at the roll of fuse on the ground. Then looking at Private Nelson. "Give yourself a cookie Nelson.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± Private Nelson snaply replied acknowledging the complement. ¡°Now I want you to cut off a piece long enough to wrap around his forearm from his fingers to elbow. Then I want you to do the same with that thick branch but connect it with a grenade primer. Then wait for my instruction when complete with the task.¡± The prisoners right arm was released and stripped of garment. Then the fuse was wrapped around like a snake as was instructed. Then the same was done tothe branch, but with a grenade primer attached to it on the bottom part of the branch. Going to 1 knee to get to the prisoner¡¯s level. ¡°Now hold the prisoner.¡± He ordered the officers. Then as he looked in the prisoner¡¯s eyes. ¡°It¡¯s ok to scream. There isno shame in doing so.¡± Major said as he stepped on the prisoners fingers to anchor them in place. Then he brought out his lighter and slowly brought it closer to the fuse as he locked eyes with the prisoner. As the fuse lit up from the lighter the slow fused sparked to life as it ate its life away leaving behind it¡¯s trail of blister and pain. With no exception, the prisoner screamed in pain as he tried in panic to yank his arm away. But being held in place by several officers, only thing he could do was scream in pain as he looked between his burning arm and Major Jung¡¯s cold eyes. Not understanding what or how it was done to him. Surround by these strange enemies. And looking into the eyes of a killer, almost made him faint. The prisoner urinated on himself as he wept in tears of terror. ¡°Nelson, lean that branch again the tree. And stand by.¡± Without saying a word, Private Nelson quickly complied. And set the branch against the tree. ¡°Turn him around and have him face the branch.¡± Waiting until the crying prisoner was repositioned. Major Jung grabbed his hair and force him to look at the branch. ¡°Now Nelson. Light the fuse.¡± The prisoner was force to watch the fuse burn as the pain on his forearm reminded him what it was doing. Then eventually the grenade explodedas it destroyed the thick branch. ¡°Now strip him and tie him against that tree. And wrap the fuse around his naked body. Then attach the grenade primer to his crotch.¡± As the Phoenix men obeyed the majors command in silence the prisoner started to wailed in terror. "W wait wait wait! I''ll speak!" The prisoner broke. Begging for mercy. Offering to tell them anything. That he would do anything if they spared him. Finally, thought Major Jung. Walking up to the prisoner that wascompletely tied up as instructed. ¡°You haven¡¯t even heard of my offer. And yet, you offer yourself cheaply.¡± The major brought a cigarette to his mouth. Then light it causing the prisoner to whimper. ¡°But I¡¯m a generous man. So I will still make that offer.¡± Taking a pause to inhale then exhale on to the face of the prisoner. The Phoenix men acted as business as normal. The hunters on the other hand where shocked and almost as terrified as the prisoner, almost reaching for their family jewel on instinct. But at the same time in their heart, they were satisfied of the prisoners suffering. ¡°You have 2 choices. Answer my questions truthfully and you survive in one piece to be my messenger back to your people. Or! Lie to me or I sense you are lying and not cooperate, then you slowly burn while losing your family jewel. You die bleeding from where your manhood used to be and we leave you tied up for the wild animals.¡± Major Jung calmly and slowly said as if he was enjoying this. Yet business like. ¡°I¡­ I will cooperate. Please mercy my lord.¡± The prisoner begged. ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you it was a good offer.¡± Pausing to look at the prisoner. ¡°So, how far out are your main forces.¡± ¡°A day. 2 at max my lord.¡± Prisoner quickly answered without hesitation. ¡°How big is the slave raiding force this time?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not raiding force my lord. It¡¯s a goblin subjugation force.¡± At that, the major was surprise. But he kept his poker face. ¡°Oh. You still didn¡¯t answer how big of a force.¡± ¡°I do not know my lord. I¡¯m just a scout. They don¡¯t tell me these things and I left before rest of Lord Myojhuk¡¯s retainers arrived. Everything was confusing with so much unusual activities. I saw the usual Stovkow raiders before the scouts were given orders to move out. Only when we reached the border the scout captain told the rest of us that we should be expecting a goblin army.¡± ¡°Did you hear that Hunt Master?¡± looking at the Hunt Master. ¡°What do you make of this new development?¡± ¡°I really don¡¯t know what to make of this. It only points out that Stovkow, somehow, knew about the goblins. But how would they. The timing doesn¡¯t make any sense. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on Major. Honestly, I¡¯m just as at lost as you.¡± Hunt Master said. ¡°Is there anything else I should know scout? If I should find that you spoke lies at a later time. I will offer your testicle to the wolves.¡± ¡°No! My lord. We left early in preparation for the goblin subjugation army. Only the leader would know more. But his dead.¡± He sobbed for his life. Staring hard at the prisoner for what felt like eternity to the prisoner. ¡°Take the prisoner away, but keep him tied up and watched. And keep the fuse on him in case he gets funny ideas.¡± Major order. After the prisoner was taken away. ¡°Good show Major. That was rather entertaining to see you make a grown man cry like that.¡± Captain Pearson said. ¡°Sometimes¡­Terror can be more effective then death itself. Especially with uneducated people.¡± ¡°But this changes things Major Jung.¡± Hunt Master Malikai said. ¡°That it does. But not as much as you think Hunt Master.¡± Major replied. ¡°For now we can only wait until Lord Phoenix arrives with Alpha¡¯s 1st and 2nd platoon. Why don¡¯t you take you hunters and see if there are other Stovkow scouts. And try to keep more of them alive if possible, Hunt Master.¡± ¡°Yes. Of course Major.¡± Hunt Master replied as he gave hand signal for his hunters to follow him out. ¡°Now we wait how good the harvesting went with Alpha. Then we can better formulate a plan.¡± As the Major said. ¡°Speaking of the devil.¡± Lieutenant Turner said he pointed toward Alpha company as they march in toward their security check point. = = = After the 2 captains briefed each other on the current sitrep. And introducing the German units, everyone quickly focused on the task of defeating the Stovkow force. ¡°I currently have 505.2RP and 103additional personnel slot opened.¡± Spike reported. ¡°When I got to this world, I was looking to summon a landship. What do you think Major? I have the RP for it now.¡± ¡°Having a landship to our arsenal would be a good idea sir. But I think we should summon a British combat officer for that sir. US were extremely behind on tank development and had to borrow from the Brits andthe French. I would requisition Mark VIII¡¯s but having a British or French officer would give us more option, but I recommend British. Their development was even ahead of the French.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± Then Spike willed a summon. ¡°Lieutenant Edwards reporting sir.¡± Shouted out all snappy and proper. ¡°Relax Lieutenant. Come join us.¡± Major Jung ordered. ¡°We can brief Lieutenant Edwards after this. Let¡¯s focus on the current battle.¡± As they quickly gave Lieutenant Edwards on the synapsis of the coming battle. ¡°Then how many Mark VIII do you need Major Jung?¡± asked, Lieutenant Edward. ¡°I think 4 will be in order. We¡¯ll have 2 here, and I¡¯m thinking Lord Phoenix will move with Captain Pearson and drop 2 Mark VIII in the rear to close off their retreat. We want total destruction of Stovkow force. I don¡¯t want any Stovkow forces running back home to so we can fight them again. And then I¡¯d like for you to summon another line platoon when you arrive on site sir. For your protection and then to help with herding Stovkows up to us. ¡°Very good sir.¡± Lieutenant Edward said. Then produced a requisition document for 2 Mark VIII (landship) with full crew of 12 for each tank. ¡°Wow. It looks so amazing.¡± Spike commentedas he looked at one of the iconic human engineering feet for all future warfare. ¡°Captain Pearson. Who are you planning to have command of the center group?¡± The major asked. ¡°I was planning to put the XO in charge of Bravo 3rd and 4th platoon, Sir. His been cooped up with admin work and I felt he needs some fun time.¡± ¡°I see. That¡¯s good. Then well designate the group staying here as Road Block. Lieutenant Turner¡¯s center group as Lumberjack. And the rear group as Cowboy. Also, the flamethrowers will be with Road Block.¡± Major Jung said. ¡°Do you need anything else before I leave Major?¡± Spike asked. ¡°That, I do sir. If you could. Can you leave a double load out for the Road Block sir? And the same for Lumberjack when you split from them. As for the Cowboys, since you will be there with them, I¡¯ll leave it up to Captain Pearson¡¯s call.¡± Major requested. ¡°Major Jung. How far should I stretch out the position. Our original was half a mile long Stovkow force''s marching line.¡± Captain Pearson asked. ¡°To be honest Captain. I don¡¯t really know. This is a fight we have to fight. Since we don¡¯t know how long their marching line is. Nor how much fighting force they are bringing. I leave it to your professional judgement. I won¡¯t fault you for wherever you place your men, but expect minimum of 1-mile long marching line. Maybe longer. If for some reason it¡¯s a much more longer line and you can¡¯t completely close off their retreat line. Then try to deny as many of their fighting resources from returning to Stovkow.¡± ¡°Yes sir. I understand.¡± ¡°Hmm. Maybe I should send the Cavalry Troopers with you as well. 22 men on horse can still cause some damage.¡± ¡°I¡¯d be happy to receive them for the mission sir.¡± Captain Pearson said happily. ¡°Very well. Their yours.¡± Looking at the units getting into marching formation. ¡°Alright now. Let¡¯s go kill these home invaders.¡± = = = ¡°Steward Caldrun. You are to stay here and form up the stragglers then march onto Kyzdon territory to lay waste to everything he has. Once I¡¯m done with the goblin horde, I will return to reinforce the siege of Shator Keep.¡± ¡°You sure you don¡¯t want to wait a few more days my lord? With such short notice, only the nearby retainers have been able to hastily answer you call.¡± ¡°It¡¯s around 4000 goblins. we have more than enough for the job. Be sure everyone not involved in the fights are safely in my territory as planned. Then send a contingency of men to kill and pillage their former landlords. The discontent the population has for their lords should bring many of the sideliners to our side.¡± ¡°Yes my lord.¡± ¡°With this. You should no longer call me ¡®my lord¡¯ uncle. When this is over, you¡¯ll have your own peerage.¡± Smiling affectionately at his uncle. ¡°Yes. Of course Justine. With this, I think my sister will be avenged.¡± Steward Caldrun smiled back at his nephew. ¡°And what should we do with your half-brother? He still carries your fathers blood in him.¡± ¡°I have been thinking about it for a while now. I won¡¯t spill fathers blood he carries but I also don¡¯t want his blood to be a slave either. Send him to Kindarth Empires Monastery. He should live in exile without a name.If he has any problem, he should be hating his grandfather for manipulating our family bloodline.¡± ¡°Very well Justine. I will make the arrangement.¡± Steward Caldrun replied without expression. Getting on his warhorse the servant just brought over. ¡°I should be back in 1-week uncle. I only need to break up the goblin horde enough so they don¡¯t march into my territory. We¡¯ll have the initiative from the surprise attack. With his forces spread thin from sending his men to support other frontier raids and eastern front, I suspect he won¡¯t know what¡¯s happening until our forces are sieging his castle. You may even be able to take Shator Keep.¡± Then Baron Myojhuk bolted to the front of the goblin subjugation army to take command. Watching his nephew go. ¡°Sir Kajiak. Quickly move up to borders of Baron Antenok.¡± As he hands him the authorization order. ¡°Take 500 knight, 900 footmen, and 100 archers as they come through the area. Ambush the baron as he returns from the frontier raid. Then, only after its done are you to settle scores with the Hasbrig family. In 2-weeks, leave only enough for the people to survive the winter, but leave nothing extra. And allow anyone wishing to move to Myojhuk Baronage to take all the extra. That should incentivize them to move to our territory.¡± ¡°With pleasure Lord Caldrun.¡± Sir Kajiak smiled happily snarling. ¡°Same goes with you Sir Junapt. But you¡¯ll be going toward Count Morrogain¡¯s territory. But leave the port town Calteermon alone. But, do burn their crops if they have yet to harvest.¡± Also handing Authorization documents.¡± Sir Junapt simply nodded in understanding as he received his scroll. ¡°And I¡¯ll take the rest of the men as they arrive then lay waste to the Margraves territory.¡± Steward Caldrun declared. ¡°These are the orders left by Baron Myojhuk. So take your immediate men under your control and move out Gentlemen. It¡¯s time we stop paying for a war we want nothing of, and stop living under their tyranny.¡± Nodding in acknowledgment, each knights took their own forces brought with them, then marched out to their respected direction. Ch9 - Plans change. ¡°Captain Pearson. There is no place for us to summon the landships. If we summon the 2 Mark VIII now, concealing it would be impossible. It¡¯s just too damn big.¡± Captain Allen informed. ¡°And the forest is so thick, the landships would have problem breaking out if we summoned it inside the forest. I recommend we hold on until we engage in combat then Lord Phoenix can summon them into battle¡± Having learned that at least a Lieutenantwas needed to command each landship, Captain Allen was summoned to take command of the tank unit and reduce the future cost of other tank commanders. ¡°Then we have no choice. We¡¯ll do just that Captain Allen. I leave it to you to decide on when to summon the landships. However, if we are unable to close up the slavers retreat because their marching line is too long, I want you to send 1 landship assaulting toward the center and the other chasing them back to their home front. I will assign the Cavalry Troops to you for the chasing. Make them abandon their war supplies, drop their weapons, or surrender.¡± Captain Pearson said as he looked Spike when he said surrender. Spike nodded in agreement with Captain Pearson as he finished his statement. ¡°Thank you for the consideration Captain Pearson. I understand this isn¡¯t earth, but I still don¡¯t like the idea of killing humans unnecessarily.¡± Spike said. ¡°If you feel comfortable Captain Pearson, I¡¯d like to take Lieutenant Reed and his newly summoned platoon to reinforce the chase and help out with prisoners. I don¡¯t think a single landship and 22 Cav troopers are enough for the job.¡± Rubbing his chin as his thinks. ¡°Very good sir. I approve.¡± ¡°Excellent, Then I¡¯ll be in your care Lieutenant Reed as I¡¯ll be following your platoon.¡± ¡°It will an honor sir.¡± Lieutenant Reed replied. ¡°Then, to keep the none combatant casualty low, we¡¯ll string out our force about 150 meters. Each of my platoon will be responsible for 75 meters. Severing their line of retreaton our end, my 2 platoons and 1 landship will close in on the slavers while the Chaser Group takes care of the ones retreating. This shouldn¡¯t be too difficult. We have the overwhelming firepower. Remember our priority targets are their archers and anyone identified casting magic.¡± ¡°Then the only thing we have left is to wait for the signal from the Lumberjack and the hunters.¡± Spike said. Early, the trackers helped hide the horse by cutting a path into the forest then covering up the path entrance with branches and fresh leaves. When the signal is given, they were to ride out in single file to chase after the retreating slavers. Line platoons hid behind any mounds and thick tree and heavy vegetation. Or simply dug out a position and covered up the fresh dirt with fallen leaves and any other vegetation they could use to camouflage the manmade obstruction. No one was to stick their head out until the officer¡¯s command was giving. With the thickness of the vegetation growth Phoenix force could only position themselves on average of 15 meters deep. Which allowed them minimum visibility of the road to laydown machine gun fire to make up for the lack of clear visibility. If any of the slavers decide to run too far in, to relieve themselves, they might not make it back out alive. Road Block would signal with one of the main 57mm gun. Lumberjack, which was 600 meters from Road Bloke would start their attack. Between the noise made by Road Block and Lumberjack, it was expected that Cowboy, 900 meters from Lumberjack would be able to hear the beginning of the battle. = = = ¡°Still no signs of the scouts my lord.¡± Sir Kilowvk reported. ¡°They knew we are coming. At least one of the scout should have been here with a message. Something must have happened to them.¡± Baron Myojhuk said as he ate his breakfast. ¡°Do you think they all got caught by the goblin horde my lord?¡± ¡°All 5, unlikely. However, they may have met some complication with survivors form Daldia. I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°What are your orders my lord?¡± ¡°Keep moving our forces. Whatever caused the scouts to go missing is no match for our army. Move up 100 more of our knights to the front formation. Tell them to expect trouble so be on the lookout. At this rate, we should reach Daldia before sunset. We will have our answers there.¡± ¡°As you order my lord.¡± Sir Kilowvk replied. = = = ¡°They are coming Captain Pearson.¡± Hunt Master quickly reported. ¡°I¡¯ve sent Hunter Tam to relay the message up the road.¡± ¡°How far Master Malikai?¡± ¡°About 4 kilometers from this location Captain.¡± ¡°That¡¯s about an hour. Alright men. Looks like it¡¯s time. Everyone to their position. Stay low and keep your noise discipline until I fire my weapon as a signal.¡± He ordered his platoon leader. ¡°Master Malikai, please maintain observation of their movement.¡± ¡°At your will Captain.¡± Hunt Master replied. ¡°Sir, I want to remind you to stay hidden until Lieutenant Reed¡¯s platoon moves.¡± ¡°I got it Captain Pearson.¡± Spike replied. ¡°I just hope this doesn¡¯t become a massacre.¡± ¡°You can hope sir. But you need to remember, that this is war. If you dish it out, you better be expecting to be on the receiving side eventually.¡± Captain Pearson informed. ¡°Does that mean we are going to get ours to someday Captain?¡± ¡°It¡¯s inevitable sir. We just don¡¯t know when. But when it happens, I hope to have scored enough points as the Major like to say. Then move on to my next life.¡± = = = ¡°My lord. The lead group found many tracks of horses. The tracks appear not to be heavy warhorse. However, there were so many it¡¯s impossible to discern how many. But the track stops at where our current front formation is, then moves back up the road.¡± Sir Amoni reported. ¡°Horse tracks?¡± Baron Myojhuk pondered. ¡°Daldia doesn¡¯t have that many horses left. Most of their horse should have been slaughtered during the many winters for food. Does it look like they are trying to hide something?¡± ¡°There were so many tracks. But yes my lord. I think they were trying to hide their numbers.¡± ¡°What do you think? Are they trying to make us think they have more then what they really have?¡± Baron Myojhuk thought loudly. ¡°There is definitely something going on Sir Kilowvk. The missing scout. Multiple horse tracks? We need to reach Daldia to find some answers. Send out another group of scouts to Daldia. I want to know what¡¯s happening in that town.¡± ¡°But my lord. We don¡¯t have any more trained scouts. At least not at a skill proficient enough to handle this.¡± ¡°Then send out double the number or triple the number to make up for their lack of proficiency.¡± Baron Myojhuk said in irritation as he rode on his warhorse surrounded by his elite personal knights. The rarely used road was slowly being taken back by nature. It was built in collaboration with the merchant guild and the frontier towns during expansion days. The road was once a sign of progress made in the frontier. But now just a faded memory. The road was once big enough for 2 large wagons to pass by each other. Now the tree branches, vines, and brambles slowly took back its land, leaving only enough room for a single suppy wagon to use. The Stovkow Knight¡¯s lead the march in 2 columns. Also, followed by 3 columns of foot soldiers. The supply wagons were spread along the march for easier support of the movement. Not making contact with his scouts gave Baron Myojhuk an uneasy feeling as his personal army marched to fight off the goblin horde. Just what is going on here. Have the orcs or some other inhumanoids or monsters pushed pass the goblins. It¡¯s not unheard of. But such thing hasn¡¯t happened in generations. If it¡¯s an orcs tribe, I¡¯m not too concerned.Even thought I''ll take some casualty, I have more than enough war resources to handle them. Whatever it is, I need to hurry and neutralize it so my territory isn¡¯t compromised by the frontier. Then quickly deal with the Margrave. Damn hunters! What mess those fools created for me! ¡°Sir Kilowvk!¡± ¡°Yes my lord.¡± ¡°I''m getting a bad feeling about the frontier. Maybe the other towns are working together, but that can¡¯t be, as they are all being raided across the border. In any case, not hearing from the scouts is really bothering me. I don¡¯t believe it¡¯s something we can¡¯t handle. But I want to reduce unnecessary lose to our fighting force.¡± ¡°Yes my lord. I also agree with your assessment. Should I send a detachment of heavy knight force ahead if they can find something?¡± Sir Kilowvk asked. ¡°No. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s necessary. If anything, we may end up alerting them if we deviate too much from our normal movement. We already send 15 scouts up ahead. We should hear from them before we reach Daldia. During lunch break, I want 500 of our heavy knights in the lead. At first sign of trouble, instruct them to trample anything in front of them. And have another 500 foot soldiersbehind the knight formation to support them. I¡¯m not here to negotiate with some lowly frontier settlement. If they get in our way, simply crush them. Also, move our supply train to the rear, in case we need to engage any enemy as we move farther in to the frontier. I don''t want the suppy train to get in the way of the soldiers movement.¡± Baron Myojhuk order. ¡°Yes my lord. I¡¯ll start passing instruction now as we are nearing midday break.¡± Watching as Sir Kilowvk trout of on his warhorse to start giving out commands to rearrange the marching order. Did Karan Daldia survive the Goblin horde? It¡¯s possible. If so, in grief stricken status, he could be just killing anything in sight under murderous insanity from hisloses. Which means I may have to take care of him myself. Thinking of the long marching line for his Goblin subjugation army. Perhaps I should have executed the pleasure girls and the slave labors Kyzdon knight¡¯s brought with them. I plan to leave half my force to garrison Daldai to keep the frontier at bay. And leave the whores to keep the men entertained over the cold winter. More mouths to feed eating up my supplies. And this damn long supply train. But I can sell them off later to raise needed funds. I¡¯ll wait and see what Daldia had harvest before I make up my mind. = = = ¡°Shit! What happened?¡± Captain person asked as Hunter Sodie was carrying back Rikko in his arm with part of an arrow sticking out of her stomach. ¡°It was simply a bad luck on our part Captain. They sent out more scouts. They must have suspected something. So to prevent them from any discovery, we ambushed them in a cross fire and took care of them. It should have been easy as they moved like drunkard, but one of them got a lucky shot as he died.¡± Grinning in pain. ¡°It¡¯s fine Hunt Master. This just means my time has come to join the Heavens Pride. To be killed by a novice''s random shot.¡± Looking at the arrow stem prodding out of her stomach. ¡°Ahh. How unlucky of me!¡± Rikkomoaned in pain. ¡°Stop talking Rikko!¡± Hunt Master ordered. ¡°Sergeant York! Do what you can for her.¡± Captain Pearson ordered. ¡°Yes Captain.¡± As he opened up his medical bag. ¡°We broke off part of the arrow to not injure her any farther.¡± Sodie informed. ¡°It¡¯s a killing wound. You should just let me go Hunt Master.¡± Rikko requested. Cutting open her leather armor with as sharp knife and scissor. The arrow had penetrated through the other side creating hole on her back side as well. The medic spoke with a grain of salt in his voice. ¡°Even though I say it¡¯s a clean penetration through her stomach. I can only pull out the arrow and stitch up the external wound, then bandage it to stop the bleeding. There¡¯s nothing I can do about the internal bleeding. But even the doctors may not be able to help much with stomach wound.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°The Stovkow forces are barely half a kilometer away.¡± Captain Pearson warned. ¡°Sergeant York. Do what you just said and help her stay comfortable for now. Enemies are just too close for use to move her safely without causing her farther injury. Hunt Master, have one of your hunter stay with her. Let¡¯s hope the battle ends quickly, just like our other fights, and get her to Daldia.¡± The 3 medics carried Rikko farther into forest to perform their triage. Then gave her a morphine shot to ease the pain. The Cowboy Group waited in silence. As the Stovkow¡¯s marching sound grew louder. The medics had to quickly gag Rikko as she was high on morphine and started talking gibberish. She started to talk about finding a strong mate for her daughter and ask Hunt Master if he could do the job before the gag was tied to her mouth. They had few close calls when few of the slavers pointed their family rod towards the forest to water the trees. They simply dropped their drawers giving the march a full moon. They seemed not to care or was shameless about it. For those in armor, they simply undid their armored cup and went about their business. For nearly half an hour, Cowboy position waited in silence as the noise of the march felt it would never end. = = = The lookout gave a hand signal as he moved behind a thick tree trunk. As the massage got passed down the line, everyone waited for the signal. At Captain Wraeth¡¯s signal, the rear landship started its engine and moved up out of the woods diagonally to block off the road, then fired of the 57mm gun to signal the battle. The shot pulverized the lead knights and everything behind him, causing panic, screams and terror from both men and horse. Second landship quickly followed out of the woods in front of the first landship. As the landship moved forward it opened up its¡¯ machine guns on the 2 front gun ports. Without a place to hide or retreat, some of the knights decided to charge the landship just to be mowed down by the machine guns never making it to the landship. ¡°Flamethrower. Follow the landship and flush out the ones running into the woods.¡± Captain Wraeth shouted. ¡°Riflemen! Stay with the Flamethrowers.¡± At 5 miles per hour, the landship slowly moved up as it ran over the dead and the wounded men and horses that could not move out of its way as it slowly crawled forward. The 2 front machine guns kept up its slaughter of men and horses as they were trapped on the road. With the first 50 meters into the road of carnage. ¡°Sweet Mothers¡­¡± Captain Wraeth cursed as he witnesses the road of death. ¡°Major. This is too much. Lord Phoenix isn¡¯t going to like this when he sees this.¡± As he looks at the dead men and horse with splattered inner spread all over the road. ¡°Damn! I think so too. Let¡¯s move slower and give them a chance to surrender. Have the machine guns on the landship easy up on the firing and send up more riflemen to snipe the knights off the horses. That will at least save the horses and make it less messy." Major Jung ordered as he looked on the road of death. = = = With the signal from the 57mm gun, Lumberjack machine guns opened up on the road. 150-meter length of road was nothing but death. On Lieutenant Turners command, everyone picked up from their hidden position and move up to the road. The teams on the edge of their positions kept up firing their weapons as Stovkow forces moved to engage them or flee. but out of nowhere 2 of the Phoenix men were decapitated sending an alert shout from the men next to them. A group of heavily armored men on horse charged them with lances. But in the center of their group, an obvious mage was casting another spell. ¡°We got a mage casting. 2 men down.¡± One of the Phoenix Private shouted before he himself was cut in half at his waist line. One of the Lewis Gun dropped down and unloaded into the mage and his group. But something in front of the mage group forced most of the bullets to veer off and miss the group. But some of the bullets still hit the Knights next to the mage and the horses they all rode, causing them to crash forward as their horses died. One of the night rolled of the horse at it crashed and the mage simply floated and landed smoothly on the ground. ¡°Keep firing.¡± Lieutenant Rodrigues shouted from prone position. The mage prepared to cast another spell as the Knight that rolled of the horse got in front of the mage to cover him. He brought his shield up to cover himself and kneeled in front of the mage to use his own body as an obstruction. The entire forwardsquad was lifted into the air as an incredibly strong wind threw them 30 meters backward. 2 men died of broken neck from landing upside down while others suffered broken limbs, whiplash, and concussions. The first Knight fell from multiple bullet wound. But he was quickly replaced by 3 other Knights as they jumped down from their warhorses to formed up with their shields up front. ¡°Protect the Baron!¡± They shouted. ¡°Throw some grenade. Lewis Guns unload everything on the mage. Hold nothing back. Riflemen, flank them.¡± Lieutenant Rodrigues shouted his last command as he lost his head from being targeted by the mage. Then dropped his grenade killing a machine gunner and his loader. As the machine guns from 3rd platoon unloaded into the mage group, 5 grenades made it to the mage group but 3 slowed down in front of them right before they all exploded. The wind shield between them protected the mage from most of the explosion from his front and his armor negated the the rest, but not from the sides. 2 of the grenade explode from the side blowing the mage off to the edge of the road and injuring the other knights around him. ¡°El Tee is down!¡± With the mage temporarily incapacitated the riflemen that flanked them fired into everyone into the mage group. ¡°Keep moving. 1st and 2nd squad. Leap frog and keep moving.¡± Lieutenant Turner shouted as he quickly took over command of 3rd platoon. When Lieutenant Turner got up to the incapacitated mage, he pulled out his pistol andunload his entire magazine on the mage helmet. The XO judged the mage to besimply too dangerous to even take as a prisoner. Once the mage fell the resistance also fell as the slavers behind the mage fled back on the road or into the forest. = = = Between the 57mm gun from the Road Block Group and the many small fire from the Lumberjack Group, it was more than enough sound to give the signal to theCowboy Group. Like the Lumberjack group the 150-meter length of the road became a road of death by the many Lewis guns. Except there were more non-combatants in the rear part of the march. Which Phoenix force quickly discovered as they moved up to the road. Seeing dead humans for the first time ever. Spike was speechless. Especially the dead bodies of civilians and women on the supply wagons. ¡°What the fuck.¡± Spike said in horror. Then anger over took him.I wasn¡¯t thinking. These are humans, not goblins. What the fuck was I thinking! We should have planned better. Feeling nauseated, Spike look down the supply train as many on the supply wagons tried to flee back or run in toward the wood lines. Anyone wearing armor and making hostile movement were quickly targeted by the Riflemen. But the machine gunner held their fire. Captain Pearson stood by Spike, watching his reaction to all this, expecting a demand from Spike. ¡°Captain Pearson. I... I. I¡¯m not summoning the landships. We can¡¯t fight like this. There are more civilians in the rear formation then soldiers. I will not have us murder these people. I want to crush the Stovkow, but not like this.¡± Spike spoke in distraught. ¡°Yes sir. I understand.¡± Captain Pearson spoke as he gently grabbed Spikes shoulder reassuring him that it will get done. Without taking his eye off Spike. ¡°Lieutenant Walker!¡± he shouted. ¡°Yes Captain.¡± ¡°Lieutenant. As you fight down the supply train line, offer them quarter.¡± ¡°Yes sir. I understand.¡± Lieutenant Walker replied as he glanced at Spike before running to follow Captains order. Unable to join Lieutenant Reed, Spike puked right there. Somehow, the smell of human blood sent a chilling feeling to Spike body and it overcame his senses. The nauseation finally took over and he vomited everything in his stomach. ¡°Let it all out sir. It¡¯s better that way.¡± Corporal Robinson, his bodyguard team leader said. Slowly getting up and whipping away the vomit from his lipsand getting his sense back. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to pussy out, but I¡¯m going to leave the rest of this battle to the others. I¡¯m heading over the Rikko, I just came up with an idea to save her.¡± Spike said weakly. Nodding in acknowledgement. ¡°Yes sir." Turning his head. "Captain Allen. Looks like you won¡¯t be getting your landships.¡± Captain Pearson comment as he watched Spike move out to Rikko¡¯s position. ¡°It¡¯s all good chap.¡± Captain Allen said as his eyes also followed Spikes walking away. ¡°Looks like our Commanding Lord just had his cherry popped.¡± ¡°That he did. It had to happen sooner or later.¡± Looking at him strangely. ¡°I¡¯m still giving you temporary command of the cavalry, Captain Allen. I suppose you being a British officer and a gentleman, you know how to ride a horse?¡± ¡°Well now, I suppose everything is true except for the gentlemen part.¡± Captain Allensmiled in reply, as he commandeering an enemy knight¡¯s warhorse. ¡°You are very... Un-British like.¡± ¡°I was born in London and raise in America half the time.¡± Captain Allen said as he laughed away while taking command ofthe Cav troopers. ¡°This fight is already over, so we¡¯ll just run them down until they can¡¯t run nomore.¡± and rode off on his merry chase. ¡°Lieutenant Reed. I¡¯m going to put you in charge of the prisoners. Be sure to strip search them, then leave them in loin cloth until they have been properly processed. That includes the women too. Them wild women sometimes hide knives to stab you in your sleep.¡± He warned. ¡°Yes sir.¡± He replied somewhat amused at the idea of naked women. = = = ¡°As per your order sir. We are having the prisoners that have been processed digging mass graves at the 3 locations. The captured supply wagons are all moving up to our forward position. They are being prepped to be sent to Daldia. But they will have to be moved soon, before the road gets too clogged up.¡± Captain Pearson reported. ¡°The supply was a good haul for the frontier folks. It will go far for the people. Especially from all the weapons and armor that will be reforged to needed tools.¡± The 3 captains, the XO¡¯s, the Major, and Spike were inside the command tent that was set up by the 2 landships. They sat around a field table with the recently drawn map of the area. ¡°The Cav troopers and Alpha are patrolling the roads. They are picking up mostly civilians coming back to the roads from getting lost in the woods.¡± Captain Wraeth reported. ¡°So basically it¡¯s going to take more than a few days to clean up the mess.¡± Major Jung commented. ¡°Lieutentant Ward. Were you able to get any of the informed prisoners to talk?¡± ¡°A few, sir. It¡¯s a pity the Baron was too dangerous to keep alive for questioning. But there appears to be a rebellion in Stovkow. The Goblins subjugation force is only a part of their forces. One of their knight, Sir Kilowvk, in exchanged for medical help decided to talk to us. He claims Baron Myojhuk is rebelling from Stovkow and as we speak, their main forces are attacking the other nearby feudal lords, including Margrave Kyzdon. He said that he does not know the numbers as the Baron kept much of the information on need to know bases.¡± ¡°I see. Did he know how the Baron know about the Goblin horde?¡± ¡°No sir. He claims the Baron didn¡¯t tell him how he know. Only that the goblin horde was headed in the Baron¡¯s territory and they endangered the rebellion if left alone.¡± ¡°This really changes the dynamics on what we were initially planning for Stovkow.¡± Captain Wraeth added. ¡°Is this rebellion just another side of the same coin. If so, it may be better to let them fight it out. Then clean up after them. Either way, Stovkow looks to be in trouble. Rebellion on their west and war in the east.¡± ¡°I think we¡¯ve achieved our primary goal, and that was to stop Daldia from future raids. I don¡¯t foresee any raids from the Stovkow in the near future. By then, we¡¯ll be absolutely entrenched on Daldia area of the frontier.¡± Major Jung said. As he looked at Spike who appeared distracted. ¡°What are you orders sir?¡± He said to bring Spike back to focus. Trying to internalize the horror of the last battle, Spike barley followed along the discussion. It was very apparent to the officer that he going through some internal struggle from killing humans for the first time. ¡°I¡¯m not sure Major. I want to make sure that Daldia and all our future allies in the frontier are safe from the east. But at the same time. I¡¯m having some difficulty with the idea of killing fellow humans when we have a very clear enemy in the west. But I have enough common sense to know that ifthings werethat easy, the frontier would not have been raid for the last 10 years.¡± ¡°I was planning to talked to you later, but I suppose it can¡¯t wait.¡± Major Jung spoke calmly as if he were talking to a young student. ¡°Captain Pearson briefed me on what happened during your fight so I understand what you are going through. But there is something you need to be aware of sir. Those civilians are not civilians. They are support. They only lacked a uniform but they were transport and logistics. Even if they were forced to help.¡± ¡°But that just makes them slave soldiers.¡± Spike replied in a upset tone. ¡°Might I remind you sir, that many of our enlisted men were drafted.¡± Major Jung calmly informed. Spike went silent as he was informed. He simply looked at and listen to the Major to understand his point. And he could not say any after that. ¡°You have to understand sir. The common men have always paid for the decision of the few powerful people. This will never change. Our earth history is full of this example. You shouldn¡¯t be so conceited in thinking that it was your responsibility to save them. Might I remind you sir. You didn¡¯t put a gun to their head and forced them to raid the frontier.¡± ¡°No. I didn¡¯t. But I¡¯ve spent most of my non-childhood life trying to do the right thing. I suppose I¡¯m struggling with trying to do the right thing in the Nexus and how much I hate this situation. I¡¯m just confused.¡± Spike admitted. ¡°If it makes you feel any better sir. Killing fellow human doesn¡¯t taste as good as killing inhumanoids. I think you would have noticed it if you weren¡¯t so distracted from your internal conflict. But it¡¯s like eating a meal without any spice and seasoning.¡± Major Jung said. ¡°Then what are your plans Major? Do you think we need to get involved in Stovkow civil war?" ¡°Taking your original goal if it hasn¡¯t changed, and considering how difficult it is to navigate through the frontier wilderness. I¡¯m planning to digging in at key locations by stationing a platoon size on each outpost near the Stovkow border. We¡¯ll have the a single landship for each outpost to reinforce aplatoon. The landships are almost useless from their lack of mobility farther west. But we¡¯ll keep pushing into the west as we planned. We can put the prisoners to work by reopening the old roads going west and cut down trees to speed up the construction. They owe it to the frontier people for the past raids, so I have no qualm with putting them all in a chain gang. Hell, they even brought the metals to make the chains.¡± Major Jung informed his intent. ¡°Then I will leave everything up to your discretion Major Jung. But I have a request.¡± Spike said. ¡°Sir, you don¡¯t request. You command.¡± Major strongly reminded Spike. ¡°Right.¡± Spike nodded in acknowledgement as he was reminded of his position. ¡°Then I¡¯m taking Lieutenant Moore and his platoon with me after the cleanup is over with. We are going to freelance into the frontier for a while. I think 4 days hunting and 3 days in garrison as I need some time with Marquis Daldia for magic lessons. And I will be back in a reasonable time frame for anything you need me to summon. Let me work my way up the chain of command as I learn. I¡¯m smart enough to know that I lack the knowledge and experiences all you men possess. And this will give me some time to work out some personal issue while achieving my responsibility to grow stronger for everyone. We are all here until we die, so I believe this is best for our long term survival needs. What do you think Major?¡± ¡°Hm. That¡¯s not a bad idea. Having you actively fight will garnish more points. I doubt we¡¯ll face these large forces as we¡¯ve done in the last few battles. Not until we have pushed farther into the frontier.¡± Looking at Spikes M249P. ¡°My only recommendation would be that if you could slowly equip your freelance platoon with advance weapons such as yours or even summoning soldier who will come with said weapons would be my idea of your personal platoon.¡± ¡°Thank you for your support Major. I feel better already. Then, since all my senior officers are here I shall give a general order.¡± Taken a deep breath and exhaling as he looks at everyone. ¡°Defend what is ours. Crush all enemy. I think it¡¯s very simple and generalized enough for you gentlemen to have freedom to act without me having to approve everything. Yes?¡± ¡°Very good sir. I have heard and received your orders.¡± Major Jung replied in satisfaction. ¡°Then I¡¯ll be heading back to Daldia with the supply wagon. I¡¯ll take the first batch of the wagons now. While everyone is busy, I think it¡¯s a good time for me to take some magic lesson from the Marquess.¡± And Spike left the tent. Good. His making personal decision now. Major Jung thought. ¡°He left before I brief on the loss of Lieutenant Rodrigues.¡± Lieutenant Turner commented. ¡°He already knows. He heard about it from the 3rd platoon who are injured from the battle. I believe it¡¯s one of the reason his heading back before us to study magic under the Marquess.¡± Captain Pearson informed. ¡°Ah that reminds me. Major. Lord Phoenix asked me to inform you that he summoned a surgeon to conduct field surgery on Hunter Rikko. He said the good Doctor was very expensive. 7 times the normal rate. He said that there seem to be a shortage of hospital level medical personnel from most of the other war eras. So we should plan accordingly for all future medical needs.¡± ¡°That makes sense. Doctors don¡¯t fight in the front. Looks like we¡¯ll have problems with other essential non-combat supports. When we have enough men power we¡¯ll just cross train some of our killers. Hm¡­we could also train locals for some of the support positions as well.¡± Ch10 - Schemers everywhere. ¡°Now put your right arm out, I will put my hand on your forearm and release my mana onto your arm. All those who possess manatite will feel something. It should stir the mana in your body and your manatite will react to my mana. Here we go.¡± Marquess then focused as he released his mana onto Spike arm. Surprisingly, he felt a very thick resistance. ¡°Wha!¡± Spike reacted in surprise. It was as if when your limbs have fallen asleep and blood started to recirculate. ¡°How was it my lord?¡± Marquess asked inquisitively. ¡°It was rather surprising.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because it¡¯s a foreign mana to your body. For those who don¡¯t have manatite they would not have felt anything. Now concentrate on the residual feeling you sense, that is your mana stirring. Essentially, once you have mastered the sense of your own manatite you will be able to start controlling the mana flow that resides in your body. Once you have mastered your mana flow and control it,you will be be able to start casting magic. Everyday Lord Phoenix is in town we shall practice until you can move the mana within your body. Then we can take the next step.¡± ¡°How long does it normally take Marquess?¡± ¡°It differs with everyone, but normally 3 to 24 months to get a solid reaction. But that really depends on the affinity level of the element the mage is working with and the individual as well as having a mentor. However, I remember Lord Phoenix telling me that you have access to all 4 elements even though you have never cast any magic. Which is quite irregular. So I am expecting faster result.¡± ¡°I¡¯m irregular?¡± Spike asked. ¡°I believe so my lord. After I released my mana unto your arm, I felt a very thick resistance with your mana reaction from mymana. That tells me that my lord already possess a highly developed manatite. Which makes sense considering the magic in Phoenix Kingdom progress in different direction.¡± Damn, I feel really bad about lying now. I hope this doesn''t backfire on my ass.Spike thought. ¡°Well yes, we rely more on items then on personal magic.¡± Spike said as he felt more guilty. ¡°Let¡¯s keep practicing Marquess. Sooner I make progress, the better it is for the frontier.¡± quickly changing the topic. ¡°Yes of course my lord.¡± They practiced nearly 2 hours until the Marquess started to feel slight fatigue. Then move from the back of the mansion to inside so the Marquess can recover. By then Steward Havington had finished unloading the 10 supply wagon Spike and his bodyguards brought with them. They all sat at the usual briefing room inside the mansion drinking tea as Steward Havington read out the list of supplies they unloaded. Spike watched the face light up on Marquess Daldia as the list got longer. ¡°And there are at least 90 more wagons that will be delivered within the next few days.¡± Spike added. ¡°But never mind the supply wagons, We¡¯ve captured a lot of prisoners. Major Jung has plans to use them as labor to speed up the constructions and reopen up the old roads going pass the Whitestone. I don''t know how the winters are like in the frontier, but I¡¯m told the construction for critical buildings should be finished before first snow.¡± ¡°Will the prisoners be housed inside the town, Lord Phoenix?¡± Steward Havington asked with concern in his voice. ¡°I don¡¯t know yet. But personally, I think it¡¯s a bad idea to do so. Lot of them are slaves and peasants. They are powerless people and I fear they will be met with much hostile from the people in town. It¡¯s never a good idea to allow former victims to become guards of their former assailant.¡± ¡°I agree with your assessment my lord. But I¡¯m more worried about their soldiers. They could cause much trouble if they are not watched carefully.¡± Marquess Daldia said with concern. ¡°You have no need to worry about their prisoners Marquess, I believe the Major has plans already in motion as we speak.¡± Spike assured him. ¡°Then with the victory against Baron, Stovkow¡­¡± Spike interrupted the Marquess. ¡°Please Marquess. You do not need to ever worry about the Stovkow retribution. Once the prisoners have been thoroughly questioned. I guarantee that you will hear a great news to celebrate.¡± I don¡¯t want to mention about the rebellion in the Baron¡¯s territory yet. Not until there is more detail information to report to the concerned Marquess. Besides, I¡¯m just not experienced enough to handle this yet. And saying something now would be just bragging.Spike thought to himself. ¡°Then allowme to make my report my lord, about the messengers from Farengo and Birsk. I¡¯ve sent them messages of joining us. I¡¯ve explain in detail of all that has transpired. But they want proof. So I have invited representatives from both towns for a visit. Would they be allowed to visit Whitestone my lord?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see why not. It¡¯s only a matter of time before they join us. As I understand both towns were also targeted by Baron Myojhuk. I think it¡¯s safe to assume they will not be raided this year. Their representative should not have any trouble in making the journey now.¡± ¡°Yes my lord, I believe sooner they come for a visit, sooner we can move forward in the Frontier. Especially now that we have the needed labors from the prisoners. I think now would be good time to impress the representatives. Would it be possible for me to borrow some of the horses my lord has acquired. I¡¯d like to send some of my knights to escort the representatives and we need the extra horses for the carriages.¡± ¡°By all mean Marquess. I think we have more than enough horses to spare some.¡± = = = 2 DAYS LATER As the only civilian officer, the Marquess escorted and gave a tour of Daldia¡¯s sewage development to the representative of Farengo and Birsk. Followed by the now packed warehouses in the Merchant section of the town. With so much loot from the supply train, there were well over a thousand horses in and out of the town. Many of them already put to work moving goods, labor, and lumbers for the work forces. The representatives were most impressed with the Development of the Whitestone. With the many Phoenixian soldier present and the on going construction of the mini fort. It¡¯s gave a sense of security that neither Farengo and Brisk had. Especially with the added slave work force working heavy labor, the representatives could see progress being made. Farengo¡¯s representative Tontavon, and Birsk¡¯s representative Haviras observed with much interest. They¡¯ve never seen this level of activities and development. They could not hide the envious look in their eyes. ¡°When will we be introduced to Lord Phoenix you¡¯ve spoken so much about Marquess Daldia?¡± Havira asked anxiously. ¡°All in due time my lords. He is a very busy man. However, is that a sign of interest you are showing Lord Haviras?¡± Marquess Daldia inquired. ¡°Sigh! After seeing with my own eyes, it¡¯s very obvious. If we don¡¯t join now, we¡¯ll just be swallowed up in the near future. Once my people learn of this, they will simple migrate to your town Marquess. And honestly, I¡¯ll be joining them myself at this rate.¡± Birsk representative admitted. ¡°And to top it off, You¡¯ve acquired a peerage of Marquess.¡± ¡°Yes! Yes! Will there be a offering peerage for the other township lords as well?¡± ask the representative from Farengo. ¡°That I do not know. I was desprate tosave my people, I simply offered Lord Phoenix my town and myself. He, nor any of his military officer ever discussed with me about peerage. Lord Phoenix enoble me during public ceremony of offering my servitude and this township to my new lord.¡± Marquess Daldia informed. ¡°So. what are the terms?¡± Tontavon asked. ¡°For your township to join us, I do not know. I was simply told that it would only benefit everyone sooner the other towns pledge their allegiance to Lord Phoenix.¡± ¡°Then tell us of your personal opinion Marquess Daldia.¡± Tontavon asked. ¡°Very well.¡± Gathering his thoughts. ¡° Lord Pheonix personally assured me that my people will never go hungry again while he is in charge as he has declared we are his people now. My people have never been told to fight. If anything, they are told to stay out of it, and let them to the fighting. I have asked my liege about taxation, but I was told clearly, not to worry about it for now, and focus only on building. I was given clear order of my duty to handle all non-military affairs including bringing other frontier settlements into the Phoenix Kingdom. And that¡¯s it. Just these general order.¡± Marquess Daldia informed. ¡°That¡¯s it? You expect us to believe that? What do the Phoenixian gain from this? There must be something they are after?¡± Haviras demanded. ¡°I believe none of us really have anything to offer them.¡± Tontavon stated. ¡°I do agree with you Lord Tontavon. I really do not understand. I have been order to assist in building this Sewage Project, but it¡¯s the people in town who will benefit. And some labors have been sent to Whitestone to help with the construction. For their labor, they are fed 6 times a day while they work, and also given needed supplies such as blankets and spice for food.¡± Marquess Daldia said. ¡°Fed 6 times a day!¡± Both men exclaimed in surprise. ¡°If you noticed, even though my people look no better then yours, if you look closer, their colors are returning and it¡¯s only been a week since I kneeled before Lord Phoenix. As I¡¯ve said, I just don¡¯t understand. But I am an obedient servant and my people are treated well. I have no complaints. My new master have shown very little interest in the actual running affairs of the town outside of protection and health of the people.¡± ¡°You make them sound like some sort of heavenly knights who descended from heaven to save the forgotten people of the frontier, Marquess. And just to come clean, calling you Marquess is making my heart fill with jealousy.¡± Tontavon admitted. Getting serious with his tone of voice. ¡°But I will tell you men something you haven¡¯t witnessed. If the Phoenix military wanted to, your wooden walls would not stop them. Your town would be done inbefore you know it. I¡¯m not telling you this to threaten you. I speak only the truth as a fellow soul who have suffered a decade of misery and oppression. This I swear on the 3 generation of Daldia¡¯s family name before me. You gentlemen should hurry up and have the Mayor of each of your town and its other leaders come pay us a visit. Sooner you join, sooner you will receive the resource you see before you, and guarantee your security.¡± Marquess Daldia advised. = = = With the XO¡¯s and higher rank gathered at the warehouse they have been using as their temporary HQ in town, the officers were sitting around the table with documents of the battle reports. ¡°From the battle and after 2 and ? day of searching for survivors, we¡¯ve captured 489 Knights, 1049 foot soldiers, 59 archers, 1078 mostly slave laborers, and 298 pleasure slaves who also doubled as cooks and other low labors. I must say, these knights really travel in comfort.¡± Captain Wraeth added as everyone in the meeting laughed at the joke. ¡°We¡¯ve also acquired 779 warhorse of which 127 are injured. Plus 381 work horses of which 24 are injured. The Doc¡¯s will look over the injured horses once they are free from treating the 387 injured prisoners. And tons of winter supplies and food that we ourself have no real need of. They would be a good bargaining chip to get the other towns to join us.¡± ¡°Any idea on how many escaped back to Stovkow territory?¡± Captain Allen asked. ¡°No idea Captain. Alpha¡¯s 1st and 2nd platoon and Cav Troopers are still patrolling the road. One of the landship is positioned about 3 kilometers inside Stovkow territory with Lieutenant Reed¡¯s platoon with the other 4 hunters. I believe we¡¯ll have reports on how many more we¡¯ve capture in the spiderweb soon.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a lot of prisoners. Can we really put them all to work and keep them under control?¡± Spike asked? ¡°The slave are no problem sir. They are simply changing hands in ownership. But the knights and regular foot soldiers are the issue.¡± Major Jung said as he paused to look at Spike. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you''re not saying anything about slaves Sir!¡± ¡°My era is much more different than your Major. In my time, there are many men in jail for victumless nonviolent crimes working for peanuts for the prison system. And most people end up as financial slaves. People must borrow money to get a chance to succeed, but most fail, only to end up as a debt slave. Or like me. Join the military for tuition money. It¡¯s a little different. But I really don¡¯t see how much different they are to my era. You still lose your freedom one way or another.¡± Spike informed. ¡°I only ask that you treat them humanely.¡± ¡°Then let me ask. Do you plan to abolish slavery in the frontier?¡± Major Jung asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know. But from my history lesson, isn¡¯t slavery just a labor, control, and who keepsthe profit issue? Minus the abusive asshole with power trip who beat their slaves.¡± Spike asked. ¡°I¡¯m not an economist so I¡¯m probably not qualified to answer that sir.¡± ¡°What! You mean the all knowing Major Jung doesn¡¯t know something.¡± Spike exclaimed. ¡°You¡­ you are destroying my image of you Major.¡± ¡°Haha. In any case. I had plans to put the military prisoners to work the mines and improving the roads. Both of which are hard labors.¡± Spike looked cross at the Major for slyly changing the topic as the other officers looked amused at the scene. ¡°And we can turn some of the labor slave to train under the few blacksmith in town. And perhap Farengo and Birsk when they join us and if they have worthy crafts to learn. We can use the excess manpower to help rebuild other towns as they join us. I am also planning to store up the ores they mine until the metal craftsmen numbers increase to catch up to the supply of raw materials we¡¯ll be mining.¡± ¡°But how are we going to house so many of them.¡± Captain Pearson asked. ¡°It would be a waste to use up RP to summon field tents for them.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°From what the Hunt Master said. We have little over a month before the first sign of snow. I say we have them build their own shelter or freeze to death.¡± Captain Allen added. ¡°They will be building their own temporary home for the winter. So they will be properly motivated.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good idea Captain. That will keep them occupied while we make other preparation. Then we can have them mining during the winter.¡± Major Jung said. ¡°The regular labor slaves will take over the citizens work so they can go back to living their daily lives. But I think using the free time they¡¯ve just gained and educating them will give us a much needed skilled work forces in the future.¡± ¡°Who will do the teaching?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have the Marquess figure that out. That¡¯s his duty as the civilian officer.¡± Major replied. ¡°What about the slave girls sir? Those Stovkow knights know how to choose their girls. Considering their primary purposes, most of them, they are very, I mean very, easy on the eyes. Which I foresee causing problems in general.¡± Captain Pearson ask. ¡°Thats a good question, but that¡¯s easy to solve. We¡¯ll make a declarationthat all the slaves and prisoners are Phoenix Kingdom¡¯s State property. That will provide a blanket protection plan for them. And we¡¯ll address problems as it rises.¡± Major Jung said. ¡°So any work they do for the town will be considered a loan. And we¡¯ll pay the Crafters Guild with resources they badly need to teach the labor slaves. This way, we will have the skills needed for our own consumption in the future. Even with Lord Phoenix¡¯s ability, general military costs are very expensive. We should do all we can to reduce the cost to RP for critical usage.¡± ¡°And be sure to tell our men to keep their hands of the girls. Unless they are planning to marry them.¡± Spike jumped in, as he remember the men talking about the girls just a week ago. ¡°I don¡¯t want bastards running around in our midst. There''s enough fatherless children and orphans in the town from the mothers who want nothing to do with child of rape. Let''s not create anymore orphans and bastards.¡± Spike said as he remembered never forgiving his mother for not being able to see his biological father. Then thinking about dealing with all the mentally and emotionally damaged girls sent a shiver down his spin. At least this way. They will have protection to figure out living out their lives in peace. But aren¡¯t the labor slave also not a victim of circumstances? Ah Fuck! Being a policy maker is hard. No wonder all the politicians in my former life were all sociopaths, liars and thieves. It¡¯s hard to give a shit! ¡°Come to think of it. Are we even able to have children in this world?¡±Spike asked the Silhouette. ¡°Why don¡¯t you experiment and find out. Your species seem to enjoy the act of procreation.¡± Silhouette replied. ¡°Never mind. I¡¯m sorry I ask.¡±Spike felt disappointed. He should have known better than to ask.. ¡°You heard the Boss. Be sure everyone understands the order.¡± As the Major looked at the officers. Everyone could feel strong emotion emanating from Spike as he spoke his mind. It was very apparent for the officers that this is something at a personal level for Spike. ¡°Now for the important part sir. I remembered you said you gained a level, but you never mentioned how many RP you gained.¡± Major Jung inquired. ¡°Ah well, I have gained over 2500RP. I currently have 2770.6RP. The Doctor, Lieutenant Colonel Simmons I summoned from my era was very expensive, and he required some modern equipments to save our hunter. After talking with the corpsmen on saving Rikko. I came to realize that your era medical knowledge and technique was lacking in comparison to my common sense medical knowledge of my era for my comfort. And having an advanced trained surgeon on hand will help push up the knowledge base of our current medical personnel.¡± Spike said in his defense of spending so much on the medical summon. The officers present were very shocked at the numbers and forgot about the reason why the Doctor was summoned. Catching the drift Spike said in worry. ¡°Hey now, that doesn¡¯t mean you should start killing humans. It just means the train soldiers are worth more than cheap goblins. And we did kill a shit loads of knights. This means we need to hunt bigger things in the frontier.¡±. ¡°We understand that sir. We were just surprised at the number.¡± Captain Allen spoke up. ¡°I agree. It¡¯s very logical to assume that there are more dangerous and worthy challenges in the frontier.¡± Major Jung added. ¡°That¡¯s right damn it.¡± Spike spoke out little work up. ¡°Anyways. Who and what do you want me to summon?¡± ¡°How many personnel slot do you have open sir?¡± Major Jung asked. ¡°109 open slot, but that¡¯s because Bravo lost 8to that mage and 3 to the archers. So after I summon replacements for the lost men, 98open slots. I think we should summon another Engineer platoon and Personnel officer and Logistic officer with additional support.¡± ¡°That sound about right sir, but try to leave open 10 slot for yourself. When you''re out in the Frontier freelancing, it¡¯s a good idea to have some open slot for reinforcement.¡± The major advised. ¡°Very well. I¡¯m planning to head out on my freelancing tomorrow morning. So have the requisition forms for me by then. Also, if you could get Lieutenant Moore¡¯s platoon ready for me, I could take Lieutenant Reed¡¯s platoon in the future, but I feel comfortable working with the first group of men I summoned. So maybe if you could reassign the platoon. No wait! Reassign the platoon as my freelancing unit by morning and have the men ready to move out for 4 days of hunting.¡± Spike order. Major Jung smiled in satisfaction. Very good sir. Taking charge.You are coming along nicely. ¡°They will be ready sir. I¡¯m assuming right after breakfast sir?¡± ¡°Yes. let the men have some hot chow before moving out.¡± Spike affirmed. And think about how we can use the points while I¡¯m away. But leave about 200RP for my personal use. I need to upgrade some equipments for the Freelance Platoon. And Thank you all for the outstanding jobs you¡¯ve all done. I know I couldn¡¯t have done it.¡± = = = KINDARTH EMPIRE ¡°Master Helias. Urgent news. You are summoned to the Palasta office. The messenger arrived with your carriage for immediate transport.¡± Marconis gently spoke as he woke up the his master, Helias patricii. ¡°It¡¯s middle of the night. It must be serious.¡± Arkon Helias said is he bolted up from the mention of Palasta office. ¡°Hurry, and help me dress.¡± he ordered. Even in old age Arkon Helias was very energetic. His balding, a symbol of wisdom and someone who has lived long showed no signs of his age from his movement. Marconis in silence quickly obey the patricii. Unlike his master, he held a healthy golden tan. Very different from his aged master who had a very light olive color from working indoor for most of his life. The urgency of the summon made the patricii want to ask what this is about, but common sense told him there was no point. Palasta office would never speak to a mere house servant about anything from the office. Understanding the urgency of the summon, Arkon Helias, patricii of house Halias quickly entered the closed the carriage door and quicklyleft his villa. He had work as an information specialist for the Palasta office for most of his life. It was only last year that he retired with a generous reward of land, money, and positions for his children. During the ride, he tried to think through what could possibly have happened to summon him in the middle of the night, but there were just too many projects he had orchestrated in the past 30 years while working his way to the top in the Palasta office. Upon arrival, he was quickly ushered into the inner chambers of the highly guarded building. On recognition of the old commander, the guards quickly opened the doors as he approached, leading him to the operation room with many maps on the walls. As soon as he entered, he recognized the new Palasta Commander Piatro, Senator Gimorias, and Senator Largia. Both Senators are advisor to the Empress Menliania, metricii of the house Menliania. A quick greeting was made to not waste time. ¡°Our apologies for summoning you in the middle of the night Master Helias. But we are in need of you experiences.¡± Commander Piatro said. A middle aged man in his forty. ¡°Then I am here to serve Piatro.¡± Nodding Helias helped himself to the hot klockota to help him toclear his mind. ¡°We received this message shortly before we sent for you Helias.¡± Senator Largia said as he slid a parchment towards Helias. Helias slowly read the message without missing anything. Then he gently set it down to look at the 3 men. ¡°Our man couldn¡¯t risk using the birds while inside the Stovkow territory. He waited until he reached Lintas outpost near the border to use their courier bird. That¡¯s why it took 3 days longer than normal.¡± Senator Largia offered. ¡°I see. I suppose we had a good run. Orchestrating the war between Stovkow and Theolemor. Then finding the Baron to plant our seeds. This will keep both sides too weak to threaten our southern borders for at least another decade. It¡¯s possible Stovkow will not recover within a single decade, pending on the carnage Baron Myojhuk leaves behind. The bankrupt Theolemor owes too much money to too many City States. They may even end up break up into pieces to their former City States, even if they are able to achieve the inter realm marriage. I would say we have a minimum of a decade, if not more, before the southern nations rebuild, but we can hamper their progress by applyingsimple tactics using brigands to break up stable trade routes and secretly sponsoring piracy to their coast.¡± Orchestrating the war between Stovkow and Theolemor was Arkon Helias¡¯es greatest achievement. And finding Baron Myojhuk was the final icing thatelevated the Helias¡¯es family from plebeian lineage to a new and minor patrician. With a recognition from Empress Menliania metricii, Helias¡¯es house became the 203rd minor patrician. Some day in the future he hoped one of his descendant will gain enough achievements to elevate his house to a greater patrician. But for that to happen someone in his line will have to acquire a magician''s bloodline. Because the Emperor and Empress must be strong and have talent in magic. And they are only chosen from the greater patrician families. ¡°If that is your assessment, then is there something we can do to do more then slow down their rebuilding?¡± Senator Gimorias asked. ¡°There is always something that can be done Senator, but there is always a price that must be paid.¡± Helias said as he observe the 2 Senators. ¡°Will the Senate and the Empress authorize the cost? Because this time, I believe it will be much more expensive then the return of investment, and it could cause complications. To be truthful Senators, I think we are being too greedy. We should let the 2 kingdoms play all their card before we make any more moves. Then once both sides are completely exhausted, we¡¯ll use our agents in the City States to advocate the repayment of the loan from Theolemor. They are borrowing money just to help pay back some of the interest on their loans. There is even a possibility that the City States will raid Theolemore Kingdom to recover their money. And with the civil war in Stovkow¡­ I do believe the Baron had plans to scorch the grounds of all his enemy which means a good portion of Stovkow will burn. With placing some useless relics in the ruins, and with equal to the cost of training and equipping little over a single legion, we will have gained over 3 decades of peace in our southern borders. We even made profit with our merchants as a neutral party. I would allow our agent to forward this message to Theolemore. Then step back to watchthem burn.¡± ¡°Is that your final recommendation Helias?¡± Senator Gimorias asked. ¡°Yes Senator Gimorias. If I were in your position, that¡¯s what I would recommend to the Empress.¡± Helias spoke with confidence. The 2 Senator looked at each other then nodded in agreement. Senator reached into his robe and pulled out a Imperial scroll and reach out for Helias to grab it. ¡°You can tell the Empress yourself Senator Helias. The scroll officially appoints you to the Empress¡¯s advisory council. Even though the news isurgent, but since it does not require an immediate action. You will go before the Empress in the morning to deliver your counsel to her in person. Congratulation!¡± Pulling me out of retirement, I didn¡¯t see this coming. Helias stood stunned as the Palasta Commander and the 2 Senator congratulated him. Helias was given a guest room to change out into his new Senator''s Robe of Counsel. It had a very distinguished red trim on the edge to mark the individual wearing it. A marking of someone with influence in the Palace. With time left in the night, Helias rested as much as he could. He had only met the Empress once when he was given a peerage. This is a great opportunity for his family. An honor that had tremendous amount of prestige of be appointed a counsel to the empress. His achievements will carry his family for more than a few generation to come. When the time came, Helias was escorted to the Imperial Palace for a private audience with the Empress Menliania. It was to be an informal breakfast meeting as there is never a ceremony for Senatorial appointment. A simply palace announcement was all it took. However, all new Senators are introduced during the following Senate Council meetings. As Helias found himself kneeling before the Empress once more. ¡°This servant is honor to serve Her Imperial Majesty. I pray I never disappoint you my Empress.¡± Nodding. ¡°Come now Senator Helias. This isn¡¯t ceremonial ground. We are just having breakfast.¡± Empress beckoned. A middle age women with signs of great beauty in her youth. Her long auburn hair still vibrant from her affinity to water. And her skin healthy as a new born baby also an attributed her water affinity. Water affinity has the highest healing attribute. As such, it¡¯s effects can be seen on all those who are gifted with water affinity. A tall woman with dark olive skin tone and crystal blue eye like a tropical water emanated a command presence Helias was unused to in his daily life. She did not trouble herself with laurel wreath nor other marks of her office, but wore a simple toga made of fine white silk and sandals. Obeying as instructed, Helias took his seat with the same 3 men from the Palasta office. A palace servant girl poured hot klockota as Helias took his seat. Then a servant girl gently placed a large plate full of meat, bread and fruits. ¡°Relax and eat will I talk Senators. I have just been brief before you came in Senator Helias.¡± As the Empress looked at Helias. ¡°My 2 counselor, Gimorias and Largia have combed through 30 years of your contribution to the Empire. They were very impressed with your dedication and the result you brought about. So I plucked you out of retirement as I have a need of someone of your caliber. I understand we have 10 years of stability in our southern border under you analysis. Then, within 10 years, if we can maintain our current statues, I want to have a closure of the war with the demi human Highlanders in the north. 3 generation of constant war has stagnated our internal growth. The disparity of men and women from too many dead sons of Kindarth has caused our population to decline. It has gotten so bad that our women are buying slaves to fill their empty beds and even going so far as to having children with them. Men returning from the war are finding their women have not been faithful in their long absence. When they return,scarred from the Northern War, only to find their wived have taken other lovers or even bared child of another man, many of them driven mad with anger have become destructive. The very foundation of the family value that our Empire was built on is all but destroyed. And the discrimination against the demi humans have force the former Empire''s demi human citizens to flee to the north or unjustly sold into slavery. Which only prolongs this war by giving strength to the Highlanders.¡± Taking a sip of Klockota to wet her throat. ¡°I want to end this war before the war end us. The economy had long since slowed down to the point we can no longer sustain the war budget. Our deficit can not be maintained anymore. All the great Patrician houses have been aware of this since the last Emperor, but very little has been done to stop the war except sending more war material up north. Most Senators have become insulated with their personal power and wealth that they have turned a blind eyes. And many of the great Patrician house have profited too much to want to stop.¡± As he eat and listened, Helias was finding difficult to eat with the news of the grim state of affairs. He had an inkling knowledge of some of the problems, but he had no idea how bad it had gotten. He had spent too much time in the southern border and only recently became a minor patrician to know the inner workings of the elite. He has been outside of the capital for far too long. ¡°Our only saving grace is that the White Palace is able to produce steam technology the Highlanders lack. If we lose this edge, our decline will be irreversible. And the fools in the Senate council thinks the White Palace will solve everything and that they can buy anything with their personal wealth.¡± Empress Menliania said in composed manner. However anyone one with a little wisdom would sense the frustration in her demeanor. ¡°You¡¯ve done excellent work in the south Senator Helias. Do you think you can do something about the north too.¡± ¡°I do not know my Empress. But you will have my best.¡± Helias offered sincerely. ¡°That¡¯s all I can ask of anyone. Put your affairs in order within 1 week. Then, you will go up north with my authority, your position as a Senator, and I will send 1 Cohort plus 1 Eques Legionis from the Praetorian Guard as your bodyguard. They will also serve as a visual reminder to the Generals of the northern borders of your authority. ¡± Empress Menliania ordered. Helias stood and kneeled before his Empress. ¡°I hear and obey my Empress.¡± he replied. After Helias and Piatro left from the breakfast meeting. Senator Gimorias and Largia stayed for further discussions. ¡°How goes the contingency plan my dear Senators?¡± Empress Menliania asked. ¡°The work is almost completed my Empress. The assets are being moved by the merchant accordingly, but in order to not alert the other senators, we had to slow down in recent days. Their greedy eyes are more vigilant than ever with the decline of their personal profits.¡± Senator Largia answered. ¡°I see. How many Legions will we have by the year''s end?¡± ¡°We expect a total of 18 Legions Empress. With each day we buy, our forces and resource increases.¡± ¡°Then let us do what we can to buy more time.¡± Empress Menliania commanded = = = In the morning Spike summoned a captain for logistic and a captain for personnel to start building infrastructure to manage all the slave and prisoners as well as all supplies looted and future acquisitions. Then an Engineer Captain,an XO, and a company sergeant was summoned to help summon 2full Engineer platoon. Captain Lee, then took command of the Engineer Companyto expand and speed up the construction projects. That left exactly 3open slots for emergency reinforcement for the Freelance platoon. And after the RP cost of new summons and replacements, Spike was left with 2663.6RP. On the way out, LTC Simmons caught Spike to ask for enough fuel for the power generator for his medical instruments. He reported that many of the injured prisoners still had bullets that needed to be removed and the electrical power to the 3D X-Ray machine was critical for his surgical operations. Then Lieutenant Stein asked for more fuel for the the Flamethrowers. With so many dead corpses everywhere in recent days, they have been task with burning the corpses to speed up the clean up. ¡°Alright! Let¡¯s go score some points before I become a permanent gas station.¡± Spike said. ¡°Freelance Platoon! ¡± LT Moore ordered. ¡°Single file march, 1st to 4th platoon, in that order.Move out!¡± LT Moore took command and Spike listened and observed the workings of the platoon as they marched on the disappearing road heading west. As the half built fort disappeared from behind the platoon, the silence took over as everyone observed noise discipline. With Spikes with the platoon, there was no need to carry any food nor overload on ammos. Spike ordered everyone to carry 2 canteens for all hunting, recon, and patrol missions. There was no need to risk suffering from heat casualty. Spike reminded himself, out there, there are no medivac. For this mission, they decided to stay on the road to see how far then can go without running into hostiles. And take a look at old settlements that have been abandoned. From the town¡¯s record, the main road had once reached 10-kilometers from Daldia. ¡°The leaves are turning color sir!¡± LT Moore softly spoke. ¡°When the leaves fall in a few week, we¡¯ll have more depth in the visibility in the forest.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good. Our rifles will be more effective. I suppose that also means we will be facing something new out here with the absence of the goblins.¡± Spike also replied softly. ¡°From now on, I think we should bring a cartographer in our outings sir. It won''t be perfect, but having a basic estimated map will speed up our progress in putting together a clear map of the area.¡± LT Moore said. ¡°That¡¯s a smart idea LT. why the hell didn''t we think of that sooner.¡± The march was slow as the platoon took it slow and easy as precaution. They observed for hostile signs for any ambushes and to find any wildlife that may give them clues on the level of inhumanoids and monster presences. It took them 3 hours to move 9km to the an abandoned village called Trimmor. The men slowly scour the run down buildings looking for any sign of activity. There were around 30 building of various size and conditions. Each squads took a section of the village and searched building by building, every rooms were checked for any recent passage of life. ¡°Nothing sir. There seemed to have been something recently, but they are long gone now. Perhaps goblins fleeing or from the horde.¡± Sergeant Rector reported. Then in the distant, they heard very loud howling of a wolf. But the sound seemed little different somehow. ¡°I don¡¯t like the sound of that. It¡¯s barely been a week and some of the predatory wildlives are already moving in.¡± Corporal Smith said. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Wolves are good eating. You just have to season it right you know.¡± Private Kirk said expectingly. ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll get a chance to cook em up on this outing.¡± ¡°I ain¡¯t eating no dog, dammit.¡± Private Jones complain. ¡°Ain''t nobody asking you Jones.¡± Private Kirk retorted. ¡°You don¡¯t got to eat anything I cook up.¡± ¡°Ah. Wah. Oh, come on Kirk. Don¡¯t be like that.¡± Private Jones begged. Ignoring the 2. ¡°Let''s set up a base here for few days and scout out the about 5k radius from here to get a feel for the area. Sergeant Rector go secure the building that looks like the village chief¡¯s home for the command group. And break off into each squad and have them secure a building for themselves. No need to pitch a tent when we have plenty of walls and roofs here. Even if they have holes, it should help keep the wildlife out.¡± LT Moore ordered. ¡°Yes sir. I also don¡¯t like the idea of sleeping out in the open with wolves prowling about.¡± Sergeant Rector said. ¡°What do you want to do with the other broken down homes sir? They are obstructing our field of fire and potential security problem as we can''t see through the structures.¡± ¡°This location is a good place for a forward outpost. Considering the old road comes through here. Leave it for now, we¡¯ll have the command decide on this real estate development.¡± LT Moore answered. ¡°For now let¡¯s grab some chow then head out to recon the area. After the lunch, the platoon moved out into deeper forest. Ch11 - Pawns and Knights. ¡°Greeting Representative Tontavon and Representative Haviras. I am Major Jung, Lord Phoenix¡¯s his military commander. Since Lord Phoenix is not in the area, Marquess Daldia asked me to meet you fine gentlemen instead. So, how may I be of service to you?¡± Major Jung greeted his guest from inside the large field tent that served as a command tent at Whitestone. ¡°Major Jung, we are both going back to our respective towns to make our report. But it would look bad for us to go back without meeting an official of the Phoenix Kingdom.¡± Haviras said. Turning cold. ¡°I think you gentlemen must be confuse. Marquess Daldia is our civilian officer. We, the military officers do not deal with civilian matters and Lord Phoenix is currently busy with his military responsibility in the frontier. As such, Marquess Daldia is in charge regarding all non-military matters. That is why he is a Marquess of Phoenix Kingdom. Please do not look down on his rank because you feel familiarity with the good Marquess. I may at time serve as an advisory to Lord Phoenix, but the good Marquess, like me, serve directly under Lord Phoenix.¡± Major Jung emphasize Marquess position as he looked at the men coolly. Understanding the Major¡¯s meaning. ¡°Please forgive us for our impertence. We did not mean to disregard the Marquess position and authority. As you said Major, our familiarity has caused us to misspeak.¡± Tantavon quickly bowed apologetically followed by Haviras. ¡°It¡¯s not to me you should be apologizing too. But to the good Marquess gentlemen.¡± Major Jung pointed out. Look like the Marquess still needs some time to fully understand his authority. He is meeker then I thought, but that can be useful. Both men quickly begged forgiveness from the Marquess as they realized they had just made a political blunder. Letting them recover from their blunder. Even the Marquess looked embarrassed from his own lack of foresight on the situation. ¡°Regardless, you are here now, so how may I be of help?¡± ¡°Ah well, before we go back, we were hoping to get some understanding on how our towns will be protected. Seeing the fort being built here near Daldia town, we would both like to report to our mayors on how our own security will be met in the future and what type of help we will receive.¡± Havaris inquired. ¡°That¡¯s a fair question. But I can¡¯t give a clear answer as I have never seen your towns. But should your town decide to join us, I do foresee placing some of our military inside and outside of your respective towns, and sending out patrols to hunt any hostile inhumanoids and monsters to civilize the frontier. For Birsk, in particular, sometime in the future, I foresee placing some of our warships in your port. We have a standing order from our master and that is ¡®Protect what is ours. Crush all enemy.¡¯ And we¡¯ll do whatever it takes to fulfill our lord''s command. This is the best answer I can currently give you gentlemen. As for the resources, you will have to discuss that with the good Marquess and Lord Phoenix ¡± ¡°I see. Then we will promptly return to our towns and make our report, Major.¡± Haviras said. Major Jung politely nodded. ¡°Since you are already here Marquess, can I have a moment of your time?¡± Major Jung asked. ¡°Ah yes. Tontavon and Haviras, if you¡¯ll excuse us and wait by the carriage.¡± Marquess asked. Both men nodded politely and promptly left the tent. Major made a gesture to the Marquess to pull up a chair then poured him a glass of wine while waiting for the representative to move out of the tents hearing range. ¡°Marquess, I am planning to send a message to the deceased Baron Myojhuk¡¯s territory. A formal very short message and perhaps to the Stovkow Kingdom as well. And I would like your input.¡± Major Jung said. ¡°What would the message pertain to Major?¡± Marquess asked, showing interest as he sip the wine. ¡°As we briefed you few days ago. Lord Phoenix does not wish to slaughter fellow humans when there is a clear and present enemy in the frontier. And we did achieve our military goal of stopping their raids. I plan to inform them that they need to stay on their side of the known border and we stay on our side of the frontier. As they are involved in a civil war, I think now is also a good time to open official trade with them. The people of frontier simply lack too many commodities and common goods are far from being produced locally. This will also allow information from the east to flow to us with the merchants movement.¡± ¡°Sigh! I feel that I nor any of the frontier people want anything to do with them. Our hatred is just too deep. But as an educated man, I can also see the merit if trading with our former oppressors. Instead of having the Stovkow merchants come to the towns, perhaps we can use one of the border outpost you intend to build. And see how it develops from their. But Major Jung, wouldn¡¯t our information also flow out to Stovkow territory.¡± ¡°Yes, eventually some of our informations will leak out, but I¡¯m not so concerned. By then we will be entrenched and our military presence will increase as well. And yes, I believe we can facilitate the usage of the outpost for trading.¡± ¡°What of the prisoners Major. What if they want them back? If we return them now we will lose our desperately needed labor resources. Even if we ransom them for coinage, what we lack is manpower.¡± ¡°They are not getting them back Marquess. Not unless they replace them with equal value in trade with interest. They¡¯ll pay one way or another and make up for their decade long enslaving and pillaging. Even if Phoenixians only just arrived. You, as our newest citizens have old grievings.¡± Major Jung declared. ¡°Also, I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s possible, but if they are able to return our family members to us in the prisoner exchange, if there is a chance then I will do anything to support your action Major.¡± Marquess said energetically. = = = Upon entering Antenok¡¯s territory, Sir Kajiak ordered all the the premade parts for the ballistas and catapults to be brought out of hiding for transport. The plan was to ambush the raiding force on their return from the frontier. Unlike Baron Myojhuk¡¯s borders, Baron Antenok raid took less military force as they had less towns to raid. That meant there were more men left behind to garrison his territories. ¡°Our men will have Antenok¡¯s men marked and waiting for you arrival. As per plan, take charge of your men and kill them all before they come to Rendierk¡¯s assistance or rally themselves. Ride all day and all night if you must, but all Antenok¡¯s ability to retaliate must be destroyed. Then quickly bring Tinur to it¡¯s knee but do not kill the Hasbrig Family. That¡¯s my pleasure. I¡¯ll have Baron Antenok¡¯s city burning on the 3rd day and then move to join you all there. We¡¯ll set up an ambush for the Baron at Tinur as he must come through the town. So try not to burn the town.¡± Sir Kajiak ordered. 400 knights in heavy chainmail rode out in groups of 40 to their respective direction to execute Baron Antenok¡¯s retainers living out at villas and other villages throughout Antenok¡¯s territory. Taking little rest, the 400 knights slaughtered their former oppressors. One by one Antenok¡¯s retainers fell, leaving behind black trails of smoke as the homes of the deceased burned in their wake. The executioners didn¡¯t even bother to loot nor rape the women of the retainers and lords. Too many targets for the executioners to kill. Only thing they took were the horses to manage the fatigue on their own warhorse. All the ruling class had to die. Not even their children were spared for slavery. They had neither the time nor the manpower to transport them. For 3 days, the countryside burned. Likewise, with a help of well placed dissident night guards, Rendierk main gate swung wide open for Sir Kajiak¡¯s men to join the dissidents in the city. All the loyalist to the old lords were executed. They were already marked and their death was carried out with little resistance during the 1st night. The Rendierk¡¯s garrison forces were outnumbered 2 to 1 and if they left the inner walls of the keep, they would be overwhelmed The people were told to take all their goods and leave the city if they didn¡¯t want to die. They were promised fair treatment in Baron Myojhuk¡¯s territories if they chose to go there. If anyone was left after 3 days, they were all told that their safety could not be guaranteed. ¡°Sir Kajiak. There are some resistance, especially from commoners that have something to lose by leaving the city.¡± ¡°Then tell them that this city will burn in 2 more days. They can burn with it or leave. I don¡¯t care. But don¡¯t put them to the sword yet, it my cause unnecessary panic. Until we start to find dead corpse of our men leave them be. For those that want to migrate to Baron Myojhuks territory, but too poor to make the journey, allow them to loot the house of Baron Antenok¡¯s dead supporters. More people that join us, weaker Antenok will be, and once we burn most of their crops and this territory, ones who stay behind will become a burden. So encourage everyone to migrate and be generous to the ones who join us. Our Baron has hoarded grains for the last 2 years for this day. We can afford to be generous to our future citizens.¡± ¡°Sir Kajiak. The 3 catapults you ordered are assembled and in position as you instructed.¡± Said the messenger. ¡°Good, from now until we leave, start launching anything that can burn against the wall and over the wall. I want it done non-stop even throughout the nights. You hear me?¡± Sir Kajiak ordered. ¡°Non-stop, I understand Sir.¡± Once the word got around of the offer to migrate to Baron Myojhuk¡¯s territory, and the destitutes families were given foods and supplies to make the journey from the looted homes of the former supporters, many stepped forward to take the offer. They had nothing but the cloths on their back and very little to to lose, but something to gain by migrating. The garrisons in the Rendierk Keep locked themselves up behind the 5 meters high wall, thinking they only had to hold out until their Baron returned from the raid. But to their horror, at the end of day 3, Rendierk burned, the broken furnitures against the Keep¡¯s wall only made the things worse for the walled inner keep defenders. Between the heat and thick smoke, the defenders were forced to move to ground level, but the smoke fill the entire keep. And eventually, piles of flammable materials inside the keep caught on fire making life difficult for the defenders. The entire city was put to the torch. For those who stayed behind, when they realized the truth, they did put up a fight to save their home, but only to be put down by the trained rebel soldiers. In 3 days Rendierk¡¯s population of 25,000 was reduced to 0. And around 300 of the dissidents picked up the weapons of the dead garrison soldiers swelling up Sir Kajiak¡¯s rank when the rebels left the burning city. For the dissidents, they didn¡¯t see this as a foreign invasion, but a rebellion and chance to get back at their long hated lords who have driven them to this. Most people simply followed order and joined the long trail of refugees to Myojhuk¡¯s territory. Men, women, children, slaves of all classes felt they simply had no real choice. They were afraid that if they didn¡¯t join, then they would be put to the sword. Their hearts were ruled by fear. = =Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. = ¡°What do you think Sir Bailin. Calteermon Port is the golden prize, but we lack the manpower to assault it, but they also lack the resources to come face us in the open field.¡± Sir Junapt ask. It¡¯s a common knowledge that Count Morrogain invests more on his navy then ground force. His profit is greater from the trade with the City-State and privateering then internal revenue, and has neglected anything that doesn¡¯t involve making money off sea trades. For the internal road travel, individual merchants had to hire mercenary guards to protect their goods or traveled in numbers. ¡°Sir Junapt. Didn¡¯t the Baron¡¯s instruction order us to be lenient with the people to win them over?¡± Sir Bailin reminded his captain. ¡°That''s true, but that was under the premises that we would start the rebellion in spring, when food supply is low and the peasants are needed to sow the land. But this is harvest time. Even if we take everything in the countryside and burn anything we can¡¯t send back. The peasant will still be peasants here or there. And the City-State the Baron plans to build will need all the workers to cultivate the forest in his territory and claim the land in the west.¡± ¡°Sir Junapt. Even though we are equal in rank, youwere given the captainship for this mission. So if that is your order I will follow it.¡± Sir Bailin replied. Smiling. ¡°I¡¯m glad to have your support Sir Bailin. Since you¡¯ve agreed, let¡¯s also go relieve the merchants of their goods. We should do more and deprive the greedy Count on the future land trades to Calteermon. There is no reason why we can¡¯t enrich our pockets while doing our duty.¡± Sir Junapt said. Then both men burst out in laughter. Both 3rd and 4th sons of fallen nobles, they had everything to gain once the City-State is established. And as a member of the ruling class, any increase in their personal wealth will also increase their power base. ¡°We¡¯ll capture the peasant and burn the crops on the way back. So as to not send out an alert to the locals, we won''t start the burning just yet.¡± Sir Junapt said. ¡°And should the Count sends out his men then he¡¯ll be doing us a favor but letting us thin out his number.¡± With is 400 kights, 700 foot soldier, 100 archers, and support; Sir Junapt crossed into Count Morrogain¡¯s territory = = = One the second day, the freelance platoon came under attack from a large pack of abnormally huge wolves. They surrounded the platoon in the thick forest. They were unable to see the large wolves until the wolves attacked. One of the wolves jump on a machine gunner from the side. He barely reacted in time to bring up his weapon to obstruct the wolf from biting his throat but the weight of the beast pushed the gunner to the ground forcing the man to lose his footing. In that moment he lost his holding on his weapon as the wolf again tried to bite his throat. The only thing he could do was put up his arms to protect his throat making it easy for the wolf to bite his arm and ripe it off where it bit. But in that time, several riflemen shot at the wolf at point blank range putting half a dozen bullet into the beast before it died. Private Smith, the machine gunner, screamed in pain as blood squirted out of his now missing forearm. Corpsman Smith quickly ran up to Private Smith to start put on a tourniquet. ¡°Bring the formation in. Circular formation, Don¡¯t give them your back.¡± Lieutenant Moore shouted. Spike unloaded his M249P outward as he identified movement as he slowly moved backward covered by his bodyguards. He didn¡¯t bother with visual IDing as everything outside of the group was an enemy. From the sound of the wolves yelping in pain, he know he injured some of them for sure. He sprayed his machine gun again in wide arc to suppress the wolves. The other machine gunners found it difficult to use their weapons as the Lewis Guns were designed to be fired from prone positions. So they pulled out their pistols and started to shoot anything that moved. The riflemen also fired blindly from the circular formation. ¡°All machine gunners throw grenades.¡± Lieutenant Moore ordered. As the grenades were thrown, 3 wolved charged the group. Sergeant White¡¯s rifle ran out of ammo so in desperation, he reflexively tried to kick the wolf only to have his foot bitten off by the beast¡¯s sharp teeth back up by its biting strength. The rifleman in his squad quickly killed it, with Sergeant White¡¯s missing foot in the beast¡¯s mouth. Spike easily killed the other 2 wolf that charged him as his M249P fired about 8-10 rounds per seconds, assisted by the laser pointer, and his new increased strength helping reduce the recoil. But with the momentum of the wolf that jumped at Spike, body slammed him to the ground splattering him with wolf blood and guts. Then a dozen plus grenade exploded 15 to 20 meters from the defender¡¯s circular formation, killing or injuring the many wolves hiding behind the vegetations. With multiple yelping from dying screams of the wolves or whimpering from injured ones the the surviving wolves ran off.. Then 2 injured wolves mad with pain, jump to attack the nearest men. Private Raines was mauled on his right hip and upper leg before the giant wolf was shot to death. And Platoon Sergeant Rector jabbed the barrel of his Springfield into the open mouthed wolf about to tear into him and emptied his clip even as he fell backward from the momentum, splattering the wolves brain matters and inners. With the help of Corporal Robinson and his bodyguards, they dug out Spike from underneath the near 200 kilo heavy wolf. The platoon kept firing blindly for the next minute until Lieutenant Moores called for cease fire. The only sound in the area was Sergeant White and Private Smith screaming in pain and the whimpering wolves just outside of the platoon''s defensive position. Private Raines had passed out from the massive pain. Spike quickly went to Sergeant White to start putting on a tourniquet on his lower leg while Corporal Smith was still working on Private Smith. Sergeant Jarrett ripped up his uniform and use the cloth to put pressure on Private Raines destroyed hip. ¡°As soon as the tourniquet are finished. We are moving back to Trimmor.¡± Lieutenant Moore warned Corporal Smith came to Spike to check on his work. ¡°That¡¯s not bad sir. But let me take over from here.¡± ¡°Sure, no prob Corporal. My training from the weekend Combat Lifesaver Course kicked in.¡± nodding to the medic. Standing up. ¡°Let¡¯s go Corporal Robinson. We need to finish off the big ass injured wolves.¡± Spike ordered. ¡°Sir!¡± Lieutenant Moore spoke out. ¡°We¡¯re just going out about 10 meters to finish off the injured wolves, LT. I don¡¯t think any of the other wolves are nearby. Especially after all those grenades exploding like that. But just in case.¡± Spike sprayed the entire area with bullets in a wide arc then reloaded a fresh 200 round ammo drum to his weapon before moving out with his bodyguards. Lieutenant reluctantly nodded as he felt perhap he was feeling too overprotective. All in all, the platoon was able to visually count 12 dead giant wolves. Spike didn¡¯t go any deeper into the woods and risk being cut off from the platoon in case the giant wolves returned. Upon his return, the medic announced that Private Raines may not make it. He was still losing blood. That was when Spike remembered and summoned several IV to help with the blood lose. And had Corporal Smith stitch him up to stop the external bleeding until they can get back to the town. Private Smith walked out, but Sergeant White had to be 4 man carried to keep his leg with missing foot elevated. Private Raines had to be carried out on stretcher. The injured were given heavy dose of morphine''s to make the travel easier. Spike decide to burn the RP get summon a stretcher. ¡°Sergeant Jarrett. Upon arrival, I take your 3rd squad back to Whitestone and bring a horse drawn carriage or wagon to move our injured.¡± ¡°Lieutenant. Let¡¯s all head back to Whitestone for now. This was a painful lesson to us. I want to go through my option and replace the Lewis Guns. They were absolutely useless on last fight and I want to replace them with something more practical for the dense forest." Spike ordered. 3rd squad ran back on the old road, while the wounded were slowly carried to Whitestone. That way, the horse drawn carriage would meet them halfway to save time in getting the wounded access to medical help. As they slowly marched back, Spike looked at the crippled men. With the current level of the prosthesis, these men¡¯s fighting days are over. So what does this mean. What do we do now? How will they fight? How will they move forward from here on? Suddenly, Spike felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility as he realize this will be the norm as the men keep fighting. Little by little, Spike sensed the seriousness of his position as a leader of the Phoenixians and the challenges they must face. = = = Few days ago, with the use of the 500 Kyzdon knight¡¯s color and banner, Sir Caldrun had sent 500 of Myojhuk¡¯s knight in disguise to the opposite side of Shator Keep. Their mission was to cause no trouble until they arrive on the eastern side of the Margraves Kyodon¡¯s territory. Upon arrival, they were to cause as much damage to all the settlements until the Sir Caldrun¡¯s main force arrived to lay siege to the Shator Keep. Until Baron Myojhuk¡¯s force rejoin them from the frontier, they were only expected to keep Margrave¡¯s forces from sending out assistance to the other surrounding surroundings. With half of all Margrave¡¯s force in the eastern war and another quarter of his Knight forces in aiding and keeping an eye on the frontier raid, Margrave did not have enough to take the field again Caldrun. With Margrave¡¯s 750 Knights, 1000 footman and 200 archers against Caldrun¡¯s 1500 Knights, 1400 footman, and 100 archers plus siege equipments, it would be a stalemate. Sir Caldrun and Baron Myojhuk had strategized that either the Margrave will send out his knights to deal with what they hoped the Margrave would believe as banditry. Then the main force would follow to encircle Shator Keep. This would weaken the defense of the keep if the Margrave sends out his men. If not, the overall strategy to scorch earth to bring all the Margrave and the surrounding territory lords to long term economic ruinous. If the Margrave did not react to the 500 pillaging knight, then they would have free rein to slaughter the Margraves retainers scattered in his territory. Then keep raiding and pillaging them as they have done to the frontier while the new City-State builds up their defense and infrastructure with all the new migrated workers. The surprise attack on the first 2 days was the most crucial of time. It¡¯s when they would catch most of their targets off guard. They need to kill of as many of the retainers living outside of walled fortifications and move the larger forces into position. With the help of Theolemor¡¯s coins, and unknown to them Kindarth''s aid through their merchants, the Baron was able to build a large force by secretly buying tax slave and turning them against their former lords. The extra resources received made Baron Myojhuk¡¯s and Caldrun¡¯s plan they had started 7 years ago move much faster. Even though they had to move up the time table for the rebellion, Caldrun thought the stars were lined up nicely for them to move. Time of the frontier raid made moving military forces look less inconspicuous and the enemy territories less defended. The 500 knights that move to the east to distract and raise the Margrave¡¯s alarm had 2 days head start to start burning and killing. Caldrun believed he had little more time and decide to give another half of day for the Margrave to take the bait. = = = ¡°Last report from my spy said that he is moving to Falkor. It¡¯s to be the staging point for the early frontier raid. But he also reports that there were unusually larger movement of men than normal heading to Falkor.¡± Sir Alexi reported to the Margrave. ¡°I told that debauchery fool their were to be no harvesting this time. Is he planning to disobey me!¡± Margrave Kyzdon sneered. ¡°No matter, once my knights return they¡¯ll give me a full report.¡± Looking at Sir Alex. ¡°Make preparation for his removal. If it turns out he did disobey me, have him removed.¡± ¡°Yes my lord.¡± Sir Alexi bowed in acknowledgment before leaving Margrave Kyzdon¡¯s private audience room. Then one of the servant rushed up to the door and immediately kneeled. ¡°My lord. Sir Randolf reports that there are black smokes rising from the east. He just sent out riders to investigate.¡± ¡°What!¡± Standing up from his luxurious grand chair the Margrave quickly walked up to the wall only to see many trails of smoke rising from the east. ¡°What does this mean. We have an agreement. There shouldn¡¯t be any raiding in from the east.¡± For many years now Margrave Kyzdon and Count Kantinaro have agreed there will be no raiding each other''s retainers for ransom nor raiding crops. If one had bad harvesting, the other would simply loan the crops needed interest free. It was less destructive and easier to recover in the long run. So the Margrave asked himself why now. Noticing his lord on the wall, Sir Randolf quickly approached his lord. ¡°My lord, should I have our knight suit up for mobilization?¡± ¡°No something isn¡¯t right. I don¡¯t like this. Bring the people in. Close the gates and send out messenger birds to all my subordinate lords. And send out riders to my retainers with landholdings. I¡¯ll have them marshal at my city. And we¡¯ll wait for words from the riders you sent out to investigate. Whatever happens, the Margrave decided it was better to lose the harvest and buy them from Count Morrogain and other surrounding territory. He was not willing to jeopardize his city of 65,000 to trickery. His instinct told him it was better to be safe and take some lose then losing everything. = = = THEOLEMOR ¡°Your Majesty. We¡¯ve just received a momentous news from our spy. Its seems our vested Baron has moved earlier than expected. There were some complication on his side which forced him to move up the schedule.¡± Duke Chuang Pairamee reported. ¡°You were right my Duke Pairamee. It was a risky gamble, but your investment finally paid off.¡± King Caspin Luk the IV complemented. ¡°As it may be my king. This is a very short notice. The message was dated 6 days ago. We¡¯ve made almost no preparation take advantage of the chaos that will ensue in Stovkow. We were not expecting this for another 2 years. Baron Myojhuk¡¯s prior message said he wasn¡¯t ready yet.¡± Duke Pairamee informed. ¡°Neither are the Stovkow loyalist ready for this. Let¡¯s figure how we can capitalize on this. Call up my generals. Hopefully, this will be the last blood price we pay for the ruin. Then we can prosper like the Kindarth Empire.¡± ¡°As you command my king.¡± Closing his eyes as he imagined finally attaining victory over the war. ¡°Once we have attained victory, we can finally have my niece wed your grandson and I can abdicate this damn thrown.¡± ¡°Yes my king.¡± Duke Chuang bowed then he left the private audience room. As the last male of his family, King Caspin gave a royal command to Duke Chuang¡¯s grandson, Count Ralf Pairamee to marry his niece and start a new dynasty as Ralf Luk-Pairemee. This would merge the royal power and assets with Duke Chuang¡¯s. Making the new king the single most powerful entity in Theolemor. With such offer, Duke Luk could not decline. Only a fool would reject such an opportunity. Having witnessed the deaths of his children and relatives as they manipulate and assassinated each other for his throne. He could not accept the stupidity of his bloodline. In an act to save the last of his family he chose the most powerful family besides his to stabilize the crown and save Princess Sharo. King Caspin hoped to win the war and gain control of the ancient ruin and give the new dynasty a fresh start. Then he can finally rest his heart. When the dispute over the ruin started, no one imagined it would last 2 decades. With the current situation, the only way for Theolemor to pay back the many loans was to gain total control of the ruin and exploit what they find to revitalize their economy. = = = Kindarth There were very little to prepare for Helias. An old man coming out of retirement, he had only recently moved to the capital with his new found status as minor patrician. His new home was meant to be a place for his old bones to rest. Without needing to complete his retirement, Helias finished what he needed and quickly prepared to set out with his bodyguards by next morning. After giving his final instruction to his widowed daughter Yulia, Helias pounder on his future. The Empress had given him a private warning when he reported his plans for early departure. She said that change is coming to the Empire. Those that can be saved will be saved and the others will be left to his devices. The Empress didn¡¯t elaborate anymore except that she guaranteed the safety of his family in his absence while he fulfills his duty to the empire. The lose of both of her sons to the north must weigh heavily on her, Helias thought. But from her words, he was able to understand that there are obvious movements in the shadows of the empire. And he could sense incredible personnel strength emanating from the Empress. The will to carry out the struggle she has personally accepted. He thought perhaps, the lose of her sonswas fueling her strength. He understood that he is a tool for the Empress Menliania. As such he knew that he does not have the need to know all her plans. If there is a need for it, he was confident that she will make it known to him. His duty was to solve the riddle of the Highlanders. Besides the corruption of the profit hungry Senators, why are they not able to find peace with them. Without any merchants working inside the Highlanders territories nor having any loyal demi humans under employment, Helias understood the difficulty of gathering information to succeed his mission. $hitty day My $1800 labtop died. Then, Dropped my surfacePro on the side with the usb plug with my mouse sensor. Half the screan is dead. Im cureently Cambodia and will not be in develope country until middle of December to purchase a new Labtop or new SurfacePro/Ipad.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Currently the next chapter is only half done with 2800 words. So, im down to using pencil and paper note book. That mean, once I get a new labtop/datapad and I transcript to electronic format and proofread, you all get a binge upload. My eyes are not SO good from old age, i cant write using android phone. as im write this announcement now. my eyes are already going blurry. I lost the lifes lottery today. lol Ch12 - We want more bullets down range. WHITESTONE Spike set cross leg inside his tent as he meditated about what to do. This is his first time meditating as such. The overwhelming changes fromhis recent situation felt suffocating to the point of feeling as if his body was slowly being squized. But he understand that it¡¯s coming from an environment he is unfamiliar with. One by one, I¡¯ll figure this shit out. Major Jung asked me what I want to do in this world. Barely two weeks ago, I was busy trying to be a good example for my younger siblings and make living in that shitty world. But here, it¡¯s not about making a living, but surviving and growing strong. Become so strong that most thing stop being a threat. Frontier gives use the most benefit in that regard, but has the highest risk. Fighting humans are easy with good payoff, but killing them for power doesn''t sit well with me. So the frontier is where our future lies. Then...Keep the asshat in the east on their side of the border. But Major Jung said that there is a high possibility of having to clash with them after their civil war. We¡¯ll cross that bridge when the time comes. I can rely on Major Jung to command the military as he has been doing so far. And leave the civilian matters to the Marquess as we planned. My priority is to keep fighting to get stronger. Summoning more men at this time is the greatest contribution I can make. Then followed by increasing my magic ability for long term survivability. I can¡¯t believe that Baron Myojhuk killed 8 of my men and sent another squad to the infirmary so quickly, even against our weapon technology. This magic shit is no joke! Then, how to fight in the frontier? 3 serious casualty from fighting a pack of large oversized wolves. If we take such casualty everytime we fight, at this rate, we would be struggling with too many permanently crippled men. We won''t be able to sustain our combat readiness if this keeps up. And having crippled men suicide to summon healthy men isn¡¯t an option. We need to find better tactical options to fight in the frontier. And then more than half the combat forces just become a jailer forthe captured Stovkow prisoner of war. Damn! There is a part of Spike that wants to summon an advanced level tactical instructor from higher summoning era. But Spike remember why such school like Ranger School was made from historical point of view. It¡¯s was made because the lessons learned during WW2 were being lost as the soldiers of that era slowly left the military to live out their lives as a civilian. Creation of similar types of schools for the nations around the world was a method to keep that knowledge and pass it on to the next generation of soldiers. The problem is, many of these schools had changed with each advancement of technology in war fighting. Even if he were to summon these souls, their knowledge is based on using advance tech, mostly fighting other advanced tech soldiers. And summoning equipment from those respective era is just too costly. Paying out over 300RP to summon LTC MD Simmons with the right medical equipment from his era to do his job proficiently is a reminder. He has to find a balance with the best pay off. Captain Wraeth said think of it like a business. Reduce cost with maximum pay off. I think it¡¯s time to have a chat with Lieutenant Moore. Spike thought. Spike left his tent followed by his bodyguard team. He know that Lieutenant Moore would be visiting the 3 injured from yesterday so he headed toward the medical tent. Private Smith and Sergeant White had their missing limbs patched up relatively quick. But the operation on Private Raines was exceptionally difficult without summoning a proper team of surgery nurse from his era which caused the surgery to take all night. And now, Raines slept under heavy medication. Already, there were talks of transferring them to a desk job and giving them a ¡®on the job training¡¯ (OJT) course. But the biggest discovery was that Doctor Simmons observed Private Smith¡¯s eyes changing color during injury diagnosis. There were speckles of red in his irises. That prompt a check up on the other Freelance platoon. Which expanded to the rest of the near by Phoenixian soldiers. In the check up, so far, it was found that all the summoned soldier who participated in the Goblin horde battle had varying degree of red speckles in their irises. Question arose if this was a physical sign that they had acquired enough spiritual energy to move on or they were getting close, and that having their eye color change toobe likeSpike¡¯s eyes would be the end result. If so would that signify their spiritual energy restoration and that they can finally move on upon their death. The topic was very exciting for the Phoenixian soldiers. When he walked into the tent. Lieutenant Moore and half a dozen men were chatting quietly with both Private Smith and Sergeant White. They were making fun of Smith by telling him he now needs to learn to masterbate with his other hand. And promising Sergeant White that they will get him an eye patch to match his missing feet. Wow, hard ass bastards. Merciless. Spike thought. But Lieutenant Moore quickly reminded them that they had others in the Hospital tent to keep the conversation tamed. ¡°Men.¡± Spike quietly greeted everyone. ¡°Sir!¡± Everyone softly replied. Looking at Sergeant White and Private Smith simply amazed Spike. Even getting an amputation had no negative effect on their after battle high. Seriously! Spike thought to himself. Shouldn¡¯t they be in lots of pain with depression from losing a limb. I¡¯m so fucking jealous! And I¡¯m here worrying about these assholes. Gwwaaad damn it! I wouldn¡¯t be surprise if Private Raines was having a wet dream in his comatose state. Looking at the corner of the tent, Spike quickly identified Rikko surrounded by what appeared to be her family members from the look of similar shaped ears and tail. A young very attractive women with soft yellow hair and a younger boy with similar looking were siting on both side of the bed holding Rikko¡¯s hand. Spike felt a sudden pang of ache in his heart witnessing their warmth. His never experienced a love of a parent. As the oldest,it was a struggle being the big brother. It left a sudden feeling of wanting in his heart. Both family members wore a very poor common cloth like everyone else in town. But he noticed, they didn¡¯t look extremely malnourished as the general public. Skinny, but not malnourished. Spike thought it must be the perk of being a hunter. Going out and gathering food meant feeding your children with little more food than others. That is, before the Phoenixian¡¯s arrival. Spike nodded to Rikko and made a hand gesture for her to relax to prevent her from getting up with her stomach wound. Looking back at the men. ¡°Lieutenant Moore. I¡¯d like a meeting with the platoon after lunch. It''s a discussion about changing out our weapons to deal with tactical changes within the frontiers. I¡¯ll even summon up some ration goodies so the men can relax and be open minded.¡± ¡°Yes sir. I¡¯ll have the men formed up. Will they need to bring anything with them?¡± ¡°No. I don¡¯t think so. I just need their thinking mind. Have the men form up by the firing range.¡± Spike replied. ¡°Hmm. If you run across any of the other combat officers and noncoms, if they have the time, invite them as well.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± Then Spike walked up to Rikko¡¯s bed to greet her. Rikko¡¯s children stood up and bowed when he approached. ¡°How are you feeling Rikko?¡± Spike inquired. ¡°It hurts like hell Lord Phoenix, but the Healer Simmons said it¡¯s not a killing wound in the Phoenix Kingdom. So I am very grateful to have more time with my children my lord.¡± Rikko spoke weakly. ¡°These are my children lord Phoenix. Annalia and Pytro.¡± both her children respectfully bowed again to Spike. ¡°Hello Annalia. Hello Pytro.¡± Spike didn¡¯t like the idea of people bowing to him, but the evil Major Jung gave him one helluva lecture about knowing his status. And if he honestly wants to help the frontier people, he needs to quickly learn to deal with these changes.¡°I¡¯m glad you are quickly recovering. You, are valued citizen of our Phoenix Kingdom. Daldia town would have been a lesser place without you.¡± Spike said as he warmly smiled at her. Then as he looked at her children. ¡°But you know, I never realized you had such an older children. I would never have guessed with you looking so young.¡± ¡°Do you not have demi humans where you come from my lord?¡± Rikko asked weakly. ¡°No. Only humans.¡± Noticing Rikko¡¯s fatigue brought concern to Spike. ¡°But I think I should stop bothering you for now and let you get some rest. We can talk after you get well.¡± He assured. The after lunch meeting turn out was more than expected. The combat leadership was very curious about the new weapons Spike would summon and how it may affect their survivability as they push deeper into the frontier. Even the Major took the time to join the meeting. Hopefully they didn''t just show up for the goodies I normally summon. Spike normally summoned luxury food for General officers for diplomatic functions. It''s only mana and he felt there was no point in summoning something of lesser quality. Nodding to everyone as they took a seat on the ground.¡°Thank you all for showing up. As you all heard from last night''s debriefing. Even though we won the fights against those giant wolves, we still got our assess kicked. We can''t sustain our battles strength this way and I want to discuss using different weapons. As I''m the only one who can see the future weapons, without summoning an officer from the said era wars, I will simply speak of what I think and know, then anyone can comment after.¡± Spike summoned a 100 round magazine loaded Tommy Gun. ¡°I want to replace our Springfield and Lewis Gun with this Thompson Submachine Gun when we go into the thick forest. Effective range is 150 meters, but we often can¡¯t see anything past 5 to 25 meters in the forest. So I believe the range is irrelevant. This will give us more killing power and Lewis Gun is just too big and bulky to react quickly enough in the forest. The spotters would be issued the shotguns we currently have in the armory. This would give them better close combat capability. We really could have used them when the giant wolves jumped us at damn near melee range. I can''t believe none of us saw them big ass wolves until they were right on us. In any case, to demonstrate.¡± Spike unload the entire 100 round drum on the wooden target shredding a good portion of the wood. (Note: Tommy gun was actually designed during WWI. But few days before prototypes were shipped to Europe for field testing, the war stopped. It was predominantly used during ww2 and the mobsters. So I made it a WW2 era summoning.) ¡°Do we have something better from other countries sir?¡± Lieutenant Ward ask. ¡°Good question XO. As I''m not able to see the stats of the weapon. I can only go off by the names of the weapons. So I¡¯m mostly going off on my personal knowledge. This Tommy Gun is very Famous in the old cinema. So I''m assuming it was popular for a reason. And it fits the bill. I don''t think it will be cost efficient to summon every combat officers from each era and each nation. And from our current knowledge of summoning, you men only possess weapons knowledges up to the time you bought the farm and its seams to be randomized on the time of death with in the era when I summon a soul. And in addition, I currently have 0summon spot open.¡± Spike answered. With this opening discussion, the flood gate opened up for many different combat scenarios. Need for artillery, aero recon, better combat medical support from the base and combat zone etc¡­But artillery was a problem as the compases did not work and they have yet to create a working grid square map. The meeting Spike thought to last only few hours, lasted until the sun finally disappeared. Then it was agreed that they continue the discussion next morning. Everyone understood the importance of the changes needed to survive in this world. And they all wanted to be on the up page of the information flow. Next day morning, during mass breakfast meeting, at the firing range. ¡°Sir!¡± Captain Wraeth spoke. ¡°In conjunction to the weapons upgrade, I want to strongly advocate bringing up our training standard and integrating our hunters unto the curriculum. The skills the hunters possess is just too invaluable to our survival and we would be negligent to ourselves by not learning everything they can teach us. Frankly speaking Sir. The high commands all across different nations during our era considered your basic infantryman as a cannon fodder. Our basic infantrymen did not have high survival rate and because of it, not enough time nor resources were invested in their training. I would like to change that for us.¡± Spike remember the Captain briefly mentioning something about that at the goblin caves. ¡°Captain Wraeth. I agree with you. Can I leave it to you to work with Hunt Master Malikai in developing a training program?¡± ¡°Yes Sir. It will be my pleasure.¡± ¡°I¡¯m assigning this as priority mission for you captain. Send me whatever requisitions orders you need.¡± Spike spent total of 31RP in summoning other similar types of weapons also from the UK, France and Germany. With better understanding of what was available, everyone thought to switch to Thompson Gun for fighting in the thick forest. Germany¡¯s MP 18 came close to their needs from WWI era, but having 100 round drum could not be discounted. Then Captain Allen spoke up. ¡°Sir. What about your weapon. Wouldn¡¯t it be better simply pay the bulk price if it''s not overly expensive. ¡°Damn. You are so right. We were all so caught up on WWI era. M249 SPW will only cost 80RP for 512 vs. 20RP for 512 Tommy Guns. So let''s do that.¡± Spike said. ¡°Also, have the officers figured out how you want to spend the large points from our battle with the Stovkow?¡± ¡°We have Sir. Captain Lee brought up the subject of using airplanes to do an aero recon to draw up a wider and better map. It will also give us the ability to recon wider and bigger area for future expansion. But we need an air strip before we take that step. Can you tell what an airplane cost and what type they are?¡± After focusing to look at the price. ¡°I''m sorry Major. I have no idea of the actual type. I''m simplynot familiar with detailed machinery from your era. But looks like most of the planes cost around 40RP and up. I should call up a pilot before we start clearing up the forest for an air strip.¡± ¡°That''s fine Sir. We¡¯ll have the prisoners clear out the woods as they chop down the trees to build their housings.¡± Major Jung replied. Then Lieutenant Moore cleared his throat as he looked at the major. Quickly glancing at the Lieutenant, Major Jung spoke. ¡°Also Sir. Until Lieutenant Reed returns from the Stovkow border with the scouts. I strongly suggest you stay and practice magic with the Marquess. From your last incursion in the west, it''s obvious that you need a hunter¡¯s assistance. I want at least one hunter with you. I think if you had even 1 hunter in your freelance platoon in your last outing, there would have been less casualty.¡± Major Jung advised. ¡°Yes. You are correct.¡± Spike agreed. ¡°We didn''t expect the danger would increase so much so quickly in the absence of the Goblins. When will Lieutenant Reed return?¡± ¡°I gave him orders to close up shop in 2 more days. Plus 1 day to march back with new prisoners. So you have 3 days worth of practice sir.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°Also sir. Is there better protective gears fromlater era that you are aware of. Your current armor type leaves you with too many exposed areas and body parts.¡± The Major inquired. ¡°Hmm¡­ well yes but with the cost increase from later era difference, I found it to be too expensive.¡± ¡°How expensive Sir?¡± Major Jung Strongly inquired as he gave Spike hard stare. Which made Spike squirm. ¡°Ah well, the Assassin S3 body armor designed for special ops from my era costs 350RP adjusted.¡± Spike answered. In his era, the S3 armor was so expensive, Spec Ops soldiers had to sign on for 10 years contract. Each individual armors were personally body shaped for optimal performance and not suited for interchanging parts. ¡°Sigh! Sir did you forget what I said before about you being critical to our survival. We could all die today, but as long as you survive, we can comeback. You are our life insurance. Literary Sir.¡± Major chitted. ¡°Well. I felt that if we use the RP to expand our military resources on hand instead, we could speed up building up our security. And we pretty much curb stomped everything we ran across with our industrialized weapons. So I thought we had more time and I wasn''t thinking about it.¡± Taking a deep breath. ¡°Sir, now that we have some RP, please summon this Assassin S3 body armor. After some analysis of your last outing, officers have come to a conclusion last night that other creatures are quickly moving in to fill in the power vacuum the goblins have left behind. Which means there are too many unknown dangers out there your freelance platoon will be facing.¡± Major Jung said. Then he pointed behind him at all the men assembled for the meeting. ¡°Dying would be very unpleasant Sir. But, everyone of us would be incredibly upset if you died. Don¡¯t screw us by dying cheaply, Sir! But not only that, you would put the Daldia township in jeopardy with your death.¡± Major Jung said in a tone to put peer pressure and whole lot of guilt on to Spike. Shit! I screwed up. I known better than that. It''s also my job to keep myself alive. Damn it! Spike felt like a child being chitted by a parent after making an unwise decision. Feeling a really embarrassed. ¡°I understand Major. I''ll correct my mistake before going out on the next hunt.¡± Spike assured him. Last thing I want is for the men to lose confidence in me and keep me locked up. Putting his hand on Spike shoulder to encourage him. ¡°In any case sir, I''m very happy to see you being proactive in working to increase our survivability. Just please don''t forget about yourself. You may not like it, but we are all expendable as long as you survive. You have heart sir. And we all love you for it. But don''t let that get in the way of our long term goal. Don¡¯t let any feeling of guilt get in the way of spending RP especially for when it comes to increasing your personnel survivability. Because there will be many more sacrifices to be made in the future.¡± = = = CASTLE GRANNOR, Baron Myojhuk¡¯s Territory Capital. To whom may it be in charge of deceased Baron Mhojhuk¡¯s territories. You will cease and desist all further aggression and expansion into the Daldia township. Be advised that any territory you see our flag of the Phoenix, the area has been claimed. This is your one and only warning. Should you seek prisoners exchange, send your merchants. Any armed forces entering our territory will be dealt accordingly. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Minister of State, Marquess Karan Daldia. Military Director of the Phoenix Army, Major Jung. ¡°What¡¯s the meaning of this message.¡± Sir Kalhaiden cried out. ¡°I don¡¯t know Sir Kalhaiden. They only spared my life for this message to be delivered.¡±The bandaged scout fearfully replied while holding his blistered arm. ¡°And what of the rest of the Baron¡¯s men?¡± Sir Kalhaiden demanded. ¡°I don¡¯t know Sir. They had me locked up the whole time. I don''t know.¡± The scout begged. ¡°Damn!¡± Sir Kalhainden cursed. He had been left behind to defend Castle Grannor and to continue building up the defensive fortifications all over the rebel lands. But this is way over his head. He cursed himself for being the one to receive this message. The next in line of command from the Baron would be steward Caldrun. He decided his only real choice is to quickly forward this message to the steward. ¡°Quickly! Get a rider ready for Steward Caldrun. Now!¡± Sir Kalhaiden ordered. All our plans are in jeopardy. We must do something without losing time, before everything we¡¯ve prepared for is lost. ¡°And put our defense forces near the frontier on alert!¡± How could there be a force in the fronteir that could completely destroy the subjugation force and the Baron himself? = = = Margraves Kyzdon¡¯s territory. ¡°So he isn¡¯t coming out! We gave him a day and even allowed his rider to return with news of the east. Insightful old bastard!¡± Steward Caldrun cursed. ¡°It would have been nice to have reduced his number before my nephew joined us. But this was a possibility.¡± ¡°Your orders Sir Caldrun?¡± Sir Vananbeir asked. ¡°As per contingency plan, take everything. If we can¡¯t move it within 3 days time, pillage it. Be sure to leave nothing for the Margrave to build back up. Without the people and resources to build, in addition to the lose of face from this, the Margrave will be finished.¡± Steward Caldrun shouted out his order for everyone to hear. A reminder to the men why they are doing this. ¡°Then it will be our time to rule! The Margrave can keep his walls. We¡¯ll take everything outside of it. ¡± The men shouted in approval. They knew the Stovkow Kingdom could not afford to react to this rebellion, not without losing in the eastern front. With all the adjacent territories pillaged, burning, and depopulated of peasant labor. The lands around them would essentially became useless. ¡°Move up the men and start assembling the trebuchet. Maintain patrol of the area. It¡¯s time the Margrave see who we are.¡± = = = Baron Antenok¡¯s territory. Being outnumbered by 351 rebel Knights, Tinur¡¯s 200 trained defenders, mostly consisting of foot soldiers, fell under an hour. A town of little over 2000 population, with no historical enemy, did not have a strong walls in place. All the retainers of Hasbrig¡¯s Knight family that did not join the frontier raids were put to the sword. Upon arrival of Sir Kajiak¡¯s and his vanguard knights, the entire Hasbrig family were brought out in front of the family manor. ¡°Gag them all. I don''t want to hear them scream from what I''m about to do.¡± Sir Kajiak instructed his junior knights. The children and women started to wail in fear as they had clothes shoved into their mouth. Sir Kajiak simply waiting until his instruction were completed and deeply drank from his water skin to quench his thirst from the hard ride. Walking toward the Sir Hasbrig and his 1st son Arron. ¡°Stand them up.¡± Given them a cold stare as they were propped up, Sir Kajiak punched the son in the face until he fell to the ground, then kick him in his chest until several of his ribs broke. Sir Kajiak waited as Arron squirmed on the ground in pain while his family screamed in fear through their gag. Seeing one of the junior knight with a mace, Sir Kajiak motioned him to lend it to him. Then he used the mace to smash both kneecap of Sir Hasbrig causing him to scream in pain. Giving the Hasbrig head enough to time come to his sense from the pain. ¡°I have often fantasized about what I would do once I have your entire family kneeling like this. It¡¯s a pity your 3rd son is with Baron Antenok. But no matter, he will be dead soon enough.¡± Sir Kajiak very calmly spoke, and his face reflected his calmness. ¡°I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t remember me. I am but one of the multitude result of your many plundering of peasant families you¡¯ve sold off to slavery... to meet your ruinous tax quota. I was only 12 when you sold me off to the whorehouse. I was forced to service disgusting old women and fat men.¡± Slowly putting pressure on Arron¡¯s broken ribs. ¡°Some nights, I still hear my sister scream as you raped her Arron.¡± Looking at Sir Hasbrig¡¯s oldest son. ¡°Then you passed her around for you men to enjoy. I later found out she died from a disease contracted while working as a sex slave in a brothel. She was only few years older them me. I have no idea what happened to my mother after your men had their fun with her. My father, you sold him to the Kalnerik mine. Nobody has ever lived past 2 years in that death mine.¡± Sir Kajiak said as he spit on Sir Hasbrig¡¯s face. Keeping his calmness as if was having a simple conversation with someone he is very familiar with. ¡°You know, even though we were poor, as I think back, we were happy. I loved my sister, she dotted on me. My mother was very nurturing as any good mother would be. And my father was a strict father to teach me discipline, and a hard working man.¡± looking back at the eyes of hate on both injured men, he kick them both in the stomach before continuing his monologue. ¡°Few days ago, when I burned Rendierk to ashes, I watched all the peasant, serf, slaves, and commoners on their long march out of the city. And I realized I almost became like you. A fucking parasite.¡± Savagely kicking the 2nd son forcing Sir Hasbrig and his 1st son to watch helplessly. Then he cried out to them in accusation. ¡°You take our food, our labor, and our freedom. And you call it tax. And if we can¡¯t pay because of bad harvest, you sell us off to slavery for coins. The poor toil the land and the craftsman build. But you, what do you bring to the table but oppression! You enrich yourself by what you take from us, but do you give anything back in return? Hmm? That¡¯s right. Even the wars you fights, it¡¯s the poor who die in mass while you parasites ride high and mighty on your warhorses fed by peasants and protected with armors made by craftsmen.¡± Feeling the resentment and hate build up Sir Kajiak sneered. ¡°Look at your women. Wearing fancy clothes and jewelries. Do you have any idea how many hungry family could have been saved in exchange for her expensive dress and the jewelry she¡¯s wearing!¡± Looking at Sir Habrigs women. ¡°I suppose I can''t fully blame you for that. I''m sure she nagged you to hell about how other noble women have something fancy while she does not.¡± Sir Kajiak motion for his men to rip their dresses apart. Sir Hasbrig¡¯s wife and their daughters scream in terror through her gag as more tears dropped. They were stipped naked and tossed to the ground. Calming himself Sir Kajiak continued. ¡°I thought about having my men take your women while you are forced to watch. Just as you did with me and my father, but I¡¯ve decided I will spare my men. They don¡¯t need to dirty themselves with your filthy sows. I even thought about selling off your grandchildren to the whorehouse like what you did to me and many other young boys and girls. Look around you. All my juniors, they are your creation, but the world doesn¡¯t need more boys to grow up to be like me or my fellow junior knights.¡± Sir Kajiak said calmly without any emotion, as if looking into something indistant. Then Sir Kajiak signaled his junior knights to slit the throat of the Hasbrig¡¯s family, except for the father and the 1st son. He watched the 2 men as if he were observing 2 curious animals as they raged and screamed. As Sir Kajiak stared at the face of the 2 defeated men. ¡°I will be taking this town and all it¡¯s inhabitant. Since you failed to protect them as your duty as their lord, I shall be taking them all. And you shouldn¡¯t have to worry about your 3rd son Bilet. He will be joining you soon enough when we kill Baron Antenok. We¡¯ve set up a very generous ambush for their demotion.¡± Sir Kajiak said, then spit on Sir Hasbrig¡¯s face again. ¡°In your last moments of life, know that your bloodline will die with your 3rd son.¡± As Sir Kajiak look into the eyes of the Hasbrig men in contempt. Then he personally smashed their skull in with the borrowed mace. From looking at the dead bodies,Sir Kajiak turn to the junior knights. ¡°Start setting up the ambush as planned. Let¡¯s give Baron Antenok a very welcome home greeting.¡± With the look of satisfaction, the junior knight promptly jumped on Sir Kajiak¡¯s command. Once the last son dies with Baron Antenok, then I will be free. Sir Kajiak thought to himself. Then he swore in silence that he will not become like the other nobles. = = = Count Morrogain¡¯s territory. ¡°Count Morrogain, the merchant guild has made an inquiry if there is something going on the roads. They report that it¡¯s been 2 days since any merchants have enter the port city. Should I send out some men to investigate?¡± ¡°What? That goes without asking. It¡¯s very unusual that no merchants have entered.The neighbor lords may be looking for ransom again. So send extra men as needed.¡± ¡°Yes my Count. Then moving onto the next agenda. As per order, the extra merchant ship we launched to increase the trade volume last month has increased our overall cost. The demand for trade goods have fallen short as of lately to compound the cost. Should I have the shipyard hold the completion of of the warship my lord?¡± steward Linto asked. ¡°Sigh! I just knew it would turn out this way. That bitch of a usurper¡¯s granddaughter. I told her this would drop our overall profit margin. She has no concept of supply and demand. Why did my grandfather ever support the usurper family!¡± Count Julian Morrogain cursed. Steward Linto waited in silence as the count vented. His family has been a steward to the Morrogain family for 6 generation now. They held absolute trust from the County¡¯s family where the current heads of the master and servant family didn''t bother to hide their thought and feelings from each other. A symbiote relationship both family has greatly profited. ¡°That greedy stupid women only knows how to spend. And she demands I increase her tax share. For what? So she can spend more on that godforsaken Ruin War with no end in sight. That stupid bitch must think I catch gold coins with my fishing net!¡± Count Morrogain decried. After giving the Count a few moment to gather himself. ¡°You orders my lord?¡± Steward Linto ask. ¡°Sigh! We have no choice. Finish the ship. Then man it with minimal skeletal crew. We still have a need for it in the future. If not, if for some reason things miraculously turn favorable, we can always sell it to one of the City-state... I¡¯ll fund the warship myself. ¡°Yes, my Count. Also, there has been reports from merchants who were in Baron Myojhuk¡¯s territory a week ago. They report an increase of man at arms in the territory, more then usual. This could be signs of internal skirmish or territory border clash. Demands for weapons and armors could rise in the near future, pending level of escalation. Also the increase in man at arms could be linked to the absence of merchants in the last few days. ¡± ¡°Hmm. Start setting up grounds work to increase production with the crafters guild, but don''t commit yet. It''s highly unlikely for that debauchery to do anything besides visiting the whorehouse. A pity. He had such promise before he changed from his father''s death. In anycase, this could be false alert.¡± Count Morrogain instructed. ¡°That reminds me, any new development with our partners in the City-state regarding the Ruin War?¡± ¡°No new news my Count.¡± ¡°Hmm. Let''s give it until next year before we make our move Linto.¡± Count warned. ¡°If nothing changes by then, then we¡¯ll start putting things in motion.¡± = = = Theolemor Capital City Eikra ¡°General Lucint. General Kalin. And staff.¡± King Caspin Luk IV greeted as he walked into the royal war room. ¡°You Majesty.¡± Both Captain General Lucint Hawril and Lieutenant General Kalin Seigarnyn greeted as King Caspin took his position. In the war room, it was standard practice to not observe to much formality. It made communication much more smoother. Nodding his approval of his future grandson in law¡¯s presence, the King spoke. ¡°Thank you all for rapidly assembling. 2 days ago, Duke Chuang Pairamee received communication from his spy. It was a risky gamble but the good Duke¡¯s decision had hit the mark. Simply put, Duke''s decision has lead to a rebellion inside Stovkow Kingdom.¡± The announcement created an expected uproar in the war room filled with over a hundred personnel. No one but the King and the Duke knew of the plan. There would have been too many oppositions in sending financial assistance to what could seriously backfire on the Theolemor Kingdom. King Caspin let the war room settle down before he raised his hand to silence the room. ¡°Since Duke Chuang was the mastermind behind this, I shall pass the honor to the Duke to brief you all.¡± With all the eyes expectantly on Duke Chuang, he cleared his throat and proudly stepped forward. ¡°3 years ago, Baron Myujhuk sent a personal emissary in seeking our aid. After doing some research on the man, I came to a realization that he was sincere on his offer. What he sought was revenge against his liege Margrave Kyzdon. In return for our financial help, which we made arrangements with few selected merchant houses, he would rebel with his barony and burn the territories bordering him. If the Baron should succeed,then 1/6th of Stovkow territory would either be pillaged or rebelled, in addition to cutting them off from parts of the frontier they have been yoking. This would severely reduce Stovkow¡¯s long term ability to sustain the Ruin War. If the message is correct, which I believe without doubt, then Baron Myojhuk¡¯s plan is taking place as I speak.¡± Their quiet murmurs of excitement with that final announcement burst up again before settling down. ¡°Strategically, with this new development, we will increase pressure on the Stovkow forces around the ruins. With the loss they face in the ruin and losing a good portion of their future replacements and supplies. They will have to give up the ruins or fight a long term losing war for the ruins. Logically speaking, they should give up the ruins and use their military resource on crushing the rebellion. But with Queen Gizala¡¯s past behavior of irrationally, who can say. It''s hard to predict that unreasonable and insane woman.¡± Then the room burst into light laughter. ¡±Do we have plans to push past the ruins to annex any Stovkow territory, your Majesty?¡± Viscountess Margo Xebgiston asked, often called Lady of Fire from her exploits with fire magic in the battlefield. ¡°That is a good question Viscountess.¡± King Caspin replied. ¡°I would love to take advantage of their weakness, but we are also constraint with our own resource limitations. But I suppose should some of my enterprising nobles were to take advantage of any opportunities that may arise from this, I have no problem with it.¡± The King declare. Then he could see the greed in the lower noble eyes light up. If they go off on their own without using the royal coffer to finance their greedy ambitions and create future taxable territories, I''m all for it. Greed is a powerful tool if used correctly. King Caspin smugly thought to himself. Taking in the disposition of the war room, King Caspin commanded. ¡°My Generals and commanders. Once you get back to your respective commands, I expect you to intensify the skirmishes all across the contested zones. Breakthrough wherever and capitalize on it. Bleed the Stovkow where ever you can. General Lucint, what''s our current forces in the Stovkow border?¡± ¡°Our current forces consist of 8000 knights, 1500 archers, 30,000 foot soldiers, 100 ballistas, augmented by 5000 City-state mercenaries and 3000 slave soldiers strung out mostly at the Ruins.¡± General Lucint replied. ¡°And General Kalin, what is the expectant amount of reserve we can call up for the next 6 months?¡± King Caspin asked. ¡°Your Majesty. It would take about 2 weeks to call up 3000 knights, 500 archers, and another 5000 foot soldiers. However, putting together enough support materials will take at least 30 days or we will endanger our harvest and risk causing a minor mid winter famine. Once the harvest is complete, I forecast about another 10,000 peasant troops. But the surviving peasants must return to planting by Spring or we risk long term shortage of food in addition to decline to the future population. The shortage of men with this Ruin War... I¡¯m sure everyone is aware of...it''s difficult. Also, if we pull anymore garrison troops from the territories, we risk losing control to the many criminal groups that has risen in the many years. ¡° There was no reason for General Kalin to mention why so many criminal groups has risen. With the long ruinous war economy to support the Ruin War. Many commoners either join the King''s Army or sell themselves to the criminal groups as debt slaves to avoid dying in the war. ¡°So there you have it everyone. You have until Spring to shift the balance of this war.¡± Looking at Countess Margo, ¡°How are your Mages Countess?¡± ¡°They are ready your Majesty. Unfortunately, we are at a stalemate with the Stovkow mages as usual.¡± Countess Margo Xebgiston reminded. It was a well known by all, that mages of both sides had been stuck in stalemate since the beginning of the war. Both sides started with near 2 dozen mage¡¯s of varying skills. But for the last few years, they have been stuck at 8 vs 9. With Stovkow having 1 more mage. ¡°If we just had 4 more mages, we could turn this around. But the youngins will need many more years of training to be any use for battles. Fortunately, Stovkow also has this problem . If we could just¡­¡± There was no need for the Countess to finish. Everyone in the room knew what she wanted to say. Theolemor have been lobbying the City-states for years to allow them to higher their mages, but there was no way that would happen. The City-states simply made too much money from the Ruin War and prolonging the war best served their interest. And sending their trouble makers by hiring them off as a mercenaries to the Theolemor¡¯s Kingdom created additional opportunity for the City-states by getting rid of them in foreign war while making profit. ¡°Then in 3 days, start our offense in putting pressure on the Stovkow.¡± King Caspin commanded. ¡°I want you all to use this time to iron out the detail of supplies and replacements for the opperation.¡± = = = Stovkow, Capital City Valennce. ¡°Just How? How is it possible. The entire southwest in flame and the rebellion of Baron Myojhuk.¡± Sitting in shock at the head of the royal dining table, Queen Gizala Krasedenof Stovkow Kingdom screamed in rage. ¡°How! Just how! How could that old fool allow this to happen!¡± The royal dining hall lay in silence as their queen raged from receiving the news of Margrave Kyzdon¡¯s territory. No one dared to touch their plate. It was suppose to be a social gathering of the capital¡¯s elite to celebrate the Harvest New Moon. Now impossible to continue with the emergency news as the southwest part of their realm lay in smoked ruins. With her tiara and richly decorated creamy white ball dress for the dance after dinner. Middle aged plump queen in her yearly 50¡¯s with light brown hair showing streaks of grey, her brown eyes blazed as she stood up. Placing both hands on the table to calm herself before making her announcement. ¡°Baron Myojhuk has rebelled. I want all present military commanders assembled in the war chamber in 1 hour.¡± The Queen commanded. Then abruptly left the dining room. Everyone sat in silence from either in fear or shock. Even as she briskly walked out, the royal head butler immediately whispered instructions to the maids and servants to send messengers to all the military commanders in the capital. As soon the door closed behind the Queen, the room exploded into an uproar. With Queen Gizala¡¯s royal summon, within an hour, the royal war chamber was packed with military commanders of all levels. Senior level commanders in the front and junior officers in towards the back room. Room was very noisy in the the center as the Generals and Senior commanders chatted in speculation. Junior commanders stood in silence as they stretched their ears to eavesdrop on the senior commanders comments. Then with the announcement. ¡°Her Majesty. Queen Gizala!¡± As the Queen entered. Quickly taking her place in the center of the room. Taking the hour needed to summon her commanders, Queen Gizala took the time to calm herself to act her station befitting a Queen. Thus she spoke calm and deliberately to her audience. ¡°My Lords and Ladies, as you¡¯ve all must of heard by now. Baron Myojhuk¡¯s has rebelled from us. In the message, Baron Antenok¡¯s territory is reported with smokes everywhere. Margrave Kyzdon is walled up in Shator Keep. And Count Morrogain¡¯s territory has been cut off from the land.¡± Queen Esmeralda took a deep breath to let the message sink in for everyone. ¡° With this we¡¯ve essentially lost 1/6th of our future resources. We are now forced to make some difficult decisions¡± Everyone understood what the Queen Gizala was speaking about. Unlike Theolemor, Stovkow had yet to borrowed money from external. With their larger territory and population, Stovkow simply squeezed the peasantry of their labor and lives. Once the peasantry had reached their limits, they targeted the frontiers to make up for the yearly shortage. But now with the lose of southwest production and manpower, plus being cut off from large area of the frontier has created a massive resource shortages for the future. ¡°Once the Theolemor hears about this, they will start intensifying their military assaults in the ruins and our borders. To give it up after 15 years of payment in lives and the wealth of our Kingdom is just too bitter to swallow. And asking the City-state for a long term loan seems foolhardy. I just can''t imagine the City-state mercenaries fighting on both sides. Giving up the ruins...I feel isn''t an option for us. But we also cannot allow the treacherous Baron Myojhuk to simply rebel as it stands. I need solutions.¡± With Queen Gizala¡¯s announcement the room came alive with buzzing in small comments and officers talking amongst each other. Then a junior officer started to lay our scroll of military resources available to Stovkow Kingdom. While the military commanders talked amongst themselves to work out a plan, Queen Gizala sat in silence. In truth, except for the senior commanders, the junior officers were too afraid to speak up lest they make a mistake and become the target of Queen Gizala¡¯s famous venting. Why? Why? Why?! Queen Gizala screamed in her mind. Why do I have nothing but incompetent generals? For 15 years the war has raged on without end. Why am I surrounded by incompetence. ¡°Kill them all.¡± Queen Gizala said almost in whisper. ¡°Your Majesty?¡± ¡°I said kill them all.¡± Queen Gizella shouted out. ¡°Mass up our army and invade Theolanor. Forget the Ruins. Destroy everything in our path and putTheolamor in flame. It¡¯s time we break this stalemate. Let us see what they value more. Their land and people or the ruins. Make plans for invasion. Then we¡¯ll pay the rebels a visit for making my life more difficult.¡± = = = Count Morrogain¡¯s Territory. ¡°Mahahaha!¡± Sir Junapt and Sir Bailin gleefully laught as they looked on to their bounty of goods robbed from the merchants, towns, and settlements in Count Morrigain¡¯s territory. The captured populations were in a long line of march to resettle in Baron Myojhuk¡¯s territory. Both men looked on pleasingly with their results. Since their entry to the area, Sir Junapt took anything that could be moved and sent it to Baron Myojhuk¡¯s territory. Their large raid forces were practically unchallengeable and roads and settlements were systematically cleaned out. ¡°At this rate, we¡¯ll be the richest men after the Baron. We should be sure to send a generous portion to the good Baron for giving us this juicy assignment.¡± Sir Junapt bragged. ¡°I think you are right Sir Junapt. Except it¡¯s now Archon Myojhuk.¡± Sir Bailin reminded. ¡°Hmpt! I stand corrected. Soon to be Senator Bailin!¡± Then both Senior knights burst out happily laughing again, attracting the attention of the surrounding eyes. Stats and unit break down. Spike Phoenix Level: 15 Current race: Human INT: 20 Spirit: 22 STR: 12 CON: 12 DEX: 13 Mana: 480 Health: 367.5The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Experience: 130,974/136,000 Reputation: 1 Unique Powers: Summoning: 1/.1112 Resources Points: 2574.4 Personnel: 660/660 Logistics: 659/870 Air: 0 Water: 0 Fire: 0 Earth: 0 Relevent Skills: Rifle: 2/.21 Pistol: 1/.0 Leadership: 1/.05 UNIT 1 LT 1 Platoon SGT 4 SGT as squad leader 8 CPL as team leader 32 Soldiers as riflemen, machine gunner, etc... 46 TOTAL 1 platoon x 4 = 184 men Plus a captain, XO (executive offier), and company sergeant. = 187 men per company. 2 Infantry company + 1 Engineer company = 561 1 Major Jung 1 Captain Allen 1 Personnel Captain 1 Logistic Captain 5 Body guards 1 Personal Medic 3 Doctor 11 Medics 11 Personnel 11 Logistic 22 Cavalry Troopers 7 Flamethrowers 24 Tank crews 660 Current Total. Ch13 - .......... Daldia Township. After receiving an inquiry from both Birsk and Farengo, ¡®Will the leadership of the respective township also receive titles¡¯, something just didn''t set well with Spike. Not wanting to discuss the issue with Marquess Daldia, Spike found himself in front of Major Jung. The perpetrator of the ennobling scheme. ¡°I can see why you may be upset Lord Phoenix. But people always want to find themselves in better position. Its human nature.¡± Major Jung spoke to Spike. ¡°Well I understand that. But I don''t like it. These leaders, it feels like they are using the people of their town as bargaining chip. If they join us, we have to send our men to each town to garrison it. It feels like I''m bargaining with our men''s life.. And we¡¯re already stretched too thin with more than half of our forces becoming prison guards. They should be out training and hunting.¡± Spike spoke his thoughts. ¡°Well these leaders believe they deserve something as they have been the mayors for their towns. But yes. I can sort of see the nepotism seeds being planted with their questioning. As for our forces spreading out too thin, it''s only temporary Sir. We¡¯ll get reinforcements as you keep hunting. And I expect the Rebel forces will pay the ransom to get their fighting forces back, especially the knights. With their rebellion in progress, they will need all the trained fighters. Which will reduce our prisoner numbers¡± ¡°Ok, I understand. And I agree, at the rate of our hunting, we should get some more reinforcement soon. But is ennobling the mayors of each frontier towns part of your plan?¡± Spike asked some what irritated. ¡°Well to be honest Sir. Marquess Daldia is an exception. He completely gave the town and himself with his own family too you, without any strings attached with the hope of saving his people, but we were planning to save this town anyways. Marquess action shows he was desperate. But at the same time, he greatly cares for his people. His action put his people above his own needs. Having said that, we really can''t expect for every leader of settlements to be like him.¡± Major Jung concluded. Spike spoke with a very upset frown.¡°Then what do you recommend? They could be self serving bastards for all we know. We¡¯ve never meet them. And they had the audacity to use a messenger instead of coming to meet us in person to ask about titles.¡± ¡°There is that too.¡± Major Jung laughed in contempt. ¡°Then let''s rescind the offer, but allow immigration of the people, Sir. You are correct about our men needing to hunt. I never expected to capture so many damn prisoners to guard. So, if they want food and protection, they can come to us. Besides, Captain Lee with the Engineers was mentioning it would be much more easier and faster to rebuild and upgrade both Birsk and Farango towns without the people living in the very housing they have too teardown. The empty warehouses in Daldia can be used as a temporary housing for the immigration. I''m also told that their are many empty housings in the residentials. In addition, we still have the tents from the captured supplies.¡± Nodding in acknowledgment. ¡°Then that''s what I''ll tell the Marquess. Thanks Major. Just for future reference, I despise nepotism. My era is all screwed up from nepotism built up over the many generations.¡± With a frown on his face. ¡°And those corrupt political families have become the new nobility in North America. I would like it if we didn''t repeat that failure here. But at the same time, I¡¯m beginning to understand why you ennobled the Marquess to solidify this towns allegiance to us.¡± ¡°Very good Sir. I''ll keep that in mind and enforce meritocracy in my plans.¡± Then a thought occurred to the Major. ¡°By the way Sir. Do you know how to ride a horse?¡± = = = After talking to Major Jung, Spike made his way to Marquess Daldia¡¯s mansion on foot. ¡°Yeeaah. The Major is sooo right. It''s looking pretty stupid for the highest ranking individual to be walking back and forth especially now that we have so many horses. I suppose you men are taking horse riding lessons with me. Huh, Corporal Robinson!¡± Spike said looking at his bodyguard team. Pleasantly laughing. ¡°Looking forward to it sir. But you mind as well have the freelance platoon join our riding lessons Sir.¡± ¡°Hmm I see your point. Considering, freelance platoon has turned into my personal unit. That''s a good idea.¡± Baron Antenok¡¯s territory. Town Tinur. After 2 weeks in the frontier, Baron Antenok marched back riding his war horse. He nonchalantly listened to the young Hasbrig¡¯s 3rd son as he retold the story about taking his first frontier women. ¡°And she begged for more as she moans like a bitch in heat.¡± Bilet, 3rd son of Hasbrig family bragged. Other veterans silently laughed at the young squire as they knew he was lying about the moaning and the begging. This raid netted Baron Antenok with little over a hundred slaves for the Ruin War. With this he would have to send less serfs from his territory. His serfs also harvested enough from the frontier farms to reduce his tax to the crown. And he was able to confirm that inhumanoids and monsters have yet to overrun the area. He wonder how much longer the frontier will last before the Stovkow Kingdom has to intervene as the wild frontier keep pushing back from the weakened frontier settlement. In any case, silently, he was very pleased with this years raid. One day, the Ruin War will be over. Then, with all the resource he was able to save for his territory, he would be able to expand west with his own strength. Once his wealth rise high enough, as the eastern nobles, the crown would have to raise his families peerage. All because he was able to yoke the frontier. He felt he was at the right place, at the right time, with the right peerage to do so. As his forces were less than 4 kilometers from Tinur town and few tens of kilo meters from the frontier borders, no cares were given to security. If he had, Baron Antenok would not have died as he did. A large projectile fired from a concealed Scorpio ballista pierced his chest killing him instantly. With this signal, cries of alert was raised along the marching order as multiple trees in the front of the marching order fell to block the knights forward movements. Flanked on both side with the wood lines the knights could only maintain control their warhorses from inability to charge on the roads while the foot soldiers ready their weapons and shield waiting for orders. From the wood line 100 archers rose up to fire their bows at Baron Antenoks forces while the formerly hidden 3 Scorpios sniped the knights on their horses. Multiple catapults filled with burning rocks dripping in oil smashed into the knights formation killing man and horses alike. Before the Antenok¡¯s force could organize, Sir Kajiak¡¯s forces moved up in numbers to smash into the now weakened and outnumber, and disorganized Antenok¡¯s raiders. Without any leadership, outnumbered and quickly declining morale, originaly 1000 men of Antenok and Kyzdon forces quickly succumbed in defeat. All the knights were put to the sword and the foot soldiers were rounded up with the new slaves from the frontier to be sent to Baron Myojuhk¡¯s territories for hard labors. With the outcome Sir Kajiak expected he stared at the face of Bilet, Hasbrig¡¯s 3rd son¡¯s dead face. Bilet¡¯s dead face had an expression of pain indicating his struggle from his belly wound as the Scorpio bolt protruded out of his upper stomach. There were dried tracks of tears from his dead eyes indicating that he died as a boy, not as a man. Satisfied, Sir Kajiak slowly walked toward his junior knights to give instructions to organize their return home. = = = Whitestone, Temporary Barrack. As the medical Corporal Smith looked at his card. ¡°Hit me.¡± He said. ¡°3 of a kind.¡± Private Jones declared soon after as he flipped over his hand showing 3 9¡¯s. ¡°Shit!¡± Corporal Smith cursed as he looked at the cards and stood up to leave the game. Then Private Jones handed him a fresh pack of cigarette. ¡°What¡¯s this for Jone?¡± he asked somewhat surprised. ¡°Haha. I''m just looking out for our medic. Besides, I¡¯m not having our medic be all mad at me. I¡¯m simply sucking up to you.¡± Smiling at the Corporal. ¡°Call it medical insurance, if you want.¡± Private Jone said has his face turn all serious. Slowly, Corporal Smith¡¯s face turned from irritation to knowing smirk. ¡°Well. alright then. As long as you¡¯re not question my professionalism.¡± grabbing the cigarette pack as he walked outside to smoke. Happily reshuffling the cards. ¡°But dang. Did you all see the papa Jung put the lockdown on junior Spike yesterday.¡± Private Jones said. ¡°Hey now. At ease that shit Jones.¡± Corporal Washington disapproved. ¡°Your yapping mouth is going to get you into some deep shit one of these days.¡± ¡°Ahh. I don¡¯t mean no disrespect Corporal. I¡¯m just saying.¡± Jone explained himself as he gathered winnings. ¡°But still. I¡¯m glad our bose listens to the officers. He could have been a total tyrannical asshole and everything would have sucked ass.¡± Private Borg offered. ¡°Well I say he''s doing well for someone who just bought the farm less than a month ago. Not like us who¡¯s been floating around in darkness forever.¡± PFC Jackson from the cavalry troop said. ¡°What¡¯s the buy in?¡± Casually walking up, Private Charles of Bravo Company asked. ¡°15 brass for cigarette ration, 25 for any booze, and 50 for any special ration cards.¡± Private Jones answered pleasantly. ¡°Alright. I¡¯m coming in with 3 special ration cards and 5 booze ration.¡± Private Charles announced as he joined in with the other 5 men as the losers from earlier games looked on. Private Jones quickly exchanged the ration cards for 275 spend brass casings. Then handed Private Charles the deck of cards. ¡°New hands deal on their first hand.¡± ¡°So Jonesy. What the hell you gonna do with all your winning? Hell, you don''t even drink or smoke.¡± Commented Corporal Washington as he glanced at the large pile of empty brass casing in front of Private Jones. ¡°Ahh!¡± looking irritated. ¡°Kirk put my ass in the Proverbial dog house after I made that comment about cooking dogs. Maybe I should have said wolf.¡± He added thoughtfully. ¡°But anyways, I don¡¯t know about you Corporal, but eating same old cold ration everytime we go out hunting doesn¡¯t set well with me. So I plan to go grovel before Chef Master Kirk with all the ration card to get back into his good grace.¡± Private Jones said as he quickly glance at his hand and put the cards facing down after committing them to memory. Then the group burst out laughing at his misfortune from running off his mouth. ¡°No. I¡¯m serious. I¡¯m killing 2 birds with 1 stone. I get back into the good grace of our Private Chef Master Kirk. Then imagine what goodies he will cook up with exchanging the special ration cards for spices. Tenderizing the meat with booze. Hell yeah! I¡¯m hungry just thinking about it. ¡°Hahaha. Now I don¡¯t feel so bad getting cleaned out.¡± PFC Muller chimed in laughing.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°That¡¯s nice and all for you freelance guys, but some of us losers aren¡¯t in your freelance platoon.¡± Another soldier complained. ¡°Hey Hey. Speaking of the special ration cards. I heard Captain Allen has been sniffing out the slave girls from the east. I heard he''s been spending his ration cards on them eye candies.¡± another soldier informed. ¡°What! No Way! ¡°Didn¡¯t Lord Pheonix gave out an order ¡®You bang em you marry em¡¯.¡± ¡°The Captain must be bored and lonely. Both of his Landships are operating by the border independently with officers on each ship. They don''t¡¯ really need him.¡± ¡°The man must be asking for some punishment.¡± Then Jones replied in a serious tone. ¡°Punishment? Punishment from whom? From the crazy girls after having to marry them or from the Boss?¡± Then everyone burst out laughing at the joke? ¡°Amen to that brother. Who needs them craaiizy broads when we have the After Battle Highs.¡± ¡°Here! Here!¡± everyone cheered happily. ¡°Seriously guys. All this shit talk aside. Those poor girls. Forcely taken from their family and violated like that. I wish I could do something for them.¡± Private Borg spoke with sadness on his face and tone in his voice. Laying on his cot listening on the peanut gallery. ¡°Why don¡¯t you go save one Private Borg.¡± Sergeant Jarrett commented. ¡°What! How? I mean, anyone of us could buy the farm on our next hunt and the girl will be all alone again.¡± Private Borg spoke sadly. ¡°You damn virgin!¡± another soldier accused in a disgusted tone. ¡°What! I ain¡¯t no virgin you asshole!¡± Private Borg shouted out defensively. ¡°Bullshit! That fake memory don¡¯t count!¡± ¡°Kuh!¡± Sneering bitterly. ¡°Well then, more than half of you bastards are virgins too. So I don¡¯t want to hear shit from you all!¡± Private Borg spit out venomously. Bursting out in laughter. ¡°Hahaha! That¡¯s right Borg. Don¡¯t take their shit. Let em have it!¡± Sergeant Jarrett encouraged. Shit! Think God I didn¡¯t die a virgin. Giving that prostitute half of month pay was worth every bit of $7.50 the day before I got shipped out. The best decision I ever made. He smugly thought to himself. ¡°Shit I¡¯m out!¡± Corporal Washington cursed as he threw in his cards in disgust as he lost this week''s cigarette rations. Then joined Sergeant Jarrett on listening to the peanut gallery. = = = Daldia Township. ¡°Therefore, I will be rescinding my offer to the other towns. However, please do encourage the people to immigrate to our town Lord Daldia.¡± ¡°I understand Lord Phoenix. I will send messengers right after our training.¡± Lord Daldia replied feeling pity for the other leaderships with their greed. ¡°Then let''s start our daily magic practice.¡± Said Spike. On their way out to the back yard. Spike heard children laughing for the first time in town. The sudden surprising sounds stopped him in his track. It seemed having more food to eat in recent weeks have finally given the local children energy to play. Somehow, witnessing the children play in the backyard where he had planned to practice magic seemed more important and soothing to his soul. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind Marquess, let''s just watch your grandchildren play with their friends for a while. I¡¯m feeling very happy just watching the kids play.¡± Spike said as he stood on the porch. ¡°As you will my lord.¡± Marquis Daldia said then ordered the maid staff to prepare a set of tea for them. For the next few hours, both men simply observed the children play various games. Lord Daldia enjoyed the peacefulness of watching his grandchildren playing happily. For Spike. It¡¯s was an affirmation that his decision to help these people was the correct one. ¡°I¡¯m glad I made the decision to save this town Marquess. Watching the children play heals my soul.¡± Spike commented. ¡°I¡¯m also grateful that you did my lord.¡± Marquess replied gratefully. ¡°Marquess Daldia. I was just wondering. Why did your ancestor leave Stovkow?¡± Spike casually asked to start a conversation while watching the kids play. ¡°I mean, it¡¯s seems mages are super rare, I just can¡¯t imagine any kingdom giving up such a scarce resources.¡± ¡°Mmm.¡± Marquess Daldia ponder in silence on how he should answer. ¡°I suppose the truth would eventually come out. As I had no intend to keep such secret from you my lord. I just didn¡¯t know how to tell you.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Spike looked at Marquis Daldia. ¡°My ancestor, 4 generation before me was the was the King of Stovkow.¡± Marquis solemnly declared. ¡°What! No Way!¡± Spike exclaimed in shock as he stared at the Marquis with his jaws on the floor. With a wryly smile. ¡°4 generations ago, no children of the royal family were born with the ability to use magic. Under the pretext that a King or Queen must possess magic to rule, Duchess Sueann Kraseden, sister to the last king who possessed magic, revolted and usurp the throne upon his death. I suppose it¡¯s much easier to support those who have personal power than those without. Because almost all the nobles ended up supporting the usurper family and alone my ancestor barely escaped with his life to the frontier, then changed his name to Daldia.¡± Pulling out an amulet, Marquis Daldia hand it over the Spike to inspect. ¡°It¡¯s the Old Stovkow King¡¯s amulet of authority. Completely useless now. If you push the 3 rubies in the shape of a flame at the sametime, the royal seal will release. I¡¯ve held onto it simply as a keepsake.¡± When Spike pushed the rubies as instructed, and sure enough, he could see what would be 3 flames inside a 3 circlet if one were to stamp it on a hot wax. ¡°Ironically, there has been a fire mage born in each generation after the 4th generation. But because the knowledge wasn¡¯t passed on to my great grandfather, as he wasn¡¯t born with a manatite, we¡¯ve had to start from scratch in building our magic knowledge base.¡± Spike looked at the Marquis with a solemn face. ¡°Damn. And the descendants of the same usurpers have been stealing and enslaving your new people for all these years. You must be bitter as hell Marquess.¡± ¡°I would be lying if I said I wasn¡¯t my lord.¡± ¡°Damn. Just damn. That is some ¡®Holy Shit!¡¯ bomb you just dropped on my lap. I suppose I should have you go inform Major Jung. The sooner he knows about these things, the better things seemed to workout.¡± Spike advised the Marquess as he handed back the amulet. I just know that evil bastard will be overjoyed with this information. I can¡¯t see it yet, but I¡¯m sure the scheming and plotting potential from this level of info must be boundless for the Major. ¡°As you command my lord.¡± ¡°So, what was your royal family name Marquess?¡± ¡°It was House Honhanzor. And the 3 flames represents the 3 original founding siblings. 1 sister and 2 brothers who forged out a small territory some 5 hundred years ago.¡± ¡°Are the current monarch using the same symbol?¡± Spike asked. ¡°No, my lord. They currently use only 1 large flame and 1 circlet.¡± Marquess Daldia replied with a sadness. ¡°Do you ever think about taking the throne back?¡± seriously looking at the Marquess. With a bitter chuckle. ¡°It is but a child¡¯s dream my lord. I have neither the strength nor the resources to do so. And I don¡¯t see how the people of this town would benefit from it. Especially when Stovkow has already rejected my family when they ousted my ancestor.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Spike agreed. ¡°I suppose that¡¯s true. But don''t you want to stop hiding your real family name now Marquess? I think your ancestors would be unhappy to know that their descendants are unable to wear their name in honor.¡± ¡°Are you sure about this my lord? It will bring nothing but trouble to us once the Stovkow royal family finds out.¡± ¡°Well that¡¯s true. But, I believe you should be free to proudly wear your family name in the open. Without their success, you would not be here now. You should honor their memory. The very idea that you must hide what you are reminds me too much of discrimination and oppression. I believe in fighting for freedom to live freely.¡± Spike declared. Looks like I have to work harder to score some points to quickly increase our forces. ¡°But lets clear it with the Major first. This is a troublesome matter. And I¡¯m obviously feeling overly sensitive to sense of justice right now.¡± The Marquess nodding in agreement spoke. ¡°As you will my lord.¡± = = = Stovkow, Capital City Valennce. ¡°As per your command your Majesty. Orders have been sent out for 90% of all knights units to pull out of the borders and rally at Castle Bers. And we also expect to gather many freeman who are falling into debt. With the crown''s offer of rights to loot, we expect to fill the footmen rank rather quickly.¡± General Korneol explained. ¡°What is the time frame before the Army marches General?¡± Queen Gizala asked calmly as she sat on the command chair in the warroom. ¡°We expect 7 to 10 day your Majesty. As the assault force will consist of knights and light footmen only. We expect 8000 knights and 10,000 light footmen will be ready move out. Any other forces added will only slow down their movement and impede our goal. This forces with 4 mages in support should be more than enough to cause long term damage to Theolamor¡¯s population and economy. As to how much time this would buy us, we won¡¯t know until the final result. We will continually raid and harass the Theolamor while they dig up the ruins to further slow down their dig. If we are lucky enough we may be able to buy more than a generation or 2 worth of time. Perhap fortunes will change for us by then. Even the Kindarth Empire took more than a few generation to learn from their discovery of the ruins and implement them. But has her majesty decided on who will led the assault army?¡± General Korneol added. Feeling emotionally exhausted after many days of constant rage and anger, Queen Gizala took a deep breath while looking at the nervous General Korneol. ¡°I had originally planned to lead the assault to vent my anger, but I suddenly find myself feeling exhausted and not as angry. Send message to my son, Crown Prince Luthen. His presence will also increase the number of mages for this mission. Also, he could use some merit from the long stalemate at the ruin skirmishes.¡± She ordered. ¡°As you command your majesty. But is it worth risking the Crown Prince for such mission?¡± General Korneol ask. ¡°I have faith in Luthen¡¯s ability general Korneol.¡± Queen Gizala calmly replied. ¡°As you command your Majesty.¡± General Korneol bowed and quickly left the meeting room. As Queen Gizala brooded silently sitting on her chair, she felt herself being squeezed from the pressure. Pressure from the rebellion, Pressure from the 15 years long war with the Theolamor. Pressure from having to maintain control of the nobles. And this last attempt for her Kingdom to stay equal to Theolamor. Understanding that it will be many years before Stovkow can move so many soldiers like this. There is nothing more Queen Gizala would love than to burn the entire Theolamor to the ground. With the death of her oldest and favorite child, Princess Kristyn at the hand of Theolamor, it was impossible for her to make peace with them. She could not forgive. The hatred was simply too great. She could not imagine herself with talks of peace with an enemy she found so despicable. What made it worst was that with the loss of control over the ruins in the near future, it was only matter of few generations before the economic and possibly military discovery from the ruins crushes her kingdom. The gains Theolamor will make, it was impossible for them to not take advantage. It was even very possible that in the future, Theolamor would swallow up all of Stovkow as a nation. Will history judge me as an incompetent and the cause of Stovkow decline? Queen Gizala asked herself as she sat alone in the war room. During her life, because of her infamous anger and violence, Queen Gizala Kraseden drove away any potential consort, except for bootlickers which she despises. In her younger days, in anger, she burned to death more than her share of castle servants, where even now, all the servants walked on glass floor around her. And now, she sat alone by herself. There never was a man she found good enough for her. Or perhaps she chased them all way. With the reputation she developed from her rages, no sane man wanted to come near her. Her 3 children were begotten from flings in her younger days. When her Princess Kristyn died, in a fit of uncontrollable anger, she personally rage attacked the Theolemor forces at the ruins causing massive damage to them and nearly killing herself. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that her mana ran out her, bodyguards would not have been able to get near to pull Queen Gizala out to safety. Hence, also increasing her reputation as the Mad Queen Gizala. = = = Kyzdon, near Shator Keep. ¡°With our surprise attacks, and judging from the field, looks like the Margrave Kyzdon barely started to harvest. This is good news for us. It will take many months for any relief forces to arrive to save Kyzdon. But I still want scouts sent out incase of unexpected reinforcement for the Kyzdon.¡± Steward Caldrun said as he looked at everyone gathered inside the makeshift tent for the meeting. 5 captains of their respective commands and steward Caldrun to discussed their battle plans. ¡°Then it¡¯ll be a long siege.¡± Sir Vananbeir commented. Steward Caldrun nodding in acknowledgement. ¡°That it is. We¡¯ll maintain the encirclement of Shator Keep and force them to eat up their food supplies. My assessment is that we have atleast 2 months before anyone can mass up enough force and march on over to assist Kyzdon.¡± Looking at Sir Vananbeir again. ¡°Be Sure to destroy all the bridges while you''re out trampling the territory. Make it hard for any relief forces. It¡¯s not like we¡¯ll be trading with Stovkow in the near future so any functioning bridges will only help our enemy. All their earth mages are in the ruins and it¡¯s a long travel from there.¡± ¡°Understood Sir Caldrun. Any¡­¡± ¡°Urgent message for Sir Caldrun! Urgent message!¡± Someone outside shouted as the horse trotting come to a stop. The ruckus outside the tent cause the meeting to stop. And an exhausted rider, Sir Banderan, a junior knight everyone recognized burst into the tent holding a scroll in his hand. Reading the distraughtness of the young knight to indicate the urgency of the message, Sir Caldrun quickly received the scroll without question and read the content. His face quickly turned ashen. More he read worst his expression got. ¡°Sir Caldrun! What is it?¡± Steward Caldrun was so completely shocked that he could not talk, but simply froze in place. ¡°The Barons extermination army has been completely defeated.¡± Sir Banderan offered in distraught. ¡°And the Baron is presumed to have fallen in battle.¡± Then the senior knights irrupted in shock. ¡°What do we do now?¡± ¡°What about our plans?¡± ¡°Impossible!¡± They all exclaim in fear for the future. Coming back to his sense, smashing his fist on the table. ¡°Enough!¡± Steward Caldun shouted. ¡°This changes nothing. We follow the plans laid out by the Baron. We¡¯ve already crossed the point of no return. Either we achieve victory or we are all damned men.¡± He roared at the leaders of the rebellion with a defiant sneer. ¡°Who else know of the Baron¡¯s demise?¡± He ask Sir Banderan. ¡°Just the scout that brought the message, me, and Knight Captain Kalhaiden. Sir Caldrun.¡± Sir Banderan quickly replied. Steward looked around the leadership. ¡°Speak nothing of this. It will only affect the men''s moral. Sir Vananbier. I¡¯m leaving you in charge. Follow the plans. Sir Blankar will be vice commander. Don¡¯t forget your training when handling the Margrave, should he come out behind his walls. I¡¯m leaving for Castle Grannor now.¡± He sneered. ¡°I¡¯ll send words as I find out just what the hell is happening in the west. Remember, follow the Baron¡¯s plan. We follow his plan, that¡¯s how we honor him.¡± Making a fist and allowing the mana to flow out from his fist. ¡°And remember, Baron Myojhuk was strong, but he has half of my blood.¡± Then he release the mana to shoot out a strong gust of wind to remind them who he is as he looked at the captains with an angry sneer. Each captain acknowledge in their own way before Steward Caldrun quickly walked out the tent shouting for his horse and bodyguards. Madness! Steward Caldrun scream in his head. How could my nephew die. He was so damn powerful. Some new force in the frontier besides the goblin horde! We¡¯ve been raiding them for years. Surely, this unknown force must be hostile. This makes no sense. My own magic is only half as strong as my nephew¡¯s. Damn it all. So many thought ran through the Stewards mind as he rode out of the camp. Ch14 - Meetings and more meetings! Daldia Town. Lieutenant Reed had returned a full day ahead of schedule. In order to avoid unnecessary killings, he had made an on site commander¡¯s decision to withdraw early after the Hunt Master Malikai reported increased activities from the Myojhuk territory forces. He had captured and brought back 43 knights, 102 foot soldiers, 38 labor slaves and 8 comfort girls. Everyone of them hungry, dehydrated, and too exhausted to put up any resistance. Following morning, all the officers including Marquess Daldia, Steward Havington, and Hunt Master Malikai, crowded in for a major meeting inside the main audience room on the 1st floor of the now Marquess¡¯s Daldia¡¯s Mansion. As Spike walked in through the main door. Someone shouted. ¡°Attention!¡± for the room tocome to stand at attention. ¡°As you were.¡± Spike ordered. Then the men sat back on their field chairs with their notepads and other documents. When Spike took his seat in between the Major and the Marquess, Captain Allen stepped up to the front and took control over meeting. ¡° Good morning everyone! For the duration of the meeting, I¡¯ll be serving as the Chief of Staff.¡± Captain Allen announced. Then he looked at Spike, Major Jung, and Marquess Daldia. ¡°Any words before we start sirs?¡± ¡°No, Let''s get right to it. We have a lot to cover.¡± Major Jung replied. Quickly making eye contact with the 3 leaders and nodding. ¡°Very good sir.¡± Then he started. ¡°Then first on our agenda is the security of the borders with the Stovkow. The consensus of all the combat officers are that it is inevitable that we will eventually clash with whichever force comes out victorious in the east. In the short term, Myojhuk¡¯s forces are of no threat to us while they have the Stovkow Kingdom to deal with. There are 18 klicks of distance from Daldia town to the border, we plan to use the area for our training ground. This will allow our soldiersto learn the area intimately, in addition, to keeping an eye on the border as well as serve as a quick reactionary force to the border. We¡¯ll also turn our current Mark VIII position into a permanent outpost. By posting the Landships at the borders, there will be less pressure on the infantry to man the area. There by freeing up our infantry forces for hunting and security in the west. We¡¯ll keep our current forces make up of 1 platoon supporting both Landships for now. And rotate out the platoon each month so they don¡¯t become to complacent. Any questions?¡± ¡°Sir! On the topic of complacent, most of the soldiers are wondering what the expected time frame on when they will be hunting in the frontier and be relieved of prison guard duty?¡± Lieutenant Cornwell asked. ¡°That depends on how soon the Myojhuk leadership reacts.¡± Major Jung jumped in. ¡°We¡¯ve already sent an official message to them and they should have received it days ago. It really depends on how organized they are with their Baron dead. Because of their civil war, they will definitely want all their knightly forces back. It takes many years to train them so it¡¯s only matter of their reaction time and the length of negotiations. I¡¯m not to sure of their foot soldiers, but I suspect Myojhuk¡¯s new leadership may not be as interested in paying for their ransom. Does that answer your questions?¡± ¡°Yes sir. Thank you sir. I¡¯ll pass the info to the men.¡± Lieutenant Cornwell replied appreciatingly. ¡°Continuing on.¡± Said Captain Allen. ¡°As you all know, little by little, it¡¯s only a matter of time before we receive more reinforcement. So we will take this opportunity to build a proper base and future support group by quickly building and developing our civilian counterparts. We had initially planned to bring in both Birsk and Farengo population to speed up the development, but there has been a slight delay with their leadership. However, unexpected boon from capturing so many slave labor from the Baron¡¯s forces, our current labor shortage has been fixed.¡± Making eye contact with Captain Lee. ¡°Captain Lee with the Engineers will explain.¡± Captain Lee step up to the front to begin his briefing. ¡°To quickly meet Lord Phoenix¡¯s command, I¡¯ve dedicated Lieutenant Samuel and his 1st platoon to build the sewage system in the town. Lieutenant Hall¡¯s 2nd platoon is dedicated to building up Whitestone. Lieutenant Collins¡¯ 3rd platoon is tasked out to clearing out a 7 kilometers long road to the nearest former goblin cave from Trimmor, so we can start mining it. Lieutenant Henley¡¯s 4th is responsible forall the miscellaneous job. The slave labors have been equally divided amongst the 4 platoons. All the engineer platoons are giving on-the-job training to the slave labors as they work on the constructions. However, Sir.¡± Looking at Spike. ¡°I¡¯d like to recommend that we give them a promise of freedom after we build what we need. Slaves are generally unmotivated and you can¡¯t expect them to be loyal to us. And the promise of freedom would give them an incentive to work with proper motivation. Our current problem rises from the fact that our basic foundation is none existent. Once built, we shouldn¡¯t have labor shortage of this massive level. And truthfully sir, we don''t¡¯ need slaves. And I¡¯d rather not have personnel with questionable loyalty to have too much knowledge of our facilities.¡± ¡°I see. Your reason makes sense.¡± Spike spoke in approval. Does this mean the men generally dislike slavery and it¡¯s their way of slowly abolishing it? ¡°I also agree Sir.¡± Major Jung supported. Looking around. ¡°Is this the general consensus of the officers?¡± Spike asked. ¡°Sir, I think I speak for all the officers. We are a military force. Killers if you will. Not guard dogs for slavery.¡± Captain Wraeth spoke out. Looking thoughtful. ¡°Captain Wraeth. I also agree with your logic. Then let''s make thisa policy. Our government will not make slaves but if they are then give them a means to free themselves through their deeds.¡± Spike declared. The officers nodded in satisfaction. The town''s civilian officers watched on as this was their first time participating in such meeting. They observed everything to learn about how their new master conduct his business. To better understand. To clearly learn what is expected of them. Any surprises in the meeting, they kept to themselves for now. ¡°Moving on.¡± Captain Lee spoke. ¡°Daldia will be a major staging area for us. Therefore, we expect a massive population growth within a year and will continue for years to come. So we are planning to turn the current agro land surrounding the town into residential and everything inside the current wooden wall into government usage.¡± ¡°What!¡± the 3 town leadership exclaimed unable to control their surprise. Raising his eyebrows in surprise at Captain Lee Spike asked. ¡°Really? Why do you foresee it being that sever enough to turn the town upside down?¡± ¡°From experiences sir.¡± Captain Allen jumped in. ¡°The other frontier population will surely come to us for security and food when they hear about this safe haven you decided to create sir. Not to mention the escaping war refugees from the east once they also learn of this.¡± Giving Spike his full attention Captain Allen continue to inform. ¡°Think about it sir. We don''t conscript men for war. We definitely won''t allow any civilians to partaking in any battle. That¡¯s our pleasure and we are not going to give it up for anything. You just declared; even though you won''t outright abolish slavery, you also have no intention to enslave anyone, you even gave the current slaves a way to win their freedom through their deeds. And with our advanced knowledges other nations do not possess, your territories will be a holy land of human development compare to any other nations we currently know of. We expect flood of immigrations. Ah, and not to forget that there will be drastic reduction of infant deaths, fatality of the mothers during delivery, and increase in general public health level with our Doctor Simmons and his medical staffs here with us. Also, we are expecting many spies from many different organizations. So we need to turn the inner town into a government sector to manage and make it difficult for our secretes to fall into hostile hands. Sir!¡± ¡°I see.¡± Spike nodded in acknowledgement. He was really impressed with his officers foresight. He really felt lucky to have all their cheat ass knowledges plus their general education they all possessed. Worrying about feeding a large number of growing population, the concerned Marquess spoke. ¡°Then how will we feed the people in the long term, Captain?¡± Understanding the concerned Marquess. ¡°No need to worry about that Marquess Daldia. We will simply push out the farmland from the current location. We are planning for your territory to be at a self sufficient level for about 250,000 population level, once we are done. It will take a generation or two, maybe faster, but we will lay down the foundation now so thingswill be easier for us in the future.¡± The civilian officers were speechless at Captain Allen¡¯s declaration. They simply looked at him dumbfounded. Showing a knowing smile to the civilian officers, Captain Lee continued on. ¡°Bring the localized map up.¡± He ordered. 2 soldiers carrying a large flat chalk board looking thing, except it had many small papers drawing of a city map and surroundings nailed to the board. The map had a city expanding mostly southward with multiple rings of zones and districts indication. ¡°Marquess Daldia, this is tentatively what we are going to build for you and your descendants to administer for Lord Pheonix. The center will be a governing district, which includes your housing and other high level civilian officers. Next ring will be for our current citizens. Giving the original citizens of Daldia a preferential housing location seems to be the right thing to do. Considering they, most likely, will be the ones doing most of the work inside the center in the near future. And for flexibility, the other sections of the rings, as we build outward, each areas will be declared as people migrate to Daldia City. And finally, all the agricultural lands will be outside of this concrete¡­hmm, maybe stone wall we will be building for the city.¡±Captain Lee declared as he pointed out on the map. ¡°But until this wall is built, we will build a temporary wooden defense as we build outward. This long term construction project will also give a gainful employment to slaves who gain their freedom and to new immigrants.¡± ¡°How do you plan to pay the labors once they are freed? People have other needs and they can¡¯t just be paid with food and other supplies forever?¡± Do we have somesort of long term economic plans?¡± Spike asked. ¡°Sir!¡± Captain Allen spoke up. ¡°Once the road to our first mining operation has been built. I was planning to recommend Marquess Daldia be given authority to mint coinage with all the excessive amount of brass casing from our daily shooting practice. He can mint lower value coins until we find any silver and gold mines, if there are any in your territory. If not, we can just trade for them with other nations in the future. In anycase, Captain Lee is already drawing up plans on building a mintage. For the long term solution, we all believe in the free market. We¡¯ll just slap an anti-monopoly law then step back and let each individualsmake their own decisions.¡± ¡°Sir!¡± Captain Murphy with Logistic spoke out. ¡°We are at a civilization building stage. There is so much work to be had. For those who lack direction, they can work for those who have. Nobody should be hungry from lack of work for generations to come.¡± ¡°Hearing you say it, I agree with youCaptain.¡± Spike quickly though to himself before speaking again. ¡°This area hasn¡¯t even started their industrial revolution. Without any machinery to free up human labor, everyone should be busy as hell.¡± Nodding in appoval. ¡°Alright.¡± ¡°Also, even though it will be expensive, I would like to requisition about a 1024 metric ton of cement powdersir. We need it to build a proper sewage and drainage system for the center and housing district or we will end up constantly digging up the ground for repair. And Major Jung has ordered us to build a large armory.¡± Captain Lee spoke up as he looked at Major Jung. ¡°That¡¯s correct." Said the Major. "We currently have more guns than men. And I expect this will become the norm in the future. Also, as Daldiabecomes a city and the territory becomes more civilized, I don¡¯t want our men carrying around anything bigger than a dagger or a bayonet, or maybe a sword off duty. Having our men getting robbed of their weapons in their sleep and getting set up for mugging for our weapons is something I foresee in the future. So for better security, I want our weapons and munitions under concrete armory, not wooden cabin.¡±The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°What¡¯s the price tag on the concrete?¡± Spike asked nodding his head in agreement. ¡°340RP sir. Once we locate the right resources, in the future, we will produce them locally.¡± Captain Lee replied. ¡°10% cost reduction from Engineer request, and another 5% from Logistics processing them willsaves us 60RP, Sir.¡± ¡°Might I ask what this RP is my lord?¡± Steward Havington asked. ¡°Simply think of it as a limitation on resources we can summon Steward Havington.¡± Major Jung quickly replied. Spike glanced at the Major to see how much information he would share. But the Major quickly added with a reassuring smile. ¡°You don¡¯t want to know anymore than that Steward. It¡¯s not that we don''t¡¯ trust you. Because we do trust you. That¡¯s why you are in this meeting with us. But, it¡¯s for your protection that you don''t know the process.¡± ¡°Understood. Thank you Major.¡± Steward Havington replied appreciatively and satisfied with the answer. ¡°Speaking of concrete. I know that we need steel to make reinforced concrete for the armory. What is the estimated time for the road to the mines to be completed Captain Lee.¡± Spike asked. ¡°Sir. If you¡¯re asking because of your concern about our iron supply, we currently have more then enough metal from the war loot to make the reinforced armory. As a mater of fact, the small foundary we put togather should be in operation within a few days to process them. As for the mine. With a single engineer platoon, 100 horses, and 250 slave labors, judging from last 2 day of our work, we are on average making 100 meters a day progress. Distance of 7km. It won''t be a straight line. So a little over 3 months, Sir.¡± Captain Lee replied. Nodding. ¡°Also, I notice the town''s expansion is pushing south, and the drawings are different for the north. What are those marking on the northern part of the map?¡± Spike asked again. ¡°That... is a dam sir. Increase in population will require more clean water, so we plan to create a water reservoir on the north side. The valley we came down is actually a good location for one. And once we get a better look at the terrain later on, I will draw up a better map with more detail, Sir.¡± Captain Lee answered. Captain Allen stood back up to the front. ¡°And to support our security needs, Captain Wreath¡¯s Alpha Company will take over guarding all the POWs until we successfully ransom them back to Myojhuk. Captain Pearson¡¯s Company will be responsible for all security, including the work forces outside of the town. Especially for Lieutenant Collin¡¯s road construction team.¡± Rest of the meeting went more into details and break down of the town''s development and expansion until lunch break. The lunch was a buffet of sandwich, slices of meat with wine to wash it all down. The officers were holding their plates full of food as they moved around individually to independent small group discussions. ¡°Hey Stein. Can you loan me a team of your flamethrowers? I think the road construction will go a little faster with your boys burning away all the extra foliage as we chop down the trees.¡± Lieutenant Collins asked Lieutenant Stein. ¡°Sure thing Collins. I was actually wondering how to keep my minions busy.¡± Lieutenant Stein replied happily. ¡°Major doesn¡¯t really like the idea of us running around in the forest, fearing me and my minions would cause a major forest fire.¡± With that, their little group burst out in laughter. = = = Whitestone. That same afternoon, LTC Simmons, Major Jung, 2 infantry Captains, Captain Allen, and Spike held another meeting inside the officer''s tent. ¡°Are you absolutely sure about this Doctor?¡± Major Jung ask in shock but also very happywith the medical news. ¡°I am. We checked multiple times. Our men simply do not get sick. We recover from poison at a very fast rate. I would need to conduct more testing on this but, my suspicion is telling me, we may even be immune to disease in general. Our healing speed is just supernaturally fast compare to our old world. Even compare to the humans in this world. We compared our injured soldiers with the injured POWs. I can say with 100% confidence that the humans in this world are no different than from our old world. It¡¯s just that we ourselves are little different.¡± DoctorSimmons informed. Then he added. ¡°Down side of this is that booze are not as effective on us as normal. That includes any alcohol related medications. So our men end up consuming more than their fair share." ¡°This is just an amazing news!¡± Astonished, Captain Pearson spoke. ¡°This means we have less things to worry about. However, the part about the booze is a goddamn Greek Tragedy.¡± Looking upset. ¡°And all this time the men thought Lord Phoenix was giving them a waterdown liquor. So¡­ do we need to double our booze ration?¡± He asked, looking at Major Jung almost expectantly. Amused at Captain Pearson¡¯s last comment, Major Jung chuckled as he replied. ¡°No, lets leave our ration system as is for now. No need to fix something that isn¡¯t broken.¡± Turning to face LTC Simmons. ¡°And good call on keeping this topic out of the regular meeting sir. Our civilian counterparts would starts to treat us as superior beings if this information were to get out. And that''s the last thing we need.¡± ¡°Meh. I¡¯m a doctor, not a politician. It¡¯s not my job to inform the general public of unrelated medical informations. That¡¯s the leadership''s job. And I¡¯ve done my job.¡± LTC said as he looked at both Spike and Major Jung with a satisfaction look. ¡°Anything else to add Doctor?¡± Major Jung asked. ¡°Yes I do. Many of the pleasure girls have STD, so it¡¯s¡­¡± ¡°What!¡± Captain Allen bolted up and shouted in Panic. ¡°What the hell Doc. You can¡¯t be serious?¡± He asked almost in tears as he reflexively reached for his family jewel with a horrified look on his face. Judging by his reaction, everyone more or less guessed where this wasleading to. ¡°Well, well, well. So the rumors are true. You¡¯ve been hanging out with them wild girls, after all.¡± Captain Pearson said will chuckling. Then the other captains who were silent joined in on the laugh. ¡°What the!¡± Spike blurted out. ¡°Didn¡¯t I say no marriage, no touchy, Captain.¡± Looking displeased at Captain Allen. Coming back to his sense. ¡°Sir! I have every intention to obey your order. I¡¯m already supporting them with my personal rations.¡± Captain Allen declared even as he looked a bit unsettle about the STD. ¡°Wait! What!¡± Spike said in surprised. ¡°What the hell do you mean by ¡®them¡¯?¡± Getting full control of himself, Captain Allen explained without any shame and unapologetically. ¡°Ah, well sir. I was a bit bored. So I decided to be proactive and help out with the management of the extra personals. But all the POWs are more or less locked up building their POW camp. The slave labors are all under Captain Lee¡¯s command. So that only left the pleasure girls. While managing their works, I noticed the girls formingup into different factions. And I noticed some of these faction leaders were very vile to each other. So as a general public service to all the decent girls, I decided to take the most vile creature off the market. It just so happens that the more beauty a woman has, they tend to be more insecure and crazy, that¡¯s all.¡± ¡°Guh.¡± The late middle age Doctor Simmons commented looking very amused at Captain Allen. ¡°I¡¯m so glad I got summoned with my current physical age. Having to go through that wild hormonal age again would be hell on my intellectual well being.¡± Then he broke out in laughter. Looking crossed at LTC Simmons, Captain Allen said. ¡°Sir. Saying it like that is just plain mean!¡± Making LTC laugh harder. ¡°So. How many, Captain?¡± Spike asked out of reflex. ¡°3. Sir!¡± He promptly replied. ¡°Wow¡­ So¡­ Isn¡¯t, like, polygamy, like illegal?¡± Spike asked with mixture of shock, curious, disapprovingly, and maybe a little envious of the Captain. ¡°No sir. Not unless you make it so for your territory. This is a different world. And marriage in this world is more for political elites for forming alliance. The common man and women simply make a public declaration of their relationship. It¡¯s even a women¡¯s logic that if a rich man only has 1 women, then the said women is being selfish to keep all of his wealth for herself, especially in this age of scarcity.¡± Captain Allen informed. ¡°Huu¡­ That¡¯s an interesting information about local marriage.¡± Major Jung commented without expression. ¡°I¡¯m assuming you asked around during your spare time.¡± ¡°Yes sir. I asked around. Sir!¡± Captain Allen replied with a straight face, leaving out the part about spare time. Looking at Captain Allen. ¡°You¡¯re in command of the cavalry troopers from this moment on Captain Allen. Congratulation!¡± Major Jung spoke nonchalantly. ¡°Now. Getting back on track.¡± Turning back to LTC Simmons. ¡°What¡¯s the solution to this STD problem Doctor?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to need specialized medical equipment for bio-analysis and a micro factory to produce medications that hasn¡¯t been discovered. Most of all, I will need a specialized NBC Doctor. But STDs are generally curable within 2-3 years at the latest, most often much sooner. This is going to be another expensive purchase, Sir.¡± LTC looked at Spike with his last sentence. ¡°We¡¯ll have everyone tested and identified. So everyone will be conscious and aware of the danger. And who not to screw around with¡± ¡°Well.¡± Spike spoke looking disappointed. ¡°I suppose this is something necessary. Even I understand why nations of our oldworld have disease control division in their civilian and military departments. I suppose it¡¯s better we build a support for this now then laters with our pants down. Send me the requisition once you figure out what you need.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± LTC Simmons replied. And looked at Captain Allen with a mocking face. ¡°Be sure to bring by your women for testing Captain.¡± ¡°Yes sir!¡± Captain Allen promptly replied miserably. ¡°So. Do we need to do anything about this marriage thing?¡± Spike asked as he looked around the officers for advice. ¡°Sir!¡± Captain Allen quickly spoke up. ¡°I probably lost credibility to even speak about this, but we should not temper with it. It¡¯s not our business how people choose their partners. As long as they are not killing, stealing, or hurting others. We should let the civilian officers handle this. It¡¯s their world. We shouldn¡¯t waste our energy on this. We should take care of only our military needs unless it becomes a problem. Besides, it¡¯s not like our old world went to shit because of polygamy and polyandry.¡± ¡°I agree with our promiscuous captain here.¡± Major Jung supported. ¡°It¡¯s not our place to shove our value onto other people just to satisfies our own moral value. After all, morals can change from culture to cultures. And¡­ most importantly, we are here as killers and we aren¡¯t so good and clean ourselves. We have no right to force them to change their culture.¡± Giving Spike a hard look. ¡°Sir. Lets just focus on our duty as military and defending our new people from foreign power and killing inhumanoids and monsters for humanity.¡± ¡°OK!¡± Spike quickly replied in agreement as he didn''t want to talk about this issue anymore. = = = Daldia Town. After the meeting, in the late evening, the 3 Daldia leadership held their own meeting in Marquess''s study room. ¡°It seems our new master is planning to expand into this territory. They bluntly said they will use this area as a staging point. Now we know for sure.¡± Marquess Daldia said. ¡°And what is this their ¡®pleasure to kill¡¯. They are a frightening people.¡± Looking at his trusted men. ¡°What are your thoughts Lord Havington, Hunt Master Malikai?¡± ¡°With their military might, I think it was very obvious from the start that they would lay claims to this land.¡± Steward Havington said. ¡°Even as they talk of their privilege of killing. From the way they treat non combatant. And their talk of hunting. My instinct tells me that they are more of a predator looking for worthy games, than psychotic killers.¡± Hunt Master Malikai spoke. Both Marquess and Steward ponder the Hunt Masters words. ¡°I¡¯m a hunter, my lord. I care about actions more than words that may or may not be true. They have yet to rape any of the pleasure slaves, nor senselessly tortured any prisoners besides that one scout for interrogation. I¡¯ve yet to witness any of their men looting for personal gains. It¡¯s as if worldly wealth has very little meaning to them.¡± Hunt Master added. ¡°And they don¡¯t seem very interested in invading the eastern kingdom. But they are hungry to hunt inside the frontier.¡± Then the 3 men became silent in their own thoughts. Even though many of the policies so far has been initiated by the military officers, Lord Phoenix approves them. And the level of support to the town and authority given to the Marquess is simplyunheard of for a newly ennobled. Also the trust and confidence shown to them. But yet, the Phoenixians have yet to share where they come from nor how they are summoning men and resources. Hunt Master had personally witnessed Lord Phoenix summon healer Simmons and his healing equipments to heal hunter Rikko, leaving them more mystified. Then the Marquess broke the silence. ¡°Then let''s support their aim in fighting and taming the frontier, and keep the peace withthe east.¡± Pausing. ¡°In any case, those greedy fools at Birsk and Farongo. From the lack of response to my last message to them I¡¯m assuming the mayors have yet to inform their people of our immigration policy.¡± Looking both of his trusted lieutenants. ¡°Use your connections with the hunters and others you know of, and get the message directly to the people. It¡¯s simply derelict of duty to put the people under unnecessary danger for such selfish gain. With such large movement of the goblins, I feel that the frontier has gotten much more dangerous than we realise. But most of all, we are the free people of the frontier. Not some bargaining chips for fools!¡± ¡°Yes Marquess.¡± Both men replied. ¡°Then let''s end it for tonight. My bones are aching from the long day.¡± Marquess Daldia said. After he was left alone in his study, he wondered if he should have told them about his family¡¯s past. He didn¡¯t want to lie, or withhold informations, especially after directly questioned by Lord Phoenix. But Marquess Daldia pounder his action. Was it correct to bring out his past or should he have kept it buried forever. Being called Marquess Karan Honhanzor sounded like a stranger''s name. A name he hasnever been known as and never been called by. But most all, after Major Jung informed him to expect it in the future, he wondered if he has unintentionally brought troubles to his people in the future. = = = Whitestone Before going to sleep, Spike meditated to reflect today''s activity. Something he started to help himstabilize his emotions and help focus his mind. Replaying the day¡¯s activity also helped him be more aware of himself. ¡°Hey Silhouette. Did you do something to me? Spike asked. ¡°Of Course I did. I brought you into this world.¡± ¡°Please. Seriously. Did you do something to me? By now, I should have seen signs of PTSD or some other disorder beside feeling extra emotional. Spike asked in almost in demanding tone. ¡°If you are asking because of your unhappiness about killing those civilian men and women. You shouldn¡¯t. Only thing I did was bring you into this world and let your soul flow to dictate what powers you would be seeded with. I summoned your body to accept your soul and your soul did the rest. ¡°Then why am I able to adapt so quickly to this world? ¡°You are much more stronger then you realize Spike Phoenix. When your friend died in your arms as he bleed to death. When you took a stand against your mother to save your siblings. When you made the difficult decision to change your life by joining ROTC. When you made a decision to work under the table to make some money to feed your siblings even as you broke your civilization¡¯s law disapproving child labor. Living in a community where drive by shooting and drug wars are the norm. Should I keep going?...You are more adaptable than you realize. You give me more credit then I deserve. All the decisions you have made to be strong for the onesyou love, has made you strong. Even now, you are fighting for the lost souls and the local frontier people. Your small emotional spike are simply, your soul is adjusting into your new body. Which normally takes many months, but you are filling into it nicely. After so much praises from the Silhouette, Spike couldn¡¯t find it in himself to ask anything else. And simply reflected in her words and self reflected on himself, on his actions, and the whys. Ch15 - Too much veggie in the frontier. Frontier Spike felt lucky as hell as he watched his men sweat even during the mid autumn weather. His new Assassin MK3 airtight body armor with a layer of temperature regulating insulator saved him from his men¡¯s faith. He felt terrible just watching them. And Lieutenant Moore wearing his hand me down Spartan 3 armor looked even worse with all the extra weight. His new full body armor was only little heavier then fully optimized Spartan 3 armor with bullet proof plates that he changed out of. The external plates were so light Spike could hardly feel the difference in weight. There were different camouflage webbing to cover up the body armor for different environment. The form fitting helmet had all internal visual aids such as electronic Bino, IR, Night vision, and targeting optic system attach to any weapons. You could even call in laser precision airstrike with all included communication system, currently completely useless with its communication system. It even had audio filters with mic and micro external speaker. The only drawback was the 2 5kg rechargeable 1cm thick 2cm wide 9cm long power pack modules shaped into the lower shoulder blade area. Each batteries were designed to last 24 hours at full capacity. And the new backpack was designed to rest around it. The external super alloy armor has been tested to stop up to 7.62mm non-armor piercing round. But unfortunately the joints are only covered with flexible reinforced fibro alloy only strong enough to stop small pistols. But another layer of pierce resistance cloths were added underneath the fibro alloy. In addition, a micro EKG to monitor the heart at all time while wearing the insert layer. In total, the armor weighted 20gk. Add in his weapons, water, and tactical gears. Spike was glad, that while back, he added 2 points each to his strength and constitution to help out. Or he would be in a sorry state. Just when he was wondering wether to be happy with his new armor or unhappy with having to hump all the extra weights. Alarms were raised as both scouts Grigor and Sodie came running back shouting to the break area. As both scouts burst into visual range, ¡°Goblin riders!¡± They shouted as they got into the center of the platoon. Looking at the direction the 2 scout come from, they could only see up to 10 meters at best. ¡°Fuck!¡± Spike cursed in silent frustration as a realization hit him. Looking at the density of the vegetation the enemies will again be near melee range before they can even see them. Even with an upgrade of weapons, the very fact that they can''t see the enemy until near melee range was a real pain in the ass that nobody has yet to come up with a solution. Everyone quickly reacted into defensive position. Nobody wanted to feed the wild life with their body parts. Lieutenant Moore, just as frustrated made a quick decision. ¡°1st and 2nd squad SAW gunners, line up and spray the whole goddamn area facing the direction of the noise. Trench gunners, stand by the SAW for support.¡± He ordered. Spike, followed by his bodyguard team quickly positioned between the 2 squads. Squad leaders quickly position each SAW position for maximum effect. Each SAW gunners fired off an entire 200 round ammo drum under 30 seconds. Rain of bullets shredded leaves and branches increasing the visibility in patches of the area. While they reloaded Lieutenant Moore shouted for cease fire trying to listen for any effect on the unseen enemy. Everyone became silent trying to listen for any wounded enemies. But with their hearing slightly impaired from the machines guns sound they had to rely more on their visual. Even with sounds being dampened from the thick vegetation and ringing in their ears they could still hears some animalistic cry of pain coming from near their front. Spike quickly checked his EXP and sure enough it increased by 770 points. ¡°I scored some points LT.¡± He quickly informed Lieutenant Moore. Damn! They still got that close. Lieutenant Moore cursed. ¡°Again! Spread out the firing arc this time. Fire at will.¡± He quickly ordered. ¡°3rd, left flack. 4th right flack. Keep your eyes open. Again, the same SAW gunners opened fire, but his time, they increased their firing arc from left to right. Unloading rain of bullets shredding parts of the forest and killing or wounding any hostile forces in the way of their random paths of bullets. And again they quickly reloaded and waited farther order from LT as he called for cease fire. Spike checked his EXP again to note an increase of 980. ¡°Scored again LT.¡± He informed. Holding their position they waited in silence for another 5min. Then Lieutenant Moore decided the enemy must have retreated if they are able to. Only thing they could hear were whimpering from the giant wolves the scouts had identified as worgs and it¡¯s goblin riders. ¡°Each squad move up in team wedge formation. Stay within visual from each squad. You all know the MO when finding wounded enemies.¡± Lieutenant Moore gave out his order. The 2 scouts move up with LT while Spike had his bodyguard team. In an orderly march, everyone moved up to check the work of 3600 rain of bullets fired off in little over a minutes time. Each squad called out wounded worgs and their goblin riders for Spike to do the dirty deeds to maximize the points scored. ¡°This is just terrible.¡± Sodie commented as he looked at the bleeding worgs with multiple bullet holes on their bodys. ¡°Why is that scout Sodie?¡± LT asked curiously. ¡°Even though it¡¯s annoying as hell firing blindly, we still won this fight without taking any casualty.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not it Lieutenant. The furs, Sir. The worgs have too many holes on them. It¡¯s completely ruined.¡± Scout Sodie lamented in distraught. Having lived so long under scarcity in resource and food and seeing all the game go to waste gripped his heart. ¡°Huh?¡± LT decide to say nothing more, as he heard scout Sodie muttering loudly about taking the meat back. There is no way he was having his men carry back any bloody meat in addition to all their gears. It wasn¡¯t like they need the meat with Lord Phoenix¡¯s ability. Spike ended up executing 8 goblins and 5 worgs during the search. Netting him an additional 2400 exp and sum of 64RP. In total, there were 14 Warg with 14 goblin riders corpse. Some of the worg looked a little larger just as their goblin riders looked slightly different. This braught him closer up to next level. Noting the easy kills. ¡°Scout Grigor. Scout Sodie. Do you think you can track where they came from?¡± LT ask them. ¡°Between the 2 of us, most likely sir. But it would be far too dangerous to go in too deep. There are bigger and meaner things and some that can use magic.¡± Scout Grigor advised. ¡°I don¡¯t think we will loss any fights, but as for not losing any men, is a different story. Maybe if we had 3 times the men. Having more men with your weapons will reduce larger casualty in my opinion.¡± Scout Grigor said as he thought about their range weapons. ¡°Damn. Ok. Then, let''s not push it. Why don¡¯t you find us a good ambush site instead. We still have 1 more day of hunting. If we use these corpse as baits, I think we can set up a good ambush site.¡± LT ordered as he thought about how to set up a good crossfire ambush. ¡°As you command Lieutenant.¡± Scout Grigor replied. Spike quickly handed out ammo drums to the SAW gunners to refill their loadouts, but as he did a mental count of the ammos, he thought 4200 bullets to kill 28 critters was just terrible. But, at the same time, it was better than men dying or losing limbs. And having to deal with this dense ass forest made their weapons not as effective when enemies can practically come up almost within melee range before they know it. What made it worse was that, beside Spike and LT, not everybody had body armor to protect them in melee. If the men were unable to quickly kill their target before being attacked in melee, the casualty rate would be horrendous. As Spike looked at his men without any armor, he realize they must find a solution to this. Or they may succumb to attrition with large number of amputees. The SAWs helped out alot, but still. Not being able to see anything past 5-10 meters is hell. There must a solution to this! Spike thought to himself. He also realized that unrestricted spending of ammo is not a problem with the freelance platoon with his presence, but the other unit¡¯s don¡¯t have the same luxury for unlimited combat resupply. Then all the brass lying about distracted his thoughts. Damn. all this money scattered. One day, when this area gets civilized, someone will find this jackpot. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Everyone accounted for and ready to move out LT.¡± Sergeant Rector reported. With Sergeant Rector¡¯s ready report, ¡°1st Squad. Both team move out with the 1 scout each. Don¡¯t forget your on OJT. Sergeant Miller. Lead the way to our ambush site and do an area recon.¡± Lieutenant Moore ordered. ¡°Yes sir.¡± Sergeant Miller order his 2 fireteam to follow and learn from the scouts as they moved towards finding a good ambush site. As the scouts moved, they called out what they were looking for and what to watch for. But the biggest difficulties arose from the fact humans did not possess the demi-humen¡¯s natural physical advantages such as smell, hearing, sight, and physical attribute. But the Phoenixian soldiers noted the difference and did their best to pick up what was taught to them little by little. And the men understood the importance of mastering these new skills or they will be monster food. As Spike followed, He hoped to scoreanother 876 EXPto level up. He still haven¡¯t replace Sergeant White and Private Smith from lack of personnel slot. But, they absolutely need more combat power. = = = Ruins As Countess Margo Xibgiston looked at the enemy defenses, she felt the enemy presence was off. As Stovkow enemy forces were dug in behind their positions, there was no way she could verify until the battle reveal what she suspect. Sitting on her warhorse in her field plate armor, Countess Xibgiston commanded her slave element to assault the Stovkow lines. Again, she observed her slave soldiers die as they are smashed into by projectile launched from behind the Stovkow¡¯s dug out positions which was a long line of dirt mound wall. And on the other side was a 2 meter or more drop to trap knightly forces. Judging from the number of the projectile, arc, and the size of the rock, from experiences, she figured the enemy had 4 mangonel catapult. The lightly armored with only a spear for a weapon, the slave soldier¡¯s deaths raised no concern to her. They were just that, expendable cannon fodders. With commoner''s difficult life, many turned to crime to survive. Therefor, it¡¯s easy to replace these criminals. For this battle, Countess Margo Xebgiston commanded 200 slave soldier as cannon fodder. With the hard point wooden spike set up as a barricade, charging in with her knights would not be prudent. On the third volley, right as the 5kg rock impacted, with her 2 bodyguard on each flank, Countess bolted onto the battle ground pushing her warhorse for greater speed. Not wanting to make it easier on the enemy archers and javelin throwers that may be hidden farther behind the dirt wall, she stopped at about 25 meters from the first wooden barricade. Then she cast her magic, blasting a cone of flame 75 meter long and 25 meter wide at the end of the flame on the wooden barricade incinerating the wooden obstructions into ash all the way up the dirt wall. Then she hastily made a retreat out of the catapults range before the catapult reloaded. It¡¯s not that she was to afraid of the catapult¡¯s aim. But the thought of dying to a conventional weapon was to shameful. She repeated this pattern once more to make another pathway for her regular foot soldiers to move up. Casting siege level magic is mana intensive. Knowing she could only do this 6 more time, and needing to save her mana for enemy mages, she ordered the slave element up as fodder for the catapult. On que, the foot soldiers readied behind them. As she watched her units move up, she wondered why there were no enemy archers in sight. There were always a few archers behind the enemy positions to take cheap pot shots at mages that came to close. An obvious generous reward for killing or even heavily wounding an enemy mages is a temptation very few could let go. Especially if done behind the safety of their defensive position. With the last shot from the catapult. ¡°Now charge! Quickly, before they reload.¡± Countess Xebgiston shouted. Behind the catapult range, she watch her regular foot soldier come up behind the slaves to assault through the opening she created. As they go up to the top of the dirt wall, the her soldiers fell back dead or wounded from the arrows sticking out in front of their body. As more of her foot soldiers moved up in their chainmail and large shields, ready to throw their javelin in volley fire. But they were quickly thrown up into the air and landing hard on the other foot soldiers behind them. Then followed by a volley of arrows on the 2 corridor she opened up. That¡¯s the signal the Countess has been waiting for. Sir Randel Covon. The Countess automatically thought to herself even as she could not see the mage on the other side of the dirt wall. Even as her regular foot soldier broke through onto the other side, more of them were thrown up into the air to get severely insured or die from landing on sharp objects. Before she got up to the dirt wall, the battle had already ended as no enemies were found on the walls. The Countess could see the enemy were already far away in total retreat and all the catapult were on fire. Just what is going on here. Sir Randel only stayed behind to buy enough time to retreat! Countess Xebgiston was completely surprised to see the Stovkow abandon their long held defensive line. This battle being so easy that she had uneasy feelings of enemy traps. she order the assault to hold their position. There was no way she was going to send her knight force on the other side of the defensive line to get cut off and fall to their trickery. = = = Ruins, Theolemore side. ¡°Captain General Lucint!¡± Countess Margo called out as she entered the command tent. ¡°I¡¯m here to make my report.¡± See the other officers, she quietly approached the large war table with maps of the area surrounded by other captains. The Countess could feel the excitement as she walked toward the war table. A feeling of change in the air. Captain General Lucint simply glanced at her and waved her over as the surrounding officer stood quietly while their general processed all the informations just givin to him. Then looking up from the map making eye contact with Countess Margo, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me. The Stovkows had pulled back to their rear fortifications and are digging farther in?¡± Captain General said. ¡°That is correct General.¡± The Countess said with some what surprise tone as she look at the other captain. ¡°I take it the other sectors are the same.¡± ¡°That, they are Countess. And some captains have taken some heavy losses from trap and ambushes laid out by the Stovkow¡¯s.¡± The General replied. ¡°Looks like they don''t want to give up the ruins yet, but simply saving their strength for the future. It appears they know that we know there is a rebellion in progress in their southwest. With this we will be controlling the ruins in the near future, but I suspect the Stovkows have plans to continuously harass the dig. Which means, the Ruins borders have been redrawn for now. We just need to dig into the new line. But I doubt they¡¯ll make it easier for us. They will attack our men while they are exposed during the construction of the new defense line. Soon the ground will freeze making our men¡¯s life hell digging in. And any loss on the manpower will have long term reprecaution as we are short on labors. My assessment is that Stovkow¡¯s new strategy is to buy as much time as possible to delay any discovery and development from the ruins.¡± Captain General Lucint concluded as he showed a deep concentrating expression. ¡°What are you orders General?¡± Captain Quintos Kyrouv, 3rd son of Count Yovon Kyrouv asked. A young captain in his late 20¡¯s with strong features looking for merits. Gently tapping the map table with his fist. ¡°Part of me wants to assault the fortification and break through, but that would be suicidal for many of our men.¡± Everyone understood that both side have been fortifying their secondary line for years. And the fact that their secondary fortification is much more formidable. ¡°Not only that, they must surely have more traps and ambushes set up to make us pay for each and every step we take.¡± Pausing in thought. ¡°Our orders have always been to gain control of the ruins, not invading Stovkow. Once we are able to exploit the discovery in the ruins, it¡¯s only a matter of time before we crush the Stovkow economically.¡± Most of the officers voiced their agreement to the General assessment. ¡°General. If we know they are just waiting for our people to be exposed while laboring. Then, instead of spreading out, why don¡¯t we just focus on few locations. We¡¯ve waited for over a decade to gain control of the ruins. There is no need for us to rush in.¡± Countess Margo Xebgiston said ¡°That was what I was thinking to do. Sigh! Looking at the map, there is no single location that¡¯s better then another after all these years of conflict.¡± The battle lines have been well established after so many years. Even the terrains have been changed by the earth mages on both sides in an attempt to deny each other any benefit in the contested land. ¡°Given the current lack of any location advantage, let''s focus on a single point and build up our forward fortification, here!¡± Captain General Lucint pointed exact center mass of the defensive line. ¡°This way we¡¯ll have more flexibility on which direction to fortify after. With the retreating Stovkow forces. I don¡¯t think we need to rush out and put our men under unnecessary risk.¡± Thinking about the coming winter. ¡°We don¡¯t have much time before the ground freezes. Even with our reinforcement arriving soon, it doesn¡¯t change the fact that the difficulty of building a new defensive line will be delayed. So, I want you all to keep the pressure on the enemy. Wear them down.¡± Every acknowledged their general in unison. ¡°Countess Xebgiston. Send for Sir Tomin Enthuzk. We¡¯ll need his earth magic to speed up the construction.¡± Captain General Lucint ordered. ¡°In addition, I want half of your mages to protect our new forward position during construction.¡± = = = Myojhuk, Castle Grannor Steward Caldrun had been riding non-stop for a day and a half. The anguish of losing his only nephew, the last of his blood relative to the frontier was bitter taste that drove him. Upon his arrival, he called for the scout to question him in person. But the scout had proved no new information. The only thing he concluded from what little the scout knew, the frontier had a foreign army and they were powerful. Having dismissed the scout after questioning him and insuring he understood the need for silence, only 3 men were left in the private office of the former Baron. Steward Caldrun still in his armor, Knight Captain Sir Kalhaiden, and Mister Tisco. Sir Kalhaiden gave his report. ¡°My scouts have reported strange type of tracks on the road near the frontier. None of them have any idea what could have left these tracks. But I¡¯ve giving very explicit order not to cross the border. I¡¯ve also placed several hundred footmen and knight force near the border to keep any eye out for any signs of invasion, but they have yet to report any activity.¡± he concluded. ¡°And that¡¯s all you have?¡± Steward Caldrun questioned him disappointed. ¡°I had thought to send the scouts into the frontier, but I felt in my better judgement it would not be prudent Sir Caldrun.¡± Sir Kalhaiden explained. ¡°With so many refugees coming in and everyone busy organizing and building, I felt minimizing any potential conflict was of priority until I receive order from my higher.¡± ¡°Sigh! No. I suppose you are not wrong.¡± Steward Caldrun replied calmly and under controlled tone. An experienced man of many conflicts, he knew when to control his anger and frustration. Looking at Mister Tisco, long dark brunette hair man in his 30¡¯s with a clean shaved looked, he returned Steward Caldrun¡¯s look with his unreadable green eyes. ¡°I¡¯m assuming you called me in because you have some sort of plans for me my lord?¡± ¡°That I do Mister Tisco. Also, I¡¯m not your lord.¡± Steward Caldrun replied with mixed emotion. ¡°I beg to differ My Lord. With the Baron most likely deceased from the official letter, and his younger brother''s disappearance. You are next in line My Lord.¡± Mister Tisco replied. He looked at the Steward Caldrun in the eyes knowing that he was given the mission by steward himself to make sure Byran Myojhuk, the younger half brother disappeared for forever. Intellectually, Steward Caldrun understood what Mister Tisco was implying. With their current situation, the proper chain of command must be maintained at all cost. Or chaos may erupt and disastermay follow as their organization fracture into factions and be destroyed by the avenging Stovkow Army. Knowing this Steward Caldrun could not out right deny it. And understand in the need for a quick resolve, he simply nodded at both men in presence. ¡°So be it!¡± Steward acknowledge. Understanding that should his nephew be found alive, then he would simply hand over the leadership back to him. ¡°And as for theplan I have for you Mister Tisco, I want you to lead the merchant representive group into the frontier as our negotiator. The letter indicates that our men are held prisoners for ransom. So the survivors must know exactly what happened. At least we need some of our men released to find out just what is going on in the frontier. Also, since we no longer need to hide things from the Stovkows, you¡¯ll no longer serve as the pimp master to funnel funds. I want you to head our new Merchants and Crafters guild for all of our territory. I¡¯m sure you knew this was coming and already have men you¡¯ve been grooming. Do what you have to make it happen. But do it after you serve your missionas our negotiator. ¡°As you will My Lord!¡± Mister Tisco bowed in respect. Looking at Mister Tisco. ¡°Once you have achieve these missions, your position in the Senate will be confirmed. Make preparation for depart to the frontier at first light tomorrow. And if possible, bring my nephew''s body back with you if he is truly dead.¡± Ch16 - .............. Frontier border, Phoenix outpost. As a precaution, 50 knights had escorted Tisco to the frontier border. Now leaving behind his escort with his single wagon drawn by 2 horses, with his aid Kallen and 2 guardsman in leather armor slowly made their way. Not even a kilometer from the border, Tisco observed men dressing in strange uniform behind strange defensive position on both side of the road, built from stacks of logs. As he slowly approached their position, he saw 2 strange metal building on both side of the road that were mostly hidden within the woodline. He could easily see that there were strange barrels sticking out of the metal structure. There were even strange style of large tents set up 10 meters down the road. As he cautiously approached, Tisco didn¡¯t see any obvious weapons except for their strange looking stave which he was sure of it being some sort of weapon. Then one of the men walked up to him to the side. He raised he hand signaling him to stop. ¡°Halt! What business do you have with the frontier stranger?¡± The soldier asked. Slowly pulling out an official sealed letter from now promoted Lord Caldrun, with a pleasant smile, Tisco spoke loud and clear. ¡°Good sir. My name is Tisco. I¡¯m the merchant representive sent by Castle Grannor of Myojhuk to negotiate the terms of release for the prisoners.¡± Looking at the scroll, then looking back up. ¡°About time someone from Myojhuk showed up.¡± Lieutenant Allen said. = = = Frontier wilderness. After 3 days of hunting, the freelance platoon were on the road marching past Trimmor. The platoon on both side of the road leisurely marched on. Odd number squad on the right side and even number squad on the left side. This morning, their ambush had been much more successful than they had initially expected. A large hunting party of Kobalds identified by the scouts had come to investigate the scattered corpse of the goblins and worgs, leaving themselves wide open for 19 SAW¡¯s to pour 200 round each. Needless to say, it was not a pretty sight. With a day old corpses, the Kobalds had believed the assailant were long gone lowering their guards. The Kobolds never had a chance. They never saw it coming. They were simply torn to pieces. The Kobalds, in similar size as the goblins with their dog faced head, were all shredded. Spike was given the opening shots to maximize his kill rate before the others joined in few moments after to prevent the targets from fleeing. Spike sort of felt sorry for the critters, but points were points. And he and his men needed them. As he thought about what other captains are always teaching him. In wars, there are only survivors and dead bodies. Currently as the platoon march, looking at his men so happy from their After Battle High, Spike was reminded that these creatures are natural enemies of humanity. And that some how, lessened his sense of guilt of murdering the shit out of the Kobalds. This morning¡¯s ambush netted him another 1060 EXP and 10.6 RP. Pushing Spike up to next level. This brought his total personnel slot up to 704. Then he quickly added the 1 point from his leveling up to Spirit. This adjusted his new total personnel slot to 736. He made a record of the changes. He figured one of the men with a mathematical mind will eventually figure out the pattern to this. Once he gets back to the base, he will have to call up an meeting with the captains to hear out there request for reinforcements. Getting out of the way of the oncoming wagons loaded with supplies heading toward Trimmor, Spike shouted over to Lieutenant Moore. ¡°Hey LT. If the engineers are going to take over Trimmor as a staging point, from now on, let''s leave our horse there. It¡¯s a long ass walk back to Whitestone!¡± ¡°I agree sir. After 3 days of humping around the hilly forest, my paws are sore too.¡± LT shouted back over the noise of the moving wagons. With his big euphoric smile from the After Battle High, no one would guess he had any discomfort or fatigued from the 3 day combat activity. Seeing that face, Spike had mix feelings of being left out and disgust with himself with his jealousy. He quickly turned his head straight forward as he marched. Damn! I overheard the men claim that ABH is better than sex. Fuck! Feeling raw and denied, he cursed inwardly out of mad jealousy. = = = Frontier, Daldia. ¡°Of course father.¡± Anoda Daldia answered. A daughter in law to Karan Daldia, and wife to his deceased son Janquo Daldia replied. Tall, atleast tall for the current frontier, brunette hair with blue eyes. Once a beautiful women in her youth, but with the hard living the the frontier. Even as she is recovering in recent days, she still looked 15 years beyond her 29 years. The long term stress and difficult life had taken it¡¯s toll on her.¡°Once we¡¯ve receive the paper needed for the lessons, I and sister Katren can start to teach the people how to reading and writing.¡± Looking at her father in law with a pause. ¡°I just can¡¯t believe Lord Phoenix is willing to waste such expensive papers on commoners and slaves alike.¡± She commented in amazement. ¡°They are strange indeed Anoda, but benevolent.¡± Marquess Daldia followed up on her comment when they were interrupted by a knock on the office door. ¡°Come in!¡± He ordered. ¡°Marquess Daldia.¡± Steward greeted as he walked in with a distraught looking wolf demi-human hunter he recognized from Birsk. ¡°From the looks of your face Hunter Grieves, I take it there is problem in Birsk?¡± Without further words, the scout immediately got on his knees and in desperation begged. ¡°Please Marquess. You must help us. Mayor Tolvanes has gone mad and has killed assistant Haviras. He locked down the gates to prevent anyone from leaving. I and 2 other hunters were the only ones to escape.¡± The Marquess froze at the startling information. Then suddenly feeling exhausted and overwhelmed he lean back into his large chair and looked at hunter Grieves. ¡°Leave us Anoda.¡± ¡°Yes father.¡± she solemnly left the room. ¡°Now. Tell me just what in the world happened in Birsk.¡± Marquess Daldia ordered. ¡°I don¡¯t fully know everything Marquess, but there had been arguments between the Mayor and Haviras for several days about the migration. Then this morning most of the people had lined up by the main gate to migrate to your city. This group was led by Haviras. But the Mayor came out and accused him a traitor and ordered one of the guards to kill him on the spot which caused the town wide panic. Then he order all the gates shut.¡± ¡°And where was Captain Pasiio during all this?¡± Marquess Daldia asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know. He wasn¡¯t there at all during the entire time. And the other 2 hunters who escaped with me also said they didn¡¯t see him either.¡± ¡°Do you have any idea why Mayor Talvanes would do such thing? And where are the other 2 hunters who escaped with you?¡± Lowering his head. ¡°To my shame, I do not know Marquess. I¡¯m a hunter and hunting for games to feed the people of Birsk is what I dedicate all my time to. I don¡¯t care for politics.¡± The wolf demi-human said. ¡°And I had the 2 injured hunters sent to the Phoenixian healers my lord.¡± Steward Havington answered. Nodding to the Steward, then looking at the demi-human hunter as he ponder. ¡°No. I suppose not.¡± Marquess agreed with him. He understood that most demi-humans simply didn¡¯t enjoy tinkering with politics. Their joy of the hunt was just too strong. Taking a deep breath, Marquess Daldia spoke.¡°Steward Havington. Looks like we¡¯ll be making a short journey to Whitestone. Please have the horses ready.¡± = = = Frontier, Whitestone. With his form fitting head gear removed, just as Spike was about to take his other his boots off to get cleaned up, a young teenage boy announced his presence from outside the tent opening. ¡°Lord Phoenix. Major Jung and Marquess Daldia request your immediate presence at the command tent.¡± The young teen nervously delivered the message from the tents opening. Look at the nervous and skinny teen. ¡°What¡¯s your name messenger?¡± Spike asked in a relaxed tone. ¡°It¡¯s Chander milord.¡± Chander quickly replied in surprise to be asked his name. One of many young teenage boys and girls running errands for the partially built fort. It¡¯s uncommon for high rank people to ask for their names and being asked his name by the man himself lifted the teen¡¯s spirit. Nodding at Chander. ¡°Alright Chander. I have received your message. Tell them I¡¯ll be right there.¡± Spike said as he got his boots back on. Sigh. I suppose there''s no rest for the weary. ¡°Yes milord!¡± In high spirit. Chander burst off. Being called by his name by the highest ranked lord gave him a sense of recognition to his normally non-existence status. Understanding that both Major and Marquess would not call him unless it¡¯s important, and the fact Marquess is in Whitestone after sunset somehow didn¡¯t sound too good to him. Hence, Spike wasted no time in leaving his tent while 2 of his bodyguards, Corporal Robinson and Private Gonzalez followed him. Taking a note of his body guards as he walked, Spike thought to himself. If I¡¯m tired, then I know these men are tired too, with or without ABH. In the future, when I have more personnel slots, I should increase the bodyguard number and split their duty. As Spike entered the command tent. One of the guard shouted ¡°Attention!¡± To announce Spikes presence. Follow by ¡°As you were.¡± From Spike. Spike immediately noticed the demi-human he has never seen. He also heard as he walked in, Major, Marquess, and the Steward were in heated discussion while Captain Allen listened to take notes. Then right behind him Lieutenant Moore walked through the tent. ¡°Sir. Lieutenant. Join us.¡± Major offered him a seat. ¡°It seems we have an incident at Birsk. And it requires our immediate action.¡± And they quickly brought Spike up to speed on what they knew. ¡°Yeah.¡± Spike spoke solemnly as he looked as the Birsk hunter nervously sitting in silence. ¡°In a way, we instigated this by offering the Birsk people to migrate to us. So, I suppose we should clean up our own mess.¡± Then he made eye contact with Major Jung and held it. Breaking out into that knowing smug smile. ¡°I¡¯d figured you would say something like that sir.¡± Major Jung said. ¡°So I already sent several of our cavalry troops to the border to recall one of our Mark VIII. They should be here in less than 2 hours¡­. However, I¡¯m a bit weary of conducting a night movement.¡±A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°I don¡¯t think night movement will be to much of a problem Major. With Mark VIII in the lead, Lieutenant Moore has my old night vision device and my old gears, in addition to my new body armor¡¯s utility functions. Between the 2 of us and the men using torches. I think we should have no problem in using the old road to Birsk.¡± Spike said. ¡°But honestly. My real concern comes from our rescue mission. Our men are not trained for this.¡± Spike said as he thought having a SWAT team or Spec Ops for this job would be perfect. But the immense cost made it a wishful thought. Giving Spike a hard look. ¡°We simply have to accept the fact that there will be some civilian casualty.¡± Then seeing the wavering look on Spike¡¯s face. ¡°Sir! Don¡¯t you dare start thinking it¡¯s completely your fault.You¡¯re not the one holding hostages. In any case, I get the feeling there is more to this then meet the eye and that we simply happen to trigger a reaction from it.¡± Major Jung spoke raising his voice. That woke up Spike. ¡°Right! I get it Major. Thanks.¡± Spike replied with resoluteness. ¡°Very good sir..¡± Major Jung said with satisfaction. ¡°Now, I know your Freelance platoon are a bit fatigued, but I also know that they are all going through ABH from the lookon Lieutenant Moore''s face, which more than makes up for it. So I¡¯m sending your platoon up ahead to scout out Birsk and the Mark VIII can catch up. It¡¯s unfortunate Rikko is still down at the medical. Her natural night vision and her skill set would have made your job easier, so I¡¯m sending all 4 hunter plus hunter Grieves here.¡± Glancing at Captain Allen. ¡°Captain Allen.¡± ¡°Sir¡± ¡°I¡¯m putting you in charge of the the Birsk mission.¡± ¡°Understood sir.¡± ¡°I want you to move out with the Freelance Platoon.¡± Looking back at Spike. ¡°By the way sir. How is our personnel slot looking?¡± Major Jung asked. ¡°Ahh. I meant to tell you before I got distracted with this emergency. But we can bring in 76 additional men now.¡± ¡°Hmm. Let''s bring in another infantry platoon. And they¡¯ll be escort for a team of nurses and one of the doctor, plus 4 dozen wagons with minor supplies. I¡¯m fairly sure, there will be many unhealthy civilians who will have difficulty making the journey to Daldia in a single day. And while I¡¯m on this topic.¡± Major Jung added as he looked at the Marquess.. ¡°Marquess Daldia, please send someone to Farengo and ask them what assistance they need from us for their migration. This will also give us some information if Farengo is going through similar incident.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll send someone to Farengo at first light in the morning Major.¡± Marquess replied. Major Jung continued on. ¡°We¡¯ll put together some care package for the Birsk people, plus anything else that pops in our mind. Then the support group will move out with Mark VIII when it arrives.¡± Then looking back at Spike. ¡°Sir. It¡¯s a 10K distant to Birsk. So, take the horses sir, and save your strength. It¡¯s going to be busy for few days.¡± ¡°Roger that Major. Also, do you think we should change out the reinforcement''s weapon for the escort? I¡¯m a bit concerned as they wont be trained in the new weapons.¡± Spike asked. Thinking about it for second. ¡°Hmm. Good call on that sir. But, for now, I believe they should be fine with the weapons they come with. From the report, there¡¯s only about 60 men you need to neutralize in Birsk, sir. I think having the Mark VIII blow open the main gate with a HE round and then neutralizing anyone hostile will make a quick work of them. I¡¯m actually more concerned with critters on the road and the damn bows the Birsk guards use. Speaking of bows, I¡¯m just glad I have yet to see any crossbow used against us.¡± ¡°Sir. Are you completely abandoning Birsk or do we need to leave a small contingency to secure the port town?¡± Lieutenant Moore asked. ¡°In all honesty, our long term plan does involve us taking over Birsk for our future Navy.¡± Pausing to think. ¡°Once you¡¯ve secured the town, why don¡¯t you and Captain Allen look around and make your reports and recommendations. I¡¯ll issue out some of our Lewis Guns to the escort platoon incase your recommendation requires us to immediately secure Birsk for the long term.¡± ¡°Yes Sir.¡± The Freelance platoon had already formed up during the leadership¡¯s meeting and had been waiting at the stable. After leaving the command tent Spike met with Captain Gray, he quickly authenticated the requisition documents then hand it back to Personnel Captain. Then Spike and Lieutenant Moore left for the stable while Captain Allen went to grab his combat gears in his tent. Lieutenant Moore led the march with his NODs. Only half a dozen torches were used to help illuminate with enough light for the slow walking horses to see the ground. Spike rode in the middle of the platoon and occasionally cycled through his various optics options. They were very useful on the road, but when he looked at the dense forest, it was completely useless. = = = Frontier, Birsk. Freelance platoon arrived at their destination without any trouble. The main platoon assemble within the dense wood while Lieutenant Moore, Spike, and Captain Allen took all 4 hunters and Grieves from Birsk to do a leader''s recon of the surrounding. The wall and the outer area resembled Daldia town before Phoenixians arrival. With it¡¯s defensive barricades near the walls and farms just outside of it. Half the town faced the sea, with only 1 shallow dock in place, it¡¯s could barely be consider a port town as the dock was made for small fishing boats. Looking inward from the outer bay area, the town gently sloped downward towards the water in almost a half moon shape. Having completed their leader''s recon, everyone reassemble at the rally point to discuss their options. Shaking his head, Captain Allen spoke. ¡°Sir. As we talked about this before. We may lose some of the civilians. So let''s steel our heart and figure this out.¡± Looking at Lieutenant Moore. ¡°Any suggestion LT?¡± Humbled, Lieutenant Moore replied. ¡°I¡¯m also stumped myself sir. Only thing I can think of is, as the Major said about blowing open the main gate with an HE round and storming in and neutralizing anyone hostile to us. I can¡¯t think of anything. Not being able to identify the enemy, I can see this as a the problem if we don¡¯t end it quickly.¡± ¡°If it¡¯s going to be messy, then why don¡¯t we just bust open the gate and steamroll over the defenders as fast as possible before everyone realizes what happened. And quickly storm the Mayor''s mansion.¡± Spike recommended. ¡°I think a lighting strike will cause the absolute minimal casualty.¡± Thinking about his option. ¡°Right. Then let''s do it they way. I¡¯ll put 2 squad from the new platoon outside the the walls for any one trying to escape. All the hunters except for Grieves will help them keep an eye out for potential escapees. Wait! Hunt Master Malikai, do your scouts also know the layout of Birsk?¡± ¡°We know most of the layout, and the important buildings, such as the barrack, stable, and the Mayor¡¯s mansion.¡± Hunt Master replied. ¡°Excellent. Then I¡¯ll have 1 hunter assigned to each squad and each squad will have an objective. Your last hunter can keep an eye out for potential escapees. I¡¯ll take 1st quad and capture the Mayor¡¯s mansion. Lieutenant Moore, you take 2nd squad and the barrack, Sergeant Rector will take 3rd squad and the stable, and you sir will take 4th squad with your bodyguard and secure the dock¡± ¡°But there¡¯s nothing at the dock Captain.¡± Spike complained. ¡°That¡¯s true sir. But we still need to secure it and prevent anyone running off on their small fishing boats.¡± Captain Allen replied, knowing he was giving Spike the least dangerous job. Understanding the Captains intent, Spike simple nodded and didn¡¯t complained anymore. Looking at everyone. ¡°I know this feels like a cluster fuck mission and it feels like a chore, but let''s not buy the farm from carelessness. Stay alert of your surrounding and focus. Everyone rest until the reinforcement gets here. I¡¯ll brief them myself once they arrive.¡± Captain Allen ordered. Damn! That¡¯s true. Spike thought. Strange how everyone feels like this mission is just shit. Are they worried about screwing up their ABH. Selfish bastards¡­ Then a thought came to Spike. ¡°Hold on everyone.¡± Getting everyone''s attentions. ¡°Hunter Grieves. Are you sure that all the town guards are wearing mostly leather armor?¡± ¡°Yes, your lordship. We aremostly fishing port town so we don¡¯t possess enough iron to forge metal armors.¡± ¡°Then, that¡¯s great new. Captain Allen, I just had an idea to use flash grenades and 12 gauge rubber buckshot for the trench gunner. It¡¯s a non lethal round to subdue opponents. I was thinking using the Flash grenades to clear rooms and around the corners, Then we can have the Trench gunners follow up by shooting the shit of the guards legs then kick their face in. Then we can reduce lot of unnecessary human casualty.¡± ¡°This Flash grenades Sir. Are you sure it will work?¡± Captain Allen asked for confirmation. ¡°Yeah. Just make sure the men close their eyes before the flash grenades explode, and try to cover your ears. The flash will blind anyone for about 5 seconds and the loud sound can make you unbalance. And the rubber buckshots are deadly enough to kill someone if you shoot them in the face. That¡¯s why I want our men to aim for their legs instead. This will make it easier in subduing of our enemy. Then we can turn their ass over to the Marquess to be properly judge under human court¡­ well if they have a court.¡± Spike explained. Understanding Spikes meaning of getting the criminals out of their hands. ¡°Hmm. I like it sir.¡± With a satisfied look on his face. ¡°Then for this mission, the trench gunners will lead.¡± For the mission, the trench gunners loaded all their shotgun shells and loaded up with 60 rubber buckshots each and everyone was given 4 flash grenades each. Captain Allen believed 240 rubber buckshot rounds for each squad was enough for the job for close range fight. Understanding that tomorrow will be a long day, while waiting for the Mark VIII, everyone slept as best as they could, wrapped around a single blanket during a cold autumn night without a fire. And during the middle of the night the reinforcement arrived. Mark VIII was held 2 kilometers from the town until the mission. Captain Allen didn¡¯t wanted to alert the towns sentry with the engine noise. Then the reinforcement was briefed by him before they were also ordered to rest up until the final briefing. Spread out on the ground without a blanket, Spike thanked his lucky star for having the new body armor. With it¡¯s internally sealed environment, he was kept warm and cozy. As he reflected on this mission, he came to term with that there will be civilian casualty, and that if he did nothing, then god only know what will happen to them. Sometime, you just can¡¯t save them all. For the final briefing, the leaders were under the cover of several half-shelter clipped together to prevent the light to be exposed. Hunter Grieves had drawn a rough outline of the key location on the ground and Spike used the light source on his head gear to light up the drawing. ¡°Lieutenant Sheldon, leave 2 squad outside the wall here and here.¡± Captain Allen pointed on the drawn map. ¡°And bring your other squad in with us. I want you to secure any prisoners we take. I don¡¯t way any of the freelance platoon getting held up because they have to manage prisoners.¡± ¡°Yes sir. I¡¯ll have Sergeant Milton lead the 2 squads outside and I¡¯ll follow behind the Freelance platoon with the other 2 squad.¡± Lieutenant Milton replied. ¡°Alright then. We have about 30 minutes left before sunrise. Lieutenant Wright, move up your Landship in and start your mission. Once you are close enough, I should already be in place to shot up a flare toward the gate as a marker for you. Also, as a reminder, it will be highly unlikely to happen, but if you see anyone about to cast magic, if you can¡¯t subdue them with a rubber buckshot, then shot to kill.¡± ¡° ¡° Yes sir! ¡° ¡° ¡°Good. Then everyone to their position and wait for the signal.¡± Because he wanted to, Captain Allen himself stealthily low crawled up toward the main gate and stopped when he was about 150 meters from it. When he heard the distinct sound of the Landship¡¯s engine and he judged from the sound that the Mark VIII was close enough, as per plan, he shot the signal flare toward to gate as a marker. Then hell broke apart as the main gun loaded with HE round blasted part of the wall barely missing the gate. With such loud boom, the entire port town was awaken, The Mark VIII quickly reloaded and shot again. Seeing the fire from the 1st shot, it made it easier for the second HE round to destroy the gate. Then, Mark VIII continued to slowly move up. Then the Freelance platoon riding their horse charged up towards the gate passing the Mark VIII. Picking up Captain Allen as he jumped onto his horse they brought, the platoon quickly bursting past the stunned guards that were not dead from the HE blast. And as a good measure, the last to 2 riders threw a flash grenade on both side the of the entrance for good measure. Then on foot. Platoon Sergeant Milton took command and moved 2 squad from the new platoon to cover escapees, and Lieutenant Sheldon started to secure prisoners where ever he come across as they moved up. Then the sky slowly started to light up as the sun started to rise as each squad on horse rode to their respected objected guided by the hunters. A small town meant shorter distance to cover for the riders. For the locals, everything was chaos for them as they have no knowledge of industrialized weapons. Each squad arrived at their objectives and steamrolled over the confused defenders. The men start to lob the flash grenades in every hallway and every room and shot the hell out of anyone still struggling with the rubber buckshots, then beat them to unconsciousness. This was absolutely bullying the weak. There was no question about it. As the guards were stunned and blinded, Phoenixian men shot the hell out of their legs for good measure before kicking their face to knock their ass out. A real let down for anyone who was expecting real fighting. As for Spike, 4th squad and his bodyguards, they stood in wonder as they listen to the flash grenade and Trench gun sounds going off around Birsk. Then just as quickly as everything started, within in few minutes, all the explosive and buckshot sounds disappeared, except for the few occasional explosive sounds ¡°Well shit!¡± Spike said with a dumbfound face. ¡°I guess, it¡¯s over already.¡± ¡°Yes sir¡± Sergeant Young said. ¡°Looks like it sir. That¡¯s why you don¡¯t bring a knife to a gunfight. Except, we¡¯re the ones who brought the guns to a knife fight.¡± Then he laughs at his own joke. Raising one of his eyebrow at the silly Sergeant. Spike said in wonderment. ¡°Yeah. A lot different than fighting with a shitty visibility in the forest. But I suppose the flash grenades must have been much more effective then I thought. I¡¯ll have to ask them about it during the after action briefing.¡± Within Half an hour, the support group brought up the wagons with food supplies and immediately started cooking for the Birsk population. Lieutenant Sheldon¡¯s platoon kept security on the support group. Freelance platoon rounded up all the town guards and had them all tied up and kneeling in front of the mayor¡¯s mansion. With everything completely under control, Spike walked inside the mayor¡¯s office where Captain Allen was looking over the documents. Making a quick eye contact as Spike grabbing one of the wooden chair. ¡°Anything interesting Captain?¡± He asked. Laying down the documents. ¡°Sir. Looks like Mayor Tolvanes had been in communication with this Count Morrogain for a while now. We''ll have to ask our Marquess if he know anything about this Count sir. But it¡¯s apparent that Mayor Tolvanes was playing his own game in the frontier.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Spike asked. ¡°Hmm. From the limited time I¡¯ve had the chance to read over some of the documents we found, I¡¯d say he was looking to deal with this Count for long term¡­ maybe even running a secrete slave deals in the frontier sir.¡± Captain Allen answered. Spike was silent as his face broke in disappointment. ¡°For fucks sake. What the hells wrong with this world. We haven¡¯t even see the tip of the iceberg in this world. But yet, all we¡¯ve seen ;are killing, slaving, raping, and thieving.¡± Spike spoke in disgust. Reading Spikes body language. ¡°Our old world history isn¡¯t any different sir.¡± Perhaps our Lord Commander comes from a better time! Captain Allen mused. ¡°Once we go through all the documents and properly interrogate the prisoners, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll get a better picture sir.¡± He decided not to mention about the young women looked up under the mansion for now. At least until he gets all the facts. ¡°Well, ok. I¡¯ll leave it to the professionals and keep out of way then. Anything you need from me Captain?¡± ¡°No sir. I understand that with the help of hunter Grieves, the locals were very quick to point out the ones who supported Mayer Tolvanes, making it easy to round them up. Perhaps you can summon up some luxury food for the locals to reassure them.¡± Thinking about all the starving locals. ¡°Ahh. Alright.¡± Spike quickly agreed as he empathized with them. = = = Frontier border outpost. Inside the tent with all the canvas walls rolled up, Major Jung faced Tisco to negotiate for the POWs. From a sitting position, Major Jung slide a stack of paper on the field table with the total number of POWs and a list of their names with additional writings. Having decided to not put undue emotional stress and pressure on the Marquess. Major Jung believed he alone was enough. ¡°The slaves will not be ransomed and that is not negotiable Mister Tisco.¡± Major Jung said as he face the Stovkow rebel with a cold face. ¡°Of course Major Jung.¡± Tisco replied politely. As he knew Lord Caldrun never had any intention to negotiate for them anyways. His main goal was to get as many of their fighting men back as possible. ¡°Then can you tell me what ransome you want for the release of our men?¡± Loud and clearly. ¡°We want our kidnapped citizens back, live stocks, and any skilled craftsmen with their intact family. There is nothing else we want. It¡¯s all or nothing Mister Tisco. Either you take them all back or we¡¯ll sell them off to the free cities and trade for what we want. It¡¯s up to you.¡± After prior discussion with the Marquess and his staffs, it was decided that these 3 things are what is most desired by the people in that order. There was no question about wanting back their family members, if possible. The livestock are non existence in town from being slaughtered for food over the years. And the crafters are needed to speed up Daldia¡¯s long term economic development. ¡°Major. I¡¯m sure you must have talked to our men under you care. There by, you must know that we are in a civil war. We¡¯ll scour all of Myojhuk territory for you people, but for the rest of the Stovkow, I fear it¡¯s impossible.¡± Tisco replied calmly. Hoping the Major did not expect the impossible. ¡°Then I hope your people scour vigorously Mister Tisco. Also, I¡¯ll have you know now, you¡¯ll only be getting back the men themselves. There gears are our spoils of war. As for the men, next to their name, you¡¯ll see our demands. With each of our people returned to us, the cost of the Knight will be reduced. Same with crafters with their intact family.¡± Ch17 - Its a $hitty world. Frontier border, Phoenix outpost. Mister Tisco sat in silence as Major Jung declared ransoming only the men themselves. He sat in surprise staring at the Major as he struggle to think. Ransoming the warhorse and knights equipments are integral part of the ransoming process and this foreign officer out right rejected the normal decorum. Politely speaking. ¡°Major Jung. Sir. Are you aware that ransoming a knight''s equipment are an integral part of our local ransoming process?¡± Leaning forward with his fingers interlaced and elbows resting on the table, with slightly squinted eyes. ¡°To be frank Mister Tisco. My master cares nothing of the local decorum nor its ransoming process. At your leisure, you people have profited off the frontier for the last decade. Now it¡¯s time for you to pay up. One way or another.¡± Major Jung replied with poker face. Tisco went numb with almost threatening tone from Major Jung, and disappointed and unsure how to respond to the last statement. And not being able to recover the equipment will be a great burden to Myojhuk. Without their warhorses, armor and weapons, the men will be degraded to nothing more than light infantry. Pending how successful the other assault forces were in their neighboring territories to offset this lose this could set them back heavily. Myojhuk blacksmith will have tremendous pressure on them to quickly make up for the losses¡­ but, we may still be battle ready to fight the Stovkow¡¯s retribution force. ¡°I understand you words Major. But, as I don¡¯t have the final power to make this decision as your demand is out of the local norm, I will need to confirm with my authorities.¡± Nodding in understanding, Major Jung asked. ¡°Then do you have any other questions before you return?¡± ¡°Actually Major, I have 2 things. Will you hear out my request?¡± ¡°I will at least hear them out.¡± ¡°Thank you Major. My lord would be grateful if his nephew¡¯s, Baron Myohjuk¡¯s body would be allowed to be brought back home.¡± Remember the key names on the list. ¡°And would it be possible for me to meet with Sir Kilowvk.¡± ¡°I see no reason to deny your request. I¡¯ll have someone take you to the Baron¡¯s grave near by. However, Sir Kilovsk will be brought to the outpost. At the present time, no outsiders are allowed to pass beyond this outpost.¡± = = = Frontier, Birsk. ¡°Well you look at that. Looks like we have visitors.¡± Remarked Sergeant Kelly as his squad pulled sentry at the dock. Him and Private Halsey had replaced SGT White and Private Smith. ¡°Novak! Go run up to the mayor''s mansion and inform the officers.¡± ¡°Roger that Sarg!¡± Private Novak replied smartly as he ran up the small hilly town. Looking out the small bay 3 large ships with a large center mast came into visibility as the ships slowly moved into the bay. In the center of Birsk, leaning against the building, Spike observed the Birsk population being fed by the support group. The conditions here was no different then when they first made contact back then with the Daldia township. The human misery condition was sickening to his old world sensibility. After summoning some chocolates and other luxury food, he looked on with an expressionless face, but his mind was reeling with disgust and horror at this world. He saw a young mother trying to feed her child, maybe 3 or 4 years old with a spoon full of porridge looking thing. The child was so incredibly malnutritioned that there were absolutely no fat on the child. And the skin was dry and wrinkled. What made it worst was that young mother wasn''t in any better conditioned herself. And yet, she focused on gently feeding her child without even touching her own food by her side. Feeling his heart break, Spike looked away as he felt tears rolling down his cheek, only to discover Captain Allen staring at his face. Spike, quickly wiping away his tear and recovering himself. ¡°What¡¯s up Captain?¡± Unintentional sniffling. Captain Allen silently observed Spike in concern for a moment before replying. ¡°We have 3 slaver ships incoming sir. I sent 1st and 3rd squad to reinforce Sergeant Kelly¡¯s 2nd squad. And Lieutenant Moore is organizing the welcoming party. Lieutenant Wright¡¯s Mark VIII¡¯s current locationis already in position to cover the entire bay with his main gun. So we have everything under control.¡± Pausing. ¡°Are you ok? Sir?¡± ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m ok. It¡¯s just, this frontier is really fucked up. I just hope the rest of the world isn¡¯t as bad.¡± Spike commented as he recovered. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t put too much expectation on that hope sir. I get the general feeling that this world¡¯s general human dignity is bit lacking.¡± Captain Allen said as he lit a cigarette and took a puff. ¡°You really think so?¡± Spike asked quietly. Taking another drag and exhaling. ¡°You know sir. All of us, in our last life, none of us were born a soldier. But we died as one. Soldiers do things that they don¡¯t like. But we understand the need to take action even if we don¡¯t like it. We follow orders because we follow the chain of command. At the end of the day, we bet our lives hoping that our leaders are putting our lives to good use. The WWI that made no sense to any of us common men. So many good men died for some shit ideology on who gets to rule. But in this world, you summoned us as soldier. And you are our leader so we follow you. I know that you don¡¯t want us fighting the humans of this world sir. But you know what sir. If you order us to. We would fight anyone you tell us to fight. Because all of us summoned souls are betting on that you wouldn¡¯t sell our lives cheaply.¡± Spike stared at Captain Allen in silence as he tried to process what he just heard. Taking another puff Captain Allen squinted his eyes as if he was looking at something in distant memory. ¡°Powerful men and women controls the faith of other lesser lives. Through military force, economic force, political force, and spiritual force. We were a force without a people to fight for until recently adapting the frontier folks. If you had not quickly adapted these people, we would most likely have fought just for the sake of killing¡± Then turning his head to clearly make eye contact with Spike. ¡°What direction will you lead your Phoenix people, as our Lord Commander Spike Phoenix? That is something only you can decide on. We can only advice at best. Sir. Not even Major Jung can make these decision for you.¡± What Captain Allen just said put a lot of thing on Spike¡¯s mind to think about. Without saying anything. Spike looked at the starving Birsk people eating their fill, completely disregarding that the slaver ships are approaching inside the bay. If anyone simply looked out to the bay, it¡¯s not like they couldn¡¯t see the large sails on the ship. But after the morning battle with the town''s guards, knowing and having faith in the power of the Phoenixian soldiers gave them the sense of security without causing panic amongst the population. But most of all, the very fact that the leaderships were standing near them and they showed no outward concern for the approaching ships reassured them. Spike and Captain Allen observed the scenery with each in deep thoughts. Then Spike spoke first. ¡°I¡¯m surprised to hear all this from Captain Harem.¡± Chuckling at the comment. ¡°I meant every word I said sir. In any case, you have the power to change these people''s future, and their fortunes.¡± Then changing his tone. ¡°We are your men sir. Eventually, if all things go relatively according to the Major¡¯s plan, you will have tens of thousands or more of us at your command. What will you do with such mighty military power?¡± Looking thoughtful. ¡°I¡­ I honestly haven''t thought that far in advance Captain. Unlike you, I don¡¯t have any free time to mess around.¡± Almost sounding accusingly. ¡°Right. I suppose that is true sir.¡± Chuckling. ¡°Something for you to think about in the future. You just leaving everything to us officers for now. And focus on your current duty sir.¡± ¡°By the way, shouldn¡¯t you be at the dock and taking command of the men?¡± ¡°Not really sir. Lieutenant Moore and Lieutenant Wright have their orders, and Lieutenant Sheldon has the town security. Believing in your men is also a duty as a commander. You can¡¯t babysit them all the time or they will never grow up. Not that our men really need it.¡± Noticing Lieutenant Sheldon coming around the corner. ¡°Anything Lieutenant?¡± ¡°Nothing sir. I was just completing my round.¡± Lieutenant Sheldon replied as he join them against the building wall and lit his cigarette. ¡°I just saw the slavers dropping their anchors about 100 meters from the dock and lowering their dinghies. We takin any prisoners back with us sir?¡± ¡°While back, the Major said that more the merrier in the mines once we get it operational. That about answer you question Lieutenant.¡± ¡°Roger that sir. About what you ask earlier sir. I don¡¯t think we need to keep anyone in this town sir. I¡¯m no engineer as I¡¯m a biologist. But I don¡¯t see anything in Birsk that needs to be saved. Maybe, except for the slaver¡¯s ships if Lieutenant Wright doesn¡¯t sink them. We could use them as a large fishing boats. But I recommend we abandon this town for now and reclaim it in the Spring. By then, one of the engineer platoon should be freed up if I understand correctly from the Major¡¯s briefing.¡± ¡°That¡¯s about what I thought as well Lieutenant.¡± Looking at the sky. ¡°I think it¡¯s about that time LT. Why don¡¯t you walk over to the hungry civilians and give them a heads up so they don¡¯t panic when Lieutenant Wright fires off his big guns.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± Lieutenant Sheldon replied. Then took a last drag on his cig before walking towards the civilian group. Then out of the blue, Spike said. ¡°I don¡¯t get it. I just don¡¯t get it Captain. The human forces are so much weaker compare to the creatures living inside the forest. How the hell were they able to push into the frontier before. Compare to fighting the inhumanoids. Fighting humans are so much easier.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sur¡­¡± The main gun on the Mark VIII fired, destroying the silence of the port town. Then followed by many small arms fire in conjunction with Mark VIII¡¯s QF 6-pounder high explosive rounds, rapidly firing as fast as possible onto the 3 slaver''s ships. Spike looked at Captain Allen to see what he would do while the combat was progressing at the dock. But the Captain casually lit up another cigarette without a care in the world. ¡°You know, I want to warn you that cigarette causes lung cancer, but I suppose it would be a useless warning to you men.¡± Captain Allen simply looked at Spike in confusion as if he was saying ¡®lung cancer?¡¯.¡± Down at the dock 10 minutes later. ¡°Lieutenant Moore! Report.¡± Captain Allen ordered as he casually walked onto the dock. ¡°Sir.¡± Walking up to the Captain. ¡°The the slaver¡¯s ships came as close as possible before dropping anchors and their dinghies. And seeing us, but I¡¯m guessing because they didn¡¯t see us armed with swords, spears, or shields, they came with fully loaded dinghies to confront us. As per your order, we offered them quarter, but they refused. So we used flash grenades on them and subdued them with plastic trench gun rounds. Then the men fired their small arms at the ships as it was only about 100 meters from the dock and Lieutenant Wright blasted the 3 ships and ended up sinking one before they raised the white flag. Currently, squad 1 and 2 are on board of the ships to secure them. And I¡¯m having the prisoners rescue the survivors from the sunken ship with the spare dinghy and small fishing boats.¡± Looking at Spike. ¡°See sir.¡± Captain Allen said. ¡°Believe in the professionalism of your officers and NCOs.¡± Then looking back at Lieutenant Moore. ¡°LT. Have you identified this Guard Captain Pesiio?¡± ¡°Yes sir. He was on the first dinghy that came ashore. But uh¡­¡± His eyes looking away in embarrassment. ¡°The men got a bit over zealous and he''s been out cold after a strong butt stroke to the face from the trench gun. So it maybe a while before he can wake up.¡± ¡°Well, no matters.¡± Captain Allen said unconcerned. ¡°Have the 2 ships stripped of any useful materials for the crafters. I plan for us to be out of Birsk by tomorrow. ¡°Yes sir! Did you want to scuttle the other 2 ships?¡± ¡°Hmm. I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s even worth keeping them. Seeing them from where I¡¯m standing, the external damage looks pretty bad. Just leave them anchored, and destroy the sails and leave it. If it¡¯s still here when we come back in Spring, we¡¯ll leave it up to the civilians. If not. It¡¯s no lose to us.¡± ¡°Roger that sir.¡± By next day, the port town of Birsk was cleaned out of anything of value. Which was almost nothing except for the small amount of personal mementos. All the towns people, mostly women and children, were loaded onto the many wagons. Spike later learned that many men risked their lives to fish to feed their family only to be washed away from a strong current or sudden bad weather. Compounded by the decade long slaver attacks, there were almost no men alive to resist Mayor Tolvanes¡¯s complete takeover of the port town. Then all the prisoners were shackled up with the very chains the slavers had brought with them on the ships. Talk about poetic justice some people would say. They were forced to march on foot as they dragged the chains on their legs. The many injured prisoners for obvious reason, rode on the wagons Spike had gained 1010 EXP and 10.1RP from the Birsk. = = = Myojhuk, Castle Grannor. Looking over the demand list, Lord Caldrun didn¡¯t find the demands too outrageous. Nothing out of the norm that he couldn¡¯t deliver. Especially when there was no demands for gold. The only drawback was that no equipments and warhorses would be ransomed. Which would greatly delay the new trainees from receiving their equipment in time to receive the Stovkow retaliation forces. Sitting with Mister Tisco in the private audience chamber Lord Caldrun organized his thoughts. ¡°Before I start Mister Tisco. I want to thank you for bringing back my nephew. It means a lot to me.¡± Lord Caldrun said in appreciation. ¡°It was nothing my lord. The Phoenixians were very charitable in dealing with the dead and wounded. Even all of our wounded men were taken care of after the battle. Instead of letting them bleed to death or die of injuries.¡± ¡°So you say. And tell me about your discussion with Sir Kilowvk first.¡± ¡°He talked of strange magic weapons all the soldier of the Phoenix army uses. They were ambushed with these stave weapons that shot small arrowhead object and penetrated their armor. Essentially making every armor they wore useless. Some of these stave weapons shot continuously. Hundreds if not thousands of objects in short time span. There were many explosive sounds. And they even possessed some sort of magical metal battering ram like object that destroyed the charging knights. He even saw their men shooting streams of flame to burn the dead. When I parted with him, he warned, no he begged me to warn you not to fight these Phoenixians. Or it will be the death of us all.¡± Lord Caldrun listened attentively as he focus his thoughts on the documents in his hand. ¡°Under normal circumstance, I would not believe his word. But consider it as a deranged rambling of a defeated man. However, I¡¯ve never seen such papers before. It¡¯s so clean and thin. To produce such level of item. I can not discount Sir Kajiak¡¯s warning. Now tell me about this Minister of Defense Major Jung. What¡¯s your take on the man.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°I found the man to be a no nonsense type of man. He felt very predatorial. He didn¡¯t bother trying to intimidate me, but I felt it anyways. A very confident in his bearing. He didn¡¯t disrespected me in anyways, but I my senses told me otherwise.¡± ¡°Were you able to pick up anything that may give us a clue if they will invade us in the future?¡± ¡°No my lord. He had this ¡®I don¡¯t give a damn¡¯ attitude the whole time. It was just too hard to read the man. As I was returning to Castle Grannor, I thought about the last word the Major said. That we will pay one way or another. I¡¯m not sure if he''s talking about the recompensing the frontier, or revenge for the decade long agression they suffered in our hands.¡± ¡°It¡¯s very possible that they are simply weakening us and Stovkow by letting us fight each other. Then come from the west when both our forces are too weak to resist.¡± Lord Caldrun conjuncted. ¡°That¡¯s very possible my lord. But couldn¡¯t they have done that anyways, while our forces were scattered to the other territories? And most of the Stovkow forces are engaged in the ruin war.¡± Tisco offered. ¡°Depends. Do they know about the situation in the east, but I suppose if Karan Daldia is with them it¡¯s an obvious assumption. And also, they themselves may not be ready to invade yet. Or they could simply be saving their war resources.¡± ¡°I would lean more towards saving their resources considering the tradesmen and their family on the prisoner exchange list. From the list, I conjecture that they are short on skilled labors. And as I reported earlier my lord, Major Jung did say that once the ransoming has been completed, he demand for the merchants to be allowed to travel back and forth to trade.¡± ¡°Sigh! So are they saying that they have no interest in our land because they are taking all the frontier lands or they are expecting us to bleed the Stovkow for them? Damn it!¡± The room became silent with uncomfortable pressure. Break the silence. ¡°What of their soldiers and numbers? You said you didn¡¯t see any visible armor or weapons except for their strang staves.¡± ¡°Yes my lord. They all had same clothes, as in uniforms. I can see from the sawing that every uniform are of high quality. They appear to be a very wealthy army. But as you say, they seem to be lacking in production manpower. But this could be an indication that they didn¡¯t bring enough war supply and they are lacking in logistic. So they need crafters to secure resources for the future. As for the number of soldier, I have no idea my lord. I wasn¡¯t allow beyond the border outpost and all the prisoners are isolated and locked up in their fenced up prison. Also, I would like to remind you my lord that Karan Daldia is the Minister of State and a Marquess.¡± With a thoughtful look Lord Caldrun spoke. ¡°I understand. Do you think he sold out for the title and revenge?¡± ¡°No my lord. What I''m saying is that as the Minister of State, he must have a tremendous power and influence within the Phoenixian Kingdom. To me, that implies that we can negotiate with this kingdom. If Karan Daldia can rise from a outback frontier peasant mayor to a Marquess Karan Daldia of the Phoenix Kingdom, perhaps there is something for us as well?¡± Mister Tisco offered his thoughts. Thinking about Tisco¡¯s words. Caldrun understood his meaning. Sometimes it¡¯s better to willingly submit and gain something then be conquered and lose all privileges. ¡°Enough!¡± Caldrun raised his voice in displeasure. ¡°We¡¯ll have no more talk of bending our knees. I¡¯ll leave the ransom requirement to you Mister Tisco. Sooner the better. Sir Junapt and Sir Bailin have been sending wagons load of goods and resources from Count Morrogain¡¯s territory. Plus, Sir Kajiak has achieved complete success in Baron Antonok¡¯s territory, and we have been receiving flood of people as well as supplies from him. Take what you need. We need more fighting men then mouth to feed. Let these Phoenixians deal with the extra mouths. = = = Frontier, Daldia city. When the small expeditionary force returned with all the new citizens, Daldia people were waiting for them with support in place with food, blankets, and temporary housings. The new citizens were ordered to rest and be fed by Marquess Daldia for the next week or two. They were to gain strength and regain their health before anything was expected from them. Mayor Tolvanes, Guard Captain Pesiio and guards were imprisoned for later sentencing. For Farongo, from the Cav Troopers report, it turned out they were concerned about making the 15 kilometer journey to Daldia without sufficient protection. And they were simply insecured about asking for escort. Spike thought, unbelievable. The same identical force was tasked out with escort duty. With the 3 towns population finally in Daldia. It actually got crowded, but no one complained. = Frontier, Daldia. At the Daldia mansion, group of leaders gather for the introduction meeting. In the audience room, kneeling before Spike and Marquess Daldia, former mayor of Farongo spoke. ¡°Forgive me for my impudence. In my weakness, I was tempted by Mayor Tolvanes to follow his lead. I had no idea that he was Count Morrogain¡¯s lackey.¡± ¡°This is the second time I¡¯ve heard this Count mentioned. What¡¯s the deal with him?¡± Spike asked. Captain Allen stepped forward to answer. ¡°Sir. We are still going over all the documents, but from the interrogation, it seem this Count had long term plans for Birsk. Currently, Count Morrogain controls the only port city with access to Stovkow Kingdom¡¯s northern territories from the Aiginous Sea. And the Mirk River adjacent to his port city is navigable, going through Margrave Kyzdon¡¯s territory. I suspect, that he wanted to control the inland trade route as the frontier gets civilized. At least that was before the war with the Theolamor. And in order to do that, he needed to maintain control of all the port towns in the frontier. But with the change of the wind in political development with our presence, it seems they have decided to cash out Birsk and enslave the whole town for quick profit instead.¡± ¡°How interesting. Even with magic in the world. It¡¯s still about money and control for the elites.¡± Spike commented. Then looking over at the Marquess. ¡°Have you decide on what to do with the Tolvanes and his cronies?¡± ¡°Even though the land now belongs to you my lord. It is still the frontier. And so, they will be receiving the frontier justice. As they had conspired to enslave the free people of the frontier, they will be hanged at minimum. My lord.¡± Marquess Daldia replied with a matter of fact tone. Damn! Frontier justice! Spike thought. ¡°Well, at this point, I think it¡¯s mostly a civilian matter until we need to cross sword with Count Morrogain.¡± Looking over at Major Jung. ¡°Unless you have something different Major?¡± ¡°Not at all sir. I just need the good Marquess to hold off on the hanging until I¡¯m done with the interrogation.¡± Major Jung replied with that scheming look in his eyes. ¡°But just a polite reminder Marquess Daldia. Once the Myojhuk prisoners are ransomed off, we may fall short of miners.¡± ¡°Duelly noted Major.¡± Marquess replied with a seriousness tone. ¡°Then we leave all the civilian matters in your hands Marquess.¡± Major Jung said as he stood up to leave. ¡°Hold on. Wait Major.¡± Spike ordered. ¡°Sir?¡± Major Jung looked back in curiousity. Deep inside, he was delighted and hoped Spike would surprise him. Spike looked at Marquess Daldia, making eye contact. ¡°Gentlemen. After seeing the condition in both Birsk and Farango, as a human being, I can¡¯t sit by and do nothing. Especially when I have the power to make a difference. Therefore, I am ordering you, Marquess Daldia, to make contact with all the frontier settlements and offer them safe haven here in this city.¡± Then looking at Major Jung. ¡°And I am ordering our military to make plans to secure and escort the people of other settlements safely to Daldia City.¡± ¡°As you will my lord.¡± Marquess acknowledge. ¡°Yes sir!¡± Major replied enthusiastically with a very satisfied look on his face. You are growing up sir. Making hard decisions. Spike continued. ¡°I understand that the slave raids from the other Stovkow has probably ended by now. But still, if possible, I¡¯d like to empty out the other frontier settlement now than later while we are building up. That way, they can all feel being part of the city as they built it together.¡± ¡°Do you know how many towns are up north of us Marquess?¡± Major Jung asked. ¡°Over the years, we¡¯ve lost contact with most of the towns up north from the lack of merchant traffic. So I can not guarantee the accuracy of my information Major. I can only tell you of obsolete information.¡± From the forgotten former Farongo Mayor Khriven still in a kneeling position. ¡°If I may. I periodically maintained contact with Tri and Banorg.¡± ¡°Stand up and speak Khriven.¡± Marquess Daldia ordered. ¡°Thank you Marquess.¡± Khriven stood up with show of pain from kneeling for so long. ¡°As I was saying. Both towns are still there, but no better then us before recieving Lord Phoenix''s generosity.¡± ¡°How are the roads leading to the town Mister Khriven?¡± Captain Allen asked. ¡°It¡¯s mostly reclaimed by the wild growth. But the hunters have reported that horses can travel freely and if the wagons move very slowly and pulled by strong work horses, it shouldn¡¯t be any problem.¡± Khriven replied enthusiastically wanting to be useful to redeem himself. ¡°But unfortunately, thehunter''s knowledge doesn¡¯t go beyond Banorg. But once you send your men their, I¡¯m sure they will have information on other towns farther up north.¡± Nodding in acknowledgment. ¡°I need to think over the resources needed for this mission sir. I¡¯ll have something for you by tomorrow morning.¡± Major Jung informed Spike. ¡°Also, I need you at Whitestone after this meeting sir.¡± = = = Frontier, Fort Whitestone. ¡°Seriously!¡± Spike complained as he faced several lightly wounded goblins tide up to the post. Looking at the Major. ¡°You kept them alive just for me to put a bullet in their head.¡± Nonchalantly. ¡°Well, yes sir. I did. But before that, can you check the number and see if you¡¯ve gained any points in the last few days. Captain Allen reported no contact with forest critters so this is a good opportunity to verify some numbers.¡± Looking a bit cross at the Major, Spike quickly checked. ¡°No. Nothing. Numbers are same as 3 days go.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ interesting. Than only thing left is for you to do some pest control sir.¡± Pointing at the goblins. Looking really irritated. ¡°Yeah. I get why you¡¯re making me do this Major, but sometimes you really piss me off.¡± Spike complained. ¡°Well sir. We all have our duties.¡± Major Jung said empty of any empathy. To quickly end his own frustration, Spike pull the trigger twice then checked his numbers. ¡°Nada. Nothing.¡± Spike reported. In truth, he also was more than curious about the result. ¡°Hmm. It seem there is something to the effect of the your range or perhaps your participation is required in combat. It¡¯s apparent we can¡¯t cheat the system on this matter.¡± Major Jung observed. Ch18 - Frontier, Fort Whitestone. Major Jung waved the detail over to dispose of the goblin corpse then handed Spike 2 documents. ¡°Sir. This is a requisition form from Doctor Simmons for the specialist doctor. Doctor Simmons said bringing in a Specialty doctor and letting them requisition the needed resource would be more effective for the disease control equipment requisition order. Andthe second sheet is from me for 2 squad of Cav troopers with a Louie and a Platoon Sergeant. That way we¡¯ll have a full platoon of Cavalry Troopers with an officer to run them.¡± Looking over the numbers. ¡°I see. 24 slot for the troopers and 1 doctor. Leaving 5 slot left.¡± Spike said. ¡°Yes sir. Doctor Simmons said to expect for the few more medical personnel with the specialized doctor.¡± ¡°Well, I suppose that makes sense. If the new medics don¡¯t take up all 5 slots, then I can make up for Sergeant Kelly and Private Halsey I stole from Alpha company.¡± ¡°And while we¡¯re on the subject. I just made my decision on who I¡¯m sending for the secure and escort mission.¡± Major Jung said as he nodded at Spike. ¡°I¡¯ll send Lieutenant Sheldon¡¯s platoon, Cavalry platoon, a team of Lieutenant Stein¡¯s flamethrower, and Lieutenant Wright¡¯s Mark VIII. With one Captain Allen in command with support wagons.¡± ¡°Mark VIII? What about the road, Major?¡± ¡°That¡¯s exactly why I¡¯m sending them sir. They can partially clear out some of the growth and the flamethrowers to do some controlled burning. Depending on how many settlements are still active, we may end up using some parts of the roads much more often as our forces go back and forth. But most of all, I need you to keep hunting and scoring points for us.¡± ¡°I understand, but I¡¯m spending the next 3 days in the garrison. I¡¯ve been out the entire week and my magic study with the Marquess has fallen behind.¡± Spike informed as he authorized the documents and handed them back to Major Jung. ¡°Very good sir. I¡¯m actually looking forward to see you do some hocus pocus tricks.¡± Major Jung said withan amused look on his face as he made a wavey gesture with his right hand. ¡°Me too. By the way. I know I gave out the orders to bring in the other settlements and all. But I just realized something¡­ do we even have enough housing for everyone? If i¡¯m not mistaken, the town originally had about 2000 people living in it. But we now exceed at round 4000, minus the military and the POWs.¡± Spike asked with concern. ¡°Well, it will be crowded for a while sir. But they¡¯ll have safety, warmth and food. Which are more than they¡¯ve had in the last decade. And the engineers are laying down the foundations for many of the buildings now so they can build as long as possible before it gets too cold to build anything. It¡¯s only a temporary situation sir. I wouldn¡¯t let it bother you. If there was any real problem, Captain Lee or the Marquess will bring it upduring the weekly meetings.¡± Major Jung informed Spike as he gave the personnel authorization document to one of the young teens working as his runner. ¡°Give these documents to Captain Gray.¡± And waved him off. ¡°Yes Sir!¡± The young teen replied before running off to deliver the documents. As both men are walking back towards the command tent. ¡°Also sir. We had a messenger this morning from Myojhuk. The are currently in the process of putting together the ransom. They said to expect arrival of the ransom payment starting in few days. And that it will arrive in several delivery. So it¡¯s going to get much more crowded than you think.¡± Then Major Jung chuckled. ¡°Daldia is turning out to be the quite the refugee camp lately. But I suppose this is normal when nations are at war. And also, the line units had men who were proficient on horse riding, so they are running their own messengers, so the 2 squads of Cav troopers have been conducting training for the captured warhorses so they won¡¯t be frightened from the gun fires. So you should add into your own schedule on training your horse while you¡¯re in garrison.¡± ¡°Sigh! Right. I¡¯ll talk to Lieutenant Moore have it worked into the platoon¡¯s training. With busy ass schedule like this, how do other Kings of nations have time for sanctified hoochie time.¡± Spike casually commented with a touch of complaint. Then all of sudden, Major Jung froze. Then turned to face Spike with complicated look on his face. ¡°What Major?¡± Spike said in worry. I¡¯ll be damned. Major Jung thought in surprise. I forgot that our Lord Commander doesn¡¯t get After Battle High. Do I need to help him get hooked up? No. It¡¯s not like not like he''s in danger right now, but in the future, having some pretty face bimbo rapping her finger around him would be extremely dangerous and it could turn into a catastrophic disaster. Breaking his train of thought. ¡°I forgot you don¡¯t have ABH sir. Are you by chance in need of female company?¡± Major Jung asked as polite as possible. But somehow it¡¯s just sounded wrong coming from him. ¡°What! No! I mean, what the hell Major.¡± Spike replied in surprise. ¡°It¡¯s just that your comment just now sounded as if you did sir. No offense intended.¡± Major explained. ¡°Dang Major! I was only expressing that my ass has no personal time.¡± Goddamnit! So it is true about ABH being better than sex. Sons of bitches! Spike replied all flustered, embarrassed and jealous as hell. ¡°Besides. My body is still going through some adjustment to my knowledge, and with all the battle fatigue. I haven¡¯t been in the mood anyways. Wait! Why the hell am I talking about this with you like I¡¯m some kind of a virgin or something.¡± Withfeeling extreme indignation, Spike clamped down his mouth and promptly speed walked to the command tent leaving the Major with a stunned expression. Oh my god. Is he... a virgin?... No. Can¡¯t be. As he looked at the back of Spike walking away. Major shook his head and disregarded that thought. He''s probably just shy. He chuckled to himself as he started to walk after Spike. = = = Stovkow border, Ruins. Inside the tent, the crown prince, Luthen Kraseden looked over the final preparation of the last major operation Stovkow will be able to mount for many years to come in the east. The only thing they will be able to do in the future, is try to slow down Theolemore¡¯s development in any way as possible. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Prince Luthen understood that the enmity between the two nation has gone past reconcilable while the current generation still leads both nations. Even with the Theolemore taking complete control of the ruins and any future discovery from it, they are still landlocked. While the Stovkow can expand limitlessly into the frontier. He understood the new Stovkow¡¯s plan is to buy time for them to expand and develope the frontier to balance out and overtake the Theolamor withthe future generation. Or just like the Kindarth Empire, they will swallow up all the territory west of them as they discovere lost knowledges from Ryst Ruin. The Queen has giving him direct orders to kill, pillage, and destroy everything in his path in Theolemor¡¯s territory. She had warned him that, whatever he destroys now, that will be that much less he needs to worry about once he take the crown. Crown Prince Luthen understood Queen Gizala''s words very well. Kill everyone! War truly is hell he thought as he continued to listen the military report. ¡°The commoners are almost in formation my prince. Unfortunately, we are short of about a 1500. The distance was just too far for some of them to make it in time. But our knight forces are fully assembled and ready.¡± Knight General Andurf Diakaro informed the prince. ¡°If we wait another day, how many more freemen do you think will be able to join us, General Andurf?¡± Prince asked. ¡°Hard to say my prince. Maybe another 200 or so.¡± General replied skeptically. ¡°Then, there is no point in waiting any more. Theolamore¡¯s have already started to shift to the new defensive lines. If we wait any longer both new and old defenses will become a hard nut to crack and I don¡¯t want to pay that price¡­Not only that, they may discover our current invasion force. Start moving everyone into position and they¡¯ll sleep in formation tonight. Then we assualt at first light and break through.¡± ¡°As you order my prince.¡± Knight General Andurf Diakaro saluted and left the tent. Prince Luthen glanced at the entrance as General Andurf left the tent. Feeling bitter for being given this mission he sat in his field chair, he signaled his servant to bring him a cup of wine. Thinking to himself, Prince Luthen mentally accepted this bloody campaign of death. Grabbing the cup of wine that his servant brought over, he noticed the deep red color of the wine. Then he unhappily snorted before chugging the whole cup in one go. Then realizing that it may be a while before he gets to enjoy the taste of fine wine again, he ordered his servant to bring another cup to drink slower. ¡°May the gods forgive my soul for what I¡¯m about to do.¡± He whispered to himself in silence. = = = Frontier, Fort Whitestone. ¡°I¡¯m Captain Allen. Doc Simmons called for me.¡± Captain informed the newly summoned medical assistant as he walked into the recently built medical station. All medical related construction had been a priority. Henceforth as of 2 days ago, Fort Whitestone had their 1st medical station until more modern hospital could be built. ¡°Doctor Simmons is expecting you sir. Go right in.¡± Medical staff Sergeant Voss informed the Captain as he gestured to the open door. Nodding to the medical sergeant as he walked pass him, Captain Allen walked right through the door. Lieutenant Colonel Simmons looked at him as he walked in and indicated him to take a set while he pulled up 3 medical files. Quickly looking over the files then setting them down on the table. Making eye contact. LTC Simmons slowly and deliberately clapped his hands. CLAP! Then another. CLAP! And finally another. CLAP! Then it finally sunk into Captain Allen head causing his face to frown then sag in defeat. ¡°3 strikes Captain. Or maybe, should I say 3 home runs.¡± Then changing his voice as if he was talking to his son. ¡°Just what the hell were you thinking Allen. All those girls have been through the ringers and whored off to god knows how many men. In these dark age conditions, even our own ancestors in the old world didn¡¯t go chasing tail for fear of diseases. And by the devil himself. The hostility the 3 women had against each other when they come for the check up. Are you a masochist Captain? All the former pleasure girls are in need of massive amount of psychotherapy and the chances of Lord Phoenix summoning one is highly unlikely as psychiatrist don¡¯t go to combat.¡± Getting a grip of himself. ¡°Doc. I meant what I said when I separated them from the rest of the decent girls. At the time it was the only solution I could think of and things just happened after that. It¡¯s not easy resisting 3 hot women who are seducing you.¡± ¡°Well, you¡¯ve got your share of nookies, so you pay for it.¡± Doctor Simmons said. ¡°In any case, Doctor Westbrook is charge of disease control from now on.¡± ¡°Does that mean I need to check with him to see if I¡¯m clean sir?¡± ¡°No Captain. Since you¡¯ve volunteered yourself for the guinea pig assignment, we¡¯ll be monitoring you without any treatment. We need to know how disease affect us and since you are our first real case¡­¡± ¡°What!¡± Flabbergasted. ¡°I mean sir. What do you mean?¡± ¡°As I was saying Captain. The reason I brought you here is to tell you that Major Jung believes you are a perfect candidate considering your current situation. And I and Major Westbrook concur. So we¡¯ll be monitoring you and your harem to gather medical datas. And before you start to complain Captain, need I to remind you that this information is vital to our long term survival?.¡± LTC Simmons warned. ¡°Yes sir. I know my duty.¡± Captain Allen replied solemnly. ¡°Good. Now, just be sure your women don¡¯t end up killing each other. And don¡¯t worry about your harem, we''ll be sure that they will be receiving proper medical treatment.¡± LTC Simmons reminded. = = = Stovkow, Capital City Valennce. ¡°In total your majesty, Prince Luthen was able to break through with about 60% of his knights and about 50% of the footmen. We lost Sir Gilgian and Baron Dalghes and the Theolamore lost 2 mages as well.¡± General Korneol reported with grim face. ¡°Just tell me what happened General Korneol.¡± Queen Gizala as calmly, but with an obvious upset tone. ¡°From the report of the men who were unable to break through with the Prince. We were able to piece togatherthat the Theolemores were in the middle of a major force movement at the time of the Prince Luthen¡¯s assault. His forces were able to blast through their weak defense easy enough, but it also alerted the Theolemore¡¯s forces being moved from our retreat from the old defense line. They came and flanked the Prince¡¯s footmen as they are on foot. This caused the knight forces to cover the footmen from being annihilated. Hence the high casualty.¡± ¡°What of the enemy¡¯s casualty?¡± The Queen asked. ¡°From interrogation, we assist that their knights casualty were little higher than ours when Prince took his lancers to flank the Theolemor knight as they were butchering our footmen. However, Theolemore¡¯s footmen soldiers casualty rate is negligible.¡± General Korneol reported. With a heavy heart. ¡°It seems my son¡¯s campaign of death has had a difficult start.¡± Queen Gizala commented. With a bit of sorrowful tone. ¡°My Queen. Might I ask why you sent the next King of Stovkow as a butcherer? I just can¡¯t understand the reason to bloody his name?¡± General Korneal asked. Looking at the General with an indifferent eyes. ¡°Because General Korneal. My father once warned me that it¡¯s better to rule with fear then love. We have been at war for a generation now. And in this generation, there is nothing to love about my family. My son has the power of my bloodline. But he will need the reputation to ruthlessly rule in the years to come or I fear Stovkow will become a page in history shortly after I am dead.¡± Thinking about what Queen Gizala just said. General Korneol simply replied with a ¡°As you will my Queen.¡± Grabbing a small scroll used by the birds to carry message and handing over to General Korneol. ¡°I just received this few hours ago.¡± Queen Gizala quietly watched the face of the old grizzly general¡¯s face as he read the message. Like an old veteran his is, he showed no surprised expression. Only a questioning look. ¡°If Count Morrogain is correct and Baron Myojhuk is dead, then who is in control of his territory? And this Phoenix Kingdom that killed him and offering safe haven to the frontier settlement. This could be ploy set up by Baron Myojhuk to cause disinformation in order to cause us to make mistakes in our action to him. Honestly my Queen. I¡¯m not sure what to make of this development. Count Morrogain would not send us faults information. So I believe that he believes this information is true. We need solid information. I will immediately send our spies to get 1st hand information before we make any moves. It will be a while before we can assemble any retribution force. It¡¯s more than enough time for our spies to their job.¡± ¡°Very well General. Who do we have to lead the retribution force. I¡¯ve decided to lower Kyzdon¡¯s peerage to a Baron. He has completely failed his duty and southwest territory. I¡¯m thinking of rewarding the individual successful in restoring the southwest a Margrave peerage to replace the Kyzdon family, and pending Antenok family¡¯s survival. The crown is short on coins to completely finance the mission. I¡¯m betting that there are ambitious family who¡¯s been scheming and holding out on tax to the crown for opportunity like this.¡± Queen Gizala said with a matter of fact tone. ¡°If you''re offering the southwest, I also think there will be many volunteer to lead the retribution forces Your Majesty.¡± ¡°Then pick out who you would recommend and be sure they can co-finance it. If there is nothing else of important, let''s end it for now General. I¡¯ve been feeling exhausted of late. And in need of rest.¡± Respectfully bowing. ¡°Yes my Queen. Rest assure, I will handle everything.¡± Ch19 - Frontier, Daldia. Spike broke out in sweat as he concentrated on his right hand. Marquess Daldia sent his mana to Spike¡¯s right hand to force a reaction from his dormant and never used manatite. Spike knew he had it, like a muscle never used before. He felt it many times from these exercises. His breathing intensified as if running a marathon. He could almost feel it. Straining to tell his brain that there is another set of nerve or vein. Another set of musclesthat he could control. Forcing himself to believe that it exist. That, it¡¯s there. Focus! Concentrate. Just a little more! Inwardly, Spike screamed at himself as he clinched he teeths. Then he felt it. ¡°YEAH! I just felt it move.¡± Spike cried out in triumphant. ¡°Hell Yeah! Finally!¡± He struck both his fist high into the sky as he expressed his excitement as Marquess also joined in the laughter. ¡°Very good my lord! You¡¯ve made incredible progress in such short time. I know you would do this at an amazing speed.¡± Marquess said with his jolly laughter even though his was exhausted himself. Spike¡¯s bodyguards joined in as they clapped for Spike. Even the nearby servants cheered for Spike as the word got passed around. For them, stronger Spike got, stronger their position in the frontier against the outside aggression. Something everyone in the town would be happy over. After everyone settled down from the excitement. ¡°So. What do we do next Marquess?¡± Spike asked. ¡°Now you need to keep exercising the manatite in your hand until you can do it without my help. Then spread out your control of the manatite in your whole body until you can completely control the mana flow inside your body. The speed varies with everyone. But I suspect you will achieve it in no time. While you are doing these exercises, be sure you are not near any fire. Sometime, natural elements will react to your mana as you lack complete control and cause harm to yourself and your surroundings. Especially if you have affinity to fire. Other elements reaction are normally negligible. So you shouldn¡¯t have to worry.¡± ¡°I see, thank you for the warning. Little more and I think I can do these exercises on my own.¡± Spike said as he was pleased with today¡¯s result. ¡°Also, please do not practice while you are hunting my lord. Until you gain total control, all young students leak mana. Not meant to be an insult Lord Phoenix, but it¡¯s like little children wetting their bedding while sleeping. Some inhumanoids and monsters can sense the mana leakage like smelling blood for carnivorous creatures. And the the creatures that can sense the mana leakage are incredibly dangerous as them have magic powers.¡± Marquess warned. ¡°Understood! I¡¯ll take your warning to heart Marquess. But from your looks. It seems I¡¯ve exhausted your mana again. So let''s end our lesson for today.¡± ¡°Very well my lord. Thank you. Why don¡¯t we both take a break and drink some tea.¡± Marquess Daldia offered. ¡°That¡¯s a good idea. I¡¯m actually parched from today¡¯s exercise.¡± As the mid fall weather was to cold to drink tea outside the tea break was moved from the normal back yard porch to the study room over looking the center with the water fountain. Across the street Spike saw a building half built as the engineers and the labors worked nonstop. Once finished, it would serve as a temporary resident for the mayor, his family and staff. Then the current mansion will be demolished for the more modern mansion. Then the temporary resident building will be turned over to the chamber of commerce for tradesmen and crafters to promote and assist independent business. Eventually, the town will grow out of the current barter system for long term economic growth with currency. Taking a seat. ¡°By the way Marquess Daldia.Am I able to cast magic with what I can do now?¡± Spike asked. ¡°Well, technically, you can my lord. However, your hand will become weak and numb once the mana in your right hand is drained from casting. And there is a potential of harming the manatite in you hand. Remember my lord, manatite is a vein. Almost like an organ. That is what the scholars who have autopsied many enemy mages have said. Hence, the reason why all mages must learn to circulate and control the mana inside the body and train to control their manatite.¡± ¡°Hmm. I guess that makes sense.¡± Then thinking about the daily report he reads everyday. ¡°Also, I was briefed that Mister Khriven had joined Captain Allen on their mission up north. Did you set him up to it?¡± Spike asked. ¡°Yes and no my lord. Khriven was a bit desperate to redeem himself after his blunder as the Mayor of Farengo. And I recommended him for the mission as he does have some contacts up north. In all honesty, I could actually use him here as our town population has had a sudden spike in growth....¡± Freezing. Just realizing what he just said. ¡°Forgive me my lord, no pun intended. Slip of the tongue.¡± Marquess apologized looking all embarrassed. ¡°It¡¯s alright Marquess. I know what you meant to say. It¡¯s not like you gave me the name Spike.¡± Spike said dryly. Yeah¡­ Spike the 1st. Silently cursed himself. ¡°But you were saying.¡± Spike said to get back on topic. ¡°Ah, yes my lord. With the sudden increase of population, we are in need of people who can read. When we were being oppressed by the Stovkow raids, teaching someone to read and write just wasn¡¯t important. And it will be a long while before the current students are skilledenough to work as administrators. And I could really use Khriven¡¯s expertise right now.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Spike nodded in agreement. ¡°But I fear the other settlements leadership will not be in any better shape. To speak honestly my lord. If you remember, I was as a breaking point. And I expect Captain Allen will find them in the same situation. And having a known face could speed up the good captain''s work without having to fight a goblin army to convince them.¡± ¡°I have absolute faith in Captain Allen¡¯s ability to command and get the job done. Though I admit, I¡¯m not so sure about his private life.¡± Spike said as he chuckled. I wonder if Captain Allen is one of those type that is an amazing field commander, but has a really shity private life. Chuckling with Spike. ¡°Yes, I heard my lord. He¡¯s a colorful man.¡± Marquess remarked. Both teacher and student. Master and servant. Pleasantly lost themselves to senseless banter over tea. After the servant clearout the tray and left, Spike asked a question that had been nagging him. Looking inquisitively. ¡°By the way Marquess Daldia. Just how did the people tamed the frontiers in the past. When I¡¯m out hunting, I find it difficult to even move around the insane level of vegetation growth. It¡¯s hard to believe the frontier could be tamed without an army.¡± Spike asked. ¡°Ahh that my lord¡­ To put it simply. Most people are free commoners but very poor who move to the frontier from lack of opportunity. And those men paved the way with their lives. It is a work of generations as we humans slowly move west. The most common methods the frontiersmen used was put down many traps for both monsters and inhumanoids. Humans always worked with demi-humans in partnership as demi-humans generally make poor merchants but are excellent hunters with their natural racial abilities. That¡¯s why almost all the hunters are demi-humans. Hunt Master Malikai is an exception. He is what you would refer to as freak of nature with his exceptional eyes and skills. It takes about a decade to tame 7 to 10 kilometers. For the successful hunters who have established themselves when the area become more civilized, such as Daldai township. They would look for a wife to settle down with. And that¡¯s how even Myojhuk and Kyzdon territory was settled generations ago. It¡¯s a very slow progress my lord.¡± Marquess informed. ¡°Then what about families like yours who have built a settlement like this for generations or mayors of other towns?¡± ¡°My family is an exception my lord. When my grandfather woke up to his magic talent during a life and death situation, with his new found power, he was able to rally people to himself and start a settlement which Daldia township sits now. Families like mine would be given a peerage. Other mayors who are elected, they are often made into retainers for kingdom''s nobles who expand to the frontier when the said part of the frontier become economically stable. I myself was offered a peerage when the ruin war started, but the condition was that I and my children serve in the war. I of course declined. So the raids started some years after and several expert mages were sent to subjugate my family, I ended up losing both my son and daughter, at the time their magic wasn¡¯t strong enough, But I on the other hand was skilled enough to kill one of their expert and badly injured the other. My wife died from a plague and of broken heart of having to witnessboth her children die before her. She had lost the will to live during the plague. And for Stovkow, with their loss of a mage,they must have decided it wasn¡¯t worth the risk of losing any more of their mages and allowed Baron Myojhuk to comeback from the war and neutralized me as they yoked the frontier. I also believe, in the earlier days of raids, they used it to train up their new recruit for the Ruin War.¡± Wow. The man''s had a hard life. Spike thought. = = = Frontier Bravo Company Lieutenant Walker''s 2nd platoon was on their lunch break from patrolling Lieutenant Collins'' Engineer platoon¡¯s AO (Area of Operation). Sergeant Duvall with 1st and 3rd squads were by the road kitchen set up to feed the labors and soldiers while Lieutenant Walker and 2nd and 4th squad was pulling guard farther inside the thick forest.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. With concerned voice. ¡°Lieutenant.¡± Hunter Tam called in low tone. ¡°Yes. What is it Hunter Tam.¡± ¡°I smell very light scent of something hostile. Hard to say what it is as this is something I¡¯ve never met. But I¡¯m thinking it¡¯s very close for me to smell them.¡± Hunter Tam warned. ¡°If you¡¯ve never seen it, how do you know it¡¯s hostile!¡± Lieutenant Walker asked questioningly. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to explain it sir. I just know it¡¯s not friendly. And I don¡¯t like the smell of¡­¡± Before he could finish his sentence, as large arrow pierced a machine gunner in the chest killing him instantly. Then his battle buddy cried out an alert as creatures with a face of a dog charged at them as another arrow killed the same soldier shouting the alert right as he was about the fire. ¡°They''re sneak attacking from the northeast. Fire at will.¡± 4th squad leader Sergeant Trent shouted after seeing 2 of his men go down. With the proven tactic from the Fleelance Platoon of sending tons of bullets into the thick forest, the rest of the 2 squads quickly lined up and unloaded their M249 SPW. As the bullets hit the large inhumanoids, it took more bullets to kill then the smaller goblins and kobolds. That gave enough time for the other inhumanoids to move closer, but the trench gunners took action to protect the machine gunners. With the sound of machine guns and shotguns going off, the whole AO came alive. Laborers dropped their tools and ran to the center. The engineer readied their weapons to protect them. Platoon sergeant Duvall took the other half of Lieutenant Walkers platoon and ran towards the gunfire sounds. And before they arrived, all the gunfire ceased firing. ¡°Ceasefire! Ceasefire!¡± Lieutenant Walker shouted after he noticed there were no more enemies or their arrows being fired. He got up to look around the damage. 3 men down including Sergeant Trent. ¡°Sergeant Fitch. Take your squad and Hunter Tam and make sure there are no stragglers. Corporal Penn. take over for Sergeant Trent and pull perimeter guard until the others get here.¡± After some time. Looking down at the corpse of at least 2.3 meter tall with a head of some sort of a dog with green skin. ¡°So¡­ What the hell is it?¡± asked Lieutenant Walker. ¡°I gather it¡¯s a gnoll sir. I¡¯ve never seen one, but it¡¯s fits the description. It¡¯s very unusual for gnolls to be this far, but with the frontier folks being pushed back to the Stovkow borders and all. I¡¯m thinking because of the food source being low and killing multiple goblin tribes are forcing these large inhumanoids to push farther east.¡± Hunter Tam said as he looked around the corpse of about 30 or so gnoll on the ground. ¡°It¡¯s possible we¡¯ll be seeing some orcs, bugbears, trolls and such in the near future. Winter is almost upon us sir. So them inhumanoids must be hungry.¡± ¡°If Tam¡¯s assistment is true, then we need to increase our security for the workers outside of the town and fort.¡± Lieutenant Collins said to Lieutenant Walker. ¡°I agree. We got lucky with only 3 dead.¡± Kicking the large bow, size of a man at his feet. ¡°This is about the size of the english longbow. If we faced a large group of them, our casualty would have been much higher.¡± Lieutenant Walker noted. ¡°If we didn¡¯t have the new M249 SPW¡­¡± shaking his head, there was no need to finish his sentence. ¡°Collins, I recommend your engineers also equip yourself with a line company¡¯s gear. Even though it¡¯s extra weight. Better safe than sorry.¡± Nodding in agreement. ¡°Sergeant Gil. When we get back to Trimmor, I¡¯ll take 4th squad with me and report to command and requisition for weapons switch out at the armory. Also, from now on, no more wagons moving back and forth on the road without armed security.¡± ¡°Yes sir. I¡¯ll make it happened.¡± Platoon Sergeant Gil with the 3rd platoon engineer replied energetically. Every Phoenix soldier in the vicinity of the combat was feeling the effect of the ABH. ¡°I¡¯ll have one of my squad join you Sergeant Gil. I need replacement for the 3 casualty and also send a report of new inhumanoid movements.¡± Turning his head to his platoon Sergeant Duvall. ¡°Sergeant Duvall. Secure our fallen¡¯s equipment and ask for volunteer squad to go with Sergeant Gil later.¡± Lieutenant Walker ordered. Then with a thoughtful look. ¡°Maybe we should put some sort of traps in the forest. We can¡¯t cover everything.What do you think Collins?¡± ¡°Not bad. But I¡¯m thinking mines would be better. No?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see what the command say about it.¡± Lieutenant Walkers replied. = = = Myojhuk, Castle Grannor. In a fit of rage Lord Caldrun flipped over, kicked and smashed various furniture in his private chamber. After visual inspection of his nephew¡¯s body several days ago, nothing prepared him for the emotion he felt as the realization finally sunk in. At first, he couldn''t believe it. He didn¡¯t want to believe that the last of his bloodline has died. Without a family, there is no legacy. Through his many younger years, he traveled to many kingdom¡¯s as a sword for hire. To make enough money to retire and start his own family. But instead, he discovered he had some talent in magic as he slaughtered other men for coins. One day, he had hoped to returned to his family, but there were enough losses on the sides he took coins from and delayed his retirement plan. In his absences, he parents passed away from disease and his younger sister Lura was lucky to find a young knight who fell in love with her. There was nothing he could have done for his parents, but he was glad that at least his sister was able to find love and create a family of her own. By then, he felt he had gotten to old to start his own family so he was content with simply watching over his sister''s child as he was sure there would be more children for her in the future. That was until he received the news of her death. Then everything changed. He had received a personal letter from Sir Myojhuk, to become his steward, and to keep an eye on his son, Justine Myojhok. A young boy at the time. With such news, it wasn¡¯t hard to give up his life as a mercenary captain at that time. But soon upon arrival, he discovered strange movements and manipulation from Margrave Kyzdon. After digging farther into the matter, he discover Margrave Kyzdon¡¯s handy work of manipulation of Myojhuk¡¯s bloodline. His discovery of slowly poisoning of his sister to make it appear as if she died of disease. Especially when he practically forced Sir Myojhuk to marry his youngest daughter. Now, with the last of his family line dead. At least he believe he could finish his nephews plan and honor his death. But now, this strange force in the frontier. The very frontier his nephew had planned to take over and move all the new population to cultivate the land for expansion and long term survival and security against the Stovkow, has been cut off. With the steady flow of refugees that were forced to migrate, there just won''t be enough land to support them all. A baron¡¯s territory just isn¡¯t big enough. Having seen the damage to his nephew¡¯s face, his head had collapsed from the holes, which made it looked as if the face was melting. The strange thing they had done to the scout¡¯s arm. Strange weapons Sir Kilowvk described. Rich outfit Mister Tisco also described. They must surely be in possession of lost knowledges. Now...for what am I fighting for. It¡¯s impossible to fulfill Justine¡¯s plan. Revenge no longer taste as sweet. But Margrave Kyzdon and his family must die. He is the one who started all this. I just wanted Justine to live. He was the son I never had. Now, even Justine¡¯s dream of a Free City-State is but a dream. Lord Caldrun sat in silence as his face held a bitterness thatreflected his soul. = = = Frontier, Fort Whitestone. With a little down time he had, Spike decided to pay the medical station a call and visit his wounded men. There have been few skirmishes with the other companies as well in the last week that had sent their share of wounded men to the hospital. But none with amputation or serious as Private Raines. Even before Spike walked into the building, he could hear one of the wounded soldier screaming in pain asking for painkiller or knock him out. And Spike recognized that voice belonging to Private Raines. With concern Spike followed the sound of the scream to Private Raines private room. There he saw, Private Raines was surrounded with medics and Doctor Simmons trying to keep the man from hurting himself from thrashing around with badly injured hip. Unable to control the situation like this, Doctor Simmons order 1 of the medic to inject Private Raines with a dose of painkiller directly to his hip for faster effect. After watching Private Raines finally settle down and pass out. ¡°Holy crap. He¡¯s not doing so good Doc. Anything I can summon to help?¡± Spike asked in shock. Looking up as Doctor Simmons notices Spike at the door. Walking up to him with deep concern on his face. ¡°No sir. I¡¯m not sure what the problem is. Private Raines finally woke up 5 days ago. And his been in constant pain screaming for painkillers. I fear he will end up ODing soon. We tried forcing him to sleep with different medications, but he wakes up from the pain. And all the drug are slowing down his body¡¯s natural ability to heal. We had to remove some crushed bones in his hip and produce some parts with the micro factory then wire and screw the shaped parts through the bones, so it¡¯s a given he should feel some pain, but not this extreme. We¡¯ve triple checked with a 3D X-ray to make sure the surgery was done correctly, but I just can¡¯t find the reason for this complication.¡± ¡°Well, be sure to let me know asap if there is something I can do Doc.¡± Spike said in somber after witnessing Private Raines in that level of pain. Then leading Spike to other room. ¡°Seriously sir. After monitoring the other injured men, Private Raines should be well on his way to recovery. But I don¡¯t see any improvement. We¡¯ve done multiple retesting if there was some abnormality in Private Raines and nothing showed up.¡± LTC Simmons informed. ¡°I still have 2 more slots left. Should I summon another Doctor or surgeon for you to consult each other?¡± Spike said as he checked, then noticed the difference in number. ¡°Damn it. We lost 3 men someplace.¡± ¡°Sir?¡± ¡°No. Let''s stay on topic. I¡¯m sure someone will tell me soon enough. Do you want me to bring in another Doctor?¡± ¡°To be honest sir. There is a part of me that does. If another doctor can help Private Raines of course I welcome it. But another doctor doesn¡¯t necessarily mean he or she will have the answer. Medical science isn¡¯t all knowing as it isn¡¯t an exact science. Some people react differently to different treatment. But having another doctor would be helpful for my own conscious to confirm if I¡¯m not overlooking something. And no disrespect to Doctor Lavideka or Doctor Gaston. But their knowledge is almost 2 century obsolete to mine and it¡¯s going to take some time to bring them up to speed.¡± ¡°Right. I understand. Send your personal request to Captain Gray right away and I¡¯ll authorize it asap.¡± Spike ordered knowing it¡¯s going to be another expensive summon. ¡°I¡¯m not a doctor, but my instinct tells me it probably has something to do with our own abnormality that¡¯s causing Private Raines complication. In anycase, I¡¯m here to check on the men. How is everyone else doing?¡± Spike asked as he gestured with his hand to leave the room. ¡°I agree with your instinct sir. But it¡¯s hell for Private Raines until we have better understanding of our physical body. As for other wounded, everyone is doing well sir. The amputees have already healed up and waiting for their prosthetics. It¡¯s just amazing how quickly they heal. And the others have mostly deep flesh wounds. So far, we notice that all flesh wounds are healing without leaving any scars. No matter how deep the wound. This phenomenal has all the medical personels in amazement. I suppose the female soldiers would be happy about this once they start to pop up in your summons.¡± LTC Simmons mused. ¡°That¡¯s good to hear about the general status on our men. So how is our hunter doing? Anymore new discover on their physiology?¡± ¡°These Demi-Humans are fascinating sir. They are essentially humans with ears and tail. But have slight difference in biochemistry that gives them exceptional physical stats. Which also causes them to react differently to some of our treatments. Hunter Rikko having been discharged from the hospital weeks ahead speaks for itself sir.¡± Doctor Simmons informed. ¡°That¡¯s outstanding. These demi-humans are truly kickass people. So does that mean Hunter Rikko is cleared for duty?¡± ¡°She says she is. But I told her she needs to come back in 2 days for final check up before I clear her for return to duty sir.¡± ¡°Hey¡­ Does that mean the demi-humans heal just as fast as our men?¡± Spike asked as the question popped into his head. ¡°From the actual flesh and bone healing rate, I would say they are comparable sir. But I¡¯m not sure about poisons and diseases.¡± = = = Count Morrogain¡¯s territory, Port Calteermon. Count Morrogain sat at his table and waited as the captain of the Blue Night was immediately brought up to his private study as soon as it touched the dock. An grizzly older man in his 50¡¯s. Captain Jwan had been serving the Morrogain family for over 30 years. He had started as a deckhand. Then worked himself up to captain of a ship after 20 years of hard work. A loyal retainer entrusted with this mission. As soon as Captain Jwan walked in, he paid his respect and bowed to his master. ¡°Lets not waste time on ceremony Captain. Just tell me.¡± Count Morrogain ordered. ¡°Nobody is there my Count. The port town is empty. All your men are missing. We found few dead bodies floating, but no one alive. 1 ship sunk. We could see the wreckage in the water. The other 2 ships are heavily damaged and needs extensive repair before they can even be moved. I personally inspect the damaged ships and in my long years of ship battles, I can¡¯t make sense of what type of weapon was used against the ships. All the sails were missing. I presumed destroyed. The port¡¯s main gate on the land had extensive explosive burnt damage. Maybe Karan Daldia had something to do with it with his fire magic and his new master.¡± Captain Jwan quickly reported. ¡°This is just unbelievable. 3 of my veteran crews gone. Just like that. And my ships!¡± Count Morrogain sat stunned silenced. To numbed to say any more Count Morrogain was silent, Captain Jwan thinking it¡¯s his que to speak simply continued the briefing. ¡°We went farther west for another day¡¯s worth of travel past Birsk as you ordered, But no signs of any human movements except for few sightings of inhumanoids and monsters. My assessment is that these people of the Phoenix traveled on land, most likely coming from the north. As for the 2 damaged ships my lord. I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s worth the risk of sending a repair crew. They may end up facing the same thing that had happened to the others as it will be a long time in repairing the ships.¡± ¡°Damn!¡± Count Morrogain cried out in anger as the slammed his fist on the desk. The fact of taking these heavy losses stabbed deep into his merchant''s heart. Ch20 - I get no respect. Frontier. Fort Whitestone. Spike was so surprised he simply stood and stared at Hunter Rikko kneeling before him inside the command tent. This is the second time someone pulled this on him. Even the other officers were surprised by the sudden action that the tent become silent. Getting a grip on himself Spike asked for clarification. ¡°I don¡¯t understand Rikko. Is it because I played a role in saving your life?¡± From the kneeling position. ¡°It is just as you say my lord. I should have died, but you have given me an extension of my life. An extension that allows for me to watch over my children. I am very grateful for this life. And it must be requited for my cycle of life to be complete or I will be unfavorable judged by goddess Gaia.¡± Ahh shit! Is this some sort of a life debt for life saved thing. Sounds like a warrior''s code philosophy. Badass! Spike thought. ¡°And I suppose if I decline this life debts then it will be bad?¡± ¡°I would have to kill myself in your presence.¡± Rikko replied still with her head bowed. ¡°I had first pledge to Healer Simmons, but he said that it was your power that actually saved me. He said that it is to you whom I should pledge to.¡± An amused look appeared on the other officers face when she said that. Nice one Doc! What a way to pass the buck and weasel out of this one. Understanding the seriousness of Rikko conviction and not wanting to shame her by dragging thisout. ¡°Very well. I accept Rikko. Henceforth, you shall stand by my side and fulfill your role as my hunter and tracker. So go and prepare yourselfto move out in the morning.¡± ¡°May the will of Lady Gaia be served.¡± Rikko said as she stood up and raised her head to look at Spike¡¯s face with determination on her face. ¡°Thank you my lord. Since you have given me a role, I shall be ready when you depart for the hunt.¡± Then she walked out. With a look of satisfaction and approval, Major Jung said. ¡°You¡¯ve adapted quite fast in the short amount of time sir. You handled that rather well if I do say so myself.¡± ¡°Yeah. Well, who would have thought that the demi-humans would have such tribal tradition. Wait! The hell.¡± Spike suddenly raised his voice in surprise. ¡°Does this mean stuff like will be repeating with other demi-humans?¡± Chuckling ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a bad thing sir. To be honest, I rather like these demi-humans. They are honest with themselves. Not like most humans.¡± Major Jung said as he congratulated Spike on getting a loyal follower. Then bursted out in happy laughter. Not bad. Not bad. A skilled loyal follower. And a demi-human to boot. That should help keeping him alive in the forest. And one less thing to worry about. Spike eyedthe Majorwith a worrying look. Wondering what he''s scheming about now. = = = Frontier, near Trimmor. The road construction group kept getting hit by the gnolls and kobolds in the last week. The small skirmishes had grinded Lieutenant Walker''s platoon, his dead were quickly replaced with new summons. However, the wounded increased in numbers leaving him with only half of active platoon and another squad at the medical. Even Lieutenant Collins'' engineer platoon took a few hit while working the road construction. With the increased number of skirmishes in the AO, Lieutenant Moore, Major Jung and Spike decided having Spike onsite for quick resupply and replacement of dead would bring a strategic advantage if shit ever hits the fan. So for now, Trimmor became a temporary base for the Freelance platoon. And Spike would make a routine visit to Daldia to continue his magic lessons with Marquess Daldia. ¡°As the leaves are falling the visibility has gotten a lot better for us but it¡¯s also the same for the gnoll. They are very clever hunters sir. They are playing hit and run and we don¡¯t have enough demi-humans to cover all the AO. And the fact that they can see in darkness is a massive tactical advantage over us. We take more casualties during the night time as we can¡¯t follow them into the forest. And we don''t have awalled defenses we can sleep behind yet.¡± Lieutenant Walker briefed Spike and Lieutenant Moore as the rest of the freelance platoon listened up. Then pointing to the many buildings in Trimmor with collapsed roofs and holes in the walls. ¡°And these buildings aren¡¯t full proof against their longbows during the night attacks. Our experience tell us that they can¡¯t see clearly with increase in distance. So we keep all the labors inside the building during the night. So they end up targeting our sentry. My gut feeling is that they are trying to piss us off enough for us to go chase after them. Hence the hit and run. But I¡¯m too short on man to do anything right now sir. And barely able to maintain the security patrols for Lieutenant Collins to do his job during the daylight.¡± ¡°Right. Lieutenant Walker and his platoon has done a helluva job sir.¡± Lieutenant Collins jumped into support him. ¡°He''s had quite the success in the beginning. Before the gnolls shifted their attacks to night hit and run during night time. I was actually contemplating whether or not to call off the road construction until we have the AO cleared. But those creatures are smart sir. They know there is no point in killing the labor now. Even if they can kill the labors, Hunter Tam said the gnolls and kobalds won¡¯t be able to haul them off. And there is no point as they can¡¯t get access to the corpse for food. So they are focusing on killing off the protectors. Which is us. Then they will most likely drag off the live humans. And the fact that they haven¡¯t mass attack yet indicates that they don''t have the numbers right now after Lieutenant Walker thinned out their numbers in the beginning.¡± ¡°OK. I understand. Your new replacements are going through a crash course right now with training up on the SAWand Hunt Master Malikia and Captain Wraeth are also giving them a crash course on local survival and tactics. This willincrease their survivability. Until they arrive, we¡¯ve been sent to give assistance.¡± Spike informed. ¡°How are we looking with getting more demi-human hunters sir?¡± Lieutenant Walker asked as he eyed Rikko and Grigor standing by. ¡°Rikko is now a permanent member in my bodyguard team whenever I go out hunting. So you can¡¯t have her. And Grigor is with Lieutenant Moore. But, when the 2 injured scouts from Birsk are cleared for duty by Doctor Simmons in few days. They¡¯ll both take over patrolling the home bases with Hunter Sodie, relieving Hunter Grieves to come forward to help out. So hang tight for few more days LT.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± ¡°Then Lieutenant Moore.¡± Spike nodded to Lieutenant Moore. Indicating him to take over. ¡°Thank you sir.¡± Then looking at the other officers. ¡°Has Hunter Tam had the chance to track these gnolls.¡± ¡°He has, but he said they are not staying in any one location. So tracking them is impossible as there has been too many tracks left behind by them in recent nights and his having difficulty. If it wasn''t for his exceptional nose we¡¯d all be screwed.¡± Lieutenant Walker said. ¡°So it¡¯s going to be a search and destroy.¡± Spike commented. ¡°We tried that on the second day sir. They can smell us long before we noticed them. If we didn¡¯t have Hunter Tam with us I can¡¯t count the times we would have been ambushed and had our asses handed back to us. However, he did mention that as the temperture drops, and the visibility improves with the falling leaves, their ability to snif us out will decrease and we''ll be able to get the edge on them with our rifles. ¡°Well shit! Maybe we should just napalm the shit out of the forest.¡± Spike said in annoyance. ¡°Sir?¡± ¡°Never mind.¡± Spike said as he realized they probabaly didn''t have napalms in WWI. ¡°This is a difficult nut to crack sir.¡± Lieutenant Moore said. ¡°We might be grinding our men to death for this road. Is the iron mine an absolute necessity? Maybe we can trade for them when weestablish the trade port in Birsk. We may need to review our strategic goals. We¡¯re losing several men per day building this road. But most of all, thegnolls may be waiting for their own reinforcement to arrive.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good point LT.¡± Spike said as he thought about Lieutenant Moore¡¯s last comment. Then looking around. ¡°By the way. Who¡¯s in command of this mission?¡± The 3 lieutenants looked at each other understanding what Spike was asking. ¡°For obvious reason, I¡¯m in charge of the roadsir, as I¡¯m tasked out to build the road.¡± Lieutenant Collins said. ¡°And I¡¯m security sir.¡± Lieutenant Walker said. ¡°And I¡¯m reinforcement.¡± Lieutenant Moore said. Looking at the 3 butter bars. The fuck. Did the Major actually make a mistake or did he plan this. He always has someone in charge when there are combine platoons. ¡°So¡­ Nobody is in charge of the overall mission?¡± ¡°Well technically sir. You''re in charge.¡± Lieutenant Walker pointed as Spike. ¡°Hey now. I know I learned a lot in the few months, but I ain¡¯t no Captain material yet. I haven¡¯t even commanded a platoon yet.¡± Spike said. ¡°In anycase, the reason I asked was, someone has to make the call on what to do.... Well shit!¡± Spike cursed as he realized no matter what, it¡¯s going to be up to him. How the hell can that man plan this shit out as a desk jockey piloting his desk. ¡°Alright then. What are everyone''s recommendations?¡± ¡°For onesir. I¡¯d like to at least send half the civilians back to town for now. We don¡¯t have enough men to protect them all. So we end up bunching them up to protect them easier. Because of that, many of them are not working. Then we can help out on the hunt sir. We may be engineers. But sometimes command forget the combat in the combat engineer part.¡± Lieutenant Collins informed. ¡°Ok. That¡¯s easy. They can go back with the next wagon train full of logs for the city.¡± ¡°I think with mine and your night vision devices sir. We could come up with something to ambush the enemy¡¯s hit and run tactics during the night.¡± ¡°Ok. I leave it to you to think of something then.¡± ¡°I think we should be more proactive on search and destroy sir. Instead of waiting for colder temperature. Now that we have 3 demi-human hunters. Even if those bastards can smell us. If we keep moving around, they won''t be able to pinpoint us as we¡¯ll be leaving our scent everywhere. It''s the same tactics they have been using on us during their night raids, making it difficult for Hunter Tam to find them.¡± ¡°That sounds good, but how do we communicate so we don¡¯t end up having friendly fires.¡± Spike asked. Little by little, he was finding the lack of common sense technology of his era a limitation to their tactical and strategic survival. ¡°We¡¯ve no map of the area and compass doesn''t work in this world.¡± ¡°That is a problem sir. That reminds me. Have the command made a decision on using mines sir?¡± Lieutenant Walker asked. ¡°Ah that¡¯s right. I forgot. That is a NO GO on the mines LT. In the future, our people will be living in this very land. In my era, we are still finding mines from WWII and children''s are the ones who often find lost mines in 3rd world countries. And I don¡¯t think anyone one of us want to have that on our conscious.¡± But most of all, mines become more or lessobsolete in Spike¡¯s era and he had very little knowledges of them. Because his era had better micro surveillance technology, that it was easier to drop bombs and shot missiles using high altitude drones. Understanding Spikes meaning. ¡°Roger that sir.¡± Both Lieutenant Walker and Collins replied solemnly. ¡°I suppose we are going to have to do this the hard way. Simply go and find them.¡± Spike thought there must be something in all the military arsenal of all the countries of one of the era he could use that are cost efficient. But there are so much items, yet lack of descriptive information that limits his ability to summon proper equipments. It bothered him greatly. Which Spike knew will cost him his men''s lives. But they are all in it for the long run and he had to weight out the long term overall cost to benefit. Having thought of his options Spike started to give instructions. ¡°Alright then. I¡¯ll say what I think. If you lieutenantsfind anything unwise with what I say, please speak up.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± The 3 lieutenant replied.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°After lunch, let''s send back half the labors with whatever lumber you have loaded onto the wagon. Lieutenant Walker will take the rest of his platoon as security for the returnees. Lieutenant Moore will take over the AO patrols and external security. But Leave Hunter Tam with us. You shouldn¡¯t need him while traveling on the road. And get a good night rest at the base before returning in the morning. For Lieutenant Collins, with less labors present, the work will be slower, but you won''t be so stretch out with protecting so many labors and overseeing their work. Thiswill be better for your own security as your platoon can react to support each other more efficiently during enemy attacks.¡± Then turning to Lieutenant Walker. ¡°One other thing LT. Please get a clarification from Major Jung about the need for the iron. Lieutenant Moore did make a valid point on trading for them. The iron mine will not be accessible for the labors until Spring at best. And I don¡¯t like the idea of having civilians working the road while we have hostile forces trying to kill us. So ask him to reevaluate the strategic planning for the iron mine and the road leading to it. I understand that we all thought the area was mostly cleared up after we subjugated the goblins. But it¡¯s very apparent we were wrong.¡± ¡°Roger that sir. I¡¯ll make my report and convey your message.¡± Lieutenant Walker replied. ¡°And I¡¯m ok with your order sir. I don¡¯t see anything wrong with what you¡¯ve said. But I¡¯d like to workout a plan for tonights ambushwhen the gnolls and kobolds come to pay us a visit. So I¡¯d like for our men to rotate out and get some rest for a long night ahead.¡± Lieutenant Moore said. ¡°Oh? What do you have planned LT.¡± Spike asked looking inquisitively at Lieutenant Moore. ¡°I¡¯m still working it out in my head sir. I¡¯d like to inspect Trimmor and its surrounding before I finalize my plan and make my recommendation.¡± Lieutenant Moore replied with his thinking face. ¡°Then I¡¯m going to start pulling out half the labors now so the wagons will be loaded on time with the lumbers being sent back to town sir.¡± Lieutenant Collins said. ¡°Alright. Then Sir. Lieutenant Moore. Let''s take the time we have now and I¡¯ll show you around the areas we¡¯ve sort of mapped out and I can slowly pull in my platoon on security as we switch off with the your Freelance platoon. Having a little more familiarity will give you some tactical advantage.¡± Lieutenant Walker said. With that, the little meeting broke off for everyone to managetheir tasks. As per plan, Lieutenant Walker¡¯s platoon and half the labor left right after lunch. Before evening, everyone was brought into Trimmor. And Lieutenant Mooreescorted Spike into the center. Followed by Spikes bodyguard team. ¡°After inspecting the tracks with Hunter Tam sir. I focused on 2 objectives. The enemies have been using their night vision advantage and had been making light of us. With each snipings with their bows and random return fire from Lieutenant Walker¡¯s platoon. I¡¯m fairly sure the enemy¡¯s are overly confident at this point. So I''ve identified all the locations they are likely to snipe from and the least likely location. Second objective is placing our SAW gunners to spray as much bullets into that area with you and me using tracer bullets for our men to see the area of the forest to focus their fire on. With our night vision devices, I think it¡¯s very doable sir.¡± ¡°Sounds good LT. Just tell me where my position is and I¡¯ll summon up some tracer rounds. But will you be able to fire enough tracer rounds with your Springfield?¡± Spike ask. With only 5 rounds per load, Lieutenant Moore will be spending too much time reloading his ammos. ¡°It''s fine sir. I¡¯ll have Corporal Watson as a loader.¡± ¡°Ah right. I didn''t think about that.¡± As the Platoon leaders and Sergeants weren¡¯t expected to fire their weapons as they should be managing the battles, they were normally armed withSpringfields or shotguns. ¡°But you know. Wouldn¡¯t the tracer round start a forest fire with the dead leaves piling up on the ground?¡± ¡°I believe it¡¯s fine sir. The morning dew is keeping everything wet and damp. The tracer isn¡¯t enough to start a fire yet. ¡°With the help of the engineers and labors, we reinforced 2 sections of a roof top and put coverings with sandbags. That way both of us up top will have decent protection from their longbows.¡± But as Lieutenant Moore looked at Spikes armor. ¡°But in your case, I¡¯m not sure if you even need protection cover sir.¡± ¡°Roger that LT. And no I don¡¯t need it against their bow and arrows, but are you planning for me to man the lookout post alone? What about my battle buddy?¡± Spike said as a joke. ¡°Well I suppose it would be lonely staring up at the night sky all alone sir.¡± LT joked back. ¡°Both our position will support at least 2 fully loaded men. But, I¡¯ll ask Lieutenant Collins to build a more permanent reinforced tower so it will serve as both watch tower and machine gun tower sir.¡± ¡°That will be great LT. Trimmor is slowly becoming our forward base into the frontier. So, maybe we should actually build up this settlement. If I think about it. I would prefer fighting here then near the soon to be Daldia City with lots of civilians.¡± Spike said. ¡°Yes sir. Maybe we should built up Trimmor first. Then build the road to the iron mine.¡± Lieutenant Moore agreedas he looked upward to point out Spike¡¯s lookout position. ¡°Sir, this is your lookout position. I remember from your description that your night vision capability is much better then mine. So from this position, you¡¯ll be able to monitor the center and the north side. And I¡¯ll take the south side of the town.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Spike agreed understanding his meaning. His headgear had 3 micro cameras for IR, thermal, and telescope. And a computer to process all them all at the same time on his eye sensory monitor to give him real images of what he''s looking at. It even had a targeting scope Spike could us if he had the right attachment device for it on his weapon. But the M249 SPW and Assassin MK3 are from different era and completely incompatible. A problem he currently couldn¡¯t solve, as he knew it¡¯s too expensive to experiment with random summoning and he doesn¡¯t know the proper military name for it as he never learned. And there is just too many targeting scopes that it¡¯s like playing a Russian Roulette. While Lieutenant Moore¡¯s night vision devices was Spikes old hand me down IR goggle. ¡°We still have enough day light left for quick dinner sir.¡± LT reminded when Spike started climbing the rope. ¡°It¡¯s all good LT. I want to take a look around now and get the feel of the view before relying on my helmet. Justhave someone deliever my dinner to me.¡± When Spike got up top, the outpost had 4 walls at chest hight withsandbags and a wide roof that extended out to make it more difficult for the longbow to rain down arrows onto the sentry inside. As Spike pulled himself up, he was thinking his lucky star for putting 2 points to his strength again. And wished he could put more points into his physical stats, but he needed more men for long term survival and security. Hauling up an extra 35 kg wasn¡¯t easy, even if he had help from his bodyguards. Then looking down at everyone on the ground level. ¡°Rikko, you''re my battle buddy for tonight. With your night vision, it¡¯s an obvious choice.¡± ¡°Yes my lord.¡± Finally having an important duty to fulfill, Rikko jumped up with her demi-human cat like agility on a single step hop on Private Gonzalez¡¯s shoulder. And quickly climb the rest of the way. With a surprise look on Spike''s face. Daaaamn! Did she really have a hole in her guts only few weeks ago? Then looking down at his bodyguards. ¡°Ahm. You men can chill inside this building.¡± Looking and realizing there¡¯s nothing they can do about the situation. ¡°Yes sir!¡± Corporal Robinson replied. ¡°Alright sir. I¡¯m going to make a final check on the men''s position before I head up to my lookout post.¡± LT shouted up before leaving. With some daylight still left. Spike looked around to find the small settlement of Trimmor to be going through a minor reconstruction already. With so many traffic passing through the settlement to build the road to the mine, the engineers had fixed up some of the better buildings and repair the water well to support the labors. From the rooftop, he could tell that settlement was build like a imperfect perpendicular shape from north to south. And his building being the village chiefs building with a second floor gave the best view of the town. Then right as the Autumn sun hit the zenith, Spike saw Sergeant Miller climb up with Lieutenant Moore to help man the outpost. Looks like they¡¯ll be sharing the night vision device. Spike thought as he saw the LT detach the NOD off his helmet. Spike open the mouth piece on his full helmet to eat the beef stew and black bread bakedby Private Kirk. As he enjoyed the tasty food, Spike wonder how in the hell Private Kirk can cook up kickass food from anywhere he cooks at. I should just turn him into a permanent cook so everyone can enjoy his awesome cooking. ¡°So Rikko.¡± Spike started a conversation to pass the time. ¡°Yes Lord Phoenix!¡± ¡°If I remember right from the medical station, I think you were going to tell me something about why the demi-humans don¡¯t age like humans? Because you look seriously too young to have 2 children. Especially someone of Annalia¡¯s age. No offense by they way.¡± ¡°I¡¯m 40 years old Lord Phoenix.¡± ¡°What!¡± Almost shouting out of surprise. No freakin way! She looks like 23 years old. ¡°I actually had my children late for a demi-human. We come of age a muchearlier than humans my lord. Not just in body, but also spiritually and mentally. Because we understand that in the cycle of life, childhood is when we are vulnerable and adulthood is when we are truly able to live freely, making our own decisions about life.¡± ¡°That¡¯s very interesting. But you look like someone around 23 or something. It must be good genetics that make it so.¡± Spike commented again. ¡°Forgive me my lord. But what''s genetics?¡± ¡°Err¡­ I mean it must be in the blood.¡± Spike fixed his word as he keep his eyes outward scanning the woodlines. ¡°Well yes. Goddess Gaia has gifted us demi-humans with long youth to hunt and to find strong mates to birth strong children who will also grow up to be strong hunters. But we all show our age at the end of our life to quickly return to the cycle of life. And if we have proven ourselves a great hunter, then goddess Gaia will pull us out of the heavens pride, which is part of the cycle of life, to forever join her as one of her warden. ¡°That¡­ You know. That sounds great for you demi-humans. But the human girls must hate the hell out you demi-human girls. I mean the part about you all looking young for most of your life. How the hell can the human girls compete. And your belief. Is it the same for all the other demi-humans?¡± ¡°Well. It¡¯s not our fault for being blessed by Lady Gaia. Beside, demi-humans generally don¡¯t like to mate with humans. Unless they are strong or a mage. And some humans want their children to be humans as the child born of 2 race is always the race of the demi-human parents.¡± Rikko said defensively. ¡°And yes. All demi-humans share this belief. Even the beastmen.¡± ¡°Beastmen?¡± ¡°They mostly live far up north in the great plains. They are more beast the human. You¡¯ll know when you see one my lord.¡± ¡°I see. Well, I look forward to discovering more of this land. But¡­ so the demi-humans can also be mages?¡± Spike ask. ¡°No my lord. They become a shaman.¡± ¡°Huu? So how is a shaman different from a mage?¡± ¡°Shamans make us stronger with their power. While the mages control the elements my lord? Hasn¡¯t Marquess Daldia told you this?¡± Rikko asked inquisitively. ¡°No. It never came up.¡± ¡°Hmm. I suppose it¡¯s not important as shamans are only found in the great plains and the fact that they are just as rare as a mage, the chance of you meeting one is probably zero.¡± They continued their talk as Spike learned a little more about the demi-humans. He learned that almost all the demi-humans south of Kindarth Empire are refugees who fled the anti-demi-human movement started about 3 generation ago. And Beastmen are very rare in human communities. Unlike the demi-humans, there are too much prejudice against them. He also learned about elves, dwarves and gnome. But they are almost never seen as they live in their own closed hidden communities away from the humans. Rikko even talked about many legendary creatures like Dragons, unicorns, and mermaid. But those are mostly myth as no one has ever seen them but only read from books and fairytales. Except for wyverns, which are not real dragons. There seems to be great many bones of them as trophies in variouspowerful families castles. Then little past midnight when Spike was cycling through his different night vision mode, he picked up heat signatures in the wood line. Zooming in, he IDed 2 groups of 4-5 large inhumanoids with a dog head. 1 group was directly north and the other group was on the west side. ¡°Rikko. They''re here.¡± When he saw them getting their longbows ready, Spike didn¡¯t waste time. He had no idea who they had on target, but with every arrow shot, it could be one of his men dying on his watch. ¡°Fire the flare towards west now.¡± He ordered. Then he fired off his SAW with every 5th round loaded with a tracer bullet to guide the other SAW gunners to saturate the area with thousands of bullets. Trimmor came alive as the gun fires woke up everyone. With the flare to the west, Lieutenant Moore marked the area for the SAW gunners with his single shot tracer rounds. Labors huddled inside the repaired buildings located in the central part of Trimmor to protecting them. The Phoenixians looked for tracer rounds to identify the area to unload their ammos. Rikko kept an eye out with her natural night vision. She tried to not look directly at the flare or Spike''s direction as it somewhat disrupted her sight. But the gnolls only showed up on north and west side of Trimmor. With so many bullets saturating the area Spike checked his stats to see if he scored. And sure enough between the 2 sneak attack locations, he scored 446 EXP. As the cease fire was called and the explosive ring lessened, injured gnolls whining and whimpering sound carried into the town making it difficult for everyone to sleep. Especially for the civilian labors. Some of the civilians broke down from the stressful distressing noise and few were knocked unconscious for their own good when they freaked out. The work horses brought into the center and barricaded to protect them were extra jumpy making it difficult to sleep for most of the labors. No other sneak attack materialized for the rest of the night. After a while the critically injured gnolls that could not retreat continued their cry, what everyone assumed was their cry for help. It got really annoying, but Lieutenant Moore absolutely forbidden anyone from going out to the forest in darkness where the gnoll had clear advantage and they could potentially be setting up an ambush. As some of the gnolls bleed to death throughout the night, Spike noted the increased in EXP. Phoenixian soldiers held their position until daylight finally broke. So everyone ended up having a miserable night of almost no sleep. Then an hour after sunrise, Freelance platoon went into the forest to inspect and track for blood trail with the demi-humans. They tracked for several hours looking for stragglers, finally finding a few heavily injured gnolls who didn¡¯t make it to far. In total Spike gained an additional 528 EXP with 18 total dead gnoll. From the numbers, Spike felt that he didn¡¯t get too many solo kills. And most of all, the night''s encounter somehow felt not as exciting as usual and he wondered if he was getting too used to combat environment after 2 months of living in the frontier. The demi-human hunter being what they are. They took all the iron off the weapons and bodies on the inhumanoids to be sent back to the crafters guild. As the platoon was returning back into Trimmor, the lack of sleep and the long night of staying vigilant finally caught up with Spike. ¡°LT! My ass is tired as hell. And I don¡¯t have the benefit of the ABH. So I¡¯m hitting the sack right away.¡± Spike said as his physically exhausted body dragged and he felt his mind foggy and struggled to keep his eyes open. ¡°Yes sir. I¡¯ll take care of everything.¡± Lieutenant replied energetically. = = = Frontier, Daldia City. ¡°Major Jung. That was the last group from both Tri and Banorg. And the hunters have already made contact with 3 other settlements up north. I must say sir, with the recent raid from the Stovkow, they were very enthusiastic with our offer.¡± Captain Allen reported. ¡°That¡¯s good to hear. Sooner we consolidate, sooner we can dedicate more of our fighting forces in the frontier. How¡¯s your forces hold up Captain?¡± ¡°We lost about a squad in men and another 4 men will be down at the medical for more than few days. And we¡¯ve also had several civilian casualties. Farther up north we move, the increase in minor skirmishes, mostly with strange beast hunting for food. That''s what the hunters have identified asowlbears. So I plan to use the now empty towns as a resting points as we move the people to Daldia sir.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯m taking some of your hunters from each town. The road construction is having problem with the inhumanoids as they are deep inside the forest. Lieutenant Walker is asking for more demi-human support. The nocturnal nature of these gnolls have become a major problem for the road construction security. They''ve been taking casualty every night at Trimmor.¡± ¡°Yes sir. Each settlements have more than a few hunters for their own survivals. So I have more then I need for my mission. Will you be needing a Mark VIII to reinforce Trimmor sir?¡± Captain Allen asked. Standing up to get a closer look at the map of the area. ¡°I would like to send one of the Mark VIII, but you need it more. Any idea on how many more settlements and how much longer you mission will take?¡± ¡°That¡¯s hard to say sir. But I suppose it¡¯s up to Lord Phoenix. From the Hunt Master Malikai description, Stovkow frontier border is around 400 Kilometers long. And farther up north we go, longer each mission to will take and the increase in danger. Also the problem with theroad is, it tends to curve with the terrain. I figure at some point, we won¡¯t be able to progress any farther as there won''t be any roads.¡± ¡°Well, do what you can for now. Once it becomes a problem, I¡¯ll inform our lord and make some recommendations.¡± Major Jung informed. Clearing his throat. ¡°Yes sir.¡± = = = Frontier, Trimmor. When Spike finally woke up few hours before sunset. He was surprised by what he found. The road construction was temporarily halted as they had a complete change of labors. While eating his meal, Lieutenant Moore briefed him on the changes. ¡°So, with all the labors sent back to the city to speed up the construction of the residential districtto meet the increasingpopulation, Major sent these criminals to work the hazardous road constructions and building a fortification for Trimmor. They¡¯ll stay chained up. So the work will progress slower but it will progress. Also sir, the Majorsaid that getting access to the mine is vital to Daldia¡¯s development sir. Marquess Daldia said that even if they could trade for the iron with some of your summoned high grade spices, he has no idea whentrading will even be possible. Ah, and he has informedthat all the ring leaders in Birsk and officers on the slaver ships were hanged. And he also said that if you want, since you are using Trimmor as a temporary base, it should be safe to practice mana circulation on your own inside Trimmor.¡± ¡°These son of a¡­ Are they trying to keep me out here permanently with the wild life.¡± Spike complained as he stopped eating. ¡°No sir. Major¡¯s message was that until Captain Allen¡¯s mission is complete, or until the Captain Wraeth company is freed when the POWs are sent back, or you gain more personnel slots, the Freelance Platoon is the only force that can reinforce Trimmor and the road construction.¡± ¡°Sigh! That puppet master!¡± Spike cursed even as he know the Major was right. ¡°And also, he agrees with you about keeping the battles away from the Daldia and vicinity.¡± Lieutenant Moore followed up. ¡°So he said to make lots of noise out here sir. Just that, don¡¯t burn down the forest. Daldia needs all the woods for the future 250,000 people sir.¡± Spike, silently stared at Lieutenant Moore with a dead fish eyes. I some how feel that I¡¯m just not getting the respect for my position. Ch21 - Spikey is so silent today. Frontier, Trimmor AO. With each passing day, the visibility cleared up as the leaves fell, the vines dried up and withered, and the plants on the ground died for the winter. Currently, the average visibility was about 30 meters. By the time the first snow falls and the last leaf have fallen, the general visibility should increase to about 70 to 100 meters. In the last five days of defense, including the first night of defense, Spike had scored a total of 4295 EXP and 74.7 RP. They had few more deaths and wounded from random longbow arrow shots. But no death for the Freelance Platoon. Night after night, the night vision capability of Spike and Lieutenant Moore¡¯s devices and Rikko¡¯s natural night vision ability allowed the Trimmor defense to repulse the night hit and run tactics of the gnolls and kobolds. The inhumanoids took a beating until they finally changed their tactics to attacking the convicts while they build the road. Forcing the Phoenixians to give up the easy night defense and were forced to skirmish in to the forest to protect the convicts as they work. Hunter Tam was leading from the front when he made a hand signal to freeze. As he hunched low, he sniffed the air then looked around. Pulling his bow off his back, he used it like a stick to probe the ground as he slowly moved forward. Then he stopped to sniff the air again. He quickly looked back at third squad leading the Freelance platoon behind him and hand signaled to keep an eye open for ambush before continuing his probing the ground. Not even 5 meter from where he started to probe, his bow stabbed deep into the ground. ¡°Ambush!¡± Hunter Tam cried out a warning as he role backward to lay on his stomach. The rest of the platoon heard the warning and hit the ground in prone position just in time to see a dozen arrow fly over them where their chest would have been. With some of the arrows hitting the tree trunks. ¡°Enemy 10 O¡¯clock.¡± Several gnolls that shot the arrows were visible and quickly disappeared into the woods. ¡°Third squad open suppressive fire. Fourth squad leapfrog wedge formation move up.¡± Lieutenant Moore shouted out his order. ¡°NO!¡± Hunter Tam shouted out. ¡°There are multiple traps on the ground.¡± He shouted his warning. Lieutenant Moore snarled in anger. ¡°Belay that order. Just line up and open fire in their directions.¡± After enough bullets were fired off, Lieutenant Moore called for cease fire. ¡°Anything sir?¡± He asked Spike. ¡°Yeah! But only 29 EXP. So only a few.¡± ¡°Ah, damn it. These critters are putting us to work.¡± LT observed. Then walking up to Hunter Tam and giving him a brotherly hard pat on the shoulder. ¡°Damn good job Hunter Tam. That nose of you is just too amazing.¡± ¡°Thank you sir. But it¡¯s only natural for a demi-humans.¡± ¡°But how did you know there were traps?¡± LT asked. ¡°I could smell that the kobolds have been here and I kept smelling a strong residual smell beyond just passing through. So I figured they must have done something in the area like setting up traps. Especially when the kobolds are known to use them sir. And as soon as I found one, I knew they must be nearby for ambush. But it was the gnolls who were waiting for us instead.¡± Hunter Tam said as he pointed at the large arrow sticking out of the tree trunk. ¡°They¡¯re getting crafty sir. We¡¯re going to need more demi-humans with us.¡± Sergeant Rector commented. ¡°Yeah.¡± Lieutenant Moore said as he nodded in agreement. ¡°Alright. First and second squad line up and probe the ground with your bayonet. Third and fourth squad stand guard and follow. Let''s clear out some of these traps.¡± As they slowly probed the ground, they found 9 pits with sharp poison covered spikes designed to stab the soldier¡¯s foot. Very simple traps camouflaged over with dead leaves. The squads simply pulled out the spikes and filled the small holes. ¡°They are crafty, these gnolls.¡± Spike said as he looked at Hunter Tam in respect. ¡°Those bastards wanted for us to chase them and fall right into their traps.¡± Then looking at the poisoned tipped spikes. ¡°LT! Lets send couple of those poisoned tipped spike to Major Westbrook for analysis. I want to know just how deadly these poison are. We¡¯ve been losing few too many to their poison arrows lately.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± Then noticing Private Jones urinating against the tree. ¡°Hey Jones. What did we say earlier about pissing. Don¡¯t just piss in one place. Be sure to piss all over the place to screw up our human scent. So walk around!¡± He yelled. ¡°Arrg. Sir. Yes sir.¡± Jones cried out as he got distracted in midstream then started to walk around feeling his dignity get slapped around. He could hear some of his buddies snickering at him. ¡°Laugh it up assholes. You¡¯ll all be doing the same shit unless you want to piss in your pants.¡± ¡°Yeah, but unlike you Jonesy. We won¡¯t have our dignity trashed by getting yelled at.¡± Corporal Washington replied as he shook his head at Private Jones. ¡°Alright! Store couple of those spikes for the Doc and let''s keep moving.¡± Lieutenant Moore commanded. = = = Stovkow, Capital City Valennce. ¡°You Majesty. Count Torskai and his subordinate Baron Hathin and Baroness Maunvellvi. And from the merchant guild representative, Mister Zedden¡± General Korneol introduced. ¡°Minister of Finance Count Dormkri has authenticated their resources for the co-financing for the reprisal forces.¡± He finished as he stood to the side. ¡°Very good General Korneol.¡± Queen Gizala said as she stood up from her throne to slowly walk down to the small party of her nobles and merchant. She intentionally emanated heat wave from her body to raise the temperature of the throne room to put physical and mental pressure on the group. With each step she took, the visible heat wave became more obvious. Then she spoke slowly and deliberately. ¡°My loyal lords, lady and subject. I won¡¯t waste my time with word play. So I¡¯ll tell you how it¡¯s going to be. You have now and until the end of Winter to recruit and train your forces. One the first day of Spring, you will take your entire forces and regain control of the southwest. Once that is accomplished, you will have Carte Blanche to restore the territories to its former prosperity.¡± Then without a word, she observed each individual as they struggled to keep their bearing from the head wave. In their struggle, no sweat were visible as all the moist on their body dried up from the intense desert like heat wave. ¡°Failure is not an option. Do you all understand?¡± Promptly all four individual nearly shouted out their acknowledgement together. They were not expecting such forward greeting and the fear became very visible in their eyes. ¡°Good.¡± Queen Gizala said as she stop fueling her magic with mana to let the temperature return to normal. ¡°Once successful, the nobles will have their peerage raised by one grade with the territory control. The merchant will enjoy a 50% reduction on the tax rate for 20 years from the vested region. So, do tell Count Torskai. How many man will you have ready by the last of winter.?¡± Breaking out in sweat from the lingering heat and fear. Count Torskai answered. ¡°My queen. With the total funds available, we will have more than 5000 footmen and over 1500 knights. As Baron Kyzdon is expected to hold out until we arrive, with his forces joining ours, we should have more than enough to destroy Baron Myojhuk¡¯s rebellion. And as for Baron Myojhuk, we will rely on Baron Kyzdon and our heavy infantry to subjugate the man.¡± ¡°Oh? Isn¡¯t 5000 footmen rather high? Just where do you plan to find such numbers with the current shortage of able bodies.¡± Queen Gizala asked as he slapped her scepter onto her hand. ¡°My Queen. The merchants have combed their able bodied slaves. They assure me that they have the needed numbers to meet our needs. Our plan is to promise them their freedom with the successful mission, then enlist them as regular footmen with pay once the territories are properly retaken. The merchant guild has agreed to sell the slaves to us at 50% for the chance at the unrestricted licenses and 50% tax reductions to the southwest.¡± Queen Gizala silently eyed Mister Zedden. I see. So they are finally cashing in on their years of gathering debt slaves. She thought to herself. Then, as she walked back up to sit on her throne, she signaled the servants to bring several rolled documents to be presented to the group. ¡°Those are royal decrees. For raising the peerage if you are successful in quelling the rebellion and restoring the territories and the ownership to the territories. And giving Carte Blanche to the merchant guild with 50% tax reduction for 20 years from the southwest. I won¡¯t give a date to crush the rebellion, but you have 7 years to restore the southwest territory for the royal decree to take effect.¡± With that, the servants brought one each royal documents before the four individuals. ¡°Should you fail. There is no point of you returning to report.¡± Queen Gizala ordered as she stared at them with her commanding presence. Nervously taking one step forward, Count Torskai spoke. ¡°I understand Your Majesty.¡± Accepting this undertaking knowing the great risk, but also knowing perfectly well the massive reward for successful completion. Shortly after dismissing the group from the audience chamber Minister of Finance Count Dormkri joined Queen Gizala and General Korneol. With his scroll of documents he looked more like librarian then a minister in his old grey age. ¡°It is as you say My Queen. I rechecked the tax record from the last thirty years and Count Torskai¡¯s faction has been underpaying to the crown. His county has had an increase in slave traffic since the start of the ruin war, but has only paid the same amount since. There are other areas of underpayments, but not as significant as the slave trade. Unlike most other territories that have been declining in trade, Count Torskai¡¯s faction has actually profited from the black economy from the movements of slaves and goods.¡± Count Dormkri reported and waited as the Queen Gizala poundered. ¡°And how was he able to hide it from all the ministers of past and current, Count Dormkri.?¡± The Queen ask coldly. Fearfully bowing his head. ¡°Forgive me my queen. I simply trusted the work of my predecessors and trusted their numbers without rechecking for error. I take full responsibility for my complacent.¡± Queen Gizala sighed. If she hung the current Finance Minister, then she¡¯d have to go hang all the other retired ministers as well. If this was told to her even a year ago, she¡¯d have burned the man alive and rounded up all the past ministers and had them executed. And blaming the current minister with less than a year in service isn¡¯t justice nor wise. But lately, she had been feeling tired of being angry all the time. And she wondered if she was getting too old. ¡°So in the end, the crown is financing the whole expedition from the deceit.¡± There was a part of her that wanted to arrest them all and behead them. But why waste the resource. Even if it''s an expendable resources she thought. ¡°But do tell, Count Dormkri. Just what ploy did they used to hide the traffics?¡± ¡°Your Majesty. I believe his faction has been using the criminal syndicate or built his own underground syndicate and used smaller villages as a conduit for moving the merchandises.¡± ¡°Then properly investigate in silence and record everything. I¡¯ll have a use for it later to deal with their disloyalty.¡± Queen Gizala said as she gripped her scepter and silently stared with a squinted eyes at the large door the Count and his group left. ¡°Serve me well Count Dormkri. And I will insure that your family is no longer a landless noble.¡± Bowing. ¡°I thank My Queen for the opportunity.¡± Count Dormkri said. =Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. = = Kyzdon, Shator Keep. Everyday, the rebel forces launched their trebuchets to harass the defenders and residents inside Shator Keep. And each day, their aims increased in accuracy that it¡¯s only a matter of time before parts of the walls start to crack, possibly even crumble. Margrave Kyzdon, unknown to him that his peerage has been dropped, bitterly looked out from the highest tower in the center to overlook the rebels currently laying siege to his walls. He wonder why and how this was happening. Did he over do his manipulation and his work got discovered? How was Baron Justine Myojhuk able to finance his rebellion? And how was he able to hide so much of his resources? He wondered where he went wrong. He had only tried to preserve his family line as any note worthy noble would. With none of his children born of manatite, nor any of his grandchildren, he manipulated Sir Myojhuk to gain his bloodline for his family. There by increasing the chance for a mage being born to Kyzdon family in the future generation. But the that damn bitch sent both of my sons into Theolamore with the Prince Luthen¡¯s expedition. At least my grandchildren are here with me. Margrave Kyzdon cursed. No words from the spies sent into help raid the frontier. Obviously they must be dead. But what of Sir Radolf spy? Was he also discovered by the rebels? Margrave Kyzdon watched another large rock flying through the air, only to smash against the thick wall. Even though his surfs were unable to harvest most of the crops, he still had his reserves, enough to survive the entire winter without starvation. Hungery? Yes. But not enough to starve to death. He just needs to hold out until Spring. Without being able to send or receive any more messages as the rebels shot down all the birds. He will have to survive the isolation as well. = = = Frontier, Fort Whitestone. Major Jung reviewed over Spikes current RP. With summoning Major Westbrook and his 2 specialized medical assistants and equipment costing 617RP, and 47RP for Doctor Dietz to help LTC Simmons, plus the replacement soldiers from the combat losses of 17.9RP with cost reduction have left them with 2047.9RP. Captain Murphy with logistics and Captain Grey with personnel were going over the current numbers in their small meeting to review their future plans. ¡°I hate to admit this.¡± Captain Grey started. ¡°But the more I see the numbers, more I don¡¯t want to see it. The RP price of our privates are truly cheap. They are like expendable pawns. I would never say this infront of Lord Phoenix as I know he would get very protective. But damn.¡± ¡°It is what it is Grey.¡± Captain Murphy said. ¡°Only thing we can do is provide support for their needs to increase their survival rate.¡± With an unhappy frown. ¡°No. I mean yes. I suppose you¡¯re right. But I just feel that we have so few of us on ground with so many RP to summon more of our people. And that cost to summon anything from later era is insane. I mean Doctor Westbrook and his NBC team costed over two combat companies worth of RP.¡± Captain Grey said. ¡°Just take one step at a time my friend. One step at a time.¡± Captain Murphy gently reminded his college and friend. Then Major Westbrook hurriedly walked in. ¡°Gentlemen. My apologies for late arrival. Doctor Simmons and Doctor Dietz are in emergency surgery right now and I¡¯m here to represent the medical branch.¡± ¡°Oh! We haven¡¯t heard anyone coming with wounded. Something going on?¡± Major Jung asked. A bit excitingly, Major Dietz spoke. ¡°No new wounded Major. But I have incredible news. Not even an hour ago. Sergeant White came in complaining about his leg prosthetics. He said that it¡¯s too long and he feels unbalanced. As a precaution, Doctor Dietz double checked all of his surgical records and found that his leg has regenerated by half of centimeter. Which prompt us to check Private Smith arm as well. And the Private arm actually grew 1 whole centimeter. Which answered why Private Raines has been in such pain. All the wire, screws and artificial bones are being rejected as his body is trying to regenerate. So they are preparing for emergency surgery right now, to remove the artificial parts so his body can do it¡¯s job.¡± With an exhilarating tone. ¡°This is just incredible.¡± Other officers were shocked at the new development. This will change their long term strategic planning for personnel and logistics. And the long term saving of RP as the men will eventually be back to full combat duty. ¡°This is good. Now I don¡¯t have to worry about our men committing suicide to make room for able bodied newer summons.¡± Major Jung said. Looking over his notes. ¡°We have three squads worth of men down in medical. Just knowing this alleviates lot of stress and pressure about the future.¡± Looking up from the note. ¡°Doctor Westbrook. Any idea on when Sergeant White and Private Smith will be back on active duty?¡± ¡°Not Major Jung. We¡¯ll need more data on this regeneration before we can make any assessment on time wise. However, I think we have more pressing matter on our hands right now.¡± Major Westbrook spoke with a seriousness. ¡°What do you mean Doc?¡± Looking at the other officers. ¡°As I and my team have been checking for diseases on the new immigrants. We in the medical, as we interact with them daily, been hearing about our dead disappearing and leaving behind only their uniform and gears. There are all kinds of rummer from us being a Spirit to the Demons. Didn¡¯t you all deal with this before. It¡¯s something we can¡¯t hide.¡± ¡°Opps!¡± ¡°That is an oversight on our part Doc. It¡¯s so natural to us that we didn¡¯t even think about it. I¡¯ll have the Marquess make a statement. Once we figure out what to inform.¡± Major Jung said. ¡°You know.¡± Captain Murphy spoke up. ¡°This world has magic. So why can¡¯t we just say that at the moment of imminent death, we are summoned back for our own preservation of life. But because of the emergency nature of the summoning, that individual can¡¯t use the summoning ritual for unknown years and can¡¯t return to us right away. Or something like that.¡± ¡°Nice one Murphy. I think you¡¯re onto something.¡± Captain Grey said. ¡°Let me run through what has been told to the civilians so far before I make a decision on what to say.¡± Major Jung replied. ¡°But it sounds good. Give me a few days to work something out and I¡¯ll take care of it.¡± ¡°Then getting onto the next topic sir. We are about to have a major problem with overcrowding soon.¡± Captain Grey informed. ¡°Currently all the housings are overfilled. And we are prepping all the empty warehouses for the immigrants in route. But those will also fill up rather quickly before Captain Allen¡¯s mission is completed because of the people we have been receiving from the Myujhok ransom. Which also brings us another problem.¡± ¡°And which is?¡± Looking back as Major Jung. Captain ¡°Well sir. I feel that the Myojhuk¡¯s are pulling a fast one on us. The live stocks we asked for are actually owned by the refuges from Baron Antenok¡¯s territory just north of Myojhuk. And they have sent the entire family of the owners of the lives stocks. So we don¡¯t technically have the rights to turn them over to the Marquess as we originally planned. And commandeering it from the rightful owner would leave distrust and discontent in the long run.¡± Captain Grey said. Chuckling. Captain Murphy spoke. ¡°I see. Clever of them to cause us trouble, but it¡¯s nothing really. There is no reason for us to take the livestocks and be the bad guys. What we ultimately wanted was to restock the livestock in general so the quality of the locals life would increase. We can let the local market handle it. And we¡¯ll just charge them taxes or rental on the useage of the land to feed the cattles and such and recycle the wealth.¡± ¡°Smart idea Captain Murphy. Then let''s just leave it at that unless there is a problem.¡± Major Jung complemented. ¡°But we still have a problem with overcrowding sir. There is a stream of people coming from the east. It¡¯s like, Myojhuk leaderships are pawning off all the refugees from the territories they pillaged and passing the buck to us. It denies their enemy of all these human resources. And it''s essentuallypaying off their ransom with stolen goods. So the bottom line is, they really ended up paying nothing and we end up feeding all the refugees they created.¡± Major Jung, chuckling again. ¡°Hmm. Maybe I should have sent you to the negotiation table instead of myself. So they pulled a fast one on me.¡± Looking at the notes Captain Murphy provided to everyone, he confirmed Spikes food summoning amount and found that currently, Spike can summon enough to feed over 50,000 people each day, but it would leave him little mana to practice his magic and for other needed expendable commodities. But most of all he would be stuck in garrison only to burn up his mana. ¡°That¡¯s fine, we ourself didn¡¯t loose anything. But gained more human resources and livestocks. Also, We¡¯ve already released 1/3rd of the footmen back to Myojhuk in good faith. Once we receive the final ransom in few days, we¡¯ll release the rest of the POWs and covert the POW camp to temporary housings as planned. And for the rest. We¡¯ll just build a tent city in the agro fields until the permanent housings are built. So what¡¯s the current body count from the outport, Captain Grey?¡± ¡°Sir. It¡¯s work in progress as the number are being updated daily. But our current refugees from the ransom payment as of last night are 2298 people, 57 cattle heads, 184 chickens, and 128 goats and sheeps of different breeds. Half of which I have no idea on. Not as much on the live stock as we wanted, but they were able to return all the slaves captured by Baron Antenok several weeks ago, and returned 138 frontier people captured in the last decades. There are no men in that group sir. It¡¯s apparent that all the men were sent to the the ruin war in the east, presumed to be dead by now. So the current civilianpersonnel count is just under 6000 in all of Daldia, but will exceed that by the end of the day when our numbers are updated. And I am updating our Marquess daily on the numbers so he isn¡¯t surprised by sudden changes.¡± ¡°How about the craftsmen we requested?¡± ¡°Not many of them sir. As I said earlier about burdening us with extra mouth to feed, I get the impression that they are sending us extra number of normal civilians to make up for the low counts of blacksmiths and carpenters. They are probably keeping more of the craftersfor themselves to make up for the armors and weapons we wouldn¡¯t ransom.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a big issue. We have our engineer platoon, and they can train any talented people for the job.¡± Major Jung said. ¡°I agree sir. It¡¯s more of an inconvenient then a problem. This just means that everyone will be busy for long time.¡± Captain Murphy shared his thought. Thoughtfully, Major Jung made his decision. ¡°Then very well. We¡¯ll just have to speed up and increase the scale of the housing construction. The added 250 labor from the road construction should alleviate most of the housing construction problem, plus the able bodies from the refugees.¡± Then turning to look at Major Westbrook. ¡°So, Doctor Westbrook. What¡¯s the verdict on Captain Allen¡¯s special case?¡± ¡°His clean. His body¡¯s natural...err to be exact our special case of natural immunity is so active that all the desease that all three of his women have are destroyed within an hour. However, I¡¯d like to remind everyone that we are not immune to lethal poisons as we learned from the kobold''s poison tipped arrows and traps. I would also like to add that from my own preliminary discovery in conjunction with recent discovery of our regenerative ability, we may possibly not have an expiration date. Most likely related to our relation to Lord Phoenix. So I think it¡¯s prudent, especially to our combat branch, to inform our men not to be in a rush to battle.¡± Everyone sat in silence as they ponder the new information. They were simply to shocked. They all felt that perhaps they shouldn''t let Spike get into combat anymore and risk losing him. But at an intellectual level, they knew he had to keep growing in strength. Before they start to get strange ideas, Major Jung broke the silence. ¡°By the way Captain Murphy. Anyone in yourdepartment make any sense of Lord Phoenix¡¯s personnel slot increase rate?¡± ¡°Ah. Yes sir. From the records, we know that his personnel slots increased each time by multiplying his spirit point. And with each point he added a point to spirit, the personnel slot would increase pro rata to his new value. So, if Lord Phoenix adds one point to his Spirit value each time he levels, at his next level, he would have 816, 900, and 988 by level 19. But because of the sudden jump in level after the goblin assault we don¡¯t know if there will be another large increase when he reaches level 20 or 21.¡± ¡°Understood. Keep tracking his numbers. But this information is only for need to know eyes from now on. Hmm... As of mater of fact, as of now, anything involving Lord Phoenix¡¯s stats are classified as need to know only. And once we get an understanding of it, we¡¯ll inform Lord Phoenix and burn everything. In the long run, it¡¯s not important for us to know the details.¡± Major Jung ordered. = = = Frontier, Trimmor AO. In the last three days, with four additional demi-human hunters joining the Trimmor AO, combat units had taken less casualty and more enemy kills. And surprisingly the eight meter wooden wall was almost completed. Lieutenant Collins thought it would take longer as the unmotivated convicts were building it. But after the first night, they changed their tunes and worked quickly and efficiently. It was very obvious the former slaver merchants still valued their lives. Then as of two nights ago, the gnolls and kobolds disappeared. Officers weren¡¯t sure if they simply gave up after taking too many casualty from each skirmishes or they were setting up for a big attack. Regardless, the road construction had temporarily stopped to build up the walls and focused on defensive obstacles for Trimmor. Shortly after lunch, Freeland Platoon was heading out for another patrol. Even squad on the left and odd squad on the right of the road. Hunters in the lead and Spike and bodyguards in the center left side. Their plan wasto use the road that has been built until it stopped then keep moving. But when they were about hundred meters away for the end of the road, they saw a large group of inhumanoids coming into visibility in the Autumn forest. A group of fifty to sixty or so inhumanoids with a pig nose and large potbelly, just a little shy of two meters. They wore a very poorly made leather armor with parts of bones tied to cover their body parts. But the most frighten part of this group was that there were five, four meter tall round belly giants wielding a club half their size. If anyone were to be hit by those clubs, even with heavy armor, the flesh and bones underneath would turn mincemeat and paste. And on their waste, there were multiple heads hanging as trophy. Without hesitation, shouting their war cry, all the inhumanoids charged the platoon on the road. From the center right side, Lieutenant quickly shouted his order. ¡°Quickly! Use the trees as cover. Fire at will.¡± Each squads got off the road and using the trees as partial cover, open fired. Incredibly, these inhumanoids sprinted on the road to close in for melee. Because of the distance, SAW gunners burst fired to increase accuracy, instead of firing wild and full automatic. Here and there, few of the smaller inhumanoid went down, but the large ones got more angrier as bullet hit them. They simply raised their arms to give their face more cover as they also sprinted. The smaller one looked more excited as closer they got. With the larger ones in the front to give them cover, less than half a dozen fell. When they reached about seventy meters. The giant size inhumanoids roared in anger as more bullets pepper them. At about fifty meters away, noticing the bullets having little effects on the giants, Lieutenant shouted his order. ¡°Trench Gunners! Throw grenades at the giants!¡± When the enemy ran within fifty meters, the SAW gunners went full automatic and quickly reloaded a when needed. The Trench gunners prepped their grenade to time the distance and speed of the giants. At about thirty five meters, the twenty grenades started to fly towards the giants as the squad leaders also threw their grenades. With the grenades exploding, all five giants went down as their feet and legs took heavy damage. The smaller inhumanoids near the explosion died, but the ones behind them simply ran through and once reaching about twenty meters, they volley flung what appeared to be a hand ax at the Phoenixians partially covered behind the tree trunks. Sergeant Jerrett was instantly killed with the hand ax struck deep into his skull as he was aiming a shot with his M1. Private Tylor and Corporal Winston also took a hit to the head dying instantly. Also Private Davis from Spikes bodyguard died with a hand ax burying deep into his eye socket. Seven other soldiers went down with heavy injury to their shoulder areas or to crippling injury to their arms. With their hand ax thrown, the smaller inhumanoids charged, but with near point blank range, the SAW gunners shredded them all to death. Only ones still alive were the giants low crawling to them. With their massive strength, the giants were making good distance. Breaking the MO Lieutenant Moore shouted. ¡°Aim for the head! Just kill them!¡± The uninjured Phoenixians stood up from their covers and simply unloaded their ammo drums kill ingall five giants. They didn¡¯t stop firing until the skull cracked open. ¡°Tend to our wounded. Pick up the gears from the dead. Sir, finish off the smaller ones that didn¡¯t die from the grenades.¡± LT quickly shout out his orders. Then facing Hunter Tam. ¡°Hunter Tam, what the hell are these things?¡± ¡°The smaller ones are orcs and the large ones are ogres, Lieutanant.¡± Then pointing at the waist of the ogre¡¯s with multiple heads tied up. ¡°At least we now know what happened to the gnolls and kobolds. I¡¯m getting a bad feeling Lieutenant Moore. I don¡¯t think we should be here out in the open. My instinct tells me there are more of them near by.¡± Looking at Hunter Tam with a hard serious look. ¡°Shit! Quickly patch up the ones bleeding. We are leaving ASAP.¡± Lieutenant Moore shouted out. He quickly looked at where the inhumanoids come from. Then realized, no matter what, with the road barely built, all they had to do was look toward the other end of the road to see Trimmor. ¡°Hunter Tam. I need you to run as fast as you can to Trimmor and tell Lieutenant Collins to fire up a red flare. Hastily. Go my friend.¡± Having been taught the meanings behind the colors of the flare. Hunter Tam ran as fast as he could. With the red flared fired. Lieutenant Walker would understand that attack at the location of the flare is imminent or is already under attack. Which will bring in his three active squad patrolling the other area into Trimmor for it¡¯s defense. The injured passed their weapons to their battle buddy to walk faster. There only saving grace was that their ABH took effect and it partially served as a pain killer. ¡°Hunter Rikko. Tell me what you know of these orcs and ogres?¡± LT quickly asked. ¡°Lieutenant. Just like the gnolls, they can see at night. Orcs and ogres eat anything and everything. In extreme cases, they are known to practice cannibalism. Orc are not much different from the gnolls in strength. But as you saw from the ogres, they are hard to kill as they have so much muscles and fat. Even their bones are very thick and difficult to chop. Something very unusual is going on in the frontier forest. Gnolls and kobolds. Now orcs and ogres. It¡¯s too soon.¡± Rikko informed. ¡°What do you mean it¡¯s too soon?¡± ¡°I mean that they shouldn¡¯t even be in our area until closer to late winter, when the food source is low. But they are known to hunt goblins. As the goblins are on the bottom of the food chain and they breed so fast and so many. I mean even the gnolls are early if we think about it. But none of us hunters have seen anyone of them in the last decades as we have been losing grounds to the goblins. When we saw the gnolls, we simply thought that is was because of the lack of goblins as their food source.¡± Nodding in understanding LT kept quickly walked as he was deep in thought on what to do. Then five minutes later, with his platoon five hundred meters from Trimmor, a red flare shot up Trimmor. Ch22 - Trimmor Trumbles. Frontier, Trimmor. Spike walked his position as he was surrounded by his bodyguard team. Then he saw the red flared over Trimmor. Looks like Hunter Tam arrived already. Damn he''s fast. Judging by the lack of gun fire sounds, it¡¯s only an imminent warning fire. Spike thought. He more or less kept silent all day to learn and observe Lieutenant Moore commanding the platoon. It¡¯s been on a strange moody and silent day until the firefight just 10 minutes ago. He hoped his not on another mood swing. Then thinking about the lack of penetration power of the 5.62 rounds from the M249 SP against the ogres. Spike wonder if he fucked this one up. No, I can¡¯t second guess myself. The SAW did play vital role on other fire fights and it did save lives. It¡¯s just, we have a new enemy that is much more tougher to take down. Then the orcs had burst through so fast. They were like a berserker disregarding any and all injuries. His men died so fast and sudden. Not even a body to mourn. Well, I suppose I can¡¯t really mourn for them as they aren¡¯t completely dead. But still, this sucks ass! With the wounded who couldn¡¯t walk fast enough. It was going to take another ten minute to cover the five hundred meters to Trimmor. That''s ten minute of time we can discuss defensive plans. ¡°LT!¡± ¡°Sir!¡± ¡°Our SAW doesn¡¯t have enough penetrating power. I think we should burn some RP for our defense. Judging from what Rikko said, looks like it¡¯s going to be a night battle.¡± Spike said as they were walking with the wounded. ¡°Yes sir. I was just thinking of the same thing. How many personnel slot do you have open sir?¡± Quickly checking. ¡°Seven.¡± Lieutenant Moore nodded as he understood that it means three other soldiers were down from other units. ¡°Well. So much for summoning a Mark VIII.¡± ¡°With seven slot, I could potentially summon up 2 Basilisks APC with support gun or even a tank from my era, but the cost will be heavy on the RP.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s not do that sir. We can¡¯t be burning RP whenever the pressure is on us. We will need them for later. We have no idea how things will change in the future and what we will need. It¡¯s our jobs to do our best now so we have something left when the shit really hits the fan. Beside sir. We did wipe them out with one platoon. Back in Trimmor, we still have a platoon of the combat engineers and 3 squads from Lieutenant Walker¡¯s platoon.¡± LT reminded Spike. ¡°Yeah, your right LT. I just don¡¯t want to lose any more men I¡¯m growing attached too. Sorry for my selfishness.¡± ¡°Keep feeling that way sir. No commander worth their weight in salt wants to lose their men. In anycase. I¡¯m currently thinking about three options of weapon sir. All three are 30.06 Calibars. I noticed during the fight that that Springfields had some effects. The Browning M1918 for easier mobility, but it only has 20 round clip. Lewis Gun with 97 rounds, but not as mobile as the M1918, and finally Browning M1917 with 250 round belt, but with fixed position. These guns can focus on the ogres while the SAW can take care of the orcs.¡± Lieutenant Moore informed. ¡°Excuse me sir. But I forgot to tell you as it never occurred to me that I would see ogres today. But there are... sometime Ogre Mages that can cast magic that leads them. None of us have ever seen one, but we know that they are in the forest.¡± Rikko informed the leaders. ¡°In the last week, we have been seeing inhumanoids that live deeper parts of the forest. I know we mentioned them in passing, but to our shame we¡¯ve never would have guessed they would be here.¡± ¡°So you are saying that we should expect more surprises?¡± LT asked. ¡°Yes Lieutenant.¡± ¡°Sigh. Ok, let''s go with the 20 round M1918 for maximum flexibility sir. I think we¡¯ll issue it to all the Team Leaders and Squad leaders.¡± ¡°What about the seven open slot?¡± Spike asked. ¡°Let''s wait until we talk to the other platoon leaders sir.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± The platoon walked as fast as possible with the wounded in toll. Shortly they came in full visibility to Trimmor to see few of the unfinished walls being blocked off with three to four logs, and still being worked to stack higher as the convicts hustled in desperation. Lieutenant Collins shouted at them to come to the one he was standing. With their wounded the Freelance platoon quickly made their way inside as the logs were being stacked and reinforced. ¡°Moore. What¡¯s going on?¡± Lieutenant Collins asked as he eyed the unusual number of wounded. ¡°New type of humanoid. I lost four men. And eight injured. I take it Lieutenant Walker hasn¡¯t made it back yet?¡± With a shock look on his face. ¡°No, not yet. Maybe another ten minutes or so. I¡¯m going to plug up the walls now. And throw over some rope for his platoon to climb up. Better safe than sorry.¡± Turn to face his platoon sergeant. ¡°Sergeant Gil. Plug it all up.¡± Then turn back to Lieutenant Moore. ¡°You already had a good look at the new enemy. What have you got so far?¡± ¡°All the Team Leaders and Squad Leaders while be receiving Browning M1918. I intends for them to use it on the ogres, they are huge, so it¡¯s going to take more then few bullets to take them out. It¡¯s very possible that they could charge and smash into any parts of the wall and bulldoze it down. So we should get lots of grenades ready to throw. And they are incredibly accurate with their throwing ax. About twenty orcs threw their ax from about twenty or so meters. All the casualty came from their single volley of ax, just to show you how good their aim is. So get them before they get close enough.¡± ¡°Right. Let''s not waste to much time. Lets have Lord Phoenix summon up the M1918 now so we can quickly issue them out and store the extras.¡± With Lieutenant Moore initiating the requisition forms, Spike summoned up 512 M1918 and crates of grenades, plus crates of 30.06 (7.62) rounds with magazines. And extra crates of ammo for the SAW. In addition 512 flare guns were summoned and issued to the demi-humans to light up the night sky. They were given several for when one flare gun gets too hot to use. Just when Lieutenant Walker¡¯s platoon came visible, a terrifyingly loud roar echoed throughout the forest. The prisoners froze in fear. That prompt Lieutenant Walker¡¯s platoon to make a mad dash to the wall as the rope were thrown down for them. Freelance Platoon ran up the rampart. Followed by the team leaders and up as they each grabbed an M1918 and ammos. All the Freelance Platoon went up the side of the wallfacing the road they came from as they could already see the giant ogres. ¡°Shit. They got here too fast.¡± ¡°What are you waiting for. If you want to live, hurry up and finish barricading the unfinished walls.¡± ¡°Come on. Run!¡± Lieutenant Walker¡¯s platoon slung their weapons over their back and assisted in pushing and pulling each other up to quickly get up the wall. Once, as the last men climbed over the wall, the team leaders and up were called over to grab an M1918 and tons of ammos shoved onto them. From the wall, Spike zoomed in with his sight to get a closer look at the on coming inhumanoids. Lot more orcs and twice the number of the ogres, but some of the ogres looked different. They looked bigger and wore a headpiece made of multiple smaller skulls put together from different creatures. Spike didn¡¯t needed to be a genius to figure out that those ogres could be the Ogre Mages Rikko talked about. Jumping down from the ramp. Spike ran up to the 3 Lieutenants making a hasty defensive plans. ¡°I think there are three ogre mages.¡± And quickly explaining the numbers he saw. ¡°We got maybe five minutes before they get in range.¡± ¡°Not enough time.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s get the prisoners out of the way.¡± ¡°No we can use them.¡± ¡°Where should I put my platoon?¡± That¡¯s when Spike quickly realized the lack of clear chain of command was slowing down the decision making process of the three equal ranking officers. Someone must be in charge to make quick decision at times like this. If they had plenty of time, the lieutenants would have worked it out amongst themselves. Spike also made a quick decision himself. And his choice wasn¡¯t because he favored one over the other officer. But it was simply that Lieutenant Moore is much more familiar to him then the other officers. Putting his hand on Lieutenant Moore¡¯s shoulder. ¡°First Lieutenant Moore. Take command of the Trimmor defense.¡± Once the words were spoken, the yellow bar glowed and changed to silver bar on Lieutenant Moore¡¯s collar. Not too surprised, First Lieutenant looked at Spike for a second. ¡°Yes sir. Lieutenant Collins. Use the prisoners to plug up any holes made during the fight. And send half your platoon to man the wall on the opposite side. Lieutenant Walker. Send one of your squad to to reinforce my platoon on the wall and keep you other squads on reserve for now. We¡¯ll use your reserve to plug up any breaches on the wall. Be Sure to pass out the flare guns with red and white flare. Red flare is to alert the rest of us that there are enemies on your side of the wall. Besure the Trench gunners are loaded with extra grenades.¡± ¡°LT! They are getting real close.¡± Sergeant Reckor on the wall shouted back. Then another loud roar sounded much closer than expected. ¡°Shit! Did they sprint!¡± ¡°We¡¯re out of time! Let¡¯s go.¡± Lieutenant Moore gave his final order. Then putting his hand on Spike''s shoulder to stop him. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to be on the wall sir.¡± ¡°What! Then where do you want me at?¡± Shit! Is he pulling a Jung on me?Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Anywhere but the wall sir. If one of the ogre gets their hands on you with a breached wall, you¡¯ll be torn to pieces with or without your armor. Maybe tactical resupply sir! Sorry sir. I have to go now.¡± He said as the short burst from the M1918 started on the wall. As Spike watch the back of Lieutenant Moore. ¡°Tactical resupply. What the fuck is that suppose to mean!¡± Spike cursed. Then looked at Corporal Robinson who was always standing by him in silence. Him and his bodyguard team pretending they didn¡¯t hear anything. ¡°Wherever you go, I go my lord.¡± Rikko said in assurance. Around the walls, the guns blazed with each leaders shouting commands to their people. Then as Spike''s eyes land on the tall lookout tower next to the village elders house that had been built recently to counter the gnolls night hit and run attacks. ¡°Fine, if he want to be an ass.¡± Spike ran to the tower as an idea came to his mind. ¡°Sir. I hope you¡¯re not thinking of doing something unreasonable?¡± Corporal Robinson inquired as he ran after Spike. When his group got to the base of the tower. ¡°I¡¯m staying away from the walls Corporal. Just like Lieutenant Moore ordered. You all stay down here and defend my tower incase the bastards assault my position.¡± Spike replied sarcastically. And they stared at each other dumbfounded with Spike¡¯s last comment. A large boom sounded as small part of the wall splintered open as one of the ogre broke through and fell over dead from many bullet holes. On the ground, not to far away from the breached wall, a soldier laid struggling to get up from being stunned and possibly some broken bones. And a team of reserve ran up to plug up the hole with the prisoners hobbling over with their chains on. Spike looked over towards the loud boom as he was climbing the tower. Seeing what just happen, he climbed faster. Once up top, he got a survey of his surrounding to confirm his action. He saw two other ogres lying dead about ten meters from the breached wall. He couldn¡¯t believe they were able to get that close even with that much fire power poured into them. And several dozen orcs sprawled out on the ground around the two ogre bodies. Beyond that, about a dozen ogres and several hundred orcs waited. Even though the inhumanoids were within range of the machine guns, for whatever reasons, they were not fired on. What the hell are they waiting for? Don¡¯t tell me they have more of these suicidal inhumanoids on the way to Trimmor. Damn. Do I do it or not? When he summoned his Assassin S3 for SpecOps, one of the option for the armor was a 50. Cal Sniper rifle. There were many functions for it that he didn¡¯t bother to read it at the time because of the dense forest he had to fight in. And the uselessness of a sniper rifle when you can only see on average of ten meters. But he understood that his body armor and the Longbow M99 Sniper rifle has an onboard processor that connects from his glove and the pistol grip on the rifle to generate a targeting reticle on his eye sensory projector on his helmet. It was a weapon completely useless without the S3 armor. To be exact, M99 was designed and built for S3 armor. Spike thought his plan wasn¡¯t too shabby as he hesitated for a second on spending the points. Fuck it! What are they going to do? Court Martial my ass! Then he paid the forty-two RP for the Longbow M99. He didn¡¯t bother spending time admiring the weapon. He could already see some of his men missing on the wall as they were being attended by the medics. He gripped the handle as the connection activated the software to generate the targeting receptacle. He know that because the weapon was summoned for him, that it was already zeroed to him. Even though he didn¡¯t know how to use the other advanced optional functions, he could pulling the trigger to fire a single round. Before doing anything, Spike quickly released and reinserted the ten round magazine, checked the safety, then pull the charger and released the round into the chamber. The recoil rod went over his shoulder and the form fitting shoulder recoil pad designed to fit onto his armor snugged tightly. The long, skinny, and metallic sensory module replacing the telescope attached on top of the M99. Then Spike waited for the men on the wall to fired first. He zoomed on the largest ogre. Spike could tell that the creature was giving some kind of instructions. The he looked at the walls manned by his men. It¡¯s definitely a different feeling compare to the goblin siege. Or is it because the leadership is different? Or is it the inhumanoids? The Spike noticed the struggle the engineers and the prisoners were having to remove the large ogre corpse half stuck in the broken wall. And he wondered if, maybe they shouldn¡¯t have sent Lieutenant Stein¡¯s flamethrowers back with the regular workers. If the orcs swarm the breaches, it¡¯s not going to end well. As he watch them chop the arms and head of the dead ogre to reduce the weight to move it. Just then, one of men shouted a warning. Pointing out another large group of these inhumanoids coming visible on the unfinished road. ¡°Fire at will. Thin out their numbers before the second group joins and mass charge the walls.¡± Lieutenant Moore shouted his command. Then the walls came to life as all weapon sang its sound of death. At about three hundred meters range, all the weapons could reach them. But it was more of a matter of aiming and hitting their targets with the machine guns. Which were not so effective for sniping. Spike aimed for the head of the biggest ogre in the current group and fired his armor piercing 50. Cal round, instantly killing it. With their large head, it was almost impossible to miss with his targeting system. Then he quickly targeted the next one, also killing it with a single bullet. Then all of sudden, his visibility got blocked. He had to zoom out to see what just happened, only to discover a dirt wall four meters high and twenty meters long protecting the inhumanoids from all gun fires. Then the ceasefire was called as it would be a waste of bullets and they couldn¡¯t see them behind the wall. But Spike understood the intent of Lieutenant Moore''s earlier command and switched his targets to the second group making fast pace on the road. Again he targeted the largest as he now understood that those are the Ogre Mages Rikko mentioned earlier. Spike put down two ogre mages on the road before another dirt wall arose by the entrance to the road blocking his view. Making it safefor theinhumanoids to close in. Shit. these guys a brain and have mages to back them up. Not good. What do we do? Spike checked his personnel slot to verify how many slots are open now. Eight. That means he lost another one some place. LT hadn¡¯t told him what to summon. In the heat of the moment, did he forget? Spike asked himself. Damn. We either need some artillery or a big ass gun from a big ass tank. But the artilleries are still a problem to use right now. Using the dirt wall as a cover, the second group merged with the first group by casting several more dirt walls to give them cover. And there was nothing the defenders could do about it. Spike could hear the men on the wall cursing. And he himself joined them as he just realized he burnt forty-two RP on the M99 only to kill four ogre mages. Once the inhumanoid group merged and shortly after, another dirt wall just diagonally left and about twenty-fire meter infront of the dirt wall rose from the ground. Then a moment after, another dirt wall diagonally right and about twenty-five meters front rose. They leap frog up to about two hundred meters then a large projectiles flew from behind their dirt wall cover. A dozen, half of meter diameter rocks fell short of the walls by fifty meters. On the sides of the dirt wall, a small heads could be seen popping in and out. Then another batch of rocks landed within ten meters from the wall, but smaller in size. ¡°Shit they are trying to smash the walls with the rocks.¡± ¡°Oh man. We are in trouble.¡± ¡°We need to get off the wall.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be dead before they get in range for our grenades.¡± At this rate, the inhumanoids will have the walls destroyed with the volley of boulders smashing up the walls. Then the orcs will storm in and kill them all. Shit. This is bad. What do we do. They are too far for the men to throw the grenades. That gave Spike another costly idea. He practically slid down the ladder on the tower. Then paid twenty-one points to summon a sergeant from his era. ¡°Sergeant McQueen reporting for duty, sir!¡± ¡°No time Sergeant. I need a team of grenade launcher to serve as close support artillery. Preferably a multi launcher type that can shoot an effective range of three hundred meters at least. And I need them now. What¡¯s it called?¡± ¡°Sir. That would be the M223 Revolver.¡± ¡°What rank are guaranteed to have the skill set to use it?¡± ¡°Corporal, sir.¡± Every seconds counted. Spike didn¡¯t waste too much time trying to analyze his choices. He simply summoned up all seven corporals with the M223, using up all the open personnel slots, and paid twenty-eight RP. ¡°Take charge of them Sergeant. Use the tower to get a view of the enemy and do what you need to do.¡± Before Spike left to climb up to the older outlook outpost on top of the village chiefs roof, he left the grenade launcher team with tons of ammos. Realizing that the collapse of the wall was imminent, Lieutenant Moore called for abandoning the walls and taking position around and inside the buildings and setting up new firing positions. There was no point in taking casualty on the wall when there was nothing they could do. In that time another volley of large rocks hit and smashed parts of the walls, but the damage to the wall was limited from the smaller rocks. To increase the range the ogres used smaller rocks but it had caused lesser effect. Once Spike got up top Sergeant McQueen was already shouting out firing instruction to the M223 team. The first shots missed. ¡°Right fifteen meters. Drop twenty.¡± Sergeant McQueen shouted fire adjustment. Spike raised his M99 to look for targets of opportunity as he targeted the edges of the dirt walls for heads popping back and forth. He felt he did what he could for now. He hope to see good results from the expensive summons. Or Trimmor will be overrunned with inhumanoid forces. He pulled the trigger to see the head of an orc disappear. Only to see parts of the defenders wall smashed and weakening. Another volley like that and the already damaged thirty centimeter thick wooden wall will splinter open. Then another dirt wall raised as the inhumanoids moved and Sergeant McQueen called for adjustment. Spike also could see that half the grenade rounds landed behind the new dirt wall. Seeing some effect, Sergeant McQueen called for repeat of the same fire pattern, but all the grenade launchers were empty and in need of reload. Right as the men were finish reloading their grenade launchers, parts of the Trimmor walls finally collapsed. The prisoners laborers retreated to the south side of Trimmor as they dragged their wounded with them. The dirt wall finally came down as hundreds of orcs burst into sprint and dozen ogres joined the charge. But as they ran, the ogres made a quick stop to throw large rocks inside the Trimmor killing men and destroying buildings. The engineers ran to retreat inside the buildings to set up their own firing positions. It was a mad dash for everyone. With the dirt wall down, Spike started sniping the ogre mages. He quickly identified two from their larger height and their headpiece and took them down before they could cause anymore troubles and killed four more regular ogres as they ran then the rest disappeared from visibility from the eight meters high Trimmor wall. Spike wondered if he should have use the higher tower. ¡°On my command, fire each round in two seconds interval, target twenty-five meters and beyond, behind the walls.¡± Pausing for few seconds. ¡°Fire!¡± At Sergeant McQueen''s command, large area, approximately twenty-five meter in front of the wall, on the otherside, become a place of death as the high explosive grenade rounds rain down in the area for twelve seconds. Once empty, the grenade luanchers immediately started to reload their weapons again. Swarm of orcs were thrown in the air with their body part and blood flying in different direction. Several ogres went down from the combine explosive damage. The orcs behind them kept sprinting in their berserker rage, disregarding any sense of safety. The berserker orcs quickly covered the grounds as some of them made it to the openings in the walls only to die as multiple guns fired at them. Half a dozen ogres made it to the walls and start to savagely smash and destroy the walls to create more breaches. Even as the Phoenixians were laying down heavy fire in the multiple breaches on the walls, in the orc''s berserker stance, many ignored the pain to burst through. They simply wouldn¡¯t die unless enough crippling trauma damage was done to their body. Wherever Spike observed a wall being breached, he tried to kill the ogres by shooting through the wooden walls causing him to empty out magazines after magazines on his M99 as he quickly realized that unless he got a clean head shot on the ogre, they were not going down easily. Inevitably he did finally kill all the ogres, but by then, there were too many breaches on the walls that the orcs swarmed through it. Even as the 7.62 round from the M1918 would go through several orcs, they still charged in. With their mad berserker stat, their only goal was to at least take one of their enemies with them as they died. Phoenixian trench gunners started to lob grenades at the orcs charging up to there positions. Even as they threw their grenades under partial covers, the trench gunners took casualty in alarming rates. SAW Gunners, and M1918 gunners were no different. The insane accuracy of the orcs throwing ax were taking its effect as they got within range to use it. With the last ogre down, Spike changed back to his SAW and started pouring everything he had on the crazed orcs to save as many of his dying men as possible. Then it happened in the heat of the battle as orcs were breaking into the Phoenixians firing positions. From the original fifteen men who came down from the ¡®Hill With No Name¡¯, the ones who are present and still alive started to howled, then it quickly changed into a wild animalistic roar. From their bodies, a red color aura emanated. All the spiritual energy they have been receiving from the culmination of every battle finally reached the point for their souls to move on. Each individual innately and intuitively knew that they have made it. They panted as their body screamed to let them know that they werefinally complete, after nearly two centuries of slow spiritual death. Now, they can truly live. In this moment of their personal victory, their bodies energy soared high and mighty. At this moment, they were two or three times faster, stronger, and more powerful than any normal human. Unable to hold back anymore, they howled again as they were ecstatic and jubilant from being freed. The ten men wrapped in red aura stood up from their protective cover. Even the injured. The thrown axe were easily caught, then thrown back at the orcs to be bury deep into the orcs bodies. As the killed orcs died, a wave of red energy left the orc to enter the soldier that killed them. For the injured Pheonixians, some part of their wound healed instantly with each kill. Quickly and savagely the ten men moved like lightning. The battle buddies that were next to them were shocked with confused look on their face as the buddies they were just fighting with, something crazy is happening to them. Only thing they could do was keep fighting or the orcs would make short works of their lives. When their weapons ran dry, the ten soldiers didn¡¯t bother to reload. They dropped their weapons and pulled out their bayonet and charged the orcs for melee. Picking up the throwing ax if it was availiable, as they charged, they slashes, stabbed, kicked, punched, and sometimes even biting a chunk of flesh from the orcs throat. They fought like a madman. Showed no hesitation on the execution. Each orc killed with their own hands brought them more energy from the orc. Making them even more stronger, faster, and powerful. Berserker orcs versus the madmen of the Phoenix. Two predators savagely took each other on in their deathmatch. From the village elders rooftop lookout post, Spike heard the howls and saw ten of his men wrapped in red aura charging out to melee the orcs. Then PFC Martin and Private Gonzalez from his bodyguard team, glowing red aura from their body, left their post to joined in the madness. Not two seconds later, even Corporal Smith, Spike¡¯s personal combat medic, also in red aura ran to join the fray. Not wanting torisking hitting his own men, he ceased firing his SAW and called for the grenade launcher squad to ceasefire, least they end up blowing up his men. Spike was so surprised and flabbergasted he simply looked on stunned at what he was seeing. His men were actually winning. He couldn¡¯t believe even Lieutenant Moore was in that mess. Then not ever half of minute later, more of his men in same condition charged out roaring in their madness to melee the orcs. Anything and everything became a weapons for the madmen. Some even use the limbs of the orcs to club them to death. Lieutenant Walker and Lieutenant Collins quickly took control over the sane men. Called for ceasefire before causing friendly fire incident and had them pull back to set up a new defensive line. The former slavers witnessed this horrifying mess in fear. They were so mesmerized by the madness that they froze in their spot. The demi-human hunters who were positioned on higher buildings as lookouts and explicitly told not to engage in combat unless their life was endangered witness the madness. They were almost hypnotized by what they were seeing. Never would they have guessed in their wildest dream that their new masters were such savages. They felt the newfound fear for the Phoenixians. Every orc killed made the fight go faster as the Spike¡¯s lunatics became stronger. It was as if they were saying to the orcs ¡®so you got berserking, than we got something better¡¯. By now, all the soldier who joined the melee were covered in green blood. Not an inch was spared as they were completely drenched in orc blood. As the last orc was gutted out, the surviving seventeen men threw their head back and roared their might howl. It was as if they were trying to expel the energy within themselves. When their howling was over, a very clear and distinct feature was left behind on their body as the red aura faded. Just like Spike, these men¡¯s iris in their eyes had completely turned red. T&EO after the trashing at Trimmor. After Ch22. Soon to be Honor Guard and Named Charactor in story telling so far.
Spike''s bodygaurds
Corporal Smith (medic) Corporal Robinson
PFC Marin Private Thompson
Private Gonzalez KIA
Freelance company
Platoon Leader Lieutenant Moore
Platoon Sergeant KIA
1st Squad Leader KIA
Alpha Team Leader Corporal Washington Bravo Team Leader Corporal Johnson
SAW Gunner KIA SAW Gunner KIA
Thrench Gunner Private Kirk (Chef Master) Trench Gunner KIA
SAW Gunner KIA SAW Gunner KIA
Thrench Gunner Private Jones Trench Gunner KIA
2nd Squad Leader KIA
Alpha Team Leader KIA Bravo Team Leader KIA
SAW Gunner PFC Muller SAW Gunner KIA
Trench Gunner Private Novak Trench Gunner KIA
SAW Gunner KIA SAW Gunner KIA
Trench Gunner KIA Trench Gunner Private Borg
3rd Squad Leader KIA
Alpha Team Leader KIA Bravo Team Leader Corporal Watson
SAW Gunner Private Brown SAW Gunner KIA
Trench Gunner KIA Trench Gunner KIA
SAW Gunner KIA SAW Gunner PFC Harris
Trench Gunner KIA Trench Gunner KIA
4th Squad Leader Sergeant Young
Alpha Team Leader KIA Bravo Team Leader KIA
SAW Gunner KIA SAW Gunner PFC Gagnon
Trench Gunner KIA Trench Gunner PFC Ash
SAW Gunner KIA SAW Gunner Private Mayer
Trench Gunner KIA Trench Gunner KIA
In Medical
Sergeant White (Amputee) Private Smith (Amputee) Private Raines (In Coma)
ALPHA training duty
Captain Wraeth
LT Reed
LT Cornwell
LT Lee PSG Young
LT Clark
XO Ward
Company SGT Cox
BRAVO area security
Caprain Pearson
LT Manson
LT Walker PSG Duvall
LT Bassett
LT Allen
XO Turner
Company SGT Bailey
Engineer
CPT Lee
LT Samuals Sewage
LT Hall FT. whitestone
LT Collins Road PSG Gil
LT Henley Misc
Mark VIII
Capt Allen
LT Edwards
LT Wright
Logistics
CPT Murphy
Personnel
CPT Gray
LT Sheldon
Flamethrower squad
Lieutenant Stein.
Captain (MD)Lavideka and Gaston
LTC Simmons Surgeon.
Midical assistant SGT Voss
NBC Major (MD) Westbrook
Major (MD) Dietz
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Personels BodyGuards 5/6 Freelance Platoon 14/46 Alpha company (Security and training in the future) 187/187 Bravo Company (Soon to start hunting) 148/187 *Lieutenant Walker''s 2nd platoon 8/46 Engineer Company 174/187 *Lieutenant Collins 3rd Platoon 33/46 Lieutenant Sheldon''s platoon 37/46 (independent platoon) Cavalry platoon 33/46 (Independent platoon) Medical 17/17 Logistics and Personnel 24/24 Flamethrowers 7/7 Mark VIII 25/25 Grenadiers 8/8 After battle total 685/736. with 26 in medical included in their unit total. New level total 685/ 816. replacements going through training.
Spike Phoenix
Level 17
Current Race human
INT 20
Spirit 24
STR 12
CON 12
DEX 13
Mana 578
Health 416.5
Experience 166,138 171,000
Reputation 1
Unique
Summoning 1 0.2882
Resources 2778.90
Personnel 816 685
Logistic Support 1088 1024
Air 0
Water 0
Fire 0
Earth 0
Relevent Skills
Rifle 2 0.38
Pistol 1
Leadership 1 0.14
Ch23 - Cry or laugh. To much of good thing. Frontier, Trimmor. Spike stood frozen. Zooming in on the seventeen mad men as they howled, he was at a lost on what to do. He was worried that they might turn on him and the others inside Trimmor. Had they been covered in red blood instead of green, the seventeen men would have looked like something from a nightmarish horror film. Lieutenant Collins and Lieutenant Walker, with what little left of their platoon held their new position to wait on what the seventeen lunatics would do. The two officers could somehow feel that the seventeen were still one of them. But their current situation required them to be more prudent and take caution. So they had their weapons ready to defend themselves and waited. Spike jumped down from the roof and was about to make way to the front when Corporal Robinson stopped him. ¡°Sorry sir. Until we know what¡¯s going, I can¡¯t let you go up to the front!¡± ¡°Right. I suppose you¡¯re just doing your job.¡± Spike said he understood the Corporal¡¯s position on this. ¡°Hey! Silhouette! What¡¯s going on with my men. Are they going to be ok?¡± Spike demanded. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have to say anything, but I suppose telling you wouldn¡¯t make any difference. Your men are just fine. They just broke through to their spiritual freedom. Right now they are feeling the overwhelming emotion and sensory overload from the breakthrough and their body is reflecting the changes as they are overly energized. And the overwhelming urge to go kill more inhumanoids. ¡° ¡°So, it¡¯s safe for me to go to them?¡± ¡°Of course it is. They are you men!¡± The silhouette said in that monotone way, but Spike could almost hear the tone calling him an idiot for even asking. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Spike said in his best commanding voice. ¡°The men are fine.¡± When Spike¡¯s group reached the mostly non-existing wall on the north side, the seventeen idiots covered in green blood were laughing and panting with a very satisfied deep laughter, Then crying. Then they all had a snarl expression as they looked satisfied. Then some of them were whimpering. Then laughing again. They couldn¡¯t seem to make up their mind. Their tears of joy as they wept. It made them look more crazy and sinister in their condition to the onlookers. When Spike made eye contact with Lieutenant Moore, he suddenly shouted as he whimpered. ¡°Hehe. Sir!¡± and held their salute to Spike. As his voice trembled as he whimper, laughed, snarled, and few other emotions added to his expression. ¡°Haha.¡± The seventeen lunatics broke down in whimpering laughter. Understanding the meaning behind Lieutenant¡¯s single word as they struggle to stay composed, Spike got the gist of it that they are going through some sort of massive emotional¡­ something, Spike returned the salute. Ahh! Looks like these men will be ok. Looks like this is what happens when you OD on ABH. ¡°Alright you lunatics. There might be more of them bastards so hurry up and get cleaned up.¡± Spike shouted out his own orders that he felt best suited for this situation without waiting for other officers input. There was no time to dick around. They didn¡¯t know if there was another group enroute to Trimmor. With a sniffling tone Lieutenant Moore struggled to squeeze out his word as he squarmed in orc blood. ¡°Sorry sir. Haha. We are having difficulty, hehehe, with ourselves. Gah. We need to do, Argh, something physically exerting to, huu, burn away this energy. Hahehe.¡± Then the rest of the lunatics broke down in whimpering emotional laughter. The hell! These yahoos. With some concern look on Spike¡¯s face. He said. ¡°Right. OK LT. Do what you need to do. Just don¡¯t hurt yourselves.¡± With that, the idiots jumped in action to start clearing up the messy battlefield. Everyone else didn¡¯t know what to make of them and stayed out of their way and observed the seventeen work out their problem. It was still daylight, only few hours after lunch. With the end of Autumn, they only had three to four hours of light left. And the the steam rising from the seventeen as they exerted themselves from the cold autumn temperature. For everyone else, they were in terrible situation. Of the one hundred fourteen original combat related soldiers, not including the five man medical team in Trimmor, they only had fourty-eight able-bodied men left, including the grenade launcher team. Of course, not including the seventeen lunatics in the total. He could have directly summoned replacement now, but summoning men not ready for the environment would only speed up their death. He decided having Nexus veterans would work out better on the long run. And if things turn desperate, he could always summon at anytime. Spike sent two volunteers from the engineers who could ride horses and sent them back to Fort Whitestone with spare horse to ride non stop. Their orders were to go straight to Major Jung and ask for at least two platoon of reinforcement, ASAP. The former slavers convicts were put to work in clearing out the dead bodies and trying to put together a temporary barricade. And the seventeen would sometimes jump into help them as they were bouncing all over Trimmor. The two engineer squad that covered the south side took control of the convicts and supervised their work. Incidentally, these convicts became very docile and obedient. There were only seven able-bodied men left from Lieutenant Walkers platoon so he pulled sentry with the hunters. For all intended purpose, until his platoon gets reconstituted, his platoon is in the black. So, for now, the grenade launder squad was put under his command. The medical team were busy with twelve wounded men. Over half of which will become amputees, if not already, as they had tourniquet on their arms and legs to stop the blood loss. Freelance platoon had fourteen survivors in total and ironically, no wounded. Their injuries somehow healed during the chaotic fight. These guys were beyond overdosing on ABH. They didn¡¯t even bother cleaning up. While still drenched in green blood, they picked up the dead corpse and stacked them outside of the old walls to be burned later. And they even brought over all the large number of lumbers left at the woodlines. As for Spike. Lieutenant Moore was barely coherent long enough to tell him to finish up the wounded orcs where the rain of grenades landed during the fight. When asked why him and his lunatics didn¡¯t do it, he said that there was no point as the crippled orcs offered no challenge. Spike really felt hurt by that comment. He felt like he was on garbage duty as the CEO of a large company. As he was followed by his bodyguard team. Minus the three that are on ABH steroids. He muttered the words ¡°Son of a bitch¡± as the feeling of indignation set in. After Spike¡¯s dirty deed was done, he checked his gain. 24,620 gained with 166,136 total EXP pushing him up to next level and 4,864 shy of Level 18. With 822 RP gain and the new adjusted total RP of 2778.9. His new personnel slot jumped to 782, but after putting one point to Spirit attribute, it increased to 816. An increase of eighty personnels. As he had heard Major Jung often mentioned about his ability. What the Major said is so correct. This shit reminds me of the integrated VR sims, most of the people in his era plugged themselves into. Because of the general unhappiness and the powerlessness, masses of people would rather live in the VR then in reality. How is that man able to accurately point out shit that¡¯s beyond his time? Spike was aware of the VR of his era, but he never had the money or the time to dive into it. He wondered if he missed out. From all the fights today, Spike had sixty-five dead, but gained eightfrom battle summon. Then compounded with the twelve wounded. He Hoped the reinforcements arrive before sunsets. After Spike finished his lawn mowing duty as he had been trying to convince himself as he gave the coup de grace on the wounded orcs. He quickly returned to take over the command of Trimmor. For one, he didn¡¯t fully trust Lieutenant Moore¡¯s mental status. And second, they needed able-bodied workers more than a commander. They needed to hastily build a defensive barricade incase more inhumanoids show up. He was contemplating if he should start to summon some back ups But those seventeen lunatics were so energetic that each worked enough for four people doing the same labor. Seeing it with his own eyes, he decided to temporarily relieve PFC Marten, Private Gonzalez and Corporal Smith until they figure out just how long they will stay high on ABH. Spike wasn¡¯t sure if Corporal Smith could even perform his duty as a medic. Corporal Smith said he could, but Spike wouldn¡¯t hear of it as none of his men were dying from the current injuries. This shit is unreal. I just can¡¯t wrap my head around these guys sometimes. Lucky for Trimmor and its current inhabitants, no more hostile forces showed up. And Major Jung himself showed up leading three full platoon right at sunset. Everyone came in looking posh while riding their horses like a cavalry regiments of the wild wild west. That magnificent bastard! Spike thought. Something he¡¯ll never admit the Major. It''s just not done. Captain Wraeth had loaned out his third and fourth platoon, and Captain Pearson loaned out his fourth platoon for this reinforcements. Major smoothly rode his horse up to what used to be the gate. He noted all the dead bodies in the field and the stacked bodies in front of the hastily made barricades. And noting the exhausted look on Spike''s face.¡°Captain Pearson.¡± He called. ¡°Sir.¡± ¡°Take charge and have half the men post guards and other half on rest. And rotate them out every four hours. Even if these men are on ABH, they¡¯re still going to need to rest.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± Captain Pearson replied. Then he started to give out instructions to the platoon leaders. With a proud looking face, Major Jung dismounted and walked up to the tired looking Spike. ¡°I heard a little from the two messenger sir. Why don¡¯t we go inside and call the other officers. Then we can do a proper ¡®after action debriefing¡¯.¡± With a look of exhaustion as time finally caught up to Spike. He simply nodded and let Lieutenant Collins lead the way to the former village elders house that is being used as Trimmor headquarter. Unable to ignore the seventeen lunatics working like idiots on speed. ¡°What¡¯s going on with these men?¡± Major Jung asked. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°They are going through some adjustment Major. They are little better than earlier, so I¡¯m letting them burn out their energy. I¡¯ll explain at the debriefing.¡± Spike replied. Then halfway to the house, Spike spoke up. ¡°Judging from seeing two platoon from Alpha company, I take it the prisoner ransom is complete?¡± ¡°No sir. To be exact. It¡¯s still under progress but almost finished. We¡¯ve received all the ransom just this afternoon. Captain Grey and Captain Murphy are confirming the delivery. Once they give the clear, I expect the POWs to be back to their border by tomorrow evening. There is no point for the prisoner to cause trouble when they know they will be freed the next day.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Suddenly, Spike didn¡¯t feel like talking anymore. Now that Major Jung was here, he felt less pressure and felt that he could pass the command to the Major. Even Captain Pearson was here. But most of all, the realization finally sunk in that more than half the men in his platoon are dead. The same men that shared the danger, struggle, and fear in facing the unknown in the frontier. And sometimes the excitement. But at the same time, knowing that they are not truly dead felt weird to him. Especially when he saw them die. It¡¯s not something any man could easily get used to. At the HQ building, all the non Phoenixians were dismissed and only officers and noncoms were allowed to enter the HQ building. All the events were reported in detail from start to finish. The officers and noncoms also reported from their point of view of the battlefield. When it was all said and done the sentry was changing guards. ¡°So all the hunters on ground are in consensus about the unnatural movements of the inhumanoids?¡± ¡°That¡¯s correct Major Jung. If you think about it. There is no way even the best demi-human could take on an ogre. Especially when the orcs are with them. If the demi-humans had equal numbers and armor and weapons, I think it would be a good fight, but with even a single ogre presence, demi-humans would lose. So that raises some questions.¡± Spike said. ¡°Right. Why haven¡¯t these powerful inhumanoids attacked the human kingdoms for easy food. It makes no sense that humans have been able to settle this far into the frontier without coming into larger conflict with them. And also, just what is happening in deeper parts of the frontier forest. I¡¯m beginning to sense that frontier people are more or less in the dark about the ¡®whys¡¯.¡± Major Jung questioned. ¡°Yes. Thing just don¡¯t add up.¡± Spike agreed. ¡°It just means that we don¡¯t know nothing about the frontier and we need to prepare as much as posible for troublesir. Once we secure our place in this land, we will have to send out many expeditions to explore the world. But let¡¯s put this topic on hold for now, Lord Phoenix. There is nothing we can do until we gain more understanding of our environment." Looking thoughtful. "And about having enough manpower¡­ about Lieutenant Moore.¡± ¡°Someone go and check on them. See if they can hold a conversation for this meeting.¡± Lieutenant Collins volunteered to go check on the seventeen. ¡°While we are waiting sir. What is your new personnel slot now?¡± ¡°It¡¯s at 816 after adjustment. So after we bring in replacements for the casualties, we¡¯ll have seventy-two open slots as the grenadiers took up eightslots. I was thinking Major. Since we have so many wounded in the medical, maybe we should add a full line unit as a floater to cycle out the men while they are recovering from their injuries, especially the amputees.¡± ¡°That¡¯s something we would have had to do anyways. But we could also do the same thing by having the line units at overstrength. No, let¡¯s go with your idea sir. You''re the Commander in Chief and the T&EO should make sense to you. That leaves us with twenty-eight open slots after summoning another full platoon.¡± ¡°I really think Trimmor needs at least one Mark VIII. Having a single Landship frees up a lot of manpower for security. And I do remember your order to keep the fight out here instead of near the city, Major.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good point sir.¡± ¡°Besides. I think having the 57mm cannons may have made some difference when the ogre mages brought up their dirt walls or earth wall as I¡¯ve heard the hunter term it.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll have Captain Allen start up the paperwork for another Mark VIII... when he¡¯s back in town. And I¡¯ll send the requisition paper for a platoon to Captain Gray in the morning. But I¡¯m highly interested in your creative summoning for the grenade launchers sir. Tomorrow, I¡¯d like to see ademonstration of the weapons.¡± ¡°They are under Lieutenant Walker¡¯s command for now.¡± They took a short coffee break while waiting for Lieutenant Collins to return. Shaking his head. ¡°Not good sir. It''s annoying as hell just to talk to them. They go from snarling at me to laughing. Then their looks get all weird on me and I can¡¯t decide of they want to hump my leg or go hump a tree. Sir!¡± Becoming all snappy and sharp when he realized the words he just used. ¡°Oh. And there are few medics on watch to monitor their conditions sir.¡± With a dry look on his face as he realize something unpleasant. ¡°Errr, I suppose we¡¯ll all be facing this when it¡¯s our time.¡± For some reason, that comment brought Spike to look at Major Jung and make eye contact. Then an uncontrollable large smile light up on Spike''s face which forced the Major to look away in annoyance. ¡°In anycase, we brought four more demi-humans with us. Tomorrow morning, I plan to have them track were these ogres came from. I think sending only the demi-humans will increase their survivability without our men dragged along as liability.¡± ¡°You sure it¡¯s a good idea to send them so far in Major?¡± Spike asked out of concern for the demi-humans going into the deep frontier. ¡°I¡¯ll tell them to only go as far as they feel they can get out safely sir. Demi-humans are just too valuable to us. We won¡¯t be risking their lives unnecessarily sir.¡± After that, they called it for the night. To be exact, Spike called it as his body is still mortal and he was exhausted from another day of battle and his mind was getting cloudy. ¡°Sir, before he retire for the night, Sergeant McQueen is asking for parachute illumination flare rounds. He seems very unhappy with our current flare guns saying that illumination time is too short.¡± ¡°Ahh right! I suppose that¡¯s true.¡± Spike replied as he realized the difference in tech level and the common sense of the Sergeant McQueen and his squad. Sergeant McQueen is probably starting to feel frustrated as well to the limitation of current technology. ¡°Yeah. I¡¯ll take care of that now.¡± Next morning, by the time Spike woke up in the mid morning, Trimmor was alive with activity. To be exact, Sergeant Mcqueen was demonstrating the HE grenade rounds to the major. Which inadvertently woke up Spike. He summoned up some ration to eat while walking with his two sane body guards. Not thinking too much about the missing ODing bodyguards, he reached the part of the wall where Sergeant McQueen was demonstrating his M223 with his squad. When he got up to the ramp on the west wall, incredibly he noticed the northern wall was more than half completed. And the craziest of it all was that the seventeen men were still at it. He was so stunned that his jaw hit the ground and he dropped his breakfast pack on the ground. Oh My God! They are still at it! Silhouette said they are all fine, and they are simply experiencing too much energy from the change, but damn! Later on, Spike would learn that the reason why Sergeant McQueen wanted the illumination flare was to support the seventeen who went out to the woodlines to chop down trees in the dead of night. And they wouldn¡¯t listen to the warning of the danger, so he lite up the nights for them. ¡°Fire!¡± Another volley was fired from the M223 squad tearing apart the ground with stump of trees as targets. Waking up Spike from his stupor. ¡°Good morning sir. Hope we didn¡¯t wake you up too soon?¡± Major Jung greeted as Spike joined the group on the walls. ¡°No, it¡¯s fine Major. I should be awake with the men anyways. So what do you think about the M223?¡± ¡°There¡¯re definitely not as powerful as the normal artillery pieces. However, the tactical advantage of having a team of them in a platoon is overwhelming. It was an excellent call in the heat of the moment sir. I¡¯ve been pulling out my hairs on trying to figure out our artillery problems and you solved it for me. And also, I forgot to tell you last night, but you made some good call during battle and that includes promoting Lieutenant Moore to First Lieutenant. I know you could do it.¡± Major praised. ¡°Ahh, thanks. What! Wait! I just know you set me up.¡± ¡°I placed my trust in your intelligence sir. You just lacked experience, but you have them now from the all the OJT. You did good sir. And sir. I don¡¯t gamble with lives.¡± The Major Jung said with that annoying look of his. This calculating scheming SOB. He must possess an IQ over 9000 for crying out loud. Well whatever. ¡°And I thought I was going to get court martialed for judicially burning up RP.¡± Spike commented. With a smirk on the Major¡¯s face. ¡°Not at all sir. Even the M99 Sniper rifle worked out in the end. If the ogre mages had gotten closer, who knows what other magic they could have rain down on you.¡± ¡°Yeah. Well I didn¡¯t want a repeat of the fight with that Baron Myojhuk.¡± ¡°So what¡¯s the price tag on the M223 Revolver sir? I¡¯m thinking we need them asap.¡± ¡°It¡¯s 140 RP for 512 Revolver.¡± Spike said as he observe the weapons and the gears of the soldiers. The M223 Revolver really did look like the old wild wild west colt revolver pistol with it¡¯s six grenade rounds inserted like the old pistol rounds. Except for the triangular buttstock that was much more wider with three mini shock absorber in each corner to reduce the recoil. And each soldier had special shoulder and upper chest solid armor piece to spread out the recoil so the constant recoil from using the weapon didn¡¯t cause long term injury. Unlike the older generation, all the grenade rounds were longer. To maximize the usage of the advance metallurgy used to make the M223 barrels, the designers built more powerful grenade rounds as the barrels were highly resistance to cracking. In addition, there was a small digital screen next to the aiming sight to tell the gunner the degree of the angle of the weapons and an adjustable targeting sight to aim faster and accurately in the heat of the battle. On top of the weapons hand guard were stips of solar cell chips to prolong the micro battery. ¡°Then let''s do it sir. We have three platoons that can start training immediately and we can chose the most talented to build a firing team. We have eightinstructors here with us. And we can send half of them back the Fort Whitestone. I¡¯m looking forward to finally having some artillery support. Even if it¡¯s a quasi-artillery.¡± Major Jung declared. Spike quickly agreed. In all honesty, he also wanted to try them out and blow shit up. The little boy in him couldn¡¯t lie. Around high noon,Spike, Lieutenant Walker and his seven men, all the wounded, the extra M223, M1917, and flare guns were sent back to Fort Whitestone. That also included all the extra horses from the missing men. Now that they have some flexibility with increased manpower, all the new summons are required to go through the Captain Wraeth and Hunt Master Malikai¡¯s survival course, including training up on the new weapons. Only then will they be allowed to join as regular a soldier. Spike wasn¡¯t allowed to hunt for now as his Freelance platoon is temporarily non-existence. Not with the current surviving seventeenmen and bodyguard''s condition. With the constant battles wearing down Spike as he felt himself being jerked around all over the places, Major Jung decide he needed a break. But the Majorknew there was nothing he could do about the grind to keep fighing. So Spiketook Major Jung advice and took this opportunity to get some rest and stabilization. So,with two extra squad temporarily added as security escorts, the battle wary group journeyed back to Fort Whitestone. Then three days later, one by one, the rest of the seventeen finally regained their sanity and crashed. They were comatosed for three more days until they started to wake up one by one. ¡°Now let¡¯s hear about what happened to you and your men.¡± Major Jung asked Lieutenant Moore. ¡°Sir. To put it simply, I and the other men became cognitively aware that we were freed from returning to the void even in death. And the feeling on our body was so incredibly overwhelming. Hmm how to explain¡­ It¡¯s not that we weren¡¯t aware of what was happening, but our bodies were telling us to let go and face our enemies and kill as many of them as possible. And the closer we got to them for the killing blow, better it will be for us. If I had to make an educated guess, it¡¯s something akin to the viking berserker myth. Or even the old Germanic barbarians during Roman Republic times. When we were clade in that red aura, we were something amazing sir. Even now, I feel the residual energy. But I can assure you that the men who died while wrapped in that red aura have left us for good. They¡¯ve moved on. And I think the seventeen of use should be kept under observation. There may be some other sort of side effect from this. Just like the After Battle High we all experience after each battle. I mean, I feel like I can go wrestle a thousand pound gorilla and kick it¡¯s ass right now and it¡¯s only a fraction of what I felt sir. And I don¡¯t know how long this will last.¡± ¡°Well, I have it from Lord Phoenix that you men are just fine. You simply had excess amount of energy and just needed to work it out. And something like that won¡¯t happen normally as I understand. For now, you all need getting used to the change. In any case, congratulation to you all. This is something the rest of us are looking forward too and gives us hope.¡± Then he added. ¡°Also, Doctor Dietz said, physically, you men are cleared for duty, but he wants you to check in with him everyday for the next week. And he¡¯ll be returning with your group.¡± ¡°Yes sir. Thank you sir. I understand. So what¡¯s the plan for us sir?¡± Lieutenant Moore asked. With a smile on his face Major Jung spoke. ¡°Well First Lieutenant Moore. Congratulation on the promotion by the way. And to utilize your new rank...hmm... I don¡¯t like the idea of Lord Phoenix¡¯s bodyguards abandoning their post and running off to fight because of this uncontrollable red aura condition. We are fortunate things turned out well in the end. But to prevent that from happening again in the future, only those who have reached spiritual freedom from the void will be assigned to that post...ie those with red iris only. I had always planned for our lord to have minimum of a company with him in all his travel. And increase the size of his protection unit as our forces increase. So as the first and only officer with red iris, you and your current sixteen other men will be the foundation. Now I don¡¯t expect for everyone to have the red iris, because I can actually see the usefulness of some of the men ODing on ABH. But I want those in his immediate protection circle to be spiritually freed¡­ looks like we need to find a proper name for this condition. Calling it red iris is getting tiresome.¡± ¡°Yes sir. I understand your intent.¡± ¡°Good. Then, once the rest of your men wakes up go back to base and wait to get reconstituted. Also, once Captain Allen completes his mission, I intend Lieutenant Sheldon and his platoon to join you to form the Honor Guard. Calling Lord Phoenix¡¯s personal unit Freelance company sounds too much like a mercenary unit and it sounds very undignified. Let¡¯s put dignity and honor to his presence.... You know, I sometimes thing our commander comes from thug background. But that¡¯s just not possible, considering he was an actual cadet.¡± Major Jung said with a frown on his face and shaking his head. ¡°Hmp¡± Lieutenant Moore cleared his throat to remind the Major of the unofficial ¡®don¡¯t ask, don¡¯t tell¡¯ policy about their former life. ¡°Right. Right. Let¡¯s forget what I just said. LT.¡± Major Jung said in straight face and changed the topic. ¡°Your unit has priority on replacement. I thought of stealing men from the other platoons, but it would just disrupt their combat readiness and their ability to perform their duties. Right now, the initial survival training is for two weeks. So you have another eight days to fully recover. We were actually worried that there would be more incursion from the frontier, but things have calmed down for now.¡± ¡°Yes sir. What do the hunters say about the calmness sir?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good question Lieutenant. They seem to believe that this is a calm before the storm. Whatever forced the ogres to move to our location, it will be more troublesome. And I concur with them. We need to take this time to hurry up and build up our defenses. That¡¯s why I¡¯ve put a stop on the road construction and put all our efforts on Trimmor¡¯s defense. I¡¯ve also given the same instruction to the base. They have plenty of common labors from the ransom, so they can at least build proper wooden defense and dig up the ground to reinforce them.¡± ¡°Do the hunters have any idea when this storm will hit sir?¡± ¡°No. They only say that it¡¯s coming.¡± Major replied with a serious tone. Ch24 - Choices to make? Frontier, Daldia. On the following day, a long line of Stovkow prisoners made a single file line out of the POW camp built in between Daldia and the border outpost. Many of the Stovkow refugees moving to the frontier land stared in wide eyes as the knight and trained soldiers slowly walked passed them in ragged cloths. With the last of the Stovkow POWs on their side of the border, the security and training was completely handed off to Captain Wraeth. Minus Lieutenant Walkers platoon in Fort Whitestone, all of Bravo Company had deployed to Trimmor and the two borrowed platoon from Alpha returned to Captain Wraeth¡¯s command. Few days later, the hunters had returned to Trimmor with their discovery. From the tracks they found, the gnolls had been using the old goblin caves as their recent base untilthe ogres and orcs killed them all off. They even found some unusual bones of recent kills in other goblin caves, but none of the hunter were able to identify them as they have never seen them before. For now, the only thing Trimmor could do was keep building it¡¯s defenses and send out patrols to keep an eye out for inhumanoid movements. Everyday search and destroy group was sent out in platoon size. And two team of three demi-human hunters only group were sent out separately. Back at base, since their return and with Spike¡¯s approval, Hunter Rikko spent everyday taking out her two children to teach them the rope of being a good hunter. Understanding the changes in the frontier, Rikko wasted no time in teaching and drilling her children hard to cram as many skills to survive the coming storm. With the sense of crisis and approaching danger, she gave her best for her children. For the past week. Spike exercised in the morning by running laps around the fort. Then after clean up and breakfast, he hit the firing range as he trained up on the M223 Revolver grenade launcher. A team of M223 Revolver were sent back to base with instruction to train other units. After spending all morning training, he became very proficient on the M223 and M99. Especially with his range finder on his helmet in conjunction with the digital degree reader, he couldn¡¯t miss even if he wanted to. And after, Spike read up on the manual on the M99 Longbow 50. Cal. sniper rifle and practiced it¡¯s various options. For the M99, using his eye movements and voice recognition command, he could set up target recognition and lock program to tag multiple targets to track them as long as the targets are in his camera view. With proper setup, this would reduce the time need to find the next target and less requirement to have a spotter. And to help out at the firing range, something Marquess Daldia started in the last week to reinforce a sense of security. He started to allow selected number of new immigrants to help out at the firing range. He wanted to show them the weapons and the soldiers who are protecting them to wash away any fear for their safety in Daldia. And sure enough, once the words got around from enough witnesses from the firing range, plus the refugees who traveled from the other frontier with Captain allen, it started to take positive effects. After lunch, Spike would read up on reports to familiarize himself with the events in his little kingdom. Then walk around with his two bodyguards to be visible to the new immigrants. Captain Wraeth would schedule one of the patrol to time with Spike¡¯s movement back and forth between the city and fort as an added security measurement when Spike went outside of the defensive walls. Then in the late afternoon, he would train with Marquess Daldia until Marquess¡¯s mana runs out. That way, the poor exhausted Marquess could rest after a hard day of work. Which confirmed something very unusual about Spikes mana. He simply had way too much. But the Marquess simply took it as Spike¡¯s uniqueness and didn¡¯t ask questions. Even if he did, no answer would have come from it. Lately, Spike had been having dinner with the Marquess and his family after the magic training. Spike really enjoyed the time with them. And he finally got to know Marquess Daldia¡¯s granddaughter and grandson. Mila and Dagun. Nine and Seven years old respectively. Both already showing potential in manatite as they are trained by their grandfather, Karan Daldia. And sometimes from Spike in order for him to control his mana release. When they showed good result, Spike always presented them with sweets. Spike also made progress with his own mana circulation. He is now able to activate the mana flow on both arms. Now he''s trying to connect the flow to his main body. If he didn¡¯t know any better, it almost felt like cultivating KI for martial arts. Or perhaps there is some truth to it from ancient asian secrets of his old world. But the best news to Spike so far is the news from Trimmor, that it is still peaceful, relatively. Spike had been depressed with the the lose of his men. At first he was upset about the Freelance Platoon getting trashed up. But some of them were able to move on to their next life. And ones who didn¡¯t make it, still had another chance as long as Spike lived. That¡¯s what he was able to workout internally and accept. The best part was that seventeen of them were still alive. When he thought about it, it could have been worse. The constant hunting had allowed the Freelance platoon to feast on the enemy''s spiritual energy. Thus allowing them to reach spiritual freedom at the moment when they needed the most. If not, they may have been completely wiped out. They were lucky. But that also raised questions about future battles. What are the chances of these men surviving if only few of them lite up with red aura and berserker charged the enemy? So many new things keep developing with no answers. All in all, Spike really needed the break to clear up his head. Losing Platoon Sergeant Rector sucked. He was the first soul Spike summoned to the Nexus. But he also understood that the man is now at a better place, which gave him consolation. In this week, he was able to finally internalize that his existence gave these men a chance to break free. And to the common people of his territory, he represented little more than a semblance of stability for now, which gave them some hope for their own future. So he reaffirmed his resolve to himself to not die cheaply and fight hard for them. During the short depression Spike went through, he was sent to Doctor Simmons for full check up. He was cleared physically, but Doctor Simmons discovered there were now few speckles of orange in his iris. Which raised new questions. Is Spike becoming less human? A mutation of some sort? What changes are coming to him? And the Silhouette refused any new information with her always cheeky replies. Silhouette only replied with, ¡°You¡¯ll know it if you live long enough.¡± Which pissed off Spike to no end. As she would end it with ¡°Sink or swim.¡± The only other thing that concerned him on the daily report was the sudden overcrowding of the city. With almost 8,000 civilians, it was a tent city. There was nothing he himself could do to help. Only time can fix the housing shortage. Time to build the houses. By the time the housing shortage is settled, all the former agro land and then some, will have disappeared. Currently, they are completing twelve to fifteen houses a day. At this rate, that housing problem should be solve before spring. Truthfully, all the new houses built outside of the concrete sewage system are nothing more than cabins built for temporary winter shelter. But in the future, these housings will be rebuilt to higher standard once the needed resource are discovered. The engineers are dying to find some limes to make concretes. It wasn¡¯t just for the civilian housings, but for the over all development of all Phoenix territories. Engineers wanted all their buildings to be at least to 1915 era on earth or the engineers would be unsatisfied with themselves and their work. Those men are real pros. Spike thought.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. The seventh day after the battle in Trimmor, during late afternoon, Captain Allen arrived with more refugees. Spike watched the train of exhausted refugees come in on loads of wagons and being directed to temporary housings set up for processing new immigrants. As he observed the refugees, he noticed their faces of relief and many started to cry. Spike didn¡¯t remember others breaking down like that and he wonder if conditions are worse up north. As the new refugees moved to the warehouse district for temporary housing, he wondered if the current level of population isn¡¯t too much for the limited space they currently have. Especially if whatever trouble that is brewing in the frontier makes it pass Trimmor, the inhumanoids will have a feeding frenzy should his defenders fall. After training and dinner, Spike called for a meeting with Captain Allen for a private consultation in his large tent fit for a leader of his stature. Every now and then, Spike¡¯s tent would get bigger and bigger when he returned from his hunting missions. The desk jockeys running the government has yet to decide whether Spike should get a military mansion inside Fort Whitestone or a palace somewhere inside Daldia city. But at the same time, they had neither the resources or the time to build either as the needs of the people were greater. So for now, Spike had the biggest tent in Fort Whitestone. ¡°Thanks for coming by. I¡¯m sure you must be tired and wanting to go back to your women.¡± Spike said. ¡°It¡¯s not a problem sir. You¡¯re actually doing me a favor.¡± Captain Allen replied dryly. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°With you calling me over, I don¡¯t have to deal with my three crazy women. You¡¯ve given me a legitimized excuse to go home as late as possible. Sir.¡± Captain admitted. ¡°I¡­ you know¡­no, better yet, I don¡¯t want to know.¡± Spike said as he shook his head. To quickly change the topic, he continued on. ¡°You know, I was actually wondering if I was doing the right thing by bring the other frontier people to Daldia. Then I noticed the different looks on the refugees this time. What¡¯s going on out there?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not looking good sir. The Stovkow territory actually overlap past us on the north side. So the northern frontier towns are actually much more closer to the deeper frontier. It seems in the last few weeks, the inhumanoids have been aggressively attacking the settlements up north. I think you made the right call on sending our detachment to escort them sir. Some towns have become ghost towns. And from the hunters report, it hadn¡¯t been that long. I verified lot of dried blood everywhere. Even occasionally find some rotting body parts left behind. If you hadn¡¯t sent us up north when you did sir, I believe, most of the people on this trip would have been dead or taken for food by whatever attacked those other settlements.¡± With a look of worry in his eye. ¡°Did we lose a lot of men?¡± ¡°Not any more than usual until we reached the our last town three days ago sir. Having the Mark VIII helps out alot. When the Mark VIII slowly rolls into battle with its loud engine sound and especially after firing off it¡¯s six pounder and the 30. Cals on it. Most inhumanoids retreat as they start to die in numbers. If we could sent another Mark VIII, I think there would be less casualties sir. It¡¯s very useful on the road and settlement defenses, Mark VIII is turning out to be an excellent tool sir.¡± Captain Allen said wishfully. ¡°I see. Then I guess we can make it happen. One to Trimmor and another one to your detachment. Please initiate the requisition with Captain Murphy right away Captain.¡± With one of his eyebrow raised in surprised questioning look. ¡°Sir?¡± To save time, Spike told Captain Allen the summary of the incident at Trimmor. And if he has time, he should read the battle report for more detail. ¡°I want to send one to Trimmor right away so please get it done ASAP.¡± ¡°Yes sir. As of matter of fact, I¡¯ll do so after we are finished here sir.¡± ¡°Good. But also, what do you think about me joining your detachment for the next mission? I currently don¡¯t have a platoon , and I believe that I need to keep scoring points. A week off was nice and I needed the break. But me scoring in the frontier is a critical contribution to our survival. And I don¡¯t think I should be standing still for too long. Given the potential shit storm in the near future.¡± Spike said. Thinking about what Spike said. Then with a thoughtful look. ¡°If you went back to Trimmor, as it¡¯s expected to face inhumanoids, don¡¯t you think Trimmor might be a better place for you sir?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s been a week and they haven¡¯t heard nothing yet. And there is no way Major Jung is going to allow me to go into the wilderness with the ogres running around. But if I¡¯m with you, I can alway hide inside the Mark VIII if shit hits the fan. And you¡¯ll have two Mark VIII for your mission now, Captain Allen.¡± Spike reasoned with him. ¡°Well that¡¯s true sir. I¡¯m not against you going up north with me. But we do need to clear it with the Major first sir. It¡¯s possible that he may have other plans for you.¡± Captain Allen stated. ¡°Ah right.¡± Spike acknowledged as he is reminded. Even though Spike may be in charge with giving directions and policies, Major Jung is still the overall military commander for an obvious reason. ¡°Well, on the daily message from Trimmor, Major said that he¡¯ll be returning to Fort Whitestone tomorrow. He plans to commute to Trimmor every other day or so. So let''s see what other evil plans the Major has. And also, looks like Bravo Company has taken over Trimmor for now.¡± ¡°It''s a good strategic move. That way we¡¯ll have a whole company on site to react to any inhumanoid incursion and set the area up for long term expansion into the frontier.¡± Captain Allen commented. Looking thoughtful. ¡°You know, come to think of it, I think, I¡¯ll go with you to see Captain Murphy. It will speed up the paperwork. That way, the new Mark VIII crew will get little more time to get used to the situation.¡± Spike said. Unlike the infantry soldiers, the Mark VIII crew live and stay with their vehicle and can¡¯t enter the woods. Which made it feasible to allowe all the newly summoned Mark VIII crew to bypass the two week frontier survival training, when needed to. = = = Frontier, Trimmor. As a precaution, Major Jung had decided to stay in Trimmor for faster command and control incase situation turns unfavorably. If the situation in Trimmor did turn south, two platoons from Alpha were on ready to march status. But with nothing developing, except for building up of Trimmor''s defenses, he had been contemplating whether he should go back to Fort Whitestone. But ultimately, he had decided to stay to personally observe the development of the seventeen men. Once they woke and was cleared by Doctor Dietz, and compounded by lack of inhumanoids presence, there was no point for him to stay. Henceforth, the seventeen men of the Freelance platoon, Doctor Dietz and himself are currently riding back to HQ in the early morning. In truth, after witnessing what happens to the men after they achieve spiritual freedom from the void. Major Jung loathe the very idea of having Spike see him in his own moment of... glory. The idea just killed him. So he had hoped to spare Spike and himself by creating some distance in Trimmor which had high expectancy of enemy contacts. But nothing happened inTrimmor to his great disappointment. But another important matter he hasn¡¯t been able to clearly come up with, is how to explain to the civilians about the men glowing in red aura and going berserker. If it was simply a onetimething, itwouldn''t be a problem. But things keep stacking up to the point now that it¡¯s abnormal. Their immunity to disease, resistance to poison, regeneration of body parts, and bodies disappearing at death. Now add in the effect of spiritual freedom. Just what moresurprises are there waiting for them. Something told the Major thatthis wasn¡¯t the end of it. Especially after the update on their medical report about the possible longevity. At this rate, the civilian population will start to think of them as some sort of superior being. That is something that nobody wants. What to do? What to do? Major Jung pondered. Their one true goal was to hunt. At this rate, even he has no way to foresee how these medieval society will react to them and affect their goal. And putting too much on Lord Phoenix with these problems isn¡¯t something heneeds during his development. Ch24 - part 2 Frontier, near Trimmor. The small detachment from Trimmor slowly rode their horses on the road as they returned to Fort Whitestone. ¡°Hey LT. Do you think we¡¯ll experience the enhance feeling again in the next fight sir?¡± Private Borg asked with a wishful expression. ¡°No idea Borg.¡± Lieutenant Moore thoughtfully replied. Thinking about that moment when he broke through, everything moving in slow motion in compare to himself. His battle awareness, strength, speed, the lightness he felt of his body as he moved around in the battle field. For that short moment in time, he felt as if he was the king of the battle field. In many ways, it almost felt like he was in the midst of hand to hand trench fight in the western front in France. But unfortunately, after all the enemies were subdued, the after effect was hell. It wasn¡¯t simply a matter of needing to kill more enemy, but more of no enemy in sight to kill, to satisfy their hunger, to feast. Then the overwhelming downer after the massive battle high. Which was another living hell. Then noticing the looking on Private Borgs face. ¡°Even though...hmm¡­ let''s call it Battle High for now. Even the battle high was great, I¡¯m not too keen on going through the downer again. I¡¯d rather not damage my dignity like that again.¡± ¡°Roger that sir.¡± Several men chimed in in agreement. Then looking over at Sergeant Young. ¡°By the way Sergeant Young. Since you¡¯re the only Sergeant alive, you¡¯re the new Platoon Sergeant.¡± Lieutenant Moore said. ¡°Yes sir. I suppose I saw that coming. Are we planning to promote the survivors to the next rank sir?¡± ¡°Yes Sergeant. It¡¯s an obvious move considering these men are all frontier veterans. We just need Lord Phoenix¡¯s confirmation on the orders once we return to base.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± Riding behind the leaderships. ¡°Did you just hear that Kirk! We¡¯re all getting promoted. Promoted. That¡¯s an increase in the special rations for more spices.¡± Private Jones spoke out in a cheary tone. With a happy look on his face. Private Kirk replied. ¡°Nice! Maybe I can finally try out the tiramisu recipe.¡± ¡°Hell yeah Kirk! In this world, hell would freeze before I let you buy the farm before me my brother!¡± Private Jones cheered on as he shamelessly sucked up to Private Kirk. Private Kirk looked on with a happy smug feeling from his cooking fan boy¡¯s comment. Like all artist, they want their art to been seen. Musician want their musics to be heard. And cooks want their food eaten. ¡°I just can''t believe Sergeant Rector bought the farm.¡± ¡°No, what¡¯s worst is Sergeant Garrett and the others were so close when they died at the battle on the road. Damn!¡± Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. When Major Jung heard the last comment, he stopped the movement. Turning his horse around to face the men. ¡°That¡¯s correct men. But here you stand now. You¡¯ve made it out. And you all have nothing to lose now and everything to gain, even in death. I want to remind you all not to forget about the rest of us here now and others who are still stuck in the void. But most of all, don¡¯t forget about the ones who stood next to you, but were sent back to the void so you could be free.¡± Then gave them a hard stare to convey his feeling. ¡°Yes sir! Roger that!¡± Everyone replied in a serious tone. Each one understanding that they owe it to the others for this chance and that there are still many more who are deserving of a chance of their own. Everyone got the message. ¡®Don¡¯t be a buddy fucker!¡¯ now that they got theirs. = = = Frontier, Whitestone. During the morning run, Spike notice Rikko with many other younger demi-humans, mostly children. They seem to be doing some sort of training of their own. So after making his last lap, he took the opportunity to approach this group to satisfy his curiosity. ¡°Good morning Rikko. Good morning children.¡± ¡°Good morning Lord Phoenix.¡± Rikko replied with her fist to her chest to show her allegiance and bowed in respect. And the other young ones followed her lead by also bowing to Spike. Looking at the dozen demi-human youngsters with her, he couldn¡¯t help himself from smiling as he looked at their anima ears and tails. They look so cute all rapped up in winter furs. ¡°Looks like the number of your students have increased. Or did you adapt them?¡± Spike asked jokingly. ¡°No my lord. They are orphan children and children of other hunters who are too busy with the current situation and have asked me to teach them. It seems the right thing to do as Lord Phoenix is recuping for now and I have some free time.¡± Rikko informed dutifully.. ¡°Orphans?¡± ¡°Yes my lord. Their parents have either died in the frontier or killed or taken by the Stovkow¡¯s from the past raids to fight as a slave soldiers in the east.¡± ¡°I see. That¡¯s just terrible.¡± ¡°Now that things are bit safe. Especially in the area between Fort Whitestone and Daldia. When I started to take my children out, I was approached by other demi-human parents to teach them in their stead and take on some of the orphan demi-human children of our deceased friends and teach them the basics of hunting.¡± ¡°That¡¯s very kind of you Rikko.¡± Spike approved. ¡°That¡¯s not true my lord. I shouldn¡¯t have even been asked to begin with. I seemed to be distracted of late.¡± Rikko admitted. ¡°I don¡¯t know my lord. All of us demi-humans feel the change in the air¡­ if I could explain it like that. It makes us feel weary of the future.¡± ¡°Hmm. Well we are all in this together. So don¡¯t think you are alone.¡± Spike encouraged. In all honesty, Spike had no idea what he could do about it except for preparing for the said storm the demi-humans are talking about. ¡°It¡¯s presumption of me, but may I give my lord a recommendation?¡± Rikko asked humble with her eyes cast down. ¡°Rikko, you are always welcome to speak your mind when it come to advise and recommendation. So please, speak your mind.¡± Spike said in supportive tone. ¡°Thank you my lord. I wanted to say this but I wasn¡¯t sure if it was my place to speak about it. But I overheard multiple time while we were in Trimmor. That the officers are requesting more demi-human hunters for scouting roles. Might I recommend that perhaps you could use the demi-human slaves in the town my lord. Even if they are slaves, I can assure you that they would welcome the chance to fill in as scouts for your army my lord.¡± Rikko recommended. ¡°They are all collared and chained up for fear of them escaping into the frontier. But if they are give a chance to scout and hunt, I guarantee the demi-humans would not run away as they are doing what they were born to do.¡± ¡°Hmm. What you say is very valid Rikko. But we have policy of a noninterference of civilian lives as much as possible.¡± ¡°But my lord. You are already interfering with their lives. Everything you do brings change to their lives.¡± Rikko reminded. Spike know what Rikko was say, but still, where do they draw the line of self serving and needs of the people. So it was simply easier to go with noninterference by leaving civilian matters to Marquess Daldia and then focus purely on military matters. Spike thought perhaps he needs to reevaluate the policy for exceptions. ¡°I understand what you are saying Rikko. It¡¯s apparent I need to rethink our policy before I can make a clean decision.¡± Spike replied as he pondered. ¡°Of course my lord. Thank you kindly for hearing me out.¡± And Rikko followed up by introducing all the demi-human children. She felt this was a good opportunity for the demi-human children to make agood impression on Spike. Ch25 - Frat Party Frontier, Fort Whitestone. With the return of both Captain Allen¡¯s detachment force and Major Jung from Trimmor, Spike decide to have an after dinner meeting inside his large and mostly empty tent. He had called for both men, to consult, and maybe, to adjust his orders to invite the other frontier towns to Daldia. The three sat around a small eating table with various snacks and beer bottles. And in the center of the room, a large stove with brick chimney was blazing to keep the large tent warm. Taking a sip of beer. ¡°I¡¯m currently conflicted about sending Captain Allen up north at this present time.¡± Spike started off as he made eye contact with both officers. ¡°With the present unknown danger from the deeper parts of the frontier and with our current eight thousand plus civilians in our charge, I¡¯m wondering if I¡¯m being irresponsible to the current civilians in Daldia by sending our men up north and weakening our defense. But abandoning helpless people to these large ogres and orcs and to what other inhumanoids out there feels wrong. Even if technically, they are strangers to us. And I don¡¯t want to be selling our men''s life for unrealistic goals.¡± Taking a deep breath. ¡°I am conflicted with what is humanly right vs my moral responsibility to the civilians, and to our men who has to do the fighting.¡± Then Spike chugged the rest of the bottle in one setting out of frustration. ¡°And I was even hoping you¡¯d let me go out with the expedition force when Captain Allen head out in few days.¡± Both officers observed Spike attentively and listened to not only to his words, but the meaning behind his words. After a few moment of thought, Major Jung broke the silence. ¡°You are too kind sir.¡± The Major remarked as he meet Spikes eye. ¡°You think I¡¯m kind?¡± ¡°Absolutely sir.¡± Captain Allen affirmed as he nodded in agreement. Spike had a look of confusion on his face. ¡°Many people often confuse kindness for weakness. It¡¯s ok for you to be honest with me and your officers. But in the future sir, please be mindful of it as our enemies will use that against you. Sir. It¡¯s not so difficult to foresee that our enemies will use our people as hostage to bend your will if they know your weakness sir. It¡¯s better to be known as generous ruler then a kind king.¡± Major Jung explained. ¡°Also, you seemed to have forgotten that we are not a peacetime military. Without a doubt. We are absolutely a go to war military. And taking casualty is expected. There is not much we can do about that. We can only do our best to minimize our losses.¡± ¡°I know that.¡± Spike replied unhappily. ¡°I just don¡¯t want to lose our men for a lost cause.¡± Both officers made eye contact and understood that Spike was still lacked in experience. Nodding his head to Spike, Major Jung spoke. ¡°Sir. I would like to remind you that our men want to fight. I want to fight. Even the support personnels want to fight. It¡¯s the only way to save our soul. In the Trimmor battle, many of the men who died still achieved their personal victory as they died with this red aura. So even in death, there is a great possibility that we can win and achieve our personnel victory. So if you¡¯re worried about us dying sir. Don¡¯t! If anything. Everyone one of your men are worried about you dying instead. When the men wake up every day, there is nothing they want more then to go kill some inhumanoids. And when they are asleep sir. Every last one of them are having wet dreams about murdering the shit out of the inhumanoids and feel the After Battle High. And that include me sir.¡± He said as a matter of fact. Shocked, Spike stared at the Major with his mouth open. Oh My God! These bastards are vicious killers bordering on psychopathic murders. Both officers gave Spike a hard stare as he froze in his seat. While the tent got real quiet, outside, some distance away, the sounds of men shouting and laughing grew louder. Eventually waking Spike up from his stupor. ¡°The hell¡¯s going on out there?¡± ¡°Corporal Robinson!¡± Major Jung called. ¡°Sir!¡± Corporal Robinson replied as he walked through the tent door. ¡°Go find out what¡¯s going on with the noise.¡± Major ordered. ¡°Yes Sir!¡± Without looking the the Corporal leaving. ¡°As I was saying sir. In the big picture. I really don¡¯t think sending Captain Allen¡¯s expedition force will be a problem. If someone dies, you¡¯ll simply summon more on the spot. You have the RP for it sir.¡± Major Jung said. With a frown on his face Spike replied. ¡°You should value your life a little bit more then that Major. You¡¯re comment makes me sad.¡± ¡°On the contrary sir. We value the salvation of our souls more than our lives.¡± Taking a deep breath. ¡°Sigh! Yeah.. I get it Major.¡± Spike said. He hadn¡¯t thought of looking at it from the men¡¯s point of view, but now that he has. Spike felt sad for them. ¡°Look it at this way sir.¡± Captain Allen pointed out. ¡°As the one who summoned us. You have the privilege and responsibility to define who our enemies are.¡± He said as he had a pretty good idea on what Spike was thinking about. ¡°So you can channel all our murderous energy to something positive.¡± Then he amusingly smiled at Spike. ¡°Hmm. No sir. I don¡¯t think you get it.¡± Major Jung remarked to bring the conversation back around, he gave Spike a hard look. ¡°You are a walking military industry complex. Only thing we need to do is feed you with the death of our enemies and you produce fully trained soldiers with equipment on call. The sooner you understand this and accept it, it will be better for you and everyone else.¡± Silence took over for more than a minute as Spike process the meaning behind Major Jung''s word. Feeling the pressure Spike replied irritatingly. ¡°Alright. I get what you both are saying. Damn! This Nexus is really putting me to the test.¡± Spike almost cried out. ¡°I will think about what you said Major, but going back to the original discussion. Do I weakened our defense here by sending out the expedition force, or keep them here but forsake the rest of the frontier people?¡± ¡°As long as you are in Daldia sir. I think sending out Captain Allen with his expedition force won¡¯t be a problem. Potentially, we might take a beating, but I think most of Daldia will survive. However, without the expedition force, any frontier settlement that could have been saved will be out of luck.¡± Then the Major pointed out. ¡°Besides, sir. Even if we do take a beating here, we will score big as well.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Spike said as he looked at Captain Allen with some what of a disappointed look. ¡°Looks like I won¡¯t be joining you on your excursion Captain.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll be plenty other opportunity sir.¡± Captain Allen replied. Then chugged down his bottle of bear. ¡°By the way sir?¡± Looking at Major Jung. ¡°Any prospect of my expedition force getting any of the new M223 I heard mentioned earlier today sir?¡± ¡°It¡¯s only been a week and the few blacksmiths we have are only able to produce a limited number of the chest plate need it to fire the weapon. I think we only have about nine or ten so far. The recoils are no joke on those beast. And the men have been training mostly from borrowing Sergeant McQueen¡¯s mens gear. We¡¯ll schedule one of your squad in Lieutenant Sheldon¡¯s platoon for priority training, but you¡¯ll have to wait until the day you move out on how many M223 you¡¯ll be issued.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± ¡°Have you made plans to take a look at it at the range.¡± ¡°I think tomorrow sir.¡± ¡°Sir!¡± Corporal Robinson announced himself from the doorway to draw attention. ¡°Ah right. What¡¯s with the noise Corporal. Seems like it¡¯s getting louder by the minute.¡± ¡°Well Major Jung, sir. Private Jones cashed in his Booze rations and the Freelance platoon are having a victory party.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t make any sense. His only one men. How many ration cards could a private save in a month!¡± Major remarked as he sensed some shenanigan going on. Captain Allen chuckled at the Major¡¯s remark. ¡°Uhm. Alot apparently sir.¡± Corporal Robinson replied nervously. As he wasn¡¯t 100% sure if the question was rhetorical, he made absolutely sure he didn¡¯t make eye contact to give anything away. Chuckling again. ¡°It¡¯s not a bad idea to let them blow some steam sir.¡± Captain Allen said. ¡°It lets the other units know that they are not far behind either. And this will increase their moral for the next battle.¡± ¡°I suppose you are correct Captain Allen. Sigh! Looks like we won¡¯t be getting much sleep tonight.¡± The Major said as the shouting and laughing got louder. Then the three basically talked about the expeditions to pass the time. ¡°And the pros and cons with the Mark VIII is that it either scares away the critters or piss them off with the loud engine noise. We are doing much better now as we have more hunters from the other settlements and they have learned to identify the angry critters and warn us with the flare guns. So we haven¡¯t taken any recent casualty from them.¡± Taking a shot of cognac. ¡°But those bugbears are huge. The size of their beak. One bite from it would cut you in half.¡± From the tent entrance. ¡°Sir! Lieutenant Colonel Simmons and Major Dietz are here!¡± Corporal Robinson announced. Spike simply waved them in as the current mode was very informal. ¡°Huhu. So my suspicion was correct. With all this noise, I know I wasn¡¯t the only one not getting any sleep.¡± Doctor Simmons said as he walked in as he saw the munchies and booze laid out on the table. The officers put another table next to each other and Spike summoned up some more goodies. ¡°Good to have you join us Doc.¡± Captain Allen said.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Good to be here Captain. Hell it¡¯s been a good day altogether. My more concerned patient finally woke up today. Looks like Private Rains is on a nice road to recovery from my recent checkup.¡± LTC Simmons shared the good news as Major Jung poured him a shot of whisky. ¡°Any idea when our men will be fully recovered Doc?¡± Spike asked. ¡°No idea sir, on the time to recovery. This is all new to us and we need more date before we can estimate such thing.¡± ¡°Ahh. I guess that makes sense.¡± ¡°How about you Doc?¡± Major ask has he made eye contact with Major Dietz. ¡°Any progress from the autopsy on the Ogres and orcs?¡± Then bit into a beef jerky. ¡°From the sample Major Westbrook analyzed. The bone of the ogres are incredibly dense. That makes sense as they have to support such heavy mass. And the muscle fiber are unnaturally tough, making it hard to cut them. And their fat is something else. It isn¡¯t normal soft blubber when you try to cut them. His never seen anything like it?¡± Major Dietz reported. ¡°Sir! Major Westbrook!¡± Corporal Robinson reported from the entrance. ¡°Speaking for the devil.¡± ¡°Let him in Corporal.¡± Spike answered. ¡°Woohoo!¡± Doctor Westbrook cheered with a big smile on his face as he saw all the goodies laid out on the table. ¡°Looks like I hit the jackpot. I saw my fellow men of medicine heading this way. I figured something was up and I was right.¡± He congratulated himself as he pulled up another chair to join in. As the hour passed, other captains and Lieutenants joined in the informal party as it was almost impossible to sleep with the noise from the Freelance platoon. Then the noise from Spikes tent attracted the other officer to join them. ¡°I¡¯m telling you. It''s unreal sir.¡± Captain Gray said. ¡°Up to now, we did almost everything by verbal communication except for between Captain Murphy and I. It¡¯s not like they had the personals to do the job. But with the prisoners exchange and refugees coming in, we started to share some of the documents with the locals. We expected there may be some problem when they couldn¡¯t read our writings so we started to teach a little. But I had Lieutenant Stein help out and few days ago, and they couldn¡¯t read his writings. So we were able to deduce that we can speak with everyone and read their writings. But they can''t read ours. And it gets all confusing as we have multiple cultural languages ourself.¡± ¡°That¡¯s very interesting sir. And very funny.¡± Lieutenant Edward chimbed in. ¡°But in the big picture. It¡¯s good for us in the long term, as the future enemies will have a helluva time cracking our messages.¡± ¡°Haha. That is so true.¡± *** ¡°And I saw with my own eyes. Sergeant Recktor took six spears to his gut and still ripped open that orcs belly. But another orc behind it ran another spear through his chest. This I swear on my drunken ass.¡± Private Mayer said as he waved around his half empty beer bottle. ¡°Here! Here! To our former platoon daddy, Seven speared Badass Sergeant Rector!¡± PFC Muller raised raised his bottle up for the toast. ¡°May he spear seven hotties in his next life.¡± ¡°Cheers!!!!¡± ¡°Wait! Wait! Wait!¡± Private Jones jumped in. ¡°I got one for you.¡± He handed a canteen cup to Private Borg and counted as he poured. ¡°One shot! Two shot!¡± Then backed off to face the other. ¡°My fellow gentle drunks. I dub this new drink DVB, short for Double Virgin Borg!¡± He proclaimed as he threw both his arms up and wide. ¡°HAHAHA!!!!¡± Everyone burst out laughing. Private Borg fumed with anger. He was just about to throw the drink in Jones face and punch him in the face but another idea popped in his mind. ¡°Fine! Just Fine! You Assholes!¡± Private Borg shouted out bitterly. ¡°I¡¯ll drink to that. But I got something to say to you all before I down this DVB.¡± Proclaiming loudly to get their attention. ¡°Speak! Speak!¡± Everyone chanted. They were all dying to know what the virgin boy was going to say. ¡°You all are quick to remind me that I¡¯m a double virgin. Se let me remind you all. None of you asshole came here with your original bodies as well. You have new bodies now. So you get it! Hahahaha!¡± Private Borg burst out laughing at everyone. ¡°Boooooo!¡± ¡°Hsssss!¡± ¡°Madda Fakka!¡± ¡°Hahaha! ¡°Good one Borg!¡± Lifting his DVB shots into the air. ¡°To my DVB and to all you single shot fuckers!¡± Private Borg shouted out, then he downed his DVB in one shot in satisfaction. *** Spike finally went to bed but in only a few hours later, the noise from the Freelance platoon woke him up. Damn Yahoos! Are they still going at it? Unable to get back to bed, feeling a sudden coldness, Spike threw in another log in the stove as he got dressed. But in truth, he was feeling stressful from thinking about the future of his men and couldn¡¯t sleep. Still feeling groggy and the buzz from all the drinking the curiosity got the better of him and he decided to walked to the site of the shouting noises. Then he noticed the white flakes lightly falling with his flashlight. I guess it¡¯s that time of the year. With his bodyguard following him, Spike open the door to the newly built large cabin serving as a barrack. Sounds of laughing and shouting blasted at him. ¡°Who¡¯s the Mayor of barracks town?¡± Private Kirk shouted. ¡°You are!!!¡± Everyone shouted back. ¡°Who runs the barracks town?¡± Private Kirk shouted. ¡°You do!!!¡± Spike turned around the corner to see Private Kirk riding on Priavate Jones shoulder. He had a pot over his head, waving around a large wooden cooking ladle like a scepter, and he even had a sheet draped over his back like a cape. Everyone else had some form of booze or another in their hands and chanting in reply and cheering on. So cool. Spike thought. Damn! I wanna play too. ¡°Who¡¯s owns barr¡­¡± ¡°GROUP ATTENTION!¡± Private Novak shouted everyone to attention as he just noticed Spike. The room go real silent as Private Kirk slid down Private Jones¡¯s shoulder. Without any expression, Spike looked around the room as everyone was still at attention. Now he felt bad as he realized that he may have just ruined their party. Realizing he had to do something. ¡°Private Kirk! Front and center.¡± Spike order. ¡°Sir!¡± Private Kirk moved like a lightning and stepped one meter from Spike at attention. ¡°Present your ladle for inspection.¡± Spike order. Private Kirk had a look of confusion for a second before he reached forward to present the ladle to Spike. Take the Ladle. ¡°Private Kirk. Kneel.¡± Spike order again. Private Kirk eyes went wide as he followed Spike order. He and everyone else sort of felt they have been loud as hell all night, keeping the fort from sleeping. In a certain way, they all felt that they had an ass whooping coming. It was kind of confusing for everyone to see this unfold as they never would have expected Spike to raise this hand. It was normal during their era for NCOs come beat their ass down when they screwed up. Spike tapped Private Kirks shoulder and tapped the other should as he said. ¡°I, Lord Phoenix dub you Mayor of Barracks town. Now relax everyone. And where¡¯s my damn bear?¡± Spike said as he smiled. ¡°YEAH!!!!¡± Everyone cheered as Private Jones quickly brought Spike his bear. *** ¡°Unbelievable. Just unbelievable.¡± Major Jung repeated again as he walked through the Freelance platoon¡¯s barrack. He could barely walk with the little space available with all the empty bottles stacked on the ground. And literarily unopened boxes of all types of liquor stacked all the way up to the ceiling. He was flabbergasted that Spike had summoned this much booze in his drunken stupor. Shaking his head again. ¡°How could this have happened.¡± He was beyond angry that he could only stay calm as he was fearful of the future. ¡°Major Jung!¡± Major Westbrook called out as he walked in through the doorway. ¡°We finally got the man stabilized and his out of critical condition. He just needs time to detox and recover¡­ and hopefully wake up sooner then later.¡± ¡°What if he doesn¡¯t wake up?¡± Major Jung asked in deep worry. ¡°I¡¯m almost 100% sure that Lord Pheonix will wake up Major. I¡¯m a specialist in this field.¡± Doctor Westbrook assured him. ¡°I¡¯m more concerned with possibility of any permanent damages to our young leader. In all actuality, he should have been dead on arrival. His blood was practically made of alcohol.¡± ¡°Damn!¡± Major Jung cursed. ¡°Perhaps this manatite has something to do with him being alive.¡± Doctor Westbrook offered. ¡°Also, from the result of the Freelance platoons blood test. They have become even more resistant to alcohol and most likely to other toxic elements as well. So even if the men were measuring our lord''s alcohol intake, with the out of date information, it would not have made any difference. So we can¡¯t really blame the men for getting Lord Phoenix intoxicated to this level.¡± ¡°Damn. Damn. Just God Damn It.¡± Major Jung cursed again. ¡°Compare to us... he is so much stronger than us. And yet so much weaker than us. Not a single scratch on him from any single battles and we almost poisoned him to dead ourselves. Completely blindsided!¡± *** Feeling exhausted, dizzy, with a headache on the level of getting TKO from a world heavyweight champion. Spike was finally able to open his eyes long enough to find himself lying in a bed. Barely moving his head, he notice his arm was stuck with an IV injector with multiple packet of fluid linked to the injector. Noticing that Spike has gain conscious. Doctor Simmons, who had been standing by the whole time walked up to his bed. ¡°Sir. Do you know who you are?¡± With a weak tone of voice. ¡°What? What happened?¡± ¡°Your name sir? Do you remember who you are?¡± ¡°Chris... Chris Gar¡­¡± Stopping himself to think as the Doctor''s face became more clear. ¡°No... I¡¯m... Spike Phoenix.¡± Spike weakly corrected himself. ¡°Do you remember who I am sir?¡± ¡°Doctor Simmons.... You are the head surgeon.¡± Spike said weakly and slowly as the dizziness took over. ¡°Very good sir. Just relax and go back to sleep sir.¡± Doctor Simmons gently ordered. *** ¡°Shiiiit! Freelance platoon my ass. More like Blue Jay platoon.¡± Cavalry platoon Sergeant Henley yelled as he trotted his horse along the Freelance platoon. With a wooden rod, he smack the meaty part of Private Gagnon''s tigh and buttucks as he fell behind. ¡°You better get your ass up there Private. Major said to run all you damn buddy fuckers until Lord Phoenix regain conscious or run you to death. Whichever comes first, I don¡¯t care.¡± He sneered. Only thing Private Gagnon could do was take it and gritting his teeth. He, like the rest of the platoon had done and seriously fucked up somehow. And know it. The other Cav trooper ran the Freelance platoon in an knee deep snow that has been piling up all morning. And it was still snowing. ¡°You better keep up Lieutenant. Even if you weren¡¯t there, you still share the same faith as your platoon.¡± Captain Allen chastised Lieutenant Moore as he struggled to lead the run. For the last four hours, two squad of Cav trooper under Captain Allen have been whipping and driving the Freelance platoon under Major Jung¡¯s order. ¡°Come on Private buddy fucker. You better keep up.¡± Corporal Garcia yelled at Private Jones. ¡°Or are you only good at howling like a whore all fuckin night.¡± Then he swung his beat stick on Private Jones¡¯ rear end to motivate him to run faster. The only thing Private Jones could do was yelp in pain as he ran a little faster. Everyone one was pissed as hell with the Freelance platoon. At first, they were happy for them. It was very tolerable to be kept up all night because of the uniqueness of the situation. But having the same assholes who kept them awake, were the same ones who were involved in getting Spike severe alcohol poisoning. These fools almost killed the man that kept everyone alive. They all felt a bit betrayed and pissed off as hell. Nobody felt any sense of mercy for them. So since the incident, the Freelance platoon have been running outside of Fort Whitestone¡¯s wall non stop. From the gate, Cav trooper, PFC Jackson rode up to Captain Allen. ¡°Sir. Lieutenant Colonel Simmons just reported that Lord Phoenix has gained conscious. He was able to recall his name and recognize the Doctor before losing conscious again. But the Doctor believe it¡¯s a good sign.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good news.¡± Captain Allen almost whispered, feeling relieved. ¡°You hear that you shit heads.¡± Looking down at the Freelance platoon from his horse. ¡°Sergeant Henley, get these idiots cleaned up and feed. Then have them out in formation outside of their barrack.¡± Then rode off as Sergeant Henley acknowledged. = = = Frontier, Daldia. ¡°Everyone is scared Marquess.¡± Khriven informed. ¡°Everyone knows something is going on. The demi-humans are acting strange of late. They know something. They feel it. And you know that everyone in the frontier trusts the demi-human¡¯s instinct. And the unusual activities the refuges has seen. Everyone is talking. But I have no answers for them. You have to tell Lord Phoenix to speak to them. To reassure them.¡± Khriven concluded. Looking out the window from his study. Even as the snow keep piling up, Marquess Daldia watched his people as they were busy cleaning up the snow to prevent thick layers of ice on the ground to build up. There were still too much work to be done to allow the ground to freeze up. Thinking about what Khriven said. It¡¯s no secret now, as too many have witnessed miraculous things with the Phoenixians. Such as, no dead corpse were ever left of them. Their magical weapons and medical equipments that made no sense to the people. Advance knowledges they possess. People were scared. And they want to hear from the man himself, that they will be safe. That there will be a tomorrow for them and not end up in the belly of the inhumanoids like the other unfortunate frontier settlements. Taking a deep breath before replying. ¡°I understand Khriven. I will bring this up on the meeting in few days. Are their any other problems I should be aware of?¡± Marquess Daldia asked. ¡°Except for their fear. There really isn¡¯t much anyone can complain about. Everyone has plenty of food to eat and then some. Which is more than anyone has had for years. They have a roof over their head and cloths to keep warm. Housing are being built. They can it everyday, people see with their eyes so they can believe what they see.¡± Thinking about the Phoenixian¡¯s presence. If they never showed up when they did, most of the frontier would have ceased to exist. The territory would already be overran by the inhumanoids. Marquess believe that the people were aware of this and wanted some sort of assurance from the Phoenixians. That they are not going to simply uproot and disappear. Just as they appear so suddenly out of nowhere. Turning back to Khriven. ¡°I am 100% sure that they are staying for good. Or they would not be investing so much resources. I will address this problem to Lord Phoenix. But onto another matter Khriven. I want you to help me gather up all the other former leaders of the refuges and help me establish civil administrators. That is a direct command from Lord Phoenix. With so much influx of people and lack of literate people, I will need all the help I can get.¡± Marquess Daldia informed as he offered a job with status. ¡°You won''t be a mayor, but you also won''t be doing manual labor.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take it Marquess.¡± Khriven replied without hesitation. ¡°Only a fool would reject your offer.¡± He swollow in excitement and sighed in relief that he now has a job and a place in the new frontier. Ch26 - What to do? Part 1 of 2. Frontier, Fort Whitestone. Until the next morning, the Freelance platoon stood at attention in front of their barrack. There were no space for them to sleep inside the barrack even if they wanted to. Only heat available were from four fifty gallon barrel cut in half filled with gasoline and wood to keep it going even as more snow fell. Throughout the punishment, it was just enough heat to keep them from freezing as they shivered from the cold in misery. Periodically, NCO¡¯s from other platoons would change out through the night to monitor the platoon. Everyone was pissed off and they let the platoon know it. As for Spike, he would wake up now and then to hear all the cursing and hazing. With the medical facility built in the center of the fort, and with the walls only made of logs, the sound was clear enough for Spike to hear his platoon get their ass chewed up expertly by the pros. In his condition, Spike found himself having some sort of an out of body experience as his body was asleep, but his mind was awake. ¡°Are you planning to give up so soon?¡± The silhouette asked. ¡°...no. I was just stupid. Am I... going to die?¡± ¡°No. For some reason, in all the history of the multiverse, fools seem to be very lucky at times.¡± Even with her monotone voice, Spike could definitely tell that she was mocking him. ¡°...sigh. Are you enjoying yourself making fun of an injured man.¡± Spike retorted. ¡°Why yes. I am. I spent a lot of energy to get you set up in the Nexus. If you want to screw everyone over and suicide. Please do it soon, so I can give someone else who¡¯s not as idiotic as you a go at it.¡± ¡°I know I messed up, but do you have to be so damn mean?¡± Spike complained. ¡°From the countless ages of observing your type of species, I have observed that meanness and pain is the most efficient way to communicate when it comes to fools.¡± If Spike wasn¡¯t already laying down and facing the ceiling, he would be bitterly looking upward and shaking his head. He really felt hurt by her remark. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. It¡¯s just¡­ I was stress with all the weight of responsibility. And I needed something to let it out.¡± ¡°Keep your apology to yourself. Do you have any idea how many times I¡¯ve heard that. Sink or swim. Spike Phoenix. Sink or swim.¡± Silhouette said as her monotone voice faded. Only thing Spike could do was drift back into deep sleep. = = = With his morning coffee, Major Jung sat at his table looking over all the reports and changes needed. An hour ago, medical Sergeant Voss reported that Spike had finally woken up and was going through full physical checkup with Doctor Simmons. For now, all he could do was wait for the final report and then decide on the how to discipline the Freelance platoon. Then he thought about how to prepare for this unknown danger the demi-human sensed. He had ordered all projects to be on hold outside of building up fortifications and housing for the refugees and reallocated all the resource half a week ago. With the unexpected heavy snowfall and temperature dropping, the work would slow down. If the worst comes to face. He could abandon everything and have everyone retreat to the original Daldia township walls. Daldia would get extremely crowded with people camping out in the middle of the streets, but they would be relatively safe. It was fortunate that there was no reason to pull down the old walls as the new developments hadn¡¯t really taken off yet with so many sudden influx of untrained people and the need to house them. Thinking about the the forces at Trimmor and the number and types of inhumanoids they had faced. To replace Spike¡¯s M99 Sniper rifle, he had decided to send two Mark VIII to Trimmor, Major believed it was more than enough. Major Jung sighed in frustration. So much to prepare, but so little intelligence. They still know almost nothing about the world outside of their immediate location. The long term isolation from the outside world had left the locals blind to the current news. That made any information they possessed almost obsolete. Which means, he couldn¡¯t afford Spike being tied up in the medical. Everyone needed Spike to hunt and score up for additional personels and resources. All the RP he had Spike horde up were meant for airplanes, and ships once they build docks in Birsk, hopefully by the next summer. And the ships were expensive. The best he could do with almost no intel was dig in and have Spike hunt as much as possible to give him more options. But with Spike laid out at medical, the future was looking difficult. A knock from the doorway without a door into his office alerted his attention. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°Sir. I have the medical check-up report from Doctor Simmons.¡± Medical Sergeant Voss reported. ¡°Come on in Sergeant.¡± Major ordered. ¡°Let¡¯s hear his report.¡± Walking through the doorway. ¡°It¡¯s a bit of both good new and bad new sir.¡± Sergeant Voss started with a serious face. ¡°Just say it Sergeant.¡± ¡°Lord Phoenix has lost his sense of feeling to parts of his body. Parts of both feet are numb including his left ankle. But he can still walk, just a little wobbly when he does. He will have to learn to get used to it and find his new balance. Simply being active will help resolve this issue. He¡¯s also lost the sense of feel to the muscle tissues around his left cheek. Good new is that there were no other long term damage the doctors could identify.¡± ¡°That¡­ is actually a good new. Let us hope our commander needs no other lessons to teach him moderations.¡± Major Jung remarked as he felt a sense of relief. ¡°Yes sir. Lieutenant Colonel Simmons recommend that we do not let him sit around and let his body experience entropy, but keep him busy and active. And maybe in the future, Lord Phoenix will recover because of the manatite in his body.¡± ¡°Noted. On the way back Sergeant. Tell Company Sergeant Cox to get the platoon outside for their sentencing.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± Sergeant Voss replied promptly and left the office. Thinking about what he needs to do, the Major slowly got up and put on his winter coat and gloves. He felt much relief now that the punishment didn¡¯t have to be so sever. They were just too much to be done then to be wasting on punishing soldiers. When he walked out the single floor wooden command building the Freelance platoon were already at attention with Lieutenant Moore in the front. Lieutenant smartly saluted. Returning the lieutenant¡¯s salute, the Major had the platoon on parade rest position. As the sprinkle of snow flakes fell, he slowly and deliberately paced around the platoon to have a look at their freezing miserable faces before he spoke. Returning to the front of the formation as the other NCOs were observed, Major Jung cleared up his mind as he addressed the men. ¡°You men have done an immaculate job in the field in keeping our Lord alive and score up points for yourselves.¡± He pause after every sentence to let his words sink in and be clear to the men. ¡°Everyone one of us were happy for you and very appreciated of your hard work, and being the first of us to reach freedom from the void. And to show our gratitude for your hard work and acknowledge you success, no one complained as you kept everyone awake with your celebration. But you washed away all you achievement with almost killing the very men you were order to safeguard. From the analysis from your bloodworks from Major Westbrook, you could say that you didn¡¯t know about your new increased resistance to alcohol. But you all knew that Lord Phoenix isn¡¯t privileged to experience the ¡®After Battle High¡¯. That alone should have told you that he does not possess our bodies ability. And yet, under your watch, you almost poisoned him to death. Perhaps, you lost yourself control as our lord commander, in his inebriated status suddenly summoned a room full of free booze without using your rations.¡± For the next hour, Major Jung never raised his voice in anger. He did use a single word of profanity. He simply talked to them and using different words to say the same thing over and over again, he stab them with words to install guilt. A gentle ass chewing, words glazed with poisoned, words made of deadly venom. He wanted them to suffer and he chastise the men. He made sure the peer pressure squeeze them dry. That they will never forget this lesson. Because he needed them to keep doing the job they have proven that they could do so well. Which was, they were excellent field soldiers. As he continued his long tongue lashing at the men, from the corner of his eye, he saw Spike, looking terribly, slowly wobbling over to the formation in his winter uniform from later era. Major stop to speak as he and everyone else observe Spikes movement. ¡°You should be in bed and recovering Lord Phoenix.¡± Major said coldly to express his disapproval as Spike got closer. ¡°I¡¯m well enough to stand with my men Major. I¡¯m just as at fault in this matter.¡± Spike spoke weakly as he tried to focus to keep his balance. And two medics shadowed him in the back in case he needed them. ¡°I can¡¯t discipline nor punish you sir. I work for you, not the either way around.¡± Major Jung informed. ¡°That still doesn¡¯t absolve me of my own action and separate my responibility from my men.¡± Spike softly retorted as he walked up to stand next to Lieutenant Moore. Major Jung silently stared at Spike before speaking. ¡°Very well sir.¡± Deep inside, the Major approved Spikes decision to stand with his platoon even in his weakened condition. You may be inexperience sir. But you sure know how to install loyalty. Major thought to himself as he noted the sudden proud look on the faces of the Freelance platoon. Deciding to end the poisonous ass chewing with Spike joining the platoon. And quickly send him back inside to recover. ¡°From this moment on, no enlisted men will be allowed to consume any alcohol with Lord Phoenix without an officer present. There will be no alcohol ration issued to any members of the Freelance platoon for the next ninety days. And you are prohibited from possessing any alcohol ration during the next ninety days. As you have shown great lack of restraint in garrison, you will all have extra duties for the next forty-five days when in garrison. Private Jones!¡± ¡°Sir!¡± ¡°You will turn in all your booze ration to Captain Murphy.¡± ¡°Yes Sir!¡± Private Jones almost cried as he replied. ¡°Private Kirk!¡± ¡°Sir!¡± ¡°You will be promoted to Corporal effective, immediately.¡± When the Major said that, Private Kirk¡¯s collar glowed and his single chevron was added with another stripe. This was the first time an enlisted was promoted and it was surprising to witness that it raised the Major¡¯s eyebrow. ¡°Henceforth, all consumable, all edibles by Lord Phoenix will be monitored by you and your new team to insure his safety.¡± ¡°Yes Sir!¡± ¡°Currently, the wagons to support the refugees moving to Daldia are getting covers installed to protect them from the snow and the cold. Once completed, Freelance platoon will be joining Captain Allen on his next expedition. You¡¯ve all proven that Lord Phoenix is much more safer in the field then in garrison under your watch. So prepare to stay out in the field until I change my mind. Until your departure, you¡¯ll all pitch tent outside of you barrack as there is no place to store all the booze and you¡¯ve all volunteer your barrack for storage use. Lieutenant Moore, make preparation for deployment notice.¡± = = = Myojhuk, Castle Grannor. Inside the private chamber of Sir Kajiak and Mister Tisco were having an unpleasant conversation again about the future of Baron Myujhuk¡¯s territory and it¡¯s rebellion. ¡°Sir Kajiak. Please, you have to think about the future. I¡¯ve been watching how you manage the people from the Hasbrig township. So I know you care at least that much. Lord Caldrun has essentially abandoned the territory and only focus on revenge against the Margrave. At this rate, there we will all be doomed.¡± Mister Tisco pleaded. ¡°You¡¯ve been at it for a whole week now Tisco. And I¡¯ll say it again. I¡¯m not a true born noble. I¡¯m just a personal retainer to the former Baron. It was only with his backing that I had any authority. There are no more true born nobles with us with any real pearage. And steward Caldrun is just a commoner without a single drop of Myujhuk blood. He''s just an inlaw. Only thing we can do is hold out and make it too costly for the Stovkow to give up.¡± Sir Kajiak cried out in frustration. ¡°All of us know when we joined hands with the Baron that it would be success or death. What¡¯s the point of panicing now just because Baron Myujhuk is dead.¡± ¡°Because I want to live, Sir Kajiak. Dying a dog''s death was never my plan. You got what what you wanted with the Hasbig family. But I still want to live. And I believe we still have options which Lord Caldrun refuses to listen because of his personal vendetta against the Margrave.¡± Mister Tisco calmly and forcefully spoke. ¡°We have an alternative, and yet, why is everyone so quick to go to their grave and refuses to listen! Don¡¯t you want to save your people Sir Kajiak and not hand them back to Stovkow to be enslaved?¡± Ch26 - What to do? Part 2 of 2 Sir Kajiak sat in silence as he gave a hard stare at Mister Tisco. Then he slowly got up to grab his wine stash underneath his bed. Grabbing two cups, he sat back down to pour the cups full. Sitting from his side of the table, he handed one cup to Mister Tisco and downed his cup in one go without a word. Then poured himself another fill and gestured Mister Tisco to drink up. Mister Tisco returned the stare for a moment then downed his cup. Waiting until Mister Tisco finished his drink, "You are a strange bird, Mister Tisco." Sir Kajiak mused as he refills Mister Tisco''s cup. "For someone who is twice my age and having grown up as a rat, you are too naive. If anything, you act more like a noble than a rat. But I suppose having grown up as a prince of the rat; you''ve never had something taken from you nor known true starvation." Feeling insulted Mister Tisco coldly ask to explain. "Just, what are you trying to say Sir Kajiak?" Sir Kajiak raised his hands defensively to stop him. "Don''t take it the wrong way Mister Tisco. I''ve always felt that I owed you one for fishing me out of that shit hole of a whore house and bringing me before the deceased Baron. So let me return the favor today by explaining something you seem to be blind too." Sir Kajiak started to explain as he took another sip of his wine. "Not including the 3rd or 4th sons of nobility and the fallen nobles who are disenfranchised, when Baron Myujhuk trained the rest us, the first batch of former slaves and orphans, to be his future captains. He trained us to be his sword. Not to rule. But to kill for him. In the process, most likely die for him. But not one of us minded the sacrifices we may have to make. We all felt it was worth the price for a chance at revenge against the nobles and the great merchants. Even the later batches mostly felt this way... It''s just that none of us ever expected for Baron Myojhuk to be the first to die to satisfy his vendetta. Regardless, we''ll honor his goal. You know the Stovkow nobilities have already taken everything from us, so there isn''t anything for us to lose except for our lives, which we don''t value much. But we can gain something if we are victorious. Even if our chances are slim." Taking another sip of his wine. "I''ve heard your talk of negotiating with these Phoenixians. But let''s be honest here. We have killed their people. Rape their women. Kidnapped their men to be sent to the eastern front and to various mines to die, and sent their daughters to the many whore houses. None of us have any disillusion that there will be any chance of reconciling with them. How could we! When we ourself understand our feelings against the Stovkow masters." Then he finished his cup to refill it again and observed Mister Tisco''s struggle with a bitter expression as he processes what was just said. "And as to why we are so thick-headed about fighting the Margrave, we gave our words to the late Baron. And our words mean something. It''s the only thing of true value we have. And just because the Baron is dead does not invalidate our words, because we are not invalid." Mister Tisco swallowed his saliva in frustration as he considered the words just spoken. "We are doomed." he almost whispered. Being completely cut off from the frontier by the Phoenixians, and surrounded by the Stovkow, with the only port city capable of fleeing to the sea in the hands of Count Morrogain, whom they had just severely pillaged. He could only come to the conclusion of his demise in the near future. Before the man fell into depression, Sir Kajiak spoke. "However¡­ Mister Tisco. The slaves, serfs, and other poor commoners are different. I think the frontier people would sympathize with their plight. And if you can somehow save them, I don''t think anyone of us would stop you from talking to the Phoenixians." With a look of sadness in his eyes. "After all, I and many others like me were once one of them, in our distant past." With a slight look of hope in his eyes. "You swear on your family''s soul that I won''t have a sword run through me if I try?" Mister Tisco asked with uneasiness in his voice. With a bitter smirk. "Why would we even bother, we only have enough food for a year or two, depending on next years harvest. And if we actually survive against the Stovkow reprisal force, then it will be starvation for all the people we''ve gathered in this territory. You know just as well as I that we took in more people than expected." Sir Kajiak said. Mister Tisco understood what Sir Kajiak meant. With essentially abducting most of the population of adjacent territories, as most of the people reasoned that it was better to migrate then to starve as Myujhuk''s forces burned their former homes. But mostly, the people believed they would be killed if they didn''t migrate. And now, the massively excessive number of population has made it impossible to produce enough food for all the people within Myujhuk''s territory. Already, the masses are only getting partial daily fills to extend the grain supplies in preparation for the future shortage. It''s simply impossible to feed over 200,000 people with their borders closed off. Even if the barony was fully developed, and with their original plans to expand into the frontier no longer possible, and even if they wanted to sell the excess population off as slaves, that route no longer existed, it was only a matter of time before starvation. Their campaign to move the neighboring population was too successful to their demise. Sir Kajiak continued. "I''ll speak to the other retainers on your behalf. So you don''t need to worry anything about them. However," Sir Kajiak said as he held his gaze on Mister Tisco''s face, "what are you going to do about the fact that you made the trade a bit difficult for the Pheonixians with livestock." He asked in curiosity. As he was reminded, Mister Tisco face froze, then found himself cursing at his cleverness as his petty action may have ended up sabotaging his survival. With a bitter look. "I don''t know. I can only try to open up a dialogue with them using the trade talk. And maybe beg for forgiveness." He admitted with a feeling of defeat as he thought of the trade deal done in bad faith on his part. But mostly, it was done out of petty feeling he had against those whom he believed to be his enemy at that time. = = = Escorted by a few of his knights, who had recently been promoted from simple town knights to his household knights, Marquess Daldia inspected the temporary housing zone as the wooden cabins were being built. In his opinion, the temporary housing didn''t look so temporary. But that''s what the Phoenixians called it. Then he found himself worrying about destroying the town''s limited farmland to build the necessary housing behind the defensive walls the engineers were laying down. Already, he could see the partially dug up grounds covered in snow. The former outer edge of the farmland was marked, setting the foundation for the planned wooden wall. And the area beyond the planned wall was slowly cleared of trees for the needed materials for the said wall. And the Marquess thought of the many conversations he had overheard the officers talking about clearing out the area for the killing field for the future invaders. With the hardened ground from the cold winter, the digging took three times longer. As more armor and weapons from the Myojhuk army were melted and reforged into tools. Slowly but surely the work speeds up every day from the added tools. With the impending danger, they had no choice but to work as fast as possible. Then he noticed one of the workgroups, amongst the many Phoenixian enlisted engineers giving instructions, being led by foreman Vadin. Observing his face, Marquess could see that the once scrawny man didn''t look so scrawny anymore. After nearly three months of being fed six times a day, even if in smaller portions, but with each meal more than a belly full for the working men, most of the original Daldia population no longer had the severe malnutrition look. Seeing the changes to his hometown brought a feeling of excitement but also fear. Everything he and the town have gained was because of Lord Phoenix and his men. If for some reason they disappeared one day just as they appeared, he didn''t even want to think about the consequences. Not only him, but everyone feared that very feeling of abandonment. After all, as far as they could currently see from the action of the Phoenixian soldiers, they need the Phoenixians, but the reverse wasn''t so true. He would feel a little more at ease if more Phoenixian men were involved with the local girls. Having many family ties with them would ease his worries. He especially understood that there is simply no substitution to relationship based on close family ties.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Witnessing the changes for the better, it reaffirmed his decision to do everything in his power to make sure that the Phoenixians do not abandon the frontier people and see them go back to wherever they came from. He''ll hold on to them not only his dear life, but for the life of his grandchildren, and everyone in the frontier. He tightened the furs on his body to keep warm as he felt the sudden chill from the very thought of being abandoned. But the most significant shock to him was the report from the demi-humans. They reported again that not a single dead bodies of the Phoenixians were found after each battle. Only the empty uniforms were left behind. However anyone looks at it, it''s just plain abnormal. He and the other frontier people, they could only speculate their mysterious origin. Most people leaned towards some divine warriors from heaven, which has caused almost everyone to have some varying levels of hero warship feelings for them. But the most frightening of all, the multiple eyewitness account of the Phoenixians body glowing red during the defense of Trimmor. And the incredible physical feats they showed during the battle. Would the military leadership explain this as another magical item? Or would they even bother to explain? Marquess Daldia wondered. Noticing the line forming up by the only cabin up and running in the immediate construction area with smoke coming out of the chimney, he decided to join the line with his escorts without cutting in front of the working men. Marquess felt that sometimes it is good to be seen by people like this. Once entering the building, the Marquess noticed that the cabin had a full kitchen and large open area with wooden tables and stools to fed about fifty people at a time. Twenty women were chopping, cooking, cleaning, serving, and doing other kitchen support. He could feel the warmth as the cooking fire from the stoves heated the cabin so the working men could eat in comfort. Recognizing the Marquess and his escorts, one of the serving girl eyes went wide and nervously brought the Marquess and his bodyguards a generous portion of meat porridge, like everyone else, and quickly went to serve food to the other working men. A meal like this would typically be reserved for nobles in the large cities. Everyone knew that they were lucky to have this; just months ago, everyone''s situation was just barely above starving to death. Even for him, it sometimes felt like a dream. A dream he didn''t want to wake up from. The physical laborers required a lot of food, especially more so when working outside during the cold winter fighting against the snow. Normally, work would stop during snow-covered winter. But with the forewarning of unknown danger, even if just a little, they had to keep building the wall. Taking a spoon full of the tasty porridge with a generous amount of meat and exotic seasoning, Marquess wished more men had survived the ten years long Stovkow raids. With an incredibly large disproportionate number of women vs. men, where women outnumber men by seven to one, the construction work wasn''t going as fast as he wanted. Even adding the newly added population from the prisoners'' trade made no changes to the gender ratio. It was apparent that the new population also had suffered in the west. Only a handful of women were able to keep up with the physically daunting labor with the men, but most women kept to the homemaker related works as they lacked the muscles needed for the back aching heavy labor, which created a problem of too many women not doing anything. So with a recommendation of his daughter and daughter-in-law, many of them were required to learn reading, writing, and basic arithmetic to start fulfilling the mandate from Lord Phoenix to educate the public. Ironically, testimony from the Stovkow refugees during the prisoner exchange showed that they didn''t fare much better than the frontier. It seemed many men were enslaved from their inability to pay the ever-increasing tax to fund the Ruin War and they were either sent to fight and die in the east or worked to death in other areas. As everyone kept a respectable distance from him, as he had no equal peers, Marquess Daldia eats in silence as usual as he pondered what more he could do to help speed up the general development of the town and its defenses. With his porridge finished Marquess Daldia quickly left with his escorts to make room for the working men waiting in line to get a seat. On his way back to the mansion he met up with Captain Murphy guiding his warhorse, the Phoenixians had gained from the spoils of war. The Captain was in the front leading a team of supply wagons to the warehouses. Marquess found himself always amazed to see the Phoenixian upper echelon working with their men. Over the many months, he had worked with them, he had often overheard them complaining that they didn''t have enough support personnel. And that they were forced to work long hours every day. "Captain Murphy! Anything I can help you with?" Marquess Daldia called out to the Captain. "Thank you, Marquess. But not at the moment. Unless you have a large group of people, who can read, write, and do basic arithmetic." Captain Murphy replied with a look of fatigue on his face from the apparent prolonged long hours of being overworked with little sleep. "I...I''m sorry, Captain. My daughters tell me that the current adult students won''t be ready until the end of Spring at best. It''s not easy teaching adults who have never had any formal teaching. They informed me that in about six months, they are confident that good students who can learn quickly will be available to help you with your workload. I had planned to tell you that during the next weekly meeting." Captain Murphy had a miserable look as he was informed. Thinking of six more months of four hours or less of sleep felt like a death sentence to him and his single overworked squad and few medically recovering soldiers. And it turned out a good number of Phoenixian did not read or write to well. There were too many hillbillies in the lower enlisted ranks. Even as the civilians did all the manual labor, someone still had to keep track and record all the logistics for proper control of the supplies. And with the ever-increasing population, Captain Murphy and his men were more overworked than a whipped slave. He almost wished he had more injured soldiers on light duty to put to work. Looking at the Captain''s expression, Marquess Daldia felt terrible for him. Especially when he knew that all the suffering were done for the frontier people. Without the Phoenxians providing all the supplies for their survival, including training the unskilled workers and managing them, he knew that the frontier would be doomed. And he was very grateful for their sacrifices. "Why don''t you come to the mansion with me and take a breather Captain. I''ll have the servants prepare some hot tea for us." "Ahh, I really shouldn''t, but it''s just too damn early to be stressing. Besides, there is something important I need to ask you in private. So I''ll take up on your offer Marquess." Turning to the civilian teamster, foreman Janisst. "Take your team and take the supplies to Private Wilson. Tell him I''ll come by to sign off and inspect the warehouse in about an hour or so." "Yes, Captain." Taking a moment to watch the four wagons full of needed supplies being hauled off, the Captain got off his horse and gestured to the Marquess to lead the way. "By the way, Marquess. We''ve recently acquired a large number of various wines, spirits, ale, and such. The amount exceeds our military need, and we have no place to store them. Everyone is working hard in the town without any break, so Major Jung thought it might be a good idea to give some time off by rotating the hard-working labors and let them blow off some steam. What do you think? It would definitely raise the morale of the people." Surprised at the very idea of excess supply of alcohol. "How? I mean, I suppose we can manage that by giving the workers half day rest in the morning, so they can recover." Noticing his mouth-watering up as he hadn''t had a taste of alcohol for many years except for a cup wine or two during the few weekly meetings in the past, obviously provided by the Phoenixians. "But is it a good idea to give away such resources, Captain?" "Trust me, Marquess. We need to make room. We have an entire platoon of men living outside in small tents at the fort because the supplies are taking up their entire barracks." "Oh my! Then I''ll make plans to make it happen. Captain" He agreed happily, as he understood the civilians were greatly stressed from the sense of danger and difficult workloads. Once they reached the mansion, Captain Murphy reached into his saddlebag and pulled out two bottles of fine wine. "These are for you, Marquess." he offered as he smiled. Surprised, staring at the glass bottles for a moment. "Thank you. Thank you very much, Captain." Marquess thanked as he quickly received the bottles. "But I''ve always wanted to ask as I''ve sometimes seen these glass bottle during the weekly meetings. But isn''t glass a bit expensive to use for simple wine Captain?" Marquess asked as he continued to stare at the wine bottle after receiving them. Captain Murphy just now realized that only glass he had seen were the primitive yellowish window glass at the Marquess office. "Don''t think too much into it Marquess. All of our alcohols are a bottle in glass bottles unless we bring them in the barrel. We don''t value glass bottles." He informed. Again, with a surprised look, the Marquess struggled with words before quickly recovering himself. "I¡­ I don''t mean to sound like a drunk Captain. But..." as he held the two bottles like a newborn baby. "Would you care to join me for a cup of wine instead of a tea?" He asked as he mouth watered. Showing a wide smile as he chuckled amusingly at the Marquess. "I would love to Marquess." Ch27 - Moving forward! Frontier, Fort Whitestone. After the Freelance Platoon received their sentencing, Spike promptly returned to his bed before he gets more of Doctor Simmons hell-raising. He had to fight all the medical personals to go out to his men getting their ass chewed, and he was too exhausted to fight them anymore. And besides, Doctor Simmons was very venomous about keeping him under observation at least for a few more days as he had only fully woken up a few hours ago. Lying on the bed in his T-shirt, Spike soon found himself staring at the ceiling again as he reflected on his current predicament. And the obvious conclusion made him feel like shit. Like a total loser, he almost died again barely three months after the last one. The first one was because of complacency. The second time was out of pure stupidity. Even though he couldn''t do anything about it now, he knew that his first death screwed his younger siblings in his former life because they no longer had him to support them. This second mishap almost screwed over the current hundreds of men and thousands of frontier folks. Not to mention, all the souls who are still waiting in the void. Even if he didn''t ask for this responsibility when he agreed to come to this strange world, it was his soul that had set this ability, so he only had himself to blame. Spike honestly wasn''t complaining. He thought of this as life moving forward. Spike remembers what Major Profit taught him which he took to heart. ''Keep taking that step and move forward. Even if you fall flat on your face, you''re still moving forward. So pick yourself up and take that step. And keep moving.'' As he was reflecting, a knock on the doorless doorway brought him out of deep thinking mode. "Sir." Major Jung spoke from the doorway as he walked in. "How are you holding up?" "Besides feeling stupid at my brain dead action, I''m fine. Thanks for asking." With a look of guilt on his face, Spike replied in a weak voice. "Are you here to give me a stern lecture about my lack of self-control Major?" Major Jung stopped and observed Spike for a moment as if he was reading a book. Then he pulled up a stool to sit beside the hospital bed. "No, Sir. I don''t need to advise you of things you already know yourself. I only came to check up on you and to inform you of the changes to our plans and future actions." "Seriously?" Spike was surprised as he was expecting another venomous, poisonous, gentle lecture of pain, heavily laced with guilt. "Honestly, Sir. I have made huge mistakes on how I should have supported you, Sir. I had quickly sent for Sergeant McQueen from your era to consult him about your behavior. Doctor Simmons had always been too busy as he is constantly overworked and medical being understaffed. So I''ve never had the chance and didn''t think it was important until now ¡ª an oversight on my part. But after talking to Sergeant McQueen all afternoon and evening yesterday, I realized that I had lacked a certain degree of understanding of where you are coming from. We speak the same language and even share the country of birth, but it''s very apparent that culture-wise, we are not the same." "Well, we are like almost two hundred years apart Major." "That may be so, Sir. But there isn''t much difference in mentally from my era and two hundred years before me. As Sergeant McQueen explained to me about many things like internet, auto translators, and speed of information flow and... this binge drinking culture, in my era, we called that alcoholism." For a moment, Major silently stared at Spike, forcing him to look away in embarrassment. Then he continued. "And the increased speed of travel and communication has allowed faster changes in the future. That has caused massive social problems and benefits that have influenced you, which was beyond my understanding. So I also have much to learn to meet the needs of the future era soldiers you''ll eventually summon." "I see." Spike nodded in agreement. "In any case, Sir, Sergeant McQueen and Corporal Bigzy with him will be reassigned to your platoon. Also, your Freelance platoon will pair up with Lieutenant Sheldon''s platoon and be redesignated as the Honor Guard." ''I see. So I''m getting two babysitters. I suppose it''s better than being locked up. Spike thought that he had that coming. "Honor Guard?" He added in surprise as his mind caught up. "Yes, Sir. Let''s lay down a good foundation now. Having an Honor Guard will bring prestige and dignity to you, Sir. Which makes us all look more dignified. Every nation in history had one, so we should repeat things that have proven to work." Spike nodded in agreement. "That makes sense." "Also, since we have about a platoon''s worth of men down in medical, the expedition company will not be getting reconstituted at this time. Since you and your platoon will be joining the expedition, they''ll make up for their shortage. Therefore, the units in Trimmor defense will be receiving all the replacements to bring up their strength. Plus, with you joining the expedition, they will have the benefit of being able to receive immediate field reinforcement. And I am hoping for you to score up to increase our personnel slots, and give us other options. So I''d like to keep you out there and hunting as much as possible SirSir." ''Ahhh, since I fucked up in the garrison, you''re gonna keep my ass out in the field. But I suppose it''s a goddamn good excuse to make me work overtime. Spike thought solemnly. "What about my magic training?" "Captain Murphy already talk to the Marquess on your behalf, Sir. He said that until you can circulate your mana flow in all parts of your body, there is no point in teaching you the next step. So I believe you should continue your self-training as you move on the road. It will help you score more points SirSir by attracting potential targets. Instead of you looking for them, they''ll come to you as your mana leak from your self-train." Major spoke calmly and meaningfully. "Honestly, Sir. After monitoring the current situation for a week and thinking about it. I believe the uneasiness the demi-humans are feeling isn''t localized to only our area, but something much broader in nature beyond our immediate area. And our area is just a small part of the larger danger. So it would be behooving to us for you to keep hunting." Looking down at Spike''s feet. "And I also think that keeping you active will help you to overcome your minor handicap sir." "I see. It seems like you put a lot of thoughts over these matters." "We are building a foundation for our future as we are proactively preparing for the worst Sir. I think from now on we should all accept the fact that everyone will be extremely busy for an unforeseen amount of time in the future. And I believe for our immediate security, having more combat resources is paramount to our immediate survival than your magic. Not only that, being proactive in the field and saving these isolated frontier people is a nice bonus. Don''t you agree, Sir." "Yeah. I agree. I also can''t think of how my ability to use magic will outstrip the firepower of our guns and tanks. So when do you plan for the next expedition to depart?" "Tomorrow morning sir. Every day we delay, another frontier settlement could be feeding the inhumanoids and monsters." "So soon. Not that I''m complaining Major, but Doctor Simmons won''t like that." "He''s a good doctor, Sir. But the fact that you didn''t die when you should be medically dead, and you were able to walk out to formation this morning tells me that I should believe in your manatite." Spike could only nod in agreement. "That reminds me. Have you asked the Marquess about what happened to me? About losing feelings to parts of both my feet and cheek?" "Yes, Sir. I had Captain Murphy inquire about it. Apparently, his grandfather almost drank himself to death when both his first wife and daughter died at childbirth. And he had lost his ability to walk with both legs. But as he kept training his manatite, after he recovered from his depression, he eventually fully recovered after seven years. That''s why I''m no longer worried about your recovery as it''s a very minor issue and only a matter of time before you fully recover. Also, I want to keep you active as much as possible, Sir. I believe keeping you active will speed up your recovery." Major Jung said with seriousness to his tone. "I see." Spike quietly replied as he looked at Major Jung. Through the entire conversation, he felt it was too proper. He didn''t feel the usual satisfaction feeling that smugness, the Major usually gave off. After a moment passed by. "You angry Major?" Spike finally asked. "Very. Sir." Major Replied, solemnly. "Right... I''ll properly apologize by never doing that again." Spike quickly replied with a severe look for guilt. "Very good sir." Major Jung said as he gave a single nod. Then he handed Spike a stack of documents to be signed. Spike raised an eyebrow as he looked over documents on top. "You sure about these promotion Major? I thought they were to be punished." Spike asked in Surprise. "No choice, Sir. We don''t have enough men to cover our expanding holds. And they are all frontier veterans now. We need skilled fighters who can shoot and lead. They have proven that they are terrible garrison soldiers, so we''ll keep them out in the field with you for a while." Major declared. "Isn''t that kind of unfair for the other units?" Spike asked as he knew some of the other platoons hadn''t had their chances to go hunting besides pulling security. And his platoon had been overworked. "There isn''t a single combat soldier who complains about not getting their chances to score against our enemies Sir. Because everyone knows that it''s only a matter of time before they get their turn." Major stated as a matter of fact. "Right." Spike acknowledged as he proceeded to sign off on all the promotions and supply requests. "Also, a reminder SirSir. When you are in the field, please be mindful of the RP. We are isolated out here in the frontier. We are blind to the world and without first-hand knowledge of our surroundings in this world. We will never be secured enough without proper intel. So we need to return to Birsk by spring and start building an operational port for our ships and have enough RP to summon a good number of ships to support our goal. We desperately need to explore the coastal territory in the frontier and the rest of the Aiginous Sea. And we desperately need eyes in the air." Pausing for a moment for Spike to process the information. "Also, we need you to start gaining actual command experience over the winter. So Lieutenant Moore''s position will be the Honor Guard Commanding Officer as a 1st Lieutenant. And you''ll take over his platoon as 1st platoon leader. And 2nd Lieutenant Sheldon will be the 2nd platoon leader. Eventually, you''ll become the Honor Guard Commander when I think you are ready. As for the future composition of the Honor Guard, I like the current Expedition Company''s mixed unit. All the combat officers are currently observing how the unit performs to make future recommendations. Something for you to look forward to." "You sure you''re not pushing me too fast, Major?" Spike said a bit excitedly. He knew eventually that this would happen, but not this soon. "I mean. I almost got myself killed by booze of all things." He added in embarrassment to his poor judgment. "Your garrison soldiering may be questionable. But you''ve made some damn good judgment call during combat where it was needed. We, not just me, but the other officers believe that you are ready to take this step." Major Jung said encouragingly, then standing up. "Anyways, the decision is already made Sir. And I need to get going. We are understaffed, which has increased workloads for everyone. I''ll stop by again later with more details. You should get some rest, SirSir. It may be a long while before you get to relax like this in garrison." Major Jung had that look of satisfaction with his last comment as he left the room.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Spike''s eyes narrowed. Shit! What was that look at the end? Then Spike thought that look was more natural than the passive angry Major Jung. Spike decided to take his medicine this time to whatever the Major planned for him to dispel his worry. Then his mind drifted to commanding his very own platoon. A job he was pursuing in his last life. Before getting gun down like a bitch by a drug addict. His very first command. The very thought stirred his heart to flutter. Even if it''s less than half a platoon with the current situation, he wonders if this is what they mean when they say ''fuck up and move up.'' Then he went back to signing off the requisition documents on the consumable resources needed during his more prolonged than usual absence from the base. Unlike when he only went out for a few days and returned to Trimmor outpost, which was quickly becoming a fort, and where the riders would run these documents back and forth between bases, this time, he will be gone for a while. After Spike finished signing all the documents, he silently laid on the bed and decided to practice mana circulation. He didn''t like the idea of wobbling as he walked for the next seven years. And for some reason, his mana regenerated much faster then what Marquess Daldia expected. So he wanted to gain access to magic quickly. Spike thought it would be pretty cool to cast some fireballs like when the Marquess demonstrated more than a few times. = = = West Theolemor territory. Sitting on her warhorse, Viscountess Margo Xebgiston, Lady of Fire, silently cursed as she gazed at the destroyed road and its surroundings. The ground thoroughly destroyed, that even the horses couldn''t run across without causing many of them to injury. The road had many sharp-pointed spear-shaped tips protruding out of the uneven, loose dirt. Now mostly covered up by the snow. A distinct work of an earth mage. Dozen warhorse and riders in the lead group had incurred injury running into many similar traps, the third time since it started snowing. It was already challenging to chase after the fast-moving large Stovkow war party. And these traps and injuries are making things very difficult. What angered her the most was the despicable enemies killing all the civilians, in every town, villages in their path. From the children spared from each massacre, it''s obvious why the Stovkow''s pig was doing. By sparing the children, they were forcing her to choose between either abandoning them to die to the winter or take care of them and weaken her force chasing after them. The Viscountess didn''t have enough resources to take care of every group of children she found. But she also couldn''t leave them to die. She understood that these children would eventually grow up to join the badly needed Theolamors workforce. So little by little, her force and resource were chipped away to take care of the children. As her eyes look towards the presumed direction of the hateful Stovkow war party, her heart burned with bitter anger as her current forces couldn''t catch up to them in time to stop them. And it would take some time for the Theolamors in the east to build up enough military resources at a single rally point to hunt down the Stovkow army. Silently, Countess Xibgiston hatefully stared at the presumed enemy''s direction. = = = Frontier, Fort Whitestone. Facing the tired and grumpy looking men. "I don''t care if you have to work all damn night. If you can party all night long, then you can work all night long. Shit happens and plans change, and we have orders to follow. So get all your asses moving and get the equipment checked and loaded before we march out in the morning ¡ª especially horses. If your horse dies from the cold, your asses are walking the whole way. Assholes and elbows. Now move faster!" Lieutenant Moore yelled out with justified anger. As of matter of fact, he had been yelling nonstop ever since they were ordered to prep for the long term field mission. Everyone in the Freelance platoon clamped their mouths shut and obey. Avoiding eye contact with the Lieutenant as much as possible, they walked around the Lieutenant as if walking on thin ice. It was the safest way to prevent him from exploding and getting another ass chewing plus additional work. After all, Lieutenant Moore was the real victim here. He didn''t even get to have fun at the booze-filled frat party but still got punished with the rest of them ¡ª the real victim. Everyone took extra care on their warhorse. For this mission, everyone was going mounted, even Lieutenant Sheldon''s light Infantry. It was done in consideration for the potential loss of horses and finding usable wagons in other settlements. "Corporal Kirk!" "Sir!" "This wagon is for you and for all your needs to fulfill your new added mission to monitor what our commander consumes." Lieutenant Moore declared as he pointed to the only hardtop wagon in the convoy that was lined up by the main gate. The only thing they would need to do was get the horses harnessed and latch-up to the wagon in the morning to move out. "You''ll have your work cut out for you with the lack of manpower, but suck it up like the rest of us." "Understood Sir!" The newly promoted Corporal promptly replied. "Ahm, does that mean I can requisition whatever I need sir?" He asked, excitedly. Thinking that Corporal Kirk was testing his new boundary, Lieutenant Moore almost snapped at him out of reflex. But then thought twice about it as it''s only consumable foods and cooking equipment were pertaining to Spike. "Just use your common sense Corporal, and use the proper Item Code booklet provided by the logistics to write up your request form. Lord Phoenix can''t remember every item code in the book." He reminded the Corporal. Then the newly promoted Platoon Sergeant Young walked up to Lieutenant Moore. "Sir. I''ll handle it from here. You have a meeting to attend to." He said almost apologetically as he was embarrassed about the drunken event that he was part of, as the highest-ranking NCO present. With a slight frown on his face. "Right." He acknowledged as he wished Sergeant Rector hadn''t bought the farm so soon. But he also understood that he needs to give the new platoon sergeant a chance to grow into his position. "Then I''ll be off, Sergeant." The Lieutenant replied as he handed the checklist to him. = = = Frontier, Fort Whitestone. At the HQ building, sitting around a large table, the captains and the officers from the Expedition forces were having their last official meeting before moving out the next morning. "Sir. Are you sure you don''t want our Lord Phoenix for this meeting?" Captain Allen asked. "Yes, Captain. I''m very sure. Our Commander is highly in need of some personal time to heavily reflect on his conduct. Besides, he needs to rest while he can, and he''ll have you to fill in the details later on." Major Jung explained. "In any case, I''ve gone over your reports, and I''m not liking what''s on it. However, I agree with your assessment of the situation." Captain Allen''s assessment stated that because Daldia township had already faced it''s neighboring inhumanoids they were unlikely to face any more until the ones deeper within the forest push out to the settlements. As to how much time they have until that time, they could only speculate. However, the other frontier settlements up north didn''t have the same privileges as Daldia township. And if something isn''t done quickly, most of them, if not, all of the frontiers will become a ghost town, besides Daldia. And that is something nobody wanted, as they needed human resources to help build the infrastructure required to achieve their goals. Every testimony from the rescued settlers has all said the same thing. In the last few weeks, all the settlements have been hit hard by the inhumanoids. And their local hunters and all the demi-humans have no idea what caused them to push into the human territories suddenly. But many inhumanoids never seen by the locals started to appear in numbers. If there were a single commanding inhumanoids that had subjugated the other inhumanoids and decided to push back the humans, that would make more sense. But there were no indication nor signs of any single large group, except for the goblin invasion force months back. And without exceptions, even the demi-humans from all the other settlements have reported the same strong foreshadowing feeling. Major Jung spoke to Captain Allen. "If we leave things as it is, the humans in all of the frontier will be wiped out, and the inhumanoids forces will push into the Stovkow Kingdom. The frontier settlements that should have been a buffer zone for such events... damn fools in that kingdom really screwed the pooch. We all know what Lord Phoenix would want. So let''s get about it and save these people. As for Stovkow''s citizens, it''s not our business unless it''s an opportunity for our Lord to score some points." Then specifically looking at Captain Allen. "I want you to be mindful of that and try to steer our Commander away from getting mixed up with foreign politics." "Yes, sir!" Captain Allen replied as the Expedition commanding officer. "I''ve thought of many different scenarios." Then he pauses for a moment as he made eye contact with each captain. "But ultimately, the only thing we can do is react, and the best preparation we can make is to build up our defenses and hope the battle is taken at Trimmor away from the civilians. If and when the inhumanoids come to us, it could be us that gets slammed hard by a large inhumanoid force and we won''t have the luxury of having our Commander to bring in immediate replacements. Lord Phoenix will have to monitor his personnel counts. Should we be overrun¡­" Making eye contact with Captain Allen. "Should that happens. I want to order you to abandon this place, but where would you go! If we can''t take whatever assaults Daldia, most likely, neither will you. Unless Lord Phoenix brings in something more destructive, but your expedition forces will have civilians of your own to protect. At that time, you''ll be the commanding officer Captain Allen." With the last comment, Major Jung stated that it''s up to him to make a sound decision as he and everyone in Daldia would most likely be dead. Something everyone understood and accepted. "Sir. Are you sure you want to send out Lord Phoenix? If things get difficult here, his presence will make the difference." Captain Murphy inquired. "We can''t keep him locked up in the fort. Looking at this from a bigger picture, every one of us knows that we are all expendable. But Lord Phoenix must keep scoring up for us to survive as a whole. If he had more personnel slots, we''d have more options. So we must give him the opportunity to grow, eventually, to get that option for us. Even if it means paying with our lives to buy enough time for him to do so, let''s not forget that we were and are soldiers." With seriousness, everyone more or less agreed. If things got desperate enough, and the situation turned bad, they''d all still be scoring up either way, which would extend their energy, thereby, buying more time to get recycled for another summoning. Then handing a large satchel full of documents to Captain Allen. "These are requisition forms. Have Lord Phoenix sign off on them daily. We currently have enough food for about 60 days, for all the civilians and us. So you''ll either have to be back before we starve to death. Or should our Lord score big, I expect for you to send reinforcement with civilians in tow with these supply requisition forms, so he wouldn''t have to be back within that time frame." "Yes, Sir. I understand your intent." Captain Allen solemnly replied. "Also, in your absence, we''ve discussed your usage of the Mark VIII. It''s essentially a mobile firing platform. And its ability to haul additional supplies by attaching a trailer also serves as a combat supply vehicle. How many Mark VIII would you recommend for the combined company with Infantry?" Everyone understood that because of the terrain, the tactical advantage they have enjoyed so far would be limited if they were strung out all over the road. With current limitation, a combined company size with mixed organic units is proving much more effective than pure Infantry, Cavalry, or all armor units. The captain''s believed that if they could form most of their units into a combined combat team, they would be able to take on the ogres even in an open field. "Honestly Major, I''m still not sure on what number would be optimal as I''ve only had one Mark VIII for the expeditions. I think that two platoons of Infantry and two platoons of Mark VIII consisting of eight Mark VIII would be a good number to start Sir. And maybe adding a platoon of Cavalry would be optimal. Many times, when the road gets to snakey, we lose the Mark VIII''s fire support from the front with lack of visibility. I thought that having them staggered within marching order would alleviate sudden flanking from those monsters." Captain Allen said. Then nodding to Captain Allen as he thought about the matter. "Also, during your absence, Lieutenant Edwards will be in charge of all the Mark VIIIs. So He''ll be promoted to 1st Lieutenant to reflect his new responsibility. And His armor platoon will most like be attached to Bravo Company, under Captain Pearson. I''ve decided that Mark VIII isn''t needed for the border control. Simply put, Trimmor needs it more. So, before the end of today, I want you to deliver a requisition for four unmanned Mark VIII. The Infantry will have to go through an OJT and get trained up. We have to be prepared to fight in both Trimmor or Daldia. And having the Mark VIII will be critical to our survival." "Understood Sir. I''ll have the forms done and in Lord Phoenix''s hand before the day is up." Captain Allen replied. "We''ll keep the fire going at our base Captain. But it''s all your show now. I almost wish that our commander hadn''t promoted me so fast so I could join you." Major Jung said somewhat regretfully as his rank prevented him from joining in on the fun. "Anything to add from anyone?" Captain Gray and Murphy sat in silence. As much as they hoped for an additional replacement for logistic and personnel, they understood the greater need for more fighting men to defend their current holdings. But Captain Murphy spoke. "Yes, Sir. Something important to logistics. But our original assessment of Lord Phoenix providing for 50,000 people was wrong. We weren''t able to properly gauge his mana regeneration because he often trained his mana circulations. But our supply data is showing that he could support at least double that number. And probably much more. That number will only increase as he scores up. I thought Captain Allen should know this as he will be with Lord Phoenix." "That''s helluva info there Murphy." Captain Wraeth commented a little surprised. "He could practically feed an army now. I can''t even imagine how large a support role he will play as he grows. He is a mobile city support." as he chuckled. Rubbing his chin as he thought, Captain Allen, spoke as he slowly nodded and addressed Major Jung. "I''ll do everything to make sure our Lord Commander maximizes his kill ratio, sir." "Perfect Captain. Also, I''ve been thinking about your recommendation to nip any potential future problems arising from our Commanding Lords'' romantic affairs. I want you to plant that idea during your journey gently. As per your recommendation, it seems the Far East Asian Culture offers us the best option. From the structure-wise." Major Jung said. As he loath the very idea that an outsider would control Spike, all because they had tits. And outsider who will never understand their plight, but would influence how their lives would be spent. Ch28 - Mama said to go west to the frontier. Frontier, Fort Whitestone. Everyone in the Expedition Force was very busy since early morning. Even with only one sun and one moon during the winter season, which significantly shortened the daylight, they lit up the dark morning with torches and barrels of gasoline mixed in with wood spread out in the fort. Having already seen the three Summer sun and three summer moon each go down to two each during Autumn, everyone already had expectations of the long winter nights. Conducting final load up and checks, the only thing they could not complete was the roofs for the wagons the rescued civilians would be using. The men would have to finish them during their travel. "What the hell is this?" Spike demanded as he was brought over to load up his gears and extra weapons on a specially made wagon without a top. It had shields attached to the side of the wagon like the Viking ship on cartoons. And sandbags between the two reinforced wooden sides. It also had four wooden pillars on each corner with sturdy beams connected to the pillars. And it was the only wagon with four heavy warhorses assigned to pull all the extra weights. "Err well, sir. Since your feet and ankles will be in recovery for a while, Lieutenant Davis thought you should slowly get used to riding again, in case you accidentally fall off your horse. And Captain Allen didn''t want to put you inside of the Mark VIII. He said he wanted you to be able to get some kills from random targets of opportunities. So it was a bit of compromise, sir. That''s why the side walls are high enough for you to shoot while kneeling, and the beams are high enough to support your M99 for you to shot from standing position. Especially when you face forward, so you don''t accidentally shoot the horses pulling your wagon, sir." Sergeant Henley from the cavalry platoon politely informed, trying not to damage Spikes pride too much. Spike cursed in silence as he knew it''s his fault. A single fuck up, and it''s a chain reaction of pain. Heavily sighing in defeat. "Fine. Fine. I get it. Wait!" Spike said slowly as if figuring something out. "How come my wagon is so empty? What about the materials to build a roof over me like the other wagons?" Spike demanded an answer. "Major Jung said that you didn''t need one, sir. He said that your S3 armor has an internal heater and that you''ll know how to keep yourself warm for the duration, sir." Sergeant Henley quickly answered to pass the blame up the chain of command as he looked at Spike''s Armor enviously with his freezing face in the early winter morning. Noticing the sergeants look, feeling somewhat guilty, Spike quickly changed the subject. "Alright. Fine. So what''s with the hold up on the marching order? Where is Captain Allen?" "The Captain went ahead with the Major, sir. He said they needed to have a chat with the Marquess and put Lieutenant Moore in charge, sir." "Right. Ok. I guess¡­" looking at his wagon as he untied his warhorse on it. "I''ll be riding the horse, for now, Sergeant." "Yes, sir." There was no way in hell he was going to ride in on this Viking ship looking wagon to give a speech. Spike''s manly pride couldn''t take it. Shortly after, 1st Lieutenant Moore took command of the convoy, and then they slowly marched towards the town. As the crossroad to take the caravan up north was at the town, the expedition had to move through the town and then head up north. So the plan was for Spike to make a public speech to declare Phoenixian''s intent for the frontier to reassure the people. Then move out immediately after. To be seen and to inspire the confidence of the people, surrounded by his bodyguards, Spike rode at the front of the marching order. As the area was considered safe in friendly territory and full armor, only a team of Demi-humans hunters were screening the march to the town. As the marching formation slowly moved to Daldia on a snow-covered road, Spike reflected upon the current situation. Mostly about himself and what he needed to do. Having reliable and knowledgeable officers and NCOs running the show, Spike had little to worry about. However, he still wasn''t sure what he wanted for himself. He didn''t like the prospect of only killing inhumanoids and monsters for the rest of his life in this world. It would grow stale eventually. Spike understood the summoned souls'' desire to be freed from the void, and he understood the local frontier folks only wanted security and freedom to live their lives. For now, even though he was okay with his job to hunt, he could not imagine doing this until he buys the farm himself and finally moves on. And thinking about the vast number of souls in the void, as he was their only way out, weighed heavily on him. The night before, he had a very candid talk with Major Jung when Spike spoke his worries about leaving for a mission longer than a week away. But the Major explicitly explained the need to take this calculated risk, including paying the price if need be for their long term plan to be successful. Even if it meant sacrificing some lives in the short run, Spike felt unhappy about that and immediately order the Major to cross-train two platoons. Two platoons from Alpha and Bravo Company each, to operate the Mark VIII, which added twenty more Mark VIII, leaving two spares. Instead of the four Major had planned for. That cost him 250 RP. And with all the replacement summons left him with 2304.3 RP. In some ways, he felt resentful to the men. It''s all fine for them to buy the farm once they are freed from the void. But he is stuck in this world. With losing most of the original Freelance platoon, even knowing that some of them have finally moved on, Spike felt sad and left behind. Spike hated the fact that Major valued Resource Point more than the lives of the men, even if it''s temporary while they are going through growing pains. He understood the Major''s intent to prepare for the port and the airplane to get a better look at the territory from the air come next year. But it would have to wait until they finally get around to freeing up civilian workforce from building the housings and the wall. Plus, the winter weather needs to end before they can clear up an airstrip. There were even talks of sending up balloons. But that was quickly shot down as it was a double-edged sword. Just as they could see the surrounding area, everything in the vast areas would be able to pin down their location. And that was the last thing they wanted right now. If anything, they were hoping to avoid any battles until the walls were up. While Spike was lost in his thoughts, the expedition company slowly moved up to the southern gate. As they approached the gate, the sounds of hooting and shouting got louder than the Mark VIII engines alerting Spike to a large group of people on the other side of the gate. Spike slowly rode his horse up to the gate, wondering what the commotion was all about it. As he entered the gate, the civilians were looking on with interest to the right side. Amid this attraction, he saw three women trying to violently tear each other apart as several Phoenixian men held their arms around their waist to hold them back. And in the middle of this mess, Captain Allen was busy trying to break up the catfight. One of the Phoenixian men noticing Spike and his bodyguards on horseback coming through the gate and immediately shouted, "Attention!" The voice was so loud and thundering over the hooting and shouting that it even startled Spike for a moment. "Commander present!" He added, causing everyone to freeze and look over to Spike. Even the three angry women became startled and froze in their spot. Seeing Spike halt, Lieutenant Moore gave a hand signal for the march to halt. Looking at the mess. "The hell''s going on here?" Spike asked with a frown on his face. He felt somewhat irritated from the minor distraction breaking his train of thought. Captain Allen stepped up and replied with a fed-up expression. "Morning, sir. I came up to the gate to wait for the convoy. But my women got into a family dispute. These are my women, sir." He said as he gestured with his hand to the three women behind him. Somehow, Spike wasn''t surprised by this. He looked over at the three women and noticed that all three were incredibly attractive. All three looked to be in the late teens to maybe early twenties wrapped up in furs to keep warm. Two of them had olive skin color with a brunette and light brown color hair, with both having bright blue eyes. The third one had a lighter skin tone with red curly hair with green eyes. Besides their beauty, the most striking part was their eyes. If Spike didn''t know any better, he could have sworn that their eyes had a touch of instability leaning towards crazed eyes. Which caused Spike to raise one of his eyebrows in surprise as the crazed women looked back at Spike, making eye contact while their heads lowered. Riiiight! Harems are bad! Serves you right, you damn Captain Harem. You reap what you sow. Spike strongly thought as he processed the scene in front of him. With the most commanding poster, he could summon up while trying to look as dignified as possible. "Well, get it together, Captain. We have people to save in the other settlements." Then quickly controlled his horse forward, signaling the march to continue to the center. He wanted to get the hell away from this drama as soon as possible. Except for the open path made for the march, many people were clustering around the center as everyone there was expecting Spike to make a speech. As he approached the center, Major Jung and Marquess Daldia came out to greet him. Soldiers in the vicinity saluted, and Major Jung standing next to the Marquess Daldia hand signaled to Spike, indicating where he should be in front of the mass sitting on his warhorse to give his speech.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Coming up next to both men and after exchanging brief greetings. "Is this all the people? I expected more." Spike asked as he scanned the mass that filled the center, mostly made up of women. On the north side of the center, he saw Rikko with her assigned horse. And next to her were her two children standing in front of her as she had her arms around them. "Only the nonessential, sir. The defensive constructions need to be worked nonstop. This much is enough to pass your word." Major Jung informed. "I suppose your right." Spike understood the Major''s meaning from his tone. Women loved to gossip, and they''ll do a thorough job of spreading the words from his speech. "Understood. Let''s do this. Sooner we move out soon. We can save lives." Then Spike put on his helmet in front of the mass and cracked up his external micro-speaker initially designed to communicate with others during combats that were non-unit members, without having to take off their helmet in battle. "You all listen up." Which immediately cause the massed to shout out in astonishment from the micro speaker. "Settle down, everyone!" Spike shout out to get the people to calm down. Now wasn''t the time to let people rampantly spread more rumors. "There are too many unfounded gossips running around about us, Phoenixians. So let me assure you all right now. We are not leaving. We are staying right here. We''ve already paid in blood for these lands. You all need to stop spreading these garbage rumors about us disappearing. This land belongs to the Phoenixians, and you are all members of Phoenixians now. And yes, we have secrets, but it''s not for the commoners to know. They are secrets for a reason, and if you know it, then our enemies will eventually know it too. So stop worrying about things you can''t do anything about and do the things that you can by building your self a future here. We will never ask anyone of you to fight for us. So you do not need to worry about being conscripted." Then with all the commanding presence, Spike could muster up. "We are taking all the frontier for ourselves. We have plans for this land. With that intent, we are saving as many frontier people we can reach out too. My greatest wish is for you all to prosper and multiply as there aren''t enough humans or Demi-humans to populate the land." Then Spike noticed the few demi-humans still in slave collars, which reminded him of what Rikko asked of him. Right now, it gave him a spirit of the moment to understanding that he shouldn''t be so uninvolved as the leader because inaction and indecisiveness could hurt in the long run. "Effective immediately, all demi-human slaves will be turned over to the state. Which, enhance forth, they will join the scout group. Based on their contributions and achievement, hopefully, soon, they will all be freed. Marquess! Properly compensate for the owner as needed." Spike commanded. Then without even giving the mass time to react. "Formation! March!" Spike shouted out his command as he gave a hand signal to move out for the Machines, men, and horses. Spike moved to the side next to the Major and Marquess. Giving the last part of the speech fired him. Maybe it was the conquest of the frontier that gave the manly man kind of feeling or the simple understanding that he had the power to just changed the lives of all the enslaved Demi-humans. After observing the Mark VIII pass him, Spike took off his helmet to exchange a look with both men. Spike calmly exchanged a look of determination and seriousness, which brought a massive smile to the Major''s face. As for the Marquess, he also showed a pleased expression with a touch of excitement after the short speech. Then Spike nodded to both men and put his helmet back on. Major Jung was pleased to see Spike make a long term critical decision about the Demi-human slaves. In truth, he had already discussed with Hunt Master Maliki about utilizing the slave Demi-humans. But disappointingly, he was informed that it would take more than a few years to use them as they had grown up and lived under captivity without the opportunity to develop their skillset. They would have to be adequately seasoned like the other active hunters even if they have their natural ability. Therefore, Major Jung left it alone, as they currently didn''t have enough resources to train them as the Demi-human hunters were all busy. Plus, Captain Allen''s Expedition brought more Demi-humans with each of his return mission. But more importantly, he left this decision for Spike to make on his own accord without input from the officers. Major understood that making too many decisions for Spike would impede his growth, and seeing Spike take charge greatly pleased him. As for Marquess Daldia, just hearing Spike''s public declaration to take all the frontier brought great relief to his troubled heart and lifted much of his stress. As long as the current chaos in the lands did not crush the Phoenixians, he believed that the frontier people have a definite hope for the future. Looking down from his horse. "I''ll leave it to you to work out the details if there needs to be compensation for the Demi-human slaves, Marquess." Spike reiterated his command. "Your command will be done, my lord!" Marquess said he respectfully bowed. Then Spike inserted himself in the middle of the marching formation, followed by his first platoon. There was no need for any words. It was simply a long term mission and not a goodby. And as for the newly freed and recruited demi-humans. Spike was sure that between Hunt Master Maliki and Captain Wraeth, they would figure something out with the Marquess. As for the compensation, these people were already receiving so much from the Phoenixians that Spike wasn''t sure if it was needed. He felt that everyone should do what they can to make it through these difficult times together. As Spike and his bodyguards slowly moved passed Rikko, she hugged her children and kissed them on their cheeks. Then quickly joined Spikes formation. Spike couldn''t help but notice her love for her two offsprings. He thought those two kids sure won the mom lottery. Spike played with the idea of letting her stay in Daldia to be the den mother to all the other orphan Demi-human children. But having understood their nature since arriving in the frontier, he knew that it would only dishonor and disrespect their way of life. Especially when they need more active scouts. It truly takes a village to raise a child, Spike thought. As the rearguard finally moved to pass the northern gate, Captain Allen ran his horse to join Spike. Shaking his head as the Captain brought his horse next to Spike. "You take care of your family problem, Captain?" "Sorry about that, sir. That was a rather unmilitary manner like scene." Captain Allen said in an apologetic tone. "Well. Please don''t make it a habit." Spike said as he wondered if the Captain was a masochist in choosing three crazy women at the same time. "In any case. I''ve read your mission reports, so I know the MO, so anything new for this mission?" "I do, sir. As you know, I have the Demi-humans screen our forward movement with two to three hundred meters lead. They''re all equipped with different color flares. White for the incoming enemy, red for when they need help. Then during the return trip, with the extra Demi-humans we pick up, I have teams of our infantry attached to one of the Demi-humans to learn tracking skills. Same for our flanks, except the range is about one to two hundred meters pending terrain. I know the distance is a bit high, but the engine sound from the Mark VIII impair their hearing ability. But with you in the forward position in the march. I''ve decided only to send out those Demi-humans with exceptional sight and smell forward and those with hearing ability to flank and serve as rear scouts. This way, I hope for you to score some points from targets of opportunity, sir. I''m sure with your 50 Cal. bullets. You shouldn''t have any problems. So this time You''ll be in the lead, and the Mark VIII will be about 20 meters behind you to give you support in case something bigger than what your M99 can deal with shows up. Not to mention the surviving members of your first platoon standing guard in case of shit happens." "Yeah. That''s true about my under-strength platoon." Spike replied in a low ton. Then he thought about the current composition and task of Lieutenant Davis'' Cavalry Platoon that was tasked to drive the wagon and Lieutenant Sheldon''s Platoon having to go through an OJT of riding horses. For this mission, it was decided not to take any volunteer wagoners as they needed the extra workforce for the defensive constructions for the town. They would train any frontier survivors to the task as they join the rescue convoy. As for Lieutenant Sheldon and his infantry platoon, they never had the chance to learn how to ride a horse as they were always sent out to rescue missions since they were summoned. Fortunately for them, only the warhorses that were trained to the gunfire sounds were given to them. "Also, I''ve taken Lieutenant Steiner''s and three of his flame throwers with us. With heavy snowfall, we don''t have to worry about forest fire, so we plan to burn as many trees and dried up thickets of vines as possible next to the road. Since we plan to take all these lands, we want to slow down the forest from reclaiming the roads that we plan to use. Having clear some visibility should allow us to take less casualty when the plant growth returns. Also, sometimes, we just can''t put enough bullets in time with some of the larger, faster beasts and monsters when they charge our formation. And since we have you with us, and we don''t have to worry about fuel consumption for the flamethrowers, it''s a good opportunity to clear out the vegetations for better visibility." Captain Allen chuckled. "I won''t say anything about you treating me like a gas station Captain," Spike complained. "But, wouldn''t the fire from the road brings attention to our location?" Coughing as if clearing his throat as he holds back a laugh. "Sorry, sir. Didn''t mean for you to take it the wrong way. It was just my way of expressing how happy we are that you are with us." Captain Allen said solemnly. "As for the fire. We won''t start until we pass Farango. Our secondary object is also to attract any nearby inhumanoids and monsters to us. Major was very clear about giving you maximum opportunities to score without putting too much risk to you, sir. And this is a good opportunity. In any case, we don''t expect much encounters until we go pass Tri and Banorg town. After multiple trips back and forth, we pretty much cleared out the area for now. Also, with you joining us sir, we will be traveling much faster as the loads are much lighter without having to carry all the supplies needed for the entire trip." "That''s good. Faster we travel, the faster we can save some lives." Spike said with satisfaction in his tone. = = = Castle Grannor, Myojhuk Barony. With all the armors and weapons taken from Antonok and Morrogain''s territory, the newest trainees were finally getting fitted with their long-awaited gears. Day by day, more fighters were being sent to increase Lord Caldrun''s force to eventually lay active siege to Shator Keep before the Stovkow''s expected reinforcement in Spring. Shortly after hot breakfast, Sir Kajiak come out to inspect the reinforcement being sent to Steward Caldron only to notice Mister Tisco and few of his bodyguards were also preparing to set off to the frontier. With an amused look on his face, Sir Kajiak walked up to Mister Tisco as he loaded up his travel supplies. "Moving out soo soon!" he commented. "There is no time like now when it comes to saving the skin off my neck." Mister Tisco declared a bit emotionally has he retorted to Sir Kajiak''s mocking look. "The late Baron should be so lucky to have men like you to follow his goal even after his death." Walking up to him as to shake his hand. "In case we don''t meet again, I hope you and all your men find a luckier Lord to serve if you survive the battles in the east and escape to the southeast. Should you make it to the city-states, remember the names of my contacts. They won''t treat you wrong if you mention my name." Smiling back. "I''ll do that if I live to get there." Sir Kajiak pleasingly replied. Realistically, he knew that even if they destroy Shator Keep, with Count Morrogain controlling the many rivers cutting into the east, the Stovkow reinforcement will finish the surviving troops without Baron Myojhuk powerful magic. And any survivers would be sent to the mines.