Chapter 114: Busy

It was now five weeks into the semester and Viv was busier than she had ever been in her life. A part of her wanted to drop everything and dedicate herself solely to finding precious things to feed Elunath since it was by far the most important task on her list. What held her back was, once again, cold pragmatism. Solfis had told her he would take care of this aspect. Her time was better spent arming herself with every technique and every scrap of knowledge she could so when the time came to act, she would have more tools. Her efforts paid off.

 

Mana mastery made up the foundation of all her spellcasting. She could see colors more clearly, including those that were less present in an individual or a spell. Her threads and glyphs were cleaner than most, faster to form, more efficient. Mana flowed more easily. It made most of the fundamentals class trivial which allowed her to spend more time on what she wanted to improve. One of those things was enchantment.

 

Although she did not consider herself good at it by any means, it was clear she was making much progress in the field of enchantment.

 

Her motivations were clear. Harrak needed ward stones to survive and she needed to be good at them, not just ape the same model again and again at a slow speed. Her expertise grew every time she approached a new problem or carved a new set of runes. Some of them were more fun than useful like self-opening doors or wards that would not react to children, but others were used in making the armored carriages Viv had seen carry the Enorian mages into battle. The other intriguing use of enchantment was experimental and tied into her strategy class.

 

“And do you also have a ‘potential idea’ to go with that?” the grim-faced General Jaratalassi often asked at the end of her demonstrations.

 

Once she had said his name aloud and realized it was very close to the Phantom Menace character Jar Jar and now she could not unhear it. It was horrible and even more so because she could not share her pain with anyone. The locals could not relate.

 

Viv had a technique to handle the curmudgeonly old warhorse. First she would show her understanding of traditional methods, then she would ask about the methods and techniques she would do just to see what he had to say about them. Most of the time, there was a good reason why people proceeded the way they did.

 

“Because elevation does not affect spell range, young witch. You are bending the will of the world by moving its essence, not throwing gooey projectiles made of magical snot. Yes, many spells arc, but they do not fall short because of it.”

 

And sometimes they were some that did not.

 

“You cannot move a shield alongside the troops you would try to protect, witch. An isolated mage trying to cover an infantry formation would be weak and isolated, quickly picked off.”

 

Except… that was not quite correct. Shields could move with a formation.

 

Viv was thinking long term. More specifically, she was thinking about Harrakan power projection and force multipliers.

 

For now, Harrak was fine, kind of, but it was a very large nail on a hammer continent and it was only a matter of time before someone tried to put them down. The way she saw it, they would either face a siege, attack towards the deadlands, or attack through the forest. The defense itself was something she was relatively confident in. The problem was the rest.

Viv placed a sheet of paper on the table and looked up to the standing form of Solfis. He had little commanding experience but his knowledge of tactics and history were unequaled. She started to draw and make a list.

 

“Light troops like guards and levies are useless against the undead. They don’t have the tools to effectively take them down and they might stand up again to attack their previous allies if they are overwhelmed. Except in defense, I don’t see us using them. The same applies for an attack through the deadshield woods. Levies can do very little against actual monsters. We would just be bringing victims.”

 

//That is not quite correct, Your Grace.

//The role of levies has always been to die for the cause.

//Bog down or slow elites, or face other levies.

//You are too concerned about the casualty ratio.

//However, I agree with your logic.

 

“You do?”

 

//The budding little seedling that is the new Harrak cannot afford mass casualties.

//We need our population to expand.

//Harrakan forces were historically comprised of fast moving elites searching for decisive engagements.

//They were always outnumbered and never outmatched.

//With high levels of motivation, access to Yries weapons, and you, we have the tools to recreate such a force.

//You were, however, leading to something.

 

“Right, yes. In order for our forces to overcome bad odds, we need proper logistics. We also need to leverage what we have so we can win against higher numbers and most likely a superior enemy mage contingent. I believe there are ways. The first is Tercio infantry. The second is combined arms tactics.”

 

//Those are translated terms with no equivalent in my archives.

 

“Let me explain. Tercios were the elite infantry of the Spanish Habsburg empire and the first moder… right that means nothing to you. Historically, tercios were formed by professional soldiers combining spears and ranged weapons, counting a large number of ‘veteranos’ or experienced soldiers and led by the low nobility. In battle, they would fight in squares of pikes and mobile groups of ranged fighters called mangas… but that’s not important. What’s important is that at the time, they were quite formidable and could outfight both cavalry and levies very reliably. We already have elite pikemen and spearmen with Harrakan heavies. We have the witch-pact crossbowmen for ranged. All of them are as close to professional as can be. I believe we could create a tercio.”

 

//I approve of integrating our crossbows and spear to fight together more efficiently.

//I noticed that they had poor coordination when we stopped the prince.

//Several aspects need to be resolved.

//We need to create a training regimen from scratch.

//We need to experiment with the tercio’s application on Nyil.

//We need a competent body of officers.

//Additionally, there are aspects you hinted you could resolve.

//We need proper logistics.

//We need to solve the mage issue.

 

“Right, so tight formations are artillery magnets, especially when it’s clearly made of elites, but what if we use a mage to cover them effectively? That way the heavies protect the mage and crossbowmen who use the opportunity to kill things while the mage stops artillery spells. We do so by creating a portable shield or ward stone and placing it on an Yries war machine’s frame.”

 

//You want to replace the ballista or drill by an actual stone.

 

“Yes.”

 

//And use the machines as a supply train as well.

 

“Yes.”

 

//It will not work.

 

“Oh.”

 

//The Yries war machines are core-powered.

//There is no other valid explanation.

//It takes energy to keep them working.

//According to my calculations, it would be much easier to use normal cornudon-drawn carriages.

//A machine-drawn ward stone would work if the shield itself is resilient enough.

 

“Shields, like enchantments, can be powered either by the caster or by a charged core. The best option is to have an actual core and the caster nearby to recharge it and defend the stone. It makes me wonder though, why are people not already doing it?”

 

//Mage carriages have several purposes, but they are mostly defensive.

//They are very large and very heavy.

//A war machine is a much smaller target.

//It has less risk of sinking into mud as well.

//There are no records of combining several types of soldiers into a formation rather than separating them by kind in state armies.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

//I have noted your remarks.

//I will prepare a training regimen.

//I will run scenarios and prepare possible strategies.

//I will make a list of resources required for operations of various sizes considering the army we have and various durations.

//You will prepare a model of the shield enchantment.

//You will list the requirements a dedicated machine would have.

//Finally, you must prepare for the fact that there are no competent officers to lead such an army into battle.

//Therefore, it will have to be you.

//But that is for later.

//For now, I will make all the preparations.

//Speaking of preparations, we are almost ready to assault the assassin’s base.

 

Solfis had located the assassin’s base under the warehouse district. Unfortunately, the issue now was to catch enough of them at the same time to dismantle the guild. It would be stupid to leave trained killers with a grudge in the wilds if there was any chance to disable them now. And they did have a grudge after the death of several of their members.

 

“I still can’t believe they didn’t take the bribe. I thought they would accept the money and move on.”

 

//Such guilds depend on their reputation, Your Grace.

//They perhaps correctly assessed that I would not let the gruesome death of my innkeeper go unpunished.

 

“Shame about him, and the five fishes stew recipe. They didn’t have to dismember him.”

 

//Now it is to the death.

//I have prepared a lure.

//We will be ready very soon.

 

“Thanks, Solfis.”

 

//There is one last thing.

 

“Yes?”

 

//I am only allowed to say I have been contacted by an individual I am programmed to identify as an enemy.

//We are currently considering an alternative to Elunath’s proposal with terms.

//The individual does not wish to interact with you at this junction.

//The individual will contact you when the ‘timing is right’.

 

Viv watched the golem, trying to find a hidden meaning behind the strange words.

 

“You are being mysterious.”

 

//My silence was a condition for the negotiation.

//I am only allowed to share the existence of said individual with you.

//I will reply if you override me.

//I request that you do not do that.

 

“And you believe this mysterious benefactor will help me?”

 

//Said individual certainly has the means to do so.

//That is all I am able to share.

 

“Fine, fine.”

 

***

 

It was raining on the training field. The light shower was the first of the season, a harbinger of what would come later that year. The dueling class students milled under thin roofs protecting the rafters. No one was eager to get drenched, nor could many of the students protect themselves from both water and whatever their fellows would throw at them. A few blue-attuned members were charging the water-repellent runes — because of course that was a thing — that would keep the arena relatively dry. Viv used the opportunity to breathe out. She had started practicing the forms Solfis had taught her again and her muscles were sore from the lack of practice. Rakan rested on the side, juggling four mana balls of different colors in complex shaping exercises. It was nice to take a break. The weather was cooler, though still a little oppressive. Viv could smell freshly cut grass and grilled meat in the distance. She hoped it wasn’t a burnt red mana caster because that would be really awkward.

 

“Excuse me, a friend of mine and myself had a little disagreement,” a young woman with a serious face and long, straight black hair asked her. A young man calmly stood by her side, brushing a growing beard.

 

“We were wondering if the use of the adjective is correct in the sentence: From the lake rises a deep green tree.”