V7: Chapter 9

…

The final stage of an event in the game is dependent on how well you've done throughout the whole affair.

For example, if the Death Lord was allowed to run rampant, it'd eventually evolve from a tutorial crisis as it'd take over a Citadel and become a faction all its own. You fight through the event the whole time, but never out of your own territory, don't bother with it since it's not after you, and you find yourself with an enemy that churns out troops nonstop armed with decent armor and weapons. It'll be an endless enemy spawner that will relentlessly attack you, encroach your territory, and need to be put down with massive casualties.

That would be the worst outcome, practically game ending in a game mode at the highest difficulty level with four crises on the wings, and I went out of my way to avoid it.

In fact, I went out of my way to play it as the game developers intended.

Engaging with the event, securing the pop-ups and answering the correctly, and engaging with the event in every angle. I used diplomacy to get a ceasefire and allies. I bullied the merchants to embolden my economy. My battle extended into the realm of espionage with me poisoning their supplies and destabilizing them with double agents and spies. And, even though I didn't have a choice, I made sure the battles against them were near-perfect with as few casualties as possible.

In every metric, I dominated the event, and my prize was a Death Lord that should really just surrender.

Its Champions were gone, most of its territory was seized, and all it could produce were Undead. Unlike the game, the Undead weren't unlimited. The Death Lord needed bodies, at the very least skeletons, and those skeletons didn't automatically spawn with armor or weapons. Sure, all that remained of its armies were in there and it had plenty of civilizations to throw at us, but that was a solvable issue without its surrender.

Massed enemy infantry against entrenched positions with overlapping fields of fire, while my supply lines were unreachable and my factories untouched?

Yeah.

Human wave tactics are a solvable issue with my current forces, let alone with time to build up fortifications to use.

Again, the Death Lord should just surrender, but it couldn't do that because the event wouldn't end unless it was defeated.

I held out hope that I would be wrong, as my armies and those of my allies surrounded it, but as the encirclement completed, I shed those hopes.

Of course, we were going to have to do this the hard way.

…

The number of tribal peoples captured from the territories outside of the Death Lord's 'fuck off' range was around a four hundred and fifty thousand people. We just did a head count. No proper demographics or anything, yet, but from a casual glance I'd say most of them were on the young side with teens taking care of children. The tribal people were mostly beast-folk, meaning that both genders fought and even their elderly fought, because they had superior physical prowess.

Anyway, moving half-a-million people around was obviously going to be difficult, so I went ahead and entrenched my forces with the intention of processing them before moving onto the proper siege.

It would also allow everyone else to catch up and make sure there weren't any gaps in the encirclement.

Thankfully, as arduous the process was of getting so many people disseminated across my territories, I had the Ancient Administrator on my side and a few ideas.

It was mostly a modification of my work camp idea, but with some ideas from back home.

"A points system. Yes, this can work as a basis for release from the camps we're creating." Ayah nodded upon evaluating my proposal. The plan was to move the population around in groups of five thousand. That's ninety camps all over my territories, which will be attached to various towns that are close to military installations and fortresses. Once at the camps, they'll be evaluated, put to work, educated, and earn their way out to the normal population. I think I read about the process in some book where zombies took the whole world over, but I wasn't quite sure. "I presume that those with skills that can be used immediately will have higher starting points?"

"And, those who do well in classes to learn how to read and write." Most of the population we were now dealing with lived as tribes that answered the call of the Death Lord, after they realized their way of life was at an end. Though I was tempted to give them reservations, and let them govern themselves if they exploited the tiles that I put them on, I didn't have the luxury of being that merciful. I needed more workers. Plain and simple. "I want any elders or any adults moved aside. Also, comb through their population for Champion candidates and move them towards ennoblement."

This was an act of genocide. I'm taking the children and raising them under my nation. The adults and elders of the current generation will be the last to remember the ways of their people. Sure, I'm not putting them to death en masse, but the fact remained that I was obliterating their culture and society. Sure, they intended to raid, pillage, and destroy us while led by a Death Lord, but we raised the Citadel first and put them to the sword to take all the land we could. There may be tribes here that lived off raiding towns and villages before the Citadels arose, but there are just as many who just wandered and lived off the land, and who had no other option if they wanted to keep their history.

Those who joined my nation were just subsumed by its culture and society, practically leaving no trace of what came before.

I mean, the neutral mobs and their tribes have plagued the rest of the continent and done horrible shit to the point that everyone else is just killing them all, but what I'm doing is still pretty fucked.

"It will be as you bid, your majesty." Ayah gave a prim bow, before speaking to its staff. With us hanging around for a bit, it called in several clerks alongside the supporting elements brought to field. I generally kept the 'tail' of my army far away from the field. Logistics are the key to keeping our pace and keeping my armies alive, so I didn't want putting the 'bean counters' at risk. Each one of those guys have at least two years of education and have ongoing education to make them better at their jobs. Losing one now, may very well lead to losing a whole unit in the future due to someone else fucking up their job. "Actually, someone of interest has already come to light. One of the last shamans of the tribal peoples has immense potential."

I nodded.

"Gather up all you can of their texts and comb through the prisoners for their magic users. We'll use that one to find the best of their magics, so nothing is lost. If he's not amenable, make him so." Ayah gave a nod at my instructions and looked the way of my Iterant guards. They moved wordlessly at its command. My order basically gave them the green light to use everything short of torture to get that poor kid to become our receptacle for all tribal magics like a living tome. The kid's family is likely going to be used as insurance/hostages. If we can start spamming chain lightning and setting up healing wards like they did, though, I'd consider the price worth it. "Back to the processing of the survivors. I'm thinking that there as some lands more suitable for them than others. The Conquerors' lands the Scholars' former lands need more according to the last reports."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Indeed. I recommend focusing on the Conqueror's lands, if you wish to prioritize and allocate them. The Conquerors' culture and environment is well suited for much of the beast tribes, and they have need of many laborers."

"Make sure Crusher knows about the point systems, and that we're doing it purely to make sure that we don't find rebellions fomenting." Crusher wouldn't take slaves and these work camps resemble them in a way. The Conquerors were very much against slavery. However, they also understood necessity and half a million people being around very much required changes to regular operating procedures. "Make sure that we're providing for them completely. Medical care, food, baths, and even camp stores for them to spend points at. Work with the locals, set up jobs for them to earn points at a higher rate, and they'll get others out faster by donating points."

Ayah nodded and took down notes, while I did my best to get a handle on the situation. This will all need to be written, the plans will need to be finalized, and people who can handle managing the plans needed to be found who can use their brains when the plan didn't work perfectly. Everything about any situation I faced was down to how well I could assign what I wanted done to the right person at the right place and at the right time, so money, time, and lives aren't wasted.

Honestly?

I would've quit my job, if I wasn't sure that doing it was the only way I'd be seeing old age in my new life.

…

Interlude: Celia

…

Once more, I beheld the construction capabilities of the King of Wisdom and could only frown at the sight of it all.

"By the ancestors, this is what the King of Wisdom is capable of?" Mallory beheld it for the first time and her mouth was agape and eyes wide. Awe and horror intermixed upon her features. After cresting a hill, we looked down upon an expanse of what was once farmland and beheld the will of the King of Wisdom. "This feels like a dream to look upon, especially so close to enemy territory."

Thousands of tents were arrayed in neat groups. Dirt roads connected them to logistical centers. Watchtowers looked at the skies, walls and ramparts were in key positions, training fields had soldiers maintain their bodies, and whole buildings and facilities were in construction. Transports flew in constantly in a long strip of dirt next to a large warehouse from which multitudes of wagons came to and fro laden with cargo. Once more I looked upon a city built for war for a singular campaign by the King of Wisdom's machinations, and this one looked more robust and better than the one I saw previously.

As I surveyed it all, I found the building I was looking for… where he was hard at work in a perfect replica of his office.

"Stay close and in parade formation." I led the vanguard of my people's forces. Five hundred light cavalry, which I designed to be a mobile, highly-effective spearhead to supplement my lumbering, Undead forces. Armed with our best attempt at repeating firearms, cavalry sabers, and all wielding magic, they served me well as we charged and broke apart our foes so that they would fall with greater ease against our main force of Undead. I had looked upon them with pride when I first saw them, but now I could only see the wear and tear upon their uniforms, the huffing and panting of their horses, and how they were all tired after constant battles. "Do not show weakness."

"A bit late for that, I'm afraid. My lord just has a way of making everyone else look weak."

A voice reached me and my knights drew swords, and I looked towards the path we were set to take.

There was a young woman there, with messy hair and a large coat, wearing thick glasses on her face.

Behind her were four others in ragged clothing, each one carrying a buck on their backs, and… no sign of weapons on their person.

She waved at me, and I paused as I realized who she was.

"Lady Morgan, Champion of the King of Wisdom." Where she walked, wherever she was sent, devastation fell upon the King of Wisdom's enemies. If Rita was his scalpel, and Ilych his sword, then Morgan was the hammer. She looked upon me, with all my finest knights at my back, and withdrew an apple from a pouch at her belt and took a bite. A fresh apple picked from an orchard on the other side of the continent. Neither me nor my troops have had anything besides rations in the past weeks. She knew what she was doing. "May I ask you to escort us in? Your companions seem ready to aid in providing a feast to your king."

"Oh, you've got spirit and a decent head between your shoulders. You also got here faster than the Forgers and the Wardens. 1st place… in your category, at least." Morgan goaded, and Mallory nearly growled. However, I knew my knights well enough and I knew this game. I held up my hand, palm open and all my knights stayed silent and still. Morgan took a crisp bite of an apple. "Good leadership skills, too. Good all around… so why stay separate? You and I both know it's better to just join. We're not taking anything away from you, after all."

"…My people gave much for our Citadel. Too much to simply give away and surrender the future that we wish to forge." I answered Morgan, and she consumed the entirety of the apple until only the stem remained, uncaring of seeds. Even the stem was used a makeshift toothpick between her lips, as she bobbed her head from side to side at my answer. "And, I knew the time is soon to come when he will come after our lands. When that day comes it will be as the Deliverer envisioned before his life was taken. It will be a battle between Champions, and to the victor goes everything."

As soon as those words left my lips, I suddenly felt an unknown pressure lift from my shoulders.

"Ah, you should've started with that, Lady Celia! We wouldn't have had to do this, if you'd just told me!" Morgan beamed at me and threw something my way. I caught it and found an apple in my gauntleted hand. She turned on her heel, raised her arm, and made a circular motion with her finger then pointed forward. Her followers, without a word aimed their way, turned, and began to march towards the forward base ahead of us.

She gestured for us to follow and we did, before she spoke to me again once more.

I could hear the pleased smile on her face…

"I think you're right, you know? You'll be a far better general or administrator than a leader."

… as she whispered my way a dream that I held that I had not shared with no other soul.

Not even my own.