Chapter 27: War Council

“What? You don’t find them cute, Ardreth?”

He turned to Sasha. “It’s not that. I believe they’re from the Twin Cities. If rumors can be trusted, one of them was instrumental in repelling the Union’s invasion. A hero of sorts.”

“Just how do you hear all this without me catching wind of any of it?” Sasha asked, exasperated.

Ardreth flexed his ears, although it was a bit of a copout.

“Wait,” the older brother jumped in, suddenly interested again. He pointed his spear at Kat’s party. “One of those girls made a name for herself in battle?”

“Apparently so. One of them defeated a Union warrior in single-combat in front of both armies, supposedly? The story might be embellished but it should generally be true.”

“Maybe they know something about the monsters and everything else?” He shrugged, raising his spear in the process. “Let’s find out.” Before anyone could stop him, he started walking over to the girls.

The hunter shrugged as well and plodded after his brother while the falcon on his shoulder flapped its wings a few times.

“Might this blow our cover?” Luna asked Ardreth and Sasha… mostly Ardreth.

“If our esteemed colleagues simply ask basic questions about the monsters which were surely witnessed by many people, it shouldn’t be an issue.”

Sasha shook her head. “Ardreth, do you really think things are going to go that well…?”

“Perhaps not. All we can do is prepare ourselves to experience the unexpected.”

This time, Luna shrugged as the trio followed the pair of brothers, who were just reaching Kat’s party.

“Hey, you five.” Once again, he gestured with his spear, drawing wary glances from the five girls. “I heard some of you are strong.”

“From who?” the cat-eared girl replied innocently.

“Oh, it was just a rumor. That’s why I came over to verify it for myself. Did one of you really excel during that recent battle over in the Holy State?”

“She did.” Shiba pointed at Vulp.

“What?” Vulp’s face revealed her feeling of utter betrayal.

“Oh, come on,” Shiba countered. “If the guards already know, there’s no point in hiding it.”

“Then point at Lupy! She likes it!”

“No I don’t!”

“Wait, what don’t you like?” Vulp asked, suspecting a bit of a miscommunication.

“Getting pointed at!”

“That’s not… never mind.” Vulp turned back to the bewildered spearman. “A couple of us fought that day. I got lucky at the beginning and avoided getting killed. That’s it.”

“Being too humble is like bragging, you know.”

“H–Humble?”

“You don’t know the word?” he asked.

“I thought it means like, not bragging?” said Bandit.

Shiba tilted her head. “But he just said being humble is like bragging…”

“I’m not sure what he meant, but I’m not humble and I don’t brag,” said Lupy.

“You totally brag,” Shiba countered.

“So, your party has two warriors, one who’s overly humble, and another who brags?”

“I guess?” Kat half-agreed.

“I don’t brag!”

This time, he pointed his spear right at Lupy. “If you don’t brag, then let me ask you this. Who’s stronger in combat, you or her?” He redirected his spear to point at Vulp.

The girls looked at each other.

“That’s not a nice question to ask…” said Kat.

“Probably me,” Lupy answered the spearman. “Vulp’s better at lots of other stuff, though.”

“Oh, like what?”

“Brainy stuff?”

Shiba pointed at Lupy. “That doesn’t mean anything coming from you.”

Kat pulled Shiba’s tail.

“Wait,” said Bandit. “Who exactly are you?” She gestured not just to the spearman, but also to the four people behind him who had just approached.

“Oh, you want to know who we are?” he answered. “Fine, how about this. Let’s have a little sparring match between me and your strongest warrior. If you win, I’ll tell you whatever you want to know about us. If I win, you’ll answer a few more of my questions. How does that sound?”

“That’s all I get for winning?” asked Lupy.

“You cheeky—“

He was cut off by Shiba, who had recovered from having her tail pulled and was pointing at Ardreth. “Oh, an elf! Like Daphne!”

“Oh, you know Daphne, my kin?”

“A little. She fought in the battle too.”

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“Do you know how she fared?”

“Yeah,” said Shiba. “She was really depressed?”

“Why? Did she lose someone close to her, perhaps?”

“I don’t think so?”

“That wasn’t it.” Bandit took over. “She was depressed because she did so well during the battle…”

“Ah.”

“They were even sending her to the capital so the king could give her an award, I think?”

“What!?” Ardreth had one of those rare moments of utter surprise.

“Then she was going to return home… I think.”

“That’s… probably for the better. Thank you for telling me about Daphne.”

“Ardreth, I’m surprised you didn’t already know about all this,” Sasha teased.

“Sasha, this is how I find out information. I wasn’t born with it. I’m as far from being a dragon as one can be.”

“Are you?” said Lupy. “You kind of talk like one.”

Ardreth narrowed his eyes. “And how exactly do you know what dragons talk like, young miss?”

Lupy’s companions panicked and tried to figure out a way to stop her from talking without acting unnaturally, but it wasn’t meant to be.

“I’ve heard two of them talk.”

“Where?”

“The Twin Cities!” Kat blurted out before Lupy could say anything else. “Two dragons landed right outside the Guild! We overheard a bit of it.”

“My word… I’d heard rumors of a dragon sighting in the Union, but for two dragons to land right in the middle of that city…”

“Could this have anything to do with… the happenings in the Empire?” Luna asked cryptically.

“I doubt there’s no connection,” said Ardreth.

“S–So, about our sparring match…” His spear was drooping.

----------------------------------------

Several central-region nobles arrived at the staging area south of Baram. Karen and Jonathan were invited to a meeting where the group would plan what comes next. DM wasn’t invited but he could still watch through Jonathan’s eyes.

Karen and Jonathan weaved between group after group of soldiers camping out. The numbers here alone weren’t large enough to make a serious assault on another region, but they were still impressive. Combined with DM’s army of monsters, they were a legitimate fighting force. Still, DM had to assume these leaders had more fighters in other locations, or at least in route to this location.

In an impressive tent, Andrei Vosk and Chuck Burger sat side-by-side at the head of a flimsy table. Karen and Jonathan each took a seat on stools along with several others.

Karen rolled her eyes. “These accommodations are bottom of the barrel,” Karen complained to her brother in a whisper.

“Anything fancier and we’d have drawn too much attention to this location, Sister. We’ll only need to put up with it for a little while.”

Karen grunted. “I know that Jonathan.”

Several others joined them, after which Lord Vosk started speaking.

“Our preparations are complete, thanks to the hard work of the Burgers and several others. Finally, we are close to unseating that usurper from the throne.”

“Say, Andrei, what have you actually been up to?” His co-conspirator, Chuck Burger, asked the question.

“Yes, it’s finally time for me to reveal that. While you were off mustering the majority of the territorial armies, militias, and other human combatants, and your daughter was building up the army of monsters, I was making preparations for the surprises.”

“Oh, this ought to be good.” Chuck Burger smiled in eager anticipation of his longtime friend’s plot. “Although I’m sure the monsters’ role will be quite a surprise to.”

“True enough,” Lord Vosk replied. “But hear this. I received word that Noah is desperately trying to learn anything he can about a fleet amassing at or southeast of Adzah.”

“So?”

“The majority of our naval assets are hidden near the Zaranar coast north of the capital.”

“What?” Even Lord Burger was shocked by this revelation. “That’s incredibly close to the capital. They’ll have almost no time to prepare.”

“Indeed. Their ships are so busy patrolling the channel to the east, the gulf, and the Empire’s eastern shoreline that they have almost no defenses. Further, I have armies camping out south of Zinar and Meethil.”

This time, not just Lord Burger, but even the others present shouted in surprise.

“In the Union?”

“Yes, Chuck. I made some arrangements with the territorial lords there so they wouldn’t get in our way. It’s like we were never there.”

“I’m sure Noah’s advisors are expecting us to attack initially from the south. For us to cross the border and attack from the north and west as well will catch them entirely unaware…”

Andrei Vosk looked around at the others present. “We must move quickly. If the Union’s Guild catches on to our plans, they’re sure to funnel that information into Gazahanar. I don’t have the influence there that I do here at home.”

“Any more surprises?”

Andrei smirked. “Of course. I have been planning this for a while. Let’s just say, Gazahanar is currently home to more agents of mine than could be counted on each of our fingers and toes.”

“So they’ll betray Noah when the time is right?”

“Some of them. A couple have even received secret missions from the Emperor, revealing just how desperate he is. Of course, they’ll fail to achieve anything in the remaining time.”

“I almost feel bad for him.”

“Don’t, Chuck. You know what he did.”

“Yes… Considering that, we are quite delayed in our response.”

“We’ll restore honor to the throne.”

“If you’ve such an overwhelming advantage anyway, why’d you make me gather up all these monsters?”

All eyes turned to Karen. Her father opened his mouth to speak, but Andrei held up a hand and spoke first.

“Karen, in war, you can never have too many advantages. The more overwhelming your victory, the less losses you take. Doesn’t that make sense?”

She grunted. “What if those advantages are unpredictable?”

Jonathan stared at her like he suddenly had no idea who she was.

This time, Chuck spoke. “Karen, are you concerned that the monsters will not behave in accordance with our wishes, despite all your effort?”

“Of course not, Father. Still, when I look at things from your perspective, it seems like you have taken undue risk. Is it not foolish to rely on unreliable power?”

“Unreliable how?”

“Well, despite Jonathan’s and my best efforts, bringing all the monsters to one location was initially challenging.”

Jonathan cringed at how his sister suddenly brought him into it like this was also his fault now but he didn’t say anything. She continued her explanation.

“Controlling large amounts of monsters takes even me a bit of time to get competent at. Using such a fresh army, monsters or not, seems ill-advised in war.”

“What do you think, Andrei?” said Chuck.

“Hm. Your daughter has made a good point, but it won’t matter here. Even if the monsters are somewhat unreliable, the mere threat of them working together with our human armies, on top of our other traps and strategies, during the battle’s opening will force the upstart emperor into a corner by growing our morale and sinking theirs. Even as mere fodder, the monsters are quite useful. If they actually accomplish what we want on top of that, it’s a bonus.”

For the first time, Jonathan spoke. “What should we do with these monsters after winning the battle?” He purposefully made it sound like he had disdain for the monsters to solicit an honest response.

“Chuck, that one’s yours, isn’t it?” Andrei was referring to who was responsible for answering the question.

Chuck turned to his daughter. “Karen, so long as we are successful, it doesn’t matter if any of the monsters survive or not. All I care about is that we retain control over those darn wyverns.”

“Honestly, Father, you’re not thinking this through.”

“What?”

“The only dungeon master who can control the wyverns is the current one I have collared outside. Once the war is over, the creature will retain control of four dungeons, including two in the Empire. I did not hesitate to make use of it because of how important our mission to reclaim the Empire is, but after that the creature becomes quite a liability in our dealings with the Holy State and the Union.”

“Karen, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

She grunted again. “I don’t intend to babysit such an enormous monster forever. I’d sooner return it home.”

“But the wyverns!”

“Oh please, father. The only reason we had such trouble with wyverns was because of all the experimenting we did trying to control them. Once we don’t need them to conquer the capital anymore, the problem will go away.”

“I… suppose?”

Andrei, however, was less willing to accept that. “Chuck, you really think that tentacle monster won’t seek revenge for forcing it to throw its monstrous kin against our enemies?”

“Do you really think monsters care about that? Can’t dungeons just spawn more monsters?”

“Even so, it seems like too much of a risk. We’ll just have to coordinate our efforts to coexist with the Holy State and the Union.”

Chuck looked at his old friend side-eyed. “You say that like you aren’t already planning what comes next against each of those nations.”

“Nonsense, Chuck.”

“We’ll… have to address that after our success at Gazahanar."