Chapter 6 - A Business of War and Peace

Medieval politics can be quite the meddlesome deal to keep an eye on.

While for a few weeks I had been vigilant due to how the various factions entertained the introduction of the construction company, the real baptism of fire that was the first few works dealt by Goblins set up the pawns for what I could consider a battle for investments.

Mecenatismo, the ancient Italian term for Sponsorship meant to preserve the cultural heritage of the old. It was also what pretty much fueled the coffers of the company I was in charge of, and what pushed commissions left and right.

The first major work was the restoration of a fountain by the villa of one of the aristocrats, then it was the building of a small greenhouse, and finally a large and opulent mausoleum where other pieces of art would then be stored and shown to peers and rivals of the owner.

These all unfolded within three big months of early activity, with the manpower stretched and the planning set in such a meticulous manner that it almost delayed the finalization of the construction from time to time. I wasn’t exactly paying attention to the entire process, but considering my position as a leader, I had a role to uphold and many expectations to outperform.

Negotiating for the price of commission for example, the art of haggling was something that was quite relevant in this world- especially in a place such as Gurlodir where clashing for the right price was a trait many successful individuals needed to be able to obtain, either as a natural birthright or through years of experience and self-improvement.

My ideal price was for at least ten percent more of what the overall expense was. I would always demand more, but if the worst outcome was around the corner, I would settle for that modest expectation- I still had workers to pay and feed and give a house to.

Plus, I needed to make a positive income for the sake of my future plan. The construction company was, after all, the first step of many to take. With the second step underway right by the end of the third month of activity: one of the things that severely undermined the stable success of the company was the capacity of the company to obtain the right resources at a reasonable price.

Kara was able to provide some pleasant deals with some of those elements, but many things we had to find elsewhere through other businesses in town. Some of which were already struggling to stand on their own due to how difficult it was to make a good coin out of their hard work.

My solution was a degree of subsidizing their businesses in exchange of a percentage of their income while slowly moving in the path of incorporating them in the greater organization I was building upon.

If I managed to create a powerful enough, but properly decentralized economic group within the city, then it wouldn’t take long for me to finally get a decent position within the governance of the Principality.

While it still relied heavily on an aristocratic system of ruling, the principality still had meritocracy and wealth as its primary methods of assessing someone's relevance within the realm’s politics.

So, after a certain amount of wealth was recognized by the state upon an individual, a position was given to the council which pretty much was behind lawmaking and law-voting. That was a huge milestone that I was looking forward to acquiring. Not yet within reach, but in due time that was going to be a feasible goal.

During the first month of activity I was reminded of why I had to be quick with these plans- brazen even. In the house I still shared with the rest of the Kobolds, a small storage room had been set up to keep eggs. Rosa, Aqua, Carrie, and Viola had all produced an egg each, their regular partners of bed being behind this development.

All the time I would be in the house, reading reports, bashing my head over silly issues and growling at paperwork, I tended to see the new mothers pause to give the eggs a hug or pat them.

The eggs were relatively small, roughly a few inches tall and a little less in width, and, truth be told, I had odd feelings toward the one I fathered. Maybe it was because I still hadn’t digested the notion I was a Kobold to that extent- that my humanity was somewhat related to my soul and mind at this point, but I still felt a sense of attachment to that ‘living’ object.

It was too early for any reactions considering the children held within the eggs were far from being fully formed, but I knew this was going to change within the next few months.

Time was moving fast, and our fair living conditions may soon change if politics started to get involved in them. Hence why I decided to advance a petition on the matter of the military.

The Principality had a terrible army.

Mostly mustered in a ceremonial role, there was no purpose but parading with it and… that was a problem. These months have not exactly been the same in terms of attacking and looting the orcs’ camps.

The issue I was introduced with while we were still acting against them was the fact that they were getting more ‘desperate and aggressive’. It wasn’t within the mindset of their individual tribe members, but because of the overall relocation they were enforcing.

They were moving all south into the Principality’s border and beyond. I was tempted to say it was due to the ambition to get more food and resources, but it became clear the reason behind this large action was far more sinister in nature.

They weren’t moving there on their own volition- they were running by something.

And that something was a group of tougher bastards.

The damning evidence of this was when the usual party of Kobolds I led into these raids ended up stumbling on an already-decimated camp. It was far cleaner than any work committed by someone like us, someone lacking the means to pass unnoticed and be so clean in killing these monsters. There was literally close to no blood in the shattered bodies of the many orcs we found there… but we did find the culprit.

Tall, white hair, dark-blue skin, and with eyes burning with golden unholy magic that manifested through the enhancement he applied to his limbs to move fast. Dark elves were not what I expected to face that day and, truth be told, I should have been bringing magicians to the party for a while.

What we were facing there was something I hoped to not face again without proper preparation. I will spare many details out of brevity, but I will put it in a way that many can understand: what happens when you mix the classic dark elf with a ninja? Well, the result is something that may as well be coming out of an Anime and yet applied to a realistic and ruthless undertone to it.

This dark elf wore a sleeveless black tank top, with armor to his arms, shorts and armored boots. He wore little to nothing, but it was all done to provide him utter speed. I freaked out the moment he tried to decapitate me the moment I laid my eyes on it, barely ducking from that move and realizing I had to deal with the bastard quickly before calling for a quick retreat.

The first hit was a bust, but the assassin attempted to go for more by rotating his curved blade in a way to hit me from behind. I rolled forward, allowing the blade to miss again, but I didn’t allow the jerk to live for long as I spit a quick fireball to him while rolling.

It may have lacked precision, but the burning attack struck right onto his left arm, the limb sizzling as the fire heated up the armor and caused him to falter- yelping in pain while failing to notice that Aqua had gotten right behind him. The female Kobold struck him with a kick, allowing for Rocky to push through and slash his neck.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

He wasn’t decapitated, but he died on the spot due to the fatal wound.

I didn’t waste time in getting everyone out of there before there was no way I wanted to see if there were more of those magic ninja elves of the dark side around.

Still, this experience taught me three things: 1) Overkill is not a thing- next time I am bringing more than I would normally bring to the hunting party; 2) Dark Elves were pushing the orcs out because they themselves wanted to be bordering and maybe even occupy lands of the principality and- 3) One was a little bit of a nightmare, but there had to be an army of those runts preparing for a war to obtain lands.

How and why I was not aware of, but I knew it was going to happen and that I needed to get a bit more than just an army of Goblin builders and a small retinue of Kobolds to face this threat.

Hence why I forwarded a petition to the Prince himself and sent him one of the lengthiest letters I have written. I am not joking when I say I put three hours of my existence to add as many details as I could there.

Of course it wasn’t just me requesting for a far-reaching conscription to be enacted, but also offering proof and some ideas on how to get a quick army from what little thing the Principality had.

Since I wasn’t dealing with modern military and that the only thing that relied on primitive gunpowder were siege cannons set by the docks to protect from a naval invasion (from who I don’t know since there were no known countries beyond the ocean the principality faced), I knew that the budget had to be relevant to the circumstance.

Not a big army of offense that could severely cripple the country’s economy and warrant some repercussions from the Empire we were bordering, but a small force of high-quality troops and equipment.

History of old was something I was fond of as a hobby when it came to reading or even playing games about, but it was the real thing that really got my attention and since ledgers over the known population numbers were available to the public, I managed to go through a raw estimation of what sort of numbers to look into and… it was stupidly feasible for the Prince to get a professional army out of the rural population.

There were roughly 4 to 5 Million Dwarves that lived outside of Gurlodir, with many being young men and women with no general occupation prospect beyond being farmers, bakers or part of humble occupations within the countryside. But what happens when just 1% of that number was given the chance to be on the frontline to face Dark Elves?

The notion was something very interesting as this small army not only would have plenty to face the Dark Elves but also restore an effective professional standing army of defense. And it wouldn’t just be a full army of soldiers, but also other relevant jobs such as engineers, magicians, and even medical officers.

I had to go back a lot in my letter as I really got myself going in some aspects of it, cutting out anything that felt too excessive to request and just settle for the main goal first before writing the final letter and having it sent to the monarch.

A few days after sending it, I was summoned before the Prince himself to discuss the content of my letter. The guard sent to escort me to the palace was not given extra details, and I had a feeling the news of Dark Elves knocking at the doors had gotten the government spoken enough to warrant a degree of secrecy.

The throne room, which I heard was usually full with many people waiting to seek an audience with the prince, was currently deserted of much life, as only an awfully small number of people were there.

“Pyro of the Kobolds, I am glad that you could join us in such an urgent circumstance,” The prince greeted me politely, the man looking quite tired and perhaps in a bad mood due to the letter I sent him in regard to the invasion. “Now, I believe some introductions are needed.”

Eri was there surprisingly enough, wearing all that armor despite that not even who I thought was her superior had much on himself.

General Alketros was quite older than the Prince, having served as a soldier during the time of the first prince of Buloger, Rolhunhorn, and being in his 120s. Some would think he was senile at this point, but dwarves normally ended up living to their 200s and 300s if they were magic users.

Still, he looked quite mighty and far healthier than Prince Bjorhold, being in a far better disposition between a sickness-free body and constantly training to keep himself in shape. He was built widely in the muscle side of the term, a balding head with some hair adorning the sides and uniting to his unruly white beard.

“So, the letter was penned by this Kobold?” Alketros hummed, grinning giddily. “I read it, truly a sign that you are nothing like the Kobold of old.”

I shrugged. “I take it as a compliment.”

“The reason why you were invited here so urgently, Pyro, is indeed tied to the letter. What you brought up has… made me and most of the council evaluate a potential emergency law to enact a conscription- however, I would like to first address the advice you put on the matter and on the eventual creation of a standing army for defensive purposes.”

“Especially in regard to how you came up with a couple of peculiar and interesting ideas on the matter,” The General remarked flatly. “How did a Kobold with no military experience thought of this sort of stuff?”

I had given some thinking on this circumstance- I mean, I was giving them some advice that wasn’t exactly found in a normal book, not even an ancient one on warfare for dwarves would be enough of a reason to justify this awareness of the matter. But I had already thought of a response, and it was a fair one if I have to be honest.

“I just… tackled the army issue like I would with a business.”

“A… business? An army is not like that.”

“Is it?” I quipped back calmly to Eri, the girl sounding surprised and yet skeptical by this comparison. “Let me ask you this, what is the main purpose of any army?”

“War,” Alketros replied firmly.

“And the ultimate goal?”

This time, there was some hesitation by the General on the right answer, but Bjorhold seemed to understand where I was going with this.

“Peace.”

I nodded. “An army is a business because it serves to offer war back to war with the main profit being peace. In this case, someone is trying to raise competition through aggressive manners via subtle warring, while the Principality can muster an army, a business owned by the Prince and his military leaders, with the purpose of ceasing any action of war and restoring peace. If by the end other elements are acquired, then that becomes an extra income- but that’s not the main goal of the common conflict.”

“And how does this extend to the rest of the comparison beyond… what is sold and what is profit?” The helmeted dwarf girl prodded with her curious question.

“Well, organization comes first to mind. There’s a leader which commands other leaders that ultimately have roles within the army within a system of orders and tasks- each individual is meant to go through their duties for the sake of allowing the company to make a profit. With the soldiers representing the direct workers, those that sell products as salesmen of war,” I answered truthfully. “The main priority of the army is to ultimately restore peace, but this peace may be the same as before the war, which is common in a defensive party of the war, or through the acquisition of something that makes the concept of ‘warring to stop a war’.“

“A painfully honest comparison, I would say,” Bjorhold summarized his conflicting thoughts in that response. “And I think I understand what you mean through this. Even though our main goal would be to cease the menace presented by the Dark Elves, the army would also clear the way for a greater sense of freedom within the territory of the principality. The mining business may as well be restored in the span of a few months of having rekindled the torch of safety in the hearts of the adventurers that seek to see the mines once worked by their ancestors.”

There was a pause, then Bjorhold turned to the General. “What do you think now? Still think my request is a wrong one for me to ask you, my dear friend?”

Alketros closed his eyes and sighed deeply. “As much as it pains me to admit being wrong in any bet, I am of the belief you were right. I will accept him as part of my staff.”

…

“I-If I may be blunt, I feel like I should be told more on the matter rather than being given an assignment out of the blue,” I commented, noticing how they were clearly talking about setting me up for some job I didn’t even get the chance to learn about.

“My most sincere apologies, I forgot to mention this,” The Prince admitted with some genuineness in his tone and a hint of mirth for having tried to one-up me with that. “I requested General Alketros if you could join him as his temporary advisor for the creation of an army and the handling of the logistical affairs.”

“I am more of a soldier than a proper planner,” Alketros admitted. “Yet, this letter shows that you have the brain to provide me assistance together with my other officers. I will not hire you as part of the army, but rather as someone to rely on in ideas to implement in the long run.”

“...Oh.”

This is going to be crazy.