"You all did a good job defeating the enemies, but the war is far from over. The enemies will take their time studying your forces, so keep your soldiers battle-ready. The main army and the right flank might ask for assistance as well, so keep a group ready to be deployed with that in mind."

That was everything they heard. It didn't look like they surprised everyone with the results of the first battle, but it would take a while before their strength and importance were recognized by the commanders of the defending side.

In any case, even though they heard that they needed a reserve force to help the other groups, around midnight, they confirmed that, at least temporarily, they had lost one-third of their forces. The wounded needed several days to heal from their injuries.

"It will be hard for the kids to be useful on night raids… even more so when some are mourning the loss of their parents and grandparents…" Gaius rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I can't let the enemies keep deciding how and when we are going to fight. Still, should I start any skirmish that might make our group more tired and exposed in the long run?"

“Gaius, you can go and rest for a while… I wanted to say that you can sleep until sunrise, but I can’t guarantee that” Zairus suddenly said after approaching. “It might be too much to say that, but try to relax as much as possible.”

His father was right; that would be difficult. Still, Gaius just nodded. He used the excuse to move away to water the plants in a dark area and began to summon the enemies he had just killed. Their loyalty was at seven percent, but it soon began to increase when the other soldiers approached.

“Keep the newbies on the line and ready for action,” Gaius declared while imagining that Relia would say something to embarrass him.

Relia was there as well, but she was smart enough not to do anything to make Gaius look weak or weird. In any case, this time, he only summoned ten of the soldiers he had killed. Even with his high wisdom, that was the max he could summon for now. This time, Gaius didn't have the chance to hide from his soldiers, but he also forgot to care about the fact that they saw him for the first time. He had more important things to care about now.

Once he headed to his tent, Gaius checked their loyalty levels, and that didn't decrease despite the fact that they realized a kid was basically controlling them. Fear can also work well to improve one's loyalty. Fear can also make them not understand fully the power of the unknown.

"I guess I will make the archers train together far away from the battlefield by hunting some animals. Those guys will be useful faster than the others, even without their previous skills," Gaius thought and then split his soldiers into two groups. "Rein, take the new archers and go hunt some animals. Relia will lead the group that will stay behind and watch the enemies from a distance. You can go and attack them if some of them move too far away from their camp."

"Roger that, little master," Relia said telepathically.

At least she didn't say that for the others to hear, but Gaius thought it would be better if he kept scolding her in that regard no matter what. Nothing good would come if he left her thinking that they were good friends.

Since the area was close to the border, Gaius soon noticed the newbies gaining experience pretty fast, and so was Gaius. There were a lot of animals to hunt. He had some points to use, so he was considering how to use them before the next battle. Increasing his strength and dexterity seemed the best option.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

In the end, Gaius managed to sleep for a couple of hours. He got up even before sunrise despite the fact that he needed to sleep as much as possible to grow and become as tall as his father. It would be fine if he could become 1.9 meters tall like him, but Gaius wouldn't mind not having that massive beard.

"It looks like the enemies decided not to attack after that…" Gaius thought while looking around and seeing a bunch of tired soldiers. "Still, even if they didn't do anything, it looks like spending the night was difficult for the villagers."

Gaius looked for his father and saw him planning some formations with other soldiers. They didn't have many people to spare, but those who could help them, even if only a little bit. Gaius watched from a distance and tried to learn as much as possible. He had trained hard in the last few years, but his knowledge when it came to battle tactics was still limited.

"I don't think that I want to rely on others for large-scale tactics, but I guess it will be useful to know how armies operate…" Gaius thought.

Gaius noticed that they had some people with good heads on their shoulders since they were survivors of many wars. Thanks to that, they managed to make the tents move and get the soldiers to rest in areas that would help them assume their positions faster. As for what tactics they were going to use, they were focused on defending all sides with an iron-tight wall of guards. The enemies underestimated them in the previous confrontation; the same thing wouldn't happen again, so that was the best they could do.

“Let’s have some breakfast, Gaius,” Zairus forced a smile when the meeting ended. “I am starting to worry about how I am going to survive without your mother’s cooking and less about the enemies.”

It looked like their allies brought some food for them in the middle of the night. Most of it was cold and hard rations, though. They couldn’t complain since the war wasn’t something that anyone was expecting, so their preparations couldn’t have been helped. Still, over time, even that would become a problem for the group since it would drop their morale... an army without morale was almost as bad as an army without weapons.

“Although you helped me a lot last night, it would be better if I didn’t have to worry about you becoming a target as soon as the front line breaks. I won’t be able to focus on fighting if that were to happen,” Zairus declared once they began to eat. “I am not planning on letting you die before me, but in the off chance that it was to happen, can you imagine how I will be able to face your mother?”

“I guess we need to work on preventing that,” Gaius said. “Our options are limited here, but I am sure that we can do something to watch each other’s backs.”

Zairus felt a bit troubled about letting an eight-year-old kid take on that kind of task, but Gaius had already proved his skill and courage, so there wasn’t much his father could say about it. Nevertheless, as for their options, they would last for a while longer if Gaius kept watching his back with a bow, but for how long? They couldn’t try to play the role of a hero and save everyone, but a war can’t be won with two people alone. Gaius would need more soldiers in his army for that to be possible.

“I think that we can help the front line a lot by bringing some good archers close to them,” Gaius added. “Some of them proved themselves last night. Although, some soldiers probably won’t like the idea of having kids with bows pointing those weapons close to them.”

“You proved that you can help the front lines, but we don’t have many good archers below fifteen. Most kids think that using a sword or an axe is cooler,” Zairus scratched his beard while thinking about what they could do aside from that.

Zairus’ first idea was to make the archers hide behind a wall of shields. Naturally, others would hold the shields, and the frontline couldn’t do that without losing some fighting power, so other kids would have to do that, and the idea didn’t sit well with him. He truly wanted to avoid putting the kids in a bad situation. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any ideas where they wouldn’t be in a bad spot; the situation was just that harsh.

Gaius also couldn't think of many good plans that involved making use of kids. In fact, they were quite the irregular and unstable force, and he didn't want to count on that. Not expecting much of such a force was the best option.

"I guess I will have to rely on Relia…" Gaius thought while checking her parameters. "It doesn't look like she killed any enemies after our last talk, so waiting for them to expose themselves won't do it."

"What is wrong, little master?" Relia asked. "I can feel your presence nearby."