*Swoosh Swoosh*
I watched from a distance as my party member swung his sword around.
It was... kinda mesmerising honestly.
Even though the rules of magic in this universe wasn’t same as the ones in his last universe, it seemed that his strength might not have only come from simple luck, but also the skills he had sharpened over the years he spent on the frontlines of whatever war his people were waging.
And he also knew quite a bit about military tactics, and organization as well! So, even though he had been here for a mere week, the military of my empire had improved quite a lot in that time.
But as I, and everyone else, got to know him a bit more, something became apparent to all of us... the man was the mother of all workaholics... and really antisocial.
The first day he came to this world, I tried to make some of my knights and officials, and the single minister, to intermingle with him... but the man just ignored my attempts at forcing him to make some friends, and instead immediately started talking about work.
And he’d work around the clock as well!
He’d get up, eat, and then go to his office or start his morning training, so I had to actually force him to lower his working hours... but he then just started using all 8 hours he spent at the guards’ HQ to deal with paperwork, and all the other hours he was awake to train.
“Haahhh... what will I do with this nutjob?” I muttered under my breath as I genuinely had no idea to how to get him to stop being so... robotic.
“...Rae, will I get any techs about psychology in the next level?”
“Nope.”
“Then when will I get the option to research things about psychology, or things similar to that?”
“Never.”
“...What?”
“I didn’t think anyone would need it, so I didn’t make research about it. And your people are going to figure out treatments and drugs to deal with psychological issues eventually, you just need to fund any projects that appears in your empire and boom! Psychologists and psychiatrists will appear!”
“I... I really doubt that’s how things happen... can you please just put a research about psychology in level 4 or any of the later levels?”
“Nope. Don’t want to.”
“...I really hate you sometimes, you know?”
“Oh, I am aware! But don’t worry, you’ll get to love me eventually!”
“...We’ve known each other for 8 years. I doubt how I act towards you will change much in another few decades.”
“But it might in a few centuries.”
“...Sure, keep hoping...” I told her, and just moved my head toward my party member that... still hadn’t come up with a name for himself.
He had actually asked me to come up with a name for him, and while I was more than happy to oblige to his request, I wasn’t really sure what name to give him.
I mean, there were just too many historical and mythical figures from earth that I could name him!
Gilgamesh, Thor, Alexander, Napoleon, Atilla, Sun Tzu, Genghis, etc... the names of people who were great generals, strong warriors, or both just kept coming to me!
But after 3 days, I had landed on a name that was while... maybe not the greatest name to give someone that definitely was not Asian, I believed it was still a great name to give him.
And, hey, perhaps some otherworlders that pop up in my nation will recognise the name, and try to get in contact with him, which will allow me to at least keep an eye out on them, and make sure they don’t start a slave harem out of nowhere.
Getting up from the place I was sitting at, I started going towards my party member, and shouted at him to turn his attention to me for a second.
“What is it?” He asked as he saw me coming to him.
“I think I’ve found a good name for you, want to hear it?”
“...Is this another ploy from you to stop me from training?”
“Oh, if I wanted to stop you from training, I’d just put some diluted poison in your drink or something. I am not like the nobles of your world after all, at least not yet, so you don’t need to worry about me trying to trick you with my silver tongue.
“And why would I try to trick you into stopping training anyways?”
“Because you’ve tried before?”
“In my defence, I’ve just been trying to get you to start following your dreams of being an actual person.”
“I am doing that. I just... need some time to adjust to this place.”
“And you’ve been doing that by spending half the day in the forest?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
And he couldn’t come up with a fast counter argument, not that he was that fast while talking anyways.
“Anyways, do you want to hear your new name now, or later?”
“...Sure. Tell it now.”
“I’ve decided to name you Yamato.”
“Yamato?” He asked at hearing the unfamiliar word, and took a few moments to familiarize himself with it.
“What does it mean?” He asked a few moments later.
“Well, its just the name of a folk hero... and also a battleship.”
“You named me after... a battleship?”
“Look, it’s a cool name. You’d agree with me if you were from my original universe as well!”
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
“... For some reason I highly doubt that... but I’ll accept that name.”
“Great, now, come with me, I want to talk to you about something.” I said, and he slit his eyes as I did so.
“Didn’t you just say you weren’t going to trick me to stop training?”
“Yes, and I am not doing that. I have orders for you, now c’mon, follow behind me!” I told him and started walking towards town with my guard in tow.
He wasn’t my personal guard or anything, but I always had 1 or 2 guards around me to defend me in case something unexpected happened.
And soon, we reached the stone walls, and the gate of town, and started walking towards the administrative quarters.
The area behind the stone walls were... well, empty as we didn’t yet have enough time to fill it up to the brim with buildings, but after we entered through the second wall, it seemed as though we had gone through a portal!
The town was starting to get lively as people started returning from their jobs, and men, women, and children were walking down the street, and greeting me as they did so.
And in the distance, I could hear some shouts coming from the commercial district, which was burgeoning even more, day by day.
In a few more years, some influential figures should come out of there though, which may prove to be a problem if not handled correctly may lead to some problems like bribery... but hopefully I’ll detect things like that before they become a serious issue.
Not focusing on the streets of the city much, I quickly made my way to the administrative district with Yamato, and entered my office.
“So, what did you want to talk about?” He immediately asked as we entered my office.
“Sit down first, I believe our conversation will take some time.” I said, pointing towards one of the 2 chairs in front of my desk, and sat down on my own chair.
My office wasn’t anything too grand, only a few bookshelves to the side for me to take and put some scrolls, and books on, and stock some extra paper and ink on.
My desk had 2 drawers to the right side of it, where I kept some of the more important paperwork at, like the empire budget and all.
And on my desk, I had 2 candle holders, a full ink container, a few wooden and feather pens, and a few pieces of paper I hadn’t signed yet.
“How long will this take?” He asked with a sigh as he sat down on one of the empty seats, and mimicking his moves, Rae sat down on the other empty seat in front of him.
“Will she be in our conversation?” He asked, as he pointed at Rae.
“Nope, she won’t. But I also can’t get rid of her, so, she’ll have to stay here.” I told him, and while Rae made a weird face at me, I just ignored her and continued talking.
“Have you had the chance to greet the knights and their squires in town?”
“...Not yet. Why?”
“Well, seeing as you are the most qualified military officer in the entire empire, I wanted you to teach them what you know, and decide on a military doctrine to follow.
“And we will be talking about other things about military hierarchy and all, but after we are done with the main course.”
“Main course?”
“The main thing I called you here for. Just think of me forcing you to socialise and share your knowledge as an appetizer, and us solidifying a military hierarchy as the dessert.”
“...Well, what is our main course then?”
“What we are going to do in 2 years’ time when the monster wave hits. I told you to think about it, didn’t I? Have you been able to come up with any plans?”
“...Do you have a map here? And a better estimate to how long we have before the first monsters start trickling in?” He asked, and I called the guard outside the door, and told him to get us a map from the colonization department.
And after the map was brought back to us, I started telling him the information he wanted.
“We know that the true dungeon that will spew out the monsters is around 1500 kilometres away, so, at worst case scenario, the first monsters will reach us by the end of the January of the 10th year, or in about 646 days.
“But that’s the worst-case scenario. What is more likely to happen is the monsters first reaching our southernmost villages and towns by mid to late February, and the proper monster tide arriving by early to mid-spring. So, we should be in the clear by June, which will just give us enough time to sent settlers to settle more villages, though the monsters that retreated from, or simply never attacked our towns will still be around and kicking, but the majority of them will die out in the next 3-5 years.”
“Hmm... is there a way to funnel them to this village?” He asked, pointing at the southernmost village on the map, which coincidentally belonged to the baron of the south. Whose name I remembered. Totally.
“We can station some troops in the grasslands to the east, and try to divert the monster there, but what is most likely to happen is that we lose most if not all of the troops stationed there.
“And forcing the monsters that go through the forest to go to a central location will be barely possible as... well, everything to the east is a big forest. Its just impossible to build fortifications or clear out enough space there in just 2 years.
“Its better to just let the monsters that go there be. The animals in the forest, and the naturally accruing dungeons and monsters will slowly wear them down, leaving only a strong few monsters that we will be able to easily detect, and hunt down.”
“How intelligent or aggressive were these monsters again? Is there anything we can use to lure them into the town?”
“Monsters are simply animals strengthened by mana to some degree. So, no intelligence to be found in them. But Tier 3’s and above may have some rudimentary intelligence we may need to worry about, though we are yet to get hold of a tier 3, so I haven’t had the opportunity to confirm it.
“Though, we do have something to lure the monsters. The Rainbow Sapling.
“But I am not too keen on the idea of putting it close to the frontlines unless we turn that town into an impenetrable fortress.”
“That’s the plan. So, can I count on the sapling being there when we need it?”
“...Only after the first monster wave appears. Then, we’ll send it with some extra resources and men to the town. Though, it is possible that we may not be able to reinforce the town at all after the proper monster tide appears in the horizon, so there will need to be enough food for at least a few hundred people for a few months.”
“Why are you telling me that? Resource management is your thing. I am just here to give military advice.”
“...Fair. So, we are turning the baron’s town into a fortress?”
“Seems like the option that makes the most sense, though I would like a few forward outposts, so we know when the monsters first start appearing.”
“Hmm... rejected, for now. I’d rather we sent as many men as possible to build the walls of the town thicker, and make it able to house a larger population, and feed it, rather building some towers out in the wilderness we know will be destroyed.
“But I’ll make it so that a few men on horse back will be scouting the grasslands in winter to make sure that we don’t meet too many surprise guests.”
“Understood. But we need at least a hundred or more free soldiers to send to the town when it is in need. I am not saying we should only get 200-300 more soldiers; I am saying we should at least have 200-300 more soldiers than we need as our current 100 full-time soldiers are already stretched too thin.
“I suspect we will need at least 400-500 men in the army to not experience loss of all of our villages. Though, it is simply impossible to make a correct estimate as to how many soldiers we’ll need, seeing as you don’t have any experience of previous monster waves.”
“That is correct, but I’d rather have more soldiers than necessary, rather than not having enough. But it’s... not really possible for us to enlarge our army to 400, or even 500 in a matter of 2 years.
“And its not a simple matter of beds to give to the soldiers, if I wanted to, I could order a construction group to build nothing but barracks for a year, and get at least a hundred more men in the army, but the main problem is that, if I do that, our economy will become strained due to the amount of resources we divert into keeping 500 men at arms.”
“Then don’t. Conscript some of the militia men, and farmers from the towns and villages that seem to be in a safer position, and send them to the frontlines.
“That’s how war works after all, having a standing army of 500 people is simply impossible for an empire that is this small.”
“I will... think about it. But I will give my final decision after inspecting the initial reports we get from the scouts up ahed.”
“Understood. And we will stop expanding new towns south of that town, right?”
“Yup, at least, for now.
“And thinking about it... this won’t actually affect the standing of both the barons as the one in the north will get more villages under his command, while the one in the south will get more investment from the capitol.
“It’s a win-win for both of them really.” I said, shrugging, and then I and Yamato continued to iron out a more detailed plan about how big the fortress city we were going to build was going to be.
How many walls would it have, how thick they’d be, how many soldiers would be stationed there, would we be evacuating civilians from the south or keeping them locked up in the fort?
But after a few hours of planning, and a few candles fully burnt out, we had managed to come up with a plan that satisfied both of us... but I believe the most satisfied one would be the southern baron.