Luke stood in the crowd looking at his compass. It was the compass Odebus gave him. In case a reader has forgotten, Luke desired to find his siblings, and Odebus handed him a compass that would show him the way.
"They must be close by," he muttered as he walked beside Evie, behind Gab. The needle of the compass began to wobble constantly. Gab, noticing Luke's actions, only asked in wonder, "Are your siblings nearby?" Luke, who didn't want to reveal this information, only sighed and replied, "Yes, according to the compass."
"That pleases me for you. Well then, I guess I'll give you the order to find your siblings. Until then, I don't want to see you in front of my eyes. Oh yes, after you find them, I have got a request for you," Gab remarked. "What do you wish for, my lord," Luke asked while looking Gab in the eye."We need bone armor for another 150 fighters."We need bone armor for another 150 fighters. I don't want to see any of my soldiers with faulty equipment. Furthermore, I want to lose as few people as possible in the next few corridors," Gab continued. "Understood," Luke replied, and Gab continued walking.
"Thank God I survived that discussion with the princess. Thank goodness I listened to my instincts and didn't give her my honest opinion. At the same time, she also fell for my lie, since I never saw the archers until after they shot them down," went through Gab's head as he walked through celebrating people. His two cats, each sleeping on one of his shoulders, nestled against his neck.
"These two are cute. Anyway, Gab, you shouldn't forget you're working under the princess, herself now. Don't forget that she should have the biggest network of all in the kingdom. Don't forget that from now on you have to give 200% so that she is satisfied with your work. You have to make sure that you become one of her henchmen. Sure, you want nothing more than to be free, but you need to find your other siblings. Especially Raph, since he also got sold into slavery with me. The sooner I gain their trust, and the sooner we leave the tower, the sooner you can ask them to help you in finding your siblings.
Oh yes, don't forget, seeing Luz's face when he finds out that you've accomplished more than him since the time we siblings got separated. That face will be rewarding enough to work for a princess," Gab thought.
"Lord, why are you smiling," asked Evie, who was walking behind him silently. "Evie, you can call me by my name," Gab sighed, "I'm sorry, but unfortunately, you happen to be the superior of all of us here. Calling you by name would show the others that I have no respect for you. We both don't want more people questioning your leadership," Evie replied emotionlessly. "Maybe I was too hard on both of you," Gab muttered, shaking his head.
The rest of the day was mainly spent dividing all the soldiers into smaller subgroups and the like. Gab's army became a three hundred strong army with the addition of the soldiers whose leaders died. This was far too big for Gab's caliber, but the princess seemed to want it.
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"Never mind. Evie, your job is to find the strongest mages and the strongest warriors from the remaining battalions. We will discuss tonight how to integrate the groups," Gab ordered her.
"Time for me to rest," Gab mumbled after the order and made himself comfortable on an uncomfortable stone while one of the female mages massaged his back.
In front of Gab now stood 20 overdressed mages as well as soldiers. Gab took a look at each of them and tried to analyze them. "You all know why I called you, don't you?" he asked. The crowd nodded. "Very well, please gather in smaller groups with whom you will get along better. "But why are we doing such childish nonsense," muttered one of the youths. "It's simple. I will divide you into subgroups," Gab interjected. He planned to reduce his 300-man army to several battalions each. The strongest battalion will be commanded by Gab himself, but for the remaining battalions, Gab will need soldiers strong and wise enough for such an activity. Furthermore, the 50-man battalions will be reduced to 10-man squads.
The idea is that if a battalion is overrun from all sides, it will have to split into small groups that can act independently. Maybe there are better ways to restructure the soldiers, but in any case, it is easier for Gab if he only has to give his orders to the battalion commanders, who then communicate it to the individual squad leaders.
Everyone agreed with Gab's plan and helped with squad design and the like. At the same time, Gab allowed each of the battalion leaders to pick two of their five squads themselves.
But unfortunately for them, Gab ordered them to decide among themselves who should be the battalion commander and who should be his right-hand man.
It was not enough for one female mage with a silver staff and a snake wrapped around her staff. "I challenge your leadership position," she shouted. "Not again," Gab muttered before interjecting, "I'll give you the chance to fight one of my warriors. But if you lose to them, you'll have to sacrifice something to keep your head. But if you really want to fight me, then it will cost you your head if you lose."
She just gulped before saying, "I'd rather fight one of your warriors." "So which one of you wants to teach her a lesson? The one who wins against her has a guaranteed position as battalion commander," Gab replied with a big grin.
Only now did she realize that she had fallen into a trap because some of the people here had seen her fighting and knew her weaknesses. It wasn't long before people were arguing amongst themselves about who would be allowed to fight her. In the end, a man with a short sword and a shield, was chosen.
"then may you two fight," Gab replied without specifying whether or not they would be allowed to kill each other.
The girl immediately started muttering a spell, but the boy calmly grabbed a stone and threw it at her face with a quick blow. She toppled over, and the fight ended faster than expected. "That was faster than expected. Well, your snake will be your sacrifice. Chop off its head and chop off one of your fingers," Gab commented while being bored.
"Please, not my snake," she begged. "Then chop off your left hand," Gab replied, shaking his head."If you don't decide on one of the two victims soon, I'll chop off your head," he said coldly.
The girl did as she was ordered. The shrill scream of her was heard as she chopped off her finger and handed it to Gab while kneeling. "This is just a warning to all of you. The one who challenges my position will end up worse than her," he told those present while taking the finger and sucking the blood from it.
"I want to see fully formed battalions in two hours," Gab shouted and left the group.