The Meeting Hall was vast, meant to comfortably accommodate over a hundred. There were several hundred people within at the moment, and each one was focused on only one person.
He stood on a small platform to be seen by those in the back. The air was hot and stuffy, but not a single person spoke.
“War is sweeping through the land. As of yet, it has not come to Onigas. But we would be fools to think this will last. War will come to us. We need to be ready. My question to all of you, how are we to prepare?” The Onigas City Lord asked.
“We need to strengthen our walls.” One of the Nobles stated.
“In what way?” Another asked.
“It is too difficult and costly to make the existing City Wall taller or thicker. At least within the time frame we should expect. My first thought is to build a second wall further away from the City. It doesn’t have to be pretty, just stable and durable. In the space between the two walls, we would station our military forces, allowing them to react quicker and act with less interference from the City itself.” The man explained his thinking.
“It would also allow us to monitor those coming and going from the city much more closely. And, if the City does come under attack, it would help prevent damage to the city proper.” Another Noble said, catching onto the idea.
The City Lord spoke up, “What would be needed for this project?”
He had already asked the Noble to suggest this. He wanted the rest of the Nobility to discuss it, as he appeared as impartial.
The Minister of Forestry spoke up, “We would need to cut the forest back to maintain a safe distance.”
“Which will also require the Scouts to push the Monsters back, both to protect the Lumberjacks and to keep the worst of the Monsters back.” The Commander of the Scouts added.
The Scouts were the ones to monitor the Forest and its occupants.
“How would we actually build this wall? Who would we have build it? How would we fund this?” The Minister of Finance asked, worried about bankrupting the City.
“We could have the Mage in the Military make it?” A noble suggested, trying to avoid paying another group to make it.
The General quickly interrupted another noble, “We can’t do that. My men are all geared towards combat. They could do it, but it won’t be as durable as a Wall created by those who specialize in building Walls. They might be able to do the majority of the actual work, but the design and detail work will need to be done by a third party.”
“So we hire said specialists and have the army do the actual construction. Could your men handle digging a moat around the Wall? We could have it filled with water. This should prevent siege engines from getting too close, as well as hinder any infantry trying to push forward.”
“Yes they can manage that, it's simple work, just takes time. Speaking of Siege Engines, this new wall will need their own. Just a few Ballistas could make a headache of any attacker. And because the Proper Wall won’t be taking the brunt of the damage, we could have it using Trebuchets to hurl stones over the outer wall.”
“Could our Engineers make more?”
The Engineer Captain answered with a brash raise of his hand, “Yeah, we could do it. Especially with increased flow of Lumber we will have coming in from clearing the Forest. But between the walls, we need to have pathways linking them.”
“Won’t that make the defenses weaker? If the enemy capture the outer wall, they could just walk to the top of the inner wall.”
The Engineer opened his mouth, but the General spoke first, “It would actually strengthen the defenses. By quite a bit. The cross walls would speed up the defender’s reaction speed and would also help to section off areas in between the walls. Sections that can each defend themselves, slowing any attackers from capturing the space between the walls.”
“But won’t those sections just be peppered from on top of the outer wall?”
“Depend on how we build the sections. We would make the sections to be easy to attack from on top of the inner wall, in case they are captured. However, the weak spot in any wall is the gate. The gates will, without a doubt, be the first to fall during any siege. As such, the ward, which is what the space between the walls are called, that or bailey. As such, the ward is the first area to be captured in most sieges. By sectioning it, we make it harder to capture by the infantry while the outer wall is still fighting. Then, when both the outer wall and the bailey is captured, the bailey will be designed to be open to attack from the Inner wall.”
“With this new wall, how will we man it?”
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“Should we institute a draft?”
The City Lord spoke up, “No. We will not be issuing a draft. At least not at this point. We will however be openly recruiting, as well as lowering the costs of independent training.”
“What about the Adventurers?” A man asked.
Adventurers were usually Adepts who traveled from settlement to settlement in small groups, accepting tasks from the citizens. They tended to be stronger than the average soldier or mercenary.
“We will treat them as mercenaries. However, while we won’t openly say it, any Adventurer still in the city if we come under siege will be drafted into service, if they check out. They will be paid for their accomplishments during service, but they will serve.” The General explained.
This wasn’t anything special, it was a common practice to any Settlement that was attacked. Any experienced Adventurer would know and understand this. They would either leave the settlement before the attack, or they wouldn’t.
“Would we hire Mercenaries?”
“At this moment? No. Depending on how the situation develops, we might. But not right now.” The General explained.
“Sir, how much time do we suspect we have?” The man asked the City Lord.
“As of right now, skirmishes are rising, both in frequency and in intensity. Our spies are reporting back that many Nations are beginning to recall their ambassadors and halting any discussions. At this rate, we believe that open wars will begin in two years. Everyone hear that? We have two years to be ready for war!”
“What is our stance in these politics?”
“The same as always. Neutrality. With any luck, the larger Nations will forget about us in favor of the other large Nations. If they still remember us, that’s where these defenses come in. If they do remember us in the midst of all the turmoil and wars, I want to make this City require more men, resources, and time to conquer than they have available.”
“Sir, we should also be concerned about the inflow of refugees that come here once the wars do start. As an Independent City, they will see us as an island of safety.”
“Which is just another of the many reasons this outer wall is so important. All refugees will be closely monitored and interrogated. If they are clear, they will be allowed in.” The City Lord explained.
“If we do need a draft, we can issue one among the refugees we allow in, or even to be allowed in.” The General stated as he scratched his beard.
“How so?” One of the Noble Women asked.
“If needed, we can say that to be allowed in, the groups must offer some people to join the Military. Its harsh, but that is the way of a refugee. And when the bodies come home, our citizens will be more willing to accept that many of them are refugee bodies. People they don’t know. And when the wars end, the Citizens will be more willing to accept the refugees if they fought for the city.”
“This is all well and good. But by building this outer wall, we will be basically turning our entire city into a fortress. How will this effect trade? If we do come under siege, will we have the food reserves to feed not only our own people but the refugees?”
The Minister of Agriculture raised his hand, bringing the attention to himself, “If we do come under siege, we will have to abandon the fields. We will harvest what we can, and destroy the rest to prevent the enemy from feeding themselves off our work. The city keeps a supply of grain capable of feeding the city for approximately six months. The harvest will add some time, depending on the time of season, as well as how much of a warning we receive of any impending attack.
However, we do also have hydroponics underground which will help supply the city, but even those will only buy a bit of time. I will have to look through the records, as well as examine the stores myself, but I believe that if we do come under siege, if the defenses hold, the city will survive for seven, maybe eight months.”
The Minister of Trade spoke up next, “As for trade, we should see an influx during the construction of the walls. The Merchants will see the expansion as a good opportunity, but as the wars progress and the wall finishes, it will decline. I'm worried that the merchants residing in the city will begin to hoard their goods and raise the prices.”
“Alright, Ministers, I want each of you to speak with your people and give me a report on how you believe your areas could help the city defend against invasion. I want those reports in two weeks. General, speak with the Engineers and design an outer wall, as well as find the specialists you would require.”
That seemed to serve as the dismissal, and the doors opened, bringing with it a wave of cool fresh air. Many left, but even more began to form groups. The City Lord sat down in his chair on the podium, where Lord Siphas walked up to him.
“If it does come down to a fight, do you really think we could survive?” Siphas asked.
The City Lord sighed, letting down the guard in his voice with his friend, “I have no idea. Our ambassadors are doing their best to push our neutrality, as well as make it a point that we aren’t very special, but have a strong military force. If that doesn’t work, and we are attacked? Our standing army is of a slightly higher quality than the standard soldier, which for defenders in a siege, is very important. We do have more Mages per hundred, due to our higher level of education and training. But all of that means nothing against the flood of bodies any of the Nations could drown us in.”
“Could we send some of the soldiers with the Scouts while they clear the Forest of Monsters?” Siphas asked.
“We could, and its worth thinking about, but while that would improve the quality of the soldiers, they would inevitably take losses.”
“What about our Dungeon? It's an Instance. Could we send the soldiers there to improve?”
“No. Its a High B Rank. An experienced group of Elite Adepts could reliably clear it, but the vast majority of any force we sent in wouldn’t come back. So we can make our Elites even stronger, but it won’t help the majority of our forces.”
Hidden above, in the rafters of the Meeting hall, Iris watched and listened. If she was found, she would be punished by her father. But she couldn’t restrain her curiosity. Her father was always busy, but something had changed recently. Isabella had said the same about her father as well. And now she knew why.
War was coming. People would die, fields burned, cities razed. Blood would flow in rivers. Iris snuck her way out of the room, headed for the training fields. She was weak, and it made her blood boil. If war did come to her home, she refused to be a hindrance.