Atarra felt truly foolish. She had encountered so many problems in pacifying her sector, or even before, she had been aware of these underlying issues and had done nothing to fix them. However, it took nothing more than a message from the kid for her to set things in order.
"My lady, the restructuring of our army is nearing completion. The platoon commanders and lieutenants chosen by you have completed their training, only the selection of lower-ranking officers remains, according to your commands, these will be chosen by the commanders," Atarra's highest-ranking initiate informed her of the relevant events in her army and then gave way to others to report on other matters of her administration.
Atarra was surprised at herself. Somehow, without any promulgated law obligating both matriarchs, as well as Lark and the burgeoning Dwarf community with its representative, they had begun to adopt a similar administrative system to the one Alex had been using. The different races had adapted to fit with Alex's administration and the way he ordered and managed various political, economic, and social matters.
"Once the restructuring is complete, it is important not only to transmit the objectives of our war clearly and concisely, but also to ensure that our victory condition is clear and that the different officers understand their role in this," Atarra told her initiate.
"Yes, my lady, I will ensure that everyone understands our goal so that they can contribute better to it."
Atarra dispatched her initiates to carry out their tasks, and while she was left alone, she couldn't help but smile faintly to herself.
The reason they were losing? It was quite simple, and now that she had the answer, it was so obvious that she felt foolish. It was a fundamental part of Alex's message, "Soldiers cannot fulfill their objective if they do not know what the objective really is." It was logical, and yet it was the main reason they hadn't made much progress since the Goblin counterattacks had begun. The troops didn't know exactly what they should do; they simply dedicated themselves to killing the enemy nearby, losing formation and time chasing useless troops in the grand scheme of things.
The old matriarch was pulled out of her contemplation by one of her initiates re-entering her house.
"Is something the matter?" the matriarch asked.
"Yes, my lady, a Dwarf representative has arrived with the shipment," the initiate replied.
"And what, do you need my help unloading the materials?" the matriarch said, somewhat annoyed by the interruption.
"No, my lady, but the representative demands that the receipt for the shipment be signed before delivery," the initiate replied, feeling slightly embarrassed to have to bother the matriarch with this matter.
"Ah, cursed bureaucracy, I understand, I'll be right there," Atarra replied.
Atarra grabbed a thick packet of papers and handed them to her initiate before heading to the location of the caravan. The initiate could see that her superior had forgotten her pen, so she took it and followed her. Unbeknownst to the young Gnoll, she made the old matriarch smile faintly, almost like a grimace, but a smile, nonetheless.
Upon arrival, the matriarch greeted the Dwarf with courtesy, setting aside her usual gruff attitude. After all, she knew when she needed others, and she wasn't so arrogant as to think they would help her just because.
"Greetings, Mayor Carter."
"Good morning, Matriarch Atarra, I brought with me the promised weapons and shields from the boy."
Some Dwarves lowered the spears and shields from the carts and handed them to Atarra's guards, who slowly inspected them for quality and balance. The process was more of a formality, as the quality of Dwarven craftsmanship was simply sublime. They nodded to their matriarch, who took the manifest from the Dwarf's hand and checked the numbers.
"800 sets of Aceglass?" the matriarch asked, confused.
"The boy promised 500," the Dwarf nodded.
"And the rest?" the matriarch raised an eyebrow.
"We would like to negotiate the priority of resource extraction," the Dwarf said without masking his intentions. For what little he knew of the matriarch, he knew she preferred to be brutally direct.
"In what are you specifically interested?" the matriarch asked, without taking offense.
This response left the Dwarf puzzled; his knowledge seemed outdated since, as far as he knew, the matriarch had only found one truly special deposit, but apparently, she now had more valuable resources. Although the Dwarf couldn't tell if the matriarch was bluffing or not, it was best to consider the possibility that there were more materials.
"We know you found a deposit of Greytar, that viscous substance can be processed into many products. We are willing to increase the volume of products by 60%. Furthermore, we will set up the production well ourselves and work it, in exchange for 50% of the well's production," the Dwarf replied.
Atarra looked up from the papers she had received. A 60% increase in weapons and shields would put her well ahead in the race for acquiring new territories and would pay for itself. However, she also knew the multiple uses of Greytar. In its normal form, it could be used to coat ships and protect them from corrosion. This substance was much better than normal tar because it also allowed ships to disorient sea monsters, making them not target ships coated with this substance as recurring objectives.
"I can promise you 25% of the resources extracted from the well. If you maintain your shipments without fail and on schedule for the next 6 deliveries, then I will increase your profit to 30%. However, I need you to start construction of whatever it is you want to do as soon as possible, as I also need my share to create explosives," Atarra responded.
"Agreed," the Dwarf was quick to accept, which left Atarra with a bitter taste in her mouth, thinking she had been swindled. However, she couldn't withdraw from the agreement she had made herself without incurring the ill will of the other party.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Atarra's initiate quickly generated a document with the details of the contract, and both parties signed it. Usually, these types of long-term agreements were better supervised by a third party, and there was no one better than Alex in his role as king for that task. However, in his absence, the parties involved had no choice but to wait for the boy to ratify their agreement upon his arrival. Neither of them really expected the other party to have problems with the agreement.
Both parties got what they wanted and bid each other farewell cordially.
"Supposedly, the boy released some other groups of Dwarves. In a previous message, he reported how they were in bad shape, so they'll recover for a few days and then send them here," the matriarch finally said.
"I understand, I don't think there will be any problems if they come here because with the exploitation post of the Greytar well, there will always be some Dwarf groups around to calm their concerns," Carter replied.
The agreement between both sides was a trivial one, and yet for the first time, it had arisen without Alex's absolute mediation, which was a completely disruptive development to the usual dynamic and finally set the gears in motion for the power structures that Alex hoped to create to finally be constituted and start operating.
Carter finished his business at Atarra's town hall and then gathered his team to check on how things had gone on their side.
There were many tasks that the Dwarves needed to review and take care of.
"How is the food supply?" Carter asked.
"It hasn't gone as expected, sir. We've barely met the quota to feed our current residents," a Dwarf replied.
"What was the cause?"
"The Gnolls delivered the amount promised by Lord Alex to us from their tributes, but it was difficult for us to find more food to negotiate."
"Is it because there isn't more food?" Carter asked.
"No, sir, as far as I understand, there should still be small surpluses. However, it seems the front was stalled for a long time, and the Gnolls have started stockpiling."
"If that's the reason, maybe we'll be able to buy more food soon, as it seems both matriarchs are ready to move the front again," Carter replied.
"Even so, sir, I fear that maybe we won't be able to obtain enough food before winter sets in," another employee replied.
Carter grunted softly; the concerns of the Dwarves were legitimate. Alex hadn't granted them lands of their own to work, although they did have a lease on certain urban areas within the town occupied by Alex. Without the real ability to produce food, the Dwarves depended heavily on their industrial capacity. Although many members of this community hadn't sat down to think in detail about the reasons for these choices, leaders like Bromir or the elected Carter knew very well that Alex had lent them a hand, allowing them to contribute precisely with their strengths and not allowing other races to take advantage of their weaknesses.
"On the way back, we'll see the situation on Atasha's front, and if it's similar to this one, we'll have no choice but to try to export more resources through Bromir's expeditions. Therefore, we must start exploiting the Greytar well right now," Carter said.
"Exploiting the well? Do you mean she agreed?" one of the Dwarves asked excitedly.
"Of course she agreed. Having additional weapon shipments is a huge advantage over the other factions," Carter replied.
The Dwarves celebrated lightly and prepared their caravan to return in good spirits. Lately, things seemed to be going smoothly, and although they were theoretically at war, the certainty that they wouldn't be recruited to the front lines was a huge relief for them. Of course, the leaders knew that this would become a burden in the long run; at some point, they would need to control their own lands if they truly wanted to thrive, although that was still far off.
Elsewhere in the forest, a group of Gnolls and Resh's moved slowly, navigating various dangers until they finally had to stop and camp.
"It's been 15 days," said a despondent Gnoll.
"Are we even close?"
"I feel like we've been walking in circles for more than ten days."
"Do we even have supplies left? We haven't been able to forage in the last few days."
Kragash listened attentively to the complaints of his peers, and although he was eager to silence them, he chose not to pay them any attention and took the roasted squirrel he had in his hand to his superior.
"Sir, our food reserves are running very low," Kragash said as he handed over the roasted squirrel.
"We can't risk too much; although it should be fine to gather some food now, we must be careful not to take too much to avoid arousing suspicion," Alex replied.
Kragash thought for a moment and then said, "What do you think they're doing, sir? What we've seen in these last few days is unprecedented."
"It's clear that it's a ritual, something must have changed. Maybe it doesn't even have anything to do with us, and we just stumbled upon it. Whatever it is, we must prevent it from coming to fruition," Alex replied.
The troops rested and continued moving for one more day until they finally set up a definitive camp.
"All right, gentlemen, this place is the best we can do. From now on, we will rest here and investigate our surroundings. We must have a guard watching the altar at all times, so you will take turns to watch it in pairs day and night," Alex said.
"Is there anything specific we should look out for, sir?" one of Alex's initiates asked.
"I'm not sure, but if you see any signs that make it evident that the ritual is about to begin, you must alert everyone else. At that point, we will be forced to act. Another thing we must see is if we can identify the level of their forces or any other weaknesses," Alex said.
The others soon joined in, and they began to devise a plan and assign responsibilities, with Alex as the focal point. The discussion of what they should do in the coming days, tasks such as gathering food, watching the altar and its surroundings, exploring enemy lines, and laying traps on their retreat path, were established and distributed among the different groups.
"What about the stalkers, sir? We haven't seen them for several days," one of the Resh suddenly asked.
"They have another mission; they went to look for reinforcements. Although we shouldn't count on them since it's not certain that they'll come," Alex replied.
"Then sir, what is our mission? What are our conditions for victory?" Kragash asked aloud.
The young Gnoll's attitude seemed strange to many, as everyone thought it was obvious, but they were surprised by Alex's response.
"This is a reconnaissance mission, so we will be successful if we manage to find out what they are trying to do and who is involved. Bonus points if we can see who is really behind all the changes in the enemy," Alex replied.
Everyone present was stunned in their positions, although each had their own version of what they were doing, they never thought they were here for such a small reason. For most of the Gnolls, this mission was a rescue, while the Resh were focused on stopping the ritual and saw this mission as one of sabotage. Many thought this was a conquest mission, and they needed to exterminate their enemies and were just waiting to ambush them.
There was evident doubt on the faces of everyone present, so Kragash decided to help them understand their current circumstances a little better.
"So sir, if we're not dedicated to being scouts, why are we preparing traps for the retreat, and why is it so important to know if they're about to perform the ritual? It feels like we intend to interfere with it," Kragash asked.
"It's because intervening isn't ruled out; it's possible if we're to intervene, as long as it doesn't interfere with our main objective. If possible, our secondary objectives are: rescuing our comrades, sabotaging the ritual, assassinating any high-profile enemy figures. Don't bother trying to steal resources or with anything else," Alex summarized for all the soldiers and warriors.
Now everyone had a better understanding of what they were really doing and what their priorities were. Most of those present began to look at Kragash with some reverence; the Gnoll, despite being much younger than everyone present, was no weaker than them and understood their surroundings and their leader much better.
And so the group would spend the next few days exploring and scouting their surroundings. Although at first, they feared they had arrived too late, they soon realized that wasn't the case. It seemed they had arrived very early, as different groups of Goblins kept arriving from various parts and gathering more and more prisoners in this place.
The routine continued until an unexpected message woke Alex in the middle of the night