Chapter 318

Ytakan Scrublands, Archduchy of Rebirth

Darthar-Asaria Trade Route

The war council was an interesting one. Gathered in three places, it was linked by means arcane and technological. On section was in Rebirth, with Allya and Pyn, still glowing from their marriage, another was in the marching army, with Manson, the duke of Sarth, Knight-Commander Philia, Alexandra and a spattering of their various officers.

Last but not the least...were their majesties, joining them from Asaria.

"We thank you for the invitation." Said the King with a smile. A tired, exhausted even, one, but a smile nonetheless. "And regret we were not able to attend previous gatherings. We were far too busy, I'm afraid."

"I would have been intensely surprised had you not been, your majesty." Said Manson, and exchanged a smile with the King that spoke of a lifelong friendship.

"True. Very well, while my various advisors have tried to kept me up to date to the best of their abilities, I am afraid I have fallen behind somewhat. Would somebody care to resume the situation?"

Alexandra nodded, trying not to look too impressed. Now that was an actual ruler. Perhaps not quite of Allya's caliber, but he had taken command of the conversation and effortlessly seated his authority with nothing but a handful of sentences and his body language. Damn. Ghost could do it, and so could she, but that had been with Arcadia's coaching. They were zealots, strategists and engineers, not natural born leaders.

"Of course." Said the dungeon core, as she sat up. "As everyone knows, a few days ago we engaged a significant force of the United Dungeon Council in battle. While we were victorious, the damage was...consequential." The Earth-born sighed. "Of fifty thousand troops, half were destroyed. My artillery remains mostly intact, but is almost completely out of ammo. And my fleet has been decimated. For all intents and purposes, all of my escort ships have either been shot down or rendered combat ineffective. My only ships that remain capable of doing battle are two Corsair-class frigates, uncompromisingly designed to engage larger vessels, my siege ship So Much For Subtlety, from which I am transmitting from, and four transport vessels, three of which have been reconverted into marine transports, whose marines have been almost completely annihilated, and the last one into a mobile arsenal, emptied of its ammunition."

"That is...grim indeed. But not hopeless." The King turned towards Manson, who began speaking.

"My forces are fully intact. We are sharing our ammunition supply with Crystal's troops, but ours was already more limited to begin with. I have had my officers take a full stock of my troops. Of them, I have fifteen thousand regulars, forty thousand conscripts of various types, varying from city guards to village militias, and an ever growing number of volunteers, which is estimated at around twenty thousands. This include a significant number of newly inducted people from the civilians trailing the army, following the battle."

Alexandra mentally whistled. Twenty thousands? Damn, even she hadn't realized there were that many civilians joining their ranks. And despite being glorified resistance fighters or just farmers, they were hardened as hell. They wouldn't have survived Sunrise's repressive regime otherwise.

"A significant host."

"But not a large enough one." Cut in the Queen, looking grim. "The duchess has left troops to encircle the city and keep us penned in. But that is but a drop of water in her own force."

"How many, if I may?" Asked Alexandra, cautiously. Getting hard numbers on Sunrise's main army was hell, given its constantly fluctuating number of slaves.

"The duchess has left thirty thousand of her regulars, with around ten times as many slaves to guard the city." Alexandra winced. That was...that was basically the entire fucking army they'd routed in Darthar. "We estimate she has taken ten times that many regulars, including all of her elites, south, alongside close to a million and a half slaves."

Only silence answered that.

A million and a half. That was...completely ridiculous. But a helpful reminder of the insane population of Alcheryos. With magic, both healing and for helping plant growth, not to mention the seemingly rampant arcane genetic engineering that had given birth to entire new species after the Dawn of the Flames...the continent she was on, Arkhan, had almost a billion people living on it. And half of those people were in the Asarian Kingdom, thanks to its massive territory and prosperous agriculture, more than any nation on Earth was able to boast before the modern era, though she supposed they already de facto had fertilizers, vaccines and medicine, just through arcane means. One of the reasons why there was a bottomless supply of slaves and adventurers to undertake dangerous tasks was simply because of the comparative overpopulation, not in terms of food, but housing. It wasn't just a question of building a new place here, you had to clear it, keep it free of monsters, have sufficient mana...

But still, half a billion people. With just what Sunrise had currently in their field armies, that was, what? Three million people?

"How are they supplying them?" Asked Alexandra.

"That's the simple part." Answered the Queen, grimly. "They're not."

The dungeon core's face fell.

Oh no.

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"What do you mean?" Asked Knight-Commander Philia, desperately looking like she wanted to have misunderstood.

"I mean that any time we were able to push them back, they took the bodies of the dead with them, and the prosperous plains around Asaria are naught but a wasteland now. Stripped of the smallest animal, even of grass."

Alexandra gritted her teeth.

"The UDC will be in good company then." She finally said in the otherwise ringing silence. "So, they will take care of their force's..logistics by just covering new ground."

"It will also improve." Said one of Manson's officers, the ranger commander, and everyone turned towards the desert soldier. "The Kamira river, over which the Royal Union Bridge is built, is rich in fish, and the lands nearby are extremely fertile floodplains, with a long history of exporting vast amounts of food. They may also ship in food upriver from Kaidan, which is likewise extremely fertile. A great deal of that food was once shipped over the Inner Sea towards Sarth and the Western Baronies."

Manson grimaced.

"That is if they are heading there to begin with."

"It's the only strategic location they can head to now." Simply answered Alexandra. "Splitting up was stupid, but they're committed. Trying to backpedal would shatter the duchess' leadership, whatever is left of it anyway. We can thank that fucker running towards Kaidan for that." She smiled grimly. "It also means supplies coming upriver is unlikely as hell. But they will definitely strip the area bare."

"One wonders what possessed her to march South." Mused the King, and Alexandra barked out a laugh. "Quite foolish."

"Yet the perfect move...if she knew what was coming for my own force." She smiled viciously. "That, and other events, have left me with very little illusion that Sunrise and the UDC aren't colluding together."

"An alliance between them could be catastrophic."

"They've already been allied in truth for months. And yes, it will be catastrophic, but for them." Alexandra's smile widened at the others' confusion. "Trust me, I know dungeon politics. The UDC allying with the scumbags of Sunrise will shatter what little moral authority they can pretend to have." And, more importantly, make sure that the dungeons underneath Molro, Kaidan and Asaria would die before coming to their side. And maybe even push them into her arms, though that was a more uncertain bet.

"I defer to you on that, but it will still increase their forces significantly. Particularly, the duchess' airfleet is...nonexistent, though her gryphon knights are to be feared. Meanwhile, the UDC's own force is mostly comprised of airborne vessels, is it not?"

"Transport ships, certainly. But their warships are...more limited now. They entered the battle with a single battleship and forty six combat escorts. Of this, only eighteen escorts escaped alive." Which, given the fact that she had fully lost eleven ships in the engagement, with five crippled, was a kill ratio of about two to one, with an entire artillery park underneath to provide supporting fire. These biological ships were amazingly tough. "However, none of their transports were harmed, which leaves ninety seven of them, including five capital ships."

"Could they be used as warships?"

"Certainly. But not very effective ones, would be my guess. Or they would have used them in an all out assault."

"I thought they were keeping them in reserve."

"They were keeping part of their army in reserve, but not their fleet. They had no need to, the duke's forces had very few airships, and the most effective among them were some of my Freedom-class armed transports. Which, while sturdy-" And a cut above the Kingdom's own airships. "-are not significant enough to dedicate forces to engage."

"I see. A fell marriage of forces."

"Perhaps, but a certain strategic demise for the both of them." Alexandra shrugged at his questioning look. "They may be able to defeat our force, but they won't take us out. The UDC's actions have guaranteed its collapse. And by the time they get another force into the field...my own allies will have as well."

"And what of Sunrise?"

"Given their current strategic situation, including their second largest army defecting and de facto rebelling, I am honestly amazed they haven't imploded...yet."

"I hope you are correct, lady Crystal. Otherwise a lot more innocents are about to die."

"That is always the price, isn't it?" Their gazes met, and something beyond words passed between them, as the king nodded.

"It is." He sounded suddenly tired. "Which brings me to a simple question. What shall you do?"

"We will advance our forces to meet them at the Royal Union Bridge. There we will pound them into rubble. With their main force away from the capital, we no longer have a time constraint. We can afford to harass them and make them come to us."

"And will you win?"

"That engagement? Oh hell no." Alexandra chuckled. "But I can ensnare them in a pursuit. If they decline to follow, we'll simply return and hit them again. If they do take the bait, we'll make them go through every kind of hell there is. Because with every step they take south, our supply lines shorten while theirs lengthen. Living off the land or no, their elites still need potions and equipment."

"And how much territory do you intend to give?"

"Not much. Just enough for them to get hit by my reinforcements before they realize they should be there."

"Your reinforcements?" The King perked up, and Alexandra nodded.

"I have resumed mass production of ground troops." And expanded it. A lot. The King was right, the next decisive battle wouldn't be fought in the air. it didn't mean she'd let up on the air production, but she'd stop the frenetic pace of shipbuilding. Instead all of that industry would go to giving them a taste of her new equipment. "I intend to form a second field army to merge with the first during its retreat. Above thirty thousand improved infantry, with a much heavier armored contingent."

A contingent that would contain her first production run of Mackies, fifteen heavy mechs. Emilia had been right, these beasts were basically landships...which meant a lot of her shipbuilding infrastructure could be repurposed to make them instead.

"And you believe that will be sufficient?"

"It will over double my current amount of infantry, and come with significant upgrades." Many of which could have accompanied the first army had she not been cutting corners left and right to keep her naval production going, especially when she had ordered her mad dash to reinforce her core fortress after the news that someone was going to try and assassinate her. An effort that continued, though at a lower pace, to this day. "More important will be the armored units however. The spider-tanks proved decisive in the battle, and I believe they will be the weapon to shatter Sunrise." Even if only because a horde of peasants could swarm over an infantry line, but good luck chasing tanks around.

"Very well then." The King cleared his throat, and addressed Allya. "Lady Nouvelle-Aurore, one sizeable question remains."

The archduchess nodded, having been perfectly content until now to stay silent, probably because she was not so discreetly cuddling with her wife.

"Yes. The one of partition of the lands, after the war has concluded."