If someone had told me that being summoned to another world and being granted magic would mean having even more tedious meetings than if I had stayed in my old world and gotten an office job, I’d have laughed in their faces. I also would have been wrong.
Watching the last of the budgetary clerks leave the room, Leonard subtly cast [Minor Restoration] on himself, finally getting rid of the headache that had been building up since he started reviewing the Revolutionary Government’s finances. The situation wasn’t dire, not yet, thanks to the gold and precious materials they had taken from the conquered nobles. But the reality was harsh - their current expenditure was not sustainable without a continuous influx of cash.
The clerks had proposed lowering the soldiers’ pay or, at the very least, directing the available resources to more immediately productive activities. Leonard immediately shot that down, making sure everyone in the room understood that nothing of the sort would be happening anytime soon.
He hadn’t explicitly said that the troops’ enthusiasm relied on earning fair wages, but it had been emphasized enough by his words that he hoped they wouldn’t try to push for cuts like that again.
It’s not that the people don’t believe in freedom. Especially right now that the army is made up mostly of ex-slaves and veterans from the Incursion, we could afford to pay them less and still have their enthusiastic contribution, but that’s a terrible habit to have. I need the money to circulate anyway, and few spend their coin as well as soldiers.
Frankly, the local economy would have made anyone with an understanding of market forces weep. Demand existed only from the upper classes, who’d then distribute the goods to the lower classes through shops they owned or private ones that still depended on their goodwill. Trade was almost nonexistent, having never really picked back up after the Incursion, if one excluded the slave merchants.
His efforts to get some going with the southern nations had borne fruit, but it wasn’t enough to sustain a campaign without opening up to unacceptable risks. Which meant that he had no choice but to keep pushing.
“We must find a way to delay Count Pollus’ army until we have taken Treon. Once the mouth of the Great Slitherer is in our hands, we’ll control the border with Garva and be in a position to threaten the southern trade routes.” He finally said to the empty room.
“I can keep slowing things down with inconveniences, but they won’t do more than slightly delay at this point. We need a proper diversion.” The air replied.
Smiling at Amelia’s antics, Leonard looked over at the unrolled map on his desk. He would have liked to confront all his enemies directly and at once, but allowing the two armies to unite would make the situation untenable.
Several towns, castles, and villages sat on the way to Treon, enough that it would take them a month to march there, even generously assuming they wouldn’t get bogged down. The army would need to keep to a tight schedule, which meant no more slowing down to set up training camps.
Considering the latest intelligence reports, they’d still need to continue absorbing all who were willing and able to build up their numbers, or the more well-equipped loyalists would sweep them away once they got around to it.
I don’t particularly like actively planning to lose so many lives, but [Resurrection] makes the calculus much less grim. It doesn’t have one hundred percent efficacy, but it’s close enough that I don’t feel guilty leading an army of Apprentices and Journeymen. Especially since the preliminary data the new department put together shows that we are advancing fast. We should see the first Experts among the veterans in a few months at this rate.
“What are our options?”
Amelia finally appeared, stepping out of the shadows gracefully. She stopped to look over his shoulder at the map and leaned forward, tracing a finger around Hassel. “If we can’t do anything about the speed of preparations, we’ll just have to send them on a wild chase.”
Leonard immediately nodded in agreement, seeing the wisdom in her words. He wasn’t used to having to resort to such tactics, having been spoiled by the efficiency and power of the Heroic Party, but he couldn’t compare that to leading an army. Different tactics were needed.
“Frankly, the fastest way to do that would be to raise another army on the eastern coast of Hetnia. It wouldn’t need to be effective at anything beyond capturing a few small communities, just enough to send the message that we changed direction.”
“Do you think that’s feasible? Training up the army we have is already consuming all our resources and effort. I doubt we’ll be able to sustain a different one so far from our supply lines.” He replied though he didn’t dismiss the idea.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“I’m not talking about an army similar to what you and Gerard are building here. No, it’d only need to be threatening enough that the Count cannot ignore it, especially since he pulled back the garrisons from the northeastern towns to form his army. An old-school peasant rebellion will be enough.” Amelia then tapped a finger on the biggest settlement on the eastern coast, Volten. "This will be our goal. We needn’t take it, but our presence near it will be unacceptable, as it would mean the Count could risk being encircled, or worse, we could threaten Hassel while he’s in the south. He’s experienced enough to know it would be a terrible trap to walk into and arrogant enough to think he could deal with the nuisances fast and march back to the west to face the main army before you get to Treon.”
It wasn’t a bad plan. A bit rough around the edges, but Leonard could see its merits. The biggest problem, as far as he could tell, was that the Count was a capable commander, and the risk existed that they’d be sacrificing thousands of people for nothing if he managed to win there and still get to the west before he could take Treon.
Possibly sensing the direction his thoughts went to, Amelia sighed, “I’d prefer to stay with you to coordinate the intelligence better, but I could take command myself. I thought of giving it to Sir Gareth since he seems to be chomping at the bit to fight, but for all that he’s a talent on the battlefield, he doesn’t have the most strategic mind.”
Leonard grimaced. “Gareth would be a good choice if he didn’t focus too hard on what’s in front of him. I suspect he’ll reach the Master tier soon with how hard he’s training and leading patrols to snuff out scouts, but he wouldn’t be the best commander for such a delicate operation.” Losing Amelia would be a setback, but looking at the map before him, he decided the Army could do without her for the march to Treon. All the settlements they’d have to take on the way there were distant enough from each other that they’d need to split up the army anyway, lessening the benefits of having such a powerful Spirit Summoner.
Or rather, her presence was necessary to facilitate communication between the Corps, but Amelia was more than powerful enough to sustain her shadows from the other side of the Duchy.
“You could test him by giving his elite Corp an important mission and seeing what he does with it, but I don’t think he’s ready for an operation of this level yet," she replied.
Her purple eyes scanned the map, focusing on the small villages dotting the northeastern coast. Hundreds more of the same had once existed just a bit further south, but having been the staging ground for the Incursion, the area was entirely barren.
In a way, that would make moving up north faster. Amelia could reach Volten’s region within a few hours if she traveled through the shadows, and from there, she’d be able to foment rebellion unopposed.
“Focus on freeing the slaves. They’ll be much easier to convince than the local freemen, and once the towns start falling, people will join up whether they agree or not.” This was more callous than Leonard liked being, but he trusted Amelia to keep the losses to the minimum necessary to achieve their goals.
“Very well, I’ll go after summoning enough spirits to handle communications for the Army. I’ll leave one with you to keep you updated. I should be able to buy you at least a week, possibly even two.” With that, she stepped back from the table, offering him a determined smile.
Leonard grabbed her hand before she could vanish, forcing her to look at him in the eyes, “Remember that your safety is of the utmost priority for the sake of the revolution. Do what you can, but be safe.”
A slow smirk spread across her face, her plump lips stretching to reveal pearly white teeth. “It will be a cold day in hell before the nobility of Haylich can outwit me."
And with that, she vanished.
----------------------------------------
Privacy was not something Leonard had been afforded much lately. After he had done his duty and defeated the Incursion, he had hoped to be able to retire from public life, but that hadn’t been possible.
The few short months he had spent with Belinda in their little cottage at the edges of Alpar had been idyllic, and even now, with the memory tainted by her death, he couldn’t help but come back to it whenever he sought peace of mind.
Now that the basic training of the army was over and the time afforded by sabotage and interference was coming to an end, they’d need to begin the campaign in earnest. Stopping to rest wouldn’t be an option for a long time.
This was why Leonard had run all the way back to Alpar, taking advantage of Amelia’s continued presence in the camp outside Lamprey Port’s walls. With her there, he knew nothing untoward would happen, even if he selfishly disappeared for a few hours.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/pLp9bvR0/persimmon0-handsome-muscular-medium-short-length-hair-blonde-he-06270a0b-9132-460d-95f2-b605b96c8941.png]
“I never really understood the appeal of cemeteries. They felt gloomy and cold to me when I was a kid, but now I kind of get it.” Leonard said to the stone before him, knowing he would never get a response back.
Still, he continued, “There are some things that people need, even if they don’t make much sense when taken outside their context. The belief in higher powers is ubiquitous to all cultures I have ever known, even those in my old world that didn’t have the tangible benefits of magic and related powers.” Here, he stopped to chuckle. Humans had the ability to get used to almost any circumstance, and even the supernatural could become boring.
“And yet, death remains something of a mystery, even now. Many philosophers have written about the nature of the soul, but nothing conclusive has been found. Well, necromancers of a certain level probably know something, but they are not sharing with the rest of us,” A wet chuckle shook him, and Leonard sat down, tracing the outline of Belinda’s name with a finger.
“Casting [Resurrection], unfortunately, doesn’t give me greater insight into the matter. I know souls exist and go somewhere else after death and that if I’m early enough, I can pull them back into the body, but after that, it’s all blank.” His own arrival into Haylich had been through a summoning, without trucks or divine agents of any kind killing him in the process. One moment, he had been looking in his fridge for a snack; the next, he was in the summoning chamber.
What he knew was that the Void, being the true antithesis of Life, could sever a soul’s connection to the material world, forever cutting off his ability to call it back.
“I won’t ever forget you. You are, to this day, my beating heart.” His eyes were unseeing, a deep green that looked almost too intense to be real. He shed no tears, for he had long since run dry.
Leonard knew Oliver was worried about him. The boy was surprisingly perceptive and had realized just how much he was suppressing his real emotions, leading to sporadic, abrupt flashes of intense anger. But how could he do anything different when allowing himself to feel would lead to disaster?
The heat of a star’s core churned deep within him, ready to be called upon at the slightest hesitation. If he had lacked self-control, Mellassoria would now be a smoking crater.
The grass around him dried as an oppressing heat enveloped the cemetery. For a fraction of a second, Leonard allowed his anger to peek through. The green field around him, wet from the morning dew, immediately turned into a charred ruin.
Belinda wouldn’t have wanted this, and so he pushed it back down, allowing the Light to soothe him.
[Resurrection] answered his call as easily as breathing, and the field was once again green.