The last two days of the month I went to the Mages guild. I had to pay for a special testing session for my enchanting certification, but the Artificing certification was at the same time as the others. By noon on the last day of the month I had two new certifications. The number of certifications I had was a bit much, but the more I looked into magic the more I found that interested me. In my last life I had done the same with science and technology so it wasn’t surprising, but here it was as if I was a professional college student. I would be taking a break from learning magic for now, at least, though that was only because I was going to fight a war.
I had hired two more healers from the Healer’s Union to fill in for me and Persy at the clinic while we were gone. Berry had taken a course in management, so I had made her the manager for now and moved her to the rich area, with the Slave and Standard areas being taken over by two past hires. Kanta and Cena had gotten much closer over the last month, but while she visited his house occasionally, the fact that she was needed to protect the shop meant that she couldn’t move in with him. Maybe when we got back I could find a way to solve that issue. Depending on how the war and the country’s relationship with Ridalia went, after we drove the demons back the laws around Beast Folk might change, allowing me to free her so they can get married. Even if they didn’t, if I was certain it was what they wanted, I could sell her to him and have her just work at night or, if I didn’t mind how it looked, just loan her to him as a job benefit. That would allow them to live together, at least.
At noon the last day of the month I went over to the Mercenary Company Headquarters. Every one of the troops were lined up in the field behind the office, separated by company. The best performers had each been given eleven troops to command and been promoted to Sargent. Every twelve Sargents had a Lieutenant above them. I had several Captains under me, the ones that were in charge of the training here, but, while eventually there would be twelve Lieutenants under each of them, we didn’t have the numbers to do that now. After all, that would require 1728 soldiers of the same type, and we only had 2100 or so soldiers in total. Instead, the Captains of the Healers and Scouts had one Lieutenant each, the Captains of the Mages, Archers, Macemen, Spearmen and Axemen had two, and the Captain of the Swordsmen had three. There were a few men who brought horses, hoping to act as messengers, but they only had four Sargents, with one company each assigned to me, the Captain of the Scouts, the Captain of the Mages/Healers, and the Captain Swordsmen, who was responsible for seeing that the other melee weapon captains got to use the messengers as well.
After a brief inspection of the troops, with their starter equipment, I went to inspect the wagons and horses. Some of the men were wearing chain mail, though it looked like most of it had been assigned to the Swordsmen and Axemen. We had likely overtaxed the supply of monster leather in the city, making the swap necessary.
Each Sargent had been assigned a cart and they were already loaded and in the field. Any people we weren’t able to fit into companies would be remaining behind, the number one student in each class taking over the training of new recruits. The rest of them would handle the day to day operations of dealing with bandits and monsters, as well as patrolling the streets between cities. We also had fifty supply wagons which would be pulled by oxen as a way to bring more meat with us, and twenty wagons of service personnel. Most of the service personnel had been recruited from the slums or Refugee districts, following their priestess Persy into war. I was pretty sure some of those “services” were blessed by the Goddess of Lust Mikan, not to be confused with her brother Mekan, god of games. Still, those services would at least keep them from harassing the locals when we passed through towns.
There were even a few dozen beast people mixed in with our troops, and a few in the service personnel. Most had been sent in for training by their masters, as they would receive certification training for free and we would cover all of the slave’s living expenses so they wouldn’t cost the master anything unless they died. A few, however, had been purchased by the Mercenary company in the beginning, when they were earning a nice profit but had a manpower shortage. One of those beastmen was a Minotaur whose Master, a Dwarf, had joined the Ax team along with him. They looked familiar, but I wasn’t quite sure when I had met them. Maybe they were former Adventurers that stood out?
We allowed the mercenaries to take the rest of the day off, but they had to tell us where they would be in case they weren’t here by seven thirty. We were leaving at eight and we needed to be able to send messengers to get them if it looked like they were going to be late. I was sure many of the men would show up tired or with hangovers from visiting brothels or getting drunk, but they would be riding on wagons so as long as they were here they could sleep it off.
After the inspections I talked with all of my Captains. To each one I gave a Star Mithril Ring, also wearing one myself. I also gave them mithril rings for each of their Lieutenants. This would mark them as officers of the Great Oak Mercenaries. The rest of the rings I would carry with me and would give to the reinforcement Lieutenants as they arrived. Hopefully I wouldn’t need to hand out another Star Mithril ring to a replacement Captain.
After that I gathered most of the money from the treasuries of the Mercenaries, the Workshop, and the Clinic. When I got home I paid back Samantha for all of the goods she had gotten for us, over a thousand gold worth. I had less than a hundred left after that.
We had a special supper, treating it as a celebration that I was headed off for the front, and after supper I presented Samantha with the gift I had someone make for her. It was an Enhanced Orichalcum necklace with a pressure of ten. The magic circle engraved on it had a five pointed star design, with a large ruby in the middle. The circle was designed to charge up with the mana of the necklace and, if she felt afraid, activate a shield around her body. Due to the amount of material used there wasn’t enough mana being produced to keep a level ten personal shield active the whole time, but with the ruby storing a large amount of mana the amulet can keep the shield running for almost five minutes before it has to decrease to a level nine shield, assuming it didn’t have to block an attack. As long as she remains scared the amulet will try to keep the shield up no matter how weak it becomes. The field of battle was a dangerous place, after all, and I didn’t want to risk her getting injured.
This was radically different than my own amulet. Mine simply measured whether or not I was absorbing mana from it, and if I was, to feed me more at whatever the next higher pressure was. It could go as low as pressure five, which was my current limit, though I had been practicing a bit at the training field and practicing riding my unicorn, trying to keep it summoned as long as possible. The necklace barely provided enough to keep it around, so as long as it was around I would get very little benefit from the necklace outside of a special horse that can help heal people. Thankfully my mana pressure was up to five point nine from the training, and I should be able to get it up to at least six and a half by the time we get to the fort.
The next day we set off at exactly eight o’clock. We had to send messengers out to pick up over two dozen men and women and haul them back here, many of them asleep at brothels or taverns. Only two didn’t want to come, but when the messenger reminded them that they had signed a contract to serve for a six month minimum unless released, they reluctantly said goodbye and came along. I took the lead of this group and started riding North.
Every day we stopped at lunch for the men and horses to rest and eat and every afternoon near sunset we had the scouts find us a large open field to camp in. We checked attendance every morning just to make sure, but none of the people went AWOL in the middle of the night. Whenever we got the large towns or cities we would camp outside of it at night and set out in the morning. As the men were only riding for most of the day we only had to pay them two coppers per day, but the small amount of money I had wouldn’t cover that if they were paid on a daily basis, so I decided to pay them on the last day of the month.
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It took us fifteen days to get to fort Garlow, at least one day being because of heavy rain and muddy street. When we finally arrived, though, I told them who I was and they let me inside to speak with the commander. They wouldn’t allow my men to enter until they had received an order to do so, though, as they needed to be weary of spies and saboteurs. I rode my unicorn to the keep and climbed off. He was smart enough to know not to run off, and the summoning gave us a weak telepathic connection in case I needed to order him to do so.
Once inside the keep I met Duke Goldport. Sir Lawrence and the Duke’s son Peter were also there. Apparently they had finished their recruitment trip and returned to help in the war. Peter and his father were both wearing full Mithril Plate, and Lawrence appeared to be wearing monster silk robes and carrying a high-end staff with a Common Fire Dragon Core on top of it. That should greatly increase his fire magic. I had considered buying a monster silk robe myself, but as I would be fighting on the front lines with my sword I had instead gotten a fine steel sword and a full set of Salamander leather armor, like the chestplate I had when I was younger. It had cost me fifteen gold for the suit and one for the sword. There was also a man in even finer black silk robes there, wearing level fourteen Enhanced Orichalcum amulet.
I put my hand on my chest and bowed my head slightly. “Viscount Cameron Starshine of the Great Oak Mercenary Company reporting in, Sir.”
The Duke nodded. “Duke Goldport of Celine. This is Duke Deathbringer of the Magocracy of Theos. And I believe you have met my son and Sir Lawrence.” He motioned to the others in turn.
Before I could speak up the second Duke did so. “Forgive my interruption, but where I’m from Noble titles are given based on ones achievements in the field of magic. Tell me, what certifications do you have that would support me treating you like a viscount?”
Duke Goldport looked interested, so I answered the question. “Advanced Combat Magic. Advanced Alchemist. Intermediate Healer, with combat certification. Beginner Merchant, Swordsman, Artificer, Summoner and Enchanter.”
Duke Deathbringer nodded. “That is more than enough for a Viscount. Many Counts don’t even have so many magical certifications. Very well. You are more than qualified to join this discussion.” Apparently they were in the middle of a meeting about the demon’s advance. They had solidified their hold over the towns in the area and would likely be moving towards the castle in less than a week. The officers here were hoping to find a way to break their advance. They only had around four thousand troops here in the fort, but the demons would be sending at least ten thousand. While that would be enough to hold the castle, they were recalling troops from the surrounding area to insure a victory here. My arrival had given them more options, though.
I gave them a breakdown of my troop types. Most of my troops weren’t ranged fighters, so their usefulness in a siege would be limited. But, if we could force the demons into a land battle we could weaken them before they got here. Duke Deathbringer suggested that I leave my mages here while I take the others out to harass the demons. I countered with leaving the archers here. The Mages would be extremely useful in field combat to control the enemy’s movements. We would be returning before the castle was assaulted anyway. Duke Goldport agreed and told me where the demons had captured. While he would prefer if we didn’t raid his towns and villages, as the people would have to pay for it, I should be able to find some supply wagons or smaller groups of soldiers to attack near those villages.
Once the meeting was over, the Duke gave permission for us to enter the castle. It was actually quite large. While it was called a castle, I would describe it as more of a castle town, with over five hundred people living here, not including the troops that were staying here. They didn’t have proper housing for us, but they did have a large field where military drills would be held, so we were allowed to set up there. Only my Captains, Samantha, and myself were given actual rooms, with Samantha and I sharing one.
She had sold most of what she brought with her to the quartermaster upon arrival and picked up gear from the demons to bring back with her when she returned. She mostly took armor that was too damaged to use, as she could get it for salvage prices. Most of it was made of mithril or a mithril alloy for the mana conductivity, which let it be easily enchanted. Most of the enchantments were gone, though.
The Duke was running a bit light on coin, but as he had promised to cover our travel expenses he offered us salvaged equipment instead. I let the men choose the equipment, as their current equipment wasn’t the best, and made a note of who took what so that the value of the equipment could be taken out of their pay later. Most of the mages got a staff, wand, or other magic item. The demons had extensive mithril mines on their continent, and most of them had some sort of magic other that utility spells, so many of them carried magical foci and items.
The next day I set out with my army, minus the archers. They would be staying here to practice with Duke Goldport’s archers. Duke Deathbringer had only brought people with magical ability, so what few archers he had used magical equipment and buff spells, and therefore didn’t really compare to the non-magical archers I and the other Duke had. While Deathbringer’s men numbered around two thousand, like mine, he had brought all magical troops, so they would be far better than mine in battle. He was apparently going for quality over quantity. I hoped to one day do the same, but as I only had a month and a half to prepare two thousand troops, I had to settle for low skill level.
That low skill level ended up costing me. About eleven AM the next day I found a group of four hundred demons and devils outside a village. They had a large number of slaves in their camp, all young, most female, and none of them demons or devils. They had likely captured them from the villages in the area to entertain their troops. After the scouts reported this, we came up with a plan. They appeared to be cooking, which meant that they would be eating soon. Once they started to relax we would launch long range spells into their camp, catching them off guard. We could then wait for them to get to us where they would have to face over a thousand front line troops.
After the battle started, however, I realized how bad the plan was. Most of the opening volley of magic missed its target, only doing damage because most of the mages had used area-of-effect spells. One of the slave cages was hit with a fireball, burning the women inside alive. Many of the demons and devils that were hit also ignored the fire attacks. Apparently they had Imp blood, because they all responded with much more accurate fire magic, hitting our front lines and immediately killing over a hundred people.
They ran at us and most of the mages panicked, their spells flying off wildly in different directions. Thankfully, most of them had switched from fire magic. I had to do something to deal with the enemy fire magic, though. As they neared our front lines I threw three level six tornadoes in the middle of their advance before they got to us. Our front line, including myself, clashed with them and, as the tornadoes were too distracting and/or kept getting in the way of a clear shot, most of them ran to attack rather than continue to use magic. This didn’t save many of my people, as they seemed too slow to block the demon’s attacks. For every one of their people we managed to defeat they took down three of us. It was only the fact that we outnumbered them five to one that manged to win us the battle.
After the fight was over, I took the scouts and macemen to check their camp. The only demons and devils we found were service staff. Apparently, the three succubi and one incubus they had in their camp wasn’t enough, so they had captured slaves to use for that purpose, something the Cambians disapproved of. They were losing business to the slaves, after all. I knew that slaves were often used for that in Ferin, but they were either criminals or Beastfolk, who were usually mistreated no matter who owned them and were usually born into it. These were innocent men and women that were kidnapped and forced into slavery. Technically, so was Persy and her grandfather, but they were an exception.
Once we cleared the camp we released the slaves. The dead ones and the ones that had died to friendly fire would be given to the village. The others would be given a choice to either go with us or be left at the village. As most of these were from the village, only a few chose to go with us, mostly because they wanted revenge. The demons and devil service worker that we captured would be taken prisoner until we figured out what to do with them. Most of their fighters had died, and our healers had a hard time fixing everyone up enough that they could travel, so only a few dozen of their troops were still alive, the rest bleeding out before they could be treated. Those that lived were all taken as prisoners of war. Overall, we had lost 538 people in that skirmish, versus 392 demons and devils. We definitely needed more practice.
We returned that night and told what had happened. The POWs were taken to the castle’s dungeon until they could be indentured and sent off. As they were our prisoners, we would be paid for them, minus the gold for the slave contract. The Duke had already made a deal to send all POWs to the manacite mines to the south so that they can improve their equipment, so I let him take them.
The four entertainment staff we had captured were allowed to work here on the grounds that:
1) They use infertility potions or magic items. No one wanted to risk producing a Devil child during the war.
2) They don’t do anything to harm the human side of the war or help the Demon side. This includes draining the people here enough to impair their ability to work.
The four of them agreed, and a small building in town was provided for them so they could start a brothel.