It took a little while for Glaustro’s unit to come together in our small compound, but not long. Apparently, most of the demons had been out in the city when the battle started, and chose to protect civilians instead of rushing to meet Glaustro’s summons.
Unlike cruel Mercutio, Glaustro didn’t make the brands hurt when issuing an order, at least not now that he was working with soldiers he knew he could trust. This meant his troop actually had the choice to delay or disobey.
Even so, I noted the gathering was more prompt than Mercutio had ever managed to achieve, and definitely with better morale.
The demons trickled back into the compound in small groups or alone, all covered in sand. A few were even sporting wounds. The jinn had been shut down hard and quickly, but that didn’t mean the first deluge of sand hadn’t dealt some damage.
Despite the fact that she never left the compound, Methialia was one of the last demons to gather. The sight of her genuinely shocked me.
From a slovenly demoness in a nightgown, she had transformed into a pristine soldier clad in well-maintained armor, with an impressive sword hanging from her hip. I still didn’t know a ton about demonic weapons, but I could recognize an enchanted item when I saw one. Even if I couldn’t, the mana and heat radiating from the weapon would have been enough to clue me in.
The demoness grinned and winked at me when she caught me staring. I flushed and look away.
“Good. Now that everyone is here—”
Glaustro was just starting up his speech when the sound of lightning erupted from outside the compound, followed shortly by a sharp knock on the closed gates. He eyed the entrance with distaste, but eventually sighed and shouted, “Come in.”
The visitor obliged.
It was the demoness who had responded first to the jinn’s attack. Pushing open the gates, she strolled inside and looked around with unconcealed curiosity. She wasn’t sizing up the compound, though. It was the soldiers she was interested in, and her eyes lingered on several of the more notable demons under Glaustro. They even paused on me and Mia, though I was fairly sure that was due to shock more than anything else.
“I see you’ve gathered an impressive band of soldiers, Glaustro,” the demoness purred. She looked at my commander the same way I had seen Mia stare at a particularly appealing cake the day before.
“Rosaveta. It is… good to see you again.” Glaustro forced out the words, looking visibly pained.
“Yes, yes, I know I’m a wonder,” she cackled, sauntering up to the sergeant.
Her hips swayed as she walked, drawing attention to the fabric outlining her body with every step. Some demons took armor as a suggestion, so it wasn’t too odd that she was wearing a cyan dress which complemented her purple skin quite nicely. It had patterns of some alien flowers woven into it, and they shimmered in every imaginable color whenever she moved.
Since she seemed incapable of standing still, that meant they shimmered all the time.
“May I ask what you want from me? I’m a little busy.” For emphasis, he gestured to us, all lined up and waiting like proper little soldiers.
“You’re about to discuss military matters, in the middle of my city, and you didn’t even think to invite me? For shame, Glaustro.”
My commander started to answer, then restrained himself with obvious effort. “I did not know you were stationed here, Rosaveta. It was a… surprise… when I saw you respond to the attack.”
“Ah, yes, the attack. The attack that almost flattened my city. The same attack that shattered our protective dome, leaving us at the mercy of this disgusting sand.” The demoness wrinkled her nose, staring at the sky like it owed her money.
In truth, she was exaggerating a little. Sure, the dome was destroyed, and that did mean sand was drifting over the city constantly in a light shower. Things were still far better down here than on the surface. Up there, the grains hurtled at you via cutting winds that were threat enough on their own. Underground, the sand was just a minor nuisance.
“I’m sure you will be able to fix the issue soon enough.” Glaustro’s voice was more devoid of emotion than I had ever heard it. “You are a skilled manager and negotiator. There must be crafters or merchants here who can get you what you want.”
“That is true, but it will take time. Weeks, potentially. There are plenty of other cities, cities on the frontlines at that, which require similar services. Some are even paying for specially enchanted domes as an additional layer of defense. That means more waiting, and you know how much I hate to wait.”
Glaustro glared at her now. I could tell he was losing his patience. “What do you want?”
The demoness giggled maliciously and sidled up to him. Glaustro narrowed his eyes.
“Your help, of course.” Rosaveta very deliberately didn’t touch him, but she hovered close, her voice rich and silky. “I know how good you are with earth elemental magic. Glass is just… a hop, a skip, and a step away from that. I’ve seen you use spells with glass too, after all.”
“No.” The answer was immediate, and it was final.
“Really, think about it. I could make it worth your while. Besides—”
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“No, Rosaveta. I’m not playing your games, and I’m not wasting days of my time just to spare you from having to wait. Deal with it on your own.”
The demoness grimaced, then scowled. Her eyes flashed with lightning, and for a moment, I thought she would attack then and there. It was only when she glanced over at Glaustro’s arrayed troops, all of us ready to fight at the first sign of aggression, that her mana died down. She stepped back.
“Fine.”
With that angry word and a clap of thunder, the demoness was gone.
I was still blinking away the afterglow of her transformation into living lightning when Glaustro sighed wearily.
“I suppose we’ll have to be brief. Rosaveta does not like to be rejected, so she will make me pay for that. She’ll probably take it out on you, too, so it’s in all our best interests to get out of this city as quickly as we can.” Glaustro shook his head. “It hasn’t been as restful as I might have hoped, anyway.”
“I sent for supplies to be delivered to us, commander. They should arrive in another few hours at most, so we’ll be free to set out immediately afterwards,” Tybalt offered from the side, earning a smile and a nod from the sergeant.
“Good. Thank you for your forward thinking. Now… we have a problem. Either the jinn are far more successful in their campaign against us than we realized, or they are growing far too bold. No matter the answer, we need to respond to this attack swiftly. The death of that jinn means a city out there has been weakened, or lost its protector entirely. The kill was ours, so the spoils belong to us, too. I already have someone going through his belongings to try and pin down where he came from.”
“Will this expert be able to provide us with guidance to our destination, or will we need to procure the information on our own, commander?” Tybalt piped up again, already writing on a clipboard.
“They will provide the necessary guidance. Even if they can’t find any identifying details from the jinn’s belongings, they can cast a spell that will let us retrace his steps.”
Tybalt nodded. “Very good, commander.”
Glaustro’s wry smile was amusing, but his following command was not. “Naturally, this means we have to rush things a little. We need to reach our destination before they can rally and replace the jinn. If he was the only defender of a settlement, we’ll have more breathing room. If he wasn’t, though, they’ll know he’s dead by now. That means we’re racing against reinforcements.”
Glaustro’s eyes landed on me and Mia again, widening as he took us in more closely. The pride that bloomed in my chest made me smile toothily before I clamped down on it.
“Once we start, if anyone struggles to keep up with the speed and intensity of our march, speak up. We’ll slow down if we have to. An element of surprise and a softened target are nice, but we need to be in the right shape to fight upon arrival if necessary. This applies to each and every one of you. If you overextend and fail because of it later, I will find out, and I will punish you for it.”
Glaustro’s voice was an angry snarl. His suddenly glowing eyes promised swift and painful retribution against anyone who even thought about going against his orders. Only when he was sure that we were all suitably cowed did he look away.
“We’ll depart as soon as our supplies are here, so get ready in the meantime.”
With those parting words, Glaustro strode off into his temporary home, leaving us to relax.
Not that we did, of course. Everyone was riled up by the jinn’s attack, and the demons seemed eager to gossip. Mia and I had already fetched everything we owned from our room, so we found a nice little spot in the courtyard to sit down and eavesdrop.
Well, I was eavesdropping. Mia plopped herself down, leaned against my shoulder, and proceeded to take a catnap. I noticed Methialia shoot the cat girl more than a few envious looks, but the flame-winged demoness remained sharp and focused, despite her obvious desire to copy Mia.
The things I overheard were… enlightening.
I already knew a bit about the jinn. I also knew that war on Lagyel was not going according to the desires of the legion. Five months had passed since the initial demonic invasion, and contrary to their original expectations of steamrolling the world by now, the jinn were still holding strong.
The demons around me placed the blame for this on the jinn’s long entrenchment in the world. Apparently, they had ruled over the local populace for close to a millennium already. Over that time, they had managed to extort more and more wishes, which allowed them to wield far greater power than they would usually have access to.
The jinn had taken advantage of their good standing to position members of their race in every city, town, and village on Lagyel. At least one jinn was tied to each settlement, backed up by wishes they had personally granted to the local community. This setup meant that our troops had to fight bitterly for every inch of land they wanted to occupy,
The problem was exacerbated further by the world’s natural environment.
As a race, demons were among the most magically potent, to the point where they could be defined as a mana life form rather than creatures of flesh and blood. On Lagyel, this worked against them.
It simply wasn’t possible for demons to set up long-term sieges or holding camps out in the wilderness. The wards and enchantments that demonic war camps typically relied on simply weren’t viable. Sandy winds constantly wore them down. The typical endurance and toughness of demons was sharply reduced, too, since the sand could actually cause them damage.
Basically, the jinn couldn’t have picked a better world on which to take a stand against the Legion of Torment, and none of the demons were too happy about it.
Worst of all, no one was sure what world the jinn originated from.
If they were an offshoot from one of the species’ lesser worlds, then we didn’t have to worry much. If this was an expansion backed by one of the jinn’s core worlds in all its power? Well, then we had to be prepared to deal with the full resources they could field against us.
The worst case scenario would be the arrival of a truly powerful jinn. If this happened, we’d have to hope our own powerhouses could respond quickly enough to salvage the situation, or that the general himself would show up to strike down the fool who dared impede his plans.
Unfortunately, the demons of my unit thought this was unlikely to happen.
The general dedicated most of his time to the worlds with the fiercest combat. He even led campaigns against the Cradle of Reason itself. These were rare, but they were known to happen, especially in retaliation when the Cradle’s forces attempted to claim one of the legion’s worlds or invaded Torment.
This was what left Lagyel in such an awkward position. The world was valuable enough to justify dedicating more and more resources to its conquest, but not valuable enough to pull in any of the legion’s true heavy hitters.
Not that anyone wanted my keen strategic insight. It was my job to follow Glaustro’s orders. If my commander believed it was a good idea to take advantage of the jinn’s death, then that’s what we would do.
At least I was surprised in a positive way when our supplies arrived, because I didn’t just get rations.
I received a brand new kit, with a premium soldier’s pack, tent, and more! Best of all, I also received my monthly pay. I didn’t think I would qualify for more than 100 souls or so when I was promised a stipend, but there it was: 250 souls for every month I had spent as part of an active campaign. That number would go up when I ascended, but as things stood, I wasn’t in too much of a rush to do that.
My power was growing. The progress was undeniable. I couldn’t throw it all away now by getting ahead of myself.
I was determined to take my time and do things right.