Alforien Arlford

I came to on my bed in a sudden jolt of consciousness. One second I was happily dreaming about…something, the next i was awake. Deciding that remaining asleep was not in my best interests, I got up and made my way out of the tent-room.

While doing so, I mentally checked off the things I had accomplished yesterday and was supposed to do today and tomorrow. Thankfully the System had a hady notekeeping mechanism.

Heal the injured. Partially done, should be done by the end of today Establish chain of command. Also partially done. Secure food. Done, should redo today to ensure that there is enough Check Armaments.Pending Get the mission and strategize how to do it. First part done, map needed for the second. The quartermaster should have a map. Train Arlun and Carmil. The two should have Magic sight by now.

And that was it! Now to get the rest of this done. I headed towards the new Quartermaster’s tent, deciding that it was best to start the day early. It was still dark outside, though the yellowish white glow of the Algrean sun could be seen peeking from behind the mountains.

I could feel parts of the camp wake up as I walked through its intertwining paths. Sadly, not all of it was waking up. A large part of it was still asleep, some of it was just going to sleep now. I frowned in distaste at the carelessness of these soldiers. There was a war going on, and they had just spent their night drinking and making merry.

The paths were littered too, an abundance of scattered bottles, peels and a lot of seeds could be seen. Thankfully, there were not so many of them that they would be a hindrance to movement across the path. The littering would prove problematic when the army had to move quickly however. There was significant risk of tripping.

The overall hygiene had also not been maintained. There was the distinct presence of unsavory odours that should not have been present. It was time to update the notelist!

Heal the injured. Partially done, should be done by the end of today Establish chain of command. Also partially done. Secure food. Done, should redo today to ensure that there is enough Check Armaments.Pending Get the mission and strategize how to do it. First part done, map needed for the second. The quartermaster should have a map. Train Arlun and Carmil. The two should have Magic sight by now. Teach some hygiene. Get Discipline in the army.

By the time I was done updating the list, I had arrived at the QuarterMaster’s tent. I walked in expecting a man awoken from a peaceful rest and ready for the day. After all, the man seemed to know what he was doing. Instead I found a man snoring at the table.

There was only one way to respond to this. I summoned a little cold water on the top of his head and let it drop. That should get him awake.

“Brrr”The man said as he tried to shake the water off, his mind slowly coming awake. The man raised his head, his eyes blinking open. For some reason, he seemed shocked at my presence.

“Your…Your highness” The man said as his head waved back and forth. it would appear that the good QuarterMaster was drunk.

“What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be off in your golden tent, enjoying this little trek in the woods while I do the work for you.”The QuarterMaster said. It would appear that I would need a better cure for the hangover.

Good thing I had my magic back, because I had just the spell for the job! I sent the threads of mana into his body, instructing them to search his bosy for all alcohol and then remove it at once. That should return the man to sobriety. If not, there were always other spells.

After about five minutes of the QuarterMaster shaking his head as my spell worked its magic, the man was sober enough to stop blubbering.

“So, mind telling me why you thought that getting drunk was a good idea?” I asked the QuarterMaster.

“Because now I have more work! I had to get the men to do drills! Prepare the maps and chart routes to the Valuresian Mountains. And the worst! Getting those armaments checked! It was such a chore! The line would just not end!...your highness’’ The spell must have reached the brain because the QuarterMaster was rapidly regaining his stature.

No longer swaying uncontrollably, the man said,” But I have managed to complete checking all the armaments in the army. I um created a list. Why don;t you check it while-” The man suddenly ran out, his presence causing a sudden addition of puking noise to the environment.

I shook my head and picked up the list

Total Men: 393

Total Arms:576

Arms in good condition: 277

Arms in an acceptable condition: 93

Arms in a damaged condition: 192

Arms that are in a useless condition: 14

That…was a bad list. I highly doubted that the QuarterMaster’s standard for ‘good’ condition arms was very high, in all likelihood, these were merely normal quality armaments. Baley acceptable in any army. The rest were likely subpar or damaged arms.

How to fix it was a question however. I could grandmist a few arms, but nowhere near the volume that was required if I also needed to keep supplying food. The stat gains were also minimal, the last day not even giving any.

Setting up any kind of forgery was also a lost cause, this kind of institution would be impractical without a steady supply of ores. But perhaps a repair shop could be set? Ores would still be required, so would a team of skilled craftsmen. But it could work…No. It couldn’t. There were few craftsmen to be had and fewer ores.

Unless there was a hidden mine nearby that I was woefully unaware of that also had a team of skilled crafters, I was not going to be able to get that repair shop. At least not this way. Some other solution was needed. Something that was preferably workable in nature.

That would have to happen after the Quartermaster returned from his leave; however, I somehow needed to figure out a way to implement Discipline and Hygiene without causing too much backlash. That was going to be hard as I was going completely blank about this.

Thankfully the QuarterMaster returned from outside just as I was wondering what to do.

Looking almost nervous at my presence, the QuarterMaster said, “I am sorry your highness, I merely got carried away.”

“That is ok, but perhaps next time, keep the drinking to a minimum?”I said, turning to him, “Now, could you please tell me about this plan of yours?”