Chapter 18

“I still find it ridiculous that a tribe camped right on top of an Owlbear den. Demihuman stupidity should only go so far.”

“You’ve never seen something like that before, I take it, Your Excellency?”

“Are you implying that this wasn’t some dumb stroke of bad luck, my lady?”

“That’s right,” Lady Zahradnik replied. “Migratory tribes may purposely overwinter near dens where Monsters and Magical Beasts are hibernating. It’s a trap, of sorts…or perhaps a deterrent.”

Ray leaned back in his seat, reaching out to pull a cup of steaming tea to his lips. Though spring would officially begin in two weeks, it was colder in the valley than it was during the depths of winter in the lowlands. Their southwards advance made it seem like the seasons were running in reverse. Whenever they held meetings in his pavilion, the Baroness would bring along one of her magic items to heat the space and make things more comfortable.

“What is the logic behind this ‘deterrent’?” He asked.

“The idea is fairly straightforward,” the Baroness answered. “Certain creatures aren’t active during the winter. The caves and other dwellings that these creatures may occupy have long been known to the tribes living here for countless generations. If something comes to attack the camp, the defending tribe rudely wakes up the den’s occupant and leads it straight to the intruder. Suddenly, the would-be attacker has a grouchy bear on their hands. Or a grouchy Owlbear, in our case.”

“But the tribe had already vacated before we arrived,” Ray noted.

“It’s close enough to spring that they would already be considering vacating the area anyway. Coincidence or forewarning from our activities is just as likely the culprit. What doesn’t change is that the den’s occupants would still be there, about to wake up and very hungry. Turning the camp inside out for loot would have triggered the ‘trap’.”

The day after the Owlbear encounter, Ray had his battalion continue small-scale operations from their outpost while he adjusted his plans to account for the new risks and the changing situation that his advance discovered. His ‘mobile headquarters’ now had a company present at all times to deal with unexpected powerful threats. As they were now at their third outpost, he was down to six companies. One was required to defend the camp and two were resting, meaning that the forces available for conducting operations were down by a third of his expectations due to the altered arrangements.

Compounding the problems that came with the change was the fact that the wilderness became increasingly hospitable, making resistance more substantial. Aerial reconnaissance had identified at least double the number of Demihuman tribes in the vicinity of the third outpost compared to the second. Despite this, his battalion’s motivation only increased – especially with the windfall discovered in the wake of the Owlbear attack.

An aide came forward to update the campaign map with fresh reports from the Dragoon flights. Nothing dire had been noted; there was simply ‘more’.

“The light raids we’ve been conducting will take more time than anticipated to push all these Demihumans back,” he said. “To reach the southwestern pass before the Fourth and Fifth Division, we’ll have to increase the pressure. If we had those Death-series servitors, we’d have already linked up and would be well on our way to consolidating our position.”

“Do you still consider your current strategy optimal, Your Excellency?”

Ray looked up from the map to where Lady Zahradnik was standing along the side of the table to his right. The Sorcerous Kingdom’s liaison officer had earned some renown amongst the battalion due to the attack of two days previous, but she made no overt moves to take advantage of the fact.

Not that she needed to. The ‘image’ that she had created for herself was a self-perpetuating one that required minimal effort. Now that he had seen enough of her, Ray recognised very well what she was doing and what she was. The true form of the Sorcerous Kingdom’s liaison officer was a ‘goddess of victory’ – a female officer akin to those who occasionally appeared in the Imperial Army, rapidly rising to join the ranks of the Imperial Guard.

It didn’t matter that she was from Re-Estize: all she needed was a bit of training, the unmistakable good looks of a Noble and mannerisms of a martial aristocrat to begin the process of wrapping the soldiers of the Imperial Army around her little finger. Given how advanced the Sorcerous Kingdom was, she didn’t even need to be strong: their magic equipment could probably turn a maid into a monster.

All she needed to do was nudge the people around her in the desired direction and let their regard for her do the rest. If she kept ‘winning’, that was great. If she lost, the men would be sensitive to her vulnerability, rising in her defence or seeing ‘chances’ to get closer to her. Any turn of events could be turned to her advantage with sufficient interpersonal skills and the men fell over themselves whenever she relied on them for one thing or another.

The question for Ray was his response to how she was playing the games of power and influence. However, it was a difficult question to answer as the Baroness gave no indication of what she wanted. She only spoke of herself when prompted, only doing what seemed to be the bare minimum of framing her personal position. Otherwise, she simply watched, asked questions and any requests that she made were for the purpose of finding out more about the battalion and its operations. The men in her makeshift squad swore that she kept relationships friendly, but not too friendly.

“Given the current information and assumptions, yes,” Ray replied. “Was there something that you noticed, my lady?”

Around the pavilion, aides and officers stole surreptitious glances towards the table at his uncharacteristic concession. Ray resisted the urge to snort at their astonishment. He supposed that, to them, General Ray was a man that never relinquished his grip on the reins of power once he got a hold of them. Asking what he did was as good as admitting that he was deficient in some way, creating an opening through which to attack his position of authority and influence.

But he was a man that did what was necessary to get what he wanted. It was not the Empire that he needed to impress, but the Sorcerous Kingdom. If he could connect with their representative it would make things easier, but his attempts thus far felt like he was scaling a vertical wall made out of smooth ice.

“It’s more a question that concerns the rationale behind your operations,” Lady Zahradnik said. “Broadly speaking, the Sixth Legion has its so-called ‘expeditionary mandate’ but imperial foreign policy’s only aggressive point is its former stance on Re-Estize. The mandate of the Sixth Legion represents a new arm of the Imperial Army that is not covered by the Empire’s foreign policy despite being ‘expeditionary’.”

“I see,” Ray nodded slowly. “I believe the answer to your question can be found in the fact that a nation’s ‘stance’ towards unclaimed territory lies in their domestic policy, as counterintuitive as that may seem. There are both defensive and offensive aspects to it, but humanity’s situation has always leaned heavily on the defensive side of things until recently. Our approach reflects the slogan that I’m sure you’ve seen on every third government poster plastered in the cities and towns.”

“Rich Country, Strong Army.”

“Indeed,” Ray placed his hand on the table while gesturing with the other. “Prosperity and strength are the focus of the Empire’s national strategy. Prosperity is derived from industrial development; strength from magical might and martial discipline. If you look through our history, you’ll see how the foundations of our success have been laid. The Sixth Legion’s work inherits that intrepid spirit that tames the wilds and turns it to productive use.”

The slogan was easy to spout but difficult to make a reality, speaking volumes of the excellence of the imperial administration and its institutions. It was an act of national will whose sheer magnitude was probably lost on a girl who had gone from the backwards Re-Estize to the stupendously powerful Sorcerous Kingdom overnight.

“So what happens when there is no room to expand?” Lady Zahradnik asked, “A century or two from now when all of its lands are as developed as the Wyvernmark, as prosperous as the Golden Strand and every imperial city is as the Arwintar of today, what will the Empire do?”

“Assuming everything else stays the same – which I doubt – the Beastman Kingdom to the south is the most likely source of conflict. They incessantly raid the Draconic Kingdom for food and sport and I do not think their stance towards the Empire will be any different once we settle this wilderness. The only answer to such savage aggression is war.”

“Have you considered the idea that the Beastman Kingdom you are referring to is far stronger than the Empire? I’ve some acquaintances who have witnessed their ‘raids’ firsthand and to be frank they’ll probably find the Imperial Army just as edible as the Draconic Kingdom’s security forces and far more entertaining. The combat capability of the average adult Beastman far exceeds that of the average adult Human.”

It was commonly said that if the average adult Human was Difficulty Rating 3, the average adult Beastman would be Difficulty Rating 30. This idea, however, was misleading in a few ways.

First was that the difference between Difficulty Ratings was not multiplicative – a Difficulty Rating 30 individual was not ten times stronger than a Difficulty Rating 3 individual. Many factors went into how such a contest would play out, but if one compared Difficulty Rating 3 Humans to Difficulty Rating 30 ones, the Difficulty Rating 3 Human could get lucky and kill the Difficulty Rating 30 Human with an arrow to some vital area. Similarly, one could take four Farmers and arm them with pikes to fend off an Imperial Knight, which was essentially what Re-Estize did en masse.

Another misconception was that, since the average adult Beastman had ten times the Difficulty Rating as a Human in that example, it meant that a Human growing in strength to Difficulty Rating 6 would mean that a Beastman experiencing similar growth would be Difficulty Rating 60. The reality was that they would be Difficulty Rating 33 and that particularly strong Beastmen were just as rare as particularly strong Humans.

Beyond that, Imperial Knights were not average adult Humans. Veteran Imperial Knights were roughly Difficulty Rating 30 and the hard-won experiences of the Sixth Legion would inevitably produce fighting men of even greater quality. They would not have issues matching Beastmen on the field.

“By developing its internal and external frontiers,” Ray said, “the Baharuth Empire by that time will have three times the territory that it has today. The Imperial Army will not only have three times the numbers but we will also have the benefit of the technological and magical advancements made between now and then. It goes without saying that the Undead forces of the Sorcerous Kingdom will have been fully integrated so these Demihumans will break themselves on our defences and provide us with just cause to go on the offensive.”

“…which is something you’re attempting to emulate here.”

“Yes, my lady. Within the bounds laid out for our operation, I consider it the optimal strategy. The entire Imperial Army cannot compare to the Death-series servitors, but the current batch of leased Undead are restricted to defence. Thus, we will have them defend. Not only will it save time, but it will also spare the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of soldiers who would otherwise be lost in the time it takes to expand our borders and secure everything.”

There was absolutely no downside to his plan and he was sure that the Sorcerous Kingdom had issued their approval of the Sixth Legion’s campaign in the south understanding this. The Empire would claim new territory – territory that it would be able to easily defend with Death-series servitors. With the lands secured, development would proceed apace and everything that came with that development would follow.

The Empire would gain in wealth and power and the Sorcerous Kingdom’s influence would expand. Settling the southern wilderness dangled a tantalising target in front of the Beastman Kingdom and, once the war that ensued was won, they would have a gateway to the world beyond. It was a win in every direction and set the stage for future expansion, all under the pretence of eliminating hostile threats.

With the Sorcerous Kingdom’s expanding influence would come the efforts of the world to keep it in check. At that juncture, world domination under a defensive pretext was not inconceivable.

As usual, Lady Zahradnik did not display any reaction to his words beyond lending to the impression that she was intently listening. Was she oblivious to the significance of what he was saying? Perhaps it was another way in which the Baroness’ apparent passiveness manifested.

“I hesitate to ask, my lady, but have you done something like this before?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Justifying retaliatory action due to an attack on your border, for instance. Or leading your enemies into friendly areas where they could be decisively dealt with.”

“It has happened before, yes.”

If that was the case, he was almost certainly on the right track. The stubborn fools who opposed his actions would be proven unsuited to lead those who would forge the destiny of the Baharuth Empire.

“If efficiency is the goal,” Lady Zahradnik said, “have you considered more benign methods of expansion?”

The unexpected question gave Ray pause.

“I beg your pardon, my lady?”

“Promoting trade with local tribal populations, for instance. The exchange of culture and ideas. You could have them become political allies or even join the Empire as citizens. By doing so, you would minimise bloodshed for all involved and many previously-unknown avenues might be opened to you.”

No matter how he thought about it, he could discern no long-term merits to her suggestion. The tribes were primitive and nomadic with nothing that could not be outstripped by imperial skill and ingenuity. Slavery might be an option, but all they would be good for was menial labour – if they could even manage that – and entertainment in the Arena. Maybe they could be exported to Karnassus, but the sheer abundance of them would eventually see most end up as food. There was no incentive for Merchants or anyone else to do anything else with the tribes here.

“It would be more efficient to employ Human settlers to develop these lands,” Ray told her. “Incorporating the Demihumans as you suggest would require us to somehow familiarise them with our systems and I would pity the administrator that has to do their paperwork for them. Instead of taking a century to harness the potential of these lands, it would take millennia. Considering the intelligence of the average Goblin, even that is a doubtful prospect.”

“Just going by what your reconnaissance efforts have mapped of this valley so far,” Lady Zahradnik motioned at the table, “Human development would only make use of perhaps thirty per cent of the land – mostly in the low and relatively level areas following the river. Moving into this wilderness without settling on some sort of peace with the local tribes will result in the Empire defending every valley from their encroachment for generations to come.”

“That is a reality that the Imperial Army is well-accustomed to and our security doctrines are suited for that scenario. Another Legion will be raised to provide security for this new region of the Empire and any defensive conflict will serve to strengthen the solidarity of its citizens, not to mention bring the leased forces from the Sorcerous Kingdom into play.”

If the Baroness had anything further to say, it remained unspoken as Captain Seris entered the pavilion. He gave a respectful nod to her as he made his way in front of Ray.

“The Sixth, Seventh and Eighth companies are all ready to go, sir,” he said after a sharp salute. “We await your presence.”

“Excellent,” Ray nodded as he rose from his seat, turning to address Baroness Zahradnik. “We have a long day ahead of us. After you, my lady.”