Marvin was currently riding in a carriage towards the Coalition HQ, the heart of the Coalition itself, and the seat of his power. The carriage traveled along Embassy street, where several properties owned and maintained from countries around the world set up shop for their diplomatic craft or houses used by prominent noble families inside the Coalition that were of great importance and wanted to be close at hand for matters of government. The rain was pouring down the cobbled street with an overcast sky that occasionally crackled with the lights of nature's fury.

A handsome man with a strong jaw and greying hair, Marvin had been something between a brother and a mentor to the current president when they had been training at the imperial academy together, a bond that only deepened on the battlefield. His clean-shaven face was accentuated by the brown vest and green pants/coat that had a dark tint to match his eyes. All these items of clothing were gold inlaid with lines accentuating their incredible craftsmanship for there were few things in this world, non-magical at least, that were beyond the reach of his coin.

Unfortunately, one of those few items was peace and quiet, a commodity in dire shortage as of late.

He was looking out the window into the dreary grey sky while taking in the constant string of figures and opinions from Freya, who sat opposite of him. If she was irritated at his seemingly idle manner, the soft blue eyes of the aging woman made no show of it.

"… and that's just this week's casualties. I'd say if we kept up with bandit deaths it would be far worse." She finished with a sweep of her grey cloak to the left as she lifted her leg over the other to relax.

"Yes, yes. It's all the same as it's ever been. Make sure to get the last round of reports in before our meeting with the president. I don't want any more fuckups" He said moodily. Freya didn't need to ask what had gotten him so down as she had been there when he got the high priority letter delivered by a wind hawk, a letter that currently soured his mood worse than any rainstorm. Marvin's face had turned several shades of red when he first read the report that resulted in him throwing his glass across the room of the command center as scared underlings scurried about trying to discover the spell that let them turn invisible.

A fort, an entire fort, had been found in a smoking ruin by the time the first scout could venture south to verify the ramblings of a few half-dead soldiers who had made it out. The last report on it was coming in tonight but it appears to have been a freak accident combined with an orc invasion if the vague reports from the one or two soldiers who had gotten away was to be believed. Sadly, they had died of their wounds shortly thereafter leaving nothing else but fading physical evidence to go on.

It was the weakest and newest of them, but it was still a grievous blow to the grand strategy Marvin had based his entire military career on. That and the setback in his plans getting the biggest northern gang involved in the war in the south had left Marvin blind with a fury that had since cooled to a mere simmering rage.

And Marvin was known for many things, but forgiveness, towards humans or orcs, was not one of them.

"We've got a problem that's come up with our attempt to get Maw's supports. After a discussion, I found out that Noah and a group of male mages were actually involved in the bandit raid on the academy town. They tried some backroom deal with Maw and he's been put on leave with John watching over him." She said with a hint of nervousness.

"Bah!, He's a good lad who had a poorly executed idea. We can't afford to have him twiddle his thumbs all day so I'll have the local military discipline office send him and his friends a strongly worded letter before seeing what work he can do far from the frontlines." Marvin said with a dismissive tone.

Coming up to the Giant U shaped building, they both prepared themselves for the coming bath. Moving around the central fountain bearing the slight chin, strong cheek bones, and dashing smile of the president lifting a sword up towards the embassy road. The cobbled road flowed around the bend as the road started using the sand colored stones of the building. The dark greys of the roofs and balconies that dotted the building's exterior also helped remind the residents of the coastal sense of the city at large. Quickly shuffling out of the carriage, they both made their way through the wide wooden doors with iron bands around them that was being opened by a duo of butlers always happy to ease the burden on the poor souls seeking refuge as Freya zipped past to go .

'How much more must I give? I have given so much for this country, went through so many battles and yet ants have done nothing but obstruct me at every turn' Marvin thought bitterly to himself as he came through the door and handed off his coat to one of the butlers. The main hall had a wide-open area in the back that ran along the entire length of the building while two sets of stairs to the left and right led to the upper floors.

The walls all stuck to the same sand colored-brick work but with a deep red molding in the various corners or around the mana lamps that dotted the ceiling. Walking over the soft carpet crafted to display waves, deer, birds, flowers and all the other trappings of nature, he made his way up to the top floor through the left side staircase.

Arriving at his floor, he moved further down the right hallway to the abode just two rooms away from the presidents. Opening the dark, oak wood door he came into his private sanctuary. A gaudy thing with a gold mirror to the left and a fully furbished dining room to the right, complete with fine wood chairs and a central table inlaid with gold, though it was more an antique than anything else as Marvin would never stoop to enduring the peasant slop outside of the most prestigious restaurants in the capital. The only exception was the officer's hall, which was where he kept his fingers on the pulse of the military's general mood.

Walking further past the dining area with a wide window showing the downpour behind the furniture, he opened the door in the left side wall, and sure enough among the plush pillows of red and white that covered up the wide bed in the middle of the room were two beautiful women, a blonde with green eyes and a brunette with coy, teal eyes. An artificial eye color found out here on the shores near the central continent, an attempt by healing mages to provide an imitation of the fire tribes deep oceanic vibrancy.

As both women began looking at him with heat in their gazes, Marvin walked over and roughly palmed their breasts with not a word spoken or wasted. While Freya did her duty preparing for the meeting, Marvin did his.

After all, what higher duty could a wind mage have aside from spreading his gift to the world?

Once he had finished his duty with the women, he spent a little while longer in his room drinking a fruity juice and rum mix that was one of the bearable items from the HQ's kitchen and prepared an attire suitable for meeting his dear old friend. A dark green coat, almost black, with brown pants and a simple white undershirt. Showing off his wealth too much in front of the president might make it seem like he was trying to upstage his superior, as well as invite questions as to how he had acquired so much wealth, which typically wouldn't be bad except the president was the one person who Marvin couldn't afford to have asking such questions.

Finally, a servant came, and Marvin left his room and made his way to the right walking barely five steps before coming into the conference room. Typically, such meetings would be done in the president's office but the amount of reports and length of the discussion between three, and in the middle portion, four people made such a set up prohibitive. The conference room was to the direct right of Marvin's own room but getting there before the president was a grey area as far as etiquette goes, so better stick to what works and let the president summon him there. Going through the dark oak door and coming into the room of sandstone walls and flowing oceanic carpet, he saw a U shaped table with the president sitting in the center, perusing a few papers in front of him.

The president, Johnson, was 6 plus feet with a sprinkling of grey in his smooth black mane of hair. The most striking feature was his deep green eyes, which was further emphasized by his slight chin and strong cheekbones. While clean-shaven, the most powerful man on the continent was wearing a black coat and slightly blueish undershirt that didn't quite go with the regular brown pants and brown boots but the undershirt was one of a number of clothing items picked out for him by his late love and woe betide anyone who would besmirch those most sacred of items.

Sadly, to the left sitting idly and twiddling his thumbs was Alton. The pudgy man had a bulbous nose and short bowl cut of brown hair which flowed slightly over his bloated proportions. His general demeanor and simple robe of green with a white undershirt said he was being idle, but Marvin noticed the keen interest in Altons brown eyes as he surveyed the rest of the room before looking towards the newcomer.

"Ah, so good of you to join us at long last." Alton said as he looked down his bulbous nose towards Marvin who sat the opposite side of him in a wooden chair.

"Shall we start?" Marvin said in as cheerful a manner as he could manage as the constant splatter of rain was heard even here.

"Indeed." Johnson agreed and called for the secretary. She came through the door and offered the three men a small stack of papers each. As the go-to man for congressional approval for the senate and the oft derided chambers, Alton began the first point of contention.

"First order of business, the transportation department has been running at breakneck speed for months now trying to keep up with the newer forts to the south. I've heard reports that the caravans have been worked to the point where talks of strikes have been whispered amongst the taverns frequented by the workers." Alton said in a plain tone that was met with Marvin pounding the table in outrage.

"Do those ingrates not appreciate the dire need our entire line of defense has for the goods they move? Any whispers of this strike should be met with whippings." Marvin put in between gritted teeth. Alton merely put up his hands in a defensive gesture.

"Men can only move so fast for so long. I have talked with a noble near the southern region, Duke Cest, who has a good number of caravans and workers from his own businesses who could help carry the workload… but-" Alton said as he pinched his nose with his index and thumb fingers. "But he doesn't want money. Apparently, one of his carriages was caught moving drugs from the east into the coast. He intimated that getting him out of that bind would lead him to approving his caravans and their employees for transporting government goods, at cost even."

Marvin looked to Johnson who was now leaning back into his chair, staring at the ceiling. Personally, Marvin would have just said yes without a moment's hesitation, but Johnson had certain moral hiccups. After a minute, Johnson looked towards his old friend whose eyes shimmered in clear approval.

"Fine" Johnson finally grumbled. "But keep an eye on any more of this talk of strikes, we can't afford any further setbacks in our campaign. Especially with this dammed beast running around and the fort lost in a freak accident."

Apparently, some new beast killed several mages, along with an extensive number of bandits, a while back. Between that and the freak accident at the Crypt fort in the swamps, it was weighing heavily on everyone in the military's upper echelons. Sensing that Johnson's statement was as good of a transition as any he was going to get, Marvin moved in.

"Yes, speaking of which we have a plan we've been working on and I had the Rangers left in the capable hands of the sub-commander John so that Freya could give this presentation herself. Freya!" Marvin called towards the door.

A moment passed but the door remained unmoved.

"Freya?!" Marvin demanded with another shout, this time getting a response.

The distinct grey leather armor and grey cape of the rangers came through the door backwards as Freya was motioning some half hysterical woman in similar gear to leave before turning back towards her superiors as she carried several pages under her shoulder.

"S-Sorry sirs. We've uh… we've come across something very bad in the last round of reports." She said as she strolled towards the center of the table with papers under her right shoulder. Her blue eyes darted around the room briefly before she settled down, but the impression had already been made

She and Marvin had gone over how to sell this plan, but this wasn't part of that plan. The play was to give the factual telling of events leading up to the current situation, and then using that to lead into the solution to hand over a crafter to Maw's gang. Until Tansen screwed that plan up, Marvin could have done it under his own authority but now he needed someone higher up the chain to resolve it, and that only left the president.

But that didn't involve her wiping her moist palms across her legs and having beads of sweat roll down her slightly wrinkled forehead as she breathed in and out like a hunted animal. Signs even a civilian like Alton, someone who probably didn't know which end of a sword he was supposed to hold, picked up on. All three men leaned forward without realizing they had done so.

"You all saw the report where we lost some mages to an unknown entity. We had thought it was an isolated problem, but new information has come forward that suggests that incident was connected to the destruction of the Crypt base." She said as she handed out the papers. Taking his portion with eagerness and dread, he flipped through it to see the reports as well as several sketches of tracks with what looked like a foot only it was oddly distorted by several holes and what looked like drag marks behind them.

With a light cough, Freya returned to the center of the three men and gave her findings.

"Seeing as how orcs don't really hold territory, Noah, who leads the southern operations for the mages sent a scouting party to ascertain what had happened the day after the bases destruction. They only had an hour, if even that much, to survey the area and while they looked around to find out exactly what happened one of the mages noticed some odd tracks amongst the burnt ruins and bodies but it was left as an insignificant side note until more information could be gathered on them. It wasn't until two days ago that we could get the scout who found the tracks in the north down south to go over the sketches.

They were one and the same. With this new information, Noah submitted his theory on the events at the Crypt." She said with a note finality.

Marvin was furiously going over the reports and the sketches, as was Alton, but in the corner of his eye he saw Johnson had merely skimmed the papers before putting them aside to his left and looked at Freya with a stone cold expression.

"What theory is that?" Johnson asked her in a neutral tone before she obliged him.

"He thinks the orcs have developed a new weapon or gotten ahold of some new beast that they've tamed and can now use towards their own ends. As such, he's suggested we only send supplies in groups of several thousand, double patrols everywhere from the Bulwark to the south-western forts and send all the male mages away while replacing them with female mages from other parts of the coalition, not just for three weeks like we originally planned but for months or even years.

In his letter he emphasized that he now doubted the Viper base or perhaps even the Bulwark itself could be considered safe zones after this new information." Johnsons green eyes went wide while Alton looked like he wanted to throw up. Marvin just sputtered for a second before speech came back to him.

"Not even the Bulwark is safe? Has he gone mad?!" Marvin demanded.

Freya looked at the ground this time while she spoke.

"I've gone over the first incident several times, interviewing the stable hands who handed those girls their horses, and worked out the timing of it all. Those women had been in a fight that lasted less than five minutes, if they even lasted that long. That's how long five veterans lasted against that thing.

Whatever this thing is, it kills mages like rats.

The marks on the remains of the Crypts wall show the typical Frojan style of demolition. But before they retreated, the scouts found at least seven different mages that had been cut into chunks and one that had been crushed to a paste. The chunks might be from water blades, but the sheer power needed to cut clean through bone like that is immense. The only ray of hope is the new orc bodies around the fortress seems to indicate that it couldn't have taken down the entire fort itself." Freya finished.

'That ray of hope is dimmer than the sun outside' Marvin thought as he listened to the crack of lightning and pounding of rain on the roof. But now he thought even that storm couldn't adequately capture the mood of the room. His throat went dry as nearly twenty years of planning, arm twisting, and sweat was going up in flames.

"So, what does it look like?" Alton asked.

Freya sighed before she answered.

"We don't know."

"What element does it have?" Johnson asked in a quiet tone.

Freya now looked up at the president. Her blue eyes showing some determination.

"Sir, those papers are the total of all of our intelligence on this thing since the soldiers that got away from the Crypt fort didn't see it or at least didn't live long enough to give us the information. A few footprints, statements from surviving bandits who also didn't see anything, and a hasty scouting report of an area now overrun with orcs. That is all we have." She said in a quiet tone.

There was a moment of consideration as the three men came to grips with this new information. Alton was the first to break the silence.

"Moving all the male mages out is not going to happen, at least not soon." Alton said.

While Johnson leaned over the reports and kept his gaze down as he continued skimming the papers, he offered a sharp reprimand.

" We can't afford to have those male mages out there with that thing running about." he said in a severe tone.

"Well then move them all to the safest location we have. Getting the magic associations or academies to give up mages is like prying a cub from a bear at the best of times. Sending them out where only the rangers were made to go because there's now something too dangerous even for the roughest lot in the military, no offence" Alton said with a nod towards Freya.

Freya got a slight smile and smug look in her eyes before Alton continued.

" They will be even less willing to part with them. It takes a lot of work and money to make mages and I can't think of a single group I could go to if we needed them this week."

Marvin got a glint in his eyes, his instincts telling him this was the time to make his move.

"We don't need more mages, at least not immediately. What we need is more bodies to patrol the routes and slow down the orcs advance." Marvin said as he nodded towards Freya. She got the hint and went forward with their original proposal.

"Maw is a gang leader whose territory had previously been untouched by the orc threat. He is willing to lend us his considerable manpower in exchange for the handing over of a crafter" She said.

"What was the crafters offence that he would go to such lengths?" Johnson asked, the fate of the crafter already clear from the tone of her voice.

"He killed his uncle and two brothers. The easiest death was the larger brother who merely got a bolt through the head. The younger was burned alive using only his head, I can only imagine how long the poor soul lived through that, while the uncle was shot in the gut and left to slowly die from his wounds. We figured letting such a monster go about amongst the good people of the Coalition would not be wise and moved to have him conscripted into the rangers so he could be handed over to Maw." She said in an even tone with a few notes of disgust in her telling.

Johnson's green eyes grew hard at the descriptions, war was one thing but such needless suffering was something he had cracked down on harshly during his years leading the military and it brought back some very unpleasant memories of his day's leading the troops. Alton looked on skeptically.

"Bah! What were they doing that merited such treatment?" Alton demanded.

"Personally, I think they were trying to defend a family from his perverse lust. They were amongst a wrecked carriage and we found two children and their mother who had been raped while their poor father had been forced to watch." Freya said in a grim tone.

"How do you know that was Eli's doing and not the bandits relatives?" Alton asked.

"It fits the pattern of behavior from what we know of him. As far as hard evidence goes, I doubt any amount of evidence would have put him away for those crimes. He has already shown himself quite adept at evading the law even when the evidence is overwhelming." Freya said in a miffed tone.

Alton and Johnson raised an eyebrow at this, which prompted further explanation from Freya which she was all too willing to give.

"During our back and forth with Maw, Eli was credibly accused of child molestation, as well as their murder, and orc mating in yet another incident. However, over the course of the trial, a failing in the prosecution's case caused the whole trial to fall through. He's been free to roam amongst families and children ever since." Freya finished with a soured expression at the end.

"I would like to see the court case summary and scouting report myself." Alton said in a hard tone.

"Agreed." Johnson said.

Freya got a light smile and did a light bow before heading back out the door to retrieve the documents. The men idled for a bit before she came back and handed over a copy with a stamp of the Legal department showing they were one-to-one copies of the originals. Originals that so happened to be brief enough that they didn't mention the specifics of the technicality that the dismissal of the case was based on.

"As you can see, everything I've said is factual." Freya said with a tone of finality.

"It would appear you already tried to implement this plan, but got blocked by the Diamond academy head, Tansen." Johnson said in a neutral tone as he turned towards Marvin.

Marvin got a sweaty brow but acted as calmly as he could.

"Deferring certain military operations to my expertise is what got the bandits to work with us." Marvin said defensively.

Johnson looked him up and down before going back to the reports.

After a minute of looking over the papers further, Alton still had one more objection while Johnson scanned over the documents in greater depth.

"I still don't like this whole bandit employment business; we're putting too much power in the hands of people who've shown they have no right to be having it." Alton said, to which Marvin scoffed.

"Were you complaining when we managed to push the orcs further back? I seem to remember you were quite happy to stand in front of the crowd when we announced our first solid foothold in territory that had been taken over by the orcs, a feat we hadn't achieved in decades." Marvin retorted, remembering all too well how eager this snake had been to stand on the shoulders of his achievement when the time came.

"Except they haven't been only fighting the orcs." Alton shot back. "We've been getting more reports of bandit activity, especially in the north. Now that the gangs feel safer from the orcs, they've started siphoning their strength towards their tried and true practices,"

Marvin merely side stepped the accusation.

"Have you already forgotten the reports on this new weapon from the orcs? Is this really the time to be fussing when we have a painless way to get more troops?" Marvin demanded with a smug smile. A smile that was quickly flattened when Alton got a self- satisfied look on his face as he reached into his green robe.

"Painless you say? I don't think the people at Diamond academy would agree with that assessment." He said as he pulled out a letter and handed it to Johnson.

Johnson frowned but took the paper and looked it over. His face grew red as he looked it over and his eyes had a murderous look as he tossed the paper over to Marvin.

"Explain yourself. Now" Johnson said.

Marvin picked up the paper and saw that it was a copy of Tansen's full complaint, instead of the single line saying the plan was contended by Tansen in the report he gave them, with a red stamp of a quill on it showing that it was a legitimate copy of the original document. The problematic section discussing Noah's involvement in the 'not supposed to be' raid was at the top of the page. Marvin quickly glared at Alton before reigning himself in and working up how to wiggle out of this predicament.

"This incident is being looked over, mind you this is merely an accusation and not any proof in and of itself. But such a small issue should not get in the way-"

"My children's safety is not a small fucking issue', Marvin!" Johnson growled.

'Oh shit. That's right, his boys are attending the Diamond academy.' Marvin thought as he mentally sweated.

"My apologies for my poor word choice. I merely meant that while we will be cracking down on incidents like these in the future, if this incident is indeed true, we should not lose sight of the larger goal." Marvin put in mildly.

"You couldn't manage your people if all our lives depended on it. It's the damned ear program all over again." Alton moaned from across the table with a pound on the dark oak wood.

"No, it's not!" Marvin exploded at the accusation. But surprisingly, it was Freya who cut in.

"If I may, we need a solution and we need it very soon. We're as tough as they come, but even the rangers are starting to get nervous and look for the door. We've had two incidents already where women intentionally got pregnant off a male ranger just to get out of their deployment." She said firmly.

"It's not that simple" Johnson put in," More than just math, handing over a citizen to be sacrificed sets a very bad precedent, no matter their appalling reputation. And this incident with the raid throws a shadow over the whole program"

Marvin knew he was losing the argument, at least with the one person it mattered. Collecting his thoughts, he then struck upon an idea that was conjured from several threads of discussion he heard coming from his contacts in the Front. It would have to be implemented within the day to make sure all the pieces were in order if Alton or Johnson bothered to check after this meeting.

Fortunately, Johnson had a long meeting involving trade talks with the Rodring kingdom soon, on which he would be spending all of his time preparing for and Alton was going to have to start bartering with the mage associations after this so the timing to pull it off was as good as it was going to get.

"But what good is a citizen if they're censored?" Marvin put in.

This time Johnson and Alton looked towards Marvin with a raised eyebrow. Freya had a moment where she seemed confused, but she was quick enough to wipe the question from her face.

"What was it this time?" Johnson asked in an exhausted tone.

"I'm sorry sir, but as you know those are matters that are kept strictly between the involved parties"

Johnson gave a tired nod and leaned back into his chair,

"But the Front has had to issue a censure order on him. Those aren't typically easy for me to get any word on, but the things I was hearing about this one… If what I've heard of the incident this time is true, I'd sleep a lot better at night knowing he's in Maw's hands" Marvin finished.

"I don't suppose Maw's willing to put up the troops for the sake of patriotism." Alton offered with a hint of sarcasm as he leaned against the table with one hand supporting his fat head. But it was Freya who answered him.

"No, discovering an unstoppable monster is roaming about has not made him more willing to send men away from his fort. Frankly this is just the deal we have now, if Maw starts getting the idea it's revenge or his neck, he won't hesitate to let his dear family go unavenged." Freya finished in a cold tone.

The president leaned forward and stared at the reports again before making his decision.

"Alton, get to work finding new female mages to take the place of the male ones with every possible resource we have. Marvin… damn me. All right, I'll give this scheme clearance depending on how the issue with this censor is resolved. But I swear Marvin, one more incident like that raid and I'm pulling the plug on this whole operation." Johnson said in a hard tone that brokered no disagreement.

Marvin gave a light bow and got up from his seat.

"I'm a simple military man and as such I can't really be of any assistance in the other trade items up for discussion. Permission to be excused?" Marvin asked humbly.

"Permission granted. Good night and thank the stars you were never cursed with my position." Johnson said with a light smile.

"Every day before bed and twice before dinner." Marvin shot back jovially as he and Freya left the room.

Once out in the hallway, they both made their way to Marvin's room and when they were inside, Freya immediately turned around and looked at Marvin with a question in her blue eyes.

"Kristan. She's the head of the eastern branch of the Front and is currently having a fit over some dust-up with Tansen. I'll swing this idea towards her and see if we can use the innuendo around Tansen's relationship with his precious crafter student to punish him. Since it's strictly between Tansen, Eli, me, and the Front, we won't even need to fabricate evidence this time. But we need to move quickly before Alton or Johnson look into it too closely" Marvin said in a quiet tone.

Freya's eyes gleamed in approval.

"Very cunning, I'm surprised you came up with that so quickly." She said, clearly impressed.

"That why my ass is in the big chair," He said slyly before going back towards the door and motioning her to leave. She obliged him and gave a light bow before heading out.

"Damn, Marvin. You've done it again. Another victory secured and another celebration in order." He said to the empty room as he looked out the wide window on the opposite side of the main room to see the sun shining out over the pools and wet grass of the now passed storm, the patter of rain and thunder having died out without him noticing over the course of the meeting. Getting on his finest attire, he prepared to go out to his favorite restaurant that served earth or fire element steaks from a variety of animals all served on a sizzling salt slab with a beachside view. A little self-indulgence to commemorate his own cleverness.