Frontier, Daldia.

On the following day, a long line of Stovkow prisoners made a single file line out of the POW camp built in between Daldia and the border outpost. Many of the Stovkow refugees moving to the frontier land stared in wide eyes as the knight and trained soldiers slowly walked passed them in ragged cloths.

With the last of the Stovkow POWs on their side of the border, the security and training was completely handed off to Captain Wraeth. Minus Lieutenant Walkers platoon in Fort Whitestone, all of Bravo Company had deployed to Trimmor and the two borrowed platoon from Alpha returned to Captain Wraeth’s command.

Few days later, the hunters had returned to Trimmor with their discovery. From the tracks they found, the gnolls had been using the old goblin caves as their recent base until the ogres and orcs killed them all off. They even found some unusual bones of recent kills in other goblin caves, but none of the hunter were able to identify them as they have never seen them before. For now, the only thing Trimmor could do was keep building it’s defenses and send out patrols to keep an eye out for inhumanoid movements. Everyday search and destroy group was sent out in platoon size. And two team of three demi-human hunters only group were sent out separately.

Back at base, since their return and with Spike’s approval, Hunter Rikko spent everyday taking out her two children to teach them the rope of being a good hunter. Understanding the changes in the frontier, Rikko wasted no time in teaching and drilling her children hard to cram as many skills to survive the coming storm. With the sense of crisis and approaching danger, she gave her best for her children.

For the past week. Spike exercised in the morning by running laps around the fort. Then after clean up and breakfast, he hit the firing range as he trained up on the M223 Revolver grenade launcher. A team of M223 Revolver were sent back to base with instruction to train other units. After spending all morning training, he became very proficient on the M223 and M99. Especially with his range finder on his helmet in conjunction with the digital degree reader, he couldn’t miss even if he wanted to. And after, Spike read up on the manual on the M99 Longbow 50. Cal. sniper rifle and practiced it’s various options. For the M99, using his eye movements and voice recognition command, he could set up target recognition and lock program to tag multiple targets to track them as long as the targets are in his camera view. With proper setup, this would reduce the time need to find the next target and less requirement to have a spotter.

And to help out at the firing range, something Marquess Daldia started in the last week to reinforce a sense of security. He started to allow selected number of new immigrants to help out at the firing range. He wanted to show them the weapons and the soldiers who are protecting them to wash away any fear for their safety in Daldia. And sure enough, once the words got around from enough witnesses from the firing range, plus the refugees who traveled from the other frontier with Captain allen, it started to take positive effects.

After lunch, Spike would read up on reports to familiarize himself with the events in his little kingdom. Then walk around with his two bodyguards to be visible to the new immigrants. Captain Wraeth would schedule one of the patrol to time with Spike’s movement back and forth between the city and fort as an added security measurement when Spike went outside of the defensive walls. Then in the late afternoon, he would train with Marquess Daldia until Marquess’s mana runs out. That way, the poor exhausted Marquess could rest after a hard day of work. Which confirmed something very unusual about Spikes mana. He simply had way too much. But the Marquess simply took it as Spike’s uniqueness and didn’t ask questions. Even if he did, no answer would have come from it.

Lately, Spike had been having dinner with the Marquess and his family after the magic training. Spike really enjoyed the time with them. And he finally got to know Marquess Daldia’s granddaughter and grandson. Mila and Dagun. Nine and Seven years old respectively. Both already showing potential in manatite as they are trained by their grandfather, Karan Daldia. And sometimes from Spike in order for him to control his mana release. When they showed good result, Spike always presented them with sweets.

Spike also made progress with his own mana circulation. He is now able to activate the mana flow on both arms. Now he's trying to connect the flow to his main body. If he didn’t know any better, it almost felt like cultivating KI for martial arts. Or perhaps there is some truth to it from ancient asian secrets of his old world.

But the best news to Spike so far is the news from Trimmor, that it is still peaceful, relatively. Spike had been depressed with the the lose of his men. At first he was upset about the Freelance Platoon getting trashed up. But some of them were able to move on to their next life. And ones who didn’t make it, still had another chance as long as Spike lived. That’s what he was able to workout internally and accept. The best part was that seventeen of them were still alive.

When he thought about it, it could have been worse. The constant hunting had allowed the Freelance platoon to feast on the enemy's spiritual energy. Thus allowing them to reach spiritual freedom at the moment when they needed the most. If not, they may have been completely wiped out. They were lucky. But that also raised questions about future battles. What are the chances of these men surviving if only few of them lite up with red aura and berserker charged the enemy? So many new things keep developing with no answers.

All in all, Spike really needed the break to clear up his head. Losing Platoon Sergeant Rector sucked. He was the first soul Spike summoned to the Nexus. But he also understood that the man is now at a better place, which gave him consolation. In this week, he was able to finally internalize that his existence gave these men a chance to break free. And to the common people of his territory, he represented little more than a semblance of stability for now, which gave them some hope for their own future. So he reaffirmed his resolve to himself to not die cheaply and fight hard for them.

During the short depression Spike went through, he was sent to Doctor Simmons for full check up. He was cleared physically, but Doctor Simmons discovered there were now few speckles of orange in his iris. Which raised new questions. Is Spike becoming less human? A mutation of some sort? What changes are coming to him? And the Silhouette refused any new information with her always cheeky replies.

Silhouette only replied with, “You’ll know it if you live long enough.” Which pissed off Spike to no end. As she would end it with “Sink or swim.”

The only other thing that concerned him on the daily report was the sudden overcrowding of the city. With almost 8,000 civilians, it was a tent city. There was nothing he himself could do to help. Only time can fix the housing shortage. Time to build the houses. By the time the housing shortage is settled, all the former agro land and then some, will have disappeared. Currently, they are completing twelve to fifteen houses a day. At this rate, that housing problem should be solve before spring. Truthfully, all the new houses built outside of the concrete sewage system are nothing more than cabins built for temporary winter shelter. But in the future, these housings will be rebuilt to higher standard once the needed resource are discovered. The engineers are dying to find some limes to make concretes. It wasn’t just for the civilian housings, but for the over all development of all Phoenix territories. Engineers wanted all their buildings to be at least to 1915 era on earth or the engineers would be unsatisfied with themselves and their work. Those men are real pros. Spike thought.

The seventh day after the battle in Trimmor, during late afternoon, Captain Allen arrived with more refugees. Spike watched the train of exhausted refugees come in on loads of wagons and being directed to temporary housings set up for processing new immigrants. As he observed the refugees, he noticed their faces of relief and many started to cry. Spike didn’t remember others breaking down like that and he wonder if conditions are worse up north.

As the new refugees moved to the warehouse district for temporary housing, he wondered if the current level of population isn’t too much for the limited space they currently have. Especially if whatever trouble that is brewing in the frontier makes it pass Trimmor, the inhumanoids will have a feeding frenzy should his defenders fall.

After training and dinner, Spike called for a meeting with Captain Allen for a private consultation in his large tent fit for a leader of his stature. Every now and then, Spike’s tent would get bigger and bigger when he returned from his hunting missions. The desk jockeys running the government has yet to decide whether Spike should get a military mansion inside Fort Whitestone or a palace somewhere inside Daldia city. But at the same time, they had neither the resources or the time to build either as the needs of the people were greater. So for now, Spike had the biggest tent in Fort Whitestone.

“Thanks for coming by. I’m sure you must be tired and wanting to go back to your women.” Spike said.

“It’s not a problem sir. You’re actually doing me a favor.” Captain Allen replied dryly.

“Huh?”

“With you calling me over, I don’t have to deal with my three crazy women. You’ve given me a legitimized excuse to go home as late as possible. Sir.” Captain admitted.

“I… you know…no, better yet, I don’t want to know.” Spike said as he shook his head. To quickly change the topic, he continued on. “You know, I was actually wondering if I was doing the right thing by bring the other frontier people to Daldia. Then I noticed the different looks on the refugees this time. What’s going on out there?”

“It’s not looking good sir. The Stovkow territory actually overlap past us on the north side. So the northern frontier towns are actually much more closer to the deeper frontier. It seems in the last few weeks, the inhumanoids have been aggressively attacking the settlements up north. I think you made the right call on sending our detachment to escort them sir. Some towns have become ghost towns. And from the hunters report, it hadn’t been that long. I verified lot of dried blood everywhere. Even occasionally find some rotting body parts left behind. If you hadn’t sent us up north when you did sir, I believe, most of the people on this trip would have been dead or taken for food by whatever attacked those other settlements.”

With a look of worry in his eye. “Did we lose a lot of men?”

“Not any more than usual until we reached the our last town three days ago sir. Having the Mark VIII helps out alot. When the Mark VIII slowly rolls into battle with its loud engine sound and especially after firing off it’s six pounder and the 30. Cals on it. Most inhumanoids retreat as they start to die in numbers. If we could sent another Mark VIII, I think there would be less casualties sir. It’s very useful on the road and settlement defenses, Mark VIII is turning out to be an excellent tool sir.” Captain Allen said wishfully.

“I see. Then I guess we can make it happen. One to Trimmor and another one to your detachment. Please initiate the requisition with Captain Murphy right away Captain.”

With one of his eyebrow raised in surprised questioning look. “Sir?”

To save time, Spike told Captain Allen the summary of the incident at Trimmor. And if he has time, he should read the battle report for more detail.

“I want to send one to Trimmor right away so please get it done ASAP.”

“Yes sir. As of matter of fact, I’ll do so after we are finished here sir.”

“Good. But also, what do you think about me joining your detachment for the next mission? I currently don’t have a platoon , and I believe that I need to keep scoring points. A week off was nice and I needed the break. But me scoring in the frontier is a critical contribution to our survival. And I don’t think I should be standing still for too long. Given the potential shit storm in the near future.” Spike said.

Thinking about what Spike said. Then with a thoughtful look. “If you went back to Trimmor, as it’s expected to face inhumanoids, don’t you think Trimmor might be a better place for you sir?”

“Well, it’s been a week and they haven’t heard nothing yet. And there is no way Major Jung is going to allow me to go into the wilderness with the ogres running around. But if I’m with you, I can alway hide inside the Mark VIII if shit hits the fan. And you’ll have two Mark VIII for your mission now, Captain Allen.” Spike reasoned with him.

“Well that’s true sir. I’m not against you going up north with me. But we do need to clear it with the Major first sir. It’s possible that he may have other plans for you.” Captain Allen stated.

“Ah right.” Spike acknowledged as he is reminded. Even though Spike may be in charge with giving directions and policies, Major Jung is still the overall military commander for an obvious reason. “Well, on the daily message from Trimmor, Major said that he’ll be returning to Fort Whitestone tomorrow. He plans to commute to Trimmor every other day or so. So let's see what other evil plans the Major has. And also, looks like Bravo Company has taken over Trimmor for now.”

“It's a good strategic move. That way we’ll have a whole company on site to react to any inhumanoid incursion and set the area up for long term expansion into the frontier.” Captain Allen commented.

Looking thoughtful. “You know, come to think of it, I think, I’ll go with you to see Captain Murphy. It will speed up the paperwork. That way, the new Mark VIII crew will get little more time to get used to the situation.” Spike said. Unlike the infantry soldiers, the Mark VIII crew live and stay with their vehicle and can’t enter the woods. Which made it feasible to allowe all the newly summoned Mark VIII crew to bypass the two week frontier survival training, when needed to.

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Frontier, Trimmor.

As a precaution, Major Jung had decided to stay in Trimmor for faster command and control incase situation turns unfavorably. If the situation in Trimmor did turn south, two platoons from Alpha were on ready to march status. But with nothing developing, except for building up of Trimmor's defenses, he had been contemplating whether he should go back to Fort Whitestone. But ultimately, he had decided to stay to personally observe the development of the seventeen men. Once they woke and was cleared by Doctor Dietz, and compounded by lack of inhumanoids presence, there was no point for him to stay. Henceforth, the seventeen men of the Freelance platoon, Doctor Dietz and himself are currently riding back to HQ in the early morning.

In truth, after witnessing what happens to the men after they achieve spiritual freedom from the void. Major Jung loathe the very idea of having Spike see him in his own moment of... glory. The idea just killed him. So he had hoped to spare Spike and himself by creating some distance in Trimmor which had high expectancy of enemy contacts. But nothing happened inTrimmor to his great disappointment.

But another important matter he hasn’t been able to clearly come up with, is how to explain to the civilians about the men glowing in red aura and going berserker. If it was simply a onetime thing, it wouldn't be a problem. But things keep stacking up to the point now that it’s abnormal. Their immunity to disease, resistance to poison, regeneration of body parts, and bodies disappearing at death. Now add in the effect of spiritual freedom. Just what more surprises are there waiting for them. Something told the Major that this wasn’t the end of it. Especially after the update on their medical report about the possible longevity. At this rate, the civilian population will start to think of them as some sort of superior being. That is something that nobody wants.

What to do? What to do? Major Jung pondered. Their one true goal was to hunt. At this rate, even he has no way to foresee how these medieval society will react to them and affect their goal. And putting too much on Lord Phoenix with these problems isn’t something he needs during his development.