Vaile found himself in a large room, seated at a table that showed a large magic map of the continent that he was on. Based on his knowledge of the Full-Dive VRMMORPG he was spirited away from, Neon Genesis Fantasia, he could recognize some parts of the landmass, despite never being to them in this new world. The vast badlands of the Green Wastes seemed to have been dropped right next to the Elven nation called the ‘Athellarn Sanctuary State’ which was bordering a large hellscape called Pandemonium Dis. All three of these places and many others were either added in expansions or were vanilla, but the one thing that connected them all was their random positioning.

There was no rhyme or reason for their placement, and geographers and geologists would have torn out their hair trying to figure out how a desert, a jungle, a vast mountain range and a blasted wasteland could border each other as though there was a literal dividing line keeping them from bleeding into each other. At least the placement of places in NGF (Neon Genesis Fantasia) made sense, but this was like witnessing bordergore on a far more absurd scale. Vaile was so busy speculating about how the hell the world’s ecosystems had not collapsed that he didn’t hear the talking around him.

“Did you get that, my Lord?”

A mix of Seivalt’s words and a gentle shaking snapped Vaile back to reality.

“Sorry, I was just examining the map.”

“Then I will go over it agai-.”

Seivalt did not get to start or finish his explanation as he was overcome with a potent coughing fit that saw him nearly collapse onto the map.

“Seivalt!” Vaile grabbed his Tamed Being before he could fall and supported him with his shoulder. “Someone, call a healer!” He shouted just as one entered.

Seivalt was lain on a stretcher and taken away to his personal quarters, leaving Vaile and the rest to try and figure out what to do next. Nora seemed to be in the loop, and as Seivalt’s second in command she was the next person in the chain of command. All of Seivalt’s duties temporarily fell on her for now.

Despite having been visually standoffish to her ancestor, she genuinely looked worried. Vaile wondered if she was actually just acting the way she did because it made her seem like a rebel, but now was not the time for speculation.

“Ma’am, what are your orders?” One member of the Red Mountain leadership asked.

“…” Nora stood, looking at the door that Seivalt was taken out through.

“Ma’am?”

Nora looked slightly down for a brief moment before seeming to get a hold of herself.

“The old man’s plan still stands. We follow it to the best of our ability and hope the cards we have in our hand trump those of the Kingdom.”

She pointed at a military base surrounded by a series of rectangular walls. Vaile looked at the map and saw over a dozen forts similar to it in a rough line, all connected by a singular wall. It looked similar to the fortifications of Hadrian’s Wall from Earth, just with more medieval aspects and a bit of magic thrown in.

“Vaile, dear, listen up. I don’t want to repeat myself; I am not like the old man.”

Vaile nodded.

“Ok, so that fort has the weakest garrison and has several gaps in its defenses that we can exploit. However, the second we attack it there will be a call to arms along the rest of the wall and the other forts. On top of that, the settlements near the area will send reinforcements to aid the defenders, or what few remain. As strong as we are, we can’t deal with the militia.”

“Why? They should be less well armed and armored than the soldiers. And they wouldn’t be trained nearly as well, either.” Vaile brought up what he thought was a valid point.

“No, we can’t butcher them. Do you intend for us to rule a nation of corpses?” Nora was not acting anything like the crass and wild rebel persona she had put on. This was who she was when all responsibility had been forced onto her.

Nora scratched her head. “How the hell are we going to deal with the forts without dealing with the militia?” She mused aloud.

Vaile was stumped as well, but them a lightbulb flashed in his head.

“Wait a minute, I think I got something.” He said as he brought up his list of Tamed Beings.

Vaile scrolled through the massive list and, with the new map data from the magic map in front of him integrated into his own internal map, he was able to track the location of several of his Tamed Beings. Or rather, he saw multiples of them. Many multiples of them.

He closed his eyes as he tried to enter Group Chat with them, and lo and behold it worked!

The sounds of confusion on the other end ceased as Vaile explained his situation and the connection these descendants of his Tamed Beings had with him. He half expected them to rebel, but perhaps their lineage forced them to submit to him, because they immediately wanted to follow him like their ancestors.

These were not humanoids, or legendary monsters or beasts. No these were wild animals of various kinds. Wolves, big cats, snakes, bears, boars and other animals that, in the right numbers and situations, could cause a lot of trouble. He was even able to locate the descendants of a few cows, sheep, pigs, chickens and goats and roped them into his little plan.

After finishing giving his orders, he looked up and told the people in the war room what he had arranged. As he explained his plan for how to deal with the wall, the looks on their faces went from confusion to disbelief and finally to a look that screamed “This is crazy enough that it just might work.”

…

At first Nora could not believe her ears. Vaile had explained that he had control over roughly 89% of all animal life and 93% of monster life in the entire Trelawney Kingdom. He said that with a single command he could cause the whole of the nation’s animal husbandry system to collapse and that with but a word he could cause a stampede the likes of which the Kingdom had never experienced.

Sure, if he ordered it the vast majority of the beings he commanded would die, but that was the price that needed to be paid. He did say that he would likely only get one shot with this, and that it was incredibly painful to do what he had done, but if they played their cards right they could hit the weakest link in the Trelawney Wall and push through to deal with the other forts long before the Kingdom’s militia, soldiers and government managed to deal with the chaos caused by Vaile’s command.

She was now convinced by what the old man had said.

“Lord Vaile is not like us. He is a kind soul, but not unwilling to do terrible things for those he cares about. He may seem a bumbling fool at times, but he always manages to come up with a plan that works when the time is dire. He is a good man, not like us at all, and I don’t expect him to stay as King. You shouldn’t expect that of him either. Spend your time with him while you can before he moves on, and make sure to learn what you can from him. Way back when, he was quite the dangerous foe for his enemies. Then again, you have to be that inventive and imaginative to deal with a world out for your head. Just put him in a no-win situation and watch him find a victory that benefits him and those he cares for.”

Nora watched as the love of her life altered the magic map and nearly gasped in amazement as nearly eighty-four thousand markers for allied troops popped up all over the Trelawney Kingdom. Hoping her old man would be able to see the victory before passing on, she smiled and said a sentence her ancestors had spoken time and again.

“Oh yeah. It’s all coming together.” All Nora had to do was wait for Seivalt to recover, and they could begin the revolution.