238 A Week and a Half Later
"Supreme commander! Supreme Commander!" I heard someone shout as I glared at a very demure-looking sergeant whom I had been yelling at moments before.
"Yes?" I snapped, yelling out of the tent, "In here!" I sent a mana message, and soon, a young blue Bunny-kin girl was holding a paper to me.
"Isabelle wanted me to rapidly send this to you," the blue bunny girl said. Do you want me to wait for a response?" she asked, not even out of breath.
"Wait outside for a moment, and I will read this," I told her as I broke the seal and started reading, and I frowned. It was going to happen at any time, but I was hoping for another week." I shrugged, "I wonder where my absent sister has been all this time. She has not shown her face in a while to report what her spies have found."
I tapped my foot, and I shrugged. I could understand why Isabelle sent this by messenger instead of mana. It was something I would rather not be leaked out to the army at this point. The Empire was marching down the river within three or four days march, and they seemed to be coming in strength. It seemed that the real war was about to start. Our early lead and taking border City has sufficiently pissed off the Empire, and they're coming to our door now. We only had a few days left before the first standoff or battle. The Logistics army had been making large headway on the new fortifications.
"Sergeant Amy," I said, turning to the sergeant I had been reaming out for an incident related to the city moments ago, "It seems the enemy will be upon us soon. We will be relying on the Elite army even more to ensure there is no trouble in our rear while the battle rages on. That coupled with the fact that we still have not learned how the damn Empire's army snuck up on us, we need to keep the city on lockdown. At least the west side of the city. I cannot have you and my forces making things even worse while we fight. We just got the farmers reaping their harvest and bringing it in. DO NOT INFLAME THINGS FURTHER."
"Yes, Supreme Commander!" She snapped to attention, and I nodded.
"That goes for the rest of the army. Again, you are allowed to defend yourselves, but putting yourselves into a situation where you will be forced to defend yourselves is not okay. Understood?"
"Understood, Supreme Commander!" Sergeant Amy acknowledged, and I sighed.
"I honestly think you don't. But it is what it is. Get out there and follow my orders no matter how much you dislike them. Hate the humans however you want, but you made an Oath to follow my orders, you and your squad. DO NOT DISOBEY ME AGAIN." I took a breath. "I understand your plight, but go now. Call in the messenger, as I wish to have them send a note back to Isabelle.
A moment later, the messenger came in, and I was in the middle of writing the note as they came in. "Girl, what is your name?" I asked as I wrote a reply for the condition of the city and the fact that she was going to be soloing it with her army unless they caught sight of battle slaves.
"Fierce, Supreme Commander!" Fierce replied.
"Okay, Fierce, you are going to first go to the logistics camp and yell around until you get the highest rank around there. You will cry out, and they should be able to gather someone. Then you are to tell that person that I want a report on the logistics side in the city now. Then you come back here with them, and I will have further orders for you."
"Understood, Ma'am!" Fierce ran off with a large smile on her face, and I sighed. I wish I had a proper messenger core now, too. I needed to be able to have reliable people that I vetted to be my messengers. That was yet another damn shortfall of our current army.
I got to work putting in my recommendations, and we could discuss ideas in a meeting on the west side of the city with the Elders. They were due to leave meditations soon, but I was surprised none had yet.
"Hello, Chelsea," I suddenly heard as if the thought of her summoned her.
"Queen Mira," I said, looking up before continuing my writing, "Sorry, I have to finish my note as it seems we have spotted the enemy coming to the city," I told her.
"I think I finally have an answer to one of the mysteries since we came here?" Queen Mira said.
"If you can fix my damn undead problem leaving me to have to patrol every damn street and even enter houses to kill undead, that would be nice." I snapped with a snarl.
"No, unfortunately, not that one. That has been a particularly annoying problem," Queen Mira said.
"Very annoying. My Elite army is better than the main army for going around and cleaning up the City. That is not even in question. They are in squads and can spread around and get more work done for less. That doesn't mean that the Empire is not making use of those Undead to ambush squads. Not that they have created any casualties at this point, as my squads are very well trained." I smiled at that, "The problem is that my people are using that as an excuse to kill civilians that had nothing to do with it. Some of them slaughtered a damn family for no damn reason. I cannot stop the reprisal mentality from brewing if I do not punish them publicly, but I cannot damn well punish them without causing an uprising among the army." I snarled, "But what other issue can you solve? I will be more than happy to lose it."
"The appearing army," Queen Mira said with a large smile, and she pulled out a breastplate from the Empire's army. "I found out that some very, no extremely intelligent Enchanter is using the death mana in the air to haze their people over. It seems the Death mana is causing us to have more blind spots in our vision, and this enchantment is almost like illusion magic but not quite; it just enhances those blind spots with the haze so you see the haze instead of a shape. It is hard to explain, but the best way of explaining it is that it is using the Death mana to kill some of your vision temporarily. Overall, It is a very complex enchantment, but they have it on all their breastplates. I think that is what made the Empire so smug about their defenses here. If you didn't change defensive thinking and they came upon unexpecting front line warriors, they would have a very clear surprise attack and would have dealt serious casualties to the army no matter what."
I looked at it, shocked, and I looked at the enchantments, which were very intricate and complex. "WHERE THE FUCK DID THEY FIND ENOUGH TO EQUIP AN ARMY!?" I shouted, looking at it.
"That is the question that needs to be answered. But," Queen Mira smiled, "I have already come up with a simple solution for your logistics enchanters to put into your defensive works as an add-on to ensure that they cannot do the same in the next engagements while in this city."
Relief poured through me. "That would be amazing," I sighed, leaning back in my chair. I looked down at the note to Isabelle. It was almost done, but I wondered if I should add that to the note.
I thought about it a bit longer, and Queen Mira smiled at me, "I do expect your presence tonight as a reward for my services. I am quite the mercenary, and my payment is required from the Supreme Commander themselves, you know."
I shivered and smiled at her, looking her up and down. This time, Queen Mira was B cup breasts and no taller than five feet tall. She was in a nice black dress, looking just as ravishing as every other time. "Seriously, I am expecting some loving back in the tent after you get your orders out. There is not much time before the next battle, and I need a top-up of your lust. My body is yearning to have more of your seed in my womb, and I will not let that desire go. I will see you in your room," Queen Mira chuckled and moved out of the room, leaving me a bit stunned.
Then I smiled after she was gone and took a deep breath. I wasn't expecting her to be so forward, but it seemed less and less boundaries existed between us. "Absolutely," I replied, "I can't wait to feel you tighten all over me."
"Mmm, I Can't wait." Queen Mira walked out of the tent, and I noticed a new paper on my table. I picked it up and grinned. It was a relatively simple enchantment, but it was a modified disillusion enchantment meant for defensive structures. This scroll could mean a lot if the Empire had some way of mass-producing Enchanted gear. No, they must have some way of producing enchanted gear; it was the only thing that made sense.
"Supreme Commander, Permission to enter!" I heard Fierce's voice cry out.
"Granted," I said, and the Messenger came in with a rare Cat-kin in my logistics uniform. I looked at her rank and was surprised that a Staff sergeant was available. Then again, they could have been caught on the way somewhere.
"Supreme commander, you called for me?" The Cat-kin asked.
"Yes, I did, Fierce. I want you to go to the west fortress where the Main army is, go to the Logistics area, and get me the highest-ranked member you can find. Tell them that they are to make a report to me as soon as they can get to me in person and that they are to bring a member of the Enchanting division."
"Yes, Supreme Commander!" Fierce replied.
I stuffed my note into an envelope and sealed it with my seal, handing it to the girl. It was a horrible way to communicate, "Then deliver to the War Chief. She is probably expecting this," I finished. "Go, make haste!" I snapped, and the girl ran off without talking anymore.
I turned to the logistics Staff Sergeant, "Name?" I asked.
"Staff Sergeant Muffin, Supreme Commander!" Muffin said. She was an orange-haired girl with little black and white stripes in her hair. Her ears were not like Katy's, and I almost shook my head.
"Sorry, the name threw me off," I replied honestly.
"I escaped my human oppressors as they were too cheap to buy a Slave collar for me," Muffins sneered, "I will keep this name as a reminder of what happened to my mother and father."
And there it was, the completely justified hatred for the humans that I had to deal with, even in the Elite Army. Many found it hard to hold back, and it was hard to blame them. Slave revolts were some of the most murderous revolts to be known in my past world. The amount of hate and anger generated by the slaves towards their 'Masters' was something those who did not live through it could understand. They would commit acts of violence that were done upon them with an enthusiasm that could not be matched.
I was lucky with how disciplined my Elite army was acting; I was disgusted by some of the things the main army did. There was a good reason I moved them out of the city as fast as possible. I needed to limit the attacks and reprisals. We needed to control the city and its citizens, not massacre them. I was not going to allow genocide while I was at the leadership level.
"Now, Muffins, I want you to report the current supply situation as it is coming to the city and what supplies you are expecting in the coming days. Basically, tell me the situation that you know of for all the backlines," I ordered.
"Yes, Supreme Commander," Muffins took a breath, "The backlines are starting to shape up. It seems that when fleeing, the Nobility were not able to take all their assets. After going through a major component of the Nobility district, we hit a windfall of gold. We have been using the gold, silver, and copper coins to purchase food from the farmers at a premium based on your orders. That has gotten the farmers back out in their fields, reaping their crops and bringing them to us. I am happy to report that we will have a three-week supply if we are cut off. The trench fortress has had one group continuing to finish the fortifications so we can retreat into them if needed. We also have put some carefully placed explosives, as you asked for, if the Empire decides to try and use them to cut off our supplies. The road workers have done great in the last couple of weeks, and half the distance to Border City has had a road built for our wagons. The Tribes have sent A rankers with a small force of B rankers to clear out the remaining fortresses and patrol our border to help stop any sneak attacks behind us. The logistics forces reported an attack from the Empire that was small in force last week. They believe that the last two or three fortresses are going to try and get back with the main army or attack our supplies." Muffins smiled wryly, "Some of these are several days old, Commander, but that is the end of what I consider the good news."
"The bad news?" I asked.
"The bad news is that there is an increasing shortage of food back in the Beast-kin nation. The purchase of foodstuffs from the Demon lands has only been going so far, and the smaller tribes are already feeling the pinch. They are having trouble feeding their tribes and the young. They are increasingly looking at the Bunny-kin tribe and the Dragonic to help them with their food shortages. The Bunny-kin have been opening their treasury, but the Dragonic are taking their time tapping into the Dragon's hoard for anything but the War effort. This is creating a lot of resentment among the smaller tribes. This may affect the warfighting abilities here at the front." Muffins looked at me, seeking confirmation that I understood, and I nodded. "That is all the up-to-date information I have. But I have been noticing a lack of information from our spies. I haven't seen an update from them in over a week."
"That, unfortunately, is for me to deal with. Now, I want you to tell your people and superiors that the Empire's forces have come into sight. It looks like in two to four days that we are going to have the Empire at our door; pissed the fuck off. I want your people to understand that and look sharp. I don't want any incidents either. We need to keep the trouble to a minimum. How is the Civilian food situation?"
"Good. The farmers are selling less to us and mostly to the population even though we are paying more for it. In fact, I believe the Humans still can't believe that we are not just taking the food from them by force." Muffins smiled sharply. "I think they are starting to come a bit more to our side. I have noticed something, and this is a personal thing."
"Oh?"
"Yes, There has been a gang that hasn't been giving us problems but almost helping us. In the areas they control, the people almost welcome us with open arms. It is odd, almost like a trap." Muffins reported.
"Really?" I frowned, "referring to a gang that was acting friendly. Which gang was it?" I asked.
"The Bloody Candies is a weird name for a gang, but all around the docks section, we can even count on their people to help us get a decent wage. I am not going to lie; it has helped us immensely. We have been making use of it to bring supplies from our side of the city down to the trench fortress on the west side. It allows us to warehouse on the east side of the city," Muffins paused, "I have no idea what their intent is, but they are useful."
"If they have a leader, subtle hint that I would be interested in a meeting with them. If they have that much control over a portion of the population, that means they are very organized. That also means if they want to make themselves a problem, they can and will. But as a Gang, I cannot officially recognize them."
"Yes, Supreme Commander, I will drop some hints to some of their members as they work for us. Honestly, Commander," Muffins paused for a couple of moments, "It is interesting that you actually got the humans to work against their own race's best interest."
I frowned and thought about how to reply, "I think what they are doing is smart; I don't plan to empty this city, Muffins. You will be able to get your vengeance on the people who enslaved you. You have my blessing on that, and I will not try to stop you. But many just are struggling like us. Understand that, and understand that this city and our geopolitical situation are much better if we are not seen slaughtering humans. We do not want the theocracy and the Kingdom to come to the aid of the Empire. Understood?"
Muffins smiled and nodded, "I am glad you would allow me to have my vengeance. I think I am starting to understand some of your unpopular policies."
"That is the best I can ask for. Now prepare; you might have increased enchanting supply requests for the front. Ensure they get them if it comes in. I am not sure about the issues with the West logistics side. You're dismissed."
"Thank you, Supreme Commander!" Muffins shouted, saluted, and left my room, and I sighed.
I watched the young woman leave, and I sighed. She was one of the many problems occurring. Many of the Cat-kin are holding grudges. Their territory was along the border, and their tribes were attacked the most often. Many who escaped kept their slave names, I learned, and they were cute pet names. That always threw me off naming a sentient person like Muffins, Kitty, Mr. Freckles, and so much more for the Cat-kin.
I shuddered. I knew I had a lot of work ahead of me, but I had at least Queen Mira to look forward to.
What I do for diplomacy.
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