35 Vice-captain of the Dark Silver Twelfth Squad.
A week after receiving the official summons to Bosta. In the road that leads to Golden State City.
...
A week ago I received a direct order to take soldiers to the capital to help the war effort, as well as the summon from Bosta to report at the headquarters.
I had left all of the skeletons back at Brooklyn Town to defend, and brought along only the heavy and light zombie cavalry along with the Death Creature horses and 300 of the 340 ghouls. I was riding a black horse, which was actually a Death Creature under the effect of my Disguise Death spell. Violet, Mary and Albert were Riding beside me, the ghouls rode behind them. They were followed by the 2000 heavily armored Zombie Knights, which rode horses wearing full plate armor. As well as the ten thousand Light Cavalry Zombies.
Armies of this size are rare among pure nobles, they would usually have weak levies to keep order on the territory, and hire martial artists as an actual fighting force. Big armies like this are normally fielded by merchants or nobles that have a high income, which fits my image as someone that works for Bosta as a spell tailor on the surface, as well as a supplier of ore.
I loved how the merchant caravans and travelers would look at my giant army in awe, I deliberately made my armor be the most beautiful of all so everyone would know I am the leader.
My figure while riding my black horse with a stoic expression, leading a giant army, made me look like a fierce general.
I also got a lot more muscular from Violet training me.
Violet got a huge amount of Fame as well, she is known in the territory as a martial prodigy with a special physique that can deflect weapons. That's the cover story for her abilities as a ghoul at least.
I made sure to show her power off plenty so people wouldn't think that I have some weird fetish by making a young girl fight. (Even though that is still something everyone thinks about me.)
Mary is even more famous than Violet though. Her innate Magus Soul that has affinity to Fire and Wind made her very well known as a fierce magician, no one seems to make the connection with her previous self though. Or at least the ones that do don't say it out loud, after all nobles are good at knowing how to avoid troublesome things.
Albert himself isn't the strongest among my subordinates, but definitely the most respected.
Commander Albert of Brooklyn, the leader of more than three hundred martial artists and a honorable and loyal warrior. The people know him very well, and he leads patrols all over the territory to protect it. Because of that, he is almost as respected as me among the citizenry. After all, he aids everyone and doesn't use his position to exploit people as many military commanders do. After Brooklyn became a town, he got the lower title of knight for being a Commander of a Town, making him an aristocrat which is almost a noble.
We marched for many days to get to the capital, and finally we were about to arrive.
Golden State City was a lot different from before, the walls outside the city were filled with flags of all sort of noble houses, military tents were raised and millions of soldiers stood outside the city, ready for war.
The number of people in the armies of this world is a lot higher due to the higher population of peasants compared to Earth's middle ages, most nobles would use most if not all of their able citizens as levies when the time for war came. Peasants are easily replaceable after all.
Only merchants and higher nobles would employ professional military forces like me. (Although they don't get paid any wages.)
The ghouls stayed outside with the zombies to raise our war tents, while Violet, Mary, Albert and I entered the city.
The others went to the city to have fun, I gave them some Allowance and they went on their merry way to buy things and enjoy themselves. I was the only one that headed towards the Bosta Headquarters.
It had been a while since I last came here, I showed the summon order to a secretary and he bowed.
"Lord Adley, it is an honor to meet you personally. I will take you to Master Bartolomeo's office." The male secretary bowed with a look of awe on his face. It seems like I am quite famous in the headquarters.
"Thank you. Is Artmer around?" It had been a month or so since I last saw Artmer during a visit of his to Brooklyn Town.
The secretary shook his head.
"Unfortunately Young Master Artmer is dealing with official business on the border, he shouldn't be back for a long time." It seems like he was sent as an official emissary of Bosta to the front lines. He wouldn't be fighting, so there was no danger.
I thanked the secretary, and was soon led to Bartolomeo's office.
It didn't take long before his current guest left and I was invited in.
The moment I entered, the door was shut tightly. Bartolomeo's domineering figure was sitting on his chair as before, he gestured for me to sit, which I did.
Bartolomeo pushed to me a small stack of papers and an insignia of a dark blue skull.
"These are the documents for your position during this war. When not acting as the Noble Kyle Adley, your Identity will be Vrygewig. The Vice-captain of the twelfth squad of the Dark Silver Force." He said, before telling me to read the papers.
I scanned the papers quickly, and soon understood what this was all about.
The magi were the real war potential of the kingdom, and beyond that, their special operations forces were the backbone of that potential.
There are three special forces, although most people without a very high clearance won't know about two of them.
The most famous, and the one with the most members is the Blue Silver Force. They are composed of genius magi, young and old, that are stronger than average magi of the same level.
Their military positions were higher than those of common noble magi, and they received special attention of the kingdom.
The second special force, which I am part of, is the Dark Silver Force.
This force is a secret special operations force formed entirely of necromancers.
Obviously, they were more secretive in their actions since Necromancers are hated on the surface, their numbers are also smaller.
A vice-captain of this squad is equal to a Major in the Kingdom's military, a position only second level magi can achieve. At least in name.
After all, most of those in this force are wild Necromancers that were captured and put under very strict restrictions to ensure they would be under control.
But of course, there are some nobles that are part of it as well. Such as my captain, that seems to be a Baron. Although his real name isn't shown. Nobles in this force all operate under disguise, only the higher ups know their actual identity. And those nobles are also the ones that can actually enjoy any privileges from being part of this force.
The third force is the Blood Silver Force, composed of Demon Lords. It is under the same circumstances as the Dark Silver Force. But since Demon Lords are less prone to being insane madmen who don't care about their lives, there are more people in it than the Dark Silver Force.
Bartolomeo gave me those documents and then said.
"Now that you are in one of the two Dark Forces, you need to go report to the Black Branch Office in the Elven Council building immediately. You should leave now, I still have many important matters to attend."
He said, gesturing for me to leave. He burned the papers after I read them, so I only took the insignia and left the headquarters.
...
The Elven Council is the tallest building in the capital, even higher than the Duke's palace. The Elven race is the subjugated non-human race of the Argent Empire, so both west and east Argent have the Elven Council present. Although they are eternally loyal to the Empire, they are still powerful enough to be respected on the same level as the Royal Family. Their long lives also ensure that the general populace will think of them with Awe.
I entered the Elven Council after showing my insignia to the guards, I was wearing my Vrygewig disguise since I am here as my necromancer persona.
I could only wonder how the people in my squad are...
