Chapter 5: Preparation
Nunemund, 3rd day, 217th known year.
Cessa looked at Draego in perplexion and confusion. She could tell Draego was a Novice mage, thanks to that spell she witnessed. However, this wasn’t something a slightly talented mage could resolve on his own. Draego noticed the skeptical look in her eyes and walked over to the desk. He pointed to three figurines on the map.
“I assume these three are three enemy squadrons.” He said. Cessa nodded in response.
“The city walls are strong and well prepared.” Draego went on. “If they went for a frontal assault on any of the four walls, they’d be beaten back, thanks to the turrets and archers. In the process, their casualties will always be much greater than ours.”
Cessa nodded. They had all witnessed the exchange last evening. Although there were minor injuries to a couple of soldiers on the walls, they had seriously wounded multiple enemy soldiers and killed quite a few. Even now, the injured soldiers had almost completely recovered, having suffered only some minor scratches. Of course, not every conflict would go so smoothly, but even so, such conflicts were very advantageous for the defenders.
“I’ll act as bait.” Draego said impassively. Cessa blinked blankly. She instinctively refused to believe Draego’s words. Then, she realized he was serious and shook her head.
“No, it’s way too dangerous.” She said. The enemies had a decent number of archers and veterans within their midst. Being bait was pretty much the same as forfeiting his life. Draego shrugged.
“It’s war.” He replied simply. It was going to be dangerous one way or another. Picking the correct risks and pulling off one’s task to the best of one’s ability. That was all one could try to do. Avoiding danger was impossible. Cessa bit her lower lip. She tried to think of another way frantically.
“Besides,” Draego went on. “How should the life of an outside matter to you?”
Cessa’s eyes shook. Draego’s voice was frighteningly impassive. Almost as though it was obvious for her to not care about his life. Well, he was right, since they had no prior relationship and were unlikely to meet in the future. However, for some reason, the idea of seeing Draego die didn’t sit well with her.
“If the life of a stranger can be traded for the life of several of your soldiers,” Draego continued speaking. “Any decent general or nobleman would agree that it is a wise move. Caring for the people under your protection is a very noble sentiment, however, I do not believe it is noble enough to put your followers at risk.”
Cessa trembled upon hearing Draego’s words. They rang true to the education she received from her father. However, to her, these words sounded awfully like the words of a person who treated people as objects. That said, she had no logic to oppose those words, other than her basic sympathy.
“There ought to be a better way to break the siege…” She replied as she turned her gaze back to the map. Draego looked at her for a second before speaking again.
“Do you doubt the plan’s viability or my ability to carry it out?” Draego asked her. Cessa looked at him impassively and shrugged.
“Both.” She replied evenly. “I doubt you’ll have the ability to survive an open pursuit of platoons of soldiers. Even if you did, I highly suspect you’ll be able to lure the veterans leading the troops out as well. As such, I’d rather have another plan ready before we resort to anything that costs me a Class 4 Novice mage.”
Draego blinked. Although the Dragonhand Mercenaries technically weren’t in any contract with Cessa, Draego didn’t object to her claim over his fighting strength. The enemy held a far more advantageous position and had already taken a loss against them. The chances for them to seek or welcome a peaceful resolution were remote at best. Thus, he was forced to help Cessa.
“My second-in-command mentioned she might have a way to potentially break into the fort.” Draego said, still impassive. Cessa’s eyes turned to the fort on the map.
“Let’s hear her out and make a comprehensive plan thereafter.” Draego added.
Cessa thought for a while before nodding. She sat back down onto her chair and Draego couldn’t help but notice the elegance in her actions.
“Come here, tell me what you think of the entire situation.” Cessa asked beckoning him to the table.
Draego walked over.
“What exactly are the numbers of the troops?” Draego asked her.
Cessa shrugged.
“We don’t know for sure, but there are at least 80 in each of the platoons.” She replied. “The remainder stay with their commander in the fort and switch with the squads one by one every few days.”
Even though they had taken down over twenty soldiers just yesterday, that was a mere twenty out of five hundred. They’d have to repeat the same thing twenty five times to be able to completely defeat their enemy. It wasn’t as though the enemy would just let them do so.
“The squad at the river…” Draego started.
“It will probably be replaced today or tomorrow.” Cessa said, placing it back properly onto the map. “Since you took down a good fourth of their number, they’ll switch out early for the rest. Their commander might not have predicted a caravan breaking through with brute force, but he is no slouch.”
Draego nodded. Instead of trying to surround the village, the enemy was simply monitoring it for large movements and keeping the access points to the island defended instead. To top it off, he had promptly captured the fort and its supplies upon entry, creating a good local foothold for the siege.
“Well, things look dire.” Draego said impassively. “But not impossible. Using the squads to monitor us instead of using them to lock us down also creates opportunities for individuals to move out of the village.”
Cessa nodded. However, a few individuals cannot turn massive battles too easily.
“Let’s just focus on exploiting that, then.” Draego said. “We’ll try to send scouts through and check if we find a weak point we can attack.”
Cessa nodded.
“In the end, you think so too, right?” Cessa sighed as she spoke. “Truthfully, dealing with them is really just a matter of time, since we can start to whittle them down over a period of time.”
“However,” Draego cut in. “Time is one of the many things we have in short supply.”
Cessa gave him a nod. Draego got up.
“I’ll go meet with my second-in-command and get her views regarding the fort.” He said, “In the meantime, it’d be best for your ladyship to get some sleep. A weary commander is an unfit commander.”
Cessa nodded again before stretching and walking over to the sofa. There, she simply lay down, ready to rest. Draego noticed her hands were near her sword hilt, however, ready to draw it in an instant. He knew why. Wordlessly, he left the room and closed the door gently behind him. The young lady obviously wouldn’t fall asleep with a stranger in the same room.
Draego walked back to his inn, where he found his band of mercenaries having breakfast.
“Cah-ff-e~n!” Stephanie gave him a sitting mock salute with a mouthful of bread.
“Finish your food first.” Draego said, ignoring her antics. “Explain the thing about that fort next.”
Draego took the sixth empty seat around the table, which happened to be one of the side seats, and one directly opposite Stephanie. It also happened to be next to the rebellious girl, who had been eyeing him on day one. To be honest, Draego actually liked her antics. He felt they were cute. Like a child’s pranks on an adult.
Of course, he didn’t realize how condescending his attitude was in thinking so, but he honestly couldn’t help it. She was too weak in terms of both combat strength and world view for him to take her seriously. Today, however, she behaved extremely subdued and compliant.
“Would you like anything?” A soldier called out to Draego from behind the counter. Draego looked at her curiously and realized she was manning the counter for the inn today. The innkeeper himself was a member of the makeshift defense force, so the soldiers on break took turns keeping the inn instead.
“No, I’m fine.” Draego replied impassively. The soldier gave a nod before returning to a book she had in front of her.
“So,” Stephanie started at this point in time. “About the fort,”
Draego nodded, prodding her to go on.
“I think I might be able to infiltrate it, and open it up.” She said.
“You think?” Draego asked impassively. Stephanie understood his meaning, however.
“I can’t be perfectly sure without taking a look at it first.” She replied. “However, if I can find out about its general structure, I can break in and neutralize its built-in defences.”
“Will we have the strength to take it over, though?” Draego asked impassively.
Stephanie bit her lips without answering. She was concerned about the same. Even if they had a method to neutralize the defensive advantage a fort provided, they were already stretched thin defending the village alone. Adding the fort on top of that might be too much. Of course, with the numerical advantage being with the opponents, it was uncertain whether they’d be able to take the fort in the first place.
“Probably not.” She replied. “However, you ought to know that this path is open for when the time is right.”
Draego nodded. He glanced at the others, who were now done eating. They met his eyes, each having a slightly different reaction. Some tensed, others took a deep breath and the rebellious girl immediately broke contact, her face turning pale. Draego closed his eyes for a moment.
“The enemy has been divided into six major squads, which take turns defending the passes and watching over the village.” Draego said and glanced at Stephanie.
“Can you find out their camps, layouts and positions undetected?” He asked. Stephanie stayed silent for a short while. Then, she nodded.
“No problem.” She replied, giving him a thumbs up.
“Do it.” Draego commanded. “I want to know their numbers, their camps and where their leaders are located. We’ll meet up at the west gate once you’re done. Go.”
Stephanie stood up and rushed up the stairs as she received her orders. Draego turned to look at the others.
“Do any of you know where to collect our payment for the escort?” He asked. The formerly rebellious girl and the boy who was always with her nodded.
“Go and collect the payment. Report to the west gate once you’re done.” He replied and turned to the other two. “You two, see if you can get any details regarding the fort. And find out if there’s any way for us to get our armor retrofitted. Again, report with the information at the west gate.”
“Yes sir!” The four echoed out before rushing up the stairs. Draego got up himself and walked up the steps. He entered the room assigned to the three boys and settled himself on the bed. He took a deep breath and started expanding his mana pool once again.
Normally, he’d do this in place of sleeping or resting too. Such expansion also acted to relieve one of fatigue, after all. However, he had used up almost all of his mana, and thus had to rely on sleep and his innate restoration of mana instead of mana pool expansion.
After all, you needed an amount of mana to be able to perform mana pool expansion in the first place. That said, one could use this method to refill their reserves of mana too, as long as one had a minimum required amount. Draego started going through the cycles carefully, as always.
He finished sixteen cycles within another fifteen minutes. Then, he got up and began to make his way to the west gate. He didn’t expect Stephanie to be done already, however the other four would be waiting for him there, so it was best to join them. He had also called them over to the west gate for a reason.
Since they’d come from that direction, they had already dealt considerable damage to the squad. It was likely that the squad positioned here was either in the weakest position of all squads, or in transit, and thus not properly settled. In either case, Draego would be able to launch a strong offensive against them.
To be frank, Draego himself wasn’t a fan of such one-man brute strength tactics. Although a faction’s strength lay greatly in the top-tier experts and their ability to take on dozens of common soldiers by themselves, in a battle, numbers always played a big role. Draego had managed to take down twenty two soldiers on the bridge, but he hadn’t faced any mages.
Within the village itself, he knew there were at least a couple dozen mages. It stood to reason that the opponent had close to a hundred of their own. Even if he considered about half to be stationed within the fort, the other half could cause him some serious trouble. He wanted to, hopefully, eliminate a mage or two as he ambushed and stealthily killed his enemies.
He greeted the nearby guards and positioned himself near the wall, before starting to expand his mana pool once again. About five minutes later, two of his squad members arrived just as he finished his fourth cycle. They were the two who had gone to get their payment. As expected, since they had a clear purpose and method, they were done with their work rather quickly.
Draego counted the 1320 iridis worth of coin in the pouch and put it away. The five were receiving a weekly salary, and their next payday was still three days off. Out of the money he had received, three hundred was for the escort, and the remainder was their profit off of the armor. Since the pieces were all more or less intact, the margin for profit was large.
Useless. Draego sighed. The amount didn’t mean anything to Draego in the current predicament. For now, what he wanted was to break the siege and return home, to his two friends. He got back to expanding his mana pool as they waited for the rest of his squad members to arrive.
About twenty minutes and twenty two cycles later, the two who had gone to research on the fort returned. Almost at the same time, Stephanie returned with a report regarding the four camps. Although she couldn’t make out anything other than the general location for the camps in the east, south and north, she was easily able to survey the camp to the west.
They had sent a dozen troops to keep a watch on the village, and another twenty to guard the bridge. Furthermore, having lost a good third of their members earlier, they now had only about twenty or so guarding their main camp. Right, they still have to do their duties… This point had completely escaped both Cessa and Draego’s minds.
Even if a report was sent immediately to the fort, they’d take time to organize and deploy an entire squad directly across from them. It ought to take well over a day to completely replace a depleted squad. We can’t squander this opportunity. Draego decided.
“The lookouts…” Draego started when Stephanie stopped him with a smile.
“I confirmed that they had only just started their shift this morning.” She reported. “About two hours ago, to be precise. Noticing the time, I managed to kill the watchmen without raising alarms. Following convention, we still have between five to six hours to act.”
Draego nodded impassively. He turned to the rebellious girl.
“Inform her ladyship of the reports.” He commanded. She saluted and left immediately. He then began drawing up an immediate plan of action. An ambush. There was no better option at the moment. With the enemy divided and weakened, this would be by far the best course of action. Not expecting an attack, and in fact, expecting to be relieved of duty soon, they’d be at their weakest.
“Keep an eye on the camp, Stephanie. Take two messengers with you.” Draego ordered. Stephanie nodded and moved out. Draego turned to the rebellious girl’s caretaker. Of course, that wasn’t his actual role, and Draego knew him to be the most capable vanguard fighter among the five, but he couldn’t come up with a more apt way to call him. It didn’t even occur to Draego that he could just ask for his name.
“Inform her ladyship of the camp’s lack of personnel and Stephanie’s position here, and ask her to bring soldiers for an ambush.” Draego pointed at the makeshift map of the region they had been using. The boy nodded and saluted. Then, a thought seemed to occur to him and he started fidgeting before asking.
“What about you sir?”
Draego blinked. “I’ll go visit the bridge. Ask others to meet me there.”