"Listen well Alexander's children!"
Standing on one of the huge rocks that formed that kind of natural fortress by the beach, Raven addressed those words to his army. The soldiers were formed in columns and separated into divisions with their respective captains at the front, all of them listening attentively to the words of their leader.
After finding a good place for his castle, Raven now had to convince his followers to accept his plan, and at the same time deal with any concern they might have.
Regardless of whether they were simple NPCs before, they now seemed completely human and like all human, being in an unknown place and not knowing how to return to their supposed home they should not be totally immune to uncertainty.
"We are lost? This is not our world? all that may be true, however, I ask you; Does this really matter?"
Thanks to the singular shape of the place, with the sea in the background and the two huge rocks on the sides, acoustically the place looked like an amphitheater. Raven's voice echoed perfectly between the rough walls of the rocks and was clearly heard by every soldier.
These were the first words Raven offered massively for his army, and his goal was none other than to calm any anxiety and to increase the NPCs morale.
As someone with a particular taste for military history, Raven knew well that a few well-orientated words could be decisive for an army, something like morality should never be dismissed.
"For my father the Supreme Fod of Battle that the only certain thing is that no matter where we are or the danger we face, I'm and you as Alexander's children's, we can only do one thing"
"CONQUEST!! CONQUEST!! CONQUEST!! CONQUEST!!"
In response to Raven's speech, the thousand soldiers drew their swords and lifted them into the sky to the rhythm of their powerful battle cry. The mighty battle cry reached the depths of the forest.
Raven was moved with the enthusiasm of his soldiers; their response had exceeded his intentions.
"Nii-sama is unbelievable."
"No doubt he's perfect, Freya-sama."
Freya and Nike were next to Raven watching him with admiration.
In Conquest Online, while morale greatly influenced the battle, its increase or decrease was only subject to the outcome of the battles.
While offering an inspirational speech for an army was new to Raven, it was not new to imagining them for him.
On the net there were a large number of forums focused on Conquest Online and one of the most visited was 'EpiCO'. In this site CO fans wrote the events of the game from their particular point of view. Of course, Raven Magnus was the biggest source of inspiration for these fans and the fanfics abounded about his accomplishments. It was this forum and its many fics about him that had caused a slight chunibyo in Raven.
"You have heard the words of your commander, safeguard them with honor in your heart and soul. Now, eat and replenish your strength, for from today we will build the greatest fortress that any inhabitant of this world has ever seen."
Closing Raven's speech, Nike added the final instructions for the day.
(Such a splendid place cannot be wasted) –was Raven's conclusion, and the way he made the decision to build his castle there.
Although the place was strategically unbeatable; provided with a constant supply of fresh water, protected to the flanks by two gigantic rocks and to the back by the sea, logistically to build in this land, would require an enormous effort. Firstly, a method had to be found so that the walls of the building did not sink into the sand, and another method to deal with the humidity caused by the river and the sea itself. In addition, both methods had to be matching with each other.
Fortunately, apart from the hundred engineers who could be counted on to build, repair and maintain, Raven also had a couple more extremely useful tools, magic and very possibly his "Silver Ring of the Great Architect", a very expensive premium object in the game shop. Of course, it still had to be checked whether this premium object worked in this world.
After Raven's inspiring speech, the soldiers focused on the task of establishing a long-term camp. Exempt from this task were Vesta and her engineering troops who were to conduct a thorough inspection of the terrain and report to Raven on even the tiniest detail of the construction difficulties. In addition, two small groups of riders were exempted who were gathered outside the natural fortress that made up the two huge rocks.
"I'll go east, you go west."
"Wait a minute Morgana, why should I go west?" –to the instruction given him by Morgana Karl, Sareek Ankar responded with some misgivings.
"Do you have a problem with going west?"
"No… I mean, yes! why are you the one who decides?"
Raven had ordered a quick exploration of the coast in search of any element of danger or usefulness, and for such a task Nike had appointed the two Cavalry Captains; Morgana Karl and Sareek Ankar. However, Nike had not given precise instructions as to how the two captains should proceed.
"I simply did, but if it bothers you so much, you can go east, I'll go west" –Morgana did not show any expression on her face when she gave that answer, something totally natural in her. With her imperturbable blue eyes and long light brown hair, Morgana looked more like a beautiful colorful sculpture than a living being, and so she had been nicknamed "The Unruffled Maiden" by her fellow captains.
"That's not the problem!" –Sareek Ankar of black hair and eyes, a slightly tanned skin and generally a carefree face, there were few people able to break his calm, and one of those people was of course Morgana Karl.
"This is a complete waste of time, I'll go east and you go west."
"That's what I'm talking about! Why are you making the decisions?"
"I just made a choice, that's all."
After giving that answer while keeping her expressionless face, Morgana pulled the reins of the horse to turn around and immediately ride east.
"Wait for a moment…! * SIGH * I just can't understand that woman…"
With no choice but to go west, Sareek ordered to his soldiers to ride.
While Morgana and Sareek were exploring the coast, in the coast in the middle of the two gigantic rocks, not far from the mouth of the river, there was a woman of long slightly wavy brown hair, who poured a calculating glance on the area, she was Vesta Valdini, Captain of the Engineering Troops.
"It will be a complicated task, Vesta-sama."
"A good soldier will fight a lost battle without hesitation if the commander so orders, a good engineer will build a temple on the clouds if god so orders" –with a slight smile, Vesta responded to the words of one of her soldiers.
"Yes, ma´am!" –somewhat embarrassed, the soldier responded energetically.
"Still, it'll be really complicated."
"Huh?" –Vesta just started laughing.
Vesta Valdini was just a complicated woman, and yet someone even Nike couldn't help calling 'Nee-san'.
Meanwhile, a beautiful young woman of golden hair walked in the middle of the camp under the gazes of admiration and respect of men and women alike. It was Nike Julius, one of the two Generals of Raven's army.
Nike Julius was a disciplined woman, but unlike Morgana Karl and Royner Londinium, she was easy to deal with.
However, even if it was easy to talk to Nike Julius, only a foolish and naive human would try to approach her on unofficial business. It was not only that the beautiful young woman had only the figure of Raven Magnus in her eyes, Nike Julius was beyond the reach of any mortal.
Alexander was a world in perpetual conflict, yet the only ones allowed to lead armies were the sons of the supreme god of battle, in this case, the players. As for those who could serve these war gods directly, the generals, this was something only the children of the lesser gods could do.
In other words, according to the logic of the game, Raven, Nike and Freya were gods.
"Here is the rest of the reports, Raven-sama" –Nike entered the officer's tent with a number of documents in his hands.
"Still there more?!" -Freya, who was sitting next to a huge desk next to Raven, she disowns with disgust on the enormous number of documents that needed to be reviewed.
Since the end of the speech, Raven and Freya had focused on reviewing a series of reports on irregularities or creatures seen by troops during their passage through the forest. A measure adopted by Raven to try to measure the danger of the infamous Dark Forest.
"For this reason, I offered to review the reports instead, Freya-sama."
"Don't talk nonsense Nike. Did you really expect me to walk all over the camp from one side to the other collecting the reports as a simple messenger?"
"*SIGH* Isn't that what I've been doing so far?"
"That's what I don't understand. Why should a General act as a messenger? Where are the Captains?"
"It's in one of the reports I see you haven't read yet, Freya-sama."
The report Nike mentioned was a report detailing how busy each of the eight Captains were, whether organizing the camp or exploring the surrounding area.
"What's the point of writing something as silly as that? Isn't it just simpler to say it in words?"
"Words are easily forgotten, that's why there are reports that can then be filed and in this way the performance of troops can be measured efficiently."
"The only results that matter are those of the battlefield, the rest is a basic obligation. If any soldier is not diligent is punished, as simple as that."
The image Freya projected was closer to that of an intellectual behind a desk, while of Nike, any might think she was more from a battlefield than a desk, and this was actually the case.
Freya had a prodigious memory that allowed her to remember in detail any face and name, which was why it made no sense for her to file reports. As for Nike, she was simply trying to be much more efficient and more useful to Raven.
"I really don't understand how we've strayed from the subject, you just read the reports like Raven-sama does, Freya-sama."
"All right, it seems that most reports talk about the same types of creatures. So, let's conclude this" –with a new and imminent storm forming, Raven interrupted Nike and Freya to bring the matter to a close, he simply did not want to find himself in the middle of another discussion between those two.
Somehow, despite the short time he had been dealing with Nike and Freya, Raven seemed to understand them to some extent, yet he didn't know whether to say whether they got along or not.
"Understood, so what should we do for the rest of the day, Raven-sama."
"That's pretty obvious Nike, it's time for Nii-sama and I to spend quality time with each other. So, you can retire and play with your sword or something like that."
"That's impossible Freya-sama, my duty is to be by Raven-sama's side at all time."
The atmosphere began to tense once more, giving the impression that the storm from which Raven had tried to escape was simply inevitable.