Christina left in the morning. She was needed inside the Empire, and my Mother took her a distance away from the front so that she could start to sneak herself into the Empire's territory. My mother would be back in the evening, and I was sure I would do the same to her as my Sister. The issues came from the information that Christina provided. It was something that we desperately needed, and it was time to start moving people around. I would have to call my commanders and staff sergeant into the office.
I got up and sent messengers out with sealed messages for those in the proper position. This would also need to be a very secret discussion of the various things going on in the city. We needed to make this meeting to discuss as many things as possible to save time. There was so much going on in the city, and I hated to pull the upper echelons of my people out of the field. They all needed to be brought into the loop in a way they could ask questions.
They would also send information out to the rest of the squads, and they would be the ones to put forward those who would go to the front line with the Succubi. It was going to be a rough meeting, and getting dressed alone, I missed Emily. Asahi and Trisha were training to the max in the same squad and were only spending time with me when they could. The twin elves had reached the Peak of C rank, and I could not help but wonder if they were about to catch up to me. To be honest with myself, I hoped they were getting closer to their goal of combining their magic. They were in the Wizard's pursuit of combining their mana and being able to cast FrostFire spells, which I had not heard of in this world. Could opposites exist together?
Betsy was making a name for herself on the front as a hard-hitting axe wielder and was starting to become a leader among her people. I was starting to get recommendations that Betsy be put up to sergeant and maybe an officer if she proved well in the role. It was great to hear because, at first, she struggled with it with her squad mates.
Now, I finished getting ready, moved to my office, and started setting up maps, best-known locations, and figures to represent what was happening. Updated maps were insanely useful, and as I heard knocks on the door, Commanders and Staff sergeants started to show up with salutes. They all knew that the meeting would take a long time, and I smiled as I greeted them all.
Around me, I got to see my Pink Bunny-kin lover, whom I had not seen outside of meetings for a while. Florine was sporting a new scar on her face from one of the battles with another B ranker that she killed. The Swordsman cut her face but only left a scar from her ear to her jaw in a small curve. It happened as she misjudged the distance of the swordsman's blade, and as she dodged around it, the sword cut deep into her face in a crescent moon shape.
Then there was Commander Brian, a Talented black bunny-kin who I trusted. Then there was Commander Cody, the only Wolf-kin who joined our ranks. He did excellently in training and competently made his way to the position he currently occupied. He was the Commander of the Scout squads and was a rare B-ranked scout. His abilities around knives were very dangerous.
Then there were the Staff Sergeants, and I quickly recognized Muffins looking seriously as we crowded around the table. There had not been enough time for me to familiarize myself with all of my Staff Sergeants, which was a shame. They all looked ready to tackle the issues about to be discussed.
"Commanders, Staff Sergeants, last night we got a boon from our spies who seemed fit to present us with a report finally." This made all of them smile, and I grinned with them. We got news of troop movements and the enemy commander that we were facing. But there is no time to waste. We need to discuss things that are happening now in the city and what is about to come up. First, I want to hear about the situation in the city."
"Supreme Commander," Staff Sergeant Muffins cut in, "Not much has changed since our last discussion, except we have been finding that there have been fewer undead attacks and rebel forces." I frowned, "I believe that the Humans are up to something. There are a number of soldiers and military personnel around in the City, and although we have killed a number of them, many are still shit stirring. They have been working on the population that hates Beast-kin the most and have been attacking our patrols hard up This morning. We had among my squads nine encounters with Rebellion and soldiers leading them after the attack. Three overnight, and none so far this morning. I told my squads to immediately message me at Headquarters if something happened, but nothing has happened yet. That means they have suddenly stopped all offensive conduct inside the city. But that is not the most worrying sign." Muffins turned even more serious, "It's the Undead. We have already learned that the more they concentrate, the more they spawn, and they might even create more powerful undead. This leads me to the belief that they might be capturing Undead we have not subjected and condensing them to release onto the city."
All of us went quiet, as that was an ingenious form of attack. It would be statistical to show, but it seemed Muffins was on her game if this was true. This was the clearest sign that she might get a promotion if she was correct. I looked at Florine. "Florine, What do you think?" I asked.
"I have to agree if your numbers are correct. We should have a Squad from Commander Cody's to look around. See if they can find something going on. If we get hit by a massive wave of undead around our supply depots right now, it would be crippling."
"I will send a mana message to the Alpha group. You will have my best to go around and check." Commander Cody said, his expression worried.
"Then there is something I should report," A Staff Sergeant pipped up.
"Introduce yourself and report," I replied.
"Yes, Supreme Commander, I am Staff Sergeant Hopkins," A green bunny-kin said, "I have been working in close relation with the Gang Bloody Candies. They have been helpful in the Docks area, which has been the one bright spot for the last couple of weeks. The Gang is atop everyone around there to keep things business as usual. We have let them 'enforce' on businesses but not go above what the people can afford in return. Besides the point I am trying to make. They have told us that the East Gang has been going underground. The Bloody Candies have been pushing their territory and even started to take their businesses from them, and they have not stopped them at all."
"Interesting," I replied thoughtfully. "Do they have any thoughts on the matter?"
"Yes," the leader, a dog-kin who is a slave to someone, but I do not know who said they believe they are up to a major move. They have a habit of all disappearing before a large movement."
"How good is that information?"
"They have not lied to us yet. They are profiting like bandits during our occupation and do not care who wins. They make shit tons of gold either way. They will go underground if the Empire comes back, and they think we will allow them to exist if we continue to hold the city. Or maybe make them something official."
That was a good representation of the situation. Crime was in all cities, no matter what. But this was an interesting gang. They were making out like bandits, and they were too fucking useful for me to get rid of. I could crack down on them if I had to, but I really would rather not. "If we asked them to look into this further with our blessing, would they?"
"Happily, but I hate the legitimacy that would give them."
"Bah," I waved my hand, "We will do what we need to. They are useful now. I may have to force them underground now, but they are even helping with the Undead problem. No, something is going on, and they are right in that. That is another job for you, Commander Cody; see if something is happening on the east side of the city. That is where we are bringing supplies through as well to the trench fortress."
"Ma'am, I think we need to know the information the spies gave you." Commander Cody said.
"Sure, first, though, is there anything going on with supplies or anything else someone wants to bring to my attention?" I asked seriously, and they all knew to speak up if they had anything that they believed I would be concerned about.
"Nothing?" I asked one more time, then nodded, "I am sure you all have something to report, but you don't believe it is worth my attention. Good. Then we shall move on. Our Spies have reported," I began and started to explain the information that Christina brought back including my thoughts on the economic situation.
It took a couple of hours to go over it all, and they were intent on listening, but faces were all over the place. When I finished, they all looked in thought. This is what I hoped to see, not blindly saying things. "So, The Battle slaves will probably be for the next major offensive," Florine said, looking worried, "My first thoughts go to the lack of movement among the gangs. How bad would it be if, during that probing attack, they got a spy through somewhere else into the city and got in contact with the soldiers here? They could get a general timeline of when to attack, and anything that happens inside the city will be isolated from the front."
"That is not even the worst spot," Commander Cody added, "If they hit the Supply warehouses or our transportation lines. Before the war, I had no idea what you meant about carts being so serious, but now I know that they are the bed for which this war is happening. Our people will starve in weeks if a dozen or more supply wagons or carriages are taken out. We are barely meeting demands, and the Logistics army is working at capacity and trying to expand at the same time."
"That is what I was thinking, too," I agreed with Cody. Worse, we don't have the people to back up the supply carts."
"No, we do; the Main army can assist, Supreme Commander. I think we should grab those with a cooler head to help be guards inside the city." Florine jumped in. "I know you don't trust them after the first battle and the plundering and looting, but with simple guard duty?"
I grimaced, and I looked at everyone. I could see serious faces, and I nodded, "I will talk to the War Chief; with the front lines needing our people for the battle slaves, we will need some people to make up the shortfall. I would rather have logistics personnel with your squads over the main army at this time. We can use the Main army fill-ins for logistics guards."
Nods were all around, "So, First, I have to say, all of you will be losing your Succubi in your squads. They will be moved to the front, and I want you to put who you think will be able to guarantee their lives the most. Then you still have the designated throwers that need to head with them. They are the ones we trained to toss the potions. That means each squad will be down to too many people, and I will have orders cut for the logistics army to fill in. In order to do that, though, we need people from the main army."
"Supreme Commander, could we double up patrols?" Staff Sergeant Muffins jumped in. "If we double up, we can bring in fewer logistics guards, and we will be better able to respond to larger issues. This will limit our coverage, but the things we deal with will be done with a larger force. I believe squads' communication with new people will be great, which will save us from losing more people."
I wanted to refute the fact that we needed more coverage, but I nodded instead. "Great Suggestion, Muffins. Now, with the Empire not being in wartime mode yet, I believe we will be here longer. So, let's start going over which areas we should focus on the most and which areas are of the most importance and least importance."