142. Military Affairs
I must also name the dolls Ramiris has been mass-producing.
Magical energy has coiled around their demon steel bones, giving birth to something like muscles. Even so, their birth—their completion—is still ways off.
Furthermore, cultivating these monsters in a Cultivation Capsule further increases their strength by 1.5-2 times.
And, of course, the time required for higher monsters is greater than for lesser ones.
If you tried to accelerate the process, you would get an inferior monster, and naught can be done about that.
Of these capsule dolls, we have only finished but a thousand so far.
But time has yet to pass for them to be born.
And we expect them to be high class monsters.
Worst case scenario, they will only be stronger that Gelmudo… so they are a terrifying force.
In other words, we are mass producing A ranked monsters.
In human terms, we are producing monsters equivalent to a Templar Knight.
And that is their force at birth—O! How I long to see how strong they can grow!
Oh, surely you want to know whether a soul could dwell within?
So long as you etch a core into them, it will fill with magic energy.
Thus we are ignoring the point of creating souls for them, and instead giving them a jump-start.
Perhaps they will be mere shells of might but no mind.
Should that happen, we only need to make use of Sarion's possession skills, to have common foot soldiers take control of them.
Ramiris did recommend having Beretta link into them and command this great host, but with his processing power it may prove difficult.
Moreover, Beretta is Ramiris' subordinate.
Can't keep depending on him.
And he also has the responsibility of guarding the Dungeon, which he certainly cannot abandon.
But these points we can fret about when they are complete.
I sigh upon returning to my office.
There are too many things to consider.
The first corps.
Gobuta will be the commander, and Hakurou will advise him.
Affiliated with the first corps are…
———-Ogre wolves, 100 members. Evolved from the combination of Wolf Riders and Star Wolves. Their battle power is at A rank [EP: 9,000 ~ 9,900] and they will serve as captains of this corps.
———-Green numbers, 12,000 members. They have been split into a host of 4,000 members, comprising three teams. Their numbers have increased greatly over the past year, so they will be put to good use. The majority of them come as warriors from the many tribes in my domain. Even so, they are B rank [EP: 5,000~6,000] and are a splendid fighting force.
Next, the second corps.
Under direct command of Gerudo, and the primary strength of Tempest.
Affliated with the second corps are…
———-Yellow Numbers, 2,000 members. These are the High Orcs serving under Gerudo. Individually they are strong B+ rank [EP: 7,500~8,000]. They are also able to unite with Gerudo to become a single shield. We reorganized them into teams and assigned captains.
———-Orange Number, 35,000 members. Recently "born" high-orcs. They are C ranked. However, only 15,000 will participate in combat with a 20,000 support and engineer corps.
The third corps.
Vice-commander Gabil will lead them, launching air raids upon the enemy.
The affiliated members are
———-Hiryuu, 100 members. These are, on average, the strongest unit in Tempest. A rank [EP: 9,500~9,900], but coordinate their attacks extremely well. There are some among them who are surpassing A rank as well. Their trump card being『Battle Dragon Transformation』
———-Blue Numbers, 3,000 members. Comprised solely of new applicants from the lizardmen. They are only C ranked. But that be not their true strength. Nay, their power lies in their ability to mount the Wyverns and take to the skies. In fact, this division has the ability to completely dominate the air space. Even within Tempest, they are a secret division.
***By the way, Wyvern is a lesser dragon species. These B+ beasts we acquired with the help of Milim.
Standing above all of these are three divisions of absolute power.
With the supreme commander Benimaru at the top.
Benimaru has full control over every force, such that not even I could command them.
But it seems that Raphael-sensei linked thoughts with Benimaru, so it's not like my will is not being carried out.
Benimaru's personal cohort is a group of 100 members of Crimson.
Crimson is a group of A rank monsters focusing on strength and truly possess ridiculous abilities. I attended one of their practice sessions, and while raw power wise they may only be at Gelmudo's level–level does not mean everything. Oh, their current "level" would match the Templar Knights.
The problem is that one's level is determined by how much energy one possesses.
Their strength is basically determined at the moment of birth. And Tempest did attempt to inculcate greater strength.
Of course, in reality, energy does not define your actual strength.
Who can doubt Hakurou's strength despite his little energy?
And the captains of Crimson endured Hakurou's hellish training. They are a very dependable force.
Then there's Souei's information squad.
100 members of Darkness, was it?
To be honest, I only know four of their members. They do specialize in espionage, after all.
Souei said they have zero fighting strength, but I don't believe him. He does carry out assassinations after all.
Souei has sole and exclusive control over them, and few even know of them.
Truth be told, they are kinda frightening, and their name comes up only in rumors.
Oh, and I'll have Souei supervise the Third Corps as well. Information gathering could be done extremely well from the sky you see.
However, Souei can only command if Benimaru issues such an order.
Of course, Souei is not the kind of person to ignore chain of command and issue orders without authorization.
Oh, and you may have noticed: there is not a single group over which I have direct control.
Oh, and I forgot to mention my guard, Shion's Yomigaeri.
These individuals continued training even while suffering mortal wounds, and have reached a rank of B+ [EP: 8,000~8,500].
The most efficient division.
They have developed splendidly since fighting the Templars, and may soon reach A rank.
Though currently the most powerful are the Hiryuu, the Yomigaeri are capable of surpassing them.
As they cannot die, they are perfect for buying time.
And no, I did not choose them as my personal guard; the other members did.
Let me add: I will not issue them orders. They exist to serve them, and will, of course, obey every one of my words.
So did Shion happily report to me.
To be honest, it feels like I'm babysitting a bunch of uncontrollable kids… I can't tell her that, can I?
You know, you have to wear a façade at times like this.
Oh, but Shion will be issuing them orders.
They are her personal squad… her fan-club.
They are not a fighting force we mean to rely on, and their ability is rather unknown, but is this really okay? None of them will seriously die, I hope.
Shion has been raising them in secret, so I don't know how powerful they are. Well, surely there are no more than a thousand of them, and they won't be on the front lines.
Dagrule's children will be the captains, as they performed admirably during the fight between Leon and Yuuki. I guess I can depend on them… maybe…
By the way, the Dwarf King has sent a formal letter of gratitude for Shion's assistance then.
Seems like she actually diligently carried out her duties then.
Such are the current state of military affairs in Tempest.
Then there's Diablo.
He left to travel with the words "I'll be searching for those worthy of following you!"
He helped resolve the matter with Hinata nicely, and he's getting more and more involved in domestic policies.
Sure, he loves to fight, and maybe that's what I should leave him to do.
But peace will surely return after we defeat the Eastern Empire, and I'd rather he focus on domestic affairs at that point. At the moment, he seems more interested than Rigurdo.
But that doesn't mean I can relax just yet. What if he suddenly goes out and creates an absolute monarchy around me or raises taxes to 90%? Life isn't a game where you can just mess around like that.
In summary, these are current Tempest forces:
Gobuta's corps: approximately 12,000 members.
Gerudo's corps: approximately 37,000 members.
Gabil's corps: approximately 3,000 members.
We number nearly ten legions strong.
But this is our entire standing army.
If you think about, the majority of the second corps are engineers who are not really fit for combat.
That does not mean that I think our army suffers numerically.
But it's not enough to counter the Eastern Empire.
For this reason, we have decided to send out "invitations" to nearby monsters.
At this point, every power under my domain has received an invitation. Their arrival is now but a matter of time.
Since figuring out their placement ahead of time may prove difficult, we may just have to do it once the war starts.
We do plan to resort to them only if we are unable to win with the standing army, but…
Oh, and we forecast the summoned to number roughly 50,000.
This shall become the Forth Corps, the Crimson Numbers.
Under Benimaru's direct control.
He has the『Generalissimo』skill he can use to control them effectively, so none are better fit than he.
Then there are the mercenary troops from the Council.
The fact that Tempest's defeat means the invasion and destruction of every country neighboring the Jura forest forced the countries to give us their full support.
As such, mercenary troops from those countries just keep coming and coming.
Templar Knight Arnaud is overseeing them.
There are currently 30,000 such mercenary troops. If they keep coming I wonder if we'll be able to feed them all.
For the time being, we'll set up a garrison in the south-east border. Ruberius will guard the north-east border.
Northwest region is under no threat of invasion at the moment, so they left primarily border guards there.
Considering that 30,000 mercenaries sounds like too big of a number, I have a feeling that countries actually sent their knights here as well. The threat of complete destruction must have been that effective.
Arnaud concluded that
「I am of the opinion that the 30,000 have come from nearby countries. The rest have been delayed.
I think we could expect at total force of about 60,000 members here」
Knights and mercenaries of every country…
Add up to only that much… is that few or many, I do not know.
Last but not least, there's the adventurer's guarding the Adventurer's city inside our dungeon.
These volunteer soldiers risk their lives protecting the dungeon-city—so they are fools who keep getting killed by our avatars.
They too can be of use, so I decided to have Masayuki command them.
「Why me?」
He asked with a pained expression, but he's the kind of guy who can actually produce good results.
He's pretty reliable at times like this.
Oh, the volunteer troops number 10,000. There's a surprising number of them.
Well, considering that the Dungeon will be on hold—it will go in sleep mode, so people can't be slacking off there—this is for their own good.
We promised to take care of their sustenance, but there's rumors of a reward as well.
I have a feeling that Souei spread these rumors, but it just may be a good idea to pay them.
Thus our country's standing army of 50,000. The monsters in my domain, 50,000.
Mercenaries from other countries, 60,000. Adventurers 10,000.
Together we are a great host of 170,000 warriors.
We're currently only at 50% of the expected mark, but fret not, preparations proceed smoothly.
＊ ＊ ＊
At the same time, the Empire was gathering strength.
For as long as Tempest, nay longer even, they have been preparing.
And now they have finished their preparations.
And this Great Leviathan awoke, and in its rage caused great destruction…