Click!
The guards opened the door, and I walked inside and saw people sitting behind the huge conference table.
There is Stone, Cardin, Azalea. Along with four Lt. Colonels, Commissioner Julian, and Bishop Alanis.
Port master Black, Valentina, Robin, Hugo, Captain Justine, and Shaman Trik.
He is the only person from Orcs, who is invited.
I wanted to keep the people to a minimum. There will be another meeting, at twelve, where all important would be invited.
It will be held by Robin after I leave with the army.
"Lord Silver," they greeted.
"Take a seat, everyone," I said. They hesitated before sitting down while I remained standing.
"I am sure, many of you have a question about the sudden summon?" I asked, looking at each one of them.
The questions are apparent in their eyes.
"We are going to attack, Panar. The army will leave for it in two hours," I announced, without wasting time circumventing the subject with flowery words.
Immediately, the environment of the whole room had changed. They might have expected many things, but not this.
"That's what I am talking about!" said Captain Vandal. Smiling like a mad, while many others had much somber reactions.
"Isn't it too dangerous, my lord?" asked Shaman Trik.
"It is, shaman, but we have no choice. If we don't do it, the undead will keep attacking." I replied.
"Even if you succeeded, the undead won't stop," said the man, and I smiled. "They won't, but it will send them a message," I replied.
He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it a moment later.
"If we go by the current numbers, the undead have in Panar."
"Capturing it wouldn't be a problem, but the undead won't fight with such numbers. They will send more before you reach the city," said Valentina.
She is aware of the intelligence and smart enough to guess what would happen if we attacked.
"We know, we wouldn't be that lucky. There will be more undead waiting for us in Panar than it is right now," I replied, with a smile.
Of course, I understood the reality and planned according to it.
Panar had sent a lot of undead and powerhouses with the horde. If we were to fight, what is present in Panar; conquering it wouldn't be a problem, but that wouldn't happen.
The undead have spies and they will know the moment the army leaves the city.
They will be sent the reinforcement. The question would be how much?
If it is beyond what we could handle. We wouldn't hesitate to retreat. We want to conquer the city, not get wiped out by the enemy.
"I think, it is risky. We should wait, before attacking them," advised Hugo.
He is the one who hates the undead the most, but he isn't letting his hate cloud his judgment and he isn't wrong in his advice.
"I wish we could, but this is a rare opportunity. We might not get another one," I replied.
The opportunity is better than I had thought.
In my plans, they weren't using the forces of Panar to reinforce themselves, but thanks to battle in the sea, a lot of their ships had sunk, leaving them with no choice but to do that.
A few minutes passed, and I answered, the questions others had.
"Now, the last thing," I said, and Ina placed a box in front of me.
"By my authority as the Lord of Greltheaven, I promote Thaddeus Stone to the General," I said.
"It is my honor, my lord," replied Stone as he saluted me. "You earned it, General Stone," I said and pinned the stars and badge to his uniform.
The commander is in the position of leader of the army of a single city, but now we are going to attack another city.
We are expanding and thus require him to have a different rank.
"Nicolle Azalea and Leonas Cardin, I promote you to Major Generals," I said and pinned the stars and badges on their uniforms.
Their new ranks will show the forces they will lead and the new responsibilities, they will have.
After them, it was Lieutenant Colonels. All of them got promoted to the Colonels.
"Everyone, please keep the news to yourself for the night. The enemies might become aware of it, the moment, we leave the city, but I like to believe in luck," I advised, making everyone in the room smile.
ā¦
Osward
"Is it true?" I asked as I took my position beside Asit.
Fifteen minutes ago, I received an order to gather the central barracks. I was in the northern barracks as I was ordered to stay there.
Everybody could tell for hours that something strange was going on, but nobody knew what.
Everywhere had been ordered to stay in barracks. Even those released from the hospital had been sent to barracks directly instead of their homes.
"Yes, it seemed to be true," he said, looking around, at the army that was gathering around them.
Over twenty thousand are already gathered, and more are gathered every second.
"I didn't expect it," I said.
I still have a hard time believing it and wouldn't believe, it until I get the official confirmation, but I wish, with every fiber of my being, that it is true.
I still remember that day clearly, when we were forced to run away.
The undead chased us at every turn. I had lost many people in front of my eyes.
Friends, colleagues, lovers.
I didn't think, I would ever get a chance to take my revenge on the undead, that occupied the city, I had spent years in.
"I am worried. I felt like, lord is hurrying it," said Asit in privacy.
"He might, but it is the only chance that we might get to take our revenge against the undead, that took our loved ones from us," I replied.
There are not a lot of us and many left after the first battle, but we had stayed.
It was in the hope of revenge for what we had lost, but soon, came to love it.
I had come to Panar with the Lord Gower. I hated it, but had to stay because of the contract. I wanted to serve the period and get the hell away from wasteland to the greener opportunities in the empire.
Everything had changed after the attack of the undead.
Still, I would have left and come to take my revenge at the right opportunity, but this city and its lord had stopped me.
They are paying me, what I would be paid in the empire. I have given spells, that I would get in any big force and, most importantly, potions with emotion essence.
Even for us High-Mages, we have to do something really incredible or be really talented to get one.
Here, every powerhouse of Lv. 30 and above has one.
There is also the monthly access to the legacy. This is not something high mages get to enjoy.
Soon, around thirty-thousand men had gathered, and more were still gathering.
"How many are they taking?" I asked.
I thought, thirty thousand would be the most. We had an army of fifty-thousands and among its five thousand are not in condition to fight.
Some had died, some couldn't fight, and some were injured enough, that they would need more than twelve hours to recover.
Commander Stone isn't idiot enough to take the whole army. He would need to keep some in the city to defend against the threats, that might come.
A few minutes passed, and the people slowed down, to around thirty-three thousand. Thought people kept coming for a few minutes more before finally stopping.
"Thirty-five thousand," said Asit, and I nodded.
It is big enough, but I would have liked it. If it had been bigger; the undead wouldn't let their city get conquered without the resistance.
'At your positions,'
A command rang out in my mind, and I moved toward the position, that was projected in my mind.
I am Major and like most mages; I didn't have a direct command.
It is a warrior's job.
I could get the command if I wanted, but like most mages, I am satisfied with the rank and higher salary. Mages have higher salaries than other people of the same rank.
Most mages dislike commanding. We will fight, but won't waste our time with other intricacies of it.
We would rather focus on spells and research. We need to advance in our class.
We can't simply fight the battle and advance.
I reached my spot and stopped beside Major Garzong. I have been paired with the man since the first battle and I have to say, we worked well together.
It did not feel strange to be in the company of the orcs anymore, before coming here in the Greltheaven, I had only seen orcs in cages.
I nodded at the man and turned to Lord Silver, who had finally made the entry.
He is wearing light armor and has a rapier at his waist. It seemed like, he planned to come to Panar with the army.
I turned to Commander Stone behind him and was surprised immediately.
'The stars,' I thought.
It should be General Stone, now and he isn't the only one, who seemed to be promoted.
Colonel Azalea had been promoted to Major General, if what I was seeing was right.
So, were the Lt. Colonels behind her.
I didn't see Colonel Cardin and Lt. Colonel Hiren, but it seemed like they were not coming.
I wonder whether they are promoted like these people.
They stopped in front of us, and everybody became quiet. My heart started to beat wildly, and I hoped, the whispers I was hearing were true.
"My people, you all have fought bravely today. Wiped, the enemy, that has over ten times more numbers than us," said Lord Silver, with his eyes moving around the army.
"I wish this would be enough to stop the enemy," he paused.
"Unfortunately, it is not. The enemy will come and keep on coming, till we teach them a lesson, send them a message."
"If they attack us, we will not just defend. We will attack as well."
"Tonight, we will march toward Panar and conquer it. To make the enemy, understand, that there is a cost of attacking us!" he thundered.
His speech filled everyone with purpose, even I felt all the hair on my body rise up.
"So, who is with me?" he asked.
Thud Thud Thud
The group began to shake as our legs hit the ground hard. The response is stronger than even earlier.
His speech had fired up everyone.
It was not just the speech; it was also the belief in the young man.
He had earned respect. That if he asked the army to jump into the fire. It will do so without hesitation, as they know, he will be there with them.