Alex looked at the shocked faces of the men inside the tent and asked, "But sir, where do we get the material?"
"From Draconia, we will provide, and for now, we will create five of those."
Soon, Alex pulled out some miniature wooden forts and placed them on the map.
"My plan is simple. We will create multiple fortresses, one each per crossing, and I have an estimation it will be completed in 2 months' time if we have enough workers. Since we decimated their men, it will give us breathing time to recover. So for now, we will focus on securing the cross and also create traps."
"What type of traps, sir?" the Chief engineer asked.
Then, Alex began to remember the things he read in the book.
"The first thing the elves lack is that they need cover like trees. So we will harvest all trees in the crossing and nearby. When they try to cross, they will have no cover, and we will place some runes to prevent trees from growing. The second function is that the crossing will have water traps like spikes and raised iron spikes from the water, and some mines that would prevent them from freezing. For the river, we will make it deeper to prevent them from outcrossing us."
Soon, Alex stood up and pulled out the blueprint and showed.
"I call it Project Fortress, and for the cities in Novoros, I will make their lives better," Alex assured them.
"Sir, what about the army? Are they getting upgrades?" one of the generals spoke.
"Maybe or maybe not. For now, we will improve the people's lives, and once my built-up forces are complete, we will begin to expand," Alex looked outside of the tent to the sky and spoke, "In 6 months, we will begin our expansion, but for now, we recover from the losses suffered, and I will be leaving for the Novoros Republic tomorrow."
Soon, he stood up, and as he was about to exit the tent, he spoke to them.
"We celebrate lightly." After saying that, the command tent got rowdy, and the soldiers in the camp below celebrated their victory.
Soon, Alex decided to walk to the nearby forest without his imperial guards escorting, and when he sat down on the grassy fields, he removed his mask and took in a deep breath.
"This war is just the beginning," he muttered to himself, knowing that humans on this continent are rising up after the elven army's major defeat.
When Alex looked at the distance, he saw a 5ft woman with a long golden spear and a round owl-designed golden shield. Her helmet covered most of her face, but Alex recognized the hair, colored bright purple.
Alex slowly reached for his holster, and when he saw the lady raise her spear and charge like a cowboy shooting, Alex pulled out his gun and activated some of his powers.
BANG! BOOOOOOOM!
After the bullet passed through and hit the nearby forest, causing it to explode, Alex was ready to fire another shot. The purple-haired lady disappeared before reaching him.
"What the fuck! Was that Athena!" Alex rubbed his eyes, and soon, he felt 10 other presences. When he turned his gun towards them, he saw his imperial guard arrive with other soldiers, guns loaded, and with worried faces.
"Wait, why are you here?" Alex asked one of them.
"S-Sir, we heard a loud explosion near the forest, and when we looked for you, you were gone. We decided to go to the forest and assembled a few dozen men and headed out," one of the officers spoke, the commander of the imperial guard.
Alex nodded and looked back at the destruction. With a wave of his hand, a magic circle appeared, and the earth began to repair itself. He left towards the camp.
The next day, Alex began to leave the camp. With him were the dead bodies of the soldiers, the injured, and those who took leave. This happened on other fronts, and at each frontline, Alex stationed over 80,000 soldiers.
In the afternoon, Alex arrived at the palace, which was now under him. In front of him were the prince of Novoros and the Chief of the Armed Forces.
"Alright, here's my plan for the recruitment system to be overhauled and for the navy also, which is going to be established in a few weeks."
He handed the documents, and after reading, they were shocked and questioned Alex. Alex answered them with a neutral face.
After the questions died down, Alex handed a document to the prince of Novoros and spoke.
"Implement this, and soon, my people and yours will begin expanding and modernizing the cities. Since we have 30 cities, we will begin expansion. With the help of my navy, we will move them to smuggle them to this nation or region. Since I plan to appoint the Novoros prince as the Governor for life, and after his death, there will be elections. But I plan to make sure that the people are allowed to run, but with some laws." Alex finished, and after the Novoros prince read it, he immediately nodded.
"I accept, but I gotta ask, how long are you gonna stay here?"
"Let's say over 6 weeks at the limit due to me leaving back to the continent. With all of these projects combined, it will be called Project 'Aged'." Everyone nodded and continued.
"And for the deployment of additional units, I will deploy the entire 7th army group here, and the Spartan units, only 7,000 will return with me. For the navy, they will stay here for the duration of the war." Alex finished, and a knock was heard.
A soldier came in and spoke with ease, "Your Majesty, the Garbaros Empire called for a coalition against the Novoros Principality. Three other elven empires joined, and one Dwarven High Kingdom joined the coalition. Right now, they are mustering their armies, and our initial estimates, with aerial footage, show they will swarm Novoros with over 1 million men. Most of them are human kingdom puppets, and right now, they are mustering far away from the frontlines and fortifying their borders." The soldier finished, and everyone stayed silent, waiting for Alex's decision.
"Tell the Novoros to mobilize their cavalry units and make them think we're planning to invade, making them speed up the mustering. Also, raid nearby villages, but order the soldiers not to kill civilians. Just make the area around the borders scorched earth. Now, how many soldiers do we have?"
"Over 700,000 men are ready. Some are not yet fully trained, while the rest of the numbers not mentioned are still recovering from the battles." The general stated.
"Alright, we need to speed up this construction. I will order some of my armed forces to bring equipment for the construction and materials. When it's done, they will come here but meet with a powerful wall. I will send some of my wizards to enchant the wall and a mage to be stationed at each fortress. There will be a garrison of 50,000 soldiers." Everyone nodded and left to their duty. Alex sent a message to the Draconian Empire to bring more men and material, and Alex did the work as the governor, improving the lives of the people. For the minority, which were elves and dwarves and some other demi-humans, there was peace. Alex sent Shadow Squadron members to keep an eye on them and also deployed them to govern the lands.
Days and weeks passed, and now the military base near the capital of Novoros became a city-like, but it was stationed over 300 planes, 10,000 armed forces, and a drydock where the ships could repair, refuel, and rearm. For the fortress, they were at a 70% completion rate since Alex also brought additional wizards to help. Alex saw the progress and saw Novoros expanding. The people were happy, and he saw the progress report of the cavalry units he sent.
'Mission complete. We cleared out the trees and prevented them from being used as siege engines. We only lost 10 men due to enemy cavalry trying to intercept.' Alex read the report and nodded and burned the paper.
Knock knock
"Enter," Alex said, continuing to look outside.
"The car has arrived, Your Majesty," the imperial guard spoke.
Alex nodded and headed down. He saw the prince of Novoros waiting for him.
"I will be gone for a while. I'm searching for people who will be my generals. So for now, hold the fort. My general and fleet will deal with them." He tapped the shoulder of the prince of Novoros and nodded back at Alex. Alex got on the car and headed to the air base. He was going to board a new long-distance transport plane, or to be exact, his own private plane called the Flying Dragon. It had 6 engines, armed with strong runes, and had a guard stationed over 60 with their own barracks in the plane. It had 3 floors.
Novorosi Draconian Military Base
Alex got off the car and was greeted by the military base commander, General Lunari, and other officers. Alex returned the salute and headed to his plane. He was told that six other planes, most likely fighters, would be his escort. Alex nodded and saw his car being loaded. When he finished everything, he boarded the plane and was given some drinks and some snacks.
The plane took off first, and soon, the six planes followed. They created a defensive shield. Four stayed near the plane, and the other two stayed away to inspect the perimeter. The flight took 5 hours and landed on the hidden island far from Pangea. They took another plane that was smaller, and after 2 hours, they landed on the private airbase. Alex got off to the palace to hear shocking news.
Imperial Palace Emperor's Office
"Your Majesty, Kalvin passed out from the piles of paperwork and right now recovering from the fatigue. He's requesting a paid leave for 3 months," the assistant was asking Alex with hope since she knew that Alex could deal with the paperwork, and either Kalvin would pass away before having a wife, but Alex responded bluntly.
"Tell him to drink this recovery potion and send the paperwork to his home. Tell him that he can work from home and implement Project Squad. Also, include that if he does my work for a year, he will take a 3-day vacation with a bonus when I come back." Alex stood up and began packing his bag, and before the assistant could speak up, Alex said something that made her sprint to Kalvin's house, forcing him to accept it.
"You also will receive a bonus and a 1-month vacation. Tell him he can hire assistants to help in the process." After saying that, the assistant stormed off the palace and sprinted to Kalvin's house, which was 2 km away from the palace. She didn't feel tired.
Alex finished packing and left for the train station. Alex brought with him the power of the imperial throne and alerted the far eastern base that the emperor would be touring the eastern side of Pangea. Hearing this alerted the generals and the air force to prepare to invade in case they needed to evacuate the emperor.
Alex pulled something out of his pocket, a ring with anti-magic properties that would control his Demon Emperor's powers and his own, suppressing it. Since he was heading to a place where powerful beings they call immortals exist, Alex knew he would face a few. But for now, he needed to reach the eastern borders and head to the great lake where his first member of the so-called elite squad would be created.
The journey took a while since Alex wanted to enjoy the Draconian countryside. While riding on a train, a private railway reserved for the emperor's use, Alex witnessed the breadbasket of the empire. It was a perfect place for farming, making him the number 1 producer of the whole of the southern Pangea and 3rd to the whole of Pangea. The number 1 belonged to the eastern part, and the second was the Golden Chaos Empire, and the 4th was from Olympus.
It took him 3 days to reach the eastern border city regional capital, where 70k home guard soldiers were garrisoned. He named this region a red zone, meaning it could be a battleground since the eastern nations wanted the farmlands of the empire. Most of the eastern side of Pangea didn't have good land for farming, and only 1 part was farmable but controlled by a large empire. This made them look south and see the Siegfried Empire. They tried to negotiate for a land lease but failed when the price was very low to be accepted. They went to war but failed.
When Alex arrived, he told the commander and governor in advance not to spread his arrival, and he was brought to the palace. He told the governor the purpose of acquiring new generals, and he nodded with determination and zeal. Everyone secretly worshipped the emperor as a god. Since he was confirmed to be the god of balance, this made everyone pray to him only, and Alex knew this. He ordered the Shadow Squadron to fulfill some wishes of the people if deemed necessary. Alex stayed the night and got on to his newly bred warhorse used by the forbidden cavalry. Everyone wanted to get their hands on it, even the kings of the west wanted it for their use, but Alex didn't allow it.
Soon, Alex rode onto his horse heading to the location non-stop. After arriving in the nearby city or, to be exact, a small fishing town where a lot of people were going recently.
To be continued...