"Please, no need for formalities."
I gestured them to sit down, while I took a seat as well. The tent was subpar. It was even worse than mine and I was given one of the worse tents in the whole camp because of my situation with the King.
Her tent didn't have any facilities that he had. There was only one cot and a wooden box. The ground was muddy and there was barely any dry place. She was definitely having a hard time living there.
"How are you doing?"
I asked her. She didn't answer for a moment. She started fidgeting with her fingers, her eyes are all over the place as if he she was looking for something and it looked like even she doesn't know what she was looking for.
"You can be honest with me. I am here to help you the best I can. I can assure your safety any possible repercussions from the army. I give you my word and I am putting my honor as the mage on the line."
Only after I said that did he calm down a bit.
She sighed deeply and said.
"The residence is a bit troublesome. This place used to be noble area and they are not exactly welcoming. We weren't given the promised space for our barracks and there was no maintenance.
As you can see the whole area is wet and muddy. It is only getting worse with every passing day with the fog and the mist.
This year, the whole city is a bit too humid.
Its fine for us, but the kids are having a much harder time. They are catching cold and infections."
"According to the military reports, a batch of healers were dispatched to aid you people, are they not enough?"
"Not a single healer came my lord. Everyone of them were being entertained as guests by some lesser nobles. They don't have time to come here and treat us."
"Then…"
I asked her a few more questions. Basically, her situation was that everything she was promised and supposed to get was put on hold. However, the news was publicized that every requirement has been satisfied.
I frowned at this. I went to talk with a few more people and confirmed that everything is same.
I captured the state of this place in images. I walked through the barracks for a while as I thought of the reasons for this kind of situation.
Why would the military lie about this?
Why would they act like everything is so fine and dandy when the situation is so much worse? Why would the king even support this?
What are they trying to gain?
I didn't have answers to any of these questions. But I knew that I would get some answers by that night after I gather and digest all the information from the little beasts that I sent out to snoop around.
I went back to my tent and started editing the articles that I have written. Apart from that, I also wrote an extra article. A very short article.
Since the war reports had priority, I had a lot of pull on the gazette at that time and I decided to use it to the fullest. I went to the special communication array set up for the communication between the war zone and other areas.
It was deep in the part of the city that was still intact. Deputy General Arun's personal knights were guarding that place.
I walked straight into the building without even acknowledging the presence of the knights. Apart from the command officer and some nobles, I was the only one who had access to this place.
I sent the articles to the headquarters.
I waited there as I hoped that they wouldn't raise any alarm.
The message came that they accepted it and I felt delighted. That was my first plan in stirring this pot. In a way, it was my teenage rebellion. Although, I was almost at the end of my teen years.
I went back to the camp and awaited the reaction for my actions.
That night, I gathered as much intel from the camp as possible and finally got some answers.
The situation at the border is way more troublesome than they are letting on.
I got the visual from a small rodent near the tent where the injured soldiers are being treated.
One of the soldiers had his arm broken and he seemed to have lost a lot of blood from several small cuts on his body. He was just an average tanned man that you could imagine. He laid down on the cot in the healer's tent.
Beside him, two more soldiers sat down in full uniform.
"What the fuck is wrong with the General? The demons are troublesome enough as they are, but we were told to not kill them. How does that make any fucking sense? Even with our full strength I doubt we could do any real damage to them at this point, but we were being asked to hold back.
What the fuck are they thinking?"
One of the soldiers who sat on the side cursed out loud.
This made me curious. I made the rodent close the distance to hear more clearly.
"I know right. What is up with that weird order. We not only cannot use our ultimate moves unless it is a life and death, but we also need to capture them. What the fuck are they going to do with those gigantic ugly creatures?
Are they going to fucking feast on them? They piled them up in those tents when people are struggling inside the city with no place to live."
I was dumbfounded.
That information gave me faint idea about why the situation was so dire. The soldiers were trying to capture the demons instead of straight out killing them. However, from what I read about the Sea Demons, before they are vicious existences.
Their agility is off the charts, they are big, but fast. They have a great control over water element and related abilities. The humid climate and the battle being on the sea shore was a great help to them. Few battle fields could be better suited for them.
On top of that, demonic blood is extremely poisonous to the humans. They shouldn't even inhale the fumes that come of that blood for long. To capture sea demons, they would have to come in direct contact with such creatures and the creature's blood.
And they are doing it in such a hidden manner.
Only then did I realize how much the frontline soldiers were isolated with the rest of the public.
"What the fuck is happening here?" I muttered to myself after listening in more conversations like this.
That night was a restless night. I just looked at the night sky and the stars through the small tear in the tent's roof.
…
The next morning.
"Sir Tej, Sir Tej… *Pant*"
Bubble came running into the tent. Then only I realized that it was morning. In those lost thoughts I spent the whole night looking through the tent, but I didn't pay any attention to the changes of that sky.
"What happened, Bubble? Why are you running so early?"
"Depu…*pant* deputy general *pant* …" He couldn't even get out a few words.
"Deputy General Arun. I understand that part. What happened? Did he read the Gazette?"
"Ye…*pant*"
"Don't exert yourself. I know what happened. I will deal with it."
*SNAP*
With a snap of my fingers, water conjured into steam and washed down on me. The clothes and my body were squeaky clean before I walked to the tent of the Deputy General. I knew shit was about to go down and I was looking forward to it.