Chapter 53: Unexpected Evening Visitors
The Wasteland
General's Tent
Afternoon
Kaijuu Ryu
Shannon and Wilfred enter I gesture for them to sit.
They do. They have their notes at the ready.
"Report"
Shannon starts off.
"Sir the support division has secured the supplies and moved all our supplies to the new site, the tank division is still providing security. Scouts report no enemy activity on our predetermined course for the capital as of yet."
She looks up she must be done.
"Good."
I look at Wilfred.
"Sir morale is high among the troops, they have started packing up already, also sir we found 6 hidden catapults we believe the enemy intended to use during the battle. They are currently not fully assembled as of yet, what would you like us to do with them, destroy them?"
His hand is ready to write, how diligent.
"No, we will assemble them and bring them along."
"Sir?"
"Also have the rest of the boards containing frost magic gathered, build 12 containers from them have the top and bottom be the boards. then start chipping ice from the frozen wave and put into said containers, the containers will be 3 x 3 meters same as the boards and 1 meter high. You will then cut off fallen enemy soldier's heads and store them there and load them on the wagons, have the magic division provide soldiers to keep them refrigerated until we reach the capital."
"Understood sir, but why"
"I'll show you once we reach the capital, I have a special surprise planned. Now for the questions. go ahead Shannon."
"Yes Sir, The commander of--"
I interrupt her by raising my hand.
"Leave their names out, and once you answer all of them, tell them I ordered you to leave their names unattached to the questions. Continue."
"Sir they wish to know why your plan worked when so many things could have gone wrong, why did the enemy just rush us like that."
"Ok Shannon feel free to take notes. Think about it from the enemy's perspective. It all starts with us preparing the ground and laying a trap. When the enemy arrived they saw only a fraction of our forces. The spearmen/footsoldiers that where sticking out from the side of the hill, then they only saw a few lines of archers, between them and the massive eye catching tower. They thought as follows. 'If we could get to that tower and kill the commander, this battle is won' so they did. We surprised them with the first water wave. but they probably believed something like 'Ok these guys used their trump card so nothing is stopping us now'. That's when our soldiers managed to push them back starting from the center, all the way to where we could activate the ice moon.
When we did, their morale dropped. We then suddenly retreated, instead of fleeing like they should they tried to push their false advantage. We then sealed any courage from resurfacing with the ice wave blocking the command tower from their reach, and also blocking any chance of escape. And when they tried to run back to safety, there was none to be found, that's how we won. Also they had virtually no intelligence on us, they didn't even send scouts they just showed up overconfident in their numbers."
She's writing furiously, so is Wilfred.
I look at him. He puts his hand behind his head and smiles awkwardly
"This also answers one of mine Sir"
"I see any other questions Shannon?"
"No Sir."
"Wilfred?"
"Yes Sir, 2 questions. The first is where did you get the cores that was used to blast the frost into the wave?"
"That is a state secret, next."
"Why did you make the spearmen join the ranks of the footsoldiers?"
"For the shield wall formation. If practiced spearmen join in behind the soldiers carrying the shields, they are much more effective and accurate than normal footsoldiers at killing the enemy. We occasionally open the shield wall for attack, depending on the situation."
"I see Sir Thank you"
"I know you two must feel the same as I do, none of us saw any actual combat, but the command of troops is a different beast entirely as I'm sure the both of you are aware by now, 1 wrong command or even the correct one too early or too late can cost you the lives of many men, we carry that burden with us, such is the weight of our duty."
"Thank you Sir"
"Wilfred stay behind. Dismissed!"
""Yes Sir""
Shanon leaves.
"Wilfred you are older than Roka, yes?"
"Yes Sir!"
"That is all you may leave."
"Yes Sir!"
He leaves.
That Evening
I was taking a nap when Felmina comes in. She put her warm hand on my naked chest waking me up gently.
I move over, she takes a seat on the bed.
"What's up?"
"They are here."
"Who is?"
"The Kaijuu Bears"
"How many?"
"All of them."
"All of them! why?"
"They want to talk to you... I'm sorry Ryu"
"Why, what happened? did they hurt you?"
I sit up. She gently pushes me down then kisses me as she leans over.
"They kind of noticed my difference in strength between my training and battle, they confirmed it when I dragged a bunch of them along yesterday."
"Ah I see. what did you tell them?..."
She looks down dismayed. I touch her face, she looks at me
"I won't be mad. I promise."
I touch her hair.
"I refused to answer at first but they were so persistent, so I let it slip that I swore absolute loyalty to you before we got married and they just kept asking until I gave up."
"And."
"And I told them If I ever broke that promise I would die."
I close my eyes to think a bit.
"I see."
She barely gets the words out as she responds:
"Can I send David and Cindy in?"
I put my hand on my face. I grimace.
"OK, but you stay too."
"Ok."
She gets up and walks to the tent flap, as she does I get up and sit at the table.
They enter. I gesture for them to sit.
They do
"Speak freely."
"Sir we want to be strong like Felmina-sama."
David pipes up. Cindy stays silent.
"I kind of expected this, but not this soon..."
They all look at me as I answer:
"Are you sure you know what you're asking?"
"We are Sir!"
"Okay then the prize is power, the penalty is death, the gateway is pain."
"Sir?"
Cindy finally speaks.
"Let me explain, each member of the Kaijuu Bears will need to decide for themselves. If you choose to continue down this path, you will all need to swear absolute loyalty to me. The training after will be harsher than hell week. You can easily break a few bones during training, just ask her."
I put my hand on Felmina's head. They look at her. She nods. They go pale but then recover.
"I'll ask you each to break both of your arms and silently endure the pain for 5 minutes before you will be healed, the reason for this is:"
I put my hand on my chin and tap my lips as I think.
I continue:
"Let's say you go on a covert mission, when you get injured and scream, you not only give away your position, but it may cost you the lives of your entire squad. It also shows dedication, this is not for the weak. Once you are accepted I will personally train you, this time no bell can save you. The price for failure to complete training is death, the price for desertion is death. If I ever hear anyone abusing their new power you will bring me their name and they will be put to death. You may never retire. As you all know we all die at age 100, so just know that when I die, you die. If anyone ever leaks the secrets I share in the training or any of your equipment is lost or stolen. The punishment is death. If any information leaks outside it would throw the world into chaos, this is the level of secrets regarding our strength I'll share with those of you that remain. You'll receive power even stronger than Felmina here. Oh by the way, since she won't be doing missions after the war is over she is exempt from all of this. You guys have to watch out for her during the rest of this war, if she dies I'll disband the Kaijuu Bears and probably kill you all in a rage so be careful. If you survive the new training you will be known as the Kaijuu Tardigrade Bears. If you choose not to take the training however, I'll have the king command you at his discretion after the war is over. The ones that do make it are to come and live and work for me in the Moonlight District afterwards. Now go tell everyone to decide. Come back to me after the war once we are back in Vincent. Only with those who are ready to pledge their very lives to me may join. That is all, dismissed."