Chapter 3: Chapter 3 – The Inspection Begins

The next morning, Leo got ready for official business. This time, he was supposed to lead a biennial inspection in Briele. Although he was not a fan of this type of work, he would still do it properly.

The Supreme General had forced him to make this trip. It wasn't because of anything shady going on in Briele. This was simply an excuse to get him to relax. If the general asked him to take a vacation upfront, he was unlikely to do so.

Being away from front lines after a long time, he felt taking some time off once in a while was not the worst thing. For him, the most important thing right how was to break through the wall he had hit and improve his strength. Since fighting for years non-stop had not given him positive results, maybe it was time to broaden his perspective.

He moved towards the inn's exit with the intention to go meet the town chief at his office. He found that town chief Lyde had already arrived at the inn and was waiting for him.

Town chief Lyde gave the army commander a salute of greeting. The two exchanged greetings and made their way towards the centre of the town.

Leo didn't have any breakfast. In fact, unless he took part in a battle that drained him, he would not need to eat for the whole week.

It was so because the meat that he had consumed the night before was desolate beast meat. Unlike regular beast meat, desolate beast meat was packed with so much energy that even Warriors, who had much higher metabolic rates than regular people, would be satiated for quite some time.

In the current era, three kinds of beasts existed. First were just the regular beasts, which humans had known to exist within the previous era, the Terran era as well.

Second were the mutant beasts. They were believed to have been created by the catastrophe that ended the Terran era.

Third were desolate beasts. They were beasts that had lived within the God's valley since the Heaven era.

Regular beasts were what humans were most familiar with. Some of them were domesticated for various purposes, while others were wild. Wild beasts were often predatory and dangerous. Still, humans had learnt to co-exist in the ecosystem alongside them.

Mutant beasts on other hand were very different. They were beings of destruction. Wherever they existed, other kinds of flora and fauna couldn't exist.

For humans to thrive in an area, they had to get rid of any mutant beasts in the area. Then, they would have to keep them away to keep the area suitable for living. This was what the Resurgent Army did.

The Resurgent Army was an independent force that didn't answer to anybody but itself. They had taken the responsibility of keeping the human settlements free of mutant beasts and suitable for living. At the same time, they also expanded the area of activity of humans, since resources in a small limited area would ultimately deplete.

Both the fully-affiliated and semi-affiliated powers provided the army with manpower and resources in exchange for being included in the army's net of protection against mutant beasts. This was what an affiliation with the army meant.

“Chief Lyde, what is the expected date for the way to Akara to open?”

“The snow is expected to clear in about a week's time. The first caravans should be here by 10 days.”

The inspection would not be done by Leo on his own. A military caravan was waiting in Akara for the snow on the way to melt. The caravan was bringing goods and personnel with it, and would bring back material gathered in Briele by the local base to a larger base after the inspection was complete.

Inspections were a way of monitoring affiliated powers. This method was only applicable to fully-affiliated powers. Semi-affiliated powers were monitored differently.

The inspection was like an audit, but other than examining accounts for any embezzlement or fraud, the security arrangements, emergency ration, and various other things were also examined.

Additionally, the different facilities built and run jointly by the army and the local force were also inspected.

All this could not be done by one person. The army had personnel specially trained for this. They were traveling with the military caravan. Leo had left them behind and came to Briele early because the weather in Akara felt too gloomy to him.

This didn't mean that Leo didn't have any job. In fact, he had an important job. He would be reviewing the danger level and battle readiness of Briele.

Danger level was an indicator of how much resources the army needed to place at a location in terms of manpower and war supplies. Battle readiness was the preparedness of the settlement to engage in any kind of skirmish.

Walking through Briele, Leo admired its atmosphere. Being at the edge of God's Valley, the world essence was dense and had a special "flavor" to it. This flavor was what made God's Valley special.

As they walked towards the centre of the town, they saw the road ahead was splitting in two. The two split roads first moved apart from each other, then towards each other and finally rejoined end-to-end to complete a loop.

This way, if someone viewed from a high altitude, the roads formed a tear-drop shape.

The tear-drop shaped road marked Briele as the final destination of this road. All towns at edge of God's Valley had similar roads.

The road was built in this way to make sure the carriages of caravans could move smoothly and didn't cause congestion.

On the outer edge of the tear-drop shaped structure was a rich market with numerous big shops. In the centre of the tear-drop shaped road, a large area was present. In this area, two buildings stood at some distance.

The two buildings were dominating and stately. One of the buildings was the Town Hall where the town chief's office was situated. The other was the Resurgent Army's Branch Office.

As this scene came into view, town chief Lyde spoke, “Welcome to Briele's End commander, we are ready to act at your behest.”

“Since the caravan will take 10 days to arrive, we don't need to be hasty. First give me a quick overview of all the things I need to know.”

“As you wish commander.”

He proceeded to tell Leo about the raw material collection, processing and selling, revenue collection, and other income generated over the past two years. He also informed him about the various town development projects for which money was spent.

“The town wall has been refurbished?”

“Yes commander. The wall has been in a rough condition. Although we are not near the frontlines, it is still essential to have a sturdy wall in case of any mishap. While this project has costed us a decent sum of money, the wall should not require much maintenance for atleast the next 40 to 50 years.”

“Very well, let's begin the inspection there.”

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A strong perimeter was vital for resisting any invasion. It gives your enemy an obstacle they need to overcome and gives you an opportunity to strike while they are doing so. Without a perimeter there would be no seige, the enemy would just run you over.

But the only use for the wall in a town like Briele would be protection against the occasional wild beasts. It wasn't a place where a human army could march on discreetly. Just an affiliation with the Resurgent Army was enough to prevent such an event.

Quite a lot had been spent by Briele's Cold Pine Clan on this project of questionable importance. There was a good chance of something fishy taking place and he was also pretty skeptical of his claims about the wall's durability. However, Chief Lyde didn't seem reluctant to guide him to the wall. Rather, he seemed eager to show it to him.

Inspections were of 2 kinds. The periodic inspections conducted after fixed intervals of time and the surprise inspections which were conducted randomly. The inspection this time was a periodic inspection of Briele after an interval of 2 years.

Since their clan had spent a hefty sum on the wall, Lyde was ready for some eyebrows being raised during the inspection. But it didn't matter because he had results which would speak for themselves.

The two moved towards the town's wall. This time, they didn't have any soldiers following them, and in a few moments the two reached the outskirts of the town.

Chief Lyde was one of the strongest people in the town. Although he could not fight against someone of Commander Leo's level, he was still the head of a clan that had dominion over an important town. It was not a position someone weak could occupy.

So traveling within a town was something they could do in a short instance. They could see a sturdy white wall. It was about four times as tall as Commander Leo.

The town chief didn't say anything but looked on with a pleased smile as Leo examined the wall.

“Desolate beast bone ash?”

“You have an incredible eye commander. We have mixed desolate beast bone ash with the cementing agent. We tried various combinations in various proportions to arrive at the best composition. The details have been documented if you would like to see them.”

Leo had one hand on the wall as he felt the gears in his brain turn thinking about what this discovery could mean. After a few moments he broke out of his reverie.

“I imagine there are no desolate beast bones left in Briele's market?”

“We have taken every measure to keep this matter under wraps. I'm sure this news hasn't left Briele.”

“Let me see the experimental data.”

He received a bunch of papers that detailed the various compositions and their results. He skimmed through and arrived at the final composition used to built Briele's wall. The components other than the ash were components already used in cement.

There was no cement industry in the current era. It was so because it was not possible to transport all the materials required to make cement to one location and transport back cement to everywhere. It would not be profitable.

Instead, cement was made wherever construction was to be done using materials available in vicinity. Thus, different areas had their own compositions of cement. The experiment had studied several of these compositions and how desolate beast bone ash interacted with it.

The results were shocking. The ash made an excellent cementing agent with all compositions in different proportions.

This discovery would drive the price of desolate beast bones to a new level. The Cold Pine Clan had stored these bones in a large quantity, and there were basically no more of them in Briele's market. But it wasn't so for other towns located at the edge of God's Valley.

“Well done. If all goes well, the Cold Pine Clan will be receive a satisfactory reward from the Resurgent Army.”

These words caused the anxious town chief to release a small sigh of relief. He had been worried his actions would somehow offend the commander.

Leo completed the inspection of the town wall. After he finished this task, he wanted to go to the local branch office to put the information about the desolate beast bone ash to use quickly.

“Chief Lyde, I have urgent business at the army office. I will see you at the town hall later. I still have a few questions that I would like you to address.”

“Understood Commander.”

After saying so, Leo rushed to the office. He was greeted by various army soldiers and officers when he reached there. The personnel posted there had been very excited when they learned that the Commander would be visiting Briele. He addressed the highest positioned officer.

“Captain, I have news that needs to be relayed to the headquarters. I will be with you all for the coming days, but first take me to the comms room.”

The captain took him to a room that had a communication device. The device was too complex for the current era and was clearly Terran technology. The captain then went back outside. Leo was alone in the room.

He punched in a series of numbers on the communication device. He pulled out a little case from his pocket. He took out a wire like apparatus from inside it.

He connected one end of the apparatus to the communication device and placed the other end on his ear. It was designed to rest on the ear pinna with an outlet near the ear canal. It was a Terran wired earphone.

Leo heard a ringing sound through the earphone which was soon replaced by a voice.

“Supreme General's Office. Please state your identity and your purpose for contacting this office.”

“This is Commander Leo. Connect me to the Supreme General, I have some urgent business.”

“Affirmative sir. You will be connected in a few moments.”

A few beeps rang in the earphone before a feminine voice was heard from the other end.

“Little Leo, are you missing me already?”

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