Chapter 434: Chapter 2.153

“No, I cannot approve of an incursion into demon territory right now.” The third general we had interviewed said, which wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear, but also not as bad as the one before.

Moving my knight a bit aggressively, I tilted my head to the side a little and asked myself when a good time would ever come.

“Then what else do you propose to reclaim the lost lands?” I asked, glancing out of the window to see the sun already setting.

“A war of attrition. Fortifying the borders we have while slaying more of them than there are born.” He explained, looking over to Louis in his black suit nervously. Louis task wasn’t to make the man nervous though, but rather to write down everything that had been said.

“May I introduce you to the r/K selection theory? Broadly speaking it separates reproductive strategies into fast breeders who do not raise their children and slow breeders like humans who try to improve the children’s odds of survival by keeping them close. Which strategy do most of the demons follow?” I asked, leaning forwards and resting my chin on my interlocked fingers.

“I would say the first one. Goblins need to be exterminated every year or so, otherwise they explode in numbers.” He answered straight away, quite sure that his answer wasn’t wrong.

“Broadly speaking yes, even though I firmly believe they have intelligent species as well, which mostly fall into the category of slow breeders. The thing is, it is impossible to reduce their numbers with your proposed strategy.” I concluded, looking at him with diminishing interest already.

“I do not believe that. Defending is the best option we have right now.” He explained, but completely forgot about defending his king which was promptly abused by my queen.

“I see. Thank you for the enlightening conversation, Baron Taugenichts.” I said a smile on my lips and gave him my hand.

“It was a pleasure.” He said, shaking my hand way too forceful and quickly stood up to bow deeply. “Good night, your holiness.”

“Goodbye, Baron Taugenichts.” I replied with a smile on my lips and waited for him to leave before putting my forehead onto the table a bit tired from all this shit.

“What is your opinion?” Louis asked, looking strangely fond towards the already closed door.

“A man raised to continue his families long military tradition … but he hasn’t seen any actual intense combat. That’s what happens when you do not wage war for a long time.” I complained unhappily. The funds for the military were cut a long time ago and with it went the capabilities.

“I thought you hated war?” Louis asked, quite stunned because I was so disgruntled about it.

“I despise it because I know how it is. I know the damage it will cause from the loss of humans to the destruction of property. I am against waging war, but a state still need a functioning army for security reasons. And so, it seems as if I need to lead and inspire the army at the same time.” There were simply no capable personnel to do the job for me. That would push my role from a saintly figure fighting at the front line to a sitting duck in the headquarters … but whatever. It was needed to be done.   

“We could interview a few adventurers.” Louis proposed in a last effort to find someone, but I didn’t think much of his proposal. In fact, it was mostly idiotic.

“Most of them are already troubled by leading a small group, let alone an army consisting of people who were never trained to follow orders.” I said, looking towards him with my left cheek on the table.

“You cannot expect others to endanger themselves needlessly though.” Could I not? Or rather, should I not? Just because adventurers can run when it gets a little dangerous, we couldn’t.

“That’s not the point I’m trying to make. There is a necessity for order within an army. Otherwise some will flee the scene right away, and others will die because of their actions.” I explained calmly. If the warriors didn’t fight , then the mages would see themselves right in front of a monster which would end in a catastrophe. But I had enough from brooding over problems I needed to solve.

“Hey Louis … you and Ellie, what’s going on there?” I asked, not even remotely interested in their relationship but rather worried it would develop into a problem.

“We are together now … and I still love you. But I believe I should gift my whole attention to Ellie. She deserves a man who isn’t thinking about other girls.” He explained and made me smile a little. Finally there was something going along nicely. And the happiness I got from this lasted exactly ten seconds until Luna opened the door, slurped into the room tired and sat down opposite of me.

The supplier for crackers won’t be able to deliver all of our order in time. And now I have to search for someone who can make the rest. Why does everything we do be mired in misfortune?” I had no explanation for her statement at all. Well, part of it could be answered because we rushed quite a few things.

“It’s pretty hard to organise an army over the course of a month, so don’t worry about that. I’m sure you’ll find a solution. Louis, Luna, that was great work today. I think we all deserve some sleep.” I explained and yawned with my mouth covered by my hand.

“We surely do.” Luna added and closed her eyes a little.

“Well, if that’s the case I’m going to meet Ellie. She’s probably waiting for me already.” Louis said and stood up from his chair while stretching his arms, making it painfully obvious he sat the whole day there.

“Take care.” Luna and I said in unison which elicited a giggle or two out of us.

“You too.” He said, laughing along with us and left the room shortly afterwards, still chucking a little.

“You are going to work through the night again, aren’t you?” Luna asked as soon as she couldn’t hear him anymore after the door had closed.

“Hannah and I need to meet a group of soldiers …” I explained quietly, longing to agree to the implicit invitation right away.

“Which arrive during the night?” Luna asked a bit stunned. Usually troops didn’t move during the night, but it were Hannah’s group we were talking about.

“They are very secretive.” I said, a wry smile on my lips which didn’t give her any more information than necessary.

“Okay … have a good night.” She said, gave me a tight hug and followed in Louis footsteps shortly afterwards.

“Yeah … I’m going to have exactly that.” It wouldn’t happen. Never in my lifetime.

Sighing quietly, I shook my head and jerked up as a stone flew against the glass window from the outside. Slowly, I strolled towards it and opened it making sure I wasn’t hit by the next one.

“It’s time?” Hannah asked, pointing towards the carriage by her side with a questioning gaze.

“I know …” I quickly stepped upon the windowsill while Hannah looked at me with  a completely blank expression. Making one step further, I tilted forwards until I was in free fall and the wind picked up. Like a feather, I fell down towards the ground and landed beautifully on my feet, not even bothering to cushion the small impact.

“Are you exited to meet him again?” I asked already strolling over to the waiting carriage.  

“Not really.” She answered completely disinterested in my question.

“No? I can’t wait to hear about his stories about slaying demons though.” I said ecstatic, wriggling my upper body a little.

“That’s because you wish you were there though …” Stories about gory scenes, blood all over the place and dead enemies and allies around … that was what I was thirsting for if I couldn’t be there in the first place.

Hopping into the tater crude carriage, I found a change of clothes quickly and dressed in the casual attire for a commoner consisting of a simple dress, along with a hooded cloak.

Hours later, we stepped out of the carriage once more and strolled over to a lone building in the outermost area of the city. It was far from deserted though as a whole lot of men stood outside drinking beer and eyes us suspicious as we entered the tavern. Inside, there were even more men and barmaids walking through their ranks quickly. The senior members recognised Hannah sometimes, but she gave them the cold shoulder and paved a way for me to the bar.

Sitting down on one of the stools, I nodded to the owner of the tavern right away.

“Whatever he has.” I said quietly and pointed over to the man on my right.

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“Two Bloody Mary coming up right away.” Okay … how about no? Shaking my head trying to get the scenes out of my head, I quickly corrected my mistake in a deep voice.

“Ehh … give us something else then.” I mumbled and waited for him to hand us his prized beer over.

Only as he went away to another costumer did the man to my right speak up in a hushed voice.

“The saint and the queen in one person … no wonder you were rather secretive.” I tried to hide everything from him for good reason, but in the end I probably couldn’t do much because of circumstantial evidence. He knew about Hannah’s past and it would only make sense for the saint to be around her … coupled with my voice and my announced resurrection, one didn’t need to be a detective to figure everything out.

“Constable Rutherford, if you wouldn’t reveal my identity right now I would be very thankful.” I explained and lifted up the mug in front of me happily. “Cheers … you have to tell me everything about your time. How did you get your hands on a troll?”

“Well, we are apparently the only ones crossing the river more than once, so the trolls aren’t keeping watch at all. We did manage to bind him in his sleep and then dragged him back to our camp with all the horses we had. Don’t ask me how we got him across the river though … that still gives me the shivers.” He explained in between drinking pauses. He wasn’t exactly happy with his story though, probably because I knew for a fact three men drowned in this adventure. Poor souls … “what did you do with them anyway?”

“I found the reason for their mysterious healing abilities. I was told they stand up even an hour after their death sometimes, which lead me to believe there is more to them than it seemed. It turned out they weren’t killed properly during these instances. Their heart still pumps blood for over two weeks after giving them a lethal blow which sometimes allows them to heal near impossible damage.” I explained, remembering that I had to check up on the heart I had extracted from this guy again. Maybe it had started beating again like so often already.

“Hannah, can you tell me why three of my men had to die for this?” Mark asked leaning forwards to look at my friend drinking her beer quietly.

“Knowledge is power.” She said dryly in my support.

“Partly … knowledge allows you to use the resources you do have more effectively. If you do not know the rules of the game you are playing, it means you are losing no matter what.” I explained and turned around as soon as I heard a rather loud commotion outside. Several men seemed to argue with a single boy who wouldn’t leave, no matter what. He was clothed in a dark attire and thankfully wore the contact lenses I gave him, otherwise this could have ended way worse. A bit worried, but also angry at Albert for coming here as well, I quickly got up from the stool and went outside once more.

My first glance wasn’t directed at the small group though, but rather at the dark clouds hanging above us. Balling my hands to fists, I slowed down a little to silence my footsteps.

“Gentlemen, he belongs to me.” I said, having snuck up on one of them and placed my hand on his shoulder as he was just reaching for his sword to intimidate Albert. Jerking around surprised, he noticed my figure right away and stepped to the side respectful. Even if he didn’t identify me as the saint, he knew for sure I was his bosses guest.

“Lucy!” Albert said and proceeded to hug me tightly despite my obvious annoyance. Patti g his back a little, I soon switched over to grabbing his shoulders and peeled him off me.

“I wanted to help.” He admitted, finally realising I was less than pleased with his actions, mostly because I didn’t foresee this development which always made me a bit angry at myself and whoever dared to act outside of my expectations.

“Haven’t I asked you to stay home?” I asked sternly and turned around to walk back into the tavern with him behind me.

“I know but … I finished the hot air balloon and I think … I hope I’ll be able to help with my wisdom.” He thought he would be able to help me, not he was sure. That alone led me to believe he wouldn’t be of any use, which made his presence a risk more than anything else. Opening the door for him, I noticed in displeasure how he walked inside meekly, barely able to face all the muscular battle hardened men inside.

As such, I grabbed his shoulders and pushed him towards the bar without caring about his feelings at all. As soon as Hannah spotted us, she sat down on a stool to the left to make place for both of us. At first, he wanted to take the empty right one, but that quickly changed as I gently directed him to the one beside Hannah, placing him in the middle of us two.

“And who is he?” Constable Richard asked friendly and waved at the barkeeper to get another beer.

“I’m Albert, her s-“ Whatever Albert was about to say, it would end very badly for all of the people involved. As such, before he could finish his sentence, I pinched his side and made him shut up with a very friendly gaze.

“He’s helping me out from time to time.” I said friendly and returned my gaze to the constable shortly afterwards.

“Well, whatever.” He commented dryly and turned around to wave another person over. That soldier immediately brought a large map over and laid it out on the counter before excusing himself once more.

Looking at it, I saw the distinct shape of the continent with all the island we lost contact with around the largest landmass. The north was more detailed than the rest of the map though, with the river separating the chunk we were on from the northern landmass, forming a natural barrier in the process. In the west, there was a mountain range feeding the river it’s water which first carved through the landscape, forming all kinds of uncrossable canyons before turning into a proper river later on.

And inside the area the demons had created, several lakes and rivers had been drawn, along with the old cities and castles humanity had to abandon.

“You haven’t come up with a route yet, have you?” Luna had done one until the border but after that, I wasn’t sure where to head either.

“Not really.” I admitted and flinched as Albert chimed in without thinking.

“We could build a plane and scout them out from above the clouds?” He proposed and made me question his sanity. First of all, I knew what a plane was at this point, but the others in the room certainly didn’t. Every taking this word into his mouth was dangerous. And second of all, we already had our hot air balloon, so I couldn’t see any benefit right away.

“What’s a plane?” The Constable asked just like I presumed he would.

“It’s like a bird, just way larger and flying with en-“ Albert explained, but was quickly interrupted as soon as he started explaining one unknown word with another like he always did.

“Albert.” I growled unhappily and stared him straight into the eyes. It didn’t take long for him to shrink back a little and Hannah to lay her hand on his left shoulder.

“Albert, I think I saw a shop I want to check out. Come with me, there might be something interesting for you as well.” Hannah said a bit tired and grabbed his hand to drag him behind her.

“… did he wanted to say he was your son earlier?” Watching the duo leave, I thought about his question a little and realised that idiot would have indeed introduced himself as my child.

“Definitely not.” I growled and turned back to the map. “Any proposals where we should cross the river?”

“There is a risky but sneakier path further north the usual battlefield which is a very shallow part of the river.” Well, it was painfully obvious which option I would take for personal reasons along with strategic ones.

“We’ll use the normal path. You were the only ones to cross the river regularly? Do you have any idea where the demon king could reside?” I asked not really hopeful to get a satisfying answer.

“Based on my observations? None.” The constable admitted while scratching his head. He probably wasn’t giving my incursion much chances of success, but I had a foolproof way of knowing exactly where the demon king was.

“So it’s just searching for the biggest castles …” My compass didn’t work on him, but I was sure he wouldn’t differ much from the other idiots I knew. He would pick the most grandiose castle he could find, that was for sure.

“I suppose he could be at the far north. There is apparently a castle on the cliffs. Years ago, it apparently served as a trading port, but thanks to all the demons in the waters, it is basically secured from three sides making it very easy to defend.” The warrior stated and pointed at the northernmost marker on the map.

“Hmm … is it big?” Sighing quietly, I grabbed my hairs in despair and waited for his answer.

“I was told so.” It was big … and it was far away from the border. This was literally the worst that could happen.

 

 

 

 

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