Chương 100: 34 – The Remnant of an Army

I stared down from our half-a-wall, horrified as I watched Tacurian flags surrounding a general spill out from the tree line. It was a grim parody of Maulander's first visit, and part of me wanted to ask the cheering townsfolk to muster arms against them. To my surprise, some of them already were. No one was happy to see another military commander striding into town. They were even less pleased to see one right after a battle, and I found myself angry. Why were they here? Why did they have to spoil this?

It was a small consolation that the banners displayed weren't those of Maulander. No. This was General Neogon himself. But that just raised even more questions that I wouldn't get answers to standing up here on the wall. We'd achieved an incredible victory today, and this felt like a sour end to what should've been a celebration. I returned to the ladder and began to climb down it for a second time.

The idiots had stopped singing that stupid song at least, and now everyone was eyeing the approaching general and his entourage with a wary caution. There were marked differences between Neogon's procession and Maulander's. For one, all of these men were on foot, and their armor didn't gleam. Dulled with mud, dirt, and grime, I'd be more inclined to believe they were bandits at first glance. The people clustered together around the road, but most of them spread out to allow the procession through.

Four soldiers surrounded Neogon, and all four of them scared me. They were the same sort of honor guard Maulander had traveled with, but these men genuinely intimidated me. These were true bodyguards, not sycophants. Neogon, by comparison, looked a bit like a grandfather or an uncle. I reached Dobretin, and he nodded toward me. To my surprise, almost everyone else had cleared out of the road, but Dobretin stood in the middle.

His demeanor changed, once again becoming something that didn't sit quite right on his shoulders. He said nothing as the General approached, content to merely bar the way as the citizens gathered around the sides of the road. The general stopped a good ten or twenty feet from the wall, just close enough to speak. Several townsfolk had crossbows with bolts loaded.

"Good afternoon," the general said.

"It was," Dobretin replied, irritated. Neogon grimaced, but didn't rise to the challenge.

"May I know to whom I speak?" he asked, maintaining a level of politeness that surprised me.

"Dead men, if you'd had your way," Dobretin replied.

"An entire dead village." Neogon frowned.

"I don't understand."

"Don't you? With every bit of information you had on hand, you must have expected us to die. No village could possibly turn away that many rift spawn, and yet your army drove them straight into us anyway." That. That was what had been irritating me. I hadn't quite figured out what had annoyed me so much about the sudden appearance of the general until the mayor spelled it out. He had driven them toward us! Why? For what purpose? The general sighed.

"Would that I could've done anything else…" There was a long gash across his forehead, and I noticed a bandage around his right arm, covered by the heavy plate of the army. Then, to my shock, the man bowed at the waist.

"I deeply regret the necessity, but I had no other choice. I am thankful beyond words that you were prepared. We did drive the remaining trolls and goblins in the eastern woods towards you with our retreat, and for that I am sorry." Dobretin huffed.

"Well, at least you aren't a complete bastard like the last general who rolled through here. Fine. I am Dobretin, Mayor of Pemolar's Hill. This is Elmerina Farmer. She's been instrumental in making sure we've survived for this long."

"Atrinaska's Daughter. I've heard a great deal about you," the general said, looking at me. Dobretin raised an eyebrow at that, but I ignored him.

"And I've heard that you're a great general. Far better than Maulander. One that we could trust. So, explain to me why that was your only option. You didn't even try to help us!" I snapped.

"You didn't much look like you needed it," he replied.

"Just because we have better defenses than the average town doesn't mean that couldn't have gone entirely differently!" I shouted.

"Half of our crossbows were rendered useless by the rain! It was only sheer luck that we were as prepared as we are!" If I hadn't realized the usefulness of the Endless Oak Crossbow, we'd have been in close quarters with those things. As it was, none of the pepper bombs were used, nor was the pepper spray pouches, but with the speed those trolls could run, we'd never have managed to disable them all! The trolls would've overrun us, and then the goblins would've cleaned up the dregs.

Mom would've returned to the burned husk of a town, and these bastards would've just sat and watched!? The general, far from being offended, chuckled.

"By the gods, that was what you did with half of your crossbows missing?" I growled and was about to retort when Dobretin interrupted.

"We're not going to be occupied. You won't be taking our food stores, and you certainly won't be drafting anyone who doesn't volunteer. If you disagree with these facts, then you'll find yourself just as vulnerable to crossbow fire as the goblins were." Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

"I think you might find that a brigade of fire mages would certainly turn that tide against you," he said.

"This is all academic though. I've no intention of taking your people, or your ruddy food. In fact, I suspect you'll beg us to occupy that cute little wall of yours when I tell you what's coming. Did you miss that I said we were retreating?"

"I didn't," I said bitterly.

"So… the pepper paste didn't help?"

"Oh, it was brilliant! But a new weapon cannot bridge the gap between thirty thousand and two hundred. We… no. I was defeated."

"Don't say that, sir," said one of the guards.

"It's true, Hallar. Never mind that it was inevitable. I am a good general, but I am not so good as to defeat odds like that. All of our efforts, this whole time, have only been meant to give Denarla and Tacuria time to prepare a counterattack. We were never going to win. I just didn't think we'd lose so horribly there at the end." A pang of sympathy welled up in me. Mom knew this man, and trusted him. I was still wary of a trap, or a trick, though.

"We are here now because this place — this town — is rumored to have fended off an attack of thousands of trolls. It was the last haven any of us could think of," he continued.

"We aren't defending Denarla or Tacuria any longer. We're just trying to survive. It's less our journey through the woods, that drove the rift monsters toward you than it is the army that dogs our heels." My eyes widened in horror. The townsfolk hadn't been so courteous as to allow this conversation to happen in private, and at that pronouncement, murmurs and terrified whispers erupted throughout the crowd.

"The… the Eschal army is coming here?" I tried not to squeak. Even Dobretin's composure broke at that. Two hundred thousand soldiers. The number was difficult even to wrap my head around.

"No, thank the gods. The vast bulk of them have moved on north toward Denarla. Bastards were smart enough to make sure they didn't have an enemy like me at their back, though. I've less than five thousand soldiers left, after the attack four days ago, and of them, more than half are wounded or dying. Best as my scouts can tell, a small portion of the Eschal Army is in pursuit. About twenty thousand. The rest have gone north to the capital of the Duchy. But that's still more than enough to wipe out the rest of us.

Or at least, it should've been."

"So… you seek a refuge, then," Dobretin said. The general gave a sharp look around. He smiled viciously when he saw the sheer number of troll and goblins corpses littering the outside of town. Smarter townsfolk were already out there, pulling bolts out of bodies for reuse, and murdering the trolls and goblins still clinging to life.

"This seems as good a place as any to die," he said with a wide grin.

"I've also been told that you owe the military another miracle.

"Is Lieutenant, err, Captain Berkenem with you?" I asked.

"To… verify your claims? I'm sympathetic to your problems, sir, but my trust for our own military has suffered recently." Neogon grimaced.

"His body wasn't found. He's either dead or a prisoner of war. For what it's worth, that sword you made him probably bought us a whole day on its own." My breath caught, but I made sure not to show it, as best I could. Berkenem had been a good man.

"Semalmas, then?" I asked.

"I… don't recognize the name."

"The butler?" Hallar said with a blink. I turned to the guard and nodded.

"Yes. I met him when the Captain visited us last month. I… might be able to make him something by now." My whole house was becoming a stash room for supplies. People brought more by the day, in the hopes that I'd be able to craft more need bubbles.

"You know the man?" the general asked.

"He lives?" Hallar nodded.

"Fetch him. We have a few days. The army is not approaching quickly. They think we are finished. Before today… before what I just saw, they were right." The guard turned and raced back down the road towards the treeline. How many soldiers waited out there? I shuddered, wondering if I would ever feel safe gazing at the distant treeline of a forest again.

"While we wait, you can tell me about what new weapon you've been creating," the general said.

"Please tell me you have something."

"I've been given less than a month. I have ideas but… I don't think any of them will be ready if you expect an assault within the next few days." He sighed.

"Too much to hope for. Bah, it probably wouldn't have been nearly as useful as the paste anyway. Lightning doesn't strike the same place twice." I shrugged. If he was digging to get a rise out of me, he wouldn't get it. I had a few steel tubes, and hadn't gotten the chance to test them yet. Perhaps they would work, but it was more likely they would blow up a few dozen times before we got the chance to find out.

On the other hand, if this went the right way, we suddenly might have a plethora of fire mages to help test the theory with. If they were strong enough to withstand the blasts, and if I could teach these fire mages Mom's method of using fire magic, and if the concept wasn't just a dud entirely. Too many ifs to lay any hope on. Hallar returned with the man I remembered seeing. Surprisingly, his need bubble's requirements had lowered since I'd seen him last.

Perhaps seeing the sword I'd made for his captain had endeared me to him more?

"Semalmas Soldier, reporting," the man said as he approached the general. He gave a salute, which the general returned.

"May the soldier approach you?" the general asked. I nodded.

"Semalmas, give the young lady and the Mayor here a quick summary of why we've come here, and our general situation."

"Uhm… yes, sir," he said at the confusing order, before turning and walking up to us. If he saw the crossbows cocked on the walls, he didn't seem to be too worried about them.

"Hello Semalmas," I said.

"Lady Elmerina. I'm sorry we're meeting again so soon, and under such circumstances," he said.

"You know this man, Mera?" Dobretin asked. I nodded.

"He was with the captain. It's… probably a formality at this point. Just producing the soldier and letting him speak to us freely is enough to convince me they're not lying. Still, just to be safe. Can you give me a summary of what brought the General and his army here?" Semalmas Soldier evim Butler proceeded to tell us a story very similar to the general's, with a few more details.

The southern edge of Fortress Keveldri had fallen to attacks from Winged Ones, which distracted the army enough for a frontal assault to get through. The remains of the army fled west, which led them almost directly to Pemolar's Hill. On their way, they killed as many rift monsters roaming the woods as they could, which had the unfortunate effect of driving them toward the town.

I was satisfied, and I thought everyone in the town was happy to agree that it would be better to have Tacurian Soldiers on our side of the wall if an Eschal army was truly coming. Twenty thousand human enemies. Not mindless killers, or rift monsters. Actual people. I shuddered, and the general spotted it as his party was finally allowed to come close.

"Gods, what is a young thing like you doing here, girl? I've got daughters twice your age," he said as he took in my appearance up close. I felt suddenly defensive and glared at him, but again, Dobretin spoke before I could.

"She's done what no one else has been able to. She deserves to stand here today. It was her name you heard our people cheering before you approached us today, and without her, you'd be entering a ruin. You'll give her the respect she deserves," he said in a tone that brooked no argument.

"I'd never do anything less, for Atrinaska's daughter," he said, before approaching me and proffering the injured arm.

"I am General Mathias Neogon Soldier. I was once your uncle's bodyguard. It is good to meet you," he said. I took the arm.

"Elmerina Farmer," I said.

"And you need something to help you communicate with distant soldiers. Something I can make in about twenty minutes. Let's just see if lightning strikes twice." His eyes widened.