Chapter 161: It Was Supposed to be Safe

- Holy Fos Empire, Backwater Border Town, A Month Later – Undercover Spy's POV –

It had been several weeks since I’d been purchased by the Commander. Blinded by his infatuation for me the fool had bought me from the brothel owner and, while I was unhappy to leave one of the only bearable humans behind in a crowd of bigoted racists, I knew that my job was to go with the fat military man. Luckily for me, my presence wasn’t questioned at all, we’d learned decades ago that it was quite common for high-ranking individuals within the Church to have a... “retinue” of the so-called “lesser” races. Some of them for fetishistic reasons and a few because they actually believed they were “civilizing” those “lesser” than themselves. Disgusting reasons regardless. It was beneficial for espionage operations, however.

[How many troops do we have stationed at the Pass of Mercy?] - Lord Jacobs de la Augusta

[Over 17,000 soldiers my lord, more than enough to keep the fortress occupied while we take positions further south. If we put their defenses here under siege it will free up the forces of Commander Devotion to take Iacobus City.] - Captain Compassion

[I see, and what’s your force Commander? Do you feel confident in this play?] - Lord Jacobs de la Augusta

[Yes, my Lord, I tremble with anticipation at taking the fight to these inhuman bastards! All hail the Light!] - Commander Devotion

[All hail the Light!] - Everyone

Serving drinks quietly to the military commanders of the Northwest Holy Brigade, I had overheard nearly every upcoming play that they had planned for the coming weeks, every feint and genuine attack all waiting to be relayed to my handlers.

- Just Outside Holy Fos Empire, Pass of Mercy, A Few Days Later – General Lewis's POV –

[And we’re positive about this information?] - General Lewis

[We are, General. The source is above reproach. The Northwest offensive plans to use their siege of this fortress as a feint for an attack further south.] - Lieutenant Kieth

[I see. Haaaa....] - General Lewis

Damn, if this was their true aim, we could’ve just concentrated our forces here and repelled them from the comfort of our walls but with this new information we had to make a choice. Whether to act on this information and reveal that we have a spy, or let the attack through and keep the spy hidden but allow many people to die. Unless...

[Could we have a patrol scheduled to pass through that town a short time after their estimated arrival? Who’s in the area that could be diverted without drawing suspicion?] - General Lewis

[Hmm... Ah! Yes sir, we have a force from the Amchier Duchy stationed somewhat nearby, they could easily be diverted into patrol duty without drawing suspicion from any planted spies.] - Lieutenant Kieth

[Good, do so.] - General Lewis

[General, that force also has the niece of the Queen of Anguis deployed in it. Might we-] - Lieutenant Kieth

[No. Tell the commander of that force to prepare for possible enemy forces but don’t do more than hint at it. It has too much of a chance of being intercepted.] - General Lewis

It was a shame, a damn shame, that Image Stone technology, once foolproof, had been intercepted by some new technology the Church had developed. When we’d started this war, in the first few skirmishes, we’d used the technology freely only to realize quickly that the enemy forces were somehow one step ahead of us. It had only been after our spies had reported back about strange devices on the enemy side that we’d realized the truth. Now, as a result, we had to be far more careful about encrypting our communications, even in situations where it might lead to the death of our own soldiers. Somehow though, I felt confident that this niece would be fine, I’d heard much of her skill and the commander of that force was an actual legend, there was no way they’d not be sufficient.

- Eastern Abelis, Nundinae – Rose's POV –

I was nervous. I’d been assured that my first deployment would be to a relatively safe area, some distance from the front lines and even been given my own battalion of several thousand, well not really. To be frank, while I had a high rank as a noble my own inexperience had limited me in how much control the General in charge of the Northwestern front was willing to give me. The irony was that the person that was in charge of the battalion was someone I was very familiar with. A person that had graduated early from an Academy for Knights after leaving the Abelis Academy and already had some combat experience even before I joined the troop. Prince Arlen. Speaking of which.

[We’ve been ordered to patrol the border along the river, the General believes that the fortress at the Pass of Mercy might be the primary target, but he’s worried about enemy forces attempting to cross the river and attack from the side.] - Prince Arlen

[Is that so...?] - Rose

[I apologize for interrupting, but does that seem plausible? Attacking a heavily armed fortress instead of putting it under siege seems... hasty.] - Annabelle

Huh... that’s right. So why would they specifically tell us that they think the Church will attack the fortress directly rather than trying to bypass it in any way? That seems... odd.

[I agree, I believe that the General has information that he’s not sharing with us for some reason. But...] - Prince Arlen

[Maybe they’re afraid of the message being intercepted?] - Karen

Ah! That’s probably right, if they need to keep a plan under... why are they looking at Karen like that?

[Impossible. But if the Church has somehow invented a way to intercept Image Stone transmissions...] - Prince Arlen

[They’d be able to eavesdrop on everything we say. But is it possible?] - Annabelle

[E-Excuse me, would it be so crazy that the Church is listening in on us? I mean that’s what I’d do if I wanted to outmaneuver the enemy.] - Rose

[Huh? No one has ever figured out a way to track Image Stone transmissions, they’re indistinguishable from the background mana signatures.] - Prince Arlen

[But assume they have figured it out.] - Rose

I mean, it made sense. We’d been told by Moon that the Church was using some strange technology to find them so why would it be all that out of the ordinary for them to have intercepted our communications? All of my barely remembered memories of the wars in my past life centered around exactly this back and forth. With one side developing a method for cracking one sides communications only for the other to encrypt it in a new way. Has... Has that never happened here? Surely not.

[That’s true... it might be smart to assume that our orders are because we’ve been compromised. In that case it’s likely that we’ll meet heavy resistance somewhere along our patrol. The question is... where?] - Prince Arlen

[If I were to guess the best strategic place to capture.... Here, Iacobus City, it’s close enough to the border to be within a day’s march and, while it’s a walled city, it has few defenders to hold while they wait for reinforcements. If I had to bet on somewhere they’d attack that’s what I’d go with.] - Annabelle

[I... agree. It’s highly likely that’s where they’ll attack.] - Prince Arlen

[In that case I believe that...] - Annabelle

- Eastern Abelis, Nundinae, An Hour Later – Rose's POV –

The next hour was a blur of complicated tactics and possibilities for attack and defense against a foe that we were uncertain of the size, we doubted that they would have a larger group than our own but we were also not originally supposed to be involved in heavy combat regardless so we had to keep the possibility of a much larger enemy force in mind. At one point I’d even asked about sending a message to our family asking for reinforcements, but both the Prince and Annabelle had turned it down, in hindsight they were right, calling too much attention was only going to make it more likely the Church would catch on to our gambit. What was important however was our combat readiness, so I left to find Argent, Shade and Urz after listening to military jargon far beyond my understanding. I wasn’t sure how I would do in combat against people, especially after... after that, but I figured that the adrenaline of battle would help me get through the worst of it at least. I was worried about how momma and papa would be faring against the main forces though, as always, they were in the thick of battle, where the worst of the fighting was in the center of the war front.

[I see... so we’re likely to see heavy combat? Lady Rose, I swear, upon my name, that I shall protect you in the coming days. I’ll keep your back safe, I promise.] - Argent

[Aha... ahaha... <gulp> T-Thanks... What about you guys? You can always back out now if you want?] - Rose

[I-I'm scared of fighting, th-the thought of killing someone... it scares me...] - Urz

[Urz...] - Rose

[Bu-But even so... Even so, I promised Yeetsil I’d be here, I promised my friends. Until everyone I loves is safe, I can’t run away!] - Urz

[...my friends. Won’t... abandon.] - Shade

[Ahaha! Strong words! I like it! Well then, at least we’ll be together!] - Karen

I was with my friends. Using my family’s influence, I’d gotten deployed with a group of Lamia soldiers, along with all of my friends technically in the role of a reserve troop. We’d not expected to have combat at all this early in the war, so momma, papa, and the Queen had felt extremely comfortable leaving their children alone while they headed up the main forces fighting in the center. Still though, the presence of my close friends kept my head about the water, it was the log I clung to in the river.

At least until a certain horny slime ruined the moment...

[K-Karen, what are you doing?] - Rose

[Getting my last supper? Better excuse?] - Karen

[Better excuse.] - Rose

[Keh! Stop showing off your relationship in front of the rest of us lonely fools!] - Argent

[I-I'm not lonely! I’m just...] - Urz

[...need comforting...] - Shade

Jealousy flaring up around me, I tried to protest my innocence only for the verdict of GUILTY to come down from above, the public displays of affection from Karen sparking unfair retribution from the ones that had to separate from their loved ones.

- Eastern Abelis, Iacobus City, Several Weeks Later – Rose's POV –

The next few weeks would be boring, grueling, fast-paced marching for hours on end, but boring. Blessed with large body’s, Lamia were still surprisingly efficient at moving long distances without much rest. As a result, we ended up making it to Iacobus City far faster than a human army would have, travelling several hundred miles within a few weeks. And what was before us was a scene from hell. Entirely encircling Iacobus City, an army of thousands constantly battered the walls with siege weapons, their forces firing arrows at the belabored defenders who were taking 10 for every 1 they lost. It was insane, unbelievable, it was horrible.

[Is that the Church?] - Rose

[It looks like it, it seems that they heard of our approach and wanted to end it before we were able to reinforce the defenders, unluckily for them, they failed.] - Annabelle

[We’ll set up a defensive perimeter here and poke at them a bit from behind, see what reveals itself. They know we’re here already so a surprise attack will do us no good. See, they’re already ending their attack. Captain Janice, let the company know.] - Prince Arlen

[Sir, yes, sir!] - Captain Janice

He was right, the Church, seeing that their gambit had failed, had halted their aggressive attack, a small part turning to face us while the rest marched back to their three camps positioned around the city. The fourth group, the one that stayed behind, began to mirror us as it also set up a camp opposite ours. Close enough to respond but far enough to be protected, as it were. Either way it didn’t look like we’d be doing any courageous charges today or anything. Not that they were all that effective normally, they only overextended your forces more often than not. Not that I personally knew any better, Annabelle had been the one to tell us that when Karen had excitedly gushed about a valiant charge from behind, something she seemed quite excited about. Honestly, I understood her reaction, considering how movies always showed that sort of thing. It was cool.

[Commander, please let my commanding officers know to meet me in the command tent, we’ll discuss our next move there. Ah, Lady Rose, please join us as well.] - Prince Arlen

[Damn... Umm, yeah sure I’ll follow you I guess... Karen?] - Rose

[You can count me in as well I guess...] - Karen

[I see. Well then, please follow me.] - Prince Arlen

He’d been like this since we joined his battalion. Distant, formal. Something had changed since he left for the Knight’s Academy and, while I was glad he wasn’t attempting to woo me any longer, this wasn’t much better. I wasn’t sure what had happened since we last saw each other but his eyes seemed... haunted. Even Karen felt bad for him, and she viewed him as a rival! Not much of one, but still.

- Eastern Abelis, Iacobus City, Command Tent – Rose's POV –

It only took a few minutes for the tent to get ready for us, and a few minutes more for each of the commanding officers to report for the meeting. Minutes spent in awkward silence as Arlen busied himself with various tasks, almost looking like he was avoiding talking to me too much. Luckily, the silence finally ended when the meeting started, Arlen’s aversion to looking in my direction being overridden by duty.

[Here’s the situation. Iacobus City is surrounded by the forces of the Church, likely a large majority of the Northwestern Army, and they are currently sieging the city. According to our scouts none of the gates have been breached yet and it looks like the siege is quite recent, not more than a few days at most. We’re still attempting to reach the mayor to get more information on the status of the city itself, but all signs look bright as of now. Commander, how large are the enemy forces.] - Prince Arlen

[Roughly equivalent to our forces, Your Highness.] - Commander Perala

[Good. That means they are more spread out, if they concentrate their forces to deal with us, they’ll be open to attack from the city behind them.] - Prince Arlen

I was lost. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure why I was invited to these meetings, probably some political nonsense considering my name. Either way I got the idea that they couldn’t break the siege without opening themselves up, but shouldn’t that happen regardless? I mean if the defenders attack at the same time as us then they should be safe from counter attacks... right?

[So that means we can obliterate them, right?] - Karen

[I doubt it. If they had a smart commander they’d retreat now that they’re at such a massive disadvantage. On the other hand, they might have forces in reserve that they can hold out for. I’m more inclined to believe that they’ll go for the second possibility, even if they don’t have forces in reserve, I doubt they’ll be in a position to retreat given how the Church treats people they view as cowards. Retreating without bloodying our nose a bit isn’t likely a choice for them.] - Prince Arlen

[Your Highness... I... I believe this might be only a single offensive, they are likely attacking several cities and can wait for any of the others to reinforce their position.] - Commander Perala

[Hmm? What makes you think that?] - Prince Arlen

Karen’s question was the exact one that I thought of as well. I mean I know most battles throughout history never continued until one side was exterminated but that was between humans. With a bunch of fanatics on one side and their supposed enemy on the other it didn’t seem to have any... ah the Crusades! Okay I get it.

Now fully in agreement with the prince, with me being caught up and all, I once more thought about how likely it was that I would actually be involved in combat. Only for that hope to be banished at the words of the Commander.

[Blackguard scouts just reported several massagers leaving what is believed to be the enemy Commander’s tent, each heading both north and south. The one going north was likely to rendezvous with the assault on the fortress, but the south...] - Captain Janice

[Was going to request reinforcements.] - Prince Arlen

Shit. That meant that they would fight tooth and nail to keep their positions. That also explained why they had immediately halted their attack when we’d arrived, time was in their favor rather than ours. It was better to wait us out until their reinforcements arrived and then pincer us between them. We’d gone from a major advantage to the exact opposite without anything changing. And that also meant...

[We need to take the city before those reinforcements arrive.] - Annabelle

Like I said... shit.