Chapter 69: The Plan

After inciting the orcs' morale with the best speech he could make and several drums worth of meads, Tristan gathered a few people inside the keep for a briefing in the middle of the night.

Karra and the two Orc Champions were surely invited as they were the higher-ups of the orcs. There were also Barry, Seth, Herrera and his sister Layla that came from his side. He also didn't forget the two under his Blood Seal influence, Borin and Astrid.

The briefing began with Astrid blurting out the details of the barbarian forces that would attack the fort tomorrow. Everyone who attended the briefing quickly perked their ears, especially Tristan as the commander of the upcoming battle. They were afraid that they would miss the information if they didn't listen attentively.

The attack would be launched by three tribes. All led by veteran captains that weren't worse than Astrid. Each of them brought more than five hundred barbarian warriors to this battle.

After divulging the number of the barbarians, Astrid proceeded to tell the usual strategy the barbarian used when besieging a fort such as this. 

The barbarians would start the attacks by commencing a barrage of arrows, which would be followed by groups of barbarian bringing siege ladders. Under the cover of the arrows, they would then use the ladders to scale the high walls of the fort.

Astrid believed none of the captains had any battering ram or similar equipment to break open the main gate. Hence, she was sure the attack would come from multiple points through the wooden ladders.

Upon hearing the numbers and the exact attack plan of the barbarians step by step from Astrid, Tristan could see most of the people at the briefing started to turn pale. He was sure that they were imagining how tomorrow's battle would be.

"This sounds like a very well-coordinated plan and they are all experienced fighters." commented Barry, who started to lose his usual calm.

Unsurprisingly, Seth was the one in panic mode. He tried to make Tristan reconsider his decision to fight the barbarians. 

"Sir Tristan… are you sure about this? It's 10 against 1, after all.. How many of us do you think can survive this tomorrow?"

As for Layla, due to her minimal understanding of battle, she didn't know how to respond. Thus, her feeling towards the incoming battle followed the concern of others.

Tristan himself had no experience with leading any real battle, other than seeing how the protagonist do it in movies and fantasy stories. But much to his surprise, he found the position he had right now, being in charge of someone's life and death, excited him.

The others, to be more precise Tristan's companions, began their endeavor to persuade him, with Seth being the one most passionate about it.

Seeing this, Tristan tapped the table twice, and that was enough to make everyone silent.

Before the briefing commenced, Tristan had asked Karra for a detailed map of the fort. The map was currently spreaded out on the table.

"You all now listen to the plan." Tristan began to roughly explain the plan he had come up with, with a few pieces of stone.

The Gretchin would be stationed on top of the walls, and be assigned the task of throwing the stones the orcs had gathered during the day earlier. Meanwhile, the Grunts and the Orc Champions would be on standby, waiting and moving by Tristan's command.

Looking directly at Karra and the two Orc Champions, Tristan spoke with the firmest tone he could muster, "Remember! No charging until I say so!"

As for the rest of the team, including the dwarves and the rugrats they would be defending inside the keep, acting as the last line of defense and of course, protecting Layla.

Then, Tristan spoke no more, eliciting reactions from others.

"That's… it? That's all of the plan?" Seth was dumbfounded, before he once again fell into panic.

He could see that there was basically no real strategy on how to fight against the overwhelming number, let alone to overturn it. And once again, the group was placed only to protect Layla.

Seeing the looks the others gave him, Tristan opened his mouth again.

"You all listen, this is the default strategy that we will use. When the battle begins, it's important to know where your position is. Hence, there is still another plan that I have prepared. So, don't worry and just follow my lead."

The short briefing was concluded, and they began to disperse.

Tristan took the time to once again remind Layla to not participate in the battle by any means. While his sister nodded at his words, Tristan still didn't feel assured. Hence, he made sure that Barry and Borin would always stay by her side.

Afterwards, Tristan was approached by Karra, the tall female orc. Even though she showed her respect to him as her chief, she still somehow talked in the same casual manner she used the first time Tristan met her.

But despite her nonchalant tone, the words she spoke weren't nonchalant at all.

"Chief, I hope you realize that we are prepared to fight to the death tomorrow."

Hearing such a serious statement made the situation turn a little bit awkward for him. After staying silent for a moment, Tristan finally said, "Yes, Karra. I expect nothing less."

Surprisingly, the female orc wasn't done yet, "I hope you will not disappoint us by not being willing to do the same!"

Then, Karra gave her respect before leaving the place.

At this moment, Tristan finally realized the high orc was really a different breed than the normal orc. They were not simple at all.

Now that Tristan thought about it. Karra was the one who was responsible for making him the chief of the tribe. He really needed to keep her in check from time to time, or else things could suddenly go bad, like his relationship with the orcs for example.

Tristan did try to check the possibility of making her into his blood puppet. But to make it happen, he would need a whooping 1000 Blood Essences for the cost. Furthermore, the thing that happened to Ghral made him more careful with trying to use Blood Seal on a powerful individual.

Tristan really wished there was a guide of some sort on using the skill so that he would not waste too much Blood Essence on its application.

Throwing the Blood Seal matter to the back of his mind, Tristan returned to his room because tomorrow there would be a tough battle to fight.