Chapter 269: Report

The sun was setting, coloring the western horizon of the chaotic plains in a beautiful vermillion.

In the center of a massive grassland, stood a large camp. It could easily be seen from a mile away, and each tent was made of dozens of rough leather that could be quickly assembled or disassembled should the situation arise.

Tristan standing in the middle of the camp site, staring toward the hordes that had just returned from their raid. They came in bringing the news of victory and more supplies, such as food and weapons, that they took from the raided orc camps.

Thanks to their strategy of spreading three legions to cover more area, Tristan was able to take over one third of the chaotic plains within one week. His blood warriors would always be on the offensive, and every night he would receive more reports from the returning legions.

Karra and a few of the champions would come to his tent, accompanied by Serene, Herrera, and Raika. Based off their reports, Tristan would unroll the chaotic plains map and mark the areas he had conquered.

He started marking the spots where the tribes were found, making sure no area was missed

Number of tribe attacks: 32

Number of casualties: 81

Number of orcs recruited: 687

Tristan furrowed his eyes, stared at the number, and asked his warchief a question.

"Tell me, Karra, what do you think about the results?"

The warchief clenched her fists and exclaimed. "The Uruk forces fought bravely and valiantly, and we have managed to cover all sides of the battlefield! No tribes could resist the might of our warriors!"

Tristan nodded, "What you are saying is true, but what I needed is a more in-depth account of the situation. Based on these numbers, what do you think is happening out there?"

The orc woman was a high orc, and thus, she was much more intelligent than a normal orc. However, orc society did not favor thinking and their culture revolved around battle, so she was not used to having to think much other than fighting. Tristan waited and gave her a little bit of time. She took a deep breath, looked at Tristan, and said.

"I… I believe the casualties we suffered are low, which is good, and we have gathered quite a lot of orcs into our tribe. I believe our forces are doing well."

Tristan nodded without saying anything, and turned to look at the other girls. "How about you two? What do you think?"

Herrera, as usual, was impulsive and she didn't really take the time to think about her answers in a futile attempt to impress Tristan.

"Congratulations, my Lord, within just one week, you have managed to control one third of the chaotic plains. Before we all know it, I believe you would be able to finish the rest."

Tristan gave Herrera a dry smile upon hearing that answer. As much as he enjoyed his ego being stroked, what she said was basically just sweet talk with nothing of substance. Tristan expected more from the sorcerer who was supposed to be intelligent, but it seems she has been feeling too upbeat since that day.

Next, he looked at Serene with a gaze full of expectation, and the elven princess instantly knew what he was looking for. She stared at the statistics and thought hard, aiming to not only give better input but also to look smarter than the previous two girls.

"I think the number of casualties are still too high." She finally said.

The orc woman turned around in surprise and glared at the elf princess. It seems she was offended by the assessment.

Tristan looked down and smiled a little bit, before asking Karra about what made her upset.

"Orcs are strong, and they would not give up easily even when they are outnumbered. Casualties would be unavoidable."

Karra answered, barely restraining her rage. But, Serene didn't back down and she continued.

"Yes, I can understand that, but that should not happen with the elf nobles around. Each group was accompanied with two elven nobles to help heal any of the wounded, and most of the tribes are outnumbered. If everything went smoothly, there should be no casualties at all." 

Serene looked towards Tristan and gave a confident smirk. "I believe we need to further improve communication between the orcs and the elven nobles."

"Very good." Tristan praised. This made Serene's cheeks redden, while the other girls glared at her in jealousy.

However, he was still not satisfied. The answer may be right, but it was incomplete and did not explain any of the deficiency in his tactics.  "Anything else?"

After what Serene did, Herrera and Karra looked down. Now they were thinking about the question seriously. A few minutes passed, and one was about to speak, until a voice from the back interrupted them.

"My Lord, may I speak?" The voice asked as the four of them turned to look at her. It was none other than Astrid, the barbarian girl.

"Then speak."

The brown haired girl who has been standing guard in the back approached the table, gave the statistics a quick look, and said.

"My lord, I have seen one of the raids, and from that, I can make a rough estimate of the size of each tribe here. Considering those two factors, I have reasons to believe that from the 32 tribes you have attacked, compared to the number of the recruited orcs, means you have only successfully recruited an average of a quarter members of each tribe, killed another quarter, and let go of the rest."

The girl stopped for a second, while Tristan looked at her in approval, nodded, and said. "Continue."

"I believe that our objective was to secure the allegiance of as many orcs as possible. With these numbers, we can consider this a failure."

Another word that triggered Karra's rage. After all, failing is a big disgrace, and there was no way she would accept failure right in front of Tristan.

"What do you know about the battlefield, you barbarian!" Karra shouted, but Tristan gave her a glare, and her words died in her throat as a look of regret crossed her eyes.

"Continue, Astrid."

Astrid asked for permission to make a few marks on the map, and Tristan responded by passing the pen to her. She pointed that according to the positions of the tribes and the paths visible in the chaotic plains, there should be around 2000 orcs who took refuge to the east. With this kind of tactic, the orcs' forces would only get bigger as they would gather under one banner for the sake of taking him down, and eventually an all-out battle would be unavoidable.

Right now, they may have gained more orcs for their forces, but an all-out battle would most likely deplete most of them, resulting in little gain or even potentially a massive loss of time and resources for Tristan.

Tristan nodded at her explanation, gave her a sincere smile, and said. "Very good, Astrid."

The barbarian woman nodded and returned to her post at the back. Tristan had almost forgotten that as a former barbarian captain, Astrid had some experience battling in the chaotic plains.

Tristan explained to the three girls that the two inputs were right, and he had already known that before asking. He was hoping that with this, Karra as a commander of the battlefield would learn and know more about the art of battle. In the distant future, he might need her to make her own decisions without him around to help.

The orc woman put her arm on her chest and gave a gesture of respect. She even did the same to both Serene and Astrid for the input, and apologized for her behavior.

It was another trait that Tristan liked about the high orc. Although she was not the sharpest tool in the shed, she has loyalty and willingness to improve herself.

However, the discussion they had made Tristan think of getting another advisor for his future battles. As much as he appreciated Astrid's input, she merely gave him the bare minimum, and Tristan needed another set of eyes  to give him input on what aspects of the battlefield he might have missed.

He has reasons to believe that in the not so distant future, there will be more wars, and he wouldn't be able to depend on himself. As much as he could use his reasoning, he had only seen wars fought with magic and weapons like this in history books or fantasy stories and movies. He had no actual experience of battle startegy in a battlefield.

But that was to be considered later, for there were more pressing matters he needed to attend to right now. "So, how do you think we can successfully recruit more orcs without killing too many of them?"

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Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,