Chapter 114: Base Building 101

Chapter 114: Base Building 101

Arthur shook his head as the group of scouts left his tent. In the last 25 years of command, he had never seen a group so shaken as those. The king's elite rangers too. They were so incoherent and panicked that it was hard to trust anything they said. When men got shocked like that, their eyes started to play tricks on them.

Several decades ago, before he was given command, he had been a young officer fresh from his father's estate. His first engagement had been removing void beasts that were plaguing the local farmers. They spent days laying traps and lying in wait out in the fields, waiting for their mage to find something.

In the end, they discovered a cabal of witches that had infiltrated the local council of elders. Even the mayor was in on it. Arthur had been looking over his shoulder for years after that. Not to mention the ever-present fear of grain cellars. He had never been able to enter one without taking the door clear off its hinges first. The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñòv€l-B1n.

All these years had passed, but when wheat swayed in a certain way, he still tensed up as though there was a void beast behind him. So when these men started babbling about a black demon disk that had destroyed the legs of their comrades, Arthur would have been likely to send them to the medical tent and proceed with caution. That would have been his plan if not for Harold's warning.

That warning coming from anyone else could have been brushed aside or waved off as paranoia. But this was Harold. This was a man Arthur could trust with his life. Had, actually, for a few days in that grain cellar. If the elite rangers were not even able to handle this threat, the best cause was to avoid it for now. The undead, while seemingly less powerful, had much more wide-reaching consequences.

The army had received a steady stream of refugees from the north. Apparently, a small town named Greg had completely fallen, and only those who managed to escape before it was fully encircled made it out. Even then, the undead were acting with much more strategy than they should. Laying traps along the road was one thing, especially when it was just ghouls. But when other types joined in, it was worrying.

Arthur looked down at the map in front of him, studying the reports of the undead positions. He had already called for reinforcements as the numbers were many times what the reports had claimed. Why, if this were a foreign army, he would have said that they were setting up a net for the province capital.

His blood ran cold.

Shouting for his adjunct, Arthur immediately sent the man off running messages to the rest of the command staff. It was several hours before sunrise, but still, in fifteen minutes, the rest of the officers were present, if not in perfect uniform.

"Gentleman, if the blue markers are us and the red are those of Barleona, what battle does this remind you of?" Arthur wasted no time, gesturing to the map showing the positions of the undead.

An older man with a somehow perfectly combed mustache sniffed. "Why, I would say it is like when we sacked the border city of Gratbranth. Only, if we had forgotten to guard the heights behind us. That hill wasn't there."

***

Almost a week passed, and the castle had fallen into a comfortable rhythm, the outside world and its troubles falling away. The little society was coming along nicely, and everyone had found a place. The swarm of little kids running around playing brought a smile to everyone's faces, despite the rough times they had recently.

Bee was happy to see Felix, and Leanne find places as ringleaders among the youngest. The women all fell under Mary as the oldest, and they ran the castle like a household. Only in nonstandard issues or big projects did they ask her opinion. Honestly, Bee felt rather inadequate to be giving advice to the adults, as she was only 13 - almost 14. But she was acting as the mouthpiece of their god, so it was bearable.

Tony and Trent managed the fields. The harvest was done, and they were mostly clearing more for planting the next year. It was backbreaking work, but she didn't mind helping. Sometimes a stone would need to be moved that they couldn't handle, even working together. Instead of getting an ox or one of the cows to help, they called her. She had to admit showing off was a bit of fun as she hefted rocks ten times her weight and carried them off to the side.

They now had quite the pile, and she considered building trebuchets just to have something to do with them.

The twins and Marnada had a little trouble finding their place in this new community. The twins were a little too young. They didn't relish the idea of working in the fields all day, but their pride kept them from learning how to fight with the little children, despite their envious glances. Maranda seemed interested in whatever Bee was doing, at least until Bee noticed her. Then she'd scamper as far away as possible.

Bee made a mental note to ask Void for advice on what to do with them. Maybe they needed to spend some time with their god and get their first levels and class.

Maybe she could get some help with creating all the healing items, she hadn't expected to need so much until Void had asked her to make a lot of her "repair juice." She had complied, and then her master had consumed it. It had baffled her at first, especially since it had no apparent injuries, but the next morning she saw that it was able to spray it out of its front on bruises and scrapes the children had.

As expected of her god, it had improved her recipe, and the wounds healed in minutes instead of the hours her solutions would have normally taken.

The peace of the castle could only last so long through. A week after she had finished writing the first Scripture of the Void, they started to get newcomers. The newcomers all came in different forms and dispositions. Some were undead, and others were scared. They all told the same story of the turmoil that churned outside of the walls of their castle.

It wasn't possible to stay sheltered forever. Void made its opinion on that very clear.