Chapter 305 General Orland And Company

Chapter 305 General Orland And Company

As expected, it took another ten minutes before the ladies were ready to face the world again, freshly washed, and with their hair loosely braided so it wouldn't go wild as it dried. Their travel packs weren't exactly loaded with the finest of hair products, so frizz was just a fact of life for adventuring Elites, but after the effort to get rid of the ash, it was worse than usual.

"Alright, that is everyone. Lead the way, Lieutenant." Bob announced once the group was back together.

Karl decided to let Bob take the lead on this one, as he had all the experience on his side when dealing with military leaders. He was out here all the time, preferring to be on a mission to being anywhere else, so he was constantly in contact with the military leadership, and knew more about just where his role as an Elite fit into the social framework. Karl hadn't had enough experience with that yet. Though he was certainly one of the more powerful Elites now, and everyone granted him the respect that a Commander deserved when he had the badge on his chest, there was a lot to be said about knowing how hard you could push before someone would push back.

But the one thing that they had all missed was the word "Generals" not "General". When they entered the Command building, which used to be the council building of the small town that had been commandeered as the military camp when they lines were pulled back from the volcano, they found four men in highly decorated uniforms waiting for them.

By the change in Bob's expression, Karl knew that this could mean trouble. So, he gave the officers a closer look, to see if he could guess which would be the issue. Not all Generals were Elites, most of them were too old for that, and commanded based on experience. But these four were all Elites, and surprisingly, one was a Royal Rank Elite as well.

That must be the cause for Bob's change in expression.

In a room full of Commanders, military Rank didn't matter much to the Mercenaries like Bob. But even for regular civilian Elites, the Royal Rank General still had authority over them due to his power level.

Not the sort of power that a General had over his troops, but enough that he could easily change their deployment orders and nobody would question it.

Bob stopped in the middle of the room, with Karl and Doug on either side of him. "Generals, it's a pleasure to see you all again, though I must say I'm surprised to see you all in the same spot." He began.

The Generals chuckled at his comment as they looked between the trio of Commanders.

The Royal Rank General replied with a straight face and a gravelly voice. "Yes, seeing three Commanders in the same spot is somewhat unusual, isn't it? But let's skip the pleasantries. What happened to the Frost Giants? The reinforcements have stopped, Our scouts tell us that the city looks like it's been destroyed, and you were the only forward team in the entire region."

The red stones were still being set up, but already they vastly outnumbered the blue stones, and there was a concentration of them right where Karl and the others had been fighting.

Karl might not have liked math class much, but it was fairly obvious that the known population of Frost Giants was about a third as many as the number of Frost Giants that had been killed on their battle lines since the conflict started.

"They have summoned three times their population to send to war?" Doug asked, startled by the scale of the devastation.

"Not all of them are summoned, but close to that, yes. That is why it is so imperative that we find out what happened to the summoning ritual materials. Not hearsay or guesses, we need solid proof of how they are doing it, and of any locations that have been forcibly stopped.

The problem is, many of the suspected locations have been the site of natural disasters in the last few weeks, and now we don't have the troops to search them all." The General agreed.

Doug gave a rueful laugh as he took a long drag on his smoke. "I suspect that there is a 'however' coming up in your next sentence."

The General's face turned up in a slight grin as he watched the unconcerned High Priest becoming a very high Priest in the middle of their meeting.

"You would be absolutely correct. We have an official mission for all of you. We have a location for you to scout. This location previously generated large troop movements, then suddenly stopped without any visible signs of attack.

The spot is well within enemy borders, and the complex is suspected to be currently occupied by a Royal Rank Frost Giant and his retinue." The General replied.

"So, it's a trap, we know it's a trap, and you want us to go spring it anyhow, for the chance that we can kill a Royal Rank Frost Giant?" Doug asked with a vague wave of his hand.

"There will be appropriate compensation." The General agreed, his raspy voice making the promise sound more like a threat, or a promise of restitution for the grieving families.

One of the other Generals, a portly young man with a blotchy face that spoke of years of alcoholism, smirked at them as he joined the conversation.

"It is non-optional."